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Computing-in-memory (CIM) based on embedded nonvolatile memory is a promising candidate for energy-efficient multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) operations in artificial intelligence (AI) edge devices. However, circuit design for NVM-based CIM (nvCIM) imposes a number of challenges, including an area-latency-energy tradeoff for multibit MAC operations, pattern-dependent degradation in signal margin, and small read margin. To overcome these challenges, this article proposes the following: 1) a serial-input non-weighted product (SINWP) structure; 2) a down-scaling weighted current translator (DSWCT) and positive–negative current-subtractor (PN-ISUB); 3) a current-aware bitline clamper (CABLC) scheme; and 4) a triple-margin small-offset current-mode sense amplifier (TMCSA). A 55-nm 1-Mb ReRAM-CIM macro was fabricated to demonstrate the MAC operation of 2-b-input, 3-b-weight with 4-b-out. This nvCIM macro achieved $T_{\text {MAC}}= 14.6$ ns at 4-b-out with peak energy efficiency of 53.17 TOPS/W.

Locknut is a critical component used in the precision machinery and its stable service performance over a long period of time in a variety of different environments presents a crucial challenge. In this study, a flank-locking precision locknut was pretreated in an immersion corrosion of 5 wt% NaCl solution to simulate the possible corrosion effects. The tightening and loosening of the locknut after 0-, 1-, 2- and 4-h corrosion treatments, respectively, was tested according to the ISO 2320 Standard. An in-house test setup with horizontal configuration was employed in measuring the torque–axial force characteristics under loading–unloading cycles. It was found that the corrosion of the locknut accelerated after 1-h immersion. The corroded specimens after 2- and 4-h treatment demonstrated more variance in measured tightening and loosening torques than their less corroded counterparts. However, after five loading–unloading cycles, the variance in measured torque decreased and the associated torque constants became more stable. Moreover, the torque constants were ∼10% higher for the 2- and 4-h corrosion-treated locknuts than their pristine counterpart. The surface morphology after corrosion and friction wear was closely related to the measured testing results.

The influence of combined corrosion and vibration to the anti-loosening performance of a precision locknut used in a machine tool is investigated. Firstly, the locknut was submerged in 5% NaCl solution according to ASTM B895 standard for corrosion testing. The locknuts, after submerged in 1-hr, 2-hr and 4-hr periods, respectively, were then installed on the rotating spindle in a vertical dynamic impact tester for performing anti-loosening test. The initial installed pretension was 9800 N and the spindle was rotating in a constant speed of 1000 rpm. Turmogrease Li 802 EP lubricant was used on the contact surface between spindle thread and locknut. The set screws on the locknut were tightened sequentially and evenly in three-stage of torque: 1.96 N-m, 3.92 N-m and 5.88 N-m. Its real-time pretension variation with the periodic transverse impact and its final loosening torque were measured. Accordingly, the axial force ratio and anti-loosening torque ratio were calculated and discussed. It was found that corrosion treatment had similar influence on both the axial force ratio and the anti-loosening torque ratio. More corrosion on the locknut with longer submersion in NaCl solution deteriorated its anti-loosening characteristics. The result could serve as the reference for evaluating the fastening performance of precision locknut and guide the design and manufacturing for the application improvement.

Background Underlying pathophysiological mechanisms drive excessive clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors, causing metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, MetS status may transform as adolescents transition to young adulthood. This study evaluated the latent clustering structure and its stability for MetS during adolescence and investigated the determinants for MetS transformation over 2 years of follow-up. Methods A community-based representative adolescent cohort (n=1516) was evaluated for MetS using four diagnostic criteria and followed for 2.2 years to identify new-onset MetS. Factor analysis and polytomous logistic regression were separately applied to investigate the latent clustering structure for MetS and the relationship between changes in metabolic risk factors and transformations in MetS status. Results The clustering pattern of cardiometabolic parameters was comparable at baseline and follow-up surveys; both comprised a fat‒blood pressure‒glucose three-factor structure (total variance explained: 68.8% and 69.7%, respectively). Among adolescents who were MetS-negative at baseline, 3.2%‒4.4% had incident MetS after 2 years. Among adolescents who were MetS-positive at baseline, 52.0%‒61.9% experienced MetS remission, and 38.1%‒48.0% experienced MetS persistence. Increased systolic blood pressure (SBP) was associated with a higher risk of MetS incidence, and decreased SBP, triglycerides, and glucose levels were associated with MetS remission. Compared with adolescents with a normal metabolic status at baseline, those having an initial abnormal status in the five MetS components all had greater risks for persistent metabolic abnormality 2 years later, with abdominal obesity and increased triglycerides rendering a 15.0- and 5.7-fold risk, respectively. Conclusions The structure of cardiometabolic parameter clustering for MetS is stable during adolescence. Changes in metabolic risk factors affect typological transformation of adolescent MetS. Abnormal MetS components have a high probability of persisting. Early identification of each abnormal component and attendant intervention are vital in adolescents to minimize the future risk of cardiometabolic disorders.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between frailty and polypharmacy using three different frailty screening tools. This was a cross-sectional study of people aged ≥65 years. Participants were included and interviewed using questionnaires. Polypharmacy was defined as the daily use of eight or more pills. Frailty was assessed using a screening tool, including (1) the Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illness and Loss of Weight Index (5-item FRAIL scale), (2) the Cardiovascular Health Phenotypic Classification of Frailty (CHS_PCF) index (Fried’s Frailty Phenotype), and (3) the Study of Osteoporotic Fracture (SOF) scale. A total of 205 participants (mean age: 71.1 years, 53.7% female) fulfilled our inclusion criteria. The proportion of patients with polypharmacy was 14.1%. After adjustments were made for comorbidity or potential confounders, polypharmacy was associated with frailty on the 5-item FRAIL scale (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 9.12, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.6–23.16), CHS_PCF index (aOR: 8.98, 95% CI: 2.51–32.11), and SOF scale (aOR: 6.10, 95% CI: 1.47–25.3). Polypharmacy was associated with frailty using three frailty screening tools. Future research is required to further enhance our understanding of the risk of frailty among older adults.

Transcriptional regulation is one of the key steps in determining gene expression. Diverse single-molecule techniques have been applied to characterize the stepwise progression of transcription, yielding complementary results. These techniques include, but are not limited to, fluorescence-based microscopy with single or multiple colors, force measuring and manipulating microscopy using magnetic field or light, and atomic force microscopy. Here, we summarize and evaluate these current methodologies in studying and resolving individual steps in the transcription reaction, which encompasses RNA polymerase binding, initiation, elongation, mRNA production, and termination. We also describe the advantages and disadvantages of each method for studying transcription.

Classification between individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy controls (HC) based on electroencephalography (EEG) has been considered a challenging task to be addressed for the purpose of its early detection. In this study, we proposed a novel EEG feature, the kernel eigen-relative-power (KERP) feature, for achieving high classification accuracy of MCI versus HC. First, we introduced the relative powers (RPs) between pairs of electrodes across 21 different subbands of 2-Hz width as the features, which have not yet been used in previous MCI-HC classification studies. Next, the Fisher’s class separability criterion was applied to determine the best electrode pairs (five electrodes) as well as the frequency subbands for extracting the most sensitive RP features. The kernel principal component analysis (kernel PCA) algorithm was further performed to extract a few more discriminating nonlinear principal components from the optimal RPs, and these components form a KERP feature vector. Results carried out on 51 participants (24 MCI and 27 HC) show that the newly introduced subband RP feature showed superior classification performance to commonly used spectral power features, including the band power, single-electrode relative power, and also the RP based on the conventional frequency bands. A high leave-one-participant-out cross-validation (LOPO-CV) classification accuracy 86.27% was achieved by the RP feature, using a simple linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classifier. Moreover, with the same classifier, the proposed KERP further improved the accuracy to 88.24%. Finally, cascading the KERP feature to a nonlinear classifier, the support vector machine (SVM), yields a high MCI-HC classification accuracy of 90.20% (sensitivity = 87.50% and specificity = 92.59%). The proposed method demonstrated a high accuracy and a high usability (only five electrodes are required), and therefore, has great potential to further develop an EEG-based computer-aided diagnosis system that can be applied for the early detection of MCI.

The increased demand for high-speed, high-precision, stable, and long-life machine tools has made high-precision spindles an important topic of research. The key component of the machine tool spindle that supports the shaft is the ball bearing, whose characteristics are closely related to the spindle preload. In this study, a spindle preload control mechanism is designed using a piezoelectric actuator and a beveled spacer ring. Mechanical effects of the spindle preload are analyzed and controlled, and an experimental full-sized model is fabricated and tested. Results show that increased preload reduces vibration amplitude and raises the bearing temperature. All the measured mechanical effects are positively correlated with the controlled spindle preload.

Precision locknuts are widely used in rotary machinery especially the machine tools operating in high speed with high precision. The flank-locking locknut studied in this paper is mainly employed in spindle and ball screw assemblies of machine tools to secure the preloading in the bearings required for better structural stiffness. In service the locknuts often suffer corrosion from the harsh machining environment. The possible effects of corrosion on the surface morphology of locknut, such as flatness and roughness, and its performance were investigated. The locknut was submerged in a 5% NaCl solution following ASTM B895 standard for different durations- 1, 2, and 4 h to speed up the possible corrosion. The treated locknut was then undergone assembling test following ISO 2320 standard. The flatness and roughness on the end face and threads were measured along with microscopic examination. It was found that with increasing duration of corrosion, the surface flatness and roughness became worse. However, the tightening constant of the locknut showed a positive correlation with the increased surface roughness raised by the corrosion treatment.

The dimensional quality and mechanical properties of a fused filament fabrication (FFF)-printed 3D model are influenced by several process parameters. A forced-air cooling system that moves along with the print head was designed and installed on a commercial 3D FFF printer to control the cooling of the printed model. The quality of the printed polylactide (PLA) model, including the dimensions and mechanical properties, was investigated for different cooling air velocities. It was found that the cooling air velocity had different influences on the dimensional quality and mechanical strength of the printed model. More specifically, higher cooling speeds generated better geometric accuracy but lower mechanical strength. With the highest and lowest cooling air speeds of 5 m/s and 0 m/s, respectively, the tensile strengths of the printed models differed by 4-fold. In order to determine a suitable cooling air velocity setting for each specific printing material, a design model was proposed. The determined printing parameters were employed in the fabrication of a Rubik’s cube, as an example. The assembled cube demonstrated satisfactory performance both in the dimensional quality and in the mechanical function. Therefore, the cooling air velocity can be employed as an additional control parameter in 3D printing for a specified model.

The neuroactive alkaloids in betel quid (BQ) can induce BQ addiction. We conducted a case–control study to investigate the effects of BQ-associated DSM-5 symptoms, pathological behaviors, and BQ use disorder (BUD) on oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) risk. A total of 233 patients with newly diagnosed and histopathologically confirmed OSCC and 301 sex- and age-matched controls were included. BQ-related DSM-5 symptoms in the 12 months prior to disease onset were used to measure psychiatric characteristics and BUD. Compared with nonchewers, chewers with the symptoms of unsuccessful cutdown of BQ consumption, neglecting major roles, social or interpersonal problems, abandoning or limiting activities, hazardous use, and continued use despite the awareness of the dangers had a 54.8-, 49.3-, 49.9-, 40.4-, 86.2-, and 42.9-fold higher risk of developing OSCC, respectively. Mild-to-moderate and severe BUD were, respectively, associated with a 8.2–8.5- and 42.3-fold higher OSCC risk, compared with BQ nonuse. Risky BQ use of pathological behavior was associated with a 12.5-fold higher OSCC risk in chewers with no BUD or mild BUD and a 65.0-fold higher risk in chewers with moderate-to-severe BUD (p for risk heterogeneity between the two BUD groups, 0.041). In conclusion, BQ-associated DSM-5 symptoms, pathological behaviors, and BUD severity are associated with the impact of BQ chewing on OSCC development. The pathological behavior of risky BQ use enhances OSCC risk in chewers with moderate-to-severe BUD. Preventing BUD in new BQ users and treating BUD in chewers who already have the disorder are two priorities in areas where BQ chewing is prevalent.

Thermal error caused by the thermal deformation is one of the most important concerns influencing the accuracy of machine tools. In this investigation, a thermal-structure model is developed by the finite element method (FEM) to effectively simulate thermal characteristics for predicting the transient temperature field and thermal deformation of a high speed spindle system. The FEM predictions were then compared against the measured temperatures and deformations at the tool center point (TCP) for model validation. Since the machining error must be estimated to achieve high quality and precision of machining products, this study applied the design of experiment (DOE) method to predict machining errors. The Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that the temperatures measured from the specific detection points were more significant than those from other points on the machining errors. The regression model was satisfactory to forecast the response variables formed by MATLAB. Alternatively, the significance of factors and the fitness of the designed model were verified by the ANOVA and residual analyses in conjunction with the collinearity diagnostics. The implementation of this model in the machine tool under study is expected to greatly reduce its thermally induced deformation up to 96.5% in composite working conditions for a spindle system.

One of the main failure mechanisms of electronic connectors is fretting wear induced by vibration. In this paper, three connectors having different eye-of-needle (EON) pins were investigated for their mating and vibration performances with assembling of different sized and surface-treated printed circuit boards (PCB). In addition to experimental measurement, quasi-static finite-element analysis was also employed in the study of the mating between the EON pin and PCB hole. The results indicated that the retention force was higher when the EON pin was assembled with larger sized hole under lower bound specification. Therefore, higher retention force can be maintained by using appropriate-sized hole or interference. Moreover, according to analysis of variance based on the performance characteristics of retention force and electrical contact resistance, the significance of design factors, i.e., PCB hole size and surface treatment, could be evaluated. Finally, in the vibration test, the sinusoidal excitation level was normalized in accordance with the above experimental results in the retention force of each connector. It was found that under the constant EON size, hole size was the significant control factor in the retention force of mating pair. On the other hand, surface treatment was the significant control factor in the electrical contact resistance. Under vibration test, the control factor of surface treatment on the PCB panel was more significant in determining the electrical contact resistance of the connector than the interference factor.

Background: Dysmenorrhea is a common painful nuisance for reproductive women. This study was to investigate the influential and modifiable factors, regarding health behaviors, lifestyles and dietary habits, for primary dysmenorrhea in a Taiwanese population.Methods:This cross-sectional study retrieved data from 5,000 individuals in the Taiwan Biobank. After excluding men, menopausal and cigarette smoke women and missing values, the 1,325 individuals aged 30 to 56 were analyzed. We used propensity score-matching (PSM) at 1:3 ratio, and the final sample size was 824. The data were analyzed in SPSS 22.0 using Chi-square test, Fisher’s test, Student’s t-test and conditional logistic regression method.Results:After PSM, univariable analysis showed that the higher incidence rates of dysmenorrhea were in exposure to tobacco smoke (P=0.007), less likely to cook at home (P=0.01) and more tendency of tea consumption (P=0.036). On multivariable analysis, compared with non-dysmenorrhea group, the risk of exposure to tobacco smoke was 1.42 times with AOR (CI) = 1.42(1.00, 2.02), P=0.048 and of having the habit of home-cooking was 0.74 times with AOR (CI) = 0.74(0.56, 0.98), P=0.034.Conclusion:The findings implied that exposure to tobacco smoke and no habit of home-cooking habit were the potential risk factors for developing primary dysmenorrhea.

This paper demonstrates the first Monolithic 3D+-IC based Compute-in-Memory (CiM) Macro performing massively parallel beyond-Boolean operations targeting database and machine learning (ML) applications. The proposed CiM technique supports data filtering, sorting, and sparse matrix-matrix multiplication (SpGEMM) operations. Our system exhibits up to 272x speedup and 151x energy savings compared to the ASIC baseline.

BACKGROUND Smart healthcare devices are being increasingly employed to support medical services, and evidence has shown promising results in using such tools for smoking cessation, but there has been no scoping review on this topic so far and the trends of research in this area has not been fully examined. This review provides a comprehensive evaluation of research in this area. OBJECTIVE This scoping review aimed to analyze the research trends in this area to speculate on the future of smart health devices for smoking cessation. METHODS The study was based on the methodology of scoping review. Literature searches were done in PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE using terms related to smart healthcare. Titles, abstracts, and full reports were reviewed independently by two reviewers. Papers were included if they focused on discussing smart healthcare interventions for smoking cessation. Data were extracted independently by two reviewers. RESULTS Searches identified 3982 references and 25 papers were included in the scoping review. Mobile applications was the most numerous category of studies, making up 56% (n=14) of all studies and this had increased markedly in recent 5 years. We identified 6 types of outcome measures. Besides quit rate, user attitude was the most frequently measured outcome, accounting for 44% (n=11) of the studies. Nine studies targeted special populations other than general adult smokers, nearly half (n=4) of which targeted adolescents or young adults. CONCLUSIONS Besides quit rate, the researchers put most focus on user attitude. Use of mobile applications seem to be the mainstream in the future among smart healthcare interventions for smoking cessation. Future research including more keywords related to smart healthcare interventions is needed for a comprehensive understanding of this field.

DNA interstrand crosslink (ICL) repair requires a complex network of DNA damage response pathways. Removal of the ICL lesions is vital, as they are physical barriers to essential DNA processes that require the separation of duplex DNA, such as replication and transcription. The Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway is the principal mechanism for ICL repair in metazoans and is coupled to DNA replication. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a vestigial FA pathway is present, but ICLs are predominantly repaired by a pathway involving the Pso2 nuclease, which is hypothesized to use its exonuclease activity to digest through the lesion to provide access for translesion polymerases. However, Pso2 lacks translesion nuclease activity in vitro, and mechanistic details of this pathway are lacking, especially relative to FA. We recently identified the Hrq1 helicase, a homolog of the disease-linked enzyme RecQ-like helicase 4 (RECQL4), as a component of Pso2-mediated ICL repair. Here, using genetic, biochemical, and biophysical approaches, including single-molecule FRET (smFRET)– and gel-based nuclease assays, we show that Hrq1 stimulates the Pso2 nuclease through a mechanism that requires Hrq1 catalytic activity. Importantly, Hrq1 also stimulated Pso2 translesion nuclease activity through a site-specific ICL in vitro. We noted that stimulation of Pso2 nuclease activity is specific to eukaryotic RecQ4 subfamily helicases, and genetic and biochemical data suggest that Hrq1 likely interacts with Pso2 through their N-terminal domains. These results advance our understanding of FA-independent ICL repair and establish a role for the RecQ4 helicases in the repair of these detrimental DNA lesions.

BACKGROUND There is still no consensus on research terms for smart healthcare worldwide. The study conducted by Lewis 10 years ago showed extending geographic access was the major health purpose of health-related information communication technology (ICT), but today's situation may be different because of the rapid development of smart healthcare. Objective: The main aim of this study is to classify recent smart healthcare interventions. Therefore, this scoping review was conducted as a feasible tool for exploring this domain and summarizing related research findings. OBJECTIVE The main aim of this study is to classify recent smart healthcare interventions. Therefore, this scoping review was conducted as a feasible tool for exploring this domain and summarizing related research findings. METHODS The scoping review relies on the analysis of previous reviews of smart healthcare interventions assessed for their effectiveness in the framework of a systematic review and/or meta-analysis. The search strategy was based on the identification of smart healthcare interventions reported as the proposed keywords. In the analysis, the reviews published from January 2015 to December 2019 were included. RESULTS The number of publications for smart healthcare's systematic reviews has continued to grow in the past five years. The search strategy yielded 210 systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses addressed to target groups of interest. 68.5% of these publications used mobile health as a keyword. According to the classification by Lewis, 37.62% of the literature was applied to extend geographic access. According to the classification by the Joint Commission of Taiwan (JCT), 48.84% of smart healthcare was applied in clinical areas, and 60% of it was applied in outpatient medical services. CONCLUSIONS Smart healthcare interventions are being widely used in clinical settings and for disease management. The research of mobile health has received the most attention among smart healthcare interventions. The main purpose of mobile health was used to extend geographic access to increase medical accessibility in clinical areas. CLINICALTRIAL none

Many security-aware mobile devices, using the secure hash algorithm (SHA) or the advanced encryption standard (AES) for data encryption, require short read-access time (t AC ) and wide-IO from nonvolatile memory (NVM) for high-read bandwidth and SHA/AES shift/rotate functions. STT-MRAM is the major on-chip NVM for advanced process nodes [2]–[6]; however, it requires small-offset sense amplifiers (SAs) for robust reads, against a small TMR-ratio, at the expense of large area overhead and read energy (E RD ). As Fig. 13.4.1 shows, designing STT-MRAM macros for security-related applications imposes three main challenges. (1) Using a large number of SAs for wide parallel-IO readout to achieve a short t AC , but this results in a high peak current l PEAK and a large area overhead. Using fewer SAs for sequential wide-IO readout reduces l PEAK and area overhead, but imposes long t AC and a low read bandwidth (BW R ). (2) MRAM macros with a high l PEAK degrade the supply (V DD ) integrity of the chip, often leading to failure in noise-sensitive blocks on the same chip. (3) A conventional memory-logic-separated scheme imposes a long latency (2 cycles: wide-IO memory read + flip-flop (FF) shift/rotate) for NVM-based security logic operations. This paper presents a multibit current-mode SA (MB-CSA) for a high BW R with a short t AC and a low l PEAK . Also presented is a near-memory computing (NMC) unit with a 1-cycle access, to speed up computing for security applications. This work resulted in a 22nm 1 Mb STT-MRAM macro with dual-mode operations: wide-IO memory and NMC. The proposed 1 Mb macro demonstrates the largest number of data-out operations (1024b) with a t AC of 275ns using a 0.85V supply. In memory mode, this device outperformed all reported NVM macros in terms of BW R (42.67GB/s) and E RD (0.23pJ/b. This work also presents the first MRAM macro with NMC functionality, a 33.3% reduction in logic area, and only a 170ps latency, after NVM access, for 1 b shift/rotate operations.

Metamaterials are materials having artificially tailored internal structure and unusual physical and mechanical properties. Due to their unique characteristics, metamaterials possess great potential in engineering applications. This study proposes a tunable metamaterial for the applications in vibration or acoustic isolation. For the state-of-the-art structural configurations in metamaterial, the geometry and mass distribution of the crafted internal structure is employed to induce the local resonance inside the material. Therefore, a stopband in the dispersion curve can be created because of the energy gap. For the conventional metamaterial, the stopband is fixed and unable to be adjusted in real-time once the design is completed. Although the metamaterial with distributed resonance characteristics has been proposed in the literature to extend its working stopband, the efficacy is usually compromised. In this study, the incorporation of tunable shape memory materials (SMM) via phase transformation into the metamaterial plate is proposed. Its theoretical finite element formulation for determining the dynamic characteristics is established. The effect of the configuration of the SMM cantilever absorbers on the metamaterial plate for the desired stopband in wave propagation is simulated by using finite element model. The result demonstrates the tunable capability on the stopband of the metamaterial plate under different activation controls of the SMM absorbers. The result of this study should be beneficial to precision machinery and defense industries which have desperate need in vibration and noise isolation.

For the first time, below 400°C-fabricated gate-all-around (GAA) transistor fabrication process was demonstrated with monolithic computing-in-memory (CIM) circuit. Key enablers are plasma-assisted atomic layer etching (PA-ALE), plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) and far-infrared laser activation (FIR-LA). The 3D stackable single-grained Si GAA MOSFETs thus fabricated exhibit record-high I on /I off ratio (~108) with low I off (pFETs

OBJECTIVES Retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) and insulin resistance (IR) are clinical parameters associated with cardiometabolic diseases. The mediating and modifying roles of IR on children's susceptibility to cardiometabolic disorders are undetermined. This study investigated the mediating and modifying effects of the homeostatic model assessment of IR (HOMA-IR) on the relationship between the serum RBP4 level and clustering of pediatric cardiometabolic risk factors. METHODS We assessed the diet, physical activity, cardiometabolic risk factors, and clinical parameters of 272 randomly selected adolescents from a large-scale cross-sectional study (n = 2727). Two HOMA-IRs (HOMA1-IR and HOMA2-IR) were used to evaluate the designated effects. RESULTS Levels of serum RBP4 positively correlated with the levels of the 2 HOMA-based-IRs, and HOMA-IR correlated to all components of pediatric metabolic syndrome (MetS), the number of abnormal components, and a body-weight-weighted principal component score extracted from 12 cardiometabolic risk factors. Increased RBP4 levels had positive effects on waist circumference (WC), triglyceride, and the number of abnormal MetS components (0.310 cm, 1.384 μg/dL, and 0.021 item elevations, respectively), and the HOMA-IRs explained 17.7% to 21.9%, 11.8% to 27.6%, and 23.8% to 25.0% of these effects. The association of WC and the number of abnormal MetS components with the serum RBP4 level was enhanced by higher HOMA-IR (β for interaction, 0.13 and 0.01 for HOMA1-IR, and 0.32 and 0.02 for HOMA2-IR, respectively). CONCLUSIONS HOMA-IR is associated with the circulating RBP4 level and cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents. Pediatric HOMA-IR may have mediating and modifying effects on the positive correlations between RBP4 and the clustering of MetS components.

The Fe-based amorphous alloy powders Fe40-Cr19-Mo18-C15-B8 are sprayed on 316 stainless steel substrates by high velocity oxygen fuel spraying (HVOF) process. The microstructure of coatings are analyzed by XRD, SEM, XPS and TEM. The corrosion behavior of coatings under different corrosive solutions is also studied. The experimental results presented that the average hardness of coating is approximately at 1024 Hv, contact angle is from 72° to 74°. The scratch test result shows that the LC2 value of coatings occurred at 46.0 N. SEM images presented that there are micro-holes and micro-cracks in coatings. XRD pattern and TEM images indicated the microstructure of coatings are the amorphous structure and amorphous/crystalline mixed structure. The potentiodynamic polarization analysis results show the corrosion resistance of coatings under sea water and 3.5 wt% NaCl solution has a transition behaviors of activation, passivation and over passivation. Through the cold and heat alternating salt spray corrosion test and the high-speed water erosion test, the surface of coatings rusted after 12 weeks. The surface of coatings formed passivation film during corrosion test, and it has a very slight weight loss. It can be seen that the Fe-based amorphous alloy has a good stable passivation and a corrosion-resistant.

In this study, the anti-loosening characteristics of a precision flank-locking locknut fabricated under various machining processes and tested in different dynamic environments were investigated. The control parameters considered include the tightening torque and thread pitch of the set screw, machining process on the end plane of locknut, and vibration amplitude and frequency of dynamic loading in service, etc. Their sensitivities on the axial force ratio and anti-loosening ratio of the locknut were evaluated using Taguchi method. It was found that the pretension of locknut, the tightening torque and the pitch of set screw, and the machining process of the nut's end plane were the significant control parameters for the anti-loosening performance of the locknut. Moreover, the results of experimental measurements were employed in the regression fit on the performance of the locknut. The regression model was able to predict the anti-loosening ratio with 4.42% average error comparing with the measurements. Furthermore, the optimized design of the locknut through the Taguchi method was able to increase the axial force ratio and anti-loosening ratio by 20.4% and 16.8%, respectively, comparing with standard locknut.

Telomeres are highly susceptible to oxidative DNA damage, which if left unrepaired can lead to dysregulation of telomere length homeostasis. Here we employed single molecule FRET, single molecule pull-down and biochemical analysis to investigate how the most common oxidative DNA lesions, 8-oxoguanine (8oxoG) and thymine glycol (Tg), regulate the structural properties of telomeric DNA and telomerase extension activity. In contrast to 8oxoG which disrupts the telomeric DNA structure, Tg exhibits substantially reduced perturbation of G-quadruplex folding. As a result, 8oxoG induces high accessibility, whereas Tg retains limited accessibility, of telomeric G-quadruplex DNA to complementary single stranded DNA and to telomere binding protein POT1. Surprisingly, the Tg lesion stimulates telomerase loading and activity to a similar degree as an 8oxoG lesion. We demonstrate that this unexpected stimulation arises from Tg-induced conformational alterations and dynamics in telomeric DNA. Despite impacting structure by different mechanisms, both 8oxoG and Tg enhance telomerase binding and extension activity to the same degree, potentially contributing to oncogenesis.

In this study, zinc anodes used in Zn-air battery were fabricated by electroplating processes, i.e., conventional direct current (DC) electroplating and pulse plating. The results showed that the surface morphology of zinc prepared by the electroplating process was porous in contrast to the commercial bulk zinc (BZn). The power density of batteries consisting of electroplated Zn anodes were increased comparing with their bulk counterpart. Moreover, because the anode with high specific surface area can reduce the distributed current density and inhibit the passivation that may block oxidization of active material during discharge, the utilization of anode material can be improved without other treatments. Among the fabricated anodes, the one prepared by pulse plating with frequency of 500 Hz showed the best battery performance. The specific discharge capacity and battery efficiency reached 711 mAh g− 1 and 86.7%, respectively. The result indicated a 50% improvement with respect to BZn. The highest peak power density of the pulse plated Zn anode achieved 23.4 mW cm− 2 at room temperature. Comparing with other recent zinc-air battery studies using MnO2-based air cathode, the discharging power density of this zinc anode prepared by pulse electroplating with frequency of 500 Hz showed a 15% improvement.

Tunable vibration absorber is an effective device to reduce the vibration of structure subjected to harmonic excitation. The vibration energy is transferred mostly to the absorber when the natural frequency of the absorber is tuned to the excitation frequency. In this study, a piezoelectric (PZT) transducer was incorporated into the absorber in order to harvest the vibration energy and still alleviate the vibration of a platform structure. The tuning in dynamic characteristics of the absorber was facilitated by controlling its tip mass. The design formulation of the absorber was presented with a single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) model having the equivalent parameters. In the meantime, an optimal electric load resistor was determined to maximize the power output from the PZT transducer. The experimental measurement validated the SDOF model with good accuracy both in the vibration response and the output electric voltage. Finally, the absorber was installed on a platform structure to investigate its vibration reduction and energy harvesting capability for the external disturbance frequency covering certain frequency span. With three resonance modes of the platform studied, the absorber was able to reduce more than 80% of its original vibration and harvest several folds of electric power comparing with the untuned absorber. Although the performance in vibration reduction was slightly influenced (

DNA inter-strand crosslink (ICL) repair requires a complicated network of DNA damage response pathways. Removal of these lesions is vital as they are physical barriers to essential DNA processes that require the separation of duplex DNA, such as replication and transcription. The Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway is the principle mechanism for ICL repair in metazoans and is coupled to replication. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a degenerate FA pathway is present, but ICLs are predominantly repaired by a pathway involving the Pso2 nuclease that is hypothesized to digest through the lesion to provide access for translesion polymerases. However, Pso2 lacks translesion nuclease activity in vitro, and mechanistic details of this pathway are lacking, especially relative to FA. We recently identified the Hrq1 helicase, a homolog of the disease-linked RECQL4, as a novel component of Pso2- mediated ICL repair. Here, we show that Hrq1 stimulates the Pso2 nuclease in a mechanism that requires Hrq1 catalytic activity. Importantly, Hrq1 also stimulates Pso2 translesion nuclease activity through a site- specific ICL in vitro. Stimulation of Pso2 nuclease activity is specific to eukaryotic RecQ4 subfamily helicases, and Hrq1 likely interacts with Pso2 through their N-terminal domains. These results advance our understanding of FA-independent ICL repair and establish a role for the RecQ4 helicases in the repair of these dangerous lesions.

This paper presents the first monolithic 3D two-layer reconfigurable SRAM macro capable of executing multiple Compute-in-Memory (CiM) tasks as part of data readout. Fabricated using low cost FinFET based 3D+-IC, the SRAM offers concurrent data read from both layers and write from layer 2 with 0.4V $\text{V}_{\text{dd}\min}$ 12.8x improved computation latency is achieved as compared to near memory computation of successive Boolean operations.

Clustering of metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk components in childhood has been linked to a higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. By using data from the 2010&ndash, 2011 Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan, this study investigated epidemic patterns and correlates for the clustering of MetS risk components. A total of 1920 adolescents aged 12&ndash, 18 years were included in this study. The MetS diagnostic criteria defined by the Taiwan Pediatric Association (TPA) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF) for adolescents and the criteria defined by the Joint Interim Statement for adults (JIS-Adult) were used to evaluate MetS and its abnormal components. The prevalence of TPA-, IDF-, and JIS-Adult-defined MetS was 4.1%, 3.0%, and 4.0%, with 22.1%, 19.3%, and 17.7%&ndash, 18.1% of adolescents having high fasting glucose, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and central obesity, respectively. A 0.4-to-0.5-fold decreased risk of having &ge, 2 MetS abnormal components was detected among adolescents who consumed &ge, 1 serving/week of dairy products and fresh fruits. Boys who consumed &ge, 7 drinks/week of soda and girls who consumed &ge, 7 drinks/week of tea had a 4.6- and 5.2-fold risk of MetS, respectively. In conclusion, our findings revealed significant dimensions of adolescent MetS, including detecting population-specific prevalent patterns for MetS risk components and their clustering, and emphasized on health promotion activities that reduce sugar-sweetened beverage intake.

Embedded nonvolatile memory (NVM) and computing-in-memory (CIM) are significantly reducing the latency (t MAC ) and energy consumption (E MAC ) of multiply- and-accumulate (MAC) operations in artificial intelligence (AI) edge devices [1, 2]. Previous ReRAM CIM macros demonstrated MAC operations for lb-input, ternary- weighted, 3b-output CNNs [1] or lb-input, 8b-weighted, 1b-output fully-connected networks with limited accuracy [2]. To support higher-accuracy convolution neural network heavy applications NVM-CIM should support multibit inputs/weights and multi-bit output (MAC-OUT) for CNN operations. One way to achieve multibit weights is to use a multi-level ReRAM cell to store the weight. However, as shown in Fig. 24.1.1, multibit ReRAM CIM faces several challenges. (1) a tradeoff between area and speed for multibit input/weight/MAC-OUT MAC operations; (2) sense amplifier’s high input offset, large area, and high parasitic load on the read-path due to large BL currents (I BL ) from multibit MAC; (3) limited accuracy due to a small read/sensing margin (I SM ) across MAC-OUT or variation in cell resistance (particularly MLC cells). To overcome these challenges, this work proposes, (1) a serial-input non-weighted product (SINWP) structure to optimize the tradeoff between area, t MAC and E MAC , (2) a down-scaling weighted current translator (DSWCT) and positive-negative current- subtractor (PN-ISUB) for short delay, a small offset and a compact read-path area; and (3) a triple-margin small-offset current-mode sense amplifier (TMCSA) to tolerate a small I SM . A fabricated 55nm 1Mb ReRAM-CIM macro is the first ReRAM CIM macro to support CNN operations using multibit input/weight MAC-OUT. This device achieves the shortest CIM-MAC-access time (t AC ) among existing ReRAM-CIMs (t MAC =14.6ns with 2b-input, 3b-weight with 4b-MAC-OUT) and the best peak E MAC of 53.17 TOPS/W (in binary mode).

This study investigates the structural compression properties of the additive manufactured (AM) Ti-6Al-4V lattice structure using LS-Dyna simulation analysis software and calculates its mechanical properties under different porosities and different pattern designs. Ti-6Al-4V alloys formed by using additive manufacturing produced elliptic holes with long and short axes due to the difference in the direction of construction. These holes could be eliminated and the materials could be compacted by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatment. Compactness of the frame element achieved 99.9% and drastically reduced the anisotropic behavior caused by the fabrication process. For the experimental testing, the samples with different porosities and the A-type and AZ-type designs were employed in compression experiment. In the meantime, the Young’s modulus, the yield strength, plateau stress and other mechanical behavior were investigated by CAE simulation. The plateau stress, which is an important property for some biomedical applications, was calculated with satisfactory accuracy compared with experimental measurements. The simulated results of the designed lattice structures with different porosity contents were able to adopt the Gibson-Ashby model to determine their failure mechanisms. Finally, the CAE simulation for the design of an auxetic material was demonstrated.This study investigates the structural compression properties of the additive manufactured (AM) Ti-6Al-4V lattice structure using LS-Dyna simulation analysis software and calculates its mechanical properties under different porosities and different pattern designs. Ti-6Al-4V alloys formed by using additive manufacturing produced elliptic holes with long and short axes due to the difference in the direction of construction. These holes could be eliminated and the materials could be compacted by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatment. Compactness of the frame element achieved 99.9% and drastically reduced the anisotropic behavior caused by the fabrication process. For the experimental testing, the samples with different porosities and the A-type and AZ-type designs were employed in compression experiment. In the meantime, the Young’s modulus, the yield strength, plateau stress and other mechanical behavior were investigated by CAE simulation. The plateau stress, which is an important property for some biome...

G-quadruplex (G4) is a non-canonical nucleic acid structure that arises from the stacking of planar G-tetrads, stabilized by monovalent cations. G4 forming sequences exist throughout the genome and G4 structures are shown to be involved in many processes including DNA replication and gene expression. The single-molecule total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy has been employed to study G4 structure formation and protein binding interactions. Here, we describe methods by which we tested the folding and unfolding of G-quadruplexes structure and studied the dynamics of its interaction with POT1 protein. The methods presented here can be applied to study other putative G4 sequences and potential binding partners.

For the first time, ultra-low power ferroelectric FinFET-based monolithic 3D+-IC technology was demonstrated for near memory computing (NMC) circuit. Key enablers are ICP-SiO 2 interfacial layer, doped hafnia ferroelectric gate dielectric layer (HfZrO 2 ), and far-infrared laser activation. The proposed stackable 3D NC-FinFETs thus fabricated exhibit record-low sub-threshold swing (NC-nFinFET: 45mV/dec and NC-pFinFET: 50mV/dec) and high I on /I off (>106) that enable ultra-low power operation $(\mathrm{V}_{\text{DD}}=100\text{mV})$ of CMOS inverter and SRAM. Moreover, above mentioned features of NC-FinFETs and the differential output of SRAM readout enable 50+% area reduction in the near-memory computing circuitry.

Amorphous alloys owing to their high hardness, strength, corrosion and wear resistance are regarded as one of the potential coating materials for applications in severely corrosive environment. A high-velocity‑oxygen-fuel (HVOF) spraying process was employed in this study to prepare an amorphous Fe alloy coating on SUS316 substrate. The prepared Fe40-Cr19-Mo18-C15-B8 alloys had high hardness but the micro-structural examination showed micro-voids and micro-cracks permeated in the coating. Both x-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements confirmed the combined amorphous and nano-crystalline phases in the coating. Thermal stress after cooling from the spray process caused the emergence of intensive cracking. The potentio-dynamic polarization curves of the prepared coating were measured in four different solutions, respectively: 0.5 M H2SO4, 1 M NaOH, 3.5 wt% NaCl, and seawater. Among them, the prepared coating had better corrosion resistance in neutral solutions. The corrosion tests under different applied over-potentials in seawater further revealed nearly ten-fold increase in corrosion current when the over-potential was raised from −100 mVSCE, +200 mVSCE, +600 mVSCE, to +800 mVSCE, respectively. Although the coating surface roughened considerably at higher over-potentials, oxidation of Mo and Cr elements in this Fe alloy during corrosion test, confirmed from the measured six-valenced ions of Mo6+ and Cr6+ in the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, was beneficial in lowering the corrosion current.

The corrosion resistance of electroplated Zn–Ni alloy using trivalent chromium conversion treatment in alkaline electrolyte was investigated. Among the Zn–Ni coatings electroplated on steel substrate with raising current densities, the Ni content and corrosion resistance increased accordingly. Further conversion treatment generated passivates which thickness increased with treatment durations. The passivation film showed Ni rich content comparing with its pristine Zn–Ni coating and mainly composed of Cr2O3, ZnO and NiO. The passivation film improved corrosion resistance. However, the 30-s treated specimen showed best corrosion resistance because of its moderate thickness and less dehydration voids and cracking in the passivation film.

In this study, we proposed a new real-time internal stress measurement design based on bending deformation of electroplated specimen. The volume change of fluid compartment caused by bending deformation of specimen on the wall was measured by fluid column height in a glass tube, and then the variation of internal stress could be calculated according to the Stoney formula. There are many factors that can cause variations during measurement, such as capillary action in glass tube, temperature of electrolyte, and clamped boundary condition of specimen. Their effects in measurement were taken into account and compensated accordingly. When tested in Watts bath for nickel plating, the proposed design successfully recorded the evolution of internal stress with respect to plating thickness. Comparing with the results from commercial bent strip method and the literature, the proposed design was capable of measuring both tensile and compressive internal stresses during electroplating with good precision.

G-quadruplex (GQ) is a four-stranded DNA structure that can be formed in guanine-rich sequences. GQ structures have been proposed to regulate diverse biological processes including transcription, replication, translation and telomere maintenance. Recent studies have demonstrated the existence of GQ DNA in live mammalian cells and a significant number of potential GQ forming sequences in the human genome. We present a systematic and quantitative analysis of GQ folding propensity on a large set of 438 GQ forming sequences in double-stranded DNA by integrating fluorescence measurement, single-molecule imaging and computational modeling. We find that short minimum loop length and the thymine base are two main factors that lead to high GQ folding propensity. Linear and Gaussian process regression models further validate that the GQ folding potential can be predicted with high accuracy based on the loop length distribution and the nucleotide content of the loop sequences. Our study provides important new parameters that can inform the evaluation and classification of putative GQ sequences in the human genome.

Aim The ageing of the population is a demographic trend globally. Promoting the health of elderly persons has become a crucial priority. However, knowledge about the relationship between frailty and quality of life (QoL) remains limited. This research aimed to investigate the association between elderly frailty and QoL, and to identify whether frailty or current health status more significantly affects the QoL of elderly persons. Methods This research began in 2012, and by the end of the study in April 2013, 375 samples had been collected. Structured questionnaires and the face-to-face questionnaire interviews were used. Multiple linear regression, t-test, and one-way anova were administered. Results Elderly individuals who were hospitalized performed worse in the physical health QoL domain, whereas those who regularly attended outpatient follow-ups performed worse in the mental health QoL domain. QoL was only partially affected in both groups. All QoL domains were affected in elderly individuals with symptoms of frailty. Age, marital status, and financial status significantly affect health-related QoL. Conclusion Geriatric frailty significantly affects general QoL. Early screening of frailty-related conditions among the elderly can prompt early and proper intervention for this population.

A simple, robust, and characterized adiposity indicator may be appropriate to be used as a risk screening tool for identifying metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adolescents. This study used dual adolescent populations to develop and validate efficient adiposity indicators from 12 characterized candidates for identifying MetS that may occur during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Data from the adolescent Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (n = 1920, 12&ndash, 18 years) and the multilevel Risk Profiles for adolescent MetS study (n = 2727, 12&ndash, 16 years) were respectively used as training and validation datasets. The diagnostic criteria defined by the International Diabetes Federation for adolescents (IDF-adoMetS) and the Joint Interim Statement for adults (JIS-AdMetS) were employed to evaluate MetS. In the training dataset, principal component analysis converted 12 interrelated obesity indices into bodyfat-, lipid-, and body-shape-enhanced groups, with the first two characteristic-groups having a higher discriminatory capability in identifying IDF-adoMetS and JIS-AdMetS. In the validation dataset, abdominal volume index (AVI) among girls and waist circumference (WC) among boys were respectively validated to have a higher Youden&rsquo, s index (0.740&ndash, 0.816 and 0.798&ndash, 0.884) in identifying the two MetS. Every 7.4 and 4.3 positive tests of AVI (cutoff = 13.96) had an accurate IDF-adoMetS and JIS-AdMetS, respectively, and every 32.4 total tests of WC (cutoff = 90.5 cm) had a correct identification for the two MetS. This study stresses the discriminatory capability of bodyfat- and lipid-enhanced adiposity indicators for identifying MetS. AVI and WC were, respectively, supported as a risk screening tool for identifying female and male MetS as adolescents transition to adulthood.

A highly efficient diode-pumped N d : Y V O 4 / K G W Raman yellow laser is developed to produce a 6.8 W yellow light at 579.5 nm accompanied by a 3.2 W Stokes wave at 1159 nm under an incident pump power of 30 W. The intracavity stimulated Raman scattering with the shift of 768 c m − 1 is generated by setting the polarization of the fundamental wave along the N g direction of an N p -cut KGW crystal. The N d : Y V O 4 gain medium is coated as a cavity mirror to reduce the cavity losses for the fundamental wave. More importantly, the KGW crystal is specially coated to prevent the Stokes wave from propagating through the gain medium to minimize the cavity losses for the Stokes wave.

With the high density and high precision requirement of electronic products, printed circuit boards (PCBs) are also facing the evolution into multilayer boards. Electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) is a process that is widely used in the surface treatment of PCBs. As a barrier layer, nickel plating is required even in the blind via of PCB to improve its corrosion resistance for further plating processes. In this study, different surfactants, mainly anionic surfactant, Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) and cationic surfactant, Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB), are used to explore their possible effects on this electroless process. It is found that SDS improves the deposition rate in blind via plating and coating's surface roughness. The surfactants are also effective in increasing the corrosion resistance of the prepared coating. Furthermore, different plating processes, i.e. supercritical carbon dioxide (Sc-CO2) assisted electroless plating and post supercritical carbon dioxide assisted electroless plating, are investigated and compared with the conventional process. It is obtained that Sc-CO2 assisted plating has the best improvement in blind via deposition rate and better coating's corrosion resistance. The result is indebted to the fact that the bath mixed with Sc-CO2 has low surface tension of gas and high mass transfusion of liquid. This nature effectively increases the deposition rate of coating in the blind via, and also makes the surface of the coating smoother and more uniform. To further explore whether high temperature affects the corrosion resistance of the coating when it passes through the reflow oven in surface mount technology (SMT) soldering operations of PCB, the coating is annealed at different elevated temperatures up to 400 °C. The experimental results found that annealing enables the grain refinement of the plated layer, thereby enhances the corrosion resistance of the plated layer.

Metamaterials are materials with an artificially tailored internal structure and unusual physical and mechanical properties such as a negative refraction coefficient, negative mass inertia, and negative modulus of elasticity, etc. Due to their unique characteristics, metamaterials possess great potential in engineering applications. This study aims to develop new acoustic metamaterials for applications in semi-active vibration isolation. For the proposed state-of-the-art structural configurations in metamaterials, the geometry and mass distribution of the crafted internal structure is employed to induce the local resonance inside the material. Therefore, a stopband in the dispersion curve can be created because of the energy gap. For conventional metamaterials, the stopband is fixed and unable to be adjusted in real-time once the design is completed. Although the metamaterial with distributed resonance characteristics has been proposed in the literature to extend its working stopband, the efficacy is usually compromised. In order to increase its adaptability to time-varying disturbance, several semi-active metamaterials have been proposed. In this study, the incorporation of a tunable shape memory alloy (SMA) into the configuration of metamaterial is proposed. The repeated resonance unit consisting of SMA beams is designed and its theoretical formulation for determining the dynamic characteristics is established. For more general application, the finite element model of this smart metamaterial is also derived and simulated. The stopband of this metamaterial beam with different configurations in the arrangement of the SMA absorbers was investigated. The result shows that the proposed model is able to predict the unique dynamic characteristics of this smart metamaterial beam. Moreover, the tunable stopband of the metamaterial beam with controlling the state of SMA absorbers was also demonstrated.