An algorithmic proof for the completeness of two-dimensional Ising model

We show that the two dimensional Ising model is complete, in the sense that the partition function of any lattice model on any graph is equal to the partition function of the 2D Ising model with complex coupling. The latter model has all its spin-spin coupling equal to i\pi/4 and all the parameters of the original model are contained in the local magnetic fields of the Ising model. This result has already been derived by using techniques from quantum information theory and by exploiting the universality of cluster states. Here we do not use the quantum formalism and hence make the completeness result accessible to a wide audience. Furthermore our method has the advantage of being algorithmic in nature so that by following a set of simple graphical transformations, one is able to transform any discrete lattice model to an Ising model defined on a (polynomially) larger 2D lattice.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Partially topological phase in a quantum loop gas model with tension and pressure

Enhancing robustness of topological orders against perturbations is one of the main goals in topological quantum computing. Since the kinetic of excitations is in conflict with the robustness of topological orders, any mechanism that reduces the mobility of excitations will be in favor of robustness. A strategy in this direction is adding frustration to topological systems. In this paper we consider a frustrated toric code on a kagome lattice, and show that although increasing the strength of perturbation reduces the topological order of the system, it cannot destroy it completely. Our frustrated toric code is indeed a quantum loop gas model with string tension and pressure which their competition leads to a partially topological phase (PTP) in which the excitations are restricted to move in particular sublattices. In this phase the ground state is a product of many copies of fluctuating loop states corresponding to quasi one dimensional ladders. By defining a non-local matrix order parameter and studying the behavior of ground state global entanglement (GE), we distinguish the PTP from the standard topological phase. The partial mobility of excitations in our system is a reminiscent of fracton codes with restricted mobility, and therefore our results propose an alternative way for making such a restriction in three dimension.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Benefit-Cost Analysis of Green Infrastructure Investments: Application to Small Urban Projects in Hinesville, GA

Small scale urban green infrastructure projects can provide local ecological services that should be accounted for in project assessment. Benefits assessment can be expensive and time consuming; benefit transfer provides an economical alternative, but the quality of the analysis depends upon available data. A best-case scenario for many applications of benefit transfer is to utilize a conforming meta-analysis. In this paper, we use the meta-analysis of Bockarjova, et al. (2020) to predict ecological benefits of small scale urban green infrastructure investments in Hinesville, GA. In doing so, we implement a censoring procedure on the benefit transfer function to permit analysis of small-scale (less than one-hectare) projects. We find evidence of substantial net economic benefits, with estimates ranging from $738,312 to over$5.5 million; positive benefit-to-cost ratios are robust to substantial cost increases (4 times the estimated costs). We provide guidance for how to apply these methods to other contexts

The food safety impact of salt and sodium reduction initiatives

Excessive or high salt or sodium intake is known to cause hypertension and other diseases. Within the United Kingdom voluntary targets for salt reduction have been set and laid out in the Secretary of State responsibility deal. This review considers the options available to food manufacturers to enable them to reduce salt and the potential food safety risks associated with those options. Gaps in research and knowledge within the areas of information supplied to food manufacturers, alternative solutions for salt replacement and the food safety impact of salt reduction are discussed

Analysis of geographical accessibility to rural health houses using the geospatial information system, a case study: Khuzestan Province, south-west Iran

Background: The use of rural health houses is one of the important approaches for delivering health services but, inappropriate infrastructures and limited resources make it difficult to design and implement plans to enhance and improve health services in rural areas. The aim of this study was to analyze the accessibility to rural health care services in the province of Khuzestan Materials and methods: This applied research was conducted in Khuzestan Province, south-west Iran with a cross-sectional approach in 2014. The population of the study was the villages and rural health houses. All the villages and rural health houses were included in the study without sampling. Descriptive data collected with a checklist from the Statistical Centre of Iran, IT Department of the Management Deputy of the Governor's Office and Ahvaz Jundishapur and Dezful University of Medical Sciences and spatial data obtained from the national Cartographic Center. The validity of the checklist was confirmed by 5 Public Health experts and 3 senior experts of the GIS system. Data analyzed with Arc GIS 9.3 software. Results: Khuzestan Province has 3461 villages with inhabitants. Based on the geographical distance to the nearest health house, 358 villages (10.34) with inhabitants were outside the service provision area with a distance of more than 6 In order to measure the total petroleum hydrocarbon available in the soil, first, 1 gr of the pot soil was taken and 10 ml dichloromethane solvent added to it, then the mixture was stirred for 5 minutes, and the resulting mixture was centrifuged for 5 minutes at a speed of 3000 rpm. After being centrifuged, 1 ml of the centrifuged solution was transferred to vials that were weighed before, and the dichloromethane was permitted to evaporate in the air for 48 hours. Afterwards, the vials were weighed again, and the removal percentage of the petroleum hydrocarbons was calculated based on the weight difference between the vials (21).km. Based on the population covered by health houses, 11 villages with more than 1000 population had inappropriate access to health houses. Conclusions: The results showed that geographical conditions and developmental infrastructures of the rural areas were some major challenges of access to health houses in Khuzestan Province, which requires the cooperation of several governmental sectors. Collection and storage of accurate, up-to-date, and complete information are very important steps in delivering primary healthcare services and enhancing the rural population health

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography for bottom-up proteomics analysis of single proteins and protein complexes

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) is a robust standard analytical method to purify proteins while preserving their biological activity. It is widely used to study post-translational modifications of proteins and drug–protein interactions. In the current manuscript we employed HIC to separate proteins, followed by bottom-up LC–MS/MS experiments. We used this approach to fractionate antibody species followed by comprehensive peptide mapping as well as to study protein complexes in human cells. HIC–reversed-phase chromatography (RPC)–mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful alternative to fractionate proteins for bottom-up proteomics experiments making use of their distinct hydrophobic properties

Information security risk management for computerized health information systems in hospitals: A case study of Iran

Background: In recent years, hospitals in Iran - similar to those in other countries - have experienced growing use of computerized health information systems (CHISs), which play a significant role in the operations of hospitals. But, the major challenge of CHIS use is information security. This study attempts to evaluate CHIS information security risk management at hospitals of Iran. Materials and methods: This applied study is a descriptive and cross-sectional research that has been conducted in 2015. The data were collected from 551 hospitals of Iran. Based on literature review, experts� opinion, and observations at five hospitals, our intensive questionnaire was designed to assess security risk management for CHISs at the concerned hospitals, which was then sent to all hospitals in Iran by the Ministry of Health. Results: Sixty-nine percent of the studied hospitals pursue information security policies and procedures in conformity with Iran Hospitals Accreditation Standards. At some hospitals, risk identification, risk evaluation, and risk estimation, as well as risk treatment, are unstructured without any specified approach or methodology. There is no significant structured approach to risk management at the studied hospitals. Conclusion: Information security risk management is not followed by Iran�s hospitals and their information security policies. This problem can cause a large number of challenges for their CHIS security in future. Therefore, Iran�s Ministry of Health should develop practical policies to improve information security risk management in the hospitals of Iran. © 2016 Zarei and Sadoughi

Chitinase isolated from water and soil bacteria in shrimp farming ponds

Chitinases have received attention because of their wide applications in the medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, waste management and industrial applications such as food quality enhancer and biopesticide. Excessive use of insecticides has led to several problems related to pollution and environmental degradation. In this study, isolation and identification of native bacterial strains with chitin hydrolysis activity, took place from water and soil of shrimp culture ponds in Bushehr and Abadan. To investigate the capacity of our chitinase for using in insecticide, biochemical properties of selected chitinase obtained in this research were compared to that of produced by Bacillus cereus p-1, isolated from an insecticide tablet. In this research, three mesophilic strains containing: Serratia marcescens B4A, Citrobacter freundii B1A and Bacillus cereus B3R were isolated. Results showed a 1600 bp band corresponding to chitinase gene. The similarity between temperature and pH profile and stability of chitinase was extracted from native bacteria and ones was obtained from Bacillus cereus p-1 implied that chitinase extracted from Serratia marcescens B4A has potential application in industry

Statistical Mechanics of the Chinese Restaurant Process: lack of self-averaging, anomalous finite-size effects and condensation

The Pitman-Yor, or Chinese Restaurant Process, is a stochastic process that generates distributions following a power-law with exponents lower than two, as found in a numerous physical, biological, technological and social systems. We discuss its rich behavior with the tools and viewpoint of statistical mechanics. We show that this process invariably gives rise to a condensation, i.e. a distribution dominated by a finite number of classes. We also evaluate thoroughly the finite-size effects, finding that the lack of stationary state and self-averaging of the process creates realization-dependent cutoffs and behavior of the distributions with no equivalent in other statistical mechanical models.Comment: (5pages, 1 figure

Relationship between antioxidant capacity and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory activity of papain-generated protein hydrolysates and peptides from palm kernel cake proteins

Palm kernel cake (PKC) proteins were hydrolysed in the presence of seven proteolytic enzymes. The antioxidant and antihypertensive activities of each protein hydrolysate were evaluated. Papain-generated protein hydrolysate showed the highest antioxidant effects measured by radical scavenging activity (65%), iron (Fe)(II)-chelating activity (65%), and antihypertensive activity (71%). The results revealed a strong correlation between the antioxidant activity of the protein hydrolysates with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity (R2 = 0.69 - 0.98), except for trypsin-generated hydrolysate (R2= 0.22). The most potent protein hydrolysate was fractionated and profiled using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and isoelectric focusing; peptides were subsequently isolated and identified by tandem mass spectrometry. The individual peptides were evaluated for antihypertension potential. A positive correlation was identified between radical scavenging activity and Fe(II)-chelating activity together and ACE inhibitory activity with R2 = 0.69 - 0.98. The findings indicate that there was a positive relationship between the antioxidant and antihypertensive activities of protein hydrolysates and bioactive peptides from PKC proteins