Global IT/IS outsourcing: Expectations, considerations and implications

This paper discusses the issues of global IT/IS outsourcing from four interrelated aspects: forming an appropriate global IT strategy, using proper global IT platforms, managing international data sharing, and surviving the cultural environment. It aims at providing a comprehensive framework for both the global outsourcing providers and clients to fully understand and evaluate the expectations, considerations and implications of global IT/IS outsourcing, so that they can form a successful long-term strategic alliance

Ultrasonic locating and tracking of small particles for biomedical applications

This dissertation focuses on the development of two novel ultrasound technologies with the idea of tracking and locating small particles: 1) Ultrasound tracking of the acoustically actuated microswimmers, 2) Super-resolution ultrasound (SRU) imaging by locating the microbubbles. Artificial microswimmers that navigate in hard-to-reach spaces and microfluidic environments inside human bodies hold a great potential for various biomedical applications. For eventual translation of the microswimmer technology, a capability of tracking the microswimmers in 3-D through tissues is particularly required for reliable navigation. In this work, after first proposing and demonstrating the proof-of-concept of ultrasound tracking of the microswimmer in a 2-D setup in vitro, we built a 3-D ultrasound tracking system using two clinical ultrasound probes. A reliable performance for tracking the arbitrary 3-D motions of the newly designed 3-D microswimmers in real-time was demonstrated in vitro. The developed 3-D ultrasound tracking strategy could be a strong motivation and foundation for the future clinical translation of the novel microswimmer technology. SRU that can identify microvessels with unprecedented spatial resolution is promising for diagnosing the diseases associated with abnormal microvascular changes. One of the potential applications is to assess the changes in renal microvasculature during the progressive kidney disease. In this work, we applied the developed deconvolution-based SRU imaging on the mouse acute kidney injury (AKI) model to show the capability of SRU for noninvasive assessment of renal microvasculature changes during the progression from AKI to chronic kidney disease (CKD). SRU that can identify microvessels with unprecedented spatial resolution is promising for diagnosing the diseases associated with abnormal microvascular changes. One of the potential applications is to assess the changes in renal microvasculature during the progressive kidney disease. In this work, we applied the developed deconvolution-based SRU imaging on the mouse acute kidney injury (AKI) model to show the capability of SRU for noninvasive assessment of renal microvasculature changes during the progression from AKI to chronic kidney disease (CKD). Future endeavors for integrating SRU locating technology with a reliable tracking capability of microparticles will provide a unique tool for various biomedical applications of the novel microdrones for diagnosis and drug delivery

Surface Chemistry and Non-Stoichiometry of Nd2NiO4+ Epitaxial Thin Films with Different Orientation and Strain

The influence of lattice strain on non-stoichiometry and surface chemical composition was investigated for epitaxial Nd2NiO4+ä (NNO) films during annealing in ultra high vacuum (below 10[superscript -8] mbar) and temperatures of up to 700oC. (100)- and (001)-oriented films with tensile and compressive lattice strain along c-axis were fabricated using pulsed laser deposition method. A significant decrease in the c-lattice parameter during annealing was found by x-ray diffraction (XRD) for the tensile strained films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that Ni reduction during annealing takes place only in compressively strained films, indicating the lower content of oxygen interstitials. A lower interstitial content in the compressively strained NNO films is consistent with the smaller c-lattice parameter measured by XRD and the easier reducibility of Ni measured by XPS. Cation segregation and morphological changes were found only for the compressively strained film surfaces. These results show that lattice strain along the c-axis is an important parameter that can alter the surface chemistry, and thus the oxygen exchange kinetics, on Nd2NiO4+ä at elevated temperatures.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Division of Materials Research, Ceramics Program, CAREER award

Biological Activities of Chinese Propolis and Brazilian Propolis on Streptozotocin-Induced Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Rats

Propolis is a bee-collected natural product and has been proven to have various bioactivities. This study tested the effects of Chinese propolis and Brazilian propolis on streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetes mellitus in Sprague-Dawley rats. The results showed that Chinese propolis and Brazilian propolis significantly inhibited body weight loss and blood glucose increase in diabetic rats. In addition, Chinese propolis-treated rats showed an 8.4% reduction of glycated hemoglobin levels compared with untreated diabetic rats. Measurement of blood lipid metabolism showed dyslipidemia in diabetic rats and Chinese propolis helped to reduce total cholesterol level by 16.6%. Moreover, oxidative stress in blood, liver and kidney was improved to various degrees by both Chinese propolis and Brazilian propolis. An apparent reduction in levels of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, blood urea nitrogen and urine microalbuminuria-excretion rate demonstrated the beneficial effects of propolis in hepatorenal function. All these results suggested that Chinese propolis and Brazilian propolis can alleviate symptoms of diabetes mellitus in rats and these effects may partially be due to their antioxidant ability

An end-to-end bidirectional authentication system for pallet pooling management through blockchain internet of things (BIoT)

Pallet pooling is regarded as a sustainable and cost-effective measure for the industry, but it is challenging to advocate due to weak data and pallet authentication. In order to establish trust between end-users and pallet pooling services, the authors propose an end-to-end, bidirectional authentication system for transmitted data and pallets based on blockchain and internet-of-things (IoT) technologies. In addition, secure data authentication fosters the pallet authenticity in the whole supply chain network, which is achieved by considering the tag, location, and object-specific features. To evaluate the object-specific features, the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) approach is adopted to match key-points and descriptors between two pallet images. According to the case study, it is found that the proposed system provides a low bandwidth blocking rate and a high probability of restoring complete data payloads. Consequently, positive influences on end-user satisfaction, quality of service, operational errors, and pallet traceability are achieved through the deployment of the proposed system

Neutron Scattering Signature of Phonon Renormalization in Nickel (II) Oxide

The physics of mutual interaction of phonon quasiparticles with electronic spin degrees of freedom, leading to unusual transport phenomena of spin and heat, has been a subject of continuing interests for decades. Despite its pivotal role in transport processes, the effect of spin-phonon coupling on the phonon system, especially acoustic phonon properties, has so far been elusive. By means of inelastic neutron scattering and first-principles calculations, anomalous scattering spectral intensity from acoustic phonons was identified in the exemplary collinear antiferromagnetic nickel (II) oxide, unveiling strong spin-lattice correlations that renormalize the polarization of acoustic phonon. In particular, a clear magnetic scattering signature of the measured neutron scattering intensity from acoustic phonons is demonstrated by its momentum transfer and temperature dependences. The anomalous scattering intensity is successfully modeled with a modified magneto-vibrational scattering cross section, suggesting the presence of spin precession driven by phonon. The renormalization of phonon eigenvector is indicated by the observed "geometry-forbidden" neutron scattering intensity from transverse acoustic phonon. Importantly, the eigenvector renormalization cannot be explained by magnetostriction but instead, it could result from the coupling between phonon and local magnetization of ions.Comment: Research pape

Matryoshka Phonon Twinning in alpha-GaN

Understanding lattice dynamics is crucial for effective thermal management in high-power electronic devices because phonons dominate thermal transport in most semiconductors. This study utilizes complementary inelastic X-ray and neutron scattering techniques and reports the temperature-dependent phonon dynamics of alpha-GaN, one of the most important third-generation power semiconductors. A prominent Matryoshka phonon dispersion is discovered with the scattering tools and confirmed by the first-principles calculations. Such Matryoshka twinning throughout the three-dimension reciprocal space is demonstrated to amplify the anharmonicity of the related phonon modes through creating abundant three-phonon scattering channels and cutting the phonon lifetime of affected modes by more than 50%. Such phonon topology effectively contributes to the reduction of the in-plane thermal transport, thus the anisotropic thermal conductivity of alpha-GaN. The results not only have significant implications for engineering the thermal performance and other phonon-related properties of alpha-GaN, but also offer valuable insights on the role of anomalous phonon topology in thermal transport of other technically important semiconductors.Comment: 34 pages, 15 figure

Comparison of quantitative volumetric analysis and linear measurement for predicting the survival of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer 0- and A stage hepatocellular carcinoma after radiofrequency ablation

PURPOSEThe prognostic role of the tumor volume in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) 0 and A stages remains unclear. This study aims to compare the volumetric measurement with linear measurement in early HCC burden profile and clarify the optimal cut-off value of the tumor volume.METHODSThe consecutive patients diagnosed with HCC who underwent initial and curative-intent radiofrequency ablation (RFA) were included retrospectively. The segmentation was performed semi-automatically, and enhanced tumor volume (ETV) as well as total tumor volume (TTV) were obtained. The patients were categorized into high- and low-tumor burden groups according to various cutoff values derived from commonly used diameter values, X-tile software, and decision-tree analysis. The inter- and intra-reviewer agreements were measured using the intra-class correlation coefficient. Univariate and multivariate time-to-event Cox regression analyses were performed to identify the prognostic factors of overall survival.RESULTSA total of 73 patients with 81 lesions were analyzed in the whole cohort with a median follow-up of 31.0 (interquartile range: 16.0–36.3). In tumor segmentation, excellent consistency was observed in intra- and inter-reviewer assessments. There was a strong correlation between diameter-derived spherical volume and ETV as well as ETV and TTV. As opposed to all linear candidates and 4,188 mm3 (sphere equivalent to 2 cm in diameter), ETV >14,137 mm3 (sphere equivalent to 3 cm in diameter) or 23,000 mm3 (sphere equivalent to 3.5 cm in diameter) was identified as an independent risk factor of survival. Considering the value of hazard ratio and convenience to use, when ETV was at 23,000 mm3, it was regarded as the optimal volumetric cut-off value in differentiating survival risk.CONCLUSIONThe volumetric measurement outperforms linear measurement on tumor burden evaluation for survival stratification in patients at BCLC 0 and A stages HCC after RFA