Layered architecture for quantum computing

We develop a layered quantum computer architecture, which is a systematic framework for tackling the individual challenges of developing a quantum computer while constructing a cohesive device design. We discuss many of the prominent techniques for implementing circuit-model quantum computing and introduce several new methods, with an emphasis on employing surface code quantum error correction. In doing so, we propose a new quantum computer architecture based on optical control of quantum dots. The timescales of physical hardware operations and logical, error-corrected quantum gates differ by several orders of magnitude. By dividing functionality into layers, we can design and analyze subsystems independently, demonstrating the value of our layered architectural approach. Using this concrete hardware platform, we provide resource analysis for executing fault-tolerant quantum algorithms for integer factoring and quantum simulation, finding that the quantum dot architecture we study could solve such problems on the timescale of days.Comment: 27 pages, 20 figure

Loss of a single N-linked glycan from the hemagglutinin of influenza virus is associated with resistance to collectins and increased virulence in mice

BACKGROUND: Glycosylation on the globular head of the hemagglutinin (HA) protein of influenza virus acts as an important target for recognition and destruction of virus by innate immune proteins of the collectin family. This, in turn, modulates the virulence of different viruses for mice. The role of particular oligosaccharide attachments on the HA in determining sensitivity to collectins has yet to be fully elucidated. METHODS: When comparing the virulence of H3N2 subtype viruses for mice we found that viruses isolated after 1980 were highly glycosylated and induced mild disease in mice. During these studies, we were surprised to find a small plaque variant of strain A/Beijing/353/89 (Beij/89) emerged following infection of mice and grew to high titres in mouse lung. In the current study we have characterized the properties of this small plaque mutant both in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: Small plaque mutants were recovered following plaquing of lung homogenates from mice infected with influenza virus seed Beij/89. Compared to wild-type virus, small plaque mutants showed increased virulence in mice yet did not differ in their ability to infect or replicate in airway epithelial cells in vitro. Instead, small plaque variants were markedly resistant to neutralization by murine collectins, a property that correlated with the acquisition of an amino acid substitution at residue 246 on the viral HA. We present evidence that this substitution was associated with the loss of an oligosaccharide glycan from the globular head of HA. CONCLUSION: A point mutation in the gene encoding the HA of Beij/89 was shown to ablate a glycan attachment site. This was associated with resistance to collectins and increased virulence in mice

The Simplicial Ricci Tensor

The Ricci tensor (Ric) is fundamental to Einstein's geometric theory of gravitation. The 3-dimensional Ric of a spacelike surface vanishes at the moment of time symmetry for vacuum spacetimes. The 4-dimensional Ric is the Einstein tensor for such spacetimes. More recently the Ric was used by Hamilton to define a non-linear, diffusive Ricci flow (RF) that was fundamental to Perelman's proof of the Poincare conjecture. Analytic applications of RF can be found in many fields including general relativity and mathematics. Numerically it has been applied broadly to communication networks, medical physics, computer design and more. In this paper, we use Regge calculus (RC) to provide the first geometric discretization of the Ric. This result is fundamental for higher-dimensional generalizations of discrete RF. We construct this tensor on both the simplicial lattice and its dual and prove their equivalence. We show that the Ric is an edge-based weighted average of deficit divided by an edge-based weighted average of dual area -- an expression similar to the vertex-based weighted average of the scalar curvature reported recently. We use this Ric in a third and independent geometric derivation of the RC Einstein tensor in arbitrary dimension.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure

Identification of atypical flight patterns

Method and system for analyzing aircraft data, including multiple selected flight parameters for a selected phase of a selected flight, and for determining when the selected phase of the selected flight is atypical, when compared with corresponding data for the same phase for other similar flights. A flight signature is computed using continuous-valued and discrete-valued flight parameters for the selected flight parameters and is optionally compared with a statistical distribution of other observed flight signatures, yielding atypicality scores for the same phase for other similar flights. A cluster analysis is optionally applied to the flight signatures to define an optimal collection of clusters. A level of atypicality for a selected flight is estimated, based upon an index associated with the cluster analysis

Antibiotic Resistance Patterns in Invasive Group B Streptococcal Isolates

Antibiotics are used for both group B streptococcal (GBS) prevention and treatment. Active population-based surveillance for invasive GBS disease was conducted in four states during 1996–2003. Of 3813 case-isolates, 91.0% (3471) were serotyped, 77.1% (2937) had susceptibility testing, and 46.6% (3471) had both. All were sensitive to penicillin, ampicillin, cefazolin, cefotaxime, and vancomycin. Clindamycin and erythromycin resistance was 12.7% and 25.6%, respectively, and associated with serotype V (P < .001). Clindamycin resistance increased from 10.5% to 15.0% (X2 for trend 12.70; P < .001); inducible clindamycin resistance was associated with the erm genotype. Erythromycin resistance increased from 15.8% to 32.8% (X2 for trend 55.46; P < .001). While GBS remains susceptible to beta-lactams, resistance to alternative agents such as erythromycin and clindamycin is an increasing concern

CD4+ T cell immunity to Salmonella is transient in the circulation

While Salmonella enterica is seen as an archetypal facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen where protection is mediated by CD4+ T cells, identifying circulating protective cells has proved very difficult, inhibiting steps to identify key antigen specificities. Exploiting a mouse model of vaccination, we show that the spleens of C57BL/6 mice vaccinated with live-attenuated Salmonella serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) strains carried a pool of IFN-γ+ CD4+ T cells that could adoptively transfer protection, but only transiently. Circulating Salmonella-reactive CD4+ T cells expressed the liver-homing chemokine receptor CXCR6, accumulated over time in the liver and assumed phenotypic characteristics associated with tissue-associated T cells. Liver memory CD4+ T cells showed TCR selection bias and their accumulation in the liver could be inhibited by blocking CXCL16. These data showed that the circulation of CD4+ T cells mediating immunity to Salmonella is limited to a brief window after which Salmonella-specific CD4+ T cells migrate to peripheral tissues. Our observations highlight the importance of triggering tissue-specific immunity against systemic infections

Radio continuum observations of Class I protostellar disks in Taurus: constraining the greybody tail at centimetre wavelengths

We present deep 1.8 cm (16 GHz) radio continuum imaging of seven young stellar objects in the Taurus molecular cloud. These objects have previously been extensively studied in the sub-mm to NIR range and their SEDs modelled to provide reliable physical and geometrical parametres.We use this new data to constrain the properties of the long-wavelength tail of the greybody spectrum, which is expected to be dominated by emission from large dust grains in the protostellar disk. We find spectra consistent with the opacity indices expected for such a population, with an average opacity index of beta = 0.26+/-0.22 indicating grain growth within the disks. We use spectra fitted jointly to radio and sub-mm data to separate the contributions from thermal dust and radio emission at 1.8 cm and derive disk masses directly from the cm-wave dust contribution. We find that disk masses derived from these flux densities under assumptions consistent with the literature are systematically higher than those calculated from sub-mm data, and meet the criteria for giant planet formation in a number of cases.Comment: submitted MNRA

The dendritic cell receptor DNGR-1 controls endocytic handling of necrotic cell antigens to favor cross-priming of CTLs in virus-infected mice

DNGR-1 (CLEC9A) is a receptor for necrotic cells required by DCs to cross-prime CTLs against dead cell antigens in mice. It is currently unknown how DNGR-1 couples dead cell recognition to cross-priming. Here we found that DNGR-1 did not mediate DC activation by dead cells but rather diverted necrotic cell cargo into a recycling endosomal compartment, favoring cross-presentation to CD8 + T cells. DNGR-1 regulated crosspriming in non-infectious settings such as immunization with antigen-bearing dead cells, as well as in highly immunogenic situations such as infection with herpes simplex virus type 1. Together, these results suggest that DNGR-1 is a dedicated receptor for cross-presentation of cell-associated antigens. Our work thus underscores the importance of cross-priming in immunity and indicates that antigenicity and adjuvanticity can be decoded by distinct innate immune receptors. The identification of specialized receptors that regulate antigenicity of virus-infected cells reveals determinants of antiviral immunity that might underlie the human response to infection and vaccination