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In this work, an experiment was carried out to investigate the preparation condition of anisotropic Fe-deficient M-type Ca–Sr–La system ferrite with optimum magnetic and physical properties using the raw material Fe2O3 from steel industrial iron oxide waste. The compositions of the calcined ferrites were chosen according to the stoichiometry ${\mathrm {Ca}}_{1-x-y}$ La x Sr y Fe10.9CozO19, where M-type single-phase calcined powder was synthesized with a composition of $x = 0.45$ , $y = 0.18$ , and $z= 0$ . The effect of CaO, SiO2, and Co3O4 inter-additives on the Ca–Sr–La system ferrite was also discussed in order to obtain low-temperature sintered magnets. The magnetic properties of $B_{r} = 4570$ Gauss, $_{b}H_{c} = 4320$ Oe, $_{i}H_{c} = 5260$ Oe, and ( $BH$ ) $_{\mathrm {max}}= 5.16$ MGOe were obtained for Ca–Sr–La system hard magnets with low cobalt content at 1.85 wt%. The magnetic properties of the prepared magnets really good compared to that of the traditional Sr–La–cobalt (Co) M-type ferrite, which has been the highest grade M-type hard ferrite. The remarkable steel industrial iron oxide waste Fe2O3 is recycled to produce high-end permanent magnets under an output power of < 1 kW, which will eventually be used in high-efficiency motors.

Background Breast carcinoma-amplified sequence 2 (BCAS2) regulates β-catenin gene splicing. The conditional knockout of BCAS2 expression in the forebrain (BCAS2 cKO) of mice confers impaired learning and memory along with decreased β-catenin expression. Because β-catenin reportedly regulates adult neurogenesis, we wondered whether BCAS2 could regulate adult neurogenesis via β-catenin. Methods BCAS2-regulating neurogenesis was investigated by characterizing BCAS2 cKO mice. Also, lentivirus-shBCAS2 was intracranially injected into the hippocampus of wild-type mice to knock down BCAS2 expression. We evaluated the rescue effects of BCAS2 cKO by intracranial injection of adeno-associated virus encoding BCAS2 (AAV-DJ8-BCAS2) and AAV-β-catenin gene therapy. Results To show that BCAS2-regulating adult neurogenesis via β-catenin, first, BCAS2 cKO mice showed low SRY-box 2-positive (Sox2+) neural stem cell proliferation and doublecortin-positive (DCX+) immature neurons. Second, stereotaxic intracranial injection of lentivirus-shBCAS2 knocked down BCAS2 in the hippocampus of wild-type mice, and we confirmed the BCAS2 regulation of adult neurogenesis via β-catenin. Third, AAV-DJ8-BCAS2 gene therapy in BCAS2 cKO mice reversed the low proliferation of Sox2+ neural stem cells and the decreased number of DCX+ immature neurons with increased β-catenin expression. Moreover, AAV-β-catenin gene therapy restored neuron stem cell proliferation and immature neuron differentiation, which further supports BCAS2-regulating adult neurogenesis via β-catenin. In addition, cells targeted by AAV-DJ8 injection into the hippocampus included Sox2 and DCX immature neurons, interneurons, and astrocytes. BCAS2 may regulate adult neurogenesis by targeting Sox2+ and DCX+ immature neurons for autocrine effects and interneurons or astrocytes for paracrine effects. Conclusions BCAS2 can regulate adult neurogenesis in mice via β-catenin.

In this work, we studied the temperature dependences of endurance cycling properties on atomic layer deposition (ALD) HfAlO metal-ferroelectric-metal (MFM) capacitor in the range from 25 °C, 40 °C, 50 °C and 75 °C. Base on experiment results, it is found the reduction percentage of the ferroelectric memory window (2Pr) from 6.5 μC cm−2 (25 °C) to 6.3 μC cm−2 (75 °C) is only 3%, indicating that the ferroelectric HfAlO film has a robust operating temperature stability. The excellent high temperature endurance properties show around 30% of the original 2Pr value (6.3 μC cm−2) can be held after being fatigued up to 108 endurance cycles at 75 °C without breakdown. Additionally, using Arrhenius plot fitting (ln(J/E) vs 1/kT) before and after endurance cycles was extracted the changes of trapping energy level to better understand the relationship between leakage current, oxygen vacancies or defects tapping of polarization-switching behavior in HfAlO ferroelectric film.

At present, there is still room for evolution in style transfer of open source programs. This research uses open source code for style transfer on GitHub. In addition, it supports the development of online AI Attraction Page, Windows versions, Andorid platform, and Intel NCS. It also strengthens calculation and supports bases of multiple platforms. It is able to implement static style transfer on film, and speed up style transfer inferencing performance on web page. In addition, the literature review explores aesthetic perception elements and applies them to calculate parameter setting. The results of this study discover when the content image weight is 7.5 and the style image weight is 120, the inferenced image can retain characteristics of the original image, and come out with new blending style. Besides, to freeze the content and style image weight ratio, and increase the style image weight value to more than 10,000, the thin film color effect may appear. When there are 32 filters, the extracted color and style can show the most appropriate proportion and state. When the style size is adjusted to 410 × 256 and the content image is close in size, the original style features become more prominent. Finally, keep the style image free space at appropriately 25%, higher texture effect may occur after training.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is highly prevalent in patients with acute stroke. SDB is often underdiagnosed and associated with neurological deterioration and stroke recurrence. Polysomnography or home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) is typically used as the diagnostic modality; however, it may not be feasible to use regularly in patients with acute stroke. We investigated the predictive performance of pulse oximetry, a simpler alternative, to identify SDB. METHODS: The records of 254 patients, who were admitted to Boston Medical Center for acute stroke and underwent HSAT, were retrospectively reviewed. Oxygen desaturation index (ODI) from pulse oximetry channel were compared to respiratory event index (REI) obtained from HSAT devices. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of ODI were calculated, and different ODI cutoff values to predict SDB were proposed. RESULTS: ODI had a strong correlation (r = .902) and agreement with REI. ODI was accurate in predicting SDB at different REI thresholds (REI ≥ 5, REI ≥ 15, and REI ≥ 30 events/h) with the area under the curve (AUC) of .965, .974, and .951, respectively. An ODI ≥ 5 events/h rules in the presence of SDB (specificity 91.7%, PPV 96.3%). An ODI ≥ 15 events/h rules in moderate to severe SDB (specificity 96.4%, PPV 95%) and an ODI < 5 events/h rules out moderate to severe SDB (sensitivity 100%, NPV 100%). CONCLUSIONS: Nocturnal pulse oximetry has a high diagnostic accuracy in predicting moderate to severe SDB in patients with acute stroke. Oximetry can be a simple modality to rapidly recognize patients with more severe SDB and facilitate the referral to the confirmation sleep study. CITATION: Lin SH, Branson C, Park L, Leung J, Doshi N, Auerbach SH. Oximetry as an accurate tool for identifying moderate to severe sleep apnea in patients with acute stroke.J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(12):2065–2073.

After a long-term toxicity study on Bisphenol A (BPA), the European Union and U.S food and drug administration updating the rules regarding the usage of BPA by extending the prohibition of BPA to include in the production of papers, on February 2018. Therefore, it is essential to establish the trace level BPA detectors in paper samples. In this report, the synthesis of novel ZnO nanoclusters wrapped with reduced graphene oxide (ZnO NCs/rGO) and its application towards the selective electrocatalytic detection of BPA are described. Initially, ZnO NCs/rGO is synthesized by the one-step hydrothermal approach, and various characterizations explain the compound's compositions and structure. The significance of ZnO NCs/rGO together with good electrocatalytic properties leads this material to the platform for electrochemical sensor. Finally, ZnO NCs/rGO was fabricated and validated as an effective sensor for the sensitive detection of BPA. The demonstrated sensor revealed excellent detection of BPA with the very low detection limit (2.1 nM), and also it offered good analytical parameters with more extensive linear range and higher sensitivity. Likewise, the sensor annexes good durability, reproducibility, and selectivity towards the determination of BPA. Due to the nourishing capacity of the prepared ZnO NCs/rGO, it is employed for the detection of BPA in tissue paper samples.

Herein, the synthesis of novel non-aggregated spinel nickel ferrite, NiFe2O4 nanosheets (NiFe2O4 NSs) and its application towards the selective electrocatalytic reduction of hydrogen peroxide are described. Initially, NiFe2O4 NSs is synthesized by one-step hydrothermal approach, and numerous characterizations deliberately explain the compound's composition and structure. Finally, the NiFe2O4 NSs underwent direct non-enzymatic electrochemistry and succeeded, it as mimicking Horseradish Peroxidase properties. The significance of non-aggregated NiFe2O4 NSs together with good electrocatalytic properties leads the material to the platform for electrochemical sensors. Moreover, NiFe2O4 NSs is fabricated and validated as an enzyme-free biosensor for the sensitive detection of H2O2. The demonstrated sensor revealed excellent detection of H2O2 with the pico-molar detection limit (12.4 pM), and also it offered good analytical parameters with more extensive linear range and higher sensitivity. Likewise, the non-enzymatic biosensor annexes good durability, reproducibility, and selectivity towards the determination of H2O2. Due to the nourishing capacity of the prepared NiFe2O4 NSs, it is employed for the enzyme-free detection of H2O2 in human blood and rat brain serum samples.

This paper proposes a new vacuum sensor with CMOS Metal-N-Poly thermoelectric materials which works for both thermoelectric sensing and resistive heating. A new method of vacuum measurement with self-heating is proposed based on the dual phases of heating and sensing for the same element which is realized with CMOS thermoelectric sensor. Using the TSMC 0.35 μm CMOS-MEMS process, the proposed thermoelectric sensor is designed and fabricated with standard CMOS materials of the 4th metal and N-polysilicon to form 64 pairs of central-symmetrical thermocouples. There is an air convection-sensing area at the center of membrane and is filled with array of micro-through-holes to enhance the effect of heat convection. When the air molecules move through the array of hole, the heat exchange will take away the heat to cause a temperature drop of sensing area which gives a weak voltage between the cold and hot end of the thermocouples. The heating of thermopile itself is designed at the first phase and sensing the output voltage at the second phase subsequently. According to a careful investigation of the measurement with a wide range of 10m~10k torr, our proposed sensing scheme based on a thermoelectric type sensor is proved for practical vacuum detection and most of all it is proved as a new approach to use a commercial thermopile without heater, which is easier to include than a special custom design.

In this review, we seek to analyze the most novel findings recently published in the literature on sleep and dementia. The degeneration of suprachiasmatic nucleus and prefrontal cortex in dementia disrupts sleep-wake rhythmicity and contributes to cognitive deterioration in Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD), respectively. Sleep deprivation increases amyloid-β production and decreases its clearance. Short and long duration of sleep increase risk of cognitive disorders. Studies suggest that obstructive sleep apnea accelerates amyloid deposition though intermittent hypoxia. Effect of CPAP on cognition is controversial. Subjects with severe daytime sleepiness or sleep-related movement disorder have a higher risk for vascular dementia. These findings highlight the impact of sleep on dementia. Thus, the bi-directional link of sleep and neurodegenerative disease may influence each other in many ways that have important implications for the diagnosis and treatment of AD.

Background Taiwan is geographically located in a zone that is vulnerable to earthquakes, typhoons, floods, and landslide hazards and has experienced various disasters. Six Regional Emergency Medical Operation Centers (REMOCs) are integrated and administered by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) to be responsible for emergency situations during disastrous events, such as the emission of chemical toxicants, traffic accidents, industrial materials containment, and typhoons. Objective To analyze events reported by the six REMOCs during the 2014 to 2018 for the government policy reference. Methods Data were collected from injured and death toll reports provided by local designated hospitals in the emergency medical reporting system. Disaster events were categorized into three categories: natural disaster (NDs), disasters associated with technology (DTs), and disasters associated with security/violence/others (DSVOs). The three categories were further subdivided into sub-categories. Variables considered for trend analyses included the number of wounded and deaths, event characteristics, date/time, and triage. The frequency of disaster events among the six REMOCs was compared using the chi-square test. We used the global information system (GIS) to describe the distribution of events in Taiwan metropolitan cities. The α-level was set at 0.05. Results Of 580 events during the study period, the distribution of disaster characteristics in the jurisdictions of the six REMOCs were different. The majority of disaster events were DTs (64.5%), followed by NDs (24.5%) and DSVOs (11.0%). Events for the three disaster categories in the six REMOCs were different (χ2-test, p Conclusion Our data revealed that extreme weather precautions reported in the Taipei branch were increasing. Disaster characteristics were different in each metropolitan city. Upgrading the ability to respond to natural disasters is ineluctable.

In this work, we investigate efficient excitations of transverse (out-of-plane) vibrations of isotropic rectangular plates using piezoelectric fiber composites (PFCs) by experimental measurement. Four PFCs are separately bonded on a rectangular plate with four configured electrode connections to excite transverse vibration of the plate. The proposed configurations of the PFCs, including placements and electrode connections, are inspired by efficient transverse excitations of piezoelectric rectangular plates, whose mode shapes can be divided into four groups and whose electromechanical coupling efficiency can be largely improved by designs of partial electrodes. To visually demonstrate the excitation efficiency, an amplitude-fluctuation electronic speckle pattern interferometry (AF-ESPI) measurement technique is set up to obtain full-field transverse mode shapes. Other than AF-ESPI, a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) displacement sensing system is employed to investigate the excitation performances of the PFCs according to resonant frequencies with emphasis on the influences of the measured nodal lines of the plate. The experimental results presented in this study indicate that the excitation efficiency of the transverse vibrations in flexible structures can be improved by bonding distributed PFCs with configured electrode connections. In addition, we show that the vibrations of isotropic rectangular plates can be related to those of piezoelectric rectangular plates, from the experimental modal excitation point of view.

In this study, microelectromagnet, microchannel, syringe pump, and controlling devices were integrated to form a particle sorting system. A simple, two-dimensional, relatively quick fabricating and easily operating microelectromagnet was designed. Polystyrene particles and magnetic beads were pumped into the microchannel with the syringe pump, and it was observed that the magnetic beads were attracted to one of two outlets by the microelectromagnet, which features a gradually changing magnetic field. The polystyrene particles would move to another outlet because of different-width micro channel, and it completed the separation of the particles. Based on experimental results, the magnetic flux density of the microelectromagnet was 2.3 Gauss for a 12.5-μm average distance between electrodes at 1.0-μm increments, and the magnetic force was 0.22 pN for 2.8-μm magnetic beads. The separating rate was greater for larger distance increment and smaller average distance between the electrodes. The separating rate of the magnetic beads increased as the electric current increased and flow velocity decreased. When the flow velocity was 0.333 μm/s and electric current was 1 A, the separating rate was 90%. The separating rate of the polystyrene particles increased as the flow velocity increased and was 85% when the flow velocity was 0.6 μm/s. These results demonstrate that this particle sorting system has potential applications in bio-molecular studies.

Stretching experiments on lambda-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) were carried out in microfluidic channel using a microscope, micro-flow pump, and electromagnet. The micro-flow channel was fabricated by using micro electromechanical technology, and the electromagnet was analyzed by software to simulate the magnetic field distribution. The magnetic field was 248.6 gauss at a current of 0.5 A, and the system could exert 20.4 pN of force on a magnetic bead with diameter of 2.8 μm. When the buffer temperature was 25 °C, the average length of lambda-DNA molecules was 1.9 μm without magnetic field. In a magnetic field of 248.6 gauss, the extension was 7.2 μm, the total length was 9.1 μm, and the coefficient of elasticity was 2.83 × 10−6 N/m. When the buffer temperature was 45 °C, the average length was 4.6 μm without magnetic field. At 45 °C in a magnetic field of 248.6 gauss, the extension was 11.9 μm, the total length was 16.5 μm, and the coefficient of elasticity was 1.71 × 10−6 N/m. Besides, the denature temperature of dsDNA decreases with increasing magnetic force, and the temperature difference can be higher than 7 °C. This system can be used to measure the related properties of macromolecules.

We propose cells can be descended using magnetic attraction, which leads to shorter experimental time and higher efficiency. We used an electroporation chip with adjustable electromagnetic field as the experimental platform, and tested Escherichia coli and 6-nm magnetic beads combined with DNA plasmid. The magnetic beads were positively charged and easy to bind to the negatively charged cell membrane of E. coli . The magnetic beads and E. coli could be attracted quickly to the bottom because of the electromagnet and could reduce operational time and enhance transfection efficiency. The descent velocity of E. coli under magnetic attraction was considerably higher than that of E. coli without magnetic attraction. After electroporating and culturing, we obtained the results for E. coli with drug resistance and calculated the number of colony as the transfection efficiency. The achieved transfection efficiency using magnetic beads was seven-fold higher than that without magnetic bead. The following optimum parameter values were determined: 1.4 × 10 14 bead/ml for nano-magnetic bead concentration, 200 Gauss for magnetic flux density, and 40 s for magnetic attraction lasting time. The results will help develop transfection applications for low-descent-velocity cells.

This paper presents an application of centralized data envelopment analysis (CDEA) to analyse the performance of a number of container terminals supervised by one liner shipping company. It provides a systematic and centralized perspective of resource reallocation based on one company’s perspective. The numerical results show that two of the five dedicated terminals are, by and large, efficient, but the other three need resources to be reallocated. Under the minor adjustment scenario, the liner shipping company should reduce the aggregated amount of the labour cost and the hauling equipment should be transferred to different terminals in America. Under the major adjustment scenario, both the labour and hauling equipment could be reduced.

This paper presents a time-domain CMOS oscillator-based temperature sensor with one-point calibration for test cost reduction. Compared with the former CMOS sensors with linear delay lines, the proposed work composed of a temperature-to-pulse generator with adjustable time gain and a time-to-digital converter (TDC) can achieve lower circuit complexity and smaller area. A temperature-dependent oscillator for temperature sensing was used to generate the period width proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT). With the help of calibration circuit, an adjustable-gain time amplifier was adopted to dynamically adjust the amplified width that was converted by the TDC into the corresponding digital code. After calibration, the fluctuation of the sensor output with process variation can be greatly reduced. The maximum inaccuracy after one-point calibration for six package chips was 1.6 °C within a 0 80 °C temperature range. The proposed sensor fabricated in a 0.35-μm CMOS process occupied a chip area of merely 0.07 mm2, achieved a fine resolution of 0.047 °C/LSB, and consumed a low power of 25 μW@10 samples/s.

By setting up a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) displacement and strain sensing system, this paper experimentally investigates dynamic behaviors of a cantilever beam under impact or moving mass loadings. Dynamic sensing ability of the FBG displacement sensor is demonstrated by simultaneously measuring with a noncontact Fotonic sensor. Responses obtained from the FBG strain sensor are compared with those obtained from polyvinylidene fluoride film sensors and a strain gauge. First, an impact loading is generated by an impact hammer, and transient out-of-plane displacement responses obtained from the proposed FBG displacement sensor are compared with finite element simulations. Then, vibrations of the cantilever beam subjected to impact loadings by a steel ball are investigated. Finally, with a high-speed camera to detect the moving speed, experimental study of the cantilever beam under a moving mass is performed. By using the FBG displacement and strain sensing system, three kinds of modes of the cantilever beam (i.e., bending modes, lateral bending modes, and torsional modes) are detected under impact or moving mass loadings. With the high sensitivity of the proposed FBG sensing system, relationships between the transient responses induced by impact or moving mass loading and the vibration modes are discussed.

We propose cells can be descended using magnetic attraction, which leads to shorter experimental time and higher efficiency. We used an electroporation chip with adjustable electromagnetic field as the experimental platform, and tested Escherichia coli and 6-nm magnetic beads combined with DNA plasmid. The magnetic beads were positively charged and easy to bind to the negatively charged cell membrane of E. coli. The magnetic beads and E. coli could be attracted quickly to the bottom because of the electromagnet and could reduce operational time and enhance transfection efficiency. After electroporating and culturing, we obtained the results for E. coli with drug resistance and calculated the number of colony as the transfection efficiency. The achieved transfection efficiency using magnetic beads was seven-fold higher than that without magnetic bead. The following optimum parameter values were determined: 1.4 × 1014 bead/ml for nano-magnetic bead concentration, 200 Gauss for magnetic flux density, and 40 s for magnetic attraction lasting time. The results will help develop transfection applications for low-descent-velocity cells.

Stretching experiments on lambda-DNA were carried out in a microfluidic channel using an inverted fluorescence microscope, micro-flow pump, and electromagnet. The micro-flow channel was fabricated by using micro electromechanical system technology, and the micro electromagnet was analyzed by computer software to simulate the magnetic field distribution. The magnetic field was 248.6 gauss at a current of 0.5 A and the system could exert 20.4 pN of force on a magnetic bead with a diameter of 2.8 μm. When the temperature of the buffer was 25 °C, the average length of lambda-DNA molecules was 1.9 μm without the magnetic field. In a magnetic field of 248.6 gauss, the extension of lambda-DNA molecules was 7.2 μm, the total length was 9.1 μm, and the coefficient of elasticity was 2.83 × 10 -6 N/m. When the buffer temperature was increased to 45 °C, the average length of lambda-DNA molecules was 4.6 μm in the absence of a magnetic field. At 45 °C in a magnetic field of 248.6 gauss, the extension of lambda-DNA molecules was 11.9 μm, the total length was 16.5 μm, and the coefficient of elasticity was 1.71 × 10 -6 N/m. This system can be applied to the measure the extension and coefficient of elasticity of macromolecules.

We propose cells can be descended using magnetic attraction, which leads to shorter experimental time and higher efficiency. We used an electroporation chip with adjustable electromagnetic field as the experimental platform, and tested Escherichia coli and 6-nm magnetic beads combined with DNA plasmid. The magnetic beads were positively charged and easy to bind to the negatively charged cell membrane of E. coli. The magnetic beads and E. coli could be attracted quickly to the bottom because of the electromagnet and could reduce operational time and enhance transfection efficiency. After electroporating and culturing, we obtained the results for E. coli with drug resistance and calculated the number of colony as the transfection efficiency. The achieved transfection efficiency using magnetic beads was seven-fold higher than that without magnetic bead. The following optimum parameter values were determined: 1.4 × 10 14 bead/ml for nano-magnetic bead concentration, 200 Gauss for magnetic flux density, and 40 s for magnetic attraction lasting time. The results will help develop transfection applications for low-descent-velocity cells.

Two-tier macro/femto heterogeneous cellular networks (HCNs) have received considerable attention due to substantial improvements in high quality in-building coverage and system capacity. Distributed self-configured femtocells can be realized to mitigate inter-tier interference between macro cells and femtocells without heavy operating costs by incorporating broadcasting mechanism of macro cell. With the aid of the macro cell, who provides critical global information, femtocells can configure related parameters to achieve interference mitigation. A tractable stochastic geometry-based analytical model is proposed to evaluate of proposed self-configured scheme in terms of coverage probability. We also conduct simulation experiments according to data from OpenCellID to prove the effectiveness of the proposed self-configured scheme in the realistic two-tier HCNs.

This study proposes an algorithm based on the standard deviation in the temporal domain to remove influences from background noise and ambient disturbance and enhance the quality of images obtained using interferometric technology. From measurements of the first ten in-plane resonant frequencies and mode shapes of vibrating zirconate titanate (PZT) laminates, we investigated the resonant characteristics in both the U and V directions. The resulting interference fringes were used to quantify the vibration amplitude of PZT plates on a submicron scale. The resonant frequencies obtained using the proposed method are in excellent agreement with those obtained using the finite element method and an impedance analyzer.

This paper proposes a time-domain CMOS smart temperature sensor featuring on-chip curvature correction and one-point calibration support for thermal management systems. Time-domain inverter-based temperature sensors, which exhibit the advantages of low power and low cost, have been proposed for on-chip thermal monitoring. However, the curvature is large for the thermal transfer curve, which substantially affects the accuracy as the temperature range increases. Another problem is that the inverter is sensitive to process variations, resulting in difficulty for the sensors to achieve an acceptable accuracy for one-point calibration. To overcome these two problems, a temperature-dependent oscillator with curvature correction is proposed to increase the linearity of the oscillatory width, thereby resolving the drawback caused by a costly off-chip second-order master curve fitting. For one-point calibration support, an adjustable-gain time amplifier was adopted to eliminate the effect of process variations, with the assistance of a calibration circuit. The proposed circuit occupied a small area of 0.073 mm(2) and was fabricated in a TSMC CMOS 0.35-μm 2P4M digital process. The linearization of the oscillator and the effect cancellation of process variations enabled the sensor, which featured a fixed resolution of 0.049 °C/LSB, to achieve an optimal inaccuracy of -0.8 °C to 1.2 °C after one-point calibration of 12 test chips from -40 °C to 120 °C. The power consumption was 35 μW at a sample rate of 10 samples/s.

The electrical characteristics of titanium dioxide films grown on p-type indium phosphide substrate by metallorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) were studied. For indium phosphide with ammonium sulfide treatment, the electrical characteristics are improved due to the reduction of interface state density. The electrical characteristics can be further improved by postmetallization annealing. The hydrogen from the postmetallization annealing process can passivate the defects and the grain boundaries of polycrystalline TiO 2 film. The leakage current densities can reach 2.7 and 2.3 X 10 -7 A/cm 2 under positive and negative electric fields at 1 MV/cm, respectively. The dielectric constant and effective oxide charges are 46 and 1.96 X 10 12 C/cm 2 , respectively. The interface state density is 7.13 X 10 11 cm -2 eV -1 at the energy of 0.67 eV from the edge of valence band.

The electrical characteristics, including current-voltage, capacitance-voltage, hysteresis loops, and interface state density, of liquid-phase-deposited (LPD)-SiO 2 grown on p-type (100) indium phosphide substrates with and without (NH 4 ) 2 S x treatments were investigated. The aqueous solution of hydrofluosilicic acid and boric acid were used as the growth solution for silicon dioxide films. The indium phosphide with ammonium sulfide treatment improves the electrical characteristics. The electrical characteristics depend on the boric acid concentration in the growth solution. The leakage currents can reach 6.24 and 8.14 X 10 -8 A/cm 2 under positive and negative electric fields at 0.5 MV/cm. The effective oxide charges are -5.33 X 10 10 C/cm 2 . The interface state density is 9.65 X 10 10 cm -2 eV -1 at the energy of 0.67 eV from the valance band.

The numerous parameters of modern digital hearing aids and the multi‐dimensional perceptual preferences of a subject present the audiologist with a difficult fitting task. A system was designed for integrating various real‐world stimuli selected from the questionnaire of the most important hearing aid benefits for people in Taiwan and common fitting guidelines, and an automatic modified simplex procedure to perform efficient search for the optimal preference structure in a subject’s perceptual space. Three experiments were conducted using six normal and six hearing‐impaired subjects. Four parameters, the low‐frequency gain, high‐frequency gain, compression threshold, and compression ratio, were varied to find the desired tonality in the first experiment, the desired Mandarin speech intelligibility in the second, and the overall satisfaction in the third. The results showed that the modified simplex procedure worked efficiently for all cases, however, the test‐retest reliabilities of the last two were lower than that of the first experiment. Besides, the preferred parameters were different by comparing the intersubject judgments for the same objective and the within‐subject judgments for different objectives. The results indicated that there are multiple peaks in one’s response surface and further studies are required to improve reliability and satisfaction when fitting more complicated parameter sets.

This paper proposes a CMOS oscillators-based smart temperature sensor with a SAR (Successive Approximation Register) search algorithm. To reduce the cost and release the number of bits, a temperature-dependent delay circuit (TDDC) composed of a thermal ring oscillator and a fixed-gain time amplifier was used to generate a thermal sensing delay proportional to the test temperature. An adjustable reference delay circuit (ARDC) composed of another thermal compensation ring oscillator and an adjustable-gain time amplifier was used to program a reference set-point delay. For digital output coding, a SAR control logic was adopted for selecting the optimal reference delay of the ARDC to approximate the thermal delay of the TDDC through the help of a time comparator. The chip size of the proposed oscillators-based sensor with 11 output bits was 0.25 mm2, which is less than the 0.6 mm2 of its delay-line-based predecessor with a 10 output bits in the same 0.35-μm TSMC CMOS process [1]. The measurement errors were within ±0.6°C in the temperature range of 0°C to 90°C after two-point calibration for eight packaged chips.