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Napiergrass Taishigrass no. 2 (NT2) is a new hybrid of napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum S.), and is commonly added as an ingredient in bioorganic energy soup, a plant-based drink which is thought to have health-promoting effects. Thus, NT2 is hypothesized to possess biological functions. In this study, we explored the effects of NT2 ethanol extracts on in vitro antioxidant activities and on modulation of immune mediators in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Results showed that ethanol extracts contained significant amount of polyphenols and chlorophylls, and possessed in vitro ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) antioxidative activities. The ethanol extracts did not show immunomodulatory activities in macrophages without lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 100 ng/ml) treatment, but significantly suppressed the LPS-stimulated production of inflammatory mediators, including nitric oxide (NO), interleukin (IL)-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and such effects were associated with decreased expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) protein and cluster of differentiation 14 (CD14) mRNA, suggesting that NT2 has anti-inflammatory activities. On the other hand, the extracts increased matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 activity, but showed no effects on Toll-like receptor (TLR) expression. In conclusion, ethanol extracts of NT2 possessed in vitro antioxidative activities and exhibited anti-inflammatory activities by decreasing NO, IL-6, and TNF-α production in association with decreased CD14 mRNA expression in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages, indicating its potential roles on health promotion and prentive effects against chronic diseases and such effects were and it’s in vitro antioxidant activities, suggesting its potential roles on health promotion.

Chemical conversion by atomic substitution offers a powerful route toward the creation of unusual structures and functionalities. Here, we demonstrate the progressive transformation of single-layer TiTe2 into TiSe2 by reaction with a Se flux in vacuum. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy reveal intriguing reaction patterns involving TiSe2 island ingrowth starting from the TiTe2 island edges, while the band structure and core level signatures of TiSe2 grow in intensity at the expense of those corresponding to TiTe2. Lattice mismatch between TiTe2 and TiSe2 results in misfit holes and lattice distortions over a distance behind a seamless fingerlike reaction front. The regions of TiSe2 and TiTe2 are distinguished by a height difference and a charge density wave (CDW) at different transition temperatures. The method of in situ chemical conversion offers opportunities for atomic-scale engineering of layered transition metal dichalcogenides that host useful properties ari...

In this study, the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP7) was used to evaluate the transmission of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) contamination in a water-sediment system and its flux into cultivated soils. The agricultural areas adjacent to the Wu River in Taiwan were taken as the study area, as these soils were heavily polluted with Cr(VI) concentrations of 2173-3271 μg/kg. The rates of accumulation of Cr(VI) are affected by the distance from the source of contamination and the size and type of cultivated areas. The highest concentrations of Cr(VI) (4.27 mg/kg) were detected in soil from Changhua city and correlated with the greater risk of gastric cancer in residents. Specifically, the risk of gastric cancer due to Cr(VI) contamination of agricultural soil was 3×10-7-15.2×10-6 in Taichung city (upstream) and 1.3×10-6 - 76.3×10-6 in Changhua county (downstream). The values of statistical life-years (VSLYs) were US$6.2-10 million for rice, US$42-60 million for corn, and US$360-580 million for other vegetables, respectively, each year. It is critical that techniques other than source reduction are used to reduce human exposure to Cr(VI), such as chemical oxidation or ion-exchange treatment to remove Cr(VI) from factory wastewaters, prior to their discharge into rivers. PRACTITIONER POINTS: This study evaluated the transmission of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) contamination in a water-sediment-soil system. Maximum concentrations of Cr(VI) most rapidly accumulated in the smallest cultivated areas. The highest concentrations of Cr(VI) (3.3 mg/kg) were correlated with the greater risk of gastric cancer. Young children had a threefold greater risk of gastric cancer than adults. Techniques other than source reduction are prior to their discharge into rivers.

The emotional design is a crucial issue to affect a product successful. Product designers need to pay more attention to capture consumers' perceptions and precisely measure them. However, most studies are focused on consumers' visual perception, and few studies have investigated consumers' multisensory perceptions. In this study, we have conducted an empirical application on fragrance bottle form design (i.e. vision) and fragrance/perfume (i.e. olfaction) to explore the relationship between the visual and olfactory sensory perceptions. This result shows that the fragrance bottle form design does not match to its fragrance/perfume, thus meaning that there is a significant design phenomenon for product designers having to improve.

In this work, a mandibular advancement device integrated with a highly-sensitive pressure sensing array and a system-on-a-chip (SoC) is presented. The device is designed for monitoring the tongue pressure distributions of patients for treating orofacial disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and snoring. The pressure sensing array consists of a conductive polymer assembled with interdigital electrodes, and the SoC chip possesses the capabilities of array scanning and RF transmission. Microdome structures were patterned on the conductive polymer for enhancing the sensitivity of pressure sensing. The proposed device exhibit excellent sensitivity and rapid response. The pressure patterns induced by the tongue positions before and after the tongue drop during sleep were also presented.

This work reports the fractal designs of planar interdigital electrodes for buckypaper-based micro-supercapacitors (MSC) and studies their influences on MSC performance for different fractal levels. The fractal designs used in this study were derived from the H-tree structure. The electrodes were realized using a standard lithography process followed by the vacuum-filtration technique. The geometrical complexity of MSC electrodes increases with the level of the fractal structures and possibly results in higher electrical capacitance. The areal capacitance as measured by cyclic voltammetry indicates that the device with the fractal design of Level 3 gives the greatest areal capacitance (18.82 mF/cm2). The measured galvanostatic charge/discharge curves reveal that as the level of the MSC fractal electrode increases the measured areal capacitance increases as well. With a measured current density of 1 mA/cm2, the areal capacitance of the Level-3 fractal-electrode MSC design (17.25 mF/cm2) is 33% greater than that of the standard interdigital-electrode design. A Ragone plot shows that the power density as well as the energy density of MSCs increases with the level of fractal design. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements are also reported. These measured results confirm that the fractal designs of interdigital electrodes improve the energy-storage performance of MSCs.

As an artificial intelligent technique, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been applied successfully in a wide range of fields due to its effective learning ability. In this paper, we conduct an empirical application on fragrance bottle form design due to its wide variety of appearances. For getting a better structure of the ANN model to develop the consumer-oriented expert system, we conduct 12 (=4*3) ANN models with four pairs of learning rate and momentum factors, and three widely used rules for determining the number of neurons in the single hidden layer. As a result, the HN1-C model getting the highest predicting accuracy rate (90.39%) is used to help product designers determine the optimal form combination of new product design.

Andrographolide, a diterpenoid, is the most abundant terpenoid in Andrographis paniculata, a popular Chinese herbal medicine. Andrographolide displays diverse biological activities including hypoglycemia, hypolipidemia, anti-inflammation, and anti-tumorigenesis. Recent evidence indicates that andrographolide displays anti-obesity property by inhibiting lipogenic gene expression, however, the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In this study, the effects of andrographolide on transcription factor cascade and mitotic clonal expansion in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation into adipocyte were determined. Andrographolide dose-dependently (0-15μM) inhibited CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α (C/EBPα) and C/EBPβ mRNA and protein expression as well as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) protein level during the adipogenesis of 3T3-L1 cells. Concomitantly, fatty acid synthase and stearoyl-CoA desaturase expression and lipid accumulation were attenuated by andrographolide. Oil-red O staining further showed that the first 48h after the initiation of differentiation was critical for andrographolide inhibition of adipocyte formation. Andrographolide inhibited the phosphorylation of PKA and the activation of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) in response to a differentiation cocktail, which led to attenuated C/EBPβ expression. In addition, ERK and GSK3β-dependent C/EBPβ phosphorylation was attenuated by andrographolide. Moreover, andrographolide suppressed cyclin A, cyclin E, and CDK2 expression and impaired the progression of mitotic clonal expansion (MCE) by arresting the cell cycle at the Go/G1 phase. Taken together, these results indicate that andrographolide has a potent anti-obesity action by inhibiting PKA-CREB-mediated C/EBPβ expression as well as C/EBPβ transcriptional activity, which halts MCE progression and attenuates C/EBPα and PPARγ expression.

This article reports on the highly interesting microstructural evolution from a fine eutectic to a coarse laminar pattern caused by the cycling thermomechanical stress in eutectic PbSn flip-chip solder joints. The temperature was cycled between −55 and 125 °C for up to 2000 cycles. The shear strain on the corners joints, which experienced the maximum thermomechanical stress among all the solder joints in a flip-chip package, was estimated to be 0.13 for each cycle. A coarse laminar pattern, made up of the Pb-rich phase and the Sn-rich phase, gradually developed during the temperature cycling with phase boundaries that were approximately parallel to the direction of the shear stress. It is argued that the laminar pattern had developed in such a manner that the material with the lowest yield stress (the Pb-rich phase) could align itself with the direction of the shear stress. Because continuous soft layers were arranged in a direction that was approximately parallel to the direction of the shear stress, the stored deformation energy could be dissipated more efficiently.

The effects of solder volume and the number of reflows on the Cu consumption rate were studied. Nickel-doped Sn3Ag0.5Cu0.02Ni solder balls of different diameters (300, 400, 600 and 760 μm in diameter) were reflowed over Cu soldering pads with an opening of 600 μm in diameter. The reflow profile had a peak temperature of 235 ± 2°C and a 90 s duration during which the solder was molten. The nominal ramp rate and cooling rate were both 1.5 K s−1. The first reflow consumed the largest amount of Cu, and the subsequent reflows only consumed marginally more Cu. It was argued that the solder joints became saturated with Cu during the first reflow so that during the subsequent reflows the Cu substrates were consumed at markedly reduced rates. The Cu consumption increased with the diameter of the solder balls. This was because a larger amount of Cu was needed in order to saturate a solder joint with a larger solder volume. The doping of Ni did not change the Cu consumption rate despite the fact that the am...

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is caused by obstructions of the upper airway, is a syndrome with rising prevalence. Mandibular advancement splints (MAS) are oral appliances for potential treatment of OSA. This work proposes a highly-sensitive pressure sensing array integrated with a system-on-chip (SoC) embedded in a MAS. The device aims to measure tongue pressure distribution in order to determine the efficacy of the MAS for treating OSA. The flexible sensing array consists of an interdigital electrode pair array assembled with conductive polymer films and an SoC capable of retrieving/storing data during sleep, and transmitting data for analysis after sleep monitoring. The surfaces of the conductive polymer films were patterned with microdomed structures, which effectively increased the sensitivity and reduced the pressure sensing response time. The measured results also show that the crosstalk effect between the sensing elements of the array was negligible. The sensitivity of the sensing array changed minimally after the device was submerged in water for up to 100 h.

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder, and the most common type is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Untreated OSA will cause lots of potential health problems. Oral appliance therapy is an effective and popular approach for OSA treatment, but making a perfect fit for each patient is time-consuming and decreases its efficiency considerably. This paper proposes a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) enabled sleep monitoring system in a smart oral appliance, which is capable of intelligently collecting the physiological data about tongue movement through the whole therapy. A tunneling sensor array with an ultra-high sensitivity is incorporated to accurately detect the subtle pressure from the tongue. When the device is placed on the wireless platform, the temporary stored data will be retrieved and wirelessly transmitted to personal computers and cloud storages. The battery will be recharged by harvesting external RF power from the platform. A compact prototype module, whose size is 4.5 × 2.5 × 0.9 cm3, is implemented and embedded inside the oral appliance to demonstrate the tongue movement detection in continuous time frames. The functions of this design are verified by the presented measurement results. This design aims to increase efficiency and make it a total solution for OSA treatment.

A benzoxazine monomer (VB-a) containing an allyl groups was synthesized through the Mannich condensation of bisphenol A, formaldehyde, and allylamine (bisphenol-A and allylamine as VB-a). This monomer was then reacted with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) through hydrosilylation, followed by thermal curing to form poly(VB-a)/POSS hybrid nanocomposites. The curing behavior of the nanocomposites was monitored using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and their thermal and morphological properties were investigated through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and scanning electron microscopy. DMA revealed that the glass transition temperatures of the poly(VB-a)/POSS nanocomposites were higher than that of the pristine poly(VB-a), presumably because the POSS cages effectively hindered the motion of the polymer chains. TGA confirmed that the thermal degradation temperatures and char yields of the polybenzoxazines increased after incorporation of the POSS moieties. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009

This paper presents the design methodology, fabrication and characterization of flip-chip bonded MEMS capacitor for tuning high temperature superconductive resonator. Because the main issue of MEMS capacitor integrated with high temperature superconductor (HTS) is high driving voltage due to accumulated thermal stress, a methodology to decrease the thermal stress is discussed. In this work, the thermal stress can be reduced to several MPa, and driving voltage is about 40 V. To avoid degradation of HTS thin film during MEMS process, MEMS capacitor is fabricated separately and then flip-chip bonded on the HTS resonator. The tuning effects of this MEMS capacitor applied on HTS resonator of 3 GHz resonant frequency are presented.

This study reports the first systematic approach to the excitation of all high-order Hermite-Gaussian modes (HGMs) in end-pumped solid-state lasers. This study uses a metal-wire-inserted laser resonator accompanied with the "off axis pumping" approach. This study presents numerical analysis of the excitation of HGMs in end-pumped solid-state lasers and experimentally generated HGM patterns. This study also experimentally demonstrates the generation of an square vortex array laser beams by passing specific high-order HGMs (HGn,n + 1 or HGn + 1,n modes) through a Dove prism-embedded unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer [Optics Express 16, 19934-19949]. The resulting square vortex array laser beams with embedded vortexes aligned in a square array can be applied to multi-spot dark optical traps in the future.

We demonstrate the breakup of spatial-polarization entangled lasing patterns, which possess vector phase singularities, and the resultant dynamic instabilities featuring chaotic oscillations. The frequency splitting between a pair of Ince-Gauss (IG) lasing modes, originally forming a coherent entanglement state, and a self-excited additional nonorthogonal IG mode through a new class of transverse effect of self-injection pattern seeding, is shown to result in modal-interference-induced modulation at the beat frequency, leading to chaotic oscillations.