A high sensitive fiber Bragg grating strain sensor with automatic temperature compensation

A high sensitive fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensor with automatic temperature compensation is demonstrated. FBG is axially linked with a stick and their free ends are fixed to the measured object. When the measured strain changes, the stick does not change in length, but the FBG does. When the temperature changes, the stick changes in length to pull the FBG to realize temperature compensation. In experiments, 1.45 times strain sensitivity of bare FBG with temperature compensation of less than 0.1 nm Bragg wavelength drift over 100 ◦C shift is achieved

Thermal rectification effects of multiple semiconductor quantum dot junctions

Based on the multiple energy level Anderson model, this study theoretically examines the thermoelectric effects of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) in the nonlinear response regime. The charge and heat currents in the sequential tunneling process are calculated by using the Keldysh Green's function technique. Results show that the thermal rectification effect can be observed in a multiple QD junction system, whereas the tunneling rate, size fluctuation, and location distribution of QD significantly influence the rectification efficiency.Comment: 5 pages, 8figure

Can the 750-GeV diphoton resonance be the singlet Higgs boson of custodial Higgs triplet model?

The observation of diphoton excess around the mass of 750 GeV in LHC Run-II motivates us to consider whether the singlet Higgs boson in the custodial Higgs triplet model can serve as a good candidate because an earlier study of comprehensive parameter scan shows that it can have the right mass in the viable mass spectra. By assuming the singlet Higgs mass at 750 GeV, its total width less than 50 GeV and imposing constraints from the LHC 8-TeV data, we identify an approximately linear region on the $(v_\Delta, \alpha)$ plane along which the exotic Higgs boson masses satisfy a specific hierarchy and have lower possible spectra, where $v_\Delta$ denotes the triplet vacuum expectation value and $\alpha$ is the mixing angle between the singlet Higgs boson and the standard model-like Higgs boson. Although the diphoton decay rate can be enhanced by charged Higgs bosons running in the loop in this region, it is mostly orders of magnitude smaller than that required for the observed production rate, except for the small $v_\Delta$ region when the diphoton fusion production mechanism becomes dominant. Nonetheless, this part of parameter space suffers from the problems of breakdown of perturbativity and large uncertainties in the photon parton distribution function of proton.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, and 2 tables; bugs in numerical calculations fixed, and discussions and conclusions changed; typo corrected; 16 pages, expanded with more detailed discussions, updated figures and tables, version to appear in the journa

Detecting Outliers in Data with Correlated Measures

Advances in sensor technology have enabled the collection of large-scale datasets. Such datasets can be extremely noisy and often contain a significant amount of outliers that result from sensor malfunction or human operation faults. In order to utilize such data for real-world applications, it is critical to detect outliers so that models built from these datasets will not be skewed by outliers. In this paper, we propose a new outlier detection method that utilizes the correlations in the data (e.g., taxi trip distance vs. trip time). Different from existing outlier detection methods, we build a robust regression model that explicitly models the outliers and detects outliers simultaneously with the model fitting. We validate our approach on real-world datasets against methods specifically designed for each dataset as well as the state of the art outlier detectors. Our outlier detection method achieves better performances, demonstrating the robustness and generality of our method. Last, we report interesting case studies on some outliers that result from atypical events.Comment: 10 page

Extracting entangled qubits from Majorana fermions in quantum dot chains through the measurement of parity

We propose a scheme for extracting entangled charge qubits from quantum-dot chains that support zero-energy edge modes. The edge mode is composed of Majorana fermions localized at the ends of each chain. The qubit, logically encoded in double quantum dots, can be manipulated through tunneling and pairing interactions between them. The detailed form of the entangled state depends on both the parity measurement (an even or odd number) of the boundary-site electrons in each chain and the teleportation between the chains. The parity measurement is realized through the dispersive coupling of coherent-state microwave photons to the boundary sites, while the teleportation is performed via Bell measurements. Our scheme illustrates \emph{localizable entanglement} in a fermionic system, which serves feasibly as a quantum repeater under realistic experimental conditions, as it allows for finite temperature effect and is robust against disorders, decoherence and quasi-particle poisoning.Comment: Accepted by Scientific Report

Interdot Coulomb repulsion effect on the charge transport of parallel double single electron transistors

The charge transport behaviors of parallel double single electron transistors (SETs) are investigated by the Anderson model with two impurity levels. The nonequilibrium Keldysh Green's technique is used to calculate the current-voltage characteristics of system. For SETs implemented by quantum dots (QDs) embedded into a thin $SiO_2$ layer, the interdot Coulomb repulsion is more important than the interdot electron hopping as a result of high potential barrier height between QDs and $SiO_2$. We found that the interdot Coulomb repulsion not onlyleads to new resonant levels, but also creates negative differential conductances.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Chinese Negation Morpheme bù in Academic Writing

Negation can be conveyed through various forms in a language. In Chinese, bù is the most common negative form, and it can also be a morpheme of a compound word which expresses negation and/or concepts closely associated with negation, e.g. modality and contrast. In order to capture most types of Chinese words carrying these concepts, we investigate Chinese words containing bù. This study first classifies bù-related words into seven categories according to the word structure and the negative connotation of bù as a morpheme retained in the word. The categorisation is then applied to the wordlists of a research article corpus and a conversational corpus. The results show that there are many fewer occurrences of bù as a negator in research articles than in conversation, and that there is greater use of four-syllable Chinese idioms (chéngyǔ) in research articles than in conversation. In addition, different sets of bù-related words are used to express contrast and modality

Usage and development of piano method books in Taiwan: Interviews and observations with piano teachers.

Several results imply that Taiwan's piano education circle has gradually changed from pianistic technique-based lessons to emphasizing the integrity of music learning. Teachers' strong tendency of combining different methods and materials implies that Taiwanese piano teachers feel hesitant and insecure to use either American methods or European methods exclusively. Also, Taiwanese piano teachers are not enthusiastic about developing methods because of the existing abundant materials in Taiwan's small market. This result may imply that expert teachers are more independent regarding the use and selection of methods. It may also imply the common attitude of Taiwan's ignorance of innovation. For future development of methods, Taiwan may need to expand its market to other Chinese speaking countries in order to make the development of those methods more price-worthy.The purposes of this research are: (a) to evaluate the use of elementary-age piano methods in Taiwan and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different methods from an experienced Taiwanese piano teacher's point of view, especially relating to Taiwan's cultural background and structure of society, and (b) to provide a basis for developing future methods suitable for Taiwanese culture. Four categories of research questions were addressed. (1) What do experienced Taiwanese piano teachers think of the methods from different countries? (2) How do they use these methods? (3) Are there any problems for Taiwanese piano teachers in using the foreign methods? and (4) Is it important to develop Taiwanese methods?The findings indicate that Taiwanese teachers believe that European methods are technique-oriented and efficient while American methods, in contrast, are more motivational, interesting, and are thoroughly concerned with the development of musical concepts. Therefore, Taiwanese teachers have a strong tendency towards combining the European method Beyer with American methods, along with Japanese anthologies. However, teachers indicate several problems with using foreign methods, including the English alphabet problem, language translation problems, physical problems, and repertoire selection problems. Teachers in this study had a strong tendency towards thinking that the development of Taiwanese methods is not necessary. However, they offered several suggestions for developing future Taiwanese methods, including adding music appreciation materials, Chinese literature and Chinese musical concepts within the mainstream, and western-based classical music content.This study employed a qualitative methodological approach. Individual, in-depth interviews with ten expert Taiwanese piano teachers and observations of each expert's teaching of two elementary-age students were conducted to collect data. The non-probability, snowball sampling technique was used to select ten participants. After the interviews were transcribed, copies of the transcripts were sent to the participants to assure them of the study's trustworthiness. Afterwards, the researcher searched for patterns and common themes among participant's responses. After coding the data, the researcher discussed and resolved disagreements with the independent reviewer before addressing the findings

Criminal Victimisation in Taiwan: an opportunity perspective

Environmental criminology concerns the role of opportunities (both people and objects) existing in the environment that make crimes more likely to occur. Research consistently shows that opportunity perspectives (particularly with regard to individuals’ lifestyles and routines) help in explaining the prevalence and concentration of crimes. However, there is a paucity of studies investigating crime patterns from an opportunity perspective both outside western countries and in relation to cybercrimes. Hence, it is not clear whether non-Western and online contexts exhibit similar patterns of crime as would be predicted by an opportunity perspective. This thesis is concerned with criminal victimisation in Taiwan – a less researched setting in the field of environmental criminology. It covers both offline victimisation (with a focus on burglary) and online victimisation from the aforementioned opportunity perspective. The goal of this thesis is to identify individual- and area-level characteristics that affect the patterns of victimisation in Taiwan. To achieve this, the thesis draws on a range of secondary datasets, including police recorded crime statistics, the Taiwan Area Victimisation Survey, and the Digital Opportunity Survey for Individuals and Households. With the application of quantitative modelling, the thesis suggests that the generalisability the lifestyle-routine activity approach in explaining crime patterns in Taiwan should be taken with caution. The findings provide partial support for its applicability in relation to burglary and cybercrime in Taiwan. Furthermore, the findings reported here in relation to patterns of repeat and near repeat victimisation depart from those observed in the western literature. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for academic research and practice in crime prevention

The effects of social skills training on the prevention of perceived stress, depression, and social anxiety of Taiwanese graduate students in the United States

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an Banduraian-based group social skills training in the prevention of stress, depression, and social anxiety of Taiwanese graduate students in the U.S.;The subjects of this study were 60 Taiwanese students recruited at four seminars sponsored by the Taiwan Ministry of Education, which aimed to prepare students for future overseas study. Thirty subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental condition and were trained with social skills before they left for U.S. The other thirty subjects were assigned to the control group without any treatment.;It was hypothesized that: (1) There would be a significant difference at the.05 level in subjects receiving pre-arrival social skills training as contrast with subjects receiving no treatment in their level of stress, depression, and social anxiety at the posttest (1 week after treatment); (2) There would be a significant difference at the.05 level in subjects receiving pre-arrival social skills training as contrast with subjects receiving no treatment in their level of stress, depression, and social anxiety at the follow-up (1 to 2 month after subjects\u27 arrival in U.S.).;The results indicated that participation in an Banduraian-based group skills training course for Taiwanese graduate students did not have short term effects on their perceived stress, depression, and social anxiety. However, results demonstrated a general trend toward more positive outcomes. Although there was also no evidence for the effectiveness of social skills training in the prevention of future perceived depression and social anxiety, the analysis of followup data revealed that the effects of social skills training on prevention of perceived stress for Taiwanese graduate students was supported