On Quantum Algorithms

Quantum computers use the quantum interference of different computational paths to enhance correct outcomes and suppress erroneous outcomes of computations. In effect, they follow the same logical paradigm as (multi-particle) interferometers. We show how most known quantum algorithms, including quantum algorithms for factorising and counting, may be cast in this manner. Quantum searching is described as inducing a desired relative phase between two eigenvectors to yield constructive interference on the sought elements and destructive interference on the remaining terms.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Learning approaches used by students in an undergraduate emergency medical care programme

Background. Students may primarily use either a deep learning approach (DLA) or surface learning approach (SLA) in response to their perceptions of the intrinsic and extrinsic factors within a given  learning environment. By determining the learning approaches of students, one can provide important information on how they learn within an educational programme – information that can be used for various applications with regard to future structure and presentation of programme content.Objectives. To determine which learning approaches (DLA or SLA) were being used by students in the Bachelor of Emergency Medical Care programme at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, in each academic year of study. Further objectives were to determine which intrinsic and extrinsic factors  influenced these choices and to assess whether learning approaches differed significantly between  academic years of study.Methods. This study was conducted using a quantitative design and a validated 20-question survey  instrument. Data analysis was primarily descriptive, but also focused on whether there was a significant difference in learning approaches between the four years of study.Results. Seventy students participated in the study, giving an overall response rate of 85%. Results showed that most students predominantly used a DLA, and that there was no significant difference between the four academic years of study with regard to the predominant learning approach. More students appeared to be influenced to use a DLA by extrinsic factors than intrinsic factors.Conclusion. Further research is needed to determine why students choose SLAs or DLAs, and the  influence of the educational environment on this process

Consumer Awareness of the Degree of Industrial Food Processing and the Association with Healthiness—A Pilot Study

Consumption of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) has been associated with lower diet quality, obesity, and adverse health effects. Not much is known about how consumers evaluate the degree of processing of a food product and how they relate this to healthiness. An online questionnaire was completed by a total of 277 Dutch, 204 Italian, and 181 Brazilian consumers. Consumers were aged 18–65 year, mean 38 ± 13 year, 31% were males, and 71% were highly educated. Pictures of several common food products were evaluated on the degree of industrial processing and healthiness. Thirteen food categories were included, each including one minimally processed food (MPF), one High NS_UPF (Nutri-Score A or B), and one Low NS_UPF (Nutri-Score D or E). Lastly, knowledge and attitude about UPFs were assessed. Ultraprocessing was perceived as unhealthy by the majority of consumers (Dutch, Italian: 55%; Brazilian: 75%) and contributed to weight gain according to: 38% Dutch, 51% Italian, and 70% Brazilian consumers. Low NS_UPFs were correctly rated toward “processed” and “not healthy” in all countries. High NS_UPF were rated as processed but showed large variations in healthiness scores. In conclusion, consumers rated UPFs relatively low in healthiness compared with MPFs with similar Nutri-Scores within the same food category. These preliminary findings suggest that consumers incorporate, to some extent, the degree of industrial processing while assessing the healthiness of food products

Easy resolution of severe obstructive kidney injury

Chronic constipation is a common diagnosis with a high prevalence in the elderly. Constipation affects the quality of life of sick individuals, bringing several clinical complications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Eosinophilic fasciitis: an atypical presentation of a rare disease

Eosinophilic fasciitis, or Shulman's disease, is a rare disease of unknown etiology. It is characterized by peripheral eosinophilia, hypergammaglobulinemia, and high erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The diagnosis is confirmed by a deep biopsy of the skin. The first line of treatment is corticotherapy. We present a rare case of eosinophilic fasciitis in a 27-year-old woman with an atypical presentation with symmetrical peripheral edema and a Groove sign. The patient responded well to treatment with corticosteroids at high doses and, in this context, was associated with hydroxychloroquine and azathioprine. After two and a half years, peripheral eosinophilia had increased, and more of her skin had hardened. At that time, the therapy was modified to include corticoids, methotrexate, and penicillamine. It is of great importance to publicize these cases that allow us to gather experience and better treat our patients.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

On the robustness of bucket brigade quantum RAM

We study the robustness of the bucket brigade quantum random access memory model introduced by Giovannetti, Lloyd, and Maccone [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 160501 (2008)]. Due to a result of Regev and Schiff [ICALP '08 pp. 773], we show that for a class of error models the error rate per gate in the bucket brigade quantum memory has to be of order $o(2^{-n/2})$ (where $N=2^n$ is the size of the memory) whenever the memory is used as an oracle for the quantum searching problem. We conjecture that this is the case for any realistic error model that will be encountered in practice, and that for algorithms with super-polynomially many oracle queries the error rate must be super-polynomially small, which further motivates the need for quantum error correction. By contrast, for algorithms such as matrix inversion [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 150502 (2009)] or quantum machine learning [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 130503 (2014)] that only require a polynomial number of queries, the error rate only needs to be polynomially small and quantum error correction may not be required. We introduce a circuit model for the quantum bucket brigade architecture and argue that quantum error correction for the circuit causes the quantum bucket brigade architecture to lose its primary advantage of a small number of "active" gates, since all components have to be actively error corrected.Comment: Replaced with the published version. 13 pages, 9 figure

Develop a Chesapeake Bay-wide Young-of-the-Year Striped Bass Index : Final report to the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee (CBSAC)

The objective of this study has been to develop a proportionally weighted Baywide young-of-the-year Chesapeake Bay striped bass index which incorporates data from all major nursery areas of the Chesapeake Bay. In doing so three approaches were used. The first entailed simple computation of both arithmetic and geometric indices. These were computed for historical continuity. The second approach involved a weighting by the commercial landings from each river during the spawning seasons from 1973-1981. The third approach used the area of the spawning grounds and distance of shoreline adjacent to the nursery grounds. Finally, an effort at validation was made using Maryland and Virginia fishery-independent CPUE of three-year old fish

Optimal quantum circuits for general phase estimation

We address the problem of estimating the phase phi given N copies of the phase rotation gate u(phi). We consider, for the first time, the optimization of the general case where the circuit consists of an arbitrary input state, followed by any arrangement of the N phase rotations interspersed with arbitrary quantum operations, and ending with a POVM. Using the polynomial method, we show that, in all cases where the measure of quality of the estimate phi' for phi depends only on the difference phi'-phi, the optimal scheme has a very simple fixed form. This implies that an optimal general phase estimation procedure can be found by just optimizing the amplitudes of the initial state.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure