955 research outputs found
Decision and function problems based on boson sampling
Boson sampling is a mathematical problem that is strongly believed to be
intractable for classical computers, whereas passive linear interferometers can
produce samples efficiently. So far, the problem remains a computational
curiosity, and the possible usefulness of boson-sampling devices is mainly
limited to the proof of quantum supremacy. The purpose of this work is to
investigate whether boson sampling can be used as a resource of decision and
function problems that are computationally hard, and may thus have
cryptographic applications. After the definition of a rather general
theoretical framework for the design of such problems, we discuss their
solution by means of a brute-force numerical approach, as well as by means of
non-boson samplers. Moreover, we estimate the sample sizes required for their
solution by passive linear interferometers, and it is shown that they are
independent of the size of the Hilbert space.Comment: Close to the version published in PR
Performance of non-uniform tidal turbine arrays in uniform flow
Theoretical models suggest that in order to maximise their collective power out
put, tidal turbines should be arranged in a single cross-stream row and optimally spaced to exploit local blockage effects. However, because it is assumed that the turbines within these arrays are identical, such models do not consider the possibility of enhanced power production through the exploitation of spanwise variations in local blockage and resistance. In this paper, we use depth-averaged numerical simulations to investigate whether the performance of a tidal turbine array can be further enhanced by varying solely the local blockage, solely the local resistance, or both local blockage and resistance together, across the array width. Our results suggest that for an initially uniform flow field, the optimal tidal turbine array is also uniform, that is to say that it comprises turbines of equal size, spacing, and resistance. This finding is encouraging because it is more cost-effective and much simpler to design each turbine to be the same and to operate in the same way. Together with earlier findings, these results also suggest a more general, and perhaps unsurprising, conclusion that tidal turbine arrays perform best when designed to match site-specific natural flow conditions
Self-Control in Cyberspace: Applying Dual Systems Theory to a Review of Digital Self-Control Tools
Many people struggle to control their use of digital devices. However, our
understanding of the design mechanisms that support user self-control remains
limited. In this paper, we make two contributions to HCI research in this
space: first, we analyse 367 apps and browser extensions from the Google Play,
Chrome Web, and Apple App stores to identify common core design features and
intervention strategies afforded by current tools for digital self-control.
Second, we adapt and apply an integrative dual systems model of self-regulation
as a framework for organising and evaluating the design features found. Our
analysis aims to help the design of better tools in two ways: (i) by
identifying how, through a well-established model of self-regulation, current
tools overlap and differ in how they support self-control; and (ii) by using
the model to reveal underexplored cognitive mechanisms that could aid the
design of new tools.Comment: 11.5 pages (excl. references), 6 figures, 1 tabl
Bipartite Entanglement in Continuous-Variable Cluster States
We present a study of the entanglement properties of Gaussian cluster states,
proposed as a universal resource for continuous-variable quantum computing. A
central aim is to compare mathematically-idealized cluster states defined using
quadrature eigenstates, which have infinite squeezing and cannot exist in
nature, with Gaussian approximations which are experimentally accessible.
Adopting widely-used definitions, we first review the key concepts, by
analysing a process of teleportation along a continuous-variable quantum wire
in the language of matrix product states. Next we consider the bipartite
entanglement properties of the wire, providing analytic results. We proceed to
grid cluster states, which are universal for the qubit case. To extend our
analysis of the bipartite entanglement, we adopt the entropic-entanglement
width, a specialized entanglement measure introduced recently by Van den Nest M
et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 150504 (2006), adapting their definition to the
continuous-variable context. Finally we add the effects of photonic loss,
extending our arguments to mixed states. Cumulatively our results point to key
differences in the properties of idealized and Gaussian cluster states. Even
modest loss rates are found to strongly limit the amount of entanglement. We
discuss the implications for the potential of continuous-variable analogues of
measurement-based quantum computation.Comment: 22 page
Ezrin, a membrane cytoskeleton cross-linker protein, as a marker of epithelial damage in asthma
RATIONALE: Bronchial epithelial cell damage occurs in patients with bronchial asthma. Ezrin, a membrane-cytoskeleton protein, maintains cellular morphology and intercellular adhesion and protects the barrier function of epithelial cells. OBJECTIVES: To study the role of ezrin in bronchial epithelial cells injury and correlate its expression with asthma severity. METHODS: Levels of ezrin were measured in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) and serum in asthma patients and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from a mouse model of asthma by ELISA. The regulation of IL-13 on ezrin protein levels was studied in primary bronchial epithelial cells (PBECs). Ezrin knockdown using shRNA was studied in human bronchial epithelial 16HBE cells. RESULTS: Ezrin levels were decreased in asthmatic EBC (392.7±34.99 vs 150.5±10.22 pg/ml, p<0.0001) and serum (700.7±55.59 vs 279.2±25.83pg/ml, p<0.0001) compared to normal subjects. Levels were much lower in uncontrolled (p<0.001) and partly-controlled patients (p<0.01) compared to well-controlled subjects. EBC and serum ezrin levels correlated with lung function in asthma patients and serum ezrin levels were negatively correlated with serum IL-13 and periostin. IL-13-induced down-regulation of ezrin expression in PBECs was significantly attenuated by the JAK2 (Janus tyrosine kinase 2) inhibitor TG101348. Ezrin knockdown changed 16HBE cell morphology, enlarged intercellular spaces and increased their permeability. Ezrin expression was decreased in the lung tissue and BALF of 'asthmatic' mice and negatively correlated with BALF IL-13 level. CONCLUSIONS: Ezrin down-regulation is associated with IL-13-induced epithelial damage and might be a potential biomarker of asthma control
Systematic review of lung function and COPD with peripheral blood DNA methylation in population based studies
Background Epigenetic variations in peripheral blood have potential as biomarkers for disease. This systematic review assesses the association of lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with DNA methylation profiles in peripheral blood from population-based studies. Methods Online databases Medline, Embase, and Web of Science were searched. Google Scholar was searched to identify grey literature. After removing duplicate articles, 1155 articles were independently screened by two investigators. Peer reviewed reports on population-based studies that examined peripheral blood DNA methylation in participants with measured lung function (FEV1, FEV1/FVC ratio) or known COPD status were selected for full-text review. Six articles were suitable for inclusion. Information regarding study characteristics, designs, methodologies and conclusions was extracted. A narrative synthesis was performed based on published results. Results Three of the six articles assessed the association of COPD with DNA methylation, and two of these also included associations with lung function. Overall, five reports examined the association of lung function with DNA methylation profiles. Five of the six articles reported ‘significant’ results. However, no consistent CpG sites were identified across studies for COPD status or lung function values. Conclusions DNA methylation patterns in peripheral blood from individuals with reduced lung function or COPD may be different to those in people with normal lung function. However, this systematic review did not find any consistent associations of lung function or COPD with differentially methylated CpG sites. Large studies with a longitudinal design to address reverse causality may prove a more fruitful area of research
Sputum ACE2, TMPRSS2 and FURIN gene expression in severe neutrophilic asthma
Background Patients with severe asthma may have a greater risk of dying from COVID-19 disease. Angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) and the enzyme proteases, transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) and FURIN, are needed for viral attachment and invasion into host cells. Methods We examined microarray mRNA expression of ACE2, TMPRSS2 and FURIN in sputum, bronchial brushing and bronchial biopsies of the European U-BIOPRED cohort. Clinical parameters and molecular phenotypes, including asthma severity, sputum inflammatory cells, lung functions, oral corticosteroid (OCS) use, and transcriptomic-associated clusters, were examined in relation to gene expression levels. Results ACE2 levels were significantly increased in sputum of severe asthma compared to mild-moderate asthma. In multivariate analyses, sputum ACE2 levels were positively associated with OCS use and male gender. Sputum FURIN levels were significantly related to neutrophils (%) and the presence of severe asthma. In bronchial brushing samples, TMPRSS2 levels were positively associated with male gender and body mass index, whereas FURIN levels with male gender and blood neutrophils. In bronchial biopsies, TMPRSS2 levels were positively related to blood neutrophils. The neutrophilic molecular phenotype characterised by high inflammasome activation expressed significantly higher FURIN levels in sputum than the eosinophilic Type 2-high or the pauci-granulocytic oxidative phosphorylation phenotypes. Conclusion Levels of ACE2 and FURIN may differ by clinical or molecular phenotypes of asthma. Sputum FURIN expression levels were strongly associated with neutrophilic inflammation and with inflammasome activation. This might indicate the potential for a greater morbidity and mortality outcome from SARS-CoV-2 infection in neutrophilic severe asthma
Computational Indistinguishability between Quantum States and Its Cryptographic Application
We introduce a computational problem of distinguishing between two specific
quantum states as a new cryptographic problem to design a quantum cryptographic
scheme that is "secure" against any polynomial-time quantum adversary. Our
problem, QSCDff, is to distinguish between two types of random coset states
with a hidden permutation over the symmetric group of finite degree. This
naturally generalizes the commonly-used distinction problem between two
probability distributions in computational cryptography. As our major
contribution, we show that QSCDff has three properties of cryptographic
interest: (i) QSCDff has a trapdoor; (ii) the average-case hardness of QSCDff
coincides with its worst-case hardness; and (iii) QSCDff is computationally at
least as hard as the graph automorphism problem in the worst case. These
cryptographic properties enable us to construct a quantum public-key
cryptosystem, which is likely to withstand any chosen plaintext attack of a
polynomial-time quantum adversary. We further discuss a generalization of
QSCDff, called QSCDcyc, and introduce a multi-bit encryption scheme that relies
on similar cryptographic properties of QSCDcyc.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures. We improved presentation, and added more detail
proofs and follow-up of recent wor
Conformational effects on the Circular Dichroism of Human Carbonic Anhydrase II: a multilevel computational study
Circular Dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is a powerful method for investigating conformational changes in proteins and therefore has numerous applications in structural and molecular biology. Here a computational investigation of the CD spectrum of the Human Carbonic Anhydrase II (HCAII), with main focus on the near-UV CD spectra of the wild-type enzyme and it seven tryptophan mutant forms, is presented and compared to experimental studies. Multilevel computational methods (Molecular Dynamics, Semiempirical Quantum Mechanics, Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory) were applied in order to gain insight into the mechanisms of interaction between the aromatic chromophores within the protein environment and understand how the conformational flexibility of the protein influences these mechanisms. The analysis suggests that combining CD semi empirical calculations, crystal structures and molecular dynamics (MD) could help in achieving a better agreement between the computed and experimental protein spectra and provide some unique insight into the dynamic nature of the mechanisms of chromophore interactions
Suppression of High Transverse Momentum Spectra in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC
Au+Au, A GeV measurements at RHIC, obtained with the PHENIX,
STAR, PHOBOS and BRAHMS detectors, have all indicated a suppression of neutral
pion production, relative to an appropriately normalized NN level. For central
collisions and vanishing pseudo-rapidity these experiments exhibit suppression
in charged meson production, especially at medium to large transverse momenta.
In the PHENIX experiment similar behavior has been reported for
spectra.
In a recent work on the simpler D+Au interaction, to be considered perhaps as
a tune-up for Au+Au, we reported on a pre-hadronic cascade mechanism which
explains the mixed observation of moderately reduced suppression at
higher pseudo-rapidity as well as the Cronin enhancement at mid-rapidity. Here
we present the extension of this work to the more massive ion-ion collisions.
Our major thesis is that much of the suppression is generated in a late stage
cascade of colourless pre-hadrons produced after an initial short-lived
coloured phase. We present a pQCD argument to justify this approach and to
estimate the time duration of this initial phase. Of essential
importance is the brevity in time of the coloured phase existence relative to
that of the strongly interacting pre-hadron phase. The split into two phases is
of course not sharp in time, but adequate for treating the suppression of
moderate and high mesons.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure
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