Quantum Google in a Complex Network

We investigate the behavior of the recently proposed quantum Google algorithm, or quantum PageRank, in large complex networks. Applying the quantum algorithm to a part of the real World Wide Web, we find that the algorithm is able to univocally reveal the underlying scale-free topology of the network and to clearly identify and order the most relevant nodes (hubs) of the graph according to their importance in the network structure. Moreover, our results show that the quantum PageRank algorithm generically leads to changes in the hierarchy of nodes. In addition, as compared to its classical counterpart, the quantum algorithm is capable to clearly highlight the structure of secondary hubs of the network, and to partially resolve the degeneracy in importance of the low lying part of the list of rankings, which represents a typical shortcoming of the classical PageRank algorithm. Complementary to this study, our analysis shows that the algorithm is able to clearly distinguish scale-free networks from other widespread and important classes of complex networks, such as Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi networks and hierarchical graphs. We show that the ranking capabilities of the quantum PageRank algorithm are related to an increased stability with respect to a variation of the damping parameter $\alpha$ that appears in the Google algorithm, and to a more clearly pronounced power-law behavior in the distribution of importance among the nodes, as compared to the classical algorithm. Finally, we study to which extent the increased sensitivity of the quantum algorithm persists under coordinated attacks of the most important nodes in scale-free and Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graphs

Effects, Side Effects and Contraindications of Relaxation Massage during Pregnancy: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Healthcare professionals and expecting mothers frequently voice concerns that massages during pregnancy might cause complications or premature labor. This PRISMA review outlines current results on effects, side effects and contraindications of relaxation massage during pregnancy. Inclusion criteria: all randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing relaxation massage during pregnancy with standard care or standard care plus another intervention (i.e., progressive muscle relaxation). Restrictions were full text availability and English language. Results: 12 RCT were included. Trials had good methodological quality but unknown risk of bias. All women were at least 12 weeks gestation at the start of the study. The main benefits of massage during pregnancy were: reduced stress, back and leg pain, depression and anxiety; increased immune response; increased serotonin and dopamine levels; higher fetal birth weight and reduced risk of preterm delivery. Only 2 RCT reported potential side effects of massage, which were minor and transient. Seven RCT excluded women with difficult pregnancies or preexisting complications, five studies did not report preexisting conditions. Those obstetric or postnatal complications that occurred were most likely unrelated to massage treatments. In healthy pregnant women without complications, relaxation massage has positive effects throughout pregnancy. Precautions for massage during pregnancy (i.e., to prevent pulmonary embolism) are discussed

Porównanie maksymalnego ciśnienia zamknięcia cewki moczowej mierzone cewnikiem typu mikrotip i cewnikiem wypełnionym powietrzem – badanie randomizowane

Background: Measurements of maximum urethral closure pressure (MUCP) are a part of urodynamic investigations preceding an incontinence surgery and a part of urethral function tests. Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare maximum urethral closure pressure determined by a microtip catheter with those measured by an air-charged catheter. Material and methods: A prospective randomized study in a tertiary referral centre. 122 female patients with urodynamic stress incontinence were randomly assigned to have their urethral pressure profi les measured at rest by both microtip and air-charged catheters. Intervention and Measurements: Each patient had three measurements taken by each catheter type. Means of the measurements were compared with regard to correlation and repeatability. For statistical analysis, an approach proposed by Bland-Altman was applied to assess the agreement between the two techniques. Results: Correlation coeffi cient between MUCP by the air-charged and the microtip catheter was r=0.8507(95% CI 0.7928 – 0.8934; pCel: Pomiar maksymalnego ciśnienia zamknięcia cewki moczowej (MUCP) jest częścią badania urodynamicznego poprzedzającego operacyjne leczenie nietrzymania moczu i częścią testow czynnościowych cewki moczowej. Celem pracy było porownanie maksymalnego ciśnienia zamknięcia cewki moczowej zmierzonego przy pomocy cewnika microtip i cewnika wypełnionego powietrzem. Materiał i metoda: Przeprowadzono prospektywne, randomizowane badanie w ośrodku trzeciego stopnia referencyjności. Do badania losowo włączono 122 kobiety z nietrzymaniem moczu, u których wykonywano profi l ciśnień w cewce moczowej w spoczynku przy pomocy zarówno cewnika microtip jak i cewnika wypełnionego powietrzem. Każda pacjentka miała wykonane trzy pomiary przy pomocy obu cewników. Średnie z pomiarów porównano w odniesieniu do korelacji i powtarzalności. Do celów statystycznych użyto metody Bland-Altmana oceniającej zgodność obu technik pomiarów. Wyniki: Współczynnik korelacji pomiędzy MUCP mierzonym cewnikiem powietrznym a cewnikiem microtip wynosił r=0,8507(95% CI 0,7928–0,8934;

On dynamically generated parton distribution functions and their properties

The idea of ``dynamically'' generated parton distribution functions, based on regular initial conditions at low momentum scale, is reanalyzed with particular emphasize paid to its compatibility with the factorization mechanism. Basic consequences of this approach are discussed and compared to those of the conventional approach, employing singular initial distribution functions.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, 5 figures in PS format attache

Small optic suspensions for Advanced LIGO input optics and other precision optical experiments

We report on the design and performance of small optic suspensions developed to suppress seismic motion of out-of-cavity optics in the Input Optics subsystem of the Advanced LIGO interferometric gravitational wave detector. These compact single stage suspensions provide isolation in all six degrees of freedom of the optic, local sensing and actuation in three of them, and passive damping for the other three

A New Method to Probe the low xx Parton Dynamics at HERA

Hadron transverse momentum spectra are proposed as a means to probe the underlying partonic dynamics in deep inelastic scattering. The BFKL evolution equation, postulated for small Bjorken-$x$, leads to an enhanced parton emission over the conventional DGLAP ansatz, and can thus be tested.Comment: 7 pages, latex, 13 figures as eps files, latex+eps uuencode

A Survey for Massive Giant Planets in Debris Disks with Evacuated Inner Cavities

The commonality of collisionally replenished debris around main sequence stars suggests that minor bodies are frequent around Sun-like stars. Whether or not debris disks in general are accompanied by planets is yet unknown, but debris disks with large inner cavities - perhaps dynamically cleared - are considered to be prime candidates for hosting large-separation massive giant planets. We present here a high-contrast VLT/NACO angular differential imaging survey for eight such cold debris disks. We investigated the presence of massive giant planets in the range of orbital radii where the inner edge of the dust debris is expected. Our observations are sensitive to planets and brown dwarfs with masses >3 to 7 Jupiter mass, depending on the age and distance of the target star. Our observations did not identify any planet candidates. We compare the derived planet mass upper limits to the minimum planet mass required to dynamically clear the inner disks. While we cannot exclude that single giant planets are responsible for clearing out the inner debris disks, our observations constrain the parameter space available for such planets. The non-detection of massive planets in these evacuated debris disks further reinforces the notion that the giant planet population is confined to the inner disk (<15 AU).Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Gene expression in cultured endometrium from women with different outcomes following IVF

Estradiol and progesterone are crucial for the acquisition of receptivity and the change in transcriptional activity of target genes in the implantation window. The aim of this study was to differentiate the regulation of genes in the endometrium of patients with recurrent implantation failure (IF) versus those who became pregnant after in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. Moreover, the effect of embryo-derived factors on endometrial transcriptional activity was studied. Nine women with known IVF outcome (IF, M, miscarriage, OP, ongoing pregnancy) and undergoing hysteroscopy with endometrial biopsy were enrolled. Biopsies were taken during the midluteal phase. After culture in the presence of embryo-conditioned IVF media, total RNA was extracted and submitted to reverse transcription, target cDNA synthesis, biotin labelling, fragmentation and hybridization using the Affymetrix Human Genome U133A 2.0 Chip. Differential expression of selected genes was re-analysed by quantitative PCR, in which the results were calculated as threshold cycle differences between the groups and normalized to Glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase and β-actin. Differences were seen for several genes from endometrial tissue between the IF and the pregnancy groups, and when comparing OP with M, 1875 up- and 1807 down-regulated genes were returned. Real-time PCR analysis confirmed up-regulation for somatostatin, PLAP-2, mucin 4 and CD163, and down-regulation of glycodelin, IL-24, CD69, leukaemia inhibitory factor and prolactin receptor between Op and M. When the different embryo-conditioned media were compared, no significant differential regulation could be demonstrated. Although microarray profiling may currently not be sensitive enough for studying the effects of embryo-derived factors on the endometrium, the observed differences in gene expression between M and OP suggest that it will become an interesting tool for the identification of fertility-relevant markers produced by the endometriu

Crowdbreaks: Tracking Health Trends Using Public Social Media Data and Crowdsourcing

In the past decade, tracking health trends using social media data has shown great promise, due to a powerful combination of massive adoption of social media around the world, and increasingly potent hardware and software that enables us to work with these new big data streams. At the same time, many challenging problems have been identified. First, there is often a mismatch between how rapidly online data can change, and how rapidly algorithms are updated, which means that there is limited reusability for algorithms trained on past data as their performance decreases over time. Second, much of the work is focusing on specific issues during a specific past period in time, even though public health institutions would need flexible tools to assess multiple evolving situations in real time. Third, most tools providing such capabilities are proprietary systems with little algorithmic or data transparency, and thus little buy-in from the global public health and research community. Here, we introduce Crowdbreaks, an open platform which allows tracking of health trends by making use of continuous crowdsourced labeling of public social media content. The system is built in a way which automatizes the typical workflow from data collection, filtering, labeling and training of machine learning classifiers and therefore can greatly accelerate the research process in the public health domain. This work describes the technical aspects of the platform, thereby covering the functionalities at its current state and exploring its future use cases and extensions

An NLO calculation of the electroproduction of large-E_\bot hadrons

We present a Next-to-Leading Order calculation of the cross section for the leptoproduction of large-$E_{\bot}$ hadrons and we compare our predictions with H1 data on the forward production of $\pi^0$. We find large higher order corrections and an important sensitivity to the renormalization and factorization scales. These large corrections are shown to arise in part from BFKL-like diagrams at the lowest order.Comment: 24 pages, plain LaTeX2e, 10 figure