VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Multipartite Entangled States: Transformations, Entanglement Monotones, and Applications

Entanglement is one of the fundamental features of quantum information science. Though bipartite entanglement has been analyzed thoroughly in theory and shown to be an important resource in quantum computation and communication protocols, the theory of entanglement shared between more than two parties, which is called multipartite entanglement, is still not complete. Specifically, the classification of multipartite entanglement and the transformation property between different multipartite states by local operators and classical communications (LOCC) are two fundamental questions in the theory of multipartite entanglement. In this thesis, we present results related to the LOCC transformation between multipartite entangled states. Firstly, we investigate the bounds on the LOCC transformation probability between multipartite states, especially the GHZ class states. By analyzing the involvement of 3-tangle and other entanglement measures under weak two-outcome measurement, we derive explicit upper and lower bound on the transformation probability between GHZ class states. After that, we also analyze the transformation between N-party W type states, which is a special class of multipartite entangled states that has an explicit unique expression and a set of analytical entanglement monotones. We present a necessary and sufficient condition for a known upper bound of transformation probability between two N-party W type states to be achieved. We also further investigate a novel entanglement transformation protocol, the random distillation, which transforms multipartite entanglement into bipartite entanglement ii shared by a non-deterministic pair of parties. We find upper bounds for the random distillation protocol for general N-party W type states and find the condition for the upper bounds to be achieved. What is surprising is that the upper bounds correspond to entanglement monotones that can be increased by Separable Operators (SEP), which gives the first set of analytical entanglement monotones that can be increased by SEP. Finally, we investigate the idea of a new class of multipartite entangled states, the Absolutely Maximal Entangled (AME) states, which is characterized by the fact that any bipartition of the states would give a maximal entangled state between the two sets. The relationship between AME states and Quantum secret sharing (QSS) protocols is exhibited and the application of AME states in novel quantum communication protocols is also explored.

Keywords: Multipartite entanglement
W-type state
Random distillation
Advisor: Lo, Hoi-Kwong
Three Essays in Urban Economics

This thesis studies the benefits and costs of urban living. Chapter 1 is a theoretical and empirical analysis of the benefits of urban density for consumers, while Chapter 2 proposes a model of how cities enhance the incentives for knowledge diffusion. Chapter 3 investigates the costs of congestion and the determinants of car travel speed across US cities. In Chapter 1, I study the consumption value of urban density by combining Google’s local business data with microgeographic travel data. I show that increased density enables consumers to both realize welfare gains from variety and save time through shorter trips. I estimate the gains from density in the restaurant industry, identifying willingness to pay for access to a slightly preferred location from the extra travel costs incurred to reach it. The results reveal large but very localized gains from density. Increasing the density of destinations generates little reduction in trip times, so most of these gains from density are gains from variety, not savings on travel time. In Chapter 2, I propose a new micro-foundation for knowledge spillovers. I model a city in which uncompensated knowledge transfers to entrepreneurs are bids by experts in auctions for jobs. The model derives from the key ideas about how knowledge differs from other inputs of production, namely that knowledge must be possessed for its value to be assessed, and that knowledge is freely reproducible. Agglomeration economies result from growth in the number of meetings between experts and entrepreneurs, and from heightened competition for jobs among experts. In Chapter 3, written jointly with Gilles Duranton and Matt Turner, we investigate the determinants of driving speed in large US cities. We first estimate city level supply functions for travel in an econometric framework where both the supply and demand for travel are explicit. These estimations allow us to calculate a city level index of driving speed. Our investigation of the determinants of speed provides the foundations for a welfare analysis. This analysis suggests large gains in speed if slow cities can emulate fast cities, and sizable deadweight losses from congestion.

Keywords: urban density
transportation
Advisor: Duranton, Gilles
Turner, Matthew A.
Investigating the Roles of Follicular Dendritic Cells and Activation-induced Deaminase in Germinal Centers

During a T-dependent immune response, activated B cells enter structures called germinal centers (GC) in the follicles of secondary lymphoid organs. GC B cells proliferate and undergo diversification of their Ig through somatic hypermutation and class-switch recombination. These Ig diversifications require the activity of the enzyme activation-induced deaminase (AID). Clonal selection within GCs selects GC B cells with the highest affinities for antigen to mature into plasma cells and memory B cells. GCs are underpinned by stromal cells called follicular dendritic cells (FDC). FDC functions include secretion of B cell chemokines and the retention of Ag complexes that allow GC B cells to test the affinity of their Ig. FDCs require constitutive signaling through lymphotoxin beta receptor (LTβR) from lymphotoxin alpha-beta (LTαβ) on the surface of B cells to maintain their functions. In these studies, I investigated the properties of GCs using two primary experimental models. First, I employed genetic and pharmacological ablation of LTβR signaling to investigate the expression of AID and the function of GCs in the absence of FDCs. I determined that FDCs are not required for GC formation or the expression of AID in lymph nodes, but that FDCs are crucial for affinity maturation. Second, I examined the competition between AID-/- and WT B cells in the GCs of mixed BM chimeras to investigate the role of affinity maturation during clonal selection. I found that AID increases GC B cell apoptosis, likely by inducing DNA damage, and that this is important in regulating GC size. I also found that AID-/- B cells accumulate at the centrocyte stage of the GC reaction and that this is due to a partial block in plasma cell maturation.

Keywords: Germinal Center
B cell
Advisor: Gommerman, Jennifer Lynn
Martin, Alberto
The Relationship between Dominance and Vocal Communication in the Male Ring-tailed Lemur (Lemur catta)

Sex-specific calls are used in male-male agonistic encounters and male-female courtship in many animal species. The ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) is a gregarious Malagasy strepsirhine with twenty-two distinct vocalizations for adults, including two male-specific vocalizations and an additional vocalization with male-specific functions: the howl, the squeal, and the purr. Proposed intra-sexual agonistic functions for these three vocalizations have never been empirically tested. This study&rsquo;s purpose was to investigate the functions of howling, squealing, and purring in the ring-tailed lemur, and to assess the relationships between the rates of these vocalizations and male dominance. From March to July 2010, I collected 600 hours of total data and 480 hours of focal data on male ring-tailed lemurs aged three and older at Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar. I observed each male continuously for 30 minutes at a time and noted behaviours including all vocalizations and all agonism using one&ndash;zero sampling at 2.5-min intervals. I calculated male dominance rank and vocalization rates from these data. My results indicated that male dominance rank is correlated with male purring rate and with squealing rate, but not with howling rate. Male purring rate increased during intra-sexual agonism and was associated with aggression in agonistic encounters. Squealing rate increased during male-male agonism and indicated both aggression and submission in male-male encounters. Howling rate increased during inter-group encounters and a greater number of males participated in multi-male howling choruses when non-group members were present. Purring and squealing are agonistic vocalizations and used in male-male agonism in the ring-tailed lemur, while howling is used in inter-group encounters.

Keywords: vocalization rate
sexual selection
dominance
lemur
Advisor: Lehman, Shawn M.
Parga, Joyce A.
The Endothelial Response to Injury: Defining the Role of Epidermal Growth Factor-like Domain 7 and Endothelial Protective Strategies

Background: Currently, the optimal long-term therapy for end stage heart failure is heart transplantation. Cardiac allograft vasculopathy contributes to a significant number of deaths following transplantation. This vasculopathy is related to early endothelial injury sustained at the time of organ transplantation and to persistent endothelial injury as a result of cytotoxic immunosuppression, as well as chronic rejection. Epidermal growth factor-like domain 7 (Egfl7), is expressed in endothelial cells upon arterial injury and may have a role in maintaining vascular endothelial integrity and regeneration following injury. Similarly, novel pharmacologic agents such as Bosentan, an endothelin-1 antagonist, and Cilostazol, a phosphodiesterase 3 inhibitor, have been demonstrated to attenuate calcineurin inhibition induced endothelial dysfunction and neointimal hyperplasia, respectively. We hypothesized that, 1) Egfl7 will attenuate endothelial activation, cell adhesion molecule expression and neutrophil adhesion following simulated ischemia-reperfusion injury or exposure to calcineurin inhibition and that, 2) Bosentan and Cilostazol will inhibit neointimal hyperplasia following endothelial injury in a mouse model of vascular injury. Methods: Human coronary artery endothelial cells were subjected to hypoxia-reoxygenation injury or the calcineurin inhibitors Cyclosporine A and Tacrolimus to examine the effects of Egfl7 on these injury mechanisms. Cell adhesion molecule expression, neutrophil adhesion to endothelial cells, and NF-&kappa;B activation were measured. Cell adhesion molecule and Egfl7 expression were also examined in a mouse model of neointimal. This model was used to examine the effects of Bosentan and Cilostazol on neointimal hyperplasia. Results: Egfl7 had potent anti-inflammatory properties including inhibition of NF-&kappa;B pathway activation, ICAM-1 expression and neutrophil adhesion to injured endothelium. Within vessels exhibiting neointimal hyperplasia, Egfl7 was expressed in regions lacking ICAM-1 expression. Both cilostazol and bosentan attenuated neointimal hyperplasia in isolation as well as during co-treatment with CNI therapies. Conclusions: Egfl7 is an endothelial protective signaling protein with anti-inflammatory properties effective against simulated ischemia-reperfusion injury and calcineurin inhibition mediated injury. Cilostazol and Bosentan are pharmacologic strategies demonstrating efficacy against the development of neointimal hyperplasia. These observations provide a novel therapeutic target and strategies that may be relevant to endothelial protection and prevention of cardiac allograft vasculopathy following heart transplantation.

Keywords: endothelium
inflammation
neointima
heart transplantation
vascular biology
immunosuppression
Advisor: Rao, Vivek
Interior Music: An Examination of the Sociocognitive Abilities of Fiction Writers

A two-part study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between fiction writing and social cognition: the ability to make inferences about the mental states of others. First, an online survey was administered that assessed beliefs held by the general public about the social cognition of fiction writers compared to a variety of other professions. The findings revealed that the general public believes fiction writers demonstrate above average sociocognitive abilities. Next, the possibility of an empirical relationship between social cognition and fiction writing was explored by comparing two groups of fiction writers (established/published and intermediate writers) and a control group on measures directly assessing different facets of social cognition (e.g., social perception, interpreting body language, and making inferences about interpersonal interactions on video and in written vignettes). Participants were also asked to self-report their own sociocognitive abilities via a questionnaire assessing perspective taking. Related variables to social cognition were also tested, including self-reported interpersonal/social reactivity and cognitive complexity/differentiation. Potential confounding variables, including age, level of depression, verbal IQ, and tendency to read fiction were also measured and accounted for. All participants provided a short story writing sample which was scored by three experts for quality, as well as potential textual determinants of social cognition: character transparency and point of view. The results of the study consistently revealed a lack of between-group differences on measures of social cognition as well as the related measure of cognitive complexity/differentiation. Fiction writing quality and character transparency correlated only with cognitive complexity/differentiation, but not with any variables directly assessing social cognition. Taken together, the results of the study suggest that, contrary to public perceptions, and contrary to the hypotheses of many theorists in the literature, fiction writers do not demonstrate superior sociocognitive abilities.

Keywords: Social Cognition
Fiction Writers
Advisor: Peskin, Joan
Martyr for Mental Health: John R Seeley and the Forest Hill Village Project, 1948-1956

This is the history of a mental health project conducted in the schools of Forest Hill, Ontario during the 1950s. Its original name was the Forest Hill Village Project but it became famous in history as Crestwood Heights, the book written about the project by John R. Seeley, Alex Sim and Elizabeth Loosley. The Forest Hill Village Project was a significant event in Canadian history not only as part of the first mental health grants ever issued by the federal government; but also as the first major attempt to address the mental health needs of children in school. Hatched at the highest levels of military planning during the Second World War, the Forest Hill Village Project would involve senior government and university administrators as well as psychiatrists, social workers and teachers from across Canada in an experiment in psychoanalytic pedagogy. John R. Seeley was the only individual, however, whose fate was so inextricably linked with the project that it cannot be understood apart from him. It was because of Seeley's genius that a mental health revolution from the top-down was attempted in Canadian history, and it was because of his own psychological issues that it failed. The martyrdom of John R. Seeley did not consist simply in the irony of his own fall into mental illness while leading a mental health project in the schools of Forest Hill, but also in his being effectively banished from Canadian society because of his efforts. The admixture of Seeley's personal issues and his revolutionary commitment to mass psychoanalysis eventually brought him into irreconcilable conflict with the more conservative leadership of Canada's medical and educational establishment. Though Seeley was forced out of teaching in Canada, the history of his mental health revolution may yet open doorways for the future of mental health in Canadian schools.

Keywords: Canadian History
Mental Health
Psychoanalysis
Sociology
Advisor: Levine, David
Phenomenal Anglo-Saxons: Perception, Adaptation, and the Poetic Imagination

This dissertation articulates a theory of adaptation for the Anglo-Saxon literature in which metaphors of embodiment mediate the reception of poetic works: when we read, our bodies get in the way. Central to my work is the understanding that the embodied situatedness of poets adapting materials from other sources informs the literature that they produce. I explore the material and textual conditions through which the writings of the period reveal themselves and seek to understand how these contexts shaped the reception of earlier writings. Poetic texts filled with sensory detail provide a framework for their own reception. My approach to textual phenomena is informed by reading in the phenomenological tradition of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as expressed by the work of philosophers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Gaston Bachelard, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Jean-Luc Marion. Chapter One argues for a parallel relationship between the flesh of Christ and the medieval book in the reception of Prudentius. Their shared flesh allows the Word to appear in the world by taking on the animal nature of a life characterized by suffering. Chapter Two considers the suffering of the saints in Aldhelm’s Carmen de virginitate. This suffering constitutes a form of affective piety that provides a framework for the desirous reception of holy bodies and also of the textual corpora of early authors. Chapter Three argues that in Felix’s Vita Guthlaci, eating and reading reveal the body’s permeability. Guthlac’s ingestion of hallucinogenic mold and Felix’s reception of Aldhelm appear as a demonic attack that imbricates saint and hagiographer in the textualized landscape of the fen. Chapter Four analyzes the role of visual perception in the ekphrastic presentation of the phoenix as it appears in Lactantius’s Latin poem and its Old English translation. The interrelation of ekphrasis and translation as modes of perception grants the phoenix both literary and material forms. Chapter Five argues that crossing the Red Sea in Exodus embodies the theory of textual interpretation explicated by Moses in which the keys of the spirit reveal hidden truths. The crossing becomes a fusion of horizons, as the waters lower to reveal old foundations.

Keywords: Anglo-Saxon Literature
Poetry
Advisor: Orchard, Andy
Reactivity of Lewis Acids with Coordinated Ligands of Late Transition Metal Complexes

With hundreds of papers published since 2006 on frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) chemistry the development of innovative Lewis acids and Lewis bases is a quickly expanding field. This thesis is separated into two parts. The first part investigates the incorporation of tridentate ligands on ruthenium alkylidene species and their subsequent reactivity with Lewis acids and FLPs in an attempt to synthesize innovative olefin metathesis catalysts. The second part explores the use of ligands coordinated to ruthenium metal centers as a method for expanding the Lewis acid and base functionalities in the field of FLP chemistry. Ruthenium-alkylidene complexes of the general formula ((PEP-Cy)RuX2(CHPh) (E = O, NH, NMe; X = Cl, Br)) were obtained via the reaction of Grubbs 1st generation catalysts with the tridentate ancillary ligands O(CH2CH2PCy2)2 [POP-Cy], HN(CH2CH2PCy2)2 [PN(H)P-Cy] and MeN(CH2CH2PCy2)2 [PN(Me)P-Cy]. Subsequent treatment of GaX3 with these alkylidene species resulted in the formation of cationic alkylidyne-hydride complexes, ([(PEP Cy)Ru(H)(X)(CPh)][GaX4] where E = O, NH, NMe; X = Cl, Br; however, when E = NH, a mixture of alkylidyne-hydride and cationic alkylidene species was observed. Conversely, when E = NMe, alkylidyne-hydride formation was followed by transfer of the alkylidene fragment to the Me of the ligand framework. Subsequently, Ru-acetylide complexes [LRu(PPh3)2CCPh] were reacted with the B(C6F5)3 to afford the para-attacked products [LRu(PPh3)2C=C(Ph)((C6F4)B(F)(C6F5)2)] (L = Cp, Indenyl). Further studies revealed that [IndRu(PPh3)2CCPh] and ER3 (E = B, R = C6F4H; E = Al, R = C6F5) formed FLP mixtures that effected the activation of CO2 between the nucleophilic β-acetylide carbon and the Lewis acid to form [IndRu(PPh3)2C=C(Ph)C(O)O-ER3] or [IndRu(PPh3)2C=C(Ph)C(O ER3)2] when E = Al and R = C6F5. Similarly, these FLP combinations were used to activate phenylacetylene and benzaldehyde forming the species [IndRu(PPh3)2C=C(Ph)C(Ph)=C(H)(ER3)] and [IndRu(PPh3)2C=C(Ph)C(Ph)O-ER3], respectively. Lastly, the synthesis of [((Ph2PC6H4)2BCl)(η6-Ph))RuCl] was achieved via the reaction of (Ph2PC6H4)2BPh with (Ph3P)RuCl2. Subsequent halide abstraction with K[B(C6F5)4] resulted in the formation of [((Ph2PC6H4)2B)(η6-Ph))RuCl][B(C6F5)4] which was used as a carbon-based Lewis acid in adduct formation with Lewis bases to yield products of the general form [((Ph2PC6H4)2B)(η5 C6H5 o-LB))RuCl][B(C6F5)4] (LB = PPh3, PCy3, PMe3, SIMes, etc). The activation of H2 was also achieved when combinations of [((Ph2PC6H4)2B)(η6-Ph))RuCl][B(C6F5)4] and bulky phosphines were employed, resulting in the products [((Ph2PC6H4)2B)(η5 C6H6))RuCl][B(C6F5)4], [((Ph2PC6H4)2B)(η6 C6H5))RuCl][B(C6F5)4] and [R3PH][B(C6F5)4] (R = Mes, tBu, Cy). Similarly, [((Ph2PC6H4)2B)(η6-Ph))RuCl][B(C6F5)4] was used to catalytically hydrogenate sterically encumbered aldimines at room temperature with catalyst loadings as low as 1 mol% via a FLP-type mechanism.

Keywords: Chemistry
Inorganic Chemistry
Frustrated Lewis Pairs
Organometallic Chemistry
Advisor: Stephan, Douglas
The Role of Alpha-1 Beta-1 Integrin in Extravascular Leuckoyte Migration as Revealed by Novel In-situ Pulse Labeling Technology

Leukocyte exit from peripheral tissues is fundamental to host defense, yet little is known about the role of adhesive molecules in this process. In my thesis I ask the question “can an integrin regulate leukocyte exit from inflamed peripheral tissues” and specifically investigate the leukocyte integrin α1β1. This is an important question because leukocyte exit, or persistence, at an inflammatory lesion can have a profound effect on the immune response. In addition, I present special in situ staining techniques which had to be developed in order to assay endogenous leukocyte migration in a murine model. The introductory sections review functional differences between myeloid and lymphoid leukocyte subsets, the leukocyte adhesion cascade, integrins, chemokine receptors and the essential concepts of signaling and the relationship between chemokines and integrin activation. I also discuss the pro-migratory paradigm of leukocyte integrins, in other words that integrin adhesion is equated with leukocyte migration. The current literature regarding what is known about integrin function in peripheral tissues and leukocyte migration is also discussed. Chapter 2 characterizes my inflammatory model and implicates α1β1integrin and macrophages as important molecular and cellular entities respectively, involved in sustaining the inflammatory response. Chapter 3 develops endogenous in-situ labeling in the blood compartment, establishing the fundamentals of my in-situ approach. Chapter 4 extends this and establishes in-situ pulse labeling (ISPL) to label endogenous leukocytes in peripheral tissues. Chapter 4 then goes on to combine the technological advances and conceptual framework established in the previous chapters to elucidate a role for α1β1integrin in the exit of macrophages from inflamed peripheral tissues. Finally, in Chapter 5 I discuss the implications of my results in the context of the host defense, how it might impact the immune response and future directions for this research.

Keywords: Integrin
Inflammation
Advisor: Hay, Jack
Cybulsky, Myron