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Pulse diagnosis is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine’s four examinations: looking, smelling, asking, and cutting. The pulse signal can reflect the health of the human body’s internal haslets. With the development of information technology, the emergence of various pulse collection equipment and analysis algorithms provides a broad platform for the development of digital Chinese medicine. This article summarizes the currently commonly used pulse collection and analysis techniques, and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of various collection and analysis methods, and finally proposes the improvement direction for the current research status, which provides a reference for the objectification of TCM diagnosis.

The far infrared instrument SAFARI spectrometer on board the SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) provides moderate resolution spectra (R~300) with simultaneous coverage over 34 to 230 μm. With the high sensitivity TES detectors, the SAFARI can reach the sensitivity down to ~7×10-20 W/m2. In order to provide accurate calibration for the TES readout circuit, a calibration source assembly (CSA) is developed to provide a stable and absolute flux radiation to the spectrometer over the whole spectral range. The CSA has a primary function during observations to take periodic reference measurement to correct for drift, subtracting backgrounds, etc from the detector. The CSA is composed of three microlamps and one integrating sphere. The microlamps are made of resistance wires by microlithography to mimic square blackbody sources. By combining an 81K microlamp and a 24K microlamp, a reasonably flat spectrum can be produced at the output of the integrating sphere. The radiation to the transition edge sensor detector pixel is around 1×10-16 W. The integrating sphere can also provide a uniform output to cover the size of SAFARI field of view including the target and sky pixels. In this paper, the CSA design and the prototype results of the microlamp and the integrating sphere are presented.

Many high-birefringence asymmetric microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) have been numerically designed and analyzed, but the fabrication of asymmetric MOF is challenging, especially those with elliptical structures. In this work, we designed, fabricated and modelled an asymmetric glass MOF in which the structure is asymmetric and the air holes are elliptical. SF57 glass was selected due to the high refraction index and low absorption in the Terahertz region. From simulations based on the finite difference (FD) method at 1060.0 μm, the polarizations of the first two modes are perpendicular to each other and the effective refraction indices are different, which lead to the birefringence of this MOF as high as 0.090. The plane-wave expansion method was used to verify the FD calculations, where both results are consistent and the difference is about 0.1%.

Both the vectorial diffraction theory and the Fraunhofer approximation method are used to calculate diffractive images. In those cases, 13.5 nm light is normally incident on Fresnel zone plates (FPZs) of which the focuses are all 0.3 mm. By investigating the calculations using the vectorial diffraction theory, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) intensities of the first-order diffraction along $$x$$ -axis ( $$\phi =0^{\circ }$$ ) are 17.2 and 8.7 nm for 2,000-zone and 10,000-zone FZPs, respectively. The comparison between two methods shows that FWHM errors along $$\phi =0^{\circ }$$ are 4.2 and 22.3 %, and along $$\phi =45^{\circ }$$ are 3.3 and 33.1 % for 2,000-zone and 10,000-zone FZPs, respectively. Furthermore, maximum intensity errors are 12.3 % for the 2,000-zone FZP and 33.5 % for the 10,000-zone FZP in our study cases.

An optical scheme using two correlationless beams to suppress the speckle of the pico-projection system is proposed. By using two broadband beam splitters (BBS) and two high reflection mirrors, the originally incident laser beam is split into two beams. The mutual correlation coefficient between two split beams is very close to zero. We use the haze reflection based on the random scattering model to simulate light reflected from the rough surface. In simulations, light is respectively reflected from the same size flat and rough surfaces and both recorded images are compared with each other. The image from flat surface is very clear on the detector plane. On the contrary, the image from rough surface is very fuzzy and the edge is hard to figure out. The simulations show that the speckle contrast ratio (CR) is reduced from 1.0 to 0.707. We find out a solution of the speckleCRless than 0.71 when the distance between two BBSs is 2.4 mm and the thickness of each BBS is 0.4 mm. Finally, we carry out an experiment and verify the simulating results. By our analysis from the experimental data, the speckleCRcan be reduced about 25% which is close to the theoretical value of 29.3%.

A program based on the SOR method have been setup for calculating the electrostatic potential inside the electron optical system (EOS). This method can deal with large domain calculation more efficiently than by using the finite difference or finite element methods. Since the MEBDW system is composed of an array of EOSs, periodic boundary conditions in thexandydirections are applied. A case of EOS is demonstrated in this paper.

The rotational invariance of the effective refractive index in the 2-D photonic crystal is discussed. It is proven that, in the case of the n -fold symmetrical ω-k equifrequency surface (EFS), there are two solutions that show the invariance of the effective refractive index after rotating a multiple of the basic repeated angle 2 π/n within the first Brillouin zone. For the noncircular solution, the behavior of the effective refractive index Neff(θ) at normal incidence shows that Neff(0°) has an additional constant of two in the very high symmetric EFS, higher than in the low symmetric case.

BACKGROUND: Oil bodies isolated from sesame seeds coalesced to form large oil drops when they were solidified in a drying process commonly used for food products. The aim of this study was to develop a protocol to solidify oil bodies for long-term storage at room temperature. RESULTS: On the basis of testing several excipients, the coalescence of oil bodies could be effectively prevented when they were combined with mannitol. Sizes of oil bodies appeared similar under a light microscope before and after powderisation in combination with 70% or more mannitol. Artificial oil bodies were successfully generated with sesame oil, phospholipid and recombinant sesame caleosin. Following the developed protocol, native and artificial oil bodies were stably solidified in tablets. Both native and artificial oil bodies dissolved from the tablets remained stable after an accelerated stress test under a condition of 75% humidity at 40 °C for 4 months. CONCLUSION: A protocol was successfully developed for the solidification of native and artificial oil bodies in stable powder and tablet forms. This successful protocol is very likely to expedite the utilisation of artificial oil bodies in their potential applications. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

Based on the characteristics of centralized supervision, local distribution and overall mobility, a cold chain transportation monitoring system is designed. In this system, STM32 microprocessor is used as the main controller of the data transfer module, wireless module based on SX1212 chip is utilized to Ad Hoc network, GPRS module is utilized to upload data to server. This system can monitor temperature, humidity, battery capacity, and route information, to ensure smooth and safe operation of Cold Chain Transportation. The system is stably, safe, as well as energy saving.

Few anesthesia studies have explored perioperative continuous epidural infusion of neostigmine. We examined such a regimen in thoracotomy patients. Ninety patients were randomized to one of three groups in this double-blind trial. Before anesthesia induction, an epidural catheter was inserted in all patients at T5-8 levels under local anesthesia. Pre-neo patients received bolus 500-microg epidural neostigmine before anesthesia induction followed by infusion of 125 microg/h until the end of surgery. Post-neo patients received epidural saline during the same time periods plus bolus 500-microg epidural neostigmine at end of surgery. Patients in the control group received saline placebo during all three periods. Patients in the neostigmine groups postoperatively received patient-controlled epidural analgesia with morphine 0.02 mg/mL, bupivacaine 0.08 mg/mL, and neostigmine 7 microg/mL. Control patient-controlled epidural analgesia excluded neostigmine. Data were recorded for 6 postoperative days. Daily patient-controlled epidural analgesia consumption (mL) for Pre-neo patients was significantly less than that of post-neo and control group patients for postoperative days 1-6 (at least 10% and 16% less, respectively; P0.05). There was a modest decrease in pain intensity on postoperative days 3-6 for pre-neo patients versus other groups (P0.05). These results suggest that continuous thoracic epidural neostigmine started before anesthesia provided preemptive, preventive analgesia and an analgesic-sparing effect that improved postoperative analgesia for these patients without increasing the incidence of adverse effects.

We have proposed a sawtooth photonic crystal formed by Si-SiO2 periodic layers designed on a planar medium as a polarizer. The polarizer can produce H-polarized light very efficiently because the frequency of E-polarized light is chosen at the photonic band gap but that of H-polarized light at the photonic conduction band. The best polarization ratio is as high as 2.56 × 105 : 1 when the normalized frequency α/λ is 0.24 and the incident angle is about 13°. Highly polarized light can be produced in a normalized frequency range from 0.23 to 0.25, and this can possibly be applied to an LED with a certain bandwidth.

We propose a two-dimensional heterostructure photonic crystal (PhC) waveguide splitter composed of different air-hole radii in the core and claddings. Two PhCs in the core and claddings are treated as two effective homogeneous media in the first photonic band. By using a triangular coupler in the input port, light can be efficiently coupled from the conventional waveguide into the PhC waveguide splitter. Total internal reflections take place at outer interfaces and confine light in the PhC waveguide very well. Finally, incident light is divided into three parts, and each of them couples to output waveguides with total transmission more than 90%.

We have designed a two-dimensional triangular photonic crystal using a copper oxide high-temperature superconductor that can control the superprism effect. The refractive direction of light in the photonic crystal is determined by calculating the direction of the group velocity of the light in the photonic crystal. By tuning the temperature of the superconductor, the photonic band structure as well as the equifrequency surface is changed. When the incident angle is fixed, the refractive angle can be changed by varying the temperature. We choose an operation frequency of ω=0.83(2πc/a) and a fixed incident angle of θ=13° for discussion. The refractive angle of light in the photonic crystal changes about 28° when the temperature is increased from T=5 to 100 K. All the equifrequency surfaces of the photonic crystal are calculated by the plane-wave expansion method, and simulations on the propagation of light are investigated by the finite-difference time-domain method.

We develop a continuous wave terehertz (THz) imaging system operating at 288 GHz. This imaging system simply consitutes three parts including the source, two optical lenses, and the detector. The entire size is smaller than the tranditional pulsed THz imaging system. In this developed system, the THz wave is generated by a horn attenna which concentrates the wave in an azimuth angle of 3° ~ 5°. The source originates from a singnal generator, and then the frequency increases to 288 GHz after passing through an 8X multiplier. Next, THz wave is focused by a THz lens on the test sample. By controling the sample position in the x-z plane, we can scan it pixel-by-pixel in which each step along the x- or z- axes is 0.1 mm. After penetrating the test sample, another lens collects the transmitted THz wave and focuses them into the thermal detector. This detector can disply the collected THz power. Finally, by drawing the detected power of each pixel, a transmitted-intensity figure for all pixels is obtained. The resolution of this THz imaging system is about 1~2 mm at present. We have measured human molar tooth and obtained its transmitted figures. Besides, we also develop a technology to adjust the positions of the source and detector by a system containing one laser, one beamsplitter, and two mirrors. The relative positions between the source and detector is very important. The input of the source and the output of the detector are small so that they have to aim at each other very accurately in order to collect maximum transmitted power in the detector.

Electron-beam lithography is promising for future manufacturing technology because it does not suffer from wavelength limits set by light sources. Since single electron-beam lithography systems have a common problem in throughput, a multi-electron-beam lithography (MEBL) system should be a feasible alternative using the concept of massive parallelism. In this paper, we evaluate the advantages and the disadvantages of different MEBL system architectures, and propose our novel Massively Parallel MaskLess Lithography System, MPML2. MPML2 system is targeting for cost-effective manufacturing at the 32nm node and beyond. The key structure of the proposed system is its beamlet array cells (BACs). Hundreds of BACs are uniformly arranged over the whole wafer area in the proposed system. Each BAC has a data processor and an array of beamlets, and each beamlet consists of an electron-beam source, a source controller, a set of electron lenses, a blanker, a deflector, and an electron detector. These essential parts of beamlets are integrated using MEMS technology, which increases the density of beamlets and reduces the system cost. The data processor in the BAC processes layout information coming off-chamber and dispatches them to the corresponding beamlet to control its ON/OFF status. High manufacturing cost of masks is saved in maskless lithography systems, however, immense mask data are needed to be handled and transmitted. Therefore, data compression technique is applied to reduce required transmission bandwidth. The compression algorithm is fast and efficient so that the real-time decoder can be implemented on-chip. Consequently, the proposed MPML2 can achieve 10 wafers per hour (WPH) throughput for 300mm-wafer systems.

When EUV light is used to inspect mask defects, the reflective photons reveal information for both the mask structure and the mask defects. The number of reflective photons has to be enough for generating sufficient detector signals. A modeling technique based on Feynman path integral is utilized to calculate the number of reflective extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) photons scattered from photomask surfaces. For a 2D semicircular silicon defect, the capability of predicting the moving direction for each reemitting photon and the intensity of photons in different direction has been demonstrated.

Multiple-electron-beam–direct-write lithography is one of the promising candidates for next-generation lithography because of its high resolution and ability of maskless operation. In order to achieve the thro ughput requirement for high-volume manufacturing, miniaturized electro-optics elements are utilized in order to drive massively parallel beams simultaneously. Electron beam drift problems can become quite serious in multiple-beam syst ems. Periodic recalibration with reference markers on the wafer has been utilized in single-beam systems to achieve beam placement accuracy. This technique becomes impractical with multiple beams. In this work, architecture of a two dimensional beam position monitor system for multiple-electron-beam lithography is proposed. It consists of an array of miniaturized electron detectors placed above the wafer to detect backscattered electrons. The relation between beam drift and distribution of backscattered-electron trajectories is simulated by an in-house Monte Carlo electron-scattering simulator. Simulation results indicate that electron beam drift may be effectively estimated from output signals of detector array with some array signal processing to account for cross-coupling effects between beams. Keywords: Electron beam lithography, Monte Carlo simulation, electron beam drift, beam position monitor system

We describe a case of chronic renal failure developing life-threatening cardiovascular collapse during the insertion of central venous catheter for hemodialysis under general anesthesia in a 7-year-old boy. With timely resuscitation, he regained his vital signs within 20 min. However, after admission to the pediatric intensive care unit, visual impairment and four limb weakness were detected on the first postoperative day. Fortunately, symptoms resolved completely with close observation, psychological support and conservative management within 72 h without sequelae.

ARROW-B surface plasmon resonance sensors operating in aqueous environment for biomolecular interaction analysis are investigated. The detectable changes of the refractive index down to the order of 10/spl sim/5 can be achieved.

The oscillation model of the circular membrane is used to calculate the effective refractive index of the two-dimensional triangular photonic crystal at normal incidence within the second photonic band. Negatively effective refractive indices deduced from this model match those calculated by equifrequency surfaces very well. The result reveals that the field distribution has relation with the effective refractive index at certain frequency regions. Besides, the field distribution described by the Bessel function is more compact than the Fourier series expansion.

We propose the decoupled internal-field expansion (IFE) method to discuss refractions in the photonic crystal (PhC). This method decouples the full wave in the PhC and classifies them into two categories including the forward-propagating and backward-propagating waves denoted by the index n. A triangular-PhC case is demonstrated and both positive and negative refractions are discussed by this method. The incident angle of 10° results in the positive refracted wave with the refracted angle about 8°, which approximately corresponds to the forward wave of n=0 order. The negative refracted waves, which exist in the left and right edge regions, propagate almost parallel to the interfaces between the PhC and outside media. Meanwhile, due to the interaction between the negative refracted wave and the nearest few rows of air cylinders, the reflected wave and another weaker negative refracted wave are created. Finally, the weaker negative refracted waves from both edge regions interfere with each other in the middle region. It is found out that the negative refracted waves in edge regions as well as the interfered wave in the middle region can be constructed by two n=-1 forward and backward waves. On the other hand, the positive refracted wave is composed of the n=0 forward wave dressed other n≠0 forward waves, the propagation angle is affected by these dressed waves, especially near the edge region. Finally, another case proves this point of view explicitly.

We fabricated large-area, vertically aligned silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays on Si substrates employing catalytic etching on a polystyrene nanosphere template. The density of SiNWs was as high as 1010/cm2, and the bottom radii of SiNWs ranged between 30 and 60 nm. The reflection from the SiNW layer was approximately 0.1% over the spectral range of 300–800 nm for SiNWs longer than 750 nm. Effective medium theory was applied to explain this extremely low reflection, and it was confirmed that the incident light scatters randomly inside cone-like SiNWs, which lengthens the actual traveling path of light.

We design a high-efficiency two-dimensional photonic crystal (PhC) Y-branch waveguide formed as a heterostructure with two different triangular PhCs composed of air holes. At photonic-band frequency regions corresponding to circular equifrequency surfaces, the two PhCs could be taken as effective homogeneous media with effective refractive indices. A triangular coupler composed of the PhC is designed at the input port in order to divide the incident beam into two parts. The two parts finally propagate into different channels. A case demonstrated here shows that the total transmission of light passing through the Y-branch waveguide is about 91.2%. The propagation phenomena can be explained by the mechanism of total internal reflection very well.

The modified transmission line theory is used to calculate equivalent refractive indices of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask multilayer (ML) over wavelengths from 13.35 to 13.65 nm for finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. Generally speaking, a fine mesh requiring huge memory and computation time are necessary to get accurate results in an FDTD simulation. However, it is hard to get accurate results for ML simulation due to the thin thickness of each layer. By means of an equivalent refractive index, the ML can be treated as one layer with the bulk effective material. Using FDTD simulations, we study the reflectivities of 40 Mo/Si ML and bulk material cases. The ML structure and bulk material with periodic excessive surface roughness as well as patterned with periodic contact holes are also studied by using two- and three-dimensional FDTD simulations. The simulation cases for a single wavelength and for a full-bandwidth EUV light source with a 6 ML system are studied. The results from each simulation show that the root mean square error between ML simulations and the bulk material simulations are confined within 3.3%, and all cases indicate that the FDTD computation time of bulk material is about half as compared with a 40-ML simulation.

Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) light is used to inspect the Si photomask by analyzing the reflective photons. We demonstrated the re-emitting EUV photons from the flat Si surface and a two-dimensional semicircular Si defect by using the Monte Carlo method with a Gaussian phase function, respectively. The results of a model based on the Feynman path integral matches those of the Monte Carlo method very well by multiplying a correction function. The intensity of re-emitting photons from the defect can offer enough signals at the angle intersecting the surface less than 20°.

Aim: Feeling distressed is often a normal reaction to the diagnosis of cancer and cancer treatment. However, if excessive, distress may lead to more disabling conditions such as depression and anxiety. The aims of the study were to determine the prevalence and level of distress in patients with cancer who were undergoing chemotherapy and to examine the associated factors related to psychological distress in these patients. Methods: Adult patients with confirmed cancer who were undergoing out-patient chemotherapy at the Clinical Oncology Unit, Universiti Malaya Medical Centre were invited to participate in the study. They were assessed on their sociodemographic profiles, clinical history, distress level as measured using the ‘Distress Thermometer’, and problems checklist on practical, family, emotional and physical symptoms. The Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) was used by patients to report anxiety and depression. Results: One hundred and sixty-eight patients with mean age of 50 years participated in the study. The prevalence of psychological distress determined by the ‘Distress Thermometer’ was 51%. HADS found the prevalence of depression/anxiety to be 32%. There was no significant association between distress and the primary site of cancer, the phase of chemotherapy and the sociodemographic profiles except for age (r = −0.21, P = 0.007). Distress was significantly associated with practical, family and emotional problems. Some of the physical problems such as appearance, breathing, changes in urination, constipation, eating, fatigue, getting around, memory/concentration, nausea, pain and sleep were also significantly associated with distress. Conclusion: Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy experienced high level of distress. This finding should alert oncologists that some patients exhibiting these signs of distress may need referral to the mental health team.

A tunable Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a two-dimensional photonic crystal structure using copper oxide high-temperature superconductor is proposed. This photonic crystal is composed of rods of which axes are perpendicular to the two-dimensional anisotropic copper oxide plane. By tuning the temperature of the superconductor, the refractive index of the superconductor as well as the photonic band gap can be changed. The photonic band structures of two-dimensional photonic crystals composed of the superconductor are calculated by using the plane-wave expansion method, and interference properties are investigated by using the finite-difference time-domain method. For our designed photonic crystal Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the simulation results show that the light transmission can be modulated from 92.7% to 1.4% with different temperature distributions.