Search

BACKGROUND Research into mobile health (mHealth) technologies on weight loss, physical activity, and sedentary behavior has increased substantially over the last decade; however, no research has been published showing the research trend in this field. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to provide a dynamic and longitudinal bibliometric analysis of recent trends of mHealth research for weight loss, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. METHODS A comprehensive search was conducted through Web of Science to retrieve all existing relevant documents published in English between January 1, 2010, and November 1, 2021. We developed appropriate research questions; based on the proven bibliometric approaches, a search strategy was formulated to screen the title for eligibility. Finally, we conducted bibliometric analyses to explore the growth rate of publications; publication patterns; and the most productive authors, institutions, and countries, and visualized the trends in the field using a keyword co-occurrence network. RESULTS The initial search identified 8739 articles, of which 1035 were included in the analyses. Our findings show an exponential growth trend in the number of annual publications of mHealth technology research in these fields. JMIR mHealth and uHealth (n=214, 20.67%), Journal of Medical Internet Research (n=71, 6.86%), and BMC Public Health (n=36, 3.47%) were the top 3 journals, publishing higher numbers of articles. The United States remained the leading contributor in these areas (n=405, 39.13%), followed by Australia (n=154, 14.87%) and England (n=125, 12.07%). Among the universities, the University of Sydney (n=36, 3.47%) contributed the most mHealth technology research in these areas; however, Deakin University (n=25, 2.41%) and the National University of Singapore (n=23, 2.22%) were in the second and third positions, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Although the number of papers published on mobile technologies for weight loss, physical activity, and sedentary behavior was initially low, there has been an overall increase in these areas in recent years. The findings of the study indicate that mobile apps and technologies have substantial potential to reduce weight, increase physical activity, and change sedentary behavior. Indeed, this study provides a useful overview of the publication trends and valuable guidance on future research directions and perspectives in this rapidly developing field.

Senile dementia, also known as dementia, is the mental deterioration which is associated with aging. It is characterized by a decrease in cognitive abilities, inability to concentrate, and especially the loss of higher cerebral cortex function, including memory, judgment, abstract thinking, and other loss of personality, even behavior changes. As a matter of fact, dementia is the deterioration of mental and intellectual functions caused by brain diseases in adults when they are mature, which affects the comprehensive performance of life and work ability. Most dementia cases are caused by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and multiple infarct dementia (vascular dementia, multi-infarct dementia). Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by atrophy, shedding, and degenerative alterations in brain cells, and its occurrence is linked to age. The fraction of the population with dementia is smaller before the age of 65, and it increases after the age of 65. Since women live longer than men, the proportion of women with Alzheimer’s disease is higher. Multiple infarct dementia is caused by a cerebral infarction, which disrupts blood supply in multiple locations and impairs cerebral cortex function. Researchers worldwide are investigating ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease; however, currently, there are no definitive answers for Alzheimer’s prevention. Even so, research has shown that we can take steps to reduce the risk of developing it. Prospective studies have found that even light to moderate physical activity can lower the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Exercise has been proposed as a potential lifestyle intervention to help reduce the occurrence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Various workout modes will be introduced based on various physical conditions. In general, frequent exercise for 6–8 weeks lessens the risk of dementia development.

Purpose Studies have not investigated how the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000 quality management system (QMS) guides manufacturers’ and their partners’ creative processes in devising an innovative supply chain structure. Accordingly, this study aims to explore this subject. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature analysis was conducted to explore how the ISO 9000 QMS might guide manufacturers’ and supply chain partners’ creative processes and the further development of an innovative supply chain organizational structure. The systematic literature analysis is divided into the following two parts: the first part collects related literature to analyze and explore based on the research questions and purpose. The second part is an association analysis. The results of the association analysis show that these related literatures are suitable for the analysis and exploration of the research questions and purpose. Findings This study developed an analytic framework to compare the elements of four components of the ISO 9000 QMS and the ingredients that drive creativity and innovation; the study also reviewed related publications to deeply analyze the relationship between the elements of the four components and the ingredients of creativity and innovation. The authors observed that when manufacturers and partners implement the ISO 9000 QMS, their use of the elements of the four components engages all ingredients and thereby facilitates the manufacturers’ and partners’ creative process in the development of an innovative organizational structure. Research implications According to the results of the analysis, practitioners can understand how to improve the innovation of an organization’s supply chain from ISO 9000 QMS components. In addition, the research has resulted in developing additional research propositions concerning the relationship between the four components of the ISO 9000 QMS and ingredients that drive creativity and innovation. Based on these propositions, more research hypotheses can be further developed. Originality/value The research results prove that the ISO 9000 QMS has a positive effect on facilitating the creative process and innovation, with regard to the organizational structure, and it also provides the underlying reasons for this effect.

Background: Recent epidemiological studies remain controversial regarding the association between statin use and reducing the risk of mortality among individuals with COVID-19. Objective: The objective of this study was to clarify the association between statin use and the risk of mortality among patients with COVID-19. Methods: We conducted a systematic articles search of online databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science) between 1 February 2020 and 20 February 2021, with no restriction on language. The following search terms were used: “Statins” and “COVID-19 mortality or COVID19 mortality or SARS-CoV-2 related mortality”. Two authors individually examined all articles and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for study inclusion and exclusion. The overall risk ratio (RRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated to show the strength of the association and the heterogeneity among the studies was presented Q and I2 statistic. Results: Twenty-eight studies were assessed for eligibility and 22 studies met the inclusion criteria. Statin use was associated with a significantly decreased risk of mortality among patients with COVID-19 (RR adjusted = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.57–0.72, p &lt, 0.001). Moreover, statin use both before and after the admission was associated with lowering the risk of mortality among the COVID-19 patients (RR adjusted, before = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.56–0.84, p &lt, 0.001 and RR adjusted, after = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.54–0.60, p &lt, 0.001). Conclusion: This comprehensive study showed that statin use is associated with a decreased risk of mortality among individuals with COVID-19. A randomized control trial is needed to confirm and refute the association between them.

The purpose of this study is to explore when leaders of manufacturing companies in China adopt high-performance work system (HPWS) and authoritarian leadership to pressure employees to maintain their intention toward organizational innovation improvement. These two approaches can trigger employee resistance and further affect innovation and financial performance. We collected data through the responses of 224 manufacturing companies in China. Regarding the methodology, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and partial least squares (PLS) regression are the primary methods used. Our findings indicate that employees’ resistance as a moderator certainly affects the relationship between improving organizational innovation and achieving innovative performance, which also affects financial performance. In addition, authoritarian leadership will lead to employees’ resistance. However, if leaders adopt HPWS to promote employees’ intention toward innovation improvement, although there is a lack of direction between HPWS and employees’ resistance, employee resistance can still be triggered if leaders lack commitment. In this contribution, the research results not only remind the leaders of manufacturing companies in China to reconsider whether to adopt a new approach or to combine their current approach with a commitment to redesigning HPWS to promote employees’ intention toward organizational innovation but also remind leaders of manufacturing companies from other countries to change their approach to addressing employees’ intention toward innovation improvement when the environment, culture, or personality traits change.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, which relates to not only motor symptoms, but also cognitive, autonomic, and mood impairments. The literature suggests that pharmacological or surgical treatment has a limited effect on providing relief of the symptoms and also restricting its progression. Recently, research on non-pharmacological interventions for people living with PD (pwPD) that alleviate their motor and non-motor features has shown a new aspect in treating this complex disease. Numerous studies are supporting exercise intervention as being effective in both motor and non-motor facets of PD, such as physical functioning, strength, balance, gait speed, and cognitive impairment. Via the lens of the physical profession, this paper strives to provide another perspective for PD treatment by presenting exercise modes categorized by motor and non-motor PD symptoms, along with its effects and mechanisms. Acknowledging that there is no "one size fits all" exercise prescription for such a variable and progressive disease, this review is to outline tailored physical activities as a credible approach in treating pwPD, conceivably enhancing overall physical capacity, ameliorating the symptoms, reducing the risk of falls and injuries, and, eventually, elevating the quality of life. It also provides references and practical prescription applications for the clinician.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, which relates to not only motor symptoms, but also cognitive, autonomic, and mood impairments. The literature suggests that pharmacological or surgical treatment has a limited effect on providing relief of the symptoms and also restricting its progression. Recently, research on non-pharmacological interventions for people living with PD (pwPD) that alleviate their motor and non-motor features has shown a new aspect in treating this complex disease. Numerous studies are supporting exercise intervention as being effective in both motor and non-motor facets of PD, such as physical functioning, strength, balance, gait speed, and cognitive impairment. Via the lens of the physical profession, this paper strives to provide another perspective for PD treatment by presenting exercise modes categorized by motor and non-motor PD symptoms, along with its effects and mechanisms. Acknowledging that there is no “one size fits all” exercise prescription for such a variable and progressive disease, this review is to outline tailored physical activities as a credible approach in treating pwPD, conceivably enhancing overall physical capacity, ameliorating the symptoms, reducing the risk of falls and injuries, and, eventually, elevating the quality of life. It also provides references and practical prescription applications for the clinician.

The potential impact of statins on the risk of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is still controversial; therefore, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of observational studies to examine the effect of statin use on the risk of PD. We searched electronic databases, such as PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science, for articles published between 1 January 2000 and 15 March 2022. Cohort studies which examined the association between statins and PD risk in the general population were also included. Two authors assessed the data and extracted all potential information for analysis. Random effects meta-analyses were performed to measure the risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Eighteen cohort studies including 3.7 million individuals with 31,153 PD participants were identified. In statin users, compared with non-users, the RR for PD was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.68–0.91). In a subgroup analysis of PD, this association was observed with medium and high quality, and the studies were adjusted for age, gender, and smoking status. When the data were stratified according to the duration of exposure, long-duration statin use was associated with a decreased risk of PD (RR = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.26–0.92). There was no significant decrease in the risk of PD in short-term statin users (RR = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.67–1.31). Moreover, no significant difference in the reduction in the risk of PD was observed between men (RR = 0.80; 95% CI: 0.75–0.86) and women (RR = 0.80; 95% CI: 0.75–0.86). Although our findings confirm a reduction in the PD risk associated with statin treatment and suggest that statins play a clinically favorable role, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Future randomized control trials with an ad hoc design are needed to confirm the potential utility of statins in reducing the risk of PD.

Objectives. Tai Chi synergy T1 exercise is an aerobic exercise derived mainly from Tai Chi exercise. It is also derived from the Eight Trigrams Palms, form and will boxing, mantis boxing, Qigong, and Yoga, with a total of 16 sessions in 63 minutes. In this study, we investigated its effects on autonomic modulation, metabolism, immunity, and physical function in healthy practitioners. Method. We recruited a total of 26 volunteers and 23 control participants. Heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI) were recorded before and after practicing Tai Chi synergy T1 exercise and regular walking for 10 weeks, respectively. Serum glucose, cholesterol, and peripheral blood including B and T cell counts were also measured. They underwent one-minute bent-knee sit-ups, sit and reach test, and three-minute gradual step test. Results. Tai Chi synergy T1 exercise enhanced parasympathetic modulation and attenuated sympathetic nerve control with increased very low frequency (VLF) and high frequency (HF) but decreased low frequency (LF) compared to the control group. Metabolic profiles including serum glucose, cholesterol, and BMI significantly improved after exercise. The exercise enhanced innate and adaptive immunity by increasing the counts of CD3+ T cells, CD19+ B cells, and CD16+CD56+ NK cells but decreasing the CD3+ cytotoxic T cell count. All monitored parameters including physical fitness and physical strength improved after the exercise. Conclusion. Tai Chi synergy T1 exercise improves autonomic modulation, body metabolism, physical fitness, and physical strength after 10 weeks of practice.

To manipulate the functions of nanomaterials more precisely for diverse applications, the controllability and critical influencing factors of their properties must be thoroughly investigated. In this work, the macroscopic and microscopic effects are studied on the photophysical properties of various pyrene-ended poly(styrene-block-methyl methacrylate) nanostructures. Fluorescent polymer nanospheres, nanorods, and nanotubes are prepared by different template-based methods using anodic aluminum oxide membranes. Chain arrangements and conformations are determined as the key factors affecting the photophysical properties of the fluorescent polymer nanostructures. This work not only gives a deeper understanding of the effects on the photophysical properties of polymer nanomaterials influenced by morphologies, chain arrangements, and chain conformations, but also provides a reference for designing proper fluorescent nanostructures for specific applications.

Purpose This paper aims to provide an innovative solution on new service development (NSD) implementation by the project management competences and processes of IPMA ICB 3.0 and PMI PMBOK Guide 5th E. Design/methodology/approach By breaking NSD work breakdown structure into five control accounts, each account has its own suggested work packages concluded from reviewed literatures. Findings This research sequentially presents proper PM competences and processes as solutions for these control accounts and their work packages. Research limitations/implications This study was to provide an innovative solution on NSD implementation by the project management competences and processes of IPMA ICB 3.0 and PMI PMBOK Guide 5th E. By breaking NSD work breakdown structure into five control accounts, each account has its own suggested work packages concluded from reviewed literatures. This research sequentially presents proper PM competences and processes as solutions for these control accounts and their work packages. Consequently, we concluded that the PM competences and processes furnish a favorable base where any NSD project is suitable to deploy without compromising its original features. Practical implications Consequently, it is concluded that the PM competences and processes furnish a favorable base where any NSD project is suitable to deploy without compromising its original features.

This study aimed to establish a friendly environment of active living and healthy eating for citizens while promoting and increasing knowledge of healthy exercise. Acquisition of physical activity skills and citizens&rsquo, lifestyle changes result in reduction in rates of obesity and deaths related to underlying metabolism syndrome. This study used a non-experimental cross-sectional design to survey residents living in Taiwan&rsquo, s rural Miaoli County. The inclusion criterion was positive screening for metabolic syndrome. In total, 2068 participants were recruited, and 1886 questionnaires (91.2%) were completed. An organization-spreading strategy and home convenient Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability tactic were applied to the assessment, promotion, evaluation, and planning of the project via an obesity-causing environmental scan, oriental synergy aerobics, acupuncture points massage, guide books, broadcasting, town-based &ldquo, shape-it-station&rdquo, and a vending cart created to facilitate the acquisition of healthy foods. After the intervention, results revealed that health condition, regular exercise habits, diet behavior, metabolic syndrome cognition, and body weight became better than before. Appropriate promotion of healthy cities through public health measures may effectively reduce the threat of death due to metabolic syndrome, which in turn reduces overall, and represents successful control of a typical non-communicable disease.

Dewetting of polymer thin films triggered by thermal or solvent annealing on flat substrates have been widely studied. Research on dewetting of polymer thin films on curved substrate, however, has been rarely investigated and remains a great challenge, especially for dewetting induced by solvent annealing. In this work, we study the dewetting of polymer thin films on curved substrates by annealing poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanotubes in cylindrical nanopores of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates via dimethylformamide (DMF) vapor treatment. After solvent annealing, dewetting of the curved PMMA thin films is induced, resulting in the formation of porous PMMA nanotubes. By changing the experimental conditions such as annealing time, solvent quality, and molecular weight of polymer, the hole sizes of the PMMA nanotubes can be controlled or even prevented. To demonstrate the universality of this method, porous nanotubes of polystyrene (PS) and fluorescent pyrene-ended PMMA (Py-PMMA) are also fabricate...

Multi-component polymer nanomaterials have attracted great attention because of their applications in areas such as biomedicine, tissue engineering, and organic solar cells. The precise control over the morphologies of multi-component polymer nanomaterials, however, is still a great challenge. In this work, the fabrication of poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)/poly-styrene (PS) nanostructures that contain PMMA shells and encapsulated PS nanospheres is studied. The nanostructures are prepared using a triple solution wetting method with anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates. The nanopores of the templates are wetted sequentially by PS solutions in dimethylformamide (DMF), PMMA solutions in acetic acid, and water. The compositions and morphologies of the nanostructures are controlled by the interactions between the polymers, solvents, and AAO walls. This work not only presents a feasible method to prepare multi-component polymer nanomaterials, but also leads to a better understanding of polymer-solvent interactions in confined geometries.

To construct a hybrid titania photoanode containing nanoparticles and nanorods of varied size in a multilayer (ML) configuration for dye-sensitized solar cells, the essence of our ML design is a bilayer system with additional layers of nanorods of well-controlled size inserted between the transparent and the scattering layers to enhance the light-harvesting capability for photosensitizers with small absorptivity, such as Z907. We measured charge-extraction and intensity-modulated photoelectric spectra to show the advantages of one-dimensional nanorods with an improved electron-transport property and an upward shift of the potential band edge; a favorable ML configuration was constructed to have a cascade potential feature for feasible electron transport from long nanorods, to normal nanorods, to small nanoparticles. On the basis of the ML system reported herein, we demonstrate how the performance of a Z907 device is improved to attain η ∼10%, which is a milestone for its future commercialization.

Eff ective manufacturing strategies have been developed and explored in recent years. Successful manufacturing strategies can result in high manufacturing performance and enable manufacturers to obtain powerful competitive advantages. The question of how to formulate a manufacturing strategy that provides these benefi ts is an important one. This study explores the importance of organizational knowledge creation to the formulation of manufacturing strategy and enhancement of performance and investigates whether organizational knowledge can be created via an e-business mechanism. In this study, we collected 521 observations from a global sample drawn from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) database and tested the data using structural equation modeling (SEM).

This study highlights the importance of knowledge creation and sharing for supply chain practice. We try to examine the influence of alignment among knowledge creation and sharing, supply chain practices and competitive performance. The results of this test indicate that manufacturers can perform very competitively when valuable knowledge has been created and shared and in turn can further influence and improve their supply chain practices. Through the influence of knowledge creation and sharing, effective supply chain practice can drive high performance. Using our test results, we can prove that knowledge plays a key role in successful supply chain practices. In this study, we adopted 601 samples from top manufacturing firms based in 24 countries and performed structural equation modeling (SEM) to test our hypotheses.

Atmospheric-pressure spin plasma jets (APSPJs) have been developed to induce surface modifications on polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). In this study, an experimental design methodology was used to investigate the influence of process parameters [such as radio frequency (RF) power, processing gap, and number of treatment cycles] on the characteristics of PMMA surface treated by APSPJs. It was observed from the atomic force microscope (AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) results that the surface morphology of PMMA treated by direct plasma is much rougher than that treated by remote plasma. The direct plasma used in APSPJs processing created a substantial amount of nanostructure grains. Moreover, the measured XPS results showed that the O/C ratios of the PMMA surface were substantially increased and subsequently water contact angle decreased on direct plasma treatment. This decrease is due to an increase of oxygen-containing functional groups on the PMMA surface by the APSPJs processing. From the statistical analysis, the RF power and the processing gap were found to play a major role in enhancing the hydrophilic properties of PMMA surface. In contrast, the number of treatment cycles played only a secondary role in this case. Finally, in this study the APSPJs processing was demonstrated to be an effective method for surface modification of PMMA by controlling processing parameters during the treatment process. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The novel technique of plasma chemical vapor deposition without using vacuum chamber was investigated to deposit SiOx films on polymeric substrates through tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)/Air atmospheric-pressure plasma (APP) glow discharge. Depending on the proper deposition parameters, thin and smooth SiOx films on polycarbonate substrates were prepared. The atmospheric-pressure plasma deposited SiOx films obtained the desirable transparency in the visible and increased absorption in UV region. The surface characteristics of APP deposited SiOx films were examined by various surface analysis methods including FTIR, XPS, and SEM. It is shown that SiOx films exhibited low porosity and admirable hardness for optical applications.

In this study, we investigate the chemical properties and surface morphology of super-hydrophobic (SH) films deposited by self-assembled RF atmospheric-pressure plasma (APP) deposition system. The O2/HMDSN (hexamethyldisilazane) and Ar serve as the deposition precursor and ionization gas, respectively. The effects of process parameters, including the oxygen flow rate and the nozzle-to-sample distance on the characteristics of SiOx films measured by FTIR, XPS, SEM and AFM are also discussed. It was found that the higher deposition rate was obtained at higher oxygen flow rate conditions. Consequently, the smooth surface was transformed into a rough surface with many particles when the nozzle-to-sample distance was decreased from 20 mm to 10 mm. The SH films (contact angle over 150° and sliding angle below 5°) were obtained when the nozzle-to-sample distance was 10 mm. A simplified deposition mechanism is proposed to explain the effect of process parameters on the films that are formed.

Cyclonic atmospheric pressure plasma with low-temperature nature has been investigated. High-speed rotating nonthermal atmospheric plasma jets were utilized as RF plasma sources to provide the gas velocities required to generate the cyclonic gas flow patterns. It was shown that the plasma temperature could be controlled by operational parameters. The experimentally measured gas phase temperature was around 30degC-85degC, indicating that this cyclonic atmospheric pressure plasma can treat polymers without unfavorable thermal effects. This type of low-temperature atmospheric plasma can provide a novel technique for large-scale surface modification of heat-sensitive materials.

In this paper, we proposed to develop a set of low-cost, virtual machine-based hybrid DNS scheme (i.e., a frontend + multiple backend systems) with a scalable capability to provide DNS services with high availability. In this study, we had built two use case diagrams, namely the frontend (i.e., load-balancer) and the backend (i.e., DNS resolving) subsystems, for modeling the overall system. Moreover, we had developed a two-phase DNS health checking algorithm and designed two testing cases to help implement and evaluate the system. For validating the hybrid scheme, we had deployed and run the proposed DNS system for more than 2 years on our campus network. Based on the collected statistics, we had ensured that the proposed DNS systems could offer the expected DNS services with load-sharing capability and high availability for serving daily DNS queries on a regular basis and run smoothly.

In the study, an atmospheric-pressure plasma-induced grafting (APPG) has been developed to induce surface modification change on adhesion of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) surface and silicone. The Argon plasma was generated by a RF power under atmospheric-pressure. The most significant feature (APPG) of the process developed in this study was to induce chemical grafting using organosilane vapor (with argon as the precursor carrier gas) simultaneously with the plasma treatment of the surface undergone modification.

The black matrix (BM) rework using traditional wet process in the LCD industries is time consuming, costly and pollution. However, the plasma process provides a fast, less expensive and clean alternative. Especially, it is noticed that atmospheric pressure plasma attracts many attentions due to their lower equipment cost, operating without chambers and most suitable for large area substrate processing.

The state-of-the-art prosthetic devices have been successfully approved as critical approach to provide at least partial reconstruction for physiological diseases by replacing a damaged tissue or organ. Invariably, they are always aspired to have lower power consumption despite the battery or the battery-less implementation. This paper presents an energy-aware baseband circuitry concerned about the next-generation multi-channel prostheses especially for the retinal implant in which an inductive-coil link is preferred to fulfill the need of power delivery for providing safer tissue-machine interfaces in the intraocular environment. The extended lifetime for those of the battery-dependent implants can be also achieved by adopting such a power-efficient scheme. The proposed system is a 16-channel-based on-electrode multiplexing design, which can deal with up to 40 frame/sec with 240 stimulus channels in mode I and 3 times the resolution at the same frame rate in mode II under a carrier frequency of 2 MHz. A prototypical chip was implemented in a 0.18mum CMOS process and the experiment has also been carried out as proof of concept.

A complementary energy path adiabatic logic (CEPAL) designed for ubiquitous large-scaled digital systems achieves higher noise immunity, higher driving ability, and reduced power density than the prior quasi-static structure. By applying CEPAL to the clocked storage elements (i.e. DFFs) with a diode-shared scheme, the overall efficiency is dramatically improved without increasing the design overhead compared with the quasi-static implementation. A test module consists of an 8-bit CEPAL shift register (SFR) has been laid out in a 0.18-μm CMOS process. Post-layout analytic results, including parasitic effect and exhibiting the benefits of various aspects in the proposed fashion, are given as proof of concept.

This paper presents novel approaches for higher-resolution, higher output gain, better-linearity, and less-power-consumption micro-stimulator array. To achieve higher output gain for more ideal stimulus current without extra cascode stage, a gain-boosting design is adopted. To achieve higher-resolution and better linearity, a continuous pulse-width modulation-based conversion architecture has been proposed. To overcome extra power consumption of the baseband control logic, the energy recovery scheme is also applied. A monolithic circuitry of this efficient stimulator array has been realized by using TSMC 0.18-mum 1P6M standard CMOS technology and the experimental results show improvement over the prior approaches.

To study the effect of Huangqi Jianzhong Tang in reducing fatigue improvement in athletes.Twelve athletes were randomly separated into a control group, whose members were administered with placebos, and the experimental group, whose members were administered with Huangqi Jianzhong Tang. During the eight weeks of the experiment, test subjects continued exercise as usual. Preliminary and final exhaustion times, anaerobic thresholds, and kinetic energies were determined.Huangqi Jianzhong Tang might increase exhaustion time, positively influence anaerobic threshold, and also enhance recovery from fatigue.Huangqi Jianzhong Tang reduced fatigue by increasing the oxygen uptake and the systemic utility of oxygen.