The geometry of quantum learning

Concept learning provides a natural framework in which to place the problems solved by the quantum algorithms of Bernstein-Vazirani and Grover. By combining the tools used in these algorithms--quantum fast transforms and amplitude amplification--with a novel (in this context) tool--a solution method for geometrical optimization problems--we derive a general technique for quantum concept learning. We name this technique "Amplified Impatient Learning" and apply it to construct quantum algorithms solving two new problems: BATTLESHIP and MAJORITY, more efficiently than is possible classically.Comment: 20 pages, plain TeX with amssym.tex, related work at http://www.math.uga.edu/~hunziker/ and http://math.ucsd.edu/~dmeyer

U.S./EURATOM INERI - Development of Inert Matrix Fuels for Plutonium and Minor Actinide Management in LWRs -- Fuel Requirements and Down-Select Report

This report documents the first milestone of the International Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (INERI) U.S./Canada Joint Proposal entitled “Development of Inert Matrix Fuels for Plutonium and Minor Actinide Management in Power Reactors.” The milestone represents the assessment and preliminary study of a variety of fuels that hold promise as transmutation and minor actinide burning fuel compositions for light water reactors. The most promising fuels of interest to the participants on this INERI program have been selected for further study. These fuel compositions are discussed in this report

AECL/U.S. INERI - Development of Inert Matrix Fuels for Plutonium and Minor Actinide Management in Power Reactors Fuel Requirements and Down-Select Report

This report documents the first milestone of the International Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (INERI) U.S./Euratom Joint Proposal 1.8 entitled “Development of Inert Matrix Fuels for Plutonium and Minor Actinide Management in Light-Water Reactors.” The milestone represents the assessment and preliminary study of a variety of fuels that hold promise as transmutation and minor actinide burning fuel compositions for light-water reactors. The most promising fuels of interest to the participants on this INERI program have been selected for further study. These fuel compositions are discussed in this report

AECL/US INERI - Development of Inert Matrix Fuels for Plutonium and Minor Actinide Management in Power Reactors -- Fuel Requirements and Down-Select Report

The U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Program and the Atomic Energy Canada Ltd (AECL) seek to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to minimize the overall Pu and minor actinides present in the light water reactor (LWR) nuclear fuel cycles. It is proposed to reuse the Pu from LWR spent fuel both for the energy it contains and to decrease the hazard and proliferation impact resulting from storage of the Pu and minor actinides. The use of fuel compositions with a combination of U and Pu oxide (MOX) has been proposed as a way to recycle Pu and/or minor actinides in LWRs. It has also been proposed to replace the fertile U{sup 238} matrix of MOX with a fertile-free matrix (IMF) to reduce the production of Pu{sup 239} in the fuel system. It is important to demonstrate the performance of these fuels with the appropriate mixture of isotopes and determine what impact there might be from trace elements or contaminants. Previous work has already been done to look at weapons-grade (WG) Pu in the MOX configuration [1][2] and the reactor-grade (RG) Pu in a MOX configuration including small (4000 ppm additions of Neptunium). This program will add to the existing database by developing a wide variety of MOX fuel compositions along with new fuel compositions called inert-matrix fuel (IMF). The goal of this program is to determine the general fabrication and irradiation behavior of the proposed IMF fuel compositions. Successful performance of these compositions will lead to further selection and development of IMF for use in LWRs. This experiment will also test various inert matrix material compositions with and without quantities of the minor actinides Americium and Neptunium to determine feasibility of incorporation into the fuel matrices for destruction. There is interest in the U.S. and world-wide in the investigation of IMF (inert matrix fuels) for scenarios involving stabilization or burn down of plutonium in the fleet of existing commercial power reactors. IMF offer the potential advantage for more efficient destruction of plutonium and minor actinides (MA) relative to MOX fuel. Greater efficiency in plutonium reduction results in greater flexibility in managing plutonium inventories and in developing strategies for disposition of MA, as well as a potential for fuel cycle cost savings. Because fabrication of plutonium-bearing (and MA-bearing) fuel is expensive relative to UO{sub 2} in terms of both capital and production, cost benefit can be realized through a reduction in the number of plutonium-bearing elements required for a given burn rate. In addition, the choice of matrix material may be manipulated either to facilitate fuel recycling or to make plutonium recovery extremely difficult. In addition to plutonium/actinide management, an inert matrix fuel having high thermal conductivity may have operational and safety benefits; lower fuel temperatures could be used to increase operating and safety margins, uprate reactor power, or a combination of both. The CANDU reactor offers flexibility in plutonium management and MA burning by virtue of online refueling, a simple bundle design, and good neutron economy. A full core of inert matrix fuel containing either plutonium or a plutonium-actinide mix can be utilized, with plutonium destruction efficiencies greater than 90%, and high (>60%) actinide destruction efficiencies. The Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR) could allow additional possibilities in the design of an IMF bundle, since the tighter lattice pitch and light-water coolant reduce or eliminate the need to suppress coolant void reactivity, allowing the center region of the bundle to include additional fissile material and to improve actinide burning. The ACR would provide flexibility for management of plutonium and MA from the existing LWR fleet, and would be complementary to the AFCI program in the U.S. Many of the fundamental principles concerning the use of IMF are nearly identical in LWRs and the ACR, including fuel/coolant compatibility, fuel fabrication, and fuel irradiation behavior. In addition, the U.S. and Canada both have interest in development of Generation IV SCWR (supercritical water reactor) technology, to which this fuel type would be applicable for plutonium and MA management. An inert matrix fuel with high thermal conductivity would be particularly beneficial to any SCWR concept. Given these similarities, it is proposed that a joint project be conducted within the framework of a U.S.-Canada INERI project on IMF. This report will present analysis of the inert matrix fuel compositions of interest for application to US and Canadian light water reactor fuel cycles, report on the development of fabrication procedures for these compositions, and provide an overview of the test and demonstration plan for these fuel systems

The politics and aesthetics of commemoration: national days in southern Africa

The contributions to the special section in this issue study recent independence celebrations and other national days in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They explore the role of national days in state-making and nation-building, and examine the performativity of nationalism and the role of performances in national festivities. Placing the case studies in a broader, comparative perspective, the introduction first discusses the role of the state in national celebrations, highlighting three themes: firstly, the political power-play and contested politics of memory involved in the creation of a country’s festive calendar; secondly, the relationship between state control of national days and civic or popular participation or contestation; and thirdly, the complex relationship between regional and ethnic loyalties and national identifications. It then turns to the role of performance and aesthetics in the making of nations in general, and in national celebrations in particular. Finally, we look at the different formats and meanings of national days in the region and address the question whether there is anything specific about national days in southern Africa as compared to other parts of the continent or national celebrations world-wide.Web of Scienc

The human capital transition and the role of policy

Along with information and communication technology, infrastructure, and the innovation system, human capital is a key pillar of the knowledge economy with its scope for increasing returns. With this in mind, the purpose of this chapter is to investigate how industrialized economies managed to achieve the transition from low to high levels of human capital. The first phase of the human capital transition was the result of the interaction of supply and demand, triggered by technological change and boosted by the demands for (immaterial) services. The second phase of the human capital transition (i.e., mass education) resulted from enforced legislation and major public investment. The state’s aim to influence children’s beliefs appears to have been a key driver in public investment. Nevertheless, the roles governments played differed according to the developmental status and inherent socioeconomic and political characteristics of their countries. These features of the human capital transition highlight the importance of understanding governments’ incentives and roles in transitions

EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA); Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for protein

This opinion of the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) deals with the setting of Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) for protein. The Panel concludes that a Population Reference Intake (PRI) can be derived from nitrogen balance studies. Several health outcomes possibly associated with protein intake were also considered but data were found to be insufficient to establish DRVs. For healthy adults of both sexes, the average requirement (AR) is 0.66 g protein/kg body weight per day based on nitrogen balance data. Considering the 97.5th percentile of the distribution of the requirement and assuming an efficiency of utilisation of dietary protein for maintenance of 47 %, the PRI for adults of all ages was estimated to be 0.83 g protein/kg body weight per day and is applicable both to high quality protein and to protein in mixed diets. For children from six months onwards, age-dependent requirements for growth estimated from average daily rates of protein deposition and adjusted by a protein efficiency for growth of 58 % were added to the requirement for maintenance of 0.66 g/kg body weight per day. The PRI was estimated based on the average requirement plus 1.96 SD using a combined SD for growth and maintenance.For pregnancy, an intake of 1, 9 and 28 g/d in the first, second and third trimesters, respectively, is proposed in addition to the PRI for non-pregnant women. For lactation, a protein intake of 19 g/d during the first six months, and of 13 g/d after six months, is proposed in addition to the PRI for non-lactating women. Data are insufficient to establish a Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for protein. Intakes up to twice the PRI are regularly consumed from mixed diets by some physically active and healthy adults in Europe and are considered safe

ISSN exercise & sport nutrition review: research & recommendations

Sports nutrition is a constantly evolving field with hundreds of research papers published annually. For this reason, keeping up to date with the literature is often difficult. This paper is a five year update of the sports nutrition review article published as the lead paper to launch the JISSN in 2004 and presents a well-referenced overview of the current state of the science related to how to optimize training and athletic performance through nutrition. More specifically, this paper provides an overview of: 1.) The definitional category of ergogenic aids and dietary supplements; 2.) How dietary supplements are legally regulated; 3.) How to evaluate the scientific merit of nutritional supplements; 4.) General nutritional strategies to optimize performance and enhance recovery; and, 5.) An overview of our current understanding of the ergogenic value of nutrition and dietary supplementation in regards to weight gain, weight loss, and performance enhancement. Our hope is that ISSN members and individuals interested in sports nutrition find this review useful in their daily practice and consultation with their clients

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data