Angular Momentum Projected Configuration Interaction with Realistic Hamiltonians

The Projected Configuration Interaction (PCI) method starts from a collection of mean-field wave functions, and builds up correlated wave functions of good symmetry. It relies on the Generator Coordinator Method (GCM) techniques, but it improves the past approaches by a very efficient method of selecting the basis states. We use the same realistic Hamiltonians and model spaces as the Configuration Interaction (CI) method, and compare the results with the full CI calculations in the sd and pf shell. Examples of 24Mg, 28Si, 48Cr, 52Fe and 56Ni are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures. Revised version. To be published in Physical Review

A convenient implementation of the overlap between arbitrary Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov vacua for projection

Overlap between Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov(HFB) vacua is very important in the beyond mean-field calculations. However, in the HFB transformation, the $U,V$ matrices are sometimes singular due to the exact emptiness ($v_i=0$) or full occupation ($u_i=0$) of some single-particle orbits. This singularity may cause some problem in evaluating the overlap between HFB vacua through Pfaffian. We found that this problem can be well avoided by setting those zero occupation numbers to some tiny values (e.g., $u_i,v_i=10^{-8}$). This treatment does not change the HFB vacuum state because $u_i^2,v_i^2=10^{-16}$ are numerically zero relative to 1. Therefore, for arbitrary HFB transformation, we say that the $U,V$ matrices can always be nonsingular. From this standpoint, we present a new convenient Pfaffian formula for the overlap between arbitrary HFB vacua, which is especially suitable for symmetry restoration. Testing calculations have been performed for this new formula. It turns out that our method is reliable and accurate in evaluating the overlap between arbitrary HFB vacua.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Published versio

The mass spectrum and strong decays of isoscalar tensor mesons

In this work, we present a systematic study of the observed isoscalar tensor $f_2$ states. With the detailed analysis of the mass spectrum and calculation of the $f_2$ two-body strong decays, we extract information of their underly structures, and try to categorize them into the conventional tensor meson family ($n^{3}P_{2}$ $(n=1,2,3,4)$ and $m^{3}F_{2}$ ($m=1,2$)). We also give predictions for other decay modes of these tensor mesons, which are useful for further experimental investigations.Comment: 12 pages, 3 tables and 10 figures. More discussions and references added. Accepted by Phys. Rev.

Design and analysis of distributed control systems:theory and application to DC microgrids

This thesis aims to propose novel design methods for decision (control) systems and suitable strategies to interconnect them with a plant. Within such an interconnected system framework, the decision system is designed to define the desired (optimal) equilibrium and generate the corresponding control inputs to the plant. The main content of this thesis can be roughly divided into two parts. The first part deals with the design of decision (control) systems and the theoretical analysis of interconnected systems. The second part of the thesis deals with the application of the developed theory to DC microgrids

Michel de Montaigne’s Contributions to Cultural Anthropology

Modern cultural anthropology was not established until the 19th century. But some of the basic questions in cultural anthropology about man and culture were discussed by the precursors of the field. Questions such aswhy peoples and their cultures are different and how these differences should be dealt with. In this article the author posits that Michel de Montaigne has made significant contributions to the questions and the notions of man and culture in cultural anthropology. Drawing on Montaigne’s major essays “Of Experience,” “Of Customs,” “Of Coaches,” and “Of Cannibals,” the author demonstrates that Montaigne is a strong believer in understanding and evaluating an individual culture in its own context. His beliefs are grounded in his epistemological skepticism and his views of reason, experience, difference, resemblance, customs, man, culture, and nature. Expanding the discussion of Montaigne’s concepts of man and culture in the context of some relevant cultural approaches in modern cultural anthropology, the author argues that Montaigne may be well associated with the cultural pluralist approach in anthropology

Evaluating Special Education Journals with H-type Indices and Journal Impact Factors

This paper evaluates special education journals using the h-type indices and journal impact factor. Fifty-seven special education journals were selected from the special education category of Clarivate Analytics’ Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and two published lists of special education journals. The journal h-indices were compared among themselves and with their available impact factors. The correlation analysis of the metrics found very strong positive relationships between the journal h-type indices and between the Web of Science h-index and the journal impact factors. Strong positive relationships between the Google Scholar h-type indices and the impact factors were also found. The paper offers possible reasons for the discrepancy in rankings of the journals. The evaluation of the journals by the h-type indices provides an alternative source of information from JCR, and can help professional stakeholders in the field determine the quality of the journals

Measurement of White Matter Structure Changes in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Using Fractal Analysis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is recognized as a motor neuron disorder affecting the structure and function of the brain and neuromuscular system. Very little is known, however, that the nervous system degeneration is dependent on disease phenotypes of ALS. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of brain white matter (WM) structure degeneration in four ALS patient groups characterized by their clinical signs and neuroimaging measurements. Fractal dimension (FD) of three-dimensional (3D) brain WM images was quantitatively analyzed to evaluate the WM structural complexity, including complexity levels of the WM skeleton, surface and general structures in ALS patients and control subjects. A total of 100 participants were assigned into five groups: ALS patients with frontotemporal dementia (ALS-FTD, n=20), ALS patients with predominantly upper motor neuron (UMN) signs and hyperintensity MRI signals on corticospinal tract (CST) (UMN-CST+, n=20), ALS patients with predominantly UMN signs but without hyperintensity signal on CST (UMN-CST-, n=27), ALS patients with an equal amount of UMN and lower motor neuron (LMN) signs (ALS-classic, n=22), and a neurological control group (n=11). The brain was extracted from head images by using the FSL package, and the WM was segmented from and the brain images before being separate into WM images of the left and right hemispheres. Subsequently, skeletons of the WM bundles were obtained using a 3-dimensional thinning method. FD analysis was applied onto three forms of the WM structure: skeleton, surface, and general structure. FD of the skeletons and general structure in ALS-FTD patients was significantly smaller (P\u3c0.05 - P\u3e0.01) than the controls and UMN-CST+, and ALS-classic patients. The FD of UMN-CST+ patients was significantly larger (P\u3c0.05 - P\u3e0.01) than UMN-CST- and ALS-classic patients. These results suggest that the complexity level of brain WM network is dependent on ALS disease phenotypes and ALS patients with dementia suffer the worst brain WM str

A Bibliometric Study of Family Studies Journals Using Journal Impact Factors, CiteScore and H-index

Although there are bibliometric studies of journals in various fields, the field of family studies remains unexplored. Using the bibliometric metrics of the two-year and five-year Journal Impact Factors, the H-index, and the newly revised CiteScore, this paper examines the relationships among these metrics in a bibliometric study of forty-four representative family studies journals. The citation data were drawn from Journal Citation Reports, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The correlation analysis found strong positive relationships on the metrics. Despite the strong correlations, discrepancies in rank orders of the journals were found. A possible explanation of noticeable discrepancy in rankings was provided, and the implications of the study for stakeholders were discussed