Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantum proof systems and entanglement theory

Quantum complexity theory is important from the point of view of not only theory of computation but also quantum information theory. In particular, quantum multi-prover interactive proof systems are defined based on complexity theory notions, while their characterization can be formulated using LOCC operations. On the other hand, the main resource in quantum information theory is entanglement, which can be considered as a monotonic decreasing quantity under LOCC maps. Indeed, any result in quantum proof systems can be translated to entanglement theory, and vice versa. In this thesis I mostly focus on quantum Merlin-Arthur games as a proof system in quantum complexity theory. I present a new complete problem for the complexity class QMA. I also show that computing both the Holevo capacity and the minimum output entropy of quantum channels are NP-hard. Then I move to the multiple-Merlin-Arthur games and show that assuming some additivity conjecture for entanglement of formation, we can amplify the gap in QMA(2) protocols. Based on the same assumption, I show that the QMA(k)-hierarchy collapses to QMA(2). I also prove that QMAlog(2), which is defined the same as QMA(2) except that the size of witnesses is logarithmic, with the gap n( +E) contains NP. Finally, motivated by the previous results, I show that the positive partial transpose test gives no bound on the trace distance of a given bipartite state from the set of separable states. Thesis Supervisor: Peter W. Shor Title: Morss Professor of Applied Mathematics
Miniature Optical Atomic Clock: Stabilization of a Kerr Comb Oscillator

Mechanical clocks consist of a pendulum and a clockwork that translates the pendulum period to displayed time. The most advanced clocks utilize optical transitions in atoms in pla ce of the pendulum and an optical frequency comb generated by a femtosecond laser as the clockwork. The comb must be stabilized at two points along its frequency spectrum: one with a laser to lock a comb line to a transition in the atom, and another through self referencing to stabilize the frequency interval bet ween the comb lines. This approach requires advanced techniques, so optical atomic clocks are currently laboratory devices in s pecialized labs. In this paper we leverage unique properties of Kerr comb oscillators for realization of optical atomic clocks in mi niature form factors. In particular, we describe a clock based on D1 transition of 87 Rb that fits in the palm of the hand, and can be further
Direct Involvement, Representation and Employee Voice in UK Multinationals in Europe

Direct involvement methods are often seen as heralding a new industrial relations in which employee voice is weaker than in systems based on unions or works councils. We test this argument through an empirical study across the European operations of 25 multinationals with headquarters in the UK and find that this is true only when direct voice is used in isolation. Such systems are not uncommon, but more often direct voice coexists with union and other representative channels. It is the variability in the relationship between three channels (direct, representative committee and union) that is significant. This confirms that institutions matter, but we conclude that the subject of industrial relations needs to focus more on the interplay between different voice mechanisms.
Fine tuning may not be enough

We argue that the fine tuning problems of scalar-driven inflation may be worse than is commonly believed. The reason is that reheating requires the inflaton to be coupled to other matter fields whose vacuum fluctuations alter the inflaton potential. The usual response has been that even more fine-tuning of the classical potential V(φ) can repair any damage done in this way. We point out that the effective potential in de Sitter background actually depends in a complicated way upon the dimensionless combination of φ/H. We also show that the factors of H which occur in de Sitter do not even correspond to local functionals of the metric for general geometries, nor are they Planck-suppressed.
Approximation of Large-Scale Dynamical Systems

Preface Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction 2. Motivating examples Part II. Preliminaries: 3. Tools from matrix theory 4. Linear dynamical systems, Part 1 5. Linear dynamical systems, Part 2 6. Sylvester and Lyapunov equations Part III. SVD-based Approximation Methods: 7. Balancing and balanced approximations 8. Hankel-norm approximation 9. Special topics in SVD-based approximation methods Part IV. Krylov-based Approximation Methods: 10. Eigenvalue computations 11. Model reduction using Krylov methods Part V. SVD-Krylov Methods and Case Studies: 12. SVD-Krylov methods 13. Case studies 14. Epilogue 15. Problems Bibliography Index.
Gene editing monkeys: Retrospect and outlook

Animal models play a key role in life science research, especially in the study of human disease pathogenesis and drug screening. Because of the closer proximity to humans in terms of genetic evolution, physiology, immunology, biochemistry, and pathology, nonhuman primates (NHPs) have outstanding advantages in model construction for disease mechanism study and drug development. In terms of animal model construction, gene editing technology has been widely applied to this area in recent years. This review summarizes the current progress in the establishment of NHPs using gene editing technology, which mainly focuses on rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys. In addition, we discuss the limiting factors in the applications of genetically modified NHP models as well as the possible solutions and improvements. Furthermore, we highlight the prospects and challenges of the gene-edited NHP models.
Terminal differentiation and anti-tumorigenic effects of prolactin in breast cancer

Breast cancer is a major disease affecting women worldwide. A woman has 1 in 8 lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, and morbidity and mortality due to this disease are expected to continue to rise globally. Breast cancer remains a challenging disease due to its heterogeneity, propensity for recurrence and metastasis to distant vital organs including bones, lungs, liver and brain ultimately leading to patient death. Despite the development of various therapeutic strategies to treat breast cancer, still there are no effective treatments once metastasis has occurred. Loss of differentiation and increased cellular plasticity and stemness are being recognized molecularly and clinically as major derivers of heterogeneity, tumor evolution, relapse, metastasis, and therapeutic failure. In solid tumors, breast cancer is one of the leading cancer types in which tumor differentiation state has long been known to influence cancer behavior. Reprograming and/or restoring differentiation of cancer cells has been proposed to provide a viable approach to reverse the cancer through differentiation and terminal maturation. The hormone prolactin (PRL) is known to play a critical role in mammary gland lobuloalveolar development/remodeling and the terminal differentiation of the mammary epithelial cells promoting milk proteins gene expression and lactation. Here, we will highlight recent discoveries supporting an anti-tumorigenic role for PRL in breast cancer as a “pro/forward-differentiation” pathway restricting plasticity, stemness and tumorigenesis.
First language translation involvement in second language word processing

Studies on bilingual word processing have demonstrated that the two languages in a mental lexicon can be parallelly activated. However, it is under discussion whether the activated, non-target language gets involved in the target language. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the first language (L1, the non-target one) translation in the second language (L2, the target one) word processing. The tasks of semantic relatedness judgment and lexical decision were both adopted, to explore the relation of the possible L1 involvement and the task demand. Besides, bilinguals with relatively higher and lower L2 proficiency were recruited, to clarify the potential influence of L2 proficiency. Results showed that the manipulation of L1 translation exerted an influence on bilinguals’ task performances, indicating that L1 translation was involved, but did not just serve as a by-product when bilinguals were processing L2 words. And about the influence of L2 proficiency, the higher proficiency bilinguals performed better than the lower proficiency ones when the L1 translations could be taken advantage of, indicating a better access to L1 translation in L2 word processing, as bilinguals’ L2 proficiency increased. As for the task demands, the L1 translation was partially involved in Experiment 1 while a full involvement was observed in Experiment 2, suggesting a differed depth of L1 translation involvement, if the task demands allowed. The present study supplemented the previous ones due to its participants (the intermediate bilinguals) and tasks (the tasks of semantic relatedness judgment and lexical decision); besides, it provided an interesting view into interpreting the “task schema” of the BIA+ model.
Five decades of clinical assessment of whole-sporozoite malaria vaccines

In 1967, pioneering work by Ruth Nussenzweig demonstrated for the first time that irradiated sporozoites of the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei protected mice against a challenge with infectious parasites of the same species. This remarkable finding opened up entirely new prospects of effective vaccination against malaria using attenuated sporozoites as immunization agents. The potential for whole-sporozoite-based immunization in humans was established in a clinical study in 1973, when a volunteer exposed to X-irradiated P. falciparum sporozoites was found to be protected against malaria following challenge with a homologous strain of this parasite. Nearly five decades later, much has been achieved in the field of whole-sporozoite malaria vaccination, and multiple reports on the clinical evaluation of such candidates have emerged. However, this process has known different paces before and after the turn of the century. While only a few clinical studies were published in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s, remarkable progress was made in the 2000’s and beyond. This article reviews the history of the clinical assessment of whole-sporozoite malaria vaccines over the last forty-nine years, highlighting the impressive achievements made over the last few years, and discussing some of the challenges ahead.
Conducting rapid research to aid the design of a health systems governance intervention in the Somali Region of Ethiopia

Introduction The rapid research described in this chapter was conducted as an assignment for a UN agency in Ethiopia's Somali Region. The agency's aim was support the implementation of an interim citizen engagement intervention, with a view of supporting of the Ethiopian Government's Citizen Score Card at primary healthcare facilities and hospitals in future. Many health facilities in Somali Region struggle with budget shortages related to ineffective budget planning and budget execution at woreda health office levels. In this context, an intervention to first improve budget accountability, through the implementation of citizen audits, was proposed. Methodology The rapid study focused on five woredas (districts) within Somali Region, where interviews were conducted with the heads of woreda health offices. In the same five woredas, directors of healthcare facilities were interviewed and offices and healthcare facilities were observed. The framework of assessment and analysis was based on health systems literature on fragile and conflict affected states guided the questions for the health authorities and health facility management. Findings The research yielded five distinct mini case studies covering woreda health office planning and budgeting capacity and support (or lack thereof), and related impressions of challenges regarding healthcare delivery at health facilities in the same five woredas. Results The findings demonstrated that the capacity for healthcare planning and budgeting Somali Region at woreda level varied significantly and that little guidance was available from regional level health authorities. Frontline health services clearly suffered from budget shortages as a result. Conclusion The research provided an evidence base for the delay of the roll-out of the Community Scorecard implementation across Somali Region. In a context whereby health facilities remain under-resourced due to budgeting constraints, a citizen-service provider-focused accountability intervention would have been of limited utility. The rapid case study research, conducted by condensing the usual case study research process, allowed for the production of evidence that was “robust enough” to demonstrate heterogeneity and challenges regarding budgeting quality across the five research sites. This evidence clearly transcended the hitherto anecdotal evidence that woreda-level health budget planning remains an area that faces significant shortcomings.
Influence of biochar and microorganism co-application on stabilization of cadmium (Cd) and improved maize growth in Cd-contaminated soil

Cadmium (Cd) is one the leading environmental contaminants. The Cd toxicity and its potential stabilization strategies have been investigated in the recent years. However, the combined effects of biochar and microorganisms on the adsorption of Cd and maize plant physiology, still remained unclear. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to evaluate the combined effects of biochar (BC) pyrolyzed from (maize-straw, cow-manure, and poultry-manure, and microorganisms [Trichoderma harzianum (fungus) and Bacillus subtilis (bacteria)], on plant nutrient uptake under various Cd-stress levels (0, 10, and 30 ppm). The highest level of Cd stress (30 ppm) caused the highest reduction in maize plant biomass, intercellular CO2, transpiration rate, water use efficiency, stomatal conductance, and photosynthesis rate as compared to control Cd0 (0 ppm). The sole application of BC and microorganisms significantly improved plant growth, intercellular CO2, transpiration rate, water use efficiency, stomatal conductance, and photosynthesis rate and caused a significant reduction in root and shoot Cd. However, the co-application of BC and microorganisms was more effective than the sole applications. In this regard, the highest improvement in plant growth and carbon assimilation, and highest reduction in root and shoot Cd was recorded from co-application of cow-manure and combined inoculation of Trichoderma harzianum (fungus) + Bacillus subtilis (bacteria) under Cd stress. However, due to the aging factor and biochar leaching alkalinity, the effectiveness of biochar in removing Cd may diminish over time, necessitating long-term experiments to improve understanding of biochar and microbial efficiency for specific bioremediation aims. Graphical Abstract
Evaluation and identification of advanced lentil interspecific derivatives resulted in the development of early maturing, high yielding, and disease-resistant cultivars under Indian agro-ecological conditions

The genetic base revealed by pedigree records of the majority of released cultivars appears to be narrow in major pulse crops, including lentils, because of the frequent use of the same parents and their derivatives in crop improvement programs. Therefore, corrective measures are needed to widen the genetic base by involving the genetic resources of a distinct gene pool. In this direction, rigorous efforts were made to introgress wild Lens taxa, L. culinaris ssp. orientalis, and L. ervoides into the backgrounds of cultivated varieties. Subsequently, genetic materials were advanced through the single seed descent method of breeding along with a rapid generation advancement (normal and off-season) approach. Two F10:11 interspecific derivatives of lentils were evaluated in augmented block design at two locations, viz. International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), India. The analysis of variance showed remarkable variability for all target characters at both locations. The heritability estimates were high, and correlation analysis exhibited a significant association between the majority of traits assessed at ICARDA and SKUAST, India. Further, SKUAST identified the most promising lines as “Jammu Lentil 144” and “Jammu Lentil 71. ” These derivatives were further validated separately for their agronomic potential and resistance against major biotic stresses. The results revealed that Jammu Lentil 144 and Jammu Lentil 71 produced 16.65 and 9.40% more seed yield than local and national checks, including earliness, by 25 and 15 days, respectively. These promising interspecific derivatives were also found to be resistant to fusarium wilt, root rot, pod borer, and aphid infestations. The standard agronomy of these cultivars has also been assessed consecutively for 2 years at SKUAST. Overall, the pre-breeding efforts have resulted in the development of early maturing, high-yielding, and disease-resistant lentil cultivars for the Jammu region of India.
Pesticide thiram exposure alters the gut microbial diversity of chickens

Thiram is a major dithiocarbamate pesticide commonly found in polluted field crops, feed, and rivers. Environmental thiram exposure has been demonstrated to cause angiogenesis and osteogenesis disorders in chickens, but information regarding thiram influences on gut microbiota, apoptosis, and autophagy in chickens has been insufficient. Here, we explored the effect of thiram exposure on gut microbiota, apoptosis, and autophagy of chickens. Results demonstrated that thiram exposure impaired the morphology and structure of intestinal and liver tissues. Moreover, thiram exposure also triggered liver apoptosis and autophagy. The gut microbiota in chickens exposed to thiram exhibited a significant decline in alpha diversity, accompanied by significant shifts in taxonomic compositions. Bacterial taxonomic analysis indicated that thiram exposure causes a significant reduction in the levels of eight genera, as well as a significant increase in the levels of two phyla and 10 genera. Among decreased bacterial genera, seven genera even cannot be observed in the thiram-induced chickens. In summary, this study demonstrated that thiram exposure not only dramatically altered the gut microbial diversity and composition but also induced liver apoptosis and autophagy in chickens. Importantly, this study also conveyed a key message that the dysbiosis of gut microbiota may be one of the major pathways for thiram to exert its toxic effects.
The use of ELISA is comparable to immunoprecipitation in the detection of selected myositis-specific autoantibodies in a European population

Background The reliable detection of myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSA) provides valuable clinical information regarding prognosis, clinical progression and diagnostic confirmation. Objectives To evaluate the reliability of a commercial ELISA immunoassay in detecting myositis-specific autoantibodies in comparison to immunoprecipitation as the reference standard. Methods Serum samples were chosen from a biobank of more than 3000 samples. Samples with a confirmed MSA on Immunoprecipitation (n=116) were evaluated in duplicate by ELISA to detect Mi2, MDA5, Jo1, EJ, KS, PL-7 and PL-12 (Medical & Biological Laboratories Co. Ltd, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan). Healthy control samples (n=246) confirmed autoantibody negative by immunoprecipitation were similarly assessed. Results There was a very good agreement between ELISA and immunoprecipitation for serum samples containing anti-Mi2, MDA5, Jo1, EJ, KS and PL-7 and PL-12 auto-antibodies. Cohen’s κ values ranged from 0.86-1 for the measured autoantibodies on ELISA. Conclusion ELISA was an accurate method for detecting anti-synthetase, anti-Mi2 and anti-MDA5 autoantibodies.
Untargeted serum metabolomics reveals specific metabolite abnormalities in patients with Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease (CD) is a subtype of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) characterized by skip intestinal lesions that can occur in any part of the gastrointestinal tract. Currently, the diagnosis of CD is based on clinical history, physical examination and complementary diagnostic tests. It is challenging for physicians to make a definitive diagnosis. This study aimed to analyze the variation in metabolites in CD serum and identify potential predictive biomarkers of CD diagnosis. We collected serum samples from 316 subjects, including patients with CD and healthy controls (HCs). Serum metabolomics was conducted using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Potential biomarkers were screened and evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses. A panel of two metabolites (deoxycholic acid and palmitic amide) was identified as a specific biomarker of CD. Receiver operating characteristic analysis (ROC) showed that the panel had a sensitivity of 80.25% with a specificity of 95.54% in discriminating CD patients from healthy controls. The biomarkers identified are increased in CD compared with healthy controls. Our approach successfully identified serum biomarkers associated with CD patients. The potential biomarkers indicated that CD metabolic disturbance might be associated with bile acid biosynthesis, fatty acids and energy metabolism.