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Software Testing in the Quantum World
No full textQuantum computing offers significant speedups for simulating physical, chemical, and biological systems, and for optimization and machine learning. As quantum software grows in complexity, the classical simulation of quantumcomputers, which has long been essential for quality assurance, becomes infeasible. This shift requires new quality-assurance methods that operate directlyon real quantum computers. This paper presents the key challenges in testing large-scale quantum software and offers software engineering perspectives foraddressing them
An Alternative Perspective on the Classical Solution to an Optimal Stopping Problem with a Spectrally Negative Levy Process
No full textThe Role of Ethnicity and Migration in Perinatal Inequalities:A Retrospective Cohort Study
No full textOBJECTIVE: To examine ethnic disparities in perinatal outcomes and the role of migration factors.DESIGN: Retrospective cohort.SETTING: Two maternity services in South London, UK.POPULATION OR SAMPLE: Women birthing singleton infants between 24 and 43 weeks' gestation (2018-2023).METHODS: Linked electronic health records were analysed using generalised linear mixed models (GLMMs) with Poisson distribution to estimate adjusted risk ratios (aRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) by ethnicity, migration, interpreter need, and country-of-origin income, adjusting for socioeconomic deprivation and medical risk.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Emergency caesarean, haemorrhage, preterm birth, low birthweight, low Apgar score, stillbirth or neonatal death.RESULTS: Among 44 634 births, compared with White women, emergency caesarean risk was higher for Asian (aRR 1.22, 95% CI 1.14-1.30, p < 0.001) and Black women (1.16, 1.10-1.23, p < 0.001). Haemorrhage was higher for Asian women (1.12, 1.02-1.23, p = 0.021), those needing interpretation (1.16, 1.06-1.27, p < 0.001), and lower for Mixed ethnicity women (0.86, 0.74-0.99, p = 0.038). Infants of Black women had elevated risks of preterm birth (1.23, 1.13-1.34, p < 0.001), low birthweight (1.74, 1.60-1.89, p < 0.001), low Apgar (2.06, 1.71-2.48, p < 0.001), and stillbirth/neonatal death (1.57, 1.21-2.05, p < 0.001). Asian infants had increased risks of preterm birth (1.19, 1.07-1.33, p = 0.002) and low birthweight (1.69, 1.52-1.87, p < 0.001). Foreign-born women had lower risks of low birthweight (0.71, 0.62-0.81, p < 0.001) but higher risks of low Apgar (1.24, 1.06-1.46, p = 0.009) and stillbirth/neonatal death (1.33, 1.07-1.65, p = 0.011). Risks were highest for ethnic minority, foreign-born women, though effect sizes were modest.CONCLUSIONS: Ethnic minority and foreign-born women, particularly from LMICs or needing interpreters, face elevated risks with modest clinical impact.</p
Characterising the impact of shift work on diet and glucose variability in healthcare employees living with type 2 diabetes:The Shift-Diabetes Study
No full textAims: To characterise differences in dietary intake, glucose variability, and activity in free-living healthcare shift workers with type 2 diabetes (T2D) across varying work conditions. Methods: Healthcare shift workers with T2D were monitored over 10 days, covering night shifts, day shifts, and rest days. Data were collected using blinded continuous glucose monitoring, activity trackers, and diet/sleep diaries. Within-person comparisons were made for mean glucose (MG), coefficient of variation (CV), mean absolute glucose change (MAG), mean amplitude of glycaemic excursion (MAGE), continuous overlapping net glycaemic action (CONGA), dietary intake (food choices, nutrient intake), and activity/rest periods. Results: The study sample (n = 37; 89.2% women) were mainly employed as nurses or midwives (62.2%). Energy intake was highest (2199 kcal SD 648) on a day when a night shift was worked. Percentage of energy intake from sweet snacks was higher on a night shift compared with a rest day after a night shift (13.4 SD 12.0% vs. 7.8 SD 11.8%, p = 0.013). Night shifts had the highest eating occasions (7.0 SD 2.2) and rest after night (RAN) the lowest (3.4 SD 1.6), p < 0.001. No differences were reported for MG, MAGE, or CV. MAG and CONGA were higher for night shift compared with RAN shift (p = 0.029). Step counts were higher on night shift days (13,775, SD 4270 p = 0.016), and participants were awake longer (22.2 h SD 2.4 h, p < 0.001) compared with other day types. Conclusions: Night shifts are associated with prolonged wakefulness, increased activity, and distinct dietary behaviours. Tailored interventions are needed to support night shift workers with T2D in managing their condition effectively.</p
Fusing Data from CT Deep Learning, CT Radiomics and Peripheral Blood Immune profiles to Diagnose Lung Cancer in a Cohort of Patients Experiencing Symptoms
Get PDFBackground: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Diagnosis at late stages is common due to the largely non-specific nature of presenting symptoms contributing to high mortality. There is a lack of specific, minimally invasive low-cost tests to screen patients ahead of the diagnostic biopsy. Methods: 344 patients experiencing symptoms from the lung clinic of Lister hospital suspected of lung cancer were recruited. Predictive covariates were successfully generated on 170 patients from Computed Tomography (CT) scans using CT Texture Analysis (CTTA) and Deep Learning Autoencoders (DLA) as well as from peripheral blood data for immunity using high depth flow-cytometry and for exosome protein components. Predictive signatures were formed by combining covariates using Bayesian regression on a randomly chosen 128-patient training set and validated on a 42-patient held-out set. Final signatures were generated by fusing the data sources at different levels. Findings: Immune, CTTA and DLA single modality signatures had overall AUCs of 0.69, 0.70 and 0.73 respectively. The final combined signature had a ROC AUC of 0.81. The overall sensitivity and specificity were 0.72 and 0.77 respectively. Interpretation: Combining immune monitoring with CT scan data is an effective approach to improving sensitivity and specificity of Lung cancer screening even in patients experiencing symptoms.<br/
A varve chronology for glacial retreat and hydroclimate changes during Heinrich Stadial 1 on the Northwest European margins
No full textHeinrich Stadial 1 (HS 1; 18-15 ka) was a climatically dynamic period during the Last Deglaciation, which is thought to have been driven by alterations in Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), and which impacted terrestrial systems around the Northern Hemisphere. The event is usually divided into substages suggesting that conditions were not stable throughout the period. The middle- and high-latitude land masses adjacent to the North Atlantic were likely to have been most strongly impacted by such AMOC changes. However, very few records exist from these areas due to extensive ice cover which persisted over much of Europe and North America at this time, and because the impact of changing AMOC conditions on the melting ice masses and wider landscape is difficult to assess. This paper uses annually laminated lake-sediment cores from a glaciolacustrine system in South Wales to generate the first chronology of southern British Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) deglaciation and associated environmental changes through HS 1. Microfacies analysis of two laminated core sections from Llangorse Lake yields a merged master varve chronology which spans 3506 ± 143 years. This chronology is tethered to an absolute age scale at the youngest point of the varve section using radiocarbon dates and extrapolating the Bayesian age model to date the onset and end of varve formation. The varve thickness data shows that an ice-dammed glacial lake formed circa 18.84 cal ka BP (20,034–17,648) and transitioned into a cold-climate lake system ∼18.75 cal ka BP (19,939–17,553). This later, nival lake persisted for ∼3400 years until ∼15.34 cal ka BP (16,207–14,463), spanning the period of HS 1, after which the lake transitioned to non-varved sediments. The LLaMVC21 varve thickness record is related to i) millennial scale transition from drier to wetter conditions during Heinrich Stadial 1, and ii) inter-annual to decadal variability in hydroclimate, with three multi-decadal periods of decreased varve thickness detected. The findings here supports a wetter late HS 1 with the timing of the change between drier and wetter conditions broadly consistent with more distant records in more northerly latitudes
TAMS_LG_Input_Files
No full textShort audio (.wav) and transcripts (.txt) that can be used to test and run the TAMS analysis code (linked as software).Audio and transcripts extracted from a YouTube montage of Lady Gaga's interviews to promote the film "A Star is Born" in 2018 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRxsX_30tjs). Priors to run sequence matching on this dummy dataset are coded under "LG" in the TAMS_priors file. Instructions for running the code are in the TAMS_code repository