Knots in Physics

After Dirac introduced the monopole, topological objects have played increasingly important roles in physics. In this review we discuss the role of the knot, the most sophisticated topological object in physics, and related topological objects in various areas in physics. In particular, we discuss how the knots appear in Maxwell's theory, Skyrme theory, and multi-component condensed matter physics.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1704.0597

Bayesian Belief Network Model Quantification Using Distribution-Based Node Probability and Experienced Data Updates for Software Reliability Assessment

Since digital instrumentation and control systems are expected to play an essential role in safety systems in nuclear power plants (NPPs), the need to incorporate software failures into NPP probabilistic risk assessment has arisen. Based on a Bayesian belief network (BBN) model developed to estimate the number of software faults considering the software development lifecycle, we performed a pilot study of software reliability quantification using the BBN model by aggregating different experts' opinions. In this paper, we suggest the distribution-based node probability table (D-NPT) development method which can efficiently represent diverse expert elicitation in the form of statistical distributions and provides mathematical quantification scheme. Besides, the handbook data on U.S. software development and V&V and testing results for two nuclear safety software were used for a Bayesian update of the D-NPTs in order to reduce the BBN parameter uncertainty due to experts' different background or levels of experience. To analyze the effect of diverse expert opinions on the BBN parameter uncertainties, the sensitivity studies were conducted by eliminating the significantly different NPT estimates among expert opinions. The proposed approach demonstrates a framework that can effectively and systematically integrate different kinds of available source information to quantify BBN NPTs for NPP software reliability assessment

Acupuncture for Attenuating Frontal Lobe α Band Asymmetry Induced by Anger: : a pilot study

Peer reviewe

Exosomes from Human Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Promote Epidermal Barrier Repair by Inducing de Novo Synthesis of Ceramides in Atopic Dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a multifactorial, heterogeneous disease associated with epidermal barrier disruption and intense systemic inflammation. Previously, we showed that exosomes derived from human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASC-exosomes) attenuate AD-like symptoms by reducing multiple inflammatory cytokine levels. Here, we investigated ASC-exosomes' effects on skin barrier restoration by analyzing protein and lipid contents. We found that subcutaneous injection of ASC-exosomes in an oxazolone-induced dermatitis model remarkably reduced trans-epidermal water loss, while enhancing stratum corneum (SC) hydration and markedly decreasing the levels of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-17, and TSLP, all in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, ASC-exosomes induced the production of ceramides and dihydroceramides. Electron microscopic analysis revealed enhanced epidermal lamellar bodies and formation of lamellar layer at the interface of the SC and stratum granulosum with ASC-exosomes treatment. Deep RNA sequencing analysis of skin lesions demonstrated that ASC-exosomes restores the expression of genes involved in skin barrier, lipid metabolism, cell cycle, and inflammatory response in the diseased area. Collectively, our results suggest that ASC-exosomes effectively restore epidermal barrier functions in AD by facilitating the de novo synthesis of ceramides, resulting in a promising cell-free therapeutic option for treating AD

Spin chirality on a two-dimensional frustrated lattice

The collective behavior of interacting magnetic moments can be strongly influenced by the topology of the underlying lattice. In geometrically frustrated spin systems, interesting chiral correlations may develop that are related to the spin arrangement on triangular plaquettes. We report a study of the spin chirality on a two-dimensional geometrically frustrated lattice. Our new chemical synthesis methods allow us to produce large single crystal samples of KFe3(OH)6(SO4)2, an ideal Kagome lattice antiferromagnet. Combined thermodynamic and neutron scattering measurements reveal that the phase transition to the ordered ground-state is unusual. At low temperatures, application of a magnetic field induces a transition between states with different non-trivial spin-textures.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure