Cryptographic Algorithms on the GA144 Asynchronous Multi-Core Processor

Pervasive computing has turned many ordinary commodity products to smart and digital computing devices. Though these devices are mostly equipped with low-cost processors offering limited computing power, they are often requested to handle user-sensitive data. This evidently calls for the integration of different security services that typically involves computationally expensive cryptography. In this context, lightweight cryptographic constructions came recently up to minimize the computational burden on such constrained devices. Unfortunately, many of those constructions were too simplistic to preserve long-lasting confidence in their security. Therefore we aim for another approach in this work and implement standardized and well-established cryptography on an alternative, lightweight platform, namely an asynchronous GA144 ultra-low-powered multi-core processor with 144 tiny cores. We demonstrate that symmetric and asymmetric cryptography such as AES and RSA can be realized on this low-end device. With energy consumption being as low as 0.63 μJ and 22.3 mJ, this platform achieves a performance of 38 μs and 462.9 ms per AES and RSA operation, respectively.This translates to an energy consumption and computation time that is significantly lower than many lightweight implementations reported so far. We finally emphasize that this low-power and asynchronous operation of cryptography does not eliminate the threat of physical attacks, in particular power attacks. We evaluate the side-channel resistance of our design and identified that less than 5,000 measurements are already sufficient to fully recover the 128-bit key of the unprotected AES implementation.     

Oxidation of Sulfides with N‐Bromosuccinimide in the Presence of Hydrated Silica Gel

An efficient and highly selective procedure for oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides with N‐bromosuccinimide (NBS) in the presence of hydrated silica gel has been developed. Hydrated silica gel supplies the water necessary for decomposition of the intermediate bromosulfonium salt to the product, allowing the reaction to employ a nonaqueous media. Also, this procedure has increased the scope of the reaction by oxidizing a wider variety of sulfides, which was not possible until now.     

PHAISTOS: A framework for Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation and inference of protein structure

We present a new software framework for Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling for simulation, prediction, and inference of protein structure. The software package contains implementations of recent advances in Monte Carlo methodology, such as efficient local updates and sampling from probabilistic models of local protein structure. These models form a probabilistic alternative to the widely used fragment and rotamer libraries. Combined with an easily extendible software architecture, this makes PHAISTOS well suited for Bayesian inference of protein structure from sequence and/or experimental data. Currently, two force‐fields are available within the framework: PROFASI and OPLS‐AA/L, the latter including the generalized Born surface area solvent model. A flexible command‐line and configuration‐file interface allows users quickly to set up simulations with the desired configuration. PHAISTOS is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0. Source code and documentation are freely available from http://phaistos.sourceforge.net . The software is implemented in C++ and has been tested on Linux and OSX platforms. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

LC‐MS analysis of estradiol in human serum and endometrial tissue: Comparison of electrospray ionization,atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and atmospheric pressure photoionization

Accurate measurement of estradiol (E2) is important in clinical diagnostics and research. High sensitivity methods are critical for specimens with E2 concentrations at low picomolar levels, such as serum of men, postmenopausal women and children. Achieving the required assay performance with LC–MS is challenging due to the non‐polar structure and low proton affinity of E2. Previous studies suggest that ionization has a major role for the performance of E2 measurement, but comparisons of different ionization techniques for the analysis of clinical samples are not available. In this study, female serum and endometrium tissue samples were used to compare electrospray ionization (ESI), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) in both polarities. APPI was found to have the most potential for E2 analysis, with a quantification limit of 1 fmol on‐column. APCI and ESI could be employed in negative polarity, although being slightly less sensitive than APPI. In the presence of biological background, ESI was found to be highly susceptible to ion suppression, while APCI and APPI were largely unaffected by the sample matrix. Irrespective of the ionization technique, background interferences were observed when using the multiple reaction monitoring transitions commonly employed for E2 (m/z 271 > 159; m/z 255 > 145). These unidentified interferences were most severe in serum samples, varied in intensity between ionization techniques and required efficient chromatographic separation in order to achieve specificity for E2. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Protein folding at emulsion oil/water interfaces

It has long been known that proteins change their conformation upon adsorption to emulsion oil/water interfaces. However, it is only recently that details of the specifics of these structural changes have emerged. The development of synchrotron radiation circular dichroism (SRCD), combined with advances in FTIR spectroscopy, has allowed the secondary and tertiary structure of proteins adsorbed at emulsion oil/water interfaces to be studied. SRCD in particular has provided quantitative information and has enabled new insights into the mechanisms and forces driving protein structure re-arrangement to be achieved.The extent of conformational re-arrangement of proteins at emulsion interfaces is influenced by several factors including; the inherit flexibility of the protein, the distribution of hydrophobic/hydrophilic domains within the protein sequence and the hydrophobicity of the oil phase. In general, proteins lose much of their tertiary structure upon adsorption to the oil/water interface and have considerable amounts of non-native secondary structure. Two key conformations have been identified in the structure of proteins at interfaces, intermolecular β-sheet and α-helix. The preferred conformation appears to be the α-helix which is the most compact amphipathic conformation at the oil/water interface. The polarity of the oil phase can have a considerable influence on the degree of protein conformational re-arrangement because it acts as a solvent for hydrophobic amino acids. The new conformation of proteins at interfaces also means that proteins undergo less heat induced re-arrangement at interfaces than in solution. Different conformations of proteins at interfaces impact on emulsification capability, emulsion stability and protein/emulsion digestion. Hence advances in the understanding of protein conformation at interfaces can help to identify suitable proteins and conditions for the preparation of emulsion based food products.     

非相干变频转换实现室温下红外单光子源

纳米金刚石中的NV-center(Nitrogen-Vacancy center)是目前室温下具有高发射率和稳定性的可见光波段单光子源,而如何实现及优化红外单光子源则是未来实现量子信息和量子通信应用的一大挑战.介绍了一种近期提出的实现红外单光子源的新型机制.该方法以金刚石中的NV-center作为可见光波段的单光子源,利用非相干变频转换实现室温下近红外波段稳定、无闪烁的单光子源.具体的实施方案为在中空芯光子晶体光纤中选择性地填充含有量子点的溶液,以可见光波段的单光子源作为激励源,选择合适的量子点即可得到红外波段的单光子源.中空芯光子晶体光纤保证了较高的单光子吸收效率以及荧光收集效率.该方案的实施在理论上可以达到26%的转换效率,而初步的实验得到了0.1%的转换效率.进一步分析了一些影响转换效率的因素,并提出了一些解决方案.     

Universal Algorithm for Simulating and Evaluating Cyclic Voltammetry at Macroporous Electrodes by Considering Random Arrays of Microelectrodes

An algorithm for the simulation and evaluation of cyclic voltammetry (CV) at macroporous electrodes such as felts, foams, and layered structures is presented. By considering 1D, 2D, and 3D arrays of electrode sheets, cylindrical microelectrodes, hollow-cylindrical microelectrodes, and hollow-spherical microelectrodes the internal diffusion domains of the macroporous structures are approximated. A universal algorithm providing the time-dependent surface concentrations of the electrochemically active species, required for simulating cyclic voltammetry responses of the individual planar, cylindrical, and spherical microelectrodes, is presented as well. An essential ingredient of the algorithm, which is based on Laplace integral transformation techniques, is the use of a modified Talbot contour for the inverse Laplace transformation. It is demonstrated that first-order homogeneous chemical kinetics preceding and/or following the electrochemical reaction and electrochemically active species with non-equal diffusion coefficients can be included in all diffusion models as well. The proposed theory is supported by experimental data acquired for a reference reaction, the oxidation of [Fe(CN)₆]⁴⁻ at platinum electrodes as well as for a technically relevant reaction, the oxidation of VO₂⁺ at carbon felt electrodes. Based on our calculation strategy, we provide a powerful open source tool for simulating and evaluating CV data implemented into a Python graphical user interface (GUI).     

Amide Synthesis by Nickel/Photoredox‐Catalyzed Direct Carbamoylation of (Hetero)Aryl Bromides

Herein, we report a one‐electron strategy for catalytic amide synthesis that enables the direct carbamoylation of (hetero)aryl bromides. This radical cross‐coupling approach, which is based on the combination of nickel and photoredox catalysis, proceeds at ambient temperature and uses readily available dihydropyridines as precursors of carbamoyl radicals. The method's mild reaction conditions make it tolerant of sensitive‐functional‐group‐containing substrates and allow the installation of an amide scaffold within biologically relevant heterocycles. In addition, we installed amide functionalities bearing electron‐poor and sterically hindered amine moieties, which would be difficult to prepare with classical dehydrative condensation methods.     

Laser Access to Quercetin Radicals and Their Repair by Co-antioxidants

We have demonstrated the feasibility and ease of producing quercetin radicals by photoionization with a pulsed 355 nm laser. A conversion efficiency into radicals of 0.4 is routinely achieved throughout the pH range investigated (pH 2–9), and the radical generation is completed within a few ns. No precursor other than the parent compound is needed, and the ionization by-products do not interfere with the further fate of the radicals. With this generation method, we have characterized the quercetin radicals and studied the kinetics of their repairs by co-antioxidants such as ascorbate and 4-aminophenol. Bell-shaped pH dependences of the observed rate constants reflect opposite trends in the availability of the reacting protonation forms of radical and co-antioxidant and even at their maxima mask the much higher true rate constants. Kinetic isotope effects identify the repairs as proton-coupled electron transfers. An examination of which co-antioxidants are capable of repairing the quercetin radicals and which are not confines the bond dissociation energies of quercetin and its monoanion experimentally to 75–77 kcal mol⁻¹ and 72–75 kcal mol⁻¹, a much narrower interval in the case of the former than previously estimated by theoretical calculations.     

Class III Delocalization and Exciton Coupling in a Bimetallic Bis‐ligand Radical Complex

The geometric and electronic structure of an oxidized bimetallic Ni complex incorporating two redox‐active Schiff‐base ligands connected via a 1,2‐phenylene linker has been investigated and compared to a monomeric analogue. Information from UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations provides important information on the locus of oxidation for the bimetallic complex. The neutral bimetallic complex is conformationally dynamic at room temperature, which complicates characterization of the oxidized forms. Comparison to an oxidized monomer analogue 1 provides critical insight into the electronic structure of the oxidized bimetallic complex 2 . Oxidation of 1 provides [ 1 ^.]⁺, which is characterized as a fully delocalized ligand radical complex; the spectroscopic signature of this derivative includes an intense NIR band at 4500 cm^?1. Oxidation of 2 to the bis‐oxidized form affords a bis‐ligand radical species [ 2 ^..]²⁺. Variable temperature EPR spectroscopy of [ 2 ^..]²⁺ shows no evidence of coupling, and the triplet and broken symmetry solutions afforded by theoretical calculations are essentially isoenergetic. [ 2 ^..]²⁺ is thus best described as incorporating two non‐interacting ligand radicals. Interestingly, the intense NIR intervalence charge transfer band observed for the delocalized ligand‐radical [ 1 ^.]⁺ exhibits exciton splitting in [ 2 ^..]²⁺, due to coupling of the monomer transition dipoles in the enforced oblique dimer geometry. Evaluating the splitting of the intense intervalence charge transfer band can thus provide significant geometric and electronic information in less rigid bis‐ligand radical systems. Addition of excess pyridine to [ 2 ^..]²⁺ results in a shift in the oxidation locus from a bis‐ligand radical species to the Ni^III/Ni^III derivative [ 2 (py)₄]^{2 +} , demonstrating that the ligand system can incorporate significant bulk in the axial positions.