Using Quantum Computing to Improve on the Traveling Salesman Problem

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a well-known optimization problem. The time needed to solve TSP classically grows exponentially with the size of the input, placing it into the NP-hard computational complexity class–the class of problems that are at least as hard as any other problem solvable in nondeterministic polynomial time. Quantum computing gives us a new approach to searching through such a huge search space, using methods such as quantum annealing and phase estimation. Although the current state of quantum computers does not give us enough resources to solve TSP with a large input, we can use quantum computing methods to improve on existing classical algorithms. The thesis reviews existing methods to efficiently tackle TSP utilizing potential quantum resources, and discusses the augmentation of classical algorithms with quantum techniques to reduce the time complexity of solving this computationally challenging problem

Storytelling In TED Talks

In this study, I explore the role of storytelling in the most-vieTED Talks, which are up to eighteen-minute speeches on various topics performed at conferences for non-experts and also accessible on the internet. The study aims to identify comnarrative structural patterns and functions in the sampled talks. The ten selected TED Talks are transcribed, coded, and analyzed using qualitative data analysis software. The qualitative interpretation of story structure is based on Labov’s diamond-shape model (1972), while Propp’s narratemes (1928) are used to investigate the complot development patterns in the sampled TED Talks. The features of the personal narratives are analyzed based on Ochs and Capps’ narrative dimensions (2001). The analysis revealed that the narratives present in all the sampled talks have a different degree of embeddedness in the TED Talk. The two comstructural patterns of the narratives used in a TED Talk are \u27backbone\u27 narratives that serve as a spine and relatively short embedded narratives. The most comscenario based on Propp’s narratemes has been identified as the following: the speaker is the protagonist who leaves on a mission (answer the research questions), faces challenges to prove their heroic qualities (such as professional skills, creative thinking, and perseverance), responds to the challenges faced, finds the answer to the research question, and, finally, often transforms personally and professionally. The stories within the sampled TED Talks perform the following functions: a framework of a talk (mainly TED Talks with a backbone structure), a self-introduction and/or a brief introduction to the topic, an illustration to strengthen a proposed argument that can precede or follow the thesis statement, or a joke. The findings demonstrate that TED Talks, while sharing comparable properties of academic discourse, represent a quasi-academic discourse by integrating more narrative elements and linguistic features in the talk

Trustworthiness Requirements in Information Systems Design: Lessons Learned from the Blockchain Community

In modern society, where digital security is a major preoccupation, the perception of trust is undergoing fundamental transformations. Blockchain community created a substantial body of knowledge on design and development of trustworthy information systems and digital trust. Yet, little research is focused on broader scope and other forms of trust. In this study, we review the research literature reporting on design and development of blockchain solutions and focus on trustworthiness requirements that drive these solutions. Our findings show that digital trust is not the only form of trust that the organizations seek to reenforce: trust in technology and social trust remain powerful drivers in decision making. We analyze 56 primary studies, extract and formulate a set of 21 trustworthiness requirements. While originated from blockchain literature, the formulated requirements are technology-neutral: they aim at supporting business and technology experts in translating their trust issues into specific design decisions and in rationalizing their technological choices. To bridge the gap between social and technological domains, we associate the trustworthiness requirements with three trustworthiness factors defined in the social science: ability, benevolence and integrity

The Impact of Drug Policy On Women

In the public mind, the "war on drugs" probably conjures up a male image. In most countries, official statistics would show that men, indeed, are the majority of people who use drugs recreationally, who have problematic use, and who sell drugs. But punitive drug laws and policies pose a heavy burden on women and, in turn, on the children for whom women are often the principal caregivers. Men and boys are put at risk of HIV and hepatitis C by prohibitionist policies that impede access to and use of prevention and care services, but women and girls virtually always face a higher risk of transmission of these infections. Men suffer from unjust incarceration for minor drug offenses, but in some places women are more likely than men to face harsh sentences for minor infractions. Treatment for drug dependence is of poor quality in many places, but women are at especially high risk of undergoing inappropriate treatment or not receiving any treatment at all. All people who use drugs face stigma and discrimination, but women are often more likely than men to be severely vilified as unfit parents and "fallen" members of society.This paper elaborates on the gender dimension of drug policy and law with attention to the burdens that ill-conceived policies and inadequate services place on women and girls

Modeling the role variability in the MAP process model

International audienceBusiness process modeling is a valuable technique helping organizations to specify their processes, to analyze their structure and to improve their performance. Conventional process modeling techniques are proven to be inefficient while dealing with non-repetitive, knowledge-intensive processes such as Case Management processes. In this work we use the MAP notation to model a Mortgage Approval Process as defined in Banking. To increase the navigability and practical value of map models, we extend the MAP notation with the concepts of Roles, Relations between roles, and Role Configuration Rules

Semantics of Higraphs for Process Modeling and Analysis

International audienceKnowledge and experience of a case manager remains a key success factor for Case Management Processes (CMPs). When a number of influential parameters is high, a number of possible scenarios grows significantly. Automated guidance in scenario evaluation and activity planning would be of a great help. In our previous work, we defined the statecharts semantics for visualisation and simulation of CMP scenarios. In this work, we formalise the state-oriented models with higraphs: higraphs provide mathematical foundation for statecharts and eventually enable a wide panoply of algorithms for process analysis and optimisation. We show how a statecharts diagram can be transformed into higraph and analysed at run-time with graph algorithms. In particular, we take an example of the Shortest Path algorithm and show how this algorithm can be used in order to guide the case manager suggesting her the best process scenario. Compared to BPM approaches, a state-oriented process scenario does not specify concrete activities but only the objectives and constraints to be met. Thus, our approach does not prescribe but describe an activity to be executed next. The manager can define an activity that fit the description " on the fly " , based on her experience and intuition

Formal semantics for refinement verification of entreprise models

In this dissertation we investigate how Business/IT alignment in enterprise models can be enhanced by using a software engineering stepwise refinement paradigm. To have an IT system that supports an enterprise and meets the enterprise business needs, management seeks to align business system with IT systems. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is the discipline that addresses the design of aligned business and IT systems. SEAM is an Enterprise Architecture method, developed in the Laboratory of Systemic Modeling (LAMS) at EPFL. SEAM defines a visual language for building an enterprise model of an organization. In this work, we develop a theory and propose a technique to validate an alignment between the system specifications expressed in the SEAM language. We base our reasoning on the idea that each system (an organization, a business system, or an IT system) can be modeled using a set of hierarchical specifications, explicitly related to each other. Considering these relations as refinement relations, we transform the problem of alignment validation into the problem of refinement verification for system specifications: we consider that two system specifications are aligned if one is correctly refines the other. Model-driven engineering (MDE) defines refinement as a transformation between two visual (or program) specifications, where a specification is gradually refined into an implementation. MDE, however, does not formalize refinement verification. Software engineering (SE) formalizes refinement for program specifications. It provides a theory and techniques for refinement verification. To benefit from the formal theories and the refinement verification techniques defined in SE, we extend the SEAM language with additional concepts (e.g. preconditions, postconditions, invariants, etc). This extension enables us to increase the precision of the SEAM visual specifications. Then we define a formal semantics for the extended SEAM modeling language. This semantics is based on first-order logic and set theory; it allows us to reduce the problem of refinement verification to the validation of a first-order logic formula. In software engineering, the tools for the automated analysis of program specifications are defined. To use these tools for refinement verification, we define a translation from SEAM visual specifications to formal specification languages. We apply, using case studies, our theory and technique in several problem areas to verify: (1) if a business process design and re-design correspond to high level business process specifications; (2) if a service implementation corresponds to its specifications. These case studies have been presented to a group of domain experts who practice business/IT alignment. This inquiry has shown that our research has a potential practical value

Everyday Meals Etiquette in Food Culture of Urban Tatars-Muslims

The article views the religious aspects of food etiquette of Kazan Tatars based on the polling results, statistical data, and literature sources. The topicality of the issue is due to its poor coverage; it is actualised by the religious renaissance of the Tatars in the post-Soviet period, the dramatically increased interest in the genealogical roots of their ethnic culture, factors of its development and structure of self-identification. The authors compare the bases of nutritional behaviour of the Tatars with the recommendations stipulated by the Islamic sources, and disclose the degree of their compliance with the canons. The research revealed both the competencies (knowledge of the Islamic etiquette rules) and the level of their actual occurrence. For comparison, the similar results were taken, obtained during the research of a Tajik community in Kazan – a group with stronger expressed religious characteristics, compared to the Tatars. The research revealed the variety of the canonic Islamic food culture by the example of two Muslim models (Tatar and Tajik), both in terms of individual nutrition components (main foods, national cuisine, ways of cooking, etc.), and in terms of food culture in general, including etiquette

Paleogeographic and litho-facies formation conditions of MidUpper Jurassic sediments in S-E Western Siberia (Tomsk Oblast)

This paper describes the criteria to identify Tumen (lower Bathonian) and Naunak (upper Bathonian-Callovian- Oxfordian) suites within S-E Western Siberia (Tomsk Oblast). The specific paleogeographic and litho-facies formation conditions of sediments and numerous vegetable remains and ichnofossils indicated the fact that this territory was the location of sedimentogenesis transition during Tumen and Naunak suite formation. Based on integrated survey oil-gas potential litho-facies groups were defined in Mid-Upper Jurassic sediments within S-E Western Siberia