Surface plasmonics from metal nanoparticles have been demonstrated as an effective way of improving the performance of low-efficiency light emitters. However, reducing the inherent losses of the ...metal nanoparticles remains a challenge. Here we study the enhancement properties by Ag nanoparticles for InGaN/GaN quantum-well structures. By using a thin SiN dielectric layer between Ag and GaN we manage to modify and improve surface plasmon coupling effects, and we attribute this to the improved scattering of the nanoparticles at the quantum-well emission wavelength. The results are interpreted using numerical simulations, where absorption and scattering cross-sections are studied for different sized particles on GaN and GaN/SiN substrates.
To determine whether additional systematic biopsy is necessary in all biopsy naïve patients with MRI visible lesions by taking PI-RADS score and prostate volume into consideration.
Patients who ...underwent combined systematic biopsy (SB) and cognitive MRI-targeted biopsy (TB) in our hospital between May 2018 and June 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The detection rate of clinical significant prostate cancer (csPCa), biopsy grade group (GG) concordance, and disease upgrading rate on radical prostatectomy were compared between SB and TB and further stratified by PI-RADS v2.0 category and prostate volume.
A total of 234 patients were analyzed in this study. TB alone detected more csPCa and less clinically insignificant prostate cancer (cisPCa) than SB alone in the whole cohort (57.3
53%, P = 0.041; 3.8
7.7%, P = 0.049 respectively). The additional SB indicated only a marginal increase of csPCa detection but a remarkable increase of cisPCa detection compared with targeted biopsy (59.4
57.3%, P = 0.064; 3.8
7.7%, P = 0.012). As stratified by PI-RADS category, the difference of csPCa detection rate between TB and SB was not significant either in PI-RADS 5 subgroup (83.8
76.3%, P = 0.07) or in PI-RADS 3-4 subgroup (43.5
40.9%, P = 1.0). Additional SB decreased the rate of disease upgrading on radical prostatectomy (RP) than TB alone in PI-RADS 3-4 subgroup (14.5
25.5%, P = 0.031) other than PI-RADS 5 subgroup (6
6%, P = 1.0). When stratified by prostate volume (PV), TB alone detected more csPCa than SB in small prostate (PV < 30 ml) group (81.0
71.0%, P = 0.021) but not in large prostate (PV ≥ 30 ml) group (44.0
42.7%, P = 0.754). The additional SB did not significantly decrease the rate of disease upgrading on RP than TB alone in either small or large prostate (6.4
8.5%, P = 1.0; 13.8
22.4%, P = 0.063).
The combination biopsy method was no superior than targeted biopsy alone in PI-RADS 5 or in small volume prostate subgroup.
•Floating photovoltaics around turbines increase wind farm production by 7 times.•Floating photovoltaics cover 17 % area, doubling wind farm annual output.•Floating photovoltaics cover 11 % area, ...boosting 76 % power with the same investment.•Offshore wind and solar complement on monthly scales, especially in high latitudes.
Marine renewable energy is gaining prominence as a crucial component of the energy supply in coastal cities due to proximity and minimal land requirements. The synergistic potential of integrating floating photovoltaics with offshore wind turbines presents an encouraging avenue for boosting power production, amplifying spatial energy generation density, and mitigating seasonal output fluctuations. While the global promise of offshore wind-photovoltaic hybrid systems is evident, a definitive understanding of their potential remains elusive. Here, we evaluate the resource potential of the hybrid systems under geographical constraints, offering insights into sustainable and efficient offshore energy solutions. We compile a database with 11,198 offshore wind turbine locations from Sentinel-1 imagery and technical parameters from commercial project details. Our analysis reveals an underutilization of spatial resources within existing offshore wind farms, yielding a modest 26 kWh per square meter. Furthermore, employing realistic climate-driven system simulations, we find an impressive potential photovoltaic generation of 1372 ± 18 TWh annually, over seven times higher than the current offshore wind capacity. Notably, floating photovoltaics demonstrated remarkable efficiency, matching wind turbine output with a mere 17 % of the wind farm area and achieving an average 76 % increase in power generation at equivalent investment costs. Additionally, the hybrid wind and photovoltaic systems exhibit monthly-scale complementarity, reflected by a Pearson correlation coefficient of -0.78, providing a consistent and reliable power supply. These findings support the notion that hybrid offshore renewable energy could revolutionize the renewable energy industry, optimize energy structures, and contribute to a sustainable future for coastal cities.
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We have investigated the borderline between photoluminescence quenching and enhancement of InGaN/GaN quantum-wells due to Ag nanoparticles and their surface plasmon modes. By embedding Ag ...nanoparticles inside nanohole structures on the p-type layer GaN, luminescence quenching is observed. Increasing the distance between the nanoparticles and quantum-wells has shown to enhance the emission. We have found that the nano-structure geometry of the metal-semiconductor interface in the near-field of the quantum-wells plays a crucial role in determining whether the emitter performance is enhanced or degraded.
In the absence of random mode mixing (RMM), linearization of the cross-mode modulation (XMM) under pump-probe configuration is in general complicated because the evolution of the pump light depends ...on the local mode decomposition of itself. In this work, general derivation of the Hamiltonian of the XMM system without RMM is carried out and discussed under two interesting scenarios where the pump evolution can be effectively linearized, leading to spatial dependent Hamiltonian of the probe light. Representative evolutions of pump and probe light over transmission are investigated with the assistance of Poincaré sphere based on the Hamiltonian approach. Our results are benchmarked against the results given by precession equations examined by Lin and Agrawal and numerical simulations using nonlinear coupled mode equations (CMEs). By highlighting the eigenstates as well as eigenvalues of the system, our approach provides an intuitive yet powerful approach to understand the XMM nonlinear problems and to dynamically manipulate the spatial profiles of the probe light.
Aims
To test a kind of stretch pattern which is the optimum stress parameter to promote human urothelial cells (HUCs) proliferation, and to investigate the roles of integrin subunits and their ...pathway in the HUCs proliferation induced by physiological stretch.
Methods
HUCs were seeded on silicone membrane, and subjected to four kinds of stretch (0,5%,10%,15% elongation) for 24 h, as controlled by a BioDynamic® bioreactor. Cell proliferation, viability and cycle distribution were examined using Cell Counting Kit‐8 and flow cytometry, respectively. The gene and protein expression of integrin subunits and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) in each group were assessed by Real‐time PCR(RT‐PCR) and western blot, respectively. Small interfering RNAs (siRNA) were applied to knockdown integrin α6 and FAK expression in HUCs, and FAK inhibitor was used to validate the role of α6 and FAK in cell proliferation under physiological stretch.
Results
The proliferation of HUCs were highest in the 5% elongation group compared to static control, 10% and 15% elongation group. RT‐PCR and western blot showed that 5% cyclic stretch significantly promoted the expression of integrin α6 and FAK. The stretch‐induced cell proliferation and FAK expression was inhibited by siRNA of integrin α6. Further study with FAK inhibitor revealed that elongation promoted proliferation though integrin α6 and FAK signaling pathway.
Conclusions
Physiological stretch induced HUCs proliferation via integrin α6‐FAK signaling pathway, and 5% elongation may be the optimal stress parameter to promote the cell proliferation.
Distributed dissipation in optical parametric processes has attracted renewed interests recently due to its rich physics including modulation instability, gain broadening, unidirectional energy ...transfer etc. Due to difficulties in practical implementation, lumped dissipation are investigated in this work as an alternative approach which can be realized more conveniently. Strong similarities are found between lumped and distributed dissipation. While distributed losses contribute to non-hermitian phase matching, lumped dissipation is shown to be a simple and universal quasi-phase matching method. Experimental validations of gain broadening and flattening in normal and anomalous dispersion regions are presented. As an application to wavelength conversion, enlarged conversion bandwidth when dissipation is introduced to the signal wave is revealed.
Background
AI-based software may improve the performance of radiologists when detecting clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa). This study aims to compare the performance of radiologists in ...detecting MRI-visible csPCa on MRI with and without AI-based software.
Materials and methods
In total, 480 multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) images were retrospectively collected from eleven different MR devices, with 349 csPCa lesions in 180 (37.5%) cases. The csPCa areas were annotated based on pathology. Sixteen radiologists from four hospitals participated in reading. Each radiologist was randomly assigned to 30 cases and diagnosed twice. Half cases were interpreted without AI, and the other half were interpreted with AI. After four weeks, the cases were read again in switched mode. The mean diagnostic performance was compared using sensitivity and specificity on lesion level and patient level. The median reading time and diagnostic confidence were assessed.
Results
On lesion level, AI-aided improved the sensitivity from 40.1% to 59.0% (18.9% increased; 95% confidence interval (CI) 11.5, 26.1;
p
< .001). On patient level, AI-aided improved the specificity from 57.7 to 71.7% (14.0% increase, 95% CI 6.4, 21.4;
p
< .001) while preserving the sensitivity (88.3% vs. 93.9%,
p
= 0.06). AI-aided reduced the median reading time of one case by 56.3% from 423 to 185 s (238-s decrease, 95% CI 219, 260;
p
< .001), and the median diagnostic confidence score was increased by 10.3% from 3.9 to 4.3 (0.4-score increase, 95% CI 0.3, 0.5;
p
< .001).
Conclusions
AI software improves the performance of radiologists by reducing false positive detection of prostate cancer patients and also improving reading times and diagnostic confidence.
Clinical relevance statement
This study involves the process of data collection, randomization and crossover reading procedure.
Graphical Abstract
Key points
The artificial intelligence (AI)-aided software improved the lesion-level sensitivity to detect MRI- visible clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) of radiologists.
The AI-aided software reduced the false positive detection of prostate cancer patients with improved specificity while preserving the sensitivity.
The AI-aided software reduced the mean reading and reporting time and increased the diagnostic confidence score for MRI-visible csPCa diagnosis.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in the elderly population. The standard treatment is radical prostatectomy (RARP). However, urologists do not have consents on the postoperative ...urine drainage management (suprapubic tube (ST)/ urethral catheter (UC)). Thus, we try to compare ST drainage to UC drainage after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy regarding to comfort, recovery rate and continence using the method of meta-analysis.
A systematic search was performed in Dec. 2017 on PubMed, Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library databases. The authors independently reviewed the records to identify studies comparing ST with UC of patients underwent RARP. Meta-analysis was performed using the extracted data from the selected studies.
Seven studies, including 3 RCTs, with a total of 946 patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in our meta-analysis. Though there was no significant difference between the ST group and the UC group on postoperative pain (RR1.73, P 0.20), our study showed a significant improvement on bother or discomfort, defined as trouble in hygiene and sleep, caused by catheter when compared two groups at postoperative day (POD) 7 in ST group (RR2.05, P 0.006). There was no significant difference between the ST group and UC group on urinary continence (RR0.98, P 0.74) and emergency department visit (RR0.61, P 0.11). The rates of bladder neck contracture and other complications were very low in both groups.
Compared to UC, ST showed a weak advantage. So it might be a good choice to choose ST over RARP.
In the presence of loss and gain, the coupled mode equation on describing the mode hybridization of various waveguides or cavities, or cavities coupled to waveguides becomes intrinsically ...non-Hermitian. In such non-Hermitian waveguides, the standard coupled mode theory fails. We generalize the coupled mode theory with a properly defined inner product based on reaction conservation. We apply our theory to the non-Hermitian parity-time symmetric waveguides, and obtain excellent agreement with results obtained by finite element fullwave simulations. The theory presented here is typically formulated in space to study coupling between waveguides, which can be transformed into time domain by proper reformulation to study coupling between non-Hermitian resonators. Our theory has the strength of studying non-Hermitian optical systems with inclusion of the full vector fields, thus is useful to study and design non-Hermitian devices that support asymmetric and even nonreciprocal light propagations.
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