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Adverse weather conditions at night are very fatal to drivers, causing serious traffic accidents. Road lighting is a facility that can alleviate these dangerous situations. Nevertheless, road lighting has only rarely been studied during adverse weather. The reason is that the current road lighting performance evaluation method is presented based on normal weather. The current road lighting performance evaluation method uses a luminance meter to measure the road surface, which is not suitable due to scattering during adverse weather such as rain and fog. Therefore, this study proposes obstacle recognition distance as a measure of effectiveness to evaluate the performance of road lighting during adverse weather. There is a lack of actual research on whether obstacle recognition distance can be used as a measure of effectiveness for road lighting during adverse weather. Therefore, in this study, 30 subjects were used to measure the subjects' obstacle recognition distance according to changes in weather conditions, road lighting grade, and road lighting color temperature. As a result, it was analyzed that there was a clear trend of change in obstacle recognition distance depending on the change in each condition. It was found that, under the same road lighting performance conditions, there was a difference of up to 72.86% by weather condition; under the same weather conditions, there was a difference of up to 22.75% by road lighting grade; and by color temperature, there was a difference of up to 21.87%. In addition, a statistical significance test was performed to support the existence of a difference, and the results were synthesized to suggest that obstacle recognition distance can be used as a performance measure of effectiveness of road lighting in adverse weather. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel effects induced by nonmagnetic impurities in frustrated magnets and quantum spin liquid represent a highly nontrivial and interesting problem. A theoretical proposal of extended modulated spin structures induced by doping of such magnets, distinct from the well-known skyrmions has attracted significant interest. Here, we demonstrate that nonmagnetic impurities can produce such extended spin structures in h-YMnO3, a triangular antiferromagnet with noncollinear magnetic order. Using inelastic neutron scattering (INS), we measured the full dynamical structure factor in Al-doped h-YMnO3 and confirmed the presence of magnon damping with a clear momentum dependence. Our theoretical calculations can reproduce the key features of the INS data, supporting the formation of the proposed spin textures. As such, our study provides the first experimental confirmation of the impurity-induced spin textures. It offers new insights and understanding of the impurity effects in a broad class of noncollinear magnetic systems. In geometrically frustrated magnets small perturbations, such as non-magnetic impurities, can significantly alter the ground state. Here, using inelastic neutron scattering, Park et al. explore such a situation in Al-doped h-YMnO3, where the Aluminum dopants induce an extended spin structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exciton is the bosonic quasiparticle of electron–hole pairs bound by the Coulomb interaction1. Bose–Einstein condensation of this exciton state has long been the subject of speculation in various model systems2,3, and examples have been found more recently in optical lattices and two-dimensional materials4–9. Unlike these conventional excitons formed from extended Bloch states4–9, excitonic bound states from intrinsically many-body localized states are rare. Here we show that a spin–orbit-entangled exciton state appears below the Néel temperature of 150 kelvin in NiPS3, an antiferromagnetic van der Waals material. It arises intrinsically from the archetypal many-body states of the Zhang–Rice singlet10,11, and reaches a coherent state assisted by the antiferromagnetic order. Using configuration-interaction theory, we determine the origin of the coherent excitonic excitation to be a transition from a Zhang–Rice triplet to a Zhang–Rice singlet. We combine three spectroscopic tools—resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, photoluminescence and optical absorption—to characterize the exciton and to demonstrate an extremely narrow excitonic linewidth below 50 kelvin. The discovery of the spin–orbit-entangled exciton in antiferromagnetic NiPS3 introduces van der Waals magnets as a platform to study coherent many-body excitons. A spin–orbit-entangled exciton state in the van der Waals material NiPS3 is observed, and found to arise from many-body states of a Zhang–Rice singlet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The normal morphological and functional values of orbits vary according to race, sex, and age. We measured the palpebral fissure using the marginal reflex distance (MRD), marginal limbal distance (MLD), and vertical height of the palpebral fissure (VHPF). Unfortunately, these measurements are all one-dimensional figures that measure the distance between two points; they have limitations when it comes to measuring the three-dimensional ocular surface. Therefore, this study used the area of corneal exposure (ACE), which shows a two-dimensional area, to measure changes between the sizes of eyes according to age. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted using preoperative photographs of Koreans in Daegu city, Korea, who underwent plastic surgery in our department except for eyelid surgery. We divided the subjects into eight groups, including ten males and ten females in each decade of age, from age 10 to over 80 years. A total of 160 people were recruited who were followed up for photograph analysis using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 software. Results: In terms of the mean value, the ACEs were 73.3 ± 2% in male subjects and 77.1 ± 2% in female subjects, and values for female subjects were greater than those for male subjects ( p < 0.05). Significant differences in ACEs were observed according to age. The peak level of growth in the ACE was reached between 20 and 29 years of age. After the 20 s, a gradual decrease was observed ( p < 0.05). Conclusion: The peak level of growth in the ACE was reached between 20 and 29 years of age. The growth pattern can be classified as continuously decreasing after reaching the peak level. The data from this study are significant in that they can be used as comprehensive data for normal eyelid values according to age. Level of Evidence IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out to identify the filter performance of fibre filter module treating high-turbidity water at extremely high filtration rates (1000–2500 m/day). The effects of filter aid chemical (polyaluminium chloride (PAC)), filtration rate and particles size on filter performance were investigated. It was found that PAC was a crucial factor influencing the separation process. Even though the optimum PAC dose for the raw water with turbidity of 50 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) was 0.5 mg/L, the turbidity removal efficiencies were similar as the raw water turbidity was no more than 50 NTU. As expected, the filter performance was negatively affected by the increased filtration rate. However, the turbidity removal efficiency at an extremely high filtration rate still was amazing and attractive (∼80% at 2500 m/day). Moreover, theD50and uniformity coefficient of the particles in raw water were not the factors greatly affecting the filter performance. The empirical model for the filter processes of granular filters did not work; therefore, an empirical model towards fibre filters at a high flow rate was suggested, which can be used to predict the treatment performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was done to investigate the performance of vertical subsurface flow (VSF) wetlands with additional carbon sources in reducing the nitrogen in stormwater from livestock lots. Three experimental lab-scale VSF wetlands packed with woodchips were constructed. The wetlands were operated with number of dry days (NDD) of 2, 4, and 8, respectively, for a duration of 136 d. The average removal efficiencies of total nitrogen (TN) were 26.2, 34.1, and 50.0% at NDD as 2, 4, and 8, respectively. The average nitrogen removal rate based on woodchips volume was 3.6 g N m−3d−1for NDD of 2, 2.1 g N m−3 d−1for NDD of 4, and 1.7 g N m−3 d−1for NDD of 8. Nitrification and denitrification were the major mechanisms of nitrogen reduction in the studied wetlands. The contribution of other pathways to nitrogen removal was small. The removal of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and TN was not affected by the influent pH, whereas the removal of TKN was enhanced by the increase in influent alkalinity. Nitrification was promoted by the abundant oxygen supplied during the course of recirculation, whereas denitrification might be suppressed to some degree by the oxygen. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A laboratory study was undertaken to pursue the filter performance of a micro-filter module employing highly porous fibre media under a high filtration rate (≥1,500 m/day), faster than that of any conventional filter process. The effects of filtration rate, head loss, raw water turbidity, and filter aid chemicals on filter performance were analysed. In spite of the extremely high filtration rate, the filter achieved an attractive efficiency, reducing the raw water turbidity by over 80%. As with other filter systems, the filter aid used ((polyaluminium chloride (PAC)) greatly affected the performance of this particular fibre filter. Long-term repetitive runs were additionally carried out to confirm the reproducibility of the filter performance. Also, a comparison was carried out with other high-rate filter systems which are either being tested for use in experimental studies, or are already commercially available. This study reveals that the filter performance under a high filtration speed is still attractive especially as PAC is used. Due to the high porosity of the fibre, the filter had small head loss even though the filtration rate was high. These results ascertain that it is possible to operate the filters with high filtration rate achieving reliable treatment performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the highly variable hydrologic quantity and quality of stormwater runoff, which requires more complex models for proper prediction of treatment, a relatively few and site-specific models for stormwater wetlands have been developed. In this study, regression models based on extensive operational data and wastewater wetlands were adapted to a stormwater wetland receiving both base flow and storm flow from an agricultural area. The models were calibrated in Excel Solver using 15 sets of operational data gathered from random sampling during dry days. The calibrated models were then applied to 20 sets of event mean concentration data from composite sampling during 20 independent rainfall events. For dry days, the models estimated effluent concentrations of nitrogen species that were close to the measured values. However, overestimations during wet days were made for NH3-N and total Kjeldahl nitrogen, which resulted from higher hydraulic loading rates and influent nitrogen concentrations during storm flows. The results showed that biological nitrification and denitrification was the major nitrogen removal mechanism during dry days. Meanwhile, during wet days, the prevailing aerobic conditions decreased the denitrification capacity of the wetland, and sedimentation of particulate organic nitrogen and particle-associated forms of nitrogen was increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using phage display technique, we identified tissue-targeting peptide sets that recognize specific tissues (bone-marrow dendritic cell, kidney, liver, lung, spleen and visceral adipose tissue). In order to rapidly evaluate tissue-specific targeting peptides, we performed machine learning studies for predicting the tissue-specific targeting activity of peptides on the basis of peptide sequence information using four machine learning models and isolated the groups of peptides capable of mediating selective targeting to specific tissues. As a representative liver-specific targeting sequence, the peptide 'DKNLQLH' was selected by the sequence similarity analysis. This peptide has a high degree of homology with protein ligands which can interact with corresponding membrane counterparts. We anticipate that our models will be applicable to the prediction of tissue-specific targeting peptides which can recognize the endothelial markers of target tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stormwater wetland treating non-point source pollution (NPS) from a 64 ha agricultural watershed was monitored over a period of five months. The results indicated that pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) were increased in the wetland due to the algal growth. The highest total suspended solids (TSS) concentration was observed in the aeration pond due to the resuspension of solids, decreased in the wetland. The respective decreases in total nitrogen (TN) and total kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) were 15.9% and 28.7% on passing through the wetland. The nitrate and ammonia were increased by 45.4% and decreased by 79.9%, respectively. These variations provided strong evidence for the existence of nitrification. The total phosphorus (TP) and phosphate had respective reductions of 52.3% and 58.2% over the wetland. The total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) were also decreased. Generally, the TN, TP and phosphate removal efficiencies were positive. These positive removal efficiencies were mainly due to microbial activities, uptake by plants, and chemical precipitation at high pH. Negative removal efficiencies can be caused by continuous rainfall activities, with short antecedent dry days (ADDs) and unstable hydraulic conditions, some other biogeochemical transformations and algal growth also being important parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 0.78 ha stormwater wetland was monitored during dry days for the characteristic behavior of particles over a period of 4 mo (June 9-September 5, 2009). The results indicated that the particles in the outfl ow were fi ner than those in the infl ow due to resuspension of the fi ne particles and algal growth in the wetland. Based on the particles number density, the particle removal effi ciency varied over a wide range (-4000-100%). This variation was largely dependent on resuspension and antecedent dry days. In terms of particles removal, the wetland can be considered as a fiber-bed fi lter, which is facilitated by the mechanisms of interception, diffusion and sedimentation. Particles with different size ranges showed different removal behaviors due to the different controlling removal mechanisms. The curve for the removal of particles can be divided into three parts, with two turning points within the ranges of 0.51-1 µm and 2-5 µm. Particles less than 4 µm occupied a higher number fraction, with a lower volume fraction, and accounted for the relative high surface area fraction. Particles with different size ranges play different roles in their contributions to turbidity and total suspended solids (TSS). Turbidity was mainly related to particles less than 10 µm, and TSS were more affected by particles coarser than 4 µm. In summary, the success of a stormwater wetland depends on how the resuspension of highly polluting-related fine particles are controlled and particles with different size ranges are treated via appropriate design efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How a certain ground state of complex physical systems emerges, especially in two-dimensional materials, is a fundamental question in condensed-matter physics. A particularly interesting case is systems belonging to the class of XY Hamiltonian where the magnetic order parameter of conventional nature is unstable in two-dimensional materials leading to a Berezinskii−Kosterlitz−Thouless transition. Here, we report how the XXZ-type antiferromagnetic order of a magnetic van der Waals material, NiPS3, behaves upon reducing the thickness and ultimately becomes unstable in the monolayer limit. Our experimental data are consistent with the findings based on renormalization-group theory that at low temperatures a two-dimensional XXZ system behaves like a two-dimensional XY one, which cannot have a long-range order at finite temperatures. This work provides the experimental examination of the XY magnetism in the atomically thin limit and opens opportunities of exploiting these fundamental theorems of magnetism using magnetic van der Waals materials. Exploring the ground state of two-dimensional (2D) magnetic systems enriches the fundamental understanding of magnetism and boosts the applications. The authors here show the suppression of magnetic order and 2D XY behavior in XXZ-type antiferromagnet NiPS3 when approaching the monolayer limit by Raman spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present two cases of paraplegic patients who developed secondary Raynaud’s phenomenon. A 43-year-old man with paraplegia presented with dark purple discoloration and skin defects on his left second and third toes and complained of a cold sensation in both feet for a period of 1 year. He had been taking diuretics for 4 years. The capillary refilling time for both affected toes was delayed. His antihypertensive drug was changed to a calcium channel blocker under suspicion of Raynaud’s phenomenon aggravated by hydrochlorothiazide, and the capillary refilling time normalized within 3 days. The toe skin defect was covered with a skin graft. A 51-year-old man with paraplegia presented with cyanotic color change and recurrent unstable wounds on his toes. He was also taking diuretics for hypertension. Suspecting secondary Raynaud’s phenomenon aggravated by diuretics, we changed the diuretics to olmesartan medoxmil 20 mg and amlodipine besylate 2.5 mg per day. Subsequently, he has had no unstable wounds for 30 months. If hypertensive patients with paraplegia complain of skin discoloration in their extremities, Raynaud’s phenomenon should be considered and the antihypertensive drug may need to be stopped in order to improve the wound-healing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]