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Abstract Intangible cultural heritage is an invaluable treasure for all human beings worldwide. In 2009, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed the Chinese Cantonese Opera, also known as Yueju in Chinese Pinyin, on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The awareness of inheriting Yueju is not uncommon, but advancing methods to involve more young generations in this art form is still necessary. In this study, we focused on Yueju videos on Bilibili, a cultural community and video website popular among the younger generation. Through quantitative and qualitative research, we explored the types of Yueju videos that would have a significant spreading effect. The 1916 Bilibili videos related to Yueju were collected using Python crawler technology. We analyzed each video using seventeen variables. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) forms the theoretical foundation of this research. We constructed the Yueju transmission model with two persuasive routes based on this model. The research methods mainly comprised regression analysis, multi-factor ANOVA, and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). We invited thirty-one experts to assess the importance hierarchy of those video factors and calculate the weight coefficient using AHP. This study demonstrated the central route concerning the causal relationship between video recognition and spreading effect through regression analysis. Additionally, this research identified the optimal combination of 8 video factors using multi-factor ANOVA in the peripheral route. In this study, we focused on the niche of Yueju video transmission on Bilibili. This research utilized the ELM and hybrid methods to obtain the statistical results. Then, we developed appropriate macro-level and micro-level strategies for transmitting Yueju culture, particularly those aimed at the younger generation.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to compare the clinical efficacy of oral dydrogesterone and micronized vaginal progesterone (MVP) gel during the first HRT-FET cycle. Methods: A retrospective cohort study based on a total of 344 women undergoing their first HRT-FET cycles without Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone agonist (GnRH-a) pretreatment was conducted. All the cycles were allocated to two groups in the reproductive medical center at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital. One group (n = 193) received oral dydrogesterone 30 mg/d before embryo transfer, while the other group (n = 151) received MVP gel 180 mg/d. Results: The demographics and baseline characteristics of two groups were comparable. We found no statistically significant difference in live birth rate (24.35% vs. 31.13%, P = 0.16), clinical pregnancy rate (34.72% vs. 36.42%, P = 0.74), embryo implantation rate (25.09% vs. 28.36%, P = 0.43), positive pregnancy rate (42.49% vs 38.41%, P = 0.45), miscarriage rate (9.33% vs 3.97%, P = 0.05), or ectopic pregnancy rate (0.52% vs. 0.66%, P = 0.86) between the oral dydrogesterone group and MVP gel group. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis for covariates, medication used for luteal support was not associated with live birth rate (OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.32–1.57, P = 0.45). And the different luteal support medication did not have a significant positive association with the live birth rate in the cycles with day 2 embryo transferred (OR = 1.39, 95% CI:0.66–2.39, P = 0.39) and blastocyst transferred (OR = 1.31 95% CI:0.64–2.69, P = 0.46). Conclusion: 30 mg/d oral dydrogesterone and 180 mg/d MVP gel revealed similar reproductive outcomes in HRT-FET cycles in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we design the first semiquantum private comparison (SQPC) protocol which is realized via cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) by making use of the evolution law of atom. With the help of a semi-honest third party (TP), the proposed protocol can compare the equality of private inputs from two semiquantum parties who only have limited quantum capabilities. The proposed protocol uses product states as initial quantum resource and employs none of unitary operations, quantum entanglement swapping operation or delay lines. Security proof turns out that it can defeat both the external attack and the internal attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, by utilizing d-dimensional single-particle states, three semiquantum cryptography protocols, i.e., the multi-party semiquantum private comparison (MSQPC) protocol, the multi-party semiquantum multiplication (MSQM) protocol and the multi-party semiquantum summation (MSQS) protocol, can be achieved simultaneously under the assistance of two semi-honest quantum third parties (TPs). Here, the proposed MSQPC scheme is the only protocol which is devoted to judging the size relationship of secret integers from more than two semiquantum participants without a pre-shared key. And the proposed MSQM protocol absorbs the innovative concept of semiquantumness into quantum multiplication for the first time, which can calculate the modulo d multiplication of private inputs from more than two semiquantum users. As for the proposed MSQS protocol, it is the only semiquantum summation protocol which aims to accomplish the modulo d addition of more than three semiquantum users' private integers. Neither quantum entanglement swapping nor unitary operations are necessary in the three proposed protocols. The security analysis verifies in detail that both the external attacks and the internal attacks can be resisted in the three proposed protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tunability of reaction pathways is required for exploring efficient and low cost catalysts for ammonia synthesis. There is an obstacle by the limitations arising from scaling relation for this purpose. Here, we demonstrate that the alkali earth imides (AeNH) combined with transition metal (TM = Fe, Co and Ni) catalysts can overcome this difficulty by utilizing functionalities arising from concerted role of active defects on the support surface and loaded transition metals. These catalysts enable ammonia production through multiple reaction pathways. The reaction rate of Co/SrNH is as high as 1686.7 mmol·gCo−1·h−1 and the TOFs reaches above 500 h−1 at 400 °C and 0.9 MPa, outperforming other reported Co-based catalysts as well as the benchmark Cs-Ru/MgO catalyst and industrial wüstite-based Fe catalyst under the same reaction conditions. Experimental and theoretical results show that the synergistic effect of nitrogen affinity of 3d TMs and in-situ formed NH2− vacancy of alkali earth imides regulate the reaction pathways of the ammonia production, resulting in distinct catalytic performance different from 3d TMs. It was thus demonstrated that the appropriate combination of metal and support is essential for controlling the reaction pathway and realizing highly active and low cost catalysts for ammonia synthesis. The presence of electrically active defects on the surface of the support has been shown to be effective for N2 activation. Here the authors discover that electron-rich polyanionic NH2− defect allows for efficient ammonia synthesis via multiple reaction pathway by incorporating various affordable transition metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study investigated the significance of galactose-deficient immunoglobulin A1 staining in kidney diseases with IgA deposition. Methods: A total of 120 patients with IgA-dominant deposition in kidney tissues were enrolled and divided into four groups: primary IgA nephropathy (PIgAN), secondary IgA nephropathy (SIgAN), monotypic IgA nephropathy (MIgAN), and IgA variant monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance (IgA-MGRS). KM55 (the antibody of galactose-deficient immunoglobulin A1), IgA subtypes, and complement pathway factors (properdin, C4d, and C1q) were detected through immunofluorescence or immunohistochemistry analysis. Results: KM55 and IgA double staining showed colocalization within glomeruli in all cases except for IgA-MGRS, which showed negative or weak staining of KM55 but strong staining of IgA. The PIgAN group showed the highest intensity of KM55 and KM55/IgA ratio, while these values in the IgA-MGRS group were the lowest (P < 0.01). A KM55/IgA quantified ratio of 0.78 was the optimal cut-off value to distinguish PIgAN from SIgAN, whereas a cut-off value of 0.21 was optimal to distinguish between MIgAN and IgA-MGRS. The clinicopathological characteristics showed significant differences as the groups were divided by diseases with optimal cut-off values, and these differences corresponded to the pathogenesis of each disease entity. Conclusions: PIgAN, SIgAN, and MIgAN are caused by the deposition of abnormally glycosylated IgA1 whereas IgA-MGRS is not. The KM55/IgA quantified ratio is valuable in distinguishing PIgAN from SIgAN, as well as MIgAN from IgA-MGRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we utilize d-dimensional Bell states to construct a multi-party semiquantum private comparison (MSQPC) protocol with two supervisors, which can determine the size relationship of more than two classical users' private inputs under the control of two supervisors within one round implementation. The two supervisors, i.e., one quantum third party (TP) and one classical TP, are both semi-honest, which means that they can misbehave at their own wishes but are not permitted to conspire with anyone else. Neither quantum entanglement swapping nor unitary operations are required in the proposed MSQPC protocol. The security analysis certifies that the proposed MSQPC protocol can overcome both the outside attacks and the participant attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel semiquantum private comparison (SQPC) protocol based on single kind of Bell states is proposed, which allows two classical parties to judge the equality of their private inputs securely and correctly under the help of a semi-honest third party (TP) who possesses complete quantum capabilities. TP is allowed to misbehave on her own but cannot conspire with anyone else. Our protocol needs none of unitary operations, quantum entanglement swapping or the reordering operations. Moreover, our protocol only needs to prepare single kind of Bell states as initial quantum resource. Detailed security analysis turns out that our protocol is secure against various outside and participant attacks. Compared with most of the existing SQPC protocols based on Bell states, our protocol is more feasible in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a semiquantum secret sharing (SQSS) protocol based on χ-type states is proposed, which can accomplish the goal that only when two classical communicants cooperate together can they extract the shared secret key of a quantum communicant. Detailed security analysis turns out that this protocol is completely robust against an eavesdropper. This protocol has some merits: (1) it only requires one kind of quantum entangled state as the initial quantum resource; (2) it does not employ quantum entanglement swapping or unitary operations; and (3) it need not share private keys among different participants beforehand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radical cascade reactions are powerful tools to construct structurally complex molecules. However, the stereochemical control of acyclic radical intermediates remains a persistent challenge, due to the low differentiation between the two faces of these species. This hurdle further makes stereodivergent synthesis rather more difficult to be accomplished, in particular for intermediates resulted from complex cascades. Here we report an efficient strategy for stereoselective hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) to acyclic carbon radicals, which are generated via N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-boryl radicals triggered addition-translocation-cyclization cascades. A synergistic control by the NHC subunit and a thiol catalyst has proved effective for one facial HAT, while a ZnI2-chelation protocol allows for the preferential reaction to the opposite face. Such a stereoselectivity switch enables diastereodivergent construction of heterocycles tethering a boron-substituted stereocenter. Mechanistic studies suggest two complementary ways to tune HAT diastereoselectivity. The stereospecific conversions of the resulting boron-handled products to diverse functionalized molecules are demonstrated. Stereochemical control of acyclic carbon radical intermediates remains a challenge, due to the difficulty in differentiation between the two faces of the planar species. Here the authors show diastereodivergent hydrogen atom transfer to acyclic carbon radicals via control of N-heterocyclic carbene–borane reagents with either a thiol catalyst or a Lewis acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a lightweight three-user secure quantum summation protocol is put forward by using single-particle states, which can accomplish the goal that three users cooperate together to calculate the modulo 2 addition of their private messages without the help of a third party. This protocol only requires single-particle states rather than quantum entangled states as the initial quantum resource and only needs single-particle measurements and Bell basis measurements. This protocol needs none of quantum entanglement swapping, the Pauli operations, the controlled-not (CNOT) operation, the Hadamard gate or a pre-shared private key sequence. Security analysis proves that this protocol is secure against both the outside attacks and the participant attacks. Compared with the existing two-dimensional three-user quantum summation protocols, this protocol more or less takes advantage over them on the aspects of the initial quantum resource, users' quantum measurement, the usage of quantum entanglement swapping, the usage of Pauli operations, the usage of CNOT operation or the usage of Hadamard gate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone remodelling is generally a dynamic process orchestrated by bone-resorbing osteoclasts and bone-forming osteoblasts. Osteoclasts are the only cell type capable of bone resorption to maintain bone homeostasis in the human body. However, excessive osteoclastogenesis can lead to osteolytic diseases. The receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) ligand (RANKL) has been widely considered to be an important modulator of osteoclastogenesis thereby participating in the pathogenesis of osteolytic diseases. Transforming growth factor β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1), a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase family, is an important intracellular molecule that regulates multiple signalling pathways, such as NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase to mediate multiple physiological processes, including cell survival, inflammation, and tumourigenesis. Furthermore, increasing evidence has demonstrated that TAK1 is intimately involved in RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis. Moreover, several detailed mechanisms by which TAK1 regulates RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis have been clarified, and some potential approaches targeting TAK1 for the treatment of osteolytic diseases have emerged. In this review, we discuss how TAK1 functions in RANKL-mediated signalling pathways and highlight the significant role of TAK1 in RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis. In addition, we discuss the potential clinical implications of TAK1 inhibitors for the treatment of osteolytic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we put forward a novel single-state three-party semiquantum key agreement (SQKA) protocol with three-particle GHZ entangled states first. Different with previous quantum key agreement (QKA) protocols, the proposed single-state three-party SQKA protocol can realize the goal that a quantum party and two classical parties who only possess limited quantum capabilities equally contribute to the generation of a shared private key over quantum channels. Detailed security analysis turns out that the proposed single-state three-party SQKA protocol is secure against several famous attacks from an outside eavesdropper, such as the Trojan horse attack, the entangle-measure attack, the measure-resend attack and the intercept-resend attack. Moreover, it can resist the participant attack, which means that the shared private key cannot be determined fully by any nontrivial subset of three parties. The proposed single-state three-party SQKA protocol has the following nice features: (1) it only employs one kind of three-particle GHZ entangled states as initial quantum resource; (2) it does not need pre-shared keys among different parties; (3) it does not need unitary operations or quantum entanglement swapping. Finally, we generalize the proposed single-state three-party SQKA protocol into the case of N -party by only employing one kind of N -particle GHZ entangled states as initial quantum resource, which inherits the nice features of its three-party counterpart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a three-party secure semiquantum summation protocol, which can calculate the modulo 2 addition of the private bits from one quantum participant and two classical participants, is constructed by only using single qubits as the initial quantum resource. This protocol needs none of quantum entanglement swapping, the unitary operation or a pre-shared private key. This protocol only requires the quantum participant to perform the 0 , 1 basis measurements, the + , - basis measurements and the Bell basis measurements. Compared with the existing only semiquantum summation protocol (Int J Theor Phys, 60 (2021) 3478), this protocol has better performance in quantum measurements for quantum participant; moreover, it may also have higher qubit efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous deepening of academic research in various disciplines and the continuous increase in the number of scientific researchers, exploring the mechanism of matching scientific research results and academic journal subjects is a key topic that can assist researchers in selecting suitable journals for submission. The classification and recommendation of academic journals based on a traditional text representation model cannot take advantage of the semantic relationship between words and cannot take into account the diversity of topics received by different journals, which affects the classification and recommendation effect. To solve these problems, this paper uses doc2vec to perform distributed representation of the bibliographic text so that the semantics between the text features are fully preserved. Then, the XGBoost algorithm is used to consider the impact of the different characteristics of the title, abstract, and keywords of the bibliography on the published journal. The academic journal submission recommendation model proposed in this paper can solve the problem that traditional methods cannot make full use of the contextual semantic information and improve the efficiency of scientific research personnel's academic achievement publications. Experiments on Common SCI English journals in the computer field show that when recommending three candidate journals, the accuracy rate reached 84.24%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Mechanica Sinica is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we propose an efficient semiquantum key distribution (SQKD) protocol which is based on single photons in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom. This protocol is feasible for a quantum communicant distributing a random private key to a classical communicant. This protocol need not require the classical communicant to use any quantum memory or unitary operation equipment. We validate the complete robustness of the transmissions of single photons between two communicants. It turns out that during these transmissions, if Eve wants not to be detected by two communicants, she will obtain nothing useful about the final shared key bits. Compared with Boyer et al.'s famous pioneering SQKD protocol (Phys Rev Lett 99:140501, 2007), this protocol has double quantum communication capacity, as one single photon with two degrees of freedom for generating the key bits can carry two private bits; and this protocol has higher quantum communication efficiency, as it consumes less qubits for establishing a private key of the same length. Compared with the only existing SQKD protocol with single photons in two degrees of freedom (Int J Theoret Phys 59:2807, 2020), this protocol has higher quantum communication efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a two-party semiquantum summation protocol, where two classical users can accomplish the summation of their private binary sequences with the assistance of a quantum semi-honest third party (TP). The term 'semi-honest' implies that TP cannot conspire with others but is able to implement all kinds of attacks. This protocol employs logical qubits as traveling particles to overcome the negative influence of collective–dephasing noise and need not make any two parties pre-share a random secret key. The security analysis turns out that this protocol can effectively prevent the outside attacks from Eve and the participant attacks from TP. Moreover, TP has no knowledge about the summation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is not easy to find amorphization in monocrystalline materials. This study demonstrates that amorphization can be introduced in ultra-fine grained copper by a novel technique- dynamic severe plastic deformation. High-resolution electron microscope observations reveal the crystalline-to-amorphization transition under an ultrahigh strain rate (~ 106 s−1) and large shear strain (200%). These experiments show that the localized amorphization might be introduced by profuse dislocations and stacking faults nucleation and their strong interactions under extreme loading condition by molecular dynamics simulations. Our works also point to the onset of localized amorphization as a potential ultra-high strain rate deformation mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel quantum dialogue (QD) protocol is proposed based on single photons in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom. In the proposed QD protocol, the initial states of single photons in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom used for encoding are privately shared between two communicants through the direct transmissions of their auxiliary counterparts from one communicant to another. As a result, the information leakage problem is avoided. Moreover, the detailed security analysis also shows that the proposed QD protocol can resist Eve's several famous active attacks, such as the Trojan horse attack, the intercept-resend attack, the measure-resend attack and the entangle-measure attack. The proposed QD protocol only needs single photons in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom as quantum resource and adopts single-photon measurements. As a result, it is feasible in practice as the preparation and the measurement of a single photon in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom can be accomplished with current experimental techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a busy space, people encounter many other people with different viewpoints, but classic studies of perspective-taking examine only one agent at a time. This paper explores the issue of selectivity in visual perspective-taking (VPT) when different people are available to interact with. We consider the hypothesis that humanization impacts on VPT in four studies using virtual reality methods. Experiments 1 and 2 use the director task to show that for more humanized agents (an in-group member or a virtual human agent), participants were more likely to use VPT to achieve lower error rate. Experiments 3 and 4 used a two-agent social mental rotation task to show that participants are faster and more accurate to recognize items which are oriented towards a more humanized agent (an in-group member or a naturally moving agent). All results support the claim that humanization alters the propensity to engage in VPT in rich social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a multi-party quantum private comparison (MQPC) scheme is suggested based on entanglement swapping of Bell entangled states within d-level quantum system, which can accomplish the equality comparison of secret binary sequences from n users via one execution of scheme. Detailed security analysis shows that both the outside attack and the participant attack are ineffective. The suggested scheme needn't establish a private key among n users beforehand through the quantum key distribution (QKD) method to encrypt the secret binary sequences. Compared with previous MQPC scheme based on d-level Cat states and d-level Bell entangled states, the suggested scheme has distinct advantages on quantum resource, quantum measurement of third party (TP) and qubit efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quantum secure multiparty summation protocol is constructed based on the phase shifting operation of d-level quantum system which utilizes the integer-by-integer technique to calculate the modulo d addition. The semi-honest third party prepares d-level two-particle entangled states and transmits the particle sequence composed by all second particles to n secrecy owners. n secrecy owners in turn encode their respective secrecy on this particle sequence through the phase shifting operation. Detailed security analysis turns out that both the outside attack and the participant attack are ineffective towards this protocol. Compared with the quantum secure summation protocols with bit-by-bit calculations, its calculation efficiency is higher; and compared with the protocols with smaller modulo, its applications are more extensive. Especailly, this protocol has extensive applications in the realm of quantum secure multiparty computation, such as quantum multiparty private comparison, quantum multiparty anonymous ranking, quantum multiparty anonymous voting, quantum multiparty key agreement, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retaining gaze in working memory (WM) is essential for successfully navigating through the social world. In the current study, we investigated how WM stores gaze direction by focusing on the role of face context in gaze WM. To address this question, we propose two competing hypotheses. The independence hypothesis predicts that eye gaze is stored independently and is not susceptible to the influence of the surrounding face context. Conversely, the embedding hypothesis claims that gaze WM involves face context and that disruption of holistic face processing would also impair memory for embedded gaze. In three experiments, we adopted different manipulations to disrupt holistic face processing and compared WM performance for gaze within and without face context. In Experiments 1 and 2, we tested WM for gaze direction with schematic upright or inverted faces. We found better performance for gaze within upright faces (vs. inverted faces) by increasing the probability of being remembered. In Experiment 3, we replaced schematic faces with photographic faces, and disrupted holistic processing by using scrambled faces. Results replicated our previous findings, showing that photographic gaze within intact faces was better remembered than gaze presented alone or gaze within scrambled faces. These findings indicate that gaze memory is face-dependent and support the embedding hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Zhejiang University: Science A is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Trust is a crucial foundation of human society, dynamically changing along with interpersonal interactions. Previous research suggested that both gaze behaviors and affective states might influence our trust evaluation. Here, we created an uncertain decision-making environment to investigate how these two aspects change interpersonal trust during social interactions. Specifically, participants made a forced choice between two price-matched goods to determine which one was more expensive. After participants made a choice, the face in the center of the screen would gaze towards or away from the participants' choice, and then participants would receive timely feedback informing whether their choice was correct or not. In Experiment 1 (N = 34), we found people increased their trust ratings for gaze-followers but reduced them for gaze-unfollowers when they received positive feedback, but stayed with their initial judgments when receiving negative feedback. Experiment 2 (N = 20) and Experiment S1 (N = 20) further revealed the same change patterns on participants' trust investments in different conditions. These results suggest that gaze-following behavior can change people's trust evaluations as well as trust behaviors, while affective states induced by different feedback modulate this process in a flexible manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucose, fructose and mannose are the preferred carbon/energy sources for the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Absence of preferred energy sources activates glucose derepression, which is regulated by the kinase Snf1. Snf1 phosphorylates the transcriptional repressor Mig1, which results in its exit from the nucleus and subsequent derepression of genes. In contrast, Snf1 is inactive when preferred carbon sources are available, which leads to dephosphorylation of Mig1 and its translocation to the nucleus where Mig1 acts as a transcription repressor. Here we revisit the role of the three hexose kinases, Hxk1, Hxk2 and Glk1, in glucose de/repression. We demonstrate that all three sugar kinases initially affect Mig1 nuclear localization upon addition of glucose, fructose and mannose. This initial import of Mig1 into the nucleus was temporary; for continuous nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of Mig1, Hxk2 is required in the presence of glucose and mannose and in the presence of fructose Hxk2 or Hxk1 is required. Our data suggest that Mig1 import following exposure to preferred energy sources is controlled via two different pathways, where (1) the initial import is regulated by signals derived from metabolism and (2) continuous shuttling is regulated by the Hxk2 and Hxk1 proteins. Mig1 nucleocytoplasmic shuttling appears to be important for the maintenance of the repressed state in which Hxk1/2 seems to play an essential role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dehydration of cellulose in polar aprotic solvents produces high-value anhydro-sugars, opening up a new avenue for the utilization of cellulose. However, there are still some problems that need to be solved. Herein, we selected some carbohydrates (e.g. cellulose, starch, cellobiose, maltose, methyl-β-D-glucopyranoside and methyl-α-D-glucopyranoside) to examine the influence of different glycosidic bonds and substituents on the preparation of levoglucosan (LGA). The results of LGA yields, reaction rate constants and activation energies from different saccharides show that β-glycosidic bond is more vulnerable to break, forming LGA more easily. The activation energies of the latter 4 carbohydrates are 89.9, 104.2, 93.3, 113.6 kJ/mol, respectively. The strength of acid affects the dehydration process of cellulose greatly. These acids whose pKa values are between − 3 and − 2, including p-toluenesulfonic acid, methanesulfonic acid, and sulfuric acid, can achieve the best yields of LGA and levoglucosenone (LGO). Accordingly, those acids with higher pKa value have no catalytic activity, whereas the rate of cellulose degradation using lower pKa valued acids as catalyst is too fast to be efficiently monitored and carbonization is severe. The side reaction of cellulose hydrolysis and the formation of byproducts including 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural (FF) could be suppressed effectively through the addition of phosphorus pentoxide as water absorbent into the reaction system. The molar concentration ratio of LGO and (HMF + FF + Glucose) reached 12.04, which is 105% higher than those without water absorbent. This ratio can reach 21.38 in LGA dehydration into LGO process when phosphorus pentoxide was added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Gao et al. suggested a flexible quantum private query (QPQ) protocol (Opt Express, 2012, 20(16):17411) through Jakobi et al.'s quantum-key-distribution based QPQ protocol (Phys Rev A, 2011, 83:022301). Inspired by Gao et al.'s QPQ protocol, we design a multi-user QPQ protocol by using the product states of single-photon states. Its database privacy and user privacy should be compromised by choosing an suitable value for θ. Due to the honesty check process for the database owner, an smaller θ can be priorly chosen to guarantee better database privacy. Moreover, it naturally inherits some good characteristics of Gao et al.'s QPQ protocol so that it is also loss-tolerant, practical to huge-database condition, robust against quantum memory attack and flexible. It differs from Gao et al.'s QPQ protocol on three aspects: firstly, it adds the process of checking the presence of an illegal eavesdropper; secondly, it adds the process of checking the database owner's honesty; and finally, it is feasible for n users to query the items of database simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel semi-quantum key distribution (SQKD) protocol is designed based on single photons in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom, which allows to establish a raw key between one quantum communicant and one classical communicant. The proposed SQKD protocol only adopts one kind of quantum state as the initial quantum resource. The detailed security analysis shows that it can resist Eve's active attacks, such as the intercept-resend attack, the measure-resend attack, the Trojan horse attack and the entangle-measure attack. The proposed SQKD protocol only needs single photons in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom as quantum resource and employs single-photon measurements. Thus, it has excellent feasibility, since the preparation and the measurement of a single photon in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom can be easily acheived with present quantum technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonia (NH3) is pivotal to the fertilizer industry and one of the most commonly produced chemicals1. The direct use of atmospheric nitrogen (N2) had been challenging, owing to its large bond energy (945 kilojoules per mole)2,3, until the development of the Haber–Bosch process. Subsequently, many strategies have been explored to reduce the activation barrier of the N≡N bond and make the process more efficient. These include using alkali and alkaline earth metal oxides as promoters to boost the performance of traditional iron- and ruthenium-based catalysts4–6 via electron transfer from the promoters to the antibonding bonds of N2 through transition metals7,8. An electride support further lowers the activation barrier because its low work function and high electron density enhance electron transfer to transition metals9,10. This strategy has facilitated ammonia synthesis from N2 dissociation11 and enabled catalytic operation under mild conditions; however, it requires the use of ruthenium, which is expensive. Alternatively, it has been shown that nitrides containing surface nitrogen vacancies can activate N2 (refs. 12–15). Here we report that nickel-loaded lanthanum nitride (LaN) enables stable and highly efficient ammonia synthesis, owing to a dual-site mechanism that avoids commonly encountered scaling relations. Kinetic and isotope-labelling experiments, as well as density functional theory calculations, confirm that nitrogen vacancies are generated on LaN with low formation energy, and efficiently bind and activate N2. In addition, the nickel metal loaded onto the nitride dissociates H2. The use of distinct sites for activating the two reactants, and the synergy between them, results in the nickel-loaded LaN catalyst exhibiting an activity that far exceeds that of more conventional cobalt- and nickel-based catalysts, and that is comparable to that of ruthenium-based catalysts. Our results illustrate the potential of using vacancy sites in reaction cycles, and introduce a design concept for catalysts for ammonia synthesis, using naturally abundant elements. Ammonia is synthesized using a dual-site approach, whereby nitrogen vacancies on LaN activate N2, which then reacts with hydrogen atoms produced over the Ni metal to give ammonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Yang et al. suggested a semi-quantum private query (SQPQ) protocol (Quantum Inf Process (2015)14:1017) using one quantum state. Later, Yu et al. (Quantum Inf Process (2015)14:4201) pointed out that Yang et al.'s SQPQ protocol runs the risk of user privacy being invaded, i.e., the database owner can manipulate the conclusiveness of bits definitely by launching a special kind of fake initial state attack, and then constructed an improved quantum private query (QPQ) protocol to avoid this risk. However, Yu et al.'s QPQ protocol is not semi-quantum. In this paper, we successfully design the SQPQ protocol without running the risk of user privacy being invaded. The proposed SQPQ protocol has the following features: (1) it only employs one kind of quantum state as the initial quantum state; (2) it doesn't require the classical user to perform the measurement operation; and (3) it is cheat-sensitive, which means that if the database privacy or the user privacy is invaded, the attack behavior can be detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have attracted significant attention because they exhibit unique catalytic performance due to their ideal structure. However, maintaining atomically dispersed metal under high temperature, while achieving high catalytic activity remains a formidable challenge. In this work, we stabilize single platinum atoms within sub-nanometer surface cavities in well-defined 12CaO·7Al2O3 (C12A7) crystals through theoretical prediction and experimental process. This approach utilizes the interaction of isolated metal anions with the positively charged surface cavities of C12A7, which allows for severe reduction conditions up to 600 °C. The resulting catalyst is stable and highly active toward the selective hydrogenation of nitroarenes with a much higher turnover frequency (up to 25772 h−1) than well-studied Pt-based catalysts. The high activity and selectivity result from the formation of stable trapped single Pt atoms, which leads to heterolytic cleavage of hydrogen molecules in a reaction that involves the nitro group being selectively adsorbed on C12A7 surface. Stabilize the active metal single atoms under harsh conditions is critical for the development of single atom catalysts. Here the authors report a nanoporous crystal, 12CaO·7Al2O3, that can firmly stabilize Pt single atoms in its surface cavities for efficient catalytic hydrogenation of nitroarenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal hybrid halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are very sensitive to air, and it is challenging to obtain air-processed, air-stable, and highly crystalline perovskite films. Photovoltaic performance decays dramatically due to air humidity influence with power conversion efficiency (PCE) of most air-processed PSCs < 15%. In this work, we develop a facile method to air-processed, highly crystalline (MA0.2FA0.8PbI3)1.0(CsPbBr3)0.05 perovskite films in ambient air with large grain size and low trap density based on mix-cation single crystal engineering. This method shows 75% increase in grain size and 28% decrease in trap density than conventional molecule/ion solution mixing-processed method. The large grain, low trap density, andhigh crystalline perovskite films result in high-efficient and air-stable PSCs. Consequently, the PCE increases to 36.7% from 12.56% for conventional molecule/ion solution mixing-processed devices and to 17.17% for single crystal engineering-based ones. Furthermore, benefiting from high moisture resistance of mix-cation single crystal engineering-based films, the PSC air stability has been improved significantly and 72% of the initial performance retains after 40 days of storage in ambient environment with a relative humidity of 60% at 25 °C without any encapsulation, with a 26% slower degradation rate than conventional solution-mixing method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suzuki cross-coupling reactions catalyzed by palladium are powerful tools for the synthesis of functional organic compounds. Excellent catalytic activity and stability require negatively charged Pd species and the avoidance of metal leaching or clustering in a heterogeneous system. Here we report a Pd-based electride material, Y3Pd2, in which active Pd atoms are incorporated in a lattice together with Y. As evidenced from detailed characterization and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, Y3Pd2 realizes negatively charged Pd species, a low work function and a high carrier density, which are expected to be beneficial for the efficient Suzuki coupling reaction of activated aryl halides with various coupling partners under mild conditions. The catalytic activity of Y3Pd2 is ten times higher than that of pure Pd and the activation energy is lower by nearly 35%. The Y3Pd2 intermetallic electride catalyst also exhibited extremely good catalytic stability during long-term coupling reactions. In Suzuki coupling reactions, excellent catalytic performance require negatively charged Pd species and the avoidance of metal leaching or clustering. Here the authors implanted Pd sites into an intermetallic electride, Y3Pd2, which serves as an efficient and stable catalyst for Suzuki coupling reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance perovskite solar cell processed in ambient air is a big challenge due to the sensitivity of perovskite films to air. Many defects are generated easily at grain boundaries and in the perovskite films by conventional molecular/ion precursor solution mixing methods (i.e., solution mixing-based method), which restrict its stability in air and photovoltaic performance with most power conversion efficiency less than 15%. In this work, we develop a facile method for air-processed, highly crystalline, quasi-3D perovskite film with large grain size (over 6.6 times bigger than that from control conventional method) and improved ambient air stability by phenylethylammonium (PEA)-doped MA1−xPEAxPbI3 perovskite crystal engineering. Furthermore, benefiting from PEA+ doping and crystal engineering, the trap density decreases 50% compared with control. Consequently, with the optimal concentration of PEA doping, the power conversion efficiency increases from 15.6% for conventional solution mixing-based perovskite solar cells to 17.6% for crystal engineering-based ones with significantly improved moisture stability. The perovskite crystal engineering-based solar cells without any encapsulation retain 75% of the initial performance after 30-day storage in ambient air under a relative humidity of 50 ± 10%, and two times faster degradation rate is observed for control, conventional solution mixing-based perovskite solar cells when compared with crystal engineering-based ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The as-cast microstructure of Fe–4Cr–B alloy has been systematically investigated, which contains 1 wt%B, 4 wt%Cr, 0.35 wt%C, 0.8 wt%Si and 0.8 wt%Mn. The investigation was carried out by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (EDS/SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), hardness tester and wear tester, and the quenching temperature effect on its microstructure and mechanical property was studied. The results showed that ferrite, pearlite, martensite and borocarbides were the main composition of the solidification microstructure of casting Fe–4Cr–B alloy. After water quenching at 950–1150 °C, the matrix transformed to martensite, and the secondary borocarbides M23 (C, B)6 precipitated from the matrix, and then the continuous distribution of M2 (B, C) (M = Fe, Cr, Mn) among dendrites began to break. As the water quenching temperature increased, the phenomenon of disconnection became more clearly. When the water quenching temperature was 1100 °C, the network borocarbides fractured and formed an isolated distribution. The hardness of the alloy increased first and then decreased. At water quenching temperature of 1100 °C, the hardness reached the maximum of 62.8 HRC. The abrasive resistance and hardness of casting Fe–4Cr–B alloy changed at the same trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 3 + 2 axis machining technology is of high feasibility and strong rigidity. Its feasible region determination is a prerequisite and indispensable. This paper focuses on feasible region determination without local interference for arbitrary revolving tools in 3 + 2 axis machining. A unified definition of revolving tools is firstly raised, and the normal vector surfaces are mapped to areas on a same unit sphere. The feasible region determination is transformed into a covering problem between two areas on a unit sphere, which are the normal vector surface of the tool and the negative normal vector surface of the machining area. This method is independent of tool geometry types. If the normal vector surfaces are determined, then the feasible region is obtained. To get more maneuverability, in the actual determination process, the negative normal vector surface of the machining area is approximated by a revolving surface on a unit sphere which is called as its γ-revolving surface in this paper, and the error is analyzed. The γ-revolving surface is obtained by the steepest descent method to search the minimum revolving surface in a certain sense. The covering problem between two revolving surfaces on a unit sphere is solved on a plane, which equals to consider the covering between their generatrices. In the validation, the feasibility of tool axes in feasible regions' different positions is verified, and the method is used in tool selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we successfully design the semi-quantum private comparison (SQPC) protocol with the measure-resend characteristic by using two-particle product states as the initial prepared quantum resource which allows two classical users to compare the equality of their private secrets under the help of a quantum third party (TP). The quantum TP is semi-honest in the sense that he is allowed to misbehave on his own but cannot conspire with either of users. Both the output correctness and the security against the outside attack and the participant attack can be guaranteed. Compared with the previous SQPC protocols, the advantage of our protocol lies in that it only employs two-particle product states as the initial prepared quantum resource, only requires TP to perform single-photon measurements and does not need quantum entanglement swapping. Our protocol can be realized with current quantum technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with designing a chaotic encryption system to generate the nonlinear component, substitution box (S-box), of a block cipher system. Many existing S-boxes generation methods employ a single or complicate chaotic systems to yield S-boxes. All of these chaotic systems are integral and have promoted the development of the theoretical research of chaotic S-boxes. However, it is difficult to implement the integral chaotic S-box generation systems that are appropriate for practical engineering applications. In this paper, a six-dimensional fractional Lorenz-Duffing chaotic system and O-shaped path scrambling algorithm (FLDSOP) is developed to yield an S-box with good dynamic characteristics. First, FLDSOP leverages a six-dimensional fractional Lorenz-Duffing chaotic system to construct a preliminary S-box. Second, it designs an O-Shaped path scrambling scheme to disturb the order of elements in the obtain S-box. Experimental results have shown that the chaotic S-box produced by the proposed FLDSOP algorithm can effectively resist to multiple types of cryptanalysis attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbes of the phylum Aigarchaeota are widely distributed in geothermal environments, but their physiological and ecological roles are poorly understood. Here we analyze six Aigarchaeota metagenomic bins from two circumneutral hot springs in Tengchong, China, to reveal that they are either strict or facultative anaerobes, and most are chemolithotrophs that can perform sulfide oxidation. Applying comparative genomics to the Thaumarchaeota and Aigarchaeota, we find that they both originated from thermal habitats, sharing 1154 genes with their common ancestor. Horizontal gene transfer played a crucial role in shaping genetic diversity of Aigarchaeota and led to functional partitioning and ecological divergence among sympatric microbes, as several key functional innovations were endowed by Bacteria, including dissimilatory sulfite reduction and possibly carbon monoxide oxidation. Our study expands our knowledge of the possible ecological roles of the Aigarchaeota and clarifies their evolutionary relationship to their sister lineage Thaumarchaeota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose two semi-quantum dialogue (SQD) protocols by using single photons as the quantum carriers, where one requires the classical party to possess the measurement capability and the other does not have this requirement. The security toward active attacks from an outside Eve in the first SQD protocol is guaranteed by the complete robustness of present semi-quantum key distribution (SQKD) protocols, the classical one-time pad encryption, the classical party’s randomization operation and the decoy photon technology. The information leakage problem of the first SQD protocol is overcome by the classical party’ classical basis measurements on the single photons carrying messages which makes him share their initial states with the quantum party. The security toward active attacks from Eve in the second SQD protocol is guaranteed by the classical party’s randomization operation, the complete robustness of present SQKD protocol and the classical one-time pad encryption. The information leakage problem of the second SQD protocol is overcome by the quantum party’ classical basis measurements on each two adjacent single photons carrying messages which makes her share their initial states with the classical party. Compared with the traditional information leakage resistant QD protocols, the advantage of the proposed SQD protocols lies in that they only require one party to have quantum capabilities. Compared with the existing SQD protocol, the advantage of the proposed SQD protocols lies in that they only employ single photons rather than two-photon entangled states as the quantum carriers. The proposed SQD protocols can be implemented with present quantum technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jiande copper deposit is located in the Qin-Hang metallogenic belt, South China. The deposit is dominated by 'stratiform-like' ores, which are hosted in the dolomite of the Upper Carboniferous Huanglong Formation. These ore bodies were previously proposed to be Carboniferous sedimentary exhalative (Sedex) style mineralization, but they also appear to be related to the Late Mesozoic granodiorite porphyry at Jiande. Three stages of mineralization can be observed. The prograde skarn minerals garnet and diopside were formed in the pre-ore stage. The 'stratiform-like' ores, with minor quartz-polymetallic veins, were formed in the main mineralization stage. The post-ore stage is characterized by quartz-calcite ± pyrite veins. Fluid inclusions in quartz from the pre-ore skarn, the main stage of mineralization, and post-ore quartz-calcite ± pyrite veins were studied. Fluid inclusion petrography shows that two-phase liquid-rich (Type I), two-phase vapor-rich (Type II), and halite-bearing (Type III) fluid inclusions can be identified in the studied hydrothermal quartz samples. Primary Type II and Type III fluid inclusions only occur in quartz from the the main stage, whereas Type I fluid inclusions are present in all three stages of hydrothermal quartz.Type I fluid inclusions in pre-ore stage have homogenization temperatures of 290-368°C and salinities of 2.6-8.8 wt.% NaCl equiv. Type II and coexisting Type III fluid inclusions in the main stage share similar homogenization temperatures of 293 to 334 °C and 290 to 326 °C,but have two contrasting salinity ranges of 1.2 to 2.2 wt.% and 31.87 to 38.16 wt.% NaCl equiv, respectively. The coexistence of Type II and Type III fluid inclusions and their similar homogenization temperatures but contrasting salinities suggest that fluid boiling processes occurred. Type I fluid inclusions in the post-ore quartz-calcite veins have homogenization temperatures of 202-278 °C and salinities of 0.2-6.5 wt.% NaCl equiv. The hydrogen and oxygen isotopes (δD ranges from -78 ‰ to -61 ‰, δOHO calculated from quartz are from 8.1 ‰ to 10.6 ‰) of fluid inclusions in quartz imply that ore fluids were principally derived from magmatic water. The lead isotopes of sulfide from the ores are close to the orogenic Pb evolution curve and are also similar to those of the Jiande Jurassic igneous rocks, suggesting that the metals were sourced mostly from the Jurassic igneous rocks. The skarn alteration, inferred boiling fluid inclusion assemblages, stable isotopic features of magmatic fluids, and metal source imply that the main stages of mineralization in the Jiande polymetallic copper deposit is of skarn-type, related to Jurassic granodiorites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale and high-efficient water collection of microfibers with long-term durability still remains challenging. Here we present well-controlled, bioinspired spindle-knot microfibers with cavity knots (named cavity-microfiber), precisely fabricated via a simple gas-in-water microfluidic method, to address this challenge. The cavity-microfiber is endowed with unique surface roughness, mechanical strength, and long-term durability due to the design of cavity as well as polymer composition, thus enabling an outstanding performance of water collection. The maximum water volume collected on a single knot is almost 495 times than that of the knot on the cavity-microfiber. Moreover, the spider-web-like networks assembled controllably by cavity-microfibers demonstrate excellent large-scale and high-efficient water collection. To maximize the water-collecting capacity, nodes/intersections should be designed on the topology of the network as many as possible. Our light-weighted yet tough, low-cost microfibers with high efficiency in directional water transportation offers promising opportunities for large-scale water collection in water-deficient areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials with selective wettabilities are widely used for effective liquid separation in environmental protection and the chemical industry. Current liquid separation strategies are primarily based on covalent modification to control the membranes’ surface energy, or are based on gating mechanisms to accurately tune the gating threshold of the transport substance. Herein, we demonstrate a simple and universal polarity-based protocol to regulate the wetting behavior of superamphiphilic porous nanofibrous membranes by infusing a high polar component of surface energy liquid into the membranes, forming a relatively stable liquid-infusion-interface to repel the immiscible low polar component of surface energy liquid. Even immiscible liquids with a surface energy difference as small as 2 mJ m−2, or emulsions stabilized by emulsifiers can be effectively separated. Furthermore, the infused liquid can be substituted by another immiscible liquid with a higher polar component of surface energy, affording successive separation of multiphase liquids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a two-party quantum private comparison (QPC) protocol is proposed by using five-qubit entangled states as the quantum resource. The proposed protocol needs the help from a semi-honest third party (TP), who is allowed to misbehave on his own but not allowed to conspire with the adversary including the dishonest user. The proposed protocol has the following distinct features: (1) One five-qubit entangled state can be used to achieve the equality comparison of two bits in each round of comparison; (2) Neither unitary operations nor quantum entanglement swapping technology is needed, both of which may consume expensive quantum devices; (3) Only Bell measurements and single-particle measurements are employed, both of which can be realized with current quantum technologies; (4) The security toward both the outside attack and the participant attack can be guaranteed; (5) The private information of two parties is not leaked out to TP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]