Optimal timing of retina examinations for premature infants

Developments in modern neonatal intensive care have resulted in increased survival of very premature infants. Along with this increase in survival, there has been a concomitant increase in the frequency of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). We investigated the relationship between the severity and the time course of ROP as well as the optimal time for retinal examinations of premature infants of various birth weights and gestational ages. A total of 80 premature infants were enrolled for analysis. The mean postnatal age of infants at the time of diagnosis was 7.3 +/- 3.4 weeks for stage 1 retinopathy, 9.2 +/- 5.8 for stage 2 retinopathy, 9.5 +/- 3.8 for stage 3 retinopathy, 10.7 +/- 3.7 for threshold disease, and 11.7 +/- 3.2 for stage 4 retinopathy. The mean postconceptional age of infants at the time of diagnosis was 35 +/- 3 for stage 1 retinopathy, 36.4 +/- 3 for stage 2 retinopathy, 37.6 +/- 3.5 for stage 3 retinopathy, 38.4 +/- 3.5 for threshold disease, and 40 +/- 3.7 for stage 4 retinopathy. The age at the time of the initial detection of ROP was from the ninth to 10th week among infants weighing less than 1,000 g at birth and from the fifth to seventh week among those weighing 1,000 g or more at birth. However, the postconceptional age at the time of initial detection of ROP for the whole group was 36 weeks and was not influenced by birth weight or gestational age. Therefore, we suggest that postconceptional age, rather than postnatal age, should be used to decide the timing of retinal examinations for premature infants.     

The influence of Coulomb enhancement on the modulation propertiesof quantum-well lasers

The phenomenon of Coulomb enhancement, resulting from the consideration of many-body effects, is included in a detailed calculation of the gain of a quantum-well (QW) laser, which is then used to predict the laser's modulation response. Carrier transport in the separate-confinement heterostructure is taken into account. The modulation response is compared to experimental data and to predictions from calculations using only the free-carrier gain. The comparison shows that the inclusion of Coulomb enhancement in the theoretical calculations leads to better agreement between simulated and experimental data     

Study on the Crystallization,Miscibility, Morphology,Properties of Poly(lactic acid)/Poly(ε-caprolactone) Blends

A series of blends of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) with different mass ratio were prepared by means of the melt blending method to study their crystallization, miscibility, morphology, and thermal and mechanical properties. The result of DSC tests showed that the melting temperatures of PLA and PCL shifted toward each other, and that the largest shift appeared at the PLA₇₀PCL₃₀ blend. This result reveals that the PLA₇₀PCL₃₀ blend gives the strongest interaction intensity among the blends. Combined the result of dynamic mechanical analysis and SEM morphologies, it was found that PLA and PCL form a partial miscible blend, in which an amount of amorphous PCL (amorphous PLA) is dissolved in the PLA-rich phase (PCL-rich phase), leading to a depression of the T_g. value. The polarized optical micrographs showed that PCL can serve as a nucleating agent to promote PLA crystallization in the PLA/PCL blend. Moreover, the PLA₇₀PCL₃₀ blend gave the largest growth rate of PLA spherulite. Finally, the mechanical property of PLA/PCL blends indicated that PLA can easily be tuned from rigid to ductile by the addition of PCL.     

Effects of Chinese domestic cooking methods on the carotenoid composition of vegetables in Taiwan

Carotenoids, lutein, zeaxanthin, and β-carotene, common in many vegetables, have been shown to be important in visual health-promoting. However, cooking practice has a great impact on these bioactive compounds. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of three common Chinese domestic cooking methods including boiling, stir-frying, and deep-frying on the composition of lutein, zeaxanthin, β-carotene and their trans/cis (E/Z) isomers of vegetables. Among the 25 fresh vegetables commonly consumed in Taiwan, it was found that cilantro, Thai basil leaves, sweet potato leaves, and choy sum contained the 1st–4th highest amount of total carotenoids content (TCC), respectively. Boiling preserved the majority of carotenoids, whereas stir-frying and deep-frying significantly decreased TCC and (all-E)-forms of carotenoids. In addition, (all-E) – and (13Z)-/(13′Z)-carotenoids exhibited similar trends during boiling, since the boiling time required to reach maximum concentration for (all-E)-carotenoids was almost the same as that for (13Z) – plus (13′Z)-isomers. An overall increase of (9Z)/(9′Z)-carotenoid isomers was observed in all boiled vegetables, probably because of E/Z isomerization, which could partially result in the formation of more bioactive compounds such as (9Z)-β-carotene. Boiling may be the preferred practice of domestic cooking methods to preserve carotenoids in vegetables.     

Emissions of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans from a heavy oil-fueled power plant in northern Taiwan

We measured the concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) from the flue gas and the ambient atmosphere of a power plant fueled by heavy oil in northern Taiwan. The mean emission concentration and I-TEQ concentration of total PCDD/Fs were 0.292 ng/Nm(3) and 0.016 ng I-TEQ/Nm(3), respectively. All PCDD/F emission concentrations in the flue gas were supposed to meet the Environmental Protection Administration Executive Yuan, R.O.C. standard (1.0 ng I-TEQ/Nm(3) from 2008). Furthermore, the mean I-TEQ concentration in the ambient atmosphere was 0.011 pg I-TEQ/Nm(3), which was much lower than the environmental quality standards for dioxins in Japan (0.6 pg TEQ/Nm(3)). Also, the PCDD/F emission factor was 0.188 ng I-TEQ/L fuel, which was comparable to the data issued in US EPA [EPA, Locating and estimating air emissions from sources of dioxins and furans, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Research Triangle Park, NC, DCN No. 95-298130-54-01, 1997] (0.2 ng I-TEQ/L of fuel). Also, the result of the correlations of PCDD/Fs and operational parameters illustrated that the positively significant correlation (r=0.502, p=0.048) was found only between PCDD/Fs (I-TEQ) and the flue gas emission temperature (125-157 degrees C). However, PCDD-TEQ/PCDF-TEQ ratios were statistically significantly associated with the decreased flue gas flow (r=-0.659, p=0.006), moisture (r=-0.612, p=0.012) and flue gas temperature (r=-0.503, p=0.047). For proper environmental management of dioxins, it is necessary to establish a complete emission inventory of PCDD/Fs, and, in particular, the government should pay more attention to power plants to address the information shortage.     

高频最大交集型歧义切分字段在汉语自动分词中的作用

交集型歧义切分字段是影响汉语自动分词系统精度的一个重要因素。本文引入了最大交集型歧义切分字段的概念,并将之区分为真、伪两种主要类型。考察一个约1亿字的汉语语料库,我们发现,最大交集型歧义切分字段的高频部分表现出相当强的覆盖能力及稳定性:前4,619个的覆盖率为59.20% ,且覆盖率受领域变化的影响不大。而其中4,279个为伪歧义型,覆盖率高达53.35%。根据以上分析,我们提出了一种基于记忆的、高频最大交集型歧义切分字段的处理策略,可有效改善实用型非受限汉语自动分词系统的精度。     

Transfusion-related acute lung injury treated with surfactant in a neonate

A term, male neonate suddenly developed respiratory distress and severe cyanosis while undergoing exchange transfusion for hyperbilirubinaemia. Transfusion-related acute lung injury was diagnosed. Because of persistent hypoxaemia despite aggressive treatment, two doses of surfactant were administered, resulting in marked improvement. Conclusion: Transfusion-related acute lung injury may occur in neonates, and may be successfully treated by surfactant replacement.     

Novel direct‐view LED backlight unit with an aspheric microlens array and a rough‐texture sheet

Abstract— This study proposes a novel direct‐view light‐emitting‐diode (LED) backlight unit with a high‐fill‐factor aspheric microlens array and a rough‐texture sheet. An aspheric microlens array and a rough‐texture sheet made from polysiloxine were used as the grating element and optical diffuser, respectively, which increases light‐extraction efficiency and improves luminance uniformity. The specific aspheric microlens‐array mold was fabricated by using a heating encapsulated air process based on a glass wafer. This microlens array has the features of high fill factor and square‐foot boundary with a continuous surface‐relief profile. This unique out‐of‐plane surface profile creates a square light pattern with uniform luminance, and thus composes a uniform large‐sized light pattern exactly in accordance with the layout of the LED array. The rough‐texture sheet, which can scatter light uniformly, was formed by fine‐grit‐sandpaper molding. Experimental results show that by using an aspheric microlens array and rough‐texture sheet reported here as the backlight diffusing components is highly effective in improving light uniformity at a wide viewing angle. An increase in illuminance by more than 10% was achieved in comparison with commercial backlight modules. Low cost in fabricating the aspheric microlens array and rough‐texture sheet is anticipated due to the simplicity of the process.     

Application of a combined fuzzy multiple criteria decision making and optimization programming model to the container transportation demand split

The container transportation demand split is one of the most important decision issues for government transportation departments and port organizations. In previous studies, many researchers assumed that the shipping carrier would aim to minimize the total operation cost by selecting an appropriate port as the most favorable one to call, and the shipper would aim to minimize the inland freight cost by selecting the nearest port as the most favorable one to import and export international trade containers. Thus, a number of mathematical programming models have been developed. But in practice, the shipping carrier not only aims to minimize the total operation cost but also takes into account other criteria such as the volume of containers and port facility conditions when choosing an appropriate port as the most favorable one to call. The shipper not only aims to minimize the inland freight cost but also takes into account the frequency of ship callings when choosing an appropriate port as the most favorable one to import and export international trade containers.Thus, the purpose of this paper is to formulate a combined fuzzy multiple criteria decision making and optimization programming model for solving the container transportation demand split problem. There are two stages in this combined model: in stage one, we first compute the container transportation demand split rate by using fuzzy multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) method; whereas in stage two, an optimization mathematical programming network model is proposed for determining the inland origin destination (O-D) of import/export containers. The utilization of the proposed model is demonstrated with a case of Taiwanese ports. The results show that the proposed combined fuzzy MCDM and optimization programming model can be used to explain the container transportation demand split practice.     

Motion Control of Adaptive Truss Structures Using Fuzzy Rules

Abstract: This note describes a design of the fuzzy control system for the kinematic maneuvers of an adaptive system consisting of a truss-type structure with several variable-length members. The deformations of the adaptive modules are coordinatively governed by fuzzy controllers according to the distance signals between the endpoint of the structure and the moving target. In addition, an adaptive gain tuning technique is investigated in this study. The advantages of applying adaptive gain tuning on motion control of adaptive truss structures are presented. The simulation results show that the application to this model is effective and can be easily implemented in the microcomputer.