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AiFi, A2Z Cust2Mate, and Sitoo head up October’s biggest retail … – Retail Technology Innovation Hub

Ocado Retail

Thousands of cash rewards have been redeemed by UK consumers as part of the first nationwide digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) trial led by Polytag, Bower, and Ocado Retail.

Since 14th July, Ocado Retail customers have been able to claim monetary rewards for recycling any of its own brand two and four-pint milk bottles using Polytags QR codes, redeemable via recycling app Bower.

The trial saw more than 20,000 Ocado Retail milk bottles scanned by over 3,000 consumers using their smartphones before being deposited into home kerbside recycling.

The QR code integrated onto the milk bottles labelling is scanned via the aforementioned app, the bottle disposed of in a persons registered at home recycling bin, and the reward withdrawn into their bank account.

Up to 4,000 worth of rewards were obtained during the nine week long trial.

Superdrug

Superdrug has launched its own retail media network in the UK.

In a LinkedIn post, Paul Stafford, Head Of Digital Marketing, Retail Media & Online Brand at Superdrug, said: This week, I had the pleasure of announcing the arrival of Superdrugs own retail media network, Optimo, at our annual supplier conference.

He added: This has been a huge piece of work covering A.S. Watson Group (the owner of Superdrug) BUs across Hong Kong, Milan, Paris, Amsterdam and London. From a personal point of view, its been an incredible journey to work on a project that is at the coal face of major industry change.

I cant wait now to start working with our suppliers to deliver on their briefs.

Obviously this has been a massive team effort and couldn't be done without the support of Dan Jarvis (Chief Digital Officer, Europe at A.S. Watson Group), Andrea Zoboli (eLab Technology Director (Europe) at A.S. Watson Group, Marille Slenders, (Head of Media & Performance Benelux at A.S. Watson Group), Matt Walburn, (Customer and Marketing Director at Superdrug), Nicholas Queally, Marketing Manager - Promotions and Pricing at Superdrug), and many, many more.

Amazon (again)

Amazon customers in the UK, Italy and an additional US city will have the option to get their packages delivered by a Prime Air drone beginning in late 2024.

Specific cities in the US and abroad will be named in the coming months.

David Carbon, Vice President of Amazons Prime Air, says: As part of our continued efforts to innovate for customers, we are excited to announce the expansion of Prime Air delivery internationally, for the first time outside the US.

We have been delivering packages by drone for almost a year in California and in Texas. We have built a safe, reliable delivery service and have partnered very closely with regulators and communities.

We will continue with that collaboration into the future to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers and the communities we serve.

Prime Air is also unveiling a new MK30 drone design, which is said to be quieter, smaller, and lighter, than previous models.

Dublin Airport

A new Dublin Town To Go store, powered by Zippin technology, has opened in T1 Arrivals at Dublin Airport.

People scan their payment card to enter and a combination of cameras and weight sensored shelving then detects what theyre buying and charges their card when they walk out.

The store, the first of its kind to open to the general public in Ireland, sells a range of goods to meet the needs of both departing and arriving passengers and also those waiting to welcome people in Arrivals, including coffee, pastries, sandwiches, salads, sweets, cereal, milk and toiletries.

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Roche, Ibex Medical Analytics and AWS partner for better cancer … – Health Imaging

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is teaming up with artificial intelligence vendor Ibex Medical Analytics and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud hosting arm of Amazon, to bring AI-driven diagnostic support tools to pathology laboratories. Roche, Ibex and AWS have collaborated to enable access to Ibex's AI-powered decision support tools through Roche's Navify digital pathology platform.

Digital pathology technology is designed to streamline workflows and enhance laboratory diagnostic efficiency. Combined with AI, it has the potential to boost productivity and reduce turnaround times in those labs. To this end, Ibexs AI tools will be integrated into the Navify digital pathology platform and used to aid clinicians in diagnosing breast and prostate cancer, according to a press release from the companies.

This partnership will support biopsy diagnosis, cancer grading, subtype identification, and the recognition of noncancerous features. Additionally, it supports the review and analysis of slide images.

"Our collaboration with Roche is driving new AI-powered workflows that help pathologists and laboratories realize the full potential of going digital," Joseph Mossel, CEO and co-founder of Ibex Medical Analytics, said in a statement. "The next phase in the evolution of digital pathology is open platforms that enable technology providers to join forces and offer integrated software solutions that improve lab efficiency, biopsy review and ultimately the quality of patient care."

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Run Generative AI on-premises, with a cloud experience – CIO

IT leaders are grappling with a critical question as they seek to deploy generative AI workloads today: Is it better for my business to run GenAI applications in the public cloud or on-premises?

The question inspires spirited debate from both sides of the hosting aisle. Most IT leaders say, It depends. True, but it also begs some unpacking.

As you prepare to run a new workload, your first inclination may be to build, test, and launch it in a public cloud. And why not? The approach has probably helped you reduce time to deployment and even accelerated innovation.

So naturally, as you consider rolling out a GenAI service you may be tempted to build and launch it in your preferred public cloud. You believe it will offer greater agility and speed faster than if you do it in your corporate datacenteror anywhere else.

Normally nobody would blink, blame you, or tell you to think twice. Except this workload is a bit different.

As always, youll base your workload placement decision on security, performance, latency, cost, and other variables, including the size and complexity of the large (or small) language model you plan to run, as well as the environments you plan to deploy it to.

Yet given the myriad known unknowns of deploying GenAI modelsand the fact that the value you may derive from it may be intrinsically linked to your corporate datayour ability to control this new technology might trump all other factors.

Using an off-the-shelf or open source model as you build, test, and tune your app on-premises you can bring the AI to your data, affording you greater processing efficiency while retaining control over your data.

Say you work in a regulated sector such as finance and you wish to create a GenAI service that surfaces product information. Strict data security and privacy mandates may govern if and how you work with AI services in the public cloud. Running a GenAI app on premises ensures that all data remains within the organizations environment, reducing the risk of data breaches while respecting regulatory requirements.

Plus, your ability to control access to the GenAI instance could help alleviate shadow AI concerns, which are growing among organizations. Protecting your IP while preventing that Wild West is good governance.

Some scenarios require real-time interactions with the AI model, such as chatbots that support sales or customers. Running the LLM on-premises can minimize latency since data doesnt have to travel to remote cloud servers and back. This can result in faster response times while enabling you to better monitor latency and throughput, as well as the accuracy of your model. Fifty-five percent of IT decision makers cited performance as a top reason for running GenAI workloads on-premises, according to a Dell survey of IT managers.1

Costs present another tricky variable. Operating a GenAI app in the public cloud can yield sticker shock as usage growsor if the implementation isnt properly scoped. Maybe youre looking to stand up a paired programming environment in which humans write code while GenAI puts it through the QA ringeror vice versa.

You get greater control over how many resources you consume on-premises, which will help you curb costs. Thats no small consideration, as 35% of IT leaders Dell surveyed cited cost as a key reason for deploying their GenAI workload on-premises.2

Maybe your GenAI journey starts on premises but once youve tested and trained your app, checking it for performance, bias, and other issues, you decide to also launch it in a public cloud. Eighty-two percent of IT-decision-makers indicated they were most interested in taking an on-premises or hybrid approach to building their GenAI solution, according to a Dell Generative AI Pulse survey.3

Hybrid cloud models naturally provide more choices. In that vein, did you know there are other ways to enjoy a cloud experience in-house? You can build a bridge between your on-premises estate and public clouds to get the best of both operating environments.

Dell APEX Cloud Platforms enable you to enjoy the agility and flexibility of cloud services, with the security, performance, and control of an on-premises solution. These platforms, which include Microsoft Azure, VMware, and Red Hat OpenShift, provide a unified cloud experience, allowing you to procure more infrastructure as required while enabling optimal deployment of GenAI apps, such as digital assistants and other tools that surface business information.

That way you can spend more of your time and energy accelerating your GenAI journey to achieve business outcomes that will help you drive digital transformation.

Learn more about Dell APEX Cloud Platforms.

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Harmful effects of cloud concentration now a key concern for IT … – ITPro

Cloud concentration is now among the top risks identified by organizations and could harm long-term innovation and technology goals, new research has found.

Referring to the practice where an organization is heavily reliant on one particular hyperscale provider, cloud concentration was highlighted as one of the top five emerging risks among IT leaders for the second consecutive quarter, according to Gartner.

The study suggested that overdependence on one hyperscaler could cause severe disruption to operations if an incident - such as a security breach or downtime - were to occur at a provider.

Limited options with regard to technologies as a result of cloud concentration could also harm long-term innovation goals, the study found.

Ran Xu, director of research at Gartners legal risk and compliance practice, warned that businesses no longer view cloud concentration as an emerging risk, and instead view the prospect of disruption as a leading risk consideration.

The risk associated with cloud concentration is fast losing its emerging status as it is becoming a widely recognized risk for most enterprises, she said.

Many organizations are now in a position where they would face severe disruption in the event of a failure of a single provider.

Growing concerns over cloud concentration have arisen due to a sharpened focus among many businesses to consolidate IT operations and direct efforts toward a handful of strategic providers, according to Gartner.

This shift has been part of an effort to reduce complexity across IT estates, the consultancy said, as well as to cut costs and contend with evolving skill requirements.

The issue has been further compounded by the fact that a handful of hyperscaler vendors dominate global and regional markets, the study found.

In the UK, for example, concerns over the dominance of hyperscale providers such as Google, AWS, and Microsoft, have prompted a regulatory probe into whether their market shares are harming customers and impacting innovation.

Where organizations have chosen to go the route of hosting their IT services in public clouds, there arent many obvious ways to avoid concentration risk while keeping the benefits of cloud services, said Xu.

Moreover, regulations at the country and subnational level diverge on concentration risk, anti-competition, data sovereignty and privacy rules pertaining to cloud services further complicating the picture.

Gartner specifically highlighted three potential consequences of cloud concentration, including the prospect of a wide incident blast radius.

In this instance, the failure of a particular cloud provider could seriously impact business continuity and result in disastrous consequences such as loss of earnings and reputational damage.

The more applications (and business processes) depend on a particular cloud provider, the greater the potential breadth of impact of a cloud service issue, which may heighten business continuity concerns, the consultancy said.

Concentrated dependency on a specific vendor could also harm future technology options and long-term innovation, the study warned. This culture of dependency means vendors are able to exert significant influence over an organizations future technology strategy.

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Regulatory compliance challenges were also identified as a harmful effect of cloud concentration, according to Gartner. This is because some regulatory bodies may hold different views of the risks associated with concentration of IT infrastructure.

Organizations may be unable to meet regulatory demands to address concentration risk across different regulatory bodies, which may have different approaches to concentration risk.

Xu said the research underlines both the importance of having a well-considered continuity plan in the event of an IT provider failure, as well as consideration of alternative cloud strategies.

Currently, if the benefits of public cloud use are considered strategically important to a business, there are not many obvious solutions to remove the risk altogether, he said.

Businesses are increasingly diversifying their IT estates amidst a shift to multi-cloud and hybrid cloud practices. Research from Google last year pointed to a growing hybrid cloud shift among organizations, with 48% of tech leaders operating under a mostly hybrid setup compared to just 40% in 2020.

A separate survey from Parallels this month also found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents had implemented hybrid cloud practices over the last year.

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Unprecedented 225m investment to create UK’s most powerful … – University of Bristol

Details of a 225m investment from the Government to create the UK's fastest supercomputer at the University of Bristol have been announced today [1 November 2023].

The funding injection, part of a 300m package to create a new national Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (AIRR) for the country announced at the government's AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, will make the UK a world leader in AI.

To be known as Isambard-AI, it will be 10 times more powerful than the UK's current fastest supercomputer and among the most powerful in the world when it opens at the National Composites Centre (NCC) in the summer of 2024.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)* will build and deliver the new system with the next generation HPE Cray EX supercomputers and over 5,000 state-of-the-art NVIDIA GH200 superchips. The advanced technologies and design will allow Isambard-AI to reach up to 200 quadrillion calculations per second.

The new Bristol facility will be used by a wide range of organisations from across the UK to harness the power of AI, which is already the main driver of emerging technologies such as training large language models (LLMs), big data and robotics. The new supercomputing facility will also play a vital role in important areas such as accelerating automated drug discovery and climate research.

Isambard-AI will connect with a new supercomputer cluster at the University of Cambridge, called Dawn, which is being developed to offer additional capacity as part of the new national AIRR.

Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, Director of the Isambard National Research Facility at the University of Bristol, said: "Isambard-AI represents a huge leap forward for AI computational power in the UK. Today Isambard-AI would rank within the top 10 fastest supercomputers in the world and, when in operation later in 2024, it will be one of the most powerful AI systems for open science anywhere.

"It's immensely exciting to be at the forefront of the AI revolution and to partner with industry leaders HPE and NVIDIA to rapidly build and deploy large-scale research computing infrastructure to create one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. Isambard-AI will offer capacity never seen before in the UK for researchers and industry to harness the huge potential of AI in fields such as robotics, big data, climate research and drug discovery."

Justin Hotard, Executive Vice President and General Manager, HPC, AI & Labs at HPE, said: "Today's announcement of the UK's major investment in AI supercomputing underscores its commitment to taking a global leadership position in AI. The Isambard-AI system will harness world-leading supercomputing, including high-performance networking co-developed at HPE's Bristol labs, to provide the performance and scale required for compute-intensive AI projects. We are proud to partner with the UK Government and the University of Bristol to give UK researchers and industry access to Europe's largest AI system for open science."

Ian Buck, Vice President of Hyperscale and HPC at NVIDIA, said: "In building one of the world's fastest AI supercomputers, the UK is demonstrating the importance for nations to create their own infrastructure. Isambard-AI will provide researchers with the same state-of-the-art AI and HPC compute resources used by the world's leading AI pioneers, enabling the UK to introduce the next wave of AI and scientific breakthroughs."

The government's new Frontier AI Taskforce will have priority access to support its work to mitigate the risks posed by the most advanced forms of AI, including national security from the development of bioweapons and cyberattacks. The resource will also support the work of the AI Safety Institute, as it develops a programme of research looking at the safety of frontier AI models and supports government policy with this analysis.

Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said: "Frontier AI models are becoming exponentially more powerful. At our AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park, we have made it clear that Britain is grasping the opportunity to lead the world in adopting this technology safely so we can put it to work and lead healthier, easier and longer lives.

"This means giving Britain's leading researchers and scientific talent access to the tools they need to delve into how this complicated technology works. That is why we are investing in building UK's supercomputers, making sure we cement our place as a world-leader in AI safety."

Isambard-AI will be hosted in a self-cooled, self-contained data centre, using the HPE Performance Optimized Data Center (POD), and will be situated at the National Composites Centre (NCC), based at the Bristol and Bath Science Park. NCC is one of seven research centres across the UK that form the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, helping to turn great ideas into reality by providing access to world-class research and development facilities and expertise that would otherwise be out of reach for many businesses in the UK.

Richard Oldfield, Chief Executive Officer, National Composites Centre, said: "We are immensely proud to be hosting Isambard-AI at the National Composites Centre. This underpins our vision of bringing together world-class innovators, academic researchers and cutting-edge technology to solve some of the world's most complex engineering challenges.

"Building on our expertise and state-of-the-art capability in accelerating industrial transformation from fundamental research to industrial application, we're excited to be the home of the UK's national AI supercomputing facility."

Phase one of the system, available in March 2024, will utilise Isambard 3 a TOP500-class supercomputer service for AI and high-performance computing (HPC). This is due to be installed at the NCC at the start of 2024 and was developed in collaboration with the GW4 group of universities an alliance made up of the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. It will offer early access to UK-based scientists, researchers and developers so their research can get underway as soon as possible.

GW4 Alliance Director, Dr Joanna Jenkinson MBE, said: "Isambard-AI builds on the success of the GW4 Isambard Supercomputer, which started as a GW4 collaborative research community, and was the world's first Arm-based computer to go into production use. Through GW4 Isambard, we have already seen progress made across research into vital areas such as Parkinson's disease, osteoporosis and supporting patients with heart failure.

"I am delighted the strength and innovation of GW4 Isambard, and the importance of supporting academic and industrial collaboration, has helped to enable thisnew national Artificial Intelligence Research Resource which will supercharge the nation's digital growth and AI capabilities."

Isambard-AI will be built using the HPE Cray EX supercomputer, a next-generation platform architected to support unprecedented performance and scale, and consist of 5,448 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips which combine NVIDIA's Arm-based Grace CPU with a Hopper-based GPU optimized for power efficiency and giant-scale AI, along with the latest HPE Slingshot 11 interconnect, and nearly 25 petabytes of storage using the Cray Clusterstor E1000 optimised for AI workflows.

When in production, Isambard-AI will achieve well over 200 PetaFLOP/s using the Top500's Linpack benchmark, while also achieving over 21 ExaFLOP/s of AI performance to accelerate AI training for large-scale AI, such as large language models.

This represents a massive 10 times improvement over the next fastest system in the UK when Isambard-AI is live, and will enable Isambard-AI to perform over 21 quintillion AI-optimised floating point operations per second.

Isambard-AI will also feature sophisticated direct liquid-cooling capabilities as part of the HPE Cray EX supercomputer design to improve energy efficiency and overall carbon footprint impact. The system will be hosted in a self-cooled, self-contained data center, using the HPE Performance Optimized Data Center (POD), and will be situated at the National Composites Centre (NCC), based at the Bristol and Bath Science Park. HPE is also collaborating with the University of Bristol on a highly-energy efficient heat re-use model, extracting waste heat from the Isambard-AI system to use as renewable energy to heat local buildings, supporting the Net Zero carbon efficiency targets for 2030/2040 as mandated by the UK Government.

Bristol is one of the top UK universities for AI research and scientific computing. It already plays host to cutting-edge computing technology, including the previously announced Isambard 3 supercomputer, while being home to the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Interactive Artificial Intelligence and the newly announced UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Practice-Oriented Artificial Intelligence.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) is the global edge-to-cloud company that helps organizations accelerate outcomes by unlocking value from all of their data, everywhere. Built on decades of reimagining the future and innovating to advance the way people live and work, HPE delivers unique, open and intelligent technology solutions as a service. With offerings spanning Cloud Services, Compute, High Performance Computing & AI, Intelligent Edge, Software, and Storage, HPE provides a consistent experience across all clouds and edges, helping customers develop new business models, engage in new ways, and increase operational performance. For more information, visit: http://www.hpe.com.

*Please note, the relationship between the University of Bristol and HPE remains subject to contract.

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AFP says it has blocked 10 websites hosting child abuse content – iTWire

The Australian Federal Police says it has blocked 10 websites with domains registered in the Cocos Keeling Islands which it claims were distributing child abuse images and videos.

In a statement on Wednesday, the AFP said it had blocked access on 10 October and since then recorded tens of thousands of attempted visits to these sites.

It said the IP addresses and identities of these individuals would be referred to the law enforcement authorities in their respective countries.

Investigations that led to the block were begun in 2022, the AFP said, adding that the Internet Watch Foundation, an international not-for-profit agency combatting child abuse, had flagged the Cocos Keeling Islands TLD as one of the top 10 worldwide associated with distributing child abuse material.

These videos and images show real children being exploited, physically harmed and traumatised for the perverse gratification of offenders. Each time these files are shared it perpetuates the harm caused to these children, he said.

The image posted on the blocked sites. Courtesy AFP

Australian domain names should not, and will not, be a safe haven for this kind of horrible content.

The AFP will use every tool in its arsenal, from website takedowns to seizing servers and arresting those who provide, access or distribute the material, to help keep children safe.

We will be working to identify the people responsible for creating these sites as well as those who accessed them.

Australian eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said child sexual exploitation material was present in all corners of the Internet and Australians should report it to eSafety if they encountered such material.

With our partners in law enforcement, we continue to chip away at one of the most distressing and abhorrent violations of human rights: the sexual abuse of children, she said.

This challenge is of epic, global proportions, and I urge all Australians to help eradicate this content by reporting it to eSafety.gov.au. You can report anonymously and should only report the URL, rather than store or screenshot the illegal content."

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Quantum Breakthrough: Scientists Rethink the Nature of Reality – SciTechDaily

Quantum physicists from Hiroshima University have revealed that the results of quantum measurements are fundamentally tied to the interaction dynamics between the measuring device and the system, challenging traditional views of fixed physical properties and suggesting that reality is shaped by the context of these interactions. Their findings point to a need to rethink the interpretation of quantum experimental data.

Whenever measurement precision nears the uncertainty limit set by quantum mechanics, the results become dependent on the interaction dynamics between the measuring device and the system. This finding may explain why quantum experiments often produce conflicting results and may contradict basic assumptions regarding physical reality.

Two quantum physicists from Hiroshima University recently analyzed the dynamics of a measurement interaction, where the value of a physical property is identified with a quantitative change in the meter state. This is a difficult problem, because quantum theory does not identify the value of a physical property unless the system is in a so-called eigenstate of that physical property, a very small set of special quantum states for which the physical property has a fixed value.

The researchers solved this fundamental problem by combining information about the past of the system with information about its future in a description of the dynamics of the system during the measurement interaction, demonstrating that the observable values of a physical system depend on the dynamics of the measurement interaction by which they are observed.

According to quantum theory, measurement results are shaped by the changes in the relation between the past and the future of a system caused by the measurement interaction. Credit: Tomonori Matsushita and Holger F. Hofmann, Hiroshima University

The team recently published the results of their study in the journal Physical Review Research.

There is much disagreement about the interpretation of quantum mechanics because different experimental results cannot be reconciled with the same physical reality, saidHolger Hofmann, professor in theGraduate School of Advanced Science and Engineeringat Hiroshima University in Hiroshima, Japan.

In this paper, we investigate how quantum superpositions in the dynamics of the measurement interaction shape the observable reality of a system seen in the response of a meter. This is a major step towards explaining the meaning of superposition in quantum mechanics, said Hofmann.

In quantum mechanics, a superposition describes a situation in which two possible realities seem to co-exist, even though they can be distinguished clearly when an appropriate measurement is performed. The analysis of the teams study suggests that superpositions describe different kinds of reality when different measurements are performed. The reality of an object depends on the objects interactions with its surroundings.

Our results show that the physical reality of an object cannot be separated from the context of all its interactions with the environment, past, present, and future, providing strong evidence against the widespread belief that our world can be reduced to a mere configuration of material building blocks, said Hofmann.

According to quantum theory, the meter shift that represents the value of the physical property observed in a measurement depends on the dynamics of the system caused by the fluctuations of the back-action by which the meter disturbs the state of the system. Quantum superpositions between the different possible system dynamics shape the meter response and assign specific values to it.

The authors further explained that the fluctuations in the system dynamics depend on the strength of the measurement interaction. In the limit of weak interactions, the fluctuations of the system dynamics are negligibly small and the meter shift can be determined from the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, a classical differential equation expressing the relation between a physical property and the dynamics associated with it.

When the measurement interaction is stronger, complicated quantum interference effects between different system dynamics are observed. Fully resolved measurements require a complete randomization of the system dynamics. This corresponds to a superposition of all possible system dynamics, where quantum interference effects select only those components of the quantum process that correspond to the eigenvalues of the physical property.

Eigenvalues are the values that textbook quantum mechanics assigns to measurement outcomes precise photon numbers, spin up or spin down, and so forth. As the new results show, these values are a result of the complete randomization of the dynamics. Different values need to be considered when the system dynamics is not completely randomized by the measurement.

Interestingly, this observation provides a new perspective on the use of measurement outcomes in descriptions of reality. It is common to assume that localized particles or integer spin values are measurement-independent elements of reality, but these research results suggest that these values are only created by quantum interferences in sufficiently strong measurements. Our understanding of the meaning of experimental data may be in need of a fundamental revision.

Hofmann and his team look forward to further clarifying the contradictory results observed in many quantum experiments. Context-dependent realities can explain a wide range of seemingly paradoxical quantum effects. We are now working on better explanations of these phenomena. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a more intuitive understanding of the fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics that avoids the misunderstandings caused by a naive belief in the reality of microscopic objects, said Hofmann.

Reference: Dependence of measurement outcomes on the dynamics of quantum coherent interactions between the system and the meter by Tomonori Matsushita and Holger F. Hofmann, 31 July 2023,Physical Review Research.DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.033064

The study was funded by the Japan Science and Technology Agency.

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Time travel to be a reality soon? Researchers claim new revolutionary thought makes it very plausible – Firstpost

In the ever-mysterious realm of quantum physics, reality unfolds under rules vastly different from our classical world. This quantum domain allows for phenomena that range from the fantastical to the bizarrely ordinary. Recently, physicists ventured into the intriguing concept of time travel by using quantum entanglement, albeit in a purely theoretical exercise.

Its crucial to emphasize that no quantum particles actually travelled back in time. The research in question is what physicists call a Gedankenexperiment, a term popularized by Albert Einstein to denote a theoretical study conducted in lieu of practical experiments.

Such thought experiments prove invaluable when exploring the boundaries of physics, especially when dealing with scenarios involving particles moving at the speed of light.

This particular study delves into the intriguing notion of closed timelike curves (CTCs), which represent a hypothetical path leading backwards in time. CTCs essentially trace the worldline of a particles existence in spacetime but in reverse.

Notably, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking postulated in his 1992 Chronology protection conjecture that the laws of physics prohibit the existence of closed timelike curves, rendering time travel impossible. Nevertheless, a recent study suggests that CTCs can be probabilistically simulated through quantum-teleportation circuits.

The researchers Gedankenexperiment unfolds as follows: Physicists subject photonic probes to quantum interactions, resulting in specific measurable outcomes. Based on these outcomes, they can retroactively determine what input would have yielded an optimal result, essentially applying hindsight to the experiment.

However, since the results stem from quantum operations, the researchers can use quantum entanglement to modify the values of the quantum probe, thus improving the outcome even after the operation has concluded.

The team demonstrated that it would be possible to probabilistically improve ones past choice. This concept, while intriguing, has not yet been put into practice. In their study, the apparent time travel effect would occur one time in four, with a 75 per cent failure rate. To address this high failure rate, the team proposes sending a large number of entangled photons and using a filter to ensure that photons with corrected information pass through while discarding the outdated particles.

David Arvidsson-Shukur, a quantum physicist at the University of Cambridge and the studys lead author, noted that the experiment appears unsolvable with standard physics, which follows the conventional arrow of time. Quantum entanglement, however, seems capable of generating scenarios that mimic time travel.

The peculiar behaviours of quantum particles, distinct from macroscopic phenomena, provide physicists with a valuable means of probing the fundamental nature of our reality. Quantum entanglement, which describes the interdependence of properties between two or more quantum particles, is one such aspect of quantum physics that continues to fascinate scientists.

This recent exploration of effective time travel via quantum entanglement serves as a means to investigate time-related concepts without venturing into the uncharted territories of the universes rules and regulations.

The studys co-author, Nicole Yunger Halpern, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland at College Park, stated, Whether closed timelike curves exist in reality, we dont know. The laws of physics that we know of allow for the existence of CTCs, but those laws are incomplete; most glaringly, we dont have a theory of quantum gravity. While the existence of genuine closed timelike curves remains uncertain, the study showcases how entanglement can simulate them, shedding new light on the intricacies of quantum mechanics.

In essence, this research is not concerned with the practicality of time travel but rather with leveraging the unique properties of the quantum realm to explore the boundaries of our understanding of the universe.

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Dinosaurs, Quantum Mechanics & Hard Cider: Just Another Weekend In CT – Patch

Nov 1, 2023 12:38 pm EDT | Updated Nov 1, 2023 12:40 pm EDT

CONNECTICUT With Halloween 2023 in the rearview mirror, Connecticut families in search of weekend outings can finally focus on dinosaurs.

The "Jurassic World Live Tour" show comes to Hartford's XL Center Friday through Sunday, Nov. 3-5. Described as an "exhilarating and unpredictable live, family entertainment experience that brings the wonder and thrills of Jurassic World to generations of fans," the tour has been wowing audiences with more than 24 film-accurate, life-sized dinosaurs. Friday's first showing is at 7 p.m., with shows Saturday at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are available online here.

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Dino-fans who show up one hour before showtime can see their favorite thunder lizards up close, and catch a photo op with one of the l'il darlings. Because who needs T. Swift when you have T-Rex?

If in your house, like in ours, eating the last Nestle Crunch bar in the big orange bucket means it's time to get serious about Christmas shopping, you are so in luck. The 37th Annual New England Christmas Festival drops down the chimney at Mohegan Sun Earth Expo & Convention Center on Friday, and stays there through the weekend.

The shopping extravaganza is the largest arts and crafts festival in New England, and offers more than 350 art, craft and specialty food artisans who come together once a year for three days only. The one-stop yule shopping destination will offer fashion, fine jewelry, seasonal decor, spa products, children's clothing, toys and more items, in all price ranges, that will not be found on store shelves, according to promoters. It's 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and until 5 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are here.

We're guessing The 1st Annual Holiday Market in the Barn at Little Dipper Farm in Brooklyn, CT won't be quite so sprawling as the Mohegan Sun layout, but is still worth a look-see from shoppers hoping to get the jump on Santa. The organizers promise "lots of wonderful local artisans, crafters, and makers," along with live music and good food. The market will be open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 499 Wolf Den Road. Admission is free.

Too early for candy canes and ugly sweaters? We hear you, and suggest you join the crowd at the Apple Theory Fest in North Haven on Saturday, where everyone will be clinging to every last autumn leaf. Visitors will be sampling a variety of hard ciders from Apple Theory Cidery, including unique American flavors and single-varietal traditional heirloom ciders from Connecticut orchards. The cider-meisters will also be freshly pressing sweet cider on the day of the event, for a non-alcoholic alternative. There'll be heirloom apples to taste and take home, goats to cuddle and Instagram with, and apple-centric baked goods created by the Get Stuffed Food Truck, The Tasty Sprinkle and Cakes By The Pound. Other local vendors will be selling honey and maple syrup products ideal for the New Englander who refuses to bid fall adieu. The cider-lover's paradise will be open 2-6 p.m. Saturday, at 118 Quinnipiac Avenue.

Finally, aesthetics and mathematics collide atGrace Farms in New Canaan Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and it promises to sound glorious. "Beauty & Logic" is a series of musical conversations led by saxophonist, mathematician, and Grace Farms Music Director Marcus G. Miller. In Saturday's edition, "Flow, Information & Quantum Physics," Miller and his band will be joined by theoretical physicist and professor of physics at Brown University,Stephon Alexander. Tickets are available online here.

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Dinosaurs, Quantum Mechanics & Hard Cider: Just Another Weekend In CT - Patch

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Explained: Why we can’t know everything in quantum physics – Times of India

Quantum physics, also known as quantum mechanics, is a branch of science that delves into the behavior of the tiniest particles in the universe. While it has provided us with remarkable insights into the fundamental nature of reality, it's also a realm filled with uncertainty and limitations. In this explainer, we'll uncover why we can't know everything in quantum physics.The Quantum World: A Different RealityQuantum physics operates by a set of rules that are profoundly different from those governing the macroscopic world we observe in our daily lives. At the quantum level, particles like electrons and photons exhibit behaviors that defy our classical intuition.Heisenberg's Uncertainty PrincipleOne of the key principles driving uncertainty in quantum physics is Werner Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. It states that certain pairs of properties, like a particle's position and momentum, cannot be simultaneously known with arbitrary precision. The more accurately we know one property, the less accurately we can know the other. This isn't a limitation of our measuring tools; it's a fundamental feature of the quantum world.Wave-Particle DualityAnother puzzling aspect of quantum physics is wave-particle duality. Particles like electrons can exhibit both particle-like and wave-like behaviors, depending on how they are observed. This dual nature adds to the complexity of understanding their properties fully.

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Explained: Why we can't know everything in quantum physics - Times of India

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