Chemical and nutritional composition of Pamir yak milk from Xinjiang.

Pamir yak milk is considered to be ideal food for local people, but its nutritional profile has not yet been reported. This study investigated the chemical and nutritional composition of Pamir yak milk, and compared the results with reference composition of goat and cow milk. We found that the Pamir yak milk had higher contents of protein (4.30%), fat (4.63), lactose (5.21%) and total solid (14.84%) than that of goat and cow milk. The predominant amino acids were glutamate (20%), proline (10%), lysine (10%) and leucine (10%), of which the essential amino acids accounted for 48% of the total amino acids. Meanwhile, Pamir yak milk was rich in minerals such as Ca, Fe, Zn and Mg and thiamine (B1 ), niacin (B3 ), Pyridoxine (B6 ) and cobalamin (B12 ) were higher than those of cow and goat milk. Also, medium-chain fatty acids (C12-C16) exhibited the highest level. However, The α -linolenic acid (C18:3), eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid were found in yak milk. All of the above-mentioned differences were demonstrated by the fact that the yak milk quality may be affecting by pasture production, animal species and nutritive value of the herbage. Therefore, Pamir yak milk is a promising alternative food that may contribute to human health.

Compact quantum random number generation using a linear optocoupler.

To date, various quantum random number schemes have been demonstrated. However, the cost, size, and final random bit generation rate usually limits their wide application on-shelf. To overcome these limitations, we propose and demonstrate a compact, simple, and low-cost quantum random number generation based on a linear optocoupler. Its integrated structure consists mainly of a light emitting diode and a photodetector. Random bits are generated by directly measuring the intensity noise of the output light, which originates from the random recombination between holes of the p region and electrons of the n region in a light emitting diode. Moreover, our system is robust against fluctuation of the operating environment, and can be extended to a parallel structure, which will be of great significance for the practical and commercial application of quantum random number generation. After post-processing by the SHA-256 algorithm, a random number generation rate of 43 Mbps is obtained. Finally, the final random bit sequences have low autocorrelation coefficients with a standard deviation of 3.16×10-4 and pass the NIST-Statistical Test Suite test.

Quantum random number generation based on spontaneous Raman scattering in standard single-mode fiber.

We investigate quantum random number generation based on backward spontaneous Raman scattering in standard single-mode fiber, where the randomness of photon wavelength superposition and arrival time is simultaneously utilized. The experiment uses four avalanche photodiodes working in gated Geiger mode to detect backward Raman scattering photons from four different wavelength channels and a time-to-digital converter placed behind the detectors to record their arrival time. Both information of the wavelength and arrival time interval of photons from different channels are applied to generate random bits. Due to the independence of these two entropy sources, the random number resource of the present system is fully utilized. Five-bit raw data can be obtained for every effective click, which contains 2.87-bit min-entropy. To obtain the optimal generation rate of random bits, appropriate pump power and fiber length are adopted. The post-processing method by the SHA-256 hashing algorithm is used to remove the bias of the raw data, after which the final random bit sequences pass the NIST statistical test.

Finite-key analysis for twin-field quantum key distribution based on generalized operator dominance condition.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) can help two distant peers to share secret key bits, whose security is guaranteed by the law of physics. In practice, the secret key rate of a QKD protocol is always lowered with the increasing of channel distance, which severely limits the applications of QKD. Recently, twin-field (TF) QKD has been proposed and intensively studied, since it can beat the rate-distance limit and greatly increase the achievable distance of QKD. Remarkalebly, K. Maeda et. al. proposed a simple finite-key analysis for TF-QKD based on operator dominance condition. Although they showed that their method is sufficient to beat the rate-distance limit, their operator dominance condition is not general, i.e. it can be only applied in three decoy states scenarios, which implies that its key rate cannot be increased by introducing more decoy states, and also cannot reach the asymptotic bound even in case of preparing infinite decoy states and optical pulses. Here, to bridge this gap, we propose an improved finite-key analysis of TF-QKD through devising new operator dominance condition. We show that by adding the number of decoy states, the secret key rate can be furtherly improved and approach the asymptotic bound. Our theory can be directly used in TF-QKD experiment to obtain higher secret key rate. Our results can be directly used in experiments to obtain higher key rates.

Finite-key analysis for round-robin-differential-phase-shift quantum key distribution: erratum.

Two errata are presented to correct two typographical errors in our paper.

Finite-key analysis for round-robin-differential-phase-shift quantum key distribution.

Since the round-robin-differential-phase-shift (RRDPS) quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol was proposed, it has attracted much attention due to its unique characteristic i.e., it can bind the amount of information leakage without monitoring signal disturbance. Recently, Yin et al. have developed a novel theory to estimate its information leakage tightly. However, the finite-sized key effects are not taken into account. Here, we fill this gap and extend the security proof of the RRDPS protocol to the finite-sized regime using post-selection technique. As a consequence, it's predicted that the key rate of RRDPS in a finite-sized key scenario can be comparable to the asymptotic one, which is meaningful for the real-life applications.

Experimental three-party quantum random number generator based on dimension witness violation and weak measurement.

Random number generation is an important task in modern science. A variety of quantum random number generation protocols have been proposed and realized. These protocols, however, are all based on two parties. Based on the weak measurement technique, we propose and realize a quantum random number generator among three observers. The violation of a double classical dimension witness based on the determinant value is first observed in experiment. With the heralding single-photon source, our experimental setup attains the independent assumption and the dimension assumption, which means our setup is semi-device-independent (DI). This Letter sheds new light on generating DI-type random number among multi-user and it has potential application prospect on the quantum cryptography and quantum random number in network environment.

Tighter bound of quantum randomness certification for independent-devices scenario.

Quantum random number generation attracts considerable attention, since its randomness inherently originates in quantum mechanics, but not mathematical assumptions. Randomness certification, e.g. entropy estimation, becomes a key issue in the context of quantum random number generation protocol. We study a self-testing protocol based on dimension witness, with the assumption of independent devices. It addresses the random number extraction problem in a practical prepare-and-measure scenario with uncharacterized devices. However, the lower bound of min-entropy as a function of dimension witness is not tight in existing works. We present a tighter bound of analytic form, by introducing the Lagrangian multiplier method to closely analyze the optimization problem on average guessing probability. Through simulation, it turns out that a significantly higher random number generation rate can be achieved in practice.

Efficient multiparty quantum key agreement with collective detection.

As a burgeoning branch of quantum cryptography, quantum key agreement is a kind of key establishing processes where the security and fairness of the established common key should be guaranteed simultaneously. However, the difficulty on designing a qualified quantum key agreement protocol increases significantly with the increase of the number of the involved participants. Thus far, only few of the existing multiparty quantum key agreement (MQKA) protocols can really achieve security and fairness. Nevertheless, these qualified MQKA protocols are either too inefficient or too impractical. In this paper, an MQKA protocol is proposed with single photons in travelling mode. Since only one eavesdropping detection is needed in the proposed protocol, the qubit efficiency and measurement efficiency of it are higher than those of the existing ones in theory. Compared with the protocols which make use of the entangled states or multi-particle measurements, the proposed protocol is more feasible with the current technologies. Security and fairness analysis shows that the proposed protocol is not only immune to the attacks from external eavesdroppers, but also free from the attacks from internal betrayers.

[Study on the iopromide-degrading characteristics of strain Pseudomonas sp. I-24 via co-metabolism].

Strain Pseudomonas sp. I-24 (I-24) cannot utilize iopromide (IOP) as the sole carbon and energy source, so different carbon sources (starch, malt sugar, glucose and glycerol) were used as the additional carbon sources to study their effects on I-24 growth and IOP degradation in flask tests. The results showed that the IOP degradation process by I-24 matched the first-order kinetics. Among these four co-substrates, starch was found to be the most efficient to enhance IOP degradation. The corresponding degradation efficiency was as high as 92.7% and the highest enzymatic activity of 0.182 mU appeared in the third day. The optimum starch concentration was 1 g x L(-1). Since glucose and malt sugar better promoted I-24 growth and electron transport system activity (ETSA), indicating that the IOP degradation process would probably be restrained by excess growth, which decreased the degradation efficiency of IOP. In addition, no direct correlation between ETSA and co-metabolism process was found. The detected enzymatic activity of I-24 in control sample indicated that the key enzymes could be still induced in low-concentration of co-substrates.