Detection of hepatocellular carcinoma with multi-slice spiral CT by using double-arterial phase and portal venous phase enhanced scanning: Effect of iodine concentration of contrast material

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of iodine concentration of contrast material on detection of hepatocellular carcinoma with multi-slice spiral computed tomography (CT) by using double-arterial phase and portal venous phase enhanced scanning. Ninety-four (94) patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were examined by hepatic plain CT and contrast-enhanced CT including early arterial phase (EAP), late arterial phase (LAP) and portal venous phase (PVP) scanning. Patientswere randomized into two groups to receive Iopamidol 370 mg /ml (47 patients) and 300 mg /ml (47 patients). The images were interpreted by two experienced radiologists together prospectively. The detection sensitivity for tumors of two size categories (2 or >2 cm) and iodine concentration groups were calculated and analyzed. A total of 318 lesions were detected with 86 2 cm in size and 232 >2 cm. For EAP and LAP, the sensitivity of Iopamidol 370 mg I/ml group was significantly higher than Iopamidol 300 mg I/ml group for tumors 2 cm and all tumors. For PVP, there were no significant differences between groups. We concluded that high-iodine-concentration contrast material could improve the detection of HCC for EAP and LAP, especially for tumor 2 cm

Period halving of Persistent Currents in Mesoscopic Mobius ladders

We investigate the period halving of persistent currents(PCs) of non-interacting electrons in isolated mesoscopic M\"{o}bius ladders without disorder, pierced by Aharonov-Bhom flux. The mechanisms of the period halving effect depend on the parity of the number of electrons as well as on the interchain hopping. Although the data of PCs in mesoscopic systems are sample-specific, some simple rules are found in the canonical ensemble average, such as all the odd harmonics of the PCs disappear, and the signals of even harmonics are non-negative. {PACS number(s): 73.23.Ra, 73.23.-b, 68.65.-k}Comment: 6 Pages with 3 EPS figure

A rotorcraft in-flight ice detection framework using computational aeroacoustics and Bayesian neural networks

This work develops a novel ice detection framework specifically suitable for rotorcraft using computational aeroacoustics and Bayesian neural networks. In an offline phase of the work, the acoustic signature of glaze and rime ice shapes on an oscillating wing are computed. In addition, the aerodynamic performance indicators corresponding to the ice shapes are also monitored. These performance indicators include the lift, drag, and moment coefficients. A Bayesian neural network is subsequently trained using projected Stein variational gradient descent to create a mapping from the acoustic signature generated by the iced wings to predict their performance indicators along with quantified uncertainty that is highly important for time- and safety-critical decision-making scenarios. While the training is carried out fully offline, usage of the Bayesian neural network to make predictions can be conducted rapidly online allowing for an ice detection system that can be used in real time and in-flight

Clinical investigation of CT-guided ozone-blowing and fumigation therapy for the chronic refractory cutaneous sinus and ulcer

The purpose of this article is to investigate the clinical effect of CT-guided ozone-blowing and fumigation in the treatment of chronic refractory cutaneous sinus and ulcer. Twenty-six cases of chronic refractory sinuses and ulcers caused by different diseases were retrospectively analyzed in our study. After sterilization, all patients were scanned by computed tomography and the sinuses and ulcers prelocated by CT were treated by O3-blowing and fumigation. Twenty-one patients treated with traditionalsurgery were randomly assigned into control group. A total number of 15 patients were completely cured in 45 days after receiving CT-guided ozone-blowing fumigation treatment. Four patients exhibited markedly therapeutic effects and three cases showed improvement. The effective ratio was 85%. In control group, seven patients were completely cured in 45 days after being treated by traditional surgery. Four patients exhibited markedly therapeutic effects and five cases showed improvement. Anobvious statistical difference exists between two groups. Application of CT-guided O3-blowing and fumigation therapy is an effective approach in the treatment of chronic refractory cutaneous ulcer and sinus with shorter therapeutic duration, less suffering, better curative effect and less adverse effect

Brownian Thermal Noise in Multilayer Coated Mirrors

We analyze the Brownian thermal noise of a multi-layer dielectric coating, used in high-precision optical measurements including interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. We assume the coating material to be isotropic, and therefore study thermal noises arising from shear and bulk losses of the coating materials. We show that coating noise arises not only from layer thickness fluctuations, but also from fluctuations of the interface between the coating and substrate, driven by internal fluctuating stresses of the coating. In addition, the non-zero photoeleastic coefficients of the thin films modifies the influence of the thermal noise on the laser field. The thickness fluctuations of different layers are statistically independent, however, there exists a finite coherence between layers and the substrate-coating interface. Taking into account uncertainties in material parameters, we show that significant uncertainties still exist in estimating coating Brownian noise.Comment: 26 pages, 18 figure

Phase diagram and symmetry breaking of SU(4) spin-orbital chain in a generalized external field

The ground state phases of a one-dimensional SU(4) spin-orbital Hamiltonian in a generalized external field are studied on the basis of Bethe-ansatz solution. Introducing three Land\'e $g$ factors for spin, orbital and their products in the SU(4) Zeeman term, we discuss systematically the various symmetry breaking. The magnetization versus external field are obtained by solving Bethe-ansatz equations numerically. The phase diagrams corresponding to distinct residual symmetries are given by means of both numerical and analytical methods.Comment: Revtex4, 16 pages, 7 figure

Multi-Band Exotic Superconductivity in the New Superconductor Bi4O4S3

Resistivity, Hall effect and magnetization have been investigated on the new superconductor Bi4O4S3. A weak insulating behavior has been induced in the normal state when the superconductivity is suppressed. Hall effect measurements illustrate clearly a multiband feature dominated by electron charge carriers, which is further supported by the magnetoresistance data. Interestingly, a kink appears on the temperature dependence of resistivity at about 4 K at all high magnetic fields when the bulk superconductivity is completely suppressed. This kink can be well traced back to the upper critical field Hc2(T) in the low field region, and is explained as the possible evidence of residual Cooper pairs on the one dimensional chains.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Δ\Delta-scaling and Information Entropy in Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

The $\Delta$-scaling method has been applied to ultra-relativistic p+p, C+C and Pb+Pb collision data simulated using a high energy Monte Carlo package, LUCIAE 3.0. The $\Delta$-scaling is found to be valid for some physical variables, such as charged particle multiplicity, strange particle multiplicity and number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions from these simulated nucleus-nucleus collisions over an extended energy ranging from $E_{lab}$ = 20 to 200 A GeV. In addition we derived information entropy from the multiplicity distribution as a function of beam energy for these collisions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; to appear in the July Issue of Chin. Phys. Lett.. Web Page: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/CP

Integrability and exact spectrum of a pairing model for nucleons

A pairing model for nucleons, introduced by Richardson in 1966, which describes proton-neutron pairing as well as proton-proton and neutron-neutron pairing, is re-examined in the context of the Quantum Inverse Scattering Method. Specifically, this shows that the model is integrable by enabling the explicit construction of the conserved operators. We determine the eigenvalues of these operators in terms of the Bethe ansatz, which in turn leads to an expression for the energy eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian.Comment: 14 pages, latex, no figure