3,242 research outputs found
Electronic structures of III-V zinc-blende semiconductors from atomistic first principles
For analyzing quantum transport in semiconductor devices, accurate electronic
structures are critical for quantitative predictions. Here we report
theoretical analysis of electronic structures of all III-V zinc-blende
semiconductor compounds. Our calculations are from density functional theory
with the semi-local exchange proposed recently [F. Tran and P. Blaha, Phys.
Rev. Lett. 102, 226401 (2009)], within the linear muffin tin orbital scheme.
The calculated band gaps and effective masses are compared to experimental data
and good quantitative agreement is obtained. Using the theoretical scheme
presented here, quantum transport in nanostructures of III-V compounds can be
confidently predicted.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Experimental quantum e-commerce
E-commerce, a type of trading that occurs at a high frequency on the
Internet, requires guaranteeing the integrity, authentication and
non-repudiation of messages through long distance. As current e-commerce
schemes are vulnerable to computational attacks, quantum cryptography, ensuring
information-theoretic security against adversary's repudiation and forgery,
provides a solution to this problem. However, quantum solutions generally have
much lower performance compared to classical ones. Besides, when considering
imperfect devices, the performance of quantum schemes exhibits a significant
decline. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate the whole e-commerce process
of involving the signing of a contract and payment among three parties by
proposing a quantum e-commerce scheme, which shows resistance of attacks from
imperfect devices. Results show that with a maximum attenuation of 25 dB among
participants, our scheme can achieve a signature rate of 0.82 times per second
for an agreement size of approximately 0.428 megabit. This proposed scheme
presents a promising solution for providing information-theoretic security for
e-commerce.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, Comments are weclome
Ameliorating Adriamycin-Induced Chronic Kidney Disease in Rats by Orally Administrated Cardiotoxin from Naja naja atra
Previous studies reported the oral administration of Naja naja atra venom (NNAV) reduced adriamycin-induced chronic kidney damage. This study investigated the effects of intragastric administrated cardiotoxin from Naja naja atra venom on chronic kidney disease in rats. Wistar rats were injected with adriamycin (ADR; 6 mg/kg body weight) via the tail vein to induce chronic kidney disease. The cardiotoxin was administrated daily by intragastric injection at doses of 45, 90, and 180 μg/kg body weight until the end of the protocol. The rats were placed in metabolic cages for 24 hours to collect urine, for determination of proteinuria, once a week. After 6 weeks, the rats were sacrificed to determine serum profiles relevant to chronic kidney disease, including albumin, total cholesterol, phosphorus, blood urea nitrogen, and serum creatinine. Kidney histology was examined with hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid-Schiff, and Masson’s trichrome staining. The levels of kidney podocin were analyzed by Western blot analysis and immunofluorescence. We found that cardiotoxin reduced proteinuria and can improve biological parameters in the adriamycin-induced kidney disease model. Cardiotoxin also reduced adriamycin-induced kidney pathology, suggesting that cardiotoxin is an active component of NNAV for ameliorating adriamycin-induced kidney damage and may have a potential therapeutic value on chronic kidney disease
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