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OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze the therapeutic potential of the combination of two articial synthetic peptides of KTTKS and GEKG in osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: The combination of KTTKS and GEKG (ICPPX) were injected into the intra-articular space in different dose (10 ppm, 50 ppm and 250 ppm). Grossly inspection of swollen status, running wheel test, pro-inammatory markers of IL-1β and TNF-α were measured. Finally, histopathological examination of the knee joints was performed. RESULTS: The swelling status were higher in the control group than treatment groups. However, the running wheel test showed no signicant changes. Both pro-inammatory markers of IL-1β and TNF-α were signicantly lower in treatment groups. In the histopathological examination, the cartilage damage is most severe in the control group. Similar results were seen in the immunohistochemical stain of collagen type II staining. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of KTTKS and GEKG peptides (ICPPX) injection ameliorates the joint inammation and prevents further deterioration of the cartilage structure as manifested by the OARSI scoring system and collagen stain of the joint.

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in biomechanical parameters and sports-specific performance of lower limbs between arch support insoles (ASI) and flat insoles (FLI) when performing net strides. After installing the MVN IMU system, 18 college badminton team members were asked to take the following tests: (1) Consecutive net stride tests; (2) Six-point footwork tests; (3) Retrieve/stroke the ball at the left and right net; (4) Smash and retrieve/stroke the ball at the net; (5) Smash at the front and back crossover step. The joint angle of the lower limbs and ground reaction force during the support phase was collected. The results demonstrated that the peak right hip flexion angle was significantly greater with ASI than FLI (63.09 ± 10.70; 60.08 ± 13.82; p = 0.028), while the peak right foot inversion angle was significantly smaller with ASI than FLI (20.68 ± 7.87; 23.85 ± 8.11; p = 0.013). The principal conclusion was that the arch support insole avoids the decrease in the hip flexion angle and the increase in the foot inversion angle during the net stride tests.

Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT), including spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) and swept-source OCT (SS-OCT), allows the volumetric imaging of the tissue architecture with a faster speed and higher detection sensitivity than does time-domain OCT. Although the hardware implementations of SD-OCT and SS-OCT are different, these technologies share very similar signal processing steps for image reconstruction. In this study, we developed hardware implementations and software architectures to design a generic framework for FD-OCT. For SD-OCT systems, an external synchronization approach was used to realize a data acquisition schematic similar to that used in SS-OCT by carefully managing the timing clocks in the detection unit and for the waveform generation. In addition, by utilizing modules and factory concepts, a software engine can be developed that supports various acquisition devices and software operations or image processing functions with high operation flexibility while maintaining its robustness. Data processing and data saving were optimized using the parallel computing method with the OpenMP library and by leveraging the parallelism within the acquired data, respectively.

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a chronic liver autoimmune disease with augmented T helper (Th) 1 and corresponding cytokine IFN-γ immune responses. Using 2-octynoic acid (2-OA) coupled to OVA (2-OA-OVA)-induced mouse models of autoimmune cholangitis (inducible chemical xenobiotic models of PBC), our previous study demonstrated that overexpression of IFN-γ in the model mice enhanced liver inflammation upon disease initiation, but subsequently led to the suppression of chronic inflammation with an increase in interleukin-30 (IL-30) levels. In this study, we investigated whether IL-30 had an immunosuppressive function and whether it could be part of an immune therapeutic regimen for PBC, by treating model mice with murine IL-30-expressing recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV-mIL-30). We first defined the effects of AAV-mIL-30 in vivo by administering it to a well-known concanavalin A (ConA)-induced hepatitis model of mice and found that AAV-mIL-30 reduced the numbers of activated CD25+CD4+ T cells and the levels of serum IFN-γ and IL-12. In autoimmune cholangitis, decreased numbers of activated CD4+ T cells and Foxp3+ regulatory T cells were noted in the mice treated with AAV-mIL-30 at 3 weeks after the 2-OA-OVA immunization. Treatment with IL-30 did not change the features of autoimmune cholangitis including autoantibodies, cell infiltration, and collagen deposition in the liver at 11 weeks of examination. However, increased levels of cytokines and chemokines were observed. These results suggest that IL-30 suppresses not only CD4+ T cells but also regulatory T cells. Additionally, the administration of IL-30 did not suppress liver inflammation in the murine model of PBC.

Objectives Fishbone ingestion is a common problem worldwide, and the first step for managing this condition is to locate the fishbone precisely. However, until now, no study has analysed the true location of fishbone and its associated factors. Thus, this study identified the factors predicting the true location of fishbone and subsequently attempted to provide a management algorithm for fishbone ingestion. Patients and methods This retrospective study was carried out at St Martin De Porres Hospital, Taiwan, between January 2015 and January 2016. All patients were diagnosed as having fishbone ingestion within the pharynx and underwent fishbone removal. Results This study included 198 consecutive patients with a mean age of 43.1 years (range: 1-84 years). The sensitivity of lateral neck radiography in the diagnosis of fishbone in the pharynx was only 22%. The fishbone locations were as follows: the tonsil in 72 (36.4%) patients, the tongue base / vallecula in 112 (56.6%) and the hypopharynx in 14 (7.0%). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that patient age and fishbone length were significant independent risk factors associated with the true location of fishbone ingestion. Among all patients, fishbone was removed transorally under direct vision in 73 (36.9%) patients and using flexible nasopharyngoscopy in 125 (63.1%) patients. Conclusion Patient age and fishbone length are important independent factors associated with the location of ingested fishbone. Lateral neck radiography is not beneficial for diagnosing fishbone ingestion within the pharynx. Flexible nasopharyngoscopy, by contrast, is an important method for the diagnosis and treatment of fishbone ingestion within this location.

In this paper, we have demonstrated an oxygen-vacancy-based bipolar RRAM on a pure logic 14-nm-node HKMG FinFET platform. A unit cell of the memory consists of a control transistor (FinFET) and a storage transistor (a second FinFET). The later performs as a bipolar RRAM. This unit cell can be integrated in an AND-type memory array. The memory cell has an ON/OFF ratio equal to 200 and 400 for the n-type and p-type FinFET RRAMs, respectively, endurance larger than 400 and 1000 times for n- and p-type devices, respectively, and the retention test for over 1 month under 125 °C temperature environment. To analyze the array performance of the AND-type FinFET RRAM at the circuit level, we have further discussed the issues of the sneak path and disturbance, in which an active-fin isolation of FinFET in an AND-type array has been suggested to minimize the leakage current induced by sneak paths. The results have shown a large window with up to 103 ON/OFF ratio, 30% standby power reduction, and 90% active power reduction with reference to the conventional AND-type array. As a result, the bipolar FinFET RRAM exhibits great potential for the embedded memory applications, in particular it can be extended to 28-nm HKMG and the FinFET platform beyond 14-nm technology node, to fill the Moore’s gap between the high-performance logic and the embedded memory.

Introduction A randomized trial was conducted prospectively to evaluate the efficacy, related complications, and convalescence of emergency percutaneous nephrolithotomy compared to percutaneous nephrostomy for decompression of the collecting system in cases of sepsis associated with large uretero-pelvic junction stone impaction. Materials and Methods The inclusion criteria included a WBC count of 10.000/mm3 or more and/or a temperature of 38°C or higher. Besides, all enrolled patients should maintain stable hemodynamic status and proper organ perfusions. A total of 113 patients with large, obstructive uretero-pelvic junction stones and clinical signs of sepsis completed the study protocol. Of those, 56 patients were placed in the emergency percutaneous nephrostomy group, while the other 57 patients were part of the percutaneous nephrolithotomy group. The primary end point was the time until normalization of white blood cells (WBC) at a count of 10.000/mm3 or less, and a temperature of 37.4°C or lower. The secondary end points included the comparison of analgesic consumption, length of stay, and related complications. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS® version 14.0.1. The Mann-Whitney U test, chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test were used as appropriate. Results The length of hospital stays (in days) was 10.09±3.43 for the emergency percutaneous nephrostomy group and 8.18±2.72 for the percutaneous nephrolithotomy group. This set of data noted a significant difference between groups. There was no difference between groups in regard to white blood cell count (in mm3), time to normalization of white blood cell count (in days), body temperature (in ºC), time to normalization of body temperature (in days), C-reactive proteins (in mg/dL), time taken for C-reactive proteins to decrease over 25% (in days), procalcitonin (in ng/mL), or complication rates. Conclusions This study confirms that emergency percutaneous nephrolithotomy may be as safe as early percutaneous nephrolithotomy in a selected low risk patients with sepsis-associated large, obstructive stone.

The Amazon Picking Challenge and the Amazon Robotics Challenge have shown significant progress in object picking from a cluttered scene, yet object placement remains challenging. It is useful to have pose-aware placement based on human and machine readable pieces on an object. For example, the brandname of an object placed on a shelf should be facing the human customers. The robotic vision challenges in the object placement task: a) the semantics and geometry of the object to be placed need to be analysed jointly; b) and the occlusions among objects in a cluttered scene could make it hard for proper understanding and manipulation. To overcome these challenges, we develop a pose-aware placement approach by spotting the semantic labels (e.g., brandnames) of objects in a cluttered tote and then carrying out a sequence of actions to place the objects on a shelf or on a conveyor with desired poses. Our major contributions include 1) providing an open benchmark dataset of objects and brandnames with multi-view segmentation for training and evaluations; 2) carrying out comprehensive evaluations for our brandname-based fully convolutional network (FCN) that can predict the affordance and grasp to achieve pose-aware placement, whose success rates decrease along with clutters; 3) showing that active manipulation with two cooperative manipulators and grippers can effectively handle the occlusion of brandnames. We analyzed the success rates and discussed the failure cases to provide insights for future applications. All data and benchmarks are available at https://text-pick-n-place.github.io/TextPNP/

The critical ratio (CR) is often used as the dispatching rule for semiconductor wafer fabrication in integrated circuit (IC) foundries, although this not consider the fact that different products m...

日本統治下の台湾において、1930年代には都市と農村の教育格差が議論されるようになった。本研究は台湾人向けの国語教科書を対象に、都市と農村の格差問題について検証を行った。検証の結果によると、農村の公学校においては確かに教育上の格差問題が存在しており、当時の公学校及び社会教育に属する国語講習所の国語教科書の使用や編さんにも影響を与えていた。そして、使用対象が異なることにより、教材の選択においても違う方針が取られていた。, In Colonial Taiwan, the educational gaps of urban and rural areas were discussed during the 1930s. I analyzed the Japanese language textbooks for Taiwanese to discover the disparity of materials and how the materials be used in the classroom. Then I found the disparity between Urban and Rural was actually existed and it influenced the editorial policy of the language textbooks of public elementary school and Japanese continuation school. And also by the users of the textbook are different, different policy of choosing teaching materials had been taken.

A randomized trial was conducted prospectively to evaluate the efficacy, related complications, and convalescence of emergent retrograde ureteroscopic management, instead of percutaneous nephrostomy for decompression of the collecting system in cases of sepsis associated with ureteral stone obstruction. A total of 107 patients undergoing ureteroscopic stone manipulation for ureteral stones completed the study protocol, 53 patients in the percutaneous nephrostomy group, and 54 patients in the emergent retrograde ureteroscopic management group. The primary end point was the time to normalization of WBC of 10,000/mm or less and temperature of 37.4 °C or less. The second end point was the comparison analgesic consumption, length of stay, and related complications. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS(®) version 14.0.1. The Mann-Whitney U test, Chi square test, and fisher's exact test was used as appropriate. The length of hospital stay (days) was 10.25 ± 3.53 and 8.24 ± 2.77 in the percutaneous nephrostomy group and emergent retrograde ureteroscopic management group, respectively, with significant difference (Table 2). However, patients in the emergent retrograde ureteroscopic management group had a significantly higher rate of s body temperature (°C). Meanwhile, the analgesic consumptions are 31.51 ± 11.16 and 40.00 ± 14.54 in the percutaneous nephrostomy group and emergent retrograde ureteroscopic management group, respectively, with significant difference. Our results show that it can be effectively and safely managed by retrograde ureteroscopic management combined with strong antibiotics in select clinical situations. Ureteroscopic management should no longer be considered a contraindication for the treatment of patients with sepsis associated with obstructing ureteral stones.

In this article, we are going to discuss how machine learning can be adopted to MediaTek P60 platform in order to increase the capability to against the harsh enviroment, such as dense urban and urban canyon. With the mechanism of machine learning, the receiver will have better chance to identify the abnormality of measurement. These additional information can be provided to the traditional Kalman Filter (KF) based algorithm a better opportunity to select better measurement and mitigate the effect of abnormal measurement. Furthermore, the training result of machine learning might not be exactly the same due to the difference between devices. We are also exploring for the possibility to combine with AI (Artificial Intelligence) computation unit on mobile device in order to achieve the customized learning along with difference devices design. In the most common traditional design, the Kalman Filter (KF) has been widely applied to GNSS positioning receiver in the past decades. The filter plays the rule of smoothing, estimating and predicting in a sense of least-square methodology in order to minimize the sum of squared residuals ( a residuals being: the difference between a measured value and the fitted valued provided by a model). With the assumption of Linear Time-Invariant (LTI) system with Gaussian noises, the result obtaining from KF can be considered as an optimized one. In practical, the KF structure is simple and robust nature of recursive algorithm which is best suited for estimation on the go, instead of implementing a batch-filter when you are processing each measurement whenever it is sampled. This makes the KF one of the best methods to perform estimation on the fly. Also, even though it is rare that the optimal model exist in real-life applications, the filter often works well and appealing for resolving GNSS navigation and data fusion with sensor based measurements in automotive-control problems. As a matter of fact, even though the KF smoothing is also used extensively to correct statistical models of substantial uncertain variables when receivers operating under harsh working environments and tracking the received signal despite of being affected by time-variant signal fading or blockage. The major pursue of GNSS positioning/tracking algorithms is to provide reliable position fixes with optimal design of improved algorithm with special emphasis in their application on mobile terminals, wearable devices and the moving vehicles. The measurements used for fix are often referred to as high-sensitivity GNSS receivers, and the fact of keeping track of the received signal, as signal tracking which are typically sudden fading events with more than tens dB of signal attenuation in urban canyons and with blockage of the line-of-sight signals in moving portable devices. Moreover, in favor of incorporating with manufactures of mass-market GNSS capable devices, simple design on RF components and smaller or more crowded assembly on PCB are becoming important in wearable or capable devices. More wireless interference and in device jamming sources are aggravated when hardware implementation constraints need to be satisfied. In state of the art, the use of extended filter mitigates the measurement noise and allows the tracking operation under these harsh conditions. However, when people need more accurate and robust positioning results, lots of fine-tuned parameters and factor-functional design should be considered. The aim of this work will propose a synthetic machine learning design of a Kalman filter based architecture and evaluate the values for robust and high-sensitivity tracking in a GNSS capable smartphone. The expected results will make the algorithm designers easier to optimize the parameters for platform dependent varieties and make the navigation fix more accurate.

The immunomodulatory effect of IL-10 as an immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory cytokine is well known. Taking advantage of our established mouse model of autoimmune cholangitis using 2-octynoic acid conjugated ovalbumin (2-OA-OVA) induction, we compared liver pathology, immune cell populations and antimitochondrial antibodies between IL-10 knockout and wild type mice immunized with 2-OA-OVA. At 10 weeks post immunization, portal inflammation and fibrosis were more severe in 2-OA-OVA immunized IL-10 knockout mice than in wild type mice. This was accompanied by significant higher levels of collagen I and III expression, T, NK and NKT subsets in liver and IgG anti-mitochondrial autoantibodies (AMA) compared to 2-OA-OVA immunized wild type mice, suggesting that endogenous IL-10 is necessary for the maintenance of immune tolerance in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Further, we investigated whether administration of exogenous IL-10 could prevent PBC by administration of IL-10 expressing recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV-IL-10) either 3 days before or 3 weeks after the establishment of liver pathology. Interestingly, administration of AAV-IL-10 resulted in increased liver inflammation and fibrosis, accompanied by increases in IFN-γ in liver CD4(+) T cell, granzyme B, FasL, and CD107a in liver CD8(+) T and NKT cells, and granzyme B and FasL in liver NK cells of AAV-IL-10 administered mice compared with control mice. Furthermore, administration of AAV-IL-10 significantly increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, CXCL9 and CXCL10) and collagen I and III production in naive mice, together with increase in immune cell infiltration and collagen deposition in the liver, suggesting a role of IL-10 in fibrosis. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that endogenous IL-10 is critical in the maintenance of immune tolerance but exogenous administration of IL-10 exacerbates liver inflammation and fibrosis. Furthermore, the distinctive presence of inflammatory immune cell populations and collagen expression in AAV-IL-10 treated naive mice cautions against the clinical use of exogenous IL-10 in patients with autoimmune cholangitis.

Background: With global aging, robots are considered a promising solution for handling the shortage of aged care and companionships. However, these technologies would serve little purpose if their intended users do not accept them. While the socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that older adults would accept robots that offer emotionally meaningful relationships, selective optimization with compensation model predicts that older adults would accept robots that compensate for their functional losses. Objective: The present study aims to understand older adults’ expectations for robots and to compare older adults’ acceptance ratings for 2 existing robots: one of them is a more human-like and more service-oriented robot and the other one is a more animal-like and more companion-oriented robot. Methods: A mixed methods study was conducted with 33 healthy, community-dwelling Taiwanese older adults (age range: 59–82 years). Participants first completed a semi-structured interview regarding their ideal robot. After receiving information about the 2 existing robots, they then completed the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology questionnaires to report their pre-implementation acceptance of the 2 robots. Results: Interviews were transcribed for conventional content analysis with satisfactory inter-rater reliability. From the interview data, a collection of older adults’ ideal robot characteristics emerged with highlights of humanlike qualities. From the questionnaire data, respondents showed a higher level of acceptance toward the more service-oriented robot than the more companion-oriented robot in terms of attitude, perceived adaptiveness, and perceived usefulness. From the mixed methods analyses, the finding that older adults had a higher level of positive attitude towards the more service-oriented robot than the more companion-oriented robot was predicted by higher expectation or preference for robots with more service-related functions. Conclusion: This study identified older adults’ preference toward more functional and humanlike robots. Our findings provide practical suggestions for future robot designs that target the older population.

BackgroundThere are limited nationwide data relating to neonatal mortality rate in Taiwan. This study aims to provide updated national birth weight/gestational age-specific neonatal mortality reference rates.MethodsWe abstracted the birth registration database from the Ministry of Interior in Taiwan from 1998 to 2002 and linked the data to the death registration database from the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan between 1998 and 2003. We included 1,331,785 infants born between 20 weeks and 44 weeks of gestation and weighing within the median ± 2 interquartile ranges in their age group in this study. We calculated the birth weight/gestational age-specific neonatal mortality rates of different genders by birth weight increments of 250 g and at gestational age intervals of 1 week. A Poisson regression model was used in modeling the mortality data.ResultsA total of 4,169 deaths occurred within 28 days of life out of a total of 1,331,785 live births between 20 weeks and 44 weeks of gestation, giving a neonatal mortality rate (0–27 days) of 3.39 per 1000 live births for males and 2.80 per 1000 for females. The infant mortality rate remained higher in the male (5.91 per 1000) than the female (5.10 per 1000) population within the 1st year of life. Birth weight/gestational age-specific neonatal mortality rates were plotted with curves representing the 10th and 90th birth weight percentiles. The risk of an early neonatal death (0–6 days) does not exceed 50% except for female neonates

An erbium fiber oscillator with dominating gain fiber length and an intracavity pulse shaper is experimentally demonstrated. The Kerr nonlinear phase shift induced in the fibers is suppressed by the pulse shaper, enabling high-energy (8.9 nJ) high-compression efficiency (93%) pulses of less than 270 fs duration (after linear dechirping) at modest (320 mW) pump power. A stably mode-locked spectrum corresponding to 19 nJ, 83 fs transform-limited pulse is achieved at 720 mW pump power. Wave-breaking-free pulse energy can be further enhanced by introducing stronger spectral phase modulation via the pulse shaper if more pump budget is available. We also demonstrate manipulation of the central wavelength and bandwidth of the output pulse by intracavity spectral amplitude modulation via the pulse shaper.

本論文藉由跨領域的形式提供另一種體適能的研究觀點。從分析學校體適能的檢測機制，探討其對學生身體規訓與抵抗的可能。基於這樣的理念與架構，研究者先以自己任教健體領域的六年級學生為對象，透過兒童哲學形式的討論，並考量性別均衡與體適能常模的常態分布後，選出10位六年級學生作為主要訪談對象。此外，為了瞭解體適能檢測的權力關係如何運作，研究者除了參加體適能檢測員的培訓外，也選擇兩所熟識的國小進行觀察。本研究發現如下：一、體適能檢測透過柔軟度的訓練、身體被看見的安排、體適能護照的登錄、常模的規範化裁決，以及運動獎章與運動處方的獎懲考 核……來度量學生的身體，形成傅柯的自體看管技藝。二、體適能檢測對身體的規訓並非是絕對的，受測的學生也會轉換與抵抗規訓權力。三、最後，研究者提出：體適能是一種自我與身體的關係，它是來自我的建構，而非他者的規訓；並建議調整體適能檢測的技巧，讓學生的隱私得到應有的保護。 This research aims to propose an alternative perspective about physical fitness tests (PFTs) through an inter-disciplinary approach, and then suggest possible ways to resist relations of domination. First, using a children’s philosophy framework, I engaged in discussions with the 6th-grade students in my courses on health and physical education. After the discussions, and taking into account a need for gender balance and normal distribution of fitness levels, I chose ten of the students as key informants. In addition, I attended PFT training courses, and conducted fieldwork at two elementary schools to collect research data relating to the question of how PFTs dominate our bodies. The research results were as follows: 1. The variety of mechanisms that have been practiced in PFTs at school included flexibility training, ways to make one’s own body visible, a score logging system, a standard model to normalize judgments, and an evaluation system for the award of prizes. 2. The effects of PFTs in disciplining students’ bodies are not absolute, because students as subjects tend to transform and resist the power of discipline. 3. If we take the progress of physical fitness as a way of constructing the relationship between the body and the self, then it should be conducted by oneself rather than others. This research also proposes that PFT skills should be improved in order to protect the privacy of students.

This paper presents the analysis of smart hybrid composite plate with embedded shape memory alloy (SMA) wires subjected to low-velocity impact. The SMA wires were embedded within the layers of the composite laminates and the numerical calculation was used in the impact analyses of the laminated hybrid composite plate. The laminated plate theory, first-order shear deformation theory and minimal potential energy principle was utilized to solve the governing equations of the hybrid composite plate analytically. Energy absorption of hybrid composites can be successfully analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results indicated that temperature effect is significant during the transition phase and SMA can effectively improve impact-resistance of the hybrid composite laminated plate. In addition, this hybrid structure is an advanced design concepts that can strengthen the impact resistance capability and enhance the carrying loading efficiency of the structure.

Many neurological or orthopedic disorders may cause motor impairments of shoulder. Patients require intensive training in order to recover from those impairments. However, the intensive training will lead to growing demand for strenuous work. Robot-aided therapy is able to alleviate the therapist's laborious burden and to provide more information about patient's condition during the therapy. Generally, the requirement of active therapy arises during the later stage of recovery. To realize the active therapy, a useful active control of the robot and effective recovery assessment for the active robot-aided therapy are essential. In this paper, a new active control method and an active therapy protocol with assessment indexes are designed. In this pilot research, several experiments on healthy subjects are designed to verify the proposed method with its active control performance and the effectiveness of the assessment indexes.

La-incorporated HfO"2 could improve the thermal stability and interface trap quality. Laminated structures with different doping positions and thicknesses were fabricated by RF magnetron co-sputtering method. The physical and electrical properties of HfO"2/HfLaO/p-Si and HfLaO/HfO"2/p-Si structures after 850^oC postannealing were analyzed. And the time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) characteristics were also analyzed for metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors with atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) HfLaO gate dielectrics. For TDDB characteristics, the Weibull slopes were independent of stress voltages and capacitor areas, but they were dependent on the stress temperatures. The electric-field acceleration parameter (@c) is about 4.3-4.5MV/cm. The maximum voltage (V"g) for 10-year TDDB lifetime under 85^oC operation is V"g=2.03V, or equivalently 6.1MV/cm.

A high efficient passive water/air management device (WAMD) is proposed and successfully demonstrated in this paper. The apparatus consists of cornered micro-channels and air-breathing windows with hydrophobicity arrangement to regulate liquids and gases to flow on their predetermined pathways. A high performance water/air separation with water removal rate of about 5.1 μl s −1 cm −2 is demonstrated. The performance of the proposed WAMD is sufficient to manage a cathode-generated water flux of 0.26 μl s −1 cm −2 in the micro-direct methanol fuel cells (μDMFCs) which are operated at 100 mW cm −2 or 400 mA cm −2 . Furthermore, the condensed vapors can also be collected and recirculated with the existing micro-channels which act as a passive water recycling system for μDMFCs. The durability testing shows that the fuel cells equipped with WAMD exhibit improved stability and higher current density.

In this work, metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors incor-porating D2O-radical annealed atomic-layer-deposition (ALD) HfO2 gate dielectric were fabricated and investigated. The thermo-chemical breakdown model (E model) is used to analyze the TDDB characteristics for lifetime projection. TDDB data shows that Weibull slope (β) is increased with increasingly stress tem-perature. This may come from the temperature sensitive defects and possible redistribution in dielectric. Meanwhile, the Weibull slope is independent of the stress voltage. Based on the TDDB data, the activation energy (Ea), active dipole-moment (p0) electric-field acceleration factor (γ) and electric field at 10 years lifetime (E10years) of the D2O-radical annealed ALD HfO2 thin films were obtained.

By adopting an advanced material design concept that combines a composite with a shape memory alloy (SMA), a structure was developed that not only has the characteristics of the composite, such as high specific strength and an adjustable design, but also the shape memory effect of the SMA. This design method replaces the traditional autofrettage method of pre-stressing and improves the concentration of stress and the structural deficiency of a cylindrical pressure vessel. This research investigated the improvement obtained by adopting this advanced material concept in the design of a tube structure with a thick wall, comparing the application of the SMA laminations in various configurations with specific activation temperatures. A layer-wise linear 3-D elastic analysis model was adopted to explore the displacement and stress conditions of the composite tube combined with the SMA. In the analysis process, the material’s behaviours, such as the change in stiffness after the activation of the SMA and the activated recovery stress, were integrated into the mechanical model of the laminated tube. By further re-computing the overall stress–strain relationship, the reaction of the tube produced by activating the alloy with heat could be analysed. This analysis showed that 20–30% of the shear stress, τ xθ , and 7.9% of the hoop stress could be reduced. As for the reduction in the radial and axial stresses, the improvement was relatively insignificant. With regard to the overall efficiency, the advanced material’s structural design concept prevented the delamination condition in the laminates, achieved the objective of autofrettage, and enhanced the load-bearing effectiveness of the tube structure.

We demonstrate a terahertz (THz) directional coupler for future THz applications including THz power dividers, THz communications, and THz fiber-endoscopes. By using subwavelength polyethylene fibers, we successfully established a single-mode fiber-based THz directional coupler. Unlike traditional directional couplers, the demonstrated subwavelength directional fiber coupler shows less dependency on the overlapped length of two fibers and the delivered THz frequency in our interested minimal-attenuation wavelength regime. By tuning the geometry, we also show the feasibility to control the coupling ratio.

Lactose metabolism is a changeable phenotype in strains ofLactobacillus casei. In this study, we found thatL. caseiATCC 27139 was unable to utilize lactose. However, when exposed to lactose as the sole carbon source, spontaneous Lac+clones could be obtained. A gene cluster (lacTEGF–galKETRM) involved in the metabolism of lactose and galactose inL. caseiATCC 27139 (Lac−) and its Lac+revertant (designated strain R1) was sequenced and characterized. We found that only one nucleotide, located in thelacTEGFpromoter (lacTp), of the twolac–galgene clusters was different. The protein sequence identity between thelac–galgene cluster and those reported previously for someL. casei(Lac+) strains was high; namely, 96–100 % identity was found and no premature stop codon was identified. A single point mutation located within thelacTppromoter region was also detected for each of the 41 other independently isolated Lac+revertants ofL. caseiATCC 27139. The revertants could be divided into six classes based on the positions of the point mutations detected. Primer extension experiments conducted on transcription fromlacTprevealed that thelacTppromoter of these six classes of Lac+revertants was functional, while that ofL. caseiATCC 27139 was not. Northern blotting experiments further confirmed that thelacTEGFoperon of strain R1 was induced by lactose but suppressed by glucose, whereas no blotting signal was ever detected forL. caseiATCC 27139. These results suggest that a single point mutation in thelacTppromoter was able to restore the transcription of a fully functionallacTEGFoperon and cause a phenotype switch from Lac−to Lac+forL.caseiATCC 27139.

Background: Laboratory risk indicator for necrotizing fasciitis (LRINEC score) is a simple laboratory tool used to distinguish between necrotizing soft-tissue infections (NSTI) and other soft-tissue infections. A LRINEC score of ≥6 is considered as denoting a high risk of necrotizing fasciitis. A certain LRINEC score might also be associated with mortality and other outcomes of patients with NSTI. Methods: A review of the medical charts of patients was carried out. The study sites were one tertiary academic centre and one community, university-affiliated hospital. All adult patients with necrotizing soft-tissue infections from 2002 to 2005 were selected then LRINEC scores were calculated for each patient. We enrolled patients where there was sufficient information to determine that the LRINEC score was either