Mott transition with Holographic Spectral function

We show that the Mott transition can be realized in a holographic model of a fermion with bulk mass, $m$, and a dipole interaction of coupling strength $p$. The phase diagram contains gapless, pseudo-gap and gapped phases and the first one can be further divided into four sub-classes. We compare the spectral densities of our holographic model with the Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT) results for Hubbard model as well as the experimental data of Vanadium Oxide materials. Interestingly, single-site and cluster DMFT results of Hubbard model share some similarities with the holographic model of different parameters, although the spectral functions are quite different due to the asymmetry in the holography part. The theory can fit the X-ray absorption spectrum (XAS) data quite well, but once the theory parameters are fixed with the former it can fit the photoelectric emission spectrum (PES) data only if we symmetrize the spectral function.Comment: 22 pages, 21 figures, v2 symmetrization arguments are abandoned, the argument of Mott transition is still valid, but comparison with Hubbard model is modified. Title is change

Probabilistic Skyline Queries over Uncertain Moving Objects

Data uncertainty inherently exists in a large number of applications due to factors such as limitations of measuring equipments, update delay, and network bandwidth. Recently, modeling and querying uncertain data have attracted considerable attention from the database community. However, how to perform advanced analysis on uncertain data remains an interesting question. In this paper, we focus on the execution of skyline computation over uncertain moving objects. We propose a novel probabilistic skyline model where an uncertain object may take a probability to be in the skyline at a certain time point, therefore a p-t-skyline contains those moving objects whose skyline probabilities are at least p at time point t. Computing probabilistic skyline over a large number of uncertain moving objects is a daunting task in practice. In order to efficiently compute the probabilistic skyline query, we propose a discrete-and-conquer strategy, which follows the sampling-bounding-pruning-refining procedure. To further reduce the skyline computation cost, we propose an enhanced framework that is based on a multi-dimensional indexing structure combined with the discrete-and-conquer strategy. Through extensive experiments with synthetic datasets, we show that the framework can efficiently support skyline queries over uncertain moving object and is scalable on large data sets

Thermal stability and inactivation of hepatitis C virus grown in cell culture

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a blood-borne flavivirus that infects many millions of people worldwide. Relatively little is known, however, concerning the stability of HCV and reliable procedures for inactivating this virus.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the current study, the thermostability of cell culture-derived HCV (HCVcc, JFH-1 strain) under different environmental temperatures (37°C, room temperature, and 4°C) and the ability of heat, UVC light irradiation, and aldehyde and detergent treatments to inactivate HCVcc were evaluated. The infectious titers of treated viral samples were determined by focus-forming unit (FFU) assay using an indirect immunofluorescence assay for HCV NS3 in hepatoma Huh7-25-CD81 cells highly permissive for HCVcc infection. MTT cytotoxicity assay was performed to determine the concentrations of aldehydes or detergents at which they were no longer cytotoxic.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>HCVcc in culture medium was found to survive 37°C and room temperature (RT, 25 ± 2°C) for 2 and 16 days, respectively, while the virus was relatively stable at 4°C without drastic loss of infectivity for at least 6 weeks. HCVcc in culture medium was sensitive to heat and could be inactivated in 8 and 4 min when incubated at 60°C and 65°C, respectively. However, at 56°C, 40 min were required to eliminate HCVcc infectivity. Addition of normal human serum to HCVcc did not significantly alter viral stability at RT or its susceptibility to heat. UVC light irradiation (wavelength = 253.7 nm) with an intensity of 450 μW/cm²efficiently inactivated HCVcc within 2 min. Exposures to formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, ionic or nonionic detergents all destroyed HCVcc infectivity effectively, regardless of whether the treatments were conducted in the presence of cell culture medium or human serum.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results provide quantitative evidence for the potential use of a variety of approaches for inactivating HCV. The ability of HCVcc to survive ambient temperatures warrants precautions in handling and disposing of objects and materials that may have been contaminated with HCV.</p