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Since the 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake, earthquake engineering has devoted much effort to the issues of fault rupture-engineering structure interaction in Taiwan. So far, the Central Geology Survey of Taiwan has announced 36 active faults. Due to natural terrain conditions, linear traffic structures are difficult to avoid crossing the fault zone. However, the current design code rarely considers the effects of long-term fault creeping displacement in the assessment of structural performance. This study aims to develop a numerical-based performance examination approach for the viaduct with pile group foundations subjected to long-term fault offset. The area where the High-Speed Rail of Taiwan crosses the Chegualin Fault was selected as the case study. Remote-sensing survey and structural monitoring both indicated that the viaduct has been offset by approximately 30 cm due to fault creeping since 2006. The ratio between right-lateral and uplift movements is approximately 7:1. This study adopted coupled FDM-DEM technique as the numerical tool, and first validated its performance by physical sandbox tests. We used non-cohesive soil as the overburden material and polyethylene hollow foam tube as the foundation piles. Several key factors, including the Riedel shear bands, fault extended distance, tri-shear zone, pile cap deformation, were compared between numerical and sandbox models. Next, full-scale numerical modeling was calibrated based on in-situ structural monitoring data. The comparison of bridge pier displacement shows approximately 80% agreement between simulation and monitoring data. We found that the deformation of piles was dominated by the location of the fault tip. Simulation shows that the maximum rigid-body rotation of the pile cap will occur close to the fault tip. The cap of each pile group exhibits differential rotations and displacements behaviors, resulting significant superstructure distress. Based on the simulation, the performance of the High-Speed Rail in the study area was expected to fail meeting the current design code of Taiwan after 50 years.

The excited-state double proton transfer (ES-DPT) properties of 1,5-dihydroxyanthraquinone (1,5-DHAQ) in various solvents were investigated using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy and the DFT/TDDFT method. The steady-state fluorescence spectra in toluene, tetrahydrofuran (THF) and acetonitrile (ACN) solvents presented that the solvent polarity has an effect on the position of the ESDPT fluorescence emission peak for the 1,5-DHAQ system. Transient absorption spectra show that the increasing polarity of the solvent accelerates the rate of excited state dynamics. Calculated potential energy curves analysis further verified the experimental results. The ESDPT barrier decreases gradually with the increase of solvent polarity from toluene, THF to ACN solvent. It is convinced that the increase of solvent polarity can promote the occurrence of the ESDPT dynamic processes for the 1,5-DHAQ system. This work clarifies the mechanism of the influence of solvent polarity on the ESDPT process of 1,5-DHAQ, which provides novel ideas for design and synthesis of new hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives.

Purpose To assess the MRI performance in differentiating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs), from solid pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPNs) and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) using non-gaussian diffusion-weighted imaging models. Methods This was a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with PDACs (01/2015–06/2019) or with PNETs or SPNs diagnosed (01/2011–12/2019) at our hospital. The lesions were randomized 1:1 to the primary and validation cohorts. The regions of interest (ROIs) were manually drawn on each slice at DWI (b = 1500 s/mm2) from 3 T MRI. D (diffusion coefficient), D* (pseudodiffusion coefficient), f (perfusion fraction), distributed diffusion coefficient (DDC), α (diffusion heterogeneity index), mean diffusivity (MD) and mean kurtosis (MK) were obtained. The parameters with largest performance for differentiation were used to establish a diagnostic model. Results There were 148, 56, and 60 patients with PDAC, PNET, and SPN, respectively. For differentiating PDACs from SPNs, f and MK values were used to establish a diagnostic model with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) of 0.92 and 0.89 in the primary and validation groups, respectively. For distinguishing PDACs from PNETs, α and MK values were used to establish a diagnostic model with AUCs of 0.87 and 0.86 in the primary and validation groups, respectively. The accuracy rate of the subjective evaluation with the assistance of non-gaussian DWI models for differentiating PDAC from SPNs and PNETs were higher than that of subjective diagnosis alone (P Conclusions The non-gaussian DWI models could assist radiologists in accurately differentiating PDACs from PNETs and SPNs.

Based on the algebraic equation of motion (AEOM) approach, we have studied the single-impurity Anderson model by analytically solving the AEOM of the f-electron one-particle Green function in the Kondo limit. The related spectral function satisfies the sum rule and shows that there is a well-known three-peak structure at zero temperature. In the low energy limit, we obtain the analytical formula of the Kondo temperature that is the same as the exact solution in form except for a prefactor. We also show that the shape of the Kondo resonance is the Lorentzian form and the corresponding weight is proportional to the spin-flip correlation function.

The exchanged folded hyerpcube is a brand-new interconnection network proposed by Qi et al. This paper considers the case such that n = 1 + s + t, and the exchanged folded hypercube is denoted by EFH(s, t). The bus topology is one of the most well-known topologies in WDM optical networks. A bus-topology WDM optical network with N terminals can be described by a linear array graph Ln, where N = 2n. In this article, the routing and wavelength allotment problem for embedding EFH(s, t) communication pattern on Ln is studied. To address this problem, the author proposed an embedding scheme as well as a wavelength allotment algorithm. Moreover, the number of allotted wavelengths is shown to be 2s+t + 2s+t− 2 + ⌊2t/3⌋.

Endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (eMSCs) are undifferentiated endometrial cells with self-renewal, multidirectional differentiation and high proliferation potential. Nowadays, eMSCs have been found in a few species, but it has never been reported in endangered wild animals, especially the red panda. In this study, we successfully isolated and characterized the eMSCs derived from red panda. Red panda eMSCs were fibroblast-like, had a strong proliferative potential and a stable chromosome number. Pluripotency genes including Klf4, Sox2 and Thy1 were highly expressed in eMSCs. Besides, cultured eMSCs were positive for MSC markers CD44, CD49f and CD105 and negative for endothelial cell marker CD31 and haematopoietic cell marker CD34. Moreover, no reference RNA-seq was used to analyse the eMSCs transcriptional expression profile and key pathways. Compared with skin fibroblast cell group, 9104 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, among which are 5034 genes upregulated, 4070 genes downregulated and the top 20 enrichment pathways of DEGs in Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes Genomes (KEGG) mainly associated with G-protein coupled receptor signalling pathway, carbohydrate derivative binding, nucleoside binding, ribosome biogenesis, cell cycle, DNA replication, Ras signalling pathway and purine metabolism. Among the DEGs, some representative genes about promoting MSCs differentiation and proliferation were upregulated and promoting fibroblasts proliferation were downregulated in eMSCs group. Red panda eMSCs also had multiple differentiation ability and could differentiate into adipocytes, chondrocytes and hepatocytes. In conclusion, we, for the first time, isolated and characterized the red panda eMSCs with ability of multiplication and multilineage differentiation in vitro. The new multipotential stem cell could be beneficial not only for the germ plasm resources conservation of red panda, but also for basic or pre-clinical studies in the future.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have pluripotent differentiation ability and play an important role in human clinical cell therapy. While, the research on MSCs in endangered wild animals is extremely rare. In our previous studies, the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (bmMSCs) and umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (ucMSCs) of giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) were successfully isolated. We aimed to characterize the differences in gene expression profiles between these two types of MSCs using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and to determine which potential pathways are involved in functional regulation. In total, 1079 significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, of which 478 genes were upregulated and 601 genes were downregulated. The significantly enriched Gene Ontology (GO) terms mainly contained cell adhesion, biological adhesion, intracellular signal transduction, molecular function regulator, Ras protein signal transduction, small GTPase mediated signal transduction, and regulation of Rho protein signal transduction. The most enrichment pathways of DEGs enriched in Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes Genomes (KEGG) were PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, Rap1 signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, Hippo signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathway, cGMP-PKG signaling pathway and Signaling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells. In addition, quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) showed that the AKT3, CDK2, MAPK3, mTOR, PI3K and PTK2 genes associated with PI3K-AKT pathway were highly expressed (P 0.01), and Caspase-3 was low expressed (P 0.05) in ucMSCs group when compared with bmMSCs. After treatment with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002, genes AKT3, CDK2, MAPK3, mTOR, and PTK2 were significantly decreased in ucMSCs (P 0.01), and Caspase-3 was significantly up regulated (P 0.001). In conclusion, we for the first time compared and analyzed the transcriptome profiles of giant panda ucMSCs and bmMSCs, and found the PI3K-AKT pathway was highly activated and might be a key signaling pathway in the ucMSCs regulation. This study will be beneficial for the research on MSCs proliferation regulation and differentiation of giant pandas in the future, and lay the foundation for MSCs application and clinical therapy for endangered wild animals.

By introducing the phase transformation of electron operators, we map the equation of motion of an one-particle Green's function into that of a non-interacting one-particle Green's function where the electrons are moving in a time-depending scalar potential and pure gauge fields for a D-dimensional electron gas, and we demonstrate that the electronic correlation strength strongly depends upon the excitation energy spectrum and collective excitation modes of electrons. It naturally explains that the electronic correlation strength is strong in the one dimension, while it is weak in the three dimensions.

Background: We investigated the use of a standardized reporting system to study perioperative complications and oncologic outcomes after radical cystectomy in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients with bladder cancer. Methods: We reviewed retrospective outcomes in 141 ESRD patients with bladder cancer who underwent radical cystectomy between 2004 and 2015. Complications were graded using the Clavien–Dindo classification system with 0–2 classified as “No Major Complications” and Clavien 3–5 as “Major Complications”. Low-volume surgeons were classified as those performing fewer than nine cases during the study. Fisher’s exact test along with the chi-squared test, two-tailed t tests, logistic regression, and the Cox proportional hazard model were used to evaluate all clinically meaningful covariates. Results: Ninety-nine (99, 70.2%) patients had no major complications, and forty-two (29.8%) patients had major complications. Patients in the major complications group were older, had a higher Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), and had a longer hospitalization duration than those in the no major complications group (all, p < 0.05). Major complications were also more common when the procedure was performed by low-volume surgeons (p = 0.003). In multivariate logistic regression models, CCI ≥ 5 (p = 0.006) and low-volume surgeon (p = 0.004) were independent predictors of major complications. According to multivariate analysis with the Cox hazards regression, male sex, age > 70 years, CCI ≥ 5, bladder cancer stage ≥ 3, lymphovascular invasion, and experiencing major complications were significant poor prognostic factors for overall survival (all, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Accurate reporting of complications is necessary for preoperative counseling, identifying modifiable risk factors, and planning risk mitigation strategies. High comorbidity and low-volume surgeons were interrelated as notable risk factors for major complications. In addition to tumor-related factors, male sex, older age, and major complications significantly influence overall survival.

Endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (eMSCs) are undifferentiated endometrial cells with self-renewal, multidirectional differentiation and high proliferation potential. Nowadays, eMSCs have been found in a few species, but it has never been reported in endangered wild animals, especially the red panda. In this study, we successfully isolated and characterized the eMSCs derived from red panda. Red panda eMSCs were fibroblast-like, had a strong proliferative potential and a stable chromosome number. Pluripotency genes including

The van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) create a multi-purpose platform to design unique structures for efficient photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications. In this study, on the basis of the first-principles calculations, we present a type-II semiconducting MoSSe/g-SiC vdWH with a moderate bandgap value of 1.31 eV. In particular, the large conduction band offset of 1.18 eV and valence band offset of 0.90 eV are distinguished, which can act as powerful driving forces to promote interlayer charge transfer. Moreover, MoSSe/g-SiC vdWH possesses high carrier mobilities and anisotropic transport properties with a larger transport current along the zigzag direction. More importantly, tensile strain can transform indirect into direct band gap and enhance the visible-light absorption while sustaining type-II band alignment. These results reveal the new physical nature of MoSSe/g-SiC vdWH and demonstrate its practical application potential in photovoltaics and optoelectronic nanodevices.

High-efficiency artificial incubation technology is the basis of the development of the poultry industry, and good chicks can be obtained through excellent egg breeding and good incubation technology. In Taiwan, the control of important parameters for waterfowl hatchery is still based on the inheritance of experience. The manual intervention of the cold egg operation during the hatching process will also affect the stability of the hatching environment and the risk of poultry biological safety infection.

Antibiotic-loaded polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) has been widely applied in the treatment of knee periprosthetic joint infections. However, problems with antibiotic-loaded PMMA-based spacers, such as structural fracture and implant dislocation, remain unresolved. A novel polyethylene-based spacer, designed with an ultra-congruent articulating surface and multiple fenestrations, was introduced in the current study. Validation tests for biomechanical safety, wear performance, and efficacy of antibiotic cement were reported. During cycle fatigue testing, no tibial spacer failures were observed, and less wear debris generation was reported compared to commercial PMMA-based spacers. The volumetric wear of the novel spacer was within the safety threshold for osteolysis-free volumetric wear. An effective infection control was demonstrated despite the application of lesser antibiotic cement in the 30-day antibiotic elution test. The tube dilution test confirmed adequate inhibitory capabilities against pathogens with the loaded antibiotic option utilized in the current study. The novel polyethylene-based knee spacer may offer sufficient biomechanical safety and serve as an adequate carrier of antibiotic-loaded cement for infection control. Further clinical trials shall be conducted for more comprehensive validation of the novel spacer for practical application.

With the commutation relations of the spin operators, we first write out the equations of motion of the spin susceptibility and related correlation functions that have a hierarchical structure, then under the "soft cut-off" approximation, we give a set of equations of motion of spin susceptibilities for a spin S=1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model, that is independent of whether or not the system has a long range order in the low energy/temperature limit. Applying for a chain, a square lattice and a honeycomb lattice, respectively, we obtain the upper and the lowest boundaries of the low-lying excitations by solving this set of equations. For a chain, the upper and the lowest boundaries of the low-lying excitations are the same as that of the exact ones obtained by the Bethe ansatz, where the elementary excitations are the spinon pairs. For a square lattice, the spin wave excitation (magnons) resides in the region close to the lowest boundary of the low-lying excitations, and the multispinon excitations take place in the high energy region close to the upper boundary of the low-lying excitations. For a honeycomb lattice, we have one kind of "mode" of the low-lying excitation. The present results obey the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem, and they are also consistent with recent neutron scattering observations and numerical simulations for a square lattice., 25 pages,0 figure

Objective To develop and validate a radiomics model of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and T2 weighted imaging for discriminating pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) from solid pseudopapillary tumors (SPTs). Materials and Methods Sixty-six patients with histopathological confirmed PNETs (n = 31) and SPTs (n = 35) were enrolled in this study. ROIs of tumors were manually drawn on each slice at T2WI and DWI (b = 1,500 s/mm2) from 3T MRI. Intraclass correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the interobserver agreement. Mean diffusivity (MD) and mean kurtosis (MK) were derived from DKI. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression were used for feature selection. Results MD and MK had a moderate diagnostic performancewith the area under curve (AUC) of 0.71 and 0.65, respectively. A radiomics model, which incorporated sex and age of patients and radiomics signature of the tumor, showed excellent discrimination performance with AUC of 0.97 and 0.86 in the primary and validation cohort. Moreover, the new model had better diagnostic performance than that of MD (P = 0.023) and MK (P = 0.004), and showed excellent differentiation with a sensitivity of 95.00% and specificity of 91.67% in primary cohort, and the sensitivity of 90.91% and specificity of 81.82% in the validation cohort. The accuracy of radiomics analysis, radiologist 1, and radiologist 2 for diagnosing SPTs and PNETs were 92.42, 77.27, and 78.79%, respectively. The accuracy of radiomics analysis was significantly higher than that of subjective diagnosis (P < 0.05). Conclusions Radiomics model could improve the diagnostic accuracy of SPTs and PNETs and contribute to determining an appropriate treatment strategy for pancreatic tumors.

The lead-free perovskites derivatives of Cs3Sb2X9 (X = Cl, Br, I) have been synthesized, but their photocatalytic properties are not explored. To evaluate the feasibility for the visible light catalytic performance, we calculate the structural, electronic, optical and charge transfer properties of Cs3Sb2X9, based on the hybrid density functional theory of HSE06 with the projector augmented wave potential. The results show the decrease of band energy gaps and the redshift of absorption edges from X = Cl to I. The absolute potential of the valence band maximum and conduction band minimum is determined to justify the feasibility of the photocatalytic water splitting or CO2 reduction. The calculated carrier mobilities reveal that the high electron mobilities of Cs3Sb2I9 are beneficial to the reducing powers for hydrogen generation and CO2 reduction. The present results indicate that Cs3Sb2I9 is appropriate for the photocatalytic water splitting to produce hydrogen or the CO2 reduction driven by the visible light.

The photocatalytic hydrogen production from water splitting can be achieved by using the pristine NaTaO3 experimentally, but the reaction cannot be driven by the visible light because of the wide band gap of NaTaO3. The present work focuses on tuning the photocatalytic performance of NaTaO3 into the visible light range by doping S, Se, and Te elements. The obvious decrease in band energy gaps (Egs) and noticeable red-shift of the absorption edges are observed for the doped structures. The valence band maximum and conduction band minimum of the doped structures satisfy the requirement of the water splitting. Moreover, a significant enhancement of absorption coefficient in the visible light range is observed for the doped structure of Te@O. The calculated carrier mobility is used to evaluate the charge spatial separation of Te@O and the unusual increases and the obvious differences of the mobility of the electrons and holes are observed.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate differences in the imaging features of mass-like tuberculosis and lung cancer on conventional MR sequences to improve the diagnostic ability for pulmonary masses. Methods: Thirty patients with suspicious pulmonary lesions were enrolled and diagnosed with tuberculosis by pathology or comprehensive clinical diagnoses. Twenty-six cases of lung cancer were retrospectively analyzed. Transverse fat-suppressed T2-weighted (T2W) imaging and T1-weighted (T1W) imaging were obtained at 1.5 Tesla. The imaging characteristics of lesions on the T2W and T1W images were compared between the two groups. The imaging features of enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes on T2W images were studied and compared. Results: On T2W images, there was a higher percentage of lesions containing hypointensity in the tuberculosis group (GTB) than in the lung cancer group (GLC) (P=0.004).The incidence of lesions demonstrating heterogeneous intensity was significantly greater in the GTB than in the GLC (70.0% vs . 7.7%, P=0.001). Approximately 92.3% of the lung cancer cases showed hyperintensity, a proportion substantially greater than that in the GTB (6.7%). On T1W images, more cases showed hyperintensity in the GTB than in the GLC (43.3% vs . 7.7%, P=0.003). The signal intensity ratios (SIRs) of the lesion to rhomboid muscle on T2W and T1W images were significantly different between the two groups. The mean intrasubject standard deviation (SD) of lesions in the GTB was markedly greater than that in the GLC on both T2W and T1W images. Benign mediastinal lymph nodes in the GTB showed a variety of signals on T2W images, whereas 80% of metastatic mediastinal lymph nodes displayed slight homogeneous hyperintensity, and this difference between the two groups was statistically significant. Conclusions: Conventional MR sequences can reveal the essential differences between mass-like tuberculosis and lung cancer and may be helpful for discriminating pulmonary masses.

The exchanged crossed cube, denoted by [Formula: see text], is a novel interconnection network with fewer edges and smaller diameter compared to other variations of the corresponding hypercube. The linear array, denoted by [Formula: see text], is one of the most popular topologies in optical networks. This paper addresses the routing and wavelength assignment for realizing [Formula: see text] communication pattern on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical network [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text]. We prove that the congestion for [Formula: see text] on [Formula: see text] is equal to [Formula: see text], which is the lower bound of the minimum number of required wavelengths. In addition, an embedding scheme and an optimal wavelength assignment algorithm that achieve this bound are also proposed.

The exchanged crossed cube, denoted by $$\textit{ECQ}(s, t)$$ , is a novel graph with fewer edges and smaller diameter compared to other variations of the corresponding hypercube. The ring topology, denoted by $$R_n$$ , is one of the most popular topologies in Wavelength division multiplexing optical networks. This paper addresses the routing and wavelength assignment problem for realizing $$\textit{ECQ}(s, t)$$ communication pattern on $$R_n$$ , where $$n=s+t+1$$ . We propose an embedding scheme. Base on the embedding scheme, a wavelength assignment algorithm using $$2^{s+t-2}+\lfloor 2^t/3\rfloor $$ wavelengths is devised. We show that the wavelength assignment algorithm uses no more than 1.25 times of wavelengths compared to the optimal wavelength number, i.e., it is a factor 1.25 approximation algorithm. Moreover, the number of additional required wavelengths is no more than $$\lfloor 2^{t-1}/3\rfloor $$ .

Chyluria is a morbid condition and sclerotherapy is a minimally invasive treatment modality in treatment of chyluria. The benefit of sclerosing agents have been analyzed in previous studies; however, our patient has iodine allergy and silver nitrate is not available at our institution. So we chose 50% dextrose as sclerosing agents. We found that chyluria was cured without any complication. This result might offers a simple and safe modality of treatment.

Exploring stable photocatalysts with superior optical absorption and high energy conversion efficiency is the key to water splitting. By means of the first-principles calculations, we report a ternary Sn2S2P4 monolayer with excellent stabilities. Remarkably, the material presents an indirect bandgap of 1.77 eV with the band edge perfectly crossing the redox potential of water. Monolayer Sn2S2P4 exhibits noticeable optical absorption and photocurrent density in the visible range and has adequate driving forces to trigger overall water splitting. Anisotropic and high carrier mobility facilitate the fast transport of photogenerated carriers. Moreover, a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency that reaches as high as 17.51% is theoretically predicted, thereby indicating that the Sn2S2P4 monolayer is a promising candidate for overall photocatalytic water splitting.

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and Auger recombination in quantum dots (QDs)-molecules system are important mechanisms for affecting performance of their optoelectronic and photosynthesis devices. However, exploring an effective strategy to promote FRET and suppress Auger recombination simultaneously remains a daunting challenge. Here, we report that FRET process is promoted and Auger recombination process is suppressed in CdTe/CdS QDs-Rhodamine101 (Rh101) molecules system upon compression. The greatly improved FRET is attributed to the shortened donor-acceptor distance and increased the number of molecules attached to QDs induced by pressure. The reduced Auger recombination is ascribed to the formation of an alloy layer at the core/shell interface. The FRET can occur 70 times faster than Auger recombination under a high pressure of 0.9 GPa. Our findings demonstrate that high pressure is a robust tool to boost FRET and simultaneously suppress Auger recombination, and provides a new route to QDs-molecules applications.