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Background: Studies have revealed that time-restricted feeding affects the fat oxidation rate; however, its effects on the fat oxidation rate and hyperlipidemia following high-fat meals are unclear. This study investigated the effects of 5-day time-restricted feeding on the fat oxidation rate and postprandial lipemia following high fat meals. Methods: In this random crossover experimental study, eight healthy male adults were included each in the 5-day time-restricted feeding trial and the control trial. The meals of the time-restricted feeding trial were provided at 12:00, 16:00, and 20:00. The meals of the control trial were provided at 08:00, 14:00, and 20:00. The contents of the meals of both trials were the same, and the calories of the meals met the 24-hour energy requirement of the participants. After 5 days of the intervention, the participants consumed high-fat meals on the sixth day, and their physiological changes were determined. Results: The fasting fat oxidation rate (pp=0.019) of the time-restricted feeding trial were significantly higher than those of the control trial. The 24-hour energy consumption and postprandial triglyceride, blood glucose, insulin, glycerol, and free fatty acid concentrations of the two trials showed no significant differences (p>0.05). Conclusion: The results revealed that 5 days of time-restricted feeding effectively increased the fasting and postprandial fat oxidation rate, but it did not affect postprandial lipemia.

Nociceptors, the high-threshold primary sensory neurons that trigger pain, interact with immune cells in the periphery to modulate innate immune responses. Whether they also participate in adaptive and humoral immunity is, however, not known. In this study, we probed if nociceptors have a role in distinct airway and skin models of allergic inflammation. In both models, the genetic ablation and pharmacological silencing of nociceptors substantially reduced inflammatory cell infiltration to the affected tissue. Moreover, we also found a profound and specific deficit in IgE production in these models of allergic inflammation. Mechanistically, we discovered that the nociceptor-released neuropeptide substance P helped trigger the formation of antibody-secreting cells and their release of IgE. Our findings suggest that nociceptors, in addition to their contributions to innate immunity, play a key role in modulating the adaptive immune response, particularly B cell antibody class switching to IgE.

Background: Visual association memory test (VAMT) is a brief 6-point cognition test that has been shown to be effective in differentiating Alzheimer's disease (AD) from other types of dementia. This study aimed to investigate the correlation of the VAMT performance with amyloid plaque burden and hippocampal atrophy. Methods: Fourteen patients with AD, 29 with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and 11 normal cognition (NC) subjects were recruited. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and [18F]AV-45 positron emission tomography (PET) were performed to evaluate hippocampal atrophy and amyloid plaque burden. Results: The VAMT median score and interquartile range of the NC, aMCI and AD groups were 6 (6-6), 2 (0–4), and 0 (0–1), respectively (p

With the progress of game technology, the interactions between people and input devices have become more diverse and versatile. Meanwhile, with the introduction of somatosensory games, the mode of interaction is no longer restricted to manual operation. Players can input operational instructions into the game through gestures or bodily movements; in addition, the demand for activity space is different from that in the past. When operating game consoles, players not only pay attention to the distance between their eyes and monitors but also need a proper space to move around. Therefore, besides exploring the correlation between bodily activity space and virtual space, this study probes the influence of somatosensory dance games on children’s bodily movements. The findings show that by performing dances with the help of somatosensory games, children can understand the dance movements in the games and improve their spatial presence. Moreover, the ages of children have a close relationship with the execution of basic bodily movements. Lastly, children in the youngest group mainly employ the upper body while dancing. The findings can be used as a reference for game development.

Destruction of oligodendrocytes and myelin sheaths in cortical gray matter profoundly alters neural activity and is associated with cognitive disability in multiple sclerosis (MS). Myelin can be restored by regenerating oligodendrocytes from resident progenitors; however, it is not known whether regeneration restores the complex myelination patterns in cortical circuits. Here we performed time lapse in vivo two photon imaging in somatosensory cortex of adult mice to define the kinetics and specificity of myelin regeneration after acute oligodendrocyte ablation. These longitudinal studies revealed that the pattern of myelination in cortex changed dramatically after regeneration, as new oligodendrocytes were formed in different locations and new sheaths were often established along axon segments previously lacking myelin. Despite the dramatic increase in axonal territory available, oligodendrogenesis was persistently impaired in deeper cortical layers that experienced higher gliosis. The repeated reorganization of myelin patterns in MS may alter circuit function and contribute to cognitive decline.

A novel pH value detection method was developed in this paper. A 10 μL droplet prepared by buffer solution (pH = 1.2 to pH = 10) was injected to the sensing area (i.e. designed interdigitated ITO electrode), and the resistance variation of the electrode was recorded to build up the model of pH concentration detection. The result indicated that the interdigitated electrode pattern with a line width of 500 µm and a line pitch of 100 µm was the most sensitive under various pH conditions. In addition, for the acid solution and alkali solution, when the interdigitated electrode pattern with a line width of 100 µm and a line pitch of 500 µm was more sensitive in the acid environment, whereas the interdigitated electrode pattern with a line width of 500 µm and a line pitch of 100 µm can be applied in the alkaline environment due to its great sensitivity. During the pH value monitoring, the response time of resistance changing was below 3 seconds to reach the steady-state resistance in all various pH conditions, and the correlation coefficient was over 0.9 validated by a quadratic regression in both acid and alkaline sensing verification.

The internet and mobile phones have become the main communication tools of modern people. Users often unconsciously develop the habit of staring at their mobile phones and processing and focusing on a large number of messages at any given time. This habit causes a lot of anxiety for users. This study explores the causes of technology addiction and technology anxiety through the literature in an attempt to understand the main methods of relieving technology addiction and anxiety. The research uses online surveys to investigate the mobile phone usage behavior of users of different ages and genders, and its correlation to technology anxiety. The survey respondents total 204 smartphone users, ages ranging from 18 to 60 years old. We discovered the main time periods of smartphone use, the purpose of smartphone use, and the tendencies of mobile phone addiction and anxiety. Comparing the causes of mobile phone usage anxiety between different genders and age groups, we find the following: (1) The test subjects’ demand for secondary functions of mobile phones have exceeded the demand for basic call functions. Mobile phones have already become the primary tool for socializing and gathering information from the outside world; (2) There is a difference in technology anxiety among different age; groups: those 31 to 40 years old, show the strongest levels of addiction; those 21 to 30 years old, display the highest levels of anxiety; (3) Women’s addiction awareness and feelings of anxiety are greater than men’s; (4) Users unaware of technology anxiety will underestimate their sense of dependence on mobile phones.

The widely used rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses provide higher oxygen permeability and tear exchange rate than do soft contact lenses. However, their wettability warrants improvement to enhance the wearing comfort. This study used UV laser (wavelength = 355 nm) to modify the surface properties of RGP contact lenses with materials of Boston XO&reg, (Bausch &amp, Lomb Incorporated). Briefly, the mesh pattern was fabricated on the RGP contact lens surface by using the laser and smoothed by using oxygen plasma, the enhanced hydrophilic efficiency was analyzed using contact angle measurement. The experiment results indicated that the contact angle of the lens material decreased by approximately 10&deg, &ndash, 20&deg, when the pitch of mesh pattern was &lt, 50 &mu, m under a 500-mm/s scanning speed. The oxygen plasma enhanced surface wettability with a decreased contact angle (40&deg, ). The hydrophilic characteristic of the UV laser and oxygen plasma&ndash, treated surface was twice that of oxygen plasma&ndash, treated and untreated surfaces. In the future, RGP contact lens edges could be treated with UV laser and oxygen plasma to enhance the tear wettability and wearing comfort.

Consumers are accustomed to classifying garbage in front of recycling stations after finishing their meal at fast food restaurants. However, due to a lack of knowledge about the recyclability of the garbage items, and confusion caused by the weak design of the instruction system provided, many users are not able to complete the sorting task quickly or correctly. The low success rate of the customer’s garbage sorting subsequently results in employees having to spend more time and energy in the following rectifying work, which leads to extra and unnecessary costs for the corporation. Therefore, our researchers have attempted to explore the recycling process from a more cognitive perspective, and proposed a new concept for the sorting task, which is more intuitive and less confusing.

In this study, a low-temperature annealing technique using an ultraviolet laser was proposed for inducing the crystallization of transparent conductive aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films. The technique was used in conjunction with a galvanometer scanner to adjust the laser energy density and scanning speed, thereby inducing the amorphous crystallization of thin films. X-ray diffraction was used to analyze the structural properties of annealed thin films. Analysis with different galvanometer scanning speed during annealing and laser pulse repetition rates during annealing revealed that the two diffraction peaks (i.e., the (002) and (103) peaks) of the zinc oxide thin films became more noticeable as the laser pulse repetition rate increased. When the galvanometer scanning speed during annealing was set to 400 mm/s and 600 mm/s, the full width at half of the maximum (FWHM) of the AZO thin films decreased while the annealing frequency increased. By contrast, when the annealing speed was 800 mm/s, increasing the annealing frequency caused the FWHM to decrease and then increase. An analysis of the residual stress of the annealed thin film confirmed that when the annealing speed was reduced from 800 mm/s to 400 mm/s, increases in laser pulse repetition rate resulted in increased residual stress.

We demonstrate a managed edge computing platform for Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, which supports dynamic deployment of virtualized containers running distributed analytics. We build a model city, and install multiple Raspberry Pis as minions, and a mini PC as the master. Through the web dashboard on the master, we show how users can remotely monitor, manage, and upgrade the IoT analytics and devices. Multiple concrete IoT analytics, namely: (i) air quality monitor, (ii) sound classifier, and (iii) image recognizer are demonstrated. Several sample measurements on deployment speed, Quality-of- Service (QoS) achievements, and event-driven mechanisms are also carried out on the testbed.

Due to the rise of the app market, icon design is highly valuable to app marketing. Currently, with a wide range of icons in the main menu, users can not immediately identify their needed interface or function, thus encountering operational problems. In the past, almost all relevant studies mainly focused on visual recognizability and shape features of 2D icons, not on those of 3D icons. Therefore, this study probed comprehensively into the design elements of 2D and 3D icons. The design elements include icon composition, border, polarity, shade, and shadow. After that, the design elements of 2D and 3D icons were extracted which may serve as a practical and scholarly reference in the field of icon design in the future.

Due to the complexity of text in Asian languages and hence the complexity of input methods, demand for stylus-type input is higher in Asian than the Western world, prompting Asian tech brands such as Samsung and Sony to introduce smart devices with in-built stylus to cater to this group of consumers. To account for general usage, this research has opted to employ mobile devices with built-in stylus as test equipment. In addition, in order to account for the difference between various sizes of devices, the researchers have chosen three device dimensions: 5.7 in, 9.7 in, and 12 in, for the tests, and each size of device is compared to an identically sized piece of paper. In consideration of the locality of the behavior of users, the subjects are asked to input using Traditional Chinese text only. Results from the experiment showed, in terms of writing behavior, that almost all subjects put the device flat on a table for writing, and that the habit of spinning the paper to an angle for writing is transferred to writing on a device. The finger positions on a stylus change depending on the properties of the device, especially when writing on the 5.7 in, the smallest device, touching the stylus at the smaller supporting points or completely dangle the pen away from the palm occurs much more often than on the bigger device sizes. In terms of writing performance, writing time on a device is generally longer than that on paper. The words written on a device are bigger and grow in size as the device size increases on the devices, but on the different sizes of paper the words stay relatively the same size. Words written on a device are generally less legible than those written on paper.

Background. Cisplatin and carboplatin cause nephrotoxicity by forming platinum-DNA adducts and lead to cell death.Methods. One-hundred and sixteen Taiwanese lung cancer patients who received cisplatin or carboplatin more than twice were recruited, and their genotypes were determined. The risk of renal dysfunction, injury to the kidney, failure of kidney function, loss of kidney function, and end-stage kidney disease (RIFLE) criteria were used to evaluate the occurrence of nephrotoxicity. A logistic regression, multiple regression with a classification and regression tree (CART), and the Framingham study risk score were used to analyze interactions between genetic and nongenetic factors in producing platinum-induced nephrotoxicity.Results.ERCC1118C andTP5372Arg polymorphisms were associated with increased risks of platinum-induced nephrotoxicity. Other risk factors found included the platinum type, baseline serum creatinine (Scr), coadministration of vinorelbine, and the number of chemotherapy cycles. The overall prediction rate of the CART was 82.7%, with a sensitivity of 0.630 and specificity of 0.896. The Framingham study risk prediction model contained 7 factors. Its prediction rate was 84.5%, with a sensitivity of 0.643 and specificity of 0.909.Conclusions. Genetic polymorphisms ofERCC1andTP53are risk factors for nephrotoxicity. The CART analysis may provide a clinically applicable model to predict the risk of cisplatin- and carboplatin-induced nephrotoxicity.

This letter examines edge-illuminated silicon photodiodes (PDs) fabricated using standard CMOS technology operated at 850-nm wavelength. A micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) process was employed to expose the illuminated surface and achieve edge illumination. A single-mode lensed fiber is employed to inject light into the depletion region of the PD directly, limiting and reducing the diffusive carriers within the bulk Si substrate. Through employing this procedure, this letter achieved a superior performance in the 3-dB bandwidth compared with that yielded by vertically illuminated PDs. The 5.4 GHz high bandwidth was obtained using an edge-illuminated PD with a 20 μm× 15.6 μm active region.

In this letter, we present an 850-nm Si octagonal photodiode (PD) with deep n-well implantation formed using the CMOS process without process modifications. Two different bias schemes (normal bias and extra bias) on the deep n-well were used to analyze the effects of deep n-well bias on the bandwidth and gain-bandwidth performances of Si PDs. The avalanche gain, frequency response, and optical pulse measurements in this letter demonstrate that the extra bias on deep n-well improves the PD performance. To the best of our knowledge, this design achieves the highest bandwidth (8.7 GHz) and a large gain-bandwidth product of 542 GHz with a reverse bias of 11.45 V and an extra voltage of 11.45 V in standard CMOS technology.

Currently, it is a common scene that users click on-screen graphical user interfaces (GUI), or visual icons, to operate computers, tablet computers and smartphones as well as to execute program instructions. Employing eye-trackers as experimental tools, this study aimed to explore how different presentation modes of graphical icons affect users’ preference levels. The experiment was designed to investigate two variables: icon composition and background. Through permutation and combination, six presentation modes were obtained as follows: line + positive background (M1), plane + positive background (M2), line + negative background (M3), plane + negative background (M4), line + no background (M5), and plane + no background (M6). With the help of eye-trackers, seven participants were demanded to view thirty stimuli, or the contour drawings of graphical icons, presented simultaneously in the six above-mentioned modes. The participants’ fixation duration and fixation frequency were analyzed through two-way ANOVA. The analytical results showed that in terms of the two performance indicators above, M4 performed the best among the six presentation modes. Moreover, negative background performed better than positive background. The findings herein can serve as a reference when icons are researched or designed in the future.

Online auction has now been a popular mechanism in setting prices for internet users. However, auction price prediction, involving the modeling of uncertainty regarding the bidding process, is a challenging task primarily due to the variety of factors changing in auction settings. Even if all the factors were accounted for, there still exist uncertainties in human behavior when bidding in auctions. In this paper, three models, regression, neural networks and neuro-fuzzy, are constructed to predict the final prices of English auctions, using real-world online auction data collected from Yahoo-Kimo Auction. The empirical results show that the neuro fuzzy system can catch the complicated relationship among the variables accurately much better than the others, which is of great help for the buyers to avoid overpricing and for the sellers to facilitate the auction. Besides, the knowledge base obtained from neuro fuzzy provides the elaborative relationship among the variables, which can be further tested for theory building.

Ehrlichia (E.) canis is a Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacterium responsible for canine monocytic ehrlichiosis. Currently, the genetic diversity of E. canis strains worldwide is poorly defined. In the present study, sequence analysis of the nearly full-length 16S rDNA (1,620 bp) and the complete coding region (4,269 bp) of the gp200 gene, which encodes the largest major immunoreactive protein in E. canis, from 17 Taiwanese samples was conducted. The resultant 16S rDNA sequences were found to be identical to each other and have very high homology (99.4~100%) with previously reported E. canis sequences. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis of gp200 demonstrated that the E. canis Taiwanese genotype was genetically distinct from other reported isolates obtained from the United States, Brazil, and Israel, and that it formed a separate clade. Remarkable variations unique to the Taiwanese genotype were found throughout the deduced amino acid sequence of gp200, including 15 substitutions occurring in two of five known species-specific epitopes. The gp200 amino acid sequences of the Taiwanese genotype bore 94.4~94.6 identities with those of the isolates from the United States and Brazil, and 93.7% homology with that of the Israeli isolate. Taken together, these results suggest that the Taiwanese genotype represents a novel strain of E. canis that has not yet been characterized.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have remarkable properties. However, their thermal stability characteristics, which may represent potential hazards during the production or utilization stage, concern unsafe or unknown properties researches. Our aim was to analyze the thermokinetic parameters of different heating rates by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TG), and then to compare thermal decomposition energy parameters under various conditions by well-known kinetic equations. MWCNTs were acidified via nitric acid (HNO3) in various concentrations from 3 to 15 N and were characterized by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry. For original and modified MWCNTs, we further identified the thermal degradation characteristics of the functional group by TG-FTIR. Finally, we established an effective and prompt procedure for receiving information on thermal decomposition characteristics and reaction hazard of MWCNTs that could be applied as an inherently safer design during normal or upset operation.

The plasma polymer of SiO x C y film has attracted much attention because it could possess both the organic and inorganic properties simultaneously for wide range applications. In this work, a SiO x C y film with a gradient composition through tuning the N 2 O/N 2 O + Ar ratio from 0% to 100% was used for TOLED encapsulation using hollow cathode discharge plasma. In order to confirm whether the plasma damage was caused during the PECVD process, a ZnO buffer layer prepared using RF sputtering was deposited before encapsulation. Furthermore, the reference samples with glass lid encapsulation were also used for comparison. The results showed that the SiO x C y film with a gradient composition cooperated with the sputtering ZnO buffer layer was a simple and effective method for TOLED encapsulation.