324139 research outputs found
Sort by
Practical quantum computing: error reduction techniques from software to hardware
Get PDFThis thesis presents multiple advances in the construction of noise-resistant quantum computers. In order to bridge the gap between abstract theory and practical experiments, my research encompasses a wide range of subfields within quantum computing, including error correction, silicon spin qubit physics and error mitigation. Firstly, I demonstrate that large-scale defects affecting entire regions of an error correcting code, such as cosmic rays or manufacturing defects, do not necessarily constitute a fundamental obstacle. Conversely, bespoke protocols that employ code deformation can be utilised to mitigate their impact, at a moderate resource overhead. Secondly, I investigate the feasibility of building a fault-tolerant silicon spin qubit quantum computer in the near term. I demonstrate that arranging the qubits in a 2×N array represents an effective methodology for the construction of error correcting codes, provided that the qubits can be shuttled with high fidelity. This expected characteristic of silicon spins can thus be utilised to circumvent the construction of complex dense 2D grids of qubits. Subsequently, I build upon the existing literature on the implementation of low-noise gates in silicon spin qubits, at the physical level this time. Specifically, I design a protocol for the individual control of silicon spin qubits, without the need for local magnetic fields targeting every qubit in the device. This simplification enables efficient control of silicon spins, whose single-qubit addressability was an identified bottleneck. Finally, I complement the above research with an error mitigation scheme targeted at the evaluation of eigenvalues with an early-fault-tolerant quantum computers. This scheme promises to alleviate the stringent resource costs of error correction, thereby paving the way for fault-tolerance in a nearer future
L2 vocabulary learning and retention: a comparison between traditional paper homework and online homework
Get PDFThis study aimed to compare the effectiveness of various homework methods in second language (L2) vocabulary learning and retention. The study looked at the differences in effectiveness between traditional pencil and paper homework and online homework. The study also aimed to investigate student attitudes towards both of those homework methods. A mixed-methods research design was used. The effectiveness of the homework methods was measured using vocabulary test scores after each intervention phase and involved a quantitative analysis of those assessment scores through a paired samples t-test. Student attitudes and engagement with the homework methods were qualitatively analyzed through student questionnaires. The results showed no statistically significant difference between homework methods, although they did demonstrate an improvement in vocabulary knowledge over time. This suggests a positive trend, but without a ‘no homework’ comparison group, the vocabulary knowledge improvement cannot be definitively attributed to the homework tasks alone, as classroom reinforcement activities could also have contributed. The qualitative data from the questionnaire showed students preferred paper homework over online homework. The findings from this study suggest that neither mode is superior to the other and that teachers may want to take into account student preferences as their guiding principle when choosing how they assign vocabulary learning tasks for homework
The pragmatic persuasiveness of prose rhythm: a rhetorical approach to Cicero's rhythmic technique
Get PDFThe purpose of this thesis is to explore Cicero’s use of prose rhythm from a persuasive and audience centred perspective, and to demonstrate that prose rhythm functions as a domain of rhetorical technique. Prosody, that is the natural patterns of speech rhythm, is a fundamental and intrinsic element of language, and an integral component of communication that offers practical benefits for enhancing audibility, intelligibility, and clarity in a spoken setting. Ancient authors, including Cicero, distilled this natural linguistic feature into a comprehensive system, taking pains to select rhythms that they regarded as sounding the most pleasing. The question therefore naturally arises as to why such effort was put into choosing and manufacturing specific rhythms, and what rhetorical advantage this labour might have produced. The question is not one, however, that has so far drawn much scholarly attention, with efforts centering on the granular identification, categorisation, and quantification of rhythms, rather than on considerations of functionality. Yet it is an important question to explore. Cicero himself discusses prose rhythm as a feature that can charm the ear and capture goodwill – so at least in his own mind, prose rhythm was for Cicero a purposeful device. This thesis therefore aims to address this question of the rhetorical purpose and benefit of prose rhythm. The discussion approaches the issue via several angles, exploring what constitutes a rhythmic clausula, how we should treat resolution, how word boundaries affect clausulae, where clausulae can be found, and how rhythm contributes to structure, before culminating in a thorough metrical examination of the Pro Archia. Through all these lenses prose rhythm is consistently found to be used as a practical rhetorical device, deliberately deployed by the orator to influence his audience according to his purposes in a rhetorical context. The thesis largely adopts a qualitative approach, maintaining a consistent focus on the ear of the audience as the target for rhythmic effects. Contextualised examples from Cicero’s speeches are used to illustrate points throughout, and clausula categories are colour-coded for easy visual identification
Bayesian machine learning enables discovery of risk factors for hepatosplenic multimorbidity related to schistosomiasis
Get PDFOne in 25 deaths worldwide is related to liver disease, and often with multiple hepatosplenic conditions. Yet, little is understood of the risk factors for hepatosplenic multimorbidity, especially in the context of chronic infections. We present a novel Bayesian multitask learning framework to jointly model 45 hepatosplenic conditions assessed using point-of-care B-mode ultrasound for 3155 individuals aged 5-91 years within the SchistoTrack cohort across rural Uganda where chronic intestinal schistosomiasis is endemic. We identified distinct and shared biomedical, socioeconomic, and spatial risk factors for individual conditions and hepatosplenic multimorbidity, and introduced methods for measuring condition dependencies as risk factors. Notably, for gastro-oesophageal varices, we discovered key risk factors of older age, lower hemoglobin concentration, and schistosomal periportal fibrosis. Our findings provide a compendium of risk factors to inform surveillance, triage, and follow-up, while our model enables improved prediction of hepatosplenic multimorbidity, and if validated on other anatomical systems, general multimorbidity
Emotional words, emotional contexts: investigating emotional valence in children's writing and word learning
Get PDFThere is a relationship between the emotional valence of a word and its surrounding context in adult language, and context valence predicts how well adults learn new words. We asked whether this extends to children. Using a large corpus of stories written by children (N=103,541; ~55 million words, ages 7–13), we found a positive correlation between word and context valence (r=0.46), which was stable across age. We then conducted a pre-registered word learning experiment investigating how emotional narrative context shapes learning of novel adjectives during independent reading. Children (N=120, age 7–11 years, 59 girls, ethnic information not collected) read 15 novel words embedded in 30 short narratives of either neutral, negative, or positive valence. We found that children inferred word valence from narrative context, demonstrating that context valence is an effective cue for word learning. Children learned novel adjectives, and older children outperformed younger children in word recognition and valence judgment. Novel adjectives read in more emotional (positive/negative) contexts were recognised more accurately than those in neutral narratives (Odds Ratios = 1.39-1.60). We discuss how affective associations build from children’s experience of words in emotional contexts, consistent with affective embodiment supporting children’s learning of abstract concepts
Use of outcome measures in psychiatry: Royal College of Psychiatrists’ survey of members
Get PDFAims and method: This study sought to obtain the views of doctors associated with the Royal College of Psychiatrists on the use of outcome measures in mental health services. An online survey was developed by the College’s working group on outcome measures and widely disseminated to psychiatrists through College channels. Results: In total, 339 completed responses were received. Respondents were mostly consultant psychiatrists; based in England; and working in the National Health Service with working-age adults. Almost half said they used outcome measures routinely, with almost half finding outcome measures clinically useful. Lack of time and inadequate information technology systems were identified as the top barriers to using outcome measures. Clinical implications: Based on our results, psychiatrists are generally keen to use outcome measures, but are often prevented from doing so effectively by pressures on services and lack of appropriate support. The Royal College of Psychiatrists and other relevant organisations could enhance the use of outcome measures in mental health services through improved guidance, providing additional resources and integration of measures into electronic patient records
Biochemical urine analysis of atorvastatin and rosuvastatin by LC-MS: a pilot study of an objective method to assess non-adherence
Get PDFObjective: Non-adherence to statins represents a contributing factor for poor attainment of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol treatment goals in secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD). We aimed to establish urine analysis by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS) as a method for objective measurement of non-adherence to high-potency statins. Additionally, we sought to apply the method to a population of ambulatory CAD patients at a German heart center in a cross-sectional pilot study. Methods: Volunteers provided urine samples one, two, three, and seven days after intake of a single dose of atorvastatin and/or rosuvastatin. Additionally, urine samples from ambulatory CAD patients on prescription of atorvastatin or rosuvastatin were obtained. All urine samples were analyzed by LC-MS for concentrations of atorvastatin or rosuvastatin. Lower limits of detection were determined on spiked urine samples to define cut-off values (COVs) for the detection of statins (atorvastatin 1.40 ng/mL, rosuvastatin 1.00 ng/mL). Non-adherence was defined as a measurement of the respective statin below the COV. Results: On day one, in volunteers’ (n = 16, 37.3 ± 6 years, 81.3% male) urine samples, concentrations were above COV in 92.3% (atorvastatin, n = 13) and 90% (rosuvastatin, n = 10). After seven days, atorvastatin could not be detected in all 13 volunteers (100%) and rosuvastatin in nine of ten volunteers (90.0%), Conclusion: LC-MS analysis of urine is a feasible method for direct testing of adherence to high-potency statins within a one-week time-window. In the investigated population of ambulatory patients with CAD, non-adherence to statins was found in a considerably low range. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT05814692, first registered 20,230,403
Mundo imprenteros. Biodrama, intermediality, and printwork in the play, book, and film Imprenteros by Lorena Vega y Hnos
No full textLorena Vega’s play Imprenteros was initially scheduled for four performances but has now run to over 500 shows, a mark of its remarkable resonance with audiences, either side of the COVID19 pandemic. Three approaches have dominated its critical reception: intermediality, biodrama, and postdramatic theatre. This article assesses the viability of such readings within the wider context of contemporary Argentine theatre and against the backdrop of the printing industry which it, in part, depicts, while offering readings of the subsequent remediations of the work in book and film form, in an attempt to understand the critical and popular success of the work. Imprenteros offers, it shall be argued, an exploration of labour, materiality, and alienation (in multiple senses), in which the various elements constitute an artistic or cultural constellation
Legitimate aims and ulterior purposes in human rights law: opening up a comparative research agenda
No full textThis article introduces the Human Rights Law Review Symposium on ‘Legitimate aims and Ulterior Purposes in Human Rights Law: Comparative Perspectives’. Aims and purposes are ubiquitous in human rights law: they articulate the goals that are permitted and the motivations that are prohibited when restricting human rights and freedoms. Notwithstanding this reality, which aims are (il)legitimate and why remains largely understudied in human rights scholarship. This Symposium examines approaches to purpose review in human rights law. It adopts a comparative methodology, considering how (international) (human rights) courts and tribunals vary in their approach to purpose review. The Symposium identifies instances of convergence and divergence across four dimensions: (i) levels of scrutiny of legitimate aims (ii) interpretation of the scope of legitimate aims, and (iii) approaches to evidence and proof under relevant treaty and constitutional legal provisions. These findings open up a new agenda in comparative human rights law and call for further research, conceptual, normative and empirical, into purpose review in international human rights law and comparative constitutional law
Drag-minimising bodies in confined Stokes flows
Get PDFSlow viscous flow around a fixed body generates a shape-dependent drag. We explore the drag-minimising shapes of bodies centred between two parallel plates in two-dimensional viscous flow. The channel width introduces a lengthscale so that the optimal profile is areadependent. We solve the shape optimisation problem numerically over a wide range of areas. We also compute the optimal elliptical shapes and this identifies how these shapes should be slightly altered to reduce the drag with reductions of up to 3.8% attained at high areas. More broadly, we derive two properties of general optimal shapes within the confined flow: the magnitude of the surface vorticity is approximately (but not exactly) constant and the noses have sharp angles that are independent of area. For relatively small bodies, the optimal shape becomes identical to that in an unconfined geometry but the drag is qualitatively different owing to the influence of confinement; within a channel, it is proportional to the inverse of the logarithm of the body area. At relatively large areas, the optimal body becomes long and its surface is approximately parallel to the channel boundaries, except in the vicinity of the noses. Using a lubrication approximation, we recast the optimisation problem as an Euler-Lagrange equation that is solved to determine the drag-minimising shape, finding that the drag is proportional to the body area in this regime