IBM (Denmark)

The performance of Kimemia and Gershwin's hierarchical scheduling scheme for flexible manufacturing systems, as enhanced by Gershwin, Akella, and Choong, is described. This method calculates times at which to dispatch parts into a system in a way that limits the disruptive effects of such disturbances as machine failures. Simulation results based on a detailed model of an IBM printed circuit card assembly facility are presented. Comparisons are made with other policies and the hierarchical policy is shown to be superior.

Abstract To run large-scale algorithms on a quantum computer, error-correcting codes must be able to perform a fundamental set of operations, called logic gates, while isolating the encoded information from noise 1–8 . We can complete a universal set of logic gates by producing special resources called magic states 9–11 . It is therefore important to produce high-fidelity magic states to conduct algorithms while introducing a minimal amount of noise to the computation. Here we propose and implement a scheme to prepare a magic state on a superconducting qubit array using error correction. We find that our scheme produces better magic states than those that can be prepared using the individual qubits of the device. This demonstrates a fundamental principle of fault-tolerant quantum computing 12 , namely, that we can use error correction to improve the quality of logic gates with noisy qubits. Moreover, we show that the yield of magic states can be increased using adaptive circuits, in which the circuit elements are changed depending on the outcome of mid-circuit measurements. This demonstrates an essential capability needed for many error-correction subroutines. We believe that our prototype will be invaluable in the future as it can reduce the number of physical qubits needed to produce high-fidelity magic states in large-scale quantum-computing architectures.

This paper explores the potential of employing sensor enabled solutions to improve on waste monitoring and collection in public trash bins. Through a user-centered design approach, an inexpensive monitoring system developed and tested in pilot study. The system consists of wireless nodes that use ultrasonic sensors to measure the empty space in the bins, a sensor gateway that is based on Long Rage Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) protocol and cloud-based back/front end for data collection, analysis and visualization. The system was evaluated through a pilot test, where six outdoor trash bins were remotely monitored at a university campus and a number of stakeholders were observed and interviewed. The results show that the existing technologies are mature enough to be able to develop and implement inexpensive add-on sensors to exiting trash bins, and employing such a system can provide the necessary insights to optimize waste collection processes, to avoid overfilled bins, and to improve the experience of the citizens.

BACKGROUND: Since 2013 the number of suspected adverse reactions to the quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine reported to the Danish Medicines Agency (DMA) has increased. Due to the resulting public concerns about vaccine safety, the coverage of HPV vaccinations in the childhood vaccination programme has declined. The aim of the present study was to determine health care-seeking prior to the first HPV vaccination among females who suspected adverse reactions to HPV vaccine. METHODS: In this registry-based case-control study, we included as cases vaccinated females with reports to the DMA of suspected severe adverse reactions. We selected controls without reports of adverse reactions from the Danish vaccination registry and matched by year of vaccination, age of vaccination, and municipality, and obtained from the Danish National Patient Registry and The National Health Insurance Service Register the history of health care usage two years prior to the first vaccine. We analysed the data by logistic regression while adjusting for the matching variables. RESULTS: The study included 316 cases who received first HPV vaccine between 2006 and 2014. Age range of cases was 11 to 52 years, with a peak at 12 years, corresponding to the recommended age at vaccination, and another peak at 19 to 28 years, corresponding to a catch-up programme targeting young women. Compared with 163,910 controls, cases had increased care-seeking in the two years before receiving the first HPV vaccine. A multivariable model showed higher use of telephone/email consultations (OR 1.9; 95% CI 1.2-3.2), physiotherapy (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.6-2.8) and psychologist/psychiatrist (OR 1.9; 95% CI 1.3-2.7). Cases were more likely to have a diagnosis in the ICD-10 chapters of diseases of the digestive system (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.0-2.4), of the musculoskeletal system (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.1-2.2), symptoms or signs not classified elsewhere (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.3-2.5) as well as injuries (OR 1.5; 95% CI 1.2-1.9). CONCLUSION: Before receiving the first HPV vaccination, females who suspected adverse reactions has symptoms and a health care-seeking pattern that is different from the matched population. Pre-vaccination morbidity should be taken into account in the evaluation of vaccine safety signals.

We propose a measurement-based model for fault-tolerant quantum computation that can be realized with one-dimensional cluster states and fusion measurements only; basic resources that are readily available with scalable photonic hardware. Our simulations demonstrate high thresholds compared with other measurement-based models realized with basic entangled resources and 2-qubit fusion measurements. Its high tolerance to noise indicates that our practical construction offers a promising route to scalable quantum computing with quantum emitters and linear-optical elements.

Purpose The paper aims to present a model for communicating mergers and acquisitions. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a case study of a corporate merger. Findings Communication is a crucial strategic tool in the integration process that follows a merger or an acquisition. M&As differ from other changes as virtually everything is at stake – both practical issues as well as the corporate identity. Hence, the identity issue must be addressed specifically, as a change in corporate identity is expected to affect the employees seriously due to the identification with the corporate identity. The paper also emphasizes the importance of empowering and enabling middle managers for the communication task in order to act as change agents, as the middle manager has reason to feel as “endangered” by the acquisition as his/her employees. Originality/value The paper offers a practical model for integration communication.

Notes that rapid IT development changes the way of handling product data in sales, design and methods engineering (the specification process), and raises the important question, how to engineer systems for managing product data in order to utilise the IT possibilities. Presents, as a result of a project and a case study, concepts and methods for analysing the specification process and setting up a vision for an improved process. The theory bases for the project are; systems theory as applied in Wickam Skinner’s “manufacturing task”, concepts and methods from business process re‐engineering, and product data technology. The task concept is used for developing the specification process, where the functional demands to the specification process are outlined during an analysis of the so‐called “specification task”. As the task concept is used for another domain new descriptional dimensions for describing the specification task will be presented. Based on an analysis of the specification task the specification process is re‐engineered and a vision for the future process to be is formulated, evaluated, and a plan for the implementation set up.

The healthcare system in Denmark is well known for its high level of IT support and interoperability. Not surprisingly, some of the solutions developed here apply elsewhere, but others have turned out to be harder to migrate.

EFFORT group Haitske Graveland, Alieda van Essen, Bruno Gonzalez-Zorn, Gabriel Moyano, Pascal Sanders, Claire Chauvin, Julie David, Antonio Battisti, Andrea Caprioli, Jeroen Dewulf, Thomas Blaha, Katharina Wadepohl, Maximiliane Brandt, Dariusz Wasyl, Magdalena Skarzyñska, Magdalena Zajac, Hristo Daskalov, Helmut W Saatkamp, Katharina D.C. Stärk. Abstract Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria and associated human morbidity and mortality is increasing. Use of antimicrobials in livestock selects for AMR that can subsequently be transferred to humans. This flow of AMR between reservoirs demands surveillance in livestock as well as in humans. As part of the EFFORT project ( www.effort-against-amr.eu ), we have quantified and characterized the acquired resistance gene pools (resistomes) of 181 pig and 178 poultry farms from nine European countries, generating more than 5,000 gigabases of DNA sequence, using shotgun metagenomics. We quantified acquired AMR using the ResFinder database and a database constructed for this study, consisting of AMR genes identified through screening environmental DNA. The pig and poultry resistomes were very different in abundance and composition. There was a significant country effect on the resistomes, more so in pigs than poultry. We found higher AMR loads in pigs, while poultry resistomes were more diverse. We detected several recently described, critical AMR genes, including mcr-1 and optrA , the abundance of which differed both between host species and countries. We found that the total acquired AMR level, was associated with the overall country-specific antimicrobial usage in livestock and that countries with comparable usage patterns had similar resistomes. Novel, functionally-determined AMR genes were, however, not associated with total drug use.

Abstract It may be economically advantageous to both consumer and producer to enter into an incentive type contract in which the price paid for a product depends upon the outcome of an acceptance test. If no test is performed, a product of some minimum quality is produced and the consumer suffers a considerable penalty. The outcome of the test will reflect, to some degree, the quality of the product. If the consumer agrees to pay a premium dependent upon the outcome, the producer will be motivated to invest money in improving his product and both parties may expect to profit from the arrangement. This paper constitutes an unconventional approach to acceptance testing, in which the test is viewed not as a procedure to obtain information but rather as motivation toward product improvement. Admissible strategies are defined and their properties are studied. An application to repairable systems is considered in detail.

One of the greatest sources of misunderstanding in the social sciences is the inability of many political scientists, sociologists, generalists, and a great many economists and psychologists, to understand what is meant by a formal model, and to comprehend what constitutes a legitimate or an unsound use of that model. On certain occasions, more mathematically inclined social scientists may use simple examples to illustrate methodology. Unfortunately, these examples can easily be misconstrued and given significance and content matter far beyond the initial intent of the expositor. Thus, in the past few years, there has been a rash of writing using two by two game matrices as a basis for discussions of threat and deterrence policies. It is unlikely that any international power situation can be adequately modelled for any purpose other than very simplified teaching by a two by two matrix.

How do brand and product development processes interact? How do brands and branding strategies influence product development? Moreover, does a branding strategy facilitate or impede the development process? So far, research on product development has focused on the development of new products and services, whereas research on marketing and especially branding has emphasized what types of line extensions to create rather than on how to integrate brands and product development processes. The present models of the product development process mostly distinguish between the process of innovation and that which follows, and also distinguish between the company as a sender and the user as a receiver of the communicated values. In the present study we suggest an alternative understanding of the innovation process: A network process perspective (NPP) as derived from the actor network theory (ANT), is used to explore the co-created relationship between the new product development process and branding. The network process perspective is used to analyse and understand the innovation process and represents a constructivist theory that departs from an ontological assumption that the 'world' is the relations and networks among heterogeneous human and non-human actors and that these networks are not per se stable, but are created, negotiated and dynamic. This theory is especially suitable for comprehending 'branding' where the 'ing' underscores the dynamic nature of this concept and to explore the dynamics in innovation. The empirical analysis identified four incidents as critical to the co-construction of the product and the brand in two companies. The effects are measured using the framework provided by Kapferer. The present analysis indicates that branding and innovation processes are interrelated in more subtle and complex ways than indicated in prior research on the subject. It further shows that even with well-organized marketing departments, consistent branding strategies and skilled project managers, the product development process is not easily managed. The brand and the branding strategies are non-human actors among other actors in the process, and it requires skill, persistence and energy if the 'brand' wants to become an influential 'actor'. Sometimes, the processes may even be reversed.

Fault-tolerant implementation of non-Clifford gates is a major challenge for achieving universal fault-tolerant quantum computing with quantum error-correcting codes. Magic state distillation is the most well-studied method for this but requires significant resources. Hence, it is crucial to tailor and optimize magic state distillation for specific codes from both logical- and physical-level perspectives. In this work, we perform such optimization for two-dimensional color codes, which are promising due to their higher encoding rates compared to surface codes, transversal implementation of Clifford gates, and efficient lattice surgery. We propose two carefully designed distillation schemes based on the 15-to-1 distillation circuit and lattice surgery, differing in their methods for handling faulty rotations. Our first scheme employs faulty <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:mi>T</a:mi></a:math> measurement, achieving infidelities of <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><c:mi>O</c:mi><c:mo stretchy="false">(</c:mo><c:msup><c:mi>p</c:mi><c:mn>3</c:mn></c:msup><c:mo stretchy="false">)</c:mo></c:math> for physical noise strength <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><g:mi>p</g:mi></g:math>. To achieve lower infidelities, our second scheme integrates distillation with “cultivation” (a distillation-free approach to fault tolerantly prepare magic states through transversal Clifford measurements). Our second scheme achieves significantly lower infidelities (e.g., approximately <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><i:mn>2</i:mn><i:mo>×</i:mo><i:msup><i:mn>10</i:mn><i:mrow><i:mo>−</i:mo><i:mn>16</i:mn></i:mrow></i:msup></i:math> at <k:math xmlns:k="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><k:mi>p</k:mi><k:mo>=</k:mo><k:msup><k:mn>10</k:mn><k:mrow><k:mo>−</k:mo><k:mn>3</k:mn></k:mrow></k:msup></k:math>), surpassing the capabilities of both cultivation and single-level distillation. Notably, to reach a given target infidelity, our schemes require approximately 2 orders of magnitude fewer resources than the previous best magic-state-distillation schemes for color codes.

Quantum error correcting codes can enable large quantum computations provided physical error rates are sufficiently low. We combine post-selection with surface code error correction through the use of exclusive decoders, which abort on decoding instances that are deemed too difficult. For the most discriminating of exclusive decoders, we demonstrate a threshold of 50% under depolarizing noise (or 32(1)% for the fault-tolerant case), and up to a quadratic improvement in logical failure rates below threshold. Furthermore, with a modest exclusion criterion, we identify a regime at low error rates where the exclusion rate decays with code distance, providing a pathway for scalable and time-efficient quantum computing with post-selection. Our exclusive decoder applied to magic state distillation yields a 75% reduction in the number of physical qubits, and a 60% reduction in the total spacetime volume, including accounting for repetitions. Other applications include error mitigation, and in concatenated schemes. Quantum error correction produces an enormous amount of data about the quantum system, including information about whether an uncorrectable error is likely. In this work the authors analyse a new decoder that can abort when decoding is deemed too difficult, yielding improved performance overall.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the major global trends in social computing/ collaborative computing as they seem to evolve under the 'web 2.0' heading, evaluate possible future trends seen from a technology point of view as well as from a socio-economic perspective and compare these trends to the current state and need for eGovernment. Finally, some general guidelines, ideas and projections for eGovernment will be proposed and discussed.

Power transformers are the most critical and expensive assets for utility companies and are expected to last for at-least 30-40 years. Unfortunately, many of them have failed before reaching their rated life. In order to prevent such premature failures, utility companies usually deploy real time asset management system by installing thermal sensors (e.g. fiber-optical sensor) inside the tank of large transformers (~500MVA). However, being expensive, sensor deployment may not be commercially viable for small and medium size (<;=250MVA) transformers. This paper proposes an asset management scheme of such power transformers through virtual (sensor-less) sensing. It simulates transformer internal heating phenomena (like hot-spot temperature, insulation aging, loss of life, etc.) using easily available SCADA measurements, ambient temperature from on-line weather forecast, and transformer assets data. It predicts future load and incentive and optimizes transformer operation by analyzing the economic incentive for carrying power and payoff for the loss of life calculated from virtual sensing. Proposed scheme is evaluated and implemented in Fortum's transformers in Finland and experimental results are presented.

The documentation effort undertaken by the Danish CIM/GEMS (computer-integrated manufacturing: general methods for specific solutions) project to drive, direct, and support its CIM-technology development and transfer activities is described. The project recognized that in the phases of CIM development-from planning through maintenance-the primary deliverable is not the CIM system itself, but the documentation used to describe, specify, justify, and support its development and use. As a result, the project organized itself so that it would transfer to its industry participants the information needed to build CIM systems, and not CIM technology alone. Because this information best resides in well-written and complete documentation, the CIM/GEMS project adopted a management-by-document approach, treating documentation activities as part of system development and assigning professional personnel to the task. As an archive of CIM-system development, the documents captured the project's in-progress work and the knowledge of developers who performed that work. As a deliverable, the documents were the principal means for carrying CIM knowledge and experience off-site.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

In this work we perform a study of various unsupervised methods to identify mental stress in firefighter trainees<br> based on unlabeled heart rate variability data. We collect RR interval time series data from nearly 100 firefighter trainees that<br> participated in a drill. We explore and compare three methods in order to perform unsupervised stress detection: 1) traditional<br> K-Means clustering with engineered time and frequency domain features 2) convolutional autoencoders and 3) long short-term<br> memory (LSTM) autoencoders, both trained on the raw RRI measurements combined with DBSCAN clustering and K-Nearest-<br> Neighbors classification. We demonstrate that K-Means combined with engineered features is unable to capture meaningful<br> structure within the data. On the other hand, convolutional and LSTM autoencoders tend to extract varying structure from the<br> data pointing to different clusters with different sizes of clusters. We attempt at identifying the true stressed and normal clusters<br> using the HRV markers of mental stress reported in the literature. We demonstrate that the clusters produced by the<br> convolutional autoencoders consistently and successfully stratify stressed versus normal samples, as validated by several<br> established physiological stress markers such as RMSSD, Max-HR, Mean-HR and LF-HF ratio.

This paper applies urban informatics methods and techniques on big data generated from the concentrated environment of the second largest music festival in the world, Roskilde Festival. First, we explain how to utilize relevant dimensions from human geography theories towards mapping a 'Geography of Importance'. Second, we elaborate on methods deployed for collecting both mobile GPS and social media traces that the smart phone generates in physical spaces. Third, we compare and contrast the automatically geocoded presence in space and at events with the intentionally socially tagged consumption of these spaces and events as place-based experiences. In doing so, these two layers of space-based movements and place-based experiences reveal the appropriation of affordances and choices of aesthetic appreciation by the crowd at large of what is subjectively and relatively meaningful, actionable, and valuable.

This paper proposes a method of installing phasor measurement units (PMU) in multiple stages. The scheme is developed on the concept of bus tier system and provides an optimal number of PMUs with a strategy to install them in a particular stage. The synchronized phasor measurements from the PMUs placed by the proposed method are used in developing a hybrid state estimator (HSE). The HSE estimates the voltage phasor at all the buses of a power system with a limited numbers of PMUs in steady state as well as in the presence of disturbances even in that part of network which is unobservable through PMUs. Performance of the proposed phased installation scheme for HSE is evaluated on the number of standard test system and the simulation results shows an improvement in the accuracy of the estimated states as compared to the existing methods in the literature.