Class Of Protocols Research Articles

Quantum Secret Reconstruction

AbstractIn addition to secret splitting, secret reconstruction is another important component of secret sharing. In this paper, the first quantum secret reconstruction protocol is proposed to protect the reconstruction process. Before the protocol, a classical secret is divided into multiple shares that are distributed to the shareholds, respectively. In the presented protocol, the dealer utilizes the secret to encrypt a privacy quantum state, and sends the encrypted state to a combiner who is chosen by the dealer within the shareholders. With the help of other shareholders, the combiner utilizes the properties of cluster states to recover the privacy quantum state. It is shown that the proposed protocol is secure against several common attacks, including external and internal attacks. Compared with classical secret reconstruction protocols, this protocol not only achieves information‐theoretic security of all shares, but is also more efficient due to the reduced distribution and computation cost. To demonstrate the feasibility of the protocol, a corresponding simulation quantum experiment is conducted on the IBM Q. Furthermore, in conjunction with quantum fingerprinting, it can be directly applied to achieve the task of quantum multiple secrets sharing, since the classical shares can be reused in the proposed protocol.

Fertility of Postpartum Iraqi Cows Following Timed Artificial Insemination within Ovsynch or Presynch Protocols

This investigation was carried out on privately owned dairy farms situated in Al-Anbar Province, Iraq, extending from June 2022 to March 2023. The objective of our study was to compare the calving interval (CI), days open (DO), and conception rate at first service (CRFS) between timed artificial insemination (TAI) within ovulation synchronization protocols and AI at estrus detection. Total cows (n = 80) 50–60 days postpartum were randomly divided. (1) AIED group (Control, n = 40) untreated cows received AI at the first observed estrus according to the a.m. /p.m. rule. (2) OVS group (n = 20) was treated with a classical Ovsynch protocol. (3) The PG+G group (n = 20) underwent resynchronization with PGF2 and GnRH at the same time 7 days later, then underwent an Ovsynch protocol. Pregnancy was confirmed using trans-rectal ultrasonography on day’s 30-35 post-insemination. The results of this study show that mean days of CI and DO for the control group were significantly longer than those in both the OVS group and the PG+G group (P < 0.01). Among all groups, the CRFS showed a significant difference (37.5%, P < 0.05). Separately, the CRFS for the control group was similar to the OVS group (respectively, 27.5% vs. 30%, P > 0.05). Whereas, the PG+G group had a 65% CRFS, which was significantly higher than the control (P < 0.01) and OVS (P < 0.05). In summary, ovulation synchronization protocols enable TAI earlier in the postpartum period, eliminating the need for estrus detection and resulting in shorter CI and DO. Additionally, the PG+G protocol increased the CRFS compared to both the OVS and the control groups.

ABO Incompatibility Haploidentical Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation Combined with a Single Cord Blood Unit for Severe Aplastic Anemia Patients

Background: For young severe aplastic anemia (SAA) patients without HLA matched donors, haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation can be used as an alternative selection. The grafts of classic Beijing protocol in China is a combination of bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell. For patients with major or minor blood type incompatibility, bone marrow stem cells need to undergo red blood cell or plasma removal treatment. There was rare reports about haploidentical peripheral blood stem cell combined with a single unrelated cord blood unit for ABO incompatibility haploidentical stem cell transplantation in SAA patients. Objective: To observe the efficacy of ABO incompatibility haploidentcial peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation combined with a single unrelated cord blood unit for SAA patients. Method s : Fifty-five SAA patients underwent stem cell transplantation from August 2018 to February 2022 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong Univeristy were divided into two groups based on donor-recipient ABO compatibility, the donor-recipient ABO matched group（BM+PB group）using haploidentical bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell as grafts, and donor-recipient ABO mismatched group（CB+PB group）, using unrelated cord blood and haploidentical peripheral blood stem cell as grafts. The differences of hematopoietic reconstitution, acute and chronic GVHD, CMV and EB virus infection, PFS, and OS between the two groups were compared. Result s : There were 30 cases in CB+PB group and 27 cases in the BM+PB group. Except for differences in donor-recipient ABO compatibility, the other characteristics of the two groups of patients were comparable((P>0.05). One patient in the BM+PB group had primary graft failure, while the rest of the patients were successfully implanted. There were no significant statistical differences in neutrophil,platelet and red blood cells recovery rates, the incidence of acute and chronic GVHD, CMV, EB virus infection, and PTLD between the two groups of patients(P>0.05). There was no significant statistical difference in OS between the two groups of patients(P>0.05)(Figure 1). Conclusion: For SAA patients with donor-recipient ABO incompatibility could use haploidentical peripheral blood cell combined with unrelated cord blood for transplantation which had compared outcome with haploidentcal bone marrow and peripheral blood cell transplantation.

Emergency message broadcasting scheme based on V2V and V2I

As an important part of the advanced Intelligent Traffic System (ITS) in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), Vehicle to everything (V2X) communication technology provides reliable end-to-end connection and efficient packet transmission. Currently, the main challenge is design and implementation of the multi-hop broadcast protocol. In particular, the network topology is constantly changing because of the high-speed vehicle and diversified road structure, which troubles the selection of forward nodes. Therefore, we propose an Emergency Message Broadcast Protocol (EMBP). In this method, we select the optimal relay node according to the directionality and mobility, channel fading, and link connectivity and apply a suboptimal relay node selection mechanism to guarantee the reliability of broadcast. Simulation results show that EMBP is more efficient and stable than part classical protocols. Due to the complex communication environment of urban roads, to better improve the reliability of emergency message transmission, a broadcasting scheme Roadside Unit (RSU) Emergency Message Broadcast Protocol (REMBP), based on Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle to Road (V2R) hybrid transmission of emergency messages is proposed on the basis of EMBP. Compared with EMBP, REMBP has better performance in terms of delivery rate, number of forwarding hops, end-to-end delay, average number of collisions, number of packet redundancy, and number of retransmissions.

Interplays between classical and quantum entanglement-assisted communication scenarios

Prepare-and-measure scenarios (pm), in their many forms, can be seen as the basic building blocks of communication tasks. As such, they can be used to analyze a diversity of classical and quantum protocols—of which dense coding and random access codes are key examples—in a unified manner. In particular, the use of entanglement as a resource in pm scenarios have only recently started to be systematically investigated, and many crucial questions remain open. In this work, we explore such scenarios and provide answers to some seminal questions. More specifically, we show that, in scenarios where entanglement is a free resource, quantum messages are equivalent to classical ones with twice the capacity. We also prove that, in such scenarios, it is always advantageous for the parties to share entangled states of dimension greater than the transmitted message. Finally, we show that unsteerable states cannot provide advantages in classical communication tasks, thus proving that not all entangled states are useful resources in these scenarios.

Impact of follicular phase estradiol supplementation in Intrauterine Insemination cycles (IUI) compared with classical ovarian stimulation protocol

Impact of follicular phase estradiol supplementation in Intrauterine Insemination cycles (IUI) compared with classical ovarian stimulation protocol

Detecting Central Auditory Processing Disorders in Awake Mice.

Mice are increasingly used as models of human-acquired neurological or neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease. All these conditions involve central auditory processing disorders, which have been little investigated despite their potential for providing interesting insights into the mechanisms behind such disorders. Alterations of the auditory steady-state response to 40 Hz click trains are associated with an imbalance between neuronal excitation and inhibition, a mechanism thought to be common to many neurological disorders. Here, we demonstrate the value of presenting click trains at various rates to mice with chronically implanted pins above the inferior colliculus and the auditory cortex for obtaining easy, reliable, and long-lasting access to subcortical and cortical complex auditory processing in awake mice. Using this protocol on a mutant mouse model of autism with a defect of the Shank3 gene, we show that the neural response is impaired at high click rates (above 60 Hz) and that this impairment is visible subcortically-two results that cannot be obtained with classical protocols for cortical EEG recordings in response to stimulation at 40 Hz. These results demonstrate the value and necessity of a more complete investigation of central auditory processing disorders in mouse models of neurological or neurodevelopmental disorders.

A Clustering Routing Algorithm Based on Improved Ant Colony Optimization for an Urban Rail Transit Ad Hoc Network

As traffic pressure increases, urban rail transit has attracted attention because of its high speed and growing capacity in recent years. However, the traditional vehicle–ground communication systems of urban rail transit have been unable to meet the increasing requirements for communication. In this paper, we introduce an ad hoc network for urban rail transit to improve communication reliability, reduce end-to-end latency, and improve throughput of vehicle–ground communication. A novel clustering algorithm based on improved ant colony optimization is presented, which integrates various variables to elect cluster heads and adopts a low-latency queuing strategy. In addition, the algorithm can also replace the cluster heads adaptively to optimize the communication quality. Through the simulation results, the proposed algorithm can reduce the packet loss rate by about 60%, reduce the delay by about 50%, and improve the throughput by about 40% compared with the classical clustering routing protocol.

The minimal communication cost for simulating entangled qubits

We analyze the amount of classical communication required to reproduce the statistics of local projective measurements on a general pair of entangled qubits,|ΨAB⟩=p |00⟩+1−p |11⟩(with1/2≤p≤1). We construct a classical protocol that perfectly simulates local projective measurements on all entangled qubit pairs by communicating one classical trit. Additionally, when2p(1−p)2p−1log⁡(p1−p)+2(1−p)≤1, approximately0.835≤p≤1, we present a classical protocol that requires only a single bit of communication. The latter model even allows a perfect classical simulation with an average communication cost that approaches zero in the limit where the degree of entanglement approaches zero (p→1). This proves that the communication cost for simulating weakly entangled qubit pairs is strictly smaller than for the maximally entangled one.

End-to-end active queue management with Named-Data Networking

The innovative information-based Named-Data Networking (NDN) architecture provides a good opportunity to rethink many of the design decisions that are taken for granted in the Internet today. For example, active queue management (AQM) tasks have been traditionally implemented in the routers to alleviate network congestion before their buffers fill up. However, AQM operations could be performed on an end-to-end basis by taking advantage of NDN features. In this paper, we provide an implementation of an AQM algorithm for the NDN architecture that we use to drive a classical AIMD-based congestion control protocol at the receivers. To accomplish this, we take advantage of the 64-bit Congestion Mark field present in the link layer of NDN packets to encode both rate and delay information about each transmission queue along a network path. In order to make the solution scalable, this information is delivered stochastically, guaranteeing that receivers get accurate and updated information about every pertinent queue. This information is enough to implement the well-known controlled delay (CoDel) AQM algorithm. Simulation results show that our client-located CoDel implementation is able to react to congestion when the bottleneck queuing delay surpasses the 5ms target set by the usual in-network CoDel implementation and, at the same time, get a fair and efficient share of the available transmission capacity.

The role of SIC on the design of next generation multiple access

The interplay of physical layer enhancements and classic random access protocols is the objective of this paper. Successive interference cancellation (SIC) is among the major enhancements of the physical layer. Considering the classic representatives of random access protocols, Slotted ALOHA and Channel Sensing Multiple Access (CSMA), we show that two regimes can be identified as a function of the communication link spectral efficiency. In case of high levels of spectral efficiency, multi-packet reception enabled by SIC is of limited benefit. Sum-rate performance is dominated by the effectiveness of the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol. On the contrary, for low spectral efficiency levels, sum-rate performance is essentially dependent on physical layer SIC capability, while the MAC protocol has a marginal impact. Limitations due to transmission power dynamic range are shown to induce unfairness among nodes. However, the unfairness issue fades away when the system is driven to work around the sum-rate peak achieved for low spectral efficiency. This can also be confirmed by looking at Age of Information (AoI) metric. The major finding of this work is that SIC can boost performance, while still maintaining a fair sharing of the communication channel among nodes. In this regime, the MAC protocol appears to play a marginal role, while multi-packet reception endowed by SIC is prominent to provide high sum-rate, low energy consumption, and low AoI.

Fear-Conditioning to Unpredictable Threats Reveals Sex and Strain Differences in Rat Fear-Potentiated Startle (FPS).

Fear-potentiated startle (FPS) has been widely used to study fear processing in humans and rodents. Human studies showed higher startle amplitudes and exaggerated fear reactivity to unpredictable vs. predictable threats in individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although human FPS studies use both sexes, a surprisingly limited number of rodent FPS studies use females. Here we investigate the effects of signal-threat contingency, signal-threat order and threat predictability on FPS in both sexes. We use a classic fear-conditioning protocol (100% contingency of cue and shock pairings, with forward conditioning such that the cue co-terminates with the shock) and compare it to modified fear-conditioning protocols (70% contingency; backward conditioning; or cue and shock un-paired). Although there are no sex differences in the startle amplitudes when corrected for body weight, females consistently demonstrate higher shock reactivity during fear-conditioning. Both sexes and strains demonstrate comparable levels of cued, non-cued, and contextual fear in the classic FPS and FPS following fear-conditioning with 70% contingency or backward order (cue co-starts with shock). However, in the classic FPS, Sprague-Dawley females show reduced proportion between cued fear and cue-elicited vigilant state than males. Lastly, a prominent sex difference is uncovered following unpredictable fear-conditioning (cue and shock un-paired), with Wistar, but not Sprague-Dawley, females showing significantly higher startle overall during the FPS recall, regardless of trial type, and higher contextual fear than males. This striking sex difference in processing unpredictable threats in rodent FPS might help to understand the mechanisms underlying higher incidence of PTSD in women.

EFFECTS OF INSTRUMENTAL FACIAL MASSAGE AND NEUROMOTOR STIMULATION TECHNIQUES IN CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY

Mastication and swallowing disorders as well as the presence of sialorrhea are some of the severe consequences that often accompany motor disorders in children with cerebral palsy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of applying instrumental facial massage procedures and neuromotor stimulation techniques on orofacial muscles and structures and global motor control in order to improve oral motor functions (mastication and swallowing), reduce sialorrhea and increase the level of motor development. The present study included 10 participants (6 girls and 4 boys) aged 8-10 years diagnosed with cerebral palsy, spastic tetraplegia form with severe orofacial dysfunction. Children were assessed to determine their level of neuromotor development using the GMFCS (Gross Motor Function Classification System) Scale, muscle tone (pathological hypertonia) by means of the Modified Ashworth Scale, mastication and swallowing impairments through the Likert Scale, and sialorrhea using the Thomas-Stonell and Greenberg Scale. The research participants were applied a programme consisting of instrumental facial massage procedures and neuromotor stimulation techniques performed 4 times a week. Statistical results highlighted that the application of instrumental facial massage procedures and neuromotor stimulation techniques within the classic protocol for the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy proved to be effective in the case of the 10 participants, their scores improving at the end of the research compared to those recorded at the beginning of the study.

Photoacoustic spectroscopy and multivariate techniques: New applications to simplify the analysis of raw propolis

This paper investigated the application of photoacoustic spectroscopy to estimate total phenolics content in raw propolis collected in the state of Paraná, Brazil. The absorption spectrum from 260 nm to 650 nm indicated three main bands: the first around 270 nm related to phenolic acids and flavonoids; the second around 480 nm is associated with anthocyanins, and the third around 630 nm may be related to chlorophyll. The whole spectral range was analyzed using multivariate analysis methods and principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to determine the sample similarities and their relationship to geographic localization. Pre-processing methods, normalization, generalized least squares weighting - GLSW (classes based – color and region), mean center, and without GLSW, were compared. GLSW allowed propolis discrimination related to geographical origin and the corresponding photoacoustic signals to be verified. Propolis samples from southern and eastern Paraná showed photoacoustic signals of mean intensity, while samples from the western showed extreme minimum values.Interval partial least-squares-regression (iPLS) of the photoacoustic spectra and phenolic content had determination coefficients equal to R2C = 0.959 (calibration) and R2P = 0.897 (prediction), root mean square errors RMSEC = 0.787% and RMSEP = 0.516% and residual prediction deviations RPDC = 5.10 and RPDP = 3.42, in the concentration range of 2.89 – 15.02 % (w/w). The results indicated that the spectrum obtained by photoacoustic spectroscopy can be successfully used to estimate the level of phenolics in raw propolis. This approach has the advantages of avoiding the step of propolis extraction and the need to carry out classical analytical protocols which are time-consuming and produce chemical residues.

Concordance of a decision algorithm and multidisciplinary team meetings for patients with liver cancer—a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

IntroductionMultidisciplinary team meetings (MDMs), also known as tumor conferences, are a cornerstone of cancer treatments. However, barriers such as incomplete patient information or logistical challenges can postpone tumor board decisions and delay patient treatment, potentially affecting clinical outcomes. Therapeutic Assistance and Decision algorithms for hepatobiliary tumor Boards (ADBoard) aims to reduce this delay by providing automated data extraction and high-quality, evidence-based treatment recommendations.Methods and analysisWith the help of natural language processing, relevant patient information will be automatically extracted from electronic medical records and used to complete a classic tumor conference protocol. A machine learning model is trained on retrospective MDM data and clinical guidelines to recommend treatment options for patients in our inclusion criteria. Study participants will be randomized to either MDM with ADBoard (Arm A: MDM-AB) or conventional MDM (Arm B: MDM-C). The concordance of recommendations of both groups will be compared using interrater reliability. We hypothesize that the therapy recommendations of ADBoard would be in high agreement with those of the MDM-C, with a Cohen’s kappa value of ≥ 0.75. Furthermore, our secondary hypotheses state that the completeness of patient information presented in MDM is higher when using ADBoard than without, and the explainability of tumor board protocols in MDM-AB is higher compared to MDM-C as measured by the System Causability Scale.DiscussionThe implementation of ADBoard aims to improve the quality and completeness of the data required for MDM decision-making and to propose therapeutic recommendations that consider current medical evidence and guidelines in a transparent and reproducible manner.Ethics and disseminationThe project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.Registration detailsThe study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (trial identifying number: NCT05681949; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05681949) on 12 January 2023.

Significant improvement of fidelity for encoded quantum bell pairs at long and short-distance communication along with generalized circuit

Quantum entanglement is a unique criterion of the quantum realm and an essential tool to secure quantum communication. Ensuring high-fidelity entanglement has always been a challenging task owing to interaction with the hostile channel environment created due to quantum noise and decoherence. Though several methods have been proposed, correcting almost all arbitrary errors is still a gigantic task. As one of the main contributions of this work, a new model for ‘large distance communication’ has been proposed, which may correct all bit flip errors or other errors quite extensively if proper encoding and subspace measurements are used. To achieve this purpose, at the very first step, the idea of differentiating the ‘long-distance communication’ and ‘short-distance applications’ has been introduced. Short-distance is determined by the maximum range of applying unitary control gates by the qubit technology. How the error correcting ability of Quantum codes change for short and long-distance application is investigated in this work, which was not explored in previous literatures as far as we know. At the beginning, we have applied stabilizer formalism and Repetition Code for decoding to distinguish the error correcting ability in long and short distance communication. Particularly for short-distance communication, it has been demonstrated that a ‘properly encoded’ bell state can identify all the bit flip, or phase flip errors with 100% accuracy theoretically. In contrast, if the bell states are used in long-distance communication, the error-detecting and correcting ability reduces at huge amounts. To increase the fidelity significantly and correct the errors quite extensively for long-distance communication, a new model based on classical communication protocol has been suggested. All the required circuits in these processes have been generalized for arbitrary (even) numbers of ancilla qubits during encoding. Proposed analytical results have also been verified with the Simulation results of IBM QISKIT QASM.

Entanglement witness measurement of time-bin two-qubit states using fiber-based Franson interferometers

Entanglement, that is, quantum correlations that do not have a classical counterpart, is a precondition to establishing communication protocols beyond the existing classical protocols, such as quantum key distribution, that achieves a higher level of security without computational assumptions. In this work, we present a proof of demonstration of detecting various entangled states, prepared by time-bin encoding with photons that are natural resources for long-distance quantum communication. We generate a maximally entangled state in time-bin qubits and verify the state in two ways. We first consider measurements that realize entanglement witnesses for the verification of entanglement. We then perform a quantum state tomography for the full characterization. Experimental resources are also discussed.

Guilt, Disgust, and Not Just Right Experience Mediate the Effect of Demanding Parent Mode on Obsessive-Compulsive-Disorder-like Tendencies, and Punitive Parent Mode Moderates This Mediation.

The main objective of the present study was to examine, in a non-clinical population, the validity of a moderated mediation model for obsessive mental functioning. The research was conducted on a sample of 205 participants. Data were collected using the Psychiatric Screening and Diagnostic Questionnaire, Young's Modes Questionnaire-form SMI-2, Padua Inventory of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms, Fear of Guilt Scale in OCD, Disgust Propensity and Sensitivity Scale-Revised, and Not Just Right Experiences Questionnaire-Revised. The results revealed that there is a significant positive, indirect effect of the Demanding Parent mode on OCD-like tendencies, which is completely mediated by fear of guilt, tendency and sensitivity to disgust, and Not Just Right Experiences severity. The Punitive Parent mode moderates only the indirect effect of the Demanding Parent mode mediated by fear of guilt, not the indirect effect mediated by disgust tendency and sensitivity and Not Just Right Experiences severity. Also, the indirect effect of the Demanding Parent mode on obsessive tendencies mediated by fear of guilt is significant only at medium and high values of the Punitive Parent mode, not at low values of the moderator. Our results provide a novel direction targeting the direct therapeutic intervention on demanding and punitive internal dialogue, complementing the classical CBT intervention protocol.

The role of sex and handedness in the performance of the smartphone-based Finger-Tapping Test.

The Finger Tapping Test (FTT) is a classical neuropsychological test that assesses motor functioning, and recently it has been employed using smartphones. For classical protocols, it has been observed that sex and handedness influence the performance during the test. By assessing the influence of sex and handedness on the test, it is possible to adjust the performance measurements to ensure the validity of test results and avoid sex- and handedness-related bias. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of sex and handedness on smartphone-based FTT performance. We developed an Android application for the FTT and recruited 40 males and 40 females to carry out three spatial designs on it (protocols I, II, and III). Participants' performance was measured using the global, temporal, and spatial parameters of the FTT. We observed that for the performance in protocol I, handedness had a significant influence on global and temporal variables, while the interaction between handedness and sex had a greater influence on spatial variables. For protocols II and III, we observed that handedness had a significant influence on global, temporal, and spatial variables compared to the other factors. We concluded that the smartphone-based test is partly influenced by handedness and sex, and in clinical implications, these factors should be considered during the evaluation of the smartphone-based FTT.

Intermolecular Metal-Catalyzed C‒C Coupling of Unactivated Alcohols or Aldehydes for Convergent Ketone Construction beyond Premetalated Reagents.

Intermolecular metal-catalyzed C‒C couplings of unactivated primary alcohols or aldehydes to form ketones are catalogued. Reactions are classified on the basis of pronucleophile. Protocols involving premetalated reagents or reactants that incorporate directing groups are not covered. These methods represent an emerging alternative to classical multi-step protocols for ketone construction that exploit premetalated reagents, and/or steps devoted to redox manipulations and carboxylic acid derivatization.