Search

IntroductionScorias spongiosa is an edible fungus.MethodsIn this study, a nontargeted metabonomic analysis was conducted on the fruiting bodies of this fungus at five growth stages, and the differences in metabolites and the related metabolic pathways during growth and development were analysed.ResultsThis study revealed that the five growth stages of S. spongiosa fruiting bodies were associated with 15 pathways. These 15 metabolic pathways are speculated to play important roles in the growth of S. spongiosa fruiting bodies. Eleven bioactive substances were identified among the differentially expressed compounds. The content of six bioactive substances was highest at the S1 growth stage among all the growth stages. The metabolites related to sugar metabolism were enriched in three main pathways: pentose and gluconate interconversions, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the citrate cycle (TCA cycle).DiscussionThese results suggested that the S1 growth stage can be selected as the harvest period of S. spongiosa in fruiting bodies to retain most of the bioactive substances. Pentose and gluconate interconversions, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the TCA cycle are related to changes in polysaccharide content during the growth of S. spongiosa fruiting bodies.

Child abuse and exploitation pose significant threats to the health and well-being of children. While the Taiwanese government introduced the Protection of Children and Youth Welfare and Rights Act in 2011 to address these issues, progress has been slow. This paper aims to examine the evolution of Taiwan’s child protection system (CPS), with a particular focus on interdepartmental collaboration. Through the collection of legislation, statistics, conference proceedings, and reports, this study analyzes the working model between law enforcement and public health. Three cases of collaboration between law enforcement and public health at the community level are presented: social safety net programs, early intervention for child abuse, and trauma-informed training for first responders. The accomplishments and challenges of each project are discussed, along with a review of the CPS in relation to the United Nations (UN) strategy INSPIRE’s approaches. Although Taiwan has shown a commendable emphasis on prevention and family support, the collaboration between law enforcement and public health is still in its early stages. The next crucial step is to strengthen integration in the early stages of identifying, assessing, and referring cases of child abuse and neglect. This can be achieved by generating more evidence on effective working models and promoting their implementation.

The environment for acquiring microseismic signals is always filled with complex noise, leading to the presence of abundant invalid signals in the collected data and greatly disturbing effective microseismic signals. Regarding the identification of effective microseismic signals with a low signal-to-noise ratio, a method for identifying effective microseismic signals in a strong-noise environment by using the variational mode decomposition (VMD) and genetic algorithm (GA)-based optimized support vector machine (SVM) model is proposed. Microseismic signals with a low signal-to-noise ratio are adaptively decomposed into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) by using VMD. The characteristics of such IMFs are extracted and used as a basis for the determination of signal validity. The SVM model is optimized by utilizing GA to obtain the optimal penalty factor c and the kernel function parameter g. The availability of IMF components is judged by the optimized SVM model, based on which the effectiveness of microseismic signals is further identified. By applying the algorithm to the microseismic signals with artificially added noise, the effective microseismic signals and ineffective noise are discriminated, verifying the feasibility of the algorithm. After processing the microseismic records collected in the field, we effectively judge the effectiveness of microseismic signals, suppress the interfering noise in the data and greatly improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the seismic records. The results show that the method for identifying effective microseismic signals based on VMD and GA-SVM can well discriminate between effective and ineffective microseismic signals, which is very significant and provides technical support for microseismic monitoring in a strong-noise environment.

BackgroundThe spindle and kinetochore associated (SKA) complex, which plays important roles in proper chromosome segregation during mitosis by maintaining the stabilization of kinetochore-spindle microtubule attachment during mitosis, has recently been reported to exert regulatory effects on the initiation and progression of various human cancer types. Nevertheless, the prognostic significance and immune infiltration of the SKA family across cancers have not been well elucidated.MethodsUsing data from three large public datasets, including The Cancer Genome Atlas, Genotype-Tissue Expression, and Gene Expression Omnibus databases, a novel scoring system (termed the SKA score) was developed to quantify the SKA family level across cancers. We then evaluated the prognostic impact of the SKA score on survival and assessed the effect of the SKA score on immunotherapy at the pan-cancer level using multiomics bioinformatic analyses. The correlation of the SKA score and the tumor microenvironment (TME) was also explored in depth. Potential small molecular compounds and chemotherapeutic agents were assessed by CTRP and GDSC analyses. Immunohistochemistry was performed to verify the expression of the SKA family genes.ResultsOur results demonstrated a close correlation between the SKA score and tumor development and prognosis in multiple cancers. The SKA score was positively related to cell cycle pathways and DNA replication across cancers, such as E2F targets, the G2M checkpoint, MYC targets V1/V2, mitotic spindles and DNA repair. Additionally, the SKA score was negatively related to the infiltration of various immune cells with antitumor effects in the TME. In addition, the potential value of the SKA score was identified to predict immunotherapy response for melanoma and bladder cancer. We also demonstrated a correlation between SKA1/2/3 and the response to drug treatment across cancers and the promising potential of the SKA complex and its genes as therapeutic targets in cancer. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that the expression differences of SKA1/2/3 were significant between the breast cancer group and the paracancerous group.ConclusionThe SKA score plays a critical role in 33 cancer types and is highly related to tumor prognosis. Patients with elevated SKA scores have a clear immunosuppressive TME. The SKA score may serve as a predictor for patients receiving anti-PD-1/L1 therapy.

Abstract Background Drug-related psychiatric comorbidity or death among adolescents has grown to become a public health threat in Taiwan. In an atmosphere of abstinence, few alternatives or rehabilitative options for troubled young people have caused many juveniles to be driven away from home and placed in closed institutions. The intersectionality of illegal substance use, deviant behaviours, and criminal offences among adjudicated adolescents is a challenge for the development of adolescent users’ harm reduction strategies. In addition, the relationships among the adolescents, their families, and practitioners might be undermined by coercive and mandatory court measures. As developing a harm reduction approach includes minimizing the negative effects on not only adolescents and also their families, this study aims to explore Taiwanese practitioners’ perspectives of family-based programmes for drug-using adolescents. Methods This study adopted a qualitative approach. Through face-to-face interviews and a focus group, accounts were collected from 28 key informants working in youth delinquency. The interviews were transcribed for analysis using qualitative analysis software, namely NVivo10. Results Practitioners tend to refer to an “adolescent-centred model” when describing their work with drug-using young people. From the frontline practitioners’ descriptions, the families of those youth needing treatment services are often vulnerable and disadvantaged. These families are seldom onboard because of low readiness and scarce resources. Although a legal framework is in place, resources, workforce, and programmes to engage and involve parents in the intervention are lacking. Despite the obstacles, practitioners have utilized a variety of strategies to obtain limited success, such as parent meetings, resources referrals, parent counselling, court support, voluntary parenting courses, illicit substance information sharing, and home visits. Practitioners also pointed out that therapeutic interventions are more effective than coercive or mandatory interventions for adolescents and also for their families. Conclusions Since most practitioners have an adolescent-centred work principle, their work with parents falls into professional-centred or family-allied work models. It is therefore suggested that resources be reallocated to involve parent counselling and intense treatment instead of mandatory parental education.

Three-dimensional (3D) elastic reverse-time migration (ERTM) can image the subsurface 3D seismic structures, and it is an important tool for the Earth’s interior imaging. A common simulation kernel used in 3D ERTM is the current staggered-grid finite-difference (SGFD) method of the first-order elastic wave equation. However, the mere second-order accuracy in time of the current SGFD method can bring non-negligible time dispersion, which reduces the simulation accuracy and further leads to the distortion of the imaging results. This paper proposes a vector-based 3D ERTM using the high-order accuracy SGFD method in time to obtain high-accuracy images. This approach is a new high-resolution ERTM workflow that improves the imaging accuracy of conventional ERTM from numerical simulation. The proposed ERTM workflow is established on a quasi-stress–velocity wave equation and its vector wavefield decomposition form. Advanced SGFD schemes and their corresponding coefficients with fourth-order temporal accuracy solve the quasi-linear wave equation system. The normalized dot product imaging condition produces high-quality images using high-accuracy vector wavefields solved using the SGFD method. Through the numerical examples, we test the simulation efficiency and analyze how temporal accuracy in numerical simulations affects migration imaging quality. We include that the proposed method obtains highly accurate images.

Intensive shrimp farming is often threatened by microcystins Hepatopancreas is the primary target organ of MCs in shrimp. To investigate the response of hepatopancreas to acute MC-LR exposure, the expression profiles of RNA-seq and miRNA-seq in the hepatopancreas of L. vannamei were determined, and data integration analysis was performed at 72 h after MC-LR injection. The expression of 5 DEGs and three DEMs were detected by Quantitative PCR (qPCR). The results showed that the cumulative mortality rate of shrimp in MC-LR treatment group was 41.1%. A total of 1229 differentially expressed genes (844 up- and 385 down-regulated) and 86 differentially expressed miRNAs (40 up- and 46 down-regulated) were identified after MC-LR exposure. Functional analysis indicated that DEGs is mainly involved in the oxidative activity process in molecular functional categories, and proteasome was the most enriched KEGG pathway for mRNAs profile. According to the functional annotation of target genes of DEMs, protein binding was the most important term in the GO category, and protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) was the most enriched KEGG pathway. The regulatory network of miRNAs and DEGs involved in the pathway related to protein degradation in endoplasmic reticulum was constructed, and miR-181-5p regulated many genes in this pathway. The results of qPCR showed that there were significant differences in the expression of five DEGs and three DEMs, which might play an important role in the toxicity and hepatopancreas detoxification of MC-LR in shrimp. The results revealed that MC-LR exposure affected the degradation pathway of misfolded protein in ER of L. vannamei hepatopancreas, and miR-181-5p might play an important role in the effect of MC-LR on the degradation pathway of misfolded protein.

Intelligent mining on working face requires reliable geological guarantee technology. Transmitted channel wave detection is an effective method to detect geological structures in working face. However, three-component channel wave field characteristics of detecting the erosion zone have not been revealed, which results in difficulty in fine imaging of scour zones. In this paper, numerical modeling and field tests were conducted. The results indicate that when seismic source is excited, the body waves propagating along the roof and floor and the channel waves propagating in the coal seam. When the channel wave propagating in the erosion zone and then produces diffraction wave which propagating along the seam behind the erosion zone, and the rest continues to propagate forward. Owing to absence of coal seam in erosion zone, transmitted channel wave is converted to S-wave on entering the erosion zone, therefore the seismic record shows the partial absence of the transmitted channel wave in Event, and the converted S-wave propagates along roof and floor of coal seam, and they are not able to form channel waves with higher energy. Besides, the Y-component of the channel wave is suitable for detecting erosion zone, because it has high amplitude and it can be easily distinguished. The attenuation imaging method based on eigenvalue limitation has high imaging resolution and good abrupt convergence. Three-component transmitted P-wave and S-wave have no obvious response to erosion zone and cannot be used as characteristic waves for the erosion zone detection. Keywords: Wave characteristics, Channel wave, Transmitted attenuation, Numerical simulation

It has been difficult to establish velocity models that use reflected seismic signals with advanced prediction ahead of the tunnel face. The accurate establishment of advanced velocity models face issues including artifacts in migration results and incorrect calculation of velocity. This study presents a polarization migration velocity model building method to solve these issues. First, the artifacts in migration interfaces were eliminated by the polarization characteristics of three-component reflected signals. Second, the optimum velocity ahead of the tunnel face was determined according to the energy stack characteristics of common interface points. Finally, the velocity model was established based on optimum velocity parameters and corresponding polarization migration interfaces using a three-dimensional and three-component numerical simulation conducted on faults with high dip and different inclinations. The results indicate that the velocity errors in the advanced velocity model were 1 and 2% for each of the two layers, and the position errors of the two interfaces were smaller than 3 and 2%. The experimental results of the Maanshan tunnel verified the effectiveness of the polarization migration velocity model building method.

Strip clearcutting can significantly reduce the harvesting costs of moso bamboo forests. Although bamboo is characterized by rapid accumulation of biomass, it is still a concern that this management method may reduce long-term productivity. Nutrient cycling has long been considered essential for forests to maintain high primary productivity. However, nutrient cycling of bamboo forests after strip cutting has not been previously reported. We conducted a strip clearcutting experiment and surveyed the litter dynamics for 1 year. We assessed changes in litter nutrients in response to the cutting and calculated the nutrient resorption efficiency and litter decomposition rate to evaluate the effect on nutrient use efficiency and nutrient return. Our results showed that strip cutting had no significant effect on litter production and nutrient return in the moso bamboo forest (p > 0.05). However, annual litter biomass and nutrient return in reserved belts (RB) were significantly higher than those in the control (CK) (p < 0.05). P and K resorption efficiencies in RB were significantly higher than in CK during certain periods of bamboo growth (p < 0.05). We also observed that the annual decay constant of CK was significantly higher than that of plots that were strip clearcut (SC) (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that strip cutting does not affect nutrient use efficiency or storage in the short term.

Abstract Background Prior to the passing of 2009 Human Trafficking Prevention Act (HTPA), human trafficking was underestimated in Taiwan. In the past, domestic trafficking in women and girls often targeted vulnerable groups such as young girls from poor families or minority groups. Since the 1990s, an increasing flow of immigrant women, mainly from Vietnam and Indonesia and some from China, into Taiwan has created a new group of Human Trafficking victims. The current study intends to identify, describe, and categorize reported and prosecuted human trafficking cases involving women and girls according to the HTPA in Taiwan. Methods Using the court proceedings of prosecuted trafficking in women and girls cases under Taiwan’s HTPA from all 21 districts in Taiwan from 2009 to 2012 under the title keyword of ‘Human Trafficking’, this current study aims to categorize different patterns of existing trafficking in women and girls in Taiwan. The analysis is based on 37 court cases, involving 195 victimized women and girls and 118 perpetrators. Results This study identifies six forms of Human Trafficking victims according to their country of origin, vulnerability status, and means of transport. This study found that women and girls suffer from both labor and sexual exploitation, from mainly domestic male perpetrators. While sexual exploitation is more evenly distributed among citizens and immigrants and affects both adults and minors, labor exploitation seems to be an exclusive phenomenon among women immigrant workers in the data. Conclusions Human Trafficking cases in Taiwan share many of the similarities of Human Trafficking in other regions, which are highly associated with gender inequality and gender-based vulnerability.

Mine water is a menace to coal mining. Mine water quantity is generally detected by drilling in the coal mine roadway, and the disadvantage is high workload and low efficiency. Therefore, transient electromagnetic method (TEM) was proposed, and TEM data was processed to detect the water yield property of a targeted layer in coal mine. Through a mine-oriented 3D Transient Electromagnetic Method observing system, the signal of induced voltage is obtainable. Transient Electromagnetic Method 3D data volume can be calculated through the calculation of all-time resistivity and time-depth conversion. After an appropriate apparent resistivity value is set, the spatial distribution range of an aquifer can be determined. Then, with water-filling coefficient of the aquifer, its water quantity can be estimated. The water yield property detection results in the No.4 coal seam goaf of the No.80101 workface in Jude Mine of Shanxi, China, demonstrates that the apparent resistivity of this goaf is less than 3 Ω.m, and the projection area of low-resistivity anomaly zone is 22,383 m2. By using the formula Q=KMS, we can estimate that the water volume is 33,574 m3. Three boreholes have been constructed for the later dredging and drainage project, which results in a total water yield of 33,089 m3. The error percentage of the predicted water quantity is less than 1.5%. It can thus be concluded that it is feasible to predict aquifer water content with TEM data.

Abstract Background Road traffic fatalities (RTF) are among the top ten causes of deaths in the world. The risk factors for RTF fatal victims have been extensively characterized, but studies of household burden of RTF have been very few in number. Accordingly, this article investigates post-crash impacts on RTF victims’ family members, including the adverse impacts of lost income, occupational disruption, unfavorable family dynamics, and residential relocation. Methods Survey data from 1291 RTF family members interviewed in Taiwan in 2012 provide the evidence of impact used in this article. Twelve variables related to the family member’s socio-demographic background were used to predict the scope of the adverse impact of a fatal crash in regression models developed for this analysis. Results RTF victims’ spouses with relatively low personal incomes and strong dependence upon the crash victims were found to be most likely to experience a marked decrease in post- crash quality of life. RTF victims’ family members who lived with few other adult cohabitants and had more juvenile dependents and were emotionally dependent on the victims were found to be quite likely to experience post- crash setbacks in occupational stability. RTF victims’ family members who were emotionally dependent on the victims were found to be more likely to experience major family life disruptions. The younger the RTF victims’ family members, and the more years since the crash, the higher the likelihood of residential relocation taking place. Conclusions The results noted help identify those RTF victims’ families that will most likely be adversely affected by the crash. The true societal costs of RTF crashes should include the adversities suffered by the fatal crash victims’ families. Social welfare policies, mental health support, and timely supplemental resources should be made available to those surviving families most at risk of major life disruptions.

Victim support services, in mature societies, aim to help victims recover after suffering a traumatic event. The effectiveness of victim support has traditionally been evaluated through rates of service utilization and incidence of psychopathology such as posttraumatic stress disorder. The current study, instead, inquires into service users' unmet needs and satisfaction, and identifies factors that mediate such subjective measures, using data from a national cross-sectional survey on victims and surviving families of violent crime in Taiwan in 2011. The results reveal: 1) a gap between available and expected services, and 2) a correlation between service utilization and satisfaction, both consistent with previous studies. In addition, the current study identifies unsatisfied service users: They are homicidally bereaved, live with their spouse, suffer from post-crime financial distress and are still waiting for a court verdict on the incident. Victim support that helps victims heal through tailored services incorporating relationship counseling is proposed.

The geological conditions of coal roadway excavation are complicated. Seismic advanced detection is strongly influenced by the loose circle of fractured rock surrounding the competent coal seam. However, the three-dimensional wave field characteristics of small fault advanced detection in the condition of the loose circle of coal roadway have not examined. In this paper, numerical modeling and field tests were conducted to address this knowledge gap. The results indicate that when a seismic source near the tunnel face is excited, the body waves and a Love channel wave propagate in the tunneling direction toward the small fault, then produces reflected body waves whose amplitude is relatively weak, and a reflected Love channel wave whose amplitude is relatively strong. When reflected body waves and the reflected Love channel wave enter the loose circle of surrounding rock, the former's signal is unrecognizable in seismic record; but the latter converts to a Love wave whose amplitude is strong in the loose circle of coal seam. The Love wave which has a large interval from other wave trains in the time domain is easily recognizable in seismic record, which makes it suitable for advanced detection of small fault. The signal-to-noise ratio of seismic record of X component is higher than those of Y component and Z component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of transportation in the west of China, tunnel construction in mountain cities is becoming very important and widespread. Tunneling safety in the tunnels is usually controlled by faults, and the advanced prediction of faults by seismic detection method has become a research hotspot in the field of engineering geophysics. Unlike seismic exploration on the ground, the sources and receivers are not properly arranged due to the limitation of the tunnel detection space, so as to cause migration artifacts problem in the process of advanced migration imaging. The problem results in inaccurate imaging of the faults. To solve the problem, this paper proposed a new polarization migration method. The method makes use of the polarization characteristic of three-component seismic signals. The principal polarization direction is calculated by Hilbert transform and complex covariance matrix analysis. A weighted function of the principal polarization direction factor is incorporated into the migration calculation. To verify the effectiveness of the polarization migration method, this paper carries out numerical simulations. Test results demonstrate that the artifacts are eliminated by the polarization migration, and occurrence parameters of faults, such as dip and trend are calculated accurately. The field detection case shows that seismic advanced prediction which is based on polarization migration provided parameters of faults in the front of the tunnel face with 100m, and the distance error is less than 2m, and the dip error is less than 3°, which ensures efficient and safe construction of tunneling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An evaluating mechanism-based cloud computing trust model is raised to aim at the issue of how the cloud service user selects credible cloud service supplier. The trust model constitutes an evaluating system about service behavior between cloud service supplier and cloud service user. After formalized evaluation about entity achieved, certain algorithm would be used to get the trust and trust value of an entity to another one, and the research about the above trust value could be used to solve the issue of trust between cloud service user and cloud service supplier. Secondary, in order to settle the problem, e.g. the unreal and vicious entity which is trusted in the trust model, a trust management measure is formed based on curve fitting. The measure could help determine truth degree and accuracy degree of trust value after dynamic analysis and judgment and analyze the behavior intent of entity for the purpose to assure accuracy and stability of trust model. The simulation result shows that the evaluation result of the model is more close to real credibility and cloud service supplier, at the same time, could effective resist the attack from the vicious cloud service user, assure safety of cloud service environment and help improve cloud service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]