1,028 research outputs found
Quantum Lock: A Provable Quantum Communication Advantage
Physical unclonable functions(PUFs) provide a unique fingerprint to a
physical entity by exploiting the inherent physical randomness. Gao et al.
discussed the vulnerability of most current-day PUFs to sophisticated machine
learning-based attacks. We address this problem by integrating classical PUFs
and existing quantum communication technology. Specifically, this paper
proposes a generic design of provably secure PUFs, called hybrid locked
PUFs(HLPUFs), providing a practical solution for securing classical PUFs. An
HLPUF uses a classical PUF(CPUF), and encodes the output into non-orthogonal
quantum states to hide the outcomes of the underlying CPUF from any adversary.
Here we introduce a quantum lock to protect the HLPUFs from any general
adversaries. The indistinguishability property of the non-orthogonal quantum
states, together with the quantum lockdown technique prevents the adversary
from accessing the outcome of the CPUFs. Moreover, we show that by exploiting
non-classical properties of quantum states, the HLPUF allows the server to
reuse the challenge-response pairs for further client authentication. This
result provides an efficient solution for running PUF-based client
authentication for an extended period while maintaining a small-sized
challenge-response pairs database on the server side. Later, we support our
theoretical contributions by instantiating the HLPUFs design using accessible
real-world CPUFs. We use the optimal classical machine-learning attacks to
forge both the CPUFs and HLPUFs, and we certify the security gap in our
numerical simulation for construction which is ready for implementation.Comment: Replacement of paper "Hybrid PUF: A Novel Way to Enhance the Security
of Classical PUFs" (arXiv:2110.09469
AiM: Taking Answers in Mind to Correct Chinese Cloze Tests in Educational Applications
To automatically correct handwritten assignments, the traditional approach is
to use an OCR model to recognize characters and compare them to answers. The
OCR model easily gets confused on recognizing handwritten Chinese characters,
and the textual information of the answers is missing during the model
inference. However, teachers always have these answers in mind to review and
correct assignments. In this paper, we focus on the Chinese cloze tests
correction and propose a multimodal approach (named AiM). The encoded
representations of answers interact with the visual information of students'
handwriting. Instead of predicting 'right' or 'wrong', we perform the sequence
labeling on the answer text to infer which answer character differs from the
handwritten content in a fine-grained way. We take samples of OCR datasets as
the positive samples for this task, and develop a negative sample augmentation
method to scale up the training data. Experimental results show that AiM
outperforms OCR-based methods by a large margin. Extensive studies demonstrate
the effectiveness of our multimodal approach.Comment: Accepted to COLING 202
Radiative Seesaw in SO(10) with Dark Matter
High energy accelerators may probe into dark matter and the seesaw neutrino
mass scales if they are not much heavier than ~O(TeV). In the absence of
supersymmetry, we extend a class of SO(10) models to predict well known cold
dark matter candidates while achieving precision unification with
experimentally testable proton lifetime. The most important prediction is a new
radiative seesaw formula of Ma type accessible to accelerator tests while the
essential small value of its quartic coupling also emerges naturally. This
dominates over the high-scale seesaw contributions making a major impact on
neutrino physics and dark matter, opening up high prospects as a theory of
fermion masses.Comment: 11 pages LaTex, no figures.hep-ph, astro-ph, hep-th; Version accepted
in Phys. Lett.
Neutrino mass and low-scale leptogenesis in a testable SUSY SO(10) model
It is shown that a supersymmetric SO(10) model extended with fermion singlets
can accommodate the observed neutrino masses and mixings as well as generate
the desired lepton asymmetry in concordance with the gravitino constraint. A
necessary prediction of the model is near-TeV scale doubly-charged Higgs
scalars which should be detectable at the LHC.Comment: Latex, 7 pages, 2 figures, minor clarifications added, to appear in
Physics Letters
Variable, but not free-weight, resistance back squat exercise potentiates jump performance following a comprehensive task-specific warm-up
Studies examining acute, high-speed movement performance enhancement following intense muscular contractions (frequently called "post-activation potentiation"; PAP) often impose a limited warm-up, compromizing external validity. In the present study, the effects on countermovement vertical jump (CMJ) performance of back squat exercises performed with or without elastic bands during warm-up were compared. After familiarization, fifteen active men visited the laboratory on two occasions under randomized, counterbalanced experimental squat warm-up conditions: (a) free-weight resistance (FWR) and (b) variable resistance (VR). After completing a comprehensive task-specific warm-up, three maximal CMJs were performed followed by three back squat repetitions completed at 85% of 1-RM using either FWR or VR Three CMJs were then performed 30 seconds, 4 minutes, 8 minutes, and 12 minutes later. During CMJ trials, hip, knee, and ankle joint kinematics, ground reaction force data and vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, and gluteus maximus electromyograms (EMG) were recorded simultaneously using 3D motion analysis, force platform, and EMG techniques, respectively. No change in any variable occurred after FWR (P > 0.05). Significant increases (P < 0.05) were detected at all time points following VR in CMJ height (5.3%-6.5%), peak power (4.4%-5.9%), rate of force development (12.9%-19.1%), peak concentric knee angular velocity (3.1%-4.1%), and mean concentric vastus lateralis EMG activity (27.5%-33.4%). The lack of effect of the free-weight conditioning contractions suggests that the comprehensive task-specific warm-up routine mitigated any further performance augmentation. However, the improved CMJ performance following the use of elastic bands is indicative that specific alterations in force-time properties of warm-up exercises may further improve performance
SARS-CoV-2 sero-surveillance in Greece: evolution over time and epidemiological attributes during the pre-vaccination pandemic era
BACKGROUND: Nation-wide SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence surveys provide valuable insights into the course of the pandemic, including information often not captured by routine surveillance of reported cases. METHODS: A serosurvey of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 was conducted in Greece between March and December 2020. It was designed as a cross-sectional survey repeated at monthly intervals. The leftover sampling methodology was used and a geographically stratified sampling plan was applied. RESULTS: Of 55,947 serum samples collected, 705 (1.26%) were found positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, with higher seroprevalence (9.09%) observed in December 2020. Highest seropositivity levels were observed in the "0-29" and "30-49" year age groups. Seroprevalence increased with age in the "0-29" age group. Highly populated metropolitan areas were characterized with elevated seroprevalence levels (11.92% in Attica, 12.76% in Thessaloniki) compared to the rest of the country (5.90%). The infection fatality rate (IFR) was estimated at 0.451% (95% CI: 0.382-0.549%) using aggregate data until December 2020, and the ratio of actual to reported cases was 9.59 (7.88-11.33). CONCLUSIONS: The evolution of seroprevalence estimates aligned with the course of the pandemic and varied widely by region and age group. Young and middle-aged adults appeared to be drivers of the pandemic during a severe epidemic wave under strict policy measures
Ligand diversity contributes to the full activation of the jasmonate pathway in Marchantia polymorpha
In plants, jasmonate signaling regulates a wide range of processes from growth and development to defense responses and thermotolerance. Jasmonates, such as jasmonic acid (JA), (+)-7-iso-jasmonoyl-l-isoleucine (JA-Ile), 12-oxo-10,15(Z)-phytodienoic acid (OPDA), and dinor-12-oxo-10,15(Z)-phytodienoic acid (dn-OPDA), are derived from C18 (18 Carbon atoms) and C16 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are found ubiquitously in the plant kingdom. Bryophytes are also rich in C20 and C22 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), which are found only at low levels in some vascular plants but are abundant in organisms of other kingdoms, including animals. The existence of bioactive jasmonates derived from LCPUFAs is currently unknown. Here, we describe the identification of an OPDA-like molecule derived from a C20 fatty acid (FA) in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha (Mp), which we term (5Z,8Z)-10-(4-oxo-5-((Z)-pent-2-en-1-yl)cyclopent-2-en-1-yl)deca-5,8-dienoic acid (C20-OPDA). This molecule accumulates upon wounding and, when applied exogenously, can activate known Coronatine Insensitive 1 (COI1) -dependent and -independent jasmonate responses. Furthermore, we identify a dn-OPDA-like molecule (Δ4-dn-OPDA) deriving from C20-OPDA and demonstrate it to be a ligand of the jasmonate coreceptor (MpCOI1-Mp Jasmonate-Zinc finger inflorescence meristem domain [MpJAZ]) in Marchantia. By analyzing mutants impaired in the production of LCPUFAs, we elucidate the major biosynthetic pathway of C20-OPDA and Δ4-dn-OPDA. Moreover, using a double mutant compromised in the production of both Δ4-dn-OPDA and dn-OPDA, we demonstrate the additive nature of these molecules in the activation of jasmonate responses. Taken together, our data identify a ligand of MpCOI1 and demonstrate LCPUFAs as a source of bioactive jasmonates that are essential to the immune response of M. polymorpha.Peer reviewe
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