Double neutron star (DNS) merger events are promising candidates of short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) progenitors as well as high-frequency gravitational wave (GW) emitters. On August 17, 2017, such a ...coinciding event was detected by both the LIGO-Virgo gravitational wave detector network as GW170817 and Gamma-Ray Monitor on board NASA's Fermi Space Telescope as GRB 170817A. Here, we show that the fluence and spectral peak energy of this sGRB fall into the lower portion of the distributions of known sGRBs. Its peak isotropic luminosity is abnormally low. The estimated event rate density above this luminosity is at least Formula: see text Gpc
yr
, which is close to but still below the DNS merger event rate density. This event likely originates from a structured jet viewed from a large viewing angle. There are similar faint soft GRBs in the Fermi archival data, a small fraction of which might belong to this new population of nearby, low-luminosity sGRBs.
To assess the accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Index of Activity (MaRIA) in evaluating therapeutic efficacy in Crohn's disease (CD) patients with different activity levels using ileocolonoscopy as the ...reference standard.
Forty-eight patients underwent magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) and ileocolonoscopy at baseline, week 26, and week 52, along with the Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn's Disease (SES-CD) and MaRIA scores. According to the SES-CD score at baseline, all patients were subdivided into mild, moderate, and severe activity subgroups. The identification of endoscopic mucosal healing (MH) was explored primarily. Moreover, the Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI), C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), procalcitonin (PCT), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were collected and analysed.
MaRIA correlated significantly with SES-CD and CRP at baseline, week 26, and week 52. The discrepancies in MaRIA and SES-CD were statistically significant before and after treatment. MaRIA = 24.43 and ΔMaRIA = 12.77 as the cut-off points were found to have high diagnostic accuracy for predicting MH. MaRIA (p<0.001), SES-CD (p<0.001), CRP (p<0.05), ESR (p<0.05), and CDAI score (p<0.05) in patients with MH were considerably decreased compared to those in patients without MH.
MRE has good application value in evaluating the therapeutic response of CD patients treated with biological agents. MaRIA is a reliable indicator in the follow-up of CD patients, which is strongly correlated with SES-CD, and it has high accuracy in predicting endoscopic MH.
•MRE was a valuable imaging method to evaluate the therapeutic effect of CD patients.•MaRIA is strongly correlated with SES-CD.•MaRIA is a trustworthy indicator in the predicting endoscopic mucosal healing.
Energy consumption in machining contributes a significant part of manufacturing cost and produces a great environmental impact. This paper provides a critical assessment on energy consumption in a ...machining system. Energy consumption is classified at the process, machine, and system levels. Machine tool power demand at different machine states by different components is also discussed. Then predictive methods of energy consumption at different levels are summarized. Finally, energy consumption reduction strategies are discussed to achieve sustainable manufacturing.
•Energy consumption is classified at the process, machine, and system levels.•The concept of net cutting energy is established.•Empirical and analytical models of energy consumption are critically analyzed.•The strategies for reducing energy consumption are recommended.
Abstract
Spin-valley locking in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides has attracted enormous interest, since it offers potential for valleytronic and optoelectronic applications. Such an exotic ...electronic state has sparsely been seen in bulk materials. Here, we report spin-valley locking in a Dirac semimetal BaMnSb
2
. This is revealed by comprehensive studies using first principles calculations, tight-binding and effective model analyses, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements. Moreover, this material also exhibits a stacked quantum Hall effect (QHE). The spin-valley degeneracy extracted from the QHE is close to 2. This result, together with the Landau level spin splitting, further confirms the spin-valley locking picture. In the extreme quantum limit, we also observed a plateau in the
z
-axis resistance, suggestive of a two-dimensional chiral surface state present in the quantum Hall state. These findings establish BaMnSb
2
as a rare platform for exploring coupled spin and valley physics in bulk single crystals and accessing 3D interacting topological states.
Sperm-associated antigen 5 (SPAG5) is involved in various biological processes. However, the roles of SPAG5 in bladder urothelial carcinoma (BUC) are unknown. This study showed that upregulation of ...SPAG5 was detected frequently in primary BUC tissues, and was associated with significantly worse survival among the 112 patients that underwent radical cystectomy (RC). Up and downregulating the expression of SPAG5 enhanced or inhibited, respectively, the proliferation of BUC cells in vitro and in vivo, and suppressed or enhanced, respectively, apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, SPAG5 increased the resistance of BUC cells to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Mechanistic investigations showed that SPAG5 promotes proliferation and suppresses apoptosis in BUC at least partially via upregulating Wnt3 through activating the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. The importance of the SPAG5/AKT-mTOR/Wnt3 axis identified in BUC cell models was confirmed via immunohistochemical analysis of a cohort of human BUC specimens that underwent RC. Collectively, our data suggested that in patients with BUC who underwent RC, high SPAG5 expression is associated with poor survival. In addition, targeting SPAG5 might represent a novel therapeutic strategy to improve the survival of patients with BUC.
A measurement of electron antineutrino oscillation by the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment is described in detail. Six 2.9-GWth nuclear power reactors of the Daya Bay and Ling Ao nuclear power ...facilities served as intense sources of ν¯e’s. Comparison of the ν¯e rate and energy spectrum measured by antineutrino detectors far from the nuclear reactors (∼1500–1950 m) relative to detectors near the reactors (∼350–600 m) allowed a precise measurement of ν¯e disappearance. More than 2.5 million ν¯e inverse beta-decay interactions were observed, based on the combination of 217 days of operation of six antineutrino detectors (December, 2011–July, 2012) with a subsequent 1013 days using the complete configuration of eight detectors (October, 2012–July, 2015). The ν¯e rate observed at the far detectors relative to the near detectors showed a significant deficit, R=0.949±0.002(stat)±0.002(syst). The energy dependence of ν¯e disappearance showed the distinct variation predicted by neutrino oscillation. Analysis using an approximation for the three-flavor oscillation probability yielded the flavor-mixing angle sin22θ13=0.0841±0.0027(stat)±0.0019(syst) and the effective neutrino mass-squared difference of |Δmee2|=(2.50±0.06(stat)±0.06(syst))×10−3 eV2. Analysis using the exact three-flavor probability found Δm322=(2.45±0.06(stat)±0.06(syst))×10−3 eV2 assuming the normal neutrino mass hierarchy and Δm322=(−2.56±0.06(stat)±0.06(syst))×10−3 eV2 for the inverted hierarchy.
In this study, the performance of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl
4) coagulation and flocculation is compared with commonly used coagulants such as aluminum sulfate (Al
2(SO
4)
3), polyaluminum chloride ...(PACl), iron chloride (FeCl
3), and polyferric sulfate (PFS) in terms of water quality parameters and floc properties. TiCl
4 flocculation achieved higher removal of UV
254 (98%), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) (84%) and turbidity (93%) than other conventional coagulants. Charge neutralization and physical entrapment of colloids within coagulant precipitates and adsorption, seemed to play a significant role during TiCl
4 flocculation, while the main mechanism for conventional coagulants was bridge-aggregation and adsorption. The aggregated flocs after TiCl
4 flocculation showed the fastest growth rate compared to the other coagulants, with the largest floc size (801
μm) occurring within 8
min. The floc strength factor of PACl, Al
2(SO
4)
3, PFS, FeCl
3 and TiCl
4 was 34, 30, 29, 26 and 29, respectively, while the floc recovery factor of the TiCl
4 coagulant was the lowest. Based on the results of the above study, it is concluded that the TiCl
4 flocculation can reduce the hydraulic retention time of slow and rapid mixing, however, careful handling of sludge is required due to the low recoverability of the aggregated floc.
Abstract
We report on analysis of observations of the bright transient X-ray pulsar Swift J0243.6+6124 obtained during its 2017-2018 giant outburst with Insight-HXMT, NuSTAR, and Swift observatories. ...We focus on the discovery of a sharp state transition of the timing and spectral properties of the source at super-Eddington accretion rates, which we associate with the transition of the accretion disk to a radiation pressure dominated (RPD) state, the first ever directly observed for magnetized neutron star. This transition occurs at slightly higher luminosity compared to already reported transition of the source from sub- to super-critical accretion regime associate with onset of an accretion column. We argue that this scenario can only be realized for comparatively weakly magnetized neutron star, not dissimilar to other ultra-luminous X-ray pulsars (ULPs), which accrete at similar rates. Further evidence for this conclusion is provided by the non-detection of the transition to the propeller state in quiescence which strongly implies compact magnetosphere and thus rules out magnetar-like fields.
Commercial lead-based piezoelectric materials raised worldwide environmental concerns in the past decade. Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-based solid solution is among the most promising lead-free piezoelectric ...candidates; however, depolarization of these solid solutions is a longstanding obstacle for their practical applications. Here we use a strategy to defer the thermal depolarization, even render depolarization-free Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-based 0-3-type composites. This is achieved by introducing semiconducting ZnO particles into the relaxor ferroelectric 0.94Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-0.06BaTiO₃ matrix. The depolarization temperature increases with increasing ZnO concentration until depolarization disappears at 30 mol% ZnO. The semiconducting nature of ZnO provides charges to partially compensate the ferroelectric depolarization field. These results not only pave the way for applications of Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-based piezoceramics, but also have great impact on the understanding of the mechanism of depolarization so as to provide a new design to optimize the performance of lead-free piezoelectrics.
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