Automated Function Implementation via Conditional Parameterized Quantum Circuits with Applications to Finance

Classical Monte Carlo algorithms can theoretically be sped up on a quantum computer by employing amplitude estimation (AE). To realize this, an efficient implementation of state-dependent functions is crucial. We develop a straightforward approach based on pre-training parameterized quantum circuits, and show how they can be transformed into their conditional variant, making them usable as a subroutine in an AE algorithm. To identify a suitable circuit, we propose a genetic optimization approach that combines variable ansatzes and data encoding. We apply our algorithm to the problem of pricing financial derivatives. At the expense of a costly pre-training process, this results in a quantum circuit implementing the derivatives' payoff function more efficiently than previously existing quantum algorithms. In particular, we compare the performance for European vanilla and basket options.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, 2 algorithm

Data Service Cards - A supporting tool for Data-Driven Business

In the future, every successful company must have a clear idea of what data means to it. The necessary transformation to a data-driven company places high demands on companies and challenges management, organization and individual employees. In order to generate concrete added value from data, the collaboration of different disciplines e.g. data scientists, domain experts and business people is necessary. So far few tools are available which facilitate the creativity and co-creation process amongst teams with different backgrounds. The goal of this paper is to design and develop a hands-on and easy to use card-based tool for the generation of data service ideas that supports the required interdisciplinary cooperation. By using a Design Science Research approach we analysed 122 data service ideas and developed an innovation tool consisting of 38 cards. The first evaluation results show that the developed Data Service Cards are both perceived as helpful and easy to use

The robotic soccer turing test

One of the long-range objectives of the RoboCup initiative is to develop robotic technology to the point that, within the next fifty years, robots can play soccer at a competitive level against humans. In this paper we first make some comments on the Turing Test, proposed by Alan Turing in 1950, and then advance a proposal for a new kind of experiment to allow machines to compete against humans. We suggest to give human operators the same view of the playing field as that of autonomous robots, to let persons operate a team by driving them, and thus let humans play against a fully automatic robot team. In this way soccer matches of humans against robots could be held in the immediate future and the perceptual capabilities and ability of the autonomous robots could be more adequately assessed. We propose to held a “Robotic Turing Test Challenge” at RoboCup tournaments which would allow us to gauge the state of the art in this field

Pathogen invasion-dependent tissue reservoirs and plasmid-encoded antibiotic degradation boost plasmid spread in the gut

Many plasmids encode antibiotic resistance genes. Through conjugation, plasmids can be rapidly disseminated. Previous work identified gut luminal donor/recipient blooms and tissue-lodged plasmid-bearing persister cells of the enteric pathogen; Salmonella enterica; serovar Typhimurium (; S; .Tm) that survive antibiotic therapy in host tissues, as factors promoting plasmid dissemination among Enterobacteriaceae. However, the buildup of tissue reservoirs and their contribution to plasmid spread await experimental demonstration. Here, we asked if re-seeding-plasmid acquisition-invasion cycles by; S; .Tm could serve to diversify tissue-lodged plasmid reservoirs, and thereby promote plasmid spread. Starting with intraperitoneal mouse infections, we demonstrate that; S; .Tm cells re-seeding the gut lumen initiate clonal expansion. Extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) plasmid-encoded gut luminal antibiotic degradation by donors can foster recipient survival under beta-lactam antibiotic treatment, enhancing transconjugant formation upon re-seeding.; S; .Tm transconjugants can subsequently re-enter host tissues introducing the new plasmid into the tissue-lodged reservoir. Population dynamics analyses pinpoint recipient migration into the gut lumen as rate-limiting for plasmid transfer dynamics in our model. Priority effects may be a limiting factor for reservoir formation in host tissues. Overall, our proof-of-principle data indicates that luminal antibiotic degradation and shuttling between the gut lumen and tissue-resident reservoirs can promote the accumulation and spread of plasmids within a host over time

Synthesis and Characterization of Bidentate Isonitrile Iron Complexes

Divalent iron complexes trans-[FeBr2(BINC)2], [Cp*FeCl(BINC)] (Cp* = Me5C5) and [FeBr2(CNAr3NC)2] with chelat-ing bis(isonitrile) ligands BINC (bis(2-isocyanophenyl)phenylphosphonate) and CNAr3NC (2,2’’-diisocyano-3,5,3’’,5’’tetramethyl-1,1’:3’,1’’-terphenyl) have been prepared and characterized. Their subsequent reduction yields di- and trinuclear compounds [Fe3(BINC)6], [Cp*Fe(BINC)]2, [Fe(CNAr3NC)2]2 and [K(Et2O)]2[Fe(CNAr3NC)2]2. The molecular structures of all new species were determined by X-ray crystallography. The molecular structures are compared to related iron carbonyl complexes. The complexes were further characterized by NMR and IR spectroscopy, and the electrochemical properties of selected compounds were analyzed by UV-Vis-NIR spectroelectrochemistry

Does global progress on sanitation really lag behind water? An analysis of global progress on community- and household-level access to safe water and sanitation.

Safe drinking water and sanitation are important determinants of human health and wellbeing and have recently been declared human rights by the international community. Increased access to both were included in the Millennium Development Goals under a single dedicated target for 2015. This target was reached in 2010 for water but sanitation will fall short; however, there is an important difference in the benchmarks used for assessing global access. For drinking water the benchmark is community-level access whilst for sanitation it is household-level access, so a pit latrine shared between households does not count toward the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target. We estimated global progress for water and sanitation under two scenarios: with equivalent household- and community-level benchmarks. Our results demonstrate that the "sanitation deficit" is apparent only when household-level sanitation access is contrasted with community-level water access. When equivalent benchmarks are used for water and sanitation, the global deficit is as great for water as it is for sanitation, and sanitation progress in the MDG-period (1990-2015) outstrips that in water. As both drinking water and sanitation access yield greater benefits at the household-level than at the community-level, we conclude that any post-2015 goals should consider a household-level benchmark for both

Reproducibility and comparison of oxygen-enhanced T-1 quantification in COPD and asthma patients

T1 maps have been shown to yield useful diagnostic information on lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, both for native T1 and Delta T1, the relative reduction while breathing pure oxygen. As parameter quantification is particularly interesting for longitudinal studies, the purpose of this work was both to examine the reproducibility of lung T1 mapping and to compare T1 found in COPD and asthma patients using IRSnapShotFLASH embedded in a full MRI protocol. 12 asthma and 12 COPD patients (site 1) and further 15 COPD patients (site 2) were examined on two consecutive days. In each patient, T1 maps were acquired in 8 single breath-hold slices, breathing first room air, then pure oxygen. Maps were partitioned into 12 regions each to calculate average values. In asthma patients, the average T-1,T-RA = 1206ms (room air) was reduced to T-1,T-O2 = 1141ms under oxygen conditions (Delta T1 = 5.3%, p < 5.10(-4)), while in COPD patients both native T-1,T-RA = 1125ms was significantly shorter (p < 10(-3)) and the relative reduction to T-1,T-O2 = 1081ms on average Delta T1 = 4.2%(p < 10(-5)). On the second day, with T-1,T-RA = 1186ms in asthma and T-1,T-RA = 1097ms in COPD, observed values were slightly shorter on average in all patient groups. Delta T1 reduction was the least repeatable parameter and varied from day to day by up to 23% in individual asthma and 30% in COPD patients. While for both patient groups T1 was below the values reported for healthy subjects, the T1 and Delta T1 found in asthmatics lies between that of the COPD group and reported values for healthy subjects, suggesting a higher blood volume fraction and better ventilation. However, it could be demonstrated that lung T1 quantification is subject to notable inter-examination variability, which here can be attributed both to remaining contrast agent from the previous day and the increased dependency of lung T1 on perfusion and thus current lung state

A large scale hearing loss screen reveals an extensive unexplored genetic landscape for auditory dysfunction

The developmental and physiological complexity of the auditory system is likely reflected in the underlying set of genes involved in auditory function. In humans, over 150 non-syndromic loci have been identified, and there are more than 400 human genetic syndromes with a hearing loss component. Over 100 non-syndromic hearing loss genes have been identified in mouse and human, but we remain ignorant of the full extent of the genetic landscape involved in auditory dysfunction. As part of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, we undertook a hearing loss screen in a cohort of 3006 mouse knockout strains. In total, we identify 67 candidate hearing loss genes. We detect known hearing loss genes, but the vast majority, 52, of the candidate genes were novel. Our analysis reveals a large and unexplored genetic landscape involved with auditory function

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts