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The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits of implementing a rehabilitation program for seniors in a nursing home. A physical activity rehabilitation program study was conducted in a nursing home in Taiwan for eight weeks. Forty senior adults (20 males and 20 females) in a nursing home joined this study as human participants. All the participants were diagnosed by a licensed rehabilitation physician as having a mild physical disability. They were split into control and experimental groups. Both groups included 10 males and 10 females. The participants in the experimental group joined the rehabilitation program while the participants in the control group did not. The range of motion and handgrip strength of all the participants before and after this program was measured. The results showed that the joint range of motion (ROM) of the upper limbs, trunk, and lower limbs of the participants in the experimental group increased significantly after attending the program. The difference between all the ROM values of the participants in the control group did not change significantly during the 8-week period. Similar results were found for the grip strength.

The purpose of this study was to understand the effect of intervention in the form of physical activity and social support while co-exercising to promote a health-promoting lifestyle in older adults. This study openly recruited 60 healthy male older adults, all of whom wore a wrist-worn Garmin device walker. Experimental group A was monitored by a special person and walked together as a group, experimental group B walked independently outdoors, and the control group went about their daily routine as normal. All participants recorded daily steps and calorie consumption data for eight weeks. The results of the study showed that when walking together in experimental group A, the number of daily walks and calories consumed could be maintained at a high level due to the effect of group and social support. The number of daily walks in experimental group B was inconsistent due to the lack of motivation to walk on their own. The control group consumed the lowest number of calories in their daily routine. The results show that physical activity and social support have positive explanatory power for a health-promoting lifestyle. Finally, physical activity in older adults should be promoted, and social support for interaction with peers can effectively promote a healthy lifestyle and respond to the arrival of the super-aged society in advance.

The purpose of this study was to understand the effects of a physical activity program and high-protein supplementation on body composition and upper and lower extremity muscle strength in male older adults in rural areas. In this study, 60 healthy male older adults (mean age 77.5 ± 4.6 years) from rural areas were recruited and randomly assigned to experimental group A (intervention of the physical activity program and high-protein supplementation), experimental group B (daily routine, with only intervention of high-protein supplementation), or control group C (daily routine). Experimental group A (EGa) carried out a physical activity plan three times a week, with an exercise intensity and calorie consumption of 250 kcal (5METs × ⅔hr × 75) for 3 months and drank a high-protein supplement (1.3 g/kg BW/day) after each exercise; experimental group B (EGb) followed only the intervention of high-protein supplementation. All the participants underwent pre- and post-tests for body composition, waist–hip circumference (WC, HC), handgrip strength (HS), 30 s dominant arm curl, 30 s sit to stand, and 2 min step tests. The results of the study showed that EGa significantly decreased body mass index (BMI), body fat mass (BFM), body fat percentage (BFP), WC, HC, and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and increased basal metabolic rate and muscle mass. Although both EGa and EGb used high-protein supplementation, EGa’s added three-month intervention of a physical activity program made it easier for that group to increase muscle mass and muscle strength. The WHR decreased from 1.015 to 0.931, representing a decrease of 8.28%, and an obvious weight loss effect was achieved. Thus, we concluded that the best way to maintain muscle strength in older adults is through physical activity with resistance and protein supplementation, which can reduce muscle loss in older adults.

The aim of the present study was to understand the effects of a moderate-intensity physical activity program on the changes observed in the body composition, upper and lower extremity muscle strength, as well as balance in elderly female adults in order to evaluate sarcopenia. In this study, 30 healthy elderly females were recruited and were randomly assigned to either the control group or the experimental group. The experimental group engaged in a moderate-intensity physical activity program twice a week for 8 weeks. Using a body composition analyzer, the senior fitness test, and handgrip strength and gait speed tests, all participants were tested in pre- and post-tests. The results of the study revealed changes in the overall body composition in the experimental group, with significant decreases in body mass index, body fat percentage, and body fat mass and substantial increases in the basal metabolic rate and skeletal muscle mass, while the upper and lower extremity muscle strength and balance ability also showed significant improvements. The moderate-intensity physical activity program also increased upper limb handgrip strength and lower limb gait speed, showing that the plan was able to effectively evaluate sarcopenia. The study concluded that using upper limb handgrip strength and lower limb walking speed to evaluate sarcopenia are useful diagnostic tools. Moderate-intensity physical activity is effective for improving muscle strength and reducing sarcopenia.

Ageing is related to changes in physical health, including loss of mobility and muscle function. It can lead to impaired physical capability and reduced quality of life. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a physical activity rehabilitation program (PARP) could improve range of joint motion (ROM), grip strength, and gait speed of older adults with mild disabilities. Forty older adults in a long-term care center in Taiwan joined as human participants and were split into control and experimental groups. The participants in the experimental group joined a PARP for eight weeks. The ROM of bodily joints, grip strength, and gait speed of all participants were measured both before and after the eight-week period. The results showed that all the ROMs, grip strength, and gait speed of the participants in the experimental group increased significantly after attending the program. The improvement of the ROMs for male and female participants in the experimental group ranged from 3.8% to 71% and from 7.8% to 75%, respectively. Male participants had greater improvement on gait speed (50%) than their female counterparts (22.9%). Female participants, on the other hand, had greater improvement on grip strength (25.4%) than their male counterparts (20.3%). The ROM, grip strength, and gait speed of the control group, on the other hand, did not change significantly during the same period. The results showed that the PARP adopted in this study was effective in increasing the ROM, grip strength, and gait speed of those who had joined the PARP. This study shows that an eight-week PARP without the use of gym machines was beneficial in reducing sarcopenia in elderly people with mild disabilities.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the speed, agility, and explosive strength performance of elite basketball players over an 8-week plyometric training program. Fifteen elite male college basketball players in Taiwan (average age 22.16 ± 0.85 years old) were publicly recruited. All participants received 24 plyometric training courses three times per week for 8 weeks, and the courses were implemented pre- and post-test. The speed and agility test items were divided into a 20 m sprint and a T-shaped run. In the explosive strength test, a force plate was used to measure countermovement jump to understand the pre- and post-test differences in all the test indicators, including the rate of force development, time of the rate of force development, ground reaction forces for the moment of jumping, duration of passage, and jump height. It was found that, after the participants underwent the plyometric training program, the body mass index and body fat percentage were significantly reduced, the skeletal muscle mass was significantly increased, and the post-test scores for speed and agility improved significantly. All the participants exhibited a steeper gradient for the rate of force development (r = −0.816~−0.963) and a shorter time for the rate of force development (0.107~0.232 s). The ground reaction forces reached 1509.61~2387.11 Newtons. The duration of passage reached 0.643 s, and the jump height reached 0.624 m. The conclusion was that the plyometric training program can increase muscle volume in the lower limbs and legs, increase the rate of force development, and shorten the jumping time, thereby enhancing explosive strength.

Introduction: Exercise intervention is the easiest and most effective way to promote human health. This study combined technology and exercise to improve the health behavior of the older adults through a physical activity intervention and to enhance a health-promoting lifestyle. Materials and methods: A quasi-experimental research method was used to openly recruit 120 healthy male and female older adults over 65 years old (average age of males: 71.6 ± 1.25 years; average age of females: 72.3 ± 1.28 years), all of whom wore smart bracelets. The participants were monitored by special personnel during the same period of walking every Monday to Friday. All participants recorded their daily steps, distance walked, and calorie consumption data for a period of 8 weeks. Results: After 8 weeks of walking, all participants showed a positive medium–high correlation of various factors between healthy behaviors and the health-promoting lifestyle scales. In the post-tests of each factor of two scales, males had the highest correlation between regular physical activity and physical activity, and females had the highest correlation between regular physical activity and social support. The variabilities in the explanatory power of the health behaviors of males and females on the health-promoting lifestyle were R2 = 70.9% (p < 0.01) and R2 = 74.1% (p < 0.01), indicating that the variables of healthy behaviors have a positive effect on health-promoting lifestyles in male and female older adults. Conclusions: Walking interventions positively affect the health behaviors of older adults and encourage health-promoting lifestyles. The value of this study is in its contribution to health promotion and public health recommendations for older adults.

Cubic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with the SBA-1 moiety, functionalized with carboxylic acid ( COOH) groups as well as enlarged mesopores, are successfully synthesized using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and carboxyethylsilanetriol sodium salt (CES) as silica sources, complexes formed by polyacrylic acid (PAA) and hexadecylpyridinium chloride (CPC) as templates, and trimethylbenzene (TMB) as pore expander. The successful incorporation of organic functionalities are confirmed by 13C and 29Si solid-state NMR. The structural properties of cubic mesostructures are characterized by powder XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, and TEM measurements. The prepared MSNs exhibit a remarkably high adsorption capacity of 1138 mg g−1 at pH 8.2 when they are used as the supports to immobilize papain. Both factors of the large pore size of the support and the favorable electrostatic attractions between the carboxylate groups on the adsorbent surface and the papain molecules play important roles in reaching such a high adsorption capacity. The immobilized papain possesses better thermal stability, pH tolerance, and heat resistance in comparison to the free papain. The materials are also used for selective adsorption of a single protein (papain) from the binary mixture of two different types of proteins (papain and hemoglobin). Our results demonstrate that proteins such as papain and hemoglobin with different isoelectric points and shapes can be effectively separated from their binary mixture by simply tuning the pH of the buffer.

CrWN coatings were fabricated through a hybrid high-power impulse magnetron sputtering/radio-frequency magnetron sputtering technique. The phase structures, mechanical properties, and tribological characteristics of CrWN coatings prepared with various nitrogen flow ratios (fN2s) were investigated. The results indicated that the CrWN coatings prepared at fN2 levels of 0.1 and 0.2 exhibited a Cr2N phase, whereas the coatings prepared at fN2 levels of 0.3 and 0.4 exhibited a CrN phase. These CrWN coatings exhibited hardness values of 16.7–20.2 GPa and Young’s modulus levels of 268–296 GPa, which indicated higher mechanical properties than those of coatings with similar residual stresses prepared through conventional direct current magnetron sputtering. Face-centered cubic (fcc) Cr51W2N47 coatings with a residual stress of −0.53 GPa exhibited the highest wear and scratch resistance. Furthermore, the diffusion barrier performance of fcc CrWN films on Cu metallization was explored, and they exhibited excellent barrier characteristics up to 650 °C.

Ergotism is a rare cause of peripheral vasoconstriction with varying presentation depending on the affected vessels. Coronary vasospasm is a rare, potentially fatal manifestation of ergotism. Cytochrome P-450 isoenzyme CYP3A metabolizes ergot alkaloids and their derivatives; thus, concomitant use of ergotamine and CYP3A inhibitors significantly increases ergotism risk. The antiretroviral drug darunavir boosted with cobicistat potently inhibits CYP3A. A few deleterious interactions are described in the literature when combining ergotamine with boosted human immunodeficiency virus protease inhibitors. Herein, we describe a patient who presented to the emergency department with profound coronary vasospasm arising from ergotamine’s interaction with darunavir and cobicistat. Emergency coronary angiography revealed no critical atherosclerotic stenosis, but prolonged coronary artery spasm. After prompt cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intravenous vasodilator treatment, and 14-day extracorporeal membrane oxygenation application, the patient fully recovered and was discharged. Concomitant use of ergot alkaloids and their derivatives could be disastrous for patients treated with cobicistat-boosted darunavir.

Cubic FDU-12 type mesoporous silicas with enlarged pores and carboxylic acid (–COOH) functionality in the pore channels (denoted as LP-FTC-x) are synthesized using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and carboxyethylsilanetriol sodium salt (CES) as silica sources, Pluronic F127 triblock copolymer as template, and trimethylbenzene (TMB) as pore expander, and utilized them as supports for enzyme immobilization. When the –COOH content is increased from 0 to 30%, the pore size of LP-FTC-x decreases from 23.6 to 11.1 nm, and its particle size decreases from around 2 μm to 600–800 nm. The material exhibits a high papain adsorption capacity (895 mg g−1) with a low leaching rate at pH 8.2 due to the well-defined surface chemistry in the pore channel. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms follow the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir isotherm model, respectively. The excellent structural properties of LP-FTC-x are also advantageous for enhancement in stability of enzyme toward the temperature, solution pH, and incubation time variations.

Single-instruction set architecture (ISA) heterogeneous multi-processor architecture is promising for developing multi-processor system-on-chips (MPSoCs). In this architecture, all processors execute the same instruction set, yet with various performance and power behavior, since processors may have various micro-architectures. Therefore, systems with this architecture have the advantages of easy to develop new functions as the homogeneous architecture, and easy to customize the resource allocation to achieve high energy efficiency as the heterogeneous architecture. However, for an MPSoC utilizing the target architecture, a key design issue is how to select the set of processors so that the target system can achieve good performance while the cost of the chip is constrained to the expected value. To solve this, in this paper, we propose a processor allocation method for MPSoCs with single-ISA heterogeneous multi-core architecture. The goal of the proposed method is to automatically synthesize the allocation of cores for the given workload so that the performance is optimized while the resource constraint is met. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that tackles the processor allocation problem for MPSoCs with the target architecture. To bring out the best performance of a hardware configuration, the proposed algorithm also synthesizes the software design of task mapping for a selected hardware configuration. The experimental results show that, compared with the homogeneous architecture with the least cost and lowest performance cores only, even if the number of core is set to the maximum parallelism degree of the target workload, the proposed method achieves up to 8.25% of performance improvement among all the cases we evaluated while the area constraint is met. Compared with the architecture with all high performance but large cores, when the number of cores is also set to the same as the maximum parallelism degree of the target workload, the proposed method has at most 11.5% of performance degradation, while the area cost is reduced by 60.7%.

When deploying two or more well-trained deep-learningmodels on a system, we would hope to unify them into asingle deep model for the execution in the inference stage, sothat the computation time can be increased and the energyconsumption can be saved. This paper presents an effective method to build a single deep neural network that canexecute multiple tasks. Our approach can merge two well-trained feed-forward neural networks of the same architecture into a single one, where the required on-line storageis reduced and the inference speed is enhanced. We evalu-ate our approach by using MobileNets and show that ourapproach can improve both compression ratio and speedup. The experimental results demonstrate the satisfactory per-formance and verify the feasibility of the method.

It is hard to detect on-road objects under various lighting conditions. To improve the quality of the classifier, three techniques are used. We define subclasses to separate daytime and nighttime samples. Then we skip similar samples in the training set to prevent overfitting. With the help of the outside training samples, the detection accuracy is also improved. To detect objects in an edge device, Nvidia Jetson TX2 platform, we exert the lightweight model ResNet-18 FPN as the backbone feature extractor. The FPN (Feature Pyramid Network) generates good features for detecting objects over various scales. With Cascade R-CNN technique, the bounding boxes are iteratively refined for better results., Comment: Accepted at IEEE 21st International Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing (MMSP 2019)

The presence or absence of differences in the perceptions of previous visitors and non-visitors toward a destination is important to tourist theorists and practitioners. Destination familiarity, destination image, and future visit intention are suitable marketing variables for investigations into these two groups. Destination familiarity has been defined in many different ways. Adding to the complexity, related concepts, such as awareness, knowledge, experience, and expertise, have, in one way or another, been used in combination with familiarity. There is also inconsistency in whether familiarity is a unidimensional or multidimensional construct. Considering previous studies, Prentice (2004) provided an interrelated seven-dimension familiarity construct. Taking into account previous familiarity and familiarity-related studies and setting experiential familiarity as a moderator, this study aims to achieve a deeper understanding of familiarity by examining how Prentice's familiarity dimensions are interrelated, as well as to gain insights into the structural relationships among familiarity, destination image, and future visit intention via the comparison of previous visitors and non-visitors. Hong Kong was selected as the tourist destination, and the partial least squares method was applied to analyze 493 surveys collected from residents in Taiwan. The findings provide a range of academic and practical implications. In this light, certain previous findings may have to be reconsidered. The present work indicates the importance of experience as a criterion for segmenting consumers, and it demonstrates the usefulness of a critical examination of non-visitors. This study offers numerous suggestions regarding how destination marketing organizations can formulate effective strategies for both previous visitors and non-visitors.

In this work, we demonstrate that a high density of −COOH groups loading, up to 60 mol% based on silica, is successfully incorporated into SBA-16 via a one-pot synthesis route, which involves co-condensation of carboxyethylsilanetriol sodium salt (CES) and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) templated by Pluronic F127 and P123 in an acidic medium. A variety of characterization techniques are performed to confirm quantitative incorporation of carboxylic groups into ordered cubic mesostructures. These functionalized materials are used to effectively remove two cationic dyes methylene blue (MB) and phenosafranine (PF) with the maximum adsorption capacities of 561 and 519 mg g(-1), respectively, at pH 9. The zeta potential results reveal that the electrostatic interactions between cationic dye molecule and negatively charged surface of the adsorbent play a crucial role in their high adsorption capacities. For a binary component system consisting of MB and PF, competitive adsorption of these two dyes is observed with adsorption capacity values slightly lower than those of the corresponding single dye systems. The dye adsorbed material can be easily regenerated by simple acid washing and be reused for five times with MB removal efficiency still up to 98.6%, showing its great potentials in environmental remediation.

In this study, the formation of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with a particle size of about 3 nm was successfully achieved by using the mesoporous channels of carboxylic acid (–COOH) functionalized SBA-15 as the support. When pure silica SBA-15 (without –COOH groups) was employed, the Ag NPs were formed outside of the mesopore and their particle size was significantly larger, up to about 20 nm. The –COO− groups under basic conditions can effectively interact with the Ag+ ions, and thus allowed facile fabrication of Ag NPs. The catalytic activity of these Ag NPs based SBA-15 materials were tested for a model reaction, namely the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol. The results showed that the particle size of the Ag NPs play a key role in determining their catalytic activity. The apparent kinetic constant for the Ag NPs with a particle size of about 3 nm was 1.1 × 10−2 s−1, corresponding to the activity parameters of 12.2 and 4630 s−1 g−1 by considering the total mass of the catalyst used and the Ag NPs alone, respectively, which were remarkably high as compared to other matrices bearing Ag. Moreover, the Ag NP based materials exhibited good recyclability up to 5 cycles.

Multi-Processor Systems-on-Chips (MPSoCs) with 3D-stakced memories frequently work under thermal emergent status due to its high power density. Several thermal-aware task allocation or data placement methods have been proposed for 3D ICs to reduce the number of time-consuming dynamic thermal managements techniques being invoked. However, we observe that, these thermal-aware software designs all consider task allocation or data placement only. Studies show that, with the increasing number of stacked memories and the widening of vertical buses, heat generated by memories is comparable to processors, and synergistically performing thermal control on both processors and memories is a must since vertically aligned modules have the greatest thermal impacts to each other. So, in this paper, we propose the first thermal-aware task and data co-allocation method for MPSoCs with 3D-stacked memories. The proposed method synergistically places data and task considering the heterogeneity of cores and memories to optimize system performance under the given thermal constraint. Among all our test cases, compared to a performance-aware software design, the proposed method has at most 26% performance degradation while the system temperature are kept under the threshold and the performance-aware method has 108.4°C over the threshold. Compared to thermal-aware design that respectively considers data allocation and task allocation only, the proposed method achieves 9.76% of performance improvements on the average.

Enhancement-mode In0.53Ga0.47As n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), with barium zirconate titanate (BZT) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) high-κ materials prepared via the solution–gelation process as gate dielectrics, have been fabricated. The dielectric constants of BZT and TiO2 are 6.67 and 19.3, respectively. The In0.53Ga0.47As MOSFET with TiO2 exhibits better electrical characteristics than the In0.53Ga0.47As MOSFET with BZT. These characteristics include higher maximum drain current density, higher maximum transconductance, and smaller subthreshold swing.

In this research, the Zn(C5H7O2)2·xH2O-based growth of ZnO micro/nanostructures in a low temperature, vapor-trapped chemical vapor deposition system was attempted to optimize structural and optical properties for potential biomedical applications. By trapping in-flow gas molecules and Zinc vapor inside a chamber tube by partially obstructing a chamber outlet, a high pressure condition can be achieved, and this experimental setup has the advantages of ease of synthesis, being a low temperature process, and cost effectiveness. Empirically, the growth process proceeded under a chamber condition of an atmospheric pressure of 730 torr, a controlled volume flow rate of input gas, N2/O2, of 500/500 Standard Cubic Centimeters per Minute (SCCM), and a designated oven temperature of 500 °C. Specifically, the dependence of structural and optical properties of the structures on growth duration and spatially dependent temperature were investigated utilizing scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), and ultraviolet-visible transmission spectroscopy. The experimental results indicate that the grown thin film observed with hexagonal structures and higher structural uniformity enables more prominent structural and optical signatures. XRD spectra present the dominant peaks along crystal planes of (002) and (101) as the main direction of crystallization. In addition, while the structures excited with laser wavelength of 325 nm emit a signature radiation around 380 nm, an ultraviolet lamp with a wavelength of 254 nm revealed distinctive photoluminescence peaks at 363.96 nm and 403.52 nm, elucidating different degrees of structural correlation as functions of growth duration and the spatial gradient of temperature. Transmittance spectra of the structures illustrate typical variation in the wavelength range of 200 nm to 400 nm, and its structural correlation is less significant when compared with PL.

Traffic behavioral monitoring within urban intersections is an essential issue in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for a smart city. This paper investigates on gathering traffic information within an urban intersection where accidents frequently occur. In this paper, traffic pattern modeling, trajectory classification and a real-time vehicle tracker within the urban intersection are proposed. Trajectories of vehicles within the intersection are more regular than that of pedestrians; such monotonous trajectories can be classified with Hidden Markov Model (HMM) into various kinds of motion patterns and tracklet prediction can be performed then. So, given an identified prefix trajectory (for a new coming vehicle), the most likely model is determined and the probable template (tracklet) with the highest similarity is selected. This template gives the direction to forecast the next few locations the vehicle may pass through. Besides, tracking all of trajectories in real-time is a computational challenge, on the basis of vehicle movement and tracklet prediction, the proposed method can remove most of the unnecessary particles. The experimental results demonstrate both the computational effectiveness and tracking correctness of the proposed method, and the tracker truly executes in real-time for the intersections of six traffic lanes, say around six vehicles per second on tracking.

Bifunctional SBA-1 mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with carboxylic acid and amino groups (denoted as CNS-10-10) have been successfully synthesized, characterized, and employed as adsorbents for dye removal. Adsorbent CNS-10-10 shows high affinity towards cationic and anionic dyes in a wide pH range, and exhibits selective dye removal of a two-dye mixture system of cationic methylene blue and anionic eosin Y. By changing the pH of the medium, the selectivity of the adsorption behavior can be easily modulated. For comparison purposes, the counterparts, that is, pure silica SBA-1 MSNs (CS-0) and those with either carboxylic acid or amino functional groups (denoted as CS-10 and NS-10, respectively) were also prepared to evaluate their dye-adsorption behaviors. As revealed by the zeta-potential measurements, the electrostatic interaction between the adsorbent surface and the dye molecule plays an important role in the adsorption mechanism. Adsorbent CNS-10-10 can be easily regenerated and reused, and maintains its adsorption efficiency up to 80 % after four cycles.