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Claims modeling is a classical actuarial task aimed to understand the claim distribution given a set of risk factors. Yet some risk factors may be subject to misrepresentation, giving rise to bias in the estimated risk effects. Motivated by the unique characteristics of real health insurance data, we propose a novel class of two-part aggregate loss models that can (a) account for the semi-continuous feature of aggregate loss data, (b) test and adjust for misrepresentation risk in insurance ratemaking, and (c) incorporate an arbitrary number of correctly measured risk factors. The unobserved status of misrepresentation is captured via a latent factor shared by the two regression models on the occurrence and size of aggregate losses. For the complex two-part model, we derive explicit iterative formulas for the expectation maximization algorithm adopted in parameter estimation. Analytical expressions are obtained for the observed Fisher information matrix, ensuring computational efficiency in large-sample inferences on risk effects. We perform extensive simulation studies to demonstrate the convergence and robustness of the estimators under model misspecification. We illustrate the practical usefulness of the models by two empirical applications based on real medical claims data.

In this work, we propose an immersed-boundary-type simulation method for the two-way coupling problems between a rigid body and a fluid. In this simulation tool, the entire fluid-solid domain is treated as an incompressible fluid with non-uniform density and the no-slip boundary condition at the rigid body surface is enforced by the penalization method. The fluid solver is developed in use of the spectral element method for the spatial discretization and the mixed explicit/implicit scheme for the temporal discretization. An additional Lagrangian mesh is employed and attached to the rigid body in order to trace the rigid body and to perform the area integration over the solid domain. Besides, a so-called sub-cell scheme is developed to smooth the discontinuity at the fluid-solid interface. The validity and accuracy of the proposed simulation method were examined well by applying it to the sedimentation problems of circular, triangular, square, as well as elliptic cylinders in a channel. An accuracy of 2nd order was observed, probably due to the use of triangular Lagrangian elements and consequently a piecewise-linear approximation of the rigid body shape and also due to the 2nd-order interpolation involved in the sub-cell scheme.

The market economy has shifted the decision-making power of the garment industry from the enterprise to the consumer. Research on consumer clothing preferences is an essential part of sustainable development of the garment industry. Based on data statistics from eight fast fashion brands, black and white are most commonly used in two-color plaid shirts. This paper carried out a psychophysical experiment to investigate factors affecting pattern preferences for black-and-white shirts and the differences and similarities between male and female pattern preferences. Twenty-eight different representative patterns of plaid shirts were selected by five fashion designers together from 190 different black-and-white plaid shirts from eight fast fashion brands, which were then classified into three categories: gingham, tartans, and windowpane. Based on these patterns, 28 male and female shirts were simulated in three dimensions and presented on a calibrated computer display. The simulations were assessed by 42 observers (consisting of 21 males and 21 females) in terms of four semantic scales, including light&ndash, dark, delicate&ndash, rough, simple&ndash, complex, and like&ndash, dislike. The experimental results revealed that there was no significant difference of pattern preference between females and males for 89.29% of the black-and-white plaid shirts, and also described features of the patterns that the females and males liked or disliked. Furthermore, the study also demonstrated the formulation between the four semantic scales and three pattern features (including the percentage of black region, the size of the minimum repeat unit, and the descriptor of the pattern complexity). The findings could be used to develop a more robust and comprehensive theory of pattern preferences and provide a reference for pattern design for black-and-white plaid shirts. More comprehensive pattern preference theory is not only an effective tool to solve the problem of plaid shirt inventory in the garment industry but also an important theoretical basis for the &ldquo, sustainable design&rdquo, of clothing, which is of great significance to the sustainable development of the garment industry.

Carbon and/or nitrogen doped TiO2 mesoporous beads have been prepared using hexamethylenetetramine as the dopant source in a microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthetic route. It is found that the hydrothermal time has pronounced effects on the crystallinity, grain size, and carbon and/or nitrogen incorporation into the TiO2 lattices. The carbon and/or nitrogen doping creates interband localized states above the valence band of TiO2 and therefore enhances the optical response of TiO2 in the visible light region. Selected carbon and/or nitrogen doped TiO2 mesoporous beads are made into flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (FDSSCs), which are analyzed by solar simulator, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, intensity modulated photocurrent/photovoltage spectroscopy, and incident photon-to electron conversion efficiency. The photoelectrode consisting of the doped TiO2 mesoporous beads shows improved FDSSCs due to the better electron injection and collection efficiencies. The electron lifetime is also relatively high, indicating that the doping does not introduce recombination. Overall speaking, both improved optical and electronic properties are demonstrated and discussed in depth.

Although today’s users of mobile phones are afforded increasing control as the popularity and richness of information provided by smartphones increases, how these users make choices and evaluations cannot be explicitly expressed. This study uses an acute observation of designers of technology and aesthetics to conduct a mental-model analysis of smartphones with the purpose of explicitly identifying the differences in the schemas of users. This study also modifies the mental model to evaluate the practicability of the mental model. Hence, this study investigates groups of subjects, comparing freshmen and graduating students froma college of design, and adopts a schematized data collection and analysis approach, Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA), to ascertain the relationships between factors and establish a complete user mental model. The study results present 11 primary affinity factors: “Pricing,” “Advertisement,” “User Interface,” “Innovation Functions,” “System Maintenance,” “Privacy,” “Utility Functions,” “Personalization,” “Network Performance,” “Customer Service,” and “Multimedia Contents.” The primary driver in evaluating smartphones is found to be “Pricing” for graduating students and “Privacy” for freshmen. The two groups share the same final effect factor, “Multimedia Contents.” This study has successfully identified differences between the different mental models of the two groups, supporting the method that using IQA to perform a quality evaluation of social networking for smartphones is effective. Consequently, platform developers can understand user demand through a mental model and can design good platform functions to effectively improve users’ experience of smartphones.

For the use in all-plastic flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), various TiO 2 photoanodes having different structures were prepared using commercial P25 and ST41 powders. The photoanodes were deposited using an electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique, followed by a mechanical compression. The deposition kinetics of the EPD photoanode formation was first studied. Based on the deposition kinetics, various photoanode structures consisting of P25, ST41, or a mixture of P25 and ST41 powders were made and characterized. The photoanodes were then evaluated for use in all-plastic flexible DSSCs. The effect of the photoanode structure on the cell performance, including electron transport property, was investigated and discussed. Optimized photoanode structure is reported as a result.

With the advance of spherical panorama technologies, some organizations have started to apply it to the virtual exploration of physical world. However, whether such technologies could be used for city exploration and education deserves in-depth studies. In this research, an interactive and spherical panorama system was developed to study the possibilities of introducing an international city with diverse cultures for students. The content of experiment was the popular and multicultural attractions in San Francisco. Twenty students were invited to conduct the experiment and interact with the system. The participant completed a post-experiment questionnaire and offered their evaluation from the perspectives of manipulation and content exploration. The results indicated that the system could increase the motivation for learning the diverse cultures of international cities.

In October 2011, the National Development and Reform Commission of China approved the pilot projects for carbon emissions trading in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Guangdong and Hubei provinces from 2013 to 2015. In January 2016, the NDRC made unified arrangements for the construction of the national carbon market and requested to ensure that the national carbon market would be started in 2017. Since its launch in 2011, the seven pilots have basically built a carbon trading market system with clear responsibilities, smooth operation, active trading and active compliance. They have accumulated many useful experiences during the operation and have played an active role in energy transformation. It also greatly promoted the construction of carbon trading mechanism and provided a wealth of experience and lessons for the establishment of a national carbon market. The Chinese carbon market is about to officially launch and will also surpass the EUETS to be the largest carbon trading system in the world.

This paper aims to explore the application of service design in low-carbon policies to solve the problem of disorderly-parked unbundled sharing bicycles. With the emergence of leading enterprises of sharing economy like Airbnb and Uber and the success of their innovative business models, the value of sharing economy has been widely recognized. As a solution to the problem of the last kilometer of users' travel, sharing bicycles start to appear frequently in China's alleys, users can use convenient, quickly won the widespread user approval. Unbundled sharing bicycles are easier for users to park and get. It seemed that users' accepted that quickly. Cancelling parking pile is the most sensible invention of unbundled sharing bicycles, but it is also the biggest source of the troubles, the problem of disorderly-parking is derived from this. And solving this problem has also become a tricky problem for both the government and the shared cycling company. Through the discussion of the current status of the sharing bicycles, this study designed a set of low-carbon bicycle-parking service system through service design and discussed its feasibility.

Recently, some research groups had tried to use the technologies of stereoscopic 3D displays to present teaching materials for product design education. However, the issue of visual discomfort for viewing stereoscopic 3D contents was not considered. To conduct experiments, representative 3D virtual models of office furniture were constructed with simple shapes and textures. These models were displayed on a 50-inch stereoscopic 3D TV and viewed through passive polarizing glasses. The task was to walk through a virtual office and identify the design problems of furniture. Thirty students, majored in Industrial Design, were invited to participate in these experiments. The number of design problems identified was considered as the major performance measure. In addition, total time spent in stereoscopic 3D mode or traditional 3D mode, degree of discomfort, and self-reported symptoms were collected. The result showed that although stereoscopic 3D images had advantages over traditional 3D images for the task of dimension and distance estimations, the degree of visual discomfort increased significantly while the participants were interacting with the virtual product components intensively. The result indicated that adaptive adjustments of binocular and monocular depth cues were necessary for highly interactive tasks to ensure visual comfort and depth cue integration.

Mobile augmented reality (MAR) is an increasingly popular technology for enhancing how students interact with and learn about the cultural environment and cultural objects in the physical world. Sometime the learning effect is influenced by the delighted value, which is always subjective and learning—driven. In order to ensure successful launch the mobile augment reality of cultural interactive learning tool, it is extremely important to predict the delighted value of design alternatives systematically based on the common language understood by both students and designers. However, the framework for communicating and evaluating such value from interested perspective is not available in the literature. Therefore, the objective of this research is to extract key frameworks of delighted value from interested perspective and develop an effective algorithm to evaluate MAR cultural learning system. First, through literature review and the interview of participants, many scenarios of learning influence were collected. A focus group was invited to identify the essential elements that influence the delighted value of MAR cultural learning system. Followed by a large scale questionnaire survey and factor analysis, four frameworks were extracted. These frameworks, name as CARE framework in brief, included communication, association, reflection, and engagement. Second, the perception differences of MAR cultural learning paper prototypes were conducted to verify the validity of CARE framework for comparative studied. The findings of this study demonstrated that CARE framework was effective for solution designing in MAR cultural interactive learning tool.

Although manipulating 3D virtual models with mid-air hand gestures had the benefits of natural interactions and free from the sanitation problems of touch surfaces, many factors could influence the usability of such an interaction paradigm. In this research, the authors conducted experiments to study the vision-based mid-air hand gestures for scaling, translating, and rotating a 3D virtual car displayed on a large screen. An Intel RealSense 3D Camera was employed for hand gesture recognition. The two-hand gesture with grabbing then moving apart/close to each other was applied to enlarging/shrinking the 3D virtual car. The one-hand gesture with grabbing then moving was applied to translating a car component. The two-hand gesture with grabbing and moving relatively along the circumference of a horizontal circle was applied to rotating the car. Seventeen graduate students were invited to participate in the experiments and offer their evaluations and comments for gesture usability. The results indicated that the width and depth of detection ranges were the key usability factors for two-hand gestures with linear motions. For dynamic gestures with quick transitions and motions from open to close hand poses, ensuring gesture recognition robustness was extremely important. Furthermore, given a gesture with ergonomic postures, inappropriate control-response ratio could result in fatigue due to repetitive exertions of hand gestures for achieving the precise controls of 3D model manipulation tasks.

In the curriculum of product design education, some teaching materials for demonstrating and discussing case studies are always presented in images with monocular depth cues. However, using this approach to train students with different spatial abilities is a great challenge. It was reported that stereoscopic 3D (S3D) displays were helpful for the performance of depth-related tasks. Some research groups had tried to use stereoscopic visualization for teaching Descriptive Geometry, and some research reported that the effect of stereoscopic displays on science learning was related to the spatial ability of the viewer. In product design education, identifying proportion and manipulating proportional relationships were important practices of form-giving training. Whether the correctness of proportion judgement would be influenced by different displays remained an open question. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the performances of students with different background across three display modes, i.e. M3D, S3D, and head-mounted display (HMD). In the experiments, physical chairs and the corresponding digital models with different proportions were used as the stimuli. The participants were asked to identify the correct digital models of chairs. The results indicated that HMD approach could facilitate the reflection and adaptation of dimensions and proportions, compensating the differences of spatial abilities, and therefore enhancing the learning effects significantly.

The diagnosis of mitochondrial disorders is challenging because of the clinical variability and genetic heterogeneity. Conventional analysis of the mitochondrial genome often starts with a screening panel for common mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) point mutations and large deletions (mtScreen). If negative, it has been traditionally followed by Sanger sequencing of the entire mitochondrial genome (mtWGS). The recently developed "Next-Generation Sequencing" (NGS) technology offers a robust high-throughput platform for comprehensive mtDNA analysis. Here, we summarize the results of the past 6 years of clinical practice using the mtScreen and mtWGS tests on 9,261 and 2,851 unrelated patients, respectively. A total of 344 patients (3.7%) had mutations identified by mtScreen and 99 (3.5%) had mtDNA mutations identified by mtWGS. The combinatorial analyses of mtDNA and POLG revealed a diagnostic yield of 6.7% in patients with suspected mitochondrial disorders but no recognizable syndromes. From the initial mtWGS-NGS cohort of 391 patients, 21 mutation-positive cases (5.4%) have been identified. The mtWGS-NGS provides a one-step approach to detect common and uncommon point mutations, as well as deletions. Additionally, NGS provides accurate, sensitive heteroplasmy measurement, and the ability to map deletion breakpoints. A new era of more efficient molecular diagnosis of mtDNA mutations has arrived.

In recent years, the 2.5D IC (Integrated Circuit) package with TSV (Through Silicon Vias) has become important for high-bandwidth and high-performance applications. It is well known that 2.5D technology requires significant innovation in the areas of process technology, packaging, design, thermals, and test solutions leading to several hundred new technologies in a single product. With these complex material sets and process steps combined with new design requirements, methods, and components, a significant amount of research and engineering development is required to bring a successful product to market. After an 8 year development, in July of 2015 AMD reported it began shipment of a new generation of AMD Radeon Fury graphics cards, based on the development of the "Fiji" GPU and the first generation of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM1). This announcement is the next major step in an era for 2.5D IC package technology which will be used in a wide variety of applications. Given the scope of this undertaking many collaborations were required. This paper provides an overview of the collaboration between AMD and ASE. It chronicles the work from initial proof of concept to technology feasibility to product development to production ramp and ultimately high volume production. Details of several functional prototypes are outlined including warpage characterization, stress reduction, materials selection methodologies, and the use of finite element analysis (FEA) and advanced Warpage Metrology Analyzer (WMA) for optimization. The result is a reliable 2.5D process flow with >99% assembly yield for a 1011mm2 interposer with 5 dies attached in a 300+W 55x55mm2 package.

We report a novel heteroplasmic mutation p.Y440C in the mitochondrial DNA-encoded subunit I of the cytochrome c oxidase (COX) gene in a patient with late onset progressive painless weakness. Her muscle biopsy showed scattered COX-negative fibers and several small collections of inflammatory cells. The mutation was detected in the patient's muscle but not in her blood. The low mutant load in muscle could explain the patient's late onset of the myopathy and milder phenotype when compared to the previously published cases with MTCO1 mutations.

Leigh syndrome is a severe neurodegenerative disease with heterogeneous genetic etiology. We report a novel m.4296GA variant in the mitochondrial tRNA isoleucine gene in a child with Leigh syndrome, mitochondrial proliferation, lactic acidosis, and abnormal respiratory chain enzymology. The variant is present at75% heteroplasmy in blood and cultured fibroblasts from the proband,5% in asymptomatic maternal relatives, and is absent in 3000 controls. It is located in the highly conserved anticodon region of tRNA(Ile) where three other pathogenic changes have been described. We conclude that there is strong evidence to classify m.4296GA as a pathogenic mutation causing Leigh syndrome.

Often customers make their purchase decision based on price, quality and functionality of the product. Sometimes the decision is influenced by the perceived value, which is always subjective and emotion-driven. In order to ensure successful launch of a product, it is extremely important to predict the perceived value of design alternatives systematically based on the common language understood by both target users and designers. However, the index for communicating and evaluating such value from emotional perspective is not available in the literature. Therefore, the objective of this research is to extract key indexes of perceived value from emotional perspectives and develop an effective algorithm to evaluate products. First, through literature review and the interview of participants, many scenarios of purchase decision were collected. A focus group was invited to identify the essential elements that influence the perceived value of products. Followed by a large scale questionnaire survey and factor analysis, four indexes were extracted. These indexes, named as FASE Index in brief, included features, association, social-esteem, and engagement. Second, by combining the fuzzy mathematics and the pairwise comparison method, an evaluation model was developed. Third, the perception differences of sample products were conducted to verify the validity of FASE index. The findings of this study demonstrated that FASE index was effective for decision making in product design.

The synthesis and characterization of TiO2 beads and the use of them in the photoanodes of all-plastic flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (FDSCs) are reported. Pure anatase TiO2 beads having different sizes and characteristics were first made using a novel two-step chemical method under different conditions. Photoanodes consisting of the beads as scattering layers were then fabricated. The use of beads largely enhances the dye loading and gives highly effective light scattering, leading to improved light absorbance. The resulting cells were evaluated for the electron diffusion time, electron lifetime, charge collection efficiency, incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency, electron injection efficiency, and IV characteristics. The pure anatase TiO2 beads, having low oxygen vacancy concentrations and directional attached grains, lead to more photoelectrons and enhance the electron diffusion, giving very short diffusion times. We have demonstrated for the first time that the use of beads, having di...

CPSI deficiency usually results in severe hyperammonemia presenting in the first days of life warranting prompt diagnosis. Most CPS1 defects are non-recurrent, private mutations, including point mutation, small insertions and deletions. In this study, we report the detection of large deletions varying from 1.4 kb to > 130 kb in the CPS1 gene of 4 unrelated patients by targeted array CGH. These results underscore the importance of analysis of large deletions when only one mutation or no mutations are identified in cases where CPSI deficiency is strongly indicated.

To simulate two-dimensional viscous incompressible flows based on a scheme of blob splitting and merging, we developed a vortex method and employed a fast multipole method to speed the computation of velocities. The diffusion of the vortex sheet induced at a solid wall by the no-slip boundary conditions is first modeled according to the analytical solution of Koumoutsakos and then converted into discrete blobs in the vicinity of the wall. To prevent the vorticity from entering the solid body, we introduce a concept residual circulation in a sense that only a partial circulation of the vortex sheet is diffused into the flow field; the rest remains at the wall. Blobs near the wall are thus avoided. Blobs near the wall that might cause large fluctuations in the strength of the vortex sheet are handled similarly. The solver thus developed requires no grid-based remeshing. We applied this solver to simulate the flow induced with an impulsively initiated circular cylinder; the results agree satisfactorily with those of previous experimental and numerical investigations.

Recently, presenting Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) images for product design education has become an option. However, visual discomfort caused by interacting with S3D contents should be minimized. In this research, representative S3D virtual models of automobiles were constructed for experiments. These models were displayed on a 50-inch S3D TV and viewed through polarized glasses. The task was to control the rotation of an automobile and identify the design problems. Thirty students, majored in Industrial Design, were invited to participate in these experiments. The result showed that although S3D images had advantages in the task of dimension and distance estimations, the degree of visual discomfort increased significantly while the participants were interacting with the virtual product model intensively. Furthermore, adaptive adjustments of binocular depth cues, such as disparity, could reduce visual discomfort and accommodate individual differences.