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The evolution of collisional planar plasma shocks is investigated by using a hybrid fluid-particle-in-cell code, which enables the analysis of the impact of ion kinetic effects. The structure and propagation of shocks in multi-component plasmas with moderate density ( 10 22 ∼ 10 24 cm − 3 ) are found to be strongly dependent on the electron thermal conduction and ion kinetic effects. In high electron heat flux cases, the electron thermal conduction creates a preheat layer ahead of the shock front, allowing the energetic ions to stream through the upstream plasma. It is found that the shock velocity drops by about 4.67% and the heatwave velocity increases about 47% when the electron flux limiter increases from f e = 0.05 to 0.15. Furthermore, the inhibiting effect of high electron heat flux on the species separation induced by the shock in multi-component plasmas is observed. These results provide a new dataset valuable for benchmarking and improving radiation hydrodynamic models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma effects, such as the multi-component kinetic diffusion and self-generated electromagnetic fields, are recognized as a pivotal key to understanding the physics of interface evolution in inertial confinement fusion and supernova remnants. In this work, a two-dimensional hybrid fluid-PIC code is used to investigate the ion kinetic effects of the single-mode Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) at the interface between hydrogen plasma and carbon plasma. After an electrostatic shockwave passing through the perturbed interface, the RMI, which reshapes the interface, grows via the vorticity depositing as well as the self-generated magnetic field. After scaling the growth of the interfacial mix region with time, the density transition layer has been found to exceed the disturbance wavelength and lead to a suppression of the instability evolution finally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental and simulation data [Moreau et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 62, 014013 (2019); Kaymak et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 035004 (2016)] indicate that self-generated magnetic fields play an important role in enhancing the flux and energy of relativistic electrons accelerated by ultra-intense laser pulse irradiation with nanostructured arrays. A fully relativistic analytical model for the generation of the magnetic field based on electron magneto-hydrodynamic description is presented here. The analytical model shows that this self-generated magnetic field originates in the nonparallel density gradient and fast electron current at the interfaces of a nanolayered target. A general formula for the self-generated magnetic field is found, which closely agrees with the simulation scaling over the relevant intensity range. The result is beneficial to the experimental designs for the interaction of the laser pulse with the nanostructured arrays to improve laser-to-electron energy coupling and the quality of forward hot electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast tool servo diamond turning is one of the most important techniques for machining optical freeform surfaces. The tool path has a significant effect on roughness, waviness and profile errors. However, the mapping mechanism between the tool path and the surface form error is not precisely expressed. The paper presents a novel approach for modelling and simulation of the tool path generation in fast tool servo diamond turning. The approach, by analyzing scallop-height, linearization error and tool nose radius compensation, models the tool path generation process. The effects and characteristic of an optimized tool path are investigated through simulations. Experiments have been carried out to show that the model is feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the growth and characterization of epitaxial (010)- and (100)-YMn0.5Cr0.5O3 films on the corresponding YAlO3 substrates. It is found that the magnetic transition temperature increases from 75K for the bulk sample to 120K for the compressive-strained films. Along the c- and aaxes, ferroelectric polarization develops below 120K with the saturation values of 0.17 and 0.05 μC/cm², respectively, while it remains zero along the b-axis. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the ferroelectric polarization can be modulated by magnetic field. The displayed ferroelectricity is explainable by considering coexistence of the predominant bc-cycloidal and minor E-type antiferromagnetic orders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility, safety and short term efficacy of video assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy for patients with earlystage lung cancer. METHODS: We reviewed clinical data of 138 consecutive patients with early stage lung cancer who underwent lobectomy in the First People's Hospital of Jining during the January 2010 to May 2012. Of them, 71 cases were performed complete VATS, male 39 cases, female 32 cases, age (57.9 ± 10.6) years old; 67 cases were performed thoracotomy, male 36 cases, female 31 cases, age (60.3 ± 8.2) years old. Clinical features were collected and compared. RESULTS: Operations of two groups were successfully finished. Compared with thoracotomy group, the differences in intraoperative blood loss (147 ± 113 ml vs. 146 ± 91 ml), number of lymph node dissection group (3.1 ± 1.3 vs. 3.4 ± 1.3), the number of lymph node dissection (9.9 ± 3.6 vs. 10.0 ± 3.6), and vision analog score (VAS) of postoperative 1st and 3rd day in VATS group were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Statistical differences were observed in operation time (119 ± 27 min vs. 135 ± 29 min), the thoracic drainage tube time (3.0 ± 0.9 d vs. 3.8 ± 1.2 d), postoperative hospital stay (8.0 ± 2.1 d vs. 10.2 ± 5.4 d), postoperative VAS of 30th day (2.6 ± 0.7 vs. 3.2 ± 1.1), and postoperative complications (8.5% vs. 19.4%) between the two groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Video assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy for early lung cancer is safe and effective, with fewer traumas, fewer complications, faster postoperative recovery, milder chronic chest pain, and other advantages. At the same time, the lymph node dissection of VATS lobectomy is similar to that of thoracotomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility, safety and short term efficacy of video assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy for patients with earlystage lung cancer. METHODS: We reviewed clinical data of 138 consecutive patients with early stage lung cancer who underwent lobectomy in the First People's Hospital of Jining during the January 2010 to May 2012. Of them, 71 cases were performed complete VATS, male 39 cases, female 32 cases, age (57.9 ± 10.6) years old; 67 cases were performed thoracotomy, male 36 cases, female 31 cases, age (60.3 ± 8.2) years old. Clinical features were collected and compared. RESULTS: Operations of two groups were successfully finished. Compared with thoracotomy group, the differences in intraoperative blood loss (147 ± 113 ml vs. 146 ± 91 ml), number of lymph node dissection group (3.1 ± 1.3 vs. 3.4 ± 1.3), the number of lymph node dissection (9.9 ± 3.6 vs. 10.0 ± 3.6), and vision analog score (VAS) of postoperative 1st and 3rd day in VATS group were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Statistical differences were observed in operation time (119 ± 27 min vs. 135 ± 29 min), the thoracic drainage tube time (3.0 ± 0.9 d vs. 3.8 ± 1.2 d), postoperative hospital stay (8.0 ± 2.1 d vs. 10.2 ± 5.4 d), postoperative VAS of 30th day (2.6 ± 0.7 vs. 3.2 ± 1.1), and postoperative complications (8.5% vs. 19.4%) between the two groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Video assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy for early lung cancer is safe and effective, with fewer traumas, fewer complications, faster postoperative recovery, milder chronic chest pain, and other advantages. At the same time, the lymph node dissection of VATS lobectomy is similar to that of thoracotomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the nonlinear bubble growth of ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability (ARTI) seeded by localized perturbations (LPs), where the LPs are described by a Gaussian mode. It is found that the nonlinear bubble-front penetration of LP-seeded ARTI follows the self-similar scaling law α b A T ∫ g d t 2 , different from the classical case, where the self-similar behavior is not observed. It is also found that the quadratic growth coefficient α b in the LP-seeded ARTI mainly depends on the initial perturbation amplitude and initial perturbation width. When the perturbation amplitude is small, α b has a value of ∼0.03, which is not sensitive to the perturbation width. As the perturbation amplitude increases, the value of α b increases, and the phenomenon is more significant when the perturbation width is narrower. It is shown that the increase in α b is due to the spike-induced upward jet and the ablation-generated vorticity inside the bubble. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Aims: To assess the efficiency and morbidity associated with bowel resection with the initial cytoreduction procedure for advanced ovarian cancer. Materials and methods: A review was carried of 95 patients with ovarian cancer who underwent cytoreductive surgery between 2000 and 2003. The relationship between dichotomised preoperative, intra-operative and postoperative outcome variables were tested using SPSS software. Kaplan–Meier curves were generated to compare survival. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to determine the independent significance of factors after cytoreductive surgery. Results: In patients in whom bowel resection was carried out, the largest residual tumour mass was <1cm in 66.67% of patients, compared with 45.28% of patients undergoing surgery without bowel resection (P =0.038). The median survival in the optimally debulked patients was 50.38 months compared with 37.15 months in the patients who had suboptimal cytoreduction (P =0.0021). The median survival in patients undergoing bowel resection was 50.70 months compared with 44.62 months in the patients who had cytoreduction without bowel resection (P =0.2176). Multivariate analysis showed that optimal cytoreduction (P =0.005) was found to be independently prognostic for overall survival. Major adverse events, such as ileus, intestinal fistulae, urinary tract fistulae, were not significantly different between groups. Conclusion: Bowel resection is a worthwhile endeavour in selected patients with advanced ovarian cancer to increase therapeutic efficiency. The surgical morbidity rate from these procedures is not serious and seems acceptable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The ion kinetic effect on the formation of intense laser-driven collisional shock waves is investigated via hybrid fluid-particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that the ion heat flux dominates the shock formation, which is considerably larger than the electron heat flux in the shock region. The rise of the temperature due to the laser energy deposition drives a heatwave into the overdense plasma, creating an electron–ion energy exchange zone between the critical surface and heat wave front. The heated ions, which are generated at the electron–ion energy exchange zone via the friction force, are found to travel to the high-density region and cause a tail distribution gain. Despite the small quantity, the heated tail ions contribute most of the ion heat flux during the shock formation. Additionally, as the electron heat flux decreases, the population of the heated tail ions is reduced, leading to a fall in the ion heat flux. This results in the delay or even suppression of the shock formation, because the ions are in a non-equilibrium state in the vicinity of the shock region, the ratio of the downstream ion temperature to the upstream ion temperature tends to a modestly decrease in comparison to the theory. The study provides a clear picture of the formation process of laser-driven shock waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competition between forward stimulated Raman side scatter (FSRSS) and backward stimulated Raman side scatter (BSRSS) is investigated in inhomogeneous plasma using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Experimental observations at the National Ignition Facility have demonstrated the significance of stimulated Raman side scatter or backscatter instability compared to two-plasmon-decay under ignition-scale conditions for various laser beam geometries. Side scatter refers to the geometry where the Raman scattered light is generated in a direction perpendicular to the local density gradient. For an obliquely incident pump, the scattered light can either copropagate (FSRSS) or counter propagate (BSRSS) with respect to the pump. Under ignition-scale conditions, linear analysis shows that both BSRSS and FSRSS are absolutely unstable (temporally growing) at higher densities ( n e ∼ 0.2 n c ), whereas at lower densities ( n e ∼ 0.1 n c ), BSRSS becomes convective with substantial gain, while FSRSS remains absolute. Two-dimensional PIC simulations demonstrate that the competition between BSRSS and FSRSS is sensitive to the density. BSRSS tends to dominate at higher densities, while FSRSS becomes dominant at lower densities. At moderate densities ( n e ∼ 0.15 n c ), FSRSS and BSRSS coexist. Furthermore, an increase in laser intensity leads to enhanced electron trapping, which kinetically strengths and then saturates BSRSS in the lower density region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new evolution pattern for broadband laser excited stimulated Raman back-scattering (BSRS) in the kinetic regime is proposed by numerical simulations. It is found that the change of coherence of different frequency beamlets will cause the fluctuation of laser intensity, generating an ensemble of random intensity pulses and leading to an intermittent excitation of BSRS. The kinetic inflation and intense amplification of scattered light are observed due to the synergism between these pulses, which cause a burst of instantaneous reflectivity. The synergistic effect is highly bandwidth-dependent. Under the bandwidth similar to the existing broadband laser facilities, these bursts will generate over-expected scattered light and hot electrons. Fortunately, a large bandwidth laser can still inactivate the synergy mechanism and mitigate the scattering effectively. We formulated a theoretical model to predict the inactivate point, and the calculation Δ ω / ω 0 = 2.57 % is in good agreement with the numerical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The observation of the transient sky through a multitude of astrophysical messengers has led to several scientific breakthroughs in the last two decades, thanks to the fast evolution of the observational techniques and strategies employed by the astronomers. Now, it requires to be able to coordinate multiwavelength and multimessenger follow-up campaigns with instruments both in space and on ground jointly capable of scanning a large fraction of the sky with a high-imaging cadency and duty cycle. In the optical domain, the key challenge of the wide field-of-view telescopes covering tens to hundreds of square degrees is to deal with the detection, identification, and classification of hundreds to thousands of optical transient (OT) candidates every night in a reasonable amount of time. In the last decade, new automated tools based on machine learning approaches have been developed to perform those tasks with a low computing time and a high classification efficiency. In this paper, we present an efficient classification method using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to discard many common types of bogus falsely detected in astrophysical images in the optical domain. We designed this tool to improve the performances of the OT detection pipeline of the Ground Wide field Angle Cameras (GWAC) telescopes, a network of robotic telescopes aiming at monitoring the OT sky down to R  = 16 with a 15 s imaging cadency. We applied our trained CNN classifier on a sample of 1472 GWAC OT candidates detected by the real-time detection pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucial to cancer progression and metastasis. Although multiple cellular miRNAs have been identified to regulate the EMT and metastasis in cancers, the role of viral miRNAs in cancer progression remains largely unknown. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated malignancy typically characterized by its early metastasis. In the present study, we have discovered the involvement of a viral miRNA, EBV-miR-BART7-3p, in the EMT and metastasis of NPC cells. Initially, we observed that EBV-miR-BART7-3p was highly expressed in NPC and positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and clinical stage of NPC. Subsequently, we demonstrated that EBV-miR-BART7-3p enhanced cell migration/invasion in vitro, cancer metastasis in vivo, and particularly the EMT characterized by loss of epithelial markers and gain of mesenchymal features in NPC cells. Furthermore, mechanistic studies disclosed that EBV-miR-BART7-3p targeted a major human tumor suppressor PTEN, modulating PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β signaling and eventually leading to the high expression and nuclear accumulation of Snail and β-catenin, which favor EMT. Knockdown of PTEN could phenocopy the effect of EBV-miR-BART7-3p, whereas re-expression of PTEN resulted in a phenotypic reversion. Moreover, these findings were supported by an observation of an EBV-positive cell model in which silencing of endogenous EBV-miR-BART7-3p partially attenuated cell migration/invasion and altered EMT protein expression pattern via reverting PI3K/Akt, Snail and β-catenin expression. Thus, this study suggests a novel mechanism by which EBV-miR-BART7-3p modulates the EMT and metastasis of NPC cells, and a clinical implication of EBV-miR-BART7-3p as a potential biomarker or therapeutic target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation is used to investigate radiation-pressure driven acceleration and compression of small solid-density plasma by intense laser pulses. It is found that multiple impacts by presently available short-pulse lasers on a small hemispheric shell target can create a long-living tiny quasineutral monoenergetic plasma bunch of very high energy density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hot electrons generated by short-pulse-laser interaction with nanolayered target (NT) are investigated using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. Compared to the planar target, the NT leads to more efficient conversion of laser energy to the kinetic energy of the accelerated electrons. However, the energy absorption by the NT decreases at both too-low and too-high laser intensities. At lower laser intensities it is because of the weaker electric and magnetic fields generated by the hot-electron jets and smaller relativistic skin depth. At higher laser intensities it is because of the damage or destruction of the layered structure by the laser field. On the other hand, the dependence of the conversion efficiency and hot-electron number on the duration of the (short) laser pulse and the nanolayer length is weak. Control of the hot-electron characteristics by tailoring the parameters of the laser and the NT is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of a laser-accelerated micron-size projectile on a dense plasma target is studied using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The projectile is first accelerated by an ultraintense laser. It then impinges on the dense plasma target and merges with the latter. Part of the kinetic energy of the laser-accelerated ions in the projectile is deposited in the fused target, and an extremely high concentration of plasma ions with a mean kinetic energy needed for fusion reaction is induced. The interaction is thus useful for laser-driven impact fusion and as a compact neutron source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intense short-petawatt-laser driven relativistic electron beams in a hollow high-Z plasma fiber embedded in low-Z plasmas of different densities are studied. When the plasma is of lower density than the hollow fiber, resistive filamentation of the electron beam is observed. It is found that the electron motion and the magnetic field are highly correlated with tens of terahertz oscillation frequency. Depending on the material property around the hollow fiber and the plasma density, the beam electrons can be focused or defocused as it propagates in the plasma. Relativistic electron transport and target heating are also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proton acceleration by ultra-intense laser pulse irradiating a target with cross-section smaller than the laser spot size and connected to a parabolic density channel is investigated. The target splits the laser into two parallel propagating parts, which snowplow the back-side plasma electrons along their paths, creating two adjacent parallel wakes and an intense return current in the gap between them. The radiation-pressure pre-accelerated target protons trapped in the wake fields now undergo acceleration as well as collimation by the quasistatic wake electrostatic and magnetic fields. Particle-in-cell simulations show that stable long-distance acceleration can be realized, and a 30 fs monoenergetic ion beam of >10 GeV peak energy and <2° divergence can be produced by a circularly polarized laser pulse at an intensity of about 1022 W/cm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 2D analytical model is presented for the generation of plasma wakes (or bubbles) with an ultra-intense laser pulse by taking into account the response of plasma ions. It is shown that the effect of ion motion becomes significant at the laser intensity exceeding 1021 W/cm2 and plasma background density below 1019 cm-3. In this regime, ion motion tends to suppress the electrostatic field induced by charge separation and makes the electron acceleration less effective. As a result, the assumption of immobile ions overestimates the efficiency of laser wake-field acceleration of electrons. Based on the analytical model, the dynamics of plasma ions in laser-induced wake field is investigated. It is found that only one bubble appears as the plasmas background density exceeds the resonant density and the deposited laser energy is concentrated into the bubble, resulting in the generation of an ion bunch with extremely high energy density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]