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Searching for deviations in quartic gauge boson couplings (QGCs) is one of the main goals of the electroweak program at the LHC. We consider positivity bounds adapted to the Standard Model, and show that a set of positivity constraints on 18 anomalous QGC couplings can be derived, by requiring that the vector boson scattering amplitudes of specific channels and polarisations satisfy the fundamental principles of quantum field theory. We explicitly solve the positivity inequalities to remove their dependence on the polarisations of the external particles, and obtain 19 linear inequalities, 3 quadratic inequalities, and 1 quartic inequality that only involve the QGC parameters and the weak angle. These inequalities constrain the possible directions in which deviations from the standard QGC can occur, and can be used to guide future experimental searches. We study the morphology of the positivity bounds in the parameter space, and find that the allowed parameter space is carved out by the intersection of pyramids, prisms, and (approximately) cones. Altogether, they reduce the volume of the allowed parameter space to only 2.1% of the total. We also show the bounds for some benchmark cases, where one, two, or three operators, respectively, are turned on at a time, so as to facilitate a quick comparison with the experimental results., Comment: 54 pages, 27 figures

A new two-party quantum key agreement (QKA) protocol is proposed based on four-qubit cluster states. Encoded four-qubit cluster states can be transmitted directly by means of order rearrangement operation. In contrast to existing QKA protocols based on four-qubit cluster states, it is unnecessary to perform two-way quantum communication. We analyze the security of this protocol and prove that it is secure in ideal conditions. We also propose the method to ensure the security of this protocol in noisy channel. Finally, we analyze the expansibility of the proposed QKA protocol and propose a three-party QKA protocol based on four-qubit cluster states.

Background Despite the great contributions of utilizing heterosis to crop productivity worldwide, the molecular mechanism of heterosis remains largely unexplored. Thus, the present research is focused on the grain number heterosis of a widely used late-cropping indica super hybrid rice combination in China using a high-throughput next-generation RNA-seq strategy. Results Here, we obtained 872 million clean reads, and at least one read could maps 27,917 transcripts out of 35,679 annotations. Transcript differential expression analysis revealed a total of 5910 differentially expressed genes (DGHP) between super-hybrid rice Wufengyou T025 (WFYT025) and its parents were identified in the young panicles. Out of the 5910 DGHP, 63.1% had a genetic action mode of over-dominance, 17.3% had a complete-dominance action, 15.6% had a partial-dominance action and 4.0% had an additive action. DGHP were significantly enriched in carotenoid biosynthesis, diterpenoid biosynthesis and plant hormone signal transduction pathways, with the key genes involved in the three pathways being up-regulated in the hybrid. By comparing the DGHP enriched in the KEGG pathway with QTLs associated with grain number, several DGHP were located on the same chromosomal segment with some of these grain number QTLs. Conclusion Through young panicle development transcriptome analysis, we conclude that the over-dominant effect is probably the major contributor to the grain number heterosis of WFYT025. The DGHP sharing the same location with grain number QTLs could be considered a candidate gene and provide valuable targets for the cloning and functional analysis of these grain number QTLs. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12284-018-0229-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In this manuscript, a novel and economical scheme for asymmetric quantum information splitting (AQIS) of an arbitrary N-qubit state is investigated. Instead of multi-qubit entangled states, the maximally entangled states, which are made up of a three-qubit GHZ-like entangled state and (N−1) sets of Bell states, are used as quantum information carrier. It is shown that the proposed AQIS scheme can be faithfully realized by performing appropriate Bell state measurements (BSMs), single qubit measurements (SMs) and local unitary operations (LUOs), rather than multi-qubit entanglement or multi-particle joint measurements, which make it more convenient and feasible in a practical application than some previous schemes. Furthermore, its intrinsic efficiency for qubits approaches 100 %, and the total efficiency really approaches the maximal value, which is higher than those of some previous symmetric quantum information splitting (QIS) schemes. Finally, the proposed scheme can be proven information-theoretically secure from the views of participant attack and outside attack in detail.

In this paper, a novel scheme is investigated for quantum teleportation (QT) and quantum state sharing (QSTS). The generalized seven-qubit Brown state |B 7〉 is used as information carrier. Firstly, for an arbitrary single-qubit state, we perfectly present a QT protocol and three QSTS ones, which is among three participants via |B 7〉. Then we make an overall comparison among three QSTS protocols and present an almost even distribution principle of particles. Secondly, for two- and three-qubit cases, based on the almost even distribution principle we design several QT and QSTS protocols. Finally, we mainly consider our scheme’s security against dishonest participant attacks. Furthermore, for an arbitrary N-qubit state, there is a conjecture that QT and QSTS can be designed by using the generalized (2N+1)-qubit Brown state |B 2N+1〉 in Eq. (3) (N≥2) in theoretical aspects.

The methylation-dependent restriction endonuclease (REase) BisI (Gm5C ↓ NGC) is found in Bacillus subtilis T30. We expressed and purified the BisI endonuclease and 34 BisI homologs identified in bacterial genomes. 23 of these BisI homologs are active based on digestion of m5C-modified substrates. Two major specificities were found among these BisI family enzymes: Group I enzymes cut GCNGC containing two to four m5C in the two strands, or hemi-methylated sites containing two m5C in one strand; Group II enzymes only cut GCNGC sites containing three to four m5C, while one enzyme requires all four cytosines to be modified for cleavage. Another homolog, Esp638I cleaves GCS ↓ SGC (relaxed specificity RCN ↓ NGY, containing at least four m5C). Two BisI homologs show degenerate specificity cleaving unmodified DNA. Many homologs are small proteins ranging from 150 to 190 amino acid (aa) residues, but some homologs associated with mobile genetic elements are larger and contain an extra C-terminal domain. More than 156 BisI homologs are found in >60 bacterial genera, indicating that these enzymes are widespread in bacteria. They may play an important biological function in restricting pre-modified phage DNA.

The first reported Type IV restriction endonuclease (REase) GmrSD consists of GmrSand GmrD subunits. In most bacteria, however, the gmrS and gmrD genesare fused together to encode a single-chain protein. The fused coding sequence forECSTEC94C_1402 from E. coli strain STEC_94C was expressed in T7 Express. Theprotein designated as Eco94GmrSD displays modification-dependent ATP-stimulatedREase activity on T4 DNA with glucosyl-5-hydroxymethyl-cytosines (glc-5hmC) and T4gtDNA with 5-hydroxymethyl-cytosines (5hmC). A C-terminal 6xHis-tagged protein waspurified by two-column chromatography. The enzyme is active in Mg2+and Mn2+ buffer. It prefers to cleave large glc-5hmC- or5hmC-modified DNA. In phage restriction assays, Eco94GmrSD weakly restricted T4 andT4gt, whereas T4 IPI*-deficient phage (Δip1) were restricted morethan 106-fold, consistent with IPI* protection of E. coliDH10B from lethal expression of the closely homologous E. coli CT596 GmrSD.Eco94GmrSD is proposed to belong to the His-Asn-His (HNH)-nuclease family by theidentification of a putative C-terminal REase catalytic site D507-H508-N522.Supporting this, GmrSD variants D507A, H508A and N522A displayed no endonucleaseactivity. The presence of a large number of fused GmrSD homologs suggests that GmrSDis an effective phage exclusion protein that provides a mechanism to thwart T-evenphage infection.

TspMI, a thermostable isoschizomer of XmaI from a Thermus sp., has been characterized. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity using Cibacron-Blue 3GA agarose, Heparin agarose, SP sephadex C50, and Mono-Q fast protein liquid chromatography and was found to be a homodimer of 40 kDa. Restriction mapping and run-off sequencing of TspMI-cleaved DNA ends depicted that it cleaved at 5'C/CCGGG3' to generate a four-base, 5'-CCGG overhang. The enzyme was sensitive to methylation of second and third cytosines in its recognition sequence. TspMI worked optimally at 60 degrees C with 6 mM Mg(2+), no Na(+)/K(+), and showed no star activity in the presence of 25% glycerol. The enzyme could efficiently digest the DNA labeled with a higher concentration of YOYO-I (one dye molecule to one nucleotide), making it a useful candidate for real-time imaging experiments. Single molecule interaction between TspMI and lambda DNA was studied using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. The enzyme survived 30 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cycles in the presence of 10% glycerol and 0.5 M trehalose without any activity loss and, hence, is suitable for incorporation in restriction-endonuclease-mediated selective-PCR for various applications.

Introduction A total of 38 brain cytoarchitectonic subdivisions, representing subcortical and cortical structures, cerebellum, and brainstem, were examined in 4- to 60-year-old subjects diagnosed with autism and control subjects (a) to detect a global pattern of developmental abnormalities and (b) to establish whether the function of developmentally modified structures matches the behavioral alterations that are diagnostic for autism. The volume of cytoarchitectonic subdivisions, neuronal numerical density, and total number of neurons per region of interest were determined in 14 subjects with autism and 14 age-matched controls by using unbiased stereological methods. Results The study revealed that significant differences between the group of subjects with autism and control groups are limited to a few brain regions, including the cerebellum and some striatum and amygdala subdivisions. In the group of individuals with autism, the total number and numerical density of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum were reduced by 25% and 24%, respectively. In the amygdala, significant reduction of neuronal density was limited to the lateral nucleus (by 12%). Another sign of the topographic selectivity of developmental alterations in the brain of individuals with autism was an increase in the volumes of the caudate nucleus and nucleus accumbens by 22% and 34%, respectively, and the reduced numerical density of neurons in the nucleus accumbens and putamen by 15% and 13%, respectively. Conclusions The observed pattern of developmental alterations in the cerebellum, amygdala and striatum is consistent with the results of magnetic resonance imaging studies and their clinical correlations, and of some morphometric studies that indicate that detected abnormalities may contribute to the social and communication deficits, and repetitive and stereotypical behaviors observed in individuals with autism.

Several morphometric studies have revealed smaller than normal neurons in the neocortex of autistic subjects. To test the hypothesis that abnormal neuronal growth is a marker of an autism-associated global encephalopathy, neuronal volumes were estimated in 16 brain regions, including various subcortical structures, Ammon’s horn, archicortex, cerebellum, and brainstem in 14 brains from individuals with autism 4 to 60 years of age and 14 age-matched control brains. This stereological study showed a significantly smaller volume of neuronal soma in 14 of 16 regions in the 4- to 8-year-old autistic brains than in the controls. Arbitrary classification revealed a very severe neuronal volume deficit in 14.3% of significantly altered structures, severe in 50%, moderate in 21.4%, and mild in 14.3% structures. This pattern suggests desynchronized neuronal growth in the interacting neuronal networks involved in the autistic phenotype. The comparative study of the autistic and control subject brains revealed that the number of structures with a significant volume deficit decreased from 14 in the 4- to 8-year-old autistic subjects to 4 in the 36- to 60-year-old. Neuronal volumes in 75% of the structures examined in the older adults with autism are comparable to neuronal volume in age-matched controls. This pattern suggests defects of neuronal growth in early childhood and delayed up-regulation of neuronal growth during adolescence and adulthood reducing neuron soma volume deficit in majority of examined regions. However, significant correction of neuron size but limited clinical improvements suggests that delayed correction does not restore functional deficits.

Oscillons are long-lived, localized excitations of nonlinear scalar fields which may be copiously produced during preheating after inflation, leading to a possible oscillon-dominated phase in the early Universe. For example, this can happen after axion monodromy inflation, on which we run our simulations. We investigate the stochastic gravitational wave background associated with an oscillon-dominated phase. An isolated oscillon is spherically symmetric and does not radiate gravitational waves, and we show that the flux of gravitational radiation generated between oscillons is also small. However, a significant stochastic gravitational wave background may be generated during preheating itself (i.e, when oscillons are forming), and in this case the characteristic size of the oscillons is imprinted on the gravitational wave power spectrum, which has multiple, distinct peaks., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, JHEP version

AvaI andBsoBI restriction endonucleases are isoschizomers which recognize the symmetric sequence 5′CYCGRG3′ and cleave between the first C and second Y to generate a four-base 5′ extension. TheAvaI restriction endonuclease gene (avaIR) and methylase gene (avaIM) were cloned intoEscherichia coli by the methylase selection method. TheBsoBI restriction endonuclease gene (bsoBIR) and part of theBsoBI methylase gene (bsoBIM) were cloned by the “endo-blue” method (SOS induction assay), and the remainder ofbsoBIM was cloned by inverse PCR. The nucleotide sequences of the two restriction-modification (RM) systems were determined. Comparisons of the predicted amino acid sequences indicated thatAvaI andBsoBI endonucleases share 55% identity, whereas the two methylases share 41% identity. Although the two systems show similarity in protein sequence, their gene organization differs. TheavaIM gene precedesavaIR in theAvaI RM system, while thebsoBIR gene is located upstream ofbsoBIM in theBsoBI RM system. BothAvaI andBsoBI methylases contain motifs conserved among the N4 cytosine methylases.

Based on molecular clock hypothesis, and neutral theory of molecular evolution, molecular phylogenies have been widely used for inferring evolutionary history of organisms and individual genes. Traditionally, alignments and phylogeny trees of proteins and their coding DNA sequences are constructed separately, thus often different conclusions were drawn. Here we present a new strategy for sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree reconstruction, codon and amino acid unified sequence alignment (CAUSA), which aligns DNA and protein sequences and draw phylogenetic trees in a unified manner. We demonstrated that CAUSA improves both the accuracy of multiple sequence alignments and phylogenetic trees by solving a variety of molecular evolutionary problems in virus, bacteria and mammals. Our results support the hypothesis that the molecular clock for proteins has two pointers existing separately in DNA and protein sequences. It is more accurate to read the molecular clock by combination (additive) of these two pointers, since the ticking rates of them are sometimes consistent, sometimes different. CAUSA software were released as Open Source under GNU/GPL license, and are downloadable free of charge from the website www.dnapluspro.com.

We introduce bi-galileon theory, the generalisation of the single galileon model introduced by Nicolis et al. The theory contains two coupled scalar fields and is described by a Lagrangian that is invariant under Galilean shifts in those fields. This paper is the first of two, and focuses on the motivation and formulation of the theory. We show that the boundary effective theory of the cascading cosmology model corresponds to a bi-galileon theory in the decoupling limit, and argue that this is to be expected for co-dimension 2 braneworld models exhibiting infra-red modification of gravity. We then generalise this, by constructing the most general bi-galileon Lagrangian. By coupling one of the galileons to the energy-momentum tensor, we pitch this as a modified gravity theory in which the modifications to General Relativity are encoded in the dynamics of the two galileons. We initiate a study of phenomenology by looking at maximally symmetric vacua and their stability, developing elegant geometric techniques that trivially explain why some of the vacua have to be unstable in certain cases (eg DGP). A detailed study of phenomenology appears in our companion paper., Comment: 18 pages, JHEP version

Background NruI and Sbo13I are restriction enzyme isoschizomers with the same recognition sequence 5' TCG↓CGA 3' (cleavage as indicated↓). Here we report the cloning of NruI and Sbo13I restriction-modification (R-M) systems in E. coli. The NruI restriction endonuclease gene (nruIR) was cloned by PCR and inverse PCR using primers designed from the N-terminal amino acid sequence. The NruI methylase gene (nruIM) was derived by inverse PCR walking. Results The amino acid sequences of NruI endonuclease and methylase are very similar to the Sbo13I R-M system which has been cloned and expressed in E. coli by phage selection of a plasmid DNA library. Dot blot analysis using rabbit polyclonal antibodies to N6mA- or N4mC-modified DNA indicated that M.NruI is possibly a N6mA-type amino-methyltransferase that most likely modifies the external A in the 5' TCGCGA 3' sequence. M.Sbo13I, however, is implicated as a probable N4mC-type methylase since plasmid carrying sbo13IM gene is not restricted by Mrr endonuclease and Sbo13I digestion is not blocked by Dam methylation of the overlapping site. The amino acid sequence of M.NruI and M.Sbo13I did not show significant sequence similarity to many known amino-methyltransferases in the α, β, and γ groups, except to a few putative methylases in sequenced microbial genomes. Conclusions The order of the conserved amino acid motifs (blocks) in M.NruI/M.Sbo13I is similar to the γ. group amino-methyltranferases, but with two distinct features: In motif IV, the sequence is DPPY instead of NPPY; there are two additional conserved motifs, IVa and Xa as extension of motifs IV and X, in this family of enzymes. We propose that M.NruI and M.Sbo13I form a subgroup in the γ group of amino-methyltransferases.