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In their study reported in Nature, Ni and her team set out to identify all the possible energy state outcomes, from start to finish, of a reaction between two potassium and rubidium moleculesa more complex reaction than had been studied in the quantum realm. Thats no easy feat: At its most fundamental level, a reaction between four molecules has a massive number of dimensions (the electrons spinning around each atom, for example, could be in an almost-infinite number of locations simultaneously). That very high dimensionality makes calculating all the possible reaction trajectories impossible with current technology.

Calculating exactly how energy redistributes during a reaction between four atoms is beyond the power of todays best computers, Ni said. A quantum computer might be the only tool that could one day achieve such a complex calculation.

In the meantime, calculating the impossible requires a few well-reasoned assumptions and approximations (picking one location for one of those electrons, for example) and specialized techniques that grant Ni and her team ultimate control over their reaction.

One such technique was another recent Ni lab discovery: She and her team exploited a reliable feature of molecules their highly stable nuclear spin to control the quantum state of the reacting molecules all the way through to the product, work they chronicled in a recent study published in Nature Chemistry. They also discovered a way to detect products from a single collision reaction event, a difficult feat when 10,000 molecules could be reacting simultaneously. With these two novel methods, the team could identify the unique spectrum and quantum state of each product molecule, the kind of precise control necessary to measure all 57 pathways their potassium rubidium reaction could take.

Over several months during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team ran experiments to collect data on each of those 57 possible reaction channels, repeating each channel once every minute for several days before moving on to the next. Luckily, once the experiment was set up, it could be run remotely: Lab members could stay home, keeping the lab re-occupancy at COVID-19 standards, while the system churned on.

The test, said Matthew Nichols, a postdoctoral scholar in the Ni lab and an author on both papers, indicates good agreement between the measurement and the model for a subset containing 50 state-pairs but reveals significant deviations in several state-pairs.

In other words, their experimental data confirmed that previous predictions based on statistical theory (one far less complex than Schrdingers equation) are accurate mostly. Using their data, the team could measure the probability that their chemical reaction would take each of the 57 reaction channels. Then, they compared their percentages with the statistical model. Only seven of the 57 showed a significant enough divergence to challenge the theory.

We have data that pushes this frontier, Ni said. To explain the seven deviating channels, we need to calculate Schrdingers equation, which is still impossible. So now, the theory has to catch up and propose new ways to efficiently perform such exact quantum calculations.

Next, Ni and her team plan to scale back their experiment and analyze a reaction between only three atoms (one molecule is made of two atoms, which is then forced to react with a single atom). In theory, this reaction, which has far fewer dimensions than a four-atom reaction, should be easier to calculate and study in the quantum realm. Yet, already, the team has discovered something strange: The intermediate phase of the reaction lives on for many orders of magnitude longer than the theory predicts.

There is already mystery, Ni said. Its up to the theorists now.

This work was supported by the Department of Energy, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemical Sciences, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

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Researchers design new experiments to map and test the quantum realm - Harvard Gazette

Jacqueline Kuntzman plans to continue the candle and soap-making business she started during the pandemic on social media after things begin to open back up.

The full-time student and mother of two relied on popular social media apps like Tik Tok to gain customers over the past year.

The pandemic sped up the online shopping trend that existed prior, said Roland Rust, executive director of the Center for Excellence and Service at the University of Maryland Smith School of Business.

We are in an environment where a substantial percentage of the buying is going to happen online and that is probably always going to be true, Rust said.

Tik Tok has also helped Kuntzman meet other small business owners, who support and buy from one another, she said.

Ninety percent of consumers will buy products from a brand they follow on social media, found a 2020 study by software company, Sprout Social Inc.

Any smart business goes where the people are and, during the pandemic, they werent walking down the street, Rust said.

There is no way of getting your business out there except for social media, said Kuntzman, who has shipped her products internationally.

Last March, Allie Rose Mitrovich started her sticker business and began posting videos of the creation process on Tik Tok.

The majority of her sales, in the beginning, came from one of her Tik Tok videos, which went viral and racked up more than 2.4 million views.

Social media represents the perfect commercial response to the restrictions imposed because of the pandemic, said Johan Ferreira, a visiting professor of marketing at George Washington University School of Business.

And social media platforms drive consumer awareness of small businesses products, while costs are cheaper than hosting events or creating television advertisements, he said.

According to a 2021 report from Hootsuite, a social media management platform, Tik Tok is the second-largest social media app for consumer spending. The social dating app Tinder was the first.

Whether it is a mom-and-pop shop or someone baking cakes in the kitchen, every business today has to be digital, said Philippe Duverger, director of graduate programs in marketing intelligence and interactive marketing at Towson University.

For everyone [the pandemic] has given the opportunity to try out new stuff and accelerate the penetration of habits and services, Duverger said. Online is where the game is played.

Latoya Thomas started her Instagram account before the pandemic, using it mainly for personal purposes. However, since the pandemic began, Thomas has dedicated her account strictly to business.

Everybody is selling something on Instagram, she said.

The real estate broker and small business owner was diagnosed with lupus at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and was apprehensive about being around people.

Social media was a way for her to continue work without fearing for her life.

Promoting yourself and your business on social media is an area that has exploded during the pandemic, said Gil Appel, assistant professor of marketing at George Washington University School of Business.

People are not commuting, they are home and social media was one of the limited outlets you could use to talk to other people, Appel said.

Im not reaching anybody sitting behind a desk. I need to be out and about, said Thomas, who makes videos with her daughter and follows mom groups on the app.

Ferreira said there is a general misconception that only the younger generation use and are comfortable with social media.

Social media platforms have traditionally skewed towards younger generations, Rust said. However, that is increasingly no longer the case, he said. Rusts 92-year-old mother is on social media because she wants to know what the kids are up to, he said.

Even so, the world of social media small businesses is not always easy to describe.

Mitrovich said it is difficult to explain what she does and the legitimacy of her work.

Social media is my lifeline, I consider it the biggest part of my job, Mitrovich said.

The older generation will feel disconnected if they dont follow along and it will widen the gap between the generations on how business is dealt with in general, Duverger said.

Even old school industries are adapting to a new online environment.

Ruth Anne Phillips, offers editing and proofreading services at her small business, Turning Prose LLC. During the pandemic, large publishing houses moved what were typically paper-and-pen processes online.

Phillips, who is also a lecturer at the University of Maryland, said there was a learning curve for those traditional hard copy publishing houses.

The biggest issue has been problems with the functionality of documents on the cloud, she said; if there are too many markings on a document it slows down. But sending large manuscripts weighing 10 pounds is not something Phillips thinks will return after the pandemic.

It would feel like a step backward, she said.

Ferreira hesitates to say whether the world will shift to solely online business. What he can confidently say is that social media has become a place for businesses to thrive.

It is definitely a real channel for anybody who doubted that was the case before, Ferreira said.

Born and raised in Annapolis, NatalieDrumis a freelance reporter and graduate student at the University of Maryland. She works as an investigative reporterat the Howard Center for InvestigativeJournalism at the University of Maryland. She can be reached at [emailprotected]

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TikTok and Google Docs: Small Businesses Thrive After Adapting to the Pandemic Maryland Matters - Josh Kurtz

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Clinics partnership with IBM to use quantum computing for medical research brings to mind the most unfortunate instance of bad timing in the history of Cleveland: the 1967 merger of Case Institute of Technology with Western Reserve University just when the computer age was coming to life.

The merger squelched Cases opportunity to be among the leaders in the most revolutionary technology ever (and to benefit Cleveland with computer-related jobs). Might the arrival of quantum computing mean fresh opportunity?

At the time of the merger, Cases Department of Computer Engineering and Science had a good chance to be at the forefront. But capitalizing on that required support from senior administrators of the new Case Western Reserve University administrators who could not be focused on technology to the degree that Case, on its own, had been. In the new world of CWRU, technology was one of many fields.

A vision for the merged institutions prepared by a prominent commission gave only a brief mention of computing either as a current or potential strength of the new institution or as a challenge or opportunity to be addressed, according to Richard E. Baznik in Beyond the Fence: A Social History of Case Western Reserve University. The goose with golden innards wasnt even recognized, let alone encouraged to lay eggs.

Further, the merger created the worst possible institutional environment for computer advocates. Not only did administrators have to contend with issues of who might lose their job because of consolidation and who would have which power (particularly over budget), they also had to manage the challenge that all universities were facing as the post-World War II surge in enrollment and federal funding was ebbing.

Inescapably, the units that formed CWRU were locked in competition for shrinking resources, if not survival. And in that mix, dominated by heavyweights such as the School of Medicine and the main sciences, computers was a flyweight.

All of that was topped off by intense feelings among Case people of being severely violated by the Institutes loss of independence, which feelings were heightened by the substantial upgrading that had occurred under the longtime leadership of former Case president T. Keith Glennan (president from 1947 to 1966).

Thomas Bier is an associate of the university at Cleveland State University.

The combination of those potent forces upset CWRU institutional stability, which was not fully reestablished until the presidency of Barbara Snyder 40 years later.

Although in 1971, CWRUs computer engineering program would be the first of its type to be accredited in the nation, momentum sagged and the opportunity to be among the vanguard was lost. Today, the universitys programs in computer engineering and science are well-regarded but not top-tier.

But the arrival of quantum computing poses the challenge to identify new opportunity and exploit it.

Quantum computing, as IBM puts it, is tomorrows computing today. Its enormous processing power enables multiple computations to be performed simultaneously with unprecedented speed. And the Clinics installation will be first private-sector, on-premises system in the United States.

Clinic CEO and President Dr. Tomislav Mihaljevic said, These new computing technologies can help revolutionize discovery in the life sciences and help transform medicine, while training the workforce of the future and potentially growing our economy.

In terms of jobs, the economy of Northeast Ohio has been tepid for decades, reflecting, in part, its scant role in computer innovation. While our job growth has been nil, computer hot spots such as Seattle and Austin have been gaining an average of 25,000 jobs annually.

Cleveland cannot become a Seattle or an Austin. Various factors dictate that. But, hopefully, the arrival of quantum computing a short distance down Euclid Avenue from CWRU will trigger creative, promising initiatives. Maybe, as young technologists and researchers become involved in the Clinic-IBM venture, an innovative entrepreneur will emerge and lead the growth of a whole new industry. Maybe, the timing couldnt be better.

Quantum computing bring, it, on!

Thomas Bier is an associate of the university at Cleveland State University where, until he retired in 2003, he was director of the Housing Policy Research Program in the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. Bier received both his masters in science degree, in 1963, and Ph.D., in 1968, from from Case/CWRU. Both degrees are in organizational behavior.

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Quantum computings imminent arrival in Cleveland could be a back-to-the-future moment: Thomas Bier - cleveland.com

Twitter continues to ramp up its creator monetization focus with the addition of a new option that will enable users to create ticketed Spaces events, providing another means to generate revenue from your on-platform efforts.

As you can see here, the new process will be available via an application process, which will include signing up to Twitter's rules around paid events.

As explained by The Verge:

"US users will be able to apply to host paid live audio rooms starting in the next couple weeks. Anyone who wants to charge has to have 1,000 followers, have hosted three spaces in the past 30 days, and be at least 18 years old."

Once approved, users will be able to set up a ticketed Space by going through the Spaces process as normal, then scheduling the event for a future time. The creator will then be able to select a ticket quantity for the Space and set a price. Creators will take home 80% of any earnings from ticket sales, after app store fees.

Which is something of a sticking point - as noted by tech analyst Ben Thompson, the process essentially means that Apple and Google, which run the respective app stores and operating systems, take home a significant portion of any revenue generated from these events, despite not effectively playing any role in facilitating such directly.

But the implications of such taxes are a broader debate - which are currently being tested by Epic Games in its court case against Apple. For everyday folk, however, this is beyond the scope of a realistic challenge - so the situation being as it is, that does mean that if you set a ticket price of, say, $5, $2.80 from each ticket sold would go to you, 70c would go to Twitter, and $1.50 would go to Apple/Google.

Which does seem like an odd split, but still, it provides another means of direct monetization.

Twitter's partnering with Stripe to facilitate its payments process, which will mean that users will have to set-up a Stripe account, at least in the initial stages. Eventually, as the option is rolled out to more regions, more payment providers will be brought on board, which will provide increased flexibility on this element.

As noted, this is the latest in Twitter's push to provide more financial incentive to keep creators posting, and keep them and their fans engaged within the app.

Over the past few months, Twitter has also announced:

This is in addition to its own subscription service which looks set to enable users to pay for additional Twitter features and tools for a set, monthly price.

And once transactions are happening via tweets, the platform will also look to integrate eCommerce options, which could provide even more monetization potential through influencer marketing collaborations and the like.

With TikTok becoming a bigger player in the social media market, and Facebook looking to ramp up its monetization offerings to both keep its top stars in its apps, and lure more creators across, that's then caused a flow-on effect for all platforms in ramping up their monetization efforts - because without those top stars creating content regularly, you can lose audience share very quickly, especially as more lucrative, high-profile opportunities become more readily available.

Twitter needs to play a part in this, and ideally, through the addition of such options, that will help Twitter establish a better creator ecosystem in order to keep the tweets flowing, and boost user engagement.

In this specific instance, that also means beating out Clubhouse, which is already seeing a slowdown user growth as Twitter continues to evolve its Spaces audio social offering.

That provides a great opportunity for Twitter to become the audio social platform of choice, especially for broader scale public broadcast, which could eventually play a big role in the app's resurgence, with Twitter setting some ambitious goals for growth over the next two years.

And for creators, it's another opportunity to consider. Maybe being a full-time social media personality isn't as out of reach as it once seemed.

Twitter's ticketed Spaces will be rolling out in the US 'in the next couple of weeks' with other regions to follow.

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Ticketed Spaces are Coming to Twitter, Providing Another Way for Creators to Monetize - Social Media Today

LinkedIn has published some new insights into the benefits of brand and lead-gen marketing, and how using both in a balanced, strategic approach can ultimately generate better results for your business.

LinkedIn has shared a range of reports into varying marketing approaches, and how brands are seeing success with each, despite significant investment in demand generation over brand presence.

These latest findings are based on research with over 4,000 marketers from around the world, who provided their feedback on the results they've seen from each focus. The data shows that while B2B brands remain largely focused on lead gen, enhancing your brand presence can also have significant benefits that will contribute to your overall results.

LinkedIn has collected the data into the below infographic. Some valuable notes, worth considering in your marketing approach.

Excerpt from:
LinkedIn Shares Insights Into the Benefits of a Combined 'Brand and Demand' Ad Approach [Infographic] - Social Media Today