Stability Analysis of the Geosynthetic-Reinforced Modular Block Walls Damaged During the Chi-Chi Earthquake

Psuedo-static stability analysis based on “Coulomb’s one-wedge” and “two-wedge” methods was performed for two geosynthetic-reinforced modular block walls which were either collapsed or lightly damaged during the 1999 Taiwan Chi-Chi earthquake It was shown that two-wedge failure mechanism is a dominant one for the walls investigated. Difference in the seismic behavior of these walls was partially explained based on the psuedo-static analysis. It was also shown that seismic stability of the reinforced wall depends largely on the connection strength between the facing and the geogrid

Customer Satisfaction in Post COVID-19: A Case Study of Chinese Restaurants in Ratchada Phitset District

Purpose: The research paper is to identify the determinant factors influencing customer satisfaction in the case of Ratchada Phiset district, Bangkok, Thailand Chinese restaurants by examining some attributes, including word of mouth, perceived quality, and expectation. Research design, data and methodology: 150 samples for investigation with employed convenience sample techniques and used an online questionnaire to collect the data. After collecting data, both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to explain significant aspects. Results: The major findings are as follows: 1) Word of mouth has a significant influence on perceived quality. 2) Word of mouth has a significant influence on expectations. 3) Perceived quality and expectations have a significant influence on customer satisfaction. Conclusions: The research findings have met the research objectives. Chinese restaurants can improve customer satisfaction by creating special dishes, implementing personalized services, establishing customer databases, and implementing restaurant membership systems

Collaborative Integration between IT Industry and Logistics Industry in Taiwan: A Case Study on T Company\u27s E-Logistics Plan

The IT industry is Taiwan’s most thoroughly globalized industry. In the IT industry, suppliers and customers are spread all over the world, so making logistics management more efficient is very important. With government’s sponsorship, Taiwan’s IT industry has introduced e-Procurement (Plans A and B) to make the whole procurement process among enterprises an electronic one. Thus e-Procurement became the fundamentals of e-SCM. In order to extend the benefits of e-procurement, Taiwan government continuously promote the IT industry to introduce e-Logistics (Plan D). The objectives of this paper are to study the collaborative integration between IT industry and logistics industry in Taiwan, and to investigate the progress of introducing e-Logistics into the IT industry. A PC manufacturer, T Company was selected for use in the case study. It was found that the logistics visibility elevation through “Track and Trace” and the achievement of VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) are the objectives of e-Logistics implementation. IT manufacturers worked out common business models. Then each supply chain can follow the common specification and implement their e-Logistics individually. This study found that not only the IT manufacturers gain the competitive advantages, but LSPs (Logistics service providers) also learn from collaborative commerce and provide better service for customers with the implementation of e-Logistics. Then eight guidelines were induced as the reference for other industries to implement e-Logistics afterward. Besides, some suggestions were proposed to IT industry, logistics industry, and government

Antiosteoporotic Activity of Dioscorea alata L. cv. Phyto through Driving Mesenchymal Stem Cells Differentiation for Bone Formation

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an ethanol extract of the rhizomes of Dioscorea alata L. cv. Phyto, Dispo85E, on bone formation and to investigate the mechanisms involved. Our results showed that Dispo85E increased the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and bone nodule formation in primary bone marrow cultures. In addition, Dispo85E stimulated pluripotent C3H10T1/2 stem cells to differentiate into osteoblasts rather than adipocytes. Our in vivo data indicated that Dispo85E promotes osteoblastogenesis by increasing ALP activity and bone nodule formation in both intact and ovariectomized (OVX) mice. Microcomputed tomography (μCT) analysis also showed that Dispo85E ameliorates the deterioration of trabecular bone mineral density (tBMD), trabecular bone volume/total volume (BV/TV), and trabecular bone number (Tb.N) in OVX mice. Our results suggested that Dispo85E is a botanical drug with a novel mechanism that drives the lineage-specific differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells and is a candidate drug for osteoporosis therapy

ANTRODIA CINNAMOMEA EXTRACT ATTENUATES CARBON TETRACHLORIDE-INDUCED CHRONIC LIVER FIBROSIS IN SPRAGUE-DAWLEY RATS

Background: Antrodia cinnamomea (AC) mycelia have been traditionally used by majority of the indigenous populace in Taiwan for symptoms including treating alcohol intoxication. Other beneficial effects have been studied at some point. The present study evaluated the hepato-protection effects in Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods: The model used carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) to induce a chronic liver injury in male rats. Animals were treated with silymarin 200 mg/kg and AC mycelia at doses of 206, 619 and 1,032 mg/kg. The effects of AC on hepatic enzyme markers alanine and aspartate aminotransferase (ALT and AST) and other biochemical parameters were measured in the CCl4 -induced rats. Results: AC demonstrated a hepato-protective effect by decreasing ALT and AST levels and increasing albumin levels in CCl4 treated rats. The effects of AC on the activity of antioxidant enzymes were evaluated. AC administration restored the activities of catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GrD). The degree of liver fibrosis was significantly reduced by AC administration in CCl4 -treated rats. Conclusion: These results suggest that AC could protect the hepatocytes from CCl4 -induced liver injury likely via an antioxidant mechanism

The 3D-tomography of the nano-clusters formed by Fe-coating and annealing of diamond films for enhancing their surface electron field emitters

[[abstract]]The Fe-coating and H2-annealed processes markedly increased the conductivity and enhanced the surface electron field emission (s-EFE) properties for the diamondfilms. The enhancement on the s-EFE properties for the diamondfilms is presumably owing to the formation of nano-graphite clusters on the surface of the films via the Fe-to-diamond interaction. However, the extent of enhancement varied with the granular structure of the diamondfilms. For the microcrystalline (MCD)films, the s-EFE process can be turned on at (E0)MCD = 1.9 V/μm, achieving a large s-EFE current density of (Je)MCD = 315 μA/cm2 at an applied field of 8.8 V/μm. These s-EFE properties are markedly better than those for Fe-coated/annealed ultrananocrystalline diamond(UNCD)films with (E0)UNCD = 2.0 V/μm and (Je)UNCD = 120 μA/cm2. The transmission electron microscopy showed that the nano-graphite clusters formed an interconnected network for MCDfilms that facilitated the electron transport more markedly, as compared with the isolated nano-graphitic clusters formed at the surface of the UNCDfilms. Therefore, the Fe-coating/annealing processes improved the s-EFE properties for the MCDfilms more markedly than that for the UNCDfilms. The understanding on the distribution of the nano-clusters is of critical importance in elucidating the authentic factor that influences the s-EFE properties of the diamondfilms. Such an understanding is possible only through the 3D-tomographic investigations.[[journaltype]]國外[[ispeerreviewed]]Y[[booktype]]電子版[[countrycodes]]US

Developing the Effective Method of Spectral Harmonic Energy Ratio to Analyze the Arterial Pulse Spectrum

In this article, we analyze the arterial pulse in the spectral domain. A parameter, the spectral harmonic energy ratio (SHER), is developed to assess the features of the overly decreased spectral energy in the fourth to sixth harmonic for palpitation patients. Compared with normal subjects, the statistical results reveal that the mean value of SHER in the patient group (57.7 ± 27.9) is significantly higher than that of the normal group (39.7 ± 20.9) (P-value = .0066 < .01). This means that the total energy in the fourth to sixth harmonic of palpitation patients is significantly less than it is in normal subjects. In other words, the spectral distribution of the arterial pulse gradually decreases for normal subjects while it decreases abruptly in higher-order harmonics (the fourth, fifth and sixth harmonics) for palpitation patients. Hence, SHER is an effective method to distinguish the two groups in the spectral domain. Also, we can thus know that a “gradual decrease” might mean a “balanced” state, whereas an “abrupt decrease” might mean an “unbalanced” state in blood circulation and pulse diagnosis. By SHER, we can determine the ratio of energy distribution in different harmonic bands, and this method gives us a novel viewpoint from which to comprehend and quantify the spectral harmonic distribution of circulation information conveyed by the arterial pulse. These concepts can be further applied to improve the clinical diagnosis not only in Western medicine but also in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)

Long Bubble Penetration through Viscoelastic Fluids in a Suddenly Contracting and Expanding Tube

This study investigated the properties of long bubbles penetrating viscoelastic fluids in a suddenly contracting and expanding tube. Injection gas flow is controlled by a mass flow controller (MFC). Some of dimensionless parameters, such as the capillary number (Ca), the Reynolds number (Re), the fractional ratio (m), and the Weissenberg number (Wi), are discussed herein. The experimental results showed that bubble velocity, Ca, and Wi increase as shear viscosity increases under a constant gas flow by MFC. However, as shear viscosity increases, bubble diameter decreases, and m increases. When gas flow is 200 mL/min and shear viscosity increases, the bubble front is sharper in the contraction tube, and the bubble front shape is blunter in the sudden expansion tube. When gas flow is 600 mL/min and shear viscosity increases, the bubble front is blunter in the contraction tube and exhibits a torch shape in the sudden expansion tube

A pre-S gene chip to detect pre-S deletions in hepatitis B virus large surface antigen as a predictive marker for hepatoma risk in chronic hepatitis B virus carriers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. The pre-S₁and -S₂mutant large HBV surface antigen (LHBS), in which the pre-S₁and -S₂regions of the LHBS gene are partially deleted, are highly associated with HBV-related HCC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The pre-S region of the LHBS gene in two hundred and one HBV-positive serum samples was PCR-amplified and sequenced. A pre-S oligonucleotide gene chip was developed to efficiently detect pre-S deletions in chronic HBV carriers. Twenty serum samples from chronic HBV carriers were analyzed using the chip.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The pre-S deletion rates were relatively low (7%) in the sera of patients with acute HBV infection. They gradually increased in periods of persistent HBV infection: pre-S mutation rates were 37% in chronic HBV carriers, and as high as 60% in HCC patients. The Pre-S Gene Chip offers a highly sensitive and specific method for pre-S deletion detection and is less expensive and more efficient (turnaround time 3 days) than DNA sequencing analysis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The pre-S_1/2mutants may emerge during the long-term persistence of the HBV genome in carriers and facilitate HCC development. Combined detection of pre-S mutations, other markers of HBV replication, and viral titers, offers a reliable predictive method for HCC risks in chronic HBV carriers.</p