A Scale-out Decentralized Blockchain Ledger System for Web3.0

The development of underlying technologies in blockchain mostly revolves around a difficult problem: how to enhance the performance of the system and reduce various costs of nodes (such as communication, storage and verification) without compromising the system's security and decentralization. Various layer-1 and layer-2 protocols have provided excellent solutions for this challenge. However, they cannot yet be considered as a ``silver bullet". This paper proposes EZchain -- a novel decentralized ``scale-out" ledger system designed for web3.0, aiming to enable blockchain technology to truly support ledger applications in large-scale fully decentralized networks. Without compromising security and decentralization, EZchain successfully accomplishes the following milestones: 1) Scalability: The theoretical throughput of EZchain can be infinitely expanded, nearly unaffected by bandwidth and other resource constraints. 2) Consumer-Grade Hardware Compatibility: EZchain is designed to be compatible with consumer-grade hardware, supporting storage, computation, and verification requirements. 3) Efficient Transaction Confirmation: EZchain strives to maintain transaction confirmation delays within one minute. Our prototype experiment demonstrates that under typical daily bandwidth network conditions, EZchain's performance in all aspects approaches that of the accounts in centralized payment systems. This provides a solid infrastructure for realizing mobile payments in web3.0

Rice microtubule‐associated protein IQ67‐DOMAIN14 regulates rice grain shape by modulating microtubule cytoskeleton dynamics

Cortical microtubule (MT) arrays play a critical role in plant cell shape determination by defining the direction of cell expansion. As plants continuously adapt to ever‐changing environmental conditions, multiple environmental and developmental inputs need to be translated into changes of the MT cytoskeleton. Here, we identify and functionally characterize an auxin‐inducible and MT‐localized protein OsIQ67‐DOMAIN14 (OsIQD14), which is highly expressed in rice seed hull cells. We show that while deficiency of OsIQD14 results in short and wide seeds and increases overall yield, overexpression leads to narrow and long seeds, caused by changed MT alignment. We further show that OsIQD14‐mediated MT reordering is regulated by specifically affecting MT dynamics, and ectopic expression of OsIQD14 in Arabidopsis could change the cell shape both in pavement cells and hypocotyl cells. Additionally, OsIQD14 activity is tightly controlled by calmodulin proteins, providing an alternative way to modify the OsIQD14 activity. Our results indicate that OsIQD14 acts as a key factor in regulating MT rearrangements in rice hull cells and hence the grain shape, and allows effective local cell shape manipulation to improve the rice yield trait

Generating multi-atom entangled W states via light-matter interface based fusion mechanism

W state is a key resource in quantum communication. Fusion technology has been proven to be a good candidate for preparing a large-size W state from two or more small-size W states in linear optical system. It is of great importance to study how to fuse W states via light-matter interface. Here we show that it is possible to prepare large-size W-state networks using a fusion mechanism in cavity QED system. The detuned interaction between three atoms and a vacuum cavity mode constitute the main fusion mechanism, based on which two or three small-size atomic W states can be fused into a larger-size W state. If no excitation is detected from those three atoms, the remaining atoms are still in the product of two or three new W states, which can be re-fused. The complicated Fredkin gate used in the previous fusion schemes is avoided here. W states of size 2 can be fused as well. The feasibility analysis shows that our fusion processes maybe implementable with the current technology. Our results demonstrate how the light-matter interaction based fusion mechanism can be realized, and may become the starting point for the fusion of multipartite entanglement in cavity QED system.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Gauged Global Strings

We investigate the string solutions and cosmological implications of the gauge ${\rm U(1)_Z}\,\times$ global ${\rm U(1)_{PQ}}$ model. With two hierarchical symmetry-breaking scales, the model exhibits three distinct string solutions: a conventional global string, a global string with a heavy core, and a gauge string as a bound state of the two global strings. This model reveals rich phenomenological implications in cosmology. During the evolution of the universe, these three types of strings can form a Y-junction configuration. Intriguingly, when incorporating this model with the QCD axion framework, the heavy-core global strings emit more axion particles compared to conventional axion cosmic strings due to their higher tension. This radiation significantly enhances the QCD axion dark matter abundance, thereby opening up the QCD axion mass window. Consequently, axions with masses exceeding $\sim 10^{-5}\, {\rm eV}$ have the potential to constitute the whole dark matter abundance. Furthermore, in contrast to conventional gauge strings, the gauge strings in this model exhibit a distinctive behavior by radiating axions.Comment: 36 pages, 8 figure

Cell- and subcellular organelle-targeting nanoparticle-mediated breast cancer therapy

Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent malignant tumor, surpassing lung cancer as the most frequent malignancy in women. Drug resistance, metastasis, and immune escape are the major factors affecting patient survival and represent a huge challenge in BC treatment in clinic. The cell- and subcellular organelle-targeting nanoparticles-mediated targeted BC therapy may be an effective modality for immune evasion, metastasis, and drug resistance. Nanocarriers, efficiently delivering small molecules and macromolecules, are used to target subcellular apparatuses with excellent targeting, controlled delivery, and fewer side effects. This study summarizes and critically analyzes the latest organic nanoparticle-mediated subcellular targeted therapeutic based on chemotherapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy, and combination therapy in detail, and discusses the challenges and opportunities of nanoparticle therapy