Development of a Small Tea Plucking Machine

( Ping-lang Yen ),( Nai-wen Chang ),( Chen-ya Chen ),( Hong-xuan Wei ),( Shih-fangchen ),( Wei-yang Hwang ) 한국농업기계학회 2018 한국농업기계학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.23 No.1

Tea plucking in Taiwan suffers of serious labor shortage due to agricultural population decreasing and aging. The problems become even worse in hot season of tea plucking and cause tremendous economic loses for farmers. Current solutions of introducing tea harvesting machinery to substitute human power were not adequately suitable to Taiwan's geographical specialty. These machines were found difficult to operate efficiently in mountain areas, or in small tea farms, and farms with narrow ridge to ridge. This paper has proposed a tea plucking prototype that is specially designed to operate in mountain areas and for small scale tea farm. The machine contains a carrier, a tea cutter and a motorized mechanism. The carrier of small size was able to be moved by human and its tea plucking module is motorized. At the same time the height of cutter was automatically adjusted by the controller so that tea leaves can be evenly trimmed during the carrier movement. The prototype successfully demonstrated the efficiency of tea plucking can be increased and workload for human could be significantly reduced. In conclusion, the developed small electrical tea plucking machine was proved feasible for the release of labor shortage problem in Taiwan’s tea plucking industry.

Metal-organic framework-derived hierarchical ZnO/NiO composites: Morphology, microstructure and electrochemical performance

Ping Yang,Xueling Song,Changchao Jia,Hsueh-Shih Chen 한국공업화학회 2018 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.62 No.-

Hierarchical ZnO/NiO microstructures with different morphologies were synthesized employing bimetallic Zn/Ni MOFs as the precursor. The MOFs with rambutan- and seaweed-like morphologies were produced using terephthalic acid and polyvinylpyrrolidone. The molar ratio of Zn/Ni plays an important role for the microstructure and capacitance performance of samples. In particular, hierarchical ZnO/NiO hollow microspheres and seaweed microflowers were obtained when the molar ratio of Zn/Ni was 1:2 and 1:1, respectively. The seaweed microflowers exhibited larger specific capacitance and higher rate capability. The composition and unique microstructure result in improved ionic and electronic conductivity and rich electroactive sites for the electrochemical reactions.

Grey Neural Network-Based Forecasting System for Vision-Guided Robot Trajectory Tracking

Shih-Hung Yang,Chung-Hsien Chou,Chen-Fang Chung,Wen-Pang Pai,Tse-Han Liu,Yung-Sheng Chang,Jung-Che Li,Huan-Chan Ting,Yon-Ping Chen 제어로봇시스템학회 2011 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2011 No.10

This paper presents a grey neural network-based forecasting system (GNNFS) in solving the prediction problem. GNNFS adopts a grey model to predict the signal and a neural network (NN) to forecast the prediction error of the grey model. A sequential batch learning (SBL) is developed to adjust the weights of the NN. The proposed GNNFS is applied to a binocular robot, called an Eye-Robot, for human-robot interaction which involved predicting the trajectory of a participant’s hand and tracking the hand. By applying the SBL, the GNNFS can gradually learn to predict the trajectory of the hand and track it well. The experimental results show that the GNNFS can carry out the SBL in real-time for vision-guided robot trajectory tracking.

Green and sustainable applications of energetic plasmon-activated water

Chih-Ping Yang,Shih-Hao Yu,Yu-Chuan Liu 한국공업화학회 2022 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.111 No.-

This review describes the use of bulk deionized water (DIW) treatment to become plasmon-activatedwater (PAW) with reduced hydrogen bonds (HBs). PAW with special properties can be used in innovativeapplications and development of environmental protection science and sustainable energy management. PAW is a natural water solvent, but PAW subverts the public’s idea that hydrophobic solutes are difficultto dissolve in water. PAW can dissolve more-hydrophobic solutes than ordinary water, and can also interactwith water-soluble alcohol molecules to form stronger HBs. Moreover, in the application of certainreduction reactions, no chemical reducing agent is needed, and the catalytic reduction effect can beachieved using natural PAW. A characteristic application of PAW can also be extended to seawater desalination. Due to weak HBs among PAW molecules, high water evaporation rates can be produced, and ahigher chemical potential can also be applied to the innovative development of solar energy storage. In electrochemical applications, PAW itself can promote water oxidation, oxygen reduction reactions,hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, and the efficient capacitor production of H2O2. Furthermore,PAW can delay the melting of sea ice in the habitat of polar bears, so it may be applied to the issue ofsaving polar bears.

Construction of hollow waxberry-like rutile-/anatase-TiO2/SnO2 towards enhanced photocatalysis

Changchao Jia,Hsueh-Shih Chen,Ping Yang 한국공업화학회 2018 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.58 No.-

Hollow waxberry-like rutile- and anatase-TiO2/SnO2 (TiO2@SnO2) hierarchical architecture was fabricated for efficient photocatalysis. A Topotactic synthetic method, including the synthesis of CaTiO3/CaSnO3 precursors and subsequent transformation into TiO2@SnO2, was used. Rutile TiO2 nanorods nearly radial alignment grow on the external surface of the hollow sphere composed of anatase TiO2 and SnO2 nanoparticles. Because the hollow hierarchical structure enhances light harvesting ability and the tightly connected interface among different components improves the electron transfer efficiently, a waxberry-like TiO2@SnO2-5% sample with appropriate phase composition exhibits excellent photocatalytic performance. The sample behaved superior cycle stability.

Comprehensive profiles and diagnostic value of menopausal-specific gut microbiota in premenopausal breast cancer

Hou Ming-Feng,Ou-Yang Fu,Li Chung-Liang,Chen Fang-Ming,Chuang Chieh-Han,Kan Jung-Yu,Wu Cheng-Che,Shih Shen-Liang,Shiau Jun-Ping,Kao Li-Chun,Kao Chieh-Ni,Lee Yi-Chen,Moi Sin-Hua,Yeh Yao-Tsung,Cheng Chi 생화학분자생물학회 2021 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.53 No.-

In Western countries, breast cancer tends to occur in older postmenopausal women. However, in Asian countries, the proportion of younger premenopausal breast cancer patients is increasing. Increasing evidence suggests that the gut microbiota plays a critical role in breast cancer. However, studies on the gut microbiota in the context of breast cancer have mainly focused on postmenopausal breast cancer. Little is known about the gut microbiota in the context of premenopausal breast cancer. This study aimed to comprehensively explore the gut microbial profiles, diagnostic value, and functional pathways in premenopausal breast cancer patients. Here, we analyzed 267 breast cancer patients with different menopausal statuses and age-matched female controls. The α-diversity was significantly reduced in premenopausal breast cancer patients, and the β-diversity differed significantly between breast cancer patients and controls. By performing multiple analyses and classification, 14 microbial markers were identified in the different menopausal statuses of breast cancer. Bacteroides fragilis was specifically found in young women of premenopausal statuses and Klebsiella pneumoniae in older women of postmenopausal statuses. In addition, menopausal-specific microbial markers could exhibit excellent discriminatory ability in distinguishing breast cancer patients from controls. Finally, the functional pathways differed between breast cancer patients and controls. Our findings provide the first evidence that the gut microbiota in premenopausal breast cancer patients differs from that in postmenopausal breast cancer patients and shed light on menopausal-specific microbial markers for diagnosis and investigation, ultimately providing a noninvasive approach for breast cancer detection and a novel strategy for preventing premenopausal breast cancer.

Life cycle of the aquatic firefly Luciola ficta (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

Jen-Zon Ho,Pi-Hei Chiang,Chia-Hsiung Wu,Ping-Shih Yang 한국응용곤충학회 2010 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.13 No.3

This research is the first to record the complete life history of the aquatic firefly Luciola ficta (Olivier) using a unique individual rearingmethod. Transparent containers (250 ml; height: 6 cm; bottom diameter: 8 cm; mouth diameter:9.5 cm) were used to rear individuals fromegg to adult in the laboratory, so that they could be observed throughout thewhole life cycle. Larvae were fed on themeat of thewater snail Cipangopaludina chinensis (Gray). Temperature ranged from18 °C to 30 °C, relative humidity (RH)was 80±5%, and the light:dark (L:D) ratiowas 10:14. Of 80 eggs,35 individuals completed their life cycle under these laboratory conditions in Jiji, Nantou County, Taiwan. The external morphological characteristics of each growing stage were described. Egg hatching rate was 95%. On average, one generation spanned 388.2±25.7 days. The durations of egg, larva, climbing larva, cocoon, and adult stages were 19.1±1.5 days, 328.9±33.2 days, 10.9±7.8 days, 14.7±5.3 days, and 15.7±5.2 days, respectively. The number of larval instars ranged fromfive to seven,with amodal value of six instars for males and seven instars for females. Female larval duration averaged 337.1±31.2 days, whichwas higher than the 307.6±34.1 days of the males. From January to December 2002, adult emergence peaked twice, with themain high peak appearing in April and the second peak occurring in August. The results of indoor rearing and of field investigations in Jiji, Nantou County, suggested that L. ficta is univoltine.Adult body length is negatively correlatedwith larval duration (Pb0.01). The life history traits of L. ficta show plasticity in adult occurrence, egg size, egg duration, larval duration, larval instars, and adult body length. Some variations were discussed in the context of survivorship in field habitats.

Macroinvertebrate assemblage patterns as indicators of water quality in the Xindian watershed, Taiwan

Dashdondog Narangarvuu,Chorng-Bin Hsu,Sen-Her Shieh,Fu-Chun Wu,Ping-Shih Yang 한국응용곤충학회 2014 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.17 No.3

In the present study,we assessed the water quality along a stretch of thewatershedwith considerable economicimportance at the Xindian in Taiwan, using macroinvertebrate assemblages, along with environmental variables. The researchwas carried out at the seven sampling sites (abbreviated asXD1–XD7)where human impacts variedin intensity from upstream tributaries to the downstream of the Xindian watershed from December 2010 toDecember 2011. All variables except for the hardness, pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, turbidity, phosphate,ammonia, and alkalinity were significantly different (P b 0.05) between the sampling sites. A total of seventyseven taxa belonging to forty five families within eight insect orders, along with three non-insect invertebratetaxa were recorded, with most representative orders being Ephemeroptera and Diptera. Mean values of thedensity, abundance of macroinvertebrates, Shannon index, Simpson index, and Pielou's evenness were muchhigher in the reference sites, XD2, XD3, and XD4 compared with impacted sites, XD5, XD6, and XD7. Most ofthe benthic metrics were greatest in the reference site compared to the impacted site. Only the compositionmeasures, percentages of Chironomidae and Oligochaeta which are more tolerant to pollution were dominantin the impacted site, XD7. As the results of assessment by different benthic metrics, water quality of Xindianwatershed became gradually worse from upstream to downstream. Generally, our results suggest thatmacroinvertebrate assemblages can be used for assessment of water quality.

Efficacy of the predator Mallada basalis (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) on Tetranychus kanzawai and Panonychus citri (Acari: Tetranychidae) at different predator:prey release ratios

Ling Lan Cheng,James R. Nechols,David C. Margolies,James F. Campbell,Ping Shih Yang,Chien Chung Chen,Chiu Tung Lu 한국응용곤충학회 2012 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.15 No.1

Wecompared population suppression of the phytophagous mites, Tetranychus kanzawai Kishida and Panonychus citri (McGregor), on papaya by second instar larvae of the green lacewing, Mallada basalis (Walker), at various predator:prey release ratios in the laboratory. Initially, we presented M. basalis with mixed age classes of each mite species separately at a density of approximately 30 mites per seedling. After 3 days, predator:prey ratios of 1:30, 1:15, and 1:10 resulted in reductions of T. kanzawai of 66.8%, 82.6%, and 83.3%, respectively, and reductions of P. citri of 41.8%, 75.5%, and 77.2%, respectively. Predation on individual age classes was approximately equal in both species, reinforcing previous findings that this predator does not show a preference among age classes. We next presented M. basalis with mixed populations of the two mite species in which there were equal numbers of each species and the density was as in the single species tests. Total mite reduction with both mite species present was 48.5%, 71.9%, and 74.5% at ratios of 1:30, 1:15, and 1:10, respectively; T. kanzawai was reduced by 50.5%, 77.4%, and 79.5%, respectively, and P. citriwas reduced by 44.1%, 60.3%, and 63.2%, respectively. This study suggests that M. basalis has the potential for substantially suppressing populations of both T. kanzawai and P. citri on papaya at a predator:prey ratio of 1:15 or greater. However, evaluation under realistic agricultural settings is needed before specific recommendations about predator release rates can be made.

Multimorbidity Pattern and Risk for Mortality Among Patients With Dementia: A Nationwide Cohort Study Using Latent Class Analysis

Che-Sheng Chu,Shu-Li Cheng,Ya-Mei Bai,Tung-Ping Su,Shih-Jen Tsai,Tzeng-Ji Chen,Fu-Chi Yang,Mu-Hong Chen,Chih-Sung Liang 대한신경정신의학회 2023 PSYCHIATRY INVESTIGATION Vol.20 No.9

Objective Individuals with dementia are at a substantially elevated risk for mortality; however, few studies have examined multimorbidity patterns and determined the inter-relationship between these comorbidities in predicting mortality risk.Methods This is a prospective cohort study. Data from 6,556 patients who were diagnosed with dementia between 1997 and 2012 using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database were analyzed. Latent class analysis was performed using 16 common chronic conditions to identify mortality risk among potentially different latent classes. Logistic regression was performed to determine the adjusted association of the determined latent classes with the 5-year mortality rate.Results With adjustment for age, a three-class model was identified, with 42.7% of participants classified as “low comorbidity class (cluster 1)”, 44.2% as “cardiometabolic multimorbidity class (cluster 2)”, and 13.1% as “FRINGED class (cluster 3, characterized by FRacture, Infection, NasoGastric feeding, and bleEDing over upper gastrointestinal tract).” The incidence of 5-year mortality was 17.6% in cluster 1, 26.7% in cluster 2, and 59.6% in cluster 3. Compared with cluster 1, the odds ratio for mortality was 9.828 (95% confidence interval [CI]=6.708–14.401; p<0.001) in cluster 2 and 1.582 (95% CI=1.281–1.953; p<0.001) in cluster 3.Conclusion Among patients with dementia, the risk for 5-year mortality was highest in the subpopulation characterized by fracture, urinary and pulmonary infection, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and nasogastric intubation, rather than cancer or cardiometabolic comorbidities. These findings may improve decision-making and advance care planning for patients with dementia.