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Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a standard treatment for rectal laterally spreading tumors (LSTs). This study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of the Injection Mucosa Knife (IMK) technique versus the conventional Dual Knife (DK) technique in ESD for rectal LSTs. A total of 229 patients with rectal LSTs were enrolled from four hospitals between June 2020 and June 2025 and were divided into two groups: the IMK group ( n  = 108) and the DK group ( n  = 121). The primary outcome measures included total procedure time, mucosal dissection time, and submucosal dissection rate, while the secondary outcomes encompassed intraoperative and postoperative complications as well as the R0 resection rate. Additionally, the efficacy and safety of the two groups were compared based on tumor size and endoscopic morphology. The IMK group demonstrated significantly shorter total procedure time (median 50 vs. 65 min, P  < 0.001) and mucosal dissection time (median 40 vs. 56 min, P  < 0.001), along with a higher submucosal dissection rate (median 0.12 vs. 0.08 cm²/min, P  < 0.001). There were no significant differences in intraoperative perforation, severe hemorrhage, R0 resection, postoperative bleeding, fever, or pathology between the two groups ( P  > 0.05). Subgroup analyses based on tumor size (2.5 cm and ≥ 2.5 cm) and morphology (LST-G and LST-NG) consistently showed superior efficiency of the IMK technique without compromising safety. The IMK technique significantly improves the efficiency of ESD for rectal LSTs by reducing operative time and enhancing dissection rates, while maintaining comparable safety and outcomes to the conventional DK technique. IMK represents a promising advancement in ESD for rectal lesions.

Soil erosion poses a significant threat to global socio-economic development and environmental conservation. Particularly, karst regions are grappling with severe erosion issues. Recent researches have shown that the concentration and particles of magnetic minerals in cave stalagmites can reflect past soil erosion. This paper summarizes the sources of magnetic mineral particles in stalagmites and the process of their entry into stalagmites, providing basic information for the study of soil erosion in karst areas. The main carrier of magnetism in stalagmites is magnetite. It is mainly derived from the soil overlying the caves. These magnetic minerals migrate from soils and weathered rocks to cave environments mainly by water infiltration, storm water runoff and flooding.

The escalating capacity limitations of conventional near-infrared telecommunication bands have spurred urgent investigations into wide-band optical communication systems spanning from the near-infrared to mid-infrared regimes. This has motivated the development of optical components combining broadband bandwidth with high-speed operation. The state-of-the-art modulators face challenges in achieving broad operational bandwidth due to waveguide dispersion and velocity mismatch. Here we demonstrate a thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) electro-optic (EO) modulator with an unprecedented 800-nm operational bandwidth, covering the full O-U telecom bands and extending into the 2-μm regime. The TFLN modulator exhibits >67 GHz EO bandwidth across O-U bands (~100 GHz at O-/S-/C-/L-bands) and >50 GHz at 2-μm band. It enables single-lane exceeding 240 Gbps PAM-4 transmission across O-U bands and a record 170 Gbps PAM-4 transmission at 2-μm band. This breakthrough establishes TFLN as a compelling platform for multispectral photonics, bridging conventional telecom infrastructure with emerging 2-μm technologies for next-generation optical communications. This work demonstrates a thin-film lithium niobate modulator with an 800-nm operational bandwidth covering from near- to mid-infrared region, enabling single-lane 240 Gbps and 170 Gbps PAM-4 transmission at all O-U bands and 2-μm band, respectively.

Objective: This study examines the current status and variations in creativity between migrant and urban children, exploring the influencing factors affecting creativity. Methods: We selected children from local households in Hangzhou City and non-local migrant households as participants. Their basic demographic information and creative tendencies were assessed using the Children’s Basic Situation Questionnaire and Williams’ Creativity Tendency Measurement Scale, respectively. A multi-model regression analysis was conducted to analyze factors influencing creativity. Results: This study included 1047 children. Significant differences were observed between urban and migrant children regarding age, family type, number of siblings, parental education, parental presence at home, parental guidance in learning, experience of changing schools, having their own room, and academic performance. In addition, migrant children exhibited significantly lower creativity levels compared to urban children. The multi-model regression analysis showed that migrant status, a good parent–child relationship, having parents who often guide learning, having their own room, and excellent academic performance significantly influenced children’s creativity. Conclusions: Migrant children display lower levels of creativity than their urban counterparts, with notable differences across several factors.

In this paper, we study the RSA public key cryptosystem in a special case with the private exponent d larger than the public exponent e. When N0.258 ⩽ e ⩽ N0.854, d > e and satisfies the given conditions, we can perform cryptanalytic attacks based on the LLL lattice basis reduction algorithm. The idea is an extension of Boneh and Durfee’s researches on low private key RSA, and provides a new solution to finding weak keys in RSA cryptosystems.

Traditional secret sharing (SS) schemes can reconstruct the secret precisely, but have high computation complexity. Visual secret sharing (VSS) schemes use human visual system to reconstruct the secret without cryptographic computation, but have pixel expansion and loss of contrast. Wang et al. proposed a (2, n )-SS scheme for binary images based on Boolean operation, which has low computation complexity, no pixel expansion and the contrast is 1/2. In this paper, we first construct an r runs (2, n )-SS scheme to improve the contrast of Wang et al.’s binary (2, n )-SS scheme. Then we present two approaches to construct r runs (2, n )-SS schemes for grayscale image and color image. The two approaches are both based on Boolean operation, while one approach uses halftone technology and the other uses bit level processing. These proposed schemes have low computation complexity and almost ideal contrast.

Yao’s millionaires’ problem is a fundamental problem in secure multiparty computation, and its solutions have become building blocks of many secure multiparty computation solutions. Unfortunately, most protocols for millionaires’ problem are constructed based on public cryptography, and thus are inefficient. Furthermore, all protocols are designed to solve the basic millionaires’ problem, that is, to privately determine which of two natural numbers is greater. If the numbers are real, existing solutions do not directly work. These features limit the extensive application of the existing protocols. This study introduces and refines the first symmetric cryptographic protocol for the basic millionaires’ problem, and then extends the symmetric cryptographic protocol to privately determining which of two real numbers is greater, which are called the extended millionaires’ problem, and proposes corresponding protocols. We further prove, by a well accepted simulation paradigm, that these protocols are private. Constructed based on symmetric cryptography, these protocols are very efficient.

Accurate identification of rammed‐earth remains is essential for understanding early social complexity in Neolithic China. However, scientific methods for identifying rammed‐earth materials in Chinese prehistoric archeology remain limited, and identification still rely largely on field observations. Here, we apply anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analysis to Neolithic rammed‐earth remains (walls and platform foundations), cultural‐layer deposits, and natural sediments from the Jiaojia and Chengziya sites at the lower Yellow River region. The results show that rammed earth mainly features well‐clustered Kmin axes and stable or tilted magnetic foliation planes, reflecting strain‐induced particle reorientation during repeated ramming. In most rammed‐earth samples, Kmax and Kint axes are commonly scattered or partly mixed within the foliation plane. Wall II, however, records a mixed foliation–lineation fabric with a near‐horizontal Kmax lineation, probably related to horizontal compression or lateral constraint during wall construction and possible later repair. These rammed‐earth fabrics are clearly distinct from the depositional fabrics of natural sediments and the randomized fabrics of cultural‐layer deposits. Rock magnetic results show no major differences in magnetic mineral assemblages among the samples, suggesting that mineralogical variation is unlikely to be the primary cause of the AMS contrasts. These contrasts are therefore more plausibly linked to differences in magnetic‐particle orientation and spatial organization associated with ramming, natural deposition, and anthropogenic disturbance. Together, these results demonstrate that AMS can complement traditional archeological approaches and provide a sensitive method for identifying Chinese Neolithic rammed earth. Future studies should test this method using more sites and experimentally compacted soils.

Secure multiparty computation has become a central research focus in the international cryptographic community. Secure comparing two sets is an important problem in secure multiparty computation. The research on privately determining whether two sets are equal has not been investigated. This study solves the problem by mapping these sets into natural numbers and then comparing corresponding numbers. We propose two secure multiparty computation protocols for comparing two sets. It is proved by well-accepted simulation paradigm that these solutions are private in semi-honest model. These solutions have important significance in constructing other secure multiparty computation protocols.

Finding the solution to a general multivariate modular linear equation plays an important role in cryptanalysis field. Earlier results show that obtaining a relatively short solution is possible in polynomial time. However, one problem arises here that if the equation has a short solution in given bounded range, the results outputted by earlier algorithms are often not the ones we are interested in. In this paper, we present a probability method based on lattice basis reduction to solve the problem. For a general multivariate modular linear equation with short solution in the given bounded range, the new method outputs this short solution in polynomial time, with a high probability. When the number of unknowns is not too large (smaller than 68), the probability is approximating 1. Experimental results show that Knapsack systems and Lu-Lee type systems are easily broken in polynomial time with this new method.