Quantum Pseudorandom Scramblers

Quantum pseudorandom state generators (PRSGs) have stimulated exciting developments in recent years. A PRSG, on a fixed initial (e.g., all-zero) state, produces an output state that is computationally indistinguishable from a Haar random state. However, pseudorandomness of the output state is not guaranteed on other initial states. In fact, known PRSG constructions provably fail on some initial state. In this work, we propose and construct quantum Pseudorandom State Scramblers (PRSSs), which can produce a pseudorandom state on an arbitrary initial state. In the information-theoretical setting, we obtain a scrambler which maps an arbitrary initial state to a distribution of quantum states that is close to Haar random in total variation distance. As a result, our PRSS exhibits a dispersing property. Loosely, it can span an $\epsilon$-net of the state space. This significantly strengthens what standard PRSGs can induce, as they may only concentrate on a small region of the state space as long as the average output state approximates a Haar random state in total variation distance. Our PRSS construction develops a parallel extension of the famous Kac's walk, and we show that it mixes exponentially faster than the standard Kac's walk. This constitutes the core of our proof. We also describe a few applications of PRSSs. While our PRSS construction assumes a post-quantum one-way function, PRSSs are potentially a weaker primitive and can be separated from one-way functions in a relativized world similar to standard PRSGs

Research on Environmental Information Disclosure Mechanism and Development Status of Automobile Enterprises in China

Firstly analyzed the progress of environmental information disclosure at home and abroad, and elaborated on the shortcomings of environmental information disclosure in China. Secondly, based on foreign information disclosure experience and the actual development of China’s development of the automobile industry, an environmental information disclosure system for the Chinese automobile industry based on the participation of multiple entities is proposed. Finally, by setting indicators for the whole life cycle, the environmental information disclosure of automobile companies is analyzed from different angles

The role of leadership level in college students’ facial emotion recognition: evidence from event-related potential analysis

Abstract While the role of emotion in leadership practice is well-acknowledged, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the behavioral distinctions between individuals with varying levels of leadership and the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms at play. This study utilizes facial emotion recognition in conjunction with electroencephalograms to explore the temporal dynamics of facial emotion recognition processes among college students with high and low levels of leadership. The results showed no significant differences in the amplitude of P1 during the early stage of facial emotion recognition between the two groups. In the middle stage of facial emotion recognition, the main effect of group was significant on the N170 component, with higher N170 amplitude evoked in high-leadership students than low-leadership students. In the late stage of facial emotion recognition, low-leadership students evoked greater LPP amplitude in the temporal-parietal lobe when recognizing happy facial emotions compared to high-leadership students. In addition, time–frequency results revealed a difference in the alpha frequency band, with high-leadership students exhibiting lower alpha power than low-leadership students. The results suggest differences in the brain temporal courses of facial emotion recognition between students with different leadership levels, which are mainly manifested in the middle stage of structural encoding and the late stage of delicate emotional processing during facial emotion recognition

iTEP Nanoparticle-Delivered Salinomycin Displays an Enhanced Toxicity to Cancer Stem Cells in Orthotopic Breast Tumors

Salinomycin (Sali) has selective toxicity to cancer stem cells (CSCs), a subpopulation of cancer cells that have been recently linked with tumor multidrug resistance (MDR). To utilize its selective toxicity for cancer therapy, we sought to devise a nanoparticle (NP) carrier to deliver Sali to solid tumors through the enhanced permeability and retention effect and, hence, to increase its exposure to CSCs. First, hydrophobic Sali was conjugated to a hydrophilic, immune-tolerant, elastin-like polypeptide (iTEP); the amphiphilic iTEP–Sali conjugates self-assemble into NPs. Next, free Sali was encapsulated into the NPs alone or with two additives, <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>-dimethylhexylamine (DMHA) and α-tocopherol. The coencapsulation significantly improved the loading efficiency and release profile of Sali. The resulting NPs of the coencapsulation, termed as iTEP–Sali NP3s, have an <i>in vitro</i> release half-life of 4.1 h, four times longer than iTEP–Sali NP2s, the NPs that have encapsulated Sali only. Further, the NP3 formulation increases the plasma area under curve and the tumor accumulation of Sali by 10 and 2.4 times, respectively. Lastly, these improved pharmacokinetic and tumor accumulation profiles are consistent with a boost of CSC-elimination effect of Sali <i>in vivo</i>. In NP3-treated 4T1 orthotopic tumors, the mean CSC frequency is 55.62%, a significant reduction from the mean frequencies of untreated tumors, 75.00%, or free Sali-treated tumors, 64.32%. The CSC-elimination effect of the NP3 can further translate to a delay of tumor growth. Given the role of CSCs in driving tumor MDR and recurrence, it could be a promising strategy to add the NP3 to conventional cancer chemotherapies to prevent or reverse the MDR

Assessing the decarbonization potential of China’s light-duty truck fleet by electrification

Light-duty trucks (LDTs) play an important role in last-mile delivery. To assess the CO2 mitigation potential of the electrification pathway of the LDT fleet in China, a dynamic fleet-based life cycle assessment model is developed. Four scenarios with different electrification progress are designed to evaluate the LDT stock growth, energy demand and the life cycle CO2 emissions quantitatively. The results show that LDT stock will increase to about 38 million in 2050. Energy demand and life cycle CO2 emissions of the LDT fleet can be greatly reduced with the increase in the proportion of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the LDT stock. The electrification mitigation benefit obtained from the fuel cycle will eventually outweigh the additional CO2 emissions generated by the vehicle cycle, especially in the long term with a cleaner power grid and a higher proportion of BEV in the LDT stock

Pneumatosis intestinalis post steroid use in a patient with immune-related adverse events: Case report, literature review and FAERS analysis

Introduction: The accurate diagnosis of pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) is increasing despite patients’ limited identification of etiologic factors. Recently a patient with lung squamous carcinoma who developed pneumatosis intestinalis following methylprednisolone administration for immune-related adverse events was treated at our hospital. Subsequent a literature review and an analysis of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database enabled the identification of additional cases of pneumatosis intestinalis.Methods: A literature review of the MEDLINE/PubMed and Web of Science Core Collection databases using standard pneumatosis intestinalis search terms to identify published cases of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) or steroids causing pneumatosis intestinalis were performed. A separate retrospective pharmacovigilance study of FAERS enabled the extraction of unpublished cases of pneumatosis intestinalis between the first quarter of 2005 and the third quarter of 2022. Disproportionality and Bayesian analyses were performed to identify signal detection in reported odds ratios, proportional reporting ratios, information components, and empirical Bayesian geometric means.Results: Ten case reports of steroid-related pneumatosis intestinalis were retrieved from six published studies. The implicated drug therapies included pre-treatment with steroids before chemotherapy, combination therapy with cytotoxic agents and steroids, and monotherapy with steroids. In the FAERS pharmacovigilance study, 1,272 cases of immune checkpoint inhibitors or steroid-related pneumatosis intestinalis were incidentally reported. The signal detected in five kinds of immune checkpoint inhibitors and six kinds of steroids implied a positive correlation between the drugs and adverse events.Conclusion: Steroids might be the etiologic factors in the current case of pneumatosis intestinalis. Reports supporting the role of steroids in suspected cases of pneumatosis intestinalis can be found in literature databases and the FAERS database. Even so, as documented in FAERS, immune checkpoint inhibitors-induced pneumatosis intestinalis should not be excluded

Research on carbon emission standards of automobile industry in BRI participating countries

As emerging markets, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) participating countries have great development room for automobile industries. Yet the greater climate change pressure may hinder the development of the upstream and downstream industries chain of domestic automobile industries. Therefore, a sound carbon emission standard system should be established to guide carbon emission accounting, emissions management and so on. This study selects Singapore, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Pakistan as the typical research objects, and thereby analyzes the development status of carbon emissions standards in BRI participating countries’ automobile industries from the perspective of standard type, standard name, vehicle model range, target value, accounting boundaries, etc. In this paper, standard types are categorized based on management objects, such as fuel standard and carbon emissions standard. The accounting boundary, namely, the scope included in management, is divided into driving phase, life cycle phase and so on. In the meanwhile, based on comparative analysis method, China, United States (US) and the European Union (EU) are selected as the control group to study the existing problems of the carbon emission standards in BRI participating countries. The results show that the automobile industry of the BRI participating countries is still facing several problems to be solved, such as the lack of low-carbon technology, technical standard system of carbon emission, and the targeted carbon reduction policy framework, etc. Based on the above analysis results, policy recommendations have been proposed based on two categories of BRI participating countries to give scientific and reasonable advice for the construction of carbon emission standards for automobile industry