The Quantum Query Complexity of Algebraic Properties

We present quantum query complexity bounds for testing algebraic properties. For a set S and a binary operation on S, we consider the decision problem whether $S$ is a semigroup or has an identity element. If S is a monoid, we want to decide whether S is a group. We present quantum algorithms for these problems that improve the best known classical complexity bounds. In particular, we give the first application of the new quantum random walk technique by Magniez, Nayak, Roland, and Santha that improves the previous bounds by Ambainis and Szegedy. We also present several lower bounds for testing algebraic properties.Comment: 13 pages, 0 figure

Canada's Nuclear Crossroads: Steps to a Viable Nuclear Energy Industry

Canada is at an energy and environmental crossroad. Fossil fuels cause environmental damage and the growth potential of large-scale hydroelectricity is limited. Policymakers are reconsidering the merits of nuclear power as both a low-carbon emitting and low-cost base load electricity source. While nuclear power may look like an attractive option, nuclear power must overcome problems such as the high and uncertain cost of construction, dealing with nuclear waste, reactor licensing and regulation, and the future of Canada’s nuclear reactor builder, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), a federal Crown corporation.economic growth and innovation, energy and environmental policy

Investigation of linezolid resistance in staphylococci and enterococci

The objective of this study was to investigate an apparent increase in linezolid-nonsusceptible staphylococci and enterococci following a laboratory change in antimicrobial susceptibility testing from disk diffusion to an automated susceptibility testing system. Isolates with nonsusceptible results (n = 27) from Vitek2 were subjected to a battery of confirmatory testing which included disk diffusion, Microscan broth microdilution, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) reference broth microdilution, gradient diffusion (Etest), 23S rRNA gene sequencing, and cfr PCR. Our results show that there is poor correlation between methods and that only 70 to 75% of isolates were confirmed as linezolid resistant with alternative phenotypic testing methods (disk diffusion, Microscan broth microdilution, CLSI broth microdilution, and Etest). 23S rRNA gene sequencing identified mutations previously associated with linezolid resistance in 16 (59.3%) isolates, and the cfr gene was detected in 3 (11.1%) isolates. Mutations located at positions 2576 and 2534 of the 23S rRNA gene were most common. In addition, two previously undescribed variants (at positions 2083 and 2345 of the 23S rRNA gene) were also identified and may contribute to linezolid resistance

Evaluation of spectra VRE, a new chromogenic agar medium designed to screen for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium

Spectra VRE (Remel, Lenexa, KS) is a chromogenic medium designed to recover and differentiate vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis (VRE). This medium was compared to bile esculin azide agar (BEAV) and was 98.2% sensitive and 99.3% specific compared to BEAV, which was 87.6% sensitive and 87.1% specific at 24 h

Report on understanding the main opportunities and barriers to SME engagement with the youth labour market

Providing employment opportunities to young people between the ages of 16 and 24 is critical to improving their economic prospects, economic growth and social cohesion more broadly, and it necessitates looking more closely at the role that SMEs can and do play in filling this gap. A study commissioned by the EY Foundation found that while SMEs are destinations for young people, a number of perceived barriers stand in the way of these businesses engaging more fully with the youth labour market. Improving employment prospects for young people will depend on addressing these barriers

From barriers to barring: Why emotion matters for entrepreneurial development (ISBJ Best Paper Prize)

We offer a critique of conventional approaches to entrepreneurial barriers and point to the neglect of social and emotional processes in their operation. Drawing from qualitative interviews with 25 entrepreneurs in Russia, we suggest that power rituals between entrepreneurs and state officials may impair entrepreneurial motivation. Our main contribution lies in conceptualizing barriers not simply as objective obstacles but as processes of barring, and in exploring how these might emerge. We elaborate a model of the social nature of barriers and the mediating role played by emotions. We discuss the implications of barring for entrepreneurial action more broadly

Cutting the apron Strings: Establishing optimal distinctiveness from mentors in creative industries

Research has established that organizations benefit from “optimal distinctiveness,” that is, being sufficiently similar to and different from competitors. However, we know less about producers' strategic positioning choices to establish optimally distinctive identities. We explore this question through a qualitative study of chef-owners who started their own restaurants after training with well-known mentors. We identify two trajectories followed by chefs to establish optimal distinctiveness—legacy and divergent—and their components: interpersonal origins, strategic material and symbolic practices, tensions, and performance outcomes. Our study contributes to research by providing a more complete picture of how creative producers attempt to find an optimal balance between similarity to and difference from mentors, and the constraints they face in their strategic choices, including how these change over time

Probiotic-associated aspiration pneumonia due to Lactobacillus rhamnosus

Lactobacilli are low-virulence, commensal organisms of the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts and are commonly used as “probiotic supplements.” Herein, we describe an episode of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis with bacterial superinfection secondary to administration of Lactobacillus rhamnosus in an 11-month-old female with trisomy 21