In late April, Denmark, one of the first countries in Europe to shut down due to the spread of COVID-19, gradually began reopening its economy and society. Twenty-five percent of Danske Commodities employees were back in the office after working from home since March 12th. Another 25 percent will be allowed back on May 18th under strict guidelines.

In less than 10 years, Helle . Kristiansen rose from employee #35 to become CEO of Danske ... [+] Commodities.

From Day 1, I insisted on business as usual, says CEO Helle stergaard Kristiansen of working from home. It was a rather unceremonious and unsentimental way of observing the one-year anniversary of her appointment as the first female CEO in energy trading, but these areunique times. Calling the digital capabilities at DC (as the company is known) our special superpower, Kristiansen says employees were working from home within two days.

We quickly established trading desks in the homes of our traders to ensure the safety of our people while doing our part to keep the energy supply balanced and stable.

To monitor the level of activity, which actually increased, she asked for data on how many trades were done each day. I didnt want to accept that we couldnt do tomorrow what we did yesterday.

Kristiansen, who says she takes her job very seriously but not myself because then you become too constrained in life knows about achieving results. Hired in 2010, she drew on her banking background tostart the companys risk and compliance department and later its treasury department. Within four years, she had become DCs chief financial officer, and in 2018 founder and then-CEOHenrik Lind asked her to handle the sale of the company.

I had never sold a company before! she says laughing. After 12 months of constant travel, investor presentations, and due diligence, the company was sold to Equinor for $400 million euros. While Lind, whom she considers a mentor, had confidence that she ultimately would be successful, Kristiansen says, Starting as employee #35 and taking a rather small company to one of the biggest players in energy trading in Europe, and now Australia, and also entering the U.S., Ive also done a lot of things in developing myself. I took an executive management program with INSEAD and joined a couple professional boards, especially in IT, to bring some knowledge into DC.

Helle stergaard Kristiansen on top of Danske Commodities headquarters in Aarhus, the second ... [+] largest city in Denmark.

Since assuming the role of CEO,Kristiansen has had a clear vision of how she wanted to implement her leadership style. I changed the name from senior management group to senior leadership. It was not [just] a matter of wording. Its because I want leaders; I dont want managers. We have a lot of young talent and they dont want to be micro-managed. I wanted leaders that could inspire them, develop them, give them responsibilities, and support them in their professional but also their personal lives.

That philosophy is part of DCs culture. When Kristiansen, a mother of three, says that it is possible not only to have children and a family, as well as a career, she emphasizes, This is not a womens discussion; its a discussion around talent. Acknowledging the low numbers of women in the energy sector, she says, If we dont tap into 50 percent of the talent pool, do we get the right [people] and the best competencies? Im concerned about our competitiveness as a company and as a sector, if we dont improve the rate [of womens participation].

Under her leadership, DC has undertaken a number of initiatives to achieve that goal from rather small changes in employer branding changing the wording of job ads where 95 percent of the words were considered masculine and photos featuring young men in blue shirts looking at computer screens to promoting from within.

Its a challenge, but its important to have women in the company and then grow it from there. Were trying to get more female talent in the company, not with forced Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), but by making sure we offer a working environment and a culture that welcome diversity and thrive upon it.

The company offers a graduate program, as well as a pre-managerial program, where participants are assigned a mentor, and Kristiansen,who holds a masters in business administration and auditing (cand. merc. aud.),runs a mentoring program for young women in finance and technology at university to show we exist in those areas and women have a place in our sector.

DC offers not just an attractive maternity package, but also four months paid paternity leave. In a company with an average age of 33 and a workforce that is 75 percent male, Kristiansen points out, This is not cheap, but when my directors or VPs have a man and a woman in front of them, I dont want them to hire the man because theyre afraid the woman will go on maternity leave.

Kristiansen mentions two female employees who recently were promoted during their pregnancies, despite the fact that the company had to find interim solutions while the women were on maternity leave.

It wasnt a hard choice because they were the right ones for the position. We have to look long-term [at an employees career] to find long-term solutions, a decision she says sends a signal to other women in the company that it is possible to have children and a career in DC.

Helle . Kristiansen presenting Danske Commodities quarterly financial performance. In 2019, the ... [+] trading company produced a revenue of USD 11.2 billion.

Creating the strongest possible workforce is important in giving a competitive edge to a company with ambitious plans for the future. In the U.S., energy trading is very much based on data and quantitative models and thats exactly where we come from. Its actually deeply rooted in our DNA to expand our business model to new markets. Equinor has ambitions in the U.S., where DC could support those ambitions within green energy and the transition [to] renewables, where we are very strong in Europe. We can use the experience we have here and take that to the U.S. while the market matures in that direction.

As Kristiansen looks back on her first year as CEO, she says frankly, Youre always concerned when you get acquired by a big company like [Equinor], but we have managed to put ourselves in a situation where our employees honestly believe that being part of Equinor is a benefit for DC as a company. We have been able to explore the synergies between our two companies, and still have agility and independence at the same time, so were actually in a much stronger position than we were a year ago. Im really proud of finding that balance.

This acquisition has been a success.

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Energy Tradings First Female CEO Insists On Business As Usual - Forbes

Your estate plan may be your last words to those you leave behind. If youre a parent, you should think carefully about the message youll be sending.

Parents who leave their children unequal inheritances risk fueling family feuds. But strictly equal bequests also can cause resentment if the heirs dont see the distribution as fair.

Money can cause family discord, and you want to make sure that you are thinking through this and keeping sibling relationships intact, says Colleen Carcone, co-author of Principles of Estate Planning and a wealth planning specialist at TIAA.

DEFINE FAIR

Carcone recommends her clients first think about how they define fair. For some people, fair means an equal dollar amount. Others may want to adjust the distribution to deduct financial help theyve already given, for example, or to leave more to heirs with greater need. Parents commonly want to leave more to children who run the family business or who help care for the parents in their later years, says Marianela Collado, a certified financial planner with Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, Florida.

Each approach has its merits and problems. With an equal-dollar distribution, heirs may resent their wealthier siblings for getting money they dont need. Similarly, children who received less financial help during the parents life may resent those who got more if the estate distribution doesnt reflect that imbalance.

Unequal distributions can cause hard feelings, as well. The person getting less than others may view it as a punishment, especially if the amount was docked to reflect past financial help or to account for personal wealth. (One inheritor I know refers to this as the success tax.)

What matters is how your decision is likely to play out given your familys dynamics, and that may be differently than you expect.

ASK YOUR KIDS WHAT THEY THINK

Carcone once had clients whose son was much wealthier than his siblings or his parents, for that matter. She encouraged the clients to discuss their estate plan with their son, and they discovered he didnt want what they thought.

They had been thinking, Were just going to divide everything into thirds because we have three kids and we love our three kids equally, Carcone says. But he said, I would rather have the money go to my siblings, but what Id really like is that watch collection that Grandpa left you.

In other families, anything thats not a strictly equal distribution will cause discord. Leaving one child more than another would ignite those Mom (or Dad) always liked you best rivalries that can destroy sibling relationships.

Its your money, obviously, so you can do what you like. But discussing yourestate planand intentions with your children could give you unexpected insights and may help stave off future problems. If youre reluctant, ask yourself why, says CFP Hui-chin Chen of Pavlov Financial Planning in Arlington, Virginia.

If they dont feel comfortable making (their estate plans) known when they are alive, that might be an indication that they are just sowing seeds of discord for when they are gone, Chen says.

THINK HARD ABOUT ASKING KIDS TO SHARE

A stumbling block for many parents is what to do with the family home or a much-loved vacation property. Some children may be more attached to the real estate, while others would prefer to have the money from its sale. If you want your children to share ownership, think about how that would work.

Whos going to be responsible for maintenance and upkeep and expenses? Do all of the kids have that desire? Do all of the kids have that ability? Carcone says.

Your kids may have ideas on how they can successfully share the ownership and the costs, or you may get a little preview of the dissent the property can cause. Either way, that can inform your decision.

LEAVE A DETAILED LETTER

Carcone encourages talking to your children about how youve divided your estate and also leaving behind a detailed letter explaining the thinking behind your decisions. Such letters can head off disagreements about what you said and what you meant. (As any parent knows, what we say to our children and what they hear can be quite different.)

Make sure that they understand why you did what you did, Carcone says. Nobody wants to leave a legacy of family disharmony.

This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Liz Weston is a columnist at NerdWallet, a certified financial planner and author of Your CreditScore.

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Avoiding discord: Should you give your kids an equal inheritance? - Las Vegas Sun

Bloodstock agent Richard Knighttells us about how he is managing both personally and professionally with the Europe-wide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus

How is life ticking over for you at the moment?

Lockdown life has clearly been very different to normal but in many ways we're enjoying this time and embracing it as a family.

We're very fortunate to be based near Malmesbury in the south-west of the UK and we're surrounded by fields and woodland which gives great scope for dog walking, running and cycling without seeing another soul.

Outside of work we've really enjoyed the good weather days and the garden has certainly appreciated the extra care and attention all being well the early new potatoes will be ready for the start of Royal Ascot!

With no racing or sales in Europe at present, your scope to do business must be limited.What have you been doing instead?

As racing manager to Hussain Alabbas Lootah and to Sheikh Abdullah Al-Malek Al-Sabah, work has largely continued as normal.

I manage 40 horses in training on their behalf and Mr Lootah has eight broodmares and their followers, so there's been plenty to keep me busy between checking invoices, liaising with trainers, stud farms, vets, stallion farms and so on.

Never has there been a more important time for progress notes and updates and thankfully all the trainers and studs have been great with WhatsApp and email photo/video messages.

Outside of this there have been late mating plans and nomination bookings, and I've also taken the time to speak with a few breeze-up consignors to discuss their consignments and I'm in the process of putting together a list of which horses make the most appeal based on pedigrees, photos, video and vendor opinions.

What's your view on online sales, if they had to happen in Europe this year?

I think it would depend on the type of sale and what additional information can be supplied by vendors and sales companies.

For example, I would be happier to purchase a horse-in-training online, with form in the book and a detailed vet report, than I would a foal or yearling. For me, seeing those foals and yearlings is absolutely critical so that I can make a judgement on conformation, athleticism and temperament.

If the online yearling sales do have to happen then it will be hugely important to get around as many studs as possible in the weeks leading up to the sales that will inevitably leave gaps and wont be an ideal scenario, but we will have to work with the hand we're dealt.

The North American Jockey Club livened up lockdown by announcing the 140-mare stallion cap would you welcome a similar move in Europe?

I was very interested to read what bothAdrian OBrien andTony Fry said on this question and I dont disagree with either.

There are pros and cons, and if I owned or managed this years 2,000 Guineas and St Jamess Palace Stakes winner then I would be saying no but then the other side of me says that 140 is a large book of mares and setting a limit will not only be good for the breed but also give other stallions more of a chance of success.

From my experience many stallions self-limit due to a lack of demand and many self-limit due to their inability to cover large books of mares perhaps overall I'm swaying to leaving it as it is, especially in the current business climate.

Ultimately, if you dont like how many mares a stallion is covering then dont use them and instead find another stallion that you believe in.

Richard Knight is looking forward to the Goffs and Arqana Breeze-Up Sale at Goffs

Peter Moody

What's your best guess on what will happen to the market this year, and how long it will take to recover?

Clearly the market will be down but I still expect the fastest breezers to sell well, the top stores to sell well and the best yearlings, foals and mares to follow suit.

Personally, I've been pleasantly surprised over the last couple of months by the number of phone calls and emails from new clients looking for all types of bloodstock, from National Hunt stores to pinhooking Flat foals, and that has to be good for us all.

Do you think there will be any positives to come out of the crisis eventually?

It's been great to see the sales companies working together and I'm very much looking forward to the joint Goffs UK and Arqana breeze-up sale.

My family and I have also thoroughly enjoyed Racing Welfare's Furlong Factor competition congratulations to Lara Telfer and all thosewho took part.

The use of online meeting platforms like Zoom are another success and will mean less travelling and a better environmental footprint for many who travel to business meetings that on occasions could be done from home.

I hope that thekey positive for the future is that with everyone missing racing as much as we have, that we will all appreciate our core product more and work together to both protect and improve the industry.

Any film, TV or book recommendations to share to get through home confinement?

It's been mostly about light-hearted entertainment in our household to balance the daily coronavirus news and we've enjoyed Modern Family on Amazon and Gordon, Gino and Fred on ITV.

What are you most looking forward to when racing returns?

There's so much to look forward to and these first few weeks are going to be very exciting. To potentially have Guineas weekend, Royal Ascot plus plenty of two-year-old races all within 21 days is great and will hopefully give everyone a boost.

From a personal perspective I enjoyed a great 2019 on the track with six black-type winners (five of the six cost less than 55,000) and five of those six remain in training for 2020.

Both Mr Lootah and Sheikh Abdullah have some really exciting prospects and I also cant wait to see the winners roll out of Rathmoy Stables in Newmarket where my brother William is now training from.

On the National Hunt side of the industry I'm excited to see my first foal purchase sell a Flemensfirth gelding out of Muance owned and prepared by Park Wood Stud near Tetbury. He has grown into a big, strong, quality gelding with a great walk and a super temperament.

Readmore Life in Lockdown Q&As with industry figures

Tony Fry: 'Would I buy a horse over the internet? I must admit I wouldn't'

Ed Harper: 'Our stud secretary says clients have never been so organised'

Adrian O'Brien: 'There are plenty of reasons to maintain a spring in the step'

Billy Jackson Stops: 'The buying bench is going to be heavily depleted'

Alex Elliott: 'Cooking and cycling were two things I never thought I could do'

Joey Cullen: 'Racing has the chance to showcase itself to a captive audience'

Claire Sheppard: 'The TBA had to move quickly to save the covering season'

Tomas Janda: 'Lower prices could encourage new buyers to get involved'

Matt Hall: 'Films are a waste of timeI watch festival replays instead'

Tom Goff: 'I've painted two garden seats. God, I sound so middle-aged!'

Simon Sweeting: 'Rightly or wrongly I'm having all my mares covered'

Richard Kent: 'Stud fees and sales house charges will have to come down'

Philippa Mains: 'The industry is a family and we help each other out'

Claire Goodwillie: 'People have realised if you're not online you're invisible'

Tina Rau: 'I'm enjoying post-dinner quarantinis with friends over video call'

Daniel Creighton: 'The market will recoverthe only question is when'

Ed Player: 'We're happy to move with the times and embrace online trading'

Patrick Sells: 'Chasemore Farm is effectively operating in a bubble'

Chad Schumer: 'Racing in the US being cancelled is the biggest frustration'

Tom Blain: 'Trade will be down but all we can do is roll with the punches'

Ted Voute: 'We'll need to strengthen the way we showcase young stock'

Simon Kerins: 'We'll embrace any format that will help get horses sold'

Barry Lynch: 'The industry has often bounced back as quickly as it dipped'

Tim Lane: 'Working with horses does you the world of good in these times'

Jerry Horan: 'My sister butchered my haircut. I think it was payback'

Violet Hesketh and Mimi Wadham: 'Social distancing isn't hard - just lonely!'

Henry Beeby: 'Nick Nugent and I have entered a beard growing competition'

Charles O'Neill: 'ITM will be ready to go when the markets open up again'

Freddy Powell: 'We're improving our online sale platform in case it's needed'

Bumble Mitchell: 'Online sales could be tricky for outlying studs like mine'

David Stack: 'I had to give a garda a lesson about the birds and the bees'

Colm Sharkey: 'I've been torturing myself trying to sort out my golf swing'

Rachael Gowland: 'I didn't realise how much I loved racing until I couldn't go'

Sam Hoskins: 'I've been listening to endless Cold War podcasts on my tractor'

Niamh Spiller: 'Video calls are very important to keep everyone motivated'

Jamie Lloyd:'Staff have had all their own gear labelled, even wheelbarrows'

Michel Orlandi: 'The stallions are flying and that gives me great hope'

Richard Venn: 'The French are in a good position to get back racing sooner'

Tim Kent: 'It's difficult to plan when we don't know when racing will resume'

Russell Ferris: 'Weatherbys had contingency plans that we activated at once'

Grant and Tom Pritchard-Gordon: 'Inglis Easter has kept us busy since January'

Peter Hockenhull: 'The social side of meeting and chatting to breeders is gone'

Polly Bonnor: 'We've fulfilled every feed order, including all our exports'

Richard Lancaster: 'We're fortunate that some Shadwell staff live on site'

View post:
Richard Knight: 'It's been great to see the sales companies work together' - Racing Post

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US congressman Justin Amash abandoned his third-party run for president on Saturday(May 16), blaming the impossibility of campaigning during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The former Republican, who left the party amid frustrations over the leadership of US President Donald Trump, had announced he was preparing to run less than three weeks ago, on April 28.

"After much reflection, I've concluded that circumstances don't lend themselves to my success as a candidate for president this year, and therefore I will not be a candidate," he tweeted.

Social distancing, political polarisation and the impact of the economic crisis on fundraising were among the reasons he cited for calling off his run.

"I continue to believe that a candidate from outside the old parties, offering a vision of government grounded in liberty and equality, can break through in the right environment. But this environment presents extraordinary challenges," he said.

Amash, 40, left the Republican Party in the summer of 2019.

As an independent in Congress, he voted to impeach Trump.

In April, he announced he had formed an exploratory committee in preparation for a run as the nominee of the Libertarian party, which promotes civil liberties and limited government.

"Let's do this," the Michigan lawmaker said at the time.

He had presented himself as an alternative to Trump and the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.

In the 2016 presidential election, Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson received nearly 4.5 million votes, or just over three per cent of ballots cast.

Originally posted here:
Independent Justin Amash abandons US third party presidential run - The Straits Times

The coronavirus is proving that we have to move faster in identifying and mitigating epidemics before they become pandemics because, in todays global world, viruses spread much faster, further, and more frequently than ever before.

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, its that while our ability to identify and treat pandemics has improved greatly since the outbreak of the Spanish Flu in 1918, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Over the past few decades, weve taken huge strides to improve quick detection capabilities. It took a mere 12 days to map the outer spike protein of the COVID-19 virus using new techniques. In the 1980s, a similar structural analysis for HIV took four years.

But developing a cure or vaccine still takes a long time and involves such high costs that big pharma doesnt always have incentive to try.

Drug discovery entrepreneur Prof. Noor Shaker posited that Whenever a disease is identified, a new journey into the chemical space starts seeking a medicine that could become useful in contending diseases. The journey takes approximately 15 years and costs $2.6 billion, and starts with a process to filter millions of molecules to identify the promising hundreds with high potential to become medicines. Around 99% of selected leads fail later in the process due to inaccurate prediction of behavior and the limited pool from which they were sampled.

Prof. Shaker highlights one of the main problems with our current drug discovery process: The development of pharmaceuticals is highly empirical. Molecules are made and then tested, without being able to accurately predict performance beforehand. The testing process itself is long, tedious, cumbersome, and may not predict future complications that will surface only when the molecule is deployed at scale, further eroding the cost/benefit ratio of the field. And while AI/ML tools are already being developed and implemented to optimize certain processes, theres a limit to their efficiency at key tasks in the process.

Ideally, a great way to cut down the time and cost would be to transfer the discovery and testing from the expensive and time-inefficient laboratory process (in-vitro) we utilize today, to computer simulations (in-silico). Databases of molecules are already available to us today. If we had infinite computing power we could simply scan these databases and calculate whether each molecule could serve as a cure or vaccine to the COVID-19 virus. We would simply input our factors into the simulation and screen the chemical space for a solution to our problem.

In principle, this is possible. After all, chemical structures can be measured, and the laws of physics governing chemistry are well known. However, as the great British physicist Paul Dirac observed: The underlying physical laws necessary for the mathematical theory of a large part of physics and the whole of chemistry are thus completely known, and the difficulty is only that the exact application of these laws leads to equations much too complicated to be soluble.

In other words, we simply dont have the computing power to solve the equations, and if we stick to classical computers we never will.

This is a bit of a simplification, but the fundamental problem of chemistry is to figure out where electrons sit inside a molecule and calculate the total energy of such a configuration. With this data, one could calculate the properties of a molecule and predict its behavior. Accurate calculations of these properties will allow the screening of molecular databases for compounds that exhibit particular functions, such as a drug molecule that is able to attach to the coronavirus spike and attack it. Essentially, if we could use a computer to accurately calculate the properties of a molecule and predict its behavior in a given situation, it would speed up the process of identifying a cure and improve its efficiency.

Why are quantum computers much better than classical computers at simulating molecules?

Electrons spread out over the molecule in a strongly correlated fashion, and the characteristics of each electron depend greatly on those of its neighbors. These quantum correlations (or entanglement) are at the heart of the quantum theory and make simulating electrons with a classical computer very tricky.

The electrons of the COVID-19 virus, for example, must be treated in general as being part of a single entity having many degrees of freedom, and the description of this ensemble cannot be divided into the sum of its individual, distinguishable electrons. The electrons, due to their strong correlations, have lost their individuality and must be treated as a whole. So to solve the equations, you need to take into account all of the electrons simultaneously. Although classical computers can in principle simulate such molecules, every multi-electron configuration must be stored in memory separately.

Lets say you have a molecule with only 10 electrons (forget the rest of the atom for now), and each electron can be in two different positions within the molecule. Essentially, you have 2^10=1024 different configurations to keep track of rather just 10 electrons which would have been the case if the electrons were individual, distinguishable entities. Youd need 1024 classical bits to store the state of this molecule. Quantum computers, on the other hand, have quantum bits (qubits), which can be made to strongly correlate with one another in the same way electrons within molecules do. So in principle, you would need only about 10 such qubits to represent the strongly correlated electrons in this model system.

The exponentially large parameter space of electron configurations in molecules is exactly the space qubits naturally occupy. Thus, qubits are much more adapted to the simulation of quantum phenomena. This scaling difference between classical and quantum computation gets very big very quickly. For instance, simulating penicillin, a molecule with 41 atoms (and many more electrons) will require 10^86 classical bits, or more bits than the number of atoms in the universe. With a quantum computer, you would only need about 286 qubits. This is still far more qubits than we have today, but certainly a more reasonable and achievable number. The COVID-19 virus outer spike protein, for comparison, contains many thousands of atoms and is thus completely intractable for classical computation. The size of proteins makes them intractable to classical simulation with any degree of accuracy even on todays most powerful supercomputers. Chemists and pharma companies do simulate molecules with supercomputers (albeit not as large as the proteins), but they must resort to making very rough molecule models that dont capture the details a full simulation would, leading to large errors in estimation.

It might take several decades until a sufficiently large quantum computer capable of simulating molecules as large as proteins will emerge. But when such a computer is available, it will mean a complete revolution in the way the pharma and the chemical industries operate.

The holy grail end-to-end in-silico drug discovery involves evaluating and breaking down the entire chemical structures of the virus and the cure.

The continued development of quantum computers, if successful, will allow for end-to-end in-silico drug discovery and the discovery of procedures to fabricate the drug. Several decades from now, with the right technology in place, we could move the entire process into a computer simulation, allowing us to reach results with amazing speed. Computer simulations could eliminate 99.9% of false leads in a fraction of the time it now takes with in-vitro methods. With the appearance of a new epidemic, scientists could identify and develop a potential vaccine/drug in a matter of days.

The bottleneck for drug development would then move from drug discovery to the human testing phases including toxicity and other safety tests. Eventually, even these last stage tests could potentially be expedited with the help of a large scale quantum computer, but that would require an even greater level of quantum computing than described here. Tests at this level would require a quantum computer with enough power to contain a simulation of the human body (or part thereof) that will screen candidate compounds and simulate their impact on the human body.

Achieving all of these dreams will demand a continuous investment into the development of quantum computing as a technology. As Prof. Shohini Ghose said in her 2018 Ted Talk: You cannot build a light bulb by building better and better candles. A light bulb is a different technology based on a deeper scientific understanding. Todays computers are marvels of modern technology and will continue to improve as we move forward. However, we will not be able to solve this task with a more powerful classical computer. It requires new technology, more suited for the task.

(Special thanks Dr. Ilan Richter, MD MPH for assuring the accuracy of the medical details in this article.)

Ramon Szmuk is a Quantum Hardware Engineer at Quantum Machines.

Link:

Quantum computing will (eventually) help us discover vaccines in days - VentureBeat

Quantum is the next step toward the future of analytics and computing. Is your organization ready for it?

Quantum computing can solve challenges that modern computers can't--or it might take them a billion years to do so. It can crack any encryption and make your data completely safe. Google reports that it has seen a quantum computer that performed at least 100 million times faster than any classical computer in its lab.

Quantum blows away the processing of data and algorithms on conventional computers because of its ability to operate on electrical circuits that can be in more than one state at once. A quantum computer operates on Qubits (quantum bits) instead of on the standard bits that are used in conventional computing.

SEE: Managing AI and ML in the enterprise 2020: Tech leaders increase project development and implementation (TechRepublic Premium)

Quantum results can quickly make an impact on life science and pharmaceutical companies, for financial institutions evaluating portfolio risks, and for other organizations that want to expedite time-to-results for processing that on conventional computing platforms would take days to complete.

Few corporate CEOs are comfortable trying to explain to their boards what quantum computing is and why it is important to invest in it.

"There are three major areas where we see immediate corporate engagement with quantum computing," said Christopher Savoie, CEO and co-founder of Zapata Quantum Computing Software Company, a quantum computing solutions provider backed by Honeywell. "These areas are machine learning, optimization problems, and molecular simulation."

Savoie said quantum computing can bring better results in machine learning than conventional computing because of its speed. This rapid processing of data enables a machine learning application to consume large amounts of multi-dimensional data that can generate more sophisticated models of a particular problem or phenomenon under study.

SEE: Forget quantum supremacy: This quantum-computing milestone could be just as important (TechRepublic)

Quantum computing is also well suited for solving problems in optimization. "The mathematics of optimization in supply and distribution chains is highly complex," Savoie said. "You can optimize five nodes of a supply chain with conventional computing, but what about 15 nodes with over 85 million different routes? Add to this the optimization of work processes and people, and you have a very complex problem that can be overwhelming for a conventional computing approach."

A third application area is molecular simulation in chemistry and pharmaceuticals, which can be quite complex.

In each of these cases, models of circumstances, events, and problems can be rapidly developed and evaluated from a variety of dimensions that collate data from many diverse sources into a model.

SEE:Inside UPS: The logistics company's never-ending digital transformation (free PDF)(TechRepublic)

"The current COVID-19 crisis is a prime example," Savoie said. "Bill Gates knew in 2015 that handling such a pandemic would present enormous challengesbut until recently, we didn't have the models to understand the complexities of those challenges."

For those engaging in quantum computing and analytics today, the relative newness of the technology presents its own share of glitches. This makes it important to have quantum computing experts on board. For this reason, most early adopter companies elect to go to the cloud for their quantum computing, partnering with a vendor that has the specialized expertise needed to run and maintain quantum analytics.

SEE: Rural America is in the midst of a mental health crisis. Tech could help some patients see a way forward. (cover story PDF) (TechRepublic)

"These companies typically use a Kubernetes cluster and management stack on premises," Savoie said. "They code a quantum circuit that contains information on how operations are to be performed on quantum qubits. From there, the circuit and the prepared data are sent to the cloud, which performs the quantum operations on the data. The data is processed in the cloud and sent back to the on-prem stack, and the process repeats itself until processing is complete."

Savoie estimated that broad adoption of quantum computing for analytics will occur within a three- to five-year timeframe, with early innovators in sectors like oil and gas, and chemistry, that already understand the value of the technology and are adopting sooner.

"Whether or not you adopt quantum analytics now, you should minimally have it on your IT roadmap," Savoie said. "Quantum computing is a bit like the COVID-19 crisis. At first, there were only two deaths; then two weeks later, there were ten thousand. Quantum computing and analytics is a highly disruptive technology that can exponentially advance some companies over others."

Learn the latest news and best practices about data science, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence. Delivered Mondays

Image: sakkmesterke, Getty Images/iStockphoto

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Quantum computing analytics: Put this on your IT roadmap - TechRepublic

Dario Gil from IBM Research

In this video, Dario Gil from IBM shares results from the IBM Quantum Challenge and describes how you can access and program quantum computers on the IBM Cloud today.

From May 4-8, we invited people from around the world to participate in the IBM Quantum Challengeon the IBM Cloud. We devised the Challenge as a global event to celebrateour fourth anniversary of having a real quantum computer on the cloud. Over those four days 1,745people from45countries came together to solve four problems ranging from introductory topics in quantum computing, to understanding how to mitigate noise in a real system, to learning about historic work inquantum cryptography, to seeing how close they could come to the best optimization result for a quantum circuit.

Those working in the Challenge joined all those who regularly make use of the 18quantum computing systems that IBM has on the cloud, includingthe 10 open systemsand the advanced machines available within theIBM Q Network. During the 96 hours of the Challenge, the total use of the 18 IBM Quantum systems on the IBM Cloud exceeded 1 billion circuits a day. Together, we made history every day the cloud users of the IBM Quantum systems made and then extended what can absolutely be called a world record in computing.

Every day we extend the science of quantum computing and advance engineering to build more powerful devices and systems. Weve put new two new systems on the cloud in the last month, and so our fleet of quantum systems on the cloud is getting bigger and better. Well be extending this cloud infrastructure later this year by installing quantum systems inGermanyand inJapan. Weve also gone more and more digital with our users with videos, online education, social media, Slack community discussions, and, of course, the Challenge.

Dr. Dario Gil is the Director of IBM Research, one of the worlds largest and most influential corporate research labs. IBM Research is a global organization with over 3,000 researchers at 12 laboratories on six continents advancing the future of computing. Dr. Gil leads innovation efforts at IBM, directing research strategies in Quantum, AI, Hybrid Cloud, Security, Industry Solutions, and Semiconductors and Systems. Dr. Gil is the 12th Director in its 74-year history. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Gil served as Chief Operating Officer of IBM Research and the Vice President of AI and Quantum Computing, areas in which he continues to have broad responsibilities across IBM. Under his leadership, IBM was the first company in the world to build programmable quantum computers and make them universally available through the cloud. An advocate of collaborative research models, he co-chairs the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, a pioneering industrial-academic laboratory with a portfolio of more than 50 projects focused on advancing fundamental AI research to the broad benefit of industry and society.

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Video: The Future of Quantum Computing with IBM - insideHPC

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif.,May 14, 2020 Registration is now open for the inauguralIEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE20), a multidisciplinary event focusing on quantum technology, research, development, and training. QCE20, also known as IEEE Quantum Week, will deliver a series ofworld-class keynotes,workforce-building tutorials,community-building workshops, andtechnical paper presentations and postersonOctober 12-16inDenver, Colorado.

Were thrilled to open registration for the inaugural IEEE Quantum Week, founded by the IEEE Future Directions Initiative and supported by multiple IEEE Societies and organizational units, said Hausi Mller, QCE20 general chair and co-chair of the IEEE Quantum Initiative.Our initial goal is to address the current landscape of quantum technologies, identify challenges and opportunities, and engage the quantum community. With our current Quantum Week program, were well on track to deliver a first-rate quantum computing and engineering event.

QCE20skeynote speakersinclude the following quantum groundbreakers and leaders:

The week-longQCE20 tutorials programfeatures 15 tutorials by leading experts aimed squarely at workforce development and training considerations. The tutorials are ideally suited to develop quantum champions for industry, academia, and government and to build expertise for emerging quantum ecosystems.

Throughout the week, 19QCE20 workshopsprovide forums for group discussions on topics in quantum research, practice, education, and applications. The exciting workshops provide unique opportunities to share and discuss quantum computing and engineering ideas, research agendas, roadmaps, and applications.

The deadline for submittingtechnical papersto the eight technical paper tracks isMay 22. Papers accepted by QCE20 will be submitted to the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. The best papers will be invited to the journalsIEEE Transactions on Quantum Engineering(TQE)andACM Transactions on Quantum Computing(TQC).

QCE20 provides attendees a unique opportunity to discuss challenges and opportunities with quantum researchers, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, developers, students, practitioners, educators, programmers, and newcomers. QCE20 is co-sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Communications Society, IEEE Council on Superconductivity,IEEE Electronics Packaging Society (EPS), IEEE Future Directions Quantum Initiative, IEEE Photonics Society, and IEEETechnology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS).

Registerto be a part of the highly anticipated inaugural IEEE Quantum Week 2020. Visitqce.quantum.ieee.orgfor event news and all program details, including sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities.

About the IEEE Computer Society

The IEEE Computer Society is the worlds home for computer science, engineering, and technology. A global leader in providing access to computer science research, analysis, and information, the IEEE Computer Society offers a comprehensive array of unmatched products, services, and opportunities for individuals at all stages of their professional career. Known as the premier organization that empowers the people who drive technology, the IEEE Computer Society offers international conferences, peer-reviewed publications, a unique digital library, and training programs. Visitwww.computer.orgfor more information.

About the IEEE Communications Society

TheIEEE Communications Societypromotes technological innovation and fosters creation and sharing of information among the global technical community. The Society provides services to members for their technical and professional advancement and forums for technical exchanges among professionals in academia, industry, and public institutions.

About the IEEE Council on Superconductivity

TheIEEE Council on Superconductivityand its activities and programs cover the science and technology of superconductors and their applications, including materials and their applications for electronics, magnetics, and power systems, where the superconductor properties are central to the application.

About the IEEE Electronics Packaging Society

TheIEEE Electronics Packaging Societyis the leading international forum for scientists and engineers engaged in the research, design, and development of revolutionary advances in microsystems packaging and manufacturing.

About the IEEE Future Directions Quantum Initiative

IEEE Quantumis an IEEE Future Directions initiative launched in 2019 that serves as IEEEs leading community for all projects and activities on quantum technologies. IEEE Quantum is supported by leadership and representation across IEEE Societies and OUs. The initiative addresses the current landscape of quantum technologies, identifies challenges and opportunities, leverages and collaborates with existing initiatives, and engages the quantum community at large.

About the IEEE Photonics Society

TheIEEE Photonics Societyforms the hub of a vibrant technical community of more than 100,000 professionals dedicated to transforming breakthroughs in quantum physics into the devices, systems, and products to revolutionize our daily lives. From ubiquitous and inexpensive global communications via fiber optics, to lasers for medical and other applications, to flat-screen displays, to photovoltaic devices for solar energy, to LEDs for energy-efficient illumination, there are myriad examples of the Societys impact on the world around us.

About the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society

IEEE TEMSencompasses the management sciences and practices required for defining, implementing, and managing engineering and technology.

Source: IEEE Computer Society

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Registration Open for Inaugural IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering - HPCwire

Research team: (from left) Associate Professor Stefano Palomba, Dr Alessandro Tuniz, Professor Martijn de Sterke. Photo: Louise Cooper

Light is emerging as the leading vehicle for information processing in computers and telecommunications as our need for energy efficiency and bandwidth increases.

Already the gold standard for intercontinental communication through fibre-optics, photons are replacing electrons as the main carriers of information throughout optical networks and into the very heart of computers themselves.

However, there remain substantial engineering barriers to complete this transformation. Industry-standard silicon circuits that support light are more than an order of magnitude larger than modern electronic transistors. One solution is to compress light using metallic waveguides however this would not only require a new manufacturing infrastructure, but also the way light interacts with metals on chips means that photonic information is easily lost.

Now scientists in Australia and Germany have developed a modular method to design nanoscale devices to help overcome these problems, combining the best of traditional chip design with photonic architecture in a hybrid structure. Their research is published today in Nature Communications.

We have built a bridge between industry-standard silicon photonic systems and the metal-based waveguides that can be made 100 times smaller while retaining efficiency, said lead author Dr Alessandro Tuniz from the University of Sydney Nano Institute and School of Physics.

This hybrid approach allows the manipulation of light at the nanoscale, measured in billionths of a metre. The scientists have shown that they can achieve data manipulation at 100 times smaller than the wavelength of light carrying the information.

This sort of efficiency and miniaturisation will be essential in transforming computer processing to be based on light. It will also be very useful in the development of quantum-optical information systems, a promising platform for future quantum computers, said Associate Professor Stefano Palomba, a co-author from the University of Sydney and Nanophotonics Leader at Sydney Nano.

Eventually we expect photonic information will migrate to the CPU, the heart of any modern computer. Such a vision has already been mapped out by IBM.

On-chip nanometre-scale devices that use metals (known as plasmonic devices) allow for functionality that no conventional photonic device allows. Most notably, they efficiently compress light down to a few billionths of a metre and thus achieve hugely enhanced, interference-free, light-to-matter interactions.

As well as revolutionising general processing, this is very useful for specialised scientific processes such as nano-spectroscopy, atomic-scale sensing and nanoscale detectors, said Dr Tuniz also from the Sydney Institute of Photonics and Optical Science.

However, their universal functionality was hampered by a reliance on ad hoc designs.

We have shown that two separate designs can be joined together to enhance a run-of-the-mill chip that previously did nothing special, Dr Tuniz said.

This modular approach allows for rapid rotation of light polarisation in the chip and,becauseof that rotation, quickly permits nano-focusing down to about 100 times less than the wavelength.

Professor Martijn de Sterke is Director of the Institute of Photonics and Optical Science at the University of Sydney. He said: The future of information processing is likely to involve photons using metals that allow us to compress light to the nanoscale and integrate these designs into conventional silicon photonics.

This research was supported by the University of Sydney Fellowship Scheme, the German Research Foundation (DFG) under Germanys Excellence Strategy EXC-2123/1. This work was performed in part at the NSW node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF).

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Light, fantastic: the path ahead for faster, smaller computer processors - News - The University of Sydney

If years ago what everyone wanted to lose weight was talking about going to the gym and getting pounded doing sports, now many nutritionists and sports experts have turned the tables.New trends in the world of nutrition warn that leading a healthy life is no longer (or at least not only) a matter of doing sports.Over the years and with an increasingly powerful food industry and the increase in sedentary lifestyle and associated diseases such as obesity, consumption trends have changed and there are now many people who, as nutritionists themselves report, They cannot lose weight for much sport that they do. So it is necessary to put aside junk food and start eating real food.

In this link we told you yesterday an example of a woman who had succeeded. The photo speaks for itself. The results are surprising. Once you change your diet then you do have to start exercising. And the first step is to start the house little by little and by the foundations. That is: do not face the first day a half marathon.Just do the fashionable exercise that everyone talks about and that more and more people practice.It is simple: just walk. Doing about 15,000 steps each day will suffice.

More and more people are joining this trend. And it is a way of exercising without you noticing it excessively. In fact, several viral coach challenges are circulating around the network that try to improve the lives of their followers.What does it consist on? In that you get a smart phone or an activity bracelet and count the steps you take. The goal is for you to exceed 15,000 each day. If you succeed, put a mark on the calendar and start introducing small actions that can lead you to move more and (therefore) burn more calories.

Keep in mind that moving (in this link you can read how beneficial it is, for example, doing it after each meal or each dinner), will make your body activate and burn more calories. If you do more than 15,000 steps a day (or even reach 20.00)you can subtract 4,000 calories.A challenge at the height of a few for which up to groups (both women and men) that go out throughout Spain periodically to walk together have already been formed.

But this is not the only action you can do. Quite the contrary. Moving and walking has to be a complement.In fact, scholars assure that if you add to this, for example, a renunciation of alcohol or ultraprocessed, the changes in your body you will begin to notice before. And that is the last of the keys that nutritionists transmit: losing weight is a matter of time. You have to be patient because the results are not achieved in a moment or a minute. Every effort has its rewards.

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May 16, 2020

May 16, 2020

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Weight loss tricks: The exercise that sweeps the nets and what you should do to lose weight and subtract calories without starving - Explica