Lessons Learned of NSPO’s Picosatellite Mission: Yamsat - 1A, 1B & 1C

The YamSat is the first developed picosatellite in National Space Program Office’s (NSPO), Taiwan, R.O.C. It is scheduled to flight in the CubeSat launch in 2003. The rapid-prototyping system engineering different from the past formal discipline opens a new satellite development model in NSPO. The YamSat Test Readiness Review Meeting was successfully held in January 2002 and the environmental tests were completed by end March 2002. Besides the breadboard model and engineering test bed to prove of operation concept are built, three YamSats (1A, 1B, & 1C) instead of one are manufactured with slightly different configurations and purposes. The YamSat- 1A is for flight with ambitious and novel R.O.C. made components, including 15 domestic organizations and companies’ participation. The YamSat-1B is basically for backup purpose and demonstration, whereas the YamSat-1C is for amateur communication experiment end-to-end field test, and for public education purpose. This new experience gives fruitful lessons learned and provides low cost space experimentation and education to the next built picosatellites in Taiwan’s universities. Detailed mission and lessons learned are addressed in this paper

Design of Diarylheptanoid Derivatives as Dual Inhibitors Against Class IIa Histone Deacetylase and β-amyloid Aggregation

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with multiple etiologies. Beta-amyloid (Aβ) self-aggregation and overexpression of class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) are strongly implicated with AD pathogenesis. In this study, a series of novel diarylheptanoid derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for use as dual Aβ self-aggregation and class IIa HDAC inhibitors. Among these compounds, 4j, 5c, and 5e displayed effective inhibitions for Aβ self-aggregation, HDAC5 activity and HDAC7 activity with IC50 values of <10 μM. The compounds contain three common features: (1) a catechol or pyrogallol moiety, (2) a carbonyl linker and (3) an aromatic ring that can function as an HDAC cap and create hydrophobic interactions with Aβ1-42. Furthermore, compounds 4j, 5c, and 5e showed no significant cytotoxicity to human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells and also exhibited neuroprotective effect against H2O2-induced toxicity. Overall, these promising in vitro data highlighted compounds 4j, 5c, and 5e as lead compounds that are worthy for further investigation

Occurrence and Degradation of Free and Conjugated Estrogens in a River Receiving Feedlot Animal Discharge

This study analyzed concentrations of 17β-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), estriol (E3), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), diethylstilbestrol (DES), 17β-estradiol-3-sulfate (E2-3S), estrone-3-sulfate (E1-3S), 17β-estradiol-3-glucuronide (E2-3G), and estrone-3-glucuronide (E1-3G) in river water, received from intensive feedlot operations wastewater in WuLo Creek, Taiwan. Moreover, the estrogen degradation in situ was analyzed. The average concentrations were 54.15 ± 31.42, 9.71 ± 6.42 and 3.55 ± 2.41 ng/L for E1, E2 and E3, respectively. The concentrations and order were similar to the polluted river and higher than most rivers’ concentrations. The conjugated estrogen concentrations ranged from ND to 13.2 ng/L (E1-3S), ND to 10.4 ng/L (E2-3S), ND to 10.0 ng/L (E1-3G), and ND to 3.6 ng/L (E2-3G), and the detection rates were 76%, 71%, 56%, and 15%, respectively. In the present study, the high detection rates of conjugate estrogen were more elevated than the water receiving STP effluent, suggesting that the source was the river water close to the animal wastewater discharge. In the degradation test, the DES concentrations slightly declined after 24 h, but E1-3G did not significantly change over time (p > 0.05). The degradation of free estrogen occurred during the first 12 h period, and residual concentration was not further decreased after 24 h. In the environment, E1 had higher concentrations than E2 and E3, suggesting that E1 was more resistant to degradation than E2 and E3 at low concentrations. However, the degradation test in the present study suggested that E1 rapidly degraded at high ambient concentrations due to the high degradation constant

Analysis and Investigation of Dual-Polarized Color LED Based Visible Light Communication System

To increase the data capacity of a light-emitting diode (LED) based visible light communication (VLC) transmission, a polarization-division-multiplexing (PMD) green (G)- and blue (B)- light-based transmitter (Tx) module is demonstrated here. It was demonstrated that we can achieve 1200 and 1120 Mbps VLC capacities based on dual-polarized G- and a B-LED based light wave after 3 and 4 m free-space link lengths, respectively, at exceedingly low illuminance. Based on the presented VLC system, paired G-LEDs or B-LEDs with dual-polarization can also be applied on the VLC-Tx side for doubling and delivering VLC data. According to the obtained results, the largest polarization offset angle of 50° between two polarizers (POLs) can be allowed experimentally to provide optimal VLC traffic. Moreover, the relationships of polarization offset, the illuminance of LED and maximum achieved VLC capacity are also performed and analyzed

L-Band Wavelength-Selectable Erbium Laser with Stable Single-Frequency Oscillation

In this presentation, we demonstrate an erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser by a compound-ring structure to reach the output performances of narrow linewidth, stable single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) and high optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) in the L-band bandwidth of 1563.0 to 1613.0 nm. Based on the Vernier effect through the compound-ring design, the substantial multi-longitudinal-mode (MLM) noises can be mitigated fully. Furthermore, the relative optical output features of the fiber laser are also performed experimentally

Prevalence, Mortality, and the Disease Burden of Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease in Taiwan

In Taiwan, the incidence of congenital heart diseases (CHDs) and severe CHDs was 13.08 and 1.51 per 1000 live births, respectively. This study further elucidates the prevalence and mortality of pediatric CHD patients in Taiwan. Methods: From the National Health Insurance database 2000–2010, we retrieved the data of CHD patients (aged 0–18 years). Mortality data were obtained from the national death statistics. Results: In total, 45,119 pediatric CHD patients were identified, given the prevalence at 918.0 per 100,000 (107.1 for severe CHD and 853.8 for simple CHD). Ventricular septal defect, ostium secundum-type atrial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, pulmonary stenosis, and tetralogy of Fallot were the five most frequently diagnosed CHDs. In those aged 0–6 years, the prevalence was 1233.7 per 100,000 (123.5 for severe CHD and 1149.6 for simple CHD). The age-specific prevalence of both simple and severe CHDs declined rapidly after the age of 10 years. From the death registry, we noted that more than 90% of CHD-related deaths occurred before the age of 5 years. The probability of cardiac death in CHD patients during infancy was 4.5%, with the cumulative probability reaching 5.44%, 5.68%, and 6.04% by the ages of 5, 10, and 20 years, respectively. Conclusion: Because most CHD deaths occurred within the first 5 years of life (mainly during infancy), the relatively low prevalence of CHDs in the population aged 0–18 years (918/100,000; 74% for those between 0 years and 6 years of age) and the rapid decline in the age-specific prevalence of CHD after the age of 10 years was attributed to noncompliance of the children to medical follow-up after they began schooling

Hybrid Self-Protected Fiber-FSO WDM-PON System with Fiber Breakage Prevention

In this research, we present and design a blended wavelength-division-multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) architecture to deliver both baseband and free-space optical (FSO) signals by using two wavelength bands over an available bandwidth to avoid the signal interference. Only using few additional components in the optical line termination (OLT) and optical network unit (ONU)/optical wireless unit (OWU) can achieve self-protected operation in the presented hybrid fiber-FSO access network against fiber breakage. In the measurement, eight WDM wavelengths with 24.3 Gbit/s on-off keying (OOK) modulation format are applied to verify and discuss the bit error rate (BER) performances of baseband and FSO signals, respectively, through 25 km fiber and 2 m wireless FSO connections. Therefore, the presented PON not only can deliver both baseband and FSO traffics, but can also provide a self-restored mechanism against fiber fault

National database study of survival of pediatric congenital heart disease patients in Taiwan

The incidence of congenital heart disease (CHD) and severe CHD is 13.08 and 1.51/1000 live births, respectively, in Taiwan, which has had national health insurance since 1995 and child health indices similar to those in the US. This study sought to further elucidate the fatality of CHD patients and their survival from a national database. Methods: From the national health insurance database 2000–2010, we retrieved data from CHD patients who were diagnosed at age <6 years. The survival status at discharge was ascertained for estimation of survival. Results: In total, 18,843 pediatric CHD patients were identified. The overall prevalence of CHD was 1288 per 100 000 live-births. Severe CHD (tetralogy of Fallot (4.4%), transposition of the great arteries (1.6%) and double outlet right ventricle (1.1%)) accounted for 11.5% of all cases. The 1-month/5-year survival in simple and severe CHD was 99.1%/97.5% and 90.2%/76.4%, respectively (p < 0.0001). The Kaplan-Meier survival at 5 years of age was lowest for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (19.7%), followed by transposition of the great arteries (66.7%), double outlet right ventricle (69.0%), and common ventricle (66.0%). The 5-year survival of the birth cohort in the same study period was 99.3%. Conclusion: This national database study revealed that the survival of children with simple CHD was still slightly lower than that of the general population and the survival of severe CHD patients, though only accounting for one-tenth of CHD cases, remained unsatisfactory. Such survival profiles are similar to those from Western reports and warrant a refined and dedicated medical care program for children with CHD

Influential factors of insufficient physical activity among adolescents with asthma in Taiwan.

Little research has been reported concerning insufficient physical activity in Taiwanese adolescents with asthma. The aims of this paper are to compare the amount of physical activity between asthmatic and non-asthmatic adolescents in Taiwan, as well as to investigate the influential factors associated with insufficient physical activity in asthmatic adolescents.Self-reporting structured questionnaires (socio-economic status, scale of family support for physical activity, amount of physical activity) and peak expiratory flow were assessed from 286 adolescents with asthma and 588 non-asthmatic adolescents in a cross-sectional design. Insufficient amount of physical activity was based on less than 300 minutes per week of moderate and vigorous physical activity.Adolescents with asthma have a greater amount of physical activity and a higher level of family support than those who are non-asthmatic. In Taiwan, adolescents with asthma, girls relative to boys, obesity relative to average weight, and low family support relative to high family support were found to be associated with insufficient physical activity.Physical activity in adolescents with asthma is insufficient especially in girls, in asthmatics with obesity, and in those with low family support. We suggest that physical activity programs should be applied to Taiwan adolescents with asthma in order to match the criteria of 300 minutes per week of moderate and vigorous physical activity, especially for girls, the obese and those with a low level of family support

Mechanism and inhibition of human UDP-GlcNAc 2-epimerase, the key enzyme in sialic acid biosynthesis

Job file for the creation/design of stained glass from either the Charles J. Connick Studio (1912-1945) or the Charles J. Connick Associates studio (1945-1986). The job file contains a job number, location information, date of completion, size, contact information, price, and a description of the project. This particular job file contains information on a job located at: Bronxville, New York. Reformed Church