Lattice-Based proof of a shuffle

In this paper we present the first fully post-quantum proof of a shuffle for RLWE encryption schemes. Shuffles are commonly used to construct mixing networks (mix-nets), a key element to ensure anonymity in many applications such as electronic voting systems. They should preserve anonymity even against an attack using quantum computers in order to guarantee long-term privacy. The proof presented in this paper is built over RLWE commitments which are perfectly binding and computationally hiding under the RLWE assumption, thus achieving security in a post-quantum scenario. Furthermore we provide a new definition for a secure mixing node (mix-node) and prove that our construction satisfies this definition.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Sistemas de gestión de calidad y resultados empresariales: una justificación desde las teorías institucional y de recursos y capacidades

ResumenDespués de dos décadas en las que la gestión de calidad se ha incorporado al vocabulario de los directivos, esta materia sigue teniendo una importancia significativa en la investigación acerca de organización de empresas. Concretamente, la Gestión de Calidad Total (GCT) y la norma ISO 9000 son las dos áreas que más se han estudiado. A pesar de sus grandes diferencias, estos dos sistemas han sido en ocasiones confundidos en el mundo empresarial. La presente investigación es una nueva contribución al conocimiento de la relación existente entre GCT e ISO 9000 basada en un estudio empírico. Mientras estudios anteriores han analizado ambos sistemas separadamente, este trabajo lo hace conjuntamente utilizando una misma muestra. Para profundizar en el estudio de su efecto en los resultados se han tomado como base dos teorías organizativas, la teoría institucional y la de recursos y capacidades. Los datos para la investigación se han obtenido de una amplia muestra de empresas industriales españolas. Se utilizan datos subjetivos de corte transversal y objetivos longitudinales. Las conclusiones ofrecen nueva evidencia de las ventajas de la implantación de un sistema de GCT y reflejan las consecuencias implantar un sistema de gestión de calidad únicamente debido a presiones externas.AbstractAfter more than two decades since it became part of managers’ everyday lexicon, quality management is still an integral part of research in management. In particular, Total Quality Management (TQM) and ISO 9000 have taken the centre stage. However, they have been commonly confused in the business environment as to what the differences are. This research is a new contribution to the knowledge on the relationships of TQM and ISO 9000 based on recent empirical data. While past studies have considered them separately, we study them together in one study. We have partly based our study in two organizational theories to explain different effects in performance: institutional theory. and resource based view. The data for this research has been obtained from a large sample of Spanish industrial companies. Longitudinal objective data has also been used. Our conclusion offers newly found support to the advantages of adopting a TQM policy and reflects on the consequences of implementing a quality management system mainly driven by external pressures

Neutrino-induced nucleosynthesis of A>64 nuclei: The nu p-process

We present a new nucleosynthesis process, that we denote nu p-process, which occurs in supernovae (and possibly gamma-ray bursts) when strong neutrino fluxes create proton-rich ejecta. In this process, antineutrino absorptions in the proton-rich environment produce neutrons that are immediately captured by neutron-deficient nuclei. This allows for the nucleosynthesis of nuclei with mass numbers A >64. Making this process a possible candidate to explain the origin of the solar abundances of 92,94Mo and 96,98Ru. This process also offers a natural explanation for the large abundance of Sr seen in an hyper-metal-poor star.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Reconstructing Holocene evolution in the archaelogical site of Campo Lameiro (NW Spain): an interdisciplinary approach to geoarchaeology

Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia – Programa FAACUniversidade de Coimbra. Faculdade de Letras. Departamento de GeografiaCâmara Municipal de CoimbraDelt

Targeting Lipid Peroxidation for Cancer Treatment

grant number RTI2018-093864-B-I00Cancer is one of the highest prevalent diseases in humans. The chances of surviving cancer and its prognosis are very dependent on the affected tissue, body location, and stage at which the disease is diagnosed. Researchers and pharmaceutical companies worldwide are pursuing many attempts to look for compounds to treat this malignancy. Most of the current strategies to fight cancer implicate the use of compounds acting on DNA damage checkpoints, non-receptor tyrosine kinases activities, regulators of the hedgehog signaling pathways, and metabolic adaptations placed in cancer. In the last decade, the finding of a lipid peroxidation increase linked to 15-lipoxygenases isoform 1 (15-LOX-1) activity stimulation has been found in specific successful treatments against cancer. This discovery contrasts with the production of other lipid oxidation signatures generated by stimulation of other lipoxygenases such as 5-LOX and 12-LOX, and cyclooxygenase (COX-2) activities, which have been suggested as cancer biomarkers and which inhibitors present anti-tumoral and antiproliferative activities. These findings support the previously proposed role of lipid hydroperoxides and their metabolites as cancer cell mediators. Depletion or promotion of lipid peroxidation is generally related to a specific production source associated with a cancer stage or tissue in which cancer originates. This review highlights the potential therapeutical use of chemical derivatives to stimulate or block specific cellular routes to generate lipid hydroperoxides to treat this disease.publishersversionpublishe

A global view on the riparian forests with Salix neotricha and Populus alba in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain)

Forests dominated by Salix neotricha, and Populus alba found along the mesoeutrophic rivers in the Iberian Peninsula, were studied. We discuss the floristic circumscription, chorology, and community segregation based on the available releve´s of all Iberian riparian communities included in Populenion albae. Eleven formerly described communities were analyzed and due to original floristic combination, habitat features, and biogeographic scope, a new willow and poplar forest type is proposed within a well-defined biogeographical unit (Sadensean-Dividing Portuguese Subprovince): Clematido campaniflorae- Salicetum neotrichae. This syntaxon is found under a semi-hyperoceanic thermomediterranean to lower mesomediterranean, subhumid to humid bioclimate. Cluster analysis including all Iberian communities of Populenion albae shows a clear floristic segregation within the suballiance and confirms the originality of the new association. Furthermore, chemical characteristics of the water along some of the Portuguese watercourses with Populenion albae were studied and compared to the oligotrophic rivers occupied by Osmundo-Alnion communities. This study suggests that floristic separation between the communities of Populenion and Osmundo-Alnion is accompanied by a differentiation of the water trophic level

Exon sequence requirements for excision in vivo of the bacterial group II intron RmInt1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Group II intron splicing proceeds through two sequential transesterification reactions in which the 5' and 3'-exons are joined together and the lariat intron is released. The intron-encoded protein (IEP) assists the splicing of the intron <it>in vivo </it>and remains bound to the excised intron lariat RNA in a ribonucleoprotein particle (RNP) that promotes intron mobility. Exon recognition occurs through base-pairing interactions between two guide sequences on the ribozyme domain dI known as EBS1 and EBS2 and two stretches of sequence known as IBS1 and IBS2 on the 5' exon, whereas the 3' exon is recognized through interaction with the sequence immediately upstream from EBS1 [(δ-δ' interaction (subgroup IIA)] or with a nucleotide [(EBS3-IBS3 interaction (subgroup IIB and IIC))] located in the coordination-loop of dI. The δ nucleotide is involved in base pairing with another intron residue (δ') in subgroup IIB introns and this interaction facilitates base pairing between the 5' exon and the intron.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we investigated nucleotide requirements in the distal 5'- and 3' exon regions, EBS-IBS interactions and δ-δ' pairing for excision of the group IIB intron RmInt1 <it>in vivo</it>. We found that the EBS1-IBS1 interaction was required and sufficient for RmInt1 excision. In addition, we provide evidence for the occurrence of canonical δ-δ' pairing and its importance for the intron excision <it>in vivo.</it></p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The excision <it>in vivo </it>of the RmInt1 intron is a favored process, with very few constraints for sequence recognition in both the 5' and 3'-exons. Our results contribute to understand how group II introns spread in nature, and might facilitate the use of RmInt1 in gene targeting.</p

E-cadherin expression is associated with somatostatin analogue response in acromegaly

Acromegaly is a rare disease resulting from hypersecretion of growth hormone (GH) and insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF1) typically caused by pituitary adenomas, which is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Somatostatin analogues (SSAs) represent the primary medical therapy for acromegaly and are currently used as first‐line treatment or as second‐line therapy after unsuccessful pituitary surgery. However, a considerable proportion of patients do not adequately respond to SSAs treatment, and therefore, there is an urgent need to identify biomarkers predictors of response to SSAs. The aim of this study was to examine E‐cadherin expression by immunohistochemistry in fifty‐five GH‐producing pituitary tumours and determine the potential association with response to SSAs as well as other clinical and histopathological features. Acromegaly patients with tumours expressing low E‐cadherin levels exhibit a worse response to SSAs. E‐cadherin levels are associated with GH‐producing tumour histological subtypes. Our results indicate that the immunohistochemical detection of E‐cadherin might be useful in categorizing acromegaly patients based on the response to SSAs.ISCIII‐Subdirección General de Evaluación y Fomento de la Investigación PI13/02043 PI16/00175FEDER PI13/02043 PI16/00175Junta de Andalucía A‐0023‐2015 A‐0003‐2016 CTS‐1406 BIO‐0139Andalusian Ministry of Health C‐0015‐2014CIBERobn PI13/ 02043 PI16/0017

A class of Poisson-Nijenhuis structures on a tangent bundle

Equipping the tangent bundle TQ of a manifold with a symplectic form coming from a regular Lagrangian L, we explore how to obtain a Poisson-Nijenhuis structure from a given type (1,1) tensor field J on Q. It is argued that the complete lift of J is not the natural candidate for a Nijenhuis tensor on TQ, but plays a crucial role in the construction of a different tensor R, which appears to be the pullback under the Legendre transform of the lift of J to co-tangent manifold of Q. We show how this tangent bundle view brings new insights and is capable also of producing all important results which are known from previous studies on the cotangent bundle, in the case that Q is equipped with a Riemannian metric. The present approach further paves the way for future generalizations.Comment: 22 page

N,N-Diphenylanilino-heterocyclic aldehyde-based chemosensors for UV-vis/NIR and fluorescence Cu(II) detection

Herein, three N,N-diphenylanilino-heterocyclic aldehyde probes (5, 6 and 7) are synthesized, characterized and their sensing behaviour against metal cations tested. Acetonitrile solutions of the three probes show an intramolecular charge-transfer band in the 360-420 nm range due to the presence of an electron donor N,N-diphenylanilino group and an electron acceptor aldehyde moiety. Besides, all three probes are moderately emissive with bands in the 540-580 nm range in acetronitrile. The chromo-fluorogenic behaviour of the three probes in acetonitrile in the presence of selected metal cations is assessed. Of all the metal cations tested only Cu(ii) induces marked colour and emission changes. In this respect, addition of Cu(ii) cations to solutions of the probes induces the appearance of NIR absorptions at 756 nm for 5, at 852 nm for 6 and at 527, 625 and 1072 nm for 7. Besides, Cu(ii) induces a marked quenching of the emission of the three probes. The observed spectral changes are ascribed to the formation of 1:1 probe-Cu(ii) complexes in which the metal cation interacts with the acceptor part of the chemosensors. In addition, the limits of detection determined using UV-visible and fluorescence titrations are in the 0.21-5.12 M range, which are values lower than the minimum concentration prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline for drinking water for copper (30 mM). Besides, probe 7 is used for the detection of Cu(ii) in aqueous environments using SDS anionic surfactant.We thank the Spanish Government (MAT2015-64139-C4-1-R) and Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO2018/024). H. E. O. thanks Generalitat Valenciana for his Grisolia fellowship. Thanks are due to Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for a PhD grant to R. C. M. Ferreira (SFRH/BD/86408/2012), and FEDER (European Fund for Regional Development)-COMPETE-QREN-EU for financial support through the Chemistry Research Centre of the University of Minho (Ref. PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2016 and PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2018). The NMR spectrometer Bruker Avance III 400 is part of the National NMR Network and was purchased within the framework of the National Program for Scientific Re-equipment, contract REDE/1517/RMN/2005 with funds from POCI 2010 (FEDER) and FCT