Quantum circuits of CNOT gates

We study in detail the algebraic structures underlying quantum circuits generated by CNOT gates. Our results allow us to propose polynomial-time heuristics to reduce the number of gates used in a given CNOT circuit and we also give algorithms to optimize this type of circuits in some particular cases. Finally we show how to create some usefull entangled states when a CNOT circuit acts on a fully factorized state.Comment: 40 pages, 19 figure

Comment être musicien ? Figures professionnelles des musiciens ordinaires en France et en Suisse

Aux avant-gardes des métamorphoses contemporaines des mondes du travail, les professions artistiques sont souvent réduites à un ensemble de traits distinctifs qui permettent de situer leur originalité par rapport au travail salarié traditionnel – mais qui tendent à masquer la segmentation interne de ces espaces professionnels et la variabilité de leur structuration d’un contexte national à l’autre. Dans l’objectif de montrer comment les « professions créatives » n’échappent pas aux rapports de forces matériels et symboliques qui structurent l’ensemble des mondes du travail, cet article montre comment la variabilité des contextes nationaux détermine le contenu du métier des « musiciens ordinaires », ces individus ni riches ni célèbres exerçant principalement dans le domaine des « musiques actuelles ». Le rapport à la formation musicale, à la scène ou à l'activité d'enseignement, mais aussi les statuts d'emploi possibles pour les musiciens de part et d'autre de la frontière sont analysés pour faire apparaître différentes façons d’« être musicien », y compris à l'intérieur de chaque espace national. L’analyse des caractéristiques sociales des musiciens montre également que les différentes manières de pratiquer et de vivre le métier de musicien sont largement informées par le genre et les formes de capital symbolique dont sont porteurs les individus

Back to work !

Le présent dossier fait suite à la tenue du colloque international Working in Music à Lausanne en 2018, lui-même venant après un premier congrès sur le même thème à Glasgow en 2016. Le colloque de Lausanne a été l’occasion de lancer officiellement le réseau de recherche international Working in Music qui regroupe aujourd’hui des dizaines de collègues sur les cinq continents et – avant que la pandémie mondiale de COVID-19 ne se déclare – devait se réunir à nouveau à Turku, Finlande, en avril 2..

Gesundheitspolitik, Wettbewerb und Gesundheitssystemforschung

In dem vorliegenden dritten Band der Reihe „DIBOGS-Beiträge zur Gesundheitsökonomie und Sozialpolitik“ wird ein breites Spektrum an gesundheitsökonomischen und gesundheitspolitischen Themen diskutiert und der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt. Die Beiträge sollen tiefer gehende fachwissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen an anderer Stelle nicht ersetzen, sondern vielmehr auf diese „Appetit machen“ und inhaltlich Hilfestellung für weitere, umsetzungsbezogene Aufgaben geben. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf den theoretischen und ökonometrischen Ergebnissen der aktuellen Gesundheitsforschung. Die Überlegungen analysieren zentral den bestehenden Ordnungsrahmen in Deutschland und beleuchten neue Trends und Entwicklungen in Deutschland sowie in Gesundheitssystemen weltweit.Weitere Autoren: Stephen Morris, Andreas Schmid, Leonie Sundmacher, Torsten Steinrücken, Nadine Wiese und Jürgen Zert

Controlled Comparison of Milnacipran and Fluoxetine in Major Depression

The efficacy and the tolerance of milnacipran (100 mg/day), a second generation antidepressant which equipotently inhibits both noradrenaline and serotonin reuptake, was compared to fluoxetine (20 mg/day), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, in two parallel groups of, respectively, 97 and 93 major depressive outpatients. The duration of the study was 6 weeks, with assessments every 2 weeks by means of the Montgomery and Asberg depression scale (MADRS), the Hamilton depression scale, the clinical global impressions (CGI), and a checklist of symptoms and side-effects. Results showed significant superiority of fluoxetine over milnacipran on most rating instruments: MADRS (P = 0.01) including five individual items, Hamilton depression scale (P = 0.002) including ten individual items, CGI of severity (P = 0.01) and therapeutical index (P = 0.002). On visual analogue scales assessing the clinical profile of the compounds, fluoxetine was rated as exhibiting more psychostimulating activity than milnacipran (P = 0.0008). The tolerance of the two antidepressants was very similar, with the exception of symptoms of dizziness which were more frequently reported with milnacipran (P = 0.01). These differences in efficacy favoring fluoxetine could result from the selection of a dose of milnacipran below the optimal therapeutic dose for this type of psychiatric patients or to the administration of the compounds in single daily intakes, whereas milnacipran possesses a plasma elimination half-life of only 7 h.Peer reviewe

Toxic effect and inability of L-homoserine to be a nitrogen source for growth of Escherichia coli resolved by a combination of in vivo evolution engineering and omics analyses

L-homoserine is a pivotal intermediate in the carbon and nitrogen metabolism of E. coli. However, this non-canonical amino acid cannot be used as a nitrogen source for growth. Furthermore, growth of this bacterium in a synthetic media is potently inhibited by L-homoserine. To understand this dual effect, an adapted laboratory evolution (ALE) was applied, which allowed the isolation of a strain able to grow with L-homoserine as the nitrogen source and was, at the same time, desensitized to growth inhibition by this amino acid. Sequencing of this evolved strain identified only four genomic modifications, including a 49 bp truncation starting from the stop codon of thrL. This mutation resulted in a modified thrL locus carrying a thrL* allele encoding a polypeptide 9 amino acids longer than the thrL encoded leader peptide. Remarkably, the replacement of thrL with thrL* in the original strain MG1655 alleviated L-homoserine inhibition to the same extent as strain 4E, but did not allow growth with this amino acid as a nitrogen source. The loss of L-homoserine toxic effect could be explained by the rapid conversion of L-homoserine into threonine via the thrL*-dependent transcriptional activation of the threonine operon thrABC. On the other hand, the growth of E. coli on a mineral medium with L-homoserine required an activation of the threonine degradation pathway II and glycine cleavage system, resulting in the release of ammonium ions that were likely recaptured by NAD(P)-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase. To infer about the direct molecular targets of L-homoserine toxicity, a transcriptomic analysis of wild-type MG1655 in the presence of 10 mM L-homoserine was performed, which notably identified a potent repression of locomotion-motility-chemotaxis process and of branched-chain amino acids synthesis. Since the magnitude of these effects was lower in a ΔthrL mutant, concomitant with a twofold lower sensitivity of this mutant to L-homoserine, it could be argued that growth inhibition by L-homoserine is due to the repression of these biological processes. In addition, L-homoserine induced a strong upregulation of genes in the sulfate reductive assimilation pathway, including those encoding its transport. How this non-canonical amino acid triggers these transcriptomic changes is discussed