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Rapid assessment sampling for target species is a fast cost-effective method aimed at determining the presence, abundance and distribution of alien and native harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens that may have been introduced by shipping. In this study, the method was applied within a large tropical port expected to have a high species diversity. The port of Kaohsiung was sampled for bivalve molluscan species that attach using a byssus. Such species, due to their biological traits, are spread by ships to ports worldwide. We estimated the abundance and distribution range of one dreissenid (Mytilopsis sallei) and four mytilids (Brachidontes variabilis, Arcuatula senhousa, Mytilus galloprovincialis, Perna viridis) known to be successful invaders and identified as potential pests, or high-risk harmful native or non-native species. We conclude that a rapid assessment of their abundance and distribution within a port, and its vicinity, is efficient and can provide sufficient information for decision making by port managers where IMO port exemptions may be sought.

Background Doxorubicin, a widely used anti-tumour drug, is known to cause muscle loss in cancer patients. Methods Following an acute dose of doxorubicin injection (2.5 mg/kg per body weight), we examined macrophage distribution in rat soleus muscle challenged by eccentric exercise (downhill running). Long-term doxorubicin treatment (one injection every 3 days) on muscle mass and survival were also determined. Results Under non-exercised condition, increased tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha mRNA and decreased IL-10 mRNA were observed in soleus muscle of doxorubicin-treated rats, compared with saline-treated control rats. However, increases in inflammation score (leukocyte infiltration), nitrotyrosine level, and M1 macrophage (CD68+) invasion in exercised soleus muscle were absent in doxorubicin-treated rats, whereas increased M2 macrophage (CD163+) localization in exercised muscle was less affected by doxorubicin. Despites coenzyme Q (Q10) supplementation significantly elevated TNF-alpha mRNA, nitrotyrosine, and anti-oxidant gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (GCS) levels in non-exercised soleus muscle, these pro-inflammatory responses were also abolished in doxorubicin-treated rats. Results from long-term doxorubicin treatment show a significant muscle loss followed by an accelerated death, which cannot be reversed by Q10 supplementation. Conclusions (i) Doxorubicin impairs inflammation mechanism by depleting M1 macrophage in exercised skeletal muscle; (ii) Muscle loss and accelerated death during prolonged doxorubicin treatment cannot be reversed by Q10 supplementation.

The main objective of this study was to develop and establish an in situ remediation technology coupling nano-schwertmannite/H2O2 process and electrokinetic (EK) process for the removal of phthalates (PAEs) and acetaminophen in river sediments. Test results are given as follows: (1) injection of nano-schwertmannite slurry and H2O2 (collectively, "novel oxidant") into the anode reservoir would yield ·OH radicals that then will be diffused into the sediment compartment and further transported by the electroosmotic flow and/or electrophoresis from the anode end toward the cathode to degrade PAEs and pharmaceuticals in the sediment if any; (2) an electric potential gradient of 1.5 V cm(-1) would help the removal of PAEs and acetaminophen in the blank test, which no "novel oxidants" was added to the remediation system; (3) the practice of electrode polarity reversal would maintain neutral pH for sediment after remediation; (4) injection of equally divided dose of 10 mL novel oxidant into the anode reservoir and four injection ports on the top of sediment chamber would further enhance the removal efficiency; and (5) an extension of treatment time from 14 d to 28 d is beneficial to the removal efficiency as expected. In comparison, the remediation performance obtained by the EK-assisted nano-SHM/H2O2 oxidation process is superior to that of the batch degradation test, but is comparable with other EK integrated technologies for the treatment of same contaminants. Thus, it is expected that the EK-assisted nano-SHM/H2O2 oxidation process is a viable technology for the removal of phthalate esters and pharmaceuticals from river sediments in large-scale operations.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of enhanced bioremediation coupling with electrokinetic process for promoting the growth of intrinsic microorganisms and removing phthalate esters (PAEs) from river sediment by adding an oxygen releasing compound (ORC). Test results are given as follows: Enhanced removal of PAEs was obtained by electrokinetics, through which the electroosmotic flow would render desorption of organic pollutants from sediment particles yielding an increased bioavailability. It was also found that the ORC injected into the sediment compartment not only would alleviate the pH value variation due to acid front and base front, but would be directly utilized as the carbon source and oxygen source for microbial growth resulting in an enhanced degradation of organic pollutants. However, injection of the ORC into the anode compartment could yield a lower degree of microbial growth due to the loss of ORC during the transport by EK. Through the analysis of molecular biotechnology it was found that both addition of an ORC and application of an external electric field can be beneficial to the growth of intrinsic microbial and abundance of microflora. In addition, the sequencing result showed that PAEs could be degraded by the following four strains: Flavobacterium sp., Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., and Rhodococcus sp. The above findings confirm that coupling of enhanced bioremediation and electrokinetic process could be a viable remediation technology to treat PAEs-contaminated river sediment.

This paper proposes an inter-vehicle live media content distribution system among neighboring vehicles for driving safety on roads. The proposed system can enlarge a driver's range of visibility by means of sharing front-end views among neighbor vehicles. Meanwhile, the system can assist in securing the safety of drivers on roads. Prototypical implementation exhibits scenarios, usages and demonstration with off-the-shelf smartphones. Experimental measurement presents the performance results in regard to media processing time and transmission time upon media streaming services between vehicles in a self-organized vehicular network.

Background Doxorubicin, a widely used anti‐tumour drug, is known to cause muscle loss in cancer patients. Methods Following an acute dose of doxorubicin injection (2.5 mg/kg per body weight), we examined macrophage distribution in rat soleus muscle challenged by eccentric exercise (downhill running). Long‐term doxorubicin treatment (one injection every 3 days) on muscle mass and survival were also determined. Results Under non‐exercised condition, increased tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐alpha mRNA and decreased IL‐10 mRNA were observed in soleus muscle of doxorubicin‐treated rats, compared with saline‐treated control rats. However, increases in inflammation score (leukocyte infiltration), nitrotyrosine level, and M1 macrophage (CD68+) invasion in exercised soleus muscle were absent in doxorubicin‐treated rats, whereas increased M2 macrophage (CD163+) localization in exercised muscle was less affected by doxorubicin. Despites coenzyme Q (Q10) supplementation significantly elevated TNF‐alpha mRNA, nitrotyrosine, and anti‐oxidant gamma‐glutamylcysteine synthetase (GCS) levels in non‐exercised soleus muscle, these pro‐inflammatory responses were also abolished in doxorubicin‐treated rats. Results from long‐term doxorubicin treatment show a significant muscle loss followed by an accelerated death, which cannot be reversed by Q10 supplementation. Conclusions (i) Doxorubicin impairs inflammation mechanism by depleting M1 macrophage in exercised skeletal muscle; (ii) Muscle loss and accelerated death during prolonged doxorubicin treatment cannot be reversed by Q10 supplementation.

In this study, a gasoline-contaminated site was selected to evaluate the biodegrading potential of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and benzene (B), toluene (T), ethylbenzene (E) and xylenes (X), collectively known as BTEX under aerobic, nitrate reducing, and methanogenic conditions at the site. Results show that in situ microorganisms had capabilities of degrading MTBE and BTEX using MTBE and BTEX as major carbon sources under aerobic condition. Under conditions of nitrate reduction and methanogenesis, BETX could be decomposed by in situ microorganism; but MTBE was not decomposed. The decomposition of BTEX under anaerobic condition was much slower than aerobic condition. Benzene had the slowest degrading rate. In addition, BTEX was decomposed faster and more completely under methanogenic condition than nitrate reducing condition. The on-site activated sludge system is effective in decomposing BTEX but not effective in decomposing MTBE. Results of this study reveal that the enhanced aerobic bioreme...

This paper proposes a new six degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) electromagnetic precision positioner, made of a hybrid mechanism utilizing both a magnetic driving force and the uplifting force of the fluid, for which a new structure, the electromagnetic actuator, and an effective controller have been developed. The concept of the mechanism design involves not only the magnetic driving mechanism, but also the fluid buoyancy and damping properties, which help to counterbalance the weight of the platen so as to achieve a very low steady-state power consumption. The four goals of the new system design include the following: 1) to have a large range of motion (at the mm level); 2) to achieve precision positioning; 3) to design a compact but low-cost mechanism; and 4) to achieve low power consumption. In this system, there are a total of eight permanent magnets (PMs) attached to the movable carrier, and eight electromagnetic coils appropriately mounted on a fixed base. After exploring the characteristics of the magnetic forces between PMs and electromagnetic coils, the general 6-DOF dynamic model of this system is derived and analyzed. Then, because of the naturally unstable behavior and uncertainties of the underlying system, a robust adaptive sliding-mode controller is proposed to guarantee system stability for both regulation and tracking tasks. Finally, extensive experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the performance of the proposed system. The experimental results show that the range of motion is 3 mm × 3 mm × 4 mm, and the tracking error in each axis is kept to within 10 μm, which reaches the limit of our optical sensors. These experimental results demonstrate satisfactory performance of the positioner in terms of theoretical analysis and experimental results.

Remarkable enhancement of the photoluminescence emission arising from CdSe/ZnTe/ZnS core-shell type-II quantum dots (QDs) has been observed when compared with their CdSe/ZnTe counterparts. Comprehensive studies on the recombination dynamics draw a conclusion that the underlying mechanisms such as reduction of the exciton-phonon coupling strength and surface trapping play key roles for the improvement of optical properties. Our finding is important for the creation of highly efficient optoelectronic devices derived from type-II semiconductor QDs.

To quantify changes of elbow spasticity over time after botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) injection in the upper extremity of stroke patients.Before-after trial in which the therapeutic effects were followed up at 2, 6, and 9 weeks after the BTX-A injection (Botox).Hospital.Chronic stroke patients (N=8) with upper-limb spasticity.BTX-A was injected in upper-limb muscles, including the biceps brachii.Treatment effects were quantified as the changes in the velocity and the length dependence of hyperexcitable stretch reflexes. Manual sinusoid stretches of the elbow joint at 4 frequencies (1/3, 1/2, 1, 3/2Hz) over a movement range of 60 degrees were performed on patients by using a portable device. The Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), biomechanic viscosity, and the reflexive electromyography threshold (RET) of the biceps brachii were used to evaluate the degree of hypertonia.The statistical analyses of the MAS score, biomechanic viscosity, and RET revealed a significant decrease in spasticity after the injection (all P.05). Moreover, our quantitative parameters (biomechanic viscosity, RET) revealed small changes in spasticity after the BTX-A injection that could not be observed from clinical MAS evaluations. Five of 8 subjects showed a maximal reduction in spasticity (in terms of biomechanic viscosity value) within 6 weeks after the injection, whereas it was notable that all subjects exhibited peak RET values at either 2 or 6 weeks after the injection with variable degrees of relapse of spasticity.Early relapse of spasticity (within 9 weeks of the injection) can be detected from biomechanic and neurophysiologic assessments in a clinical setup. These quantitative indices provide valuable information for clinicians when making decisions to perform additional rehabilitation interventions or another BTX-A injection in the early stages of treatment.

With the diversification of the sensing element that was built-in smart mobile device, it has become one of the important devices in people's daily life. Among these sensors, the accelerometer is the most common sensor that was embedded in smart mobile device. Therefore, this study proposed a gesture recognition algorithm based on the acceleration feature. It utilized the fuzzy control technique to classify different gestures. The proposed gesture recognition system provides a low complexity and high accuracy gesture recognition method. The simulation results show that the proposed method can recognize these gestures that include tilted to the left side, turn to the other side, shaking, and Z-shaped and have the accuracy rate of more than 91%. In future works, the system can be applied in health care systems or smart home applications to provide intuitive manipulation via specific gesture.

Due to the thriving development of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and solar power generation technology, coupled with the continuous progress of the semiconductor industry, solar cell photoelectrical conversion efficiency has increased accordingly, causing the cost of solar power generation systems to gradually decrease. Rising environmental protection awareness results in the increasingly popular use of solar power. WSNs are generally deployed in remote environments to detect environmental information, which is then transferred back to the sink node. As the wireless sensor nodes are battery powered, the operation of nodes is subject to energy restrictions. To prolong the lifetime of WSNs, this paper integrates wireless sensor node with solar power generation technology to enable wireless sensor nodes to obtain energy by sunlight. Meanwhile, an energy-aware routing mechanism is applied to select routes with sufficient energy to transfer the data, thus, extending battery lifetime, and enhancing the possibility of sustainable survival of nodes.

Excessive peak power supply noise (PPSN) causes yield loss problem during test. To reduce PPSN, we proposed a new technique called Capture and Shift Toggle Reduction (CASTR). CASTR performs power reduction during dynamic test compaction so the test length overhead is very small. It also includes pseudo Boolean optimization (PBO) and random-based techniques to improve the results. Experimental results show that we can reduce flip-flop toggles, which is highly correlated with PPSN, by 33.4% during shift mode and 41.2% in capture operation simultaneously for the large ISCAS89 benchmarks.

In this paper, we present a novel mechanism and system implementation of six de-gree-of-freedom (DOF) electromagnetic-actuating positioner. The design of a novel mechanism utilizes hybrid magnetic and fluid mechanism to achieve two goals: 1) sufficient damping, 2) balancing the weight of the carrier utilizing buoyancy of fluid and achieving low power consumption. The novel mechanism and electromagnetic actuators are combined and the overall dynamic model is also derived. The positioner presented herein shows a large travel range of 3 mm times 3 mm times 4 mm with a positioning resolution of plusmn10 mum, which is close to the limit of the equipped sensors. We demonstrate the satisfactory performance of the positioner, with precision, theoretical analysis and experimental results.

This paper propose a six degree-of-freedom (DOF) compact positioner with high resolution and large travel range for the manufacture of injection molded part application. The precise positioner is composed of monolithic parallel flexure mechanism, horizontal and vertical electromagnetic actuators, and optical displacement sensors to achieve the 6-DOF motion. The concept of the system intends to achieve three goals: 1) large travel range, 2) high precision positioning, and 3) fast response. In our system, there are eight sets of permanent magnets attached to the moving platform, and eight sets of electromagnets mounted on the bottom platen. The whole control architecture is to take the six posture data measured by the six optical displacement sensors first and then to control the 6-DOF motion by regulating the current in the electromagnetic actuators. For the purpose of system robustness and stability, an adaptive sliding-mode controller is proposed to validate the system performance. The developed robust adaptive control architecture consists of two components: 1) sliding mode controller, 2) adaptive law. From the simulation and experimental results, satisfactory performances of the hereby developed system, including stiffness and precision, have been successfully demonstrated.

Chen J-JJ, Wu Y-N, Huang S-C, Lee H-M, Wang Y-L. The use of a portable muscle tone measurement device to measure the effects of botulinum toxin type A on elbow flexor spasticity. Objective To use a portable muscle tone assessment device to measure spasticity after a botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) injection. Design Before-after trial. Setting Hospital. Participants Ten chronic stroke patients with upper-limb spasticity. Intervention BTX-A was injected in the biceps brachii. Main Outcome Measures The biomechanic parameters, viscous component, and averaged viscosity derived from the acquired reactive resistance and angular displacements, as well as the reflex electromyographic threshold of biceps brachii, were used for spasticity evaluation. Results A statistically significant decrease in averaged viscosity and a significant increase in reflex electromyographic threshold ( P Conclusions Our portable design allows for the convenient use of the device for quantifying spasticity in clinics. All quantitative measurements suggest that BTX-A decreases spasticity within 2 weeks of injection. Our portable muscle tone measurement device may be useful for the clinical assessment of elbow flexor spasticity.