Projected Density Matrix Embedding Theory with Applications to the Two-Dimensional Hubbard Model

Density matrix embedding theory (DMET) is a quantum embedding theory for strongly correlated systems. From a computational perspective, one bottleneck in DMET is the optimization of the correlation potential to achieve self-consistency, especially for heterogeneous systems of large size. We propose a new method, called projected density matrix embedding theory (p-DMET), which achieves self-consistency without needing to optimize a correlation potential. We demonstrate the performance of p-DMET on the two-dimensional Hubbard model.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figure

Guangzhou Buyers Preference for Premium Hawaiian Grown Product Gift Baskets

Guangzhou buyers' preference for premium Hawaiian grown product gift baskets with conjoint analysis was examined. Relative importance of three gift basket attributes: container type, products origin, and price were examined. Expenditure equivalent index to evaluate how much more each of the gift basket attributes is worth to the buyer was estimated. Main conclusions are: products have to be 'made in Hawaii' to receive the premium price; business buyers are generally less willing to pay a high price; and individual buyers are more willing to pay the higher priced Koa gift basket.Chinese survey data, conjoint analysis, buyer preference, Hawaii gift baskets, Demand and Price Analysis,

Implications of regional surface ozone increases on visibility degradation in southeast China

Long-term visibility (1968–2010) and air pollutant (1984–2010) data records in Hong Kong reveal that the occurrence of reduced visibility (RV, defined as the percentage of hours per month with visibility below 8 km in the absence of rain, fog, mist or relative humidity above 95%) in southeast China has increased significantly in the last four decades. The most pronounced rate of increase was observed after 1990 (nine times higher than that before 1990), when notable increases in surface ozone (O3) levels were simultaneously observed (1.06 µg m−3 per yr). The greatest increases in RV, and in O3, NO2 and SO2 concentrations are coincident in the autumn (1.47, 0.20 and 0.45 µg m−3 per yr respectively), when southeast China is strongly influenced by regional O3 formation and accumulation due to continental outflow of pollution from the east China coast under favourable meteorological conditions. Multiple regression revealed that the RV percentage correlated well (p<0.05) with NO2 and NO x in the 1980s, and with NO2, SO2 and O3 after the 1990s, suggesting that there have been changes in the predominant factors causing visibility degradation. In order to elucidate the reasons for these changes, the results were integrated with data from previous research. Possible impacts of elevated O3 on secondary particle formation and their effects on visibility degradation and aerosol radiative forcing in an oxidant-enhanced southeast China are highlighted. Other factors potentially leading to visibility degradation, such as ship emissions and biomass burning, are also discussed

The role of γδ T cells in peritoneal dialysis-associated bacterial infection

Despite advances in treatment, peritoneal dialysis (PD)-associated peritonitis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in PD patients. Given that peritonitis can be the proximate cause of technique failure and cause ultrafiltration failure at a later time, it is important to understand the peritoneal immune response, microbiology and outcomes of these infections. Data presented in this thesis have shown that leukocytes are recruited to the peritoneal cavity, starting with a rapid accumulation of neutrophils, which are later replaced by a population of mononuclear cells, including monocytes/macrophages and T cells during acute peritonitis. Of note, Vγ9/Vδ2 T cells are also recruited to the peritoneal cavity in the early stage, which implies a significant role of Vγ9/Vδ2 T cells as early responders in acute peritonitis. In patients with acute peritonitis, the capacity of the causative pathogen to produce (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl pyrophosphate (HMB-PP), together with the infiltration of activated Vγ9/Vδ2 T cells are important risk factors and possible predictors of patient outcomes from infection. By performing a detailed immunological and microbiological analysis in PD patients on the first day of peritonitis, our findings provide proof of concept that acute bacterial infections indeed leave characteristic disease-specific ‘immune fingerprints’ of diagnostic and prognostic value. Local fingerprints not only discriminated between episodes of culture-negative and culture-positive PD-associated peritonitis but also predicted infections caused by Gram− or Gram+ bacteria. HPMC play an important role in maintaining homeostasis of the peritoneal immunity. Our data revealed the regulation of Vγ9/Vδ2 T cells by HPMC and demonstrated that resting HPMC were potent suppressors of Vγ9/Vδ2 T-cell cytokine production and proliferation in the presence of HMB-PP. Collectively, these findings improve our insight into the complex cellular interactions in PD-associated peritonitis and peritoneal homeostasis, identify novel biomarkers of possible diagnostic and predictive value and highlight new avenues for therapeutic intervention.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

GPER-induced signaling is essential for the survival of breast cancer stem cells.

G protein-coupled estrogen receptor-1 (GPER), a member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily, mediates estrogen-induced proliferation of normal and malignant breast epithelial cells. However, its role in breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) remains unclear. Here we showed greater expression of GPER in BCSCs than non-BCSCs of three patient-derived xenografts of ER- /PR+ breast cancers. GPER silencing reduced stemness features of BCSCs as reflected by reduced mammosphere forming capacity in vitro, and tumor growth in vivo with decreased BCSC populations. Comparative phosphoproteomics revealed greater GPER-mediated PKA/BAD signaling in BCSCs. Activation of GPER by its ligands, including tamoxifen (TMX), induced phosphorylation of PKA and BAD-Ser118 to sustain BCSC characteristics. Transfection with a dominant-negative mutant BAD (Ser118Ala) led to reduced cell survival. Taken together, GPER and its downstream signaling play a key role in maintaining the stemness of BCSCs, suggesting that GPER is a potential therapeutic target for eradicating BCSCs

Mining association language patterns using a distributional semantic model for negative life event classification

AbstractPurposeNegative life events, such as the death of a family member, an argument with a spouse or the loss of a job, play an important role in triggering depressive episodes. Therefore, it is worthwhile to develop psychiatric services that can automatically identify such events. This study describes the use of association language patterns, i.e., meaningful combinations of words (e.g., <loss, job>), as features to classify sentences with negative life events into predefined categories (e.g., Family, Love, Work).MethodsThis study proposes a framework that combines a supervised data mining algorithm and an unsupervised distributional semantic model to discover association language patterns. The data mining algorithm, called association rule mining, was used to generate a set of seed patterns by incrementally associating frequently co-occurring words from a small corpus of sentences labeled with negative life events. The distributional semantic model was then used to discover more patterns similar to the seed patterns from a large, unlabeled web corpus.ResultsThe experimental results showed that association language patterns were significant features for negative life event classification. Additionally, the unsupervised distributional semantic model was not only able to improve the level of performance but also to reduce the reliance of the classification process on the availability of a large, labeled corpus

Effective conductivity of composites of graded spherical particles

We have employed the first-principles approach to compute the effective response of composites of graded spherical particles of arbitrary conductivity profiles. We solve the boundary-value problem for the polarizability of the graded particles and obtain the dipole moment as well as the multipole moments. We provide a rigorous proof of an {\em ad hoc} approximate method based on the differential effective multipole moment approximation (DEMMA) in which the differential effective dipole approximation (DEDA) is a special case. The method will be applied to an exactly solvable graded profile. We show that DEDA and DEMMA are indeed exact for graded spherical particles.Comment: submitted for publication

Acupuncture for the Treatment of Opiate Addiction

Acupuncture is an accepted treatment worldwide for various clinical conditions, and the effects of acupuncture on opiate addiction have been investigated in many clinical trials. The present review systematically analyzed data from randomized clinical trials published in Chinese and English since 1970. We found that the majority agreed on the efficacy of acupuncture as a strategy for the treatment of opiate addiction. However, some of the methods in several included trials have been criticized for their poor quality. This review summarizes the quality of the study design, the types of acupuncture applied, the commonly selected acupoints or sites of the body, the effectiveness of the treatment, and the possible mechanism underlying the effectiveness of acupuncture in these trials