Perceval: A Software Platform for Discrete Variable Photonic Quantum Computing

We introduce Perceval, an evolutive open-source software platform for simulating and interfacing with discrete variable photonic quantum computers, and describe its main features and components. Its Python front-end allows photonic circuits to be composed from basic photonic building blocks like photon sources, beam splitters, phase shifters and detectors. A variety of computational back-ends are available and optimised for different use-cases. These use state-of-the-art simulation techniques covering both weak simulation, or sampling, and strong simulation. We give examples of Perceval in action by reproducing a variety of photonic experiments and simulating photonic implementations of a range of quantum algorithms, from Grover's and Shor's to examples of quantum machine learning. Perceval is intended to be a useful toolkit both for experimentalists wishing to easily model, design, simulate, or optimise a discrete variable photonic experiment, and for theoreticians wishing to design algorithms and applications for discrete-variable photonic quantum computing platforms

Planck pre-launch status : The Planck mission

Peer reviewe

Temple building on the Egyptian margins: the geopolitical issues behind Seti II and Ramesses IX’s activity at Amheida

Middle Eastern Studie

LO_v-Calculus: A Graphical Language for Linear Optical Quantum Circuits

We introduce the LO_v-calculus, a graphical language for reasoning about linear optical quantum circuits with so-called vacuum state auxiliary inputs. We present the axiomatics of the language and prove its soundness and completeness: two LO_v-circuits represent the same quantum process if and only if one can be transformed into the other with the rules of the LO_v-calculus. We give a confluent and terminating rewrite system to rewrite any polarisation-preserving LO_v-circuit into a unique triangular normal form, inspired by the universal decomposition of Reck et al. (1994) for linear optical quantum circuits

Nucleotide-binding Proteins in the Plant Thylakoid Membrane

Life on Earth is dependent on the oxygen produced through photosynthesis. The thylakoid membrane is the site for the light-driven reactions of photosynthesis, which oxidize water and supply energy in the form of ATP, mainly for carbon fixation. The utilization of ATP in the lumenal space of the thylakoid has not been considered in the past. In the latest years, increasing evidence for nucleotide metabolism in the thylakoid lumen of plant chloroplasts has been presented; ATP transport across the thylakoid membrane, and GTP binding to the PsbO extrinsic subunit of the water-oxidizing photosystem II (PSII) complex. In this thesis, various methods for prediction, identification, and characterization of novel plant proteins, are described. Nucleotide-binding motifs and nucleotide-dependent processes are reviewed, and the experimental data is discussed. 1) A thylakoid ATP/ADP carrier (TAAC) in Arabidopsis thaliana was identified and functionally characterized, and 2) the spinach PsbO protein was characterized as a GTPase. The Arabidopsis At5g01500 gene product is predicted as a chloroplast protein and to be homologous to the well-studied mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier. The putative chloroplast localization was confirmed by transient expression of a TAAC-green fluorescent protein fusion construct. Immuno detection with peptide-targeted antibodies and immunogold electron microscopy showed the thylakoid as the main localization of TAAC, with a minor fraction in the chloroplast envelope. TAAC is readily expressed in etiolated seedlings, and its level remains stable throughout the greening process. Its expression is highest in developing green tissues and in leaves undergoing senescence or abiotic stress. It is proposed that the TAAC protein supplies ATP for energy-dependent reactions during thylakoid biogenesis and turnover. Recombinant TAAC protein was functionally integrated in the cytoplasmic membrane of Escherichia coli, and was shown to specifically transport ATP/ADP in a protonophore-sensitive manner, as also reported for mitochondrial AACs. The PsbO protein stabilizes the oxygen-evolving complex of PSII and is ubiquitous in all oxygenic photosynthetic organisms, including cyanobacteria, green algae, and plants. So far only the 3D-structure of the cyanobacterial PsbO is available. Four GTP-binding motifs in the primary structure of spinach PsbO were predicted from comparison with classic GTP-binding proteins. These motifs were only found in the plant PsbOs, in the -barrel domain of the homologous 3D-structure. Using circular dichroism and intrinsic fluorescence spectroscopy, it was shown that MgGTP induces specific structural changes in the PsbO protein. Spinach PsbO has a low intrinsic GTPase activity, which is considerably stimulated when associated with a dimeric PSII complex. GTP stimulates the dissociation of PsbO from PSII under both inhibitory and non-inhibitory light conditions. A role for PsbO as a GTPase in the function of the oxygen-evolving complex and PSII repair is proposed

Evaluation des apports de pesticides sur le réseau d'exploitations du CEDAPA et sur le bassin versant du Pouliou en 1996 et 1997.

International audienc

Le secret et l'enfant [Première partie]

Heurtel Anne. Le secret et l'enfant [Première partie]. In: Revue juridique de l'Ouest, 1997-1. pp. 3-33

Le secret et l'enfant [Deuxième partie]

Heurtel Anne. Le secret et l'enfant [Deuxième partie]. In: Revue juridique de l'Ouest, 1997-2. pp. 129-151