Bound entangled states with nonzero distillable key rate

In this paper, we present sufficient conditions for states to have positive distillable key rate. Exploiting the conditions, we show that the bound entangled states given by Horodecki et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 160502 (2005), quant-ph/0506203] have nonzero distillable key rate, and finally exhibit a new class of bound entangled states with positive distillable key rate, but with negative Devetak-Winter lower bound of distillable key rate for the ccq states of their privacy squeezed versions.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, typos corrected, accepted for publication in PR

Grit, Mindsets, and Persistence of Engineering Students

Undergraduate engineering programs in the United States suffer from high rates of attrition. To develop the knowledge base that can inform efforts to reduce attrition rates, I conducted three studies focused on helping students persist in engineering. In the first study, I investigated whether grit would help students persist in engineering. In the second study, I explored the gritty behaviors of engineering students who persisted through academic failures. In the third study, I developed an intervention to encourage students to adopt healthy learning dispositions and behaviors to help them persist in engineering. The first study investigates whether a noncognitive factor called Grit could predict engineering retention. Specifically, I explored whether Grit predicts one- and two-year engineering retention, and whether student characteristics and academic performance affect the relationship between Grit and retention. I aggregated data from two first-year engineering cohorts who enrolled in a large public university in Fall 2014 and in Fall 2015. I used binary logistic regression to predict retention with Grit and its two subscales, Perseverance of Effort (PE) and Consistency of Interest (CI), gender, socioeconomic status, ACT math, high school grade-point-average (GPA), first math grade in college, first-semester GPA, first-year cumulative GPA, and second-year cumulative GPA. Grit and second-year cumulative GPA were significant predictors for two-year retention but not one-year retention. PE was a better predictor of retention than Grit for both one- and two-year retention, whereas CI was not a significant predictor of retention at all. Additionally, ACT math, high school GPA, first-semester GPA, and first-year cumulative GPA were significant predictors for both one- and two-year retention. Grit’s utility in predicting engineering retention relies on the PE construct. I recommend more research on the CI construct to better understand how it relates to Grit and success. Though PE is a statistically significant predictor of retention, estimates of predictive power suggest that PE should not be used to predict engineering retention. The second study explores the gritty behaviors of engineering students who persisted through academic failures. Academic failures can influence students to depart from engineering programs. In addition, researchers have identified many reasons for why students depart from engineering including perceived academic difficulty, chilly climates, and poor teaching and advising. However, the problems that departers experience are not unique to them; persisters share the same kinds of problems. To better understand the experience of persisters, I explored the experiences of persisting engineering students who had previously failed a required technical course. I used phenomenography as the qualitative research method to construct categories of description that describe the variety of ways persisting engineering students experienced academic failures. Based on 26 student interviews, I constructed four categories to describe their failure experiences: Unresponsive, Avoidant, Floundering, and Rebounding. Also, I found that students do not always experience failure the same way every time; they can experience failure differently for different instances of failure. Based on our findings, I recommend that failure be normalized in engineering education, and that course and program policies be revised to promote learning from failure. The third study entails the development of a course to encourage students to adopt healthy learning dispositions and behaviors to help them persist in engineering. Healthy learning dispositions encompass attitudes and beliefs that promote learning. Healthy learning behaviors comprise actions such as planning, monitoring, and reflecting that produce effective learning. I used the design-based research methodology to bridge from laboratory studies to classroom implementation. Following design-based research, I used the Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change to guide this translation of theories related to healthy learning dispositions and behaviors into the design of the course. I found that this course helped students adopt the growth mindset and that elements of course design helped students engage in several processes of change. This study demonstrates that theory-informed interventions, like this course, can be effective in helping students adopt healthy learning dispositions. However, more research is needed to help students adopt healthy academic behaviors.National Science Foundation / DUE-1626287Campus Research Board, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign / RB15010Ope

Quantum states for perfectly secure secret sharing

In this work, we investigate what kinds of quantum states are feasible to perform perfectly secure secret sharing, and present its necessary and sufficient conditions. We also show that the states are bipartite distillable for all bipartite splits, and hence the states could be distillable into the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state. We finally exhibit a class of secret-sharing states, which have an arbitrarily small amount of bipartite distillable entanglement for a certain split.Comment: 4 page

Lattice Based Cryptography for Beginners

The purpose of this lecture note is to introduce lattice based cryptography, which is thought to be a cryptosystem of post-quantum age. We have tried to give as many details possible specially for novice on the subject. Something may be trivial to an expert but not to a novice. Many fundamental problems about lattice are thought to be hard even against quantum computer, compared to factorization problem which can be solved easily with quantum computer, via the celebrated Shor factorization quantum algorithm. The first part of our presentation is based on slides of Christ Peikert 2013 Bonn lecture (crypt@b-it2013). We, more or less, give somewhat detailed explanation of Professor Peikert\u27s lecture slides. We unfortunately could not attend his Bonn class. We are afraid that there are many mistakes in this note; if any, they are due to our misunderstanding of the material. Part II of our lecture note is on ring LWE, based on the paper ``A tool-kit for Ring-LWE Cryptography by Lyubashevsky, Peikert and Regev. Part III is about multilinear maps together with cryptanalysis of GGH map due to Hu and Jia. Our presentation follows professor Steinfeld\u27s lecture slides on GGHLite, and the paper by Yupu Hu and Huiwen Jia. When you read this lecture note, the corresponding original paper should be accompanied. We thank professor Jung Hee Cheon for introducing the subject and asking Dong Pyo Chi to give a lecture on the subject at the department of mathematics in Seoul National University. We also thank Hyeongkwan Kim for many helps, especially many corrections and improvements of the manuscript during the 2015 Summer session at UNIST. We also thank the students who took the classes at SNU and UNIST. The lecture was given by a novice for novice, so many mistakes are unavoidable. If the reader lets us know any errors, we will very much appreciate it

Elevated CO2 may alter pheromonal communication in Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Carbon dioxide (CO2) as a greenhouse gas has been increasing in recent decades. Because an elevated atmospheric CO2 influences insect physiology and behaviour, we hypothesize that pheromone-mediated communication in the moth is affected by an increased CO2 level. We test the behavioural responses of male Helicoverpa armigera to sex pheromone in a wind tunnel, demonstrating a significant reduction of approaching behaviour to the odour source at a high CO2 level (1000ppm). Electroantennogram (EAG) responses of male to the pheromone component are also significantly suppressed in high CO2 environments (600 and 1000ppm), indicating that a high CO2 level inhibits both behavioural and electrophysiological responses of male to the sex pheromone. Interestingly, the EAG response of the whole head preparation of males is influenced more by the elevated CO2 level than that of the antenna-cut preparation. A sequential increase of CO2 levels from an ambient CO2 level also decreases the EAG response of the whole head but not of the labial palp-removed head, implying a potential mediation of labial palp in the head where the CO2 receptor is located. By contrast, sex pheromone production in females reared under or shifted to an elevated CO2 condition is increased, and the putative underlying mechanism for this is discussed. The present study provides an insight into the adaptive strategy of moth pheromone communication in a changing environment

Implication of ADAM-8, -9, -10, -12, -15, -17, and ADAMTS-1 in Implantational Remodeling of a Mouse Uterus

In the present study, whether the ADAM-8, -9, -10, -12, -15, -17, and ADAMTS-1 proteins might play a role in mouse uterus during periimplantation period was investigated. Immunoblotting analyses demonstrated that all ADAM proteins consistently appeared throughout days 1 to 8 of pregnancy but with a variation depending on the species of ADAM gene, the progression of pregnancy, and the site of the uterus. Immunohistochemical analyses indicated that ADAM proteins were localized in the luminal or glandular epithelial layers with a varying intensity depending on the species of ADAM and the progression of pregnancy. Particularly ADAM-8, -12, and -15, were predominantly located in the implantation site of the uterine tissues, whereas little or no protein was localized in the interimplantation site. Based upon these observations, it is suggested that the ADAMs might play an important role in the remodeling of the mouse uterus during the periimplantation period

The Rescue on Reperfusion Damage in Cerebral Infarction by Nelonemdaz (RODIN) Trial: Protocol for a Double-Blinded Clinical Trial of Nelonemdaz in Patients with Hyperacute Ischemic Stroke and Endovascular Thrombectomy

Background and Purpose Nelonemdaz (Neu2000) has both selective antagonism against 2B subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor and antioxidant activity. This drug provides sufficient evidence of neuroprotection in acute cerebral ischemia/reperfusion models. This phase III trial aims to determine this effect in patients. Design The Rescue on Reperfusion Damage in Cerebral Infarction by Nelonemdaz is a multicenter, double-blinded clinical trial. A total of 496 patients will be randomly assigned into the nelonemdaz (a total of 5,250 mg divided by 10 times for 5 days) and placebo groups. Patients will be included if they have an acute ischemic stroke (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score ≥8) caused by intracranial large vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation (Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score ≥4), and if they are expected to undergo endovascular thrombectomy within 12 hours after stroke onset. Endpoints The primary endpoint is a favorable shift in the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at 90 days after the first dose of drug. The data will be analyzed by the Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel shift test. The secondary endpoints include functional independence (mRS 0–2) at 35 and 90 days, the favorable shift of mRS at 35 days, the proportion of mRS 0 at 35 and 90 days, and the occurrence rates of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage within 7 days. Conclusion This trial will clarify the efficacy and safety of nelonemdaz in patients with acute ischemic stroke and endovascular thrombectomy. This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials. gov (NCT05041010)

Genotypic Heterogeneity of Orientia tsutsugamushi in Scrub Typhus Patients and Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Co-infection, Myanmar

Serologic and molecular surveillance of serum collected from 152 suspected scrub typhus patients in Myanmar revealed Orientia tsutsugamushi of genotypic heterogeneity. In addition, potential co-infection with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus was observed in 5 (3.3%) patients. Both scrub typhus and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome are endemic in Myanmar.Y