Search results for: Chang Geun Song

Authors: Yao Song, Danni Cheng, Jianjun Ren

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Objectives: We aimed to explore the prognostic effects of absolute values and dynamic changes of common hematological indices on oropharynx squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) patients treated with radiation. Methods and materials: The absolute values of white blood cell (WBC), absolute neutrophil count (ANC), absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), hemoglobin (Hb), platelet (Plt), albumin (Alb), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) at baseline (within 45 days before radiation), 1-, 3-, 6- and 12-months after the start of radiotherapy were retrospectively collected. Locally-estimated smoothing scatterplots were used to describe the smooth trajectory of each index. A mixed-effect model with a random slope was fitted to describe the changing rate and trend of indices over time. Cox proportional hazard analysis was conducted to assess the correlation between hematological indices and treatment outcomes. Results: Of the enrolled 85 OPSCC patients, inflammatory indices, such as WBC and ALC, dropped rapidly during acute treatment and gradually recovered, while NLR and PLR increased at first three months and subsequently declined within 3-12 months. Higher absolute value or increasing trend of nutritional indices (Alb and Hb) was associated with better prognosis (all p<0.05). In contrast, patients with higher absolute value or upward trend of inflammatory indices (WBC, ANC, Plt, PLR and NLR) had worse survival (all p<0.05). Conclusions: The absolute values and dynamic changes of hematological indices were valuable prognostic factors for OPSCC patients who underwent radiotherapy.

Keywords: hematological indices, oropharyngeal cancer, radiotherapy, NLR, PLR

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Authors: Mei-Chun Chang

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Due to digital transformation and social media development in recent years, various real-time interactive digital tools have been developed to meet the design demands for virtual reality avatars, which also promote digital content learners' active participation in the creation process. As a result, new social media design tools have the characteristics of intuitive operation with a simplified interface for fast production, from which works can be simply created. This study carried out observations, records, questionnaire surveys, and interviews on the creation and learning of visual avatars made by students of the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) with the VRoid Studio 3D modeling tool so as to explore their learning effectiveness on the design of visual avatars. According to the results of this study, the VRoid Studio 3D character modeling tool has a positive impact on the learners and helps to improve their learning effectiveness. Students with low academic achievements said that they could complete the conceived modeling with their own thinking by using the design tool, which increased their sense of accomplishment. Conclusions are drawn according to the results, and relevant future suggestions are put forward.

Keywords: virtual avatar, character design, social media, vroid studio, creation, digital learning

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Authors: Chongya Song, Kang Yen, Alexander Pons, Jin Liu

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In the field of machine learning, the ensemble has been employed as a common methodology to improve the performance upon multiple base classifiers. However, the true predictions are often canceled out by the false ones during consensus due to a phenomenon called “curse of correlation” which is represented as the strong interferences among the predictions produced by the base classifiers. In addition, the existing practices are still not able to effectively mitigate the problem of imbalanced classification. Based on the analysis on our experiment results, we conclude that the two problems are caused by some inherent deficiencies in the approach of consensus. Therefore, we create an enhanced ensemble algorithm which adopts a designed rank-based chain-mode consensus to overcome the two problems. In order to evaluate the proposed ensemble algorithm, we employ a well-known benchmark data set NSL-KDD (the improved version of dataset KDDCup99 produced by University of New Brunswick) to make comparisons between the proposed and 8 common ensemble algorithms. Particularly, each compared ensemble classifier uses the same 22 base classifiers, so that the differences in terms of the improvements toward the accuracy and reliability upon the base classifiers can be truly revealed. As a result, the proposed rank-based chain-mode consensus is proved to be a more effective ensemble solution than the traditional consensus approach, which outperforms the 8 ensemble algorithms by 20% on almost all compared metrices which include accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score and area under receiver operating characteristic curve.

Keywords: consensus, curse of correlation, imbalance classification, rank-based chain-mode ensemble

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Authors: Yun Chol Kang, Myong Nam Kong, Nam Chol Yu, Jin Sim Kim, Un Yong Paek, Song Ho Kim

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This study focuses on the calculating approach of the thermal conductivity of 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) in different relative humidity corresponding to low water contents. When water content in 8YSZ is low, water droplets can accumulate in the neck regions. We assume that spherical water droplets are randomly located in the neck regions formed by grains and surrounded by the pores. Based on this, a new hypothetical pore constituted by air and water is proposed using the microstructural modeling. We consider 8YSZ is a two-phase material constituted by the solid region and the hypothetical pore region where the water droplets are penetrated in the pores, randomly. The results showed that the thermal conductivity of the hypothetical pore is calculated using the parallel resistance for low water contents, and the effective thermal conductivity of 8YSZ material constituted by solid and hypothetical pore in different relative humidities using EMPT. When the numbers of water layers on the surface of 8YSZ are less than 1.5, the proposed approach gives a good interpretation of the experimental results. When the theoretical value of the number of water layers on 8YSZ surface is 1, the water content is not enough to cover the internal solid surface completely. The proposed approach gives a better interpretation of the experimental results in different relative humidities that numbers of water layers on the surface of 8YSZ are less than 1.5.

Keywords: 8YSZ, microstructure, thermal conductivity, relative humidity

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Authors: Yi-Feng Kao, Huey-Jine Chai, Chin-I Chang, Yi-Chen Chen, June-Ru Chen

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Microglia is a macrophage that resides in brain, and overactive microglia may result in brain neuron damage or inflammation. In this study, the phospholipids was extracted from squid skin and manufactured into a liposome (SQ liposome) to mimic apoptotic body. We then evaluated anti-inflammatory effects of SQ liposome on mouse microglial cell line (BV-2) by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induction. First, the major phospholipid constituents in the squid skin extract were including 46.2% of phosphatidylcholine, 18.4% of phosphatidylethanolamine, 7.7% of phosphatidylserine, 3.5% of phosphatidylinositol, 4.9% of Lysophosphatidylcholine and 19.3% of other phospholipids by HPLC-UV analysis. The contents of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the squid skin extract were 11.8 and 28.7%, respectively. The microscopic images showed that microglia cells can engulf apoptotic cells or SQ-liposome. In cell based studies, there was no cytotoxicity to BV-2 as the concentration of SQ-liposome was less than 2.5 mg/mL. The LPS induced pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), were significant suppressed (P < 0.05) by pretreated 0.03~2.5mg/ml SQ liposome. Oppositely, the anti-inflammatory cytokines transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) secretion were enhanced (P < 0.05). The results suggested that SQ-liposome possess anti-inflammatory properties on BV-2 and may be a good strategy for against neuro-inflammatory disease.

Keywords: apoptotic mimicry, neuroinflammation, microglia, squid processing by-products

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Authors: Seyyed Mohammad Hasheminia, Heoung Jae Chun, Jong Chan Park, Hong Suk Chang

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Composite joints have been getting attention recently due to their high specific mechanical strength to weight ratio that is crucial for structures such as aircrafts and automobiles. In this study on hybrid joints, quasi-static experiments and finite element analysis were performed to investigate the failure mechanism of hybrid composite joint with respect to the joint properties such as the adhesive material, clamping force, and joint geometry. The outcomes demonstrated that the stiffness of the adhesive is the most imperative design parameter. In this investigation, two adhesives with various stiffness values were utilized. Regarding the joints utilizing the adhesive with the lower stiffness modulus, it was observed that the load was exchanged promptly through the adhesive since it was shared more proficiently between the bolt and adhesive. This phenomenon permitted the hybrid joints with low-modulus adhesive to support more prominent loads before failure when contrasted with the joints that utilize the stiffer adhesive. In the next step, the stress share between the bond and bolt as a function of various design parameters was studied using a finite element model in which it was understood that the geometrical parameters such as joint overlap and width have a significant influence on the load sharing between the bolt and the adhesive.

Keywords: composite joints, composite materials, hybrid joints, single-lap joint

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Authors: Minna Chang

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Introduction: M. pneumoniae is a respiratory pathogen, which commonly causes upper and lower respiratory infections. It primarily affects children and young adults. Respiratory symptoms are well recognized, but extrapulmonary involvement is also common. Other systems that have been implicated in the disease include: skin, mucus membranes, central, peripheral nervous systems, cardiovascular, haematological, renal, and musculoskeletal systems. Here, we report a case of an otherwise healthy, young female with M. pneumonia, who presented with right upper quadrant abdominal pain. Case presentation: a healthy 25-year-old female was referred to A&E by her general practitioner, after presenting with fever, malaise, and right upper quadrant pain. M. pneumoniae was confirmed retrospectively by serology. The patient made a full recovery after a six-day course of doxycycline 100mg. Conclusion: M. pneumonia is a well-established cause of respiratory infections in children and young adults. Febrile illness with multisystem involvement, even in the absence of respiratory symptoms, should raise suspicion of M. pneumoniae infection in healthy, young adults. Our case illustrates the multi-system involvement of M. pneumoniae, which was initially missed, due to paucity of respiratory symptoms at presentation.

Keywords: infectious diseases, mycoplasma pneumoniae, respiratory infections, extra-pulmonary manifestations

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Authors: Zoe Chang, Max Williams, Gautham Das

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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the incorporation of hemp fibers (HF) in concrete. Hemp fiber reinforced concrete (HFRC) is becoming more popular as an alternative for regular mix designs. This study was done to evaluate the compressive strength of HFRC regarding mix procedure. Hemp fibers were obtained from the manufacturer and hand-processed to ensure uniformity in width and length. The fibers were added to the concrete as both wet and dry mixes to investigate and optimize the mix design process. Results indicated that the dry mix had a compressive strength of 1157 psi compared to the wet mix of 985 psi. This dry mix compressive strength was within range of the standard mix compressive strength of 1533 psi. The statistical analysis revealed that the mix design process needs further optimization and uniformity concerning the addition of HF. Regression analysis revealed the standard mix design had a coefficient of 0.9 as compared to the dry mix of 0.375, indicating a variation in the mixing process. While completing the dry mix, the addition of plain hemp fibers caused them to intertwine, creating lumps and inconsistency. However, during the wet mixing process, combining water and hemp fibers before incorporation allows the fibers to uniformly disperse within the mix; hence the regression analysis indicated a better coefficient of 0.55. This study concludes that HRFC is a viable alternative to regular mixes; however, more research surrounding its characteristics needs to be conducted.

Keywords: hemp fibers, hemp reinforced concrete, wet & dry, freeze thaw testing, compressive strength

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Authors: N. Boutaghane, F. Z. Tounsi

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Many physical and technological factors degrade the SPECT images, both qualitatively and quantitatively. For this, it is not always put into leading technological advances to improve the performance of tomographic gamma camera in terms of detection, collimation, reconstruction and correction of tomographic images methods. We have to master firstly the choice of various acquisition and reconstruction parameters, accessible to clinical cases and using the attenuation and scatter correction methods to always optimize quality image and minimized to the maximum dose received by the patient. In this work, an evaluation of qualitative and quantitative tomographic images is performed based on the acquisition parameters (counts per projection) and reconstruction parameters (filter type, associated cutoff frequency). In addition, methods for correcting physical effects such as attenuation and scatter degrading the image quality and preventing precise quantitative of the reconstructed slices are also presented. Two approaches of attenuation and scatter correction are implemented: the attenuation correction by CHANG method with a filtered back projection reconstruction algorithm and scatter correction by the subtraction JASZCZAK method. Our results are considered as such recommandation, which permits to determine the origin of the different artifacts observed both in quality control tests and in clinical images.

Keywords: attenuation, scatter, reconstruction filter, image quality, acquisition and reconstruction parameters, SPECT

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Authors: Murtaza Adil, Sen Yang, Zhou Chao, Song Xiaoping

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The morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) recently has attracted constant interest in ferromagnetic systems for obtaining enhanced large magnetoelastic response. In the present study, structural and magnetoelastic properties of MPB involved ferromagnetic Tb_1-xGd_xFe₂ (0≤x≤1) system has been investigated. The change of easy magnetic direction from <111> to <100> with increasing x up MPB composition of x=0.9 is detected by step-scanned [440] synchrotron X-ray diffraction reflections. The Gd substitution for Tb changes the composition for the anisotropy compensation near MPB composition of x=0.9, which was confirmed by the analysis of detailed scanned XRD, magnetization curves and the calculation of the first anisotropy constant K₁. The spin configuration diagram accompanied with different crystal structures for Tb_1-xGd_xFe₂ was designed. The calculated first anisotropy constant K₁ shows a minimum value at MPB composition of x=0.9. In addition, the large ratio between magnetostriction, and the absolute values of the first anisotropy constant │λ_S∕K₁│ appears at MPB composition, which makes it a potential material for magnetostrictive application. Based on experimental results, a theoretically approach was also proposed to signify that the facilitated magnetization rotation and enhanced magnetoelastic effect near MPB composition are a consequence of the anisotropic flattening of free energy of ferromagnetic crystal. Our work specifies the universal existence of MPB in ferromagnetic materials which is important for substantial improvement of magnetic and magnetostrictive properties and may provide a new route to develop advanced functional materials.

Keywords: free energy, magnetic anisotropy, magnetostriction, morphotropic phase boundary (MPB)

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Authors: Dinh Ngoc Bich Khuyen, Chang Zhu

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Due to the radical changes and complexities within academic institutions, leadership development addressed to academic leaders in the digital age has become more important. Unfortunately, studies on outcome assessment of leadership development and its related factors have not been evaluated rigorously. The current study investigated the contribution of peer interaction and two subscales of motivation to the effectiveness of the leadership development programs perceived by learners in a diverse context. Of 73 participants, the majority of workshop attendees were junior and middle-level leaders from both European universities and Chinese universities who participated in the leadership development programs organized under an EU project. PLS-SEM was employed to validate the instrument and answer the research questions, respectively. The finding reveals that self-growth and peer interaction significantly contribute to perceived effectiveness, whereas networking motivator shows non-significant impact. Besides, the new contribution of these findings is to show that peer interaction fully mediates the relationship between self-growth and perceived effectiveness. To this end, the findings highlight the importance of dispositional factors regarding the quality of the leadership development program in HE contexts and the potential of such program to enhance the knowledge and capacities of academic leaders regarding university governance and leadership.

Keywords: higher education, leadership development, effectiveness, middle-level leaders, junior-level leaders

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Authors: Chang Hsueh-Sheng, Chen Tzu-Ling

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Earthquake is an unpredictable natural disaster and intensive earthquakes have caused serious impacts on social-economic system, environmental and social resilience. Conventional ways to mitigate earthquake disaster are to enhance building codes and advance structural engineering measures. However, earthquake-induced ground damage such as liquefaction, land subsidence, landslide happen on places nearby earthquake prone or poor soil condition areas. Therefore, this study uses spatial statistical analysis to explore the spatial pattern of damaged buildings. Afterwards, principle components analysis (PCA) is applied to categorize the similar features in different kinds of clustered patterns. The results show that serious landslide prone area, close to fault, vegetated ground surface and mudslide prone area are common in those highly damaged buildings. In addition, the oldest building might not be directly referred to the most vulnerable one. In fact, it seems that buildings built between 1974 and 1989 become more fragile during the earthquake. The incorporation of both spatial statistical analyses and PCA can provide more accurate information to subsidize retrofit programs to enhance earthquake resistance in particular areas.

Keywords: earthquake disaster, spatial statistic analysis, principle components analysis (pca), clustered patterns

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Authors: Albert Chang, Duncan Webster

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Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus infections in humans can be contracted through contact with domestic animals or unpasteurized dairy products. Although infection in humans is rare, the course can be fulminant. We describe the case of a 75-year-old, immunocompetent male, who developed disseminated disease with bacteremia, native aortic valve endocarditis, suppurative pericarditis with cardiac tamponade, meningitis and bilateral endopthalmitis. Despite treatment with pericardial drain placement, intravenous ceftriaxone and rifampin the patient, unfortunately, did not survive. To date, reported cases of disseminated infection by S. zooepidemicus are few. Furthermore, with the review of the literature, this case demonstrates the broadest organ system involvement reported. Of interest, previous studies have suggested an affinity of this organism for certain organ systems and this case corroborates an emerging association of S. zooepidemicus with endopthalmitis. In addition, this is the second Canadian case of documented human infection with both cases being similar in clinical features, presentation, and geographical location. A discussion regarding previous S. zooepidemicus outbreaks and the potential for zoonotic outbreaks to occur is included. In short, this case report should serve to warn clinicians regarding complications and sites of haematogenous seeding in the setting of disseminated S. zooepidemicus infections.

Keywords: endopthalmitis, endocarditis, meningitis, Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus

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Authors: Wooseok Byon, Eunyoung Kim, Junseong Kwon, Byung Joo Song, Chan Heun Park

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Background/Purpose: Previous preclinical and clinical data suggest that increased lymphocytic infiltration would be associated with good prognosis and benefit from immunogenic chemotherapy especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We investigated a single-center experience of TNBC and relationship with lymphocytic infiltration. Methods: From January 2004 to December 2012, at the Department of Surgery, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, we retrospectively reviewed 897 breast cancer patients-clinical outcomes, clinicopathological characteristics, breast cancer subtypes. And we reviewed lymphocytic infiltration of TNBC specimens by two pathologists. Statistical analysis of risk factors associated with recurrence was performed. Results: A total of 897 patients, 76 were TNBC (8.47%). Mean age of TNBC patients were 50.95 (SD10.42) years, mean follow-up periods was 40.06 months. We reviewed 49 slides, and there were 8 recurrent breast cancer patients (16.32%), and 4 patients were expired (8.16%). There were 9 lymphocytic predominant breast cancers (LPBC)-carcinomas with either intratumoral lymphocytes in >60% of tumor cell nests. 1 patient of LPBC was recurred and 8 were not. In multivariate logistic regression, the odds ratio of lymphocytic infiltration was 0.59 (p=0.643). Conclusion: In a single-center experience of TNBC, the lymphocytic infiltration in tumor cell nest might be a good trend on the prognosis but there was not statistically significant.

Keywords: tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, triple negative breast cancer, medical and health sciences

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Authors: Jun-Hyeon Cho, Ji-Yoon Lee, Young-Bo Sohn, Dong-Jin Shin, You-Chun Song, Dong-Soo Park, Min-Hee Nam, Young-Up Kwon

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Seed germination is a main factor in japonica rice cultivation. For japonica strains unlike indica lines, fast loss of germination ability during storage leads to risk of seeding and deterioration in the quality. To resolve these problems, germplasms screening for longevity was conducted using six days of compulsory aging stress of high temperature (50℃) and humidity (~95% RH). ‘Dharial’, a weedy rice collected in Bangladesh, was chosen as a source of seed longevity for long term storage. The strong germination trait originated from ‘Dharial’ was incorporated into Korean elite japonica cultivars, ‘Ilmi’ and ‘Gopum’, through backcross method. The germination ratio was evaluated after two years of room temperature storage conditions. A high germination ratio of 80.5% in donor plant of ‘Dharial’ and 77.3% in an introgression line were observed based on the two years of storage while the recurrent japonica cultivars, ‘Ilmi’ and ‘Gopum’, were failed in germination. As a result, we investigated the changes of quality affected by germination ability during storage. A gentle slope of palatability which is one of the measurement items for indirect selection indicator of high eating quality in japonica varieties was studied in a high germination ratio introgression line during storage. The introgression line could be useful to increase longevity and quality of japonica rice seed if molecular breeding strategy such as QTLs analysis is combined.

Keywords: rice, longevity, germination, storage

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Authors: Haw-Long Lee, Win-Jin Chang, Yu-Ching Yang

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In the paper, the coupled equation of motion for the dynamic displacement of a fullerene moving in a (10,10) single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) is derived using nonlocal Timoshenko beam theory, including the effects of rotary inertia and shear deformation. The effects of confined stiffness between the fullerene and nanotube, foundation stiffness, and nonlocal parameter on the dynamic behavior are analyzed using the Runge-Kutta Method. The numerical solution is in agreement with the analytical result for the special case. The numerical results show that increasing the confined stiffness and foundation stiffness decrease the dynamic displacement of SWCNT. However, the dynamic displacement increases with increasing the nonlocal parameter. In addition, result using the Euler beam theory and the Timoshenko beam theory are compared. It can be found that ignoring the effects of rotary inertia and shear deformation leads to an underestimation of the displacement.

Keywords: single-walled carbon nanotube, nanoparticle delivery, Nonlocal Timoshenko beam theory, Runge-Kutta Method, Van der Waals force

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Authors: Jaegu Choi, Jae-Mean Koo, Chang-Sung Seok, Byungwoo Moon

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Since massive earthquakes in the world have been reported recently, the safety of nuclear power plants for seismic loading has become a significant issue. Seismic loading is the reverse cyclic loading, consisting of repeated tensile and compression by longitudinal and transverse wave. Up to this time, the study on characteristics of fracture toughness under reverse cyclic loading has been unsatisfactory. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain the fracture toughness under reverse cyclic load for the integrity estimation of nuclear power plants under seismic load. Fracture resistance (J-R) curves, which are used for determination of fracture toughness or integrity estimation in terms of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics, can be derived by the fracture resistance test using single specimen technique. The objective of this paper is to study the effects of reverse cyclic loading on a fracture resistance curve of ESG specimen, having a similar stress gradient compared to the crack surface of the real pipe. For this, we carried out the fracture toughness test under the reverse cyclic loading, while changing incremental plastic displacement. Test results showed that the J-R curves were decreased with a decrease of the incremental plastic displacement.

Keywords: reverse cyclic loading, j-r curve, ESG specimen, incremental plastic displacement

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Authors: Sang Guen Kim, Sib Sankar Giri, Jin Woo Jun, Saekil Yun, Hyoun Joong Kim, Sang Wha Kim, Jung Woo Kang, Se Jin Han, Se Chang Park

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Emerging of the super bacteria, bacteriophages are considered to be as an alternative to antibiotics. As the demand of phage increased, economical and large production of phage is becoming one of the critical points. For the therapeutic use, what is important is to eradicate the pathogenic bacteria as fast as possible, so higher concentration of phages is generally needed for effective therapeutic function. On the contrary, for the maximum production, bacteria work as a phage producing factory. As a microbial cell factory, bacteria is needed to last longer producing the phages without eradication. Consequently, killing the bacteria fast has a negative effect on large production. In this study, Multiplicity of Infection (MOI) was manipulated based on initial bacterial inoculation and used phage pAh-6C which has therapeutic effect against Aeromonas hydrophila. 1, 5 and 10 percent of overnight bacterial culture was inoculated and each bacterial culture was co-cultured with the phage of which MOI of 0.01, 0.0001, and 0.000001 respectively. Simply changing the initial MOI as well as bacterial inoculation concentration has regulated the production quantity of the phage without any other changes to culture conditions. It is anticipated that this result can be used as a foundational data for mass production of lytic bacteriophages which can be used as the therapeutic bio-control agent.

Keywords: bacteriophage, multiplicity of infection, optimization, Aeromonas hydrophila

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Authors: Jyh-Cherng Gu, Ming-Ta Yang, Chao-Fong Yan, Hsin-Yung Chung, Yung-Ruei Chang, Yih-Der Lee, Chen-Min Chan, Chia-Hao Hsu

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There are a number of distributed generations (DGs) installed in microgrid, which may have diverse path and direction of power flow or fault current. The overcurrent protection scheme for the traditional radial type distribution system will no longer meet the needs of microgrid protection. Integrating the intelligent electronic device (IED) and a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) with IEC 61850 communication protocol, the paper proposes a microgrid protection management system (MPMS) to protect power system from the fault. In the proposed method, the MPMS performs logic programming of each IED to coordinate their tripping sequence. The GOOSE message defined in IEC 61850 is used as the transmission information medium among IEDs. Moreover, to cope with the difference in fault current of microgrid between grid-connected mode and islanded mode, the proposed MPMS applies the group setting feature of IED to protect system and robust adaptability. Once the microgrid topology varies, the MPMS will recalculate the fault current and update the group setting of IED. Provided there is a fault, IEDs will isolate the fault at once. Finally, the Matlab/Simulink and Elipse Power Studio software are used to simulate and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.

Keywords: IEC 61850, IED, group Setting, microgrid

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Authors: Chiao-Chen Chang, Yang-Chieh Chin

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Social media has created a change in the way the network community is clustered, especially from the location of the community, from the original virtual space to the intertwined network, and thus the communication between people will change from face to face communication to social media-based communication model. However, social media users who have had a fixed engagement may have an intention to switch to another service provider because of the emergence of new forms of social media. For example, some of Facebook or Twitter users switched to Instagram in 2014 because of social media messages or image overloads, and users may seek simpler and instant social media to become their main social networking tool. This study explores the impact of system features overload, information overload, social monitoring concerns, problematic use and privacy concerns as the antecedents on social media fatigue, dissatisfaction, and alternative attractiveness; further influence social media switching. This study also uses the online questionnaire survey method to recover the sample data, and then confirm the factor analysis, path analysis, model fit analysis and mediating analysis with the structural equation model (SEM). Research findings demonstrated that there were significant effects on multiple paths. Based on the research findings, this study puts forward the implications of theory and practice.

Keywords: social media, switching, social media fatigue, alternative attractiveness

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Authors: Mei-Ying Liao

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The main purpose of this study was to examine the requirements of a successful concert for young children in preschool in Taiwan. This study reports a case study of a preschool’s experience which undertook ten concerts for young children. The main audiences were young children who were two to six years of age. The performers, including children’s family, amateurs and professional performers, were invited to perform music instruments or singing twice a week. The performers participated in these concerts separately, as a solo or ensemble performance. There were totally ten concerts. The structure of concert included the performance, musical activities, questions and answers, song requests, and exploration of instruments. Data collection included interviews with children, teachers and performers, concert observations, and footnotes. Results showed that the requirements of a successful and meaningful concert for young children were suggested to include concert preparation, concert, and post activities. The concert organizer, host and classroom teachers played vital roles for a successful concert. The organizer had to organize the programs and prepared for the concerts based on the needs and interests of their audience of young children, engage their attention and offer the potential to expand their musical worlds. The hosts had to build a bridge between performers and young children who had to know how they could delight and educate children. Concerts combined games, storytelling, instrument exploration and great music had great effects. Finally, the classroom teachers had to do the extension activities after the concerts so that the children will involve more and get more enthusiasm in concerts.

Keywords: case study, concert, music education, performance

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Authors: Liang Zhang

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Chinese traditional architecture has developed a school of its own in the world. It has a different structure and construction technology from western architecture. Tenon and mortise structure and construction technology, as the key to the construction of traditional Chinese architecture, have been inherited for thousands of years by traditional craftsmen in various regions of China. However, the traditional architecture varies greatly in different times and regional cultures in China. It is still a lack of research whether this difference extends to mortise and tenon technology. In this study, we measured the mortise and tenon of traditional buildings in Fujian province, Yunnan province, and Northern China; Interviewed some old craftsmen about their traditional construction methods, And compared the today's traditional mortise and tenon technology with that of Song and Qing Dynasties. The results showed that although Chinese traditional architecture has the same origin, the mortise and tenon construction technology systems have been developed at different times, regions, and cultures. For example, tenon and mortise technology in Yunnan Province needs to ensure the ability of buildings to resist earthquakes, while that in Fujian Province needs to ensure the ability of buildings to withstand typhoons. People in different regions, cultures, and times have a different understanding of architectural aesthetics, and the evolution of tools also has different effects on mortise and tenon technology. This study explains the manifestations and causes of these differences. At the same time, due to the impact of modern architectural technology, mortise, and tenon, traditional technology is also rapidly disappearing. As a sorting and collection of mortise and tenon techniques of traditional Chinese architecture, this paper puts forward the corresponding traditional technology protection strategy, to guide the protection and maintenance of local traditional buildings.

Keywords: tenon and mortise, traditional Chinese architecture, traditional craftsmen, construction technology

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Authors: Yung-Jin Weng, Chia-Chi Chang, Chun-Yu Tsai

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This paper is focused on the research of imprinting and replica molding of quasi-grey scale soft mold curved surface microstructure mold. In this paper, a magnetic photocuring forming system is first developed and built independently, then the magnetic curved surface microstructure soft mode is created; moreover, the magnetic performance of the magnetic curved surface at different heights is tested and recorded, and through experimentation and simulation, the magnetic curved surface microstructure soft mold is used in the research of quasi-grey scale soft mold curved surface microstructure imprinting and replica molding. The experimental results show that, under different surface curvatures and voltage control conditions, different quasi-grey scale array microstructures take shape. In addition, this paper conducts research on the imprinting and replica molding of photoresist composite magnetic powder in order to discuss the forming performance of magnetic photoresist, and finally, the experimental result is compared with the simulation to obtain more accurate prediction and results. This research is predicted to provide microstructure component preparation technology with heterogeneity and controllability, and is a kind of valid shaping quasi-grey scale microstructure manufacturing technology method.

Keywords: soft mold, magnetic, microstructure, curved surface

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Authors: Ya-Ping Chang

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Starting from the early stages of pregnancy, parents begin to form hopes and dreams about the future of their child. They will think about the appearance and personality of their child and may even develop many expectations. The patient in this study experienced a successful pregnancy following multiple attempts at artificial insemination. However, due to arrested embryonic development, and based on the physician’s evaluation, a caesarean section was performed at week 25. However, the baby suffered from infections and subsequently died from multiple organ failures. This study collected and analyzed objective and subjective data through observation, interviews, recording, and interactions with the patient. The following nursing issues of the patient were identified: anxiety, anticipatory grief, and adjustment disorder. The psychology of caring as proposed in Watson’s theory was applied to address these nursing issues. Comprehensive and continuous care was provided to the patient on the basis of mutual trust and individual nursing guidelines in order to alleviate the patient’s anxiety, help her to cope with grief, and prepare her for the eventual death of her child. The author helped the patient to say goodbye to her child and accept the child’s death calmly, such that she had no regrets about the experience. This nursing experience may serve as a reference to nurses managing similar cases in the future.

Keywords: dying baby, mother, grief, Watson’s theory

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Authors: Sabiha Shahid Antora, Young Ki Chang

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Along with various farm management technologies, imagery is an important tool that facilitates crop assessment, monitoring, and management. As a consequence, drone imaging technology is playing a vital role to capture the state of the entire field for yield mapping, crop scouting, weed detection, and so on. Although it is essential to inspect the cultivable lands in real-time for making rapid decisions regarding field variable inputs to combat stresses and diseases, drone imagery is still evolving in this area of interest. Cost margin and post-processing complexions of the image stream are the main challenges of imaging technology. Therefore, this proposed project involves the cost-effective field programmable gate array (FPGA) based image processing device that would process the image stream in real-time as well as providing the processed output to support on-the-spot decisions in the crop field. As a result, the real-time FPGA-based image processing system would reduce operating costs while minimizing a few intermediate steps to deliver scalable field decisions.

Keywords: real-time, FPGA, drone imagery, image processing, crop monitoring

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Authors: Beier Zhu, Rui Zhang, Qi Song

Abstract:

Text contained within fixed-layout documents can be of great semantic value and so requires a high localization accuracy, such as ID cards, invoices, cheques, and passports. Recently, algorithms based on deep convolutional networks achieve high performance on text detection tasks. However, for text localization in fixed-layout documents, such algorithms detect word bounding boxes individually, which ignores the layout information. This paper presents a novel architecture built on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). A global text localization network and a regional bounding-box regression network are introduced to tackle the problem in a coarse-to-fine manner. The text localization network simultaneously locates word bounding points, which takes the layout information into account. The bounding-box regression network inputs the features pooled from arbitrarily sized RoIs and refine the localizations. These two networks share their convolutional features and are trained jointly. A typical type of fixed-layout documents: ID cards, is selected to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system. These networks are trained on data cropped from nature scene images, and synthetic data produced by a synthetic text generation engine. Experiments show that our approach locates high accuracy word bounding boxes and achieves state-of-the-art performance.

Keywords: bounding box regression, convolutional networks, fixed-layout documents, text localization

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Authors: Zi-Han Li, Lu Fang, Liang Wu, Dong-Yuan Chang, Manyuan Dong, Liang Ji, Qi Zhang, Ming-Hui Zhao, Sydney C. W. Tang, Lemin Zheng, Min Chen

Abstract:

Uncoupling of mitochondrial respiration by chemical uncouplers has proven effective in ameliorating obesity, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia, which were risk factors for diabetic nephropathy (DN). Recently, we found that ANXA1 could improve mitochondrial function to mitigate DN progression. However, the underlying mechanism is not fully clear yet. Here, we identified uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), an inner membrane protein of mitochondria, as a key to mitochondrial homeostasis improved by ANXA1. Specifically, ANXA1 attenuated mitochondrial dysfunction via appropriately upregulating UCP1 by stabilizing its transcription factor GATA binding protein 3 (GATA3) by combining it with thioredoxin. Moreover, specific overexpression of UCP1 in the renal cortex rescued renal injuries in diabetic Anxa1-KO mice. UCP1 deletion aggravated renal injuries in HFD/STZ-induced diabetic mice. Mechanistically, UCP1 reduced mitochondrial fission through the aristaless-related homeobox (ARX)/cardiolipin synthase 1 (CRLS1) pathway. Therapeutically, CL316243, a UCP1 agonist, could attenuate established DN in db/db mice. This work established an alternative principle to harness the power of uncouplers for the treatment of DN.

Keywords: diabetic nephropathy, uncoupling protein 1, mitochondrial homeostasis, cardiolipin metabolism

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Authors: Tamara Díaz-Chang, Elizabeth-H Arredondo

Abstract:

This article presents the results of mixed approach research, where the ocular movements of students are examined while they solve questionnaires related to some abstract mathematical concepts. The objective of this research is to determine possible correlations between the parameters of ocular activity and the level of difficulty of the tasks. The difficulty level categories were established based on two types of criteria: a subjective one, through an evaluation, carried out by the subjects, and a behavioral one, related to obtaining the correct solution. Correlations of these criteria with ocular activity parameters, which were considered indicators of mental effort, were identified. The analysis of the data obtained allowed us to observe discrepancies in the categorization of difficulty levels based on subjective and behavioral criteria. There was a negative correlation of the eye movement parameters with the students' opinions on the level of difficulty of the questions, while a strong positive and significant correlation was noted between most of the parameters of ocular activity and the level of difficulty, determined by the percentage of correct answers. The results obtained by the analysis of the data suggest that eye movement parameters can be taken as indicators of the difficulty level of the tasks related to the study of some abstract mathematical concepts at the university.

Keywords: abstract mathematical concepts, cognitive neuroscience, eye-tracking, university education

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Authors: Qing Wu, Fei-Yan Li, Heng-Chang Zhang

Abstract:

Multitask learning support vector machines (SVMs) have recently attracted increasing research attention. Given several related tasks, the single-task learning methods trains each task separately and ignore the inner cross-relationship among tasks. However, multitask learning can capture the correlation information among tasks and achieve better performance by training all tasks simultaneously. In addition, the asymmetric squared loss function can better improve the generalization ability of the models on the most asymmetric distributed data. In this paper, we first make two assumptions on the relatedness among tasks and propose two multitask learning proximal support vector machine algorithms, named MTL-a-PSVM and EMTL-a-PSVM, respectively. MTL-a-PSVM seeks a trade-off between the maximum expectile distance for each task model and the closeness of each task model to the general model. As an extension of the MTL-a-PSVM, EMTL-a-PSVM can select appropriate kernel functions for shared information and private information. Besides, two corresponding special cases named MTL-PSVM and EMTLPSVM are proposed by analyzing the asymmetric squared loss function, which can be easily implemented by solving linear systems. Experimental analysis of three classification datasets demonstrates the effectiveness and superiority of our proposed multitask learning algorithms.

Keywords: multitask learning, asymmetric squared loss, EMTL-a-PSVM, classification

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Authors: Yuanhao Chang, Senbo Xiao, Zhiliang Zhang, Jianying He

Abstract:

The role of nanoparticles (NPs) in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is being increasingly emphasized. In this study, the motion of NPs and local stress distribution of tapped oil droplet/nanofluid in nanochannels are studied with coarse-grained modeling and molecular dynamic simulations. The results illustrate three motion patterns for NPs: hydrophilic NPs are more likely to adsorb on the channel and stay near the three-phase contact areas, hydrophobic NPs move inside the oil droplet as clusters and more mixed NPs are trapped at the oil-water interface. NPs in each pattern affect the flow of fluid and the interfacial thickness to various degrees. Based on the calculation of atomistic stress, the characteristic that the higher value of stress occurs at the place where NPs aggregate can be obtained. Different occurrence patterns correspond to specific local stress distribution. Significantly, in the three-phase contact area for hydrophilic NPs, the local stress distribution close to the pattern of structural disjoining pressure is observed, which proves the existence of structural disjoining pressure in molecular dynamics simulation for the first time. Our results guide the design and screen of NPs for EOR and provide a basic understanding of nanofluid applications.

Keywords: local stress distribution, nanoparticles, enhanced oil recovery, molecular dynamics simulation, trapped oil droplet, structural disjoining pressure

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