Simulating a single qubit channel using a mixed state environment

We analyze the class of single qubit channels with the environment modeled by a one-qubit mixed state. The set of affine transformations for this class of channels is computed analytically, employing the canonical form for the two-qubit unitary operator. We demonstrate that, 3/8 of the generalized depolarizing channels can be simulated by the one-qubit mixed state environment by explicitly obtaining the shape of the volume occupied by this class of channels within the tetrahedron representing the generalized depolarizing channels. Further, as a special case, we show that the two-Pauli Channel cannot be simulated by a one-qubit mixed state environment.Comment: Published version with minor change

Using Embeddings to Improve Text Segmentation

Tekstipõhised andmestikud on tihti struktuuritud lausete kogumid ning seega raskesti kasutatavad paljude eesmärkide täitmiseks. Tekstis struktuuri loomine teemade või mõtete kaupa aitab teksti kokkuvõtmisel, tehisnärvivõrkudega masintõlkel ning teistel rakendustel, kus üksik lause võib pakkuda liiga vähe konteksti. Teksti segmenteerimiseks loodud meetodid on olnud kas juhendamata ning põhinevad sõnade koosesinemise vaatlemisel või juhendatud ning põhinevad sõnade ja lausete vektoresitustel. Selle magistritöö eesmärgiks on üldise teksti segmenteerimise meetodi arendamine, mis kasutab sõna-vektoreid ning koosinuskaugust. Loodud meetodi implementatsioone võrreldakse naiivse tõenäosusliku lahendusega, et hinnata loodud lahenduse efektiivsust. Ühte mudelit kasutati ka osana teksti kokkuvõtmise algoritmi osana, et hinnata lähenemise praktilist kasu. Tulemuste põhjal võib öelda, et kuigi loodud lahendus töötab paremini kui võrdlusalus, edasise uurimistööga on võimalik lähenemise võimekust märkimisväärselt tõsta.Textual data is often an unstructured collection of sentences and thus difficult to use for many purposes. Creating structure in the text according to topics or concepts can aid in text summarization, neural machine translation and other fields where a single sentence can provide too little context. There have been methods of text segmentation that are either unsupervised and based on word occurrences or supervised and based on vector representations of words and sentences. The purpose of this Master’s Thesis is to develop a general unsupervised method of text segmentation using word vector. The created ap-proach is implemented and compared to a naïve baseline to assess the viability of this method. An implemented model is used as part of extractive text summarization to as-sess the benefit of the proposed approach. The results show that while the approach out-performs the baseline, further research can greatly improve its efficacy

Development of simple multiplex real-time pcr assays for foodborne pathogens detection and identification on lightcycler

Most acute intestinal diseases are caused by food-borne pathogens. A fast and simple real-time PCR-based procedure for simultaneous detection of food contamination by any of the five food-borne pathogens: Campylobacter jejuni, Mycobacterium bovis, Enterobacter sakazaki, Shigella boydii, Clostridium perfrigens using multiplex EvaGreen real-time PCR for LightCycler was developed and evaluated. Real-time qPCR showed excellent sensitivity. Tm calling and Melting Curve Genotyping (MCG) were used for analysis of PCR product melting curves. The Melting Curve Genotyping option showed good performance for discrimination of positive samples containing DNA of single pathogen or pathogen mixtures from negative samples

Artificial Video Generation from Storytelling

Selle bakalaureusetöö eesmärgiks on arendada programm, mis looks seostatud lausete põhjal lausete konteksti väljendava visuaalse kujutuse videona. Pythonis arendatud programm kasutab lausete eeltöötluse tulemit, et genereerida piltide seeria, mis kirjeldab lausetes toimuvat. Loodud pilte saab seejärel omavahel kokku panna, et saada tervet teksti kirjeldav video.In this Bachelor’s Thesis, the main purpose is to develop a solution for automatically creating a visual representation of contextually linked series of sentences. For this purpose, an application was developed using Python that uses pre-processed text to generate a series of images pertaining to the text. This series can then be combined into a video that illustrates the content and context of the sentences

Definition of Relevant Product Market in Reference to R&D Poles in Pharmaceutical Sector Mergers

All competition analysis, including in relation to mergers, begins by defining the relevant market. In sectors where innovation plays a major role, the definition of the relevant market must also take into account the R&D efforts of the merging firms. One field in which R&D poles can be identified early on is the pharmaceutical sector. In March 2015, the European Commission released the public version of the Novartis/GlaxoSmithKline Oncology Business merger decision, which clarified the market definition process of the Commission regarding R&D poles. The aim of this thesis is to answer the question of how to define relevant product markets concerning R&D poles in pharmaceutical sector mergers. The analysis takes into account the aims of European Union Competition Law and the possible dangers which may result from different relevant product market definitions

Veetaimestiku, kalade ja metazooplanktoni mõju mikroobsele toiduahelale

In general, it was thought that all primary production is channelled through a classical grazing food web from phytoplankton to zooplankton and finally to fish. However, last decades of studies have shown that this simple idea was inadequate and misleading because approximately half of algal production can bypass the traditional food web and directly channel through a microbial loop. This loop describes a trophic pathway in a food web, where phytoplankton-derived dissolved organic matter is absorbed by heterotrophic bacteria, their production is grazed by protozooplankton, and this “dissolved organic matter-bacteria-protozoa” loop is then coupled with a classical grazing food web by metazoan grazing on protozoans. Therefore, it follows that protozoans form a trophic nexus in microbial food webs. Despite that the importance of microbial loop in food webs in water bodies is still underestimated. Most food web studies have focused on classical grazing food webs, studying interactions from fish and macrophytes to zooplankton and phytoplankton. The cascading effects of fish on whole microbial communities have been studied only rarely, and studies considering the structuring role of macrophytes in whole microbial loop organisms seem to be missing. Therefore, the present thesis focuses mainly on some of the gaps in lake food web studies mentioned above – the structuring role of macrophytes, the top-down regulation of planktivorous fish and small-sized metazooplankton on microbial communities in shallow, eutrophic water bodies. The materials of the present thesis have been collected during the years 1997-2009 from three eutrophic, shallow and large water bodies, Lake Võrtsjärv and two Härjanurme fishfarm ponds, but the bulk of the data originates from Lake Võrtsjärv. The core of the thesis emphasizes planktonic ciliates, which have been considered the central link of a microbial loop. Furthermore, with increasing primary productivity, ciliates can become the most important members of the microbial loop in eutrophic lakes. This was also the case in our study because one of the main study lakes in the present thesis (Lake Võrtsjärv) is characterized by a rich and abundant community and a high ciliate contribution to the total zooplankton biomass. As dominating species play a significant role in the functioning of aquatic ecosystems we were interested in how these highly abundant ciliated protozoans are influenced by aquatic macrophytes, which are known for their key role in structuring aquatic communities. Earlier studies in Lake Võrtsjärv have shown the strong spatial polarization of macrovegetation in relation to lake abiotics in both the west-east and north-south directions. Our study demonstrated that the strong polarization of the lake’s vegetation was also reflected in the distribution patterns of planktonic ciliate community – diverse macrophyte stands increased the diversity of ciliates but decreased their total numbers. More specifically, diverse macrophyte stands supported a rich and abundant epiplanktonic ciliate community but decreased the diversity and abundance of euplanktonic ciliate taxa. The distribution pattern of benthic ciliates was similar to that of euplanktonic taxa, being most abundant in sites where the diversity of macrophytes was low. Despite the growing number of publications on the planktonic food web structure there is still a lack of studies that consider the direct and indirect consequences of planktivorous fish feeding on whole microbial loop communities. Our studies revealed that planktivorous fish had remarkable effects on the zooplankton community. In the presence of fish, small-sized metazooplankton dominated, while in the absence of fish large forms prevailed. The shift from a small to a large metazooplankton community cascaded to the protozoan level, which in turn was a crucial link in structuring the microbial food web. However, the influence of fish feeding on metazooplankters did not cascade down as we expected. Our study demonstrated that we must also know the species composition of meta- and protozooplankton: are predaceous species present or have some species developed defensive responses against predation? Only by knowing the species composition of both meta- and protozooplankton can we predict changes in food web dynamics. Moreover, we tried to identify the main food sources of planktivorous fish in the shallow eutrophic Lake Võrtsjärv, where the zooplankton community is dominated by ciliates. Although protozoa can form an important part of the planktonic communities in eutrophic lakes, very few studies have considered direct protist consumption by fish larvae. Most of the studies have considered metazooplankters as the main food source for planktivorous fish. However, our study revealed that ciliates contributed more than half of the total carbon biomass consumed by fish larvae, whereas the metazooplankton made only a minor contribution to the total carbon biomass consumed by fish in Lake Võrtsjärv. Therefore, ciliates are a crucial food source for fish larvae, and without them the daily food requirement for larval fish would not be met in Lake Võrtsjärv. Attention was also paid to the regulating role of the small-sized metazooplankton community on microbial loop organisms, e.g. how changes in metazooplankton community structure influence the community structure and abundance of planktonic ciliates in the large shallow Lake Võrtsjärv and whether the changes cascade down to the abundance of bacteria and phytoplankton. Our study showed that in the eutrophic Lake Võrtsjärv, which is characterized by relatively small metazooplankton, the metazoans did not control ciliate abundances directly. Ciliate abundances were predominantly regulated by their own community but metazoans can influence their community structure. However, the compositional shift in the ciliate community caused by metazoans did not cascade down to the level of bacteria and edible phytoplankton.Üldiselt arvatakse, et kogu primaarproduktsioon liigub mööda klassikalist toitumisahelat fütoplanktonist zooplanktonini ja lõpuks kaladeni. Viimaste aastakümnete jooksul teostatud uuringud on aga näidanud, et taoline arusaam osutus vääraks ning eksitavaks, kuna umbkaudu pool vetikate produktsioonist võib klassikalisest toitumisahelast mööduda ning liikuda kõrgematele troofilistele tasemetele hoopiski mikroobse lingu vahendusel. Taoline ling kirjeldab seega üht võimalikku troofilist teekonda toitumisahelate võrgustikus, kus fütoplanktonilt pärit lahustunud orgaaniline aine omastatakse heterotroofsete veebakterite poolt, nemad on omakorda toiduks protozooplanktonile ja see „lahustunud orgaanilise aine – bakterid – protozooplankton“ ling seotakse seejärel uuesti klassikalise toitumisahelaga metazooplankterite toitumisel protozooplankteritest. Siit järeldub, et protozooplankterid moodustavad mikroobsetes toiduahelates troofilise keskme. Hoolimata sellest on mikroobse lingu tähtsust veekogude toitumisahelate uuringuis alahinnatud. Enamik toitumisahelate uuringuid keskenduvad klassikalisele toitumisahelale, uurides vastastikmõjusid kaladest ning suurtaimestikust kuni zoo- ja fütoplanktonini. Kalade mõju on kõigile mikroobsetele kooslustele vaid harva uuritud ning uuringuid, mis käsitlevad suurtaimestiku mõju kõigile mikroobse lingu lülidele, pole meie teada teostatud. Seega keskendub käesolev doktoritöö mõningatele ülalmainitud lünkadele toitumisahelauuringuis – veetaimestiku tähtsust elupaikade kujundajatena teistele organismirühmadele ning kalade ja väikesemõõtmeliste zooplankterite otsest ja kaudset survet mikroobsetele kooslustele madalates, eutroofsetes veekogudes. Käesoleva doktoritöö materjal on kogutud aastatel 1997-2009 kolmest eutroofsest, madalast ja suurest veekogust, Võrtsjärvest ja kahest Härjanurme kalakasvatuse tiigist, kuid peamine andmestik pärineb siiski Võrtsjärvest. Antud töös mängivad keskset rolli planktilised ripsloomad, kuna neid peetakse ühenduslüliks mikroobikoosluste ja klassikalise toiduahela erinevate tasemete vahel. Pealegi võib primaarproduktsiooni kasvades ripsloomade tähtsus veelgi kasvada ning nad võivad saada ühtedeks olulisemateks liikmeteks eutroofsete veekogude toiduahelais. Ka üht meie peamist uuringu järve (Võrtsjärv), mida on antud töös käsitletud, on iseloomustatud äärmiselt liigirikka ja arvuka ripslooma koosluse poolest ning kõrge ripsloomade panusega kogu zooplanktoni biomassi. Kuna domineerivad liigid mängivad veeökosüsteemide funktsioneerimises olulist rolli, siis huvitusime, kuidas veetaimestik koosluste kujundajana mõjutab äärmiselt arvukat ja liigirikast ripslooma kooslust. Varasemad uuringud on näidanud, et veetaimestik on oma levikult Võrtsjärves tugevalt polariseerunud nii ida-lääne kui põhja-lõuna suunas kulgevate abiootiliste näitajate gradientidest. Meie uuringutest selgus, et järve veetaimestiku polariseeritud levik peegeldus ka planktiliste ripslooma koosluste levikumustreis – taimestiku liigirohkus suurendas ripsloomade liigirikkust, kuid mõjus negatiivselt nende üldarvukusele. Liigirohke veetaimestikuga piirkonnad soodustasid liigirikka ning arvuka epiplanktilise ripsloomakoosluse arengut, kuid mõjusid pärssivalt euplanktiliste ripsloomade liigirikkusele ja arvukusele. Bentilised ripsloomad järgisid euplanktiliste ripsloomade levikumustreid olles arvukaimad piirkondades, kus veetaimestiku liigirikkus oli väike. Hoolimata sellest, et klassikalise toiduahela puhul on uuritud kalade mõju kogu planktilise toiduahela struktuurile ning taoliste publikatsioonide arv üha kasvab, pole mikroobse lingu puhul kalade otsest ja kaudset mõju kõigile mikroobikooslustele üldse hinnatud. Meie uuringud näitasid, et planktontoiduliste kalade toitumine avaldas tugevat mõju zooplanktoni koosluse struktuurile – kalade olemasolul domineerisid väikesemõõtmelised zooplankterid ning nende puudumisel suuremõõtmelised vormid. Zooplanktoni strukturaalses koosseisus aset leidnud nihe, suuremõõtmeliste zooplankterite koosluse asendumine väikesemõõtmeliste zooplankteritega, kutsus esile muutusi ka protozooplanktonis, kusjuures viimast peetakse omakorda oluliseks lüliks mikroobikoosluste kujundamisel. Hoolimata sellest, et kalade toitumissurve oli metazooplanktonile suur, ei avaldanud see protozooplanktoni kooslusele sellist mõju nagu me algselt eeldasime. Meie tulemused näitasid, et taoliste toiduahela uuringute läbiviimisel on väga oluline uurida mitte ainult meta- ja protozooplanktoni arvukust ja biomassi, vaid ka nende liigilist koosseisu – kas koosluses leidub röövtoidulisi liike või kas mõnedel liikidel on välja arenenud ärasöömist takistavad kaitsemehhanismid? Liigilisele koosseisule pilku heitmata on raske ette ennustada toiduahela dünaamikas asetleidvaid muutusi. Lisaks uuriti, mis on planktontoiduliste kalade peamiseks toiduallikaks madalas ja eutroofses Võrtsjärves, kus zooplanktonis domineerivad planktilised ripsloomad. Olgugi, et protozooplanktoni tähtsus eutroofsete järvede planktonikooslustes võib kasvada, puudub info suuresti selle kohta kas planktontoidulised kalad toituvad lisaks metazooplanktonile ka protozooplanktonist. Enamik toitumisuuringuid näitavad, et just metazooplankterid ja mitte protozooplankterid on kaladele peamiseks toiduallikaks. Siiski näitasid meie uuringud, et ripsloomad moodustasid Võrtsjärves rohkem kui poole kalavastsete toidus leiduvast süsiniku biomassist, kusjuures metazooplanktoni panus toiduks tarbitavasse süsiniku biomassi oli väike. Seega on ripsloomad oluliseks toiduallikaks planktontoidulistele kalavastsetele ja ilma neist toitumata jäävad nad Võrtsjärves nälga. Uuriti eraldi ka väikesemõõtmelise metazooplanktoni koosluse mõju mikroobsele lingule, täpsemalt seda, kuidas muutused metazooplanktoni koosluse struktuuris mõjutavad ripsloomade koosluse struktuuri ja arvukust suures ja madalas eutroofses Võrtsjärves ning kas muutused metazooplanktoni koosluses mõjutavad ka füto- ja bakterplanktoni arvukust? Meie tulemused näitasid, et hoolimata sellest, et eutroofsele Võrtsjärvele on iseloomulikud väikesemõõtmelised metazooplankterid, mis võiksid pärssida ripsloomade arengut, ei leitud, et metazooplankterid kontrolliksid Võrtsjärves nende arvukust. Ripsloomade arvukus sõltus eelkõige nende endi koosluse koosseisust, ning olenemata sellest, et metazooplankterid ei kontrollinud otseselt nende arvukust, suutsid nad oluliselt mõjutada nende koosluse struktuuri. Hoolimata sellest, et ripsloomade koosluse struktuuris leidsid aset suured muutused ei avaldanud see olulist mõju madalamatele tasemetele – bakteritele ja söödavatele fütoplankteritele

A practical visionary : Mary Emma Woolley and the education of women.

This dissertation is a study of the professional life and, to a lesser extent, the personal life of Mary Emma Woolley (1863-1947), an American educator, feminist, social reformer, peace activist, and religious leader. As one of a handful of women presidents of elite women\u27s colleges, Woolley created a unique style of leadership while she worked with others to establish unifying organizations to support the further development of women\u27s opportunities. This narrative biography focuses on Woolley\u27s intellectual and professional roots, training, and achievements. After a theoretical introductory chapter, the next four chapters study the years during which Woolley developed skills, a philosophy, and personal style that reflected the ideas, mentors, opportunities, and challenges that she encountered. Chapters six through nine are organized around four major challenges that faced Woolley as President of Mount Holyoke College. These included the challenge to advocate successfully for the higher education of women, to bring Mount Holyoke to equal status with other elite women\u27s colleges, to inculcate students with a lasting sense of their social responsibility as educated women, and to create a fulfilling personal life for herself. Woolley\u27s professional life paralleled significant gains made by women in education and the professions. However, by the end of her career, women experienced significant losses both in opportunity and status. The final chapter of the study documents the controversy over Woolley\u27s presidential succession which ended in her replacement by a man. The study concludes that Woolley\u27s exemplary leadership demonstrated what it was possible to achieve in a single-sex institution. Woolley and women like her in positions of leadership were able to transform single-sex women\u27s colleges into institutions where professional women could achieve and students could receive both high-quality education and full exposure to the world beyond the colleges. Woolley herself used the college as a platform from which she influenced a much wider audience through her speeches and articles. However, Mount Holyoke\u27s loss of female leadership in 1937 was a casualty of a generalized loss of female leadership opportunities

Astrocytes as a Source for Extracellular Matrix Molecules and Cytokines

Research of the past 25 years has shown that astrocytes do more than participating and building up the blood-brain barrier and detoxify the active synapse by reuptake of neurotransmitters and ions. Indeed, astrocytes express neurotransmitter receptors and, as a consequence, respond to stimuli. Within the tripartite synapse, the astrocytes owe more and more importance. Besides the functional aspects the differentiation of astrocytes has gained a more intensive focus. Deeper knowledge of the differentiation processes during development of the central nervous system might help explaining and even help treating neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinsons disease, and psychiatric disorders in which astrocytes have been shown to play a role. Specific differentiation of neural stem cells toward the astroglial lineage is performed as a multi-step process. Astrocytes and oligodendrocytes develop from a multipotent stem cell that prior to this has produced primarily neuronal precursor cells. This switch toward the more astroglial differentiation is regulated by a change in receptor composition on the cell surface and responsiveness to Fibroblast growth factor and Epidermal growth factor (EGF). The glial precursor cell is driven into the astroglial direction by signaling molecules like Ciliary neurotrophic factor, Bone Morphogenetic Proteins, and EGF. However, the early astrocytes influence their environment not only by releasing and responding to diverse soluble factors but also express a wide range of extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules, in particular proteoglycans of the lectican family and tenascins. Lately these ECM molecules have been shown to participate in glial development. In this regard, especially the matrix protein Tenascin C (Tnc) proved to be an important regulator of astrocyte precursor cell proliferation and migration during spinal cord development. Nevertheless, ECM molecules expressed by reactive astrocytes are also known to act mostly in an inhibitory fashion under pathophysiological conditions. Thus, we further summarize resent data concerning the role of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans and Tnc under pathological conditions