Effects of Mold Growth on Building Materials by Different Environments in Taiwan

An Cheng,Yu Hsin,Wei-Ting Lin 대한토목학회 2014 KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering Vol.18 No.4

The main of study is to investigate the effect of moisture variation and micro-structure on the growth mold at surface of buildingmaterials. The two different water-cement ratio of mortars (w/c = 0.4, 0.6), brick and tiles were used in this study. The mercuryIntrusion Porosity-Meter (MIP) was used to determine the pore distribution of building materials. The moisture variation of materialswas recorded in constant climate chamber (25oC, relative humidity 80%), general indoor environment (28oC, relative humidity 55%)and water damage simulation environment. The results indicated that the pore size and distribution will affect the surface water ratioand moisture content of materials. The surface water ratio of specimen was affected by different environment seriously. The surfacewater ratio was an important factor in mold growth.

Identification of candidate odorant‐degrading enzyme genes in the antennal transcriptome of Aphidius gifuensis

Kang Zhi‐Wei,Liu Fang‐Hua,Xu Yong‐Yu,Cheng Jia‐Hui,Lin Xiao‐Li,Jing Xiang‐Feng,Tian Hong‐Gang,Liu Tong‐Xian 한국곤충학회 2021 Entomological Research Vol.51 No.1

Odorant‐degrading enzymes (ODEs) have been found in insect antennae and play a critical role in signal chemical degradation once the message is conveyed. Significant progress has been made in characterizing ODEs in a variety of pests but very little is known in their natural enemies. We have carried out an antennae‐ and sex‐specific transcriptome of Aphidius gifuensis, a natural enemy of aphid, to identify the candidate ODEs. Based on the antennae‐ and sex‐specific transcriptome, a total of 100 putative ODEs were identified including one aldehyde oxidase (AOX), four alcohol dehydrogenases (ADs), eight UDP‐glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs), 45 cytochrome P450 (P450s), nine glutathione S‐transferases (GSTs) and 40 carboxylesterases (CCEs or CXEs). Additionally, we used RT‐qPCR to determine the expression profiles of these genes in tissues of both sexes. Based on the phylogenic analysis and tissue‐expression patterns, AgifEstE4, AgifCXE3, AgifCCE4, AgifCCE7, and AgifCCE18 were suggested as key ODEs in A. gifuensis. In addition, the female or male specifically enriched genes, such as AgifCCE17, AgifEstB1, AgifCYP18a1, AgifUGT2C2, were also considered to involve in the chemosensory processing in A. gifuensis. This study not only identified the candidate ODEs in A. gifuensis but also provided source for further exploration of the molecular mechanisms of chemical signal transductions in A. gifuensis, as well as other hymenopteran species.

Full-space Cloud of Random Points with a Scrambling Metasurface

Li, Zile,Dai, Qi,Mehmood, Muhammad Q.,Hu, Guangwei,yanchuk, Boris Luk’,Tao, Jin,Hao, Chenglong,Kim, Inki,Jeong, Heonyeong,Zheng, Guoxing,Yu, Shaohua,Alù,, Andrea,Rho, Junsuk,Qiu, Cheng-Wei Nature Publishing Group UK 2018 Light, science & applications Vol.7 No.1

<▼1><P>With the rapid progress in computer science, including artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing, full-space spot generation can be pivotal to many practical applications, such as facial recognition, motion detection, augmented reality, etc. These opportunities may be achieved by using diffractive optical elements (DOEs) or light detection and ranging (LIDAR). However, DOEs suffer from intrinsic limitations, such as demanding depth-controlled fabrication techniques, large thicknesses (more than the wavelength), Lambertian operation only in half space, etc. LIDAR nevertheless relies on complex and bulky scanning systems, which hinders the miniaturization of the spot generator. Here, inspired by a Lambertian scatterer, we report a Hermitian-conjugate metasurface scrambling the incident light to a cloud of random points in full space with compressed information density, functioning in both transmission and reflection spaces. Over 4044 random spots are experimentally observed in the entire space, covering angles at nearly 90°. Our scrambling metasurface is made of amorphous silicon with a uniform subwavelength height, a nearly continuous phase coverage, a lightweight, flexible design, and low-heat dissipation. Thus, it may be mass produced by and integrated into existing semiconductor foundry designs. Our work opens important directions for emerging 3D recognition sensors, such as motion sensing, facial recognition, and other applications.</P></▼1><▼2><P><B>Metasurfaces: scrambling light for 3D detection and recognition</B></P><P>Firing light at a manufactured 'metasurface'—one carrying patterns at a smaller scale than the wavelength of the light—fills large volumes of space with defined points of light, potentially improving 3-D recognition and sensor applications. Cheng-Wei Qui and colleagues at the National University of Singapore, with co-workers across Asia and in the USA, created their unique metasurface from amorphous silicon. Light is scattered from and transmitted through the material to generate a cloud of data points in the surrounding space in which the structure and motion of objects under study can be analyzed. The initial development work with this “scrambling metasurface” suggests it could improve pattern recognition, including face recognition, motion detection and augmented reality applications. The researchers describe how their innovation overcomes significant limitations of existing methods in these fields.</P></▼2>

The Emergence of Tayouan Harbour in 1624

Cheng, Wei-Chung(정웨이중) 한국해양대학교 국제해양문제연구소 2014 해항도시문화교섭학 Vol.0 No.11

In comparison with some other major harbours around the China Seas which may have lasted for a millennium , Tayouan bay did not become a prominent harbour until the VOC (Dutch East India Company) arrived there in 1624. In this article, the author intends to clarify the drivers behind its sudden rise. The rise of Tayouan harbour is a result of multiple interactions of different forces displayed on a specific geopolitical terrain which was created by two large-scale military confrontations in Northeast and Southeast Asia. The Imjin war (1592-1598) between China, Korea and Japan caused a political split between China and Japan, while the expanding demands in commerce compelled traders of both countries to conduct transit trade in Southeast Asian harbours. When in 1617 the Japanese Shogunate eased its pursuit of direct trade with China via Taiwan, the Fukien authorities and Japanese Red Seal (Go-shuin) operators reached a tacit agreement to keep Tayouan bay in a ‘stateless’ status. In the same year, a strong typhoon suddenly struck the Philippines Islands, and destroyed most of the Iberian fleet that originally planned to sweep the Dutch fleet from Asia once and for all. This incidental vacuum of Iberian naval forces allowed the VOC to blockade Iberian transit harbours like Macau and Manila and to harass Chinese junks bound to these harbours. In response to this threat, overseas Chinese traders residing in Japan thus planned to exploit Tayouan bay as an exceptional transit harbour. In 1622, the VOC aimed to take over Macau but failed; instead of mounting further attacks on Macau, Company forces occupied the Pescadores in order to gain access to the Chinese market. After their request for free trade was denied by the Chinese Ming court, the Dutch adapted to the strategy of overseas Chinese in Japan, and retreated to Tayouan bay to engage in the transit trade. When the corridor of silk-for-silver trade was stabilized in Tayouan bay in the 1630s, the ‘stateless’ status of Taiwan was thus altered forever, and it has remained on the map of regional geo-politics ever since.

Occult Interpositional Rotator Cuff - an Extremely Rare Case of Traumatic Rotator Cuff Tear

Cheng-Li Lin,Wei-Ren Su,I-Ming Jou,Wei-Hsing Chih 대한영상의학회 2012 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.13 No.1

Traumatic interposition of a rotator cuff tendon in the glenohumeral joint without recognizable glenohumeral dislocation is an unusual complication after shoulder trauma. Here we report the clinical and imaging presentations of a 17-year-old man with trapped rotator cuff tendons in the glenohumeral joint after a bicycle accident. The possible trauma mechanism is also discussed.

Synthesis and Anticonvulsant Activity of 1-Formamide-triazolo[4,3- a]quinoline Derivatives

Cheng-Xi Wei,Xian-Qing Deng,채규윤,Zhi-Gang Sun,Zhe-Shan Quan 대한약학회 2010 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.33 No.5

Using 6-hydroxy-3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-quinolone as the starting material, a series of 1-formamide-triazolo[4, 3-a]quinoline derivatives (6a-6n) was synthesized, the anticonvulsant effect and neurotoxicity of the compounds was calculated with maximal electroshock test and rotarod tests with intraperitoneally injected in KunMing mice. The results demonstrated that compound 7-(hexyloxy)-4,5-dihydro-[1,2,4] triazolo[4,3-a]quinoline-1-carboxamide (6d) was the most active one and also had the lowest toxicity. In the anti-maximal electroshock potency test, it showed median effective dose (ED50) of 30.1 mg/kg, median toxicity dose (TD50) of 286 mg/kg, and the protective index of 9.5 which is greater than the reference drug carbamazepine with the protective index value of 6.0.

Synthesis of 2-Substituted-6-(4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl)benzo[d]oxazoles as Potential Anticonvulsant Agents

Cheng-Xi Wei,Li-Ping Guan,Jing-Hao Jia,채규윤,Zhe-Shan Quan 대한약학회 2009 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.32 No.1

A series of 2-substituted-6-(4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl)benzo[d]oxazoles were synthesized. The anticonvulsant effect and neurotoxicity of the compounds (intraperitoneally) were evaluated with the maximal electroshock (MES) test, subcutaneous pentylenetetrazole (sc-PTZ), and rotarod tests in mice. 2-Phenyl- 6- (4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl)benzo[d]oxazole (3g) was the most active and also had the lowest toxicity. In the anti-MES potency test, it showed median effective dose (ED50) of 29.5 mg/kg, a median toxicity dose (TD50) of 285 mg/kg, and a protective index (PI) of 9.7, which is greater than the reference drug, carbamazepine, which has a PI of 6.4.

Investigations of denoising source separation technique and its application to source separation and identification of mechanical vibration signals

Cheng, Wei,Zhang, Zhousuo,Lee, Seungchul,He, Zhengjia SAGE Publications 2014 Journal of vibration and control Vol.20 No.14

<P>A novel vibration source separation and identification method using the denoising source separation (DSS) technique is proposed for the mixed mechanical vibration signals from engines in ships. Denoising source separation enables us to extract the source signals from the mixed signals without prior knowledge of sources and their mixing mode, and thus the important source information extracted by DSS can be used to monitor or actively control engine noises. Different denoising functions such as energy, skew, kurtosis, and tangential functions in DSS are applied to both simulation studies and experimental data to evaluate their separating performances. The tangential function provides the best outperformance with both numerical study and engineering application. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed DSS method is validated by correlation analysis and the frequency marker tracking method.</P>

Metagenomics analysis of the gut microbiome in healthy and bacterial pneumonia forest musk deer

Wei Zhao,Ziwei Ren,Yan Luo,Jianguo Cheng,Jie Wang,Yin Wang,Zexiao Yang,Xueping Yao,Zhijun Zhong,Wei Yang,Xi Wu 한국유전학회 2021 Genes & Genomics Vol.43 No.1

Background The forest musk deer (FMD, Moschus berezovskii) is an threatened species in China. Bacterial pneumonia was found to seriously restrict the development of FMD captive breeding. Historical evidence has demonstrated the relationship between immune system and intestinal Lactobacillus in FMD. Objective We sought to elucidate the diferences in the gut microbiota of healthy and bacterial pneumonia FMD. Methods The bacterial pneumonia FMD was demonstrated by bacterial and pathological diagnosis, and the gut microbiome of healthy and bacterial pneumonia FMD was sequenced and analysed. Results There are three pathogens (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus equinus and Trueperella pyogenes) isolated from the bacterial pneumonia FMD individuals. Compared with the healthy group, the abundance of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria in the pneumonia group was changed, and a high level of Proteobacteria was found in the pneumonia group. In addition, a higher abundance of Acinetobacter (p=0.01) was observed in the population of the pneumonia group compared with the healthy group. Several potentially harmful bacteria and disease-related KEGG subsystems were only found in the gut of the bacterial pneumonia group. Analysis of KEGG revealed that many genes related to type IV secretion system, type IV pilus, lipopolysaccharide export system, HTH-type transcriptional regulator/antitoxin MqsA, and ArsR family transcriptional regulator were signifcantly enriched in the metagenome of the bacterial pneumonia FMD. Conclusion Our results demonstrated that the gut microbiome was signifcantly altered in the bacterial pneumonia group. Overall, our research improves the understanding of the potential role of the gut microbiota in the FMD bacterial pneumonia.

Higgs inflation and cosmological electroweak phase transition with N scalars in the post-Higgs era

Cheng, Wei,Bian, Ligong American Physical Society 2019 Physical Review D Vol.99 No.3