Spatiotemporal Analysis of Groundwater Recharge Trends and Variability in Northern Taiwan

In this study, the base flow estimation method was used to assess long‐term changes of groundwater recharge in Northern Taiwan. The Mann‐Kendall test was used to examine the characteristics of the trends. This was followed by trend slope calculation and change‐point analysis. The annual groundwater recharge was found to exhibit a significant upward trend for the Fushan and Hengxi stations (Tamsui river basin). On the other hand, the Ximen Bridge station (Lanyang river basin) recorded a significant downward trend. Calculations showed that the rate of change for the Fengshan and Touqian river basins was small (less than 10%). However, that for the following stations was greater than 30%: Fushan, Hengxi, Ximen Bridge, and Niudou (also in the Lanyang river basin). The results of the change‐point analysis further indicated a significant change‐point for the annual recharge at Fushan, Hengxi, and Ximen Bridge stations in 1999, 1983, and 2001, respectively. The findings can be used for regional hydrological studies and as reference for water resource planning

Intracranial Hemorrhage Annotation for CT Brain Images

In this paper, we created a decision-making model to detect intracranial hemorrhage and adopted Expectation Maximization(EM) segmentation to segment the Computed Tomography (CT) images. In this work, basically intracranial hemorrhage is classified into two main types which are intra-axial hemorrhage and extra-axial hemorrhage. In order to ease classification, contrast enhancement is adopted to finetune the contrast of the hemorrhage. After that, k-means is applied to group the potential and suspicious hemorrhagic regions into one cluster. The decision-making process is to identify whether the suspicious regions are hemorrhagic regions or non-regions of interest. After the hemorrhagic detection, the images are segmented into brain matter and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by using expectation-maximization (EM) segmentation. The acquired experimental results are evaluated in terms of recall and precision. The encouraging results have been attained whereby the proposed system has yielded 0.9333 and 0.8880 precision for extra-axial and intra-axial hemorrhagic detection respectively, whereas recall rate obtained is 0.9245 and 0.8043 for extra-axial and intra-axial hemorrhagic detection respectively

Two-dimensional Dirac fermions in a topological insulator: transport in the quantum limit

Pulsed magnetic fields of up to 55T are used to investigate the transport properties of the topological insulator Bi_2Se_3 in the extreme quantum limit. For samples with a bulk carrier density of n = 2.9\times10^16cm^-3, the lowest Landau level of the bulk 3D Fermi surface is reached by a field of 4T. For fields well beyond this limit, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations arising from quantization of the 2D surface state are observed, with the \nu =1 Landau level attained by a field of 35T. These measurements reveal the presence of additional oscillations which occur at fields corresponding to simple rational fractions of the integer Landau indices.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

On measuring colloidal volume fractions

Hard-sphere colloids are popular as models for testing fundamental theories in condensed matter and statistical physics, from crystal nucleation to the glass transition. A single parameter, the volume fraction (phi), characterizes an ideal, monodisperse hard-sphere suspension. In comparing experiments with theories and simulation, researchers to date have paid little attention to likely uncertainties in experimentally-quoted phi values. We critically review the experimental measurement of phi in hard-sphere colloids, and show that while statistical uncertainties in comparing relative values of phi can be as low as 0.0001, systematic errors of 3-6% are probably unavoidable. The consequences of this are illustrated by way of a case study comparing literature data sets on hard-sphere viscosity and diffusion.Comment: 11 page

Absence of Weyl nodes in EuCd2_2As2_2 revealed by the carrier density dependence of the anomalous Hall effect

The antiferromagnetic layered compound EuCd$_2$As$_2$ is widely considered as a leading candidate of ideal Weyl semimetal, featuring a single pair of Weyl nodes in its field-induced ferromagnetic (FM) state. Nevertheless, this view has recently been challenged by an optical spectroscopy study, which suggests that it is a magnetic semiconductor. In this study, we have successfully synthesized highly insulating EuCd$_2$As$_2$ crystals with carrier density reaching as low as $2\times 10^{15}$ $\text{cm}^{-3}$. The magneto-transport measurements revealed a progressive decrease of the anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) by several orders of magnitude as the carrier density decreases. This behavior contradicts with what is expected from the intrinsic AHC generated by the Weyl points, which is independent of carrier density as the Fermi level approaches the charge neutrality point. In contrast, the scaling relationship between AHC and longitudinal conductivity aligns with the characteristics of variable range hopping insulators. Our results suggest that EuCd$_2$As$_2$ is a magnetic semiconductor rather than a topological Weyl semimetal

Identification of a New Peptide for Fibrosarcoma Tumor Targeting and Imaging In Vivo

A 12-mer amino acid peptide SATTHYRLQAAN, denominated TK4, was isolated from a phage-display library with fibrosarcoma tumor-binding activity. In vivo biodistribution analysis of TK4-displaying phage showed a significant increased phage titer in implanted tumor up to 10-fold in comparison with normal tissues after systemic administration in mouse. Competition assay confirmed that the binding of TK4-phage to tumor cells depends on the TK4 peptide. Intravenous injection of 131I-labeled synthetic TK4 peptide in mice showed a tumor retention of 3.3% and 2.7% ID/g at 1- and 4-hour postinjection, respectively. Tumor-to-muscle ratio was 1.1, 5.7, and 3.2 at 1-, 4-, and 24-hour, respectively, and tumors were imaged on a digital γ-camera at 4-hour postinjection. The present data suggest that TK4 holds promise as a lead structure for tumor targeting, and it could be further applied in the development of diagnostic or therapeutic agent

Emission Characteristics of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes and Organic Thin-Films with Planar and Corrugated Structures

In this paper, we review the emission characteristics from organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic molecular thin films with planar and corrugated structures. In a planar thin film structure, light emission from OLEDs was strongly influenced by the interference effect. With suitable design of microcavity structure and layer thicknesses adjustment, optical characteristics can be engineered to achieve high optical intensity, suitable emission wavelength, and broad viewing angles. To increase the extraction efficiency from OLEDs and organic thin-films, corrugated structure with micro- and nano-scale were applied. Microstructures can effectively redirects the waveguiding light in the substrate outside the device. For nanostructures, it is also possible to couple out the organic and plasmonic modes, not only the substrate mode

Nanoscale visualization and spectral fingerprints of the charge order in ScV6Sn6 distinct from other kagome metals

Charge density waves (CDWs) have been tied to a number of unusual phenomena in kagome metals, including rotation symmetry breaking, time-reversal symmetry breaking and superconductivity. The majority of the experiments thus far have focused on the CDW states in AV3Sb5 and FeGe, characterized by the 2a0 by 2a0 period. Recently, a bulk CDW phase (T* ~ 92 K) with a different wave length and orientation has been reported in ScV6Sn6, as the first realization of a CDW state in the broad RM6X6 structure. Here, using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we reveal the microscopic structure and the spectroscopic signatures of this charge ordering phase in ScV6Sn6. Differential conductance dI/dV spectra show a partial gap opening in the density-of-states of about 20 meV at the Fermi level. This is much smaller than the spectral gaps observed in AV3Sb5 and FeGe despite the comparable T* temperatures in these systems, suggesting substantially weaker coupling strength in ScV6Sn6. Surprisingly, despite the three-dimensional bulk nature of the charge order, we find that the charge modulation is only observed on the kagome termination. Temperature-dependent band structure evolution suggests a modulation of the surface states as a consequence of the emergent charge order, with an abrupt spectral weight shift below T* consistent with the first-order phase transition. The similarity of the electronic band structures of ScV6Sn6 and TbV6Sn6 (where charge ordering is absent), together with the first-principle calculations, suggests that charge ordering in ScV6Sn6 may not be primarily electronically driven. Interestingly, in contrast to the CDW state of cousin AV3Sb5, we find no evidence supporting rotation symmetry breaking. Our results reveal a distinctive nature of the charge ordering phase in ScV6Sn6 in comparison to other kagome metals

An emergent quasi-2D metallic state derived from the Mott insulator framework

Recent quasi-2D systems with judicious exploitation of the atomic monolayer or few-layer architecture exhibit unprecedented physical properties that challenge the conventional wisdom on the condensed matter physics. Here we show that the infinite layer SrCuO2 (SCO), a topical cuprate Mott insulator in the bulk form, can manifest an unexpected metallic state in the quasi-2D limit when SCO is grown on TiO2-terminated SrTiO3 (STO) substrates. Hard x-ray core-level photoemission spectra demonstrate a definitive Fermi level that resembles the hole doped metal. Soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy also reveals features analogous to those of a hole doped Mott insulator. Based on these results, we conclude that the hole doping does not occur at the interfaces between SCO and STO; instead, it comes from the transient layers between the chain type and the planar type structures within the SCO slab. The present work reveals a novel metallic state in the infinite layer SCO and invites further examination to elucidate the spatial extent of this state.Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures. Physical Review B, in pres