1,4-Butanediol diglycidyl ether-cross-linked hyaluronan inhibits fibrosis in rat primary tenocytes by down-regulating autophagy modulation

Epidural fibrosis, an inevitable part of the postoperative healing process, is one of the important causes of failed back surgery syndrome after spinal surgery. The aim of this study was to examine the inhibitory effect of a novel material 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether-cross-linked hyaluronan (cHA) on fibrosis in primary tenocytes. cHA inhibited migration, cell proliferation, and suppressed the expression of fibronectin, but not transforming growth factor-β, in primary tenocytes. cHA significantly increased matrix metalloproteinase-3 but decreased collagen-1 and microtubule-associated protein light chain 3-II expression in a dose-dependent manner compared with control groups. We therefore concluded that suppressing autophagy activity may be involved in the anti-fibrotic effect of cHA in primary tenocytes. Further, cHA may have the potential for preventing epidural fibrosis and subsequent failed back syndrome in patients with laminectomy in the future.     

On-line signature verification using LPC cepstrum and neuralnetworks

An on-line signature verification scheme based on linear prediction coding (LPC) cepstrum and neural networks is proposed. Cepstral coefficients derived from linear predictor coefficients of the writing trajectories are calculated as the features of the signatures. These coefficients are used as inputs to the neural networks. A number of single-output multilayer perceptrons (MLPs), as many as the number of words in the signature, are equipped for each registered person to verify the input signature. If the summation of output values of all MLPs is larger than the verification threshold, the input signature is regarded as a genuine signature; otherwise, the input signature is a forgery. Simulations show that this scheme can detect the genuineness of the input signatures from a test database with an error rate as low as 4%     

Active islanding detection method for the grid-connected photovoltaic generation system

This paper proposes an active islanding detection method incorporated into the control of the grid-connected inverter to protect the photovoltaic generation system from the islanding operation. The proposed active islanding detection method performs the grid-connected inverter as a virtual resistor with the operation frequency slightly higher or lower than the fundamental frequency of the utility voltage. The function of virtual resistor will not be actuated when the utility is nominal, and the grid-connected inverter can convert the DC power from the solar array to an AC power. When the strong utility is lost, the grid-connected inverter acts as a virtual resistor with the operation frequency slightly higher or lower than the fundamental frequency of the utility voltage. Thus, the frequency and the amplitude of the local load voltage will be away from their normal values under the islanding operation. Hence, the proposed active islanding detection method can immediately detect the islanding operation. A prototype is developed and tested to demonstrate the performance of the proposed active detection method. Both computer simulation and experimental results verify that the performance of the proposed active islanding detection method is expected.     

Pure white organic light-emitting diode with lifetime approaching the longevity of yellow emitter

A high-efficiency pure white organic light-emitting diode was fabricated with lifetime approaching that of the low-excitation-energy (yellow) emitter containing counterpart, or six times that of the deep-blue counterpart. The white device was composed of two emission layers with mixed hosts of different compositions. They were respectively doped with yellow rubrene and deep-blue 4,4'-bis-[4-{N,N,N',N'- tetrakis-(4-fluoro-diphenylamino)-phenyl}-vinyl]-biphenyl. The resulting efficiency was 6.0 lm/W (12.4 cd/A) at 20 mA/cm(2). The long device lifetime may be attributed to the double mixed-host architecture employed that effectively dispersed the injected carriers into three different recombination zones and consequently diluted the damaging effect arising from the accumulated charge from un-recombined carriers, hence leading to a markedly improved lifespan.     

Stinky tofu as a rich source of bioavailable S-equol in Asian diets

The compound S-equol (4′,7-dihydroxy-isoflavandiol), a gut bacterial metabolite of isoflavone daidzein, benefits health, but only 20–60% of humans can produce equol after ingesting isoflavones, and it exists only in foods of animal origin in trace amounts. A recent study found a source of stinky tofu contained S-equol. As stinky tofu is a popular traditional fermented soy food in Taiwan, we analyzed S-equol contents of commercial samples, surveyed the intake frequency, and investigated the bioavailability of S-equol by monitoring urinary kinetics following ingestion. Our results showed 91% of the 138 stinky tofu dishes contained S-equol. The mean content per serving (average 198 g) was 2.3 ± 2.5 mg, the highest being 16.3 mg. Stinky tofu eaters on average ingested this food 3.3 times per month. S-equol from ingested stinky tofu appeared in urine within 1 h, reaching maximum excretion at 3.4 h, and 67% of the ingested S-equol was recovered in urine, indicating a rapid and high absorption. Our studies suggest stinky tofu can be a promising dietary source of S-equol for its high content and bioavailability. Further study on the S-equol producing bacteria in stinky tofu is merited for the development of other S-equol rich soy products.     

An instantaneous peak detection method for three-phase sinusoidal signals

This paper presents a new amplitude detection method for three-phase sinusoidal signals. The proposed detection method is based on calculation of the Park transformation. This method measures the amplitude of three-phase signals instantaneously and the ideal and non-ideal conditions are analysed. An electronic circuit for implementing this method is developed and tested to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.     

Current balancing control for an interleaved boost power converter

The interleaved boost power converter has the advantages of ripple cancellation and better efficiency. The major problem of the interleaved boost power converter is the current balancing among different phases of the boost power converters. In this paper, a current balancing control method for equalizing the currents of two-phase interleaved boost power converter is proposed. The output current can effectively detect the mismatch between the boost power converters for the interleaved boost power converter. The output current is used to perform both the current balance and the current-mode control. The salient feature is that only one current sensor is used in the proposed current balancing control method. A hardware prototype is developed, and the experimental results verify the performance of the proposed current balancing control method is as expected.     

The effect of low humidity on the uniformity and stability of segmented PEM fuel cells

The performance and stability of a PEMFC depends on many operating parameters. The measurement of local currents in PEMFC cells is an important tool for diagnoses and development of fuel cells. In this study, a segmented cell was developed, which could serve as an essential instrument to investigate the different operating conditions in the cells and stacks of technical relevance. In addition, the effects of different feed gas humidity and temperatures were investigated to analyze the steady-state performance, uniformity, and the local stability of PEMFC with the use of eight segmented regions. With this research method, the resistance in each segment could be measured by ac impedance as well as make a comparison between Nafion^® 117 and 112 membranes in PEMFC. In the experiment, by probing into the high frequency internal resistance and performance of this cell, the effects of flow rates of fuels, oxidants, relative humidity, and directional channel flows were investigated for performance and stability of local segmented regions. The results of the experiments demonstrate that the local current distribution is strongly influenced by the relative humidity of fuel, the stoichiometric of the processed air, and the mode of operation. The cell was operated at a cell temperature of 50 °C with low relative humidity of 33% and 0%, causing the drying of the membrane (and increase of its resistance) at the top-stream path. The membrane conductivity was enhanced due to the water product increase by the reaction in the middle- and down-stream paths, because the down-stream has higher current than the top-stream. The relative humidity of the air increased along the path due to the product water, therefore, the current density increased as well. The local segmented cell could maintain stable performance at low hydrogen stoichiometry of 1.05 for low humidity gases. As the counter-flow and inverse gravity direction of hydrogen fuel was operated, the fuel cell showed the much more stable and uniform local performance.     

Unified functional decomposition via encoding for FPGA technologymapping

Functional decomposition has recently been adopted for look-up table (LUT)-based field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology mapping with good results. In this paper we propose a novel method to unify functional single-output and multiple-output decomposition. We first address a compatible class encoding algorithm to minimize the number of compatible classes in the image function. After applying the encoding algorithm, we can therefore improve the decomposability in the subsequent decomposition of the image function. The above encoding algorithm is then extended to encode multiple-output functions through the construction of a hyperfunction. Common subexpressions among these multiple-output functions can be extracted during the decomposition of the hyperfunction. Consequently, we can handle multiple-output decomposition in the same manner as single-output decomposition. Experimental results show that our algorithms are promising     

3D modeling of subsurface fatigue crack nucleation potency of primary inclusions in heat treated and shot peened martensitic gear steels

A computational strategy is developed to characterize the driving force for fatigue crack nucleation at subsurface primary inclusions in carburized and shot peened C61^® martensitic gear steels. Experimental investigation revealed minimum fatigue strength to be controlled by subsurface fatigue crack nucleation at inclusion clusters under cyclic bending. An algorithm is presented to simulate residual stress distribution induced through the shot peening process following carburization and tempering. A methodology is developed to analyze potency of fatigue crack nucleation at subsurface inclusions. Rate-independent 3D finite element analyses are performed to evaluate plastic deformation during processing and service. The specimen is subjected to reversed bending stress cycles with R = 0.05, representative of loading on a gear tooth. The matrix is modeled as an elastic–plastic material with pure nonlinear kinematic hardening. The inclusions are modeled as isotropic, linear elastic. Idealized inclusion geometries (ellipsoidal) are considered to study the fatigue crack nucleation potency at various subsurface depths. Three distinct types of second-phase particles (perfectly bonded, partially debonded, and cracked) are analyzed. Parametric studies quantify the effects of inclusion size, orientation and clustering on subsurface crack nucleation in the high cycle fatigue (HCF) or very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) regimes. The nonlocal average values of maximum plastic shear strain amplitude and Fatemi–Socie (FS) parameter calculated in the proximity of the inclusions are considered as the primary driving force parameters for fatigue crack nucleation and microstructurally small crack growth. The simulations indicate a strong propensity for crack nucleation at subsurface depths in agreement with experiments in which fatigue cracks nucleated at inclusion clusters, still in the compressive residual stress field. It is observed that the gradient from the surface of residual stress distribution, bending stress, and carburized material properties play a pivotal role in fatigue crack nucleation and small crack growth at subsurface primary inclusions. The fatigue potency of inclusion clusters is greatly increased by prior interfacial damage during processing.