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Four-inch semi-insulating free-standing gallium nitride (GaN) wafers grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) with carbon doping were obtained by a self-separated process. The as-grown wafer thickness can reach 900 µm without cracks. The dopant gas was methane (CH4) with concentration of 5% CH4 in N2. The FWHMs of (0 0 2) and (1 0 2) x-ray diffraction rocking curves were lower than 100 arcsec and typically were 40 – 60 arcsec. The resistivity was measured to be greater than 1010 Ω-cm.

Purpose To compare gadobutrol and gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd-DTPA) contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3T for visualizing brain metastases. Materials and Methods The present randomized study included 60 consecutive patients with known or suspected brain metastases from systemic malignancies. Two enhanced cerebral MR scans were performed in each patient within an interval of 2–5 days using different contrast agents (gadobutrol or Gd-DTPA) at 3T. The dose of the contrast agents (0.1 mmol/kg Gd) was also identical. The axial T1 FLAIR images at 3, 7, and 10 minutes after the injection of the contrast agent were obtained for evaluation. Two experienced radiologists performed subjective evaluation of the image quality, made the choice of the optimal images, and performed an objective evaluation including: signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the brain metastases, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), contrast enhancement (CE), contrast-to-brain ratio (CBR), and contrast enhancement ratio (CER) of the brain metastases. Results Subjective evaluation showed that at 3, 7, and 10 minutes gadobutrol elicited higher scores (margin score: 3.56 ± 0.74 vs. 3.33 ± 0.93, 3.68 ± 0.57 vs. 3.45 ± 0.81, 3.58 ± 0.71 vs. 3.43 ± 0.76; interior score: 2.83 ± 0.42 vs. 2.63 ± 0.61, 2.86 ± 0.38 vs. 2.73 ± 0.52, 2.80 ± 0.42 vs. 2.69 ± 0.53; and overall score: 4.42 ± 0.98 vs. 4.09 ± 1.19, 4.57 ± 0.75 vs. 4.26 ± 1.05, 4.48 ± 0.83 vs. 4.21 ± 1.03, respectively) in displaying the details and overall lesions than Gd-DTPA (repeated measures analysis of variance [ANOVA], margin score: P = 0.001, < 0.0001, 0.006; interior score: P < 0.0001, 0.004, 0.009; and overall score: P = 0.001, < 0.0001, < 0.0001, respectively). Subjective optimal image evaluation showed that the percentage of image assessed as “gadobutrol was better than Gd-DTPA (41.2–44.1%)” was greater than that assessed as “Gd-DTPA was better than gadobutrol (5.9–26.5%).” Objective evaluation showed that at 3, 7, and 10 minutes the SNR (214.17 ± 85.70 vs. 199.57 ± 85.08, 214.80 ± 86.03 vs. 199.19 ± 84.74, and 213.83 ± 82.46 vs. 193.68 ± 79.59, respectively), CNR (68.64 ± 50.18 vs. 57.88 ± 51.06, 75.42 ± 53.19 vs. 63.74 ± 53.91, and 77.13 ± 51.86 vs. 63.21 ± 51.71, respectively), CE (101.76 ± 63.31 vs. 87.61 ± 64.85, 99.85 ± 61.56 vs. 85.08 ± 64.98, and 100.33 ± 58.63 vs. 82.73 ± 61.73, respectively), CBR (0.48 ± 0.32 vs. 0.40 ± 0.33, 0.54 ± 0.34 vs. 0.46 ± 0.35, and 0.56 ± 0.34 vs. 0.47 ± 0.34, respectively), and CER (0.99 ± 0.69 vs. 0.88 ± 0.81, 0.97 ± 0.68 vs. 0.86 ± 0.84, and 0.98 ± 0.65 vs. 0.85 ± 0.80, respectively) were all higher when using gadobutrol compared with Gd-DTPA in the enhanced MR (repeated measures ANOVA, all P < 0.0001). On Gd-DTPA enhanced images, 289, 292, and 292 lesions at 3, 7, and 10 minutes were detected by the two radiologists, while 295, 301, and 301 lesions were detected on gadobutrol-enhanced images, respectively. Conclusion Using a 3T T1 FLAIR sequence, gadobutrol (0.1 mmol/kg body weight)-enhanced MR resulted in more conspicuous brain metastases, and more metastases compared with the same dose of Gd-DTPA. A delay time of 7 minutes for postcontrast MRI in patients with brain metastases is suggested in clinical practice. Level of Evidence: 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;00:000–000

Summary In this paper, an optimal energy dissipation control algorithm is applied into a semi-active suspension-type tuned mass damper (SA-STMD) to suppress excessive vibration by means of variable pendulum length. The SA-STMD mechanism consists of a mass block, a suspension rope, and a movable fulcrum that can be a short tube driven by a linear motor to vertically move along the suspension rope. As the fulcrum goes up, the pendulum length is extended, resulting in a smaller stiffness of the SA-STMD, and vice versa. Accordingly, the restoring force in the SA-STMD can be adjusted by varying the fulcrum positions. In the case where the energy dissipation ability by the original STMDs is insufficient, the movable fulcrum in the SA-STMD system can compensate the STMDs for stiffness according to the proposed optimal energy dissipation control algorithm to provide controllable restoring forces. The controllable restoring forces are designed to act as viscous dampers that can make up for the lack of energy dissipation capacity. The numerical results from the time domain and frequency domain analyses show that the proposed approach utilizing the optimal energy dissipation control algorithm to adjust the pendulum length can induce controllable restoring forces with a butterfly-shaped hysteresis loop, supplying a sufficient energy dissipation capacity to reduce responses to the unexpectedly large external vibration. Another potential benefit is cost reduction because of use of a less number of conventional viscous dampers in the STMD system. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We propose and numerically demonstrate that the phenomena of coherent perfect absorption, invisibility, and lasing can be simultaneously realized in a composite structure with both lossy and gain components. The three distinct functions can be independently triggered by incident waves with different orbital angular momenta. For instance, a triple-layer cylinder is demonstrated to simultaneously achieve perfect absorption, invisibility, and lasing under cylindrical monopolar, dipolar, and quadrupolar incidence, respectively. This Letter demonstrates that total attenuation, elimination of scattering, and great amplification can all be constructed in a single non-Hermitian photonic device, which utilizes the orbital angular momentum as a controlling mechanism for customized functions.

Objectives: The effect of delay in imaging on the assessment of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) has not been extensively studied. This study evaluated the effect of different delay times (3, 7, and 10 minutes) on gadobutrol (Gadovist)-enhanced MRI for diagnosis of brain metastases. Patients and Methods: This single-center, blind-reading, post-marketing study enrolled 52 patients with suspected or known brain metastases who received gadolinium-enhanced MR examinations. All the patients received 0.1 mmol/kg dose of gadobutrol, and serial axial T1 FLAIR images were obtained at each MR examination after a delay of 3, 7, and 10 minutes. The images were evaluated by two experienced radiologists independently. The evaluation included subjective and objective evaluations of the image quality. Results: Thirty-four patients were diagnosed with brain metastases. There were 295, 301, and 301 lesions detected in the 3, 7, and 10 minutes delay groups, respectively. Subjective evaluation revealed a higher mean quality score of lesion edge, lesion interior, and overall image quality in the 7 and 10 minutes groups compared to the 3 minutes group. Images in the 7- or 10-min delay groups had significantly greater CNR and CBR than the 3-min group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: A delay time of 7 minutes was considered optimal for imaging after gadobutrol administration in patients with brain metastases.

This study was conducted to evaluate knowledge of undergraduate pharmacy students about human papillomavirus infection and their attitude towards its prevention. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 270 undergraduate pharmacy students using a validated questionnaire to assess knowledge about human papillomavirus infection and cervical cancer and their attitudes towards human papillomavirus vaccines. Eighty-one percent of the respondents knew that human papillomavirus is a cause of cervical cancer, and 87.8 % knew that this infection is preventable. The gender of the respondents showed the strongest correlations with human papillomavirus knowledge. There were no significant correlations between the ethnic group of the respondents and their human papillomavirus-related knowledge. Higher perceptions of risk were associated with relationship status, and respondents who were in a relationship showed greater interest in vaccinating themselves; relationship status emerged as a unique predictor. The results indicated a moderately high level of knowledge and positive attitude towards human papillomavirus vaccination with few disagreements. The results of this study will help to develop and plan appropriate education campaigns for pharmacy students that aim to reduce human papillomavirus infection and, consequently, the incidence of and mortality caused by cervical cancer in Malaysia.

Introduction: Multiple Myeloma (MM) and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) are hematologic malignancies that remain difficult to treat. While autologous CAR-T cell therapies have shown promise in treating these diseases, these therapies are not without issues, including lack of response in many patients, lengthy time to produce CAR-T cells, occasional production failures, as well as high manufacturing costs. As an alternative approach, protein-based T cell engaging and redirecting bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) have been developed. We have generated anti-CD38/CD3 BsAbs to redirect T cells against CD38, a clinically validated antigen in MM and studied their ability to elicit target-dependent tumor cell lysis. The lead molecule is a humanized, stability-engineered CD3-engaging and CD38 antigen affinity-optimized BsAb with reduced effector function to mitigate antigen-independent T cell toxicity. Preclinical data demonstrate potent anti-tumor activity in vitro assays and in vivo studies against CD38-expressing lymphoma and MM cell lines. Methods: Anti-CD38/CD3 BsAbs were generated by CH3 Fc domain interface engineering for heterodimerization of a CD38-targeting Fab arm and anti-CD3-scFv-Fc fusion chain with hinge mutations for reduced FcR affinities. Novel bispecific molecules that bind to CD38 with various affinities/binding kinetics were evaluated in a series of in vitro and in vivo studies, including target-specific redirected T cell cytotoxicity (RTCC) against cancer cell lines. T cell response profiles, and cytokine release. The lead CD38/CD3 BsAb was selected and further evaluated for its ability to inhibit tumor growth and prolong survival in a disseminated luciferase-expressing Raji xenograft mouse model co-implanted with primary human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMC). Results: Our lead CD38/CD3 BsAb possesses the desired CD38 and CD3, affinities resulting in effective tumor antigen and T cell engagement for RTCC. The CD38/CD3 BsAb induced potent T cell-dependent lysis of CD38-positive cancer cells in vitro, with the CD38 antigen density positively correlating with the cytotoxicity potency. Antigen dependent and dose-dependent T cell activation and cytokine release were studied in vitro, with the level of T cell activation and cytokine release being indicative of the anti-tumor potency but not necessarily anti-CD3 affinity. In an in vivo study, we evaluated the impact of CD38 affinity of the BsAb on anti-tumor activity of the BsAbs. The data showed that a balanced CD38 vs CD3 affinity was shown to be preferred for T cell stimulation and prolonged anti-tumor activity. In preclinical cytotoxicity assays against a cancer cell line panel using hPBMC from healthy donors, our lead CD38/CD3 BsAb was benchmarked against daratumumab, a marketed anti-CD38 antibody for MM, and demonstrated more potent tumor cell killing. These data suggest a more robust anti-tumor activity exerted by the CD38/CD3 BsAb through RTCC than daratumumab through antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). In Raji tumor cell-bearing NSG mice implanted with previously unstimulated hPBMCs, our CD38/CD3 BsAb induced tumor growth inhibition and prolonged survival compared to control BsAb or hPBMCs-only treated animals. Conclusions: Our preclinical data demonstrate that our lead CD38/CD3 BsAb recruits T cells against CD38-positive tumor MM and lymphoma cells in a potent target and dose-dependent manner in preclinical studies. These preclinical characterizations support the rationale for clinical investigation of the lead BsAb in selected CD38-positive malignancies. Disclosures He: Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Zhang:Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Lai:Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Baguley:Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Li:Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Cao:Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Yan:Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Takeshita:Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Zeldis:Sorrento Therapeutics Inc: Employment, Equity Ownership. Ji:Sorrento Therapeutics Inc: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties; Celularity, Inc.: Equity Ownership, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Kaufmann:Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties.

A high-temperature superconducting (HTS) band-pass filter centered frequency at 127.5MHz was successfully designed and developed. The HTS filter is 14-pole, adopting compact symmetrical dual-spiral resonators. The filter was fabricated on a 3-inch-diameter 0.5-mm-thick LaAlO3 wafer with double-sided DyBa2Cu3O7 thin films. Through the low temperature test, the insertion loss of the HTS filter is under 0.1dB, the bandwidth is 20 MHz, the return loss is better than-22dB and the out-of-band rejection is greater than 80dB. The filters measurements agree well with the simulation.

SUMMARY Many significantly strong earthquakes have occurred over the years in Taiwan, which have caused tremendous damage to primary and middle school buildings; the 921 Chi-Chi earthquake was particularly devastating. According to statistics, 786 schools (1,958 classrooms) were damaged on September 21, 1999 during this earthquake event. The devastation showed that a lack of seismic performance is a common problem for existing school buildings in Taiwan. Therefore, the retrofit of existing school buildings has become an urgent issue in the prevention of possible damage in the future. The retrofit technique of adding sandwich columns to partition brick walls is proposed in this paper, and the feasibility of the proposed method was verified by in situ pushover tests of two real school buildings, one without and one with retrofit. The experimental and analytical results show that the sandwich column itself contributes significantly to the seismic capacity of the examined school building. Moreover, the analytical results yielded conservative capacity curves when compared with the experimental results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper represents a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) linear phase filter with self-equalization for WCDMA communication system. of the filter have been presented. The principle, equivalent model, theoretical result, coupling matrix, and the simulated result have been presented. The desired filter with 12-pole and 2 cross couplings has a center frequency of 1950 MHz. The measurement results show that the response of practical filters is in good agreement with that of simulated results and theoretical analysis, the group delay variation is less than ±10 ns over 75% of the filter bandwidth.

An isolation system is not very effective when an inappropriate level of damping is used. This paper proposes a theoretical method which can be used to determine the optimal frictional coefficient of an isolation system. Only a one-dimensional isolation system and ground motion are considered. The frictional coefficient is optimized by minimizing the sum of squares of structural absolute accelerations, with the optimization results being validated graphically. Sensitivity studies were used to verify the feasibility of the optimal frictional coefficient, coupled with a practical example in Taipei under the conditions of the Hualien and El Centro earthquakes. Consequently, the feasibility and reliability of the proposed optimal design were verified.

The present study aims at proposing an innovative phase control methodology for semi-active tuned mass dampers (SA-TMDs) that intend to minimize the off-tuned problems associated with passive tuned mass dampers (P-TMDs). The phase control algorithm is first developed, the essential of which is to apply the variable friction force to slow down the mass block at specific moments when the phase lag of the SA-TMD with respect to the structure is different from 90°, resulting in the SA-TMD back to the desired phase lag, i.e., −90° phase deviation, so that the SA-TMD has the maximum power flow to reduce the structural vibration. The feasibility of the application of the phase control in SA-TMDs is verified by performing numerical analyses of a simplified Taipei 101 structure model with a SA-TMD subjected to sinusoidal loads and design level wind loads. The numerical simulation results show that the SA-TMD implemented with phase control can enable the mass block to vibrate in a manner with a phase lag close to the −90° when the structure model is under sinusoidal excitations with frequencies different from the structural fundamental mode. The SA-TMD with phase control not only exhibits better performance than the optimal P-TMD in terms of suppressing the structural vibration, but also enhances its robustness, particularly when the SA-TMD is off-tuned to the structure.

Background The mucolytic and antioxidant effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) may have great value in COPD treatment. However, beneficial effects have not been confirmed in clinical studies, possibly due to insufficient NAC doses and/or inadequate outcome parameters used. The objective of this study was to investigate high-dose NAC plus usual therapy in Chinese patients with stable COPD. Methods The 1-year HIACE (The Effect of High Dose N-acetylcysteine on Air Trapping and Airway Resistance of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease—a Double-blinded, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Trial) double-blind trial conducted in Kwong Wah Hospital, Hong Kong, randomized eligible patients aged 50 to 80 years with stable COPD to NAC 600 mg bid or placebo after 4-week run-in. Lung function parameters, symptoms, modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores, 6-min walking distance (6MWD), and exacerbation and admission rates were measured at baseline and every 16 weeks for 1 year. Results Of 133 patients screened, 120 were eligible (93.2% men; mean age, 70.8 ± 0.74 years; %FEV 1 53.9 ± 2.0%). Baseline characteristics were similar in the two groups. At 1 year, there was a significant improvement in forced expiratory flow 25% to 75% ( P = .037) and forced oscillation technique, a significant reduction in exacerbation frequency (0.96 times/y vs 1.71 times/y, P = .019), and a tendency toward reduction in admission rate (0.5 times/y vs 0.8 times/y, P = .196) with NAC vs placebo. There were no significant between-group differences in mMRC dypsnea score, SGRQ score, and 6MWD. No major adverse effects were reported. Conclusion In this study, 1-year treatment with high-dose NAC resulted in significantly improved small airways function and decreased exacerbation frequency in patients with stable COPD. Trial registry ClinicalTrials.gov ; No.: NCT01136239 ; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov

Hoi Nam Tse,1 Cee Zhung Steven Tseng,1 King Ying Wong,2 Kwok Sang Yee,2 Lai Yun Ng1 1Medical and Geriatric Department, Respiratory Unit, Kwong Wah Hospital, 2Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Unit, Wong Tai Sin Hospital, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China Introduction: Performing lung function test in geriatric patients has never been an easy task. With well-established evidence indicating impaired small airway function and air trapping in patients with geriatric COPD, utilizing forced oscillation technique (FOT) as a supplementary tool may aid in the assessment of lung function in this population. Aims: To study the use of FOT in the assessment of airflow limitation and air trapping in geriatric COPD patients. Study design: A cross-sectional study in a public hospital in Hong Kong. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT01553812. Methods: Geriatric patients who had spirometry-diagnosed COPD were recruited, with both FOT and plethysmography performed. “Resistance” and “reactance” FOT parameters were compared to plethysmography for the assessment of air trapping and airflow limitation. Results: In total, 158 COPD subjects with a mean age of 71.9±0.7 years and percentage of forced expiratory volume in 1 second of 53.4±1.7 L were recruited. FOT values had a good correlation (r=0.4–0.7) to spirometric data. In general, X values (reactance) were better than R values (resistance), showing a higher correlation with spirometric data in airflow limitation (r=0.07–0.49 vs 0.61–0.67), small airway (r=0.05–0.48 vs 0.56–0.65), and lung volume (r=0.12–0.29 vs 0.43–0.49). In addition, resonance frequency (Fres) and frequency dependence (FDep) could well identify the severe type (percentage of forced expiratory volume in 1 second

Depression is associated with a poorer quality of life and higher rate of COPD exacerbations and mortality. However, with multiple confounding factors, ‘independent’ risk factor for depression among COPD patients remains ambiguous. Our study aims to identify independent risk factors for depression by specifically evaluating for any independent relationship between frequent exacerbations and various domains of the BODE index on depression. This study is a cross-sectional study, conducted in Hong Kong SAR. Age and comorbidity-matched COPD and control subjects were recruited. Depressive symptoms were measured by a validated Chinese version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS—15 items). Prevalence rates of depressive symptoms were compared between COPD and control groups. Predictors for depression (GDS ≥ 8) were determined using univariate and multivariate analyses. A total of 161 patients (89 and 72 patients, mean ages 75.2 and 75.6 in COPD and control group, respectively) were recruited. Higher prevalence rate of significant depressive symptoms was seen in COPD patients (20.2 vs. 4.2 %, p = 0.006*). Univariate analysis suggested that predictors for depression in COPD patients included (i) exacerbation frequencies in prior year, (ii) dyspnea level, (iii) BMI, (iv) functional status (Barthel index, 6MWD, activity domain of SGRQ), and (v) BODE index. In multivariate analysis, only the ‘exacerbation frequencies in prior year’ (OR 1.46, p = 0.042*) and ‘dyspnea level’ (MMRC) (OR 2.75, p = 0.001*) remained significant independent predictors for depression in COPD patients. A high prevalence of depressive symptoms was observed in COPD patients. ‘Frequent exacerbation phenotype’ remained a significant independent predictor for depressive symptoms in COPD. Among the BODE index domains, dyspnea level is the most important predictor for depression in COPD patients.

A three-channel high temperature superconducting filter is designed for channelized receiver front-end systems. The principle and equivalent model of the filter has been demonstrated. There is 6-pole for each channel of the desired three-channel filter. The bandwidth of each channel is 40MHz.The simulation result is good agreement with theoretical analysis, illustrating the feasibility of this design. Such a structure of high temperature superconducting filters will have a wide application in communication fields

Seismic resistance of elementary and high school buildings is of great concern due to high earthquake risk in Taiwan. Existing school buildings are often built of similar configurations, and designed based on previous building codes, which are not in compliance with current codes in seismic performance objective. The use of current code procedures on seismic performance assessment of existing typical school buildings may not be applicable in predicting their structural behavior during earthquakes. This paper describes a full-size two-story, three-bay frame structure test of typical school building design in Taiwan, and examines the performance and failure mechanism of the frame structure with current building codes. Results from loading test show good agreement with the code-defined procedures in identifying soft story, weak story, and failure modes of columns, but show different failure mechanism in beam–column joint region, i.e. strong-column–weak-beam is expected by building code procedures, whereas the test specimen exhibits weak-column–strong-beam behavior. Although the joint shear check following current code procedures gives satisfactory results, i.e. is consistent with the experiment, the check on its own is not a reasonable one. Revisions of current checking procedures for failure mechanism in beam column joint and for joint shear are also proposed in this paper for existing non-ductile reinforced concrete school buildings. The revised procedures incorporate the effects of both weak story and weak-column–strong-beam behavior. After adopting the proposed procedures, the predicted structural behavior and failure modes are consistent with those observed from the full-size frame test.

Recently, the benefit of nonlinear isolation systems under resonance or near-fault earthquake has been investigated. In this paper, an eccentric rolling isolation system (ERIS) with additional friction damping is proposed. The isolation object is eccentrically pinned on a set of circular isolators so that the restoring force is nonlinear. To investigate the advantage of the ERIS, a corresponding isolation system with linear restoring force is also considered for comparison. The friction parameters of the two systems with linear and nonlinear restoring force are designed under the far-field El Centro earthquake. The performances of the two isolation systems are inspected under excitations other than the design one. In free vibration, the response of the ERIS decays faster than the corresponding linear system. In resonance sinusoidal excitation, the responses are divergent for the linear system but convergent for the ERIS. The linear system is ineffective but the ERIS is effective due to the nonlinearity under the near-fault Chi-Chi earthquake with various peak ground accelerations.

SUMMARY Optimal design for tuned mass dampers (TMDs) with linear or nonlinear viscous damping is formulated in order for design practitioners to directly compute the optimal parameters of a TMD in a damped structure subjected to wind excitations. The optimal TMD tuning frequency ratio and damping coefficient for a viscous TMD system installed in a damped structure under 10 white noise excitations are determined by using the time-domain optimization procedure, which minimizes the structural response. By applying a sequence of curve-fitting schemes to the obtained optimal values, design formulas for optimal TMDs are then derived. These are expressed as a function of the mass ratio and damping power-law exponent of the TMD as well as the damping ratio of the structure. The feasibility of the proposed optimal design formulas is verified in terms of formulary accuracy and of comparisons with existing formulas from previous research works. In addition, one numerical example of the Taipei 101 building with a nonlinear TMD, which is redesigned according to the proposed optimal formulas, is illustrated in effort to describe the use of the formulas in the TMD design procedure and to investigate the effectiveness of the optimal TMD. The results indicate that the proposed optimal design formulas provide a convenient and effective approach for designing a viscous TMD installed in a wind-excited damped structure. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Thousands of buildings were damaged by the devastating Chi-Chi earthquake on September 21, 1999. Of all the public buildings, school buildings are the most vulnerable to earthquake damage, and the retrofitting of existing school buildings becomes a stringent issue. In addition to cost effectiveness, the impact of retrofitting methods on the functions of the school buildings needs to be considered. This paper therefore proposes the retrofitting of school buildings by adding sandwich columns onto partition brick walls. The sandwich column is divided into two parts and is added to the two sides of the partition brick wall held with pairs of U-shaped bars. The retrofit does not require the removal of windows or doors in the longitudinal direction making the proposed method cost effective and minimizes the impact on the function of the school buildings. Five full-scale specimens without and with retrofitting were designed and fabricated for testing based on the partition brick wall frames of the existing school buildings. The specimens were subjected to cyclic loading in the out-of-plane direction through a loading frame so that the columns deformed with double curvatures. The experimental results verified the feasibility of the proposed retrofit method. The data showed that the lateral strength of the retrofitted specimen doubled that which was not and that the residual strength of the retrofitted specimen was just as high as the ultimate strength of the specimen without retrofitting. The analytical results in lateral strength yielded conservative figures compared with experimental measurements. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The algorithm of modified predictive control (MPC) is derived with the partial-state concept of direct output feedback (DOF) to reduce the number of sensors for real implementation. The feasibility of using modified predictive control with direct output feedback (MPCwDOF) is verified through numerical and experimental study. According to the MPCwDOF algorithm, the online control forces are simply generated from the actual output measurements that are multiplied by a prescribed constant output feedback gain matrix. An off-line numerical method is introduced to find the feedback gain systematically and efficiently. Numerical examples of two control systems with respect to single-controller and multiple-controller systems are illustrated for validating the feasibility of using the MPCwDOF algorithm and the application of the decentralized control strategy to the MPCwDOF algorithm. An experiment of a large-scale 5-story structural model with an MPCwDOF-controlled active mass damper on the roof is also performed. Results indicate that the controlled structures achieve good performance under environmental excitations. Simple online calculations and a small number of sensors make the proposed control algorithm more favorable to real implementation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Optimal design theory for linear tuned mass dampers (TMD) has been thoroughly investigated, but is still under development for nonlinear TMDs. In this paper, optimization procedures in the time domain are proposed for design of a TMD with nonlinear viscous damping. A dynamic analysis of a structure implemented with a nonlinear TMD is conducted first. Optimum design parameters for the nonlinear TMD are searched using an optimization method to minimize the performance index. The feasibility of the proposed optimization method is illustrated numerically by using the Taipei 101 structure implemented with TMD. The sensitivity analysis shows that the performance index is less sensitive to the damping coefficient than to the frequency ratio. Time history analysis is conducted using the Taipei 101 structure implemented with different TMDs under wind excitation. For both linear and nonlinear TMDs, the comfort requirements for building occupants are satisfied as long as the TMD is properly designed. It was found that as the damping exponent increases, the relative displacement of the TMD decreases but the damping force increases.

Many experiments have been studied for bolted beam–column connections for past years to prevent the demerit of welding at the site. Wing plates welded at beam ends of bolted beam–column connections in CFT structures have been studied experimentally by authors to ensure that plastic hinges are away from the welding. This paper studies the effect of wing plates numerically by simulating H-beams in bolted beam–column connections as cantilever beams using ABAQUS. Through convergence and cyclic loading analyses, simulation agrees well with the experimental results. The brittle failure due to developed crack can be predicted once equivalent plastic strain exceeds the maximum plastic strain. From numerical results, the effect of wing plates is verified. Furthermore, suitable formulas for the width of wing plates are derived to prevent the brittle failure of beams. Consequently, it is suggested that the length and the width of wing plates in application should be designed by using the suggested design process proposed in this paper.

Concrete-filled tubes (CFTs) have the advantages of both steel tubes and concrete. For that the confinement of the steel tube on the concrete would enhance the stiffness, strength and ductility of the concrete; also, the filled concrete can decrease the possibility of inward buckling of the steel. In this paper, bidirectional bolted beam-to-column connections for CFTs are proposed. A mechanical model is established to derive theoretical equations for calculating the stiffness, the yielding shear strength and ultimate shear strength of the panel zone. Also, a series of cyclic loading experiments has been conducted to verify it. The experimental results demonstrate that the bidirectional bolted connections have superior earthquake resistance in stiffness, strength, ductility and energy dissipation mechanism. These results indicate that the seismic resistance exceeds those specified in the seismic design codes of Taiwan and the US. Therefore, the bidirectional bolted beam-to-column connection has excellent seismic resistance, and this structural system can perform well as expected and be put into practice.

The seismic response of a structural system equipped with friction-type energy dissipation devices is generally nonlinear. The main reason for this nonlinearity is the friction mechanism that possesses two possible motion states, referred to as stick and slip states. The essential force and kinematic conditions of a friction damper, in these two states, are different. In this paper, by employing a state-space formulation and a linear integration scheme, the discrete-time solution of dynamic response of a structural system equipped with multiple friction devices, which can be in either a stick or slip state, was derived in a single and unified form. The nonlinear friction forces, in each time step of analysis, were solved by satisfying both the force and kinematic conditions of certain motion states. Based on a derived discrete-time solution, a numerical analysis procedure was proposed, which allows the time interval of analysis to remain constant, even at the transition of stick and slip states; thus, it is a systematic and efficient method for numerical implementation. The solution of the method was compared with the analytical free-vibration response of a single DOF system, and also with the harmonic and seismic responses simulated by other conventional numerical methods. These examples demonstrate the accuracy and stability of the proposed method.

Concrete-filled steel tubes (CFT) have the advantage of high strength, high stiffness and being constructed quickly. However, because the behavior of the beam-to-column connection for CFT is complicated and its design has not been sufficiently verified, their use has been limited. In this paper, a new design of bolted beam-to-column connections for CFT is proposed. A mechanical model is established in order to derive theoretical equations for calculating the stiffness, the yielding shear strength and the ultimate shear strength of the panel zone. Also, a series of cyclic loading experiments have been conducted. The experimental results and theoretical results are very close, which demonstrates that the bolted connections have superior seismic resistance in stiffness, strength, ductility and energy dissipation mechanisms. From the laboratory studies, even though the story angular drift reaches 7% and the plastic angular displacement reaches 5%, the structure still stands. Those results indicate that the seismic resistance exceeds those specified in Taiwan and the US.

Applying the principle of virtual work, the slice element method, and the variational method proposed in this paper, one can derive the governing equation and transversality conditions for the rupture surface of a sliding mass of retaining wall and shallow foundation under several external conditions. The governing equation, transversality, and boundary conditions can be solved by the finite difference method (FDM) proposed in this paper, so that the rupture surface and its associated earth pressure acting on the retaining wall or the ultimate bearing capacity acting on the foundation can be determined effectively. By comparison of our results with those of some well known earth pressure and bearing capacity estimating methods, it can be concluded that determining the earth pressure on a retaining wall or the ultimate bearing capacity of a shallow foundation by using the variational method and FDM proposed in this paper, a logical and reasonable result can be obtained without the necessity of guessing the rupture surface.

BACKGROUND Although high-dose N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has been suggested to reduce COPD exacerbations, it is unclear which category of patients with COPD would benefit most from NAC treatment. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of high-dose NAC (600 mg bid) between high-risk and low-risk Chinese patients with COPD. METHODS Patients with spirometry-confirmed stable COPD were randomized to treatment with either NAC 600 mg bid or placebo in addition to their usual treatments. Patients were followed up every 16 weeks for a total of 1 year. Further analysis was performed according to each patient's exacerbation risk at baseline as defined by the current GOLD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) strategy to analyze the effect of high-dose NAC in high-risk and low-risk patients. RESULTS Of the 120 patients with COPD randomized (men, 93.2%; mean age, 70.8 ± 0.74 years; prebronchodilator FEV 1 , 53.9 ± 2.0%; baseline characteristics comparable between treatment groups), 108 (NAC, 52; placebo, 56) completed the 1-year study. For high-risk patients (n = 89), high-dose NAC compared with placebo significantly reduced exacerbation frequency (0.85 vs 1.59 [ P = .019] and 1.08 vs 2.22 [ P = .04] at 8 and 12 months, respectively), prolonged time to first exacerbation ( P = .02), and increased the probability of being exacerbation free at 1 year (51.3% vs 24.4%, P = .013). This beneficial effect of high-dose NAC vs placebo was not significant in low-risk patients. CONCLUSIONS High-dose NAC (600 mg bid) for 1 year reduces exacerbations and prolongs time to first exacerbation in high-risk but not in low-risk Chinese patients with COPD. TRIAL REGISTRY ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT01136239; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov

The synthesized signal testing equipment is widely used in the field of wireless communication. A new design method of FLEX and POCSAG page testing instrument is introduced, which is based on MCU encoder, FPGA control and digital RF. The technology of DDS and PLL is also presented.

The monitoring system of ship cabin based on single chip computer is introduced. The system can inspect the signal circulatively coming from sensors of all kinds, and give alarm when limit is broken. It demonstrated the working principles, hardware block diagram and software flow diagram of the system.

Electrical properties and phase structures of (Si+N)-codoped Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) for phase change memory are investigated to improve the memory performance. Compared to the films with N or Si dopants only in previous reports, the (Si+N)-doped GST has a remarkable improvement of crystalline resistivity of about 104mΩcm. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy spectrum reveals the Si–N bonds formation in the film. X-ray diffraction patterns show that the grain size is reduced due to the crystallization inhibition of the amorphous GST by SiNx, which results in higher crystalline resistivity. This is very useful to reduce writing current for phase change memory applications.

The essential feedback signals for direct output feedback control are limited to velocities and direct acceleration feedback control is found to be unfeasible even though accelerometers are favorable sensors from the viewpoint of measurement. In this paper, acceleration feedback control becomes feasible when the feedback data is extended to cover accelerations of the previous time-steps. A multi-step acceleration feedback control algorithm is derived through an optimization process such that a certain prescribed quadratic performance index is minimized. Control forces are simply generated from acceleration information of the current and previous time-steps. The feasibility of the proposed control algorithm is verified numerically by the tendon control of structures subjected to real earthquake excitation. The control effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is close to that of state feedback control algorithm. Simple on-line calculation and availability of accelerometers make the proposed control algorithm favorable to realtime control implementation.

The multiple-state storage capability of phase change memory (PCM) is confirmed by using stacked chalcogenide films as the storage medium. The current–voltage characteristics and the resistance–current characteristics of the PCM clearly indicate that four states can be stored in this stacked film structure. Qualitative analysis indicates that the multiple-state storage capability of this stacked film structure is due to successive crystallizations in different Si–Sb–Te layers triggered by different amplitude currents.

Si-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 films have been prepared by dc magnetron co-sputtering with Ge2Sb2Te5 and Si targets. The addition of Si in the Ge2Sb2Te5 film results in the increase of both crystallization temperature and phase-transition temperature from face-centred-cubic (fcc) phase to hexagonal (hex) phase. The resistivity of the Ge2Sb2Te5 film shows a significant increase with the Si doping. When doping 11.8 at.% of Si in the film, the resistivity after 460°C annealing increases from 1 to 11 mΩ.cm and dynamic resistance increase from 64 to 99Ω compared to the undoped Ge2Sb2Te5 film. This is very helpful to writing current reduction of phase-change random access memory.

This bioethics article deals with the conflict and difficulty in quality of life judgements. The importance and roles of the various stakeholders in determining the management of critically ill infants are described. This is an in-depth insider perspective of one of the most difficult medical decision making processes when dealing with infants with poor prognoses. The complex treatment options often fraught with ethical dilemmas and conflict are discussed from the viewpoints of patient, family, and physician. The role of the ethics committee and legislation in the decision making process is discussed.

As advances in medical technology are constantly re-defining the lower limit of newborn viability, the practice of withholding/withdrawing treatment in neonatal care is increasingly prevalent. Now more than ever, physicians working in neonatal intensive care units have to constantly face the ethical dilemma of terminating the neonates' life support, sometimes against the parents' desire. Traditionally and legally, parents have the duty to make decisions on behalf of their infants because they are the ones to whom the consequences matter the most. Physicians, on the other hand, often claim for themselves the role of the child's advocate, with the growing acceptance of the patient's “best interest” standard as the guiding principle. In this mini literature review, the authors examined the issue of medical authority versus parental autonomy in neonatal end-of-life (EoL) decision-making and found that consultations with parents were made in the majority (79–100%) of cases. Furthermore, conflicts between doctors and family were shown to occur quite frequently due to barriers to effective communication such as strong religious convictions and disagreements within medical team members. Only by encouraging active parental participation and overcoming some of these barriers, physicians and the patient's family could arrive at an ethically sound EoL decision.

The contribution of this paper is a methodology for profiling literature in Management Information Systems (MIS) using a powerful software for co-citation analysis — Citespace. We analyze ten years of research published in the Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS) from 2000 to 2009. The analysis of the published material includes examining variables such as most productive authors, universities with the most publications, geographic diversity and citation analysis. This study has also identified potentially important studies that have contributed to the expanding and collection of intellectual wealth of JMIS. Other IS/MIS journals whose works have largely influenced and led the researchers published in JMIS have also been highlighted. The primary value of this paper lies in extending the understanding of the evolution and patterns of MIS research. This work also has implications for researchers, universities, research institutions and journal editors. We hope that the readers will employ and extend the given methodology to conduct similar studies in MIS and other research areas.

Aim: Demands for diagnostic and intervention services in childhood developmental and behavioural disorders (CDABD) have increased in Singapore. With earlier enrolment of some 50 000 children in pre-schools, early childhood educators must be well-versed in normal development (ND) and CDABD, to help detect children with potential difficulties and refer for early diagnosis and intervention. Methods: Knowledge, attitudes and practices in ND and CDABD were evaluated among 503 pre-school teachers, most aged 30–44 years. With a median pre-school experience of 6.0 (0.1, 40) years, most had received formal training in early childhood but not special-needs (SN) education. Results: A pass rate in knowledge (≥50% total-score) was achieved in 56%, with the overall median total-score of 50 (0, 87)%. In specific blocks on ND, autistic spectrum disorder and attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, pass-rate was achieved in 66%, 68% and 32%, with median block-scores of 56 (0, 100)%, 50 (0, 100)%, 40 (0, 100)% respectively. Results on attitudes and perceptions revealed that most supported mainstream integration and aides in the classroom, agreeing that both the government and parents should pay for such support services. While most felt unequipped, further training interested them, with >90% wanting to and feeling that they could make a difference for these children. Conclusion: This study demonstrated educational deficits in CDABD among our pre-school teachers. Yet, most care and want to improve their skills to aid integration and improve SN education, calling for more training and resource support. Necessary changes in policy and resource allocation should occur to allow better-integrated adults of tomorrow.

Pose and illumination changings from picture to picture are two main barriers toward full automatic face recognition. In this paper, a novel method to handle both pose and lighting conditions simultaneously is proposed, which calibrates the pose and lighting to a predefined reference condition through an illumination invariant 3D face reconstruction. First, some located facial landmarks and a priori statistical deformable 3D model are used to recover an elaborate 3D shape. Based on the recovered 3D shape, the "texture image" calibrated to a standard illumination is generated by spherical harmonics ratio image and finally the illumination independent 3D face is reconstructed completely. The proposed method combines the strength of statistical deformable model to describe the shape information and the compact representations of the illumination in spherical frequency space, and handles both the pose and illumination variation simultaneously. This algorithm can be used to synthesize virtual views of a given face image and enhance the performance of face recognition. Experimental results on CMU PIE database show that this method can significantly improve the accuracy of the existing face recognition method when pose and illumination are inconsistent between gallery and probe sets.