Objectives: Medical devices and the hospital environment can be contaminated easily by multidrug-resistant bacteria. The effectiveness of cleaning practices is often suboptimal because environmental cleaning in hospitals is complex and depends on human factors, the physical and chemical characteristics of environment, and the viability of the microorganisms. Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) lamps can be used to reduce the spread of microorganisms. We evaluated the effectiveness of an ultraviolet-C (UV-C) device on terminal room cleaning and disinfection. Methods: The study was conducted at an ICU of a medical center in Taiwan. We performed a 3-stage evaluation for the effectiveness of UV-C radiation, including pre–UV-C radiation, UV-C radiation, and a bleaching procedure. The 3 stages of evaluation were implemented in the ICU rooms from which a patient had been discharged or transferred. We collected the data from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence testing, colonized strains, and their corresponding colony counts by sampling from the environmental surfaces and air. We tested 8 high-touch surfaces, including 2 sides of bed rails, headboards, footboards, bedside tables, monitors, pumping devices, IV stands, and oxygen flow meters. Results: In total, 1,696 environmental surfaces and 72 air samples were analyzed. The levels of ATP bioluminescence and colony counts of isolated bacteria decreased significantly after UV-C radiation and bleaching disinfection for both the environmental and air samples (P < .001). Resistant bacteria (vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, VRE) were commonly isolated on the hard-to-clean surfaces of monitors, oxygen flow meters, and IV pumps. However, they were also eradicated (P < .001). Conclusions: UV-C can significantly reduce environmental contamination by multidrug-resistant microorganisms. UV-C is an effective device to assist staff in cleaning the hospital environment.

Gallstone disease (GSD) represents a significant health burden and is reported to be strongly related to obesity. This study examined the effect of sex on the association of BMI, waist circumference (WC) and percentage body fat mass (%FM) with GSD. We enrolled 15 671 middle-aged Taiwanese adults undergoing a physical check-up at a health examination centre. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the association of BMI, WC and %FM with the presence of GSD. AUC of the receiver–operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated for BMI, WC and %FM to compare their respective ability to correctly classify patients with GSD. From our findings, GSD prevalence was 8·1 % in men and 6·3 % in women. The percentage of markedly increased obesity indicators was significantly higher in patients with GSD than in those without GSD. Multivariate analysis showed that all obesity indicators were significant predictors of the presence of GSD in women after adjustment. In men, only BMI and WC were significantly associated with the presence of GSD. In the ROC curve analysis, BMI and WC were the best predictors of GSD risk in women and men, respectively. The obesity indicators better predicted the presence of GSD in women than in men. In conclusion, the best obesity indicator of GSD risk differed by sex. In addition to body weight, fat mass and central obesity were associated with GSD risk in women. In men, central obesity may play a more important role in predicting GSD risk.

The LAMOST Galactic surveys provide robust stellar atmospheric parameters, abundances, masses and ages of millions of stars, allowing a unprecedented mapping of matter distribution, spatial structure, star formation rate, chemistry and kinematics of the Galaxy. In this proceeding we present structure and metallicity of the Galactic disk revealed by mono-age stellar populations within a few kilo-parsec of the solar neighborhood.

The strain hardening effect and dynamic recovery behavior of a Ni-based superalloy are studied by isothermal compressive tests. A new unified dislocation-density based constitutive model is developed to characterize the strain hardening effect and dynamic recovery behavior of the studied superalloy. In the developed constitutive model, some material parameters (yield stress, strain hardening coefficient, and dynamic recovery coefficient) are assumed as functions of initial grain size, deformation temperature, and strain rate. An iterative algorithm is designed to predict the high-temperature deformation behaviors under time-variant hot working conditions. The hot deformation parameters and material parameters can be updated in each strain increment. Comparisons between the experimental and calculated flow stresses indicate that the developed constitutive model can accurately describe the high-temperature deformation behavior of the studied superalloy. Furthermore, the developed constitutive model is also successfully used for analyzing time-variant hot working processes.

Morphological evolution and phase transformation of metastable intermediate precipitates are critical to their mechanical properties for the non-isothermal processing. During the non-isothermal precipitation, the formation of the new phases usually couples with structural evolution. Traditional structural characterization has limitation to resolve comprehensive changes simultaneously. In this study, we report direct observation, precipitation sequence, and the details of concurrent morphological and structural changes of various intermediate precipitates during non-isothermal heating in the Al–Cu systems with different pretreatments. The structural heterogeneity during the non-isothermal precipitation processes is resolved into coexistence of two different precipitate phases and quantitatively studied in terms of the phase transition and the morphological evolution. This paper presents the in situ small- and wide-angle synchrotron x-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS) to refine and to identify the mixed structural information during multiple precipitation stages. The WAXS results show that the precipitation sequence is θ″ → (θ″ + θ′) → θ′ → (θ′ + θ) → θ upon heating. Due to the fact of the specifically oriented SAXS intensity, the evolution of the aforementioned phase transformation is resolved by the refinement of the SAXS intensity integrated over the selected area. These methods reveal multiscale information that is not trivial comparing to the traditional characterization methods.

Cloud Computing has become a well-known primitive nowadays; many researchers and companies are embracing this fascinating technology with feverish haste. In the meantime, security and privacy challenges are brought forward while the number of cloud storage user increases expeditiously. In this work, we conduct an in-depth survey on recent research activities of cloud storage security in association with cloud computing. After an overview of the cloud storage system and its security problem, we focus on the key security requirement triad, i.e., data integrity, data confidentiality, and availability. For each of the three security objectives, we discuss the new unique challenges faced by the cloud storage services, summarize key issues discussed in the current literature, examine, and compare the existing and emerging approaches proposed to meet those new challenges, and point out possible extensions and futuristic research opportunities. The goal of our paper is to provide a state-of-the-art knowledge to new researchers who would like to join this exciting new field.

The electrode materials for VRFB should possess higher electric conductivity, corrosion resistance and hydrophilic properties in sulfuric acid. The characteristics of the electrode materials affect the stability and the energy efficiency of VRFB. Carbon materials are the best suited for VRFB applications. In this study, the calcined treatment, acid treatment and ozone treatment were used to modify the surface of carbon papers. The redox reaction of [VO]2+/[VO2]+ on the modified carbon papers was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The surface compositions of carbon materials were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS). The experimental results reveal that three oxidative methods enhance the redox reaction of [VO]2+/[VO2]+. The calcined treatments and acid treatments also enhanced hydrolysis reaction. The mole ratio of O/C apparently increased, but the binding energy of C1s and O1s were not chemically shifted in the acid treatment. The intensity of binding energy of O1s, between 532 eV and 534 eV, apparently increased in the ozone and calcined treatments. The Ox treated samples were more hydrophilic than the Oz treated samples. In the Ox treated samples, the decrease of Rct value indicates that was contributed from the redox reaction of [VO]2+/[VO2]+ and hydrolysis reaction. It does not completely benefit the energy efficiency of VRFB. The 5 x 5 cm2 modified carbon papers were used as electrode materials in the VRFB. The voltage efficiency, coulomb efficiency and energy efficiency reached 93 %, 90 % and 83 %, respectively, at a current density of 12 mA．cm-2 at 0.8-1.8 V.

The phase evolution, nucleation, and sintered ceramics of barium titanate (BaTiO3, BT) powder prepared by solid-state synthesis with an ultrafine starting material (27 m2/g of BaCO3 and 190 m2/g of TiO2) were investigated in this study. Surface diffusion between BaCO3 and TiO2 was observed at a relatively low temperature of 400 °C by transmission electron microscopy. Rapid nucleation of the BT and cubic BT phases was observed at 500 °C by x-ray diffraction. The derivative thermogravimetry curve clearly shows a single step of BT formation at 600 °C. In short, pure BT particles with an average particle size of 250 nm and high tetragonality were prepared by solid-state synthesis, which produced X7R ceramics with high dielectric permittivity, high insulation resistance, and a clear core–shell structure.

The mouse sperm genome is resistant to in vitro heat treatment, and embryos derived from heated sperm can support full-term embryonic development, but the blastocyst rate and implantation rate are lower compared to embryos derived from fresh sperm. In the present study, the patterns of DNA methylation, histone H4K12 (ACH4K12) acetylation, H3K9 trimethylation (H3K9-TriM), and H3K27 trimethylation (H3K27-TriM) in preimplantation embryos derived from 65°C-heated sperm were investigated. Although no evident changes in global DNA methyaltion, histone H4K12 (ACH4K12) acetylation, and H3K9 trimethylation (H3K9-TriM) were found, significantly lower levels of H3K27-TriM, which was thought to be one of the reasons for low efficiency of mouse cloning, were found in the inner cell mass of heated-sperm derived blastocysts. Thus, defective modification of H3K27-TriM might contribute to compromised development of embryos derived from heated sperm.

It is well known that c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) plays pivotal roles in various mitotic events, but its function in mammalian oocyte meiosis remains unknown. In this study, we found that no specific JNK2 signal was detected in germinal vesicle stage. JNK2 was associated with the spindles especially the spindle poles and cytoplasmic microtubule organizing centers at prometaphase I, metaphase I, and metaphase II stages. JNK2 became diffusely distributed and associated with the midbody at telophase I stage. Injection of myc-tagged JNK2α1 mRNA into oocytes also revealed its localization on spindle poles. The association of JNK2 with spindle poles was further confirmed by colocalization with the centrosomal proteins, γ-tubulin and Plk1. Nocodazole treatment showed that JNK2 may interact with Plk1 to regulate the spindle assembly. Then we investigated the possible function of JNK2 by JNK2 antibody microinjection and JNK specific inhibitor SP600125 treatment. These two manipulations caused abnormal spindle formation and decreased the rate of first polar body (PB1) extrusion. In addition, inhibition of JNK2 resulted in impaired localization of Plk1. Taken together, our results suggest that JNK2 plays an important role in spindle assembly and PB1 extrusion during mouse oocyte meiotic maturation.

Early studies have shown that some mouse cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) stored at room temperature for 24 h still retained full developmental potential. In this study, we stored denuded mouse oocytes (DOs) at room temperature (25 °C) for 24 h and activated these oocytes with 10 mM SrCl2 or fertilized the oocytes by IVF. We found that nearly half of the DOs stored at room temperature for 1 day can be fertilized normally by IVF and that two foster mothers gave birth to seven pups. Embryos from stored oocytes were cultured in CZB medium with or without 1 μg/ml 17β-estradiol (E2). The numbers of embryo that developed to morula/blastocyst stage after parthenogenetic activation and IVF were significantly increased when E2 was added to the culture (p < 0.05). These results suggest that E2 might improve mouse embryo development in vitro. The birth of seven agouti pups and their healthy growth indicated that the storage of DOs at room temperature for 1 day may be a practical procedure for mammalian reproduction.

A novel T-shaped-gated (T-Gate) polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistor (poly-Si TFT) with vacuum gaps has been proposed and fabricated only with a simple process. The T-Gate structure is formed only by a selective undercut-etching technology of the Mo/Al bi-layers. Then, vacuum gaps are in-situ embedded in this T-Gate structure subsequent to capping the SiH4-based passivation oxide under the vacuum process chamber. Experimental results reveal that the proposed T-Gate poly-Si TFTs have excellent electrical performance, which has higher maximum on-off current ratio of 4.6 e107, and the lower off-state leakage current at VGS = -10 V and VDS = 5V of about 100 times less than that of the conventional one. It is attributed to the additional undoped offset region and the vacuum gap to reduce the maximum electric field at drain junction while ascribed to the sub-gate to maintain the on-current. Therefore, such a T-Gate poly-Si TFT is very suitable for the applications and manufacturing in active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) and active matrix organic light emitting diodes (AMOLEDs).

A multilevel metal interconnect with air-gap has been developed to reduce RC delay time for quick turn-around-time foundry manufacturing. The air-gap method has been successfully applied to 0.25 νm foundry technology. Measurements on ring oscillators confirm that the smallest delay time is indeed achieved with the air-gap method, compared with that using either conventional high-density-plasma (HDP) oxide or low-dielectric-constant spin-on-glass (SOG). In addition, we have also developed fitting equations for the delay time, thus provide a handy method for predicting the RC delay time. The oscillator delay time is also found to be critically dependent on not only the size, but also the position of the air-gap. Best delay time reduction is obtained when the air-gap is positioned in extended both above and below the metal lines to effectively reduce the fringing capacitance.

Breakdown characteristics of ultra-thin gate oxides caused by plasma charging were studied in this work. It is observed that as oxide thickness is scaled down to 4 nm, some traditional monitor parameters may lose their sensitivity for detecting oxide degradation induced by plasma charging damage, due to insignificant trap generation. Even the gate leakage current, although sensitive for 4 nm oxide, may no longer be sensitive enough for even thinner oxide (e.g., 2.6 nm), due to the existence of large tunneling current. Moreover, several soft-breakdown events were found to occur in ultrathin oxide before the final onset of a catastrophic hard-breakdown. Finally, an equivalent local oxide thickness is calculated using local oxide thinning model to estimate the stepwise increase of gate current after soft-breakdown event.