Machine Learning-Aided Crystal Facet Rational Design with Ionic Liquid Controllable Synthesis.

Crystallographic facets in a crystal carry interior properties and proffer rich functionalities in a wide range of application areas. However, rational prediction, on-demand customization, and accurate synthesis of facets and facet junctions of a crystal are enormously desirable but still challenging. Herein, a framework of machine learning (ML)-aided crystal facet design with ionic liquid controllable synthesis is developed and then demonstrated with the star-material anatase TiO2 . Aided by employing ML to acquire surface energies from facet junction datasource, the relationships between surface energy and growth conditions based on the Langmuir adsorption isotherm are unveiled, enabling to develop controllable facet synthetic strategies. These strategies are successfully verified after applied for synthesizing TiO2 crystals with custom crystal facets and facet junctions under tuning ionic liquid [bmim][BF4 ] experimental conditions. Therefore, this innovative framework integrates data-intensive rational design and experimental controllable synthesis to develop and customize crystallographic facets and facet junctions. This proves the feasibility of an intelligent chemistry future to accelerate the discovery of facet-governed functional material candidates.

Analysis of an ABE Scheme with Verifiable Outsourced Decryption.

Attribute-based encryption (ABE) is a popular cryptographic technology to protect the security of users' data in cloud computing. In order to reduce its decryption cost, outsourcing the decryption of ciphertexts is an available method, which enables users to outsource a large number of decryption operations to the cloud service provider. To guarantee the correctness of transformed ciphertexts computed by the cloud server via the outsourced decryption, it is necessary to check the correctness of the outsourced decryption to ensure security for the data of users. Recently, Li et al. proposed a full verifiability of the outsourced decryption of ABE scheme (ABE-VOD) for the authorized users and unauthorized users, which can simultaneously check the correctness of the transformed ciphertext for both them. However, in this paper we show that their ABE-VOD scheme cannot obtain the results which they had shown, such as finding out all invalid ciphertexts, and checking the correctness of the transformed ciphertext for the authorized user via checking it for the unauthorized user. We first construct some invalid ciphertexts which can pass the validity checking in the decryption algorithm. That means their "verify-then-decrypt" skill is unavailable. Next, we show that the method to check the validity of the outsourced decryption for the authorized users via checking it for the unauthorized users is not always correct. That is to say, there exist some invalid ciphertexts which can pass the validity checking for the unauthorized user, but cannot pass the validity checking for the authorized user.

Association between vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to Parkinson's disease: a meta-analysis.

Previous studies have reported an association between vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms and Parkinson's disease (PD), but the results were controversial. To explore whether VDR gene polymorphisms have an effect on PD risk, we performed this meta-analysis to evaluate the association between three VDR gene polymorphisms (Bsml, Apal, Taql) and PD susceptibility. We performed a systematic literature search for articles published up to February 2014 in multiple databases and selected seven eligible studies. Four studies were included for each polymorphism. Odds ratios (ORs) as well as their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to estimate the association between VDR gene polymorphisms and PD risk in four phenotype models. Subgroup analysis and publication bias were also performed. Heterogeneity analysis and sensitivity analysis were performed if necessary. We failed to detect any association between Apal, Bsml, Taql polymorphisms and PD susceptibility in all four genetic models. In subgroup analysis grouped by ethnicity, no significant association was detected. The present meta-analysis indicates that the VDR genetic polymorphisms Bsml, Apal and Taql are not associated with susceptibility to PD. Because of the limited number of included studies, the results should be cautiously interpreted. More carefully designed studies are needed to verify our results.