LONG-TERM VARIATION STUDY OF CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES WITH PALOMAR TRANSIENT FACTORY

YANG, MICHAEL TING-CHANG,CHOU, YI,HU, CHIN-PING,SU, YI-HAO,HSIEH, HUNG-EN,LIN, CHING-PING,CHUANG, PO-SHENG,LIAO, NAI-HUI The Korean Astronomical Society 2015 天文學論叢 Vol.30 No.2

The Palomar Transient Factory is a project making use of a Schmidt 48 inch telescope located on the Palomar Mountain, which is surveying the sky with dynamical cadences. It was deployed in 2009 and the observed sky region is over 1200 square degrees. We have studied the long-term periodic variabilities of the known galactic cataclysmic variables (CVs). More than 20 of the sources had been found to have long term periodic signals, ranging from several tens of days to several hundreds of days. Some possible scenarios are proposed to explain the results, such as a magnetic field change of the companion star, precession of the accretion disk, triple systems and superoutburst cycles. Some preliminary discussion will be presented in this article.

APPLICATIONS OF THE HILBERT-HUANG TRANSFORM ON THE NON-STATIONARY ASTRONOMICAL TIME SERIES

HU, CHIN-PING,CHOU, YI,YANG, TING-CHANG,SU, YI-HAO,HSIEH, HUNG-EN,LIN, CHING-PING,CHUANG, PO-SHENG,LIAO, NAI-HUI The Korean Astronomical Society 2015 天文學論叢 Vol.30 No.2

The development of time-frequency analysis techniques allow astronomers to successfully deal with the non-stationary time series that originate from unstable physical mechanisms. We applied a recently developed time-frequency analysis method, the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT), to two non-stationary phenomena: the superorbital modulation in the high-mass X-ray binary SMC X-1 and the quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) of the AGN RE J1034+396. From the analysis of SMC X-1, we obtained a Hilbert spectrum that shows more detailed information in both the time and frequency domains. Then, a phase-resolved analysis of both the spectra and the orbital profiles was presented. From the spectral analysis, we noticed that the iron line production is dominated by different regions of this binary system in different superorbital phases. Furthermore, a pre-eclipse dip lying at orbital phase ~0:6-0:85 was discovered during the superorbital transition state. We further applied the HHT to analyze the QPO of RE J1034+396. From the Hilbert spectrum and the O-C analysis results, we suggest that it is better to divide the evolution of the QPO into three epochs according to their different periodicities. The correlations between the QPO periods and corresponding fluxes were also different in these three epochs. The change in periodicity and the relationships could be interpreted as the change in oscillation mode based on the diskoseismology model.

THE UPDATED ORBITAL PERIOD OF LOW MASS X-ray BINARY 4U 1323-62

CHUANG, PO-SHENG,CHOU, YI,HU, CHIN-PING,YANG, TING-CHANG,SU, YI-HAO,LIAO, NAI-HUI,HSIEH, HUNG-EN,LIN, CHING-PING The Korean Astronomical Society 2015 天文學論叢 Vol.30 No.2

4U 1323-62, a low mass X-ray binary with an orbital period of 2.94 hr, exhibits periodic X-ray dips, which are due to absorption by the bulge of the outer accretion disk. The purpose of this study is to search for orbital period changes using archived X-ray data over a time span of 20 years. We present our preliminary results from analyzing light curves observed by RXTE, BeppoSAX, XMM-Newton and Suzaku. We used the method proposed by Hu et al. (2008) to estimate dip center time and adopted the Observed - Calculated method to measure changes in period. We obtained an orbital period of 2.941917(36) hr and a period derivative of $\dot{P}_{orb}/P_{orb}=(-9.9{\pm}3.5){\times}10^{-7}yr^{-1}$. The F-test result shows that the quadratic ephemeris is describes the evolution of the dip phases better than the linear ephemeris at a greater than 95% confidence level. More X-ray data collected from the early 80s will be included to further refine the orbital ephemeris.

Employing Lora Low-power Wireless Network for Environmental Monitoring in Agricultural Facillities

( Yi-chich Chiu ),( Pei-wen Huang ),( Ming-yih Chang ),( Whai-en Chen ) 한국농업기계학회 2018 한국농업기계학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.23 No.1

Yilan County is located on the Lanyang Plain in northeastern Taiwan. It is characterized by typical rural life styles and agricultural activities including plantation, forestry, animal husbandry, and aquaculture. However, in recent years, extreme climate events occur more frequently, reducing the yield and quality of agricultural produce. Because environmental factors have asubstantial influence on crops and livestock, promoting the use of digitalized environmental monitoring and control is key to increasing agricultural production. Because most farmlands in Yilan County are located in remote areas with poor 4G networks, this study utilized long-range (LoRa) wireless communication technology to transmit environmental monitoring data. This study conducted cost analysis of installing LoRa wireless communication technology in agricultural facilities. The research sites in this study were three test sites in Yilan. Various sensing devices were installed at the three sites. The environmental data from the three sites located in remote areas were integrated and transmitted to the base station. Meanwhile, the environmental parameters were recorded and analyzed. This measure was effective for agricultural management, cost reduction, and production of real-time feedback for managers. Constructing and managing a digitalized knowledge base allows experiences in plantation and poultry husbandry to be shared, crop and poultry diseases to be prevented, and loss in agricultural production to be reduced.

Equity in Voting Accessibility: The Case of North Carolina

Yi-En Tso,Dohyeong Kim,Chang Kil Lee 위기관리 이론과 실천 2018 Crisisonomy Vol.14 No.11

Limited political participation in certain groups or areas could potentially lead to social and economic crisis. This paper examined whether or not voting accessibility have been equally distributed to different groups of citizens by race, gender, economic status, and distance to voting sites, focusing on the case of North Carolina in the United States. In particular, we discovered who were more likely to vote early as an absentee vote including Sunday and what factors affected their voting behaviors. We used the 2012 U.S. Presidential election data to examine socioeconomic characteristics of those who voted early and on Sunday. The findings from this research could be used as guidance to policy-makers and law-makers on how to enhance the level of equity in voting accessibility and reduce potential conflict and crisis within a society, not only in the U.S but also in other countries.

CHARACTERIZING THE TIME-FREQUENCY PROPERTIES OF THE 4 Hz QUASI-PERIODIC OSCILLATION AROUND THE BLACK HOLE X-ray BINARY XTE J1550-564

SU, YI-HAO,CHOU, YI,HU, CHIN-PING,YANG, TING-CHANG,HSIEH, HUNG-EN,CHUANG, PO-SHENG,LIN, CHING-PING,LIAO, NAI-HUI The Korean Astronomical Society 2015 天文學論叢 Vol.30 No.2

We present the results from analysis of the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) for the 4 Hz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO) around the black hole X-ray binary XTE J1550-564. The resultant Hilbert spectra demonstrate that the QPO is composed of a series of intermittent signals appearing occasionally. From the analysis of the HHT, we further found the distribution of the lifetimes for the intermittent oscillations and the distribution for the time intervals with no significant signal (the break time). The mean lifetime is 1.45 s and 90% of the oscillation segments have lifetimes less than 3.1 s whereas the mean break time is 0.42 s and 90% of break times are less than 0.73 s. We conclude that the intermittent feature of the QPO could be explained by the Lense-Thirring precession model and rules out interpretations of continual frequency modulation.

Addressing the challenges of missed parathyroid glands in ultrasonography for secondary hyperparathyroidism: a retrospective observational study

Shen-En Chou,Cheng-Hsi Yeh,Shun-Yu Chi,Fong-Fu Chou,Yi-Ju Wu,Yen-Hsiang Chang,Yi-Chia Chan 대한외과학회 2024 Annals of Surgical Treatment and Research(ASRT) Vol.107 No.3

Purpose: Preoperative localization plays an important role in secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) surgery. The advantages of neck ultrasound (US) include high availability and low cost. However, the reported sensitivity of US is 54%– 76%, and the reason for missed parathyroid glands (PGs) on US has been rarely addressed. Methods: Fifty-four patients who were diagnosed with renal SHPT from September 2020 to March 2022 were included in this retrospective study. Preoperative localization included surgeon-oriented US and technetium 99m-sestamibi single- photon emission CT (SPECT)/CT. Results: A total of 212 PGs were pathologically confirmed, resulting in a success rate of 96.2% (52 of 54). Using echo, 193 PGs (91.0%) were accurately localized, while 19 glands (9.0%) were not identified, including those in ectopic positions (n = 12, at thymus or intrathyroid or others), of small size (<1 cm, n = 6), or overlapping with an ipsilateral PG (n = 1). US accurately detected 4 PGs in 36 (66.7%) patients, while SPECT/CT localized 4 glands in 19 patients (35.2%). Although the number of US-detectable PGs was not associated with success rate, it showed a significant negative correlation with surgical time (rs = –0.459, P = 0.002). Conclusion: US detected 4 glands in 66% of SHPT patients with a sensitivity of 90% for localization. Ectopic position and small size were the most common reasons for the failure to detect PG on US. Complete preoperative echo localization might shorten operating time.

Inhibition of Transient Receptor Potential Melastain 7 Enhances Apoptosis Induced by TRAIL in PC-3 cells

Lin, Chang-Ming,Ma, Ji-Min,Zhang, Li,Hao, Zong-Yao,Zhou, Jun,Zhou, Zhen-Yu,Shi, Hao-Qiang,Zhang, Yi-Fei,Shao, En-Ming,Liang, Chao-Zhao Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.10

Transient receptor potential melastain 7 (TRPM7) is a bifunctional protein with dual structure of both ion channel and protein kinase, participating in a wide variety of diseases including cancer. Recent researches have reported the mechanism of TRPM7 in human cancers. However, the correlation between TRPM7 and prostate cancer (PCa) has not been well studied. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential the role of TRPM7 in the apoptosis of PC-3 cells, which is the key cell of advanced metastatic PCa. In this study, we demonstrated the influence and potential function of TRPM7 on the PC-3 cells apoptosis induced by TNF-related apoptosis inducing-ligand (TRAIL). The study also found a novel up-regulated expression of TRPM7 in PC-3 cells after treating with TRAIL. Suppression of TRPM7 by TRPM7 non-specific inhibitors ($Gd^{3+}$ or 2-aminoethoxy diphenylborate (2-APB) ) not only markedly eliminated TRPM7 expression level, but also increased the apoptosis of TRAIL-treated PC-3 cells, which may be regulated by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway accompany with up-regulated expression of cleaved Caspase-3, (TRAIL-receptor 1, death receptors 4) DR4, and (TRAIL-receptor 2, death receptors 5) DR5. Taken together, our findings strongly suggested that TRPM7 was involved in the apoptosis of PC-3 cells induced by TRAIL, indicating that TRPM7 may be applied as a therapeutic target for PCa.

Lack of Influence of an XRCC3 Gene Polymorphism on Oral Cancer Susceptibility: Meta-analysis

Zhang, En-Jiao,Cui, Zhi-Gang,Xu, Zhong-Fei,Duan, Wei-Yi,Huang, Shao-Hui,Tan, Xue-Xin,Yin, Zhi-Hua,Sun, Chang-Fu,Lu, Li Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.23

Background: To systematically summarize the association between the X-ray repair cross complementing 3 (XRCC3) gene polymorphism and oral cancer susceptibility by meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Databases including PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were searched to identify case-control studies concerning the association between an XRCC3 gene polymorphism and the risk of oral cancer from the inception to June 2014. Two reviewers independently screened the literature according to the criteria, extracted the data and assessed the quality. Then meta-analysis was performed using Stata 11.0 software. Results: Seven published case-control studies including 775 patients with oral cancer and 1922 controls were selected. Associations between the rs861539 polymorphism and overall oral cancer risk were not statistically significant in all kinds of comparison models (CT vs CC: OR=0.94, 95%CI=0.74-1.18; TT vs CC: OR=0.94, 95%CI=0.64-1.38; dominant model: OR=0.95, 95%CI=0.76-1.18; recessive model: OR=0.94, 95%CI=0.69-1.29; allele T vs C: OR=0.97, 95%CI=0.84-1.11). In the stratified analysis by ethnicity, no significant associations were found among Asians and Caucasians. On stratification by tumor type, no significant associations were found for cancer and oral premalignant lesions. Conclusions: The XRCC3 gene polymorphism was not found to be associated with the risk of oral cancer. Considering the limited quality of the included case-control studies, more high quality studies with large sample size are needed to verify the above conclusion.

Reduction of Physical Strength and Enhancement of Anti-Protein and Anti-Lipid Adsorption Abilities of Contact Lenses by Adding 2-Methacryloyloxyethyl Phosphorylcholine

Wan-Hsin Chang,Pei-Yi Liu,Chien-Ju Lu,Dai-En Lin,Min-Hsuan Lin,Yuan-Ting Jiang,Yuan-Hao Howard Hsu 한국고분자학회 2020 Macromolecular Research Vol.28 No.12

Biocompatible 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) can enhance the adsorption of water molecules and is therefore used for manufacturing contact lenses. This study investigated the mechanical strength, anti-protein deposition, and anti-lipid adsorption effects of MPC addition to contact lenses. Experimental contact lenses produced by copolymerizing multiple ratios of MPC to 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) were analyzed. Atomic force microscopy revealed that MPC addition increased surface roughness. The anti-protein deposition and anti-lipid adsorption effects on poly(HEMA-MPC) polymers of various phosphorylcholine quantities were experimentally confirmed. The water content of the contact lenses was proportional to the MPC content in the polymer. The hydrated PC moiety of MPC drastically altered the network of the poly-HEMA polymer by inserting water molecules, which were trapped in the concave region of the surface. MPC addition had negative effects on all examined strength factors because of structural destabilization of the copolymer through water insertion. The anti-deposition effects of MPC were verified by examining the lysozyme and lipid adsorption abilities of the prepared contact lenses. Our results revealed that MPC enhanced interactions of the poly(HEMA-MPC) copolymer with water molecules; these interactions weakened the mechanical strength of the copolymer but markedly improved the anti-adsorption property of the biomolecules. The optimal proportion of HEMA–MPC for contact lenses is in the range 14.9%-28.5%.