The indirect synthesized method induced relaxor state to ferroelectric characteristics for Pb0.95La0.05(Fe2/3W1/3)0.65Ti0.35O3 ceramics

Pb_0.95La_0.05(Fe_2/3W_1/3)_0.65Ti_0.35O₃ ceramics are synthesized by using the conventional direct oxide synthesized (DS) method and the indirect synthesized (IS) method. The low-field dielectric response is investigated by using the empirical law, two ordering models and the space charge polarization. The temperature-dependent dielectric peak of the samples prepared using the IS synthesized method is obviously increased; the temperature-dielectric constant is changed to sharp and the diffused phase characteristic is decreased. It is concluded that the IS synthesized method can change the dielectric natures from a relaxor like behavior to a sharp ferroelectric state. The space charge polarization is also changed by using the IS synthesized method. According to these results, it is suggested that the 1:1 ordered domain is enhanced based on the random-site type by using the IS synthesized method for Pb_0.95La_0.05(Fe_2/3W_1/3)_0.65Ti_0.35O₃ ceramics. However, if the sintering temperature is not high enough for some calcined powders, the random-site type can be changed to the space charge type.     

Selective Leaching Process for Neodymium Recovery from Scrap Nd-Fe-B Magnet

Neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnets were most widely applied to permanent magnetic products in the world due to their high magnetic force. The increasing growth of scrap Nd-Fe-B magnets resulted in disposal problems and the reduction of neodymium (Nd) valuable resources. In this study, we developed a simple hydrometallurgical precipitation process with pH adjustment to separate and recover Nd 100 pct recovery from scrap Nd-Fe-B magnets. Several physical and chemical methods such as demagnetization, grinding, screening, and leaching processes were also adopted to investigate the recovery of Nd and other metals from scrap Nd-Fe-B magnets. The leaching process was carried out with four leaching reagents such as NaOH, HCl, HNO₃, and H₂SO₄. Batch studies were also conducted to optimize the leaching operating conditions with respect to leaching time, concentration of leaching reagent, temperature, and solid/liquid ratio for both HCl and H₂SO₄ leaching reagents. Nd was successfully separated and recovered with 75.41 wt pct from optimized H₂SO₄ leaching solution through precipitation. Further, the purity and weight percentage of the obtained Nd product was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy–energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analysis. An X-ray diffraction (XRD) study confirmed the obtained product of Nd was in the form of NdOOH and Nd(OH)₃.     

Inductive modulation on P-glycoprotein and cytochrome 3A by resveratrol,a constituent of grapes

Resveratrol has been reported to show various beneficial pharmacological effects. Nowadays, resveratrol dietary supplement (RDS) is available in the market. Cyclosporin (CsA), a probe drug of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), is an important immunosuppressant. This study investigated the effect of coadministration of RDS on CsA pharmacokinetics.     

Comparison of the pulsed field gel electrophoresis patterns and virulence profiles of the multidrug resistant strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Schwarzengrund isolated from chicken meat and humans in Taiwan

Salmonella Schwarzengrund is one of the frequent serovars isolated from chicken meat in Taiwan. This organism is also one of the invasive Salmonella serovars which may cause human salmonellosis and animal infections. In this study, a total of 466 strains of S. Schwarzengrund including 232 retail chicken meat isolates and 234 human isolates in Taiwan were analyzed for their antibiotic resistance and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. For XbaI-digested DNA, a total of 110 PFGE patterns were obtained. When patterns from both origins were analyzed, of these patterns, 21 were shared by isolates from chicken meat samples and humans. In these 21 patterns, 153 (32.8%) isolates from both origins shared the top five patterns. Since ACSSXTT R-type strains are the major concern worldwide and they accounted for 74.5% of total strains used in this study, such R-type strains in the top five XbaI-digested patterns were then further analyzed with AvrII digestion followed by PFGE and PCR assay targeted to 10 Salmonella virulence genes, i.e., avrA, ssaQ, mgtC, siiD, sopB, gipA, sodC1, sopE1, spvC, and bcfC. When PFGE patterns and virulence gene profiles were combined for the analysis of ACSSXTT R-type strains of S. Schwarzengrund, 29 strains from both origins showed the same pattern combinations. Such results suggested the possible transmission of S. Schwarzengrund from chicken meat to humans.     

Preliminary Characterization of Novel Extra-cellular Lipase from Penicillium crustosum Under Solid-State Fermentation and its Potential Application for Triglycerides Hydrolysis

Current studies about lipase production involve the use of agro-industrial residues and newly isolated microorganisms aimed at increasing economic attractiveness of the process. Based on these aspects, the main objective of this work is to perform the partial characterization of enzymatic extracts produced by a newly isolated Penicillium crustosum in solid-state fermentation. Lipase extract presented optimal temperature and pH of 37?°C and 9?C10, respectively. The concentrated enzymatic extract showed more stability at 25?°C and pH?7. The enzymes kept 100% of their enzymatic activity until 60?days of storage at 4 and ?10?°C. The stability under calcium salts indicated that the hydrolytic activity presented decay with the increase of calcium concentration. The specificity under several substrates indicated good enzyme activities in triglycerides from C4 to C18.     

Physiographic Drainage-Inundation Model Based Flooding Vulnerability Assessment

Flooding vulnerability assessment is an important issue in Taiwan since Taiwan lies within the most active tropical cyclone formation zone of the Western Pacific. Huge economic damages and losses of human lives are occurred almost every year. This study aims to evaluate flooding vulnerability of a given area subject to large-scale land developments. A scoring-based approach associated with a physiographic drainage-inundation model is developed to quantitatively evaluate vulnerability for flooding. The flooding vulnerability index defined as the product of an exposure score and a hazard score. The exposure score assesses relative losses exposed to flooding, which is determined by land-uses classification. The hazard score measures flooding severity, which is simultaneously determined by inundation depth and duration that are obtained from the inundation model for a design storm. The Yenshui River basin located in southwestern Taiwan is used an example to illustrate the proposed method. The results show that the projected urbanization plan within the Yenshui River basin would increase flooding vulnerability from 0.371 to 0.472. However, this value is reduced to 0.388 when the mitigation measure has been implemented. The obtained spatial distribution of flooding vulnerability for a design storm provides decision-makers useful information to identify hotspots of the study area and evaluate effects of flood-mitigation measure on flooding risk-reduction.     

HMM-based ball hitting event exploration system for broadcast baseball video

With the dramatic growth of fandom population, a considerable amount of research efforts have been devoted to baseball video processing. However, little work focuses on the detailed follow-ups of ball hitting events. This paper proposes a HMM-based ball hitting event exploration system for broadcast baseball video. Utilizing the strictly-defined layout of the baseball field, the proposed system first detects the game-specific spatial patterns in the field, such as the field lines, the bases, the pitch mound, etc. Then, the play region—the currently camera-focused region of the baseball field is identified for frame type classification. Since the temporal patterns of presenting the game progress follow a prototypical order, we consider the classified frame types as observation symbols and recognize ball hitting events using HMM. Experiments conducted on broadcast baseball video show encouraging results in frame type classification and ball hitting event recognition. Three practical applications, including highlight clip extraction by user-designated query, storyboard construction, and similar event retrieval, are introduced to address the applicability of our system.     

Visual attention for solving multiple-choice science problem: An eye-tracking analysis

This study employed an eye-tracking technique to examine students’ visual attention when solving a multiple-choice science problem. Six university students participated in a problem-solving task to predict occurrences of landslide hazards from four images representing four combinations of four factors. Participants’ responses and visual attention were recorded by an eye tracker. Participants were asked to think aloud during the entire task. A 4 (options) × 4 (factors) repeated measures design, two paired t-tests and effect sizes analyses were conducted to compare the fixation duration between chosen and rejected options and between relevant and irrelevant factors. Content analyses were performed to analyze participants’ responses and think aloud protocols and to examine individual’s Hot Zone image. Finally, sequential analysis on fixated LookZones was further utilized to compare the scan patterns between successful and unsuccessful problem solvers. The results showed that, while solving an image-based multiple-choice science problem, students, in general, paid more attention to chosen options than rejected alternatives, and spent more time inspecting relevant factors than irrelevant ones. Additionally, successful problem solvers focused more on relevant factors, while unsuccessful problem solvers experienced difficulties in decoding the problem, in recognizing the relevant factors, and in self-regulating of concentration. Future study can be done to examine the reliability and the usability of providing adaptive instructional scaffoldings for problem solving according to students’ visual attention allocations and transformations in a larger scale. Eye-tracking techniques are suggested to be used to deeply explore the cognitive process during e-learning and be applied to future online assessment systems.