Academia Sinica

About: Academia Sinica is a facility organization based out in Taipei, Taiwan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 52086 authors who have published 65998 publications receiving 1728114 citations. The organization is also known as: Central Research Academy.

PHENIX detector overview

Abstract: The PHENIX detector is designed to perform a broad study of A-A, p-A, and p-p collisions to investigate nuclear matter under extreme conditions A wide variety of probes, sensitive to all timescales, are used to study systematic variations with species and energy as well as to measure the spin structure of the nucleon Designing for the needs of the heavy-ion and polarized-proton programs has produced a detector with unparalleled capabilities PHENIX measures electron and muon pairs, photons, and hadrons with excellent energy and momentum resolution The detector consists of a large number of subsystems that are discussed in other papers in this volume The overall design parameters of the detector are presented (C) 2002 Elsevier Science BV All rights reserved

Global estimates of potential mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions by agriculture

Abstract: Technologies to reduce net emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide within the agriculture sector were reviewed to estimate the global potential for mitigation of these radiatively active greenhouse gases Our estimates of the potential reduction of radiative forcing by the agricultural sector range from 115-33 Gt C equivalents per year Of the total potential reduction, approximately 32% could result from reduction in CO2 emissions, 42% of carbon offsets by biofuel production on 15% of existing croplands, 16% from reduced CH4 emissions and 10% from reduced emissions of N2O Agriculture encompasses large regional differences in management practices and rates of potential adoption of mitigation practices Acceptability of mitigation options will depend on the extent to which sustainable production will be achieved or maintained and benefits will accrue to farmers Technologies such as no-till farming and strategic fertilizer placement and timing are now being adopted for reasons other than concern for climate change issues

Incidence of Internal Cancers and Ingested Inorganic Arsenic: A Seven-Year Follow-up Study in Taiwan

Abstract: In order to elucidate the dose-response relationship between ingested inorganic arsenic and internal cancers, a total of 263 patients with blackfoot disease and 2293 healthy residents in the endemic area of arseniasis were recruited and followed up for 7 years. The information on consumption of high-arsenic artesian well water, sociodemographic characteristics, life-style and dietary habits, and personal and family history of cancers was obtained through standardized interviews. The occurrence of internal cancers among study subjects was determined through annual health examinations, home visit personal interviews, household registration data checks, and national death certification and cancer registry profile linkages. A dose-response relationship was observed between the long-term arsenic exposure from drinking artesian well water and the incidence of lung cancer, bladder cancer, and cancers of all sites combined after adjustment for age, sex, and cigarette smoking through Cox's proportional hazards regression analysis. Blackfoot disease patients had a significantly increased cancer incidence after adjustment for cumulative arsenic exposure.

Planck early results. XIX. All-sky temperature and dust optical depth from Planck and IRAS. Constraints on the "dark gas" in our Galaxy

Abstract: An all sky map of the apparent temperature and optical depth of thermal dust emission is constructed using the Planck-HFI (350μm to 2 mm) andIRAS(100μm) data. The optical depth maps are correlated with tracers of the atomic (Hi) and molecular gas traced by CO. The correlation with the column density of observed gas is linear in the lowest column density regions at high Galactic latitudes. At high N(H), the correlation is consistent with that of the lowest NH, for a given choice of the CO-to-H(2) conversion factor. In the intermediate NH range, a departure from linearity is observed, with the dust optical depth in excess of the correlation. This excess emission is attributed to thermal emission by dust associated with a dark gas phase, undetected in the available Hi and CO surveys. The 2D spatial distribution of the dark gas in the solar neighbourhood (|b(II)| > 10°) is shown to extend around known molecular regions traced by CO. The average dust emissivity in the Hi phase in the solar neighbourhood is found to be τ(D)/N(H)(tot) = 5.2×10(-26) cm(2) at 857 GHz. It follows roughly a power law distribution with a spectral index β = 1.8 all the way down to 3 mm, although the SED flattens slightly in the millimetre. Taking into account the spectral shape of the dust optical depth, the emissivity is consistent with previous values derived fromFIRAS measurements at high latitudes within 10%. The threshold for the existence of the dark gas is found at N(H)(tot) = (8.0±0.58)×10(20) H cm(−2) (A(V )= 0.4mag). Assuming the same high frequency emissivity for the dust in the atomic and the molecular phases leads to an average X(CO) = (2.54 ± 0.13) × 10(20) H(2) cm(-2)/(K km s(-1)). The mass of dark gas is found to be 28% of the atomic gas and 118% of the CO emitting gas in the solar neighbourhood. The Galactic latitude distribution shows that its mass fraction is relatively constant down to a few degrees from the Galactic plane. A possible explanation for the dark gas lies in a dark molecular phase, where H2 survives photodissociation but CO does not. The observed transition for the onsetof this phase in the solar neighbourhood (AV = 0.4mag) appears consistent with recent theoretical predictions. It is also possible that up to half of the dark gas could be in atomic form, due to optical depth effects in the Hi measurements.