140 research outputs found
Serial composition of quantum coin-flipping, and bounds on cheat detection for bit-commitment
Quantum protocols for coin-flipping can be composed in series in such a way
that a cheating party gains no extra advantage from using entanglement between
different rounds. This composition principle applies to coin-flipping protocols
with cheat sensitivity as well, and is used to derive two results: There are no
quantum strong coin-flipping protocols with cheat sensitivity that is linear in
the bias (or bit-commitment protocols with linear cheat detection) because
these can be composed to produce strong coin-flipping with arbitrarily small
bias. On the other hand, it appears that quadratic cheat detection cannot be
composed in series to obtain even weak coin-flipping with arbitrarily small
bias.Comment: 7 pages, REVTeX 4 (minor corrections in v2
Dilemma that cannot be resolved by biased quantum coin flipping
We show that a biased quantum coin flip (QCF) cannot provide the performance
of a black-boxed biased coin flip, if it satisfies some fidelity conditions.
Although such a QCF satisfies the security conditions of a biased coin flip, it
does not realize the ideal functionality, and therefore, does not fulfill the
demands for universally composable security. Moreover, through a comparison
within a small restricted bias range, we show that an arbitrary QCF is
distinguishable from a black-boxed coin flip unless it is unbiased on both
sides of parties against insensitive cheating. We also point out the difficulty
in developing cheat-sensitive quantum bit commitment in terms of the
uncomposability of a QCF.Comment: 5 pages and 1 figure. Accepted versio
Tight bounds for classical and quantum coin flipping
Coin flipping is a cryptographic primitive for which strictly better
protocols exist if the players are not only allowed to exchange classical, but
also quantum messages. During the past few years, several results have appeared
which give a tight bound on the range of implementable unconditionally secure
coin flips, both in the classical as well as in the quantum setting and for
both weak as well as strong coin flipping. But the picture is still incomplete:
in the quantum setting, all results consider only protocols with perfect
correctness, and in the classical setting tight bounds for strong coin flipping
are still missing. We give a general definition of coin flipping which unifies
the notion of strong and weak coin flipping (it contains both of them as
special cases) and allows the honest players to abort with a certain
probability. We give tight bounds on the achievable range of parameters both in
the classical and in the quantum setting.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; v2: published versio
Experimental quantum tossing of a single coin
The cryptographic protocol of coin tossing consists of two parties, Alice and
Bob, that do not trust each other, but want to generate a random bit. If the
parties use a classical communication channel and have unlimited computational
resources, one of them can always cheat perfectly. Here we analyze in detail
how the performance of a quantum coin tossing experiment should be compared to
classical protocols, taking into account the inevitable experimental
imperfections. We then report an all-optical fiber experiment in which a single
coin is tossed whose randomness is higher than achievable by any classical
protocol and present some easily realisable cheating strategies by Alice and
Bob.Comment: 13 page
Secure certification of mixed quantum states with application to two-party randomness generation
We investigate sampling procedures that certify that an arbitrary quantum
state on subsystems is close to an ideal mixed state
for a given reference state , up to errors on a few positions. This
task makes no sense classically: it would correspond to certifying that a given
bitstring was generated according to some desired probability distribution.
However, in the quantum case, this is possible if one has access to a prover
who can supply a purification of the mixed state.
In this work, we introduce the concept of mixed-state certification, and we
show that a natural sampling protocol offers secure certification in the
presence of a possibly dishonest prover: if the verifier accepts then he can be
almost certain that the state in question has been correctly prepared, up to a
small number of errors.
We then apply this result to two-party quantum coin-tossing. Given that
strong coin tossing is impossible, it is natural to ask "how close can we get".
This question has been well studied and is nowadays well understood from the
perspective of the bias of individual coin tosses. We approach and answer this
question from a different---and somewhat orthogonal---perspective, where we do
not look at individual coin tosses but at the global entropy instead. We show
how two distrusting parties can produce a common high-entropy source, where the
entropy is an arbitrarily small fraction below the maximum (except with
negligible probability)
Kitaev's quantum double model from a local quantum physics point of view
A prominent example of a topologically ordered system is Kitaev's quantum
double model for finite groups (which in particular
includes , the toric code). We will look at these models from
the point of view of local quantum physics. In particular, we will review how
in the abelian case, one can do a Doplicher-Haag-Roberts analysis to study the
different superselection sectors of the model. In this way one finds that the
charges are in one-to-one correspondence with the representations of
, and that they are in fact anyons. Interchanging two of such
anyons gives a non-trivial phase, not just a possible sign change. The case of
non-abelian groups is more complicated. We outline how one could use
amplimorphisms, that is, morphisms to study the superselection
structure in that case. Finally, we give a brief overview of applications of
topologically ordered systems to the field of quantum computation.Comment: Chapter contributed to R. Brunetti, C. Dappiaggi, K. Fredenhagen, J.
Yngvason (eds), Advances in Algebraic Quantum Field Theory (Springer 2015).
Mainly revie
Assessment of reproducibility of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization - Time of flight mass spectrometry for bacterial and yeast identification
Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) has revolutionized the identification of clinical bacterial and yeast isolates. However, data describing the reproducibility of MALDI-TOF MS for microbial identification are scarce. In this study, we show that MALDI-TOF MS-based microbial identification is highly reproducible and can tolerate numerous variables, including differences in testing environments, instruments, operators, reagent lots, and sample positioning patterns. Finally, we reveal that samples of bacterial and yeast isolates prepared for MALDI-TOF MS identification can be repeatedly analyzed without compromising organism identification
Cost-Utility Analysis of a Medication Review with Follow-Up Service for Older Adults with Polypharmacy in Community Pharmacies in Spain: The conSIGUE Program
© 2015, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. Background: The concept of pharmaceutical care is operationalized through pharmaceutical professional services, which are patient-oriented to optimize their pharmacotherapy and to improve clinical outcomes. Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of a medication review with follow-up (MRF) service for older adults with polypharmacy in Spanish community pharmacies against the alternative of having their medication dispensed normally. Methods: The study was designed as a cluster randomized controlled trial, and was carried out over a time horizon of 6 months. The target population was older adults with polypharmacy, defined as individuals taking five or more medicines per day. The study was conducted in 178 community pharmacies in Spain. Cost-utility analysis adopted a health service perspective. Costs were in euros at 2014 prices and the effectiveness of the intervention was estimated as quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). In order to analyze the uncertainty of ICER results, we performed a non-parametric bootstrapping with 5000 replications. Results: A total of 1403 older adults, aged between 65 and 94 years, were enrolled in the study: 688 in the intervention group (IG) and 715 in the control group (CG). By the end of the follow-up, both groups had reduced the mean number of prescribed medications they took, although this reduction was greater in the IG (0.28 ± 1.25 drugs; p < 0.001) than in the CG (0.07 ± 0.95 drugs; p = 0.063). Older adults in the IG saw their quality of life improved by 0.0528 ± 0.20 (p < 0.001). In contrast, the CG experienced a slight reduction in their quality of life: 0.0022 ± 0.24 (p = 0.815). The mean total cost was €977.57 ± 1455.88 for the IG and €1173.44 ± 3671.65 for the CG. In order to estimate the ICER, we used the costs adjusted for baseline medications and QALYs adjusted for baseline utility score, resulting in a mean incremental total cost of −€250.51 ± 148.61 (95 % CI −541.79 to 40.76) and a mean incremental QALY of 0.0156 ± 0.004 (95 % CI 0.008–0.023). Regarding the results from the cost-utility analysis, the MRF service emerged as the dominant strategy. Conclusion: The MRF service is an effective intervention for optimizing prescribed medication and improving quality of life in older adults with polypharmacy in community pharmacies. The results from the cost-utility analysis suggest that the MRF service is cost effective
Multicenter study evaluating the Vitek MS system for identification of medically important yeasts
The optimal management of fungal infections is correlated with timely organism identification. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) is revolutionizing the identification of yeasts isolated from clinical specimens. We present a multicenter study assessing the performance of the Vitek MS system (bioMérieux) in identifying medically important yeasts. A collection of 852 isolates was tested, including 20 Candida species (626 isolates, including 58 C. albicans, 62 C. glabrata, and 53 C. krusei isolates), 35 Cryptococcus neoformans isolates, and 191 other clinically relevant yeast isolates; in total, 31 different species were evaluated. Isolates were directly applied to a target plate, followed by a formic acid overlay. Mass spectra were acquired using the Vitek MS system and were analyzed using the Vitek MS v2.0 database. The gold standard for identification was sequence analysis of the D2 region of the 26S rRNA gene. In total, 823 isolates (96.6%) were identified to the genus level and 819 isolates (96.1%) were identified to the species level. Twenty-four isolates (2.8%) were not identified, and five isolates (0.6%) were misidentified. Misidentified isolates included one isolate of C. albicans (n = 58) identified as Candida dubliniensis, one isolate of Candida parapsilosis (n = 73) identified as Candida pelliculosa, and three isolates of Geotrichum klebahnii (n = 6) identified as Geotrichum candidum. The identification of clinically relevant yeasts using MS is superior to the phenotypic identification systems currently employed in clinical microbiology laboratories
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