Electronic Control of Spin Alignment in pi-Conjugated Molecular Magnets

Intramolecular spin alignment in pi-conjugated molecules is studied theoretically in a model of a Peierls-Hubbard chain coupled with two localized spins. By means of the exact diagonalization technique, we demonstrate that a spin singlet (S=0) to quartet (S=3/2) transition can be induced by electronic doping, depending on the chain length, the positions of the localized spins, and the sign of the electron-spin coupling. The calculated results provides a theoretical basis for understanding the mechanism of spin alignment recently observed in a diradical donor molecule.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Physical Review Letters (in press

Forward-Secure Public Key Encryption without Key Update from Proof-of-Stake Blockchain

A forward-secure public-key encryption (PKE) scheme prevents eavesdroppers from decrypting past ciphertexts in order to mitigate the damage caused by a potential secret key compromise. In prior works, forward security in a non-interactive setting, such as forward-secure PKE, is achieved by constantly updating (secret) keys. In this paper, we formalize the notion of blockchain-based forward-secure PKE and show the feasibility of constructing a forward-secure PKE scheme without key update (i.e. both the public key and the secret key are immutable), assuming the existence of a proof-of-stake blockchain with the distinguishable forking property introduced by Goyal, et al. (TCC 2017). Our construction uses the proof-of-stake blockchain as an immutable decryption log and witness encryption by Garg, et al. (STOC 2013) to ensure that the same ciphertext cannot be decrypted twice, thereby rendering a compromised secret key useless with respect to decryption of past ciphertext the legitimate user has already decrypted

Prominin-1 Modulates Rho/ROCK-Mediated Membrane Morphology and Calcium-Dependent Intracellular Chloride Flux

Membrane morphology is an important structural determinant as it reflects cellular functions. The pentaspan membrane protein Prominin-1 (Prom1/CD133) is known to be localised to protrusions and plays a pivotal role in migration and the determination of cellular morphology; however, the underlying mechanism of its action have been elusive. Here, we performed molecular characterisation of Prom1, focussing primarily on its effects on cell morphology. Overexpression of Prom1 in RPE-1 cells triggers multiple, long, cholesterol-enriched fibres, independently of actin and microtubule polymerisation. A five amino acid stretch located at the carboxyl cytosolic region is essential for fibre formation. The small GTPase Rho and its downstream Rho-associated coiled-coil-containing protein kinase (ROCK) are also essential for this process, and active Rho colocalises with Prom1 at the site of initialisation of fibre formation. In mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells we show that Prom1 is required for chloride ion efflux induced by calcium ion uptake, and demonstrate that fibre formation is closely associated with chloride efflux activity. Collectively, these findings suggest that Prom1 affects cell morphology and contributes to chloride conductance

Ultrafast All-Polymer Paper-Based Batteries

Conducting polymers for battery applications have been subject to numerous investigations during the last two decades. However, the functional charging rates and the cycling stabilities have so far been found to be insufficient for practical applications. These shortcomings can, at least partially, be explained by the fact that thick layers of the conducting polymers have been used to obtain sufficient capacities of the batteries. In the present letter, we introduce a novel nanostructured high-surface area electrode material for energy storage applications composed of cellulose fibers of algal origin individually coated with a 50 nm thin layer of polypyrrole. Our results show the hitherto highest reported charge capacities and charging rates for an all polymer paper-based battery. The composite conductive paper material is shown to have a specific surface area of 80 m2 g-1 and batteries based on this material can be charged with currents as high as 600 mA cm-2 with only 6 % loss in capacity over 100 subsequent charge and discharge cycles. The aqueous-based batteries, which are entirely based on cellulose and polypyrrole and exhibit charge capacities between 25 and 33 mAh g-1 or 38-50 mAh g-1 per weight of the active material, open up new possibilities for the production of environmentally friendly, cost efficient, up-scalable and lightweight energy storage systems. There is currently a great interest in the development of thin, flexible, lightweight, and environmentally friendly batteries and supercapacitors.1 In this process, the preparation of novel redox polymer and electronically conducting polymer-base

Ciphertext-Policy Attribute Based Encryption Supporting Access Policy Update

Attribute-based encryption (ABE) allows one-to-many encryption with static access control. In many occasions, the access control policy must be updated and the original encryptor might be required to re-encrypt the message, which is impractical, since the encryptor might be unavailable. Unfortunately, to date the work in ABE does not consider this issue yet, and hence this hinders the adoption of ABE in practice. In this work, we consider how to efficiently update access policies in Ciphertext-policy Attribute-based Encryption (CP-ABE) systems without re-encryption. We introduce a new notion of CP-ABE supporting access policy update that captures the functionalities of attribute addition and revocation to access policies. We formalize the security requirements for this notion, and subsequently construct two provably secure CP-ABE schemes supporting AND-gate access policy with constant-size ciphertext for user decryption. The security of our schemes are proved under the Augmented Multi-sequences of Exponents Decisional Diffie-Hellman assumption

SMC complexes differentially compact mitotic chromosomes according to genomic context

Structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) protein complexes are key determinants of chromosome conformation. Using Hi-C and polymer modelling, we study how cohesin and condensin, two deeply conserved SMC complexes, organize chromosomes in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The canonical role of cohesin is to co-align sister chromatids, while condensin generally compacts mitotic chromosomes. We find strikingly different roles for the two complexes in budding yeast mitosis. First, cohesin is responsible for compacting mitotic chromosome arms, independently of sister chromatid cohesion. Polymer simulations demonstrate that this role can be fully accounted for through cis-looping of chromatin. Second, condensin is generally dispensable for compaction along chromosome arms. Instead, it plays a targeted role compacting the rDNA proximal regions and promoting resolution of peri-centromeric regions. Our results argue that the conserved mechanism of SMC complexes is to form chromatin loops and that distinct SMC-dependent looping activities are selectively deployed to appropriately compact chromosomes