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Nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors are important components of plant and metazoan innate immunity that can function as individual units or as pairs or networks. Upon activation, NLRs form multiprotein complexes termed resistosomes or inflammasomes. Although metazoan paired NLRs, such as NAIP/NLRC4, form hetero-complexes upon activation, the molecular mechanisms underpinning activation of plant paired NLRs, especially whether they associate in resistosome hetero-complexes, is unknown. In asterid plant species, the NLR required for cell death (NRC) immune receptor network is composed of multiple resistance protein sensors and downstream helpers that confer immunity against diverse plant pathogens. Here, we show that pathogen effector-activation of the NLR proteins Rx (confers virus resistance), and Bs2 (confers bacterial resistance) leads to oligomerization of their helper NLR, NRC2. Activated Rx does not oligomerize or enter into a stable complex with the NRC2 oligomer and remains cytoplasmic. In contrast, activated NRC2 oligomers accumulate in membrane-associated puncta. We propose an activation-and-release model for NLRs in the NRC immune receptor network. This points to a distinct activation model compared with mammalian paired NLRs.

Parasites counteract host immunity by suppressing helper NLR proteins that function as central nodes in immune receptor networks. Understanding the mechanisms of immunosuppression can lead to strategies for bioengineering disease resistance. Here, we show that a cyst nematode virulence effector binds and inhibits oligomerization of the helper NLR protein NRC2 by physically preventing intramolecular rearrangements required for activation. A single amino acid polymorphism at the binding interface between NRC2 and the inhibitor is sufficient for this helper NLR to evade immune suppression, thereby restoring the activity of multiple disease resistance genes. This points to a novel strategy for resurrecting disease resistance in crop genomes.One sentence summaryA helper NLR is mutated to evade inhibition by a parasite effector.

Nanoparticles of Zn0.85Al0.15Te and Pb0.98Na0.02Te were used as the starting materials to prepare p-type Pb0.833Na0.017(Zn0.85Al0.15)0.15Te-Te composite. The resulting powder was densified, sintered at 380 °C for 24 h in an evacuated and encapsulated ampoule and its thermoelectric transport property was characterized between 300 K and 600 K. At 300 K, the electrical resistivity of Pb0.833Na0.017(Zn0.85Al0.15)0.15Te-Te composite is 4.2 mΩ-cm; exhibits nonmetal-like behavior from 300 K to 375 K and degenerate behavior beyond 375 K. The temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity shows deviation from the normal power law (1/Tδ, δ ≈ 1.84–2.27 for lead chalcogenides), suggesting a sharp drop in mobility in 425 K–600 K which is ascribed to defects, grain boundaries, and potential energy fluctuation due to atomic disorders. The maximum thermopower of Pb0.833Na0.017(Zn0.85Al0.15)0.15Te-Te is 400 μVK-1 at 600 K. Assuming acoustic phonon scattering is the dominant mechanism, we calculate the reduced Fermi energy and Lorenz numbers and compare them with other materials. As-calculated Lorenz numbers is used to estimate the lattice thermal conductivity, which is 11% lower than the total thermal conductivity at 300 K. The lattice thermal conductivity varies as κL ~ T-0.46 proving the presence of grain boundary scattering, dislocations, and alloy scattering. The maximum power factor (P.F.) of 17.7 μWcm-1K-2 is observed at 400 K. Finally, the Pb0.833Na0.017(Zn0.85Al0.15)0.15Te-Te composite exhibits a dimensionless figure-of-merit (zT) of 1.08 at 600 K, demonstrating the material from the current study can compete with many high performing PbTe-based materials.

A series of Pb1-y(Zn0.85Al0.15)yTe-Te nanocomposites (y = 0, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.11) was fabricated by hydrothermal synthesis of PbTe and Zn0.85Al0.15Te nanoparticles separately, followed by intimate mixing, pressing, and sintering in evacuated-and-encapsulated Pyrex ampoules at 380 °C for 12 h. Thermoelectric properties were characterized from 120-600 K. With increasing Zn content, the peak thermopower shifts to higher temperatures, Hall carrier concentration increases, and the lattice thermal conductivity decreases. As compared to the pristine PbTe, thermoelectric properties of Pb1-y(Zn0.85Al0.15)yTe-Te nanocomposites have improved considerably. The y = 0.11 sample exhibits the highest zT ~1 comparable to the state-of-the-art p-type PbTe-based materials. The enhanced zT is ascribed to reduced thermal conductivity, elevated electrical conductivity and thermopower. This unique new method of material synthesis and doping is very promising to obtain high-performance thermoelectric materials in addition to tuning their nanostructures.

Small RNA (sRNA), such as microRNA (miRNA) and short interfering RNA, are well-known to control gene expression based on degradation of target mRNA in plants. A considerable amount of research has applied next-generation sequencing (NGS) to reveal the regulatory pathways of plant sRNAs. Consequently, numerous bioinformatics tools have been developed for the purpose of analyzing sRNA NGS data. However, most methods focus on the study of sRNA expression profiles or novel miRNAs predictions. The analysis of sRNA target genes is usually not integrated into their pipelines. As a result, there is still no means available for identifying the interaction mechanisms between host and virus or the synergistic effects between two viruses. For the present study, a comprehensive system, called the Small RNA Illustration System (sRIS), has been developed. This system contains two main components. The first is for sRNA overview analysis and can be used not only to identify miRNA but also to investigate virus-derived small interfering RNA. The second component is for sRNA target prediction, and it employs both bioinformatics calculations and degradome sequencing data to enhance the accuracy of target prediction. In addition, this system has been designed so that figures and tables for the outputs of each analysis can be easily retrieved and accessed, making it easier for users to quickly identify and quantify their results. sRIS is available at http://sris.itps.ncku.edu.tw/.

Nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors are important components of plant and metazoan innate immunity that can function as individual units or as pairs or networks. Upon activation, NLRs form multiprotein complexes termed resistosomes or inflammasomes. Whereas metazoan paired NLRs, such as NAIP/NLRC4, activate into hetero-complexes, the molecular mechanisms underpinning activation of plant paired NLRs, especially whether they associate in resistosome hetero-complexes is unknown. In asterid plant species, the NLR required for cell death (NRC) immune receptor network is composed of multiple resistance protein sensors and downstream helpers that confer immunity against diverse plant pathogens. Here, we show that pathogen effector-activation of the NLR proteins Rx (confers virus resistance) and Bs2 (confers bacterial resistance) leads to oligomerization of the helper NLR NRC2. Activated Rx does not oligomerize or enter into a stable complex with the NRC2 oligomer and remains cytoplasmic. In contrast, activated NRC2 oligomers accumulate in membrane-associated puncta. We propose an activation-and-release model for NLRs in the NRC immune receptor network. This points to a distinct activation model compared to mammalian paired NLRs.

Nicotiana benthamiana has emerged as a complementary experimental system to Arabidopsis thaliana. It enables fast-forward in vivo analyses primarily through transient gene expression and is particularly popular in the study of plant immunity. Recently, our understanding of nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) plant immune receptors has greatly advanced following the discovery of the Arabidopsis HOPZ-ACTIVATED RESISTANCE1 (ZAR1) resistosome. Here, we describe a vector system of 72 plasmids that enables functional studies of the ZAR1 resistosome in N. benthamiana. We showed that ZAR1 stands out among the coiled coil class of NLRs (CC-NLRs) for being highly conserved across distantly related dicot plant species and confirmed NbZAR1 as the N. benthamiana ortholog of Arabidopsis ZAR1. Effector-activated and autoactive NbZAR1 triggers the cell death response in N. benthamiana and this activity is dependent on a functional N-terminal α1 helix. C-terminally tagged NbZAR1 remains functional in N. benthamiana, thus enabling cell biology and biochemical studies in this plant system. We conclude that the NbZAR1 open source pZA plasmid collection forms an additional experimental system to Arabidopsis for in planta resistosome studies.

This paper proposes a planar balanced filtering crossover with third-order bandpass response. Two paths of the crossover are designed to have different passband frequencies. The balanced crossover is designed to have good differential-mode bandpass response and good common-mode rejection for each path. In addition, good isolation between the two paths are also considered in the design process. The proposed microstrip crossover has been fabricated on RO4003C substrate. Simulated and measured results reveal the bandpass response for each path. 30-dB isolation and common-mode rejection are realized.

Together with pathogenic microbes and herbivorous insects, parasitic plants are emerging as aggressive threats on agriculture worldwide. Among them, Cuscuta (dodder), a stem holoparasite, extracts nutrients and water from host plants through phloem feeding. Dodder is parasitic on a very wide variety of plants, including a number of important agricultural and horticultural crops such as alfalfa, clover, tomatoes, and potatoes. Dodder infestations cause major economic concerns, including crop yield reduction and cost increase of crop harvesting. Understanding resistance mechanisms against dodder can provide potential solutions to effectively control dodder infestations.

NLR immune receptors form one of the most diverse protein families in flowering plants (angiosperms). NLRs have massively expanded through birth-and-death evolution and typically exhibit hallmarks of rapid evolution even at the intraspecific level. Here, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of ZAR1, an atypically conserved NLR that traces its origin to early angiosperm lineages ~220 to 150 million years ago (Jurassic period). We used iterative sequence similarity searches coupled with phylogenetic analyses to determine the degree to which ZAR1 orthologs and paralogs occur in plants. We discovered 120 ZAR1 orthologs in 88 species, including the monocot Colacasia esculenta, the magnoliid Cinnamomum micranthum and the majority of eudicots, notably the early diverging eudicot species Aquilegia coerulea. Analyses of the ortholog sequences revealed highly conserved features of ZAR1, including regions for pathogen effector recognition, intramolecular interactions and cell death activation. This also uncovered a new conserved surface on the underside of the activated ZAR1 resistosome wheel. Throughout its evolution, ZAR1 also acquired novel features. Nine ZAR1 orthologs from cassava and cotton carry an integrated thioredoxin-like domain at their C-termini. ZAR1 also duplicated into two paralog families ZAR1-SUB and ZAR1-CIN. ZAR1-SUB, which emerged in the eudicots, is a large class of sequence diverse ZAR1 paralogs that lack several of the conserved motifs of ZAR1. A second family, ZAR1-CIN, comprises an expansion of 11 paralogs unique to a ~500 kb locus in the C. micranthum genome and located about 48 Mb from ZAR1. We conclude that ZAR1 stands out among angiosperm NLRs for having an ancient origin and having experienced relatively limited gene duplication and expansion throughout its deep evolutionary history. Nonetheless, ZAR1 did also give rise to non-canonical NLR proteins with integrated domains and degenerated molecular features.

Background: The mosquito Aedes aegypti is a major vector for transmission of viruses causing dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya infection. Functional analysis of mosquito genes and individual viral genes can be a powerful approach to study vector–virus interactions but is often hampered by a lack of suitable promoters to drive exogenous viral gene expression in mosquito cells in vitro and in vivo. Object: To search for potential promoter candidates that can be used to express foreign genes and particularly viral proteins in a mosquito model system. Materials and Methods: we characterized the ability of the promoters of three Ae. aegypti antimicrobial peptide (AMP) genes to drive the expression of marker proteins (luciferase, GFP, the NS3 protein of two flaviviruses, and rabies virus glycoprotein) in mosquito cells and adult female mosquitoes, and in other insect cells as well. Results: The promoters of the defensin A4 and cecropin B1 genes produced robust expression of luciferase and GFP in the Ae. aegypti cell line CCL125, Aedes albopictus cell line C6/36, Drosophila melanogaster cell line S2, and Spodoptera frugiperda cell line Sf21. These AMP gene promoters also had the ability to drive NS3 and GFP expression in adult tissues of Ae. aegypti, Ae. albopictus, and Culex tritaeniorhynchus in vivo, which may suggest evolutionary conservation of AMP gene promoter activity across mosquito lineages. Conclusions: These promoters could provide a valuable tool for ectopically expressing viral genes and studying their interactions with the mosquito vectors.

Summary Cymbidium mosaic virus (CymMV) and Odontoglossum ringspot virus (ORSV) are the two most prevalent viruses infecting orchids and causing economic losses worldwide. Mixed infection of CymMV and ORSV could induce intensified symptoms as early at 10 days post‐inoculation in inoculated Phalaenopsis amabilis, where CymMV pathogenesis was unilaterally enhanced by ORSV. To reveal the antiviral RNA silencing activity in orchids, we characterized the viral small‐interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) from CymMV and ORSV singly or synergistically infecting P. amabilis. We also temporally classified the inoculated leaf‐tip tissues and noninoculated adjacent tissues as late and early stages of infection, respectively. Regardless of early or late stage with single or double infection, CymMV and ORSV vsiRNAs were predominant in 21‐ and 22‐nt sizes, with excess positive polarity and under‐represented 5ʹ‐guanine. While CymMV vsiRNAs mainly derived from RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase‐coding regions, ORSV vsiRNAs encompassed the coat protein gene and 3ʹ‐untranslated region, with a specific hotspot residing in the 3ʹ‐terminal pseudoknot. With double infection, CymMV vsiRNAs increased more than 5‐fold in number with increasing virus titres. Most vsiRNA features remained unchanged with double inoculation, but additional ORSV vsiRNA hotspot peaks were prominent. The potential vsiRNA‐mediated regulation of the novel targets in double‐infected tissues thereby provides a different view of CymMV and ORSV synergism. Hence, temporally profiled vsiRNAs from taxonomically distinct CymMV and ORSV illustrate active antiviral RNA silencing in their natural host, Phalaenopsis, during both early and late stages of infection. Our findings provide insights into offence–defence interactions among CymMV, ORSV and orchids.

Taxonomically distinct Cymbidium mosaic potexvirus (CymMV) and Odontoglossum ringspot tobamovirus (ORSV) are two of the most prevalent viruses worldwide; when co-infecting orchids, they cause synergistic symptoms. Because of the huge economic loss in quality and quantity in the orchid industry with virus-infected orchids, virus-resistant orchids are urgently needed. To date, no transgenic resistant lines against these two viruses have been reported. In this study, we generated transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana expressing various constructs of partial CymMV and ORSV genomes. Several transgenic lines grew normally and remained symptomless after mixed inoculation with CymMV and ORSV. The replication of CymMV and ORSV was approximately 70–90% lower in protoplasts of transgenic lines than wild-type (WT) plants. Of note, we detected extremely low or no viral RNA or capsid protein of CymMV and ORSV in systemic leaves of transgenic lines after co-infection. Grafting experiments further revealed that CymMV and ORSV trafficked extremely inefficiently from co-infected WT stocks to transgenic scions, presumably due to RNA-mediated interference. This study reports the first successful creation of dual resistant transgenic lines against CymMV and ORSV. Our studies shed light on the commercial development of transgenic orchid production to combat the global viral threat.

Operationally-simple and reusable Pd-catalyzed mono and double Mizoroki–Heck reactions of aryl halides and dialkyl vinylphosphonates using iPr2NH as a base in aqueous medium under air were developed. For aryl iodides, the reaction could be conducted at 80 °C under a low catalyst loading (0.1–1 mol%). When aryl bromides were applied, however, a greater amount of catalyst (5 mol%) and a longer reaction time at 120 °C were required. Simply changing dialkyl vinylphosphonates as the limiting reagent led to the formation of 2,2-diaryl vinylphosphonates in good to high yields. After reaction, the residual aqueous solution could be reused for both mono and double Mizoroki–Heck reactions, making the reactions greener and reducing wastage of precious metals and use of harmful organic solvents as the reaction medium.

A series of Ag2Te1−x Se x /Ag nanocomposites with x = 0, 0.01, and 0.02 is fabricated using aqueous solution method at room temperature followed by sintering in an evacuated-and-encapsulated ampoule. The resulting materials are characterized by power x-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, high resolution tunneling electron microscopy and thermoelectric property measurements. Slight doping of Se for Te results in higher resistivity and absolute thermopower as compared to nondoped Ag2Te/Ag nanocomposites. As a result, the power factor is significantly enhanced around structural transition temperature as well as in the temperature interval of 550 K and 650 K. A maximum power factor of 13.7 μW/cm-K2 is attained for x = 0.01 at 425 K.

Nanostructured Zn1−xAlxTe (0≤x≤0.15) samples have been fabricated using hydrothermal synthesis and evacuating-and-encapsulating sintering. Thermoelectric properties are measured at 300–600 K. The thermopower of all the samples is positive, indicating that the predominant carriers are holes over the entire temperature range. The hole concentration increases with increasing Al3+ content. Based on the charge neutrality, the hole concentration is expected to decrease upon Al doping. However, the x-ray absorption spectroscopy indicates the electrons transfer from Zn 4s to Te 5d states upon Al doping, which might explain that the increase of hole concentration upon partial Al3+ substitution of Zn2+. Using Slack's model for estimating the lattice thermal conductivity, the Gruneisen parameter at 300 K is found to increase with Al doping content. The highest power factor (1.52 µW m−1 K−2) and highest dimensionless figure of merit (0.075) are attained at 575 K for Zn0.85Al0.15Te, representing an improvement of about 508% and 851% with respect to the nondoped ZnTe at the same temperature. These results suggest that aluminum is an effective doping element for improving the thermoelectric properties of ZnTe.

Objective. In this study, machine learning was utilized to classify and predict pulse wave of hypertensive group and healthy group and assess the risk of hypertension by observing the dynamic change of the pulse wave and provide an objective reference for clinical application of pulse diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Method. The basic information from 450 hypertensive cases and 479 healthy cases was collected by self-developed H20 questionnaires and pulse wave information was acquired by self-developed pulse diagnostic instrument (PDA-1). H20 questionnaires and pulse wave information were used as input variables to obtain different machine learning classification models of hypertension. This method was aimed at analyzing the influence of pulse wave on the accuracy and stability of machine learning model, as well as the feature contribution of hypertension model after removing noise by K-means. Result. Compared with the classification results before removing noise, the accuracy and the area under the curve (AUC) had been improved. The accuracy rates of AdaBoost, Gradient Boosting, and Random Forest (RF) were 86.41%, 86.41%, and 85.33%, respectively. AUC were 0.86, 0.86, and 0.85, respectively. The maximum accuracy of SVM increased from 79.57% to 83.15%, and the AUC stability increased from 0.79 to 0.83. In addition, the features of importance on traditional statistics and machine learning were consistent. After removing noise, the features with large changes were h1/t1, w1/t, t, w2, h2, t1, and t5 in AdaBoost and Gradient Boosting (top10). The common variables for machine learning and traditional statistics were h1/t1, h5, t, Ad, BMI, and t2. Conclusion. Pulse wave-based diagnostic method of hypertension has significant value in reference. In view of the feasibility of digital-pulse-wave diagnosis and dynamically evaluating hypertension, it provides the research direction and foundation for Chinese medicine in the dynamic evaluation of modern disease diagnosis and curative effect.

We report low thermal conductivity for n-type cobalt skutterudites synthesized via a rapid hydrothermal procedure combined with evacuated-and-encapsulated heating. Different synthesis temperatures were investigated to obtain a single phase of CoSb3. The resulting samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Hall and density measurements. A remarkably low thermal conductivity of 1.33–1.46 W m−1 K−1 at room temperature can be attained for the pristine CoSb3, which is comparable with or even lower than that of the filled CoSb3 obtained from solid state reaction. Regarding the requirement of lengthy annealing and reaction at high temperature using solid state reaction, our remarkably rapid and low temperature procedure fabrication together with significantly low thermal conductivity presents major progress in fabricating cobalt skutterudites using hydrothermal synthesis methods.

A series of nanostructured co-doped Co(1-x-y)Ni(x)Fe(y)Sb3 were fabricated using a rapid hydrothermal method at 170 °C for a duration of 12 h, followed by evacuated-and-encapsulated heating at 580 °C for a short period of 5 h. The resulting samples were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, bulk density, electronic and thermal transport measurements. The power factor of Co(1-x-y)Ni(x)Fe(y)Sb3 is significantly enhanced in the high-temperature region due to significant enhancement of the electrical conductivity and absolute value of thermopower. The latter arises from the onset of bipolar effect being shifted to higher temperatures as compared with the non-doped CoSb3. The room temperature thermal conductivity falls in the range between 1.22 and 1.67 W m(-1) K(-1) for Co(1-x-y)Ni(x)Fe(y)Sb3. The thermal conductivity of both the (x,y) = (0.14,10) and (0.14,12) samples is measured up to 600 K and found to decrease with increasing temperature. The thermal conductivity of the (0.14,10) sample goes down to ∼1.02 W m(-1) K(-1). As a result, zT = 0.68 is attained at 600 K. The lattice thermal conductivity is analyzed to gain insight into the contribution of various scattering processes that suppress the heat transfer through the phonons in Co(1-x-y)Ni(x)Fe(y)Sb3. The effect of the simultaneous presence of Co, Ni, and Fe elements on the electronic structure and transport properties of Co(1-x-y)Ni(x)Fe(y)Sb3 is described using the quantum mechanical tunneling theory of electron transmission among the potential barriers.

Electron-beam direct-write (EBDW) lithography is an attractive candidate of next-generation lithography in advanced semiconductor processes. The huge data stream bandwidth required for the data delivery path in EBDW systems could seriously deteriorate throughput, which is one of the major deficiencies constraining EBDW lithography from mass production. A lossless electron-beam layout data compression and decompression algorithm is proposed in this paper for 5-bit gray level bitmaps. Compared with the state-of-the-art LineDiff Entropy algorithm, the proposed method averagely improves the compression rate by 18% and achieves more than 7.5 times speedup for decompression.

Low-temperature electronic and thermal transport measurements are carried out on nanostructured Zn1−x Al x Te (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.15) fabricated using hydrothermal synthesis followed by evacuated-and-encapsulated sintering. A single parabolic band with acoustic phonon scattering is used to analyze thermoelectric transport data. It is found that reduced Fermi energy gets closer to the valence band edge and density of states effective mass, effective density of states, and Hall factor decrease with increasing x in doped samples. The chemical carrier concentration, carrier density independent mobility, β, and theoretical zT values increase with increasing x in doped samples. The nanostructured Zn1−x Al x Te exhibits significant reduction of thermal conductivity at 300 K (1.82–3.71 W m−1 K−1) as compared to bulk ZnTe (18 W m−1 K−1). The point-defect scattering and phonon-grain scattering play an important role in reducing the lattice thermal conductivity. In addition, partial substitution of Al3+ for Zn2+ significantly improves both the power factor and zT values.

A rapid scene indexing method is proposed to improve retrieval performance for students accessing instructional videos. This indexing method is applied to anchor suitable indices to the instructional video so that students can obtain several small lesson units to gain learning mastery. The method also regulates online course progress. These anchored points not only provide students with fast access to specific material but also can link to certain quizzes or problems to show the interactive e-learning content that course developers deposited in the learning management system, which enhances the learning process. This allows students to click on the anchored point to repeat their lesson, or work through the quizzes or problems until they reach formative assessment. Hence, their learning can be guided by the formative assessment results. In order to quickly find the scene to index, some specific description of it was needed. Actually, most of the instructional videos were recorded by teachers, and were part of their PowerPoint presentations. Based on the features of the PowerPoint slides in the instructional videos, such as the title or page number, the specified scene can be found. Since we used specific scene descriptions, it was easy to employ the rapid scene detection method using an image filter and Sobel mask. Finally, we applied an experimental design to check the precision of the scene detection and evaluate user satisfaction. The results showed that rapid scene indexing can definitely assist learners in their online learning; that is, it gives them better learning mastery and provides regulation for the online learning environment.

Treatment of difluorobenzyldiphenylphosphine with the Ir(III) dimer [(dfppy)2Ir(mu-Cl)]2 gives (N,N)-trans-[Ir(dfppy)2(dfbdpH)Cl], followed by skeletal isomerization to form its (N,N)-cis analogue, and then the fully cyclometalated complex [Ir(dfppy)2(dfbdp)]; the last complex and its derivative are suitable for fabrication of true-blue phosphorescent OLEDs.

In Taiwan, un-reinforced masonry (URM) was a common type of construction for low-rise buildings due to their low cost and ease of construction. At 1970s and 1980s, an improved type known as “confined masonry” became the mainstream. Confined masonry consists of pre-laid URM brick walls and post-constructed reinforced concrete (RC) boundary beams and columns. It is believed that the RC boundary elements provide confinement to the walls because of shrinkage of concrete. Usually the URM walls in confined masonry are 1-brick thick (24cm), but a confined masonry building is not allowed to exceed 3 stories or 10m high by the Taiwan Building Code. So after 1990s, URM walls are mostly used as pot-laid partition walls for RC buildings. However, there are still many existing confined masonry buildings, include residence, school, and public buildings in Taiwan. Former researches have confirmed the in-plane seismic capacity of URM walls. But in typical school and street side buildings that only have walls in one direction, the out-of-plane direction of the walls becomes the weak direction and the walls fail in their out-of-plane direction before the in-plane strength can fully contributed. Therefore this paper presents an experimental investigation and an analytical approach for out-of-plane behavior and strength of URM walls in-filled in RC buildings subjected to lateral force. The experimental data comes from 2 in-site push over tests of typical school buildings by National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering.

— Polymer stabilization is introduced in VA-type LCDs, and fast response time can be achieved along with a high contrast ratio.1 A small amount of reactive monomer is mixed with liquid crystal and forms a polymer layer above the alignment layer by using a UV process. The pre-tilt angle of the liquid crystal is stabilized, and a faster response time can be realized when the bias pre-tilt angle from 90° is increased. The properties of reactive monomers and liquid crystal and the conditions of the UV process were studied. Based on the application of the proper monomer and LC, and an optima UV process, a 65-in. 240-Hz full-HD TFT-LCD, with a faster response time and high contrast ratio, has been developed.

An advanced MVA technology, AMVA III (AUO or Advanced MVA generation III) which is a protrusion-free technology has been developed. The AMVA III TFT-LCD panel has high optical transmittance (20% higher than conventional MVA), high static contrast ratio (>8000:1), fast response time, low color washout, and substantially free from motion blur. This advanced technology is newly launched for mass-production in LCD-TV.