Topological Protection of Coherence in Noisy Open Quantum Systems

We consider topological protection mechanisms in dissipative quantum systems in the presence of quenched disorder, with the intent to prolong coherence times of qubits. The physical setting is a network of qubits and dissipative cavities whose coupling parameters are tunable, such that topological edge states can be stabilized. The evolution of a fiducial qubit is entirely determined by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian which thus emerges from a bona-fide physical process. It is shown how even in the presence of disorder winding numbers can be defined and evaluated in real space, as long as certain symmetries are preserved. Hence we can construct the topological phase diagrams of noisy open quantum models, such as the non-Hermitian disordered Su-Schrieffer- Heeger dimer model and a trimer model that includes longer-range couplings. In the presence of competing disorder parameters, interesting re-entrance phenomena of topologically non-trivial sectors are observed. This means that in certain parameter regions, increasing disorder drastically increases the coherence time of the fiducial qubit

Importance of Community Influence and Meter Message on Brand Value Co-creation: a Study In Social Commerce Research - in - Progress

Social commerce which emphasizes the importance of customer social networks has attracted increasing research attention. However, most previous studies in this area have focused on purchase decisions, and neglected that other customer behaviors can also benefit firms such as brand value co-creation. Despite that the marketing literature has recognized the important role of customers in brand value co-creation, little research has investigated what factors can contribute to customers’ brand value co-creation in social commerce. As social commerce facilitates the social interactions among customers and between customers and marketers, this research tries to explore customers’ brand value co-creation in social commerce from two dimensions: other customers and the marketer. It extends our understanding on social commerce by showing how community influences and marketers’ message framing can impact customers’ intention to co-create brand value in social commerce

Facilitating Supplementary Innovation in the Digital Game Industry: The Role of Modding Toolkits

Game modifications (mods) developed by users are common in the digital game industry, serving as a form of user-driven supplementary innovation that enables game developers to extend the lifespan of their core games. Companies have recognized the strategic value of such innovation and offered official modding toolkits to support users’ endeavors. Nevertheless, the effects of modding toolkits on mod performance are not well understood, as extant literature is fragmented and descriptive, lacking an examination of the relationship between official modding toolkits and mod performance. This study plans to address this knowledge gap by analyzing official toolkit documents and behavioral data from platforms such as Nexus Mod and investigating the effects of modding toolkit features on mod performance. By advancing our knowledge of the supplementary innovation toolkit as a strategic approach in the digital game industry, the study is expected to provide valuable insights into extending product lifespan and utility

Genome-wide identification of QTL for age at puberty in gilts using a large intercross F2 population between White Duroc and Erhualian

Puberty is a fundamental development process experienced by all reproductively competent adults, yet the specific factors regulating age at puberty remain elusive in pigs. In this study, we performed a genome scan to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting age at puberty in gilts using a White Duroc × Erhualian intercross. A total of 183 microsatellites covering 19 porcine chromosomes were genotyped in 454 F2 gilts and their parents and grandparents in the White Duroc × Erhualian intercross. A linear regression method was used to map QTL for age at puberty via QTLexpress. One 1% genome-wise significant QTL and one 0.1% genome-wise significant QTL were detected at 114 cM (centimorgan) on SSC1 and at 54 cM on SSC7, respectively. Moreover, two suggestive QTL were found on SSC8 and SSC17, respectively. This study confirmed the QTL for age at puberty previously identified on SSC1, 7 and 8, and reports for the first time a QTL for age at puberty in gilts on SSC17. Interestingly, the Chinese Erhualian alleles were not systematically favourable for younger age at puberty

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of a novel colchicine-magnolol hybrid for inhibiting the growth of Lewis lung carcinoma in Vitro and in Vivo

Colchicine is a bioactive alkaloid originally from Colchicum autumnale and possesses excellent antiproliferative activity. However, colchicine-associated severe toxicity, gastrointestinal side effects in particular, limits its further therapeutic use. In the current study, we thus designed and synthesized a novel hybrid (CMH) by splicing colchicine and magnolol, a multifunctional polyphenol showing favorable gastrointestinal protection. The antitumor activity of CMH in Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) was then evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Biologically, CMH inhibited the growth of LLC cells with an IC50 of 0.26 μM, 100 times more potently than cisplatin (26.05 μM) did. Meanwhile, the cytotoxicity of CMH was 10-fold lower than that of colchicine in normal human lung cells (BEAS-2B). In C57BL/6 mice xenograft model, CMH (0.5 mg/kg) worked as efficacious as colchicine (0.5 mg/kg) to inhibit tumor growth and 2 times more potently than cisplatin (1 mg/kg). In terms of mortality, 7 out of 10 mice died in colchicine group (0.75 mg/kg), while no death was observed in groups receiving CMH or cisplatin at 0.75 mg/kg. Mechanistic studies using Western blot revealed that CMH dose-dependently suppressed the protein expression of phosphorylated ERK. Molecular docking analysis further indicated that CMH was well fitted in the colchicine binding site of tubulin and formed several hydrogen bonds with tubulin protein. These results enable our novel hybrid CMH as a potential antineoplastic agent with lower toxicity, and provide perquisites for further investigation to confirm the therapeutic potentiality of this novel hybrid

Exponential Stability for Impulsive Stochastic Nonlinear Network Systems with Time Delay

We study the exponential stability of the complex dynamical network described by differentially nonlinear equations which couple with time delay and stochastic impulses. Some sufficient conditions are established to ensure pth moment exponential stable for the stochastic impulsive systems (SIS) with time delay. An example with its numerical simulation is presented to illustrate the validation of main results

Modules of co-regulated metabolites in turmeric (Curcuma longa) rhizome suggest the existence of biosynthetic modules in plant specialized metabolism

Turmeric is an excellent example of a plant that produces large numbers of metabolites from diverse metabolic pathways or networks. It is hypothesized that these metabolic pathways or networks contain biosynthetic modules, which lead to the formation of metabolite modules—groups of metabolites whose production is co-regulated and biosynthetically linked. To test whether such co-regulated metabolite modules do exist in this plant, metabolic profiling analysis was performed on turmeric rhizome samples that were collected from 16 different growth and development treatments, which had significant impacts on the levels of 249 volatile and non-volatile metabolites that were detected. Importantly, one of the many co-regulated metabolite modules that were indeed readily detected in this analysis contained the three major curcuminoids, whereas many other structurally related diarylheptanoids belonged to separate metabolite modules, as did groups of terpenoids. The existence of these co-regulated metabolite modules supported the hypothesis that the 3-methoxyl groups on the aromatic rings of the curcuminoids are formed before the formation of the heptanoid backbone during the biosynthesis of curcumin and also suggested the involvement of multiple polyketide synthases with different substrate selectivities in the formation of the array of diarylheptanoids detected in turmeric. Similar conclusions about terpenoid biosynthesis could also be made. Thus, discovery and analysis of metabolite modules can be a powerful predictive tool in efforts to understand metabolism in plants

Simulation of Magnetically-Actuated Functional Gradient Nanocomposites

Magnetically-actuated functional gradient nanocomposites can be locally modulated to generate unprecedented mechanical gradients that can be applied to various interfaces and surfaces through following the design principles of natural biological materials. However, a key question is how to modulate the concentration of magnetic particles using an external magnetic field. Here, we propose a model to obtain the gradient concentration distribution of magnetic particles and mechanical gradients. The results show that three states exist when the magnetic force changes in the z direction, including the unchanging state, the stable gradient state, and the over-accumulation state, which are consistent with experiment results. If both radial and axial magnetic forces are present, the inhomogeneity of magnetic–particle distribution in two dimensions was found to break the functional gradient. Furthermore, the size effects of a functional gradient sample were studied, which indicated that adjusting the magnetic force and diffusion constant would enable larger nanocomposites samples to generate functional gradients

Topological Protection of Coherence in a Dissipative Environment

One dimensional topological insulators are characterized by edge states with exponentially small energies. According to one generalization of topological phase to non-Hermitian systems, a finite system in a non-trivial topological phase displays surface states with exponentially long life times. In this work we explore the possibility of exploiting such non-Hermitian topological phases to enhance the quantum coherence of a fiducial qubit embedded in a dissipative environment. We first show that a network of qubits interacting with lossy cavities can be represented, in a suitable super-one-particle sector, by a non-Hermitian " Hamiltonian " of the desired form. We then study, both analytically and numerically, one-dimensional geometries with up to three sites per unit cell, and up to a topological winding number $W$ = 2. For finite-size systems the number of edge modes is a complicated function of $W$ and the system size $N$. However we find that there are precisely $W$ modes localized at one end of the chain. In such topological phases the quibt's coherence lifetime is exponentially large in the system size. We verify that, for $W$ > 1, at large times, the Lindbladian evolution is approximately a non-trivial unitary. For $W$ = 2 this results in Rabi-like oscillations of the qubit's coherence measure