Explore the vast range of titles available.

Next-generation neutrino telescopes with substantially improved sensitivity are required to pinpoint the sources of the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux detected by IceCube and uncover the century-old puzzle of cosmic-ray origins. A detector near the Equator will provide a unique viewpoint of the neutrino sky, complementing IceCube and other neutrino telescopes in the Northern Hemisphere. Here we present results from an expedition to the northeastern region of the South China Sea, in the western Pacific Ocean. A favourable neutrino telescope site was found on an abyssal plain at a depth of ~3.5 km. At depths below 3 km, the sea current speed, water absorption and scattering lengths for Cherenkov light were measured to be vc < 10 cm s−1, λabs ≈ 27 m and λsca ≈ 63 m, respectively. Accounting for these measurements, we present the design and expected performance of a next-generation neutrino telescope, Tropical Deep-sea Neutrino Telescope (TRIDENT). With its advanced photon-detection technology and large dimensions, TRIDENT expects to observe the IceCube steady source candidate NGC 1068 with 5σ significance within 1 year of operation. This level of sensitivity will open a new arena for diagnosing the origin of cosmic rays and probing fundamental physics over astronomical baselines.A South China Sea expedition in 2021 identified a 3.5-km-deep site close to the Equator for a next-generation neutrino telescope: TRIDENT. A large array of advanced detectors will be arrayed on the seabed to probe fundamental physics and explore the extreme Universe.

Nowadays, video recording devices such as CCTV, digital cameras, mobile phones and car video recorders are ubiquitous. It becomes more and more frequent that traffic accident scenarios are captured by such video recording devices in one form or another. The present study focuses on the direct extraction of vehicle speeds from video footages by cross-ratio, a well known invariant under specific conditions in projective geometry. The minimum requirements for an accurate and direct determination of vehicle speed by cross-ratio are 2 image frames of the video footage containing the subject vehicle which by and large moves along a straight path from one frame to the other and the time lapsed between the 2 image frames are known. With the aid of a calibrated Doppler radar, a control study has been carried out to validate the method and determine the baseline uncertainty. The validated method has been applied to a small number of real world cases and the results are promising. Experimental results indicate that it is possible to extend its application in speed determination by a car camera.

The microstructure of TiB2-particle-reinforced Ni–Al–Fe matrix composite has been investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and high-resolution electron microscopy. The dendritic phase is found to be Fe(Ni, Al, Ti), which has a body-centred cubic crystal with lattice parameter a=1.068 nm. High-resolution images indicate that the Fe(Ni, Al, Ti) phase bonds the matrix very well. © 1998 Chapman & Hall

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common disabling joint disorder traditionally attributed to mechanical wear. Emerging evidence shows that metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components-obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia-are closely associated with OA onset and progression, suggesting that OA also has a metabolic-inflammatory nature. This review highlights mechanisms linking each MetS component to OA. Obesity contributes not only by increasing joint load but also through adipokines such as leptin, resistin, and visfatin, which activate inflammatory pathways and promote cartilage degradation and synovitis. Hypertension may worsen OA via joint ischemia, oxidative stress, and renin-angiotensin system activation. Hyperglycemia damages cartilage and ligaments by promoting advanced glycation end product accumulation and oxidative stress. Dyslipidemia influences OA through cholesterol deposition and inflammatory responses. Metabolic inflammation and immunometabolic reprogramming further drive OA progression. MetS and OA are interconnected through mechanical stress, adipokine activity, inflammatory signaling, and metabolic dysregulation. Future studies should clarify how MetS affects pain, subchondral bone remodeling, and other OA phenotypes, aiding the development of individualized, metabolism-targeted strategies for early intervention and comprehensive OA management.

Next-generation neutrino telescopes with significantly improved sensitivity are required to pinpoint the sources of the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux detected by IceCube and uncover the century-old puzzle of cosmic ray origins. A detector near the equator will provide a unique viewpoint of the neutrino sky, complementing IceCube and other neutrino telescopes in the Northern Hemisphere. Here we present results from an expedition to the north-eastern region of the South China Sea, in the western Pacific Ocean. A favorable neutrino telescope site was found on an abyssal plain at a depth of \\(\\sim\\) 3.5km. At depths below 3km, the sea current speed, water absorption and scattering lengths for Cherenkov light, were measured to be \\(v_{\\mathrm{c}}<\\)10cm/s, \\(\\lambda_{\\mathrm{abs} }\\simeq\\) 27m and \\(\\lambda_{\\mathrm{sca} }\\simeq\\) 63m, respectively. Accounting for these measurements, we present the design and expected performance of a next-generation neutrino telescope, TRopIcal DEep-sea Neutrino Telescope (TRIDENT). With its advanced photon-detection technology and large dimensions, TRIDENT expects to observe the IceCube steady source candidate NGC 1068 with 5\\(\\sigma\\) significance within 1 year of operation. This level of sensitivity will open a new arena for diagnosing the origin of cosmic rays and probing fundamental physics over astronomical baselines.

The microstructure of TiB sub 2 -particle-reinforced Ni-Al-Fe matrix composite has been investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray analysis and high-resolution electron microscopy. The dendritic phase is found to be Fe(Ni,Al,Ti), which has a body-centred cubic crystal with lattice parameter a=1.068 nm. High-resolution images indicate that the Fe(Ni,Al,Ti) phase bonds the matrix very well.

Annotation This volume of original papers has been assembled to honor the achievements of Professor Thomas S. Huang in the area of image processing and image analysis. Professor Huang's life of inquiry has spanned a number of decades as his work on imaging problems began in 1960's. Over these 40 years, he has made many fundamental and pioneering contributions to nearly every area of this field. Professor Huang has received numerous Awards, including the prestigious Jack Kilby Signal Processing Medal from IEEE. He has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and named Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of OSA, Fellow of IAPR, and Fellow of SPIE. Professor Huang has made fundamental contributions to image processing, pattern recognition, and computer vision: including design and stability test of multidimensional digital filters, digital holography; compression techniques for documents and images; 3D motion and modeling, analysis and visualization of the human face, hand and body, multi-modal human-computer interfaces; and multimedia databases. Many of his research ideas have been seminal, opening up new areas of research. Professor Huang is continuing his contribution to the field in the new millennium!This book is intended to highlight his contributions by showing the breadth of areas in which his students are working. As such, contributed chapters were written by some of his many former graduate students (some with Professor Huang as a coauthor) and illustrate not only his contributions to imaging science but also his commitment to educational endeavor. The breadth of contributions is an indication of influence of Professor Huang to the field of signal processing, image processing, computervision and applications; the book includes chapters on learning in image retrieval, facia.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are inherently resistant to chemotherapy, and CSCs in chemotherapy-failed recurrent tumors are enriched; however, the cellular origin of chemotherapy-induced CSC enrichment remains unclear. Communication with stromal fibroblasts may induce cancer cell dedifferentiation into CSCs through secreted factors. We recently demonstrated that fibroblast-derived exosomes promote chemoresistance in colorectal cancer (CRC). Here, we report that fibroblasts confer CRC chemoresistance via exosome-induced reprogramming (dedifferentiation) of bulk CRC cells to phenotypic and functional CSCs. At the molecular level, we provided evidence that the major reprogramming regulators in fibroblast-exosomes are Wnts. Exosomal Wnts were found to increase Wnt activity and drug resistance in differentiated CRC cells, and inhibiting Wnt release diminished this effect in vitro and in vivo. Together, our results indicate that exosomal Wnts derived from fibroblasts could induce the dedifferentiation of cancer cells to promote chemoresistance in CRC, and suggest that interfering with exosomal Wnt signaling may help to improve chemosensitivity and the therapeutic window.

The electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide, powered by renewable electricity, to produce valuable fuels and feedstocks provides a sustainable and carbon-neutral approach to the storage of energy produced by intermittent renewable sources 1 . However, the highly selective generation of economically desirable products such as ethylene from the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) remains a challenge 2 . Tuning the stabilities of intermediates to favour a desired reaction pathway can improve selectivity 3 – 5 , and this has recently been explored for the reaction on copper by controlling morphology 6 , grain boundaries 7 , facets 8 , oxidation state 9 and dopants 10 . Unfortunately, the Faradaic efficiency for ethylene is still low in neutral media (60 per cent at a partial current density of 7 milliamperes per square centimetre in the best catalyst reported so far 9 ), resulting in a low energy efficiency. Here we present a molecular tuning strategy—the functionalization of the surface of electrocatalysts with organic molecules—that stabilizes intermediates for more selective CO 2 RR to ethylene. Using electrochemical, operando/in situ spectroscopic and computational studies, we investigate the influence of a library of molecules, derived by electro-dimerization of arylpyridiniums 11 , adsorbed on copper. We find that the adhered molecules improve the stabilization of an ‘atop-bound’ CO intermediate (that is, an intermediate bound to a single copper atom), thereby favouring further reduction to ethylene. As a result of this strategy, we report the CO 2 RR to ethylene with a Faradaic efficiency of 72 per cent at a partial current density of 230 milliamperes per square centimetre in a liquid-electrolyte flow cell in a neutral medium. We report stable ethylene electrosynthesis for 190 hours in a system based on a membrane-electrode assembly that provides a full-cell energy efficiency of 20 per cent. We anticipate that this may be generalized to enable molecular strategies to complement heterogeneous catalysts by stabilizing intermediates through local molecular tuning. Electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 over copper can be made highly selective by ‘tuning’ the copper surface with adsorbed organic molecules to stabilize intermediates for carbon-based fuels such as ethylene