Broadband metamaterial for nonresonant matching of acoustic waves

Unity transmittance at an interface between bulk media is quite common for polarized electromagnetic waves incident at the Brewster angle, but it is rarely observed for sound waves at any angle of incidence. In the following, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate an acoustic metamaterial possessing a Brewster-like angle that is completely transparent to sound waves over an ultra-broadband frequency range with >100% bandwidth. The metamaterial, consisting of a hard metal with subwavelength apertures, provides a surface impedance matching mechanism that can be arbitrarily tailored to specific media. The nonresonant nature of the impedance matching effectively decouples the front and back surfaces of the metamaterial allowing one to independently tailor the acoustic impedance at each interface. On the contrary, traditional methods for acoustic impedance matching, for example in medical imaging, rely on resonant tunneling through a thin antireflection layer, which is inherently narrowband and angle specific

A novel CMOS MEMS accelerometer with four sensing finger arrays

[[abstract]]This study presents a novel CMOS accelerometer with four sensing finger arrays. Moreover, additional springs are also employed for electrical routing. The sensing capacitance is increased for 80%, at the cost of the decreasing of proof mass for 20%. Thus, the sensitivity of the present accelerometer is still increased for near 44%. The measurement results show that the present accelerometer has a gain of 2.94 mV/g.[[fileno]]2030176030004[[department]]電機工程學

Regulation of the CABYR gene

Calcium-binding tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated protein (CABYR) is classified as a cancer-testis antigen, a category of cancer antigens whose expression in normal tissues is primarily restricted to male germ cells in the testis but not in adult somatic tissues. Recently, it has been suggested that this protein may play a role during brain development based on the observation that CABYR transcripts are differentially expressed in both fetal and adult brains. Studies on CABYR are very limited. Previous work of this laboratory found that CABYR transcripts are also detected in human leukocytes. To identify the cell type(s) expressing CABYR, RT-PCR and Western blot analysis were performed using total RNA and cell lysates, respectively, isolated from monocytes, lymphocytes and polymorphonuclear cells (PMN). The results showed that CABYR is expressed in lymphocytes and monocytes but not in the PMNs, suggesting that CABYR may play a role in acquired immune response. To underestand the mechanism responsible for the differential regulation of CABYR gene expression, the promoter activity of the 1-kb DNA fragment upstream of the start codon (designated +1) was analyzed in both CABYR positive and negative cells. For this purpose, a promoter-probing reporter plasmid, pEGFP-N1-CABYR-promoter, was constructed by cloning the above DNA fragment upstream of the EGFP coding region. pEGFP-N1-CABYR-promoter was transfected into lymphocytes, monocytes, and PMNs. Cells expressing GFP were found in all three transfected cell types indicating that the trans-factors required for the CABYR gene expression are present in these three cell types. Next, the effect of DNA methylation on the promoter activity was investigated because CpG islands were present in the 1-kb DNA fragment. Three luciferase expression plasmids, pGL3-luci1, pGL3-luci2 and pGL3-luci3 driven by the upstream regions encompassing -1 to -1075, -1 to -700, -1 to -300, respectively, relative to the start codon were constructed and subjected to in vitro methylation. 293T cells were transfected with either the methylated or unmethylated plasmids. The luciferase activities of cells transfected with the unmethylated plasmids were found to correlated with the length of the promoter regions. In contrast, very low activities were detected in the cells transfected with the methylated plasmids. Together, the results suggested that methylation on the promoter region may be one of the mechanisms that regulates the expression of CABYR. The methylation status of CABYR in lymphocyte and PMN in vivo deserves further investigation.Calcium-binding tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated protein (CABYR) 目前被認定為cancer-testis antigen，cancer-testis antigen主要表現在正常人睪丸的精細胞，而體細胞則不會表現。近來研究結果發現在成人腦細胞和嬰兒腦細胞中CABYR會表現不同的variants，因此認為CABYR可能與腦細胞的發育有關。目前為止對CABYR的相關研究有限，先前本實驗室發現在人體正常的白血球細胞中會表現CABYR。爲了觀察在哪一類的白血球細胞中會表現CABYR，將monocytes, lymphocytes和polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) 分離後，利用total RNA和cell lysates進行 RT-PCR以及Western blotting分析，結果顯示lymphocytes和monocytes會表現CABYR， PMN則不會表現CABYR，因此CABYR可能參與acquired immune response。為了瞭解CABYR gene之調控機制，分析CABYR positive 和 negative 細胞 之CABYR 基因轉錄起始點1-kb 之DNA片段。首先將此段約1-kb DNA構築於帶有螢光基因的質體，得pEGFP-N1-CABYR-promoter。再將pEGFP-N1-CABYR-promoter 轉染到monocytes、lymphocytes和PMNs，發現三種細胞都有螢光表現，顯示細胞內都含有調控CABYR 啟動子的調控因子。CABYR啟動子分析的結果得知其含有CpG islands，因此接著觀察DNA甲基化是否影響此1-kb 之CABYR啟動子的活性。構築三段帶有不同長度CABYR 啟動子序列的載體，分別為pGL3-luci1、pGL3-luci2、pGL3-luci3，長度分別取自轉錄起始點上游區域之 -1 to -1075、-1 to -700、-1 to -300，並將質體進行 in vitro甲基化。將甲基化和未甲基化的質體轉染到293T細胞內，細胞經轉染甲基化和未甲基化的質體所表現之Luciferase活性與啟動子之長度有相對關係。然而，DNA經過酵素甲基化後luciferase活性有顯著的降低。根據以上的實驗結果可得知CABYR基因在細胞中的調控可能受到甲基化的影響。對於lymphocytes和PMNs之CABYR 啟動子甲基化位置則留待未來進一步的探討。中文摘要……………………………………………………………………… i 英文摘要……………………………………………………………………… ii 壹、前言……………………………………………………………………… 1 貳、I材料………………………………………………....…………..……… 6 一、菌株及其培養條件.........................................................................6 二、引子 (primers) 與質體 (plasmids)……………………..……….6 三、培養基與溶液配方……………………………………………….6 II方法……………………………………………………...…………….11 (一) 血球細胞的分離...........................................................................11 (二) 劉氏染色 (Liu’s stain)……………………………….……...…..11 (三) 萃取RNA (extraction of RNA)…………………………….……11 (四) 反轉錄作用 (reverse transcription, RT)………………...……….12 (五) 聚合酶連鎖反應 (polymerase chain reaction, PCR)……..….….12 (六) 重組 DNA技術………………………………………………….12 (七) 轉型作用 (transformation)…………………………………..…..14 (八) DNA 洋菜膠體電泳分析 (agarose electrophoresis)……......…...14 (九) 細胞染色體之萃取 (extraction of genomic DNA)……….…..…15 (十) 細胞轉染 (Transfection)…………………………………….…...15 (十一) 核內核外蛋白質分離萃取…………………………………….15 (十二) 蛋白質樣品製備及定量分析………………………………….16 (十三) SDS 蛋白質膠體電泳分析 (SDS-PAGE)…………………….16 (十四) 西方墨點分析 (Western blot)……………………….………...17 (十五) 銀染 (sliver staining)………………………………………….18 (十六) 冷光報導基因分析 (Luciferase reporter gene assay)……..….18 (十七) gel retardation………………………………………………….19 (十八) Protein binding affinity assay……………………………..…….20 (十九) In-gel digestion………………………………………………….20 叁、結果...……………………………………………....………….………… 21 一、 以RT-PCR、Western blotting分析CABYR 在白血球內之轉錄及 轉譯之情形………………………………………………………….21 二、比較正常白血球細胞及癌症細胞株之CABYR promoter序列…..21 三、觀察CABYR promoter在monocyte、lymphocyte及PMN細胞內 之in vitro活性表現………………………………………………...22 四、觀察DNA甲基化in vitro是否會抑制CABYR promoter活性….23 五、初步搜尋與CABYR 基因轉錄有關之轉錄因子………………….24 肆、討論……………………………………………....…………….…………26 誌謝………………………………………...……………………….……...…. 29 圖表…………………………………………………………………………….30 參考文獻………………………………………………...………….……...…. 4

The Conflict Between Freedom of Political Speech and Defamation in Singapore:Anylyses of Defamation Cases

[[abstract]]論文摘要 新加坡政府官員對媒體和反對黨人士的誹謗訴訟，皆由新加坡官員勝訴。新加坡法律是否保障批評政府官員的言論？ 本論文研究新加坡法院如何處理言論自由和政府官員名譽權的衝突，分析「Tat Lee 銀行取得設立許可證案」到「新加坡烈士徐順全案」的誹謗訴訟，以了解新加坡法律所允許批評政府官員的言論界線為何？在新加坡誹謗法下，誹謗政府官員的言論，被告若能證明言論為真實，即成立真實抗辯而免責。被告若無法證明其誹謗官員的言論為真實，亦不得主張政治性言論具公共利益為由，成立相對特權而免責。 本論文研究發現：一、新加坡誹謗法未重視政治性言論的保障，法院不保護不真實誹謗政府官員的言論，駁回英國雷洛茲特權和美國真實惡意法則，因而限制言論自由和新聞自由的發展。二、法院重視政府官員名譽的保護，批評國家領袖的誹謗言論，因侵害政治人物名譽的核心，即廉潔和正直。所以，被告需賠償巨額金額，來證明政府領導人清白。[[abstract]]Abstract The Singapore officials have sued the media and the opposition party public figures for defamation, all have won by the Singapore officials. Whether the law of Singapore does safeguard the criticism of government officials? This thesis studied: How does the court of Singapore resolve the conflict between the freedom of speech and the right of official reputation, analyzed defamatory suits from “Lee kuan Yew v JB Jeyaretnam [1978-1979] SLR 429” to “Review Publishing Co Ltd and Another v Lee Hsien Loong and Another Appeal [2009] SGCA 46”, understood what is the legal boundary for the criticism of government officials in Singapore? Under defamation law of Singapore, if the defendant can prove that defamatory statements of government officials to be true, it will constitute truth defense to immunize the defamatory liability. If the defendant can not prove political statements that he defamed government officials to be true, the public interest is not enough to constitute qualified privilege. This thesis research discovered: First, the defamation law of Singapore has not emphasized the importance of protecting political speech, the court does not protect untrue speech of defaming government officials, the court have rejected the Reynolds privilege and the Actual Malice Rule, thus limited the expansion of the freedom of speech and press. Second, the court has emphasized the importance of the government official reputation, any political speech involved criticism of government leaders, it eroded political figures reputation's core, the honesty and the integrity. Therefore the defendant must compensate large money for proving the honesty of government leaders.[[note]]碩

Optimal Hedge Ratios Estimate : Comparison Among Alternative EWMA Method

[[abstract]]本文的應用限制最小平方估計模型(RLS)、絕對限制制小平方估計模型(A-RLS)、在動態策略下易估計的EWMA模型、考量高峰厚尾分配的Power EWMA模型及保有EWMA與Power EWMA兩模型優點的Bias-Corrected EWMA等模型來對TAIFEX台灣加權股價指數期貨和MSCI摩根台股指數期貨進行最適避險比率的估計，期望能找出具有較高準確性的估計方法，有效的提升投資者的避險績效。 本研究除了使用動態避險的策略方式以及樣本外的觀點來進行估計外，另應用三種分別為避險後投資組合變異數、樣本外最適避險比率變異數及平均數不同避險績效衡量之觀點。實證結果顯示 (一) 在樣本期間下，Power EWMA模型之避險績效最佳；(二) 各模型之不同衰退因子設定對各指數期貨的避險績效並無一致性影響。[[abstract]]This study applies the restricted least squares estimator(RLS) the absolute restricted least squares estimator(A-RLS) and Bias-Corrected EWMA model to estimate optimal hedge ratios for stock index futures Using for stock index futures we compare the optimal hedge ratios and hedge performances with EWMA mode which under normal distribution and Power EWMA model which considers the distribution of assets return is leptokutic Empirical result shows that the (1) Two stock index futures under any of models using the hedge performances we can find Power EWMA model is the best (2) There is no consistency between the hedge performances and various decay factor

Platonin mitigates vascular hyporeactivity of thoracic aorta in septic rats

Background Vascular hyporeactivity contributes to hemodynamic alterations and circulatory failure in severe sepsis. Among the identified mechanisms, inflammation and oxidative stress are the most crucial ones in mediating the development of vascular hyporeactivity induced by sepsis. Platonin, a photosensitive dye and an antioxidant, possesses potent antiinflammation effects. We elucidated whether platonin could mitigate vascular hyporeactivity of thoracic aorta in septic rats. Material and methods Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomized to receive sham operation (Sham), Sham plus platonin (100 μg/kg), cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), or CLP plus platonin (10, 50, or 100 μg/kg) and designated as the Sham, P, CLP, CLP + P(10), CLP + P(50), and CLP + P(100) group, respectively (n = 6 in each group). After maintaining for 12 hours, surviving rats were euthanized and thoracic aorta was isolated and vascular reactivity of aortic rings was determined. Results Vascular reactivity induced by vasoconstrictors phenylephrine and angiotensin II of the Sham and the P groups (n = 6 in both groups) were similar, whereas vascular reactivity of the CLP group (n = 5) were significantly lower than those of the Sham group (both P < 0.001). Of note, vascular reactivity induced by phenylephrine and angiotensin II of the CLP + P(10) group (n = 5) and the CLP group were not significantly different. In contrast, vascular reactivity induced by phenylephrine and angiotensin II of the CLP + P(50) and the CLP + P(100) groups (n = 6 in both groups) were significantly higher than those of the CLP group (phenylephrine: P = 0.024 and 0.017; angiotensin II: P = 0.031 and 0.036). Conclusion Platonin could mitigate vascular hyporeactivity of thoracic aorta in septic rats