Triple Bonds between Bismuth and Group 13 Elements: Theoretical Designs and Characterization

The effect of substitution on the potential energy surfaces of RE13≡BiR (E13 = B, Al, Ga, In, and Tl; R = F, OH, H, CH3, SiH3, Tbt, Ar*, SiMe(SitBu3)2, and SiiPrDis2) is investigated using density functional theories (M06-2X/Def2-TZVP, B3PW91/Def2-TZVP, and B3LYP/LANL2DZ+dp). The theoretical results suggest that all of the triply bonded RE13≡BiR molecules prefer to adopt a bent geometry (i.e., ∠RE13Bi ≈ 180° and ∠E13BiR ≈ 90°), which agrees well with the bonding model (model (B)). It is also demonstrated that the smaller groups, such as R = F, OH, H, CH3, and SiH3, neither kinetically nor thermodynamically stabilize the triply bonded RE13≡BiR compounds, except for the case of H3SiB≡BiSiH3. Nevertheless, the triply bonded RʹE13≡BiRʹ molecules that feature bulkier substituents (Rʹ = Tbt, Ar*, SiMe(SitBu3)2, and SiiPrDis2) are found to have the global minimum on the singlet potential energy surface and are both kinetically and thermodynamically stable. In other words, both the electronic and the steric effects of bulkier substituent groups play an important role in making triply bonded RE13≡BiR (Group 13–Group 15) species synthetically accessible and isolable in a stable form

Combining subspace approach and short time Fourier analysis for locating structural damage storeys

This study proposes a novel and efficient approach for locating the floors of a building whose stiffnesses change after being subject to a strong earthquake. The floors that may be damaged are determined by comparing the unitary stiffness matrix in different stages in the life cycle of a building. To evaluate the coefficient matrices of a state-space model, the proposed procedure applies a subspace approach in conjunction with the short time Fourier analysis. The dynamic characteristics of a structure are determined from the coefficient matrices. Next, the unitary stiffness matrix is constructed by identifying natural frequencies and mode shapes. The effectiveness of the proposed procedure is verified using the measured earthquake acceleration responses of a three-storey structure that sustains damage on one or two floors and an eight-storey steel frame under a 200 Gal and a 1200 Gal earthquake, such as the Chi-chi earthquake that shook Taiwan on September 1999. The proposed scheme is compared to mode shape based approaches in identifying damaged floors, and is demonstrated to be superior to both MAC (Modal Assurance Criterion) and COMAC (Coordinate Modal Assurance Criterion)

Endemic melioidosis in central Taiwan—A longitudinal case cohort study

BackgroundMelioidosis is a systemic and suppurative disease endemic in the Southeast Asia. In Taiwan, most cases are reported in the southern region and no relevant profiles have been reported in central region. In this study, we performed the epidemiologic and clinical analyses from the melioidosis cases in central Taiwan.MethodsThe demographic, clinical, laboratory, radiologic, and outcome profiles were collected retrospectively and analyzed from patients whom Burkhoderia pseudomallei was isolated from clinical specimens during the 12-year study period (2011–2022).ResultsTotally 11 melioidosis cases (10 males and 1 female) were diagnosed, among them only 2 (18.2%) cases lived in suburban areas. Seven (63.6%) cases were diagnosed during 2019–2020, and diabetes mellitus was the most relevant comorbidity (5, 45.4%). All cases presented with fever at arrival, but only 4 (36.4%) and 2 (18.2%) cases presented with dyspnea and shock, respectively. Pneumonitis and extrapulmonary involvement were found in 5 cases (45.4%) each. Appropriate empiric and targeted antibiotic treatments were found in 4 (36.4%) and 10 (91.0%) case, respectively. Two cases (18.2%) succumbed to infection despite appropriate treatment including targeted antibiotics.ConclusionMelioidosis has become endemic in central Taiwan. Septic patients who present with suppurative or undetermined foci and have unsatisfied responses to standard treatment should arouse clinicians to take melioidosis into consideration

Crossing You in Style: Cross-modal Style Transfer from Music to Visual Arts

Music-to-visual style transfer is a challenging yet important cross-modal learning problem in the practice of creativity. Its major difference from the traditional image style transfer problem is that the style information is provided by music rather than images. Assuming that musical features can be properly mapped to visual contents through semantic links between the two domains, we solve the music-to-visual style transfer problem in two steps: music visualization and style transfer. The music visualization network utilizes an encoder-generator architecture with a conditional generative adversarial network to generate image-based music representations from music data. This network is integrated with an image style transfer method to accomplish the style transfer process. Experiments are conducted on WikiArt-IMSLP, a newly compiled dataset including Western music recordings and paintings listed by decades. By utilizing such a label to learn the semantic connection between paintings and music, we demonstrate that the proposed framework can generate diverse image style representations from a music piece, and these representations can unveil certain art forms of the same era. Subjective testing results also emphasize the role of the era label in improving the perceptual quality on the compatibility between music and visual content

Intensify the application of ZnO-based nanodevices in humid environment: O2/H2 plasma suppressed the spontaneous reaction of amorphous ZnO nanowires

[[abstract]]In this work, we have demonstrated that amorphous ZnO nanobranches (a-ZnO NBs) could spontaneously react from the crystalline ZnO NWs (c-ZnO NWs) at specific humid environment. The spontaneous reaction mechanism and result can be analyzed by humidity controlling and optical microscope (OM)/scanning electron microscope (SEM)/Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM)/transmission electron microscopy (TEM) system. We can make the c-ZnO NWs spontaneous reaction happen at different humid environments and suppress the a-ZnO NBs spontaneous reaction by oxygen/hydrogen plasma surface passivation. The hydrogen plasma surface treatment also can improve the UV sensing sensitivity more than twofold. This work provides the mechanism and methods of the a-ZnO NBs spontaneous growth and offers the passivation treatment for strengthening and enhancing ZnO-based nanodevice application in humid environment and UV light detection, respectively.[[notice]]補正完畢[[journaltype]]國外[[incitationindex]]SCI[[ispeerreviewed]]Y[[booktype]]電子版[[booktype]]紙本[[countrycodes]]DE

Clinical Effects of Laser Acupuncture plus Chinese Cupping on the Pain and Plasma Cortisol Levels in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Lower Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives. Chronic nonspecific lower back pain (LBP) is a common disease. Insufficient data is currently available to conclusively confirm the analgesic effects of laser acupuncture on LBP. This study evaluated the effectiveness of laser acupuncture plus Chinese cupping in LBP treatment. Methods. Patients with chronic nonspecific LBP were enrolled for a randomized controlled trial and assigned to the laser acupuncture group (laser acupuncture plus Chinese cupping) and control group (sham laser plus Chinese cupping). Laser acupuncture (808 nm; 40 mW; 20 Hz; 15 J/cm2) and Chinese cupping were applied on the Weizhong (BL40) and Ashi acupoints for 5 consecutive days. Plasma cortisol levels were assessed before and after the 5-day treatment session. The visual analog scale (VAS) scores were recorded at baseline and throughout the 5-day treatment session. Results. After the treatment session, the plasma cortisol levels and VAS scores decreased significantly in both groups. In the laser acupuncture group, the VAS scores decreased significantly on days 4 and 5, and an enhanced reduction in VAS scores was observed. Conclusion. Laser acupuncture plus Chinese cupping at the Weizhong (BL40) and Ashi acupoints effectively reduced pain and inflammation in chronic nonspecific LBP. This therapy could be a suitable option for LBP treatment in clinical settings

Serologic and Molecular Biologic Methods for SARS-associated Coronavirus Infection, Taiwan

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has raised a global alert since March 2003. After its causative agent, SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), was confirmed, laboratory methods, including virus isolation, reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and serologic methods, have been quickly developed. In this study, we evaluated four serologic tests ( neutralization test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA], immunofluorescent assay [IFA], and immunochromatographic test [ICT]) for detecting antibodies to SARS-CoV in sera of 537 probable SARS case-patients with correlation to the RT-PCR . With the neutralization test as a reference method, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 98.2%, 98.7%, 98.7%, and 98.4% for ELISA; 99.1%, 87.8%, 88.1% and 99.1% for IFA; 33.6%, 98.2%, 95.7%, and 56.1% for ICT, respectively. We also compared the recombinant-based western blot with the whole virus–based IFA and ELISA; the data showed a high correlation between these methods, with an overall agreement of >90%. Our results provide a systematic analysis of serologic and molecular methods for evaluating SARS-CoV infection