Search

The fabrication process of WLP (wafer-level packaging) has become more mature, and using the finite element method (FEM) to predict the reliability life of electronic packaging can shorten the WLP design cycles. This study adopted the NSMD (non-solder mask defined) solder joint structure in WLP and used an energy method to predict the solder joint geometry. A fixed mesh size will be determined for the critical region of the solder joint to evaluate the inelastic strain due to the thermal loading in finite element analysis. However, under the influence of the solder geometry of some tested vehicles, especially when the solder contact angle of the lower pad is less than 20 degrees, a shear locking phenomenon will occur at the solder joint. This phenomenon causes abnormal energy transfer. The excessive strain is concentrated on the upper part of the solder joint, resulting in an incorrect estimation of reliability life. Reduced integration can prevent shear locking and has improved strain results compared to full integration. The results of this research demonstrate that the FEM using proper mesh size control and the reduced integration point element in critical regions can deliver accurate reliability life prediction for WLP.

Non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the first leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Taiwan. This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of first-line targeted therapy for advanced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive non-squamous NSCLC in Taiwan.This was a real-world, retrospective, observational study of patients diagnosed with advanced non-squamous NSCLC (N=63,248). Between 2011 and 2019, 19,458 patients received targeted therapy and 22,994 patients received chemotherapy alone; between 2002 and 2010, 20,796 patients received chemotherapy alone. Overall survival (OS) was determined.The median OS for patients treated with first-line targeted therapy (22.9 months) was longer than that of patients receiving chemotherapy alone (11.7 months). HR: 0.521, log-rank test, p0.001.These data represent the potential survival outcomes of Taiwanese patients with advanced EGFR mutation-positive non-squamous NSCLC in clinical practice.

Intracoronary injection of pro-urokinase (Pro-UK) during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) seems to be a promising treatment in improving myocardial perfusion. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we aimed at investigating the efficacy and safety of intracoronary Pro-UK injection during PCI in ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients.A comprehensive literature searched on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Ovid-MEDLINE, Ovid-Embase, Ovid-Cochrane Databases and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception until June 1, 2022, in English only. The primary outcome was myocardial perfusion, including thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) grades, corrected TIMI frame count (CTFC), TIMI myocardial perfusion grades (TMPG). The secondary outcomes were ST-segment resolution (STR), major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), myocardial marker, cardiac function and hemorrhagic complications.We identified 5 studies (all RCTs) involving 761 participants. Under PCI procedure, compared with placebo, intracoronary Pro-UK injection may improve myocardial perfusion, including increasing the TIMI grades [odd ratio (OR) 0.46; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.28-0.75; p = 0.002; I2 = 0%] , CTFC (OR -3.47; 95% CI [-5.60, -1.33]; p = 0.001; I2 = 0%) and TMPG (OR 0.17; 95% CI [0.06-0.44]; p = 0.0003; I2 = 0%), increase the rate of STR (OR 2.25; 95% CI [1.56-3.26]; p0.0001; I2 = 0%), reduce the incidence of MACE (OR 0.51; 95% CI [0.33-0.81]; p = 0.004; I2 = 0%) and reduce myocardial infarct size (CK, standardized mean difference [SMD] -0.45; 95% [CI] [-0.62, -0.28]; p0.00001; I2 = 10%. CK-MB, [SMD] -0.43; 95% CI [-0.68, -0.18]; p = 0.0007; I2 = 60%. cTnI, [SMD] -0.31; 95% CI [-0.46, -0.17]; p0.0001; I2 = 0%). Moreover, the treatment may improve the cardiac functions (LVFE, pooled mean difference [MD] 1.23; 95% CI [0.66-1.79]; p0.0001; I2 = 24%. LVEDd, pooled MD -0.13; 95% CI [-0.17, -0.09]; p0.00001; I2 = 0%). But there is no statistically significant difference between the Pro-UK group and placebo in the occurrence of hemorrhagic complications (OR 1.19; 95% CI [0.75-1.87]; p = 0.46; I2 = 0%).Intracoronary Pro-UK injection during PCI in STEMI patients is an effective and safe treatment to perform. The treatment may improve myocardial perfusion and rate of STR, as well as decreasing the incidence of MACE and myocardial infarct size. Importantly, the treatment may improve the cardiac functions and life quality. In the future, more multi-centered and massive sample studies are required.

Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH). However, the best surgical method is still controversial. Three different methods including burr hole craniostomy (BHC), minicraniotomy (MC), and twist drill craniostomy (TDC) are commonly utilized. Besides, large craniotomy, trephine craniotomy [TC (single or double)], small craniotomy, and endoscopic removal are befittingly used in some situations, too. Hence, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the effects between BHC and MC for surgical treatment in CSDH.A literature research was conducted according to the PRISMA (the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines for studies that directly compared BHC and MC for CSDH. The following endpoints were compared between BHC and MC: recurrence rate, reoperation rate, duration of operation, days of hospital treatment, postoperative complications, mortality, and rate of good outcome.Thirteen papers [n = 3,559 (3,580 operation sites), BHC: 1,936 operation sites, MC: 1,644 operation sites] met the inclusion criteria. The recurrence rate (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.34-0.91, p = 0.02; I2 = 66%) was lower and the reoperation rate was also significantly lower (OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.25-0.81, p = 0.008; I2 = 72%) in the BHC group compared with the MC group. The duration of operation (MD: -20.15 min, 95% CI: -28.99 to -11.31, p0.00001; I2 = 0%) was significantly shorter in the BHC group compared with the MC group. Nevertheless, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in mortality (OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 0.92-1.61, p = 0.16; I2 = 38%), postoperative complications (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.033-1.37, p = 0.28; I2 = 82%), days of hospital treatment (MD: 1.59, 95% CI: -10.44 to 13.62, p = 0.14; I2 = 85%) and rate of good outcome (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 0.94-2.08, p = 0.10; I2 = 0%).A systematic review and meta-analysis of the included literature showed that BHC reduces the recurrence rate, reoperation rate and duration of operation compared to MC. BHC is much more minimal invasive when compared to MC. More invasions may signify more post-operative complications, which may cause the increasing rate of recurrence and reoperation. No significant difference in mortality, post-operative complications, days of hospital treatment and rate of good outcome was observed between the two groups.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are a major advance in cancer treatment, but their payment benefits are unclear, resulting in financial risk. In Taiwan, the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) has adapted risk-sharing mechanisms to cover ICIs by collecting and assessing real-world evidence, such as case registration data, to adjust benefit packages for each medication, increase payment benefits of ICIs, and enable national health insurance sustainability.This nationwide, multicenter, retrospective cohort study assessed the real-world use, effectiveness, and safety of ICIs reimbursed by the NHIA for treating multiple advanced cancers in Taiwan. We obtained data mainly from the NHIA Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Registry Database.Between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, 1644 patients received at least one dose of ICIs. The overall response rate (RR) was 29.1%. The metastatic urothelial carcinoma of patients ineligible for chemotherapy showed the highest RR. The estimated median progression-free survival (PFS) was 2.8 months (95% confidence interval [CI]=2.7-3 months), and renal cell carcinoma showed the longest PFS. The median PFS was reached in patients with most cancers except classic Hodgkin's lymphoma, which had a small sample size. The estimated survival probability was 50%.Under the national registration tracking system, Taiwan's high-cost drug policy has enabled access to new medicines and maximized patient benefits.

Systematic procedures are developed to investigate sealing characteristics of a 2-in-1 electronic connector applied to audio equipments in the present study. A silicon elastomer gasket located between a plastic housing of the connector and a back-cover of the audio equipment will be squeezed to provide the sealing function when the back-cover is displaced at a designated position. Gas is subsequently pumped into the confined chamber up to the specific pressure while the internal pressure is continuously monitored. Leakage indicated by the pressure loss percentage, however, could occur through the gasket after a certain period. A finite element analysis is performed to explore the time-dependent response of the silicon elastomer gasket. The Mooney–Rivlin and the Prony series constitutive models are employed in the numerical simulations to account for the hyperelasticity and the stress-relaxation behaviors of the gasket material, respectively. Required parameters of these mathematical models are evaluated based on experimental measurements of the specified silicon elastomer specimen subjected to the uniaxial compression–relaxation and tensile–relaxation loading conditions as well. Sealing performances can be then assessed by the introduction variations of the contact stress at the critical location of the gasket over the relatively long period to a proposed leakage rate prediction model. Pressure loss percentages in the chamber based on the numerical calculations agree well with those based on the corresponding experiments. In order to validate the appropriateness of the current developed procedures, the leakage of an enclosed cavity of an audio jack connector is further examined here.

In order to improve the quality of printed products and promote the application of 3D printing, it is necessary to carry out health monitoring and fault diagnosis for 3D printers. In this paper, an attitude data-based deep transfer capsule network is proposed for intelligent fault diagnosis of delta 3D printers. Based on the forward kinematic analysis, the attitude data change of the moving platform can reflect the fault information of the printers. To extract fault features from the attitude data with rich directional pose information and complete the cross-domain diagnosis task effectively, the proposed approach consists of a feature encoder with capsule layer, a fault pattern classifier, and a domain discriminator. Through the domain adversarial training, the model can minimize the difference between the source domain and the target domain data distribution, and the trained classifier can obtain better diagnosis performance in the target domain. The experiment result demonstrates the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed method for fault diagnosis problems of delta 3D printers.

Complicated industrial robot structure and harsh working conditions may cause signal features collected in the condition monitoring process to be seriously disturbed. In this paper, a joint feature enhancement mapping and reservoir computing (FEM-RC) method is presented to handle the industrial robot fault diagnosis problem. Firstly, a feature enhancement mapping (FEM) method is proposed to achieve intraclass distance minimization and interclass distance equalization to obtain an enhanced feature matrix. Then, the first reservoir computing (RC) network is adopted to map the original feature matrix to the feature enhancement matrix, and the second RC network is for fault type classification. The results of the experiment carried out on a six-axial industrial robot demonstrate that compared with other peer models, the present FEM-RC has better fault diagnosis performance and robustness.

The partitioning of net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) into photosynthesis and respiration can be challenging and is often associated with assumptions that yield unknown amounts of uncertainty, thereby hindering model development. This occurs because we are inferring two pieces of information from one equation and measurement, NEE. While there are multiple methods for partitioning NEE, each has unique limitations that are difficult to evaluate as these techniques are often not implemented simultaneously. Here we present an analysis of multiple partitioning methods (a non-linear regression model known as the Reichstein method, artificial neural networks (ANN), stable carbon isotopes, and soil respiration (Rsoil) measurements) under ideal field conditions. We measured ecosystem-scale fluxes of stable C isotopes via a new quantum cascade laser (QCL) spectrometer and paired those measurements with a biophysical model CANVEG in order to close a system of equations and solve for gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Reco). Isotope-partitioned GPP and Reco were on average 10–13% lower than Reichstein- and ANN-partitioned GPP and Reco. These results suggest that the Reichstein and ANN approaches, which use nighttime NEE to infer daytime Reco, may be overestimating Reco and GPP during the day. This may be attributed to higher plant respiration rates at night compared to the day, otherwise known as the Kok effect. As isotope measurements and theory become more accessible to diverse ecosystems it will grow to be more than a benchmarking technique and into a valuable means of improving understanding of carbon cycling. Future studies are encouraged to evaluate these techniques in increasingly complex ecosystems to determine when significant differences appear between partitioning methods and how those differences influence modeling of terrestrial carbon budgets.

The thin-layer drying behavior of municipal sewage sludge in a laboratory-scale hot-air-forced convective dryer was investigated in between 100 and 160 °C hot air temperatures and hot air velocities of 0.6, 1.4, and 2.0 m s−1. The thin-layer drying of sewage sludge presented a combination of a short warm-up period, and two distinguished falling rate periods. The Modified Page model was the best model to characterize the thin-layer drying of sewage sludge. The thin-layer drying kinetics was evaluated based on two falling rate stages. The effective moisture diffusivities of sewage sludge were from 1.87 × 10−9 to 6.18 × 10−9 m2 s−1 for the first falling rate period, and from 1.15 × 10−8 to 4.40 × 10−8 m2 s−1 for the second falling rate period. The average apparent activation energies of sewage sludge in the first falling rate period and the second falling rate period were 18.25 and 13.79 kJ mol−1.

TiCl4 surface-treated SnO2 nanocrystal films were applied as photoanodes for photoelectrochemical self-powered UV photodetectors (UVPDs) and dye-sensitized solar cells (DCSs). It is found t...

A novel regeneration system based on direct shoot organogenesis is described for cassava. Plants could be regenerated at high frequency by inducing shoot primordia on explants derived from cotyledons of cassava somatic embryos. After a passage on elongation medium, the regenerated shoots were easily rooted in hormone-free medium and could be successfully transplanted to soil. Using the shoot-organogenesis-based regeneration method, up to eight transplantable plantlets per explant could be regenerated. The system was optimised first for one cassava cultivar, and then its transferability to three other cultivars was demonstrated. This method widens the scope of in vitro regeneration modes of cassava, and is also compatible with Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. To develop an efficient system for production of somatic embryos for regeneration experiments, conditions for inducing primary and cycling somatic embryos were also studied, and highly efficient plant regeneration via germination of somatic embryos was achieved using maltose instead of sucrose in the culture medium, and combining paclobutrazol with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in the embryo induction medium.

To investigate the expression of miR-195 and its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), and to explore its effect and possible mechanism on proliferation and apoptosis of Hep-2.Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-195 in laryngeal carcinoma tissues and adjacent normal tissues from 98 cases. Dual-luciferase reporter plasmid with Bcl-2 wild type and mutant type 3' untranslated region was created to verify the target of miR-195 by luciferase assay. After Hep-2 cells were transfected with miR-195/Bcl-2, miR-195, Bcl-2 siRNA and negative control by lipofectamine, the protein expression of Bcl-2 was detected by Western blot analysis. The proliferation and apoptosis of Hep-2 were detected by MTS method and flow cytometry, respectively.Compared with adjacent normal tissues, the expression of miR-195 was lower in laryngeal carcinoma tissues (p0.01). The low expression of miR-195 was positively correlated with distant metastasis and clinical stage (p0.05). The average survival time of patients with low expression was shorter than those with high expression by Kaplan-Meier method (p0.01). Multivariate Cox analysis showed that miR-195 expression and lymph node metastases were independent prognostic factors (p0.05).The expression of miR-195 was significantly decreased in laryngeal carcinoma tissues, which was closely related to the clinicopathological characteristics of LSCC. miR-195 may inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of Hep-2 by regulating Bcl-2 expression, which as an anti-oncogene could have the potential to be a therapeutic strategy in the treatment of LSCC.

Developing a compact, low power and high speed electro-optic modulator is crucial for overcoming the performance bottleneck of electronics. We review progress in chip based silicon compatible plasmonic modulator design, and discuss recent designs which have switching energy close to 1 fJ/bit.

From two-dimensional engineering drawings, Computer-aided Design (CAD) technology to today’s three-dimensional process design technology of Model Based Definition (MBD) based on feature representation and control, great changes have taken place in human engineering technology. With the applications of MBD technology in aerospace, machine-tool and other fields, it’s also being actively explored in shipbuilding industry on engineering applications of the whole process of ship design and production under the background of intelligent transformation. After analysing the problems existed in process design of domestic shipbuilding enterprises, this paper firstly introduces a three-dimensional digital model of shipbuilding based on MBD technology. Then, a three-dimensional process design method is proposed in order to provide theoretical basis for the realization of three-dimensional process design of shipbuilding.

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films were deposited on glass substrate by co-sputtering technique from CuGa, In and Se targets in argon atmosphere. Influences of the sputtering power and the post-selenization on the structural, compositional and morphological properties of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction, Energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis, and scanning electron microscope. Results indicate that the atomic ratio of Cu, In, Ga and Se in the thin films can be controlled accurately by adjusting the sputtering power, and the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films with a good crystalline feature and the atomic ratio of near CuIn0.7Ga0.3Se2 can be obtained by a post-selenization treatment at a temperature of 500°C.

CuInSe2 thin films for solar cells are deposited on indium tin oxide conductive glass substrates by one step electrodeposition process in a three-electrode system. The structural, compositional, and morphological properties of the deposited CuInSe2 thin films are then characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Results indicate that the CuInSe2 thin films with smooth, homogeneous, and polycrystalline can be easily obtained. The atomic ratio of Cu, In, and Se of the CuInSe2 thin films is 1.00:1.14:2.45 after annealing in a vacuum tubular furnace, and the thickness of the CuInSe2 thin films is measured in a range between 1 μm and 1.6 μm, which meets the requirement for fabricating tandem solar cells.

Peeled shrimp (Peneaus spp.) and channel catfish (Ictalutus punctatus) fillets were either mixed with commercial lemon pepper marinade and vacuum tumbled at 4°C for 30 min or soaked in 2% tripolyphosphate solution overnight. Dielectric constant and loss factor of marinated seafood and the penetration depth of microwaves were functions of temperature. When cooking temperature increased, the dielectric constant increased, while the loss factor and depth of penetration decreased. Because of the large variation in thermal conductivity measured for individual shrimp, no correlation between thermal conductivity and temperature was found. At constant temperature, thermal conductivity of 2% sodium tripolyphosphate-treated shrimp was higher than that of both marinated and nonmarinated shrimp as a result of higher moisture content. However, no difference in thermal conductivity was found between marinated and nonmarinated shrimp or catfish.

In our research, we develop the setup to observe the time-dependent response of the optical transmission through a magnetic fluid film under switching-on or -off the external magnetic field. The optical transmittance is reduced when an external magnetic field is applied perpendicularly to a magnetic fluid film. It was further found that the transmittance starts to decrease in tens of milliseconds after switching-on the external field (referred as the charging process). This retarded response of the transmittance with respect to the external of the field also occurs when the field is switched off (referred as the discharging process), with the retarding time ranging from several to tens of milliseconds, depending on field strength. In addition, the exponential decay or increase in the transmitted intensity was observed for the charging or discharging process, respectively.

Background: Pain on injection is still a major problem with propofol. We performed this study to compare different doses of intravenous (i.v.) ketorolac with and without venous occlusion and its effect on the incidence and the severity of the pain after propofol injection. Methods: We conducted a prospective, randomized and double-blind study of 180 patients (20–60 years of age.) scheduled to undergo elective surgery. Six groups of patients were generated: group A received normal saline (NS) 2 ml i.v.; groups B, C, D received ketorolac 10 mg in 2 ml NS with venous occlusion (VO) and a subsequent propofol injection at either 30, 60 or 120 s; groups E and F received ketorolac 15 mg and 30 mg in 2 ml NS and propofol was injected after 60 s. The pain perception was assessed during injection of propofol in all patients. Result: The incidence of propofol-associated injection pain was for A: 46.7%; B: 43.4%; C: 23.3%; D:16.7%; E: 20%, and F: 10%. The incidence of pain following propofol injection was reduced by i.v. ketorolac 10 mg with venous occlusion for 120 s. Furthermore, i.v. ketorolac 15 mg and 30 mg but not 10 mg following propofol injection after 60 s without venous occlusion revealed significant pain reduction when compared to saline group. There was no difference in venous sequelae at 7 days postoperatively between the groups. Conclusion: Our results suggested that pretreatment with i.v. 15 and 30 mg ketorolac reduces pain following propofol injection. Moreover, pretreatment with i.v. ketorolac 10 mg with venous occlusion for 120 s achieves the same pain relief effect.

Diabetes increases the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), however, the time-relationship between hepatitis B virus and diabetes for the development of HCC remains unclear.To explore the risk of HCC in chronic hepatitis B patients with newly diagnosed diabetes.We conducted a nationwide cohort study by using Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database, which covers over 99% of entire population. Among randomly sampled one million enrollees, 14 523 chronic hepatitis B patients were diagnosed in years 1997-2009. We defined new onset diabetes as patients who were given the diagnosis in the years 1999-2009, but not in 1997-1998. The cohorts of chronic hepatitis B with new onset diabetes (n = 2099) and 1:1 ratio age-, gender- and inception point (onset date of diabetes)- matched nondiabetes (n = 2080) were followed up from the inception point until development of HCC, withdrawal from insurance or December 2009.After adjustment for competing mortality, patients with new onset diabetes had a significantly higher cumulative incidence of HCC [relative risk = 1.628, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.114-2.378, modified log-rank test, P = 0.012] as compared to nondiabetes patients. After adjustment for age, gender, hyperlipidaemia, chronic hepatitis B treatment, statins therapy, cirrhosis, comorbidity index and obesity, diabetes was still an independent predictor for HCC (hazard ratio = 1.798, 95% CI = 1.194-2.707, P = 0.005).Chronic hepatitis B patients with newly diagnosed diabetes have an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma over time.

Author(s): Huang, Y.W; Andrew, E.E; Hu, T.C; Singer, B.C; Ding, L.; Logue, J.M | Abstract: Cooking has a significant impact on indoor air quality. When cooking occurs, how foods are cooked, and the types of food that are cooked have all been shown to impact the rate at which occupants are exposed to pollutants. Home occupancy characteristics impact how concentrations in the home translate into exposures for the occupants. With the intent of expanding our understanding of cooking behavior in the U.S., we developed and advertised an online survey to collect household cooking behavior for the 24 hrs prior to taking the survey. The survey questions were designed to address gaps in knowledge needed to predict the impact of cooking on indoor concentrations of PM2.5 and other pollutants. The survey included the following questions: 1) which meals households ate at home; 2) number of household members at home during cooking; 3) the type of oil used for cooking; 4) the type of foods cooked at each meal; 5) the type of cooking devices used; and 6) the methods selected for food preparation. We also collected information on household characteristics such as their location (zip code), ethnicity, and ages of family members. We analyzed the variability in home cooking characteristics for households in different climate zones and with four different types of family compositions: 1 senior living alone, 1 adult living alone, 2 or more adults/seniors, and families with children. We used simple statistical tests to determine if the probability of certain cooking behaviors differed between these subgroups.

Aims To investigate the temporal relationship between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and the development of chronic kidney disease in people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study and followed up a population with Type 2 diabetes who were chronic kidney disease-free (n = 48 715) using national health insurance claims data in Taiwan. Exposure status to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in 2007 was measured. A total of 6406 subjects with incident chronic kidney disease were identified from the period 2008 to 2011. Multivariable proportional hazards models were applied to determine the temporal relationship between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and the development of chronic kidney disease. Results We observed a significant temporal relationship between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and the development of chronic kidney disease in people with Type 2 diabetes. Compared with people not taking any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug in 2007, those who were taking such drugs for at least 90 days in 2007 had a higher risk of chronic kidney disease development (adjusted hazard ratio 1.37, 95% CI 1.26–1.49). In subgroup analyses, those people (irrespective of age, sex, various comorbidities and use of anti-hypertensive drugs, aspirin or acetaminophen) who were taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for at least 90 days were more likely to develop chronic kidney disease than people who were not taking any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Conclusions The results suggest that there is a positive temporal relationship between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and increased risk of chronic kidney disease in people with Type 2 diabetes. The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should be based on clinical evaluations of benefits and risks, and should be prescribed with caution for people with Type 2 diabetes.

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and magnetic domain structure were studied in epitaxial (Co(t C0 )/Pt(10 As )) 30 (t C0 "2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5 and 10 As ) multilayers prepared on Al 2 O 3 (1 1 -2 0) substrate via Mo or Pt seed layer. The best perpendicular magnetic e!ect occurred for t C0 & 3A s. At remnant state the domain size tends to increase as t C0 decreases, and the domain structure depends strongly on the seed layer. For (Co(3 As )/Pt(10 As )) 30 multilayers grown on gold grid made hole arrays, the polar coercivity inside the holes is di!erent from those on the gold land and unpatterned area. ( 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Two half-products were prepared from tapioca starch/catfish fillet-belly flap mince (60:40) and tapioca starch/partially defatted peanut flour (PDPF) (60:40) by twin-screw extrusion. The process variables were temperature in the last two zones of the extruder (90, 95, 100°C) and screw speeds (100, 250, 400 rpm). Moisture content (40%, wet basis) and feed rate (27 g/min) were held constant. Simultaneously increasing temperature and screw speed resulted in increased expansion, and decreased bulk density and shear strength. Degree of starch gelatinization in half-products ranged from 87 to 95%. Optimum conditions predicted by response surface methodology were: for fish half-products 94-100°C and 220-400 rpm and for peanut half-products, 95-100°C and 230-400 rpm.

Efficient path computation is essential for applications such as intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and network routing. In ITS navigation systems, many path requests can be submitted over the same, typically huge, transportation network within a small time window. While path precomputation (path view) would provide an efficient path query response, it raises three problems which must be addressed: 1) precomputed paths exceed the current computer main memory capacity for large networks; 2) disk-based solutions are too inefficient to meet the stringent requirements of these target applications; and 3) path views become too costly to update for large graphs (resulting in out-of-date query results). We propose a hierarchical encoded path view (HEPV) model that addresses all three problems. By hierarchically encoding partial paths, HEPV reduces the view encoding time, updating time and storage requirements beyond previously known path precomputation techniques, while significantly minimizing path retrieval time. We prove that paths retrieved over HEPV are optimal. We present complete solutions for all phases of the HEPV approach, including graph partitioning, hierarchy generation, path view encoding and updating, and path retrieval. In this paper, we also present an in-depth experimental evaluation of HEPV based on both synthetic and real GIS networks. Our results confirm that HEPV offers advantages over alternative path finding approaches in terms of performance and space efficiency.

The magneto-current (MC) of the collector in a silicon base spin valve transistor (SVT) has been studied with both experiments and computer calculations. Two spin valve transistors of different sizes were fabricated, and the base resistor ( R B ) was applied to the measurement circuit to replace the base bias ( V B ). The MC ratios of the collector current ( I C ) can be kept near its maximum value when the emitter bias ( V E ) changes several volts for the suitable R B s in the experiment, and the results are very close to those of the calculations of computer.

A 0.5 um-wide spin-valve transistor has been successfully made by a standard lift-off process using electron beam lithography. This spin-valve transistor consists (SVT) of a pseudo-spin-valve emitter, a metal base, and a p–n barrier collector. At 77 K, the collector current changed from 714 nA at magnetically parallel alignments of the emitter magnetic moments to 8 nA at magnetically anti-parallel alignments. The magnetocurrent ratio was 8600%. The corresponding transfer ratio was 2E−4. These results are useful for the research of the fabrication of the sub-micron size SVT.

The use of area array devices, specifically Ball Grid Arrays (BGAs) on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) has increased over the past couple of years. One of the advantages offered by BGAs is that they tend to self-align during reflow soldering. This phenomenon can compensate for a substantial amount of component misregistration that can result from the component placement process or from subsequent handling. The mechanism by which an area array package attains self centering is indeed complicated. This study used an experimental approach to identify the acceptable range of misalignment that can be compensated by the package's self centering capability for a given set of process parameters. A variety of BGA components were considered in this research and their placement process window was identified. In addition, weights were added to the packages which were intentionally misregistered during placement to understand the effect of weight on self centering as well as to simulate other possible package configurations (such as the addition of a heat sink).

The time series of Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) observed mixing ratios of chemical tracers in the tropical stratosphere (O3, HCl, HF, CH4, NO2, NO, and H2O) exhibit obvious quasi-biennial oscillatory (QBO) characteristics. The pressure-time cross sections for the QBO signals in the mixing ratios of HCl, HF, CH4, NO, and H2O are presented for the first time. The QBO in O3 and NO2 exibits similar amplitudes and patterns as observed and analyzed previously. An apparent in-phase relationship between O3 and NO2 above 4 mbar is noted, which implies that ozone QBO may not be caused by NO2 chemical destruction in the upper stratosphere. During the early time period of the UARS mission (late 1991 to early 1992), the QBOs in most HALOE species are seen to be strongly affected by Pinatubo aerosols. In order to quantitatively define the different aerosol effects (heating versus chemical) from HALOE data, we calculate the vertical displacements of constant volume mixing ratio surfaces of HALOE-measured species in the tropical lower stratosphere. The time evolutions of the vertical displacements of HCl and NOx (HALOE NO2 + NO) isopleths are seen to approximately follow that of HF. This indicates that the enhanced vertical velocity that acts to uplift the tracer profiles due to aerosol radiative heating is a significant effect. However, because of the uncertainty in the vertical displacement analyses of these tracers from HALOE data, it can only be concluded that changes in HCl and NOx from chemical effects are less than 30% and 80%, respectively.

The radiative effect of Pinatubo sulfate aerosol and ash particles on the O 2 and O 3 photolysis rates in the tropics and the effect of these photolysis rate changes on stratospheric ozone are examined. The impact of volcanic ash particles on the J O2 and J O3 ranges from negligible to significant, dependent on the relative ash content specified. However, regardless of the magnitude of the ash effect on the photolysis rates, the total ozone column loss is only slightly affected. The O 2 and O 3 photolysis rate perturbation by sulfate aerosols is shown to be rather sensitive to solar zenith angle. However, since J O2 (which predominantly determines ozone production at the equator) varies several orders of magnitude during the course of the diurnal cycle, using a diurnally averaged solar zenith angle simulates fairly well the volcanic aerosol effect on ozone through photodissociation.

The feedback of the radiative forcing caused by the ozone QBO in the tropics on the ozone variation itself is examined with a 2-D model. Simulations show that the effect of the QBO in solar heating on the ozone and meridional circulation oscillations are negligible, which contradicts the proposal of Hasebe (1994). The impact of the ozone variation on the photolysis QBO is also presented and is shown to be important. Its overall effect is to damp the amplitude of ozone oscillation through its modulation of the oxygen photolysis rate.

Solar flux variations could affect the middle atmosphere through modulating the photolysis of chemical series and solar heating rates. Indirect feedback effects from chemical, radiative, and dynamical interactions could provide additional sources for perturbations in the middle atmosphere. In this paper, recent developments in modeling the effect of solar variability on the middle atmosphere is described. For the 27-day solar rotational cycle, the temperature and ozone response in the stratosphere predicted by one- and two-dimensional models compares well with data analyses. For the 11-year solar cycle, model simulations suggest a non-negligible ozone/temperature response compared to changes produced by anthropogenic perturbations in the stratosphere. There is no sufficient long-term atmospheric dataset to establish a statistically significant correlation with the 11-year solar cycle. But in general, agreement between the observational analysis (for periods of one to two solar cycles) and model simulations of the long-term solar variability effect is unsatisfactory.

Patties of broiler leg muscle were heated to end-point temperatures (EPT) of 60, 65, 70, 75, 80 or 85 o C, packaged in polyethylene bags or vacuum skin packs and stored at 4 o C for up to 14 days. As EPT increased, lightness («L») and yellowness («b») increased whereas redness («a») decreased. Patty top surface center oolor «L» and «a» values correlated highly with the interior cut surface values. Patties stored in plastic zipper bags tended to show a lower «b» (P