A STUDY ON DEVELOPMENT AND CURRENT APPLICATION OF MOTION GRAPHIC IN TAIWAN’S POPULAR MUSIC

With the advances in technology, the way of communications has become more diverse. Motion graphic combines graphic design, animation design, and film languages. Motion graphic is a new industry with intense performance styles and can be used in different media and platforms, such as commercials, music videos, film and television titles, web pages, and various display screen sizes, etc. Because motion graphic is a non-narrative time-based media, mostly it combines with music. The Taiwan 25th Golden Melody Awards introduced motion graphic design for the first time in 2014. This changed the monotony of past awards ceremony and reignited audience’s attention and discussion, as well as sparked a wave of motion graphic within the country. Through in-depth interviews with some industry experts, this study has defined the concept of motion graphic, analyzed its applications and development in popular music, and explored its future trends. The results of the study show that motion graphic is a cross-domain integration. With the appearance of interactive technology products, motion graphic strengthens the connection between the media and the audience, bringing different interactive experiences to the audience. The development of the Internet has also led to the spread of motion graphic due to high image quality, which has changed the speed of message dissemination and the way people listen to music. Because motion graphic has the advantage of actively transmitting messages, it has three main applications in popular music, which are music videos, concert video design, and the visual presentation of award ceremony. It is an inevitable trend that future music will be presented in the form of motion graphic

ZigBee Wireless Sensor Nodes with Hybrid Energy Storage System Based on Li-Ion Battery and Solar Energy Supply

Most ZigBee sensor networks to date make use of nodes with limited processing, communication, and energy capabilities. Energy consumption is of great importance in wireless sensor applications as their nodes are commonly battery-driven. Once ZigBee nodes are deployed outdoors, limited power may make a sensor network useless before its purpose is complete. At present, there are two strategies for long node and network lifetime. The first strategy is saving energy as much as possible. The energy consumption will be minimized through switching the node from active mode to sleep mode and routing protocol with ultra-low energy consumption. The second strategy is to evaluate the energy consumption of sensor applications as accurately as possible. Erroneous energy model may render a ZigBee sensor network useless before changing batteries. In this paper, we present a ZigBee wireless sensor node with four key modules: a processing and radio unit, an energy harvesting unit, an energy storage unit, and a sensor unit. The processing unit uses CC2530 for controlling the sensor, carrying out routing protocol, and performing wireless communication with other nodes. The harvesting unit uses a 2W solar panel to provide lasting energy for the node. The storage unit consists of a rechargeable 1200 mAh Li-ion battery and a battery charger using a constant-current/constant-voltage algorithm. Our solution to extend node lifetime is implemented. Finally, a long-term sensor network test is used to exhibit the functionality of the solar powered system

ZigBee Wireless Sensor Nodes with Hybrid Energy Storage System Based on Li-Ion Battery and Solar Energy Supply

Most ZigBee sensor networks to date make use of nodes with limited processing, communication, and energy capabilities. Energy consumption is of great importance in wireless sensor applications as their nodes are commonly battery-driven. Once ZigBee nodes are deployed outdoors, limited power may make a sensor network useless before its purpose is complete. At present, there are two strategies for long node and network lifetime. The first strategy is saving energy as much as possible. The energy consumption will be minimized through switching the node from active mode to sleep mode and routing protocol with ultra-low energy consumption. The second strategy is to evaluate the energy consumption of sensor applications as accurately as possible. Erroneous energy model may render a ZigBee sensor network useless before changing batteries. In this paper, we present a ZigBee wireless sensor node with four key modules: a processing and radio unit, an energy harvesting unit, an energy storage unit, and a sensor unit. The processing unit uses CC2530 for controlling the sensor, carrying out routing protocol, and performing wireless communication with other nodes. The harvesting unit uses a 2W solar panel to provide lasting energy for the node. The storage unit consists of a rechargeable 1200 mAh Li-ion battery and a battery charger using a constant-current/constant-voltage algorithm. Our solution to extend node lifetime is implemented. Finally, a long-term sensor network test is used to exhibit the functionality of the solar powered system

ZigBee Wireless Sensor Nodes with Hybrid Energy Storage System Based on Li-Ion Battery and Solar Energy Supply

Most ZigBee sensor networks to date make use of nodes with limited processing, communication, and energy capabilities. Energy consumption is of great importance in wireless sensor applications as their nodes are commonly battery-driven. Once ZigBee nodes are deployed outdoors, limited power may make a sensor network useless before its purpose is complete. At present, there are two strategies for long node and network lifetime. The first strategy is saving energy as much as possible. The energy consumption will be minimized through switching the node from active mode to sleep mode and routing protocol with ultra-low energy consumption. The second strategy is to evaluate the energy consumption of sensor applications as accurately as possible. Erroneous energy model may render a ZigBee sensor network useless before changing batteries. In this paper, we present a ZigBee wireless sensor node with four key modules: a processing and radio unit, an energy harvesting unit, an energy storage unit, and a sensor unit. The processing unit uses CC2530 for controlling the sensor, carrying out routing protocol, and performing wireless communication with other nodes. The harvesting unit uses a 2W solar panel to provide lasting energy for the node. The storage unit consists of a rechargeable 1200 mAh Li-ion battery and a battery charger using a constant-current/constant-voltage algorithm. Our solution to extend node lifetime is implemented. Finally, a long-term sensor network test is used to exhibit the functionality of the solar powered system

Clinical applicability of quantitative nailfold capillaroscopy in differential diagnosis of connective tissue diseases with Raynaud's phenomenon

Background/PurposeNailfold capillaroscopy is a useful tool to distinguish primary from secondary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) by examining the morphology of nailfold capillaries but its role in disease diagnosis is not clearly established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the roles of quantitative nailfold capillaroscopy in differential diagnosis of connective tissue diseases (CTDs) with RP.MethodsThe data between the year 2005 and 2009 were retrieved from the nailfold capillaroscopic database of National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH). Only the data from the patients with RP were analyzed. The criteria for interpretation of capillaroscopic findings were predefined. The final diagnoses of the patients were based on the American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for individual diseases, independent of nailfold capillaroscopic findings. The sensitivity and the specificity of each capillaroscopic pattern to the diseases were determined.ResultsThe data from a total of 67 patients were qualified for the current study. We found the sensitivity and specificity of scleroderma pattern for systemic sclerosis (SSc) were 89.47% and 80%, and the specificity of the early, active, and late scleroderma patterns for SSc reached 87.5%, 97.5%, and 95%, respectively. The sensitivity/specificity of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) pattern for SLE and polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) pattern for PM/DM were 33.33%/95.45% and 60%/96.3%, respectively. The sensitivity/specificity of mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) pattern for MCTD were 20%/100%.ConclusionThe nailfold capillaroscopic (NC) patterns may be useful in the differential diagnosis of CTDs with RP. The NC patterns for SSc and PM/DM are both sensitive and specific to the diseases, while the SLE and MCTD patterns exhibit high specificity but relatively low sensitivity

Genetic copy number variants in sib pairs both affected with schizophrenia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Schizophrenia is a complex disorder with involvement of multiple genes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, genome-wide screening for DNA copy-number variations (CNVs) was conducted for ten pairs, a total of 20 cases, of affected siblings using oligonucleotide array-based CGH.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found negative symptoms were significantly more severe (p < 0.05) in the subgroup that harbored more genetic imbalance (n ≧ 13, n = number of CNV-disrupted genes) as compared with the subgroup with fewer CNVs (n ≦ 6), indicating that the degree of genetic imbalance may influence the severity of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Four central nervous system (CNS) related genes including CCAAT/enhancer binding protein, delta (<it>CEBPD</it>, 8q11.21), retinoid × receptor, alpha (<it>RXRA</it>, 9q34.2), LIM homeobox protein 5 (<it>LHX5</it>, 12q24.13) and serine/threonine kinase 11 (<it>STK11</it>, 19p13.3) are recurrently (incidence ≧ 16.7%) disrupted by CNVs. Two genes, <it>PVR </it>(poliovirus receptor) and <it>BU678720</it>, are concordantly deleted in one and two, respectively, pairs of co-affected siblings. However, we did not find a significant association of this <it>BU678720 </it>deletion and schizophrenia in a large case-control sample.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that the high genetic loading of CNVs may be the underlying cause of negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and the CNS-related genes revealed by this study warrant further investigation.</p

Myricetin Increases Hepatic Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor α Protein Expression and Decreases Plasma Lipids and Adiposity in Rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the antiobesity and antihyperlipidaemic effects of myricetin. Myricetin exhibited a significant concentration-dependent decrease in the intracellular accumulation of triglyceride in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The high-fat diet (HFD)-fed rats were dosed orally with myricetin or fenofibrate, once daily for eight weeks. Myricetin (300 mg kg−1 per day) displayed similar characteristics to fenofibrate (100 mg kg−1 per day) in reducing lowered body weight (BW) gain, visceral fat-pad weights and plasma lipid levels of HFD-fed rats. Myricetin also reduced the hepatic triglyceride and cholesterol contents, as well as lowered hepatic lipid droplets accumulation and epididymal adipocyte size in HFD-fed rats. Myricetin and fenofibrate reversed the HFD-induced down-regulation of the hepatic peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)α. HFD-induced decreases of the hepatic protein level of acyl-CoA oxidase and cytochrome P450 isoform 4A1 were up-regulated by myricetin and fenofibrate. The elevated expressions of hepatic sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) of HFD-fed rats were lowered by myricetin and fenofibrate. These results suggest that myricetin suppressed BW gain and body fat accumulation by increasing the fatty acid oxidation, which was likely mediated via up-regulation of PPARα and down-regulation of SREBP expressions in the liver of HFD-fed rats

Beneficial Effect of Traditional Chinese Medicinal Formula Danggui-Shaoyao-San on Advanced Glycation End-Product-Mediated Renal Injury in Streptozotocin-Diabetic Rats

The present study was undertaken to characterize the effects of Danggui-Shaoyao-San (DSS), a famous traditional Chinese medicine formula consisting of six herbal medicines, on diabetic nephropathy. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats were orally administrated DSS (2.8 g kg−1 per day) for 12 consecutive weeks. DSS partially decreased the high plasma glucose level in diabetic rats. Diabetic-dependent alterations in urinary albumin, 24-hour urinary albumin excretion rate, and creatinine clearance as well as the kidney hypertrophy (kidney weight/body weight ratio) and glomerular mesangial matrix expansion were ameliorated after 12 weeks of DSS treatment. The increased expression of nuclear factor-κB as well as transforming growth factor-β1 and the progressive accumulation of type IV collagen in kidney of diabetic rats were also attenuated by DSS. Not only the elevated levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine but also the higher levels of lipid peroxidation products in kidney of diabetic rats were ameliorated by DSS. Decreased activity of superoxide diamutase and glutathione peroxidase in kidney of diabetic rats was enhanced by DSS. These data demonstrated that the renoprotective effects of DSS in STZ-diabetic rats not only were attributable to regulate plasma glucose to attenuate AGEs expression in diabetic glomeruli but also likely reflected its antioxidant activity

Play as You Like: Timbre-enhanced Multi-modal Music Style Transfer

Style transfer of polyphonic music recordings is a challenging task when considering the modeling of diverse, imaginative, and reasonable music pieces in the style different from their original one. To achieve this, learning stable multi-modal representations for both domain-variant (i.e., style) and domain-invariant (i.e., content) information of music in an unsupervised manner is critical. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised music style transfer method without the need for parallel data. Besides, to characterize the multi-modal distribution of music pieces, we employ the Multi-modal Unsupervised Image-to-Image Translation (MUNIT) framework in the proposed system. This allows one to generate diverse outputs from the learned latent distributions representing contents and styles. Moreover, to better capture the granularity of sound, such as the perceptual dimensions of timbre and the nuance in instrument-specific performance, cognitively plausible features including mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), spectral difference, and spectral envelope, are combined with the widely-used mel-spectrogram into a timber-enhanced multi-channel input representation. The Relativistic average Generative Adversarial Networks (RaGAN) is also utilized to achieve fast convergence and high stability. We conduct experiments on bilateral style transfer tasks among three different genres, namely piano solo, guitar solo, and string quartet. Results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method in music style transfer with improved sound quality and in allowing users to manipulate the output

Emodin, a Naturally Occurring Anthraquinone Derivative, Ameliorates Dyslipidemia by Activating AMP-Activated Protein Kinase in High-Fat-Diet-Fed Rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the antiobesity and antihyperlipidaemic effects of emodin on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats, and on the regulation of the expression of the genes involved in lipid metabolism to elucidate the mechanisms. After being fed HFD for two weeks, Wistar rats were dosed orally with emodin (40 and 80 mg kg−1) or pioglitazone (20 mg kg−1), once daily for eight weeks. Emodin (80 mg kg−1 per day) displayed similar characteristics to pioglitazone (20 mg kg−1 per day) in reducing body weight gain, plasma lipid levels as well as coronary artery risk index and atherogenic index of HFD-fed rats. Emodin also caused dose related reductions in the hepatic triglyceride and cholesterol contents and lowered hepatic lipid droplets accumulation in HFD-fed rats. Emodin and pioglitazone enhanced the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and its primary downstream targeting enzyme, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, up-regulated gene expression of carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1, and down-regulated sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 and fatty acid synthase protein levels in hepatocytes of HFD-fed rats. Our findings suggest emodin could attenuate lipid accumulation by decreasing lipogenesis and increasing mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation mediated by activation of the AMPK signaling pathway