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Forecasting solar irradiance is of utmost importance in supplying renewable energy efficiently and timely. This paper aims to experiment five variants of recurrent neural networks (RNN), and develop effective and reliable 5-minute short term solar irradiance prediction models. The 5 RNN classes are long-short term memory (LSTM), gated recurrent unit (GRU), Simple RNN, bidirectional LSTM (Bi-LSTM), and bidirectional GRU (Bi-GRU); the first 3 classes are unidirectional and the last two are bidirectional RNN models. The 26 months data under consideration, exhibits extremely volatile weather conditions in Jinju city, South Korea. Therefore, after different experimental processes, 5 hyper-parameters were selected for each model cautiously. In each model, different levels of depth and width were tested; moreover, a 9-fold cross validation was applied to distinguish them against high variability in the seasonal time-series dataset. Generally the deeper architectures of the aforementioned models had significant outcomes; meanwhile, the Bi-LSTM and Bi-GRU provided more accurate predictions as compared to the unidirectional ones. The Bi-GRU model provided the lowest RMSE and highest R2 values of 46.1 and 0.958; additionally, it required 5.25*10-5 seconds per trainable parameter per epoch, the lowest incurred computational cost among the mentioned models. All 5 models performed differently over the four seasons in the 9-fold cross validation test. On average, the bidirectional RNNs and the simple RNN model showed high robustness with less data and high temporal data variability; although, the stronger architectures of the bidirectional models, deems their results more reliable.

Background Despite the lack of official COVID-19 statistics, various workplaces and occupations have been at the center of COVID-19 outbreaks. We aimed to compare legal measures and governance established for managing COVID-19 infection risks at workplaces in nine Asia and Pacific countries and to recommend key administrative measures. Methods We collected information on legal measures and governance from both general citizens and workers regarding infection risks such as COVID-19 from industrial hygiene professionals in nine countries (Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Republic of the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand) using a structured questionnaire. Results A governmental body overseeing public health and welfare was in charge of containing the spread and occurrence of infectious diseases under an infectious disease control and prevention act or another special act, although the name of the pertinent organizations and legislation vary among countries. Unlike in the case of other traditional hazards, there have been no specific articles or clauses describing the means of mitigating virus risk in the workplace that are legally required of employers, making it difficult to define the responsibilities of the employer. Each country maintains own legal systems regarding access to the duration, administration, and financing of paid sick leave. Many workers may not have access to paid sick leave even if it is legally guaranteed. Conclusion Specific legal measures to manage infectious disease risks, such as providing proper personal protective equipment, education, engineering control measures, and paid sick leave are recommended to be stipulated in Industrial safety and health-related acts.

Advanced beyond-silicon electronic technology requires both channel materials and also ultralow-resistance contacts to be discovered1,2. Atomically thin two-dimensional semiconductors have great potential for realizing high-performance electronic devices1,3. However, owing to metal-induced gap states (MIGS)4–7, energy barriers at the metal–semiconductor interface—which fundamentally lead to high contact resistance and poor current-delivery capability—have constrained the improvement of two-dimensional semiconductor transistors so far2,8,9. Here we report ohmic contact between semimetallic bismuth and semiconducting monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) where the MIGS are sufficiently suppressed and degenerate states in the TMD are spontaneously formed in contact with bismuth. Through this approach, we achieve zero Schottky barrier height, a contact resistance of 123 ohm micrometres and an on-state current density of 1,135 microamps per micrometre on monolayer MoS2; these two values are, to the best of our knowledge, the lowest and highest yet recorded, respectively. We also demonstrate that excellent ohmic contacts can be formed on various monolayer semiconductors, including MoS2, WS2 and WSe2. Our reported contact resistances are a substantial improvement for two-dimensional semiconductors, and approach the quantum limit. This technology unveils the potential of high-performance monolayer transistors that are on par with state-of-the-art three-dimensional semiconductors, enabling further device downscaling and extending Moore’s law. Electric contacts of semimetallic bismuth on monolayer semiconductors are shown to suppress metal-induced gap states and thus have very low contact resistance and a zero Schottky barrier height.

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has been regarded as one of the most important n-type two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors for nanoscale electron devices. Relatively high contact resistance (RC) remains as an issue in the 2D-devices yet to be resolved. Reliable technique is very compelling to practically produce low RC values in device electronics, although scientific approaches have been made to obtain a record-low RC. To resolve this practical issue, we here use thermal-evaporated ultrathin LiF between channel and source/drain metal to fabricate 2D-like MoS2 field effect transistors (FETs) with minimum RC. Under 4-bar FET method, RC less than ∼600 Ω·μm is achieved from the LiF/Au contact MoS2 FET. Our normal 2-bar FET with LiF thus shows the same mobility as that of 4-bar FET that should have no RC in principle. On the basis of these results, ultrathin LiF is also applied for transparent conducting oxide contact, successfully enabling transparent MoS2 FETs.

Freestanding graphene on a trench has been fabricated extensively using a transfer process of chemical vapor deposition grown graphene. Here, we demonstrate that freestanding graphene can be grown directly on a trench without a transfer process. A shallow trench was made on a 6H–SiC(0001) wafer using a focused ion beam lithography. The shallow trench was heated to a high temperature under Ar atmosphere. The heat treatment made the shallow trench become deeper and wider. Subsequently, epitaxial graphene was floating on the trench, resulting in freestanding graphene, where underlying bulk SiC was self-etched after the growth of epitaxial graphene. The freestanding graphene on a trench was characterized using Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. Such freestanding graphene writing can be applied to semiconductor fabrication process of freestanding graphene devices without a transfer process.

Introduction Early allograft dysfunction (EAD) is known to be a prototype of graft failure and ultimately influences long-term graft failure or death. We hypothesized that pretransplant thrombogenicity evaluated by procoagulant and anticoagulant, von Willebrand factor (vWF), factor Ⅷ (FⅧ), protein C (PC) and their imbalance ratio of vWF-to-PC (vWFPCR) and FVIII-to-PC (FⅧPCR), is associated with EAD and 90-day graft failure after living-related liver transplantation (LDLT) and contributes to further exacerbation of graft dysfunction when coexists with systemic inflammation. Material and methods Of 1199 prospectively registered LDLT patients, 698 with measurements of each thrombogenicity parameters were analyzed. Risk factors for EAD development were searched and subsequent best cut-offs was calculated according to the receiver operator characteristic curve analysis. When comparing the outcome, multivariable regression analysis and inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) of the propensity score were performed. Results The prevalence of EAD was 10.7% (n = 75/698) after LDLT. Of parameters, vWFPCR had highest predictivity potential of EAD with the best cut-off of 8.06. The relationship between vWFPCR≥8.06 showed significant association with EAD development (OR [95%CI], 2.55[1.28–5.09], P = 0.008) and 90-day graft failure (HR [95%CI], 2.24 [1–4.98], P = 0.043) after IPTW-adjustment. Furthermore, risk of EAD increased proportionally with increasing C-reactive protein as a continuous metric of systemic inflammation, and more steeply in those with higher thrombogenicity (i.e., higher vWFPCR). Adding vWFPCR to MELD score improved EAD risk prediction by 21.9%. Conclusions Pretransplant thrombogenicity assessed by imbalance of pro- and anticoagulant, was significantly associated with EAD and 90-day graft failure after LDLT and this association was worsened by systemic inflammation.

This article presents a 320 $\times $ 240 indirect time-of-flight (iToF) CMOS image sensor (CIS) with on-chip motion artifact suppression and background light cancelling (BGLC). The proposed iToF CIS uses a backside-illuminated trident pinned photodiode (PPD) that assists charge transfer with a built-in lateral electric field for enhanced depth accuracy. To overcome the limitation of the conventional iToF CIS that exhibits motion artifact, we propose a pseudo-four-tap (P4-tap) demodulation method with alternate phase driving using a conventional two-tap pixel structure with a high fill factor of over 43%. In addition, by combining the advantages of both the P4-tap and conventional two-tap demodulation schemes, we propose hybrid depth imaging with reduced motion artifact for moving objects, while providing high-depth precision for the static background. For outdoor mobile applications of the iToF CIS, we integrated on-chip BGLC circuits to eliminate the BGL-induced depth error. A prototype chip is fabricated using a 90-nm backside illumination (BSI) CIS process. The BSI trident PPD enabled a low depth error of under 0.54% over the range of 0.75–4 m, with a modulation frequency of 100 MHz. Motion artifact was suppressed at 60 frames/s of hybrid depth imaging owing to the proposed P4-tap scheme. With the on-chip BGLC circuit, the experimental results demonstrate a 0.55% depth error at a 1-m distance, even under 120-klx BGL illumination.

Background: Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide are harmful gases generated during aerobic/anaerobic bacterial decomposition of livestock manure. We evaluated ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations generated from workplaces at livestock farms and determined environmental factors influencing the gas concentrations. Methods: Five commercial swine farms and five poultry farms were selected for monitoring. Real-time monitors were used to measure the ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations and environmental conditions during the manure-handling processes. Monitoring was conducted in the manure storage facility and composting facility. Information on the farm conditions was also collected through interview and walk-through survey. Results: The ammonia concentrations were significantly higher at the swine composting facilities (9.5–43.2 ppm) than at other manure-handling facilities at the swine and poultry farms, and high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide were identified during the manure agitation and mixing process at the swine manure storage facilities (6.9–19.5 ppm). At the poultry manure-handling facilities, the ammonia concentration was higher during the manure-handling processes (2.6–57.9 ppm), and very low hydrogen sulfide concentrations (0–3.4 ppm) were detected. The air temperature and relative humidity, volume of the facility, duration of manure storage, and the number of animals influenced the gas concentrations. Conclusion: A high level of hazardous gases was generated during manure handling, and some levels increased up to risk levels that can threaten workers' health and safety. Some of the farm operational factors were also found to influence the gas levels. By controlling and improving these factors, it would be possible to protect workers' safety and health from occupational risks. Keywords: Ammonia, Exposure, Hydrogen sulfide, Livestock workers, Manure handling

Since around the year 2000, hundreds of people in Korea have developed humidifier disinfectant-associated lung injury (HDLI). We collected all HD exposure-related information from the field investigations into the locations in which the 1199 registered patients had used HD. Among the people who registered, 38% (1st round = 214, 2nd = 73, 3rd = 166) were confirmed as HDLI patients. Children aged under eight years old made up the highest proportion of HDLI cases (N = 279, 62%), followed by pregnant women (N = 31, 7%). One hundred thirty-three (29%) of the confirmed HDLI patients died. Fifty-seven percent of HDLI patients (N = 259) developed HDLI after

During tillage operations, draft force contributes hugely to the operational cost. Accurate knowledge of draft force (DF) requirement for tillage implements is a useful tool for machinery selection, matching of implements to tractor, etc. The goal of this research was to measure the draft force of a compact disc harrow and analyze the effect of soil moisture content (SMC) and machine speed on draft force. Also, another aim is to develop a model equation to predict draft force requirement of compact disc harrow. A EWX 10000F winch was used to provide the draft (pull) force which was powered by a 24 V DC battery. The draft force was measured using a load cell which transmitted the measured values to an AND ad 4532B indicator. The draft force of the compact disc harrow was measured at three different levels of SMC: low SMC (5–7%, 9–11%, 13–15%); medium SMC (25–27%, 29–31%, 33–35%); and High SMC (40–42%, 44–46%, 48–50%) with machine speed (MS) of 0.06 m/s, 0.09 m/s, and 0.12 m/s. The results obtained were statistically analyzed and it showed that the lowest draft force occurred at 26% SMC with a force of about 658 N. A multi-variable regression equation was developed after the regression analysis. The regression equation DF = 466.91 + 6.25*(SMC) + 2952.1*(MS) was selected as the best model for predicting draft force. This equation was verified using the Bland–Altman plot, the t test analysis, and the standard error analysis. The results of the verification methods proved that the suggested model can be used for predicting draft force requirement of a compact disc harrow.

Background: Percutaneous atrial septal defect (ASD) device closure is usually performed under general anesthesia (GA) because it can ensure protection of the airway from the effects of insertion of the transesophageal echocardiogram probe insertion. However, recent studies have suggested that this procedure can be performed safely under deep sedation also. Thus, we compared the efficacy of using monitored anesthesia care (MAC) with deep sedation versus GA to perform this procedure and the post-procedural outcomes and incidence of complications associated with these two methods of anesthesia. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed cases involving 311 patients who underwent ASD device closures from January 2011 to December 2015. The demographics, laboratory values, echocardiographic findings, and intraoperative data of these patients were assessed. GA was induced with a continuous infusion of propofol and remifentanil using a target control infusion pump. MAC with deep sedation was performed by using a continuous infusion of dexmedetomidine and remifentanil. The primary outcome of the study was the overall complication rate that included the incidence of aspiration pneumonia, sore throat, dysphagia, vocal cord palsy, neurologic complication, device-related complications, and other minor complications during the procedure; and the secondary outcomes were the turnover time, procedure time, and duration of hospital stay. Results: No significant differences were observed in the complication rate and length of the hospital stay between the MAC group and the GA group. However, the turnover time was significantly longer in the GA group than in the MAC group (56.2±13.3 vs . 51.0±15.4 min, P=0.004). Conclusions: MAC under deep sedation is an effective and safe anesthetic option comparable to GA for performing percutaneous ASD device closures.

Since transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors are found as two-dimensional van der Waals materials with a discrete energy bandgap, many TMD based field effect transistors (FETs) are reported as prototype devices. However, overall reports indicate that threshold voltage (Vth) of those FETs are located far away from 0 V whether the channel is p- or n-type. This definitely causes high switching voltage and unintended OFF-state leakage current. Here, a facile way to simultaneously modulate the Vth of both p- and n-channel FETs with TMDs is reported. The deposition of various organic small molecules on the channel results in charge transfer between the organic molecule and TMD channels. Especially, HAT-CN molecule is found to ideally work for both p- and n-channels, shifting their Vth toward 0 V concurrently. As a proof of concept, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverter with p-MoTe2 and n-MoS2 channels shows superior voltage gain and minimal power consumption after HAT-CN deposi...

Photodiodes composed of graphene and other two-dimensional materials are potential for high-sensitivity self-powered photodetectors, but the photovoltaic effect of graphene-based two-dimensional heterojunctions is often depressed and is, therefore, weaker than what it is expected. In this work, we have revealed that the loss of zero-bias photocurrent in the molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/graphene photodiode originates from the interlayer coupling of photocarriers at the interface. By introducing atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) film into the MoS2/graphene interface, the interlayer carrier coupling at the MoS2/graphene interface under zero-bias is substantially blocked by the h-BN layer while the transport of photo-generated holes is realized through quantum tunneling. Therefore, the insertion of h-BN could increase the zero-bias photocurrent of the MoS2/graphene heterojunction for over three orders, and a high-sensitivity self-power vertical MoS2/h-BN/graphene van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure tunneling photodetector can be developed, which exhibits a high photo conversion efficiency (external quantum efficiency over 80%), improved photocurrent to dark current ratio (over 1000) and a corresponding high specific detectivity (5.9 × 1014 Jones for white-noise limited detectivity and 6.7 × 1010 Jones for the measured detectivity). This intriguing photovoltaic effect restoring has significant potential in practical applications of high-sensitivity graphene-based self-powered photodetection.

Although epidural patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) to control postoperative pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), the relationship of epidural PCA with postoperative bleeding remains controversial. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effect of epidural and intravenous PCA on postoperative bleeding in patients undergoing unilateral TKA. Total of 2467 patients who underwent TKA were divided to intravenous PCA (n = 2339) or epidural PCA (n = 128) group. After 1:1 propensity score-matching, 212 patients were analyzed to assess the associations between the perioperative blood loss and epidural PCA between the groups. Mean postoperative blood loss was significantly greater in epidural PCA than in intravenous PCA (900.9 ± 369.1 mL vs. 737.8 ± 410.1 mL; P = 0.007). The incidence of red blood cell (RBC) administration (> 3 units) was significantly higher in epidural PCA than in intravenous PCA (30.2% vs. 16.0%; OR 2.5; 95% CI 1.201–5.205; P = 0.014). Epidural PCA may be strongly related to postoperative bleeding and the incidence of RBC transfusion of more than 3 units after unilateral TKA, as compared to intravenous PCA. Therefore, the use of epidural PCA may be carefully considered for postoperative pain management in TKA.

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a major component of turmeric, which is isolated from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa L. from the family Zingiberaceae. It is used as a dietary pigment for curry and in traditional Indian medicine for its anti-inflammatory and attenuating pain effects. This study aimed to evaluate the beneficial effects of curcumin in a rat model of diabetic neuropathic pain. Additionally, we investigated the involvement of the phosphorylated form of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (pJNK) located in the neurons and astrocytes of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). To induce diabetic neuropathic pain in rats, 50 mg/kg of streptozotocin (STZ) was intraperitoneally injected. After 4 weeks, rats were administered the vehicle, 10 mg/kg/day curcumin, or 50 mg/kg/day curcumin orally for 4 consecutive weeks. One day after the final drug administration, we performed behavioral tests to measure responses of rats to mechanical, heat, cold, and acetone-induced cold stimuli. After behavioral tests, pJNK expression in the DRG was evaluated using western blot assay and immunohistochemistry. Curcumin treatment for 4 consecutive weeks in STZ-induced diabetic neuropathic pain rats improved behavioral responses to mechanical, cold, and thermal stimuli. Increased pJNK expression in the astrocytes and neurons of the DRG in STZ-induced diabetic neuropathic pain rats was reduced by curcumin treatment for 4 consecutive weeks. We suggest that curcumin can be an option for the treatment of diabetes-related neuropathic pain, and one of the mechanisms that underlie the action of curcumin may involve pJNK expression in the astrocytes and neurons of the DRG.

An increase in power consumption necessitates a low-power circuit technology to extend Moore's law. Low-power transistors, such as tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs), negative-capacitance field-effect transistors (NC-FETs), and Dirac-source field-effect transistors (DS-FETs), have been realised to break the thermionic limit of the subthreshold swing (SS). However, a low-power diode rectifier, which breaks the thermionic limit of an ideality factor (n) of 1 at room temperature, has not been proposed yet. In this study, we have realised a DS Schottky diode, which exhibits a steep-slope characteristic curve, by utilising the linear density of states (DOSs) of graphene. For the developed DS Schottky diode, n, 28 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Nature Communications

A high pixel density image sensor for the Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) range is presented. A PbS quantum dot (QD) photodiode array is monolithically integrated on a silicon custom readout IC. Imaging in VIS and SWIR is demonstrated using focal plane arrays with pixel pitch down to record 1.82 μm. Through-silicon vision and lens-free imaging (LFI) microscopy are shown as applications that can benefit from high resolution/small pixel dimensions. In the LFI demonstration, the captured hologram is computationally reconstructed to acquire SWIR microscopic images, resulting in a wavelength equivalent resolution LFI microscopy system. To our knowledge, this is the smallest pitch SWIR pixel ever reported and the first LFI system using a QD image sensor.

This study aimed to quantify both chloromethylisothiazolinone (CMIT) and methylisothiazolinone (MIT) dissolved in different product brands and to characterize the exposure to these chemicals among humidifier disinfectant-associated lung injury (HDLI) patients. Both CMIT and MIT dissolved in different humidifier disinfectant (HD) products were quantified using gas chromatography&ndash, mass spectrometry. The inhalation level of CMIT and MIT was estimated based on HD-associated factors as reported by HDLI patients. A total of eleven HD products marketed until the end of 2011 were found to contain CMIT and/or MIT. The level of combined CMIT and/or MIT dissolved in these HD products ranged from 12 to 353 ppm. The level varied among HD products and the year of manufacture. The average inhalation levels were estimated to be 7.5, 4.1, and 3.2 &mu, g/m3 for the definite, probable, and possible groups, respectively. If probable and possible groups were collapsed together, the inhalation level of the collapsed group was significantly different from that of the definite group (p &lt, 0.001). All HDLI patients responded as having used HD not only while sleeping, but also as having a humidifier treated with HD within close proximity every day in insufficiently ventilated spaces. These HD use characteristics of patients may be directly/indirectly linked to the HDLI development.

While the postoperative outcome is favorable, post-thyroidectomy pain is considerable. Reducing the postoperative acute pain, therefore, is considered important. This study investigated whether the pain intensity and need for rescue analgesics during the immediate postoperative period after thyroidectomy differ according to the methods of anesthesia. Seventy-two patients undergoing total thyroidectomy under general anesthesia were examined. Patients were randomly assigned to undergo either total intravenous anesthesia with remifentanil and propofol (TIVA, n = 35) or propofol induction and maintenance with desflurane and nitrous oxide (volatile anesthesia [VA], n = 37). The mean administered dose of remifentanil was 1977.7 ± 722.5 μg in the TIVA group, which was approximately 0.268 ± 0.118 μg/min/kg during surgery. Pain scores based on a numeric rating scale (NRS) and the need for rescue analgesics were compared between groups at the postoperative anesthetic care unit (PACU). The immediate postoperative NRS values of the TIVA and VA groups were 5.7 ± 1.7 and 4.7 ± 2.3, respectively (P = 0.034). Postoperative morphine equianalgesic doses in the PACU were higher in the TIVA group than in the VA group (16.7 ± 3.8 mg vs. 14.1 ± 5.9 mg,P = 0.027). The incidence of immediate postanesthetic complications did not differ significantly between groups. In conclusion, more rescue analgesics were required in the TIVA group than in the VA group to adequately manage postoperative pain while staying in the PACU after thyroidectomy.

There is currently no governmental body in South Korea resembling the type of poison center (PC) recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). All Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries except for South Korea maintain such a PC tasked with both preventing poisoning accidents and supporting the prompt treatment of poisoned patients. Such a PC could very possibly have allowed the country to more promptly recognize the widespread wave of humidifier disinfectant (HD) associated health effects, including fatal lung injury and death, that lasted started roughly in 2000 and continued through 2011. Despite this chemical poisoning tragedy, South Korea still lacks a surveillance system to monitor health effects caused by the use and consumption of materials that include products containing chemicals, foodborne pathogens, drugs, pesticides, etc. There have been no legal procedures for examining the potential risk of products or materials manufactured by industry. The reporting of national poisoning data or causes of poisoning, which is near ubiquitous in advanced countries with a PC, has not taken place We recommend that a PC should be established within the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). In addition, in order to perform surveillance of poisoning cases across the country, a certain number of regional PCs, including at large hospitals, will also be necessary.

Two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has substantial potential as a semiconducting material for devices. However, it is commonly prepared by mechanical exfoliation, which limits flake size to only a few micrometers, which is not sufficient for processes such as photolithography and circuit patterning. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has thus become a mainstream fabrication technique to achieve large-area MoS2. However, reports of conventional photolithographic patterning of large-area 2D MoS2-based devices with high mobilities and low switching voltages are rare. Here we fabricate CVD-grown large-area MoS2 field-effect transistors (FETs) by photolithography and demonstrate their potential as switching and driving FETs for pixels in analog organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. We spin-coat an ultrathin hydrophobic polystyrene layer on an Al2O3 dielectric, so that the uniformity of threshold voltage (Vth) of the FETs might be improved. Our MoS2 FETs show a high linear mobility of approximately 10 cm2 V−1 s−1, due to a large grain size around 60 μm, and a high ON/OFF current ratio of 108. Dynamic switching of blue and green OLED pixels is shown at ~5 V, demonstrating their application potential.

Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures exhibit novel physical and chemical properties, allowing the development of unprecedented electronic, optical, and electrochemical devices. However, the construction of wafer-scale vdW heterostructures for practical applications is still limited due to the lack of well-established growth and transfer techniques. Herein, we report a method for the fabrication of wafer-scale 2D vdW heterostructures with an ultraclean interface between layers via the aid of a freestanding viscoelastic polymer support layer (VEPSL). The low glass transition temperature ( Tg) and viscoelastic nature of the VEPSL ensure absolute conformal contact between 2D layers, enabling the easy pick-up of layers and attaching to other 2D layers. This eventually leads to the construction of random sequence 2D vdW heterostructures such as molybdenum disulfide/tungsten disulfide/molybdenum diselenide/tungsten diselenide/hexagonal boron nitride. Furthermore, the VEPSL allows the conformal transfer of 2D vdW heterostructures onto arbitrary substrates, irrespective of surface roughness. To demonstrate the significance of the ultraclean interface, the fabricated molybdenum disulfide/graphene heterostructure employed as an electrocatalyst yielded excellent results of 73.1 mV·dec-1 for the Tafel slope and 0.12 kΩ of charge transfer resistance, which are almost twice as low as that of the impurity-trapped heterostructure.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) on the blood circulation in an ischemic skin model using a laser-speckle contrast-imaging technique. Fou...

Background: The semiconductor industry is known to use a number of chemicals, but little is known about the exact chemicals used due to the ingredients being kept as a trade secret. Objectives: The objective of this study was to analyze chemical use using a safety data sheet (SDS) and chemical inventory provided by a major semiconductor company, which operated two factories (A and B). Methods: Descriptive statistics were obtained on the number of chemical products and ingredients, photoresists, and carcinogens, classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), as well as trade secret ingredients. The total chemical use per year was estimated from chemical inventories mass (kg). Results: A total of 428 and 432 chemical products were used in factories A and B, respectively. The number of pure chemical ingredients, after removing both trade secret ingredients and multiple counting, was 189 and 157 in factories A and B, respectively. The number of products containing carcinogens, such as sulfuric acid, catechol, and naphthalene was 47/428 (A) and 28/432 (B). Chemicals used in photolithography were 21% (A) and 26% (B) of all chemical products, and more than 97% among them were chemicals containing trade secret ingredients. Conclusions: Each year, 4.3 and 8.3 tons of chemicals were used per person in factories A and B, respectively. Because of the high level of commercial secrecy and the use of many unregulated chemicals, more sustainable policies and methods should be implemented to address health and safety issues in the semiconductor industry.

We report a simple wireless power charging (WPC) antenna system (50 mm $\times40$ mm $\times0.1$ mm) for use in simulating power transfer efficiency ( $\eta $ ) with and without ferrite and a metallic object (battery case), thereby identifying suitable magnetic parameters and ferrite sheet thickness. The simulation results suggest that magnetic loss tangent (tan $\delta _{\mu }$ ) and permeability ( $\mu '$ ) need to be less than 0.05 and higher than 125 at 13.56 MHz, respectively, to achieve at least 75% of the transfer efficiency ( $\eta _{\mathrm {max}}$ ) of the WPC antenna without ferrite and the metallic object. Accordingly, we have fabricated Ni x Zn0.85– x Cu0.15Fe2O4 (x = 0.32 – 0.38) spinel ferrites using a one-step sintering process and obtained relatively high $\mu '$ of 169 and low tan $\delta _{\mu }$ of 0.1 with a nickel (Ni) concentration of 0.38. This magnetic loss is still too high to achieve 75% of the $\eta _{\mathrm {max}}$ value. In order to further reduce the magnetic loss, a two-step sintering process was used. The two-step sintered Ni0.38Zn0.47Cu0.15Fe2O4 shows $\mu '$ of 132 and a tan $\delta _{\mu }$ of 0.03 at 13.56 MHz, respectively. Therefore, this ferrite meets criteria identified by the transfer efficiency simulation and is a good candidate for 13.56-MHz wireless power transfer charging antenna system. In addition, our designed WPC system is capable of evaluating other magnetic materials that are suitable for WPC antenna applications.

An indirect time-of-flight (iToF) CMOS image sensor (CIS) is a device that provides depth as well as a two-dimensional shape of an object by measuring the phase difference of reflected pulse trains of light. Because the iToF CIS offers high spatial resolution from the scaled photodetectors such as pinned photodiodes (PPD) [1] or photogates [2], as well as high depth accuracy, it is advantageous for object or gesture recognition with higher accuracy compared with conventional 2D imagers. Even though iToF CISs have been limited to indoor applications, such as gaming, they have a strong demand for outdoor applications that include 3D face recognition and augmented reality for mobile devices, gesture recognition for vehicles, and service robots. The operation principle of the iTOF CIS is a 4-phase demodulation (4PH) that acquires four charges from four phases (0, π/2, π, 3π/2) of demodulation. A conventional iToF CIS employs 2-tap (2T) pixels that have a photodetector with two readout paths such that charges from two phases can be separated. For the 4PH, we need two successive frames: 0 and π in the first, and π/2 and 3π/2 in the second frame [1]–[5]. Therefore, this conventional 4PH induces significant motion artifact that is critical for applications of gesture recognition. Another critical problem is the weak immunity for background light (BGL), including strong indoor lighting or sunlight. Several iToF CISs with integrated BGL cancelling are reported. However, they sacrifice sensitivity by connecting an additional capacitor to avoid saturation or sacrifice spatial resolution by adding huge analog memories in the CIS core [3].

Binarization of neural network models is considered as one of the promising methods to deploy deep neural network models on resource-constrained environments such as mobile devices. However, Binary Neural Networks (BNNs) tend to suffer from severe accuracy degradation compared to the full-precision counterpart model. Several techniques were proposed to improve the accuracy of BNNs. One of the approaches is to balance the distribution of binary activations so that the amount of information in the binary activations becomes maximum. Based on extensive analysis, in stark contrast to previous work, we argue that unbalanced activation distribution can actually improve the accuracy of BNNs. We also show that adjusting the threshold values of binary activation functions results in the unbalanced distribution of the binary activation, which increases the accuracy of BNN models. Experimental results show that the accuracy of previous BNN models (e.g. XNOR-Net and Bi-Real-Net) can be improved by simply shifting the threshold values of binary activation functions without requiring any other modification., Comment: CVPR 2021, 10 pages, 10 figures

Solar renewable energy (SRE) applications are substantial in eradicating the rising global energy shortages and reversing the approaching environmental apocalypse. Hence, effective solar irradiance forecasting models are crucial in utilizing SRE efficiently. This paper introduces a partially amended hybrid model (PAHM) by the implementation of a new algorithm. The algorithm innovatively utilizes bi-directional gated unit (Bi-GRU), autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and naive decomposition models to predict solar irradiance in 5-min and 60-min intervals. Meanwhile, the models’ generalizability strengths would be tested under an 11-fold cross-validation and are further classified according to their computational costs. The dataset consists of 32 months’ solar irradiance and weather conditions records. A fundamental result of this study was that the single models (Bi-GRU and ARIMA) outperformed the hybrid models (PAHM, classical hybrid model) in the 5-min predictions, negating the assumptions that hybrid models oust single models in every time interval. PAHM provided the highest accuracy level in the 60-min predictions and improved the accuracy levels of the classical hybrid model by 5%, on average. The single models were rigorous under the 11-fold cross-validation, performing well with different datasets; although the computational efficiency of the Bi-GRU model was, by far, the best among the models.

In this work, we present an augmented reality (AR) approach for position based service using a smartphone in an indoor environment. The AR method, combined with position estimation, provides a user with a smartphone with a service that is specific to a particular position without using a marker or any other hardware device. The position in an indoor environment is estimated using an IMU sensor only in the smartphone. The accuracy of the position and heading direction of the user is improved by integrating the values from the accelerometer and the gyro using Principal Component Analysis(PCA) and Extended Kalman Filter(EKF). Then, a drift noise of the estimated position is reduced by a registration step performed at a specific position. The estimated position is given to the position based service, which is provided to the user on the smartphone screen through AR. The concept of the proposed method is demonstrated with some examples.

Objectives To compare detection patterns of 80 cephalometric landmarks identified by an automated identification system (AI) based on a recently proposed deep-learning method, the You-Only-Look-Once version 3 (YOLOv3), with those identified by human examiners. Materials and Methods The YOLOv3 algorithm was implemented with custom modifications and trained on 1028 cephalograms. A total of 80 landmarks comprising two vertical reference points and 46 hard tissue and 32 soft tissue landmarks were identified. On the 283 test images, the same 80 landmarks were identified by AI and human examiners twice. Statistical analyses were conducted to detect whether any significant differences between AI and human examiners existed. Influence of image factors on those differences was also investigated. Results Upon repeated trials, AI always detected identical positions on each landmark, while the human intraexaminer variability of repeated manual detections demonstrated a detection error of 0.97 ± 1.03 mm. The mean detection error between AI and human was 1.46 ± 2.97 mm. The mean difference between human examiners was 1.50 ± 1.48 mm. In general, comparisons in the detection errors between AI and human examiners were less than 0.9 mm, which did not seem to be clinically significant. Conclusions AI showed as accurate an identification of cephalometric landmarks as did human examiners. AI might be a viable option for repeatedly identifying multiple cephalometric landmarks.

Objective: To compare the accuracy and computational efficiency of two of the latest deep-learning algorithms for automatic identification of cephalometric landmarks. Materials and Methods: A total of 1028 cephalometric radiographic images were selected as learning data that trained You-Only-Look-Once version 3 (YOLOv3) and Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD) methods. The number of target labeling was 80 landmarks. After the deep-learning process, the algorithms were tested using a new test data set composed of 283 images. Accuracy was determined by measuring the point-to-point error and success detection rate and was visualized by drawing scattergrams. The computational time of both algorithms was also recorded. Results: The YOLOv3 algorithm outperformed SSD in accuracy for 38 of 80 landmarks. The other 42 of 80 landmarks did not show a statistically significant difference between YOLOv3 and SSD. Error plots of YOLOv3 showed not only a smaller error range but also a more isotropic tendency. The mean computational time spent per image was 0.05 seconds and 2.89 seconds for YOLOv3 and SSD, respectively. YOLOv3 showed approximately 5% higher accuracy compared with the top benchmarks in the literature. Conclusions: Between the two latest deep-learning methods applied, YOLOv3 seemed to be more promising as a fully automated cephalometric landmark identification system for use in clinical practice.

Ultrafine particles and other hazardous materials are emitted during 3D printing, but the effect of temperature on such particles has not been studied systematically. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of temperature on the emission rate of particulate matter during fused deposition modeling (FDM) three-dimensional (3D) printing using different filament types. The number concentration of particles was measured with direct-reading instruments in an exposure chamber at various temperatures while using four filament materials during 3D printing. The temperature was increased from 185 to 290°C in 15°C increments, while incorporating the manufacturer-recommended operating conditions. The emission rate increased gradually as the temperature increased for all filament types, and temperature was the key factor affecting the emission rate after filament type. For all filaments, at the lowest operating temperature, the emission rate was 107 -109 particles/min, whereas the emission rate at the highest temperature was about 1011 particles/min, that is, 100-10 000 times higher than the emission rate at the lowest temperature. To reduce particle emissions from 3D printing, we recommend printing at the lowest temperature possible or using low-emission materials.

In the semiconductor etch process, as the critical dimension (CD) decreases and the difficulty of the process control increases, in-situ and real-time etch profile monitoring becomes important. It leads to the development of virtual metrology (VM) technology, one of the measurement and inspection (MI) technology that predicts the etch profile during the process. Recently, VM to predict the etch depth using plasma information (PI) variables and the etch process data based on the statistical regression method had been developed and demonstrated high performance. In this study, VM using PI variables, named PI-VM, was extended to monitor the etch profile and investigated the role of PI variables and features of PI-VM. PI variables are obtained through analysis on optical emission spectrum data. The features in PI-VM are investigated in terms of plasma physics and etch kinetics. The PI-VM is developed to monitor the etch depth, bowing CD, etch depth times bowing CD (rectangular model), and etch area model (non-rectangular model). PI-VM for etch depth and bowing CD showed high prediction accuracy of R-square value (R2) 0.8 or higher. The rectangular and non-rectangular etch area model PI-VM showed prediction accuracy R2 of 0.78 and 0.49, respectively. The first trial of virtual metrology to monitor the etch profile will contribute to the development of the etch profile control technology.

Two dimensional (2D) p-MoTe2 channel-based nonvolatile memory transistors with ferroelectric P(VDF-TrFE) polymer has been studied using a bottom-gate device architecture, which is introduced to dramatically reduce both of the switching and drain voltages to minimum 8 V and 10 mV, respectively. In fact, most of 2D-channel ferroelectric FETs with the same P(VDF-TrFE) polymer have used top-gate architectures, utilizing high switching pulse voltages over 20–25 V due to the existence of dead layer, which is unavoidably formed at the interface between P(VDF-TrFE) and thermal-deposited Al top gate. Key effects to realize such a low 8–13 V switching thus originate from the bottom-gate architecture. On the one hand, keys to obtain the low operation/drain voltage come from anneal-free Ohmic contact which is obtained using H2O2 solution. Thanks to the low operation voltages of 10 mV, consuming power in the nonvolatile FETs can be minimized to ~a few pW for OFF/Erase state and ~a few hundred pW for ON/Program although it eventually becomes ~nW and ~30 nW for OFF and ON states in a practical circuit operation to switch organic light emitting diodes. Our approaches of bottom-gate architecture and H2O2 contact nicely work even for transparent nonvolatile memory FET.

High-resolution rectal MRI plays a crucial role in evaluating rectal cancer by providing multiple prognostic findings and imaging features that guide proper patient management. Quality reporting is critical for accurate effective communication of the information among multiple disciplines, for which a systematic structured approach is beneficial. Existing guides on reporting of rectal MRI are divergent on some issues, largely reflecting the differences in overall management of rectal cancer patients between the United States and Europe. The Korean Society of Abdominal Radiology (KSAR) study group for rectal cancer has developed an expert consensus recommendation regarding essential items for structured reporting of rectal cancer MRI using a modified Delphi method. This recommendation aims at presenting an up-to-date, evidence-based, practical, structured reporting template that can be readily adopted in daily clinical practice. In addition, a thorough explanation of the clinical and scientific rationale underlying the reporting items and their formats is provided. This KSAR recommendation may serve as a useful tool to help achieve more standardized optimal care for rectal cancer patients using rectal MRI.

The objective of this study was to develop a probabilistic method for flood-risk assessment under climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) in preparation for climate change; the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios were selected to examine future flood damage. The study area was South Korea. The spatial and temporal resolutions were on a city and county basis, and four time periods (1990s: 1976–2005, 2025s: 2011–2040, 2055s: 2041–2070 and 2085s: 2071–2100). Proxy variables were selected to assess flood risk. Indicators were standardized using the Z-score method and principal component analysis was conducted to calculate the weighting of indicators. Probability distribution of each indicator was fitted to analyse the flood risk. The generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution was selected as the appropriate distribution. Convolution was used to merge all probability density functions. The results show flood risk increasing during the 2025s period and continuing to rise up to the 2055s period. Especially, the increase from the 1990s to the 2025s is so large that countermeasures need to be developed. It also predicted that southern areas are at greater risk of flooding. These are expected to be used as appropriate data to establish an adaptation policy for climate change. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We report a low magnetic loss Ba3Co2Fe24O41 (Co2Z) hexaferrite for use in gigahertz (GHz) antennas. Acid-etching was very effective in removal of unwanted Y-type hexaferrite (Ba2Co2Fe12O22) from calcined Co2Z powder. It is found that the calcined and acid etched (AE) Co2Z hexaferrite shows a low magnetic loss tangent (tan δμ) of 0.012 and 0.037 at 1 and 2 GHz, respectively. These low tan δμ are attributed to removal of Y-type hexaferrite, which possesses a lower anisotropy field (Hk) than W-type hexaferrite (BaCo2Fe16O27). The figure of merit (FOM) of the AE Co2Z hexaferrite is 141.7 and 48.7 at 1 and 2 GHz, respectively. These FOM are much higher than the FOM of previously reported low-loss magnetic materials. Therefore, the AE Co2Z hexaferrite can be a good candidate for GHz antenna application in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band.

We have developed a miniaturized implantable ferrite antenna, operating in the industrial, scientific, and medical band (2.4–2.5 GHz). The dip-coated NiCo ferrite films effectively reduces the antenna resonance by 110 MHz, with a 4.2 dB reflection coefficient improvement as compared with an antenna without ferrite. The ferrite antenna also reveals a 6 dBi and 35 MHz improvement in realized gain and −10 dB bandwidth, respectively, at resonance. The effects of ferrite film loading on antenna performance are further investigated with parametric simulations and experimental comparisons.© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:2745–2749, 2016

Recently, in order to increase the efficiency and mission success rate of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), the necessity for formation flights is increased. In general, GPS (Global Positioning System) is used to obtain the relative position of leader with respect to follower in formation flight. However, it can’t be utilized in environment where GPS jamming may occur or communication is impossible. Therefore, in this study, monocular vision is used for measuring relative position. General PCbased vision processing systems has larger size than embedded systems and is hard to install on small vehicles. Thus FPGAbased processing board is used to make our system small and compact. The processing system is divided into two blocks, PL(Programmable Logic) and PS(Processing system). PL is consisted of many parallel logic arrays and it can handle large amount of data fast, and it is designed in hardware-wise. PS is consisted of conventional processing unit like ARM processor in hardware-wise and sequential processing algorithm is installed on it. Consequentially HW/SW co-designed FPGA system is used for processing input images and measuring a relative 3D position of the leader, and this system showed RMSE accuracy of 0.42 cm ~ 0.51 cm.

The objective of this study was to develop a paddy field modelling system for predicting pollutant (nutrient) loads and evaluating various best management practices (BMPs) on paddy fields. The system consists of a pre-processing component, the CREAMS-PADDY (Chemicals, Runoff, and Erosion from Agricultural Management Systems for PADDY) model, and a post-processing component. The CREAMS-PADDY was selected as the core model. The pre-processing component included manipulation of meteorological data, management of input parameters such as spatial characteristics and farming methods, batch running, and implementing various scenarios. The post-processing component contained visualization of water and nutrient balance components and statistical analyses for calibration, validation and application. To evaluate the applicability of the developed system, reduction effects on water control methods in paddy fields were simulated. Model parameters related to hydrology and water quality were calibrated and validated by comparing model predictions with field data collected over 2 years. The simulation results indicated that reducing nutrient loss through surface drainage by water-saving irrigation and raising drainage outlet heights could protect downstream water quality. The simulation system will be a useful tool for planning BMPs to reduce nutrient loads from paddy fields in various regions including Korea. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.