Freely Scalable Quantum Technologies using Cells of 5-to-50 Qubits with Very Lossy and Noisy Photonic Links

Exquisite quantum control has now been achieved in small ion traps, in nitrogen-vacancy centres and in superconducting qubit clusters. We can regard such a system as a universal cell with diverse technological uses from communication to large-scale computing, provided that the cell is able to network with others and overcome any noise in the interlinks. Here we show that loss-tolerant entanglement purification makes quantum computing feasible with the noisy and lossy links that are realistic today: With a modestly complex cell design, and using a surface code protocol with a network noise threshold of 13.3%, we find that interlinks which attempt entanglement at a rate of 2MHz but suffer 98% photon loss can result in kilohertz computer clock speeds (i.e. rate of high fidelity stabilizer measurements). Improved links would dramatically increase the clock speed. Our simulations employed local gates of a fidelity already achieved in ion trap devices.Comment: corrected typos, additional references, additional figur

THE EFFORTS OF MAINTAINING TORAJAN LANGUAGE AS A MOTHER TONGUE OF TORAJAN PEOPLE FROM THE THREAT OF EXTINCTION: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

This research aims to describe some efforts to maintain Toraja language as the mother language of Torajan people from the threat of extinction. This paper used a qualitative descriptive study. As it is conceptual writing of a preliminary study, this paper only presents some examples of the two varieties of Torajan language used in society. It proposes some suggested efforts on how to anticipate the extinction of the language concerned in the future. The results indicate some very important suggested efforts to maintain the two varieties (ordinary language and ritual language as used in both thanksgiving ceremony called Rambu Tuka' and death ceremony called Rambu Solo') of Torajan language that requires attention from different parties. As a part of Torajan culture, Torajan language in various uses contains values and norms as the local wisdom. Therefore, various parties should involve in its maintenance, such as governmental institutions, educational institutions, social institutions, and religious institutions in doing research, providing various written documentations, and socializing or disseminating them among the community in general and the schools at all levels in particular for continuous consumption

Memetic moments : the speed of twitter memes

This paper examines how speed shapes internet culture. To do so, it analyses ‘memetic moments’ on Twitter, short-lived and rapidly circulated memes that quickly reach saturation. The paper examines two ‘memetic moments’ on Twitter in 2018 and 2019 to assess how they develop over time. Each case study comprises a week’s worth of relevant tweets that were analysed for temporal patterns. We analyse these ‘memetic moments’ through Lefebvre’s (2004) work on rhythmanalysis, arguing that the temporal patterns of memes on Twitter can be understood through his concepts of repetition, presence and dialogue. While seemingly trivial, memetic moments underscore the didactic relationship between social media and news media while also providing a way to approach complex social issues

Astex microgravity experiment: simulated asteroid regoliths

AstEx is a microgravity experiment selected to fly on ESA's 51st Microgravity Research Campaign in November 2009. The experiment will investigate the dynamics of regolith on asteroid surfaces. Despite their very low surface gravities, asteroids exhibit a number of different geological processes involving granular matter. Understanding the mechanical response of this granular material subject to external forces in microgravity conditions is vital to the design of a successful asteroid sub-surface sampling mechanism, and in the interpretation of the fascinating geology on an asteroid. The AstEx experiment uses a microgravity modified Taylor-Couette shear cell to investigate granular flow caused by shear forces under the conditions of parabolic flight microgravity. It is intended to determine how a steady state granular flow is achieved in microgravity conditions, and what effect prior shear history has on the timescales involved in initiating a steady state flow in a granular material. Presented are the technical details of the AstEx experimental design with particular emphasis on how the team have designed the equipment specifically for the parabolic flight microgravity environment

The structure of feared social situations among race-ethnic minorities and Whites with social anxiety disorder in the United States

We investigated feared social situations in individuals with social anxiety disorder from different racial and ethnic groups in the United States. The sample included 247 African Americans, 158 Latinos, and 533 non-Latino Whites diagnosed with social anxiety disorder within the past 12 months from the integrated Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Studies data set. After randomly splitting the full sample, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis with half of the sample to determine the structure of feared social situations in a more diverse sample than has been used in previous studies. We found evidence for a model consisting of three feared social domains: performance/public speaking, social interaction, and observational. We then conducted a confirmatory factor analysis on the remaining half of the sample to examine whether this factor structure varied significantly between the race-ethnic groups. Analyses revealed an adequate fit of this model across all three race-ethnic groups, suggesting invariance of the factor structure between the study groups. Broader cultural contexts within which these findings are relevant are discussed, along with important implications for comprehensive, culturally sensitive assessment of social anxiety.R01 MH078308 - NIMH NIH HHS; R01 MH081116 - NIMH NIH HHS; MH-081116 - NIMH NIH HHS; K23 MH096029 - NIMH NIH HHS; MH-078308 - NIMH NIH HH

Modelling User Behaviour in Market Attribution: finding novel data features using machine learning

This paper presents an exploration of market attribution methods and the integration of user behaviour. Attribution is the measurement of interaction between marketing touchpoints and channels along the customer journey, improving customer insights and driving smarter business decisions. Improving the accuracy of attribution requires a deeper understanding of user behaviour, not just marketing channel credit assignment. Evidence has been provided regarding the problems in the standardized approach to behavioural modelling and alternatives have been presented. The study explores data provided by a British based jewellery company with an investigation into pre-existing data features that can aid with the analysis of user behaviour. The study contains over 10 million rows collected over 2 years and presents the initial findings made in the first 15 months of a PhD study

The limits of the Mean Opinion Score for speech synthesis evaluation

The release of WaveNet and Tacotron has forever transformed the speech synthesis landscape. Thanks to these game-changing innovations, the quality of synthetic speech has reached unprecedented levels. However, to measure this leap in quality, an overwhelming majority of studies still rely on the Absolute Category Rating (ACR) protocol and compare systems using its output; the Mean Opinion Score (MOS). This protocol is not without controversy, and as the current state-of-the-art synthesis systems now produce outputs remarkably close to human speech, it is now vital to determine how reliable this score is.To do so, we conducted a series of four experiments replicating and following the 2013 edition of the Blizzard Challenge. With these experiments, we asked four questions about the MOS: How stable is the MOS of a system across time? How do the scores of lower quality systems influence the MOS of higher quality systems? How does the introduction of modern technologies influence the scores of past systems? How does the MOS of modern technologies evolve in isolation?The results of our experiments are manyfold. Firstly, we verify the superiority of modern technologies in comparison to historical synthesis. Then, we show that despite its origin as an absolute category rating, MOS is a relative score. While minimal variations are observed during the replication of the 2013-EH2 task, these variations can still lead to different conclusions for the intermediate systems. Our experiments also illustrate the sensitivity of MOS to the presence/absence of lower and higher anchors. Overall, our experiments suggest that we may have reached the end of a cul-de-sac by only evaluating the overall quality with MOS. We must embark on a new road and develop different evaluation protocols better suited to the analysis of modern speech synthesis technologies

Cognitive deficits in problematic internet use : meta-analysis of 40 studies

© The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2019. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.BACKGROUND: Excessive use of the internet is increasingly recognised as a global public health concern. Individual studies have reported cognitive impairment in problematic internet use (PIU), but have suffered from various methodological limitations. Confirmation of cognitive deficits in PIU would support the neurobiological plausibility of this disorder.AimsTo conduct a rigorous meta-analysis of cognitive performance in PIU from case-control studies; and to assess the impact of study quality, the main type of online behaviour (for example gaming) and other parameters on the findings.METHOD: A systematic literature review was conducted of peer-reviewed case-controlled studies comparing cognition in people with PIU (broadly defined) with that of healthy controls. Findings were extracted and subjected to a meta-analysis where at least four publications existed for a given cognitive domain of interest.RESULTS: The meta-analysis comprised 2922 participants across 40 studies. Compared with controls, PIU was associated with significant impairment in inhibitory control (Stroop task Hedge's g = 0.53 (s.e. = 0.19-0.87), stop-signal task g = 0.42 (s.e. = 0.17-0.66), go/no-go task g = 0.51 (s.e. = 0.26-0.75)), decision-making (g = 0.49 (s.e. = 0.28-0.70)) and working memory (g = 0.40 (s.e. = 0.20-0.82)). Whether or not gaming was the predominant type of online behaviour did not significantly moderate the observed cognitive effects; nor did age, gender, geographical area of reporting or the presence of comorbidities.CONCLUSIONS: PIU is associated with decrements across a range of neuropsychological domains, irrespective of geographical location, supporting its cross-cultural and biological validity. These findings also suggest a common neurobiological vulnerability across PIU behaviours, including gaming, rather than a dissimilar neurocognitive profile for internet gaming disorder.Declaration of interestS.R.C. consults for Cambridge Cognition and Shire. K.I.'s research activities were supported by Health Education East of England Higher Training Special interest sessions. A.E.G.'s research has been funded by Innovational grant (VIDI-scheme) from ZonMW: (91713354). N.A.F. has received research support from Lundbeck, Glaxo-SmithKline, European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), Servier, Cephalon, Astra Zeneca, Medical Research Council (UK), National Institute for Health Research, Wellcome Foundation, University of Hertfordshire, EU (FP7) and Shire. N.A.F. has received honoraria for lectures at scientific meetings from Abbott, Otsuka, Lundbeck, Servier, Astra Zeneca, Jazz pharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers Squibb, UK College of Mental Health Pharmacists and British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP). N.A.F. has received financial support to attend scientific meetings from RANZCP, Shire, Janssen, Lundbeck, Servier, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cephalon, International College of Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders, International Society for Behavioral Addiction, CINP, IFMAD, ECNP, BAP, the World Health Organization and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. N.A.F. has received financial royalties for publications from Oxford University Press and payment for editorial duties from Taylor and Francis. J.E.G. reports grants from the National Center for Responsible Gaming, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Takeda, Brainsway, and Roche and others from Oxford Press, Norton, McGraw-Hill and American Psychiatric Publishing outside of the submitted work.Peer reviewe