Macquarie University

About: Macquarie University is a education organization based out in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 14075 authors who have published 47673 publications receiving 1416184 citations. The organization is also known as: Macquarie uni.

Hybrid threshold adaptable quantum secret sharing scheme with reverse Huffman-Fibonacci-tree coding

Abstract: With prevalent attacks in communication, sharing a secret between communicating parties is an ongoing challenge. Moreover, it is important to integrate quantum solutions with classical secret sharing schemes with low computational cost for the real world use. This paper proposes a novel hybrid threshold adaptable quantum secret sharing scheme, using an m-bonacci orbital angular momentum (OAM) pump, Lagrange interpolation polynomials, and reverse Huffman-Fibonacci-tree coding. To be exact, we employ entangled states prepared by m-bonacci sequences to detect eavesdropping. Meanwhile, we encode m-bonacci sequences in Lagrange interpolation polynomials to generate the shares of a secret with reverse Huffman-Fibonacci-tree coding. The advantages of the proposed scheme is that it can detect eavesdropping without joint quantum operations, and permits secret sharing for an arbitrary but no less than threshold-value number of classical participants with much lower bandwidth. Also, in comparison with existing quantum secret sharing schemes, it still works when there are dynamic changes, such as the unavailability of some quantum channel, the arrival of new participants and the departure of participants. Finally, we provide security analysis of the new hybrid quantum secret sharing scheme and discuss its useful features for modern applications.

Disgust as a disease-avoidance mechanism.

Abstract: Many researchers have claimed that the emotion of disgust functions to protect us from disease. Although there have been several discussions of this hypothesis, none have yet reviewed the evidence in its entirety. The authors derive 14 hypotheses from a disease-avoidance account and evaluate the evidence for each, drawing upon research on pathogen avoidance in animals and empirical research on disgust. In all but 1 case, the evidence favors a disease-avoidance account. It is suggested that disgust is evoked by objects/people that possess particular types of prepared features that connote disease. Such simple disgusts are directly disease related, are acquired during childhood, and are able to contaminate other objects/people. The complex disgusts, which emerge later in development, may be mediated by several emotions. In these cases, violations of societal norms that may subserve a disease-avoidance function, notably relating to food and sex, act as reminders of simple disgust elicitors and thus generate disgust and motivate compliance. The authors find strong support for a disease-avoidance account and suggest that it offers a way to bridge the divide between concrete and ideational accounts of disgust.

The 16th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: First Release from the APOGEE-2 Southern Survey and Full Release of eBOSS Spectra

Abstract: This paper documents the sixteenth data release (DR16) from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys; the fourth and penultimate from the fourth phase (SDSS-IV). This is the first release of data from the southern hemisphere survey of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2); new data from APOGEE-2 North are also included. DR16 is also notable as the final data release for the main cosmological program of the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), and all raw and reduced spectra from that project are released here. DR16 also includes all the data from the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS) and new data from the SPectroscopic IDentification of ERosita Survey (SPIDERS) programs, both of which were co-observed on eBOSS plates. DR16 has no new data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey (or the MaNGA Stellar Library "MaStar"). We also preview future SDSS-V operations (due to start in 2020), and summarize plans for the final SDSS-IV data release (DR17).

A global study of relationships between leaf traits, climate and soil measures of nutrient fertility

Abstract: Aim This first global quantification of the relationship between leaf traits and soil nutrient fertility reflects the trade-off between growth and nutrient conservation. The power of soils versus climate in predicting leaf trait values is assessed in bivariate and multivariate analyses and is compared with the distribution of growth forms (as a discrete classification of vegetation) across gradients of soil fertility and climate. Location All continents except for Antarctica. Methods Data on specific leaf area (SLA), leaf N concentration (LNC), leaf P concentration (LPC) and leaf N:P were collected for 474 species distributed across 99 sites (809 records), together with abiotic information from each study site. Individual and combined effects of soils and climate on leaf traits were quantified using maximum likelihood methods. Differences in occurrence of growth form across soil fertility and climate were determined by one-way ANOVA. Results There was a consistent increase in SLA, LNC and LPC with increasing soil fertility. SLA was related to proxies of N supply, LNC to both soil total N and P and LPC was only related to proxies of P supply. Soil nutrient measures explained more variance in leaf traits among sites than climate in bivariate analysis. Multivariate analysis showed that climate interacted with soil nutrients for SLA and area-based LNC. Mass-based LNC and LPC were determined mostly by soil fertility, but soil P was highly correlated to precipitation. Relationships of leaf traits to soil nutrients were stronger than those of growth form versus soil nutrients. In contrast, climate determined distribution of growth form more strongly than it did leaf traits. Main conclusions We provide the first global quantification of the trade-off between traits associated with growth and resource conservation ‘strategies’ in relation to soil fertility. Precipitation but not temperature affected this trade-off. Continuous leaf traits might be better predictors of plant responses to nutrient supply than growth form, but growth forms reflect important aspects of plant species distribution with climate.