Development and Demonstration of an Efficient Readout Error Mitigation Technique for use in NISQ Algorithms

The approximate state estimation and the closely related classical shadows methods allow for the estimation of complicated observables with relatively few shots. As these methods make use of random measurements that can symmetrise the effect of readout errors, they have been shown to permit simplified approaches to readout error mitigation which require only a number of samples that scales as $\mathcal{O}(1)$ with increasing numbers of qubits. However, these techniques require executing a different circuit at each shot, adding a typically prohibitive amount of latency that prohibits their practical application. In this manuscript we consider the approximate state estimation of readout-mitigated expectation values, and how to best implement that procedure on the Rigetti quantum computing hardware. We discuss the theoretical aspects involved, providing an explicit computation of the effect of readout error on the estimated expectation values and how to mitigate that effect. Leveraging improvements to the Rigetti control systems, we then demonstrate an efficient implementation of this approach. Not only do we find that we can suppress the effect of correlated errors and accurately mitigate the readout errors, we find that we can do so quickly, collecting and processing $10^6$ samples in less than $1.5$ minutes. This development opens the way for practical uses of methods with this type of randomisation.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure

Policy recommendations for learning analytics from three stakeholder workshops

This document presents policy recommendations related to the use of learning analytics and educational data mining from three LACE workshops

RUÍDO: CONHECIMENTO DOS TRABALHADORES E SEUS EFEITOS NO ORGANISMO

Estudo quantitativo, com objetivo de averiguar o conhecimento dos funcionários de uma indústria de alimentos sobre os malefícios dos ruídos a que estão expostos; informar o nível de ruído a que estão expostos; mostrar a importância do uso de equipamentos de proteção individual. A coleta dos dados ocorreu no mês de fevereiro de 2011 através de um questionário aplicado a quinze funcionários. Constatou-se que o nível de ruídos está dentro do que preconiza a NR-15. Ficou evidenciado que está relacionado a transtornos como cansaço, gastrite, irritabilidade, ansiedade em indivíduos expostos a uma jornada de trabalho de oito horas diárias. O nível de conhecimento dos trabalhadores mostrou-se relativamente baixo. Após o término da pesquisa, os resultados foram apresentados à empresa e seus funcionários e realizado um encontro onde os pesquisadores repassaram informações sobre os ruídos e seus efeitos no organismo.-NOISE: WORKERS KNOWLEDGE AND THEIR EFFECTS IN THE BODYABSTRACT: Quantitative study, with purpose of ascertaining the knowledge of employees of a food industry about the harm of noise they are exposed; inform the noise level to which they are exposed; show the importance of the use of individual protection equipment. The data collection occurred in the month of February 2011 through a questionnaire applied to fifteen employees. It was found that the noise level is within that advocates the NR-15. It was evidenced that is related to disorders such as gastritis, tiredness, irritability, anxiety in individuals exposed to a working day of eight hours daily. The level of knowledge of workers proved to be relatively low. After the end of the research the results were presented to the company and its employees and they held a meeting where researchers passed information about the noise and its effects on the body.Keywords: Noise. Worker. Knowledge

Twenty-Four-Hour Central (Aortic) Systolic Blood Pressure: Reference Values and Dipping Patterns in Untreated Individuals.

Central (aortic) systolic blood pressure (cSBP) is the pressure seen by the heart, the brain, and the kidneys. If properly measured, cSBP is closer associated with hypertension-mediated organ damage and prognosis, as compared with brachial SBP (bSBP). We investigated 24-hour profiles of bSBP and cSBP, measured simultaneously using Mobilograph devices, in 2423 untreated adults (1275 women; age, 18-94 years), free from overt cardiovascular disease, aiming to develop reference values and to analyze daytime-nighttime variability. Central SBP was assessed, using brachial waveforms, calibrated with mean arterial pressure (MAP)/diastolic BP (cSBPMAP/DBPcal), or bSBP/diastolic blood pressure (cSBPSBP/DBPcal), and a validated transfer function, resulting in 144 509 valid brachial and 130 804 valid central measurements. Averaged 24-hour, daytime, and nighttime brachial BP across all individuals was 124/79, 126/81, and 116/72 mm Hg, respectively. Averaged 24-hour, daytime, and nighttime values for cSBPMAP/DBPcal were 128, 128, and 125 mm Hg and 115, 117, and 107 mm Hg for cSBPSBP/DBPcal, respectively. We pragmatically propose as upper normal limit for 24-hour cSBPMAP/DBPcal 135 mm Hg and for 24-hour cSBPSBP/DBPcal 120 mm Hg. bSBP dipping (nighttime-daytime/daytime SBP) was -10.6 % in young participants and decreased with increasing age. Central SBPSBP/DBPcal dipping was less pronounced (-8.7% in young participants). In contrast, cSBPMAP/DBPcal dipping was completely absent in the youngest age group and less pronounced in all other participants. These data may serve for comparison in various diseases and have potential implications for refining hypertension diagnosis and management. The different dipping behavior of bSBP versus cSBP requires further investigation

Effect of encapsulating agent on physical-chemical characteristics of olive pomace polyphenols-rich extracts

During the last years, olive industry wastes are considered as a potential source of extracts with antioxidant properties rich in polyphenols. The recovery of these added-value compounds can be interesting both for their beneficial properties and from an environmental point of view and several studies have been performed for the optimization and characterization of the phenolic compounds present in olive pomace liquid extracts. However, dried forms of natural extracts are associated with several advantages over liquid forms, such as limited storage costs, higher concentration and stability of target compounds. Spray drying is one of the most common techniques for the transformation of a liquid extract, or food formulation, into dried powder, due to low operative costs respect to other methods, and high flexibility, related to the large number of operative parameters that can be optimized, such as coating agent type and concentration, inlet temperature, feed flow and aspiration rate. In this study, an ethanolic extract rich in phenolic compounds from olive pomace (Taggiasca cultivar) was obtained by high pressure and temperature extraction and spray dried with different ratios of gum Arabic and maltodextrin as coating agents (0:100, 20:80, 40:60, 60:40, 80:20 and 100:0 % w/w). The total amount of coating agent was maintained constant and equal to 10 % w/v (100 g/L). Inlet temperature, feed flow and aspiration rate were 160 \ub0C, 5 mL/min and 30 m3/h, respectively. For all products, moisture content, water solubility index, total polyphenol content, antiradical power and microencapsulation yield were determined. The results of this study show that the coating agent and process conditions led to the production of microencapsulated powders with improved water dissolution rate and a minimal loss in phenolics during the drying phase. The obtained microparticles, due to their high content in bioactive compounds and ease of handling, can have potential industrial applications as functional components for foods or nutraceuticals purposes