Is This The First Quantum Computer In The World?

A Canadian company claimed following words on their website: "D-Wave Systems builds the world's first and only commercial quantum computers. The scientists, engineers and executives here are among the many people who have contributed to this historic achievement" (D-Wave, n.d.). In 2011, D-Wave systems developed their first computing device based on the superconductivity theory. Since that first device released, the D-Wave Systems have made two improvement models on the original one. The first improvement model is the D-Wave-2 released in 2013, and the second improvement model is the D-Wave-2X released in 2015. The D-Wave Systems are confident of these systems are Quantum Computers, because they think their system's principle is based on Quantum theory. The D-Wave Systems have made a series of the educational videos about their systems, let's watch one of these videos embedded at bottom of this post and check out how they explain their systems work internally.

There are many arguments and questions to D-Wave systems with the academic field. The researchers
at IBM and the University of California are questioning these D-Wave computing devices are manufactured on quantum mechanics (PCWorld, n.d.).  In Quantum Mechanics theory, the Quantum is recognized as the subatomic level individual particles, but the moving behaver of these particles are showing as a kind of wave. It is no evidence the D-Wave system based on this kind of particles. But the D-Wave argument "a successful theory needs to explain all the existing experimental results, not just a narrowly selected subset of them". We have to admit these D-Wave systems are not working on same principle as current widely used digital computers.

In academic field, most scientists think if a device is called Quantum Computer, which should be manufactured on the Quantum Mechanics theory, which should utilize following two or three basic Quantum characteristics in the computation operations: (1) Qubit: which is the subatomic level particle(s) used to express a Quantum bit ; (2) Superposition: which should be used to store or present the value of a qubit; (3) Entanglement: which should be used to read or transmit the value of a qubit. From such a angle to observe, the Quantum Computer does not exist yet (IQC, n.d.).

If the Quantum Computer does not exist yet, then what we should call the D-Wave system, because these systems are indeed developed on the concept of qubit and superposition. It looks the key difference is the physic size of the qubit. The qubit in an ideal Quantum Computer is operated on the subatomic level particles (which is real Quantum), but the qubit in the D-Wave system is operated on a tiny piece of superconductor (which is simulated Quantum). The D-Wave system utilize the circle electric current in a tiny piece of superconductor to simulate the Quantum rotation, which makes the superconductivity in a tiny material showing the Quantum characteristics, so that the work principle of these D-Wave devices meet some of the principle of a Quantum Computer.

Based on above analysis, we may find the D-Wave system might not be the ideal Quantum Computer which most scientists are searching for, but they are indeed the best simulation devices which made some very good practice with Quantum Computer theory.

(Note: This article is written for a student assignment, many statements are just author's personal opinion, so it is not a proper resource for any academic reference.)

Reference

CanadianContent. (n.d.). Quantum Computers. [Cool article]. [Online]. Available at: http://forums.canadiancontent.net/computers-internet/128801-quantum-computers-cool-article.html [Accessed: 27 January 2016].

Dwave. (n.d.). Quantum Computing | D-Wave Systems. [Online]. Available at: http://www.dwavesys.com/quantum-computing [Accessed: 27 January 2016].

IQC. (n.d.). Quantum computing 101 | Institute for Quantum Computing. [Online]. Available at: https://uwaterloo.ca/institute-for-quantum-computing/quantum-computing-101#What-is-quantum-computing [Accessed: 27 January 2016].

PCWorld. (n.d.). IBM questions the performance of D-Wave’s quantum computer | PCWorld. [Online]. Available at: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2094380/ibm-questions-the-performance-of-dwaves-quantum-computer.html [Accessed: 27 January 2016].

Back, Neck and Shoulder Pains .. am I getting too old?

Do you get that uncomfortable pain in either your back, shoulders, neck ... or a combination of each? Do you spend a lot of time in front of a computer or laptop, or looking down at your smartphone screen? I think that most of us do and if not already we are all heading in the direction of experiencing the above symptoms. But where does the pain come from?

I am not going to dive into much detail about this. For those interested readers I suggest reading a very valuable post by Alexander Heyne in his article 3 PROVEN Ways to Permanently Fix Your Neck and Shoulder Pain (And Maybe Your Migraine Headaches).

When you realize what is causing all of this you will immediately understand what we are all doing wrong. I would say that posture is the most important thing to keep in mind when using such devices. My advice is to as much as possible try to think of holding something with the top of your heads in order to keep your spine straight.

Also we should try to force breaks during which we can do some neck, hands and hip rotations and stretching. Just make sure that the latter are self-explanatory and that they won't raise any suspicious looks from any nearby colleagues!

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The Beauty of Sharing Knowledge

Image 1: Time to Share, Myers (2011)

I am not a teacher. I am not formally paid to teach children or adolescence in a specific subject. I am not a lecturer, nor do I offer training courses for corporate business. I am an individual who has been working for almost 30 years and has a lot of knowledge based on experience on offer. I love to share my knowledge.

It does not give me a sense of superiority to offer people the knowledge of my experience - I learned what I know through knocks in my own life. My scars are mine to share and I share them freely. I do not seek reward for sharing my experiences and knowledge - my reward is seeing this person understand; witnessing that "Ah ha" moment.

Poem: Sharing Is Caring (Grantham, 2013)

To show you care for someone is to lend a helping hand
A need to be concerned for every woman, child and man
Share whatever you can to help someone in need
Then you will be happier and a better person indeed

When you share with others you unselfishly give of yourself
Then love is given freely instead of sitting on a shelf
Hands that are always clenched nothing can ever get out
Ones that are open and gives is what love is all about

Sharing is caring when given from the heart with pleasure
The good returns are many and the rewards are without measure
Goods given freely brings a smile to the needy person
Holding back when you can give will only continue to worsen


References Cited

Grantham, P. (2013). Sharing Is Caring Poem by Patricia Grantham - Poem Hunter. [online] PoemHunter.com. Available at: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sharing-is-caring-3/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2016].

Myers, G. (2011). A Time To Share Knowledge. [online] KMbeing. Available at: http://kmbeing.com/2011/12/29/a-time-to-share-knowledge/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2016].

Kaggle

Kaggle

A great site for learning about data science is Kaggle. Kaggle acts as a meeting point between data scientists and uses competitions supplied by 3rd parties such as companies, public bodies and so on. Some competitions have prizes, some are serious and some are just for fun. It's a great way of trying some data science coding techniques while having fun and doing good at the same time. Current competitions include: classifying photos for Yelp, finding network disruptions for Telstra in Australia and discovering what is going on in Hilary Clinton's emails!