Multi-wire saw machining (MWSM) used for slicing hard-brittle materials in semiconductor, is an important material removal process that uses free abrasives. Cutting model of single-wire saw machining (SWSM) is the basis of MWSM, and the material removal mechanism of SWSM can better understand than MWSM. Mathematical model (includes brittle fracture and plastic deformation) is presented in this paper for SWSM ceramic with abrasives. This paper determines the effect of various machining parameters on the removal of hard-brittle materials. For brittle fracture of SWSM ceramics, the minimum of the strain energy density is used as a fracture criterion. The material removed of SWSM ceramics due to plastic deformation is calculated using the equations of motion. Actual wire-sawing experiments are conducted to verify the results from the developed mathematical model. Theoretical results agree with experimental data and practical experience. The developed mathematical model shows that brittle fracture plays a major concern role in material removed of SWSM ceramics. Wire speed and working load have positively correlated with material removed of SWSM ceramics. The coefficient of friction is low, a lateral crack, which propagates almost parallel to the working surface, leads to more brittle fracture and material removed is increased on SWSM ceramics.

Objectives. Invasive fungal spondylodiscitis (IFSD) is rare and could be lethal in certain circumstances. Previous literature revealed limited data concerning the outcomes. This study aimed to establish a risk-scoring system. Methods. A total of 53 patients were included in the study from a multi-centered database in Taiwan. All the clinicopathological and laboratory data were retrospectively analyzed. Variables strongly related to 1-year mortality were identified using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. A receiver operating characteristic curve was used to express the performance of our IFSD scoring model. Results. Five strong predictors were included in the IFSD score: predisposing immunocompromised state, the initial presentation of either radiculopathy or myelopathy, initial laboratory findings of WBC > 12.0 or < 0.4 103/uL, hemoglobin < 8 g/dL, and evidence of candidemia. 1-year mortality rates for patients with IFSD Scores of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 0%, 16.7%, 56.3%, 72.7%, and 100%, respectively. The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.823. Conclusions. We developed a practical scoring model with easily obtained demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters to predict the probability of 1-year mortality in patients with IFSD. However, more large-scale and international validations would be necessary before this scoring model is commonly used.

In this study, we used the natural and anthropogenic characteristics of a coastal region to generate risk maps showing vulnerability and potential hazards, and proposed design criteria for coastal defense and land use for the various kinds of risks faced. The Yunlin coast: a first-level protection area in mid-west Taiwan, was then used as an example to illustrate the proposed design criteria. The safety of the present coastal defenses and land use of the Yunlin coastal area was assessed, and coastal protection measures for hazard prevention were proposed based on the generated risk map. The results can be informative for future coastal management and the promotion of sustainable development of coastal zones.

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant polyphenol in green tea. In this study, the effects of dietary EGCG on oxidative stress and the metabolism and toxicity of acetaminophen in liver were investigated. Rats were fed the diets with (0.54 %) or without EGCG supplementation for four weeks and were then intraperitoneally injected with acetaminophen (1g/kg). Results showed EGCG lowered hepatic oxidative stress and cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A2, 2E1, and 3A, and UDP-glucurosyltransferase activities prior to acetaminophen injection. After acetaminophen challenge, the elevations in plasma alanine aminotransferase activity and histological changes in liver were ameliorated by EGCG treatment. EGCG reduced acetaminophen-induced apoptosis by increasing the Bax/Bcl2 ratio in liver. EGCG mildly increased autophagy by increasing the LC3B II/I ratio. Lower hepatic acetaminophen-glutathione and acetaminophen-protein adducts contents were observed after EGCG treatment. EGCG increased glutathione peroxidase and NAD(P)H quinone 1 oxidoreductase activities and reduced organic anion-transporting polypeptides 1a1 expression in liver after acetaminophen treatment. Our results indicate that EGCG may lower oxidative stress and reduce the metabolism and toxicity of acetaminophen. The reductions in CYP-mediated acetaminophen bioactivation and uptake transporter, as well as enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity, may limit the accumulation of toxic products in liver and thus lower hepatotoxicity

With the increase of global human activities, a large number of technogenic magnetic particles (TMPs) generated by industrial activities such as coal combustion, traffic and so on enter sediments on continental shelves. However, there is currently a lack of understanding of the spatiotemporal distribution of TMPs on continental shelves, as well as the sedimentary effects they cause. This review work comprehensively analyzes the source, morphology, composition, and spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of TMPs. Then it elucidates their magnetic contribution to sedimentary environments in continental shelf seas, as well as the influence of heavy metals and active iron. At the same time, the existing problems and future development directions of TMPs on continental shelves are summarized.

This study evaluated the mechanical strengths of three types of orthodontic micro-implants by analyzing their structural configurations. Thirty micro-implants of three types (diameter 1.5 mm, Types A, B, C) were assessed. All micro-implants were manually driven into artificial bones at an 8-mm depth. The insertion torque (IT), pullout strength (PS), and gripping volume (GV) of each type were measured. Intergroup comparisons and intragroup correlation were investigated by statistical analysis. Type B had the greatest inner–outer diameter ratio (0.67), and Type A had the smallest (0.53). The IT of Type A (5.26 Ncm) was significantly (p = 0.038) lower than that of Type C (8.8 Ncm). There was no significant difference in the pullout strength (p = 0.868). The GV of Type A (9.7 mm3) was significant (p < 0.01) greater than Type C (8.4 mm3). Type C was significant (p < 0.01) greater than Type B (7.2 mm3). Spearman’s rho rank correlation test showed that PS of Type B was correlated significantly with GV. In conclusion, the design of thread and its GV were the important factors on the mechanical strengths of micro-implant.

Age-related sarcopenia meaningfully increases the risks of functional limitations and mortality in the elderly. Although circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) are associated with aging-related cellular senescence and inflammation, the relationships between c-miRNAs and sarcopenia in the elderly remain unclear. This study investigates whether circulating myo-miRNAs and inflammation-related miRNAs are associated with sarcopenia in the elderly. This study recruited 77 eligible subjects (41 males and 36 females) from 597 community-dwelling older adults, and then divided into normal (n=24), dynapenic (loss of muscular function without mass, n=35), and sarcopenic groups (loss of muscular function with mass, n=18). Moreover, myo-miRNAs (c-miRNA-133a and c-miRNA-486), inflammation-related miRNAs (c-miRNA-21 and c-miRNA-146a), and inflammatory-related cytokine levels in plasma were determined using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and ELISA, respectively. The results demonstrated that sarcopenic group exhibited lesser skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), handgrip strength, and gait speed, as well as, lower c-miR-486 and c-miR-146a levels, compared to those of normal and dynapenic groups. Moreover, c-miR-486 level was positively related to SMI (r=0.334, P=0.003), whereas c-miR-146a level was positively associated with SMI (r=0.240, P=0.035) and handgrip strength (r=0.253, P=0.027). In the receiver operating characteristic analysis for predicting sarcopenia, the area under the curve in c-miR-486 was 0.708 (95% confidence interval: 0.561-0.855, P=0.008) and c-miR-146a was 0.676 (95% CI: 0.551-0.801, P=0.024). However, no significant relationships were observed between SMI/ handgrip strength/gait speed and plasma myeloperoxidase/interleukin-1?/interleukin-6 levels. In conclusion, myo-miRNA (c-miR-486) and inflammation-related miRNA (c-miR-146a) are superior to inflammatory peroxide/cytokines in plasma for serving as critical biomarkers of age-related sarcopenia.

Agriculture is an industry that heavily relies on the environment. The increasing frequency of ex-treme disasters attributable to climate change has adversely affected agricultural land and dis-rupted the stability of the supply of agricultural products. Therefore, we implemented a research program focused on current strategies for adapting to agricultural meteorological disasters. The primary goal was to actively promote disaster prevention information and techniques through information platforms and applications and to provide refined forecasting and an early warning system to enhance preparedness for and recovery from agricultural disasters. This initiative can transform passive mitigation into dynamic action by disseminating crucial information to farmers. We integrated meteorological data and crop characteristics to develop disaster prevention strate-gies for the predisaster, during-disaster, and postdisaster stages to empower farmers to implement autonomous disaster prevention, ensuring their profitability and minimizing the impact of disas-ters. This paper presents an agricultural disaster prevention system involving cross-disciplinary collaboration to establish an early warning system for crop disasters. However, the effectiveness of the early warning system relies on the availability of complete meteorological and crop infor-mation, necessitating high-density agricultural meteorological stations, refined weather forecast services, historical crop damage data, and ongoing research and development on disaster preven-tion technology. In the system, a diversified social media interface is used to provide local farmers with weather forecast information. When impending disasters are identified, the platform acti-vates disaster prevention measures to reduce agricultural losses. This article paper introduces Taiwan’s agricultural disaster prevention system as a complete disaster prevention strategy.

Aging and obesity make humans more prone to cardiovascular and metabolic syndrome diseases, leading to several serious health conditions, including dyslipidemia, high blood pressure, and sleep disturbance. Hyperlipidemia means elevated blood lipid levels, including cholesterol and triglycerides. This study aimed to explore the hypolipidemic effect of fermented citrus lemon juice using a hyperlipidemic hamster model. Sugar-free lemon juice’s fermentation was optimized, and the characteristics of fresh and fermented lemon juice (FLJ) were evaluated and compared. In addition, tests were conducted to determine the appropriate hamster feed for the functional animal tests. Then, experiments were conducted to evaluate the hypolipidemic effect of the FLJ, which contained polyphenols and superoxide dismutase-like activity, on a hyperlipidemic hamster model. This study’s pre-fermentation efficiency evaluation found that 21–30 days of bacterial DMS32004 and DMS32005 fermentation of fresh lemon juice provided the best fermentation benefits. In addition, the fermentation evaluation showed that a sugar-free fermentation method provided FLJ with the best benefits. Results showed that the absorption and utilization efficiency of FLJ was higher compared with the unfermented lemon juice. After six weeks of feeding, the total cholesterol and triglyceride values in the blood and liver of the FLJ treatment groups were de-creased compared with the high-fat diet (HFD) group. In addition, the blood low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were significantly reduced in the FLJ treatment groups compared with the HFD group. In contrast, the blood high-density lipoprotein to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio increased considerably in the FLJ treatment groups, and the total to high-density lipoprotein ratio was significantly lower than in the HFD group. Compared with the HFD group, the total cholesterol content in the FLJ treatment groups’ feces increased significantly. This study demonstrated that the sugar-free fermentation method and fermentation cycle management provided FLJ with the potential to regulate blood lipids. Further research and verification will be carried out to isolate specific substances from the FLJ and identify their mechanisms of action.

Excessive body fat is a major contributor to obesity, which is related to high blood, total cholesterol and triglycerides. Lemons (Citrus limon) are renowned for their antioxidant and lipid-lowering properties. First, Sugar-free fermentation demonstrated better results lower sugar content and was identified as the preferred fermentation method. Next, the effect of two doses of sugar-free fermented lemon peel juice (SF-FLPJ) on obesity was investigated. Sprague Dawley (male rats) were randomly divided into 4 groups and fed a standard feed or high-fat diet (HFD) to induce fatness for eight weeks. The two groups of rats fed an HFD were administered SF-FLPJ at 0.45 or 0.9 g/kg body weight daily for eight weeks. The obese rats administered 0.9 g/kg (body weight/day) of SF-FLPJ exhibited significant reductions in body fat mass and percentage; they also had lower blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels than the other groups. Additionally, the rats displayed diminished liver fat accumulation. The results suggest that SF-FLPJ can be a supplement in managing body fat, contributing positively to addressing obesity within the context of health management, and reduce obesity-associated issues.

This study was focused on the development of oil-producing microorganisms to generate lipids. The yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (R. mucilaginosa) was selected for liquid-state cultivation, and the conditions for growth of the yeast cells were assessed. Additionally, the relationships between different nutrient elements and the growth of R. mucilaginosa were explored. The lipid accumulation of R. mucilaginosa is increased under nitrogen-restricted conditions. As the concentration of the carbon source increases, the accumulation of lipids is increased. However, if the carbon source concentration is further increased, the growth of yeast is inhibited. From a large-scale liquid fermentation culture with a fixed inoculation amount of 5%, and from a batch of culture experiments, it was determined that a suitable oil-producing culture was obtained on the 6th day, and the optimum conditions involved a carbon source concentration of 60 g/L, a nitrogen source concentration of 0.5 g/L, and a KH2PO4 concentration of 7.0 g/L. After utilizing different carbon sources in this study, it was found that glucose was the carbon source most conducive to the accumulation of R. mucilaginosa lipids. In addition, the extraction method and solvent for the extraction of R. mucilaginosa lipids were chosen. The acid-heat method using the green organic solvent ethyl acetate exhibited the best performance for extraction of yeast lipids under environmentally friendly and safe conditions. The analysis of lipids showed that the fatty acids obtained primarily contained C16:0, C18:1 and C18:2, and especially C18:1 (41%) lipids, indicating that R. mucilaginosa lipids are a good bio-oil source for the production of biodiesel.

Multi-chiplet technique is expected to be a promising solution to achieve high-density system integration with low power consumption and high usage ratio. This technique can be integrated with glass interposer to accomplish a competitive low fabrication cost compared with the silicon-based interposer architecture. In this study, process-oriented stress simulation is performed by the element activation and de activation technique in finite element analysis architecture. Submodeling technique is also utilized to mainly conquer the scale mismatch and difficulty in mesh gridding design. It is used as well to analyze the thermomechanical responses of glass interposer with chiplet arrangement and capped epoxy molding compound (EMC) during curing. A three-factor, three-level full factorial design is applied using the analysis of variance method to explore the significance of various structural design parameters on stress generation. Analytic results reveal that the maximum first principal stresses of 130.75 and 17.18 MPa are introduced on the sidewall of Cu-filled via and the bottom of glass interposer, respectively. Moreover, the EMC thickness and through glass via pitch are the dominant factors in the adopted vehicle. They significantly influence the stress magnitude during heating and cooling.

We aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying social stress (SS)-induced erectile dysfunction (ED) and evaluate the effects of a single sub-anesthetic dose of ketamine on SS-related ED. Male FVB mice were exposed to retired male C57BL/6 mice for 60 minutes daily over a 4-week period. In the third week, SS mice received intraperitoneal injections of either saline (SSS group) or ketamine (SSK group). Erectile function was assessed by measuring intra-cavernosal pressure (ICP) during electrical stimulation at the major pelvic ganglia. Corpus cavernosum (CC) strips were utilized for wire myography to assess their reactivity. Both SSS and SSK mice exhibited significantly lower ICP in response to electrical stimulation than control. SS mice showed increased contractility of CC induced by phenylephrine. Acetylcholine-induced relaxation was significantly reduced in SSS and SSK mice. Sodium nitroprusside-induced relaxation was higher in SSS mice compared to control and SSK mice. Nicotine-induced neurogenic and nitric oxide (NO)-dependent relaxation was significantly impaired in both SSS and SSK mice. Immunohistochemically analysis revealed co-localization of tyrosine hydroxylase and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS)-immunoreactive fibers in the CC. These findings highlight the complex nature of SS-related ED and suggest the limited efficacy of ketamine as a therapeutic intervention in this condition.

Intercropping systems can flexibly use resources such as sunlight, heat, water, and nutrients in time and space, improve crop yield and land utilization rates, effectively reduce continuous cropping obstacles and the occurrence of diseases and insect pests, and control the growth of weeds. Thus, intercropping is a safe and efficient ecological planting mode. The legume–cereal intercropping system is the most common planting combination. Legume crops fix nitrogen from the atmosphere through their symbiotic nitrogen fixation abilities, and the fixed nitrogen can be transferred to and utilized by cereal crops in various ways. The symbiotic nitrogen fixation efficiency of legume crops was improved by reducing the inhibition of soil nitrogen on nitrogenase activity through competitive absorption of soil nitrogen. However, the effects of nitrogen transformation and distribution in intercropping systems, and microbial community structure characteristics on nitrogen transfer need to be further explored. In this review, ⅰ) we present the transformation and distribution of nitrogen in the legume–cereal intercropping system; ⅱ) we describe the soil microbial community characteristics in intercropping systems; and ⅲ) we discuss the advantages of using modern biological molecular techniques to study soil microorganisms. We conclude that intercropping can increase the diversity of soil microorganisms, and the interaction between different plants has an important impact on the diversity and composition of the bacterial and fungal communities. The extensive application of modern biological molecular techniques in soil microbial research and the great contribution of intercropping systems to sustainable agriculture are particularly emphasized in this review.

Pastes containing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and LiCl-Mn(NO3)2·4H2O are screen-printed on a carbon cloth substrate and then calcined using a nitrogen atmospheric-pressure-plasma jet (APPJ) for conversion into rGO-LiMnOx nanocomposites. The APPJ processing time is within 300 s. RGO-LiMnOx on carbon cloth is used to sandwich H2SO4, LiCl, or Li2SO4 gel electrolytes to form hybrid supercapacitors (HSCs). The areal capacitance, energy density, and cycling stability of the HSCs are evaluated using electrochemical measurement. The Li2SO4 gel electrolyte HSC exhibits the highest areal capacitance and energy density but lower cycling stability. By contrast, the H2SO4 gel electrolyte HSC exhibits better cycling stability but lower areal capacitance and energy density.

Exercise training influences the risk of vascular thrombosis in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Mitochondrial functionalities in platelets involve the cellular bioenergetics and thrombogenesis. This study aimed to elucidate the effect of cycling exercise training (CET) on platelet mitochondrial bioenergetics in PAD patients. Forty randomly selected patients with PAD engaged in general rehabilitation (GR) with CET (i.e., cycling exercise at ventilation threshold for 30 min/day, 3 days/week) (GR+CET, n=20) or to a control group that only received GR course (n=20) for 12 weeks. Systemic aerobic capacity and platelet mitochondrial bioenergetics that included oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and electron transport system (ETS) were measured using automatic gas analysis and high-resolution respirometry, respectively. The experimental results demonstrated that GR+CET for 12 weeks significantly (i) elevated VO2peak and lowered VE-VCO2 slope, (ii) raised resting ankle-brachial index and enhanced cardiac output response to exercise, (iii) increased the distance in 6-minute walk test and raised the Short Form-36 physical/mental component scores, and (iv) enhanced capacities of mitochondrial OXPHOS and ETS in platelets by activating FADH2 (Complex II)-dependent pathway. Moreover, changes in VO2peak levels were positively associated with changes in platelet OXPHOS and ETS capacities. However, no significant changes in systemic aerobic capacity, platelet mitochondrial bioenergetics, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) occurred following GR alone. Hence, we conclude that CET effectively increases the capacities of platelet mitochondrial bioenergetics by enhancing Complex II activity in patients with PAD. Moreover, the exercise regimen also enhanced functional exercise capacity, consequently improving HRQoL in PAD patients.

Cafestol, a bioactive compound found in coffee, has attracted considerable attention due to its potential impact on cardiovascular health. This review aims to comprehensively explore the association between cafestol and cardiovascular diseases. We delve into the mechanisms through which cafestol influences lipid metabolism, inflammation, and endothelial function, all of which are pivotal in cardiovascular pathophysiology. Moreover, we meticulously analyze epidemiological studies and clinical trials to elucidate the relationship between cafestol and cardiovascular outcomes. Through a critical examination of existing literature, we aim to provide insights into the potential benefits and risks associated with cafestol concerning cardiovascular health.

This work aims to develop an integrated fault location and restoration approach for microgrids (MGs). This work contains two parts. Part I presents the fault location algorithm, and Part II shows the restoration algorithm. The proposed algorithms are implemented by particle swarm optimization (PSO). The fault location algorithm is based on network connection matrices, which are the modifications of bus-injection to branch-current and branch-current to bus-voltage (BCBV) matrices, to form the new system topology. The backward/forward sweep approach is used for the prefault power flow analysis. After the occurrence of fault, the voltage variation at each bus is calculated by using the Zbus modification algorithm to modify Zbus. Subsequently, the voltage error matrix is computed to search for the fault section by using PSO. After the allocation of the fault section, the multi-objective function is implemented by PSO for optimal restoration with its constraints. Finally, the IEEE 37-bus test system connected to distributed generations is utilized as the sample system for a series simulation and analysis. The outcomes demonstrated that the proposed optimal algorithm can effectively solve the fault location and restoration problem in MGs.

Aberrant neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation and the loss of barrier integrity in inflamed intestinal tissues have long been associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, whether NETs alter intestinal epithelium permeability during colitis remains elusive. Here, we demonstrated that NETs promote the breakdown in intestinal barrier function for the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation in mouse models of colitis. NETs were abundant in the colon of mice with colitis experimentally induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) or 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). Analysis of the intestinal barrier integrity revealed that NETs impaired gut permeability, enabling the initiation of luminal bacterial translocation and inflammation. Furthermore, NETs induced the apoptosis of epithelial cells and disrupted the integrity of tight junctions and adherens junctions. Intravenous administration of DNase I, an enzyme that dissolves the web-like DNA filaments of NETs, during colitis restored the mucosal barrier integrity which reduced the dissemination of luminal bacteria, and attenuated intestinal inflammation in both DSS and TNBS models. We conclude that NETs serve a detrimental factor in the gut epithelial barrier function leading to the pathogenesis of mucosal inflammation during acute colitis.

Infectious keratitis (IK) represents a major cause of corneal blindness. This study aims to investigate the demographics, risk factors, microbiological characteristics and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of IK in Taiwan over the past 15 years. A retrospective population-based study was conducted using the Chang Gung Research Database. Patients with IK were identified by diagnostic codes for corneal ulcer from 2004 to 2019. Of 7807 included subjects, 45.2% of patients had positive corneal cultures. The proportion of contact lens-related IK declined, while that of IK related to systemic diseases grew. The percentage of isolated gram-positive bacteria surpassed that of gram-negative bacteria in the 15-year period. The prevalence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed a decreasing trend (p = 0.004), whereas coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CNS) and Propionibacterium species were increasingly detected (p &lt; 0.001). Overall, the trend of antibiotic susceptibility of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria did not change throughout the study period. The susceptibility to the test antibiotics maintained over 90% in gram-negative isolates during 15 years. Vancomycin preserved 100% susceptibility to all gram-positive isolates. Since most tested antibiotics exhibited stable susceptibility over decades, this study reinforced that fluoroquinolones and fortified vancomycin continue to be good empiric therapies for treating bacterial keratitis in Taiwan.

Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) is a commonly used technique for treating lumbar degenerative diseases. Here, we developed a fully computer-supported pipeline to predict the cage height and the degree of lumbar lordosis subtraction from the pelvic incidence (PI-LL) after TLIF surgery through preoperative X-ray images. The automated pipeline included two primary stages. First, a deep learning model was used to extract essential features from X-ray images. Second, five machine learning algorithms were trained to identify the optimal models to predict the interbody cage height and postoperative PI-LL. Lasso regression and support vector regression exhibited superior performance for predicting the interbody cage height and postoperative PI-LL, respectively. For cage height prediction, the root mean square error (RMSE) was calculated as 1.01, and the model achieved the highest accuracy at a height of 12 mm, with exact prediction achieved in 54.43% (43/79) of cases. In most of the remaining cases, the prediction error of the model was within 1 mm. In addition, the model demonstrated adequate performance for predicting PI-LL, with an RMSE of 5.19 and an accuracy of 0.81 for PI-LL stratification. In conclusion, the interbody cage height and postoperative PI-LL can be reliably predicted using artificial intelligence and ML models.

In most countries, the incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is no more than 1 per 100,000 for both men and women; however, it is much higher for men and women in Taiwan. The use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of NPC and its treatment-related side effects has been increasing. The National Health Insurance (NHI) covers 99.6% of Taiwan’s residents. In the present population-based cohort study, we aimed to investigate the pattern of utilization of Chinese herbal products (CHPs) for NPC from 2001 through 2011 in Taiwan. We identified a total of 30294 patients with newly diagnosed NPC from the Registry for Catastrophic Illnesses Patient Database (RCIPD). Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analysis were employed to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for CHP utilization. From 2001 through 2011, 17816 patients aged ≥20 years were newly diagnosed with NPC. Of these, 4749 patients used TCM outpatient services for NPC treatment. TCM users were more likely to be women, young, residents of Central Taiwan, and white-collar workers. The most commonly prescribed formula CHP was Gan-Lu-Yin, followed by Xin-Yi-Qing Fei-Tang and Shan-Shen-Mai-Men-Dong-Tang. The most commonly prescribed single CHP was Hedyotis diffusa, followed by Radix Scrophulariae and Radix Ophiopogonis. These findings provide information regarding personalized therapies for NPC and can promote further clinical experiments and pharmacological research on CHPs for NPC treatment in Taiwan. Further well-designed randomized controlled studies and basic mechanistic studies should assess the safety and effectiveness of CHPs for NPC treatment.

High-strength low-alloy steels (HSLAs) are widely used in the structural body components of many domestic motor vehicles owing to their better mechanical properties and greater resistance. The real production process of HSLA steelmaking can be regarded as a model that builds on the relationship between process parameters and product quality attributes. A surrogate modeling method is used, and the resulting production process model can be applied to predict the optimal manufacturing process parameters. We used different methods in this paper to build such a surrogate model, including linear regression, random forests, support vector regression, multilayer perception, and a simplified VGG model. We then applied three bio-inspired search algorithms, namely particle swarm optimization, the artificial bee colony algorithm, and the firefly algorithm, to search for the optimal controllable manufacturing process parameters. Through experiments on 9,000 test samples used for building the surrogate model, and 299 test samples for making the optimal process parameter selection, we found that the combination of a simplified VGG model and the firefly algorithm was the most successful at reaching a success rate of 100%—in other words, when the product quality attributes of all test samples satisfy the mechanical requirements of the end products.

Guided ultrasonic waves are suitable for use in the context of structural health monitoring of thin-walled, plate-like structures. Hence, observing the wave propagation in the plates can provide an indication of whether damage has occurred in the structure. In this work, the wave propagation in fiber metal laminate consisting of thin steel foils and layers of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer is studied, focusing on the main propagation characteristics like dispersion diagrams and displacement fields. For this purpose, the dispersion diagrams derived from the analytical framework and numerical simulations are first determined and compared to each other. Next, the displacement fields are computed using the global matrix method for two excitation frequencies. The results derived from the analytical framework is used to validate numerically determined displacement fields based on a 2D and a 3D modeling approach. For both investigations the results of the analytical treatment and the numerical simulation show good agreement. Furthermore, the displacement field reveals the typical and well-known characteristics of the propagation of guided waves in thin-walled structures. Since the use of full 3D models involves a very high computational cost, this work also successfully investigates the possibility for model order reduction to decrease the computational time and costs of the simulation without the loss of accuracy.

Certain studies have reported various insulin resistance responses to ambient heavy metal pollution, but few have reported such responses to occupational heavy metal pollution. Even fewer have demonstrated a relationship between mixture effects of heavy metals and insulin resistance in welding workers. Overall, we recruited 53 welders and 48 administrative staff from a shipyard located in northern Taiwan. Personal exposure to heavy metals was monitored for PM2.5 and urine. Blood samples from each participant were collected from the antecubital vein after fasting. Urine samples from each participant were collected in the same period as blood samples. The geometric mean levels for chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and cadmium (Cd) in the PM2.5 of the personal breathing zone and urinary Mn of welders were significantly higher than those in administrative staffs. Ambient Cr, Co, Ni, and Cu levels in the PM2.5 and urinary Cd were positively related to HOMA2-IR after adjusting for personal covariates (PM2.5-Cr: β=0.036, 95%C.I.: 0.002 to 0.070; PM2.5-Co: β=0.040, 95%C.I.: 0.002 to 0.077; PM2.5-Ni: β=0.054, 95%C.I.: 0.013 to 0.094; PM2.5-Cu: β=0.049, 95%C.I.: 0.010 to 0.088; U-Cd: β=0.209, 95%C.I.: 0.052 to 0.366, respectively). Our findings indicated the PM2.5 metal components and urinary metals were associated with increased insulin resistance in shipyard welders.

Multicellular organisms organize themselves according to two principles; first, the equilibrium between the driving force of unstable state cells and apoptosis or senescence; and second, the mutual equilibrium between the functional requirements of different types of cells. For the first principle, we deduce that stem cells at different levels have their own growth limits, which are determined by two factors: the ability of the stem cells to enter an unstable state (specifically, the ability of cells to divide and differentiate); and the rate of cellular senescence, loss of function, and finally, apoptosis. The superposition of stem cell limits at different levels over each other can amplify small differences at the genetic level. Moreover, the growth limits of different organs are different, which lead to different individuals having completely different appearances. The second principle is that the sum of the specific output functions of an organ must be equal to the overall demand for the function to be provided by the organ. If negative entropy input can meet this equilibrium, defects in certain genes will cause these defective individuals to become larger or develop other morphology.

Keywords: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, baculovirus surface display vectors, neutralizing antibody, IFN-γ, IL-4.

Lamb waves occur in thin-walled structures in two wave modes, the symmetric and antisymmetric mode. Their oscillation on the structures‘ surfaces is either in phase (symmetric) or shifted by a phase angle of π (antisymmetric). In this work, a method is developed to compare the surfaces‘ oscillation phase relation. It is based on the evaluation of time signals regarding the instantaneous phase angle using the continuous wavelet transformation and as a comparative method the short-time Fourier transformation. For this purpose, numerical simulations utilizing the finite element method provide time signals from the top and bottom surface of different thin-walled structures. They differ with respect to their material settings and laminate configurations. The numerically obtained time signals are evaluated by the developed methods. The occurring oscillation phase differences on the top and bottom surface are studied and both methods are compared. Subsequently, the oscillation phase is evaluated experimentally for the wave propagation in a fiber metal laminate. It is shown that the method based on the continuous wavelet transformation is suitable for the evaluation of oscillation phase relations in time signals. Additionally, it is proven that fiber metal laminates show only two phase relations which indicates the occurrence of Lamb waves.

In the past few years, micromodels have become a useful tool for visualizing flow phenomena in porous media with pore structures, e.g., the multifluid dynamics in soils or rocks with fractures in natural geomaterials. Micromodels fabricated using glass or silicon substrates incur high material cost; in particular, the microfabrication-facility cost for making a glass or silicon-based micromold is usually high. This may be an obstacle for researchers investigating the two-phase-flow behavior of porous media. A rigid thermoplastic material is a preferable polymer material for microfluidic models because of its high resistance to infiltration and deformation. In this study, cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) was selected as the substrate for the micromodel because of its excellent chemical, optical, and mechanical properties. A delicate micromodel with a complex pore geometry that represents a two-dimensional (2D) cross-section profile of a fractured rock in a natural oil or groundwater reservoir was developed for two-phase-flow experiments. Using an optical visualization system, we visualized the flow behavior in the micromodel during the processes of imbibition and drainage. The results show that the flow resistance in the main channel (fracture) with a large radius was higher than that in the surrounding area with small pore channels when the injection or extraction rates were low. When we increased the flow rates, the extraction efficiency of the water and oil in the mainstream channel (fracture) did not increase monotonically because of the complex two-phase-flow dynamics. These findings provide a new mechanism of residual trapping in porous media.

This paper focuses on parametric model order reduction (PMOR) of guided ultrasonic wave propagation and its interaction with damage in a fiber metal laminate (FML). Structural health monitoring in FML seeks to detect, localize and characterize the damage with high accuracy and minimal use of sensors. This can be achieved by the inverse problem analysis approach which employs the signal measurement data recorded by the embedded sensors in the structure. The inverse analysis requires to solve the forward simulation of the underlying system several thousand times. These simulations are often exorbitantly expensive and triggered the need for improving their computational efficiency. A PMOR approach hinged on the proper orthogonal decomposition method is presented in this paper. An adaptive parameter sampling technique is established with the aid of a surrogate model to efficiently update the reduced-order basis in a greedy fashion. A numerical experiment is conducted to illustrate the parametric training of the reduced-order model. The results show that the reduced-order solution based on the PMOR approach is accurately complying with that of the high fidelity solution.

Our results demonstrated that SWT stimulates osteoblastogenesis and increase the cell number of osteoblasts, suggesting positive regulatory effects on osteoblast differentiation. However, the effect of SWT on bone formation need further examination, since the expression of alp gene is downregulated. On the other hand, SWT appears to negatively regulate osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption, as number of osteoclasts and the expression of critical bone resorptive genes are all downregulated. Collectively, SWT might change the equilibrium of bone remodeling and increase the bone mass. Our data provided supportive evidences that this medicine formulation can be applied to treat osteoporosis or bone destructive diseases.

Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) is a commonly used technique for treating lumbar degenerative diseases. In this study, we developed a fully computer-supported pipeline to predict both the cage height and the degree of lumbar lordosis subtraction from the pelvic incidence (PI-LL) after TLIF surgery, utilizing preoperative X-ray images. The automated pipeline comprised two primary stages. First, a deep learning model was employed to extract essential features from X-ray images. Subsequently, five machine learning algorithms were trained to identify the optimal models to predict interbody cage height and postoperative PI-LL. LASSO regression and support vector regression demonstrated superior performance in predicting interbody cage height and postoperative PI-LL, respectively. For cage height prediction, the root mean square error (RMSE) was calculated as 1.01, and the model achieved the highest accuracy at a height of 12 mm, with exact prediction achieved in 54.43% (43/79) of cases. In most of the remaining cases, the prediction error of the model was within 1 mm. Additionally, the model demonstrated satisfactory performance in predicting PI-LL, with an RMSE of 5.19 and an accuracy of 0.81 for PI-LL stratification. In conclusion, our results indicate that machine learning models can reliably predict interbody cage height and postoperative PI-LL.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is commonly used for super-selective analysis through nanostructured silver layers in the environment, food quality, biomedicine, and materials science. To fabricate a high-sensitivity but more accessible device of SERS, dc magnetron sputtering technology was used to realize high sensitivity, low cost, stable deposition rate, and rapid mass production. This study investigated various thicknesses of a silver film ranging from 3.0 to 12.1 nm by field-emission-scanning-electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In the rhodamine 6G (R6G) testing irradiated by a He-Ne laser beam, the analytical enhancement factor (AEF) of 9.35x108, the limit of detection (LOD) of 10-8 M, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.61% were better than other SERS substrates fabricated by the same dc sputtering process because the results show that the 6 nm thickness silver layer has the highest sensitivity, stability, and lifetime. The paraquat and acetylcholine analytes were further investigated and high sensitivity was also achievable. The proposed SERS samples were evaluated and stored in a low humidity environment for up to forty weeks, and no spectrum attenuation could be detected. Soon, the proposed technology to fabricate high sensitivity, repeatability, and robust SERS substrate will be an optimized process technology in multiple applications.

Background: People with Down syndrome (DS) have a trisomy of chromosome 21 and marked deficits in verbal memory but relatively preserved visuospatial perception. Verbal memories are related to semantic knowledge. Little is known about the organization of semantic knowledge in people with DS, which was the aim of this study. Aims: The extent of false memory in people with DS was examined. Possible differences in the number of false memories induced by nominal and verbal themes were examined. Methods and Procedures: In the study phase, ten word lists with semantically related associates were presented. In the recognition phase, participants made judgments on whether each word had been represented previously as semantically related lures, old words, and semantically unrelated new words. Outcomes and Results: Differences in the processing of nominal and verbal theme-related lures were observed among people with DS. When processing nominal theme-related lures, people with DS showed delayed false positives. When processing verbal theme-related lures, people with DS showed no differences compared to controls. Similar patterns have been observed in people with DS when processing nominal theme-related associates and verbal theme-related associates. People with DS have delayed recognition of associates. When processing unrelated words, they showed significantly higher false positives than controls for both nominal and verbal eliciting themes. Further analyses of the themes revealed differences in false positives across syntactic categories among groups. Conclusions and Implications: People with DS showed a delayed recognition of associates and deviance in recognizing unrelated words in the nominal and verbal theme categories. People with DS were delayed in terms of nouns, but deviated with verbs in associated and unrelated words. Additionally, people with DS showed distinct patterns in processing five nominal lures and three verbal lures, suggesting that they formed false memories differently based on distinct syntactic categories. Thus, it was concluded that people with DS develop a deviant semantic structure. Category-based interventions for people with DS should be implemented in order to improve their semantic knowledge through lexical connections.

This paper aims to build up a preference function to evaluate the public benefits of the type of agricultural farming, biodiversity, water provisions, land use type, ecotourism modes, and a monetary attribute (environmental trust fund and willingness to contribute) associated with an ecosystem service and land use program in a forest park. This study used the choice experiments to build a random utility model, analyze the average preference for the above land use attributes based on the conditional logit and used a latent class model to test the resident’s heterogeneous preferences for land use planning in the forest park. We also estimated the welfare derived from various land use programs. The empirical result had shown that: (1) increasing organic farming area, maintaining the status quo of species biodiversity, increasing the surface water provision, increasing the area of custom flora, increasing the wetland area, and setting up an integrated framework for ecotourism increase the public’s preference for the land use program; (2) we found that farmer and non-farmer haven’t the same land use preferences; (3) the ecotourism development program incorporating biodiversity, organic farming, ethnobotany, and wetland area with integrated ecotourism are more preferred than other land use program scenarios.

There is a potential for synergy effects in utilizing CO2 for both enhanced gas recovery (EGR) and geothermal energy extraction (CO2-plume geothermal, CPG) from natural gas reservoirs. This “combined CO2-EGR–CPG system” has been introduced as a feasible approach that constitutes a CO2 Capture double-Utilization and Storage (CCUUS) system. In this study, we carry out reservoir simulations, using TOUGH2, to evaluate the sensitivity of the natural gas recovery, pressure buildup, and geothermal power generation performance of the combined system to various key reservoir and operational parameters. The reservoir parameters include horizontal permeability, permeability anisotropy, reservoir temperature, and pore-size-distribution index; while the operational parameters include wellbore diameter and ambient surface temperature. Using an example of a natural gas reservoir model, we also investigate the effects of different strategies of transitioning from the CO2-EGR stage to the CPG stage on the energy-recovery performance metrics and on the two-phase fluid-flow regime in the production well. The simulation results show that overlapping the CO2-EGR and CPG stages and having a relatively brief period of CO2 injection but no production (which we call the CO2-plume establishment stage) achieves the best overall energy (natural gas and geothermal) recovery performance. Permeability anisotropy and reservoir temperature are the parameters the natural gas recovery performance of the combined system is most sensitive to. The geothermal power generation performance is most sensitive to the reservoir temperature and the production wellbore diameter. The results of this study pave the way for future CPG-based geothermal power-generation optimization studies. For a CO2-EGR–CPG project, the results can be a guide regarding the required accuracy of the reservoir parameters during exploration and data acquisition.

Neurologic symptoms associated with Long COVID result from the persistent infection of SARS-CoV-2 in the nasal neuroepithelial cells, leading to inflammation in the central nervous sys-tem (CNS). As of today, there is no evidence that vaccines or medications can clear the persistent viral infection in the olfactory mucosa. Recently published clinical data demonstrate that only 5% of Long COVID anosmia patients have fully recovered during the past 2 years and 10.4% of COVID patients are still symptomatic 18 months post infection. Our group demonstrated that ep-igallocatechin-3-gallate-monopalmitate (EC16m) nanoformulations possess strong antiviral activ-ity against human coronavirus, suggesting this green tea-derived compound in nanoparticle for-mulations could be developed as an intranasally delivered new drug targeting the persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection, as well as inflammation and oxidative stress in the CNS, leading to resto-ration of neurologic functions. The objective of the current study is to evaluate the mucociliary safety of the EC16m nasal nanoformulations and the efficacy against human coronavirus. Meth-ods: nanoparticle size and Zeta potential were measured using the ZetaView Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis system; mucociliary safety was determined using MucilAir Human Nasal Epi-thelium Model; contact antiviral activity and post-infection inhibition against OC43 viral strain were assessed by TCID50 assay for cytopathic effect on MRC-5 cells. Results: the saline-based EC16 mucoadhesive nanoformulations containing 0.005 to 0.02% w/v EC16m have no significant difference in comparison to saline (0.9% NaCl) on tissue integrity, cytotoxicity, and cilia beat fre-quency. A 5-minute contact inactivated 99.9% of the β-coronavirus OC43. OC43 viral replication was inhibited by >99% after infected MAR-5 cells were treated with one of the formulations. Con-clusion: the saline-based novel EC16m mucoadhesive nasal nanoformulations rapidly inactivated human coronavirus with mucociliary safety measurements comparable to saline, a solution widely used for nasal applications.

This study centers on childcare facilities catering to children with moderate cerebral palsy, exploring a four-phase process: (1) cultivating an understanding and acceptance, (2) integrating specialized resources, (3) developing strategic plans, and (4) establishing stable collaboration. The case study demonstrates the profound impact of well-rounded support systems. Children with cerebral palsy showed marked improvements in development and emotional stability. Concurrently, their peers developed greater empathy and cooperative skills, smoothly adjusting to the inclusive setting. Additionally, the childcare staff refined their methods and attitudes, enhancing their ability to meet each child's specific needs and thus elevating the standard of integrated care.Concluding with three strategic recommendations, the paper proposes measures to augment the quality of care for children with special needs. These include defining clearer guidelines and policies for special needs care in childcare environments, emphasizing professional development and the amalgamation of diverse resources to cultivate a more skilled caregiving workforce, and encouraging robust partnerships between parents and childcare facilities. These recommendations are expected to significantly influence the domain of inclusive education, providing crucial insights for those engaged in early childhood care and education..

For the numerical simulation of components made of short fiber-reinforced composites the correct prediction of the deformation including the elastic and plastic behavior and its spatial distribution is essential. When using purely deterministic modeling approaches the information of the probabilistic microstructure is not included in the simulation process. One possible approach for the integration of stochastic information is the use of random fields. In this study numerical simulations of tensile test specimens are conducted utilizing a finite deformation elastic-ideal plastic material model. A selection of the material parameters covering the elastic and plastic domain are represented by cross-correlated second-order Gaussian random fields to incorporate the probabilistic nature of the material parameters. To validate the modeling approach tensile tests until failure are carried out experimentally, that confirm the assumption of spatially distributed material behavior in both the elastic and plastic domain. Since the correlation lengths of the random fields cannot be determined by pure analytic treatments, additionally numerical simulations are performed for different values of the correlation length. The numerical simulations endorse the influence of the correlation length on the overall behavior. For a correlation length of 5mm a good conformity with the experimental results is obtained. Therefore, it is concluded, that the presented modeling approach is suitable to predict the elastic and plastic deformation of a set of tensile test specimens made of short fiber-reinforced composite sufficiently.

The outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in 2019 is in dire need of finding potential therapeutic agents. In this study, we used molecular docking to repurpose HIV protease inhibitors and nucleoside analogues for COVID-19, with evaluations based on docking scores calculated by AutoDock Vina and RosettaCommons. Our results suggest that Indinavir and Remdesivir possess the best docking scores, and comparison of the docking sites of the two drugs reveal a near perfect dock in the overlapping region of the protein pockets. After further investigation of the functional regions inferred from the proteins of SARS coronavirus, we discovered that Indinavir does not dock on any active sites of the protease, which may give rise to concern in regards to the efficacy of Indinavir. On the other hand, the docking site of Remdesivir is not compatible with any known functional regions, including template binding motifs, polymerization motifs and nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) binding motifs. However, when we tested the active form (CHEMBL2016761) of Remdesivir, the docking site revealed a perfect dock in the overlapping region of the NTP binding motif. This result suggests that Remdesivir could be a potential therapeutic agent. Clinical trials still must be done in order to confirm the curative effect of these drugs.

Holistic information integrity for managing wicked problems, developing equity is getting attention. Artifitial intelligence based topologies, dual sensor-information nodes, are prototyped to offer more availability, reliability, maintainability for operating healthy urbanism. Bipartite spider-webs, cube-connected cycles are aimed in ‘the radial-ring urban-building skeleton’ and ‘wetlands and sparsely populated areas’, respectively. Furthermore, honeycomb tori, mathematical HT(m), m≥2, for tasks related to wireless communications, are found having two mutually independent Hamiltonian paths (MIHP). This parallelism creates dual cipher-coding, supports logistic privacy, and help prevent information loss, electromagnetic interference, unexpected changes caused by such as clogged water.

In the clock network design, the trade-off between power consumption and timing closure is an important and difficult issue. To achieve this target, a hybrid clock network architecture that combines both clock tree and clock mesh seems to be a promising solution. In this paper, we propose a novel clock mesh architecture – cross-mesh, with the average dispersion of the overall driving force, our methodology creates small non-zero skew clock trees. In addition, we integrate clock gating and register clustering techniques to further reduce dynamic power consumption. The proposed algorithms have four stages: cross-mesh planning, register clustering, mesh line connecting, and load balancing. Experimental results show that our methodology and algorithms get feasible solution effectively and improve both power consumption and clock skew simultaneously.

Wind energy is a kind of renewable energy with great potential for development. This study mainly investigated the application of shock waves generated by high-pressure gases (wind energy) for generating energy. In this study, we designed a new supersonic shock wave generator that can be reused without disassembling and assembling bolts and developed a supersonic shock wave monitoring system. This system monitored the velocity of the generated shock waves, which was Mach 3-5, and the output pressure was more than 100 times higher than the input pressure of the shock wave generator tank.Then, we developed a power generation system driven by supersonic shock waves based on the characteristics of the new shock wave generator, which can generate high-pressure and high-speed blast waves and can be reused. The shock wave generator can repeatedly generate high-pressure waves to drive the Tesla turbine and then the magnetic energy generator for power generation. We established a complete control process for power generation driven by shock waves by controlling the valve stem. The system can detect the tank pressure, output pressure, gas flow, rotation speed, voltage, and current during the control process for the performance analysis of power generation.

Tocilizumab against interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) has been demonstrated to inhibit the progression of diverse cancers in vitro and in vivo. Nonetheless, evidence regarding the anti-tumor effects of Tocilizumab on human colorectal carcinoma (CRC) corresponding to IL-6R expression levels re-mains scarce. To investigate the influence of IL-6R expression, SW480 and HT-29 cells inoculated subcutaneously into NU/NU mice were used as our human CRC xenograft models with anti-IL-6R antibody (Tocilizumab) therapy. IL-6R expression levels, the histology of CRC growth/ invasiveness and tumor growth-related signaling pathway were estimated by H&E and immunohistochemical staining. SW480 tumor cells with higher IL-6R expression levels exerted better responsiveness in Tocilizumab therapy than the treated HT-29 group. Likewise, therapeutic effects of Tocilizumab on the proliferative ability with mitotic index and Ki-67 expressions, the invasiveness with MMP-9 proteinase expressions, ERK 1/2 and STAT3 signaling transduction in SW480 treatment group were superior to HT-29 treatment group. In light of our results, IL-6R is the key indicator for the efficacy of Tocilizumab treatment in CRC xenografts. From the perspective of precision medicine, tumor response to anti-IL-6R antibody therapy could be predicted on the basis of IL-6R expression levels. In this manner, Tocilizumab may serve as a targeted and promising anti-CRC therapy.

The feasible, reliable and selective multi-template molecularly imprinted polymers (MT-MIPs) based on SBA-15 (SBA-15@MT-MIPs) for the selective separation and determination of the trace level of ginsenoside Rb₁ (Rb₁), ginsenoside Rg₁ (Rg₁) and notoginsenoside R₁ (R₁) (Panax notoginseng saponins, PNS) from biological samples were developed. The polymers were constructed by SBA-15 as support, Rb₁, Rg₁, R₁ as multi-template, acrylamide (AM) as functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linker. The new synthetic SBA-15@MT-MIPs were satisfactorily applied to solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for the separation and determination of trace PNS in plasma samples. Under the optimized conditions, the limits of detection (LODs) and quantitation (LOQs) of the proposed method for Rb₁, Rg₁ and R₁ were in the range of 0.63-0.75 ng mL^-1 and 2.1-2.5 ng mL^-1, respectively. The recoveries of R₁, Rb₁ and Rg₁ were obtained between 93.4% and 104.3% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) in the range of 3.3-4.2%. All results show that the obtained SBA-15@MT-MIPs could be a promising prospect for the practical application in the selective separation and enrichment of trace PNS in the biological samples.

This is a survey study that dialysis patients were randomly sampled from a medical center in northern Taiwan, and those who gave their consent to participate were included in this study. The purpose of this study was to explore the correlation between depression, hope, and quality of life of dialysis patients. All subjects agreed to take "Beck’s Depression Inventory", " The Chinese version of Herth Hope Index" and " The Chinese version of Kidney Disease Quality of Life" (KDQOL-SFTM). Data were processed using SPSS for descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that patients were 12.45±SD 9.03, which was mild depression, the mean score of hope was 34.25, which was equivalent to 72.60%, and was at the middle level. In KDQOL-SFTM, the score in mental composite (M=42.65, SD=8.81) was higher than in physical composite (M=37.38, SD=9.28), and the score was at the intermediate quality of life, and hope and depression were significantly and negatively correlated. This study suggests that dialysis case managers provide nursing guidance to help dialysis patients learn comfortable care methods and support the resilience they need.

Embracing innovative digital technologies within educational systems is essential for overcoming challenges in modern learning environments, especially in the post-COVID-19 era. Teaching sustainability management in higher education institutions with innovative digital tools plays a fundamental role in the transition toward sustainable societies. Suitable game design elements play a significant role in facilitating sustainable learning. This study explored the effectiveness of incorporating business simulation games with project-based learning (PBL) in a flipped classroom setting. This approach was adopted within the context of a university cross-border e-commerce course to prepare students for acquiring 21st -century skills as higher-order thinking skills in a rapidly changing educational landscape. A quasi-experimental method was employed, involving a total of 60 university students from China's Zhejiang Province. Participants completed an online questionnaire designed to assess their learning engagement across three dimensions (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral) as well as their higher-order thinking skills (problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity). The results show that the business simulation games combined with flipped classroom learning had a significantly positive impact on students’ learning outcomes, enhancing their problem-solving, critical thinking, and creative capabilities. Importantly, this approach also improved student engagement and promoted sustainable practices by applying real-life scenarios in an interactive environment. We conclude that business simulation games integrated with project-based learning (PBL) in flipped classroom settings represent a valuable educational approach. This approach not only enhances learning engagement but also fosters the development of higher-order thinking skills, encouraging students to adopt sustainable learning practices.

In all areas of medicine, especially in radiology, computers are increasing year by year. Filmless radiology, speech recognition software, electronic application forms, and teleradiology are recent developments that have greatly improved radiologists' performance. This research explores radiology software trends, predictions, and the challenges posed by informatics and historical trend analysis. The rationale behind this research is that information technology (IT) is overgrowing almost every day. We must continuously seek new ways to apply IT to make more use of resources. Consequently, IT becomes increasingly crucial to radiology organizations' innovative thinking, workflow, and business models. This study aimed to analyze all radiology software publications in the Science Citation Index (SCI). From 1991 to July 2021, SCI was used to search for publications systematically. We have also widely used this historical method in radiology software research. The findings and discussions are base on an assessment of trends, predictions, contributions, and challenges in radiology software, and we are exploring radiology software with six evolutionary stages. The gift of this research is that radiology managers realize that the use of new information technologies is closely related to survival in a competitive environment. Radiology companies can review these new technologies to develop more innovative business models and services to improve operational deficiencies.

This study chose the indoor soil column test as the main method and the field test as the validation test to investigate the effects of various straw mulching techniques (surface, deep and straw mulching + deep burial) on evaporation and salt dynamics in saline soils. The results showed that straw mulching treatment could effectively reduce soil water evaporation, promote desalination in the stage of leaching infiltration and alleviate salt return in the stage of water evaporation, and the effect of straw mulching + deep burial treatment was better than that of single-layer straw mulching treatment. The indoor soil column test showed that S2D1 treatment (a 2:1 ratio of soil surface cover to the amount of straw buried 40cm below the soil surface) had the best effect on the suppression of soil moisture evaporation, and the cumulative evaporation of soil moisture was reduced by 65.85% compared with that of the CK, and the rate of salinity return in the evaporation stage was effectively reduced by 92.04% compared with that of the CK. In addition, there is a significant positive correlation between cumulative evaporation of soil moisture and cumulative soil salinity, which implies that cumulative soil salinity increases with cu-mulative evaporation of soil moisture. The results of the field experiment were consistent with the soil column test, and the S2D1 treatment was able to maintain high soil moisture content in all soil layers in all periods of the experiment and kept soil salinity in the 0-40 cm soil layer at a low level. However, in the 40-80 cm soil layer, the soil salinity suppression effect of DB treatment (straw buried at 40 cm below soil surface) was the best. So in summary, the S2D1 treatment had the best salinity and evapo-transpiration suppression effect in saline soils. This study is of great significance for the resource uti-lization of straw waste, improvement of water utilization and efficiency, and soil salinization manage-ment.

Background: Thyroid cancer incidence has increased globally in recent decades, especially in females, although its trends in Taiwan have not been studied extensively. This study aimed to investigate changes in female incidence and possible causes of thyroid cancer in Taiwan. Methods: Using the Taiwan Cancer Registry (TCR) Database, age-standardized incidence rates, age-specific incidence rates and birth cohorts were calculated. Correlation between female thyroid cancer incidence and cohort fertility rates were examined. Results: Thyroid cancer incidence increased in Taiwanese female, with age-adjusted rates per 100,000 people increasing from 7.37 during 1995-1999 to 20.53 during 2015-2019, APCs were 5.9% (95% CI, 5.3-6.5). Age-specific incidence rates increased with age, with peak rates occurring at younger ages. The APCs in the 50-54 age group were the highest (6.8%, 95% CI, 6.1-7.5). Incidence rates also increased with later birth cohorts. We observed a significant negative correlation between thyroid cancer incidence and fertility rates in the same birth cohort. Conclusion: We hypothesize that overdiagnosis may be a main reason for the rapidly increasing thyroid cancer incidence in Taiwanese female. Notably, we observed a strong negative correlation between fertility and thyroid cancer incidence. The associations with fertility will be an important subject for future thyroid cancer research.

A special vibration damper is proposed for material property identification through a scratching process on a vibrating object. This paper presents the design and working principle of a scratching damper based on a scratch test device. A non-contact electromagnetic shaker is used to generate the shaking force for the vibration of the tested object. The required pressure on the scratched material during the scratching process is generated by a compression spring and adjusted by changing the amount of compression of the spring. The proposed damper is designed and tested on extruded aluminum samples for the determination of its Young’s modulus and hardness and validated by using the standard test instruments. Observations of physical dimensions of the scratching tracks are determined by microscope and were utilized to compute the scratching energy factor. Load curves are obtained at different pressure of the scratching process. The hysteresis loop energy during the scratching process of the tested object is measured and used for the determination of material properties of the object. Furthermore, energy conservation law, scratch energy release rate and loop energy release rate are used to determine the Young’s modulus and hardness of the sample. The measurement accuracy of the modulus and hardness of the tested sample is evaluated. The proposed method of material testing has several advantages over the traditional methods such as low cost and high repeatability, and may be used as an alternative to the standard modulus and hardness testers.

This work investigates how integrated polyimide inlays with applied sensor bodies influence the guided ultrasonic wave propagation in narrow glass fiber-reinforced polymer specimens. Preliminary numerical simulations indicate that in a damping-free specimen, the inlays show reflections for the S0-mode propagation. Hence, an air-coupled ultrasonic technique and a 3D laser Doppler vibrometer measurement are used to measure different parts of the propagating waves’ displacement field after burst excitation at different frequencies. No significant reflections on the inlay can be seen in the experiments. However, it is shown that the reflections from the strip specimen’s narrow width cause periodical reflections that superimpose with the excited wave fronts. A continuous wavelet transformation in the time-frequency domain filters discontinuities from the measurement signal and is used for reconstruction of the time signals. The reconstructed signals are used in a spatial continuous wavelet transformation to identify the occurring wavelengths and hence to prove the assumption of reflections from the narrow edges. Since the amplitude of the reflections identified in the numerical data at the polyimide inlays are an order of magnitude smaller than the excited wave packages, it is concluded that material damping of the epoxy resin matrix extincts possible reflections from the inlays.

This study uses a mass-spring-damping system to simulate the repeated strain of liquefaction cyclic triaxial tests. The two results are compared in this paper to understand the feasibility of the mass-spring-damping system developed in this paper and the feasibility of future research on this related topic and development potential. The main factors affecting this mode's repeated strain are the spring coefficient k and the external force Q0. The spring coefficient has an inverse relationship but does not increase in multiples. The external force has a direct proportional relationship but does not increase the result- a non-multiple increase. When the pore water pressure of the liquefied cyclic triaxial test specimen rises, it will cause the specimen to liquefy, decreasing effective stress, shear modulus G, and damping ratio D, causing an increase in strain. The shear modulus and damping ratio are related to the spring coefficients k and c. Both are variables that change with time. This article takes an original thin-tube specimen at point A in the Yunlin area in Taiwan as a testing example. Through Mathematica software, it can be obtained that the mass m=1kg, the spring coefficient k=244e-0.1t kgf/cm, and the damping coefficient c=0.739e-0.257t kgf-s/cm and external force Q0=10.1sin2πt kg; Finally, this study selected the original thin-tube specimens from four locations in the Yunlin area, and simulated the repeated strain amount of the cyclic triaxial test specimens through a spring-damping system. The results show that the spring-damping system is feasible for simulated cyclic triaxial tests because the model is simple and the parameters are easy to understand and obtain, which also shows the extensibility of this model. Preliminary results of the research show that this model can further simulate the repeated strain obtained by cyclic triaxial tests without considering the increased trend in pore water pressure and the decrease in effective stress during cyclic loading.

Static standing postural stability has been measured by multiscale entropy (MSE), which is used to measure complexity. In this study, we used the average entropy (AE) to measure the static standing postural stability, as AE is a good measure of disorder. The center of pressure (COP) trajectories were collected from 11 subjects under four kinds of balance situation, from stable to unstable: bipedal with open eyes, bipedal with closed eyes, unipedal with open eyes, and unipedal with closed eyes. The AE, entropy of entropy (EoE), and MSE methods were used to analyze these COP data, and EoE was found to be a good measure of complexity. The AE of the 11 subjects sequentially increased by 100%as the balance situations progressed from stable to unstable, but the results of EoE and MSE did not follow this trend. Therefore, AE, rather than EoE or MSE, is a good measure of static standing postural stability. Furthermore, the comparison of EoE and AE plots exhibited an inverted U curve, which is another example of a complexity versus disorder inverted U curve.

This general review assesses the impact of physical exercise on oxidative and nitrosative stress and the counteractive role of antioxidants, drawing from a systematic literature search up to March 2024 in databases like PubMed and Web of Science. The review highlights studies on the effect of exercise on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and antioxidant responses in both human and animal models based on rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria. Due to the variety of exercise types and participants' characteristics, a narrative synthesis approach was adopted. The findings indicate that moderate exercise boosts antioxidant defenses, known as hormesis, whereas excessive physical activity may increase oxidative and nitrosative damage. The review also explores the complex effects of antioxidant supplementation, revealing that while natural dietary antioxidants support health, high-dose supplements could potentially hinder positive adaptations to exercise. Recommendations for athletes and the general active population highlight the importance of balancing exercise and dietary intake to optimize health benefits. The review concludes with a call for more detailed research on tailored exercise and nutrition plans to dissect these intricate relationships further.

Thalassemia is a heterogeneous congenital hemoglobinopathy common in the Mediterranean region, Middle East, Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia with increasing incidence in Northern Europe and North America due to immigration. Iron overloading is one of the major long-term complications in patients with thalassemia and can lead to organ damage and carcin-ogenesis. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies in both transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT) and non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia (NTDT). The incidence of HCC in patients with thalassemia has increased over time, as better chelation therapy confers a sufficiently long lifespan for the development of HCC. The mechanisms of iron overloading-associated HCC development include the increased　reactive oxygen species (ROS), inflammation cytokines, dysregulated hepcidin, and ferroportin metabolism. The treat-ment of HCC in patients with thalassemia was basically similar to those in general population. However, due to the younger age of HCC onset in thalassemia, regular surveillance for HCC development is mandatory in TDT and NTDT. Other supplemental therapy and experience of novel treatment for HCC in thalassemia population were also reviewed in this article.

Wearable assistant devices play an important role in daily life for people with disabilities. Those who are hearing impaired may face dangers while walking or driving on the road. The major danger is their inability to hear warning sounds from cars or ambulances. Thus, the goal of this study is to develop a wearable assistant device for the hearing impaired to recognize emergency vehicle sirens on the road using edge computing. An EfficientNet-based fuzzy rank-based ensemble model was proposed to classify seven audio sounds, including human vocalizations and emergency vehicle sirens. This model was embedded in an Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense development board. The audio files were respectively obtained from the CREMA-D dataset and Large Scale Audio dataset of emergency vehicle sirens on the road, with a total number of 8756 files. The seven audio sounds included neutral vocalization, anger vocalization, fear vocalization, happy vocalization, car horn sound, siren sound, and ambulance siren sound. The audio signal was converted into a spectrogram by the short-time Fourier transform as the feature. When one of the car horns, sirens, or ambulance sirens was detected, the wearable assistant device presented alarms through vibration and messages on the OLED panel. The performances of the EfficientNet-based fuzzy rank-based ensemble model in offline computing achieved an accuracy of 97.1%, precision of 97.79%, sensitivity of 96.8%, and specificity of 97.04%. In edge computing, the results were an accuracy of 95.2%, precision of 93.2%, sensitivity of 95.3%, and specificity of 95.1%. Thus, the proposed wearable assistant device has the potential benefit of helping the hearing impaired avoid traffic accidents.

Hyperuricemia (HC) was one of the important risk factors for gout, arteriosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease. Animal studies have shown that Lactobacillus plantarum can improve the microbiota, immune regulation, and inhibit the uric acid production. However, it was not clear whether L. plantarum can improve HC and intestinal microbiota. We used potassium oxonate (PO) to induce HC in male SD rats, and then treated L. plantarum TCI227 in a dose dependent (HC+LD, HC+MD, HC+HD) for 4 weeks, and examined weight organs, biochemical examination of blood and urine, and analyzed the intestinal microbiota in feces by 16s rDNA sequence analysis. In this study, TCI227 improved body weight, decreased creatinine, serum uric acid, and increased urine uric acid compared to the HC group. Furthermore, TCI227 increased short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). In fecal microbiota (family), TCI227 increased the level of Lactobacillaceae, and then decreased the level of Deferribacteres and Prevotellaceae compared to the HC group. Finally, in fecal microbiota (genus), TCI227 decreased the level of Prevotella, and then increased the level of Lactobacillus and Ruminococcus compared to the HC group. This study suggested that TCI227 can improve HC and change the compositions of the intestinal microbiota in PO induced male HC SD rats.

With the advances in industry and commerce, passengers have become more accepting of environmental sustainability issues; thus, more people now choose to travel by bus. Government administration constitutes an important part of bus transportation services as the government gives the right-of-way to transportation companies allowing them to provide services. When these services are of poor quality, passengers may lodge complaints. The increase in consumer awareness and developments in wireless communication technologies have made it possible for passengers to easily and immediately submit complaints about transportation companies to government institutions, which has brought drastic changes to the supply-demand chain comprised of the public sector, transportation companies, and passengers. This study proposed the use of big data analysis technology including systematized case assignment and data visualization to improve management processes in the public sector and optimize customer complaint services. Taichung City, Taiwan was selected as the research area. There, the customer complaint management process in public sector was improved, effectively solving such issues as station-skipping, allowing the public sector to fully grasp the service level of transportation companies, improving the sustainability of bus operations, and supporting the sustainable development of the public sector-transportation company-passenger supply chain.

Quantifying the landscape pattern change can effectively demonstrate the ecological progresses and the consequences of urbanization. Based on remotely sensed land cover data in 1994, 2000, 2006 and a gradient analysis with landscape metrics at landscape- and class- level, we attempted to characterize the individual and entire landscape patterns of Shanghai metropolitan during the rapid urbanization. We highlighted that a roadscape transect approach that combined the buffer zone method and the transect-based approach was introduced to describe the urban-rural patterns of agricultural, residential, green, industrial, and public facilities land along the railway route. Our results of landscape metrics showed significant spatiotemporal patterns and gradient variations along the transect. The urban growth pattern in two time spans conform to the hypothesis for diffusion–coalescence processes, implying that the railway is adaptive as a gradient element to analyze the landscape patterns with urbanization. As the natural landscape was replaced by urban landscape gradually, the urban fringe expanded radically. The results also showed that the desakota region expanded its extent widely. Satellite towns witnessed the continual transformation from the predominantly rural landscape to peri-urban landscape. Furthermore, the gap between urban and rural areas remained large especially in public service. More reasonable urban plans and land use policies should push to make more of an effort to transition from the urban-rural separation to coordinated urban-rural development. This study is a meaningful trial in demonstrating a new form of urban–rural transects to study the landscape change of large cities from a strategic viewpoint. By combining gradient analysis with landscape metrics, we addressed the process of urbanization both spatially and temporally, and provided a more quantitative approach to urban studies.

Reasonable allocation of production plans and saving the overall electricity cost are crucial for large manufacturing conglomerates, which is an effective way for conglomerates to realize open-source and cost-saving. This paper develops an optimization model of off-site industrial production scheduling for enterprises in response to the problems of high electricity costs due to the irrational allocation of production schedules on the demand side of China's electric power and the difficulty of promoting industrial and commercial distributed photovoltaic (PV) projects in China. The model makes full use of the conditions of different PV resources and different electricity prices in different places to optimize the scheduling of industrial production in different places. The model is embedded with two sub-models of the electricity price prediction model and distributed photovoltaic kWh cost model to complete the model parameters, in which the electricity price prediction model utilizes the LSTM neural network. The integrated model is then solved by the particle swarm algorithm. To verify the effectiveness of the model in solving the problem of off-site production scheduling on the demand side of electricity, the research team researched two off-site pharmaceutical factories belonging to the same large pharmaceutical company. Finally, the research data were substituted into the model for solving, and it was concluded that the optimization model could significantly reduce the cost of electricity consumption of the enterprise by about 7.9 %.

3D printing is a non-traditional additive manufacturing process. It is different from the traditional subtractive manufacturing process. It offers exceptional rapid prototyping capabilities and results that traditional subtractive manufacturing methods cannot attain, especially in applications involving curved or intricately shaped components. Despite its advantages, metal 3D printing will face porosity, warpage, and surface roughness issues. These issues will affect the future practical application of the parts indirectly, for example, the structural strength and the parts assembly ca-pability. Therefore, this study compares the qualities of the warpage, weight, and surface rough-ness after milling and grinding processes under the same materials (316L stainless steel) between general rolled steel and 3D additive steel. Experimental results show that 3D printing parts are approximately 13% to 14% lighter than the general rolled steel. The surface roughness performance of 3D printing steel is better than general rolled steel under the same material after milling or grinding processing. The hardness of the 3D printing steel is better than that of the gen-eral rolled steel. The research verifies that 3D additive manufacturing can use surface processing to optimize surface performance and achieve the functions of lightness and hardness.

To enhance industrial competitiveness and increase productivity, every country has strived to create a smart factory by introducing technologies such as Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence into production line and build cyber-physical system for the purpose of promoting manufacturing efficiency. For mission assignment, production line management or manufacturing field analysis, the location information of employee, machine and material is very essential. To promote manufacturing efficiency, of course, the location information became more important. A Bluetooth low energy (BLE) positioning system for the manufacturing is developed in this research. A "Tag tracking" mechanism is addressed and adopted, which uses Beacon to catch the location information and a BLE receiver is also used to receive the broadcasting information from Beacon. The position information from the BLE receiver will be compared with the data in the database for calculating the location of the target. The status of the target may also be obtained by using the data from the BLE receiver. Comparing with the mobile device, this method can reduce energy consumption and make the maintenance simple and easy. In the real applications, the target may not be limited to human. The "Regional label positioning technology" is also investigated in this research. Defining a suitable zone location and arranging BLE receiver location, and positioning analysis theory are the key factors included in this developed technology. The developed system will be tested for real industry applications. The test results show that the feasibility of this technology.

Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) is an innovative technology with little industry guidance for its hull design. Various FOWT floaters with different hull shapes claim to support the same turbines. Structural integrity and material expense analyses of different pontoon shapes were conducted, and it was found that some configurations, such as those with every two columns connected by both pontoon and bracing, have advantages over others. However, it is important to note that the choice of pontoon shape should be based on the wave loading conditions the floater will be exposed to. While a T-shaped pontoon provides a cost-effective solution under certain wave loading scenarios, it may not be the best option for all conditions. Specifically, ring pontoon designs with full bracing were found to be necessary for withstanding certain wave loads. Therefore, it is important to consider different Dominant Load Parameters (DLP) and ensure that a FOWT floater can withstand all applicable DLPs. An uneven hexahedral column shape, which combines the best attributes of square and round shapes, is proposed as a better alternative to cylindrical columns. It offers ease of manufacture and reasonably low drag. Bracing is found to be necessary for withstanding the wind turbine’s incurred moment and forces. The conclusion is that platform design should prioritize manufacturing costs and strength over maximizing hydrodynamic performance.

Excretory-secretory products (ESPs) are the main research targets for investigating the hosts and helminths interaction. Parasitic worms can migrate to parasitic sites and avoid the host immune response by secreting this product. Angiostrongylus cantonensisis an important food-borne zoonotic parasite that causes severe neuropathological damage and symptoms, including eosinophilic meningitis or meningoencephalitis in humans. Benzaldehydes are organic compounds composed of a benzene ring and formyl substituents. This compound has anti-inflammatory and antioxidation properties. Previous studies showed that 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde (3-HBA) and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (4-HBA) can reduce apoptosis in A. cantonensis ESPs treated astrocytes. These results on the protective effect underlying benzaldehyde have primarily focused on cell survival. The study was designed to investigate the molecular mechanisms of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) and oxidative stress in astrocytes in A. cantonensis ESPs treated astrocytes and to evaluate the therapeutic consequent of 3-HBA and 4-HBA. First, we initially established the RNA-seq dataset in each group, including Normal, ESPs, ESPs+3-HBA, and ESPs+4-HBA. We also found that benzaldehyde (3-HBA and 4-HBA) can stimulate astrocytes to express ER stress-related molecules after ESP treatment. The level of oxidative stress could also be decreased in astrocytes by elevating antioxidant activity and reducing ROS generation. These results suggested that benzaldehyde may be a potential therapeutic compound for human angiostrongyliasis to support brain cell survival by inducing the expression levels of ER stress- and oxidative stress-related pathway.

Carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPOs) present a major threat to public health, demanding precise diagnostic techniques their detection. Discrepancies among CPO tests have raised concerns, partly due to limitations in detecting bacterial diversity within host/specimen. We explored the impact of unbiased colony selection on carbapenemase testing and assessed its relevance on various tests. Based on "FirstAll" for unbiased colony selection to reduce bias, we compared modified carbapenem inactivation method/EDTA-modified carbapenem inactivation method (mCIM/eCIM), Carba5, the CPO panel, and multiplex PCR (M-PCR). Initially, we compared FirstAll to conventional colony selection for mCIM. Second, we used M-PCR as a reference, to evaluate test performance across seven CPO species. The results revealed that FirstAll selection improved carbapenemase detection, revising false-negative in 10.5% of K. pneumoniae isolates. In addition, 12.4% of CPOs tested positive for multiple carbapenemase genes. Both the Carba5 test and CPO panel showed suboptimal performance (sensitivity/specificity: Carba5 75.5%/89.0%, CPO panel 78.1%/74.0%). Carba5 test provided specific carbapenemase class assignments but CPO panel failed in 20.3% of cases. Carba5 test and the CPO panel results correlated well with ceftazidime-avibactam minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs). Concordance for class A/D with MICs was 88.3% for Carba5 and 92.0% for the CPO panel; whereas for class B, it was 86.5% for Carba5 and 76.2% for the CPO panel. In conclusion, FirstAll as the unbiased colony selection impacted carbapenemase testing. With FirstAll, the diagnostic performance of either Carba5 or the CPO panel was compromised. The utilization of ceftazidime-avibactam guided by either the CPO panel or Carba5 was appropriate.

A real-time two-way direct load control (TWDLC) of central air-conditioning chillers in wide area is proposed to provide demand response. The proposed TWDLC scheme is designed to optimize the load shedding ratio of every customer under control to ensure the target load to be shed is met at every scheduling period. In order to overcome the load reduction uncertainties of TWDLC, an innovative solution is proposed by applying a certain degree of loosening on the constraint of the actual shed load. Fuzzy linear programming is utilized to solve the optimization problem with fuzzy constraints. The proposed fuzzy linear programming problem is solved by delicately transforming it into a regular liner programming problem. A selection scheme used to obtain the feasible candidates set for load shedding at every sampling interval of TWDLC is also designed along with the fuzzy linear programming.

Innovation is an essential key factor in the technology development history. Past research on innovation focused more on the innovation behavior of technology, but seldom described knowledge assets which also influence innovation behavior greatly. The effect of knowledge assets attribute and result on disruptive innovation is therefore regarded as the research topic in this study, where disruptive innovation is divided into outbound and inbound to combine combination-embeddednessandmajor business specificityof knowledge assets as the research model. Manufacturing enterprises in China are proceeded the questionnaire survey, and 173 valid copies are collected. The empirical analysis shows that combination-embeddedness of knowledge assets presents significantly positive effects on major business specificity and outbound innovationof an enterprise but reveals remarkably negative effects on inbound innovation. Enterprises are suggested to constantly accumulate knowledge assets with low major business specificity before disruptive innovation in order to reduce ineffective inbound innovation.

Many corporations have now revised their value statements to showcase their commitment to sustainable development and green business due to the pressing issues of climate and environmental damage. Despite the importance of value statements that can direct companies to achieve sustainable goals, what kind of values can be perceived as organizational orientations to sustainability remains unknown. This study explores how the general public views the inclusion of sustainable components in value statements from the listed companies in Hong Kong by using Q-sort methodology (n = 30). Analyzing the final sample of 40 value statements extracted from 27 listed companies, we identified three factors related to sustainability, namely, Empowering business process management, Empowering customer-centric excellence, and Empowering sustainable progress. This study provides an additional component to the traditional triple bottom line by suggesting that internal operation of a company is an emerging idea to understand corporate sustainability.

Dysregulation of cartilage homeostasis and the changes in the density and the architecture of the subchondral bone were postulated as a potent mechanically pathological activity contributing to osteoarthritis (OA) pathogenesis. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is a new, none invasive and effective method in the treatment of animal OA model. In the current study, we demonstrated that shockwave induced the expression of protein-disulfide isomerase-associated 3 (Pdia-3) which is a multifunctional protein hypothesized to be a significant mediator for 1α,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1α,25(OH)₂D₃) signaling pathway using two-dimensional electrophoresis. Histological analysis and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were verified and observed that the expression of Pdia-3 at 2 weeks was significantly higher than that of any other group at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks post-shockwave treatment in early OA knee of rat. The other factors of the 1α,25(OH)₂D₃ rapid membrane signaling pathway including extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases 1 (ERK1), osteopontin (OPG), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and matrix metallopeptidase 13 (MMP13) were measured and significantly increased by qPCR at 2 weeks post-shockwave treatment in early OA knee. Our proteomic data revealed significant Pdia-3 expression in microenvironments of joint tissue that could be actively responded to ESWT, which may potentially regulate biological function of chondrocytes and osteoblasts in the treatment of OA knee.

The objective of this study is to investigate the use of excavation behavior prediction and analysis software in the field of civil en-gineering. PLAXIS and SoilWorks, widely used in the engineering and academic communities, were employed as research tools for analyzing gravel layers and deriving appropriate ranges of soil elastic modulus for different software programs. By collecting excavation cases in the Xindian area of New Taipei City, Taiwan, and conducting deep excavation analysis using the displacement of retaining walls, this study provides recommended ranges for localized selection of soil elastic modulus. The suggested range for PLAXIS is 7,840 N/m² to 9,800 N/m², while Soil-Works suggests a range of 2,450 N/m² to 3,430 N/m². These ranges allow for reasonable estimation of maximum deformations during the final excavation stage. Based on the research findings, it is recommended that engineers refer to the provided ranges when selecting soil elastic modulus for excavation analysis in gravel layers using different soft-ware programs in the Xindian area of Taiwan to improve the accuracy of deformation predictions during the final excavation stage. These results serve as important references for engineers and contribute to the effective prediction and management of excavation behavior in civil engineering projects.

Aluminum alloy (Al6061) sheet micro-hole processing is extensively used in smartphones, tablet PC, and smart wearable devices. The micro-hole processing is commonly performed using laser, micro drilling, microstamping, micro discharge, and chemical etching technologies. Micro-stamping technology is characterized by precision and rapid processing, but the precision positioning of the punch head and lower die is one of the major difficulties in micro-hole stamping, especially in manufacturing array micro-holes. This study used stamping without die technology. This technology uses an array punch head to punch the lower die holes on the base, then performs array micro-hole stamping. The experimental results show that a micro-hole array with 37 micro-holes were successfully manufactured and can be reproduced many times. Tapered array micro-holes with a high aspect ratio can be manufactured using this stamping without die technology; the micro-hole depth can be 260μm, the inlet diameter is 116μm, and the outlet diameter is 25μm. This study has successfully developed the feasibility of array micro-hole stamping technology.

A novel flexible humidity sensor, incorporating gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and a trifunctional organosilica compound, has been developed through the integration of sol-gel processing, free radical polymerization, and self-assembly techniques. The trifunctional organosilica was initially synthesized by modifying (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (thiol-MPTMS) with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (vinyl-TMSPMA). Subsequently, a hydrophilic polyelectrolyte, [3(methacryloylamino)propyl]trimethyl ammonium chloride (MAPTAC), was grafted onto the MPTMS-TMSPMA gel. The Au NPs were assembled onto the thiol groups present in the MPTMS-TMSPMA-MAPTAC gel network. The compositional and microstructural properties of the Au NPs/MPTMS-TMSPMA-MAPTAC composite film were investigated utilizing Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The presence of thiol groups and mesoporous silica skeletons ensured the stability of the humidity-sensing film on the substrate under highly humid conditions, while the hydrophilic groups functioned as humidity-sensitive sites. This innovative humidity sensor demonstrated high sensitivity, acceptable linearity, minimal hysteresis, and rapid response time across a broad range of working humidity levels. Based on the complex impedance spectra analysis, hydronium ions (H₃O⁺) were determined to govern the conductance process of the flexible humidity sensor.

Background: People with Williams syndrome (WS) are characterized with hypersociability, fluency in languages, and advantageous face-processing skills, leading to the proposal of a social module. Previous studies on the mentalizing abilities of people with WS using two-dimensional pictures and mindreading from eyes, including normal-like, delayed, and deviant behaviors, have yielded mixed results. This study thus examined the mentalizing ability of people with WS through structured computerized animations of false belief tasks to investigate whether inferences about other people’s minds can be improved in this population. Method: Participants were shown animations with unexpected location and content changes. After viewing each animation, participants had to answer four types of questions: character identification, reality, memory, and false belief. Their responses were recorded and analyzed. Results: Comprehension of false belief was observed in 4-year-old healthy children, whereas children with WS showed unsuccessful comprehension of false belief (until they attained a mental age of 5.3 years), suggesting an improvement in theory of mind resulting from viewing structured computerized animations. This age is earlier than that reported by previous studies for using theory of mind to pass false belief tests (8.5 years old), even challenging the age at which individuals failed to pass the tests (12.10 years old). Conclusions: Structured computerized animations enhanced the mentalizing ability of people with WS to a certain extent. Compared to the typically developing controls, people with WS presented with a lower developmental level in processing false belief tasks. The educational implication of this study is to develop computerized social skills interventions for people with WS.

Because imbalanced power will cause the loss of the propulsion motor of the railway vehicle, and the increase in temperature will shorten the service life of the electric vehicle. Not only this, but also increase the cost of electricity and maintenance. In the past, the industry only focused on methods to improve power quality such as load capacity, relay setting, and harmonic resolution. Now, the consider of three-phase unbalance rate (TPUR) must be applied. I propose special transformers wiring (STW) to improve the three unbalance rates and provide different transformer wiring methods. According to the IEEE Committee, in the future, power companies will need to install balanced relay stations to improve three-phase unbalance rate. the internal regulations of Taipower must be less than 4.5% (voltage unbalance rate (NPSUR)of 2.5% and motor temperature rise of 12.5%). the derivation of the transformer "three-phase unbalance rate" model is the focus of the railway system. This research is based on the model derivation of different wiring methods to improve the hot problem caused by the three-phase imbalance and improve the service life of the train. And pointed out that Scott, Le-Blanc, Modified-Woodbridge three wiring methods can be applied to future railway system routes to improve the three-phase unbalance rate, in line with the IEEE standard of less than 2%.

Intradermal injection of botulinum neurotoxin is a frequently performed procedure in aesthetic dermatology to improve facial skin tone, texture, fine wrinkles, and enlarged pores. In practice, botulinum neurotoxin type A is also used to reduce skin oiliness of the face. There is increasing evidence that acetylcholine plays specific roles in sebum production, suggesting that botulinum neurotoxin type A may reduce sebum production by interfering with cholinergic transmission between sebaceous glands and autonomic nerve terminals. Botulinum neurotoxins can also inhibit several pathogenetic components of acne development, suggesting that botulinum neurotoxins can be used as a safe and effective treatment modality for acne and other skin disorders related to the overactivity of sebaceous glands. This review aims to explore the current evidence behind the treatment of oily skin and acne with botulinum neurotoxin type A.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has greatly improved outcomes for patients with relapsed or refractory hematological malignancies. However, challenges such as treatment resistance, relapse, and severe toxicity still hinder its widespread clinical application. Traditional transcriptome analysis has provided limited insights into the complex transcriptional landscape of both leukemia cells and engineered CAR-T cells, as well as their interactions within the tumor microenvironment. However, with the advent of single-cell sequencing techniques, a paradigm shift has occurred, providing robust tools to unravel the complexities of these factors. These techniques enable unbiased analysis of cellular heterogeneity and molecular patterns. These insights are invaluable for precise receptor design, guiding gene-based T cell modification, and optimizing manufacturing conditions. Consequently, this review utilizes modern single-cell sequencing techniques to clarify the transcriptional intricacies of leukemia cells and CAR-Ts. The aim of this manuscript is to discuss the potential mechanisms that contribute to the clinical failures of CAR-T immunotherapy. We will examine the biological characteristics of CAR-Ts, the mechanisms that govern clinical responses, and the intricacies of adverse events. By exploring these aspects, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of CAR-T therapy, which will ultimately lead to improved clinical outcomes and broader therapeutic applications.

In a single-center, retrospective study, 22 cases were enrolled and divided into two groups: those who underwent surgical wide excision (group A) and those who did not (group B). The study included 13 cases in group A and 9 cases in group B. In group A, 6 cases solely underwent surgical wide excision, while 7 cases received additional treatments like radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Conversely, in group B, 4 cases received chemotherapy, 4 cases received radiotherapy, and 1 case was managed through observation alone. The mean follow-up time was 60.15 months in group A and 43.44 months in group B, with no significant difference observed. In group A, 9 cases resulted in mortality, whereas 6 cases died within the follow-up period in group B. Lesion-free intervals post-operation were observed predominantly in group A, while 7 cases in group B never experienced freedom from skin lesions. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis demonstrated a significant difference between the survival curves of the two groups (P = 0.046). Among non-HIV Kaposi’s sarcoma patients, surgical wide excision appears to have a role in treatment. Patients in group A exhibit a more favorable outcome in the survival curve analysis.

In this paper, the preparation methods of porous silicon nitride materials with controllable dielectric constant and pore structure were systematically studied. By using microwave sintering technology, porous silicon nitride materials with high closed pore ratio were prepared by adjusting the content of sintering additives and sintering process parameters, and controlling the grain boundary phase and pore structure and size. The effects of sintering conditions on the total porosity, closed porosity, pore structure and dielectric properties of materials were systematically studied.

IoT is a computational perception that defines a situation, where smart objects are interconnected to the internet/ network. In the last few years, IoT objects have increased in all sectors/ fields and use in all domains of our lives. As the number of devices increases, the privacy of data becomes an important issue. To deal with this issue different techniques have been used by researchers in this field. Unfortunately, these methods have less traceability, privacy of data, and accountability. This paper aims to design a blockchain-based network architecture for Traceability, Data privacy, and Accountability (TDA). Technologies of blockchain are known as a distributed ledger of transactions record, which record the life span information with a timestamp. The major features of blockchain are persistency, decentralization, and audibility. These features help to decrease the budget and increase efficiency. Moreover, to strengthen the TDA architecture, this paper also discusses the performance of the proposed architecture.

This study examines the causal relationships between interest rates in the Korean financial market using a vector error correction model (VECM) and a Bayesian network. The Bayesian network, a novel approach in this context, identifies two distinct transmission channels: one led by call rates (reflecting monetary policy) and another by 10-year Treasury bond yields (reflecting fiscal policy). While the call rate channel aligns with traditional views, affecting bank lending rates, corporate bond spreads, and commercial paper rates, the 10-year Treasury yield channel highlights a separate fiscal policy transmission mechanism, influencing commercial paper rates indirectly through 30-year Treasury yields and directly impacting merchant bank lending rates. This finding suggests that fiscal intervention could potentially interfere with monetary policy, emphasizing the need for coordinated macroeconomic policy measures. The study also emphasizes the role of 10-year Treasury bonds as a benchmark in the Korean bond market, reflecting medium- to long-term economic outlooks and serving as the underlying asset for various derivatives.

Species richness is a widely used measure for assessing the diversity of a particular area. However, observed richness often underestimates the true richness due to resource limitations, particularly in the small-sized sample or highly heterogeneous assemblage. Estimating species richness in a large-scale region typically involves an integrated data set consisting of subsamples collected independently from different subregions. However, the pooled sample of integrated data is no longer a random sample from the entire region, and the use of different sampling schemes results in variations in data formats. Consequently, employing a single sampling distribution to model the pooled sample becomes impractical, rendering existing richness estimators inadequate. This study theoretically explains the applicability of Chao's lower bound estimators in estimating species richness for large-scale areas using the pooled sample. Additionally, a new nonparametric estimator is introduced, which adjusts the bias of Chao's lower bound estimator by leveraging the Good-Turing frequency formula. This proposed estimator only utilizes the pooled sample's singleton, doubleton, and tripleton richness. Simulated data sets across various models are employed to demonstrate the statistical performance of the estimator, showcasing its ability to reduce bias and provide accurate 95% confidence intervals. Real data sets are also utilized to illustrate the practical application of the proposed approach.

Oil-Gan, also known as emblica, is the fruit of the genus Phyllanthus emblica L. The fruits of these trees are high in nutrients and have excellent effects on health care and development values. There are many methods for the management of diabetic nephropathy (DN). However, there is a lack of effective drugs for treating DN from throughout the disease course. The primary aim of this study was to examine the protective effects (including urine analyses, the measurement of inflammatory cytokine levels, and histological examination) and mechanisms of action of an ethyl acetate extract of P. emblica (EPE) on db/db mice, an animal model of diabetic nephropathy, as well as a secondary aim of examining the expression levels of protein kinase Cα (PKCα) in the kidney and its downregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibrosis gene transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) by Western blot analyses. Eight db/m C57BLKS/J mice were used as the control group. Forty db/db mice were randomly divided into five groups. Treatments included vehicle, EPE1, EPE2, EPE3 (at doses of 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg EPE), or the comparative drug aminoguanidine for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks of treatment, blood samples were collected for analyses of blood glucose, insulin, and HbA1c levels, and pancreatic and kidney tissues were dissected for histological analyses. The present study indicated that the administration of EPE to db/db mice effectively controlled hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia by markedly lowering blood glucose, insulin, and glycosylated HbA1c levels. Administration of EPE to db/db mice decreased the levels of BUN and creatinine both in blood and urine and reduced urinary albumin excretion and the albumin creatine ratio (UACR) in urine. Moreover, EPE treatment decreased the blood levels of inflammatory cytokines, including kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), C-reactive protein (CRP), and NLR family pyrin domain containing (NLRP3). Our findings showed that EPE not only had antihyperglycemic effects but also improved renal function in db/db mice. Histological examination of the kidney by immunohistochemistry indicated that EPE can improve kidney function by ameliorating glomerular morphological damage following glomerular injury; alleviating proteinuria by upregulating the expression of nephrin, a biomarker of early glomerular damage; and inhibiting glomerular expansion and tubular fibrosis. Moreover, the administration of EPE to db/db mice increased the expression levels of p- PKCα/t-PKCα but decreased the expression levels of VEGF and renal fibrosis biomarkers (TGF-β1, collagen IV, p-Smad2, p-Smad3, and Smad4), as shown by Western blot analyses. These results implied that EPE as a supplement has a protective effect against renal dysfunction through the amelioration of insulin resistance as well as the suppression of nephritis and fibrosis in a DN model.

The movement of liquid droplets on the energy gradient surface has attracted extensive attention. Inspired by biological features in nature, such as the periodic spindle-shaped nodes in spider silks and conical-like barbs of cacti, the structure-property-function relationship of multifunctional gradient surfaces. In this study, a series of specific patterns are fabricated by 3D printing technology, followed by modification via the atmospheric pressure plasma treatment and liquid phase chemical deposition, resulting in enhancing the ability of water droplets of 5μL to travel 18.47mm on a horizontal plane and 22.75mm against gravity up to 20° tilting angle. Additionally, analysis techniques have been employed including contact angle analyzer, ESCA and laser confocal microscope to evaluate the sample performance. This work could further be applied to many applications related to microfluidic devices, drug delivery and water/fog collection.

Silicon-based photodetectors, as low-cost and environmentally friendly optical sensors, are attractive. Also, their compatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology is advantageous for the development of silicon photonics systems. However, extending optical responsivity of silicon-based photodetectors to the mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelength range remains challenging. In developing mid-IR infrared Schottky detectors, nanoscale metals are critical. Nonetheless, one key factor is the Fermi level pinning effect at the metal/silicon interface and the presence of metal-induced gap states (MIGS). Here, we demonstrate the utilization of the passivated surface layer on semiconductor materials as an insulating material in metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contacts to mitigate the Fermi level pinning effect. The removal of Fermi level pinning effectively reduces the Schottky barrier height by 12.5% to 16%. The demonstrated devices exhibit a high responsivity of up to 234 μA/W at a wavelength of 2 μm, 48.2 μA/W at 3 μm, and 1.75 μA/W at 6 μm. The corresponding detectivities at 2 and 3 μm are 1.17×10^8 cm Hz^1/2 W^-1 and 2.41×10^7 cm Hz^1/2 W^-1, respectively. The expanded sensing wavelength range contributes to the application development of future silicon photonics integration platforms.

This paper reassesses the detrimental effect on fatigue performance due to thicker sections based on extensive fatigue strength test database, taken from research program worldwide over the past half of a century in offshore oil &amp; gas and renewable industry. The data entries in the database have been evaluated to ensure its data integrity. Statistical analyses on these S-N data are performed with or without the thickness correction at different exposure level to corrosive environment, in order to re-evaluate the suitability of current standards in regard to the thickness effect. The study has concentrated on T-joint, transverse butt welded joint and tubular joint as these are the most commonly used joint types in the offshore wind industry. The analysis indicates general agreement of fatigue strength with the thickness effects in current standard for in air conditions but great conservatism for corrosive environment.

The concept of Design Fatigue Factors (DFFs) was introduced for providing desired level of safety in structural fatigue design, often associated with damage calculated from S-N curves. Calculation of fatigue damage from S-N curves can be affected by multiple factors, e.g. types of weld class, corrosion condition, loading conditions, stress concentration on different geometries etc. Each of them can be subject to different level of uncertainties. This study intends to recalibrate the DFFs from a detailed reliability analysis by investigating the probabilistic models derived from the database of S-N curves that has been most frequently used in offshore wind industry. The results of such study indicate that the DFFs can be reduced substantially for the corrosive environmental fatigue models from current standards to the same level of target reliability.

This manuscript proposes a novel tangent-graph-based method that provides all distinctive topology paths, as a set of trajectories that can not be transformed into each other by gradual bending and stretching without colliding with obstacles. As the global optimal trajectory (limited by dynamic constraints) may not correspond to the shortest path (almost without dynamic constraints), it is important to provide all distinctive topology paths rather than just the globally shortest one. One of the application is provide initial paths for trajectory planning methods, such as time elastic band (TEB) and dynamic window approach (DWA). Considering that a mobile platform is always working in a dynamic changing environment and that update the whole graph is time consuming, a dynamic rectify method is proposed to update tangents according to local map provided by sensor reading. Finally, results under real grid maps are presented.

Path planning in 3D environment is a fundamental research area for robots and autonomous vehicles. Based on the principle ``the shortest path consists of tangents'', RimJump* is proposed as a tangent-based path planning method suitable for finding the shortest path (both off-ground and on-ground) in 3D space (e.g., octomap and point cloud) for mobile platform to follow. RimJump* searches the tangent graph in the form of a path tree and considers the geometrical properties of the locally shortest path. Therefore, the method can provide all of the locally shortest paths that connect the starting point and the target, including the globally shortest path. And the time cost of RimJump* is insensitive to map scale increases in comparison to methods that search the whole passable space rather than the surface of the obstacle, e.g., Dijkstra and A*. In the Results, RimJump* is compared with other methods in terms of path length and time cost.

Weighted Student Funding (WSF) systems have been implemented in various countries to give schools more autonomy over how to allocate their funding. School principals use funding to maintain school operations and foster innovation for achieving educational goals. However, despite the importance of this process, scholarly research has largely overlooked how principals make decisions about their financial resources. Accordingly, this study seeks to provide practical insights into the strategies used by one school by highlighting their staff’s perceptions about using their WSF to maintain school operations and spur innovation. Using a case study approach, we investigated a principal who effectively used a school’s WSF to transform a failing school into an innovative one. The findings revealed that the principal strategically implemented financial management mechanisms in a way that inspired teachers to deeply consider how a school's WSF can help achieve educational goals. The principal fostered consensus on the school's direction, encouraged innovation through hands-on experiential learning and strategic planning, and facilitated funding for innovative teachers by guiding proposal development. Insights into the shifting cultural and practical landscape of financial resource utilization within schools are discussed.

In response to the growing need for efficient energy conversion technologies, this pa-per introduces an innovative Tubular Thermoelectric Generator (TTEG), specifically de-signed for high-efficiency conversion of waste heat into electrical energy. Unlike conven-tional flat plate thermoelectric generators (FTEGs), the TTEG incorporates full-ring ther-moelectric elements within a tubular layout, offering a novel approach to thermal energy recovery from fluid-based systems. This design significantly enhances the heat transfer capabilities, thereby improving the efficiency of energy conversion. Comprehensive simulations and analyses form the core of this study, where the per-formance of the TTEG is rigorously compared with traditional FTEGs. These comparisons highlight the advantages of the tubular design in terms of energy conversion efficiency and practical applicability in various scenarios. The findings reveal that the TTEG not only outperforms its flat plate counterparts but also presents a scalable and adaptable so-lution for waste heat recovery in a wide range of industrial and automotive applications. This research contributes to the field of energy science and technology by presenting a detailed experimental setup, complete with reproducible procedures and results. It opens new pathways for the development of more sustainable and efficient energy conversion systems, aligning with the goal of harnessing renewable and sustainable energy sources. The potential applications of this technology in enhancing energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact are vast, making it a significant step forward in the quest for clean and sustainable energy solutions.

Breast cancer is the most common malignancies in women and the second leading cause of cancer death in women. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype is a breast cancer subset without ER, PR and HER2 expression, limiting treatment options and presenting a poorer survival rate. Thus, we investigated whether HDACi would be used as potential anti-cancer therapy on breast cancer cells. In this study, we found TNBC and HER2-enrich breast cancers are extremely sensitive to Panobinostat, Belinostat of HDACi via experiments of cell viability assay, apoptotic marker identification and flow cytometry measurement. On the other hand, we developed a bioluminescence based live cell non-invasive apoptosis detection sensor (IADS) detection system to evaluate the quantitative and kinetic analyses of apoptotic cell death by HDAC treatment on breast cancer cells. In addition, the use of HDACi may also be accompanied with chemotherapeutic agent such as doxorubicin to synergic drug sensitivity on TNBC cell (MDA-MB-231), but not in breast normal epithelia cells (MCF-10A), providing therapeutic benefits against breast tumor in clinic.

The theory of the continuous two-dimensional (2D) Fourier Transform in polar coordinates has been recently developed but no discrete counterpart exists to date. In the first part of this two-paper series, we proposed and evaluated the theory of the 2D discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) in polar coordinates. The theory of the actual manipulated quantities was shown, including the standard set of shift, modulation, multiplication, and convolution rules. In this second part of the series, we address the computational aspects of the 2D DFT in polar coordinates. Specifically, we demonstrate how the decomposition of the 2D DFT as a DFT, Discrete Hankel Transform (DHT) and inverse DFT sequence can be exploited for efficient code. We also demonstrate how the proposed 2D DFT can be used to approximate the continuous forward and inverse Fourier transform in polar coordinates in the same manner that the 1D DFT can be used to approximate its continuous counterpart.

Dry eye syndrome (DES) has become increasingly prevalent due to the prolonged use of digital devices in modern society. Individual supplementation with lutein or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) demonstrated potential benefits for eye health. This study aimed to investigate the effects of lutein plus DHA complex supplementation on DES, visual function, and memory in healthy individuals. Thirty-four participants, aged 40~60 years, received lutein/DHA complex supplements (containing 10 mg free-form lutein, 200 mg DHA, 30 mg red algae extract (astaxanthin), phosphatidylserine, and vitamin A) for 12 weeks. Ophthalmological examinations and memory tests were carried out, and a questionnaire was administered at weeks 0, 6, and 12 of the study. After 12 weeks of the intervention, the tear break-up time had significantly increased, and intraocular pressure (IOP) had significantly decreased. This suggests that lutein/DHA complex supplementation may reduce the IOP and offer potential benefits for DES, as indicated by improved tear stability.

Large quantities of clothing are routinely discarded, ending up in landfills that contribute to the environmental crisis; hence, it is worthwhile investigating how to dispose of this waste in a sustainable way. This study considered environmental values and prosocial behavior from a behaviorism theory. The aim was to set up an environmental protection model for the sustainable disposal of consumer clothing. A structural equation modeling analysis of 407 undergraduate and postgraduate consumer data in Taiwan revealed that consumers’ choice to donate clothing was influenced by environmental values and prosocial behaviors. Clothing resale was influenced by the factor of prosocial behavior. However, prosocial consumers used other disposal patterns instead of resale. Clothing reuse was not influenced by either environmental values or prosocial behavior. The results indicated that environmental values and prosocial behavior did in fact influence consumers’ choices regarding clothing donation. However, prosocial consumers used other disposal patterns instead of resale. Behaviorism theory model is effective in analyzing the factors influencing sustainable clothing disposal. To face clothing waste issues, one can intensify traditional values of industriousness and thriftiness, of compassion and sympathy to others, to accelerate the promotion of the sustainable disposal of clothing.

This article addresses the trajectory tracking between two non-identical systems with chaotic properties. We employ the Rossler chaotic and RCL-shunted Josephson junctions model in similar phase space to study trajectory tracking. In order to achieve the goal tracking, we afford two stages to approximate the target tracking. The first stage utilizes the active control technique to transfer the output signal from the RCLs-J system into the quasi-Rossler system. Then next, the RCLs-J system employs the proposed the iterative learning control scheme and the control signal from the drive system to trace the trajectory of Rossler system. The numerical results demonstrate the proposed method and the tracking system is asymptotically stable.

The rapid advancement of technology has led to increased electronic consumption and a corresponding rise in e-waste generation. To address this issue, this study develops a low-carbon e-commerce closed-loop supply chain (LCE-CLSC) system with remanufacturer, platform, and the government as key stakeholders. An evolutionary game approach is employed to investigate the system's dynamics, analyzing the impact of stakeholder strategies on system equilibrium. Numerical simulations reveal important findings: Firstly, government initiatives promoting recycling, carbon taxes on traditional products, can incentivize remanufacturers to produce low-carbon items and encourage platform investment in recycling services. Secondly, higher sales revenues motivate remanufacturers to produce low-carbon products. Thirdly, consumer sensitivity to recycling services strengthens waste recovery when platforms increase investments in these services, leading to remanufacturers choosing low-carbon production. Lastly, government subsidies may become ineffective if the cost of remanufacturers' carbon reduction and platforms' recycling services exceeds their affordability. These findings offer insights for the sustainable development of obsolete electronic product recycling systems.

This research not only dedicated a less restrictive method of iteration-varying function for a learning control law to design a controller but also synchronize two nonlinear systems with free time-delay. In addition, the mathematical theory of system synchronization has proved rigorously and the theory verified through an example to demonstrate the behavior of each parameter in the theory. The design of a controller using the iterative learning control law is significant for robotic tracking. The controller in this research generates a feed-forward control input using the error dynamics among the drive-response systems. The error dynamics satisfies the Lyapunov function and the combination of output errors, which respectively represented relative estimated differences of the drive-response systems. The iterative learning control rule serves the function of a filter adding previous control error after the end of each iteration. The numerical example of a synchronous system is given a Lorenz system for driving and another with the iterative learning control law for response under different initial condition. The results verify and demonstrate the proposed mathematical theory. The simulation exhibits consistency in the behavior of each parameter to match mathematical theory.

In this study, the apparent variation range of acoustical parameters were investigated in a concert hall. The initial time delay gap (ITDG) was evaluated in terms of its just noticeable difference (JND) through two instruments, the cello and the trumpet. Even though the IDTG values were prolonged over the measurements and were not significantly varied, an ITDG range of 22 - 220 ms in increments of 91 steps was produced electro-acoustically in an anechoic chamber with a loudspeaker. The result of JNDc ((delta gap/gap) was rated 0.059 and 0.081 at 50% “different” judgement ranges for the cello and trumpet tracks, respectively. The effective duration of the autocorrection function (ACF) of the continuous brainwaves (CBWs) within the alpha (8-13 Hz) frequency range on the left hemisphere responding to 91-step ITDG increments revealed that the continuous ratio minimum Tauee e of CBW was approximately equal to 0.28 s on the trumpet. The continuous ratios of Tauee e_min ((Tauee e_min_rear - Tauee e_min_front)/ Tauee e_min_front) of CBWs were constantly at 0.4. Furthermore, a homologous period of resonance between the subjective JNDc and Tauee e values of the ACF of CBWs in the alpha range allowed us to conclude that the subjective JND of the ITDG in a room is related to the W_IACC value of the interaural cross-correlation function, which reflect the characteristics of source signal themselves and arouse the activities of brain on the right hemisphere (p < 0.01).

The weight coefficients of the diaphragm spring depend on experiences in the traditional optimization. However, this method not only cannot guarantee the optimal solution but it is also not universal. Therefore, a new optimization target function is proposed. The new function takes the minimum of average compress force changing of the spring and the minimum force of the separation as total objectives. Based on the optimization function, the result of the clutch diaphragm spring in a car is analyzed by the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and the solution set of Pareto is obtained. The results show that the pressing force of the diaphragm spring is improved by 4.09%by the new algorithmand the steering separation force is improved by 6.55%, which has better stability and steering portability. The problem of the weight coefficient in the traditional empirical design is solved. The pressing force of the optimized diaphragm spring varied slightly during the abrasion range of the friction film, and the manipulation became remarkably light.