A Transformation-Based Quantum Physical Synthesis Approach for Nearest-Neighbor Architectures

The physical synthesis concept for quantum circuits, the interaction between synthesis and physical design processes, was first introduced in our previous work. This concept inspires us to propose some techniques that can minimize the number of extra inserted SWAP operations required to run a circuit on a nearest-neighbor architecture. Minimizing the number of SWAP operations potentially decreases the latency and error probability of a quantum circuit. Focusing on this concept, we present a physical synthesis technique based on transformation rules to decrease the number of SWAP operations in nearest-neighbor architectures. After the qubits of a circuit are mapped onto the physical qubits provided by the target architecture, our procedure is fed by this mapping information. Our method uses the obtained placement and scheduling information to apply some transformation rules to the original netlist to decrease the number of extra SWAP gates required for running the circuit on the architecture. We follow two policies in applying a transformation rule, greedy and simulated-annealing-based policies. Simulation results show that the proposed technique decreases the average number of extra SWAP operations by about 20.6% and 24.1% based on greedy and simulated-annealing-based policies, respectively, compared with the best in the literature.

The Multi-Tuned Piano: Keyboard Music Without A Tuning System

A physical synthesis instrument, such as one of Pianoteq's series of grand pianos, unlike a physical grand piano, is not necessarily constrained at any moment to a single tuning system. The article discusses why a system using discrete piano pitches (not sliding pitches) chosen freely amongst the audible pitch continuum presents interesting musical and expressive possibilities. Audio and video of compositions and an improvisation exploiting the system demonstrate its potential and a performing interface for it.

Physiochemical synthesis of Silver/Kaolinite nanocomposites and study their antibacterial properties

Silver nanocomposites (Ag NCs) were prepared by two methods, chemical and physical synthesis using sodium borohydride and gamma irradiation as a reducing tool. A one-step silver/kaolinite nanocomposite (Ag/Kln NCs) synthesis method has been developed successfully by irradiation technique at room temperature and under ambient pressure. The Ag/Kln NCs produced by the ?-irradiation technique is pure without chemical residues, has a good distribution with enhanced antibacterial properties, and environmentally friendly. The effects of various experimental parameters on the formation of NCs, such as the concentration of Ag+ and the irradiation dose, have been investigated. A study on antimicrobial susceptibility was undertaken to determine the antibacterial properties of Ag NCs in the presence of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The susceptibility of the microorganisms to varying concentrations of Ag NCs synthesized via physical synthesis using gamma irradiation was compared to those synthesized chemically. Concentrations of Ag NCs used were 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0, and 10 % for chemical synthesis and irradiation doses used for physical synthesis were 7, 13, 20, 30, 40, 50, 65 and 80 kGy. Observation on well diffusion variant showed a significantly large zone of inhibition for physically synthesized NCs, (63 to 107% relative to control) which indicates high antimicrobial activity. Chemically synthesized NCs using the same experimental set up however showed a significantly smaller zone of inhibition. The Ag/Kln NCs in 20kGy showed higher antibacterial activity against Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli as gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. These suggest that Ag/Kln NCs can be employed as an effective bacteria inhibitor and can be applied in the medical field.