Search

The seeds of Tripterygium wilfordii are characterized by dormancy and a long germination cycle under natural sowing conditions. In this study, we developed a method for rapid germination of T. wilfordii seeds by analyzing the size, morphology, thousand-grain weight, viability, moisture content, physicochemical properties, and seed germination rates under different germination conditions. The seeds of T. wilfordii were fine columnar with a thick and hard outer seed coat. They had the length of 6.69 mm, the width of 2.14 mm, the thickness of 1.68 mm, the thousand-grain weight of 8.99 g, the moisture content of 8.86%, the soluble sugar content of 21.3 mg·g~(-1), the starch content of 28.9 mg·g~(-1), the soluble protein content of 44.2 mg·g~(-1), and the seed viability of only 54.0%. The seeds were respectively treated with distilled water, ultrasonication, low-temperature storage, 50 ℃ water, 100 mg·L~(-1) 6-BA, 0.6% KMnO_4, 1% KNO_3, 50 mg·L~(-1) NAA, and 100 mg·L~(-1) GA_3 solution. The results showed that soaking the seeds in 100 mg·L~(-1) GA_3 solution significantly promoted the germination. Further, the seeds were soaked in 50, 100, 250, 500, and 1 000 mg·L~(-1) GA_3 solutions, which demonstrated that high concentration(500 mg·L~(-1), 1 000 mg·L~(-1)) of GA_3 solutions increased the germination rate and speed and shortened the germination cycle from more than 3 months to less than 15 days. The findings of this study are of great significance to the breeding of T. wilfordii and lay a foundation for the large-scale propagation of T. wilfordii seeds and the excavation of T. wilfordii germplasm resources.

An area-efficient voltage-sensing readout circuit employing chopped voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)-based continuous-time delta-sigma modulator (CTDSM) is presented in this paper. This VCO-based CTDSM features direct connection to sensors to eliminate pre-amplifier for achieving better hardware efficiency. The VCO is designed as a trans-conductor current-controlled oscillator, which is a fully differential $G_{m}$ stage cascaded with two CCOs, to provide a high-input impedance to sense the voltage signals from sensors. Analysis shows that the main noise and offset contributor is the $G_{m}$ stage. This problem is mitigated by employing choppers at critical location within the circuit. The VCO-based CTDSM is implemented in a 40-nm CMOS process. The power consumption is $17~\mu \text{W}$ under 1.2-V supply. With a 4-mVp (8-mV $_{\textrm {pp}})$ input, it achieves 61.85-dB signal-to-noise-and-distortion ratio over a 5-kHz bandwidth and the total harmonic distortion is −70.8 dB. The input-referred noise is 32 nV/ $\surd $ Hz. The chip area is only 0.0145 mm $^{\textrm {2}}$ .

“Ride-sharing economy” and “sharing economy” are hot topics usually appearing in recent ten years. From Airbnb, Uber to Didi, Mobike, and from house sharing to bicycle and ride sharing, sharing economy has begun to touch various views of many consumers daily life. And ride-sharing economy is the best kind of sharing economy with development and application of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). ICTs has made advances at full speed, expanded its extent of influence constantly through connection with client-side mobile terminal, as well as accelerated development and increased influences of commercial application needs like social media, network community, electronic commerce, mobile commerce and Internet. Till now, Internet, social media and mobile commerce all closely correlate with users’ life and become associated with each interpersonal network, but also lead to sense of alienation between users in real life of the people worldwide. Thus, the enterprise’s managing directors urgently need to comprehend the links with users motivation, attitude, behavioral intention and requirement by users for sharing economy services, so as to take the preemptive marketing strategy and opportunities in future online sharing business development. This study is to examine the impacts of perceptions on convenience, reputation, social value, attitude and consumer behavioral intention to use a ride-sharing service. Accordingly, the research result was completed by survey data $( \mathrm {N}=118)$ gathered from positive consumers who have taken part in ride-sharing service with Didi Chuxing in China. Next analysis with structural equation modeling (SEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were carried out with SmartPLS 2.0, to prove if this online survey proof will become adequate for this arranged prototype. Finally, the outcomes of this research offer empirical verifications that convenience, reputation, social value and consumers’ attitude influence the consumers’ behavioral intention to take part in a ride-sharing service in sharing economy. All outcomes of the research with meanings for academic and practical research could be farther pondered in future.

Terpenoids are main bioactive components in Tripterygium wilfordii,but the contents of some terpenoids are relatively low. In order to provide scientific evidence for the regulation of terpenoids in T. wilfordii,this research explored the effect of GR24 on accumulations of four diterpenoids( triptolide,tripterifordin,triptophenolide,and triptinin B) in T. wilfordii suspension cells by biological technology and UPLC-QQQ-MS/MS. The results indicated that 100 μmol·L-1 GR24 inhibited the accumulations of triptolide,tripterifordin,triptophenolide,and triptinin B to different degrees. Compared with the control group,the contents of 4 diterpenoids( in the induced group) were down to 96.59%,63.80%,61.02% and 33.59% in 240 h,respectively. Among them,the accumulation of triptinin B iswas significantly inhibited. In addition,the key time point of inhibitory effect was 120 h after induction with GR24 in some diterpenoids. This is the first systematic study focusing on the effect of GR24 on the accumulations of diterpenoids in T. wilfordii suspension cells. The dynamic accumulation ruleregularity of four diterpenoids after induced by GR24 was summarized,which laid a foundation for further study on the chemical response mechanism of terpenoids to GR24.

Flavonoids are important secondary metabolites that exist in many medicinal plants. Flavonoid glycosyltransferases can transfer sugar moieties to their parent rings, producing various flavonoid glycosides with significant pharmacological activities. Here, we report the molecular cloning of the O-glycosyltransferase TwUGT2 from

An analog front-end (AFE) trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) for CO 2 detector is presented. It senses the current generated from the IR detector, which contains the information of the CO 2 concentration in the air. An automatic IR sensor baseline current calibration loop is proposed to cancel the diode DC current and amplify only the desired signal. The prototype is implemented in the 0.18-µm CMOS process. The measurement is performed with an off-chip resistor with voltage input, emulating the IR detector. It consumes 3.38 mW (including calibration) with 62.4-dB SNR over 1-kHz BW and achieves 0.16 ppm resolution.

An area-efficient CTDSM for sensor applications is presented. The proposed capacitively-coupled CTDSM combines the functions of precision amplifier and DSM to achieve hardware efficiency. The 1-bit quantizer with FIR-DAC improves the linearity without using DEM in multi-bit architectures or large-size analog filters. The proposed currentsplitting OTA saves the capacitor area in the first integrator stage. Fabricated in a 0.18-μm CMOS, this chip draws 70 μA (?) from a 1.8-V supply, and achieves 12-bit resolution under 2-kHz bandwidth at ±40-mV input range. The circuit area is only 0.2 mm2.

A VCO-based sensor readout circuit is presented. It comprises a VCO-based integrator with counters, and a capactively-coupled feedback DAC, to form a 1st-order DSM with high input impedance and wide dynamic range for voltage sensors. Chopping is applied to suppress the flicker noise. The time-domain approach relaxes the voltage swing requirement compared to that of a Gm-C integrator, and thus area efficiency is achieved. The prototype is implemented in 40nm CMOS. It consumes 21μA under 1.2V supply. With a 100mVpp sinusoidal input, it achieves 74.9dB SNDR over 2 kHz BW and the THD is −82dB. This readout circuit is also measured with a Hall sensor to demonstrate its operation. The FoM and distortion achieves the state-of-the-art performance of VCO-based sensor readout circuits.

Traditional authentication method is hard to identify herb's authenticity of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) formula granules because they have lost all their morphological characteristics. In this study, a new allele-specific PCR method was established for identifying the authentication of Jinyinhua formula granule (made from Lonicerae Japonicae Flos) based on an SNP site in trnL-trnF fragment. Genomic DNA was successfully extracted from Lonicerae Japonicae Flos and its formula granules by using an improved spin column method and then PCR was performed with the designed primer. Approximately 110 bp specific bands was obtained only in the authentic Lonicerae Japonicae Flos and its formula granules, while no bands were found in fake mixed products. In addition, the PCR product sequence was proved from Lonicerae Japonicae Flos trnL-trnF sequence by using BLAST method. Therefore, DNA molecular authentication method could make up the limitations of character identification method and microscopic identification, and quickly identify herb's authenticity of TCM formula granules, with enormous potential for market supervision and quality control.

We extended prior research by examining the effects of parental psychological control and adolescent depression on antisocial behavior, as well as the possible mediation effect of adolescent depression in those processes. To do so, we examined 377 senior high school students (mean age=15.30 years) from four major cities in Taiwan. Adolescent reported on perceived parental psychological control and depression on antisocial behavior. The results of hierarchical regression analyses are concluded as follows. (1) Gender and parents education level can significant predict antisocial behavior. (2) Maternal psychological control can significant predict antisocial behavior. (3) Adolescent depression directly influenced the antisocial behavior and the mediation effect of adolescent depression between psychological control and antisocial behavior was statistically significant. These results suggested that adolescent depression plays a more significant role vis-a-vis adolescent depression than the parental psychological control on Taiwan adolescent antisocial behavior. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for research and practice.

This study examined the relationships between maternal gatekeeping and paternal involvement. To do so, we examined 737 married mothers from five major cities in Taiwan. The instruments were the Maternal Gatekeeping Inventory developed based on Allen & Hawkins (1999) Maternal Gatekeeping Scale and the Paternal Involvement Inventory developed based on Lamb(1987). Paternal Involvement Scale. Mothers reported on perceived maternal gatekeeping and paternal involvement. The results of multiple regression analyses are concluded as follows. (1)The “standard and responsibility” and “separate family role” levels of maternal gatekeeping can significant predict overall paternal involvement. (2) The “standard and responsibility” and “separate family role” levels of maternal gatekeeping can significant predict the interaction level of paternal involvement. (3) The “standard and responsibility” and “separate family role” levels of maternal gatekeeping can significant predict the accessibility level of paternal involvement. (4) The “standard and responsibility” and “separate family role” levels of maternal gatekeeping can significant predict the responsibility level of paternal involvement. These results suggested that maternal gatekeeping plays a more significant role vis-a-vis paternal involvement on Taiwan mother behavior. These results are further discussed as reference for academia and suggestions for future research are also proposed.

Designing green product marketing is a helpful solution for enhancing green awareness, and for promoting the protection of the environment. In this study we explored the framing effect in advertising design, and analyzed the relationship between framing effect (FE) and green message (GM), as well as their influences on advertising. We adopted a quasiexperimental method, and conducted empirical research according to 2 x 2 between-subject factors. The results showed that green messages influenced consumers' reaction toward positive and negative frames. Consumers who did not receive green messages preferred positively framed advertising. After receiving a green message, the consumers' attitudes regarding positively and negatively framed advertising were similar for both types.

The principles of Confucianism are founded on humaneness, righteousness, propriety, knowledge, integrity and filial piety. These principles have found their way to the Chinese culture since the days of Confucius. The study reviews the concept of Confucianism and its influence in Chinese context. Also, the relationship between Confucianism and character education is discussed. Character education is based on the transmission of values and within Chinese society and most of these values have been founded on the teachings of Confucius. Filial piety has strongly been conditioned within the principles of Confucianism and the respect of one's elders. Character education has been promoted by teachers and elders who focus on the transmission of values from one generation to the next. Character education is supported by the theories and teachings set out by Confucius, mostly in relation to humaneness and integrity, as well as collectivism. The individualistic trends are discarded within character education, as the welfare of the society and the collective is prioritized.Keywords: Confucianism, Character Education, China, Chinese Society1. INTRODUCTIONConfucianism is one of the oldest religions and philosophical beliefs in the world. It is a philosophical and religious system which is based on the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Through the teachings of Confucius, the values of humaneness, righteousness, propriety, knowledge, integrity, loyalty, filial piety and continence have been described and applied (Ackerman et al., 2009; McDonald, 2012; Chunxia, 2010). In relation to education, Confucianism supports different virtues and values which are meant to highlight the importance of study in the lives of followers. This study exams confucianism and character education based on a Chinese perspective. It presents a review of literature, first covering Confucianism in the Chinese context in relation to the proposition on Confucianism being positively related to Chinese cultural contexts. It Corresponding Author: then discusses character education and character education in Chinese society. Based on the literature and argument, the following proposition will be discussed-that Confucianism is positively related to character education in Chinese society. A conclusion will then collate and summarize the study. This study is being undertaken in order to establish a more detailed and intimate understanding of Confucianism and character education.2. MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study reviews the concept of Confucianism and its impact on character education in Chinese context.2.1. Confucianism in Chinese ContextThe main principle of Confucianism is humanism. It highlights the world and the family, not the gods or the afterlife (Fingarette, 1998; Cheng, 2011; Kim and Strudler, 2012; Ip, 2009; Lin, 1994). Confucianism does not place much focus on faithfulness rendered to divine will (Juergensmeyer, 2005). This position is founded on the perception that humans can be taught and improved with personal and community efforts, especially self- cultivation (Zhao and Roper, 2011). It also placed much stock on virtue and ethics-ren, yi and li. Ren refers to altruism directed to other members of the community; y i seeks to support righteousness; and li refers to proper behaviour within the community (Yang, 2012). This principle also declares that one's life must be worth less than the need to uphold the values of ren and yi (Lo, 1999; Tynan etal., 2010).Although the principles of Confucianism were abandoned for a while, the 20th century saw its revival in China. One of the principles which have been highlighted in Confucianism is filial piety (Zhang et al, 2012). This is a principle which has long been entrenched in the Chinese culture. This principle indicates that there must be deference to older individuals, mostly within one's family. This principle is perfectly encapsulated in Confucius' statement "when I walk along with two others, they may serve me as teachers. …

A sensor readout circuit employing chopped VCO-based CTDSM is presented in this paper. This VCO-based ADC features direct connection to the sensors to eliminate pre-amplifier. The VCO is designed as a Gm-CCO, which is a G m stage cascaded with the folded-cascode current-controlled oscillator. The proposed circuit ensures a high input impedance. Furthermore, the main noise and offset contributor, the Gm stage, is mitigated by chopping operation. The VCO-based CTDSM is implemented in 40-nm CMOS. The whole circuit draws 14 μA from 1.2-V supply. With a 2.4-mVpp input, it achieves 49.43 dB SNDR over 5-kHz BW and has SFDR of 59.5 dB. The input-referred noise is 40nV/√Hz. The chip area is only 0.0145 mm2.

This paper presents an area-efficient and fast-response CMOS Hall sensor system for a camera autofocus system. The prototype comprises of a Hall sensor and a capacitively-coupled instrumentation amplifier (CCIA). The Hall sensor adopts the spinning current technique to mitigate the Hall element offset. In the CCIA, the T-capacitor network is employed considering the capacitor matching requirement and the chip area. The amplifier offset is further suppressed by a ripple-reduction loop. This chip is measured with Helmholtz coil, Solenoid, and NMR system. Implemented in a 0.18-μm CMOS process, it achieves 564 μT rms in 180-kHz BW. The linearity error is < 0.5% over ±100-mT range. The power consumption is 1.19 mW, and the area is 0.12 mm2.

Based on the transcriptome data, the study cloned full-length cDNA of TwGPPS1 and TwGPPS2 genes from Tripterygium wilfordii suspension cells and then analyzed the bioinformation of the sequence and protein expression. The cloned TwGPPS1 has a 1 278 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polypeptide of 425 amino acids. The deduced isoelectric point (pI) was 6.68, a calculated molecular weight was about 47.189 kDa. The full-length cDNA of the TwGPPS2 contains a 1 269 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polypeptide of 422 amino acids. The deduced isoelectric point (pI) was 6.71, a calculated molecular weight was about 46.774 kDa.The entire reading frame of TwGPPS1,2 was cloned into the pET-32a(+) vector and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells to obtain the TwGPPS protein, which laid a basis for further study on the regulation of terpenoid secondary metabolism and biological synthesis.

We present a single-step template-free self-assembly method for constructing 1D-chains and 1D-networks of Au-nanoparticles. The chains are formed by simply increasing the ion concentration of nanoparticle solution so that the attractive van der waals force prevails over the repulsive Coulomb interaction. A combination of this method and the previously developed charge trapping technique allows us to place the 1D-chains/networks at designed locations. Further, the nanoparticle structures are stable enough to withstand the subsequent e-beam lithographic processes for formation of nanoparticle-based electronics such as a single electron transistor. Prominent Coulomb oscillation was observed at temperatures as high as 120 K.

To explore the potential of isocyanate usage reduction, water-blown rigid polyurethane foams were made by replacing 0, 20, and 50% of Voranoll® 490 in the B-side of the foam formulation by epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) with an isocyanate index ranging from 50 to 110. The compressive strength, density, and thermal conductivity of foams were measured. The foam surface temperature was monitored before and throughout the foaming reaction as an indirect indication of the foaming temperature. Increasing ESBO replacement and/or decreasing isocyanate index decreased the foam's compressive strength. The density of the foam decreased while decreasing the isocyanate index to 60. Further decrease in isocyanate index resulted in foam shrinkage causing a sharp increase in the foam density. The thermal conductivity of foams increased while decreasing the isocyanate index and increasing the ESBO replacement. Mathematical models for predicting rigid polyurethane foam density, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity were established and validated. Similar to compressive strength, the foaming temperature decreased while decreasing the isocyanate index and increasing the ESBO replacement. Because of the lower reactivity of ESBO with isocyanate, the rate of foaming temperature decrease with decreasing isocyanate index was in the order of 0% > 20% > 50% ESBO replacement. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009

A screening study was conducted to identify a catalyst that promotes epoxy ring opening of full epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) avoiding side reactions at low concentration and temperature. Six catalysts different catalyst: formic acid, phosphoric acid, POLYCAT® 5, p-toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate, POLYCAT® SA-1, and DABCO® BL17 were evaluated in terms of acid number, oxirane oxygen content, and color analyses. p-Toluenesulfonic acid shows a particular behavior that promotes the reaction resulting in a maximum oxirane oxygen content reduction; low acid number and color index compare to the others catalyst. To create an alkoxy hydroxy ESBO molecule, ESBO was combined with methanol and ethylene glycol using 0.5% by wt of p-toluenesulfonic acid at 130, 150, and 170°C for different reaction times. Optimal conditions for oxirane ring opening by alcoholysis reaction were determined varying temperatures and reaction times. FTIR spectrum confirmed the emergence of hydroxyl groups in the alkoxy hydroxy ESBO polyol sample. The polyol sample G was characterized in terms of its hydroxyl number and its potential of replacing up from 50–100% of the petroleum-based polyol in waterborne rigid polyurethane foam application. All polyurethanes foams were evaluated to determine their thermal conductivity, density, and compressive strength properties. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009

The study investigated an approach to incorporate modified epoxidized soy-based vegetable oil polyol as a replacement for petroleum-based polyether polyol and to substantially reduce the isocyanate loading in the rigid foam formulation. Noncatalytic polymerization of epoxidized bodied soybean oil and ethylene glycol (EG) was carried out in a closed batch reaction. Cleavage of the oxirane rings and hydroxyl group attachment at optimum conditions provided the desired polyol products. The polyols were characterized based on its hydroxyl numbers, acidity, viscosity, iodine number, and Gardner color index for quality purposes. Reactions of oxirane ring and EG were verified by spectroscopic FTIR. Crosslinking performance was evaluated by extractability analysis on the polyurethane (PU) elastomer wafers. Rigid foaming performed at 50 and 75% petroleum-based polyether polyol replacements have shown excellent thermoinsulating and mechanical properties compared with epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) alone or petroleum-based polyether polyol alone. A reduction of up to 8% of the polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate was achieved using the synthesized ESBO-EG-based polyols. A higher average functionality polyol is key component to the reduction of isocyanate in PU synthesis. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009

In the absence of polymerization, soy-based polyols tend to have inadequate hydroxyl equivalent molecular weights for many critical urethane applications. In this article, the polymerization (bodying) of soybean oil is presented as an effective method to increase the molecular weight of soy-based polyols. When bodying is combined with reaction steps for alcohol addition and acid reduction, soy-based polyols suitable for urethane applications can be synthesized. Two different heat-polymerization approaches, catalyzed- and noncatalyzed-bodied soybean oil (BSBO) were evaluated in continuous and batch processing. The catalyzed-BSBO has lower iodine numbers and high viscosities than the noncatalyzed-BSBO. This approach represents one of the least-costly means to increase the hydroxyl equivalent weights of soy-based polyols. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009

An acylglycerol-based molecule was synthesized by the thermal polymerization (bodying) of soybean oil followed by transesterification with glycerol. Transesterification with glycerol at temperatures greater than 200°C provided the desired polyol prepolymers. The extent of bodying and quantity of glycerol added during the transesterification provided tunability of the polyol molecular weight and functionality. The hydroxyl numbers, acidity, and viscosity of the polyols were characterized. The polyols were evaluated in elastomers and rigid foams. Extractability analyses were performed on the polyurethane elastomer wafers to evaluate crosslinking. Rigid foaming results for the processed soy-based polyol showed excellent physicochemical properties suggesting comparability with a petroleum-based polyether polyol. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009

Water-blown flexible polyurethane foams and molded plastic films were made by replacing 0 to 50% of Voranol® 4701 in the B-side of foam and plastic film formulation by epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO). Physical properties of foams including density, 50% compression force deflection (CFD), 50% constant deflection compression (CDC), and resilience were determined. A dynamic mechanical spectrometer (DMS) and a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) were used to characterize the hard segment (HS) and soft segment (SS) ratio and thermal properties of plastic. Various functional groups in both flexible polyurethane foam and plastic film were characterized using Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR). When increasing the ESBO content, both density and 50% CFD of water-blown polyurethane foams decreased first, then increased. On the other hand, the 50% CDC and resilience of foams showed a sharp increase and decrease, respectively. When increasing the ESBO content, the peak of tan δ in DMS analysis and Δcp in DSC analysis of plastic films both decreased indicating the hard segment increased and the soft segment decreased in plastic film, respectively. The FTIR-ATR results also show the hydrogen-bonded urethane group increased in plastic films with increasing ESBO content. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009

Multiple novel vegetable oil-based polyols were synthesized from the reaction-addition to epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) by a series of acid acyl moieties derived from vegetable oils. The acid acyl moieties were linoleic acid (LA), ricinoleic acid (RC), ricinoleic acid estolide (RC estolide) and hydrolyzed bodied soybean oil (HBSBO). LA and RC were commercially available but RC estolide and HBSBO were synthesized by enzymatic catalytic reactions. In the reaction-addition, ESBO was heated with the acid acyl moieties at 170 °C, atmospheric pressure without any catalyst and solvent. The synthesized vegetable oil-based polyols had acid numbers less than 10 (mg KOH/g), hydroxy numbers of 82–152 (mg KOH/g), and hydroxyl equivalent weights of 370–680. The polyols made from RC estolide and HBSBO had improved numbers of OH equivalent weight comparing to the numbers from alkoxyl hydroxyl soybean oil which is widely used commercial soy-based polyols.

This research first indicates the melt front delay of wedge-shaped lightguiding plate of backlight module on micro injection molding. This research fabricated the patterns of mold insert of lightguiding plate by photo etching process. The micro-facture of lightguiding plate was manufactured by micro injection molding. The lightguiding plate of backlight module was used for the PMMA material. The single parameter method was used to discuss the flatness and replication properties for different processing parameters (mold temperature, melt temperature, packing pressure, packing time and injection pressure). The results show that there are melt front delays due to the slow injection velocity, the low temperature induced by the little effect of shear heating, the high viscosity, the large flow resistance and the slow flow velocity. The mold temperature is the most important factor for the flatness and the replication of micro-feature of liughtguiding plate. Lower mold temperature induces better flatness properties. The surface roughness of micro-facture of lightguiding plate is 8.8 nm on micro injection molding for this work.

Fifty vegetable oil-based polyols were characterized in terms of their hydroxyl number and their potential of replacing up to 50% of the petroleum-based polyol in waterborne rigid polyurethane foam applications was evaluated. Polyurethane foams were prepared by reacting isocyanates with polyols containing 50% of vegetable oil-based polyols and 50% of petroleum-based polyol and their thermal conductivity, density, and compressive strength were determined. The vegetable oil-based polyols included epoxidized soybean oil reacted with acetol, commercial soybean oil polyols (soyoils), polyols derived from epoxidized soybean oil and diglycerides, etc. Most of the foams made with polyols containing 50% of vegetable oil-based polyols were inferior to foams made from 100% petroleum-based polyol. However, foams made with polyols containing 50% hydroxy soybean oil, epoxidized soybean oil reacted with acetol, and oxidized epoxidized diglyceride of soybean oil not only had superior thermal conductivity, but also better density and compressive strength properties than had foams made from 100% petroleum polyol. Although the epoxidized soybean oil did not have any hydroxyl functional group to react with isocyanate, when used in 50 : 50 blend with the petroleum-based polyol the resulting polyurethane foams had density versus compressive properties similar to polyurethane foams made from 100% petroleum-based polyol. The density and compressive strength of foams were affected by the hydroxyl number of polyols, but the thermal conductivity of foams was not. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007

Ojo, which means to be born in the Pure Land after one's death in this world, is a serious issue that has been discussed for a long time. As one of the topics of Buddhist thought, Ojo can be approached from various aspects. Ishii Kyodo, a scholar who tends to discuss Ojo in respect of its manner and value, suggests that Ojo is not only a phenomenon of transition from a world to another, but should be most emphasized in its internal signification.To understand the essence of Pure-land teachings, it is significant to clarify when Ojo happens to us on earth. Does it happen only at the moment of our death? Or might it be realized during our life? Honen, the first patriarch of the Japanese Jodo sect, suggested that Ojo could only be realized through the practices of Shomyo-nenbutsu. His disciple Shoku (1177-1247), who is considered the first patriarch of the Senzan branch of the Jodo sect, also insisted that Nenbutsu-ichigyo (the sole practice of Nenbutsu) was a necessary way to the Pure Land. This paper attempts to compare the Pure-land teachings of the two patriarchs, and then to discuss how Shoku defined the way to the Pure Land.

A chopped capacitively-coupled instrumentation amplifier (CCIA) with a proposed duty-cycled Gm-C DC servo loop (DSL) for bio-potential signal acquisition is presented. The proposed architecture realizes a large time constant with small circuit area without sacrificing noise and power performance. Furthermore, this pseudo-resistor-less design grants this architecture easily portable for more advanced processes. Fabricated in a 0.18-μm CMOS, this chip draws 2.37 μA from a 1.8-V supply and occupies only an active area of 0.43 mm2. The total integrated noise from 0.5 to 100 Hz is 1.04 μVrms and results in a noise efficiency factor of 7.8.

This paper performs the detailed analysis and measurement of a pseudo-resistor based CCIA used for bio-potential signal acquisition. The pseudo-resistor is implemented with MOS transistors operating in deep sub-threshold region, whose characteristic is not well-modeled in simulation. The resistor value versus control voltage and the effect of leakage current at OPAMP input node are discussed and characterized in this paper. The tested chip consumes 1.3µA from a 1-V supply, and the total integrated noise from 0.5 to 100 Hz is 3.26µVrms. It achieves a noise efficiency factor of 14.6.

This paper presents a low-noise low-power Instrumentation Amplifier (IA) for ECG applications. Chopped capacitively-coupled IA (CCIA) is built to precisely define the gain and avoid flicker noise. The circuit for electrode offset (EOS) cancellation is implemented in feed-forward (FF) manner with an area-efficient SC integrator. The FF architecture uses less capacitor ratio to define the low HPF corner than the feedback architecture. Implemented in a 0.18-μm process, the circuit draws 4.2 μA from a 1.8 V supply, and occupies 0.63mm2. The total integrated noise from 0.5 to 100Hz is 7.37 μV rms .

This paper presents a readout circuit for piezo-resistive sensing applications. It is based on a resistor-based oscillator which converts the resistance information into frequency domain. In the readout circuit, a mixer is employed to down-convert the oscillator frequency to lower frequency for subsequent digitization. The frequency down-conversion operation is equivalent to amplification in time which increases the system sensitivity to resistance variation. A frequency calibration loop is incorporated to set the mixer output frequency to a well-defined initial value. The readout circuit is fabricated in a TSMC 0.35-μm Bio-MEMS CMOS process platform. The oscillation frequency is 24 MHz, and the down-converted output frequency at mixer output is set to 100 kHz. The total readout circuit consumes 1 mW with 3-V supply. The system sensitivity is 7 kHz/Ω.

In this study, the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy adult were acquired and inducted by vascular endothelial growth factor, et cetera. The differentiated endothelial cells were observed and identified as EPCs by the double positive staining of fluorescent labeled acetylated-LDL and lectin, seeded on the polyurethane small-diameter artificial vessels, treated by shear stress of 15 dyn/cm2, and observed by scanning electronic microscopy. As a result, the peripheral blood mononuclear cells differentiated into EPCs. They were positively stained by labeled acetylated-LDL and lectin. Under observation of scanning electronic microscope, the unseeded polyurethane small-diameter artificial vessel being suited for the growth and spreading of the cells; the cell lineage on surface of artificial vessels of stationary group being arrayed in chaos, and that of shear stress group being arrayed in direction. Therefore, the peripheral cells can differentiate into EPCs, and EPCs can be used as novel source cells for the accelerated endothelialization of small diameter artificial vessel. Shear stress contributes to the mechanic moulding of cell lineage on the surface of artificial vessel.

A diode-pump solid-state laser system emitting a 532 nm beam has been developed. The pump source is an 808 nm diode laser, which has gained wide acceptance in research as well as in commercial production due to its effectiveness and reasonable price. The active medium was chosen to be Nd:YVO 4 (neodymium-doped yttrium orthovanadate), a material with many advantages over traditional Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet) such as a low lasing threshold and linearly polarized beam. However, the thermal conductivity of Nd:YVO 4 is not as good as Nd:YAG, thus the thermal lens effect inside Nd:YVO 4 under high pumping intensity becomes severe and detrimental to the laser performance. Our work showed that careful adjustments of Nd:YVO 4 temperature as well as of the cavity's parameters played an important role in the performance of the laser. Potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP), a nonlinear optics crystal, was used to convert the fundamental 1064 nm laser radiation from Nd:YVO 4 into 532 nm. The 532 nm laser beam has been successfully proven to cut wood, plastic and aluminum.