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Abstract The interplay of topology, magnetism, and correlations gives rise to intriguing phases of matter. In this study, through state-of-the-art angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, density functional theory, and dynamical mean-field theory calculations, we visualize a fourfold degenerate Dirac nodal line at the boundary of the bulk Brillouin zone in the antiferromagnet YMn2Ge2. We further demonstrate that this gapless, antiferromagnetic Dirac nodal line is enforced by the combination of magnetism, space-time inversion symmetry, and nonsymmorphic lattice symmetry. The corresponding drumhead surface states traverse the whole surface Brillouin zone. YMn2Ge2 thus serves as a platform to exhibit the interplay of multiple degenerate nodal physics and antiferromagnetism. Interestingly, the magnetic nodal line displays a d-orbital dependent renormalization along its trajectory in momentum space, thereby manifesting Hund’s coupling. Our findings offer insights into the effect of electronic correlations on magnetic Dirac nodal lines, leading to an antiferromagnetic Hund nodal line.

Yeast helicase Prp28 promotes the first step of spliceosome remodeling. By placing a photoactivatable unnatural amino acid in Prp28, the authors capture Prp28 in action revealing its dynamic interactions and cofactor Npl3.

Peak ground acceleration (PGA) can be used to estimate the seismic intensity. However, using P-wave features to estimate PGA is a challenging task. One of the reasons for that is that a seismic wave commonly undergoes modification due to various site effects, consequently leading to uncertainty in the predicted PGA. In order to accommodate site effects using site parameters together with P-wave parameters, this paper takes advantage of machine learning to consider multiple parameters simultaneously. Several artificial neural network (ANN) models considering different site effect parameters are constructed. The performances of these ANN models were investigated and compared. In total, 53531 ground motion data obtained from the Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program were utilized to develop the proposed approach. It was found that the proposed ANN model with horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio parameters effectively reduces the error of the estimated PGA when compared with either the ANN model without site parameters or the ANN model with other site parameters.

Background/Purpose: To examine ethnic disparity in prevalence and associated factors of myopia in adolescents using the Unites States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset. Methods: Participants who were aged 12–19 years were included from NHANES (1999–2008). Logistic regression analyses were applied to identify risk factors associated with myopia after stratification by race. Results: A total of 9,960 participants were included in the prevalence analysis, and 6,571 in the risk factor analysis. Other race (excluded Mexican American, other Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black) participants had the highest frequency of myopia (42.77%). Multivariate analyses of the whole population suggested that the odds of myopia were significantly lower in participants with household smokers (odds ratio [OR] = 0.79, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.66–0.97), and significantly greater in Mexican American race (OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.01–1.62), other Hispanic (OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.10–2.92) and in participants with senior high school graduate education (OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.01–3.18), watched 2 hours of television daily (OR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.02–1.59), used the computer for 1 hour daily (OR = 1.276, 95% CI: 1.02–1.57). When examined by race/ethnicity, 1 hour of computer use increased the odds of myopia in the non-Hispanic White group, in Mexican Americans a higher family poverty income ratio and 2 hours of television time was associated with myopia, and in the Other Hispanic group, a higher family poverty income ratio was associated with myopia, while males and those with a higher sugar had a lower risk of myopia. Conclusion: Risk factors for myopia vary with race/ethnicity. Keywords: Adolescent, Myopia, Racial disparity, Risk factor, NHANES

The strong ground motion of 6 February 2018 M 6.2 Hualien Earthquake triggered a series of co-seismic geomagnetic fluctuations and seismo-traveling atmospheric disturbances (STADs) signatures in infrasonic waves and micro-pressures upon the seismic wave arrival. Networks of 9 QuakeFinder systems, 3 infrasound systems, 2 tiltmeters, 2 micro-barometers, and 11 co-located seismometers are used in this study. Each QuakeFinder system consists of a 3-axes induction magnetometer, an air conductivity sensor, a geophone, and temperature/relative humidity sensors. Co-seismic signatures clearly appear in the induction magnetometers, infrasound systems, and micro-barometers data. The magnetometers register both high- and lowfrequency pulsations. Geomagnetic fluctuations occur upon the seismic wave arrival but last a longer duration, while the STADs lag their co-located seismic waves by about 15 - 45 s. The long-lasting fluctuations recorded by both induction and fluxgate magnetometers suggest that the ground/underground water motion play an important role, which is further conformed by low-frequency fluctuations in the tiltmeter data. In general, the amplitude of geomagnetic fluctuations decays as away from the epicenter. However, unusual large co-seismic geomagnetic fluctuations are detected over areas of the abnormal seismic intensity level and/or the magnetic underground structure with anomalously high susceptibilities.

This study aimed to characterize the changes in the visual field (VF) patterns and disc morphology of patients with thyroid-associated orbitopathy (TAO) and open-angle glaucoma (OAG). A retrospective review of the medical records at the Tri-Service General Hospital in Taiwan identified 396 eyes of 198 patients with thyroid-associated glaucoma. A final follow-up of VF examination in 140 eyes revealed 114 eyes with VF defects, indicating disease progression. The characteristics of and changes in disc morphology, optical coherence tomography findings, and VF defects were statistically analyzed. The most common VF defects at the initial diagnosis and the end of the follow-up period were inferior partial arcuate (17%) and paracentral (15%) defects, respectively. The most common VF defect in patients with unspecific disc signs was an unspecific scotoma (13%). The most common optic disc feature was disc cupping (51%), followed by parapapillary atrophy (48%). The most frequent location of nerve fiber layer thinning was the inferotemporal region (48%). VF defects showed a significantly more pronounced progression in the non-nerve fiber bundle group than in the nerve fiber bundle group (p < 0.001). This study details the characteristics and progression of disc morphology and VF defects in patients with TAO and OAG.

Broadband seismometers, ground-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), and magnetometers that were located within an epicentral distance of approximately 150 km consistently observed the novel anomalous behaviors of the common-mode ground vibrations approximately 5–10 days before the M6.6 Meinong earthquake in Taiwan. The common-mode ground vibrations with amplitudes near 0.1 m at frequencies ranging from 8 × 10−5 to 2 × 10−4 Hz were generated near the region close to the epicenter of the impending earthquake. The common-mode vibrations were consistently observed in seismic and GNSS data associated with five other earthquakes in four distinct areas. The results reveal that the common-mode vibrations could be a typical behavior before earthquakes. The causal mechanism of common-mode vibrations can be attributed to crustal resonance excitations before fault dislocations occur. Potential relationships with other pre-earthquake anomalies suggest that the common-mode vibrations could be ground motion before earthquakes, which was investigated for a significant length of time.

This study used the results from 45 microtremor array measurements to construct a shallow shear wave velocity structure in the western plain of Taiwan. We constructed a complete 3D velocity model based on shallow and tomography models for our numerical simulation. There are three major subsurfaces, engineering bedrock (VS = 600 m s-1), Pliocene formation and Miocene formation, constituted in the shallow model. The constant velocity is given in each subsurface. We employed a 3D-FD (finite-differences) method to simulate seismic wave propagation in the western plain. The aim of this study was to perform a quantitative comparison of site amplifications and durations obtained from empirical data and numerical modelling in order to obtain the shallow substructure soil response. Modelling clearly revealed that the shallow substructure plays an important role in strong ground motion prediction using 3D simulation. The results show significant improvements in effective shaking duration and the peak ground velocity (PGV) distribution in terms of the accuracy achieved by our developed model. We recommend a high-resolution shallow substructure as an essential component in future seismic hazard analyses.

IntroductionMany cases of carbon monoxide poisoning in Taiwan are due to burning charcoal. Nevertheless, few reports have analyzed the mortality rate of these patients who survive to reach a hospital and die despite intensive treatment. Therefore, this study examined the clinical features, physiological markers, and outcomes after carbon monoxide poisoning and the associations between these findings.MethodsWe analyzed the records of 261 patients who were referred for management of carbon monoxide intoxication between 2000 and 2010. Patients were grouped according to status at discharge as alive (survivor, n = 242) or dead (non-survivor, n = 19). Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and mortality data were obtained for analysis.ResultsApproximately half of the cases (49.4%) attempted suicide by burning charcoal. Most of the patients were middle-aged adults (33±19 years), and were referred to our hospital in a relatively short period of time (6±10 hours). Carbon monoxide produced many serious complications after exposure: fever (26.1%), hypothermia (9.6%), respiratory failure (34.1%), shock (8.4%), myocardial infarction (8.0%), gastrointestinal upset (34.9%), hepatitis (18.4%), renal failure (25.3%), coma (18.0%) and rhabdomyolysis (21.8%). Furthermore, the non-survivors suffered greater incidences of hypothermia (PConclusionThe mortality rate for medically treated carbon monoxide-poisoned patients at our center was 7.3%. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that shock was most strongly associated with higher risk of mortality.

Ambient noise is typically used to estimate seismic site effects and velocity profiles instead of earthquake recordings, especially in areas with limited seismic data. The dominant Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) frequency of ambient noise is correlated to Vs30, which is the average S-wave velocity in the top 30 m. Vs30 is a widely used parameter for defining seismic amplification in earthquake engineering. HVSR can detect the vertical discontinuity of velocities, that is, the interfaces between hard bedrock and soft sediments. In southwestern Taiwan most strong motion stations are located in the plains and show a dominant frequency lower than 3 Hz. Several stations near the coast have low dominant frequencies of less than 1 Hz. The dominant frequencies are higher than 4 Hz at piedmont stations. The stations in the mountains with dominant frequencies over 8 Hz are typically located on very hard sites. This study analyzed the HVSR characteristics under different seismic site conditions considering the Vs30 from previous study (Kuo et al. 2012). The result implies that HVSRs are a better tool than Vs30 to classify the sites where bedrock is deeper than 30 m. Furthermore, we found a linear correlation between Vs30 and dominant HVSR frequency which could be used as a proxy of Vs30. The Vs30 map in this area was derived using the Engineering Geological Database for Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (EGDT). The comparable distribution pattern between the dominant frequency and Vs30 demonstrate that HVSR can recognize S-wave velocity properties at the shallow subsurface.

One decade after the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, central Taiwan experienced more strong ground shaking [Central Weather Bureau (CWB), intensity VII] induced by a ML 6.2 earthquake on 5th November 2009. This earthquake occurred in the Mingjian Township of Nantou County, only 12 km southwest of the Chi-Chi earthquake epicenter. The broadband microearthquake monitoring network operated by the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) observed numerous aftershocks in the five days following the mainshock. The relocated aftershocks and the mainshock focal mechanism indicated a NE-SW striking fault dipping 60¢X toward the northwest. This fault plane is inside the pre-Miocene basement and the rupture extends from the lower crust to 10 km depth just beneath the basal décollement of the thin-skinned model that is generally used to explain the regional tectonics in Taiwan. The fault plane is vertically symmetrical with the Chelungpu fault by the basal décollement. The NW-SE compressive stress of plate collision in Taiwan, as well as the deep tectonic background, resulted in the seismogenic structure of the Mingjian earthquake at this location.

The western coastal plain of Taiwan borders the Western Foot hills, which is a fold-and-thrust zone and one of Taiwan's major seismic zones. Earth quakes from the Western Foot hills are a frequent cause of disaster in the western coastal plain. In this study, array measurements of microtremors were conducted at seven sites through out the western coastal plain. At each site, four arrays (S, M, L, and XL arrays) of different sizes were considered. The largest radius of each array ranged from 32 m to 1 km. The Maximum Likelihood Method of Frequency-Wavenumber (F-K) analyses was used to obtain phase velocity dispersion curves. After the inversion of the dispersion curves with the initial models decided by Genetic Algorithm (GA) searching, shallow S-wave velocity structures for the western coastal plain were estimated.

In the Tatun mountain area of northern Taiwan are two strong motion stations approximately 2.5 km apart, TAP056 and TAP066 of the TSMIP network. The accelerometer at station TAP056 is often triggered by earthquakes, but that at TAP066 station is not. Comparisons of vertical and horizontal peak ground accelerations reveal PGA in the vertical, east-west, and north-south components at TAP056 station to be 3.89, 7.57, and 5.45 times those at station TAP066, respectively. The PGA ratio does not seem to be related to earthquake source or path. Fourier spectra of earthquake records at station TAP056 always have approximately the same dominant frequency; however, those at station TAP066 are different due to different sources and paths of different events. This shows that spectra at TAP056 station are mainly controlled by local site effects. The spectral ratios of TAP056/TAP066 show the S-wave is amplified at around 8 ~ 10 Hz. The horizontal/vertical spectral ratios of station TAP056 also show a dominant frequency at about 6 and 8 ~ 10 Hz. After dense microtremor surveying and the addition of one accelerometer just 20 meters away from the original observation station, we can confirm that the top soft soil layer upon which the observation station is constructed generates the local site response at station TAP056.

The horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio has become increasingly popular in studies of site effect and determination of the predominant period of a site. In this study, this method is extended to identify nonlinear soil responses. To establish this phenomenon, borehole array records that already showed nonlinear site responses using spectral ratios between surface and borehole station pairs were analyzed. Moreover, in this study, the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio method was applied to weak and strong motion records from the same dataset. The results demonstrate that nonlinear site responses can be evaluated using horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios of surface recordings at a single station.

The 2018 Mw 6.4 Hualien earthquake generated a large peak-to-peak velocity of over 2 m/s, with a period of 3 s at the south end of the Milun fault, which resulted in the collapse of five buildings. To investigate the shallow subsurface soil structure and evaluate possible effects on the ground motion and building damage, we performed microtremor measurements in the Hualien basin. Based on the velocity structure jointly inverted from both Rayleigh-wave dispersion curves and microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio data, we found that the shallow subsurface structure generally deepens from west to east. Close to the Milun fault, the structure becomes shallower, which is consistent with faulting during the 2018 earthquake and the long-term tectonic displacement. There is no significant variation for the site conditions in the north-south direction that can explain the large peak ground velocity in the south. As a result of the dense measurements in the heavily damaged area, where three high-rise buildings totally collapsed, these locations have the average S-wave velocity of the upper 30 m (AVS30) values and are relatively high compared to the more distant area from the Meilun River. This is somewhat unusual, because lower AVS30 values indicating softer ground conditions are expected close to the river. We did not find any characteristic subsurface soil structure that may contribute to the building collapses. The large 3 s pulse was probably generated by source effects, rather than subsurface soil amplification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, energy conservation has been concerned, and there are several aspects to improve the energy consumption issues. Therefore, many research results were proposed to mitigate the related problems, one of these is to eliminate the extra standby power of household appliances. This paper employed an effective method to identify load characteristics of appliances in different operation states by support vector machines, and a smart home electric energy saving system was built up to implement the method. Furthermore, a virtual living room was simulated in the laboratory as an experimental object, and a prototype system was built up. The performance test results are proposed to validate the feasibility of the proposed system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One decade after the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, central Taiwan experienced more strong ground shaking [Central Weather Bureau (CWB), intensity VII] induced by a ML 6.2 earthquake on 5th November 2009. This earthquake occurred in the Mingjian Township of Nantou County, only 12 km southwest of the Chi-Chi earthquake epicenter. The broadband micro-earthquake monitoring network operated by the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) observed numerous aftershocks in the five days following the mainshock. The relocated aftershocks and the mainshock focal mechanism indicated a NE-SW striking fault dipping 60° toward the northwest. This fault plane is inside the pre-Miocene basement and the rupture extends from the lower crust to 10 km depth just beneath the basal décollement of the thin-skinned model that is generally used to explain the regional tectonics in Taiwan. The fault plane is vertically symmetrical with the Chelungpu fault by the basal décollement. The NW-SE compressive stress of plate collision in Taiwan, as well as the deep tectonic background, resulted in the seismogenic structure of the Mingjian earthquake at this location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two consecutive large earthquakes eight minutes apart occurred offshore of Hengchun, Pingtung County of Taiwan at night on 26 December 2006. The seismic intensity in the Kaohsiung and Pingtung areas reached 5 according to the Central Weather Bureau's intensity scale making them the strongest earthquakes in the Hengchun area in a century. These earthquakes were felt throughout Taiwan. Because the earthquakes were located not far offshore, seismic instruments at the Taipower's Nuclear Power Plant No. 3 (NPP3) registered their largest motions since recording commenced at the site. As a result, unit 2 of NPP3 was shut down while Unit 1 remained operating at full capacity. Other damage that occurred during the Earthquake Doublet included building collapse, rock falls, structure and non-structural damage to buildings, fire, and damage to utilities such as gas, electricity, and telephone lines; liquefaction was also noted. In this paper, the shakemaps based on the source parameters and real-time observations were predicted and compared with the recorded shakemaps. This analysis shows our shakemap prediction model to be extremely useful in predicting what emergency response units can expect after a large damaging earthquake. Strong motion data near a collapsed building was used to calculate the response spectrum and compared with the building codes to check the reason of the building collapsed. This study presents the damage that occurred during this event and the results of the seismic assessment to discuss why so much damage occurred in the southern Taiwan area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the phosphor LaPO4:Tm was coated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon atoms were diffused into the phosphor lattice. Binding energy of La 3d and C 1s were not shifted by CNT coating, while that of O 1s was lowered slightly as a result of the formation of CO and CO bonds on the phosphor surface. CNT coating increased the atomic concentrations of O and C by 27.4% and 9%, respectively. Photoluminescence intensity decreased significantly, by 52%, when CNT concentration of 1.5wt% was coated. This is attributed to covering the phosphor with black CNTs/carbons and the formation of CO and CO bonds on the phosphor surface. Conversely, cathodoluminescence (CL) intensity was improved by a factor of 3.86 when 1.25wt% of CNTs was coated, attributing to improved conductivity, reduced charging, and increased CL excitation probability of the phosphor. The influence of CNT coating on the luminescence of LaPO4:Tm was compared with that of LaPO4:Eu phosphor. Blue CL was observed from LaPO4:Tm, it is potential for field emission lamp application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]