Application of Feature Curves and Shape Blending on Yacht Designing

The global yacht market share and industry might expand continually since increasing people are willing to enjoy the yacht life in lower price nowadays while yacht activities were regards as a luxury sport in the past. Additionally, Taiwanese yacht manufacturers are well-known worldwide. They show excellent performances on the international annual rankings which implies Taiwan has excellent manufacturing technologies. However, Taiwanese manufacturers so far do not have a mature local design team. Therefore, this study goals to developing a systematic and objective design method for hull designing, which facilitates designers to design innovative yachts or create a series product with brand recognition. This study is divided into three parts: the first part is the investigation of the yachts market; the second is establishing a shape blending platform; the third is 3D forming. Finally, it is used the existing ship CAD software to design an innovative yacht based on the blended curves and then calculates its basic hydrostatic performance. This study provides a quantitative method to create a new form and to preserve the features for a brand. The exist yacht combines with other graphics to create a new form and maximizes the features of the original graphics

A Comparative Study for 2D and 3D Computer-aided Diagnosis Methods for Solitary Pulmonary Nodules

Many computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) methods, including 2D and 3D approaches, have been proposed for solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs). However, the detection and diagnosis of SPNs remain challenging in many clinical circumstances. One goal of this work is to investigate the relative diagnostic accuracy of 2D and 3D methods. An additional goal is to develop a two-stage approach that combines the simplicity of 2D and the accuracy of 3D methods. The experimental results show statistically significant differences between the diagnostic accuracy of 2D and 3D methods. The results also show that with a very minor drop in diagnostic performance the two-stage approach can significantly reduce the number of nodules needed to be processed by the 3D method, streamlining the computational demand

The influence of the technical dimension, functional dimension, and tenant satisfaction on tenant loyalty: an analysis based on the theory of planned behavior

This study primarily explored the influence of the technical dimension, functional dimension, and tenant satisfaction on tenant loyalty. The theory of planned behavior served as the basis of this study, and the three aforementioned factors (the technical dimension, the functional dimension, and tenant satisfaction) were incorporated into a conceptual framework for tenant loyalty. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for parameter estimation. The participants consisted of tenants residing in eight administrative districts in Kaohsiung City. 315 questionnaires were administered, all of which were returned. After removing 15 invalid responses, there were 300 valid responses, which indicated an effective recovery rate of 95.2%. The results showed that the technical dimension, the functional dimension, and attitude significantly and positively influenced tenant satisfaction. Tenant satisfaction, perceived behavioral control, and social norms significantly and positively influenced tenant loyalty. Tenant satisfaction mediated the influence of the technical dimension and the functional dimension on tenant loyalty; the mediating effect of the functional dimension on tenant loyalty was greater than that of the technical dimension. The findings of this study highlight the measures rental companies should adopt in order to enhance the technical dimension, functional dimension, and tenant satisfaction, as this is crucial to maintaining sustainable operations

Anthropomorphism of AI-based Intelligent Customer Service, and Its Affective and Behavioral Consequences

Recently, as many users turn to social media to interact with service providers, organizations apply Artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the operation. This type of customer service system is called intelligent customer service (ICS) which one of the most commonly adopted tools is chatbot. Since chatbot is AI-empowered, whether this system can effectively interact with customers and solve their problems is critical. However, the quality of ICS has received significant attention recently, and a lack of systematic study on the outcomes of anthropomorphism leaves this question unanswered in an ICS context. Based on a cognitive-affective-behavioral framework, this study attempts to understand whether anthropomorphism can promote desired behaviors (including usage and citizen-ship behaviors) through enhancing affective out-comes, such as satisfaction and identity. Data collected from 183 chatbot-ICS users, this study illustrates how anthropomorphism can increase quality, enhance satisfaction and identity. Furthermore, we also show that satisfaction and identity lead to further usage and citizenship behaviors. This highlights the importance of increasing anthropomorphism for the chatbot-ICS

Improved characteristics of near-band-edge and deep-level emissions from ZnO nanorod arrays by atomic-layer-deposited Al2O3 and ZnO shell layers

We report on the characteristics of near-band-edge (NBE) emission and deep-level band from ZnO/Al2O3 and ZnO/ZnO core-shell nanorod arrays (NRAs). Vertically aligned ZnO NRAs were synthesized by an aqueous chemical method, and the Al2O3 and ZnO shell layers were prepared by the highly conformal atomic layer deposition technique. Photoluminescence measurements revealed that the deep-level band was suppressed and the NBE emission was significantly enhanced after the deposition of Al2O3 and ZnO shells, which are attributed to the decrease in oxygen interstitials at the surface and the reduction in surface band bending of ZnO core, respectively. The shift of deep-level emissions from the ZnO/ZnO core-shell NRAs was observed for the first time. Owing to the presence of the ZnO shell layer, the yellow band associated with the oxygen interstitials inside the ZnO core would be prevailed over by the green luminescence, which originates from the recombination of the electrons in the conduction band with the holes trapped by the oxygen vacancies in the ZnO shell

Single-crystalline δ-Ni2Si nanowires with excellent physical properties

[[abstract]]In this article, we report the synthesis of single-crystalline nickel silicide nanowires (NWs) via chemical vapor deposition method using NiCl2·6H2O as a single-source precursor. Various morphologies of δ-Ni2Si NWs were successfully acquired by controlling the growth conditions. The growth mechanism of the δ-Ni2Si NWs was thoroughly discussed and identified with microscopy studies. Field emission measurements show a low turn-on field (4.12 V/μm), and magnetic property measurements show a classic ferromagnetic characteristic, which demonstrates promising potential applications for field emitters, magnetic storage, and biological cell separation.[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]電子版[[booktype]]紙

Bioequivalence Evaluation of Two Formulations of Celecoxib 200 mg Capsules in Healthy volunteers by using a validated LC/MS/MS method

The bioequivalence study to compare a new formulation of celecoxib to its reference formulation was designed as an open-label, randomized, single-dose, two-way crossover, comparative bioavailability study by using a validated LC/MS/MS method. In order to determine the plasma concentrations of celecoxib, a sensitive LC/MS/MS method was developed. The method was validated to possess adequate specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy and stability. The linearity of calibration curve was assessed between the concentration intervals (5–2000 ng/mL) with a correlation coefficient over 0.999. Regarding pharmacokinetic investigation, the mean celecoxib AUC0-t values from the test and reference drug formulations were 7360.44 ± 1714.14 h•ng/mL and 7267.48 ± 2077.68 h•ng/mL, respectively, and the corresponding AUC0-∞ values were 8197.45 ± 2040.31 h•ng/mL and 7905.54 ± 2286.12 h•ng/mL, respectively. The Cmax of the test and reference drugs was 705.30 ± 290.63 ng/mL and 703.86 ± 329.91 ng/mL, respectively, and the corresponding Tmax was 3.4 ± 1.6 h and 2.9 ± 1.4 h. Lastly, the T1/2 values of the test and reference drugs were 13.9 ± 7.9 h and 12.9 ± 7.7 h, respectively. The 90% confidence intervals for AUC0-t, AUC0-∞, and Cmax were 97.00-108.85, 98.01-112.09, and 93.20-116.13, respectively, satisfying the bioequivalence criteria of 80-125% range. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that the bioequivalence of two formulations of celecoxib was established successfully by utilizing present developed LC/MS/MS method