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Abstract Background The direct anterior approach (DAA) for total hip arthroplasty (THA) has gained popularity due to perceived advantages in achieving better early outcomes. However, the theoretical benefits such as precise implant positioning and accurate leg length restoration are still inconsistent. In this study, we compared implant position and leg length discrepancy (LLD) of the DAA and posterolateral approach (PLA) conducted by a single surgeon who had mastered both approaches. Methods This study retrospectively reviewed the medical records and radiographic images of 244 patients who underwent THA between 2012 and 2021 by a single experienced surgeon using either the DAA (n = 120) or PLA (n = 124). Postoperative pelvic anteroposterior radiographs at 6 months follow-up were used to assess acetabular component inclination and anteversion, as well as LLD. Mann-Whitney U tests and Chi-squared test were performed to compare outcomes between the two approaches. Results No significant differences were observed in patient demographics between the two groups. The DAA group demonstrated significantly lower postoperative LLD (0.00 mm) compared to the PLA group (5.00 mm, p

Abstract In the continental margin of the northeastern South China Sea, the sea level fluctuations since the Last Glacial Maximum have profoundly impacted the sedimentary environment. Our sub-bottom profiler data show a sedimentation process change from deposition to erosion during the Last Glacial Maximum. After the widespread erosion, the sedimentation process returned depositional throughout the Holocene, probably due to the rise of the sea level. This sedimentary process results in a widespread sedimentary unconformity in the continental slope, providing a benchmark for the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Analyzing the sediment cores, we affirm that the change in current intensity is the primary factor controlling the sedimentary environments. The current intensities strengthened during the eustatic lowstand and weakened during the highstand periods, leading to alternating erosional and depositional processes. The widespread distribution of the erosive surface represents a regional-scale change in the sedimentary environment instead of a local event.

Pavement texture and skid resistance are pivotal surface features of roadway to traffic safety, especially under wet weather. Engineering interventions should be scheduled periodically to restore these features as they deteriorate over time under traffic polishing. While many studies have investigated the effects of traffic polishing on pavement texture and skid resistance through laboratory experiments, the absence of real-world traffic and environmental factors in these studies may limit the generalization of their findings. This study addresses this research gap by conducting a comprehensive field study of pavement texture and skid resistance under traffic polishing in the real world. A total of thirty pairs of pavement texture and friction data were systematically collected from three distinct locations with different levels of traffic polishing (middle, right wheel path, and edge) along an asphalt pavement in Oklahoma, USA. Data acquisition utilized a laser imaging device to reconstruct 0.01 mm 3D images to characterize pavement texture and a Dynamic Friction Tester to evaluate pavement friction at different speeds. Twenty 3D areal parameters were calculated on whole images, macrotexture images, and microtexture images to investigate the effects of traffic polishing on pavement texture from different perspectives. Then, texture parameters and testing speeds were combined to develop friction prediction models via linear and nonlinear methodologies. The results indicate that Random Forest models with identified inputs achieved excellent performance for non-contact friction evaluation. Last, the friction decrease rate was discussed to estimate the timing of future maintenance to restore skid resistance. This study provides more insights into how engineers should plan maintenance to restore pavement texture and friction considering real-world traffic polishing.

Abstract Finding the risk factors for thromboembolic (TE) disease and preventing its development in pregnant women is important. Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common chronic disease. We aim to find if AR is a risk factor. From 2004 to 2011, 55,057 pregnant women were recruited from a Taiwan database. They were grouped into AR and non-AR groups. The rate of TE and venous complications during pregnancy and 60 days after childbirth were compared between non-AR and the AR group. Those with AR diagnosed both before and after childbirth, meaning AR was not changed during pregnancy, the rates of TE (OR 2.64) and venous complications (OR 1.35) were higher compared to non-AR subjects. In those who underwent cesarean delivery, the rate was also higher in group 3 (OR 4.14). Those with AR before childbirth, without after, meaning AR was well controlled during pregnancy, the rate of TE was not higher than that of the non-AR subjects. Pregnant women with AR have an increased rate of TE. An increased rate of venous complications in these subjects might explain the increase in TE. If AR is well controlled during pregnancy, the rate of TE does not appear to increase.

Abstract For the progress of artificial neural networks, the imitation of multiple biological functions is indispensable for processing more tasks in a complex working environment. Memristors, which possess these advantages such as uniformity, high switching speed, and smaller device scale, are the better candidates compared to conventional complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology in artificial neural networks. In this work, an Ag/ZrOx/Pt threshold switching memristor (TSM) is designed to overcome the drawback of the large variation in the non‐volatile filament type memristor. The cycle‐to‐cycle and device‐to‐device variations are 5.6% and 4.9%. This device has mimicked the “nociceptive threshold,” “relaxation,” “no adaptation,” and “sensitization” features for the nociceptor which can prevent the artificial intelligence system from dangers in the external environment. Additionally, with the change in the strength of the external stimulus, the artificial neuron is also built by emulating “all‐or‐nothing,” “threshold‐driven‐spiking,” and “strength‐modulated” characteristics. The proposed threshold‐switching memristor allows the simultaneous emulation of the biological nociceptor and leaky integrate‐and‐fire neuron for the first time, which represents an advance in the bioinspired technology adopted in future artificial neural networks and humanoid robots.

Swallowing safety is one of the top health concerns of dementia. Coughing and choking (coughing/choking) are signs of impaired swallowing safety. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of regular physical exercise-based swallowing intervention for reducing coughing-choking at the dementia day-care center. This was a retrospective analysis with data from medical records, including age, the clinical dementia rating (CDR), and the frequencies of coughing/choking in ten days (10-day coughing/choking). Those who complied with the exercise programs were assigned to the exercise-based group (n = 22), and those who could not comply were assigned to the non-exercised-based group (n = 7). The non-exercised-based group showed more advanced age and higher CDR than the exercise-based group (p < 0.05). The 10-day coughing/choking showed significant decreases at the 5-month and 19-month in the exercise-based group and at the 5-month in the non-exercise-based group (p < 0.05). Our findings suggested that regular physical exercise-based swallowing intervention effectively alleviated coughing/choking problems of older adults with dementia and its effectiveness was long-lasting. For those who could not comply with exercise programs, noticeably with more advanced age and dementia, the effective swallowing intervention period was short-term.

This paper presents a low complexity chip design supporting dual-mode beamforming, i.e. sampling matrix inversion (SMI) and the minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR), for wireless Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication systems. The auto-correlation matrix inversion is the critical computing kernel shared by the two beamforming schemes. To alleviate the computing complexity, the auto-correlation matrix is approximated by a Toeplitz counterpart, which can be decomposed efficiently by applying the Cholesky decomposition and the Schur algorithm. This leads to an O (N3) to O (N2) complexity reduction, where N is the matrix size, while preserving computing parallelism for the hardware design. In addition, a diagonal loading technique is employed to mitigate the stability problem when the matrix is ill-conditioned. Simulation results indicate that no performance loss is observed due to the algorithm simplification measures. A systolic array based mapping procedure converts the two beamforming algorithms to a unified hardware accelerator design with 80% shared circuitry. Complex-valued divisions are achieved by adopting a hardware efficient coordinate rotation digital computer (CORDIC) scheme. In chip implementation, a TSMC 90nm UTM process technology is used and the design specs largely follow the requirements of IEEE 802.11ac standard. The core size of the chip design is 0.68mm2. The measurement results show that the chip can operate up to 200MHz with a power consumption of 49.03mW. It can complete the computation of a new beamforming vector (of size 8) every 0.64us and exhibits the highest throughput among the 6 compared designs.

Abstract The rapid emergency of data science, information technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) relies on massive data processing with high computing efficiency and low power consumption. However, the current von‐Neumann architecture system requires high‐energy budget to process data computing and storage between central computing unit and memory. To overcome this problem, neuromorphic computing system which mimics the operation of human brain has been proposed to perform computing in an energy‐efficient manner. Recently, organic–inorganic halide perovskite compounds have been demonstrated as promising components for neuromorphic devices owing to their strong light absorption, solution processability, and unique properties such as ion migration, carrier trapping effects and phase transition. In this review paper, we report recent advances of neuromorphic devices which employed organic–inorganic halide perovskite compounds by analyzing their fundamental operating mechanisms, device architectures, applications and future prospective.

The micro-arc oxidation (MAO) process was used to prepare hydroxyapatite-containing flower-like structure coatings on commercially pure titanium substrates with various values of the applied voltage (330, 390, 450 V), applied current (0.4, 0.5, 0.6 A), and duration time (1, 3, 5 min). It was found that the surface morphology of the coatings was determined primarily by the applied voltage. A voltage of 330 V yielded a flower-like/plate-like structure, while voltages of 390 V and 450 V produced a flower-like structure and a porous morphology, respectively. The applied current and duration time mainly affected the coating formation speed and petal size of the flower-like structures, respectively. The coatings prepared using voltages of 330 V and 390 V (0.6 A, 5 min) both contained Ti, TiO2-A (anatase), TiO2-R (rutile), DCPD (CaHPO4·2H2O, calcium hydrogen phosphate), and hydroxyapatite (HA). However, the latter coating contained less DCPD and had a higher HA/DCPD ratio and a Ca/P ratio closer to the ideal value of HA. The coating prepared with a voltage of 450 V consisted mainly of Ti, TiO2-A, TiO2-R, and CaTiO3. For the coatings prepared with a voltage of 390 V, the flower-like structures consisted mainly of HA-containing compounds. DCPD plate-like structures were observed either between the HA-containing flower-like structures (330 V samples) or within the flower-like structures themselves (390 V samples). The coating surfaces with flower-like/plate-like or flower-like structures had a greater roughness, which increased their hydrophilicity and resulted in superior bioactivity (SBF immersion) and biocompatibility (MG-63 cell culture). The optimal biomedical performance was found in the 390 V coating due to its flower-like structure and high HA/DCPD ratio.

Previous studies have examined driving styles and how they are associated with crash risks relying on self-report questionnaires to categorize respondents based on pre-defined driving styles. Naturalistic driving studies provide a unique opportunity to examine this relationship differently. The current study aimed to study how driving styles, derived from real-road driving, may relate to crash severity. To study the relationship, this study retrieved safety critical events (SCEs) from the SHRP 2 database and adopted joint modelling of the number of the aggregated crash severity levels (crash vs. non-crash) using the Diagonal Inflated Bivariate Poisson (DIBP) model. Variables examined included driving styles and various driver characteristics. Among driving styles examined, styles of maintenance of lower speeds and more adaptive responses to driving conditions were associated with fewer crashes given an SCE occurred. Longer driving experiences, more miles driven last year, and being female also reduced the number of crashes. Interestingly, older drivers were associated with both an increased number of crashes and increased number of non-crash SCEs. Future work may leverage more variables from the SHRP 2 database and widen the scope to examine different traffic conditions for a more complete picture of driving styles.

Hybrid precoding, a combination of radio frequency (RF) beamforming and digital precoding, has been investigated intensively these days for millimeter wave (mmWave) communication systems employing large antenna arrays. The key problem is constructing beamforming and precoding matrices for the RF beamformer and the digital baseband, respectively, based on the channel matrix decomposition result. This paper presents a new computing algorithm to achieve the matrix decomposition efficiently without compromising the performance. The algorithm computes beamforming (steering) and precoding matrices in separate phases to alleviate the computing overheads of iterative matrix updates. This measure also creates the computing parallelism to facilitate efficient hardware implementation. A novel computing scheme based on QR decomposition and blockwise inversion techniques is also developed to tackle the most critical least square solution module. This leads to a computing complexity reduction by a factor of 0.3 N when compared with the popular orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) scheme, where N is the antenna array size. The simulation results indicate the percentage of choosing correct steering vectors is 90%, which is as good as the OMP scheme can achieve. A hardware accelerator design of the proposed scheme is developed by using a TSMC 40 nm CLN40G technology. The design, with a gate count of 419.3 k, can operate up to 333 MHz with a power consumption of 267.1 mW. This suggests a throughput rate of processing 10.4 M channel matrices per second. The core size is merely 0.58mm2 while the entire die size including I/O pads is 2.26mm2.

Background/Purpose: This study aims to investigate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic adrenalectomy for benign adrenal tumor without peri-operative NGT decompression. Methods: From July 2010 to March 2014, 82 consecutive patients with benign unilateral adrenal tumor underwent elective laparoscopic adrenalectomy by a single surgeon were recruited for this study. We compared the clinico-demographic profile, estimated blood loss, operative time, time to full diet, time to ambulate, the length of hospital staying, analgesics use and complications between two groups stratified by the use of NGT. Results: There were no significant differences in the clinico-demographic profile of the two groups, including age, laterality, body mass index, gender, ASA classification, tumor diameter and histologic types between two groups. Peri-operative parameters were similar between NGT and Non-NGT groups (estimated blood loss, 55.85 vs. 54.4 ml; operative time, 110.3 vs. 112.3 min; p > 0.05) The post-operative outcome of interests, including days to full oral intake (3.32 vs. 3.34 days), days to ambulate (2.07 vs. 2.10 days), hospital stay (4.32 vs. 4.34 days), and analgesics use (6.00 vs. 5.83 mg; all p > 0.05) showed no significant difference between NGT and non-NGT group. Conclusion: Laparoscopic adrenalectomy in patients with benign unilateral adrenal tumor without the use of peri-operative nasogastric tube decompression is safe and feasible. Keywords: Nasogastric tube decompression, Outcomes, Laparoscopic adrenalectomy

For bedridden elderly people, pressure ulcer is the most common and serious complication and could be prevented by regular repositioning. However, due to a shortage of long-term care workers, repositioning might not be implemented as often as required. Posture monitoring by using modern health/medical caring technology can potentially solve this problem. We propose a RGB-D camera system to recognize the posture of the bedridden elderly patients based on the analysis of 3D human skeleton which consists of articulated joints. Since practically most bedridden patients were covered with a blanket, only four 3D joints were used in our system. After the recognition of the posture, a warning message will be sent to the caregiver for assistance if the patient stays in the same posture for more than a predetermined period (e.g., two hours). Experimental results indicate that our proposed method is capable of achieving a high accuracy in posture recognition (above 95%). To the best of our knowledge, this application of using human skeleton analysis for patient care is novel. The proposed scheme is promising for clinical applications and will undertake an intensive test in health care facilities in the near future after redesigning a proper RGB-D (Red-Green-Blue-Depth) camera system. In addition, a desktop computer can be used for multi-point monitoring to reduce cost, since real-time processing is not required in this application.

Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) is an important oilseed crop that is rich in fatty acids and protein. Climate-change-related stresses, such as chilling, high temperature, and waterlogging can cause severe production loss in this crop. In this study, we investigated the photosynthetic responses of sacha inchi seedlings to short-term waterlogging and their morphological changes after long-term waterlogging stress. Sacha inchi CO2 uptake, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate are affected by temperature and light intensity. The seedlings had a high CO2 uptake (>10 μmol m−2s−1) during the daytime (08:00 to 15:00), and at 32 and 36 °C. At 32 °C, CO2 uptake peaked at irradiations of 1000 and 1500 µmol m−2s−1, and plants could still perform photosynthesis at high-intensity radiation of 2000–3000 µmol m−2s−1. However, after 5 days of waterlogging (5 DAF) sacha inchi seedlings significantly reduced their photosynthetic ability. The CO2 uptake, stomatal conductance, Fv/Fm, ETR, and qP, etc., of the susceptible genotypes, were significantly decreased and their wilting percentage was higher than 50% at 5 DAF. This led to a higher wilting percentage at 7 days post-recovery. Among the four lines assessed, Line 27 had a high photosynthetic capability and showed the best waterlogging tolerance. We screened many seedlings for long-term waterlogging tolerance and discovered that some seedlings can produce adventitious roots (AR) and survive after two weeks of waterlogging. Hence, AR could be a critical morphological adaptation to waterlogging in this crop. In summary, these results suggest that improvement in waterlogging tolerance has considerable potential for increasing the sustainable production of sacha inchi.

Abstract Size structure of fish stock plays an important role in maintaining sustainability of the population. Size distribution of an exploited stock is predicted to shift toward small individuals caused by size-selective fishing and/or warming; however, their relative contribution remains relatively unexplored. In addition, existing analyses on size structure have focused on univariate size-based indicators (SBIs), such as mean length, evenness of size classes, or the upper 95-percentile of the length frequency distribution; these approaches may not capture full information of size structure. To bridge the gap, we used the variation partitioning approach to examine how the size structure (composition of size classes) responded to fishing, warming and the interaction. We analyzed 28 exploited stocks in the West US, Alaska and North Sea. Our result shows fishing has the most prominent effect on the size structure of the exploited stocks. In addition, the fish stocks experienced higher variability in fishing is more responsive to the temperature effect in their size structure, suggesting that fishing may elevate the sensitivity of exploited stocks in responding to environmental effects. The variation partitioning approach provides complementary information to univariate SBIs in analyzing size structure.

Ferroelectric-Hf1-xZrxO2 FETs on silicon on insulator (SOI) are modeled and demonstrated with improvement on subthreshold swing (SS) and hysteresis (VT-shift), which is based on the capacitance matching concept. The minimum reverse SS = 45 mV/dec and 52 mV/dec are obtained experimentally for SOI and bulk-Si, respectively. The steep SS range (

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with disorder of sexual development (DSD) who underwent gonadectomy at a single tertiary center. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively enrolled patients with DSD who received gonadectomies in our hospital from 2000 to 2015. The clinical presentations, laboratory tests, image studies, operative findings, and pathology reports were collected by reviewing medical records. Results: A total of 18 patients with DSD were analyzed, including 17 46XY karyotype and one 45X/46XY karyotype. Among them, 17 patients were assigned female gender. The most common diagnoses were androgen insensitive syndrome (n = 5), 46XY gonad dysgenesis (n = 5), and 17α-hydroxylase deficiency (n = 3). Initial presentations included amenorrhea (n = 9), ambiguous genitalia (n = 5), and abnormal prenatal screening (n = 3). The peak age of gonadectomies was 5 at infantile (1–2 years) and 7 at adolescent period (11–15 years). A total of 19 gonadectomies were performed without complications; pure inguinal approach in 6, inguinal plus laparoscopy exploration in 13. There were no malignancies in all resected gonads; in addition, spermatogenesis was found in only one resected gonad. Conclusions: Female gender assignment was more frequently chosen in our series. The presentations and diagnoses in children with DSD were various; it is important to select individualized treatment strategy for these patients.

Aluminothermic combustion synthesis was conducted with Fe2O3–Al–Fe–Si reaction systems under Fe/Si stoichiometry from Fe-20 to Fe-50 at. % Si to investigate the formation Fe3Si/FeSi–Al2O3 composites. The solid-state combustion was sufficiently exothermic to sustain the overall reaction in the mode of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS). Dependence of iron silicide phases formed from SHS on Fe/Si stoichiometry was examined. Experimental evidence indicated that combustion exothermicity and flame-front velocity were affected by the Si percentage. According to the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fe3Si–Al2O3 composites were synthesized from the reaction systems with Fe-20 and Fe-25 at.% Si. The increase of Si content led to the formation of both Fe3Si and FeSi in the final products of Fe-33.3 and Fe-40 at.% Si reaction systems, and the content of FeSi increased with Si percentage. Further increase of Si to Fe-50 at.% Si produced the FeSi–Al2O3 composite. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images revealed that the fracture surface morphology of the products featured micron-sized and nearly spherical Fe3Si and FeSi particles distributing over the dense and connecting substrate formed by Al2O3.

Background and Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) followed by lipiodol infusion in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT). Materials and Methods: Thirty-two patients with advanced HCC and PVTT who received HAIC with regimens of cisplatin, mitomycin-C, and 5-fluorouracil followed by lipiodol infusion were enrolled. The primary efficacy endpoint was tumor response rate. The modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST) was used for assessment of treatment response. The secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS). Prognostic factors for survival also were evaluated. Results: The median OS and PFS were 11.9 and 9.5 months, respectively. Seventeen patients (53.1%) achieved objective response, and 23 patients (71.9%) achieved disease control. The length of survival in the responder and disease control groups was longer than in the non-responder and progressive disease groups after two cycles of HAIC (responder vs. non-responder: 16.5 vs. 7.9 months, p = 0.001; disease control vs. progressive disease: 12.3 vs. 5.6 months, p < 0.001) and after completing HAIC (responder vs. non-responder: 15.7 vs. 6.9 months, p = 0.001; disease control vs. progressive disease: 13.6 vs. 6.9 months, p < 0.001). Better survival was associated with Child-Pugh A liver function (p = 0.013), with early response to two HAIC cycles (p = 0.009), and with response (p = 0.02) and disease control (p = 0.001) after completing HAIC treatment. Conclusion: HAIC followed by lipiodol infusion is a safe and feasible treatment for advanced HCC with PVTT. Patients with early response could continue HAIC treatment with expected prolonged survival.

Abstract Phosphorus (P) possesses the highest theoretical specific capacity (865 mA h g−1) among all the elements for potassium‐ion battery (PIB) anodes. Although Red P (RP) has intrinsic advantages over its allotropes, including low cost and nontoxicity, and simpler preparation, it is yet unknown to effectively activate it into a high‐performance PIB anode. Here, high‐performance RP PIB anodes are reported. Two important factors are found to facilitate RP react with K‐ions reversibly: i) nanoscale RP particles are dispersed evenly in a conductive carbon matrix composed of multiwall carbon nanotubes and Ketjen black that provide an efficient electrical pathway and a tough scaffold. ii) The results of X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectrum and the electrochemical performance perhaps show that no PC bond formation is beneficial to allow K‐ions to react with RP effectively. As a result, the RP/C electrodes deliver a reversible specific capacity of ≈750 mA h g−1 and exhibit a high‐rate capability (≈300 mA h g−1 at 1000 mA g−1). RP/C full cells using potassium manganese hexacyanoferrate as cathode show a long cycling life (680 cycles) at a current density of 1000 mA g−1, in addition, a pouch‐type battery is built to demonstrate practical applications.

Fabrication of FeSi-Al2O3 composites with a molar ratio of FeSi/Al2O3 ranging from 1.2 to 4.5 was conducted by the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) method. The synthesis reaction involved metallothermic reduction of Fe2O3 and SiO2 by Al and the chemical interaction of Fe and Si. Two combustion systems were examined: one contained thermite reagents of 0.6Fe2O3 + 0.6SiO2 + 2Al, and the other had Fe2O3 + 2Al to mix with different amounts of Fe and Si powders. A thermodynamic analysis indicated that metallothermic reduction of oxide precursors was sufficiently exothermic to sustain the combustion reaction in a self-propagating mode. The SHS reaction carrying out co-reduction of Fe2O3 and SiO2 was less exothermic, and was applied to synthesize products with FeSi/Al2O3 = 1.2–2.5, while the reaction reducing only Fe2O3 was more energetic and was adopted for the composites with FeSi/Al2O3 = 2.5–4.5. Moreover, the former had a larger activation energy, i.e., Ea = 215.3 kJ/mol, than the latter, i.e., Ea = 180.4 kJ/mol. For both reaction systems, the combustion wave velocity and temperature decreased with increasing FeSi content. Formation of FeSi-Al2O3 in situ composites with different amounts of FeSi was achieved. Additionally, a trivial amount of aluminum silicate was detected in the products of high FeSi contents due to dissolution of Si into Al2O3 during the SHS process.

A series of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) coordination polymers and dinuclear metallocycles containing 4-aminopyridine (4-ampy) and benzenedicarboxylate ligands, {[M(4-ampy)2(1,4-BDC)]·H2O·CH3CH2OH}n (M = Ni, 1a; Co, 1b, 1,4-H2BDC = benzene-1,4-dicarboxylic acid), {[Ni2(4-ampy)4(1,3-BDC)2]·H2O·CH3CH2OH}n (1,3-H2BDC = benzene-1,3-dicarboxylic acid), 2, [M2(4-ampy)4(1,2-BDC)2] (M = Ni, 3a; Co, 3b, 1,2-H2BDC = benzene-1,2-dicarboxylic acid), [Co(4-ampy)2(1,3-BDC)]n, 4, {[Cu(4-ampy)2(1,4-BDC)] CH3CH2OH}n, 5a, and {[Cu(4-ampy)2(1,4-BDC)]·H2O}n, 5b·H2O, are reported, which were hydrothermally prepared and structurally characterized by using single crystal X-ray diffraction. Complexes 1a and 1b are isomorphous 1D zigzag chains, while 2 displays a concave–convex chain and 3a and 3b are dinuclear metallocycles that differ in the boding modes of the 1,2-BDC2− ligands, forming a 3D and a 2D supramolecular structures with the pcu and sql topologies, respectively. Complex 4 exhibit a 1D helical chain and complexes 5a and 5b·H2O are 1D linear and zigzag chains, in which the Cu2-1,4-BDC2− units adopt the cis and trans configurations, respectively. A novel irreversible structural transformation due to cis→trans isomerization of the Cu2-1,4-BDC2− units was observed in 5b⋅H2O and 5a upon water adsorption of the desolvated product of 5b·H2O.

Starting in 2009, the Institute for Information Industry (III) began implementing empirical Living Lab applications in different locations throughout the Minsheng Community, Songshan District that targeted different user groups. These applications included the Future Classroom and Green Life Ecological Tourguide, which targeted junior high school students; ComCare, which targeted the elderly residents of the community; In-Snergy, which targeted large buildings; and inMedia_Kiosks, which targeted the general public. There are three main contributions to this study. First, it provides complete solution to technological service enterprises. Secondly, the Living Lab improves partnership relations with local residents. Thirdly, it enables Taiwan to establish close links and conduct knowledge exchange with Living Lab projects around the world.

We integrated a piezoelectric sensing layer lamina containing liquid crystals (LC) and spiropyran (SP) in a LC/SP mixture to create an optically reconfigurable modal sensor for a cantilever beam. The impedance of this LC/SP lamina was decreased by UV irradiation which constituted the underlying mechanism to modulate the voltage externally applied to the piezoelectric actuating layer. Illuminating a specific pattern onto the LC/SP lamina provided us with a way to spatially modulate the piezoelectric vibration signal. We showed that if an UV illuminated pattern matches the strain distribution of a specific mode, a piezoelectric modal sensor can be created. Since UV illumination can be changed in situ in real-time, our results confirm for the first time since the inception of smart sensors, that an optically tailored modal sensor can be created. Some potential applications of this type of sensor include energy harvesting devices, bio-chips, vibration sensing and actuating devices.

An entangled composite compound, [Ni4(dpe)4(btc)2(Hbtc)(H2O)9]·3H2O (1), where H3btc = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid and dpe = 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane, has been synthesized and structurally characterized. Single-crystal structural determination reveals that compound 1 consists of four coordination polymers (CPs), with two two-dimensional (2D) (4,4) layered metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) of [Ni(dpe)(Hbtc)(H2O)] and [Ni(dpe)(btc)(H2O)]− anion, and two one-dimensional (1D) polymeric chains of [Ni(dpe)(btc)(H2O)3]− anion and [Ni(dpe)(H2O)4]2+ cation, respectively. The three-dimensional (3D) supramolecular architecture of 1 is constructed via the inter-penetration of inter-digited, double-layered, 2D rectangle-grid MOFs by two 1D coordination polymeric chains, and tightly entangled together via the combination of inter-CPs π–π stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions. The ad-/de-sorption isotherms of 1 for water displays a hysteresis profile with a maximum adsorption of 17.66 water molecules of per molecule unit at relative P/P0 < 0.89. The reversible de-/re-hydration processes in 1 monitored by cyclic water de-/ad-sorption TG analysis and PXRD measurements evidence a sponge-like water de-/ad-sorption property associated with a thermal-induced solid-state structural transformation. The magnetic property of 1 suggests that the ferromagnetic coupling might refer to a stronger inter-Ni(II) interaction, which could be along the btc3− or Hbtc2− ligands; the antiferromagnetic coupling corresponding to the weaker inter-Ni(II) interactions, which could be the dpe ligands for the 2D framework.

InAlN/Al/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) directly on Si with dynamic threshold voltage for steep subthreshold slope (

A 3D supramolecular network, [Cd(bipy)(C4O4)(H2O)2]·3H2O (1) (bipy = 4,4′-bipyridine and C4O42− = dianion of H2C4O4), constructed by mixed-ligand two-dimensional (2D) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has been reported and structurally determined by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction method and characterized by other physicochemical methods. In 1, the C4O42− and bipy both act as bridging ligands connecting the Cd(II) ions to form a 2D layered MOF, which are then extended to a 3D supramolecular network via the mutually parallel and interpenetrating arrangements among the 2D-layered MOFs. Compound 1 shows a two-step dehydration process with weight losses of 11.0% and 7.3%, corresponding to the weight-loss of three guest and two coordinated water molecules, respectively, and exhibits an interesting reversible single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) structural transformation upon de-hydration and re-hydration for guest water molecules. The SCSC structural transformation have been demonstrated and monitored by single-crystal and X-ray powder diffraction, and thermogravimetic analysis studies.