2,681 research outputs found
The Groverian Measure of Entanglement for Mixed States
The Groverian entanglement measure introduced earlier for pure quantum states
[O. Biham, M.A. Nielsen and T. Osborne, Phys. Rev. A 65, 062312 (2002)] is
generalized to the case of mixed states, in a way that maintains its
operational interpretation. The Groverian measure of a mixed state of n qubits
is obtained by a purification procedure into a pure state of 2n qubits,
followed by an optimization process based on Uhlmann's theorem, before the
resulting state is fed into Grover's search algorithm. The Groverian measure,
expressed in terms of the maximal success probability of the algorithm,
provides an operational measure of entanglement of both pure and mixed quantum
states of multiple qubits. These results may provide further insight into the
role of entanglement in making quantum algorithms powerful.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Electron Correlation and Charge Transfer Instability in Bilayered Two Dimensional Electron Gas
We prove that the predicted charge transfer state in symmetric bilayers of
two dimensional electron gases is always unstable at zero bias voltage, due to
interlayer correlation and/or tunneling. This is most easily seen by resorting
to a pseudospin formalism and considering coherent states obtained from the
charge transfer state through rotations of the pseudospins. Evidently, the
charge transfer state is stabilized by a sufficiently strong gate voltage, as
found in recent experiments. We show that a simple model, in which the layers
are strictly two dimensional, is able to account quantitatively for such
experimental findings, when correlation is properly included.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Subm. to Europhys. Let
Online Pattern Matching for String Edit Distance with Moves
Edit distance with moves (EDM) is a string-to-string distance measure that
includes substring moves in addition to ordinal editing operations to turn one
string to the other. Although optimizing EDM is intractable, it has many
applications especially in error detections. Edit sensitive parsing (ESP) is an
efficient parsing algorithm that guarantees an upper bound of parsing
discrepancies between different appearances of the same substrings in a string.
ESP can be used for computing an approximate EDM as the L1 distance between
characteristic vectors built by node labels in parsing trees. However, ESP is
not applicable to a streaming text data where a whole text is unknown in
advance. We present an online ESP (OESP) that enables an online pattern
matching for EDM. OESP builds a parse tree for a streaming text and computes
the L1 distance between characteristic vectors in an online manner. For the
space-efficient computation of EDM, OESP directly encodes the parse tree into a
succinct representation by leveraging the idea behind recent results of a
dynamic succinct tree. We experimentally test OESP on the ability to compute
EDM in an online manner on benchmark datasets, and we show OESP's efficiency.Comment: This paper has been accepted to the 21st edition of the International
Symposium on String Processing and Information Retrieval (SPIRE2014
Algebraic analysis of quantum search with pure and mixed states
An algebraic analysis of Grover's quantum search algorithm is presented for
the case in which the initial state is an arbitrary pure quantum state of n
qubits. This approach reveals the geometrical structure of the quantum search
process, which turns out to be confined to a four-dimensional subspace of the
Hilbert space. This work unifies and generalizes earlier results on the time
evolution of the amplitudes during the quantum search, the optimal number of
iterations and the success probability. Furthermore, it enables a direct
generalization to the case in which the initial state is a mixed state,
providing an exact formula for the success probability.Comment: 13 page
HOW BELIEFS ABOUT HIV STATUS AFFECT RISKY BEHAVIORS: EVIDENCE FROM MALAWI
This paper examines how beliefs about own HIV status affect decisions to engage in risky sexual behavior, as measured by having extramarital sex and/or multiple sex partners. The empirical analysis is based on a panel survey of males from the 2006 and 2008 rounds of the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project (MDICP). The paper develops a behavioral model of the belief-risky behavior relationship and estimates the causal effect of beliefs on risky behavior using the Arellano and Carrasco (2003) semiparametric panel data estimator, which accommodates both unobserved heterogeneity and belief endogeneity arising from a possible dependence of current beliefs on past risky behavior. Results show that downward revisions in the belief assigned to being HIV positive increase risky behavior and upward revisions decrease it. For example, based on a linear specification, a decrease in the perceived probability of being HIV positive from 10 to 0 percentage points increases the probability of engaging in risky behavior (extramarital affairs) from 8.3 to 14.1 percentage points. We also develop and implement a modified version of the Arellano and Carrasco (2003) estimator to allow for misreporting of risky behavior and find estimates to be robust to a range of plausible misreporting levels. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Applied Econometrics published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Characterization of pure quantum states of multiple qubits using the Groverian entanglement measure
The Groverian entanglement measure, G(psi), is applied to characterize a
variety of pure quantum states |psi> of multiple qubits. The Groverian measure
is calculated analytically for certain states of high symmetry, while for
arbitrary states it is evaluated using a numerical procedure. In particular, it
is calculated for the class of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, the W states
as well as for random pure states of n qubits. The entanglement generated by
Grover's algorithm is evaluated by calculating G(psi) for the intermediate
states that are obtained after t Grover iterations, for various initial states
and for different sets of the marked states.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure
Financially incentivized knowledge assessments to improve provider compliance with treatment guidelines: a cluster-randomized controlled trial
BACKGROUND: Despite increasing access to health care, under-5 mortality remains high in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Interventions to improve quality of care have mostly focused on additional training for medical staff, but generally shown little impact. We will assess the impact of financially incentivized quarterly provider knowledge assessment on compliance with Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) protocols in Congo, DRC. METHODS: Out of a total of 1738 facilities currently receiving results-based financing under an ongoing health financing program, 110 facilities were chosen for this study. All health care workers providing outpatient services to children under age 5 in these facilities will be included in the study. Facilities were randomized with equal probability to control and treatment. Treatment facilities will receive quarterly medical staff knowledge assessments using interactive vignettes. Performance on these vignettes will be rewarded through financial bonus payments to facilities. A baseline survey of health worker knowledge was conducted in 2018. An endline assessment is scheduled to start in the second half of 2021. The primary outcome of interest is health worker compliance with Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) guidelines. Compliance will be verified through direct observation of medical staff-patient interactions. DISCUSSION: This is to our knowledge the first trial assessing whether linking health financing to health care worker performance on knowledge assessments can increase compliance with under-5 case management protocols. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04634019 . Registered on November 18, 2020
Quality of care for children with severe disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
BACKGROUND: Despite the almost universal adoption of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of sick children under the age of five in low- and middle-income countries, child mortality remains high in many settings. One possible explanation of the continued high mortality burden is lack of compliance with diagnostic and treatment protocols. We test this hypothesis in a sample of children with severe illness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). METHODS: One thousand one hundred eighty under-five clinical visits were observed across a regionally representative sample of 321 facilities in the DRC. Based on a detailed list of disease symptoms observed, patients with severe febrile disease (including malaria), severe pneumonia, and severe dehydration were identified. For all three disease categories, treatments were then compared to recommended case management following IMCI guidelines. RESULTS: Out of 1180 under-five consultations observed, 332 patients (28%) had signs of severe febrile disease, 189 patients (16%) had signs of severe pneumonia, and 19 patients (2%) had signs of severe dehydration. Overall, providers gave the IMCI-recommended treatment in 42% of cases of these three severe diseases. Less than 15% of children with severe disease were recommended to receive in-patient care either in the facility they visited or in a higher-level facility. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that adherence to IMCI protocols for severe disease remains remarkably low in the DRC. There is a critical need to identify and implement effective approaches for improving the quality of care for severely ill children in settings with high child mortality
Return to Sport and Athletic Function in an Active Population After Primary Arthroscopic Labral Reconstruction of the Hip
Background: Labral reconstruction has been advocated as an alternative to debridement for the treatment of irreparable labral tears, showing favorable short-term results. However, literature is scarce regarding outcomes and return to sport in the nonelite athletic population.
Purpose: To report minimum 1-year clinical outcomes and the rate of return to sport in athletic patients who underwent primary hip arthroscopy with labral reconstruction in the setting of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome and irreparable labral tears.
Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.
Methods: Data were prospectively collected and retrospectively analyzed for patients who underwent an arthroscopic labral reconstruction between August 2012 and December 2017. Patients were included if they identified as an athlete (high school, college, recreational, or amateur); had follow-up on the following patient-reported outcomes (PROs): modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), Nonarthritic Hip Score (NAHS), Hip Outcome Score–Sport Specific Subscale (HOS-SSS), and visual analog scale (VAS); and completed a return-to-sport survey at 1 year postoperatively. Patients were excluded if they underwent any previous ipsilateral hip surgery, had dysplasia, or had prior hip conditions. The proportions of patients who achieved the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) and patient acceptable symptomatic state (PASS) for mHHS and HOS-SSS were calculated. Statistical significance was set at P =.05.
Results: There were 32 (14 females) athletes who underwent primary arthroscopic labral reconstruction during the study period. The mean age and body mass index of the group were 40.3 years (range, 15.5-58.7 years) and 27.9 kg/m2 (range, 19.6-40.1 kg/m2), respectively. The mean follow-up was 26.4 months (range, 12-64.2 months). All patients demonstrated significant improvement in mHHS, NAHS, HOS-SSS, and VAS (P \u3c.001) at latest follow-up. Additionally, 84.4% achieved MCID and 81.3% achieved PASS for mHHS, and 87.5% achieved MCID and 75% achieved PASS for HOS-SSS. VAS pain scores decreased from 4.4 to 1.8, and the satisfaction with surgery was 7.9 out of 10. The rate of return to sport was 78%.
Conclusion: At minimum 1-year follow-up, primary arthroscopic labral reconstruction, in the setting of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome and irreparable labral tears, was associated with significant improvement in PROs in athletic populations. Return to sport within 1 year of surgery was 78%
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