Sponge Construction Research Articles

Symmetrical Cryptosystems based on Cellular Automata

This paper deals with the development of two symmetric encryption algorithms on the basis of cellular automata: a block cipher, that is based on AES and uses three-dimensional cellular automata; a stream cipher, that exploits a hardware-software entropy generation (tracking of keystrokes and mouse pointer movement), as well as the developed hash function, based on “cryptographic sponge” architecture of SHA-3, modified by cellular automata transformations. The block cipher is designed in architecture of SP-network and uses the AES substitution block. Permutation layer and key generation is designed on the basis of cellular automata rules (rules “22”, “105” and “150”). The optimal number of rounds to achieve maximum crypto resistance is determined. The stream cipher is designed on the basis of hardware-software entropy generation and uses the cryptographic hash-function in the SHA-3 architecture. Permutation function is developed on the basis of cellular automata rules (rules “30” and “146”). The procedures of shift and permutation of rows and columns is used for better permutation. A final permutation of state elements is used to improve the avalanche effect. The received results are analyzed and summarized; the conclusions and justifications about cipher parameters (like number of rounds, where needed) are made.

Facile construction of photocatalytic cellulose-based sponge with stable flotation properties as efficient and recyclable photocatalysts for sewage treatment

Dispersion and recycling of powdered nano-photocatalysts for water purification is still not an easy task. The self-supporting and floating photocatalytic cellulose-based sponges ware conveniently prepared by anchoring BiOX nanosheet arrays on cellulose-based sponge's surface. The introduction of sodium alginate into the cellulose-based sponge significantly enhanced the electrostatic adsorption of bismuth oxygen ions and promoted the formation of bismuth oxyhalide (BiOX) crystal nuclei. Among the photocatalytic cellulose-based sponges, the sponge (BiOBr-SA/CNF) modified with bismuth oxybromide displayed excellent photocatalytic ability for photodegrading 96.1 % rhodamine B within 90 min under 300 W Xe lamp irradiation (λ > 400 nm). The loading of bismuth oxybromide on cellulose-based sponge's surface improves the flotation stability of the cellulose-based sponge. Benefiting from excellent load fastness of bismuth oxybromide nanosheet and flotation stability of BiOBr-SA/CNF sponge, after 5 cycles of recycling, the photodegradation rates of BiOBr-SA/CNF sponge to rhodamine B remained above 90.2 % (90 min), and it also has excellent photocatalytic degradation effect on methyl orange and herbicide isoproteron. This work may provide a convenient and efficient method to construct self-supporting and floating photocatalytic sponges using cellulose based materials as substrates for sewage treatment.

Indifferentiability of the Sponge Construction with a Restricted Number of Message Blocks

The sponge construction is a popular method for hashing. Quickly after its introduction, the sponge was proven to be tightly indifferentiable from a random oracle up to ≈ 2c/2 queries, where c is the capacity. However, this bound is not tight when the number of message blocks absorbed is restricted to ℓ < ⌈ c / 2(b−c) ⌉ + 1 (but still an arbitrary number of blocks can be squeezed). In this work, we show that this restriction leads to indifferentiability from a random oracle up to ≈ min { 2b/2, max { 2c/2, 2b−ℓ×(b−c) }} queries, where b > c is the permutation size. Depending on the parameters chosen, this result allows to have enhanced security or to absorb at a larger rate for applications that require a fixed-length input hash function.

Emerging roles of circular RNAs in the invasion and metastasis of head and neck cancer: Possible functions and mechanisms.

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the seventh most prevalent malignancy worldwide in 2020. Cancer metastasis is the main cause of poor prognosis in HNC patients. Recently, circular RNAs (circRNAs), initially thought to have no biological function, are attracting increasing attention, and their crucial roles in mediating HNC metastasis are being extensively investigated. Existing studies have shown that circRNAs primarily function through miRNA sponges, transcriptional regulation, interacting with RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and as translation templates. Among these functions, the function of miRNA sponge is the most prominent. In this review, we summarized the reported circRNAs involved in HNC metastasis, aiming to elucidate the regulatory relationship between circRNAs and HNC metastasis. Furthermore, we summarized the latest advances in the epidemiological information of HNC metastasis and the tumor metastasis theories, the biogenesis, characterization and functional mechanisms of circRNAs, and their potential clinical applications. Although the research on circRNAs is still in its infancy, circRNAs are expected to serve as prognostic markers and effective therapeutic targets to inhibit HNC metastasis and significantly improve the prognosis of HNC patients.

The simulation, regulation capacity assessment and coping strategy of rainstorm runoff waterlogging in Zhu pai-chong Basin of Nanning, China

Currently, China is experiencing a phase of rapid urbanization. With the frequent occurrence of extreme rainfall events within the context of climate change, the problem of heavy rainfall and waterlogging in many cities is very prominent. In November 2020, China issued a proposal for the construction of sponge cities across the entire region to significantly enhance the rainfall flood prevention and drainage capacity of cities and effectively improve the resilience of sponge city systems for flooding management. Therefore, this paper selected the Zhu pai-chong watershed in Nanning with frequent waterlogging disasters as an example. Based on underlying surface information, We used a coupled SWMM-LISFOOD model to simulate runoff and waterlogging processes and analyze the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of the basin under 10 designed rainstorm return periods (0.25a-50a). The results confirm the substantial spatial and temporal variabilities of the runoff coefficient in the study area; impermeability was the main factor contributing to high runoff coefficient values. The spatial distribution characteristics of inundation area was general dispersion and local linear aggregation. Furthermore, this study assessed the effect of the control rate of blue‒green‒gray facilities on the actual storms, and the value ranged from only 48.6% (0.25a)-24.05% (50a). This study quantified the two-dimensional distribution of rainfall storage volume thresholds with or without considering the discharged from the pipe network. Quantitative mapping between the elements of “rainfall-storage volume of blue‒green‒gray facilities-runoff-drainage capacity of the pipe network-waterlogging level” was conducted within the study area as an example. Finally, an overall technical process scheme for rainfall and waterlogging management was proposed. The scheme covered the hydrological‒hydraulic mechanism, storage function of sponge facilities, engineering control response, nonengineering measures and intelligent management of rainfall and waterlogging during sponge city construction, which could provide critical scientific support for effective promotion of the construction of sponge cities in China.

Design and Implementation of a flexible Multi-purpose Cryptographic System on low cost FPGA

The design of cryptographic hardware that supports multiple cryptographic primitives is common in literature. In this work, a new design is presented consisting of a multi-purpose cryptographic system featuring both 128-bit pipelined AES-CORE (Advanced Encryption Standard) for high-speed symmetric encryption and a Keccak hash core on a low-cost FPGA. The KECCAK-CORE’s security and performance parameters are tunable in the sense that capacity, bitrate, and the number of rounds can be user-defined. Such flexibility enables the core to suit a large range of security requirements. The structure of Keccak’s sponge construction is exploited to enable different modes of operation. An example application outlined in this work is Pseudo Random Number Generation (PRNG). With few adjustments, the KECCAK-CORE was also operated as a post-processing unit for True Random Number Generation (TRNG) that uses the analog Lorenz chaotic circuit as a physical entropy source. The multi-purpose design was implemented in VHDL targeting an IntelFPGA Cyclone-V FPGA. For AES symmetric encryption, a maximum throughput of 31.1Gbps was achieved and a logic usage of 25146LEs (23% of the FPGA) in the case of the pipelined variant of AES-CORE. For the KECCAK-CORE, maximum throughput figures of 5.81, 8.4, and 11Gbps were achieved for the three SHA-3 variants 512, 384, and 256-bit respectively, with an area usage of 8947LEs (8%). The system as a whole occupies an area of 26909LEs (26%). The random sequences generated by the system operating in PRNG and TRNG post- processing modes successfully passed the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) statistical test suite (NIST SP 800-22). The information entropy analysis performed on the post-processed TRNG sequences indicates an average of 0.935.

A novel polypeptide encoded by the circular RNA ZKSCAN1 suppresses HCC via degradation of mTOR

Backgroundhsa_circ_0001727 (circZKSCAN1) has been reported to be a tumor-associated circRNA by sponging microRNAs. Intriguingly, we found that circZKSCAN1 encoded a secretory peptide (circZKSaa) in the liver. The present study aims to elucidate the potential role and molecular mechanism of circZKSaa in the regulation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression.MethodsThe circRNA profiling datasets (RNA-seq data GSE143233 and GSE140202) were reanalyzed and circZKSCAN1 was selected for further study. Mass spectrometry, polysome fractionation assay, dual-luciferase reporter, and a series of experiments showed that circZKSCAN1 encodes circZKSaa. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, and tumorigenesis in nude mice were examined to investigate the functions of circZKSaa. Mechanistically, the relationship between the circZKSaa and mTOR in HCC was verified by immunoprecipitation analyses, mass spectrometry, and immunofluorescence staining analyses.ResultsReceiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated that the secretory peptide circZKSaa encoded by circZKSCAN1 might be the potential biomarker for HCC tissues. Through a series of experiments, we found that circZKSaa inhibited HCC progression and sensitize HCC cells to sorafenib. Mechanistically, we found that the sponge function of circZKSCAN1 to microRNA is weak in HCC, while overexpression of circZKSaa promoted the interaction of FBXW7 with the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) to promote the ubiquitination of mTOR, thereby inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. Furthermore, we found that the high expression of cicZKSCAN1 in sorafenib-treated HCC cells was regulated by QKI-5.ConclusionsThese results reveal that a novel circZKSCAN1-encoded peptide acts as a tumor suppressor on PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, and sensitizes HCC cells to sorafenib via ubiquitination of mTOR. These findings demonstrated that circZKSaa has the potential to serve as a therapeutic target and biomarker for HCC treatment.

Diversity and structure of bacterial and archaeal communities associated with the vulnerable sponge Halichondria cebimarensis.

Sponges are essential components of the marine benthos and well known for their complex and abundant associated microbial communities. There are five endemic species of the genus Halichondria on the Brazilian coast and H. cebimarensis is one of the least studied. This sponge has a very limited geographic distribution and is classified as vulnerable. In order to understand the bacterial and archaeal communities associated with this sponge, samples of H. cebimarensis were collected from the southwestern Atlantic coast (Brazil, São Paulo state). Choanosome samples were separated and processed to be (i) inoculated in three different culture media; (ii) investigated by transmission electron microscopy; (iii) submitted to 16S rRNA metabarcoding. Forty isolates were obtained and 12 were identified as belonging to the Bacilli class. The culture-dependent approaches allowed us to access unique members of the microbial community. Our analyses revealed that this animal belongs to the Low Microbial Abundance group of sponges. Culture-independent approaches showed that the H. cebimarensis microbiome is dominated by the heterotrophic Gammaproteobacteria AqS2 ("Ca. Amphirhobacter heronislandensis"). This is the first study to reveal details of the microbiome of this vulnerable sponge and is an important step in understanding how this sponge functions, its biotechnological potential and a contribution to conservation efforts.

Sponge-Based Parallel Authenticated Encryption With Variable Tag Length and Side-Channel Protection

Authenticated Encryption (AE) protects confidentiality and integrity at the same time. The sponge construction is based on an iterated permutation or transformation that can be used to implement hashing, and AE schemes, among others. Sponge-based AE schemes offer desirable characteristics like parallelizability and incrementality. In addition, they provide security features such as protection against Chosen Plaintext Attacks, Chosen-Ciphertext Attacks, and Side-Channel Attacks (SCAs). Traditionally AE schemes assume the tag length, also called the stretch, as a fixed parameter per key, and the security is proved according to that assumption. However, the variable tag length per key could happen due to misconfiguration or misuse. In that case, the security would be violated, so it is vital to accommodate variable tag length without sacrificing other desirable features. Reyhanitabar et al. proposed Key Equivalent Separation by Stretch feature and concretized it for protection against tag length misuse attacks in block cipher-based AE schemes. However, the problem remains unresolved for sponge-based constructions, where current sponge-based schemes are vulnerable to tag length variation under the same key attacks. This work aims to bridge this gap by proposing a parallel, sponge-based AE scheme with a variable tag length per key that protects against SCAs and suggesting a lower bound for the recommended tag length. Finally, the security of the proposed scheme is discussed, and its performance is analyzed after implementing the proposed AE scheme in the C programming language.

A New Construction Method for Keystream Generators

We introduce a new construction method of diffusion layers for Substitution Permutation Network (SPN) structures along with its security proofs. The new method can be used in block ciphers, stream ciphers, hash functions, and sponge constructions. Moreover, we define a new stream cipher mode of operation through a fixed pseudorandom permutation and provide its security proofs in the indistinguishability model. We refer to a stream cipher as a Small Internal State Stream (SISS) cipher if its internal state size is less than twice its key size. There are not many studies about how to design and analyze SISS ciphers due to the criterion on the internal state sizes, resulting from the classical tradeoff attacks. We utilize our new mode and diffusion layer construction to design an SISS cipher having two versions, which we call DIZY. We further provide security analyses and hardware implementations of DIZY. In terms of area cost, power, and energy consumption, the hardware performance is among the best when compared to some prominent stream ciphers, especially for frame-based encryptions that need frequent initialization. Unlike recent SISS ciphers such as Sprout, Plantlet, LILLE, and Fruit; DIZY does not have a keyed update function, enabling efficient key changing.

The Role of HIF1-related Genes and Non-coding RNAs Expression in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Renal cell carcinoma is one of the three most common malignant urologic tumors, with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) representing its most common subtype. Although nephrectomy can radically cure the disease, a large percentage of patients is diagnosed when metastatic sites are present and thus alternative, pharmaceutical approaches need to be sought. Since HIF1 up-regulates the transcription of genes that range from metabolic enzymes to non-coding RNAs, and is a key molecule of ccRCC pathogenesis, this study aimed to investigate the expression ALDOA, SOX-6, and non-coding RNAs (mir-122, mir-1271, and MALAT-1) in samples from ccRCC patients. Tumor and adjacent normal tissue samples from 14 patients with ccRCC were harvested. Expression of ALDOA, mir-122, mir-1271, and MALAT-1 mRNA was estimated using real time PCR, whereas the expression of SOX-6 protein was investigated using immunohistochemistry. Up-regulation of HIF1 was observed, accompanied with up-regulation of ALDOA, MALAT-1, and mir-122. On the contrary, the expression of mir-1271 was found to be reduced, a finding that can be attributed to a potential MALAT-1 sponge function. Furthermore, SOX-6 protein levels (a transcription factor with tumor suppressing properties) were also reduced. The observed dysregulated expression levels highlight the importance of ALDOA, MALAT-1, mir-122, mir-1271, and SOX-6, which remain less studied than the known and well-studied HIF1 pathways of VEGF, TGF-α, and EPO. Furthermore, inhibition of the up-regulated ALDOA, mir-122, and MALAT-1 could be of therapeutic interest for selected ccRCC patients.

Sponge City and Water Environment Planning and Construction in Jibu District in Changde City

Urban waterlogging and urban water environment problems in Changde city caused by extreme weather have seriously hindered the sustainable development of cities. A sponge city not only involves the inheritance and development of foreign technology but also a new method for its use. The background of sponge city construction based on green infrastructures in China was introduced in this study. As one of the first pilot construction cities based on the sponge concept, Changde city possesses natural geographical advantages. The current urban situation, rainfall type and water environment in the sponge construction area were analyzed and the causes of urban waterlogging and deterioration of urban inland river water quality are presented. Based on the urban water environment and ecological status, the specific strategic objectives of the sponge city transformation are given. Meanwhile, the overall technical route and the concrete realization path of each index, such as the water environmental system, water ecological system and security system, are also presented. The annual net flow total control rate and the runoff pollution reduction reached 77.56% and 45.18%, respectively. The total runoff and peak flow were also reduced by 35.08% and 26.82%, respectively. Meanwhile, the peak flow of runoff pollution concentration was reduced by 31.99%. The pollutant load reduction rate of non-point source pollution in the area reached more than 45%. The project not only alleviated the problems of urban waterlogging and black and odorous water bodies but also ensured the sustainable development of the urban water environment.

Transcriptome analysis of PBMCs isolated from piglets treated with a miR-124 sponge construct identified miR124/IQGAP2/Rho GTPase as a target pathway support Salmonella Typhimurium infection.

miR-124 is a significantly up-regulated miRNA in peripheral blood collected from piglets infected with Salmonella Typhimurium, suggesting that it may play an important role in Salmonella pathogenesis. This study focused on the transcriptomic analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from miR-124 sponge and Salmonella Typhimurium-treated piglets, and trying to investigate the function of miR-124 in Salmonella infection. The transcriptome profiling analysis revealed that 2778 genes in miR-124 sponge + Salmonella Typhimurium treatment versus control, 2271 genes in Salmonella Typhimurium treatment versus control, and 1301 genes in miR-124 sponge + Salmonella Typhimurium versus Salmonella Typhimurium treatment, were differentially expressed, respectively (FDR < 0.05 and fold change > 2.0). Pathway analysis indicated that the MAPK signaling pathway, Ribosome pathway, and T-cell receptor signaling pathway were the most significantly enriched pathway in differentially expressed genes between miR-124 sponge + Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Typhimurium along treatment (FDR < 0.05). Reporter assays and electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed that miR-124 is a crucial regulatory factor that targets IQ motif containing GTPase-activating protein 2 (IQGAP2). Cell culture experiment indicated that miR-124 attenuated the Salmonella Typhimurium-mediated activation of CDC42 and RAC1 (P < 0.05). Cultured PBMCs treated with miR-124 and IQGAP2-siRNA had higher intracellular Salmonella count than control samples, particularly 12h post-infection (P < 0.05). Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that miR-124 treatment reduced the percentage of LAMP-1-positive phagosomes. The miR-124 could be an important regulator for IQGAP2/Rho GTPase pathway in Salmonella Typhimurium-infected PBMCs, and this pathway could be a target for Salmonella that support its infection in PBMCs in piglets.

Survey on Residents' Willingness to Participate in Sponge Transformation and Construction of Old Residential Areas in Anhui Province

The sponge transformation of old residential areas is one of the keys to the popularization of sponge city construction. The investigation of residents' willingness to participate in the sponge transformation of old residential areas in Anhui Province can not only promote the sponge city construction in Anhui Province, but also provide a reference for the sponge city construction in the whole country and improve the construction efficiency. Based on the participatory theory, the residents in the old residential areas were selected as the research objects, and the residents' willingness to participate in sponge city reconstruction was investigated through questionnaires, and the sponge city reconstruction policy was popularized. To explore the willingness of residents to participate in the sponge city reconstruction of old residential areas, so as to provide ideas and countermeasures for the construction of new urbanization and accelerate the progress of new urbanization.

CircKMT2E Protect Retina from Early Diabetic Retinopathy through SIRT1 Signaling Pathway via Sponging miR-204-5p.

Objective To explore the changes of circRNAs in the retina of diabetic patients without diabetic retinopathy (DR) to screen latent protective factor. Methods The sequencing data of the retina from three diabetic donors that possess no noticeable pathological feature of the retina at ultimate eye inspection and three healthy donative samples were involved in this study. Herein, we carried out bioinformatics analysis to disclose the expression pattern and characteristics of circRNAs on the basis of Gene Ontology as well as KEGG pathway analyses. Then, sequencing data were applied to infer the interaction between selected circRNAs and miR-204-5p. The potential miRNA response elements for the annotated circRNAs and their target gene were speculated using TargetScan as well as miRanda. Results RNA sequencing detected 28,978 alternative circRNAs. Thereinto, 1063 were expressed with significant difference. circKMT2E was upregulated more than two folds in alloxan-induced diabetic retinal tissues compared with normal retinal tissues, exhibiting an expression trend opposite to miR-204-5p. Bioinformatics analysis showed that circKMT2E have four seed sequences on hsa-miR-204-5p. Thus, circKMT2E was speculated to have function on the basis of sponging miR-204-5p in order to participate in the pathogenetic process of DR. Besides, miR-204-5p was speculated to be able to bind SIRT1, which can interact with its target proteins, and adjusts various cell functions including cellular inflammatory responses, proliferation, as well as apoptosis. Conclusion The upregulation of circKMT2E in the early stage of DR may be involved in its pathogenesis and may activate the SIRT1 signaling pathway to protect the retina by the sponge function to miR-204-5p.

Meta-transcriptomic comparison of two sponge holobionts feeding on coral- and macroalgal-dissolved organic matter

BackgroundSponge holobionts (i.e., the host and its associated microbiota) play a key role in the cycling of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in marine ecosystems. On coral reefs, an ecological shift from coral-dominated to algal-dominated ecosystems is currently occurring. Given that benthic corals and macroalgae release different types of DOM, in different abundances and with different bioavailability to sponge holobionts, it is important to understand how the metabolic activity of the host and associated microbiota change in response to the exposure to both DOM sources. Here, we look at the differential gene expression of two sponge holobionts 6 hours after feeding on naturally sourced coral- and macroalgal-DOM using RNA sequencing and meta-transcriptomic analysis.ResultsWe found a slight, but significant differential gene expression in the comparison between the coral- and macroalgal-DOM treatments in both the high microbial abundance sponge Plakortis angulospiculatus and the low microbial abundance sponge Haliclona vansoesti. In the hosts, processes that regulate immune response, signal transduction, and metabolic pathways related to cell proliferation were elicited. In the associated microbiota carbohydrate metabolism was upregulated in both treatments, but coral-DOM induced further lipid and amino acids biosynthesis, while macroalgal-DOM caused a stress response. These differences could be driven by the presence of distinct organic macronutrients in the two DOM sources and of small pathogens or bacterial virulence factors in the macroalgal-DOM.ConclusionsThis work provides two new sponge meta-transcriptomes and a database of putative genes and genetic pathways that are involved in the differential processing of coral- versus macroalgal-DOM as food source to sponges with high and low abundances of associated microbes. These pathways include carbohydrate metabolism, signaling pathways, and immune responses. However, the differences in the meta-transcriptomic responses of the sponge holobionts after 6 hours of feeding on the two DOM sources were small. Longer-term responses to both DOM sources should be assessed to evaluate how the metabolism and the ecological function of sponges will be affected when reefs shift from coral towards algal dominance.

Durable 3D Porous Superhydrophobic Composites for Versatile Emulsion Separation in Multiple Environments.

Polydopamine as a multifunctional biomimetic polymer with nonselective strong adhesion properties has become a hot research topic in recent years. However, there are a few reports on the durable and effective emulsion separation of polydopamine composites from other materials. Therefore, it is necessary to construct durable polydopamine composites to achieve selective adsorption of materials. In this work, polypyrrole (PPy)-PDA was obtained on sponges by an in situ polymerization reaction, followed by the attachment of SiO2 nanoparticles to the surface by polydimethylsiloxane to achieve superhydrophobicity. As a result, previously unreported selective superhydrophobic adsorbents for PPy-PDA coatings were obtained. The prepared sponges have an excellent adsorption capacity for oils and organic solvents. Not only can the sponges absorb 19-39 g of organic solvents per gram but they can also absorb oil from oil-in-water emulsions. The chemical oxygen demand value of the emulsion can be reduced to 219 mg/L after separation. More importantly, the performance remains good in the cycle test, and due to the construction of a durable superhydrophobic sponge, it can still maintain its relatively good performance in artificial seawater, acid-base environments, and can achieve relatively stable emulsion separation. At the same time, the potential of the polymer material composited with PDA in lasting and stable emulsion separation was also verified.

Simulation and Evaluation of Rainwater Runoff Control, Collection, and Utilization for Sponge City Reconstruction in an Urban Residential Community

Residential areas are important for the underlying surface of a city, and the sponge construction of a residential area is a key topic in sponge city construction. Taking the Zi-Jing community as the research case, the SWMM model was established for simulation, and the rainwater runoff control, collection, and utilization were compared and analyzed before and after the implementation of sponge transformation for the designed rainfall conditions of once in 3, 5, 10, 20, and 50 years. The results showed that the water depth of the four outlet pipes was not a full tube at the first peak time. The full duration time was reduced to 1–5 h at the second peak, and the flow reduction rate at the pipe outlet was between 30% and 100%. The water storage of sub-catchments A1, A3, and A4 increased significantly and continued to increase after the peak rainfall occurred, while that of A2 decreased significantly after the transformation after the transformation. For the whole residential area, the surface runoff decreased by 37–47%, while the surface water storage and infiltration increased by 8–14% and 23–39% respectively after reconstruction. The direct storage volume of rainwater in the four sub-catchment areas was filled at least once above a once in 5 years scenario. The main conclusions were as follows: Sponge transformation in residential areas with 17.46% sunken greenbelt and 40.85% permeable pavement, and the time of the pipe outlet in full status can be shortened by 30–200 min in different rainfall return periods. With the increase in the rainfall return period, the improvement range of the infiltration increased from 23.36% to 39.54%, the improvement range of the storage capacity for rainwater decreased from 14.36% to 8.06%, and the reduction degree of surface runoff increased from 37.73% to 47.43%. The water consumption for flushing is about 30 m3 per day for 1000 people, and the rainwater storage volume of 765 m3 in this study can meet the flushing water demand of 5000 residents in the community for 3–5 days.

CircKMT2E Participates in Osteoarthritis through Promotes Apoptosis of Chondrocytes Via Sponging miR-140-5p to Activate TLR4.

Objective To explore the latent pathogenesis of circRNAs in osteoarthritis (OA), as well as their function mechanism. Methods The murine chondrocytes with and without OA were involved and used for in-depth sequencing. Herein, we carried out subsequent bioinformatics analysis to disclose the expression pattern, characteristics of circRNAs based on gene ontology, and the KEGG pathway analyses. Then sequencing data were used to deduce the interaction between circRNA and miRNA. The potential miRNA response elements for the annotated circRNAs and relevant target genes were forecasted on the basis of TargetScan and miRanda. For chondrocytes, the effect of the overexpression of the screened circRNA for apoptosis was spotted by flow cytometry as well as Western Blot. Results 466 diverse circRNAs in the 23,787 spotted circRNAs were both significantly and differentially transcribed. CircKMT2E was upregulated more than two folds in chondrocytes with OA compared with normal tissues, exhibiting an expression trend opposite to miR-140-5p. We disclosed that circKMT2E could possess mutual effect with miR-140-5p by way of AGO proteins. Thus, circKMT2E was verified to have functioned as a molecular sponge targeting miR-140-5p. Therefore, circKMT2E may be at work in the pathogenesis of OA. Further, the sponge connection between circKMT2E and miR-140-5p was proved on the basis of a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Besides, miR-140-5p was speculated can bind TLR4 by bioinformatics analysis. Further PCR analysis found the relative expression level of TLR4, caspase-3, and Bax in the OA groups presented significant upregulation. Overexpression of circKMT2E can promote apoptosis of chondrocytes. Conclusion The upregulation of circKMT2E is involved in the chondrocyte apoptosis of the pathogenesis of OA through activation of TLR4 by the sponge function of miR-140-5p.

Finding Collisions against 4-Round SHA-3-384 in Practical Time

The Keccak sponge function family, designed by Bertoni et al. in 2007, was selected by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2012 as the next generation of Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-3). Due to its theoretical and practical importance, cryptanalysis of SHA-3 has attracted a lot of attention. Currently, the most powerful collision attack on SHA-3 is Jian Guo et al.’s linearisation technique. However, this technique is infeasible for variants with asmaller input space, such as SHA-3-384.In this work we improve upon previous results by utilising three ideas which were not used in previous works on collision attacks against SHA-3. First, we use 2-block messages instead of 1-block messages, to reduce constraints and increase flexibility in our solutions. Second, we reduce the connectivity problem into a satisfiability (SAT) problem, instead of applying the linearisation technique. Finally, we propose an efficient deduce-and-sieve algorithm on the basis of two new non-random propertiesof the Keccak non-linear layer.The resulting collision-finding algorithm on 4-round SHA-3-384 has a practical time complexity of 259.64 (and a memory complexity of 245.94). This greatly improves upon the best known collision attack so far: Dinur et al. achieved an impractical 2147 time complexity. Our attack does not threaten the security margin of the SHA-3 hash function. However, the tools developed in this paper could be used to analyse other cryptographic primitives as well as to develop new and faster SAT solvers.