Search

Applied Sciences 13(1), 382 (2023). doi:10.3390/app13010382 special issue: "Special Issue "State-of-the-Art in Energy Harvesting for IoT and WSN" / Special Issue Editor: Alessandro Lo Schiavo, Guest Editor", Published by MDPI, Basel

The Community Care Station (CCS) service was initiated by the Taiwanese government as a part of its elderly social services programs. This study aimed to investigate the effects of using an inexpensive exercise toolkit, containing a stick, theraband, sandbag and a small ball, led by a physical therapist among community-dwelling older adults participating in CCS. A total of 90 participants (aged 77.0 ± 6.8 years) were recruited and divided into an intervention group (n = 45) and a comparison group (n = 45). The intervention group regularly participated in a health promotion program with the exercise toolkit for approximately 90 min per twice-weekly session for 3 months, and the comparison group maintained their usual CCS activity program. Both groups were assessed before and after the 3-month intervention period. Outcome measures included the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), one-leg stance, functional reach (FR), Timed Up and Go (TUG), and 10 m walk tests; 83 participants completed the study. No significant between-group differences were found at baseline in general characteristics or outcome variables. After 3 months, the intervention group showed the significant group x time interaction effects in SPPB, one-leg stance, FR, TUG and 10 m walk tests compared to the comparison group (p < 0.05).; A structured group-based health promotion program using a low-cost exercise toolkit could be effective in improving the physical performances, balance, and walking ability of community-dwelling older adults receiving CCS program services. Furthermore, the comparison group maintained most of their physical performances, even showing significant progress on FR.

Previous research has addressed the effects of digital storytelling (DST) on verbal English competence and demonstrated that students engage more and learn more effectively. However, the relationsh...

In the past decade, numerous studies have shown that incorporating geogrid in the pavement could effectively improve the pavement performance. The major benefit of using geogrid in the flexible pavement is to improve its rutting performance as the result of the reinforcement function of geogrid. Mechanical-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG) developed to provide the pavement performance prediction throughout its design life. However, MEPDG is not able to consider the effect of incorporating geogrid in the flexible pavement. In this study, a design procedure was proposed to obtain an equivalent geogrid pavement structure, which satisfies MEPDG design input requirements. In this procedure, a 2D finite element method was used to simulate geogrid reinforced and non-reinforced pavement structures. The iteration process based on stress–strain analysis of finite element model (FEM) used to obtain an equivalent structure input for MEPDG. The geogrid reinforced rutting performance can be predicted by analyzing the equivalent geogrid structure using MEPDG. A significant life improvement of pavement with geogrid was observed compared to pavement without geogrid. The results showed that the incorporating of geogrid in asphalt pavement layer significantly reduce the rutting of pavement layer, thus will contribute to extension of pavement service life.

Rutting resistance is an important consideration for paving asphalt mixes. The cause of rutting is a shear strain in the asphalt pavement structure. Here, the rutting behavior of asphalt pavements was evaluated through laboratory simulations using the Hamburg Wheel-Tracking Test (HWTT), UK Wheel-Tracking Test (UKWTT), and Scaled Accelerated Load Simulator (SALS) test. The correlation between the three simulation tests was analyzed to determine the conversion factor (CF). Two parameters of temperature and speed of simulation testing were evaluated in this study. Subsequently, the representative frequency and dynamic modulus were calculated with consideration of viscoelasticity and time–temperature superposition. Using logical analysis, CF between the three simulation tests was validated. The results showed that the full-scale test yielded the highest stiffness modulus of 4,015 MPa, and the UKWTT yielded the lowest stiffness modulus of 1,857 MPa at 60 °C. From the HWTT results, it was found that the impact of moisture damage at 40 °C is not substantial compared to that at 50 °C. The conversion factor of HWTT at 40 °C, HWTT at 50 °C and UKWTT at 60 °C to SALS were 0.92, 0.74, and 0.63, respectively. Furthermore, the similar rutting performance among SALS, HWTT at 40 °C in dry and wet conditions, and HWTT at 50 °C in dry condition can be observed when the CF is applied. Lastly, the effectiveness of the conversion factor is diminished with increasing rutting damage.

Summary Mechanoreceptors are essential components of the somatosensory system that convert received mechanical signals into electrical signals that can be sent to the brain. These receptors provide the ability to sense a variety of stimuli from the external environment, including touch, vibration, and heat. Mechanoreceptors do not convert signals monotonically; in addition, several fundamental characteristics are embedded in mechanoreceptors, including thresholds and adaptation properties. In this study, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated a van der Waals stacking field-effect transistor (VS-FET), which was inspired by an FET with a floating gate structure, to realize the important characteristics of mechanoreceptors. The VS-FET can not only demonstrate the fundamental biological functions but also produce other unique properties such as fatigue and accommodation. We also integrated an artificial touch receptor with an array of the proposed VS-FET to demonstrate the feasibility of these devices experimentally in artificial humanoid systems.

This paper studies the influence of geometric structure cutting on transverse crack treatment with the discrete elements method (DEM). Suitable strategies for geometrical structure cutting are put ...

Flexible manipulation of the carrier transport behaviors in two-dimensional materials determines their values of practical application in logic circuits. Here, we demonstrated the carrier-type mani...

Exploitation of the oxidation behaviour in an environmentally sensitive semiconductor is significant to modulate its electronic properties and develop unique applications. Here, we demonstrate a native oxidation-inspired InSe field-effect transistor as an artificial synapse in device level that benefits from the boosted charge trapping under ambient conditions. A thin InOx layer is confirmed under the InSe channel, which can serve as an effective charge trapping layer for information storage. The dynamic characteristic measurement is further performed to reveal the corresponding uniform charge trapping and releasing process, which coincides with its surface-effect-governed carrier fluctuations. As a result, the oxide-decorated InSe device exhibits nonvolatile memory characteristics with flexible programming/erasing operations. Furthermore, an InSe-based artificial synapse is implemented to emulate the essential synaptic functions. The pattern recognition capability of the designed artificial neural network is believed to provide an excellent paradigm for ultra-sensitive van der Waals materials to develop electric-modulated neuromorphic computation architectures., Developing efficient memory and artificial synaptic systems based on environmentally sensitive van der Waals materials remains a challenge. Here, the authors present a native oxidation-inspired InSe field-effect transistor that benefits from a boosted charge trapping behavior under ambient conditions.

A sustainable roadway rating system (SR2S) consists of a set of indicators to comprehensively measure the sustainability performance of roadway projects. The sustainability level of the systems can be improved by implementing appropriate strategies pertaining to materials and energy. In the peer-reviewed literature, some studies have conducted shallow comparisons of different SR2Ss and no studies have compared the significance of material and energy indicators in existing SR2Ss. To bridge this research gap, five existing SR2Ss were considered. These five SR2Ss described overlapping categories of indicators. Material and energy-related indicators (MEIs) were identified from the representative SR2Ss by conducting content analysis. Similar indicators were regrouped into six different material and energy-related features (MEFs), corresponding to six categories of indicators: local materials; long-life designs; materials obtained using the reduce, reuse, and recycle (3Rs) concept; energy efficiency; earthwork; and hazardous materials. Based on the relative significance index (RSI), the weightings of the selected SR2Ss and the significance of MEIs according to six MEFs were explored. In terms of the aforementioned criteria, the Illinois Livable and Sustainable Transportation gives the greatest weight to material and energy (34.7% of the total points), whereas GreenLITES gives the least weight to material and energy (i.e., 26.8% of total points). Regarding MEFs, SR2Ss focus more on materials obtained by using the 3Rs concept and energy efficiency. This means that indicators pertaining to these two features were considered to contribute significantly to evaluations of roadway sustainability. Aside from 3Rs and energy efficiency, hazardous materials were deemed to be not highly relevant to SR2Ss. Discussion on the indicator requirements related to material and energy are further provided based on different MEFs.

A sustainable transportation infrastructure rating system (STIRS) generally encompasses a wide range of indicators for the comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability of transportation projects....

The oxygen (O2)-dependent resistance change of multilayered molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) channels was characterized. A variation of the channel resistance could reproducibly determine relative O2...

English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students often encounter difficulties with English writing due to limited vocabulary and an inability to integrate reading and writing skills effectively. Summary writing is one of the most effective means of integrating English reading comprehension while developing writing skills. However, writing summaries requires unobservable cognitive processes of identifying main ideas in order to convert paragraphs into concise statements. This study contributes to the existing literature on summary writing by developing and testing an online summary writing system designed to support the cognitive processes of integrated reading and writing. The findings highlight the key factors and functions involved in the design system to support summary construction. The online writing system comprises Selecting, Organizing, and Integrating (SOI) modules with the functions of Vocabulary Helper, Online Dictionary, and Reference tools. The participants were 20 students in a reading class who were recruited to receive 11 weeks of English summary writing instruction. The data included pre- and post-TOEIC reading test scores, summary writing efficiency, action logs in the online system, and responses to a questionnaire. The results showed that the system functioned to scaffold students’ integrated reading and writing with the SOI functions, providing them with opportunities for repeated review of the selected vocabulary, main ideas, and important sentences. These were the fundamental factors in facilitating summary writing processes. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Resin asphalt is widely used to improve the durability and thermal stability of asphalt concrete in recent years. In order to reduce the dependence of using petroleum asphalt in resin asphalt, the ...

Background Stroke is a major risk factor for osteoporosis and fractures. No study has evaluated the association between diuretic use and risk of vertebral fracture in stroke patients, although a considerable proportion of stroke patients are prescribed diuretics for hypertension. Our study aimed to investigate whether treatment with thiazides or loop diuretics affects the risk of vertebral fracture after stroke. Methods A population-based propensity score-matched retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Patients with a new diagnosis of stroke between 2000 and 2011 were included. After propensity score matching, 9468 patients were included in the analysis of the effect of thiazides, of who 4734 received thiazides within 2 years after stroke. To analyze the loop diuretic effect, 4728 patients were included, of who 2364 received loop diuretics. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) of vertebral fractures among patients according to thiazide or loop diuretic use within 2 years following stroke. Sensitivity analyses based on the duration of thiazide or loop diuretic use were further conducted. Results There was no significant difference in vertebral fracture risk between thiazide users and non-users (adjusted HR [aHR] = 1.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.88–1.47, p = 0.316). Loop diuretic users had a significantly higher vertebral fracture risk than non-users (aHR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.06–1.98, p = 0.019). However, the sensitivity analysis revealed that short-term thiazide use (exposure duration p = 0.039). Only short-term loop diuretic users had significantly higher risk of vertebral fracture (aHR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.11–2.20, p = 0.011). The other two subgroups with longer exposure duration in analyses for both thiazides and loop diuretics revealed no significant effect. Conclusions Short-term thiazide or loop diuretic use was associated with an increased risk of vertebral fracture after stroke. Further prospective clinical trials are required to confirm this finding.

Overloaded vehicles is one of the main problemsthat cause premature failure in road infrastructure. This paper presents an analysis of overloaded vehicles'effect on flexible pavement based on historical weigh-in-motion data. Thisarticle highlights the potential use of weigh-in-motion (WIM) data in pavement design by addressing the overload, the percentage of overloading, and axle load distribution. The percentage of overloaded vehicles can reach more than 80% of the total number of trucks and maybe one of the substantial factors that reduce pavement's service life. The actual traffic load is presented in the form of distribution for each type of axle load (axle load spectra) and the Vehicle Damage Factor (VDF) for each truck type. The effect of overload on the flexible pavement's design life is estimated by using the Cumulative ESAL comparison and Pavement Damage Ratio. Both analyses show that overload vehicles significantly decrease the pavement design life up to nearly half of the pavement life.

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures-in which layered materials are purposely selected to assemble with each other-allow unusual properties and different phenomena to be combined and multifunctional electronics to be created, opening a new chapter for the spread of internet-of-things applications. Here, an O

Rubber-tired trains are powered by electricity through sliding contact between the conductor rail system and collector shoe. The sliding contact produces wear on the conductor rail and wear...

Flexible manipulation of the carrier transport behaviors in two-dimensional materials determines their values of practical application in logic circuits. Here, we demonstrated the carrier-type manipulation in field-effect transistors (FETs) containing α-phase molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe

Over the last decade, various rating systems and indicators have been proposed for evaluating or certifying roadway sustainability. However, there is no systematic method for the roadway projects to adopt the indicators of the rating systems to enhance sustainability for certification. This study developed a strategy for adopting indicators in a roadway rating system for sustainability certification. First, the framework and rules for prioritizing the indicators were established from literature review. Then, carbon emissions, costs, and the difficulties of employing the indicators were analyzed in a roadway case study. Finally, the priorities for adopting the indicators were determined. The results revealed that the indicators with higher score–unit ratios should have higher priorities in the project. By using the developed framework, the simultaneous analysis of multiple dimensions enables appropriate investigation into roadway sustainability problems. The score–unit ratio is a simple but effective metric to evaluate whether a project has incorporated appropriate indicators to enhance sustainability.

Warm-mix asphalt (WMA) is one technology that has been found to have potential in minimizing the environmental harm caused by road construction activities. Its low mixing and compacting temperatures have opened great opportunities for more sustainable development. However, because WMA is mixed at low temperatures, the drying process of the aggregate may fail to dry the WMA completely. The binder-aggregate adhesion property can be damaged by moisture remaining from incomplete drying. The present study investigated the effects of aggregate moisture on the binder-aggregate interfacial characteristics of WMA by evaluating its surface free energy and adhesive bond strength. The results showed that for the Pen 60-70 binder type, the aggregate AG in general showed the higher bond energy and aggregate SD showed the lowest bond energy among three aggregate types. Also, the bond energy diminishes with increasing aggregate moisture contents but the percent drops in bond energy is less when WMA additives was included. For the PM binder, SL aggregate group showed the highest bond energy and SD aggregate group showed the lowest bond energy. For the work of adhesion, the results showed that with aggregate with 10% moisture contents has destructive effects on the work of adhesion which may decrease to 50% compare to dry aggregate condition. Finally, the four quadrant diagrams can be used to combine two distinct property of the bond energy and the work of adhesion as the hybrid performance indicator to rank the effect of moist aggregate to the adhesion properties at binder-aggregate interface.

Although indicators in rating systems have been initiated to measure and promote the sustainability performance of roadway projects in some developed countries, applying those indicators to other regions/countries may still be difficult. In response to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, local road agencies in Taiwan urgently need to establish systematic and quantifiable sustainable roadway strategies. As part of the project to develop a green urban road rating system in Taiwan, this study aims to develop transportation livability-related indicators (TLIs) and identify critical barriers to TLI application in Taiwan’s urban road system. To this end, the research employed an adaptive approach that integrates top-down and bottom-up approaches. The top-down approach included the comprehensive literature review and panel discussion to derive four TLIs and 21 corresponding requirements, and nine potential barriers to hold the indicator adoption. Four TLIs are pedestrian facilities, universal design, multimodal transportation, and utility facilities. The bottom-up approach used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assign weights to proposed indicators/requirements. Four critical barriers were also investigated through the Weighted Sum Model (WSM) method, namely unfavorable in-situ conditions, lack of stakeholders’ coordination, unsupported government policy and regulation, and limited budget and schedule. The findings can be beneficial to engineers and decisionmakers to enhance the livability standard of urban streets. The framework proposed in this research can be applied to other roadway characteristics aspects in different regions/countries.

Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) and sinapic acid (SA) are 2 components separately isolated from 2 Asian medicinal plants, Hydnophytum formicarum Jack and Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. The antitumor activities of them were worth exploring, therefore, we examined their antitumor activities in A549, HCT116, HeLa, and Colo320 cancer cell lines by means of WST-1 assay. The results show that Tan IIA exerted far higher (IC50 from 1.0 ± 0.0 to 166.3 ± 24.0 µg/mL) antiproliferative activities than SA (IC50 from 2236.3 ± 484.1 to >10 000.0 µg/mL). Of the 4 cell lines, A549 cells were the most sensitive to Tan IIA; thus, we used Western blotting to explore the cytotoxic mechanisms of Tan IIA in A549 cells and found that they rely on simultaneous induction of apoptosis and necroptosis in the cells. Apoptosis was hallmarked by the induction of cleaved caspase-3 by Tan IIA and necroptosis by the necroptotic marker proteins cyclophilin A and high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), as well as increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities. The necroptotic effect was confirmed by the necroptosis inhibitor necrostatin-1 (Nec-1), which eliminated these effects and restored cell survival rates. The levels of cyclophilin A decreased in response to the pan-caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk, and those of cleaved caspase-3 decreased in response to Nec-1. Conclusively, Tan IIA has the potential to prevent lung cancer and the mechanism seems to be apoptosis and necroptosis, of which the relationship is mutually interdependent. This is the first report of Tan IIA eliciting necroptosis in A549 cells. Tan IIA may be used for necroptosis-based cancer therapy, especially to overcome apoptosis resistance.

This work was supported by the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology (Grant No. MOST 108-2112-M-005-012-MY3 and 109-2112-M-005-013-MY3), and also supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 61974070 and 61874074, 1311 Talent Plan, and Start-Up Fund from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications under Grant No. NY219003, and Shenzhen Peacock Plan (Grant No. KQTD2016053112042971).

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are drawing growing attention for next-generation electronics and optoelectronics owing to its atomic thickness and unique physical properties. One of the challenges posed by 2D materials is the large source/drain (S/D) series resistance due to their thinness, which may be resolved by thickening the source and drain regions. Recently explored lateral graphene–MoS21−3 and graphene–WS21,4 heterostructures shed light on resolving the mentioned issues owing to their superior ohmic contact behaviors. However, recently reported field-effect transistors (FETs) based on graphene–TMD heterostructures have only shown n-type characteristics. The lack of p-type transistor limits their applications in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor electronics. In this work, we demonstrate p-type FETs based on graphene–WSe2 lateral heterojunctions grown with the scalable CVD technique. Few-layer WSe2 is overlapped with the multilayer graphene (MLG) at MLG–WSe2 junctions such that the contact res...

A considerable proportion of stroke survivors are prescribed with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Our study indicated that PPI use is associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis, hip fracture, and vertebral fracture in stroke patients. The risk tends to increase as the cumulative doses of PPIs increase.A considerable proportion of stroke survivors are prescribed with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Our study investigated the association between PPI use and the risk of osteoporosis and fracture among stroke survivors.A population-based propensity-matched retrospective cohort study was conducted using the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Patients diagnosed with a new stroke between 2000 and 2012 were identified. After propensity score matching, 10,596 patients were enrolled, and 5298 patients were each assigned to the PPI user and non-user groups. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated for the risk of osteoporosis, hip fracture, and vertebral fractures according to PPI use or non-use. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate the dose effects of PPI.PPI use after stroke was associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis, hip fracture, or vertebral fracture, with an adjusted HR (aHR) of 1.28 (P 0.001). The aHRs were also significant for each outcome: osteoporosis, 1.26 (P 0.001); hip fracture, 1.18 (P = 0.048); vertebral fracture, 1.33 (P 0.001). A pattern of dose effect was identified. For any event (osteoporosis/hip fracture/vertebral fracture), the aHR for PPI use of 1-90, 91-365, and 365 cDDDs was 1.22 (P 0.001), 1.27 (P 0.001), and 1.66 (P 0.001), respectively. For each outcome, the highest dose was associated with the highest risk, with aHR of 1.79 (P 0.001), 1.41 (P = 0.039), and 1.82 (P 0.001) for osteoporosis, hip fracture, and vertebral fracture, respectively. Age- and sex-stratified analyses revealed similar patterns.PPI use is associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis, hip fracture, and vertebral fracture in stroke patients.

Summary Purpose To validate a conceptual short-form health literacy 12 items questionnaire (HL-SF12) in patient populations. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted via a convenient sample of 403 patients from three departments of a community general hospital in the northern Taiwan. Patients' health literacy was assessed with a validated HL-SF12, derived from the full scale, the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q), as well as a single-item from Chew's Set of Brief Health Literacy Question. A reference population in Northern Taiwan ( n =928) via the HLS-EU-Q in 2013–2014 was used as a reference to compare the health literacy between that of the general public and the patients. Data was analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), internal consistency analysis, correlation analysis, and linear regression models. Results Patients' health literacy assessed with the HL-SF12 was shown with high internal consistency (Cronbach α=.87), and moderately correlated with the single-item from Chew's Set of Brief Health Literacy Question, with satisfactory item-scale convergent validity (item-scale correlation ≥ .40), without floor/ceiling effect, and with satisfactory goodness of fit indices of the three-factor construct model for most of the patients. Their health literacy was significantly positively associated with female gender, higher income, and more often watching health-related TV programs. On the other hands, patients were reported with significantly higher healthcare health literacy than the general public, but not in general health literacy, disease prevention health literacy, or health promotion health literacy. Conclusion The comprehensive HL-SF12 was a valid and easy to use tool for assessing patients' health literacy in the hospitals to facilitate healthcare providers in enhancing patients' health literacy and healthcare qualities.

In the present study, we aim to help improve the design of van der Waals stacking, i.e., vertical 2D electronics, by probing charge transport differences in both parallel and vertical conducting channels of layered molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), with thin graphite acting as source and drain electrodes. To avoid systematic errors and variable contact contributions to the MoS2 channel, parallel and vertical electronics are all fabricated and measured on the same conducting material. Large differences in the on/off current ratio, mobility, and charge fluctuations, between parallel and vertical electronics are evident in electrical performance as well as in charge transport mechanisms. Further insights are drawn from a well-constrained analysis of both temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics and low-frequency (LF) current fluctuations. This work offers significant insight into the fundamental understanding of charge transport and the development of future layered-materials-based integration technology.

The oxygen (O

Specification tests for thin surface treatment are mainly simulated or empirical; without considering fundamental mechanical or rheological properties of the material. Thus, it is difficult to incorporate the test results into mechanical-based pavement design analysis. A series of test methods, which quantify performance-related mechanical properties of thin surface treatment employed in pavement maintenance and pavement preservation is thus needed. The objective of this study is to investigate the performance-related mechanical properties of thin surface treatment materials for pavement maintenance and preservation. The Micro-Surfacing Mat and Precast Rubber Asphalt Mat were used in this study. The Finite Element Model result indicated that the Modified Leutner Shear Test adequate to evaluate the direct shear strength of the thin surface treatment. The results show that the sensitivity loading frequency and the temperature susceptibility of the Precast Rubber Asphalt Mat were reduced by Rubber Modified Asphalt content. The Precast Rubber Asphalt Mat has greater interfacial shear strength as well as shear stiffness compared to those of Micro-Surfacing Mat. The tack coat application rate is crucial for the interfacial shear strength of Precast Rubber Asphalt Mat. This research found that shear stress and the displacement rate are positively related to the interfacial shear strength and shear stiffness. The interfacial shear strength and shear stiffness are negatively related to testing temperature. The Micro-Surfacing Mat had higher dynamic direct shear modulus, lower loading frequency sensitivity, and better rutting resistance than Precast Rubber Asphalt Mat.

Due to its complex nature and inherent unobservable features, teacher change within a specific context has rarely been investigated despite its importance as an issue in teacher professional develo...

Currently, road and airport pavement construction uses approximately 90% asphalt, most of which is mainly derived from fossil fuels. However, with the improvement in oil refinery technology, the quality of asphalt binders is degrading gradually. Moreover, from the environment standpoint, fossil fuels are the main source of greenhouse gases, which lead to global warming. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop a more sustainable binding material from renewable or other alternative resources to replace or modify the existing petroleum-based asphalt binder for the highway industry. The main objective of this study was to investigate the potential use of a bio-oil byproduct as a partial replacement for a bitumen-based binder. The properties of various blending combinations of a biobinder and asphalt binder were compared with those of an unmodified asphalt binder through several physical and rheological tests. The specific gravity of the biobinder was found to be higher than that of the petroleum-based binder. In general, biobinder blends have a higher viscosity than that of the unmodified binder at temperatures higher than 60 °C. Binders containing the biobinder at 25% and 50% have lower temperature susceptibility than that of the unmodified binder. Adding the biobinder at up to 25% does not significantly change the complex shear modulus of unaged binders, whereas rolling thin-film oven-aged biobinder blends show a higher complex modulus and greater viscosity than those of the unmodified binder. Moreover, the biobinder blends show higher G ∗ /sin δ, lower nonrecoverable compliance and greater recovery ability than those of conventional AC-20.

Frequent mill and overlay activities result in the production of a considerable amount of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) materials. Many pavements that incorporated RAP exhibit a shorter service life than do those without RAP. One of the possible reasons is that certain RAP materials have already undergone multiple recycling processes during the past decade. This results in severe aging of the reclaimed asphalt binder (RAB). In this study, three severely aged RABs, two RAP blending scenarios, two virgin binders, and two commercial rejuvenators were used to investigate the feasibility of using severely aged binders for constructing pavements. The chemical and rheological properties of the rejuvenated severely aged binders were evaluated using high-performance gel permeation chromatography and a dynamic shear rheometer. The molecular size distributions of rejuvenated RABs revealed that the rejuvenators used in this study could rebalance the proportions of large, medium, and small molecular components among the rejuvenated RABs. However, the polydispersity values still enabled clearly distinguishing between virgin binders and rejuvenated RABs. Two performance parameters were used to evaluate the potential of age-induced damage as well as permanent rutting in the binders. A Glover–Rowe damage zone was evaluated, and it revealed promising results to distinguish among severely aged binders, virgin binders, and rejuvenated binders. Oscillation and multiple stress creep and recovery tests were performed to obtain rutting potential parameter G ∗ /sin( δ ) and J nr , respectively. The results indicated that all rejuvenated aged binders exhibited higher G ∗ /sin( δ ) values and lower J nr values compared with the control virgin binders.

This study applied Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's (2000) community of inquiry (CoI) framework to teacher learning by designing and investigating online participatory practice in which 14 prospective teachers (PT) were engaged in collectively evaluating and reconstructing their written feedback in their teaching, cognitive, and social presences. Data included the PTs' action logs in the three presences, their observation notes on fellow teachers' feedback practice, their feedback on students' different versions of texts, and transcripts of discussion forums and chat rooms. Results showed that in an online teacher learning community, the teaching presence reinforced and sustained the cognitive and social presences in the virtual community as the PTs learned to serve as subject matter experts. Through these three presences, the PTs provided micro- and macro-level feedback and observed each other's practices in the teaching presence. An online participatory practice allowed the PTs to recognize problems in feedback practice and develop principles of effective written feedback through collaborative efforts. Practical implications and useful functionalities of an online system for teacher learning were also discussed. Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has the potential for exploring teacher learning.Design in the teaching presence reinforces and sustains the cognitive and social presences in the online virtual community.Teachers develop principles of effective written feedback through collaborative efforts.

The objective of this study was to fully characterize and validate the mechanical-based aging model parameters and compared with the chemical kinetic model. This study found that level of aging applied to both asphalt binder and asphalt concrete showed differences, as verified by all of the p-values from regression analysis test, were greater than 0.05. The aging variable value decreased with the aggregate involved. The aging history dependent (k2) could be simulated the actual aging behavior as a polynomial curve. The Pearson correlation test showed that there is a strong relationship between the carbonyl content and the aging model variable.

Modern technology allows us to mimic biological functions with artificial devices. The human brain, including numerous neural cells that connect via synapses, enables us to handle complex tasks with ultra-low power consumption, which is one of the most important biological components that eager to emulate. Here, we propose and build a simple indium selenide (InSe)-based photonic synaptic device with unique gate tunable behaviours such as time-varying output current, auto-depression rate, and paired-pulse facilitation (PPF). A new inverse PPF behaviour is observed, characterized by the positive correlations to the time interval, which is opposite of those negative ones in previous studies. To unveil the origin of this new finding, both the substrate-dependent persistent photocurrent examination and low-frequency noise (LFN) measurements are performed to investigate the electric-controlled charge trapping/detrapping processes between the InSe and SiO2 interface. Furthermore, we systematically demonstrate such the specific evolution of the flexible plasticity within a low-operation voltage and a wide range of visible spectra. Interestingly, the inverse PPF can be employed to emulate more detailed characteristics of a biological brain such as the age-related changes of synaptic plasticity in real human brains. Thus, we believed that our findings provide a proof-of-concept for systematically mimicking the brain plasticity and advancing the development of energy-efficient artificial brains.

ObjectivesTo investigate the association between benzodiazepine (BZD) use and the risk of chronic-onset poststroke pneumonia.DesignPopulation-based propensity-matched retrospective cohort study.SettingTaiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database.ParticipantsPatients newly diagnosed with stroke between 2000 and 2012 were identified and, after propensity score matching, 7516 patients were enrolled. Among these, 3758 patients received BZDs after stroke while 3758 did not.Outcome measuresHRs for developing pneumonia over 1 month after stroke according to BZD use were assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Analyses according to cumulative defined daily doses (cDDDs) of BZDs and stratification for age and sex were also performed.ResultsDuring a mean follow-up time of 4.4 years, 1027 patients in the BZD cohort and 478 patients in the non-BZD cohort developed pneumonia over 1 month after stroke. Patients using BZDs after stroke had a higher pneumonia risk than did those not using BZDs (52.2vs32.6 per 1000 person-years, adjusted HR (aHR)=2.21, 95% CI (CI)=1.97 to 2.48, p365 cDDDs of BZDs were 2.28 (95% CI=2.01 to 2.58; pConclusionsBZD use is associated with an increased risk of chronic-onset poststroke pneumonia.

Power dissipation is a crucial problem as the packing density of transistors increases in modern integrated circuits. Tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs), which have high energy filtering provided by band-to-band tunneling (BTBT), have been proposed as an alternative electronics architecture to decrease the energy loss in bias operation and to achieve steep switching at room temperature. Very recently, the BTBT behavior has been demonstrated in van der Waals heterostructures by using unintentionally doped semiconductors. The reason of the BTBT formation is attributed to a significant band bending near the heterointerface, resulting in carrier accumulations. In this work, to investigate charge transport in type-III transistors, we adopted the same band-bending concept to fabricate van der Waals BP/MoS2 heterostructures. Through analyzing the temperature dependence of their electrical properties, we carefully ruled out the contribution of metal-semiconductor contact resistances and improved our understanding of carrier injection in 2D type-III transistors. The BP/MoS2 heterostructures showed both negative differential resistance and 1/f 2 current fluctuations, strongly demonstrating the BTBT operation. Finally, we also designed a TFET based on this heterostructure with an ionic liquid gate, and this TFET demonstrated an subthreshold slope can successfully surmount the thermal limit of 60 mV/decade. This work improves our understanding of charge transport in such layered heterostructures and helps to improve the energy efficiency of next-generation nanoscale electronics.

In terms of band-gap engineering for devices, despite silicene's great promise, it has received considerably less attention than its carbon cousin graphene. Taking advantage of its tunable band gap, the authors use an effective Hamiltonian formalism to examine the formation of silicene superlattices. They theoretically consider engineering of the local band structure of silicene through application of an out-of-plane electric field, together with control over the spin and valley degrees of freedom, and finally show how to optimize negative differential resistance. This design principle could be extended to stacks of other two-dimensional materials as well.

P-channel WSe 2 FETs along with multilayer graphene source/drain (S/D) are demonstrated by the CVD growth of the WSe 2 monolayer to the patterned graphene. Multilayer graphene (MLG) is adopted to reduce contact resistance while the monolayer WSe 2 served as the channel for the electrostatics integrity of the FET. Furthermore, by increasing the p-type doping concentration of the graphene S/D, the I on /I off ratio can be enhanced to 108 and the unipolar p-channel characteristics are retained regardless the choice of the work function of the metal used for the S/D contact.

This work reveals the intrinsic carrier transport behavior of 2D organolead halide perovskites based on phase-pure homologous (n = 1, 2, and 3) Ruddelsden-Popper perovskite (RPP) (BA)2 (MA)n-1 Pbn I3n+1 single crystals. The 2D perovskite field effect transistors with high-quality exfoliated 2D perovskite bulk crystals are fabricated, and characteristic output and transfer curves are measured from individual single-crystal flakes with various n values under different temperatures. Unipolar n-type transport dominated the electrical properties of all these 2D RPP single crystals. The transport behavior of the 2D organolead halide hybrid perovskites exhibits a strong dependence on the n value and the mobility substantially increases as the ratio of the number of inorganic perovskite slabs per organic spacer increases. By extracting the effect of contact resistances, the corrected mobility values for n = 1, 2, and 3 are 2 × 10-3 , 8.3 × 10-2 , and 1.25 cm2 V-1 s-1 at 77 K, respectively. Furthermore, by combining temperature-dependent electrical transport and optical measurements, it is found that the origin of the carrier mobility dependence on the phase transition for 2D organolead halide perovskites is very different from that of their 3D counterparts. Our findings offer insight into fundamental carrier transport behavior of 2D organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites based on phase-pure homologous single crystals.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of the vertical deformation between the scaled-down pavement test and full-scale pavement structure according to the theory of similitude-based analysis procedure. Finite element analysis used to investigate and establish the relationship between the scaled-down and full-scale models. Four scaled-down models with scaling factors of 0.9, 0.75, 0.6, and 0.45 with two types of constitutive models of asphalt concrete materials, elastic and viscoelastic, are considered. The results show that the vertical deformation in the full-scale model achieved by applying a vertical shift to the vertical deformation in the scaled-down model. The vertical shift factor varies linearly in normal and logarithm scale with the scaling factor from 0.9 to 0.45 for linear elastic and viscoelastic material, respectively. Moreover, this study proposes a systematic analysis procedure to determine the testing temperature in the SALS test at a specific loading speed by using the time–temperature superposition principle. This study contributes considerably to preliminary understanding of the relationship between the scaled-down tester in the laboratory and the full-scale model according to the theory of similitude.

Display Omitted The Ir-gate AlSb/InAs HEMT on Si substrate has been studied with reliability evaluation.The Ir-gate exhibited a superior metal work function.The Schottky barrier height of InAs/AlSb on silicon was improved.TEM, SIMS, and low frequency noise measurement were adopted to proof device stability. In this work, the 6-inch AlSb/InAs on Si (001) substrate is used to increase device integration and cost-effective purpose. The iridium (Ir)-gate was used for the InAs/AlSb on silicon substrate and temperature-dependent characteristics were also studied. The Ir-gate exhibited a superior metal work function which was beneficial for increasing the Schottky barrier height of InAs/AlSb on silicon heterostructures. Moreover, transmission electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, and low frequency noise measurements were conducted to proof that the Ir-gated AlSb/InAs HEMT achieved the better stability of characteristics after self-heating and hot-carrier stresses.

Yield loss caused by via failures is unacceptably high in many semiconductor manufacturing processes. Redundant via insertion (RVI) is a typical approach for improving manufacturing competitiveness. The double-via insertion in concurrent routing or post-routing stage is introduced to improve yield and reliability. However, RVI with double-via patterns requires a considerable routing resource, which limits the enhancement of RVI rate, especially in congested designs. In this paper, an efficient and effective post-layout RVI approach is proposed. The proposed RVI method is the first to overcome the limitation of double-via insertion by combining double-via and rectangle-via patterns. The proposed RVI method determines the via configuration used in a two-phase flow which can effectively increase the insertion rate of total via which is dominated by via1. Experimental results show that the proposed method uses multi-via mechanisms to improve the total via insertion rate in RVI designs from 86.8 to 92.7 % and to improve the via1 insertion rate from 73.5 to 85.1 %.

Precisely controllable and reversible p/n-type electronic doping of molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe

ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate the association between thiazide use and the risk of hip fracture after stroke.SettingA population-based, propensity-matched cohort study was conducted on the basis of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database.ParticipantsPatients with newly diagnosed ischaemic stroke between 2000 and 2011 were included. After propensity score matching, 7470 patients were included, of whom 3735 received thiazides and 3735 did not.Outcome measuresHRs for developing hip fractures within 2 years after stroke were calculated using Cox proportional hazards regression model with adjustments for sociodemographic and coexisting medical conditions.ResultsOverall, patients using thiazides after stroke had a lower risk of hip fracture than those not using thiazides (8.5 vs 13.9 per 1000 person-years, adjusted HR=0.64, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.89, p=0.007). Further sensitivity analysis based on the duration of thiazide use revealed that the risk of hip fracture tended to decrease as the duration of exposure of thiazides increased. However, the effect was significant only in patients with long-term use of thiazides (using thiazides for >365 days within 2 years after stroke), with a 59% reduction in the risk of hip fracture when compared with patients not using thiazide (adjusted HR=0.41, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.79, p=0.008).ConclusionsThe long-term use of thiazides is associated with a decreased risk of hip fracture after stroke.