Molecular Kondo effect in flat-band lattices

The Kondo effect of a single magnetic impurity embedded in the Lieb lattice is studied by the numerical renormalization group. When the band flatness is present in the local density of states, it quenches the participation of all dispersive electrons in the Kondo singlet formation, and reduces the many-body Kondo problem to a two-electron molecular Kondo problem. The two-electron analog of the many-body Kondo singlet, a quantum entanglement of two spins, is stable at low temperature, and the impurity contributions to thermodynamical and dynamical quantities are qualitatively different from that obtained in the conventional Kondo effect in systems without flat bands. The existence conditions of the molecular Kondo effect in narrow band systems are also discussed

The impact of a workplace-based hand therapy intervention on the management of Lateral Elbow Tendinopathy

Lateral elbow tendinopathy (or Tennis Elbow) is a prevalent work-related condition that affects a person’s ability to participate in meaningful activities. It is managed using various clinic-based hand therapy treatments, but these rarely consider the work environment. This research investigated the impact of adding a workplace-based hand therapy intervention to standard hand therapy on clinical and return-to-work outcomes for injured workers. The research findings contribute new evidence to support workplace-based hand therapy educational interventions

Lunar effect and other Calendar effects: Evidence from Vietnamese stock market

There are beliefs that the Moon affects human behaviors and behavioral biases impact investors’ decisions. Although these topics have been well studied in developed stock markets for years, it is still subjected to shortage of academic attentions in Vietnamese market. As a result, this deficiency motivated the author to perform a systematic test in this stock market. The thesis investigates the associations of lunar cycle and other Calendar effects with stock market returns in Vietnam. The sample includes returns of seven major indexes as well as twenty industry indexes over the period of 2009 to 2014. The relationships are tested by econometric analyses with selected indexes as dependent variables and dummy variables of respective anomalies as interested objects. The empirical findings suggest that there is little evidence supporting the existence of anomalies in Vietnamese stock market. Regarding lunar effect, although the daily returns during full moon periods are consistently lower than that of the new moon period, the results are not statistically significant. Moreover, we only acquire the appearance of January effect in Vietnamese stock market for the chosen five-year period and the coefficients are statistically significant at least at 5% level. However, similar to lunar effect, the presences of Weekend effect, Intra-month effect and Turn-of-the-month effect are not confirmed.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Fundamental efficiency bound for coherent energy transfer in nanophotonics

We derive a unified quantum theory of coherent and incoherent energy transfer between two atoms (donor and acceptor) valid in arbitrary Markovian nanophotonic environments. Our theory predicts a fundamental bound $\eta_{max} = \frac{\gamma_a}{\gamma_d + \gamma_a}$ for energy transfer efficiency arising from the spontaneous emission rates $\gamma_{d}$ and $\gamma_a$ of the donor and acceptor. We propose the control of the acceptor spontaneous emission rate as a new design principle for enhancing energy transfer efficiency. We predict an experiment using mirrors to enhance the efficiency bound by exploiting the dipole orientations of the donor and acceptor. Of fundamental interest, we show that while quantum coherence implies the ultimate efficiency bound has been reached, reaching the ultimate efficiency does not require quantum coherence. Our work paves the way towards nanophotonic analogues of efficiency enhancing environments known in quantum biological systems.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Narrative Advertising for Hedonic & Utilitarian Products: a Comparative Study

Objectives The research aims to assess the current state of narrative advertising in the advertising landscape within the context of hedonic and utilitarian consumption, and attempts to explain this phenomenon by investigating consumer perceptions and preferences to understand the applicability of narrative advertising. Summary For this research, a content analysis was first conducted to analyze a sample of 80 commercials for both hedonic and utilitarian products. Built on the results of this, a quantitative study was conducted to understand consumer preferences and measure the perceived effectiveness of narrative and argumentative commercials for each product. An online survey was distributed online via social media and students’ university email address. Following the findings of the research, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. Conclusions The results indicate that currently, narrative advertisements are used more for hedonic products, while argumentative advertisements are used more for utilitarian products. For hedonic products, narrative ads are significantly more effective, and are preferred by survey respondents over argumentative ads. However, there was no significant difference in effectiveness between narrative and argumentative ads for utilitarian products, although narrative ads are also preferred by respondents. Additionally, based on measures of ad effectiveness and narrative transportation, the study posits that hedonic products generally benefit more from narrative advertising than utilitarian products

Antimicrobial Resistance in <i>Salmonella enterica</i> Typhi in Asia

Antimicrobial resistance is a major problem in the treatment of typhoid fever; a systemic human infection caused by Salmonella Typhi (S. Typhi). The co-existence of multidrug resistant and fluoroquinolone resistant S. Typhi isolates is increasingly common. Therefore, it is essential to understand the molecular mechanisms and the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistant S. Typhi in endemic countries such as Viet Nam. A cross section of S. Typhi strains isolated from 8 Asian countries and a Vietnamese S. Typhi collection were investigated for antimicrobial resistance patterns. Molecular approaches were used to identify the mechanisms of (fluoro)quinolone resistance in S. Typhi isolates. Specific phenotypic characteristics of each of the naturally mutations were assessed in S. Typhi isolates that were reconstructed in an isogenic strain. The antimicrobial resistance phenotypes of both wild type and reconstructed mutants were calculated using antimicrobial susceptibility tests and time-kill experiments. To predict the relative fitness of these mutants, the strains were subjected to independent and competitive growth assays. Finally, we developed a molecular epidemiological tool which was used to genotype and identify fluoroquinolone resistant S. Typhi strains circulating in Asia. The findings of this study show that antimicrobial resistant S. Typhi is continuing problem in Asian countries, especially in Viet Nam. Fluoroquinolone resistance in S. Typhi is caused by mutations in specific locations of the gyrA and parC genes. The majority of reconstructed mutants had a selective growth advantage when placed in competition with a non-mutant S. Typhi strain. Strains that had the highest level of fluoroquinolone resistance had a selective disadvantage. We conclude that S. Typhi haplotype H58 with associated nalidixic acid resistance is dominant across Asian countries