520 research outputs found
zk-PCN: A Privacy-Preserving Payment Channel Network Using zk-SNARKs
No full textPayment channel network (PCN) is a layer-two scaling solution that enables fast off-chain transactions but does not involve on-chain transaction settlement. PCNs raise new privacy issues including balance secrecy, relationship anonymity and payment privacy. Moreover, protecting privacy causes low transaction success rates. To address this dilemma, we propose zk-PCN, a privacy-preserving payment channel network using zk-SNARKs. We prevent from exposing true balances by setting up public balances instead. Using public balances, zk-PCN can guarantee high transaction success rates and protect PCN privacy with zero-knowledge proofs. Additionally, zk-PCN is compatible with the existing routing algorithms of PCNs. To support such compatibility, we propose zk-IPCN to improve zk-PCN with a novel proof generation (RPG) algorithm. zk-IPCN reduces the overheads of storing channel information and lowers the frequency of generating zero-knowledge proofs. Finally, extensive simulations demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of zk-PCN in various settings
Development of an Efficient Electroporation Method for Iturin A-Producing Bacillus subtilis ZK
No full textIn order to efficiently introduce DNA into B. subtilis ZK, which produces iturin A at a high level, we optimized seven electroporation conditions and explored an efficient electroporation method. Using the optimal conditions, the electroporation efficiency was improved to 1.03 x 10(7) transformants/g of DNA, an approximately 10,000-fold increase in electroporation efficiency. This efficiency is the highest electroporation efficiency for B. subtilis and enables the construction of a directed evolution library or the knockout of a gene in B. subtilis ZK for molecular genetics studies. In the optimization process, the combined effects of three types of wall-weakening agents were evaluated using a response surface methodology (RSM) design, which led to a two orders of magnitude increase in electroporation efficiency. To the best of our limited knowledge, this study provides the first demonstration of using an RSM design for optimization of the electroporation conditions for B. subtilis. To validate the electroporation efficiency, a case study was performed and a gene (rapC) was inactivated in B. subtilis ZK using a suicide plasmid pMUTIN4. Moreover, we found that the rapC mutants exhibited a marked decrease in iturin A production, suggesting that the rapC gene was closely related to the iturin A production
New application of homotopy perturbation method to ZK-MEW equation
No full textThe work presents a derivation of solitary solutions of
the two-dimensional Zakharov-Kuznetsov Modified Equal Width (ZK-MEW)
equation using the homotopy perturbation method
Prediction of the Caspian Sea level using ECMWF seasonal forecasts and reanalysis
No full textThis article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the
source are credited.The hydrological budget of the Caspian Sea (CS) is investigated using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts interim reanalysis (ERAi) and seasonal forecast (FCST) data with the aim of predicting the Caspian Sea Level (CSL) some months ahead. Precipitation and evaporation are used. After precipitation events over the Volga River, the discharge (Volga River discharge (VRD)) follows with delays, which are parameterized. The components of the water budget from ERAi and FCSTs are integrated to obtain time series of the CSL. Observations of the CSL and the VRD are used for comparison and tuning. The quality of ERAi data is sufficiently good to calculate the time variability of the CSL with a satisfactory accuracy. Already the storage of water within the Volga Basin allows forecasts of the CSL a few months ahead, and using the FCSTs of precipitation improves the CSL forecasts. The evaporation in the seasonal forecasts is deficient due to unrealistic sea surface temperatures over the CS. Impacts of different water budget terms on the CSL variability are shown by a variety of validation tools. The importance of precipitation anomalies over the catchment of the Volga River is confirmed, but also impacts from the two southern rivers (Sefidrud and Kura River) and the evaporation over the CS become obvious for some periods. When pushing the FCSTs beyond the limits of the seasonal FCSTs to 1 year, considerable forecast skill can still be found. Validating only FCSTs by the present approach, which show the same trend as one based on a statistical method, significantly enhances the skill scores
A class of finite groups with Abelian Sylow p-subgroups
No full textIn this paper, we first determine the structure of the Sylow P-subgroup P of a finite group G containing no elements of order 2p (p > 2), and then show that the Broue Abelian Defect Groups Conjecture is true for the principal P-block of G. The result depends on the classification of finite simple groups.Mathematics, AppliedMathematicsSCI(E)中国科学引文数据库(CSCD)0ARTICLE3471-4801
Designing an authoring system of robots and IoT-based toys for EFL teaching and learning
No full textThis study aims to design an authoring system of robots and IoT-based toys for creating a scenario-based interactive learning environment for young English as a Foreign Language learners. This study adopts a design-based research approach to investigate the pedagogical needs, the critical features and usability of such a authoring system. Twelve adult participants, including EFL teachers, parents, non-technical, and technical professionals, voluntarily participated in this study to co-develop and evaluated the authoring system through iterations of needs collection, system design, system testing and refinements. An authoring system, consisting of IoT-based toys, a robot and a script editor, was finally developed taking four cycles of iterative improvements in 18 weeks. Eleven pedagogical needs concerning children’s language and cognitive development, better children-robot interaction and practical issues were identified. The modifications made across different versions of the authoring system were presented in detail. The results also show that the issues of effectiveness, robustness and efficiency were the most frequently identified, and that the system had achieved good usability after four rounds of design and refinements. Design principles and guidelines also merged as a result providing insights into the effective design of Robot Assisted Language Learning in particular and Technology-Enhanced Language Learning in general.No Full Tex
Thermopower and thermoelectric power factor of Zk parafermion quantum dots
No full textAbstractUsing the conformal field theory approach to the thermoelectric characteristics of fractional quantum Hall states, previously developed in Georgiev (2015) [10], we show that the thermoelectric power factor of Coulomb-blockaded islands, realized by point contacts in Fabry–Pérot interferometers in the Zk parafermion Hall states, could give reliable signatures for distinguishing the topological orders of different quantum Hall states having identical electric properties. For example, while the conductance peak patterns in the Coulomb blockade regime for such states are practically indistinguishable for vn≪vc even at finite temperature, where vn and vc are the Fermi velocities of the neutral and charged modes respectively, the power factors PT of the corresponding states are much more sensitive to the neutral modes. In particular, the smaller r=vn/vc the bigger the asymmetries in the power factor which combined with the thermal broadening of the conductance peaks due to the neutral modes' multiplicities could give us the ultimate tool to figure out which of the competing quantum Hall universality classes are indeed realized in the experiments. We give a complete description of the power factor profiles in the Z3 and Z4 parafermion states with arbitrary number of quasiparticles localized in the bulk which could be useful for comparison with the experiments
On the Hermite and Mathieu Special Characterizations to the Logarithmic Zakharov–Kuznetsov Equations
No full textIn this paper, we find the new travelling wave solutions for several aspects of logarithmic Zakharov–Kuznetsov (ZK) equations using an efficient technique called the special function method which is composed of Hermite and Mathieu differential equations being novel and special functions. In order to illustrate the efficiency of the projected scheme, we considered four different examples with different cases, namely, logarithmic ZK (log-ZK) equation, logarithmic modified ZK (log-mZK) equation, and logarithmic ZK modified equal width (log-ZK-mEW) equation and logarithmic ZK–Benjamin–Bona–Mahony (log-ZKBBM) equation. The behaviour of the obtained results and corresponding consequences are illustrated and captured. Finally, the obtained results confirm that the considered solution procedure can be widely employed to find the solution and also capture some interesting and stimulating consequences. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature India Private Limited
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