Local Information as an Essential Factor for Quantum Entanglement

Quantum entanglement is not only a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics but also a special resource for many important quantum information processing tasks. An intuitive way to understand quantum entanglement is to analyze its geometric parameters which include local parameters and correlation parameters. The correlation parameters have been extensively studied while the role of local parameters have not been drawn attention. In this paper, we investigate the question how local parameters of a two-qubit system affect quantum entanglement in both quantitative and qualitative perspective. Firstly, we find that the concurrence, a measure of quantum entanglement, of a general two-qubit state is bounded by the norms of local vectors and correlations matrix. Then, we derive a sufficient condition for a two-qubit being separable in perspective of local parameters. Finally, we find that different local parameters could make a state with fixed correlation matrix separable, entangled or even more qualitatively entangled than the one with vanished local parameters.

Integral evaluation as the basis of analytical support for managing the competitiveness of socially-oriented retailers

The advantages of an integral approach to assessing the competitiveness of retailers are substantiated, which allows obtaining a more thorough and versatile informative base for making further managerial decisions to ensure the development of trading business. A new approach to the integral evaluation of the competitiveness of retailers is developed. The list of functional and structural components of competitiveness was substantiated: marketing,financial and investment, material and technical, intellectual and personnel,innovation, logistic and social. It is proposed to use the methodological sequence of competitiveness assessment, which involves the alternate passage of the following stages: construction of an evaluation hierarchy, identification of the levels of the criterion importance, definition of a set of “local vectors” by evaluation criteria, conducting comparative evaluation of competing enterprises, hierarchical synthesis of alternative options for ensuring competitiveness. The methods of an expert survey are used to form an information and analytical base. Using the Saaty’s analytic hierarchy process and the Delphi method of an expert survey, a matrix of pairwise comparisons of the criteria of the retailers’ competitiveness is formed. The Gallup Institute methodology is used to form the sample of enterprises. A matrix of rating positions of the socially-oriented retailers is developed to enable evaluation.On the basis of the obtained results – analytical support of the policy(regarding the competitiveness level, state of security and coefficients of weight of its functional and structural components), the strategic principles of managing the competitiveness of socially-oriented retailers. A matrix of strategic decisions on managing the competitiveness of socially-oriented retailers is developed.

Memeing and Speaking Vernacular Security on Social Media: YouTube and Twitter Resistance to an ISIS Islamist Terror Threat to Marseille, France

This article intervenes in critical terrorism studies and conceptions of vernacular security to argue that social media has become an important arena for everyday constructions of terrorism and (in)security. Rich, multimodal, social media data provide important means to understand digital forms of everyday constructions of (in)security that discuss, subvert, and parody dominant terrorism and security narratives in the wake of the rise of the Islamic State group. Methodologically, this argument is pursued through a thematic analysis of a YouTube video authored by a French Muslim that defies an ISIS threat to his hometown of Marseille and the resulting, multiauthored Twitter response. By tracking this vernacular discussion of (in)security across social media platforms, this article demonstrates that, while some intertextuality exists, the crossing of platforms changes both the form and substance of security discussions. Within this, symbols, features and properties of the local urban environment of Marseille are the dominant symbolic resources that are utilized, reconstructed, and deployed to structure and subvert everyday discussions of (in)security. The dominant theme that crosses both YouTube and Twitter is that users perceive the French security services as impotent, and that resistance to ISIS can paradoxically only come from local vectors of insecurity, crime, and violence linked to the ongoing proliferation of organized crime in Marseille. This demonstrates not only that the ability of political satire to enable the powerless to resist the powerful applies in the context of (in)security but also that it enables the powerless to resist “powerful” coercive nonstate actors.

Travel-associated chikungunya acquired in Myanmar in 2019

Eighteen cases of chikungunya virus infection in travellers returning from Myanmar were reported to the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network, its subnetwork EuroTravNet and TropNet in 2019, reflecting an ongoing local outbreak. This report reinforces the importance of travellers as sentinels of emerging arboviral outbreaks and highlights the importance of vigilance for imported cases, due to the potential for dissemination of the virus into areas with competent local vectors and conducive environmental conditions.

Plasmodium knowlesi invasion following spread by infected mosquitoes, macaques and humans

SUMMARYPlasmodium knowlesi is increasingly recognized as a major cause of malaria in Southeast Asia. Anopheles leucosphyrous group mosquitoes transmit the parasite and natural hosts include long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques. Despite early laboratory experiments demonstrating successful passage of infection between humans, the true role that humans play in P. knowlesi epidemiology remains unclear. The threat posed by its introduction into immunologically naïve populations is unknown despite being a public health priority for this region. A two-host species mathematical model was constructed to analyse this threat. Global sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo methods highlighted the biological processes of greatest influence to transmission. These included parameters known to be influential in classic mosquito-borne disease models (e.g. vector longevity); however, interesting ecological components that are specific to this system were also highlighted: while local vectors likely have intrinsic preferences for certain host species, how plastic these preferences are, and how this is shaped by local conditions, are key determinants of parasite transmission potential. Invasion analysis demonstrates that this behavioural plasticity can qualitatively impact the probability of an epidemic sparked by imported infection. Identifying key vector sub/species and studying their biting behaviours constitute important next steps before models can better assist in strategizing disease control.

A Lyapunov Treatment of Swarm Coordination Under Conflict

This document considers hostile conflicts between two swarms, called pursuers and evaders, based on a double integrator model. In order to convert the marginally stable dynamics into stable-capture behavior, we introduce a control strategy based on the relative positions and velocities of opposing swarm members. To evaluate its effectiveness, a Lyapunov-based stability analysis is performed. For simplicity, this document considers swarms with equal membership strengths and equal mass only. The modeling is based on a set of suggested interaction force profiles, which are functions of local vectors. The group pursuit is conceived in two phases: the approach phase during which the two swarms act like two individuals; and the assigned pursuit phase where each pursuer is assigned to an evader.

A MATRIX METHOD FOR THE FUZZY ANALYTIC NETWORK PROCESS

In this paper, the fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) is proposed. For achieving this purpose, two problems are highlighted and overcome in this paper. First, the postulate of the reciprocal matrix should be released, because this property is not satisfied in the fuzzy comparison matrix. Second, the convergent problem for raising the fuzzy supermatrix to limiting power should be appropriately handled. In this paper, we directly fuzzify Cogger and Yu's method for obtaining the fuzzy local vectors, because their method releases the postulate of the reciprocal matrix in the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Then, we derive the particular matrix problem for obtaining the fuzzy global weight vector so that the convergent problem in a fuzzy limiting supermatrix can be overcome.