DESIGN OF SIMULATIVE PITCHING MACHINE AND IT'S EFFECT

The purpose of this study was to design a simulative device that attached on pitching machine to create the similar pitching motion of real pitcher, and to investigate the subsequent training effect. A photo sensor and automatic switch were used in the design of a simulative device in this study. When light from the photo sensor was cut off by the pitcher's throwing arm, the automatic switch would be turned on immediately and allow a ball to roll down into the pitching machine. Twelve collegiate baseball batters were divided into three groups. A cross-over experimental design was used. Each group involved one of three types of practice after one days rest. The three groups were Type-A: do nothing. Type-B: batting practice by traditional pitching machine. Type-C: batting practice by simulative pitching machine. Each batter hit six balls before and after batting practice for investigating training effect and two baseball experts evaluated batting performance. The results showed that there was significantly increased batting performance after Type-B and Type-C practice (p < .05). Type-C achieved significantly higher batting scores than type-A and Type-B (p < .05) methods. The results suggest that batting practice using a pitching machine with simulative device was an effective batting training method

Phosphorous Diffuser Diverged Blue Laser Diode for Indoor Lighting and Communication.

An advanced light-fidelity (Li-Fi) system based on the blue Gallium nitride (GaN) laser diode (LD) with a compact white-light phosphorous diffuser is demonstrated for fusing the indoor white-lighting and visible light communication (VLC). The phosphorous diffuser adhered blue GaN LD broadens luminescent spectrum and diverges beam spot to provide ample functionality including the completeness of Li-Fi feature and the quality of white-lighting. The phosphorous diffuser diverged white-light spot covers a radiant angle up to 120(o) with CIE coordinates of (0.34, 0.37). On the other hand, the degradation on throughput frequency response of the blue LD is mainly attributed to the self-feedback caused by the reflection from the phosphor-air interface. It represents the current state-of-the-art performance on carrying 5.2-Gbit/s orthogonal frequency-division multiplexed 16-quadrature-amplitude modulation (16-QAM OFDM) data with a bit error rate (BER) of 3.1 × 10(-3) over a 60-cm free-space link. This work aims to explore the plausibility of the phosphorous diffuser diverged blue GaN LD for future hybrid white-lighting and VLC systems

Does Long-Term Use of Silver Nanoparticles Have Persistent Inhibitory Effect on H. pylori Based on Mongolian Gerbil’s Model?

It is urgent to find alternative agents due to increasing failure rate of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication. The study surveyed the long-term effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) on H. pylori based on Mongolian gerbil's model

Using Nyquist or Nyquist-Like Plot to Predict Three Typical Instabilities in DC-DC Converters

By transforming an exact stability condition, a new Nyquist-like plot is proposed to predict occurrences of three typical instabilities in DC-DC converters. The three instabilities are saddle-node bifurcation (coexistence of multiple solutions), period-doubling bifurcation (subharmonic oscillation), and Neimark bifurcation (quasi-periodic oscillation). In a single plot, it accurately predicts whether an instability occurs and what type the instability is. The plot is equivalent to the Nyquist plot, and it is a useful design tool to avoid these instabilities. Nine examples are used to illustrate the accuracy of this new plot to predict instabilities in the buck or boost converter with fixed or variable switching frequency.Comment: Submitted to an IEEE journal in 201

A Real World Report on Intravenous High-Dose and Non-High-Dose Proton-Pump Inhibitors Therapy in Patients with Endoscopically Treated High-Risk Peptic Ulcer Bleeding

Background and Study Aims. The optimal dose of intravenous proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy for the prevention of peptic ulcer (PU) rebleeding remains controversial. This study aimed to understand the real world experiences in prescribing high-dose PPI and non-high-dose PPI for preventing rebleeding after endoscopic treatment of high-risk PU. Patients and Methods. A total of 220 subjects who received high-dose and non-high-dose pantoprazole for confirmed acute PU bleeding that were successfully treated endoscopically were enrolled. They were divided into rebleeding (n = 177) and non-rebleeding groups (n = 43). Randomized matching of the treatment-control group was performed. Patients were randomly selected for non-high-dose and high-dose PPI groups (n = 44 in each group). Results. Univariate analysis showed, significant variables related to rebleeding were female, higher creatinine levels, and higher Rockall scores ( 6). Before case-control matching, the high-dose PPI group had higher creatinine level, higher percentage of shock at presentation, and higher Rockall scores. After randomized treatment-control matching, no statistical differences were observed for rebleeding rates between the high-dose and non-high-dose groups after casecontrol matching. Conclusion. This study suggests that intravenous high-dose pantoprazole may not be superior to non-high-dose regimen in reducing rebleeding in high-risk peptic ulcer bleeding after successful endoscopic therapy