The nearby radio galaxy M87 is a prime target for studying black hole accretion and jet formation^{1,2}. Event Horizon Telescope observations of M87 in 2017, at a wavelength of 1.3 mm, revealed a ...ring-like structure, which was interpreted as gravitationally lensed emission around a central black hole^3. Here we report images of M87 obtained in 2018, at a wavelength of 3.5 mm, showing that the compact radio core is spatially resolved. High-resolution imaging shows a ring-like structure of 8.4_{-1.1}^{+0.5} Schwarzschild radii in diameter, approximately 50% larger than that seen at 1.3 mm. The outer edge at 3.5 mm is also larger than that at 1.3 mm. This larger and thicker ring indicates a substantial contribution from the accretion flow with absorption effects in addition to the gravitationally lensed ring-like emission. The images show that the edge-brightened jet connects to the accretion flow of the black hole. Close to the black hole, the emission profile of the jet-launching region is wider than the expected profile of a black-hole-driven jet, suggesting the possible presence of a wind associated with the accretion flow.
We propose a highly ordered multi-scale nanostructure of TiO(2) for applications as an anode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The structure is composed of a TiO(2) blocking layer, a TiO(2) ...inverse opal main body, regularly arranged transport channels between contacting spherical voids of the TiO(2) inverse opal, and TiO(2) nanoparticles coated on the spherical surfaces of the voids. The ordered and continuous backbone of the inverse opal serves as the fast electron transport pathways while the regularly arranged transport channels enable easy transport of dye and electrolyte within the structure. A multi-cycle procedure was developed to enable fabrication of thick inverse opals and easy adjustment of the inverse opal thickness. An example structure was constructed, involving a blocking layer of 90 nm thickness, an inverse opal of 100 nm voids, transport channels of 30-50 nm openings, and nanoparticles 10-15 nm in size. An open-circuit voltage decay investigation showed a significant improvement in electron lifetime for the proposed multi-scale TiO(2) nanostructure based DSSC than that of a TiO(2) nanoparticle film based DSSC, revealing the superior electron recombination characteristic offered by the proposed TiO(2) nanostructure. The conversion efficiency of the DSSC assembled from such an anode structure can reach 4% with a short-circuit current density (J(sc)) of 8.7 mA cm(-2) and open-circuit potential (V(oc)) of 0.76 V under AM 1.5 (100 mW cm(-2)) illumination.
Goal-directed aiming relies on the ability to control attention and visuomotor movements while preparing for motor execution. Research in precision sports has investigated cortical oscillations for ...supporting expert performance. However, the results may be influenced by adaptive and strategic behaviors after intensive training. Whether and at what time points distinctive oscillations support goal-directed aiming without such training remains elusive. In this electroencephalographic (EEG) study, we investigated how the theta, alpha and beta oscillations change to support accurate aiming before novices took an action. We first conducted a model-based analysis to examine the correlation of cortical oscillations with accurate shooting on a trial-by-trial basis in a within-individual manner. The results showed that alpha and beta oscillations at different time points during the aiming period were better predictors of aiming accuracy. We then compared the oscillatory power for good versus poor performance. The results showed decreases in the alpha and beta power across distributed cortical areas and an increase in the frontal theta power successively before shot release. Moreover, greater intertrial phase coherence was observed for good performance than for poor performance in posterior alpha activity and anterior beta activity during the aiming period. In conclusion, these results advance our understanding of the temporal dynamics of theta, alpha and beta oscillations in orchestrating goal setting, motor preparation and focused attention to monitoring both external and internal states for accurate aiming. Among the three, alpha and beta oscillations are critical for predicting aiming performance and theta oscillations reflect effortful cognitive control.
•The temporal dynamics of cortical oscillations for accurate aiming were investigated.•The EEG analyses in a within-individual manner for nonexperts were conducted.•Alpha and beta power decreased and theta power increased before shot release.•Alpha and beta activity during aiming were better predictors of shooting accuracy.•Greater alpha and beta phase coherence was found for good aiming than poor aiming.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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滾動調整2025年C肝消除治療目標數 楊雯雯(Wen-Wen Yang); 吳慧敏(Grace Hui-Min Wu); 盧勝男(Sheng-Nan Lu) ...
Taiwan gong gong wei sheng za zhi (Taiwan gong gong wei sheng xue hui),
12/2022, Volume:
41, Issue:
6
Journal Article
The National Office for the Elimination of Hepatitis C of the Ministry of Health and Welfare formulated the "National Policy Framework for the Elimination of Hepatitis C 2018-2025" in 2018. However, ...due to the lack of large-scale and ethnically representative anti-HCV screening data across the country at that time, and the prevalence of hepatitis C varying greatly among regions and age distributions, it is difficult to estimate the number of chronic hepatitis C patients in he country. In order to allow the central and local governments and all sectors of industry, government, academia, and research to follow the prevention and treatment of hepatitis C, the expert group of the epidemiology team of the Hepatitis C Office decided to include several reports covering a wide range of regions and ages, and that can distinguish between regions and research data on age-specific anti-HCV positivity rates estimate that there were approximately 423,283 to 745,109 anti-HCV positive cases nationwide in 2016 (median 623,323
Large vacuum Rabi splitting in ZnO-based microcavities Jun-Rong Chen; Tien-Chang Lu; Yung-Chi Wu ...
2009 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and 2009 Conference on Quantum electronics and Laser Science Conference
Conference Proceeding
We report the growth and characterization of bulk ZnO-based hybrid microcavity (MC). The phenomenon of strong exciton-photon coupling at room temperature has been observed in the ZnO-based MC. The ...cavity quality factor is 221. The experimental results show good agreement with calculated exciton-polariton dispersion curves based on transfer matrix method. From the theoretical and experimental exciton-polariton dispersion curves with two different cavity-exciton detuning values, the large vacuum Rabi splitting is estimated to be 58 meV in the ZnO-based MC.
Background
Quality assurance of deformable image registration (DIR) is challenging because the ground truth is often unavailable. In addition, current approaches that rely on artificial ...transformations do not adequately resemble clinical scenarios encountered in adaptive radiotherapy.
Purpose
We developed an atlas‐based method to create a variety of patient‐specific serial digital phantoms with CBCT‐like image quality to assess the DIR performance for longitudinal CBCT imaging data in adaptive lung radiotherapy.
Methods
A library of deformations was created by extracting the longitudinal changes observed between a planning CT and weekly CBCT from an atlas of lung radiotherapy patients. The planning CT of an inquiry patient was first deformed by mapping the deformation pattern from a matched atlas patient, and subsequently appended with CBCT artifacts to imitate a weekly CBCT. Finally, a group of digital phantoms around an inquiry patient was produced to simulate a series of possible evolutions of tumor and adjacent normal structures. We validated the generated deformation vector fields (DVFs) to ensure numerically and physiologically realistic transformations. The proposed framework was applied to evaluate the performance of the DIR algorithm implemented in the commercial Eclipse treatment planning system in a retrospective study of eight inquiry patients.
Results
The generated DVFs were inverse consistent within less than 3 mm and did not exhibit unrealistic folding. The deformation patterns adequately mimicked the observed longitudinal anatomical changes of the matched atlas patients. Worse Eclipse DVF accuracy was observed in regions of low image contrast or artifacts. The structure volumes exhibiting a DVF error magnitude of equal or more than 2 mm ranged from 24.5% (spinal cord) to 69.2% (heart) and the maximum DVF error exceeded 5 mm for all structures except the spinal cord. Contour‐based evaluations showed a high degree of alignment with dice similarity coefficients above 0.8 in all cases, which underestimated the overall DVF accuracy within the structures.
Conclusions
It is feasible to create and augment digital phantoms based on a particular patient of interest using multiple series of deformation patterns from matched patients in an atlas. This can provide a semi‐automated procedure to complement the quality assurance of CT‐CBCT DIR and facilitate the clinical implementation of image‐guided and adaptive radiotherapy that involve longitudinal CBCT imaging studies.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of active galactic nuclei at millimeter wavelengths have the power to reveal the launching and initial collimation region of extragalactic radio ...jets, down to \(10-100\) gravitational radii (\(r_g=GM/c^2\)) scales in nearby sources. Centaurus A is the closest radio-loud source to Earth. It bridges the gap in mass and accretion rate between the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in Messier 87 and our galactic center. A large southern declination of \(-43^{\circ}\) has however prevented VLBI imaging of Centaurus A below \({\lambda}1\)cm thus far. Here, we show the millimeter VLBI image of the source, which we obtained with the Event Horizon Telescope at \(228\)GHz. Compared to previous observations, we image Centaurus A's jet at a tenfold higher frequency and sixteen times sharper resolution and thereby probe sub-lightday structures. We reveal a highly-collimated, asymmetrically edge-brightened jet as well as the fainter counterjet. We find that Centaurus A's source structure resembles the jet in Messier 87 on \({\sim}500r_g\) scales remarkably well. Furthermore, we identify the location of Centaurus A's SMBH with respect to its resolved jet core at \({\lambda}1.3\)mm and conclude that the source's event horizon shadow should be visible at THz frequencies. This location further supports the universal scale invariance of black holes over a wide range of masses.
Casuarinin has been shown to be an antioxidant in acellular experiments. This study was designed to assess the ability of casuarinin, extracted from Terminalia arjuna, to protect cultured Madin-Darby ...canine kidney (MDCK) cells against H2O2-mediated oxidative stress. A comparison with trolox, a hydrosoluble vitamin E analogue was performed. MDCK cells were pretreated with casuarinin or trolox for 1 h, then exposed to H2O2. After incubation with 0.8 mM H2O2 for 1 h, casuarinin caused a decrease in intracellular peroxide production as shown by dichlorofluorescein (DCF) fluorescence in a concentration-dependent manner. After 3 h exposure to 8 mM H2O2, the percentage of intracellular glutathione (GSH)-negative cells was reduced in the casuarinin-treated group. Addition of 32mM H2O2 to MDCK cells for 3 h induced an increase in the percentage of cells containing 8-oxoguanine but the level of such cells declined in casuarinin-treated cells. These results show that casuarinin is more effective against H2O2-induced oxidative damage than trolox. The data suggest that casuarinin attenuates H2O2-induced oxidative stress, decreases DNA oxidative damage and prevents the depletion of intracellular GSH in MDCK cells.
Our understanding of strong gravity near supermassive compact objects has recently improved thanks to the measurements made by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). We use here the M87* shadow size to ...infer constraints on the physical charges of a large variety of nonrotating or rotating black holes. For example, we show that the quality of the measurements is already sufficient to rule out that M87* is a highly charged dilaton black hole. Similarly, when considering black holes with two physical and independent charges, we are able to exclude considerable regions of the space of parameters for the doubly-charged dilaton and the Sen black holes.
