Social Networks, Interpersonal Trust, and Support for Democracy in East Asia

Civil society has been regard as a prerequisite for democracy, and social networks and interpersonal trust are two important elements of civil society. By using data from the Asian Barometer Survey, this study investigates the effects of social networks and interpersonal trust on public support for democracy in three East Asian democracies – Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The results of statistical analysis show that social networks, rather than interpersonal trust, exert significant positive effects on public support for democracy in Japan and Taiwan. By contrast, it is interpersonal trust to affect public support for democracy in South Korea. Nonetheless, it should also be noted that trust in political institutions, democratic values, and education far outweigh social networks and interpersonal trust to impact public support for democracy in these East Asian democracies

A method for computing Lucas sequences

AbstractMost of public-key cryptosystems rely on one-way functions, which can be used to encrypt and sign messages. Their encryption and signature operations are based on the computation of exponentiation. Recently, some public-key cryptosystems are proposed and based on Lucas functions, and the Lucas sequences are performed as S = V(d)modN. In this paper, we will transform the concept of addition chains for computing the exponentiation evaluations to the Lucas chains for computing the Lucas sequences. Theoretically, the shorter Lucas chain for d is generated, the less computation time for evaluating the value V(d) is required. Therefore, we proposed a heuristic algorithm for evaluating a shorter Lucas chain and then use it to compute the Lucas sequence with less modular multiplications

Effects of Hydrogen on the Optical and Electrical Characteristics of the Sputter-Deposited Al2O3-Doped ZnO Thin Films

In this study, AZO thin films were deposited on glass by using a 98 mol% ZnO + 1 mol% Al2O3 (AZO, Zn : Al = 98 : 2) ceramic target and a r.f. magnetron sputtering system. At first, the effects of different H2 flow rates (H2/(H2 + Ar) = 0%~9.09%, abbreviated as H2-deposited AZO thin films, deposition temperature was 200°C) added during the deposition process on the physical and electrical properties of AZO thin films were investigated. The optical transmittance at 400 nm~700 nm is more than 80% for all AZO thin films regardless of H2 flow rate and the transparency ratio decreased as the H2 flow rate increased. The Burstein-Moss shift effect was used to prove that the defects of AZO thin films decreased with increasing H2 flow rate. Also, the 2% H2-deposited AZO thin films were also treated by the H2 plasma at room temperature for 60 min (plasma-treated AZO thin films). The value variations in the optical band gap (Eg) values of the H2-deposited and plasma-treated AZO thin films were evaluated from the plots of αhν2=c(hν−Eg), and the Eg values increased with increasing H2 flow rate. The Eg values also increased as the H2-plasma process was used to treat on the H2-deposited Al2O3-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films

Hydrothermally Grown ZnO Nanoflowers on a Template-Assisted Ordered Seed Array

1-D nanostructure arrays recently attract much attention because of their unique optical, structural, and electronic properties in the field of materials science, microelectronics, and optoelectronic engineering. Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoflowers were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method on a template-assisted deposited ZnO seed array. The ZnO thin film was prepared via a sol-gel spin-coating process on a concave sapphire substrate first. Then an Al layer and an optically clear resin film were individually deposited on the ZnO thin film. After a lift-off process, a convex ZnO seed array film was formed. Finally, ZnO nanoflowers were synthesized by the hydrothermal method at 90oC for 10 to 60 min. The structural, morphological and optical properties of the ZnO nanoflowers were investigated. The XRD results indicate that the ZnO nanoflowers were polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite-type structure with a (002) preferential orientation. The FE-SEM micrographs exhibited the diameter and length of ZnO nanorods increased with the increasing growth time from 10 to 60 min. The 105-nm diameter and 1150-nm length nanorods were obtained with 60-min growth time. Photoluminescence spectra showed a sharp emission peak (IUV) at approximately 380 nm and its intensity increased with the growth time. A weak emission band (IVIS) at 450–550 nm was also observed and the IUV/IVIS increased with the growth time. This result indicates that the defects were reduced and the crystal quality was enhanced with the growth time. The prepared ZnO nanoflowers can be applied to various optoelectronic and sensing devices

Comparison of clinical outcomes and toxicity in endometrial cancer patients treated with adjuvant intensity-modulated radiation therapy or conventional radiotherapy

PurposeTo evaluate the treatment outcomes and toxicity in endometrial cancer patients treated with hysterectomy and adjuvant intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or conventional radiotherapy (CRT).MethodsThere were 101 patients with stage IA-IIIC2 endometrial carcinoma treated with hysterectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy. In total, 36 patients received adjuvant CRT and 65 were treated with adjuvant IMRT. The endpoints were overall survival, local failure-free survival, and disease-free survival. Patients were assessed for acute toxicity weekly according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.0. Late toxicity was evaluated according to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Late Radiation Morbidity Scoring Schema.ResultsThe 5-year overall survival, local failure-free survival, and disease-free survival for the CRT group and the IMRT group were 82.9% versus 93.5% (p = 0.26), 93.7% versus 89.3% (p = 0.68), and 88.0% versus 82.8% (p = 0.83), respectively. Four (11.1%) patients had Grade 3 or greater acute gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity and three (8.3%) patients had Grade 3 or greater acute genitourinary (GU) toxicity in the CRT group, whereas four (6.2%) patients had Grade 3 or greater acute GI toxicity in the IMRT group and no patient had severe GU toxicity. There was one (2.8%) patient who had Grade 3 or greater late GI toxicity and one (2.8%) patient had Grade 3 or greater late GU toxicity in the CRT group, whereas no patient had severe GI or GU toxicity in the IMRT group.ConclusionAdjuvant IMRT for endometrial cancer patients had comparable clinical outcomes with CRT and had less acute and late toxicity

Mutations in the PKM2 exon-10 region are associated with reduced allostery and increased nuclear translocation.

PKM2 is a key metabolic enzyme central to glucose metabolism and energy expenditure. Multiple stimuli regulate PKM2's activity through allosteric modulation and post-translational modifications. Furthermore, PKM2 can partner with KDM8, an oncogenic demethylase and enter the nucleus to serve as a HIF1α co-activator. Yet, the mechanistic basis of the exon-10 region in allosteric regulation and nuclear translocation remains unclear. Here, we determined the crystal structures and kinetic coupling constants of exon-10 tumor-related mutants (H391Y and R399E), showing altered structural plasticity and reduced allostery. Immunoprecipitation analysis revealed increased interaction with KDM8 for H391Y, R399E, and G415R. We also found a higher degree of HIF1α-mediated transactivation activity, particularly in the presence of KDM8. Furthermore, overexpression of PKM2 mutants significantly elevated cell growth and migration. Together, PKM2 exon-10 mutations lead to structure-allostery alterations and increased nuclear functions mediated by KDM8 in breast cancer cells. Targeting the PKM2-KDM8 complex may provide a potential therapeutic intervention

Mechanism of Evolution Shared by Gene and Language

We propose a general mechanism for evolution to explain the diversity of gene and language. To quantify their common features and reveal the hidden structures, several statistical properties and patterns are examined based on a new method called the rank-rank analysis. We find that the classical correspondence, "domain plays the role of word in gene language", is not rigorous, and propose to replace domain by protein. In addition, we devise a new evolution unit, syllgram, to include the characteristics of spoken and written language. Based on the correspondence between (protein, domain) and (word, syllgram), we discover that both gene and language shared a common scaling structure and scale-free network. Like the Rosetta stone, this work may help decipher the secret behind non-coding DNA and unknown languages.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, 3 tabl