And\^o dilations for a pair of commuting contractions: two explicit constructions and functional models

One of the most important results in operator theory is And\^o's \cite{ando} generalization of dilation theory for a single contraction to a pair of commuting contractions acting on a Hilbert space. While there are two explicit constructions (Sch\"affer \cite{sfr} and Douglas \cite{Doug-Dilation}) of the minimal isometric dilation of a single contraction, there was no such explicit construction of an And\^o dilation for a commuting pair $(T_1,T_2)$ of contractions, except in some special cases \cite{A-M-Dist-Var, D-S, D-S-S}. In this paper, we give two new proofs of And\^o's dilation theorem by giving both Sch\"affer-type and Douglas-type explicit constructions of an And\^o dilation with function-theoretic interpretation, for the general case. The results, in particular, give a complete description of all possible factorizations of a given contraction $T$ into the product of two commuting contractions. Unlike the one-variable case, two minimal And\^o dilations need not be unitarily equivalent. However, we show that the compressions of the two And\^o dilations constructed in this paper to the minimal dilation spaces of the contraction $T_1T_2$, are unitarily equivalent. In the special case when the product $T=T_1T_2$ is pure, i.e., if $T^{* n}\to 0$ strongly, an And\^o dilation was constructed recently in \cite{D-S-S}, which, as this paper will show, is a corollary to the Douglas-type construction. We define a notion of characteristic triple for a pair of commuting contractions and a notion of coincidence for such triples. We prove that two pairs of commuting contractions with their products being pure contractions are unitarily equivalent if and only if their characteristic triples coincide. We also characterize triples which qualify as the characteristic triple for some pair $(T_1,T_2)$ of commuting contractions such that $T_1T_2$ is a pure contraction.Comment: 24 page

Diagnostic accuracy of autoverification and guidance system for COVID-19 RT-PCR results

Background: To date, most countries worldwide have declared that the pandemic of COVID-19 is over, while the WHO has not officially ended the COVID-19 pandemic, and China still insists on the personalized dynamic COVID-free policy. Large-scale nucleic acid testing in Chinese communities and the manual interpretation for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid detection results pose a huge challenge for labour, quality and turnaround time (TAT) requirements. To solve this specific issue while increase the efficiency and accuracy of interpretation, we created an autoverification and guidance system (AGS) that can automatically interpret and report the COVID-19 reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results relaying on computer-based autoverification procedure and then validated its performance in real-world environments. This would be conductive to transmission risk prediction, COVID-19 prevention and control and timely medical treatment for positive patients in the context of the predictive, preventive and personalized medicine (PPPM). Methods: A diagnostic accuracy test was conducted with 380,693 participants from two COVID-19 test sites in China, the Hong Kong Hybribio Medical Laboratory (n = 266,035) and the mobile medical shelter at a Shanghai airport (n = 114,658). These participants underwent SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR from March 28 to April 10, 2022. All RT-PCR results were interpreted by laboratorians and by using AGS simultaneously. Considering the manual interpretation as gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy were applied to evaluate the diagnostic value of the AGS on the interpretation of RT-PCR results. Results: Among the 266,035 samples in Hong Kong, there were 16,356 (6.15%) positive, 231,073 (86.86%) negative, 18,606 (6.99%) indefinite, 231,073 (86.86%, negative) no retest required and 34,962 (13.14%, positive and indefinite) retest required; the 114,658 samples in Shanghai consisted of 76 (0.07%) positive, 109,956 (95.90%) negative, 4626 (4.03%) indefinite, 109,956 (95.90%, negative) no retest required and 4702 (4.10%, positive and indefinite) retest required. Compared to the fashioned manual interpretation, the AGS is a procedure of high accuracy [99.96% (95%CI, 99.95–99.97%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 100–100%) in Shanghai] with perfect sensitivity [99.98% (95%CI, 99.97–99.98%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 100–100%) in Shanghai], specificity [99.87% (95%CI, 99.82–99.90%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 99.92–100%) in Shanghai], PPV [99.98% (95%CI, 99.97–99.99%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 99.99–100%) in Shanghai] and NPV [99.85% (95%CI, 99.80–99.88%) in Hong Kong and 100% (95%CI, 99.90–100%) in Shanghai]. The need for manual interpretation of total samples was dramatically reduced from 100% to 13.1% and the interpretation time fell from 53 h to 26 min in Hong Kong; while the manual interpretation of total samples was decreased from 100% to 4.1% and the interpretation time dropped from 20 h to 16 min at Shanghai. Conclusions: The AGS is a procedure of high accuracy and significantly relieves both labour and time from the challenge of large-scale screening of SARS-CoV-2 using RT-PCR. It should be recommended as a powerful screening, diagnostic and predictive system for SARS-CoV-2 to contribute timely the ending of the COVID-19 pandemic following the concept of PPPM

Rapid and Unconditional Parametric Reset Protocol for Tunable Superconducting Qubits

Qubit initialization is a critical task in quantum computation and communication. Extensive efforts have been made to achieve this with high speed, efficiency and scalability. However, previous approaches have either been measurement-based and required fast feedback, suffered from crosstalk or required sophisticated calibration. Here, we report a fast and high-fidelity reset scheme, avoiding the issues above without any additional chip architecture. By modulating the flux through a transmon qubit, we realize a swap between the qubit and its readout resonator that suppresses the excited state population to 0.08% $\pm$ 0.08% within 34 ns (284 ns if photon depletion of the resonator is required). Furthermore, our approach (i) can achieve effective second excited state depletion, (ii) has negligible effects on neighbouring qubits, and (iii) offers a way to entangle the qubit with an itinerant single photon, useful in quantum communication applications.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figure

Enhancing plasma-catalytic toluene oxidation: Unraveling the role of Lewis-acid sites on δ-MnO2

The emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air, primarily due to human activities, has caused significant environmental pollution and health concerns. In response, the development of advanced environmental catalysts is crucial, and δ-MnO2 has emerged as a promising material for efficient VOC oxidation. However, the identification of the specific active sites and the underlying oxidation mechanisms of this material remain unclear, hindering the development and optimization of high-activity catalysts. Herein, we present a strategy to remove the internal water and hydrated cations from δ-MnO2, thereby unblocking the inter-lamellar gaps and exposing the internal Lewis-acid sites, while maintaining other physical and chemical characteristics of the sample unchanged. Notably, the well-defined δ-MnO2 catalysts with more accessible interlayer Lewis-acid sites exhibited significantly enhanced catalytic activity in toluene oxidation, demonstrated in both two-stage plasma catalysis and single-stage ozonation processes. A quantitative analysis of Lewis-acid sites and initial toluene reaction rates revealed that these Lewis-acid sites serve as the active centers for toluene adsorption and activation, and the heterogeneous reaction between toluene and ozone follows the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. Moreover, in-depth analysis of byproducts showed that δ-MnO2 rich in Lewis-acid sites promoted the oxidation of intermediates, such as esters, hydrazides, and ketones, leading to a more complete toluene oxidation. This work not only fully explores the potential of δ-MnO2 as a catalyst, but also provides valuable insights into the elucidation of unknown catalytic active sites, potentially paving the way for the rational design of more efficient catalysts for VOC oxidation

The role of Akkermansia muciniphila in inflammatory bowel disease: Current knowledge and perspectives

Inflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is a chronic relapsing gastrointestinal inflammatory disease mediated by dysregulated immune responses to resident intestinal microbiota. Current conventional approaches including aminosalicylates, corticosteroids, immunosuppressive agents, and biological therapies are focused on reducing intestinal inflammation besides inducing and maintaining disease remission, and managing complications. However, these therapies are not curative and are associated with various limitations, such as drug resistance, low responsiveness and adverse events. Recent accumulated evidence has revealed the involvement of mucin-degrading bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila (A. muciniphila) in the regulation of host barrier function and immune response, and how reduced intestinal colonisation of probiotic A. muciniphila can contribute to the process and development of inflammatory bowel diseases, suggesting that it may be a potential target and promising strategy for the therapy of inflammatory bowel disease. In this review, we summarise the current knowledge of the role of A. muciniphila in IBD, especially focusing on the related mechanisms, as well as the strategies based on supplementation with A. muciniphila, probiotics and prebiotics, natural diets, drugs, and herbs to promote its colonisation in the gut, and holds promise for A. muciniphila-targeted and -based therapies in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

DNA-directed nanofabrication of high-performance carbon nanotube field-effect transistors

生物自组装结构具有精细的三维形貌，其关键结构参数小于光刻等传统纳米加工手段的分辨率极限。利用自组装的生物分子为加工模板，已经实现了金属、碳基、氧化物等材料的形貌可控合成。然而，基于生物模板的电学器件，其性能往往远落后于通过蚀刻或薄膜方法制备的同类器件，并且缺乏长程取向规整性，制约了生物模板在高性能器件中的应用。针对上述挑战，我校化学化工学院朱志教授课题组与北京大学孙伟研究员课题组、清华大学唐建石研究员课题组、美国国家标准与技术研究院郑明博士合作，探索了生物-碳纳米管复合界面及大面积取向排列的调控新方法。北京大学孙伟研究员团队长期从事核酸引导的精准纳米组装研究，厦门大学朱志教授团队长期从事微纳加工及微流控研究，双方紧密合作，优势互补，联合清华大学和美国国家标准与技术研究院等多团队联合攻关完成该工作。共同第一作者厦门大学化学化工学院2011协同创新中心博士研究生陈雅鸿负责了碳纳米管组装及大面积阵列化工作，孙伟研究员和朱志教授为论文的共同通讯作者。Biofabricated semiconductor arrays exhibit smaller channel pitches than existing lithographic feasibility. However, the metal ions within biolattices and the submicrometer dimensions of typical biotemplates result in both poor transport performance and small array uniformity. Using DNA-templated parallel carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays as model systems, we developed a rinsing-after-fixing approach to improve the key transport performance metrics by more than a factor of 10 folds over previous biotemplated field-effect transistors. We also used spatially confined placement of assembled CNT arrays within polymethyl methacrylate cavities to demonstrate centimeter-scale alignment. At the interface of high-performance electronics and biomolecular self-assembly, current approaches may enable scalable biotemplated electronics sensitive to local biological environments.W.S.,M.Z., Y.C., K.W., and Z.Z. acknowledge the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21875003, 21991134, and 61621061) and PKU for financial support. Y.C., C.Y., and Z.Z. acknowledge the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21775128, 21435004, and 21974113) for financial support. J.K.S., J.A.F., and M.Z. acknowledge NIST internal fund. 该研究工作得到国家自然科学基金等资助

Sensing Characteristics of Fiber Fabry-Perot Sensors Based on Polymer Materials

A simple optic-fiber Fabry-Perot (FP) sensing technique was proposed and experimentally investigated by using polymer material to connect the ends of two singlemode fibers. Four different polymer materials (benzocyclobutene (BCB), UV88 (Relentless, China), Loctite3525 (HenKel, Germany), and NOA68 (Norland, USA)) filling the FP cavity were used to comparatively study the sensing performance of temperature, strain and refractive index. The result shows that the FP sensor with BCB has excellent repeatability with good linear response to temperature in a wide range from room temperature to 250 ◦C, which is much larger than that of other three materials (<90 ◦C), while UV88 with a cost of less than 1/10 of the other three polymer materials has the best sensitivity to strain and temperature. In addition, the FP sensor was firstly applied to measure ultraviolet (UV) light ntensity. The test results demonstrate that the proposed FP sensor structure has a good linear response and repeatability to UV intensity for all four polymer materials, and Loctite3525 has the highest sensitivity (0.0087 nm/(mw/cm2)) and the best repeatability among the four polymer materials

The Chinese Open Science Network (COSN): Building an Open Science Community From Scratch

Open Science is becoming a mainstream scientific ideology in psychology and related fields. However, researchers, especially early-career researchers (ECRs) in developing countries, are facing significant hurdles in engaging in Open Science and moving it forward. In China, various societal and cultural factors discourage ECRs from participating in Open Science, such as the lack of dedicated communication channels and the norm of modesty. To make the voice of Open Science heard by Chinese-speaking ECRs and scholars at large, the Chinese Open Science Network (COSN) was initiated in 2016. With its core values being grassroots-oriented, diversity, and inclusivity, COSN has grown from a small Open Science interest group to a recognized network both in the Chinese-speaking research community and the international Open Science community. So far, COSN has organized three in-person workshops, 12 tutorials, 48 talks, and 55 journal club sessions and translated 15 Open Science-related articles and blogs from English to Chinese. Currently, the main social media account of COSN (i.e., the WeChat Official Account) has more than 23,000 subscribers, and more than 1,000 researchers/students actively participate in the discussions on Open Science. In this article, we share our experience in building such a network to encourage ECRs in developing countries to start their own Open Science initiatives and engage in the global Open Science movement. We foresee great collaborative efforts of COSN together with all other local and international networks to further accelerate the Open Science movement

Multi-slot Channel Allocation for Priority Packet Transmission in the GPRS network

In the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network, data packets from services like mobility management and ldquopush-to-talkrdquo (PTT) are sensitive to delay. During the channel allocation process, the delay-sensitive packets should have higher priority than other packets. Previously priority queue and Uplink State Flag Channel Allocation (USFCA) have been used to reduce the transmission delay of priority packets. In this paper, we study the performance of channel allocation for priority packet in the GPRS network with multi-slot capability. The results show that the transmission delay of priority packet can be further reduced by assigning multiple channels to priority packet in addition to the use of priority queue and USFCA