Synergistic effects of Fe and Ag doping on the structural and optical properties of a TiO thin film: a dual function platform for hydrogen generation and dye degradation.

The global population is increasing at an alarming pace, leading to a rapid surge in industrialization and concomitant environmental degradation. In light of the present circumstances, it is crucial to find sustainable solutions to mitigate pollution and ensure a safe and clean environment for the present and future society. One promising solution is photocatalysis, which utilizes solar energy to address environmental issues while providing a renewable and sustainable energy source.

A hybrid approach for power quality event identification in power systems: Elasticnet Regression decomposition and optimized probabilistic neural networks.

The transformation of traditional grid networks towards smart-grid and microgrid concepts raises many critical issues, and quality in the power supply is one of the prominent ones that needs further research. Developing and applying power quality (PQ) recognition methods with efficient and reliable analysis are essential to the fast-growing issues related to modern smart power distribution systems. In this regard, a hybrid algorithm is proposed for PQ events detection and classification using Elasticnet Regression-based Variational Mode Decomposition (ER-VMD) and Salp Swarm Algorithm optimized Probabilistic Neural Network (SSA-PNN).

Advancing on-chip Kerr optical parametric oscillation towards coherent applications covering the green gap.

Optical parametric oscillation (OPO) in Kerr microresonators can efficiently transfer near-infrared laser light into the visible spectrum. To date, however, chromatic dispersion has mostly limited output wavelengths to >560 nm, and robust access to the whole green light spectrum has not been demonstrated. In fact, wavelengths between 532 nm and 633 nm, commonly referred to as the "green gap", are especially challenging to produce with conventional laser gain.

Estimation of Hamiltonian Parameters from Thermal States.

We upper bound and lower bound the optimal precision with which one can estimate an unknown Hamiltonian parameter via measurements of Gibbs thermal states with a known temperature. The bounds depend on the uncertainty in the Hamiltonian term that contains the parameter and on the term's degree of noncommutativity with the full Hamiltonian: higher uncertainty and commuting operators lead to better precision. We apply the bounds to show that there exist entangled thermal states such that the parameter can be estimated with an error that decreases faster than 1/sqrt[n], beating the standard quantum limit.

Quantum Codes from Twisted Unitary t-Groups.

We introduce twisted unitary t-groups, a generalization of unitary t-groups under a twisting by an irreducible representation. We then apply representation theoretic methods to the Knill-Laflamme error correction conditions to show that twisted unitary t-groups automatically correspond to quantum codes with distance d=t+1. By construction these codes have many transversal gates, which naturally do not spread errors and thus are useful for fault tolerance.

Candidate for a Passively Protected Quantum Memory in Two Dimensions.

An interesting problem in the field of quantum error correction involves finding a physical system that hosts a "passively protected quantum memory," defined as an encoded qubit coupled to an environment that naturally wants to correct errors. To date, a quantum memory stable against finite-temperature effects is known only in four spatial dimensions or higher. Here, we take a different approach to realize a stable quantum memory by relying on a driven-dissipative environment.

Bell Sampling from Quantum Circuits.

A central challenge in the verification of quantum computers is benchmarking their performance as a whole and demonstrating their computational capabilities. In this Letter, we find a universal model of quantum computation, Bell sampling, that can be used for both of those tasks and thus provides an ideal stepping stone toward fault tolerance. In Bell sampling, we measure two copies of a state prepared by a quantum circuit in the transversal Bell basis.

Designing multi-epitope vaccine against human cytomegalovirus integrating pan-genome and reverse vaccinology pipelines.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is accountable for high morbidity in neonates and immunosuppressed individuals. Due to the high genetic variability of HCMV, current prophylactic measures are insufficient. In this study, we employed a pan-genome and reverse vaccinology approach to screen the target for efficient vaccine candidates.

Cefiderocol susceptibility endows hope in treating carbapenem-resistant : insights from and evidence.

'High-risk' hypermutable clones of disseminating extensive drug-resistance (XDR) have raised global health concerns with escalating mortality rates in immunocompromised patients. Mutations in conventional drug-targets under antibiotic stress necessitate structural understanding to formulate sustainable therapeutics. In the present study, the major β-lactam antibiotic target, penicillin-binding protein-3 (PBP3) with mutations F533L and T91A, were identified in carbapenemase-positive isolates ( = 6) using whole genome sequencing.

Integrating pan-genome and reverse vaccinology to design multi-epitope vaccine against Herpes simplex virus type-1.

Unlabelled: Herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1), the etiological agent of sporadic encephalitis and recurring oral (sometimes genital) infections in humans, affects millions each year. The evolving viral genome reduces susceptibility to existing antivirals and, thus, necessitates new therapeutic strategies. Immunoinformatics strategies have shown promise in designing novel vaccine candidates in the absence of a clinically licensed vaccine to prevent HSV-1.

Post-quantum cryptography and the quantum future of cybersecurity.

We review the current status of efforts to develop and deploy post-quantum cryptography on the Internet. Then we suggest specific ways in which quantum technologies might be used to enhance cybersecurity in the near future and beyond. We focus on two goals: protecting the secret keys that are used in classical cryptography, and ensuring the trustworthiness of quantum computations.

Limits on the evolutionary rates of biological traits.

This paper focuses on the maximum speed at which biological evolution can occur. I derive inequalities that limit the rate of evolutionary processes driven by natural selection, mutations, or genetic drift. These rate limits link the variability in a population to evolutionary rates.

Traceable localization enables accurate integration of quantum emitters and photonic structures with high yield.

In a popular integration process for quantum information technologies, localization microscopy of quantum emitters guides lithographic placement of photonic structures. However, a complex coupling of microscopy and lithography errors degrades registration accuracy, severely limiting device performance and process yield. We introduce a methodology to solve this widespread but poorly understood problem.

Whole genome analysis reveals unique traits of SARS-CoV-2 in pediatric patients.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to challenge the global healthcare with emerging variants and higher infectivity as well as morbidities. This study investigated potential age-related variations through genomic characterization of the virus under common clinical settings. A cohort comprising 71 SARS-CoV-2 strains from both infected infants and accompanying adults, diagnosed via RT-PCR at a tertiary pediatric hospital and research center, underwent Illumina paired-end sequencing.

High-Energy Collision of Quarks and Mesons in the Schwinger Model: From Tensor Networks to Circuit QED.

With the aim of studying nonperturbative out-of-equilibrium dynamics of high-energy particle collisions on quantum simulators, we investigate the scattering dynamics of lattice quantum electrodynamics in 1+1 dimensions. Working in the bosonized formulation of the model and in the thermodynamic limit, we use uniform-matrix-product-state tensor networks to construct multiparticle wave-packet states, evolve them in time, and detect outgoing particles post collision. This facilitates the numerical simulation of scattering experiments in both confined and deconfined regimes of the model at different energies, giving rise to rich phenomenology, including inelastic production of quark and meson states, meson disintegration, and dynamical string formation and breaking.

Fourier Synthesis Dispersion Engineering of Photonic Crystal Microrings for Broadband Frequency Combs.

Dispersion engineering of microring resonators is crucial for optical frequency comb applications, to achieve targeted bandwidths and powers of individual comb teeth. However, conventional microrings only present two geometric degrees of freedom - width and thickness - which limits the degree to which dispersion can be controlled. We present a technique where we tune individual resonance frequencies for arbitrary dispersion tailoring.

Coinfections in human papillomavirus associated cancers and prophylactic recommendations.

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is responsible for more than 80% of reported cervical cancer and other virus-associated tumours. Although this global threat can be controlled using effective vaccination strategies, a growing perturbation of HPV infection is an emerging coinfection likely to increase the severity of the infection in humans. Moreover, these coinfections prolong the HPV infections, thereby risking the chances for oncogenic progression.

Family of Quantum Codes with Exotic Transversal Gates.

Recently, an algorithm has been constructed that shows that the binary icosahedral group 2I together with a T-like gate forms the most efficient single-qubit universal gate set. To carry out the algorithm fault tolerantly requires a code that implements 2I transversally. However, no such code has ever been demonstrated in the literature.

Kerr-induced synchronization of a cavity soliton to an optical reference.

The phase-coherent frequency division of a stabilized optical reference laser to the microwave domain is made possible by optical-frequency combs (OFCs). OFC-based clockworks lock one comb tooth to a reference laser, which probes a stable atomic transition, usually through an active servo that increases the complexity of the OFC photonic and electronic integration for fieldable clock applications. Here, we demonstrate that the Kerr nonlinearity enables passive, electronics-free synchronization of a microresonator-based dissipative Kerr soliton (DKS) OFC to an externally injected reference laser.

Logical quantum processor based on reconfigurable atom arrays.

Suppressing errors is the central challenge for useful quantum computing, requiring quantum error correction (QEC) for large-scale processing. However, the overhead in the realization of error-corrected 'logical' qubits, in which information is encoded across many physical qubits for redundancy, poses substantial challenges to large-scale logical quantum computing. Here we report the realization of a programmable quantum processor based on encoded logical qubits operating with up to 280 physical qubits.

Telecom-band quantum dot technologies for long-distance quantum networks.

A future quantum internet is expected to generate, distribute, store and process quantum bits (qubits) over the world by linking different quantum nodes via quantum states of light. To facilitate long-haul operations, quantum repeaters must operate at telecom wavelengths to take advantage of both the low-loss optical fibre network and the established technologies of modern optical communications. Semiconductor quantum dots have thus far shown exceptional performance as key elements for quantum repeaters, such as quantum light sources and spin-photon interfaces, but only in the near-infrared regime.