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The out-of-control action plan (OCAP) is crucial in the wafer probing process of semiconductor manufacturing as it systematically addresses and corrects deviations, ensuring the high quality and reliability of semiconductor devices. However, the traditional OCAP involves many redundant and complicated processes after failures occur on production lines, which can delay production and escalate costs. To overcome the traditional OCAP's limitations, this paper proposes a novel OCAP aimed at enhancing the wafer probing process in semiconductor manufacturing. The proposed OCAP integrates proactive measures such as preventive maintenance and advanced monitoring technologies, which are tested and verified through a comprehensive experimental setup. Implementing the novel OCAP in a case company's production line reduced machine downtime by over 24 h per week and increased wafer production by about 23 wafers per week. Additionally, probe test yield improved by an average of 1.1%, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method. This paper not only explores the implementation of the novel OCAP but also compares it with the traditional OCAP, highlighting significant improvements in efficiency and production output. The results underscore the potential of advanced OCAP to enhance manufacturing processes by reducing dependency on human judgment, thus lowering the likelihood of errors and improving overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review offers a synthesis of the current understanding of the impact of low-dose thallium (Tl) on public health, specifically emphasizing its diverse effects on various populations and organs. The article integrates insights into the cytotoxic effects, genotoxic potential, and molecular mechanisms of thallium in mammalian cells. Thallium, a non-essential heavy metal present in up to 89 different minerals, has garnered attention due to its adverse effects on human health. As technology and metallurgical industries advance, various forms of thallium, including dust, vapor, and wastewater, can contaminate the environment, extending to the surrounding air, water sources, and soil. Moreover, the metal has been identified in beverages, tobacco, and vegetables, highlighting its pervasive presence in a wide array of food sources. Epidemiological findings underscore associations between thallium exposure and critical health aspects such as kidney function, pregnancy outcomes, smoking-related implications, and potential links to autism spectrum disorder. Thallium primarily exerts cellular toxicity on various tissues through mitochondria-mediated oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress. This synthesis aims to shed light on the intricate web of thallium exposure and its potential implications for public health, emphasizing the need for vigilant consideration of its risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease with a relentlessly progressive course of illness. This study aimed to assess the dyadic dynamics of benefit finding (BF), demoralization, and stigma on the depression severity of PD patients and their caregivers. This study used a cross-sectional design with purposive sampling. In total, 120 PD patients and 120 caregivers were recruited from the neurological ward or neurological outpatient clinic of a medical center in Taiwan from October 2021 to September 2022. PD patients and their caregivers were enrolled and assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Benefit Finding scale, Demoralization Scale, Stigma Subscale of the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue, and Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire. Among the 120 patients and 120 caregivers that successfully completed the study, 41.7% (N = 50) and 60% (N = 72) were female, respectively. The most common psychiatric diagnoses of both the PD patients (17.5%) and their caregivers (13.3%) were depressive disorders. Using structural equation modeling, we found that the stigma, BF, and demoralization of PD patients might contribute to their depression severity. Demoralization and stigma of PD patients' caregivers might also contribute to the depression severity of PD patients. Caregivers' BF and demoralization were significantly linked with their depression severity. PD patients' BF degree and their caregivers' BF degree had significant interactive effects. Both patients' and their caregivers' stigma levels had significant interactive effects. Clinicians should be aware of and manage these contributing factors between PD patients and their caregivers in order to prevent them from exacerbating each other's depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endometriosis is a complex gynecological disease that affects more than 10% of women in their reproductive years. While surgery can provide temporary relief from women's pain, symptoms often return in as many as 75% of cases within two years. Previous literature has contributed to theories about the development of endometriosis; however, the exact pathogenesis and etiology remain elusive. We conducted a preliminary investigation into the influence of primary endometrial cells (ECs) on the development and progression of endometriosis. In vitro studies, they were involved in inducing Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in rat-isolated primary endometrial cells, which resulted in increased nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA gene expression (quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis, qPCR) and protein expression (western blot analysis). Additionally, in vivo studies utilized autogenic and allogeneic transplantations (rat to rat) to investigate endometriosis-like lesion cyst size, body weight, protein levels (immunohistochemistry), and mRNA gene expression. These studies demonstrated that estrogen upregulates the gene and protein regulation of cytoskeletal (CK)-18, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), VEGF, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, particularly in the peritoneum. These findings may influence cell proliferation, angiogenesis, fibrosis, and inflammation markers. Consequently, this could exacerbate the occurrence and progression of endometriosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability and recycling of agricultural and animal husbandry waste are important. Pig manure contains relatively high concentrations of organic matter, such as nitrate-nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, and phosphate, and a direct discharge can cause environmental pollution. This study successfully culturing four brackish water microalgae, including Tetraselmis chuii, Isochrysis galbana, Chlorella vulgaris, and Proteomonas sulcata, by using a diluted digestate solution of pig manure (NH3 concentration is lower than 10 mg/L). These microalgae can reach their highest cell concentration within 3–7 days of cultivation. The small microalgae, C. vulgaris and I. galbana, reached a cell density of 2.5 × 107 and 1.5 × 107, respectively, whereas lower cell densities were documented for large microalgae T. chuii (1.4 × 106) and P. sulcata (1.6 × 106). Our findings highlight the feasibility of sustainable treatment of animal manure using brackish water microalgae. These results provide opportunities to reduce freshwater usage and environmental pollutions, and support microalgae production for further aquaculture application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co60Fe20Sm20 thin films were deposited onto glass substrates in a high vacuum setting. The films varied in thickness from 10 to 50 nm and underwent annealing processes at different temperatures: room temperature (RT), 100, 200, and 300 °C. Our analysis encompassed structural, magnetic, electrical, nanomechanical, adhesive, and optical properties in relation to film thickness and annealing temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis did not reveal characteristic peaks in Co60Fe20Sm20 thin films due to insufficient growth-driving forces. Electrical measurements indicated reduced resistivity and sheet resistance with increasing film thickness and higher annealing temperatures, owing to hindered current-carrier transport resulting from the amorphous structure. Atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis showed a decrease in surface roughness with increased thickness and annealing temperature. The low-frequency alternating current magnetic susceptibility (χac) values increased with film thickness and annealing temperature. Nanoindentation analysis demonstrated reduced film hardness and Young's modulus with thicker films. Contact angle measurements suggested a hydrophilic film. Surface energy increased with greater film thickness, particularly in annealed films, indicating a decrease in contact angle contributing to this increase. Transmittance measurements have revealed intensified absorption and reduced transmittance with thicker films. In summary, the surface roughness of CoFeSm films at different annealing temperatures significantly influenced their magnetic, electrical, adhesive, and optical properties. A smoother surface reduced the pinning effect on the domain walls, enhancing the χac value. Additionally, diminished surface roughness led to a lower contact angle and higher surface energy. Additionally, smoother surfaces exhibited higher carrier conductivity, resulting in reduced electrical resistance. The optical transparency decreased due to the smoother surface of Co60Fe20Sm20 films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of varying film thicknesses and annealing temperatures on the surface roughness and magnetic domain structure of CoFeSm thin films. The results revealed that as the film thickness increased, both the crystalline size and surface roughness decreased, leading to a reduction in coercivity (Hc) and improved magnetic contrast performance. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis confirmed the presence of cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), and samarium (Sm) within the thin films. Notably, the 40 nm Co40Fe40Sm20 thin film annealed at 200 °C exhibited lower sheet resistance (Rs) and resistivity (ρ), indicating higher conductivity and a relatively higher maximum magnetic susceptibility (χac) at 50 Hz. These findings suggest that these films are well suited for low-frequency magnetic components due to their increased spin sensitivity. The 40 nm Co40Fe40Sm20 thin film, subjected to annealing at 200 °C, displayed a distinct stripe domain structure characterized by prominently contrasting dark and bright patterns. It exhibited the lowest Hc and the highest saturation magnetization (Ms), leading to a significant improvement in their soft magnetic properties. It is proposed that the surface roughness of the CoFeSm thin films plays a crucial role in shaping the magnetic properties of these thin magnetic films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co40Fe40B10Dy10 thin films, with thicknesses varying between 10 nm and 50 nm, were grown on a Si(100) substrate. Subsequently, they underwent a 1 h annealing process in an Ar atmosphere at temperatures of 100 °C, 200 °C, and 300 °C. The oxide characteristic peaks of Dy2O3(440), Co2O3(422), and Co2O3(511) were revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The low-frequency alternating current magnetic susceptibility (χac) decreases with frequency. Due to thickness and the anisotropy of the magnetic crystal, the maximum χac and saturation magnetization values rise with thicknesses and annealing temperatures. As the thickness and heat treatment temperature rise, the values for resistivity and sheet resistance tend to fall. The results of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM) show that average roughness (Ra) lowers as the annealing temperature increases, and the distribution of strip-like magnetic domain becomes more visible. As thickness and annealing temperature increase, there is a corresponding rise in surface energy. Nano-indentation testing shows that hardness initially decreases from 10 nm to 40 nm, followed by an increase at 50 nm. Notably, annealing at 300 °C leads to a significant hardening effect, marking the highest level of hardness observed. Young's modulus increased as thicknesses and annealing temperatures increased. The magnetic, electric, and adhesive characteristics of CoFeBDy films are highly dependent on surface roughness at various annealing temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Co60Fe20Sm20 alloy was employed for sputter deposition onto Si(100) substrate within a high vacuum environment, and subsequent thermal treatment was conducted using a vacuum annealing furnace. Thorough measurements and analyses were carried out to evaluate how various film thicknesses and annealing temperatures affect the material. The investigations encompassed observations of structural and physical properties, magnetic traits, mechanical behavior, and material adhesion. The results from the four-point probe measurements clearly demonstrate a trend of decreasing resistivity and sheet resistance with increasing film thickness and higher annealing temperature. Analysis through atomic force microscopy (AFM) shows that heightened annealing temperature corresponds to decreased surface roughness. Furthermore, when analyzing low-frequency alternating current magnetic susceptibility (χac), it became evident that the maximum magnetic susceptibility value consistently rises with increased film thickness, regardless of the annealing temperature. Through magnetic force microscopy (MFM) observations of magnetic domain images in the films, it became apparent that there was a noticeable reduction in the brightness contrast of the magnetic domains. Furthermore, nanoindentation analysis reveals a clear trend. Elevating the film thickness leads to a reduction in both hardness and Young's modulus. Contact angles range between 67.7° and 83.3°, consistently under 90°, highlighting the hydrophilic aspect. Analysis of surface energy demonstrates an escalation with increasing film thickness, and notably, annealed films exhibit a substantial surge in surface energy. This signifies a connection between the reduction in contact angle and the observed elevation in surface energy. Raising the annealing temperature causes a decline in surface roughness. To summarize, the surface roughness of CoFeSm films at different annealing temperatures significantly impacts their magnetic, electrical, and adhesive properties. A smoother surface reduces the pinning effect on domain walls, thus enhancing the χac value. Furthermore, diminished surface roughness leads to a decline in the contact angle and a rise in surface energy. Conversely, rougher surfaces exhibit higher carrier conductivity, contributing to a reduction in electrical resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Co40Fe40B10Dy10 thin films were deposited using a direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering technique. The films were deposited on glass substrates with thicknesses of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 nm, and heat-treated in a vacuum annealing furnace at 100, 200, and 300 °C. Various instruments were used to examine and analyze the effects of roughness on the magnetic, adhesive, and mechanical properties. From the low frequency alternating current magnetic susceptibility (χac) results, the optimum resonance frequency is 50 Hz, and the maximum χac value tends to increase with the increase in the thicknesses and annealing temperatures. The maximum χac value is 0.18 at a film thickness of 50 nm and an annealing temperature of 300 °C. From the four-point probe, it is found that the resistivity and sheet resistance values decrease with the increase in film deposition thicknesses and higher annealing temperatures. From the magnetic force microscopy (MFM), the stripe-like magnetic domain distribution is more obvious with the increase in annealing temperature. According to the contact angle data, at the same annealing temperature, the contact angle decreases as the thickness increases due to changes in surface morphology. The maximal surface energy value at 300 °C is 34.71 mJ/mm2. The transmittance decreases with increasing film thickness, while the absorption intensity is inversely proportional to the transmittance, implying that the thickness effect suppresses the photon signal. Smoother roughness has less domain pinning, more carrier conductivity, and less light scattering, resulting in superior magnetic, electrical, adhesive, and optical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CoFe-based alloys and rare earth (RE) elements are among the most studied materials in applying magnetic devices to improve soft magnetic characteristics. A series of Co40Fe40Sm20 films are deposited on a glass substrate via the sputtering technique, followed by an annealing process to investigate their effect on microstructural and optical properties of Co40Fe40Sm20 films. In this study, the increase in the thickness of Co40Fe40Sm20 films and annealing temperatures resulted in a smoother surface morphology. The 40 nm Co40Fe40Sm20 films annealed 300 °C are expected to have good wear resistance and adhesive properties due to their high values of H/E ratio and surface energy. Optical transparency also increased due to the smoother surface of the Co40Fe40Sm20 films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted much attention because of their unique characteristics and potential applications in electronic devices. Recent reports have successfully demonstrated the growth of 2-dimensional MoSxSey, MoxWyS2, MoxWySe2, and WSxSey monolayers that exhibit tunable band gap energies. However, few works have examined the doping behavior of those 2D monolayers. This study synthesizes WSxSey monolayers using the CVD process, in which different heating temperatures are applied to sulfur powders to control the ratio of S to Se in WSxSey. Increasing the Se component in WSxSey monolayers produced an apparent electronic state transformation from p-type to n-type, recorded through energy band diagrams. Simultaneously, p-type characteristics gradually became clear as the S component was enhanced in WSxSey monolayers. In addition, Raman spectra showed a red shift of the WS2-related peaks, indicating n-doping behavior in the WSxSey monolayers. In contrast, with the increase of the sulfur component, the blue shift of the WSe2-related peaks in the Raman spectra involved the p-doping behavior of WSxSey monolayers. In addition, the optical band gap of the as-grown WSxSey monolayers from 1.97 eV to 1.61 eV is precisely tunable via the different chalcogenide heating temperatures. The results regarding the doping characteristics of WSxSey monolayers provide more options in electronic and optical design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Areca nut (AN) is used for traditional herbal medicine and social activities in several countries. It was used as early as about A.D. 25-220 as a remedy. Traditionally, AN was applied for several medicinal functions. However, it was also reported to have toxicological effects. In this review article, we updated recent trends of research in addition to acquire new knowledge about AN. First, the history of AN usage from ancient years was described. Then, the chemical components of AN and their biological functions was compared; arecoline is an especially important compound in AN. AN extract has different effects caused by different components. Thus, the dual effects of AN with pharmacological and toxicological effects were summarized. Finally, we described perspectives, trends and challenges of AN. It will provide the insight of removing or modifying the toxic compounds of AN extractions for enhancing their pharmacological activity to treat several diseases in future applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 infection and vaccination offer disparate levels of defense against reinfection and breakthrough infection. This study was designed to examine the effects of curcumin supplementation, specifically HydroCurc (CURC), versus placebo (CON) on circulating inflammatory biomarkers in adults who had previously been diagnosed with COVID-19 and subsequently received a primary series of monovalent vaccine doses. This study was conducted between June 2021 and May 2022. Participants were randomized to receive CURC (500 mg) or CON capsules twice daily for four weeks. Blood sampling was completed at baseline and week-4 and analyzed for biomarkers. Linear regression was utilized to examine the between-group differences in post-trial inflammatory biomarker levels, adjusting for baseline and covariates including age, sex, race/ethnicity, and interval between COVID-19 diagnosis and trial enrollment. The sample (n = 31) was 71% female (Age 27.6 ± 10.4 y). The CURC group exhibited significantly lower post-trial concentrations of proinflammatory IL-6 (β = −0.52, 95%CI: −1.03, −0.014, p = 0.046) and MCP-1 (β = −0.12, 95%CI: −0.23, −0.015, p = 0.027) compared to CON, adjusting for baseline and covariates. Curcumin intake confers anti-inflammatory activity and may be a promising prophylactic nutraceutical strategy for COVID-19. These results suggest that 4 weeks of curcumin supplementation resulted in significantly lower concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines in adults who recovered from COVID-19 infection and were subsequently vaccinated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cobalt Iron Yttrium (CoFeY) magnetic film was made using the sputtering technique in order to investigate the connection between the thickness and annealing procedures. The sample was amorphous as a result of an insufficient thermal driving force according to X-ray diffraction (XRD) examination. The maximum low-frequency alternate-current magnetic susceptibility (χac) values were raised in correlation with the increased thickness and annealing temperatures because the thickness effect and Y addition improved the spin exchange coupling. The best value for a 50 nm film at annealing 300 °C for χac was 0.20. Because electron carriers are less constrained in their conduction at thick film thickness and higher annealing temperatures, the electric resistivity and sheet resistance are lower. At a thickness of 40 nm, the film's maximum surface energy during annealing at 300 °C was 28.7 mJ/mm2. This study demonstrated the passage of photon signals through the film due to the thickness effect, which reduced transmittance. The best condition was found to be 50 nm with annealing at 300 °C in this investigation due to high χac, strong adhesion, and low resistivity, which can be used in magnetic fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridges are often at risk due to the effects of natural disasters, such as earthquakes and typhoons. Bridge inspection assessments normally focus on cracks. However, numerous concrete structures with cracked surfaces are highly elevated or over water, and is not easily accessible to a bridge inspector. Furthermore, poor lighting under bridges and a complex visual background can hinder inspectors in their identification and measurement of cracks. In this study, cracks on bridge surfaces were photographed using a UAV-mounted camera. A YOLOv4 deep learning model was used to train a model for identifying cracks; the model was then employed in object detection. To perform the quantitative crack test, the images with identified cracks were first converted to grayscale images and then to binary images the using local thresholding method. Next, the two edge detection methods, Canny and morphological edge detectors were applied to the binary images to extract the edges of the cracks and obtain two types of crack edge images. Then, two scale methods, the planar marker method, and the total station measurement method, were used to calculate the actual size of the crack edge image. The results indicated that the model had an accuracy of 92%, with width measurements as precise as 0.22 mm. The proposed approach can thus enable bridge inspections and obtain objective and quantitative data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives. Anxiety and depressive disorders are the most prevalent mental disorders, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are suffering from anxiety and depressive disorders, and a considerable fraction of COVID-19 survivors have a variety of persistent neuropsychiatric problems after the initial infection. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers a different perspective on mental disorders from Western biomedicine. Effective management of mental disorders has become an increasing concern in recent decades due to the high social and economic costs involved. This study attempts to express and ontologize the relationships between different mental disorders and physical organs from the perspective of TCM, so as to bridge the gap between the unique terminology used in TCM and a medical professional. Materials and Methods. Natural language processing (NLP) is introduced to quantify the importance of different mental disorder descriptions relative to the five depots and two palaces, stomach and gallbladder, through the classical medical text Huangdi Neijing and construct a mental disorder ontology based on the TCM classic text. Results. The results demonstrate that our proposed framework integrates NLP and data visualization, enabling clinicians to gain insights into mental health, in addition to biomedicine. According to the results of the relationship analysis of mental disorders, depots, palaces, and symptoms, the organ/depot most related to mental disorders is the heart, and the two most important emotion factors associated with mental disorders are anger and worry & think. The mental disorders described in TCM are related to more than one organ (depot/palace). Conclusion. This study complements recent research delving into co-relations or interactions between mental status and other organs and systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide, including in Taiwan. The poor prognosis of the advanced lung cancer lies in delayed diagnosis and non-druggable targets. It is worth paying more attention to these ongoing issues. Public databases and an in-house cohort were used for validation. The KM plotter was utilized to discover the clinical significance. GSEA and GSVA were adopted for a functional pathway survey. Molecular biological methods, including proliferation, migration, and the EMT methods, were used for verification. Based on public databases, the increased expression of Ladinin 1 (LAD1) was presented in tumor and metastatic sites. Furthermore, an in-house cohort revealed a higher intensity of LAD1 in tumor rather than in normal parts. The greater the expression of LAD1 was, the shorter the duration of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patient survival. Moreover, the association of B3GNT3 with LAD1 affected the survival of LUAD patients. Functional analyses using GSEA and GSVA revealed the associations with survival, migration, invasion, and EMT. Biologic functions supported the roles of LAD1 in proliferation via the cell cycle and migration in EMT. This study reveals that LAD1 plays a major role in regulating proliferation and migration in lung cancer and impacts survival in LUAD. It is worth investing in further studies and in the development of drugs targeting LAD1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the correlations between different thicknesses and heat treatments, this study used a sputtering method to create CoFeY films. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the appearance of oxide peaks at 2θ = 47.7°, 54.5°, and 56.3° in agreement with YFeO3 (212), Co2O3 (422), and Co2O3 (511), respectively. The findings also demonstrated a relationship between the low-frequency alternative-current magnetic susceptibility (χac) values and the thickness of the CoFeY thin films. At a thickness of 50 nm and an annealing temperature of 300 °C, the ideal value of ac was 0.159. The presence of Y and the thickness impact were both evident in the χac value, which improved spin-exchange coupling as well as grain refining. With increasing thickness, the resistance decreased. At 300 °C and 40 nm in thickness, this film has a maximum surface energy of 31.2 mJ/mm2. The hardness of the 50-nm films reached a maximum of 16.67 GPa when annealed at 100 °C. Due to the high χac, strong adhesion, good nanomechanical properties, and low resistivity, the optimal conditions were determined to be 50 nm with annealing at 300 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A typical body-centered cubic (BCC) CoFe(110) peak was discovered at approximately 2θ = 44.7°. At 2θ = 46°, 46.3°, 47.7°, 55.4°, 54.6°, and 56.4°, the Yb2O3 and Co2O3 oxide peaks were visible in all samples. However, with a heat treatment temperature of 300 °C, there was no typical peak of CoFe(110). Electrical characteristics demonstrated that resistivity and sheet resistance reduced dramatically as film thickness and annealing temperatures increased. At various heat treatments, the maximum hardness was 10 nm. The average hardness decreased as the thickness increased, and the hardness trend decreased slightly as the annealing temperature was higher. The highest low-frequency alternative-current magnetic susceptibility (χac) value was discovered after being annealed at 200 °C with 50 nm, and the optimal resonance frequency (fres) was discovered to be within the low-frequency range, indicating that the Co40Fe40Yb20 film can be used in low-frequency applications. The maximum saturation magnetization (Ms) was annealed at 200 °C for 50 nm. Thermal disturbance caused the Ms to decrease as the temperature reached to 300 °C. The results show that when the oxidation influence of as-deposited and thinner films is stronger than annealing treatments and thicker thickness, the magnetic and electrical properties can be enhanced by the weakening peak of the oxide, which can also reduce interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of annealing and thickness on various physical properties in Co40Fe40Yb20 thin films. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to determine the amorphous structure of Co40Fe40Yb20 films. The maximum surface energy of 40 nm thin films at 300 °C is 34.54 mJ/mm2. The transmittance and resistivity decreased significantly as annealing temperatures and thickness increased. At all conditions, the 10 nm film had the highest hardness. The average hardness decreased as thickness increased, as predicted by the Hall–Petch effect. The highest low-frequency alternative-current magnetic susceptibility (χac) value was discovered when the film was annealed at 200 °C with 50 nm, and the optimal resonance frequency (ƒres) was in the low frequency range, indicating that the film has good applicability in the low frequency range. At annealed 200 °C and 50 nm, the maximum saturation magnetization (Ms) was discovered. Thermal disturbance caused the Ms to decrease when the temperature was raised to 300 °C. The optimum process conditions determined in this study are 200 °C and 50 nm, with the highest Ms, χac, strong adhesion, and low resistivity, which are suitable for magnetic applications, based on magnetic properties and surface energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idiopathic sclerosing orbital inflammation (ISOI) is a distinct entity among other orbital diseases. It is characterized by marked fibrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration that can damage orbital structures. Clinical manifestations were variable, including ocular and periocular redness, proptosis, and pain. Ocular motor restrictions and optic nerve dysfunction might occur in severe cases. We herein report a patient of ISOI who presented with total ophthalmoplegia and acute vision loss. His symptoms were relieved mainly as his vision improved to 20/25 after receiving corticosteroid and immunosuppressant therapies. Therefore, ISOI should be one of the deferential diagnoses when we encounter cases with acute orbital apex syndrome. With prompt evaluation and in-time treatment, a favorable outcome is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperphosphatemia can occur as a result of reduced phosphate (Pi) excretion in cases of kidney dysfunction, which can induce muscle wasting and suppress myogenic differentiation. Higher Pi suppresses myogenic differentiation and promotes muscle atrophy through canonical (oxidative stress-mediated) and noncanonical (p62-mediated) activation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling. However, the crosstalk between myogenin and Nrf2/p62 and potential drug(s) for the regulation of myogenin expression needed to be addressed. In this study, we further identified that myogenin may negatively regulate Nrf2 and p62 protein levels in the mouse C2C12 muscle cell line. In the drug screening analysis, we identified N-acetylcysteine, metformin, phenformin, berberine, 4-chloro-3-ethylphenol, cilostazol, and cilomilast as ameliorating the induction of Nrf2 and p62 expression and reduction in myogenin expression that occur due to high Pi. We further elucidated that doxorubicin and hydrogen peroxide reduced the amount of myogenin protein mediated through the Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1/Nrf2 pathway, differently from the mechanism of high Pi. The dual functional roles of L-ascorbic acid (L-AA) were found to be dependent on the working concentration, where concentrations below 1 mM L-AA reversed the effect of high Pi on myogenin and those above 1 mM L-AA had a similar effect of high Pi on myogenin when used alone. L-AA exacerbated the effect of hydrogen peroxide on myogenin protein and had no further effect of doxorubicin on myogenin protein. In summary, our results further our understanding of the crosstalk between myogenin and Nrf2, with the identification and verification of several potential drugs that can be applied in rescuing the decline of myogenin due to high Pi in muscle cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium alginate (SA) was used to functionalize the surfaces of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to form SA-AgNPs for sensing dimethoate with a rapid and sensitive visual readout. UV–Vis spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and zeta potential measurements were used to characterize SA-AgNPs that were synthesized under the ideal conditions. SA-AgNPs were spherical with an average size of 14.6 nm. The stability of SA-AgNPs was investigated with changes in pH, salinity, and storage time. This colorimetric assay of dimethoate relied on the change in the absorption ratio (A475/A400) of SA-AgNPs, resulting in their aggregation caused by dimethoate, leading to a visual change for SA-AgNPs from yellow to pale yellow. As a result, the absorption ratio (A475/A400) of SA-AgNPs showed good linearity in the range of 0.05 to 2.0 ppm (R2 = 0.9986) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 30 ppb. Adding other pesticides did not significantly change the absorption ratio of SA-AgNPs, indicating its high selectivity as a colorimetric assay. The sensor was successfully used to detect dimethoate in actual water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP4i) is a widely used antidiabetic agent. Emerging cases of DPP4i-associated bullous pemphigoid (DBP), whose pathogenesis remains unclear, have been reported. Thus, a retrospective study was conducted from January 2016 to June 2021 to determine the clinical, laboratory, and histopathological features of DBP and idiopathic bullous pemphigoid (IBP). We set up in vitro experiments using vildagliptin-treated HaCaT keratinocytes to validate what we found by analyzing published RNA sequencing data about the genes related to the dermal–epidermal junction. We also observed IL-6 expression by HaCaT cells treated with vildagliptin. We enrolled 20 patients with DBP and 40 patients with IBP. The total Bullous Pemphigoid Disease Area Index (BPDAI) score was similar in both groups. However, the BPDAI score of erosions and blisters in DBP was significantly higher than that in IBP (24.6 vs. 16.68, p = 0.0189), and the score for urticaria and erythema was lower in DBP (12 vs. 19.05, p = 0.0183). The pathological features showed that the mean infiltrating eosinophil number per high-power field was significantly lower in DBP than in IBP (16.7 vs. 27.08, p = 0.023). The expression of LAMA3, LAMB3, LAMC2, DST, and COL17A1 decreased significantly in vildagliptin-treated human keratinocytes. On the other hand, IL-6, the hallmark cytokine of bullous pemphigoid (BP) severity, was found to be upregulated in HaCaT cells by vildagliptin. These experimental findings imply less of a requirement for eosinophil infiltration to drive the inflammatory cascades in DBP blistering. Both immunologic and non-immunologic pathways could be employed for the development of DBP. Our findings may help explain the higher incidence of non-inflammatory BP that was observed in DBP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein-based studies contribute significantly to gathering functional information about biological systems; therefore, the protein–protein interaction detection task is one of the most researched topics in the biomedical literature. To this end, many state-of-the-art systems using syntactic tree kernels (TK) and deep learning have been developed. However, these models are computationally complex and have limited learning interpretability. In this paper, we introduce a linguistic-pattern-representation-based Gradient-Tree Boosting model, i.e., LpGBoost. It uses linguistic patterns to optimize and generate semantically relevant representation vectors for learning over the gradient-tree boosting. The patterns are learned via unsupervised modeling by clustering invariant semantic features. These linguistic representations are semi-interpretable with rich semantic knowledge, and owing to their shallow representation, they are also computationally less expensive. Our experiments with six protein–protein interaction (PPI) corpora demonstrate that LpGBoost outperforms the SOTA tree-kernel models, as well as the CNN-based interaction detection studies for BioInfer and AIMed corpora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The YfeA gene, belonging to the well-conserved ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transport system Yfe, encodes the substrate-binding subunit of the iron, zinc, and manganese transport system in bacteria. As a potential vaccine candidate in Glaesserella parasuis, the functional mechanisms of YfeA in the infection process remain obscure. In this study, vaccination with YfeA effectively protected the C56BL6 mouse against the G. parasuis SC1401 challenge. Bioinformatics analysis suggests that YfeA is highly conserved in G. parasuis, and its metal-binding sites have been strictly conserved throughout evolution. Stimulation of RAW 264.7 macrophages with YfeA verified that toll-like receptors (TLR) 2 and 4 participated in the positive transcription and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. The activation of TLR2 and TLR4 utilized the MyD88/MAL and TRIF/TRAM pairs to initiate TLRs signaling. Furthermore, YfeA was shown to stimulate nuclear translocation of NF-κB and activated diverse mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling cascades, which are specific to the secretion of particular cytokine(s) in murine macrophages. Separate blocking TLR2, TLR4, MAPK, and RelA (p65) pathways significantly decreased YfeA-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine production. In addition, YfeA-stimulated RAW 264.7 produces the pro-inflammatory hallmark, reactive oxygen species (ROS). In conclusion, our findings indicate that YfeA is a novel pro-inflammatory mediator in G. parasuis and induces TLR2 and TLR4-dependent pro-inflammatory activity in RAW 264.7 macrophages through P38, JNK-MAPK, and NF-κB signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that metal oxide peaks appear at 2θ = 47.7°, 54.5°, and 56.3°, corresponding to Yb2O3 (440), Co2O3 (422), and Co2O3 (511). It was found that oxide formation plays an important role in magnetic, electrical, and surface energy. For magnetic and electrical measurements, the highest alternating current magnetic susceptibility (χac) and the lowest resistivity (×10−2 Ω·cm) were 0.213 and 0.42, respectively, and at 50 nm, it annealed at 300 °C due to weak oxide formation. For mechanical measurement, the highest value of hardness was 15.93 GPa at 200 °C in a 50 nm thick film. When the thickness increased from 10 to 50 nm, the hardness and Young's modulus of the Co60Fe20Yb20 film also showed a saturation trend. After annealing at 300 °C, Co60Fe20Yb20 films of 40 nm thickness showed the highest surface energy. Higher surface energy indicated stronger adhesion, allowing for the formation of multilayer thin films. The optimal condition was found to be 50 nm with annealing at 300 °C due to high χac, strong adhesion, high nano-mechanical properties, and low resistivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional adhesives or glues such as cyanoacrylates, fibrin glue, polyethylene glycol, and their derivatives have been widely used in biomedical fields. However, they still suffer from numerous limitations, including the mechanical mismatch with biological tissues, weak adhesion on wet surfaces, biological incompatibility, and incapability of integrating desired multifunction. In addition to adaptive mechanical and adhesion properties, adhesive biomaterials should be able to integrate multiple functions such as stimuli-responsiveness, control-releasing of small or macromolecular therapeutic molecules, hosting of various cells, and programmable degradation to fulfill the requirements in the specific biological systems. Therefore, rational molecular engineering and structural designs are required to facilitate the development of functional adhesive materials. This review summarizes and analyzes the current supramolecular design strategies of representative adhesive materials, serving as a general guide for researchers seeking to develop novel adhesive materials for biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unrelated parallel machine scheduling problem motivated by the scheduling of a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) under surface mount technology (SMT) is discussed in this paper. This problem involved machine eligibility restrictions, sequence-dependent setup times, precedence constraints, unequal job release times, and constraints of shared resources with the objectives of minimizing the makespan and the total job tardiness. Since this scheduling problem is NP-hard, a mathematical model was first built to describe the problem, and a heuristic approach using a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) was then designed to solve this bi-objective problem. Multiple near-optimal solutions were provided using the Pareto front solution and crowding distance concepts. To demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach, this study first tested the proposed approach by solving test problems on a smaller scale. It was found that the proposed approach could obtain optimal solutions for small test problems. A real set of work orders and production data was provided by a famous hardware manufacturer in Taiwan. The solutions suggested by the proposed approach were provided using Gantt charts to visually assist production planners to make decisions. It was found that the proposed approach could not only successfully improve the planning time but also provide several feasible schedules with equivalent performance for production planners to choose from. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Injection molding is an effective mass production process for plastic, partly due to a number of advantages such as complex shape moldability, material selectivity, and a rapid process cycle. However, highly labor-based conventional production restrains the development of the industry. Experience-driven molding setups are used to trial the mold process, and also for quality checking the molded part for mass production. There is no effective solution for maintaining the production stability and defect-free adjustment. This study aimed to establish scientific packing pressure setup technology to optimize the molded part quality and the stability of consecutive production. The dynamic packing pressure setup technology for molded part quality and the process stability were investigated. This not only achieves the optimization of the packing pressure setup, but the stabilization of quality in mass production. Four major qualities were discussed in this study including tensile strength, regional deviation on shrinkage, total shrinkage, and warpage. The qualities improved by up to 3.9%, 92.9%, 41.9%, and 9.2%, respectively. A series of pilot runs of 300 cycles for two packing pressure control methods were tested to investigate the stability of the qualities. Dynamic packing pressure control improved the weight replication by 54%, reduced total shrinkage by 23%, and improved the warpage by 12%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Lung cancer is a common cancer throughout the world. Despite advanced treatment strategies, the outcome is still poor. Based on the results of the present study, EIF4A1 interacting with EIF4H manipulates cell cycle regulation and immune microenvironment reprogramming in lung adenocarcinoma. The results specify EIF4A1 in lung adenocarcinoma tumorigenesis. Treatment derived from EIF4A1 would be worthy of further investigation. Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a common type of lung cancer. Although the diagnosis and treatment of LUAD have significantly improved in recent decades, the survival for advanced LUAD is still poor. It is necessary to identify more targets for developing potential agents against LUAD. This study explored the dysregulation of translation initiation factors, specifically eukaryotic initiation factors 4A1 (EIF4A1) and EIF4A2, in developing LUAD, as well as their underlying mechanisms. We found that the expression of EIF4A1, but not EIF4A2, was higher in tumor tissue and associated with poor clinical outcomes in LUAD patients. Elevated expression of EIF4H with poor prognosis may potentiate the oncogenic role of EIF4A1. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that upregulation of EIF4A1 was related to cell cycle regulation and DNA repair. The oncogenic effect of EIF4A1 was further elucidated by Gene Set Variation Analysis (GSVA). The GSVA score of the gene set positively correlated with EIF4A1 was higher in tumors and significantly associated with worse survival. In the meantime, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) also indicated that elevated EIF4A1 expression in LUAD patients was associated with a decreased infiltration score for immune cells by reducing anticancer immune cell types and recruiting immunosuppressive cells. Consistent with the results, the GSVA score of genes whose expression was negatively correlated with EIF4A1 was lower in the tumor tissue of LUAD cases with worse clinical outcomes and was strongly associated with the disequilibrium of anti-cancer immunity by recruiting anticancer immune cells. Based on the results from the present study, we hypothesize that the dysregulation of EIF4A1 might be involved in the pathophysiology of LUAD development by promoting cancer growth and changing the tumor immune microenvironment. This can be used to develop potential diagnostic biomarkers or therapeutic targets for LUAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is a common comorbidity in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and in their caregivers. This study aimed to compare the prevalence and risk factors of depression between patients with PD and their caregivers. In total, 113 patients with PD and 101 caregivers were enrolled. Patients with PD were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Brief Fatigue Inventory, Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, and Big Five Inventory-10. Caregivers of patients with PD were also assessed using the above-mentioned instruments, with the exception of the UPDRS and ADL. During a 12-month follow-up period, depressive disorders were the most common psychiatric diagnosis of PD patients (27.4%) and their caregivers (17.8%). Depressive disorders were more prevalent in PD patients than in caregivers of PD patients throughout the entire follow-up phase. The severity of fatigue and severity of suicide risk were significantly associated with depression among patients with PD. The severity of pain and severity of anxiety were predictors of depression in caregivers of PD patients. The findings in this study provide references for early detection and treatment of depressive disorders in PD patients and their caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer is well known for its high mortality worldwide. The treatment for advanced lung cancer needs more attention to improve its survival time. A disintegrin and metallopeptidase with thrombospondin motifs 8 (ADAMTS8) has been linked to several cancer types. However, its role in lung cancer is worthy of deep investigation to promote novel drug development. This study took advantage of RNA-seq and bioinformatics to verify the role that ADAMTS8 plays in lung cancer. The functional assays suggested that ADAMTS8 mediates invasion and metastasis when expressed at a low level, contributing to poor overall survival (OS). The expression of ADAMTS8 was under the regulation of GATA Binding Protein 1 (GATA1) and executed its pathologic role through Thrombospondin Type 1 Domain Containing 1 (THSD1) and ADAMTS Like 2 (ADAMTSL2). To define the impact of ADAMTS8 in the lung cancer treatment strategy, this study further grouped lung cancer patients in the TCGA database into mutated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)/wild-type EGFR and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) high/low groups. Importantly, the expression of ADAMTS8 was correlated positively with the recruitment of anticancer NKT cells and negatively with the infiltration of immunosuppressive Treg and exhausted T cells. The results indicated that lung cancer patients with higher ADAMTS8 levels among wild-type EGFR or low PD-L1 groups survive longer than those with lower levels do. This study indicates that ADAMTS8 might be a treatment option for patients with lung adenocarcinoma who lack efficient targeted or immunotherapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposed an innovative design of a leaf flexural-based 2-DOF tuned mass damping stage that can be integrated into a micro-electromechanical system precision positioning stage to reduce the displacement response of the precision positioning stage excited by a specific vibration frequency and to achieve the damping effect and vibration reduction without adding viscous damping materials. A prototype that conforms to dual-axis decoupling and has 2-DOF translation capability was designed using parallel and vertical arrangements of a leaf flexure. The Taguchi design method and the finite element method were used on the relevant design parameters of the primary mass stage to determine the best size configuration for the maximum off-axial stiffness ratio and the parameters of the tuned mass damper closest to the natural frequency of the primary mass stage with the minimum deflection. In addition, an optimization module, based on a genetic algorithm (GA), was used to optimize the design of the flexure size of the tuned mass damper. Finally, experiments were conducted, the vibration displacement response of the primary mass stage was observed, and the effect with or without the addition of tuned mass damping on the system vibration response was compared. The results indicate that the tuned mass damper can effectively reduce the response amplitude of the stage, where the maximum reduction rate in the experiment was 63.0442%, and the mass of the damper was highly positively correlated with the amplitude reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Lung cancer is the most dreadful cancer type and has the worst cancer-related clinical outcomes. This study used specimens from the in-house lung cancer cohort and public cohort to verify the roles of downregulated ADAMTS1, a protease remodeling extracellular matrix, to facilitate cancer promotion and progress. Based on the clinical specimens, cell and animal study with the aid of the public databases, we concluded that downregulated expression of ADAMTS1 might promote tumor progression and metastasis and modify the tumor microenvironment in lung cancer. Further investigation would be required for its application in treating lung cancer. Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) still holds the most dreadful clinical outcomes worldwide. Despite advanced treatment strategies, there are still some unmet needs. Next-generation sequencing of large-scale cancer genomics discovery projects combined with bioinformatics provides the opportunity to take a step forward in meeting clinical conditions. Based on in-house and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohorts, the results showed decreased levels of ADAMTS1 conferred poor survival compared with normal parts. Gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) indicated the negative correlation between ADAMTS1 and the potential roles of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), metastasis, and poor prognosis in LUAD patients. With the knockdown of ADAMTS1, A549 lung cancer cells exhibited more aggressive behaviors such as EMT and increased migration, resulting in cancer metastasis in a mouse model. The pathway interaction network disclosed the linkage of downregulated α2-macroglobulin (A2M), which regulates EMT and metastasis. Furthermore, immune components analysis indicated a positive relationship between ADAMTS1 and the infiltrating levels of multiple immune cells, especially anticancer CD4+ T cells in LUAD. Notably, ADAMTS1 expression was also inversely correlated with the accumulation of immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells and regulatory T cells, implying the downregulated ADAMTS1 mediated immune adjustment to fit the tumor survival disadvantages in LUAD patients. In conclusion, our study indicates that ADAMTS1 interacts with A2M in regulating EMT and metastasis in LUAD. Additionally, ADAMTS1 contributes to poor prognosis and immune infiltration in LUAD patients [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiology report generation through chest radiography interpretation is a time-consuming task that involves the interpretation of images by expert radiologists. It is common for fatigue-induced diagnostic error to occur, and especially difficult in areas of the world where radiologists are not available or lack diagnostic expertise. In this research, we proposed a multi-objective deep learning model called CT2Rep (Computed Tomography to Report) for generating lung radiology reports by extracting semantic features from lung CT scans. A total of 458 CT scans were used in this research, from which 107 radiomics features and 6 slices of segmentation related nodule features were extracted for the input of our model. The CT2Rep can simultaneously predict position, margin, and texture, which are three important indicators of lung cancer, and achieves remarkable performance with an F1-score of 87.29%. We conducted a satisfaction survey for estimating the practicality of CT2Rep, and the results show that 95% of the reports received satisfactory ratings. The results demonstrate the great potential in this model for the production of robust and reliable quantitative lung diagnosis reports. Medical personnel can obtain important indicators simply by providing the lung CT scan to the system, which can bring about the widespread application of the proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children begin to understand the world from birth, gradually recognizing their existence. On interaction with their surrounding environments, they begin to recognize themselves and gradually develop self-concepts. With the advancement in technology, smartphones have become an indispensable daily necessity. The age at which a child handles a smartphone is gradually decreasing. Many traditional toys are increasingly being replaced by smartphone games, which have become an essential part of children's lives. This study attempts to understand the impact of smartphone games on the development of children's self-concept. Using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, a questionnaire survey was conducted among students of grades 3 and 4 in elementary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has often focused on their physical, chemical, and crystalline characteristics. Commercial AuNPs have been applied in the diverse fields of biomedicine, catalysis, photovoltaics, and sensing. In this study, we explored the various activities of AuNPs to widen their applicability. This paper presents a simple and rapid synthesis process of AuNPs with bacteria isolated from a gold mining area. We also investigated the optimization of reaction parameters for AuNP synthesis. The study results revealed that among the isolated strains, Bifidobacterium lactis and Escherichia coli demonstrated the highest capabilities of AuNP synthesis. The optimal pH values for AuNP synthesis by B. lactis (BLAuNPs) and E. coli (ECAuNPs) were 5.0 for 72 h of incubation and 8.0 for 24 h of incubation. The average particle sizes of ECAuNPs and BLAuNPs were 4.2 and 5.6 nm, respectively. Furthermore, these biogenic AuNPs were found to be stable with no aggregation after 3 months of storage. BLAuNPs and ECAuNPs exhibited high levels of antimicrobial, antioxidant, photocatalytic, and antityrosinase activity. Moreover, they were noncytotoxic to skin cells even at 100% melanin inhibitory concentrations. Considering the demonstrated multifunctional activities of AuNPs, BLAuNPs and ECAuNPs have promising potential for commercialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private entrepreneurs and government organizations widely adopt Facebook fan pages as an online social platform to communicate with the public. Posting on the platform to attract people's comments and shares is an effective way to increase public engagement. Moreover, the comment functions allow users who have read the posts to express their thoughts. Hence, it also enables us to understand the users' emotional feelings regarding that post by analyzing the comments. The goal of this study is to investigate the public image of organizations by exploring the content on fan pages. In order to efficiently analyze the enormous amount of public opinion data generated from social media, we propose a Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) that can model detailed sentiment information hidden in those words. It first forecasts the sentiment information in terms of Valence and Arousal (VA) values of the smallest unit in a text, and later fuses this into a deep learning model to further analyze the sentiment of the whole text. Experiments show that our model can achieve state-of-the-art performance in terms of predicting the VA values of words. Additionally, combining VA with a BiLSTM model results in a boost of the performance for social media text sentiment analysis. Our method can assist governments or other organizations to improve their effectiveness in social media operations through the understanding of public opinions on related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) are suggested as therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. Smac/DIABLO is a natural IAP antagonist in cells; therefore, Smac mimetics have been developed for cancer treatment in the past decade. In this article, we review the anti-cancer potency and novel molecular targets of LCL161, birinapant, and GDC-0152. Preclinical studies demonstrated that Smac mimetics not only induce apoptosis but also arrest cell cycle, induce necroptosis, and induce immune storm in vitro and in vivo. The safety and tolerance of Smac mimetics are evaluated in phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials. In addition, the combination of Smac mimetics and chemotherapeutic compounds was reported to improve anti-cancer effects. Interestingly, the novel anti-cancer molecular mechanism of action of Smac mimetics was reported in recent studies, suggesting that many unknown functions of Smac mimetics still need to be revealed. Exploring these currently unknown signaling pathways is important to provide hints for the modification and combination therapy of further compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the micro-phasor measurement system is developed to support phasor identification of distribution transformers for the distribution mapping management system (DMMS) of Taiwan Power Company (TPC). The one pulse per second signal (1PPS) from the global positioning system (GPS) is used to synchronize the voltage sampling between reference and measurement sides. By receiving 1PPS from GPS, the phasor measurement of three-phase voltage at the reference site of the substation is stored in the master station with a time-stamp. This paper proposes a timing synchronous module with an embedded temperature compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO) to generate highly accurate timing for field measurement of underground distribution facilities. Mobile communication network is used to compare measurement results between reference and field sides of voltage angle that define distribution transformer phasor. This paper also designs and develops an application for mobile devices by importing DMMS database, which is used to search the attributes of the distribution transformers for measurement at the field. After the transformer phasor is identified, the results are stored in the mobile device to update the attributes of distribution transformers in DMMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel technology of memory protection for the Non-Volatile Memory (NVM), applied to smart sensors and smart data. Based on the asymmetry of failure rate between the statuses of bit-0 and bit-1 in the non-volatile memory, as a result of the pollution of the radiation of cosmic ray, a two-dimensional parity with variable length error detection code (2D-VLEDC) for memory protection is proposed. 2D-VLEDC has the feature of variable length of redundant bits varied with content of data word in the NVM. The experimental results show that the same error detection quality could be achieved with a 30% redundancy improvement by applying the proposed 2D-VLEDC. The proposed design is particularly suitable for the use of safety-related fields, such as the automotive electronics and industrial non-volatile memories involved in the industrial automation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an economic evaluation, including a cost-benefit analysis and a sensitivity analysis, of smart photovoltaic (PV) inverters with a novel Watt-Var control scheme for enhancing PV penetration in distribution systems in Taiwan. The novel Watt-Var control scheme with three operation phases is utilized to avoid the voltage violation problem during peak solar irradiation period and increase the PV real power injection, and thus can get higher PV penetration in distribution systems. To evaluate the benefit and cost of the PV investment project, the annual revenue of PV power sales, the initial capital investment cost for a PV project with or without a smart inverter, and the operating and maintenance (O&M) cost are taken into account. The paper demonstrates the analyses of net present value (NPV) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) for the PV project. In addition, the paper also presents a sensitivity analysis to deal with the project uncertainty with respect to some affecting parameters. The analyzing results show that, under the feed-in tariffs (FITs) policy, with proper selection of PV and smart inverter capacities, the investment can be profitable, and the smart PV inverter can greatly enhance the PV penetration in distribution systems in Taiwan. These results can provide some useful information for making policy to encourage investment in solar PV industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microgrid operation is challenging because the amount of electricity that is produced from renewables is uncertain and the inertia of distributed generation resources is very small. Energy storage systems can regulate energy, improve the reliability of the power systemand enhance the transient stability. This paper determines the optimal capacities of energy storage systems in an islanded microgrid that is composed of wind-turbine generators, photovoltaic arrays, and micro-turbine generators. The energy storage system can enhance the reliability of the microgrid and eliminate the unnecessary load shedding when a severe transient (such as a generator outage) occurs in the islanded microgrid. The studied problem is expressed as a multi-objective programming formulation, which is solved using an immunity-based algorithm. Four objective functions are optimized: minimum of energy storage capacity, minimum of load shedding, maximum of the lowest swing frequency, and minimum of the Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI). These four objective functions are subject to both steady-state constraints and the transient-state equality constraint. The steady-state constraints include the total shed load limit, the feasible range of energy storage capacities while the transient-state equality constraint is expressed by the dynamic equation. The Pareto optimums are explored and optimality of the problem is investigated. The simulation results based on an islanded 15-bus microgrid show the applicability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expression and calculation of transmission loss (TL) play key roles for solving the power system economic dispatch (ED) problem. ED including TL must compute the total TL and incremental transmission loss (ITL) by executing power flow equations. However, solving the power flow equations is time-consuming and may result in divergence by the iteration procedure. This approach is unsuitable for real-time ED in practical power systems. To avoid solving nonlinear power flow equations, most power companies continue to adopt the TL formula in ED. Traditional loss formulas are composed of network parameters and in terms of the generator's real power outputs. These formulas are derived by several assumptions, but these basic assumptions sacrifice accuracy. In this study, a new expression for the loss formula is proposed to improve the shortcomings of traditional loss formulas. The coefficients in the new loss formula can be obtained by recording the power losses according to varying real and reactive power outputs without any assumptions. The simultaneous equations of the second-order expansion of the Taylor series are then established. Finally, the corresponding coefficients can be calculated by solving the simultaneous equations. These new coefficients can be used in optimal real and reactive power dispatch problems. The proposed approach is tested by IEEE 14-bus and 30-bus systems, and the results are compared with those obtained from the traditional B coefficient method and the load flow method. The numerical results show that the proposed new loss formula for ED can hold high accuracy for different loading conditions and is very suitable for real-time applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]