Symmetry breaking and criticality in tensor-product states

We discuss variationally optimized matrix-product states for the transverse-field Ising chain, using D*D matrices with small D=2-10. For finite system size N there are energy minimums for symmetric as well as symmetry-broken states, which cross each other at a field value hc(N,D); thus the transition is first-order. A continuous transition develops as N->infinity. The asymptotic critical behavior is then always of mean-field type (the magnetization exponent beta=1/2), but a window of field strengths where true Ising scaling holds (beta=1/8) emerges with increasing D. We also demonstrate asymptotic mean-field behavior for infinite-size two-dimensional tensor-product (iPEPS) states with small tensors.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Isolation of AhDHNs from Arachis hypogaea L. and evaluation of AhDHNs expression under exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) and water stress

The peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oil and cash crop all over the world. It is mostly planted in arid and semi-arid regions. To determine the mechanism by which dehydrins (DHNs) are regulated by abscisic acid (ABA) in peanuts, three Arachis hypogaea L. dehydrins (AhDHNs) were isolated from peanut plants and sequenced. By blasting the protein sequences of these AhDHNs, AhDHN1 was found belonging to the YnSKn subfamily. AhDHN2 and AhDHN3 were found belonging to the SKn and YnKn types, respectively. 100 μM ABA enhanced AhDHNs expression in peanut leaves. When peanut plants were treated with ABA and then with the ABA synthesis inhibitor sodium tungstate 12 h later, AhDHN expression was suppressed. However, AhDHN2 was inhibited by sodium tungstate at 2 h, though other AhDHNs were not. AhDHNs expressions increased greatly in peanut leaves treated with 30% polyethylene glycol (PEG). Sodium tungstate along with PEG inhibited the expression of AhDHNs. This study found that exogenous and endogenous ABA can both affect the expression of AhDHN independently. The differential expression of AhDHNs to exogenous ABA may be because of differences in the structure of different AhDHNs.Keywords: Arachis hypogaea L. dehydrins (AhDHNs), peanut, abscisic acid (ABA), expression, sodium tungstate, water stres

Theoretical Investigations of Mechanisms for the Reactions of Seven-Member Ring N-Heterocyclic Carbene and Its Heavier Analogues

The potential energy surfaces for the chemical reactions of group 14 carbenes were studied using density functional theory (B3LYP/LANL2DZ + dp). Five group 14 carbene species containing a seven-member ring, 7-Rea-E, where E = C, Si, Ge, Sn and Pb, were chosen as model reactants for this work. Three types of chemical reactions (water addition, imine cycloaddition and dimerization) were used to study the reactivity of these 7-Rea-E molecules. Present theoretical investigations suggest that the relative reactivity of carbenes decreases in the order: 7-Rea-C > 7-Rea-Si > 7-Rea-Ge > 7-Rea-Sn > 7-Rea-Pb. That is, the heavier the group 14 atom (E), the more stable its corresponding 7-Rea-E compound to chemical reaction. This study’s theoretical findings suggest that all of the seven-member 7-Rea-E should be readily synthesized and isolated at room temperature, since they are quite inert to chemical reaction, except for reaction with moisture. Furthermore, the group 14 7-Rea-E singlet-triplet energy splitting, as described in the configuration-mixing model of Pross and Shaik, can be used as a diagnostic tool to predict their reactivity. The results obtained allow a number of predictions to be made

A Cross-cultural Study of Food Purchase Decision in Taiwan and Vietnam

Based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, this study is to investigate the effect of culture and demographic variables on the perception of consumer related to buying decision on food. A survey was conducted in Taiwan and Vietnam, including 367 respondents (227 Taiwanese students and 140 Vietnamese students). The findings indicated that Taiwanese students perceive the factors such as price and convenience are more important than Vietnamese student in their food purchase decision on product choices. However, Vietnamese students perceived that health, sensory appeal, and weight control are more important when choosing the food. The results founded that Taiwanese students perceive the factors such as familiarity and promotion are more important than Vietnamese student in food purchase decision about brand choices. Vietnamese students perceived that ethical concern, brand value, and political concern are more important when choosing the brand of food. The findings implied that Vietnamese students, with higher power distance and lower uncertainty avoidance, perceive the factors such as health, sensory appeal, weight control, ethical concern, brand value, and political concern more important in their purchasing decision on food. On the opposite, Taiwanese students, with lower power distance and higher uncertainty avoidance, perceive that price, convenience, familiarity, and promotion are more important in their choice. This result supported that culture has effects on food purchase decision. The results also implied that gender has a significant effect on consumption of food. Female students place more emphasis on sensory appeal, weight control and ethical concern than those of male students in food purchase decision. The findings also provided that students lived in city perceived mood, sensory appeal, familiarity and promotion are more important than those lived in rural when making food purchase decisions

A new design methodology of highly reliable TFT based integrated circuits in display applications

Thin-film transistors (TFTs) technology is currently the dominant technology for pixel switching in display application. The new consumer electronics requires higher resolution and brightness, lower power consumption, multi-functional with new features such as flexible and foldable display. This drives TFT devices to deliver more complex functions. Owing to a sustained, enormous effort in TFT research and development and a continuous capital investment from the display industry around the world for the past three decades, the performance of TFT has not only surpassed the display requirements in most areas, but also go beyond the simply switch to more complex digital and analogue integrated circuits, for example, the flexible and narrow bezel displays integrated row drivers with TFT technology next to the pixel array. Such integrated circuits comprise thousands of switches operating together, requires an accurate analysis during design. In the recent years, new display technologies, such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display and light-emitting diode (LED) displays have been emerging and become commercial reality due to certain advantages like self-luminous, high contrast, and etc. However, the OLED device has relative shorted lifetime and the current driving TFTs typically suffer from the electrical instability issue under high temperature and long-time stress condition. Thus, the reliability concerns in display have generated a considerable number of experimental studies and require careful analysis for the design of its pixel and integrated drivers. Particularly, individual TFTs are exposed to various stress condition in display operation with different degradation such as threshold voltage shift (ΔVth) or mobility (μ) decreasing result in a failure of display operation, given that the performance of an aging TFT might deviate from expectation of original design, and moreover, it might influence its neighboring TFTs. Traditional design method considering device performance variation and device-level aging approach of ΔVth and μ may not appropriate given that the traditional design of display pixel and driver circuit did not consider the evolutionary effects to each TFTs and different aging rate under various stress condition. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Does the Law of One Price hold? A cross-regional study of China

This study considers the price convergence in different regions of China, which is the largest developing country in the world and a country in which the regional difference is much larger between provinces. Whether there is price convergence between regions in one country is an important economic issue according to the Law of One Price (LOP) theory. Compared to previous studies, this article operates with the Sequential Panel Selection Method (SPSM) to explore the non-stationary properties of the LOP in China’s regions. We provide robust evidence to specify that the LOP holds true for two-thirds of the provinces in China, mainly in the Western and Central regions. This means that the Eastern region’s price fluctuation is non-stationary and that the consumer price index (CPI) levels of the Western, Central and Northeastern regions are relatively convergent in China. The conduction path of the CPI level is from the Eastern region to the other regions. It shows that prices can converge with each other by LOP and the values of the same goods in the Western and Central regions are equal and if there is a price difference, then it can be eliminated by interregional trade