Cooper Pair Boxes Weakly Coupled to External Environments

We study the behaviour of charge oscillations in Superconducting Cooper Pair Boxes weakly interacting with an environment. We found that, due to the noise and dissipation induced by the environment, the stability properties of these nanodevices differ according to whether the charge oscillations are interpreted as an effect of macroscopic quantum coherence, or semiclassically in terms of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. More specifically, occupation number states, used in the quantum interpretation of the oscillations, are found to be much more unstable than coherent ones, typical of the semiclassical explanation.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe

Statistical mechanics of budget-constrained auctions

Finding the optimal assignment in budget-constrained auctions is a combinatorial optimization problem with many important applications, a notable example being the sale of advertisement space by search engines (in this context the problem is often referred to as the off-line AdWords problem). Based on the cavity method of statistical mechanics, we introduce a message passing algorithm that is capable of solving efficiently random instances of the problem extracted from a natural distribution, and we derive from its properties the phase diagram of the problem. As the control parameter (average value of the budgets) is varied, we find two phase transitions delimiting a region in which long-range correlations arise.Comment: Minor revisio

Principios de manejo de control quimico del tizon tardio de la papa en Ecuador.

Es necesario establecer con claridad los principios del manejo químico de la enfermedad antes que recomendaciones explícitas del uso de fungicidas. Para establecer los principios de manejo, a su vez es necesario conocer la eficacia de control y los riesgos de resistencia de los patógenos a los fungicidas. Considerando que la base del control de la enfermedad es la rotación de fungicidas, posibles sinergias y antagonismos deben ser establecidos. Además, los niveles globales de toxicidad deben ser bajos y la eficacia alta; todos estos aspectos deben ser considerados para establecer los principios de manejo del control químico. Con estos antecedentes, estudios de eficacia, resistencia del patógeno a los fungicidas, rotación de fungicidas han permitido identificar los principios de manejo del tizón tardío, lo que permitirá el manejo sustentable de la enfermedad

Patient experiences of receiving arthroscopic surgery or personalised hip therapy for femoroacetabular impingement in the context of the UK fashion study:a qualitative study

UK FASHIoN was a multicentre randomised controlled trial comparing hip arthroscopic surgery (HA) with personalised hip therapy (PHT, physiotherapist-led conservative care), for patients with hip pain attributed to femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome. Our aim was to describe the treatment and trial participation experiences of patients, to contextualise the trial results and offer further information to assist treatment decision-making in FAI. We conducted in-depth semi-structured telephone interviews with a purposive sample of trial participants from each of the trial arms. They were interviewed after they received treatment and completed their first year of trial participation. Thematic analysis and constant comparison analytical approaches were used to identify themes of patient treatment experiences during the trial. Forty trial participants were interviewed in this qualitative study. Their baseline characteristics were similar to those in the main trial sample. On average, their hip-related quality of life (iHOT-33 scores) at 12 months follow-up were lower than average for all trial participants, indicating poorer hip-related quality of life as a consequence of theoretical sampling. Patient experiences occurred in five patient groups: those who felt their symptoms improved with hip arthroscopy, or with personal hip therapy, patients who felt their hip symptoms did not change with PHT but did not want HA, patients who decided to change from PHT to HA and a group who experienced serious complications after HA. Interviewees mostly described a trouble-free, enriching and altruistic trial participation experience, although most participants expected more clinical follow-up at the end of the trial. Both HA and PHT were experienced as beneficial by participants in the trial. Treatment success appeared to depend partly on patients' prior own expectations as well as their outcomes, and future research is needed to explore this further. Findings from this study can be combined with the primary results to inform future FAI patients

Personalised hip therapy : development of a non-operative protocol to treat femoroacetabular impingement syndrome in the FASHIoN randomised controlled trial

Introduction Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome is increasingly recognised as a cause of hip pain. As part of the design of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of arthroscopic surgery for FAI syndrome, we developed a protocol for non-operative care and evaluated its feasibility. Methods In phase one, we developed a protocol for non-operative care for FAI in the UK National Health Service (NHS), through a process of systematic review and consensus gathering. In phase two, the protocol was tested in an internal pilot RCT for protocol adherence and adverse events. Results The final protocol, called Personalised Hip Therapy (PHT), consists of four core components led by physiotherapists: detailed patient assessment, education and advice, help with pain relief and an exercise-based programme that is individualised, supervised and progressed over time. PHT is delivered over 12–26 weeks in 6–10 physiotherapist-patient contacts, supplemented by a home exercise programme. In the pilot RCT, 42 patients were recruited and 21 randomised to PHT. Review of treatment case report forms, completed by physiotherapists, showed that 13 patients (62%) received treatment that had closely followed the PHT protocol. 13 patients reported some muscle soreness at 6 weeks, but there were no serious adverse events. Conclusion PHT provides a structure for the non-operative care of FAI and offers guidance to clinicians and researchers in an evolving area with limited evidence. PHT was deliverable within the National Health Service, is safe, and now forms the comparator to arthroscopic surgery in the UK FASHIoN trial (ISRCTN64081839)

Co-producing a digital educational programme for registered children’s nurses to improve care of children and young people admitted with self-harm

Despite the increasing prevalence of hospital admissions for self-harm in children and young people (CYP), there is paucity of registered children’s nurse (rCN) training or involvement of children to improve care for this often stigmatized patient group. This article describes a participatory approach towards using co-production with CYP and rCN to develop a digital educational programme to improve nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and confidence in caring for CYP with self-harm injuries. A priority-setting workshop with rCNs was used to establish consensus of information needs. This was followed by an e-learning content development workshop undertaken with CYP whom had previously experienced hospital admissions for self-harm injuries. Findings from the nurse priority-setting workshop identified three educational priorities: (1) knowledge of self-harm, (2) effective communication and (3) risk management. The CYP subsequently developed these topic areas to ensure the contents and design of the e-learning resource had fidelity by reflecting the experiences of CYP and needs when cared for in hospital. This article illustrates that involving service users to co-develop educational materials is a feasible and important step in designing educational resources and ensures the content is relevant, appropriate and sensitive to both the recipient of care and those responsible for its delivery

Solución del problema de Kirsch mediante elementos libres de malla, utilizando funciones de interpolación de base radial

The problem of Kirsch published in 1898, is used as a basis for corroborating the relative precision of numerical methods developed in the mechanics of solids. For this reason, the solution of this problem is used to evaluate the accuracy of the Mfree numerical method with a function of form using the radial points of interpolation, in the mesh-free numerical method. The radial points of interpolation method (RPIM) is an interpolation technique used to construct form functions with locally distributed nodes in a weak formulation that allows the representation of the problem as a system of equations. The most common type of functions are the polynomial functions or MQ radial basis functions (RBF), which was used for the stability it presents at the moment of solving the problem numerically. The most common type of functions are the polynomial functions or radial basis functions (RBF), which was used for the stability it presents at the moment of solving the problem numerically. To make the comparison we used the analytical solution given by Kirsch and the numerical solution developed in the present work, obtained an error of 0.00899%, which shows that the Mfree technique with radial bases of interpolation MQ are accurate and reliable when used as a numerical method of analysis.El problema de Kirsch publicado en 1898, es utilizado como base para corroborar la precisión relativa de los métodos numéricos desarrollados en la mecánica de sólidos. Por esta razón se utiliza la solución de este problema para evaluar la precisión del método numérico Mfree con una función de forma utilizando los puntos radiales de interpolación, en el método numérico libre de malla. El método de puntos radiales de interpolación es una técnica de interpolación utilizada para construir funciones de forma con nodos distribuidos localmente en una formulación débil la cual permite representar el problema como un sistema de ecuaciones. El tipo de funciones más usuales son las funciones polinomiales o funciones de base radial MQ (RBF, radio basis functions), la cual fue utilizada por la estabilidad que presenta al momento de solucionar el problema numéricamente. Para hacer la comparación se usó la solución analítica dada por Kirsch y la solución numérica desarrollada en el presente trabajo, obtenido un error del 0.00899% lo que muestra que la técnica Mfree con bases radiales de interpolación MQ son precisas y confiables al momento de ser utilizadas como método numérico de análisis

A Quantum-Assisted Algorithm for Sampling Applications in Machine Learning

An increase in the efficiency of sampling from Boltzmann distributions would have a significant impact in deep learning and other machine learning applications. Recently, quantum annealers have been proposed as a potential candidate to speed up this task, but several limitations still bar these state-of-the-art technologies from being used effectively. One of the main limitations is that, while the device may indeed sample from a Boltzmann-like distribution, quantum dynamical arguments suggests it will do so with an instance-dependent effective temperature, different from the physical temperature of the device. Unless this unknown temperature can be unveiled, it might not be possible to effectively use a quantum annealer for Boltzmann sampling. In this talk, we present a strategy to overcome this challenge with a simple effective-temperature estimation algorithm. We provide a systematic study assessing the impact of the effective temperatures in the learning of a kind of restricted Boltzmann machine embedded on quantum hardware, which can serve as a building block for deep learning architectures. We also provide a comparison to k-step contrastive divergence (CD-k) with k up to 100. Although assuming a suitable fixed effective temperature also allows to outperform one step contrastive divergence (CD-1), only when using an instance-dependent effective temperature we find a performance close to that of CD-100 for the case studied here. We discuss generalizations of the algorithm to other more expressive generative models, beyond restricted Boltzmann machines

Protocol for a multicentre, parallel-arm, 12-month, randomised, controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery versus conservative care for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FASHIoN)

Introduction Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome is a recognised cause of young adult hip pain. There has been a large increase in the number of patients undergoing arthroscopic surgery for FAI; however, a recent Cochrane review highlighted that there are no randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating treatment effectiveness. We aim to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of arthroscopic surgery versus best conservative care for patients with FAI syndrome. Methods We will conduct a multicentre, pragmatic, assessor-blinded, two parallel arm, RCT comparing arthroscopic surgery to physiotherapy-led best conservative care. 24 hospitals treating NHS patients will recruit 344 patients over a 26-month recruitment period. Symptomatic adults with radiographic signs of FAI morphology who are considered suitable for arthroscopic surgery by their surgeon will be eligible. Patients will be excluded if they have radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis, previous significant hip pathology or previous shape changing surgery. Participants will be allocated in a ratio of 1:1 to receive arthroscopic surgery or conservative care. Recruitment will be monitored and supported by qualitative intervention to optimise informed consent and recruitment. The primary outcome will be pain and function assessed by the international hip outcome tool 33 (iHOT-33) measured 1-year following randomisation. Secondary outcomes include general health (short form 12), quality of life (EQ5D-5L) and patient satisfaction. The primary analysis will compare change in pain and function (iHOT-33) at 12 months between the treatment groups, on an intention-to-treat basis, presented as the mean difference between the trial groups with 95% CIs. The study is funded by the Health Technology Assessment Programme (13/103/02). Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is granted by the Edgbaston Research Ethics committee (14/WM/0124). The results will be disseminated through open access peer-reviewed publications, including Health Technology Assessment, and presented at relevant conferences. Trial registration number ISRCTN64081839; Pre-results

Protocol for a multi-centre, parallel-arm, 12-month, randomised controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery versus conservative care for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FASHIoN)

INTRODUCTION: Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome is a recognised cause of young adult hip pain. There has been a large increase in the number of patients undergoing arthroscopic surgery for FAI; however, a recent Cochrane review highlighted that there are no randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating treatment effectiveness. We aim to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of arthroscopic surgery versus best conservative care for patients with FAI syndrome. METHODS: We will conduct a multicentre, pragmatic, assessor-blinded, two parallel arm, RCT comparing arthroscopic surgery to physiotherapy-led best conservative care. 24 hospitals treating NHS patients will recruit 344 patients over a 26-month recruitment period. Symptomatic adults with radiographic signs of FAI morphology who are considered suitable for arthroscopic surgery by their surgeon will be eligible. Patients will be excluded if they have radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis, previous significant hip pathology or previous shape changing surgery. Participants will be allocated in a ratio of 1:1 to receive arthroscopic surgery or conservative care. Recruitment will be monitored and supported by qualitative intervention to optimise informed consent and recruitment. The primary outcome will be pain and function assessed by the international hip outcome tool 33 (iHOT-33) measured 1-year following randomisation. Secondary outcomes include general health (short form 12), quality of life (EQ5D-5L) and patient satisfaction. The primary analysis will compare change in pain and function (iHOT-33) at 12 months between the treatment groups, on an intention-to-treat basis, presented as the mean difference between the trial groups with 95% CIs. The study is funded by the Health Technology Assessment Programme (13/103/02). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval is granted by the Edgbaston Research Ethics committee (14/WM/0124). The results will be disseminated through open access peer-reviewed publications, including Health Technology Assessment, and presented at relevant conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN64081839; Pre-results