Evaluate and Guard the Wisdom of Crowds: Zero Knowledge Proofs for Crowdsourcing Truth Inference

Due to the risks of correctness and security in outsourced cloud computing, we consider a new paradigm called crowdsourcing: distribute tasks, receive answers and aggregate the results from multiple entities. Through this approach, we can aggregate the wisdom of the crowd to complete tasks, ensuring the accuracy of task completion while reducing the risks posed by the malicious acts of a single entity. However, the ensuing question is, how can we ensure that the aggregator has done its work honestly and each contributor's work has been evaluated fairly? In this paper, we propose a new scheme called $\mathsf{zkTI}$. This scheme ensures that the aggregator has honestly completed the aggregation and each data source is fairly evaluated. We combine a cryptographic primitive called \textit{zero-knowledge proof} with a class of \textit{truth inference algorithms} which is widely studied in AI/ML scenarios. Under this scheme, various complex outsourced tasks can be solved with efficiency and accuracy. To build our scheme, a novel method to prove the precise computation of floating-point numbers is proposed, which is nearly optimal and well-compatible with existing argument systems. This may become an independent point of interest. Thus our work can prove the process of aggregation and inference without loss of precision. We fully implement and evaluate our ideas. Compared with recent works, our scheme achieves $2-4 \times$ efficiency improvement and is robust to be widely applied

Effect of Laser Irradiation on sIg A and Mucosa Structure of Upper Respiratory Tract with Six-week Incremental Exercise

[Objective] Mucosal immune suppression, with chronic intensive exercise, can be associated with an increased risk of upper respiratory tract infections, which should be related to the deterioration of the nasal mucosa structure. This study aimed to observe the change of nasal mucosa structure with 6-week incremental exercise, and to explore the effect of low level laser irradiation on nasal mucosa structure and mucosal immune function. [Methods] 40 Sprague–Dawle rats, aged 8 weeks, were divided into 4 groups : Control, Exercise, Low power (4mw, 12.23 J/cm2) and High power laser (6mw, 18.34J/cm2) groups. Incremental treadmill exercise protocols: successive 6 weeks, 6 days/week, 30min /day. 10 m/min velocity during wk1, 20 m for wk2, with 5m/min/wk increment following weeks. The treatment of low level laser as following: He-Ne laser (0.19625 cm2 ), two irradiation point of nasal ala, 6-week duration, 6 days/wk, 2 times/day; 5min/time. Samples were taken pre and post 6-week exercise. Structure of mucosa of nose was observed by HE staining and sIgA tested by ELISA. [Results] 1) following changes occurred in Exercise group after 6-wk exercise: nasal mucosa was seriously damaged and cilia layer of free edge fell essentially off. And mucous degeneration, necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration were observed. 2）compared with exercise group, significant improvement was found with laser treatment. 3) sIgA with different groups saw as Table 1. Table 1 sIgA changes after 6-wk exercise groups Control Exercise Low dose laser High dose laser sIgA(μg/ml) 52.92±6.69 50.20±4.76 70.77±4.24 73.71±3.91* * P\u3c0.05 [Conclusion] The long-term high-intensity exercise training would lead to destruction of nasal mucosa structure, and low energy laser irradiation had a beneficial effect on sIgA and nasal mucosa structure

A photo-responsive F-box protein FOF2 regulates floral initiation by promoting FLC expression in Arabidopsis.

Floral initiation is regulated by various genetic pathways in response to light, temperature, hormones and developmental status; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the interactions between different genetic pathways are not fully understood. Here, we show that the photoresponsive gene FOF2 (F-box of flowering 2) negatively regulates flowering. FOF2 encodes a putative F-box protein that interacts specifically with ASK14, and its overexpression results in later flowering under both long-day and short-day photoperiods. Conversely, transgenic plants expressing the F-box domain deletion mutant of FOF2 (FOF2ΔF), or double loss of function mutant of FOF2 and FOL1 (FOF2-LIKE 1) present early flowering phenotypes. The late flowering phenotype of the FOF2 overexpression lines is suppressed by the flc-3 loss-of-function mutation. Furthermore, FOF2 mRNA expression is regulated by autonomous pathway gene FCA, and the repressive effect of FOF2 in flowering can be overcome by vernalization. Interestingly, FOF2 expression is regulated by light. The protein level of FOF2 accumulates in response to light, whereas it is degraded under dark conditions via the 26S proteasome pathway. Our findings suggest a possible mechanistic link between light conditions and the autonomous floral promotion pathway in Arabidopsis

Involvement of Fenton chemistry in rice straw degradation by the lignocellulolytic bacterium Pantoea ananatis Sd-1

Additional file 7: Table S2. Primers used for quantitative real time-PCR

Scalable Collaborative zk-SNARK: Fully Distributed Proof Generation and Malicious Security

The notion of collaborative zk-SNARK is introduced by Ozdemir and Boneh (USENIX 2022), which allows multiple parties to jointly create a zk-SNARK proof over distributed secrets (also known as the witness). This approach ensures the privacy of the witness, as no corrupted servers involved in the proof generation can learn anything about the honest servers\u27 witness. Later, Garg et al. continued the study, focusing on how to achieve faster proof generation (USENIX 2023). However, their approach requires a powerful server that is responsible for the most resource-intensive computations and communications during the proof generation. This requirement results in a scalability bottleneck, making their protocols unable to handle large-scale circuits. In this work, we address this issue by lifting a zk-SNARK called Libra (Crypto 2019) to a collaborative zk-SNARK and achieve a fully distributed proof generation, where all servers take roughly the same portion of the total workload. Further, our protocol can be adapted to be secure against a malicious adversary by incorporating some verification mechanisms. With 128 consumer machines and a 4Gbps network, we successfully generate a proof for a data-parallel circuit containing $2^{23}$ gates in merely 2.5 seconds and take only 0.5 GB memory for each server. This represents a $19\times$ speed-up, compared to a local Libra prover. Our benchmark further indicates an impressive 877$\times$ improvement in running time and a 992$\times$ enhancement in communication compared to the implementation in previous work. Furthermore, our protocol is capable of handling larger circuits, making it scalable in practice

SmartZKCP: Towards Practical Data Exchange Marketplace Against Active Attacks

The trading of data is becoming increasingly important as it holds substantial value. A blockchain-based data marketplace can provide a secure and transparent platform for data exchange. To facilitate this, developing a fair data exchange protocol for digital goods has garnered considerable attention in recent decades. The Zero Knowledge Contingent Payment (ZKCP) protocol enables trustless fair exchanges with the aid of blockchain and zero-knowledge proofs. However, applying this protocol in a practical data marketplace is not trivial. In this paper, several potential attacks are identified when applying the ZKCP protocol in a practical public data marketplace. To address these issues, we propose SmartZKCP, an enhanced solution that offers improved security measures and increased performance. The protocol is formalized to ensure fairness and secure against potential attacks. Moreover, SmartZKCP offers efficiency optimizations and minimized communication costs. Evaluation results show that SmartZKCP is both practical and efficient, making it applicable in a data exchange marketplace

A DHHC-type zinc finger protein gene regulates shoot branching in Arabidopsis

Formation of plant architecture is a complicated biological phenomenon and is influenced by a variety of factors such as genotype, hormone, environment and nutrition. In this study, an activation-tagging mutant, scc10-D (suppressor of cry1cry2) grown in long-day (16-h light/8-h dark) condition showed enhanced shoot branching. The mRNA expression of six genes adjacent to the T-DNA insertion locus were analyzed by reverse  transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and the transcript level of a DHHC-type zinc finger protein gene, At5g04270, was found to increase markedly in the scc10-D mutant. The At5g04270 gene was then cloned and over-expressed in Arabidopsis. It was found that the At5g04270 over-expression lines had the features of enhanced shoot branching, while the T-DNA mutant of At5g04270 gene, SALK_006515, showed decreased shoot branching when compared to the wild type (WT). These results suggest that At5g04270 plays an important role in regulating shoot branching in Arabidopsis.Key words: Arabidopsis, DHHC-type zinc finger protein, At5g04270, shoot branching

The RALF1–FERONIA Complex Phosphorylates eIF4E1 to Promote Protein Synthesis and Polar Root Hair Growth

The molecular links between extracellular signals and the regulation of localized protein synthesis in plant cells are poorly understood. Here, we show that in Arabidopsis thaliana, the extracellular peptide RALF1 and its receptor, the FERONIA receptor kinase, promote root hair (RH) tip growth by modulating protein synthesis. We found that RALF1 promotes FERONIA-mediated phosphorylation of eIF4E1, a eukaryotic translation initiation factor that plays a crucial role in the control of mRNA translation rate. Phosphorylated eIF4E1 increases mRNA affinity and modulates mRNA translation and, thus, protein synthesis. The mRNAs targeted by the RALF1–FERONIA–eIF4E1 module include ROP2 and RSL4, which are important regulators of RH cell polarity and growth. RALF1 and FERONIA are expressed in a polar manner in RHs, which facilitate eIF4E1 polar localization and thus may control local ROP2 translation. Moreover, we demonstrated that high-level accumulation of RSL4 exerts negative-feedback regulation of RALF1 expression by directly binding the RALF1 gene promoter, determining the final RH size. Our study reveals that the link between RALF1–FERONIA signaling and protein synthesis constitutes a novel component regulating cell expansion in these polar growing cells.Fil: Zhu, Sirui. Hunan University; ChinaFil: Estevez, Jose Manuel. Universidad Andrés Bello; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Liao, Hongdong. Hunan University; ChinaFil: Zhu, Yonghua. Hunan University; ChinaFil: Yang, Tao. Central South University of Forestry and Technology; ChinaFil: Li, Chiyu. Hunan University; ChinaFil: Wang, Yichuan. Southern University of Science and Technology; ChinaFil: Li, Lan. Hunan University; ChinaFil: Liu, Xuanming. Hunan University; ChinaFil: Martinez Pacheco, Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Guo, Hongwei. Southern University of Science and Technology; ChinaFil: Yu, Feng. Hunan University; Chin