The spontaneous emergence of ordered phases in crumpled sheets

X-ray tomography is performed to acquire 3D images of crumpled aluminum foils. We develop an algorithm to trace out the labyrinthian paths in the three perpendicular cross sections of the data matrices. The tangent-tangent correlation function along each path is found to decay exponentially with an effective persistence length that shortens as the crumpled ball becomes more compact. In the mean time, we observed ordered domains near the crust, similar to the lamellae phase mixed by the amorphous portion in lyotropic liquid crystals. The size and density of these domains grow with further compaction, and their orientation favors either perpendicular or parallel to the radial direction. Ordering is also identified near the core with an arbitrary orientation, exemplary of the spontaneous symmetry breaking

Soft-tissue Tumor Differentiation Using 3D Power Doppler Ultrasonography With Echo-contrast Medium Injection

BackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the ability of 3-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography to differentiate soft-tissue masses from blood flow and vascularization with contrast medium.MethodsTwenty-five patients (mean age, 44.1 years; range, 12-77 years) with a palpable mass were enrolled in this study. Volume data were acquired using linear and convex 3-dimensional probes and contrast medium injected manually by bolus. Data were stored and traced slice by slice for 12 slices. All patients were scanned by the same senior sonologist. The vascular index (VI), flow index (FI), and vascular-flow index (VFI) were automatically calculated after the tumor was completely traced. All tumors were later confirmed by pathology.ResultsThe study included 8 benign (mean, 36.5 mL; range, 2.4-124 mL) and 17 malignant (mean, 319.4 mL; range, 9.9-1,179.6 mL) tumors. Before contrast medium injection, mean VI, FI and VFI were, respectively, 3.22, 32.26 and 1.07 in benign tumors, and 1.97, 29.33 and 0.67 in malignant tumors. After contrast medium injection, they were, respectively, 20.85, 37.33 and 8.52 in benign tumors, and 40.12, 41.21 and 17.77 in malignant tumors. The mean differences between with and without contrast injection for VI, FI and VFI were, respectively, 17.63, 5.07 and 7.45 in benign tumors, and 38.15, 11.88 and 16.55 in malignant tumors. Tumor volume, VI, FI and VFI were not significantly different between benign and malignant tumors before and after echo-contrast medium injection. However, VI, FI and VFI under self-differentiation (differences between with and without contrast injection) were significantly different between malignant and benign tumors.ConclusionThree-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound is a valuable tool for differential diagnosis of soft-tissue tumors, especially with the injection of an echo-contrast medium

Electronic band structures of Ge1−xSnx semiconductors: A first-principles density functional theory study

[[abstract]]We conduct first-principles total-energy density functional calculations to study the band structures in Ge 1− x Sn x infrared semiconductor alloys. The norm-conserving optimized pseudopotentials of Ge and Sn have been constructed for electronic structure calculations. The composition-bandgap relationships in Ge 1−x Sn x lattices are evaluated by a detailed comparison of structural models and their electronic band structures. The critical Sn composition related to the transition from indirect- to direct-gap in Ge 1−x Sn x alloys is estimated to be as low as x∼ 0.016 determined from the parametric fit. Our results show that the crossover Sn concentration occurs at a lower critical Sn concentration than the values predicted from the absorption measurements. However, early results indicate that the reliability of the critical Sn concentration from such measurements is hard to establish, since the indirect gap absorption is much weaker than the direct gap absorption. We find that the direct band gap decreases exponentially with the Sn composition over the range 0 0.375, in very good agreement with the theoretical observed behavior [D. W. Jenkins and J. D. Dow, Phys. Rev. B 36, 7994, 1987]. For homonuclear and heteronuclear complexes of Ge 1−x Sn x alloys, the indirect band gap at L-pointis is found to decrease homonuclear Ge-Ge bonds or increase homonuclear Sn-Sn bonds as a result of the reduced L valley. All findings agree with previously reported experimental and theoretical results. The analysis suggests that the top of valence band exhibits the localization of bond charge and the bottom of the conduction band is composed of the Ge 4s4p and/or Sn 5s5p atomic orbits.[[booktype]]紙本[[booktype]]電子

The Influence of Type 2 Diabetes and Glucose-Lowering Therapies on Cancer Risk in the Taiwanese

Objective. To investigate the association between type 2 diabetes, glucose-lowering therapies (monotherapy with either metformin, sulphonylurea or insulin) and cancer risk in Taiwan. Methods. Using Taiwan's National Health Research Institutes database of 1,000,000 random subjects from 2000–2008, we found 61777 patients with type 2 diabetes (age ≥20 years) and 677378 enrollees with no record of diabetes. Results. After adjusting for age and sex, we found patients with diabetes to have significantly higher risk of all cancers (OR: 1.176; 95% CI: 1.149–1.204, P < 0.001). Diabetic patients treated with insulin or sulfonylureas had significantly higher risk of all cancers, compared to those treated with metformin (OR: 1.583; 95% CI: 1.389–1.805, P < 0.001 and OR: 1.784; 95% CI: 1.406–2.262, P < 0.001). Metformin treatment was associated with a decreased risk of colon and liver cancer compared to sulphonylureas or insulin treatment. Sulfonylureas treatment was associated with an increased risk of breast and lung cancer compared to metformin therapy. Conclusions. Taiwanese with type 2 diabetes are at a high risk of breast, prostate, colon, lung, liver and pancreatic cancer. Those treated with insulin or sulfonylureas monotherapy are more likely to develop colon and liver cancer than those treated with metformin

Complex Microbiome in Brain Abscess Revealed by Whole-Genome Culture-Independent and Culture-Based Sequencing.

Brain abscess is a severe infectious disease with high mortality and mobility. Although culture-based techniques have been widely used for the investigation of microbial composition of brain abscess, these approaches are inherent biased. Recent studies using 16S ribosomal sequencing approaches revealed high complexity of the bacterial community involved in brain abscess but fail to detect fungal and viral composition. In the study, both culture-independent nanopore metagenomic sequencing and culture-based whole-genome sequencing using both the Illumina and the Nanopore platforms were conducted to investigate the microbial composition and genomic characterization in brain abscess. Culture-independent metagenomic sequencing revealed not only a larger taxonomic diversity of bacteria but also the presence of fungi and virus communities. The culture-based whole-genome sequencing identified a novel species in Prevotella and reconstructs a Streptococcus constellatus with a high GC-skew genome. Antibiotic-resistance genes CfxA and ErmF associated with resistance to penicillin and clindamycin were also identified in culture-based and culture-free sequencing. This study implies current understanding of brain abscess need to consider the broader diversity of microorganisms

In-depth analysis of music structure as a self-organized network

Words in a natural language not only transmit information but also evolve with the development of civilization and human migration. The same is true for music. To understand the complex structure behind the music, we introduced an algorithm called the Essential Element Network (EEN) to encode the audio into text. The network is obtained by calculating the correlations between scales, time, and volume. Optimizing EEN to generate Zipfs law for the frequency and rank of the clustering coefficient enables us to generate and regard the semantic relationships as words. We map these encoded words into the scale-temporal space, which helps us organize systematically the syntax in the deep structure of music. Our algorithm provides precise descriptions of the complex network behind the music, as opposed to the black-box nature of other deep learning approaches. As a result, the experience and properties accumulated through these processes can offer not only a new approach to the applications of Natural Language Processing (NLP) but also an easier and more objective way to analyze the evolution and development of music.Comment: 5 page

Image operator learning coupled with CNN classification and its application to staff line removal

Many image transformations can be modeled by image operators that are characterized by pixel-wise local functions defined on a finite support window. In image operator learning, these functions are estimated from training data using machine learning techniques. Input size is usually a critical issue when using learning algorithms, and it limits the size of practicable windows. We propose the use of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to overcome this limitation. The problem of removing staff-lines in music score images is chosen to evaluate the effects of window and convolutional mask sizes on the learned image operator performance. Results show that the CNN based solution outperforms previous ones obtained using conventional learning algorithms or heuristic algorithms, indicating the potential of CNNs as base classifiers in image operator learning. The implementations will be made available on the TRIOSlib project site.Comment: To appear in ICDAR 201