CMOS platforms operating at the telecommunications wavelength either reside within the highly dissipative two-photon regime in silicon-based optical devices, or possess small nonlinearities. Bandgap ...engineering of non-stoichiometric silicon nitride using state-of-the-art fabrication techniques has led to our development of USRN (ultra-silicon-rich nitride) in the form of Si7 N3 , that possesses a high Kerr nonlinearity (2.8 × 10-13 cm2 W-1 ), an order of magnitude larger than that in stoichiometric silicon nitride. Here we experimentally demonstrate high-gain optical parametric amplification using USRN, which is compositionally tailored such that the 1,550 nm wavelength resides above the two-photon absorption edge, while still possessing large nonlinearities. Optical parametric gain of 42.5 dB, as well as cascaded four-wave mixing with gain down to the third idler is observed and attributed to the high photon efficiency achieved through operating above the two-photon absorption edge, representing one of the largest optical parametric gains to date on a CMOS platform.
We search for signatures of gravitational lensing in the binary black hole events detected by Advanced LIGO and Virgo during their first two observational runs. In particular, we look for three ...effects: (1) evidence of lensing magnification in the individual signals due to galaxy lenses, (2) evidence of multiple images due to strong lensing by galaxies, and (3) evidence of wave optics effects due to point-mass lens. We find no compelling evidence of any of these signatures in the observed gravitational wave signals. However, as the sensitivities of gravitational wave detectors improve in the future, detecting lensed events may become quite likely.
The vital role optical and phototonic technologies have played in medical advances is addresed, as are modern phototheranostic applications. Topics addressed include phototheranostic techniques ...involving singlet state radiative relaxation, phototheranostic techniques involving singlet state radiative relaxation and phototheranostic techniques involving vibrational relaxation.
Phthalocyanines exhibit superior photoproperties that make them a surely attractive class of photosensitisers for photodynamic therapy of cancer. Several derivatives are at various phases of clinical ...trials, and efforts have been put continuously to improve their photodynamic efficacy. To this end, various strategies have been applied to develop advanced phthalocyanines with optimised photoproperties, dual therapeutic actions, tumour-targeting properties and/or specific activation at tumour sites. The advantageous properties and potential of phthalocyanines as advanced photosensitisers for photodynamic therapy of cancer are highlighted in this tutorial review.
Background
Hepatic resection and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) are treatment options for early‐stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Whether tumour recurrence and long‐term survival favour either ...treatment has not been established. This randomized trial aimed to test the hypothesis that RFA is superior to hepatic resection in terms of lower tumour recurrence rate and better long‐term survival.
Methods
Patients with early‐stage HCC (solitary tumour no larger than 5 cm; or no more than 3 tumours, each 3 cm or smaller) were randomized into hepatic resection and RFA groups. Demographic and clinical characteristics, and short‐ and long‐term outcome measures were compared between groups. Primary and secondary outcome measures were overall tumour recurrence and survival respectively.
Results
Clinicopathological data were similar in the two groups, which each contained 109 patients. The RFA group had a shorter treatment duration, less blood loss and shorter hospital stay than the resection group. Mortality and morbidity rates were similar in the two groups. The overall tumour recurrence rate was similar in the resection and RFA groups (71·3 versus 81·7 per cent respectively). The 1‐, 3‐, 5‐ and 10‐year overall survival rates were 94·5, 80·6, 66·5 and 47·6 per cent respectively in the resection group, compared with 95·4, 82·3, 66·4 and 41·8 per cent in the RFA group (P = 0·531). Corresponding disease‐free survival rates were 74·1, 50·9, 41·5 and 31·9 per cent in the resection group, and 70·6, 46·6, 33·6 and 18·6 per cent in the RFA group (P = 0·072).
Conclusion
RFA for early‐stage HCC is not superior to hepatic resection, in terms of tumour recurrence, overall survival and disease‐free survival. Registration number: HKUCTR‐10 (http://www.hkuctr.com).
Radiofrequency ablation is not superior
Metastasis is the main cause of death for patients with breast cancer. Many studies have characterized the genomic landscape of breast cancer during its early stages. However, there is evidence that ...genomic alterations are acquired during the evolution of cancers from their early to late stages, and that the genomic landscape of early cancers is not representative of that of lethal cancers
. Here we investigated the landscape of somatic alterations in 617 metastatic breast cancers. Nine driver genes (TP53, ESR1, GATA3, KMT2C, NCOR1, AKT1, NF1, RIC8A and RB1) were more frequently mutated in metastatic breast cancers that expressed hormone receptors (oestrogen and/or progesterone receptors; HR
) but did not have high levels of HER2 (HER2
; n = 381), when compared to early breast cancers from The Cancer Genome Atlas. In addition, 18 amplicons were more frequently observed in HR
/HER2
metastatic breast cancers. These cancers showed an increase in mutational signatures S2, S3, S10, S13 and S17. Among the gene alterations that were enriched in HR
/HER2
metastatic breast cancers, mutations in TP53, RB1 and NF1, together with S10, S13 and S17, were associated with poor outcome. Metastatic triple-negative breast cancers showed an increase in the frequency of somatic biallelic loss-of-function mutations in genes related to homologous recombination DNA repair, compared to early triple-negative breast cancers (7% versus 2%). Finally, metastatic breast cancers showed an increase in mutational burden and clonal diversity compared to early breast cancers. Thus, the genomic landscape of metastatic breast cancer is enriched in clinically relevant genomic alterations and is more complex than that of early breast cancer. The identification of genomic alterations associated with poor outcome will allow earlier and better selection of patients who require the use of treatments that are still in clinical trials. The genetic complexity observed in advanced breast cancer suggests that such treatments should be introduced as early as possible in the disease course.
We show how LIGO is expected to detect coalescing binary black holes at z>1 that are lensed by the intervening galaxy population. Gravitational magnification, μ, strengthens gravitational-wave ...signals by μ without altering their frequencies, which if unrecognized leads to an underestimate of the event redshift and hence an overestimate of the binary mass. High magnifications can be reached for coalescing binaries, because the region of intense gravitational-wave emission during coalescence is so small (∼100 km), permitting very close projections between lensing caustics and gravitational-wave events. Our simulations use the current LIGO event-based mass function and incorporate accurate waveforms convolved with the LIGO power spectral density. Importantly, we include the detection dependence on sky position and orbital orientation, which for the LIGO configuration translates into a wide spread in observed redshifts and chirp masses. Currently, we estimate a detectable rate of lensed events 0.06−0.02+0.02 yr−1 that rises to 5−3+5 yr−1 at LIGO design sensitivity limit, depending on the high redshift rate of black hole coalescence.
We observe signatures of radial and angular roton excitations around a droplet crystallization transition in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates. In situ measurements are used to characterize the ...density fluctuations near this transition. The static structure factor is extracted and used to identify the radial and angular roton excitations by their characteristic symmetries. These fluctuations peak as a function of the interaction strength indicating the crystallization transition of the system. We compare our observations to a theoretically calculated excitation spectrum allowing us to connect the crystallization mechanism with the softening of the angular roton modes.
Lithium Sulfur (Li/S) chemistries are amongst the most promising next-generation battery technologies due to their high theoretical energy density. However, the detrimental effects of their ...intermediate byproducts, polysulfides (PS), have to be resolved to realize these theoretical performance limits. Confined approaches on using porous carbons to entrap PS have yielded limited success. In this study, we deviate from the prevalent approach by introducing catalysis concept in Li/S battery configuration. Engineered current collectors were found to be catalytically active towards PS, thereby eliminating the need for carbon matrix and their processing obligatory binders, additives and solvents. We reveal substantial enhancement in electrochemical performance and corroborate our findings using a detailed experimental parametric study involving variation of several kinetic parameters such as surface area, temperature, current rate and concentration of PS. The resultant novel battery configuration delivered a discharge capacity of 700 mAh g(-1) with the two dimensional (2D) planar Ni current collectors and an enhancement in the capacity up to 900 mAh g(-1) has been realized using the engineered three dimensional (3D) current collectors. The battery capacity has been tested for stability over 100 cycles of charge-discharge.
•An effective artificial bee colony algorithm for robust ASSP model is proposed.•Parallel runway operation with delays intervals has been considered.•Min max regret approach in ASSP model considered ...a set of possible scenarios.•The model is able to solve an hour traffic scenario with less than 5min.•The performance of proposed algorithms outperforms other meta-heuristics.
This study considers the aircraft sequencing and scheduling problem under the uncertainty of arrival and departure delays for multiple heterogeneous mixed-mode parallel runways. To enhance runway resilience, runway operations should remain robust to mitigate the effects of delay propagation. The main objective of this research was to identify an optimal schedule by evaluating the robustness of feasible solutions under its respective worst-case scenario. A novel artificial bee colony algorithm was developed and verified by experimental results. The proposed efficient artificial bee colony algorithm can obtain close-to-optimal results with less computational effort in regard to a one-hour flight traffic planning horizon.
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