Improvements on "Multi-Party Quantum Summation without a Third Party based on dd-Dimensional Bell States"

In 2021, Wu et al. presented a multi-party quantum summation scheme exploiting the entanglement properties of d-dimensional Bell states (Wu et al. in Quantum Inf Process 20:200, 2021). In particular, the authors proposed a three-party quantum summation protocol and then extended their work to a multi-party case. It is claimed that their protocol is secure against outside and participants' attacks. However, this work points out that Wu's protocol has a loophole, i.e., two or more dishonest participants who meet a specific location relationship can conspire to obtain the private inputs of some honest participants without being detected. Accordingly, improvements are proposed to address these issues

Pre-Operative Prediction of Mediastinal Node Metastasis Using Radiomics Model Based on 18F-FDG PET/CT of the Primary Tumor in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Purpose: We investigated whether a fluorine-18-fluorodeoxy glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT)-based radiomics model (RM) could predict the pathological mediastinal lymph node staging (pN staging) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) undergoing surgery.Methods: A total of 716 patients with a clinicopathological diagnosis of NSCLC were included in this retrospective study. The prediction model was developed in a training cohort that consisted of 501 patients. Radiomics features were extracted from the 18F-FDG PET/CT of the primary tumor. Support vector machine and extremely randomized trees were used to build the RM. Internal validation was assessed. An independent testing cohort contained the remaining 215 patients. The performances of the RM and clinical node staging (cN staging) in predicting pN staging (pN0 vs. pN1 and N2) were compared for each cohort. The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve was applied to assess the model's performance.Results: The AUC of the RM [0.81 (95% CI, 0.771–0.848); sensitivity: 0.794; specificity: 0.704] for the predictive performance of pN1 and N2 was significantly better than that of cN in the training cohort [0.685 (95% CI, 0.644–0.728); sensitivity: 0.804; specificity: 0.568], (P-value = 8.29e-07, as assessed by the Delong test). In the testing cohort, the AUC of the RM [0.766 (95% CI, 0.702–0.830); sensitivity: 0.688; specificity: 0.704] was also significantly higher than that of cN [0.685 (95% CI, 0.619–0.747); sensitivity: 0.799; specificity: 0.568], (P = 0.0371, Delong test).Conclusions: The RM based on 18F-FDG PET/CT has a potential for the pN staging in patients with NSCLC, suggesting that therapeutic planning could be tailored according to the predictions

Foreign Bank and Financial Development: Factors Affecting Foreign Bank Effects in CEE Countries

This dissertation analyses country-level data for 12 CEE countries from 2000 to 2021 using the Dynamic GMM methodology. The aim of this article is to investigate the effect of foreign bank entry on four dimensions of financial development, which are financial stability, efficiency, depth and access. Furthermore, the article will examine the factors affecting foreign bank effect, including the economic and institutional level of domestic banks and the extent and stage of foreign bank entry. The result shows that foreign bank penetration has a positive influence on financial stability and efficiency, while it has a negative effect on financial depth and access. In general, a high level of economic development and a stringent and well-developed institutional environment is favourable for foreign banks to exhibit a positive influence on financial development. And the bad influence of foreign banks on financial depth and access is diminishing over time. Results regarding the relative importance of foreign banks indicate a mixed conclusion. Overall, this dissertation supplements empirical evidence on the link between foreign banks and financial development in CEE regions and could provide more insights to policymakers

A comparative study on groundwater spring potential analysis based on statistical index, index of entropy and certainty factors models

The main aim of this study is to generate groundwater spring potential maps for the Ningtiaota area (China) using three statistical models namely statistical index (SI), index of entropy (IOE) and certainty factors (CF) models. Firstly, 66 spring locations were identified by field surveys, out of which, 46 (70%) spring locations were randomly selected for training the models and the rest 20 (30%) spring locations were used for validation. Secondly, 12 spring influencing factors, namely slope angle, slope aspect, altitude, profile curvature, plan curvature, sediment transport index, stream power index, topographic wetness index, distance to roads, distance to streams, lithology and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were derived from the spatial database. Subsequently, using the mentioned factors and the three models, groundwater spring potential values were calculated and the results were plotted in ArcGIS 10.0. Finally, the area under the curve was used to validate groundwater spring potential maps. The results showed that the IOE model, with the highest success rate of 0.9126 and the highest prediction rate of 0.9051, showed the preferable performance in this study. The results of this study may be helpful for planners and engineers in groundwater resource management and other similar watersheds

MethylationEPIC_v-1-0_B4.csv

Whole genome methylation sequencing results of COPD patients.Genome-wide DNA methylation was performed at over 485,000 CpG sites blood isolated from individuals with and without COPD (non-COPD n =8, COPD n = 8).</p

Emerging Separation Applications of Surface Superwettability

Human beings are facing severe global environmental problems and sustainable development problems. Effective separation technology plays an essential role in solving these challenges. In the past decades, superwettability (e.g., superhydrophobicity and underwater superoleophobicity) has succeeded in achieving oil/water separation. The mixture of oil and water is just the tip of the iceberg of the mixtures that need to be separated, so the wettability-based separation strategy should be extended to treat other kinds of liquid/liquid or liquid/gas mixtures. This review aims at generalizing the approach of the well-developed oil/water separation to separate various multiphase mixtures based on the surface superwettability. Superhydrophobic and even superoleophobic surface microstructures have liquid-repellent properties, making different liquids keep away from them. Inspired by the process of oil/water separation, liquid polymers can be separated from water by using underwater superpolymphobic materials. Meanwhile, the underwater superaerophobic and superaerophilic porous materials are successfully used to collect or remove gas bubbles in a liquid, thus achieving liquid/gas separation. We believe that the diversified wettability-based separation methods can be potentially applied in industrial manufacture, energy use, environmental protection, agricultural production, and so on

Study on mechanical properties and microstructure of improved saline soil subgrade filler

The harm of saline soil to infrastructure engineering is manifested in its collapsibility after immersion and corrosion of underground structure. The influence on engineering construction mainly depends on the physical properties, content, salinity and natural environment. To clarify the interrelation between the microstructure and mechanical properties of saline soils in cold region after improvement, the pile numbers K602+800, K603+832, K636+187, K642+997 on the highway from Qarhan to Golmud in the Qarhan Salt Lake District of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were selected for the mixed saline soil of chloride and sulfate SW-HC47(fine sand high chlorine saline soil), CL-HC17(silty viscous high chlorine saline soil), GF-HC37(breccia high chlorine saline soil), SF-HC38(fine sand high chlorine saline soil) was used as a research soil sample, and cement was added to improve it. Firstly, unconfined compression strength(UCS) was carried out for the improved saline soil with different proportions of cement (6%, 8%, 10%, 12%), and the optimal incorporation amount was clarified. Secondly, the improved specimen was scanned by electron microscopy, the interval estimation method was used to select the optimal magnification. Thirdly, Using the pore system and fracture system identification software Particles (Pores) and Cracks Analysis System(PCAS) and professional image processing software Image Pro-Plus, the microscopic analysis of porosity, average from factor and other parameters before and after soil improvement was carried out, The interrelation between the microscopic parameters and the UCS improved soil is determined by the gray correlation analysis. Finally, combining the tests and analyzing the influence of curing agent materials on the improvement effect of saline soil from a microscopic perspective.The results indicates: ①The optimal magnification of different soil samples is different. The optimal magnification of SW-HC47 and SF-HC38 was 400 times. The optimal magnification of soil samples CL-HC17 and GF-HC37 is 200 times. ②With the increase of the number of curing days from 7 days to 28 days, the proportion of large pores in the four improved soil samples decreased significantly. The porosity, average from factor and fractal dimension of the four cement improved soil samples decreased with the increase of curing days. The Probability entropy varies less. ③Individual micro-parameters affect the UCS to different extents

The mitochondrial genome of Prosthiochaeta sp. (Diptera: Platystomatidae)

The mitochondrial genome of Prosthiochaeta sp. was sequenced and annotated as a new representative of family Platystomatidae. The nearly complete mitochondrial genome of Prosthiochaeta sp. is 16,169 bp totally, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs, and 22 transfer RNAs, which gene frame is similar with other dipteran mitogenomes. The nucleotide composition biases toward A and T is 70.8% of the entirety. IQ-tree analysis revealed that Tephritoidea including Prosthiochaeta sp. was monophyletic as a sister group to Opomyzoidea and Syrphoidea. Tephritoidea as well as Syrphoidea and Opomyzoidea were nested in Ephydroidea, while Lauxanioidea and Sciomyzoidea were assigned to be sister groups. Platypezoidea was monophyletic as a basal clade of phylogenetic tree

Microstructure and Magnetocaloric Effect by Doping C in La-Fe-Si Ribbons

The melt-spun ribbons of LaFe11.5Si1.5Cx (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) compounds are prepared by the melt fast-quenching method. The doping of C is beneficial to the nucleation and precipitation of the La (Fe, Si)13 phase, which is indicated by the microstructure observation and the elemental analysis. Subsequently, the ribbons of LaFe11.5Si1.5C0.2 are annealed at different times, and the phase composition, the microstructures, and the magnetic properties are investigated. The LaFe11.5Si1.5C0.2 ribbons annealed at 1273 K for 2 h achieved the best magnetic properties, and the maximum isothermal magnetic entropy change with a value of 9.45 J/(kg·K) upon an applied field of 1.5 T at an increased Curie temperature 255 K