ZX-Calculus: Cyclotomic Supplementarity and Incompleteness for Clifford+T quantum mechanics

The ZX-Calculus is a powerful graphical language for quantum mechanics and quantum information processing. The completeness of the language -- i.e. the ability to derive any true equation -- is a crucial question. In the quest of a complete ZX-calculus, supplementarity has been recently proved to be necessary for quantum diagram reasoning (MFCS 2016). Roughly speaking, supplementarity consists in merging two subdiagrams when they are parameterized by antipodal angles. We introduce a generalised supplementarity -- called cyclotomic supplementarity -- which consists in merging n subdiagrams at once, when the n angles divide the circle into equal parts. We show that when n is an odd prime number, the cyclotomic supplementarity cannot be derived, leading to a countable family of new axioms for diagrammatic quantum reasoning.We exhibit another new simple axiom that cannot be derived from the existing rules of the ZX-Calculus, implying in particular the incompleteness of the language for the so-called Clifford+T quantum mechanics. We end up with a new axiomatisation of an extended ZX-Calculus, including an axiom schema for the cyclotomic supplementarity.Comment: Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, Aug 2017, Aalborg, Denmar

Fabrication and characterisation of 3D complex hydroxyapatite scaffolds with hierarchical porosity of different features for optimal bioactive performance

To improve the biological performance of hydroxyapatite scaffolds in bone tissue engineering, graphite was used as porogen to create additional micro/nanoporosity to macroporosity, resulting in hierarchical porosity. For maximum imitation of natural bone structures, scaffolds with different porosity features were fabricated using micron/nano-sized graphite. The sintering profile of graphite treated scaffolds was optimised to reduce the influence of shrinkage. To confirm the porosity features, the micro/nanostructures of scaffolds were characterised by scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. Considering that hydroxyapatite is resistant to biodegradation in vivo, the degradation rate of scaffolds in modified simulated body fluid was examined. Furthermore, biological evaluations based on myoblasts were carried out to investigate the influence of porosity features on the essential performance such as adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. The results indicate that the scaffolds with dominant microporosity and little nanoporosity formed inside had high potential for clinical applications due to improved performance in bioactivity

Public Company Health Insurers and Medical Loss Ratios: An Event Study of Dates Associated with the Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has proved to be a contentious regulatory and political topic. Although key features were established within the law the complexity of the new provisions and political opposition resulted in a series of federal and state governmental process changes, rule clarifications, and legal challenges. One component of the ACA is the introduction of a federal Medical Loss Ratio (MLR), which requires insurers to spend specified percentages of their premium revenue dollars on medical services and quality improvement actions. If thresholds are not met, insurers must refund premiums to their members, potentially removing millions of dollars from their operating income in any given year. This research uses event study methodology to examine share price fluctuations for publicly traded health insurers to understand the relationship between legislative and regulatory events associated with the establishment of the ACA and the federal MLR requirements. Regulatory developments in aggregate were found to be associated with slightly positive changes in share prices. Legislative events in aggregate were not associated with a significant change in share prices for publicly traded health insurers. Upon closer investigation, the initial draft of ACA legislation produced by the HELP Committee and sent to the Congressional Budget Office on June 9, 2009, including federal MLR requirements, was associated with a significant negative change in share prices for publicly traded health insurers

Konseptual Framework Untuk Pengukuran Kualitas Website Pada Sistem Informasi Akademik Dengan Metode Gqm

Konseptual framework yang diusulkan dalam penelitian ini berupa model konseptual yang merupakan gambaran proses pengukuran kualitas beserta tahapan yang dilakukan dalam pengukuran kualitas website sistem informasi akademik. Model konseptual yang sudah ada selama ini masih bersifat luas dan tidak spesifik pada domain tertentu. Terdapat banyak website yang dibangun oleh web developer, namun masih sedikit yang dibangun sesuai dengan kebutuhan pengguna. Salah satu website online dibidang pendidikan adalah sistem informasi akademik. Sistem informasi akademik merupakan layanan website oleh universitas dalam menyediakan informasi dan pengelolaan data-data akademik. Karakteristik dari sistem informasi akademik adalah academic content, periodic acccessibility, level of user authority, precission dan accurateness. Beberapa dari karakteristik tersebut kemudian dipetakan kedalam faktor-faktor kualitas yang diadopsi dari berbagai model, seperti ISO-9126, Website quality Model, dan academic website quality model. akademik. Hasil pemetaan tersebut memperoleh 5 faktor kualitas yang diusulkan untuk melakukan pengukuran kualitas, yaitu USAbility, functionality, content, efficiency dan reliability. Kelima faktor kualitas ini dijadikan sebagai tujuan pengukuran. Metode GQM digunakan untuk memperoleh metric internal agar menghasilkan pengukuran yang objektif dan kuantitatif. Metric-metric yang dihasilkan dari metode GQM divalidasi dengan menggunakan validasi empiris. Metric internal produk diterapkan dalam studi kasus sistem informasi akademik berbasis web universitas di Pekanbaru. Hasil validasi dari framework pengukuran yang dibangun adalah memiliki nilai baik pada faktor kualitas functionality, content dan reliability, dan nilai cukup pada faktor kualitas USAbility dan efficiency

Interactions of Dendritic Nanomaterials with Skin Layers and Their Applications in Topical Drug Delivery

The barrier functions of the stratum corneum and the epidermal layers present a tremendous challenge in achieving effective transdermal delivery of drug molecules. Among many nanocarriers that have been tested to improve topical drug delivery, poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers have shown to be a promising skin-penetration enhancer, and yet little is known regarding the fundamental mechanisms behind the dendrimer-skin interactions. In this dissertation research, we have performed a systematic study to better elucidate how dendrimers interact with skin layers using Franz diffusion cells and confocal microscopy. Results indicated that the size, surface charge, and hydrophobicity directly dictate the permeation route and efficiency of dendrimer translocation across the skin layers, providing a design guideline for engineering dendritic nanomaterials as potential transdermal drug delivery vectors. On the knowledge base obtained from using dendrimers, the study was expanded to a dendron micelle (DM) system as a novel topical nanocarrier in order to exploit the advantageous dendritic structure and versatility in drug choice. This study has revealed surface modifications of the DMs affect loading and release profile, without sacrificing efficacy of endoxifen (EDX), a chemo-preventive medicine that is skin impermeable. The DMs, especially those with carboxyl termini (-COOH), induced substantially enhanced permeation of EDX through both full-thickness mouse (up to 20-fold) and split-thickness human (up to 4-fold) skin samples compared to a traditional chemical penetration enhancer (ethanol). These results demonstrate the potential of dendrimers and DMs as topical drug delivery platforms and provide fundamental understanding on their skin interactions, which will potentially benefit for future development of nanoscale penetration enhancers based on dendritic polymers and other types of materials

Two-Center Two-Electron Covalent Bonds with Deficient Bonding Densities

Electron-deficient covalent bonds are a type of covalent bonds without electron accumulation at their bonding regions. Compared with normal covalent bonds, they are quite sensitive to chemical environments. Electron-deficient and normal covalent bonds are not isolated from each other. An electron-deficient bond may change to a normal one upon the change of substituting groups. Neither bond elongation nor atom electronegativity is directly related to the electron deficiency in an electron-deficient bond. Atoms in molecules (AIM) analyses suggest that electron-deficient bonds are characterized by positive Laplacians and small ρ_BCP values. The positive Laplacian is caused by insignificant electron accumulation perpendicular to the bond path. On the basis of electron localization function (ELF) descriptors, electron-deficient bonds have small basin populations, low η values and high relative fluctuations. There may be one or two bond basins for an electron-deficient bond. In addition, such a bond may correlate with two more valence basins close to the two participating atoms. Electron-deficient bonds are usually weak and long. This is consistent with the low <i>s</i> characters in their natural bond orbitals (NBOs)

Incorporating Nuclear Quantum Effects in Molecular Dynamics with a Constrained Minimized Energy Surface

The accurate incorporation of nuclear quantum effects in large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations remains a significant challenge. Recently, we combined constrained nuclear-electronic orbital (CNEO) theory with classical MD and obtained a new approach (CNEO-MD) that can accurately and efficiently incorporate nuclear quantum effects into classical simulations. In this Letter, we provide the theoretical foundation for CNEO-MD by developing an alternative formulation of the equations of motion for MD. In this new formulation, the expectation values of quantum nuclear positions evolve classically on an effective energy surface that is obtained from a constrained energy minimization procedure when solving for the quantum nuclear wave function, thus enabling the incorporation of nuclear quantum effects in classical MD simulations. For comparison with other existing approaches, we examined a series of model systems and found that this new MD approach is significantly more accurate than the conventional way of performing classical MD and generally outperforms centroid MD and ring-polymer MD in describing vibrations in these model systems

Data_Sheet_4_Google effects on memory: a meta-analytical review of the media effects of intensive Internet search behavior.CSV

People are increasingly using the web for fact-checking and other forms of information seeking. The “Google effects” refers to the idea that individuals rely on the Internet as a source of knowledge rather than remembering it for themselves. However, few literature review have yet comprehensively examined the media effects of this intensive Internet search behavior. In this study, by carrying out meta-analysis, we found that google effects is closely associated with cognitive load, behavioral phenotype and cognitive self-esteem. And this phenomenon is also more likely to happen while using a mobile phone to browse the Internet rather than a computer. People with a larger knowledge base are less susceptible to the consequences of Internet use than those with a smaller knowledge base. The media effect was stronger for persons who had used the Internet before than for those who had not. And meta-analyses show that participants in North America (parameter = −1.0365, 95%CI = [−1.8758, −0.1972], p < 0.05) are more susceptible to frequent Internet search behavior relative to other regions. Overall, google effects on memory challenges the way individuals seek and read information, and it may lead to changes in cognitive and memory mechanisms.</p

Amorphous MOF Introduced N‑Doped Graphene: An Efficient and Versatile Electrocatalyst for Zinc–Air Battery and Water Splitting

Recently, developing metal–organic framework (MOF) derived carbon-based electrocatalysts has become more and more popular for large-scale application of renewable energy devices. However, the rational conversion of MOFs into a versatile platform for high-efficiency catalyst is still very challenging. Moreover, the relationship between the crystallinity of MOF precursor and the catalytic activity of resultant carbon-based catalyst is still not well-understood. In this work, a strategy for the synthesis of sheet-like mesoporous nitrogen-doped graphene (MNG) derived from amorphous MOFs is demonstrated. The amorphous MOF derived MNG showed much higher catalytic activity than that of nitrogen-doped carbon (MNC) derived from highly crystallized MOFs. This rationally designed MNG catalyst served as a multifunctional electrode in a zinc–air battery and a water splitting device, both of which showed electrocatalytic performance superior to those of platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts. The characterization analysis confirmed that the enhanced activity of amorphous MOF derived MNG was primarily attributed to the optimal properties of electronic conductivity, graphitization degree, and high specific surface area

Data_Sheet_1_Google effects on memory: a meta-analytical review of the media effects of intensive Internet search behavior.DOCX

People are increasingly using the web for fact-checking and other forms of information seeking. The “Google effects” refers to the idea that individuals rely on the Internet as a source of knowledge rather than remembering it for themselves. However, few literature review have yet comprehensively examined the media effects of this intensive Internet search behavior. In this study, by carrying out meta-analysis, we found that google effects is closely associated with cognitive load, behavioral phenotype and cognitive self-esteem. And this phenomenon is also more likely to happen while using a mobile phone to browse the Internet rather than a computer. People with a larger knowledge base are less susceptible to the consequences of Internet use than those with a smaller knowledge base. The media effect was stronger for persons who had used the Internet before than for those who had not. And meta-analyses show that participants in North America (parameter = −1.0365, 95%CI = [−1.8758, −0.1972], p < 0.05) are more susceptible to frequent Internet search behavior relative to other regions. Overall, google effects on memory challenges the way individuals seek and read information, and it may lead to changes in cognitive and memory mechanisms.</p