Distributed quantum computing is a promising computational paradigm for performing computations that are beyond the reach of individual quantum devices. Privacy in distributed quantum computing is critical for maintaining confidentiality and protecting the data in the presence of untrusted computing nodes. In this Letter, we introduce novel blind quantum machine learning protocols based on the quantum bipartite correlator algorithm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: There is limited guidance on how to effectively promote safety culture in health care settings. We performed a systematic review to identify interventions to promote safety culture, specifically in oncology settings.
Methods: Medical Subject Headings and text words for "safety culture" and "cancer care" were combined to conduct structured searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CDSR, CINAHL, Cochrane CENTRAL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science for peer-reviewed articles published from 1999 to 2021.
Quantum random number generators (QRNGs) are able to generate numbers that are certifiably random, even to an agent who holds some side information. Such systems typically require that the elements being used are precisely calibrated and validly certified for a credible security analysis. However, this can be experimentally challenging and result in potential side-channels which could compromise the security of the QRNG.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSecure information retrieval is an essential task in today's highly digitised society. In some applications, it may be necessary that user query's privacy and database content's security are enforced. For these settings, symmetric private information retrieval (SPIR) could be employed, but its implementation is known to be demanding, requiring a private key-exchange network as the base layer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDevice-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) enables the generation of secret keys over an untrusted channel using uncharacterized and potentially untrusted devices. The proper and secure functioning of the devices can be certified by a statistical test using a Bell inequality. This test originates from the foundations of quantum physics and also ensures robustness against implementation loopholes, thereby leaving only the integrity of the users' locations to be guaranteed by other means.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe observed increase in osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee as a result of an aging population and the obesity epidemic has led to a concomitant increase in the rates of total knee replacement (TKR), placing an additional financial and social burden on the ability of health care systems to control medical costs. Our study shows how a home-based, noninvasive biomechanical intervention reduced the rate of progression to surgery for a cohort of 237 patients with knee OA deemed eligible for TKR based on pre-established clinical selection criteria. Over the 24-month study period, 204 patients (86%) avoided surgery, with only 33 patients (14%, 95% confidence interval 82%-91%) progressing to a TKR with an average length of time to TKR of 324 days (ranging from 31 to 671 days).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a novel, to the best of our knowledge, InGaAs/InAlAs single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) with a triple-mesa structure. Compared with the traditional mesa structures, the horizontal distribution of the electric field decreases dramatically, while the peaks of the electric field at the mesa edges are well eliminated in the triple-mesa structure, leading to an excellent suppression of the surface leakage current and premature breakdown. Furthermore, the temperature coefficient of the breakdown voltage was measured to be as small as 37.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDevice-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) is the art of using untrusted devices to distribute secret keys in an insecure network. It thus represents the ultimate form of cryptography, offering not only information-theoretic security against channel attacks, but also against attacks exploiting implementation loopholes. In recent years, much progress has been made towards realising the first DIQKD experiments, but current proposals are just out of reach of today's loophole-free Bell experiments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe security of real-world quantum key distribution (QKD) critically depends on the number of data points the system can collect in a finite time interval. To date, state-of-the-art finite-key security analyses require block lengths in the order of 10^{4} bits to obtain positive secret keys. This requirement, however, can be very difficult to achieve in practice, especially in the case of entanglement-based satellite QKD, where the overall channel loss can go up to 70 dB or more.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEntropy (Basel)
December 2020
Private information retrieval (PIR) is a database query protocol that provides user privacy in that the user can learn a particular entry of the database of his interest but his query would be hidden from the data centre. Symmetric private information retrieval (SPIR) takes PIR further by additionally offering database privacy, where the user cannot learn any additional entries of the database. Unconditionally secure SPIR solutions with multiple databases are known classically, but are unrealistic because they require long shared secret keys between the parties for secure communication and shared randomness in the protocol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Trimodality therapy (TMT) with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) using concurrent carboplatin plus paclitaxel (CP) followed by surgery is the standard of care for locoregional esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers. Alternatively, nCRT with cisplatin plus fluorouracil (CF) can be used. Definitive chemoradiotherapy (dCRT) with CP or CF can be used if surgery is not planned.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is well-known that no local model-in theory-can simulate the outcome statistics of a Bell-type experiment as long as the detection efficiency is higher than a threshold value. For the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) Bell inequality this theoretical threshold value is [Formula: see text]. On the other hand, Phys.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A microscopically positive (R1) resection margin following resection for gastric and esophageal cancers has been documented to be a poor prognostic factor. The optimal strategy and impact of different modalities of adjuvant treatment for an R1 resection margin remain unclear.
Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed for patients with gastric and esophageal adenocarcinoma treated at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC) from 2006-2016.
Background: The goal of surveillance testing is to enable curative salvage therapy through early disease detection, however supporting evidence in gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma is limited. We evaluated frequency of successful salvage therapy and outcomes in patients who underwent surveillance.
Methods: A single-site, retrospective cohort study was conducted to identify all patients who received curative resection for gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.
Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) offers the prospect of distributing secret keys with only minimal security assumptions, by making use of a Bell violation. However, existing DIQKD security proofs have low noise tolerances, making a proof-of-principle demonstration currently infeasible. We investigate whether the noise tolerance can be improved by using advantage distillation, which refers to using two-way communication instead of the one-way error correction currently used in DIQKD security proofs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe security of conventional cryptography systems is threatened in the forthcoming era of quantum computers. Quantum key distribution (QKD) features fundamentally proven security and offers a promising option for quantum-proof cryptography solution. Although prototype QKD systems over optical fiber have been demonstrated over the years, the key generation rates remain several orders of magnitude lower than current classical communication systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death and economic burden worldwide. Despite the heavy toll of lung cancer, multiple new advances have improved patient outcomes, largely through precision medicine and targeted therapy. The associated rising economic burden however may impact the uptake of novel therapeutic agents in lung cancer, thereby limiting patient access.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Clinical trials of therapies for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are increasingly requiring mandatory tumor samples or research biopsies, both of which are potential barriers to trial participation. We assessed the impact of performance of research biopsies on the enrollment of patients with advanced NSCLC in clinical trials.
Methods: The cases of patients with advanced NSCLC who had been evaluated for clinical trials of systemic therapy at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre from January 2007 to March 2015 were reviewed.
The generation of random numbers is a task of paramount importance in modern science. A central problem for both classical and quantum randomness generation is to estimate the entropy of the data generated by a given device. Here we present a protocol for self-testing quantum random number generation, in which the user can monitor the entropy in real time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder in which infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cpn) has been associated. Cpn is an obligate intracellular respiratory pathogen that may enter the central nervous system (CNS) following infection and trafficking of monocytes through the blood-brain barrier. Following this entry, these cells may secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines that have been identified in the AD brain, which have been thought to contribute to AD neurodegeneration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Although quality improvement (QI) is an integral part of cancer care, there are few QI publications in the medical oncology literature. We examined the prevailing attitudes of medical oncologists toward QI and causes for the low QI publication rate in the medical oncology literature.
Methods: Using a modified Dillman method, we distributed a 13-question online survey to medical oncologists across Canada asking about their attitudes toward and involvement in QI and perceived barriers to publishing QI studies.
Quantum key distribution promises unconditionally secure communications. However, as practical devices tend to deviate from their specifications, the security of some practical systems is no longer valid. In particular, an adversary can exploit imperfect detectors to learn a large part of the secret key, even though the security proof claims otherwise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDistributed-phase-reference quantum key distribution stands out for its easy implementation with present day technology. For many years, a full security proof of these schemes in a realistic setting has been elusive. We solve this long-standing problem and present a generic method to prove the security of such protocols against general attacks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite enormous theoretical and experimental progress in quantum cryptography, the security of most current implementations of quantum key distribution is still not rigorously established. One significant problem is that the security of the final key strongly depends on the number, M, of signals exchanged between the legitimate parties. Yet, existing security proofs are often only valid asymptotically, for unrealistically large values of M.
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