Quantum Turing automata

A denotational semantics of quantum Turing machines having a quantum control is defined in the dagger compact closed category of finite dimensional Hilbert spaces. Using the Moore-Penrose generalized inverse, a new additive trace is introduced on the restriction of this category to isometries, which trace is carried over to directed quantum Turing machines as monoidal automata. The Joyal-Street-Verity Int construction is then used to extend this structure to a reversible bidirectional one.Comment: In Proceedings DCM 2012, arXiv:1403.757

Quenched Invariance Principle for the Random Walk on the Penrose Tiling

We consider the simple random walk on the graph corresponding to a Penrose tiling. We prove that the path distribution of the walk converges weakly to that of a non-degenerate Brownian motion for almost every Penrose tiling with respect to the appropriate invariant measure on the set of tilings. Our tool for this is the corrector method.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Noise sensitivity in bootstrap percolation

Answering questions of Itai Benjamini, we show that the event of complete occupation in 2-neighbour bootstrap percolation on the d-dimensional box [n]^d, for d\geq 2, at its critical initial density p_c(n), is noise sensitive, while in k-neighbour bootstrap percolation on the d-regular random graph G_{n,d}, for 2\leq k\leq d-2, it is insensitive. Many open problems remain.Comment: 16 page

Future-, outside-, and inside-focused development paths

The FOI model developed by the authors measures the future, outside and inside potential of a country. With the help of the model the OECD countries are evaluated, and four typical clusters are found which can represent four typical development models within the club of developed economies

Has HIV evolved to induce immune pathogenesis?

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) induces a chronic generalized activation of the immune system, which plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AIDS. This ability of the virus might either be an evolved (adaptive) trait or a coincidental side effect of jumping to a new host species. We argue that selection favours the ability of HIV to induce immune activation at the local sites of infection (e.g. lymph follicles) but not at the systemic level. Immune activation increases the supply of susceptible target cells; however, mutations that increase systemic immune activation benefit all virus variants equally and are therefore selectively neutral. We thus conclude that the generalized immune acti- vation that is probably responsible for pathogenesis is probably not directly under selection

From the principles of genomic data sharing to the practices of data access committees

Sharing genomic research data through controlled-access databases has increased in recent years. Policymakers and funding organizations endorse genomic data sharing in order to optimize the use of public funds and to increase the statistical power of databases. Well-established data access arrangements and data access committees (DACs)responsible for reviewing and managing requests for access to genomic databasesare therefore central for implementing the policies and principles of data sharing. This article aims to investigate the functionality of DACs through the perspective of existing practices

The current situation of EU’s food chain

The sharp fluctuations in agricultural commodity and food prices at a time of great uncertainty about the economic outlook illustrate the need to improve the functioning of the European food supply chain with a view to enhancing its efficiency and competitiveness. Better regulation and ensuring a vigorous and coherent enforcement of competition and consumer protection rules will contribute to limiting price increases for the benefit of European consumers, in particular lower income households. Moreover, it will also help overcome the present fragmentation of the food supply chain and remove artificial entry barriers for producers, which will help European consumers benefit from the widest possible choice of quality food products. Additionally, this could help rebalancing the bargaining power in the food supply chain. Global demand and supply developments have been one of the main determinants of the rapid increase in food prices observed. Nevertheless, problems in the functioning of the food supply chain, either in terms of the degree of competition or concerning regulation may have played an important role as well. In the present economic conditions, it is therefore particularly important to analyse how to improve the functioning of the food supply chain and, in particular, to better understand the transmission mechanisms linking commodity prices with producer and consumer prices. This would help identify appropriate measures in support of the consumer's purchasing power and the competitiveness of the sectors involved. The food supply chain connects three economically important sectors: the agricultural sector, the food processing industry and the distribution sectors. These sectors account for 6% of EU value added and 12% of EU employment. As the food processing industry and the distribution sectors have many interactions with other sectors, market malfunctioning along the food supply chain can have significant repercussions. The slow productivity growth in these sectors in comparison with the US indicates that there is room for efficiency improvements.food chain, demand and supply, retirements, consumer, foodstuff’s price, Agricultural and Food Policy,