•A novel STCHS model with continuous variation of water delay time is proposed.•The range of water delay time variable is real number.•SA along with MILP is adopted to solve this complex issue.
In ...cascaded hydro systems, water delay time is a very important factor that requires coordination between upstream and downstream reservoirs. Due to the nonlinear characteristics of the water delay time, modeling and solving short-term cascaded hydro scheduling (STCHS) is a very challenging task. This paper proposes a novel STCHS model with continuous variation of water delay time to describe real-world operations in detail. The proposed model includes a nonlinear function related to water delay time. A successive approximation (SA) approach is developed to address the nonlinearity by iterative calculation, making the problem tractable. The proposed model and method are validated with two-reservoir and ten-reservoir systems. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method produces more realistic results than existing methods when dealing with STCHS problems.
Equal access to healthcare facilities and high-level quality of care are important strategies to eliminate the disparity in outcome of care. However, the existing literature regarding how urban or ...rural dwelling patients with different income level select healthcare providers is insufficient. The purposes of this study were to examine whether differences of healthcare provider selection exist among urban and rural coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) patients with different income level. If so, we further investigated the associated impact on mortality.
A retrospective, multilevel study design was conducted using claims data from 2007-2011 Taiwan's Universal Health Insurance Scheme. Healthcare providers' performance and patients' travelling distance to hospitals were used to define the patterns of healthcare provider selection. Baron and Kenny's procedures for mediation effect were conducted.
There were 10,108 CABG surgeries included in this study. The results showed that urban dwelling and higher income patients were prone to receive care from better-performance providers. The travelling distances of urban dwelling patients was 15 KM shorter, especially when they received better-performance provider's care. The results also showed that the difference of healthcare provider selection and mortality rate existed between rural and urban dwelling patients with different income levels. After the procedure of mediation effect testing, the results showed that the healthcare provider selection partially mediated the relationships between patients' residential areas with different income levels and 30-day mortality.
Preferences of healthcare provider selection vary among rural and urban patients with different income, and such differences partially mediated the outcome of care. Health authorities should pay attention to this issue, and propose appropriate solutions to eliminate the disparity in outcome of CABG care.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Back-end-of-line compatible 400°C thermally robust perpendicular spin-orbit torque (p-SOT) cells with reduced MgO short fails are demonstrated by the etch-stop-on-MgO process. The stop-on-MgO cell ...features the SOT channel continuity and no metal redeposition at MgO sidewall after ion beam etching. To the best of our knowledge, the endurance as high as 1010 cycles using the field-free spin-transfer torque (STT) assisted SOT writing is achieved for the first time. The SOT switching current density can be reduced by increasing the STT current density to save write energy. The stop-on-MgO cell does not degrade the cell switching speed, since the switching always starts from the inner free layer and the domain propagation at the extended free layer does not affect junction resistance, as shown by micromagnetic simulation. The simulation also reveals that the thermal stability factor of stop-on-MgO cells is enhanced by the extended free layer, which suffers less from the interference of pinned layer edge stray field.
Radiogenic and stable Sr isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr, δ88/86Sr) serve as potential tracers for evaluation of weathering sources and associated physicochemical processes in terrestrial environments. ...Despite carbonate weathering sourcing two-thirds of the total continental Sr flux to the ocean, however, few attempts have been aimed at studying stable Sr isotope fractionation in carbonate-dominated aquifers. Here we present a monthly-resolved monitoring dataset of major ion concentrations and Sr isotope ratios for karst riverine and pool waters at the Luofang Cave in the Central China to understand the potential controls responsible for water δ88/86Sr compositions under various climatic conditions. With the exception of some pool waters in the dry period, significantly heavier δ88/86Sr were detected in the riverine and pool waters (0.20‰ to 0.42‰) compared to bedrock δ88/86Sr (0.24‰ to 0.28‰), which can't be interpreted solely by lithology. A sequential leaching experiment of the local soils suggests limited stable Sr isotope fractionation during incongruent silicate mineral dissolution. Local plant utilization and biological activity in the soil overlying the cave are possible processes for causing the observed heavier δ88/86Sr in cave water. However, air partial pressure of CO2 in cave, monitoring water pH, and Sr isotopic mass balance calculations suggest that plant utilization is unlikely to be the primary control on the heavier water δ88/86Sr. On the other hand, significant stable Sr isotope fractionation was found between the cave dripping waters and calcite precipitates, and the Δ88/86Srcar-aq was estimated to be −0.15‰±0.07‰ (2SD). Precipitation of secondary calcites might be a potential process responsible for the heavier δ88/86Sr in the waters. The negative correlation between δ88/86Sr and Sr/Na ratios in the cave waters is consistent with a scenario of preferential incorporation of the light Sr isotope by solid phase. Furthermore, by combining the calcite saturation states and water pH, our results suggest that calcite precipitation is the most likely process controlling δ88/86Sr compositions in cave water. We demonstrate that secondary calcite precipitation in carbonate-dominated catchments could be important in controlling the riverine water δ88/86Sr compositions.
•87Sr/86Sr varied seasonally in the pool waters, but stayed rather constant in river waters.•Most of waters revealed markedly heavier δ88/86Sr compositions related to the corresponding bed rocks.•Stable Sr isotope fractionation was found between the Chinese cave dripping waters and calcite precipitates.•Secondary calcite precipitation plays an important role on cave water δ88/86Sr.
Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) for portable applications is in high demand to ensure secure information exchange over wireless channels. Because of the high computational complexity of ECC ...functions, dedicated hardware architecture is essential to provide sufficient ECC performance. Besides, crypto-ICs are vulnerable to side-channel information leakage because the private key can be revealed via power-analysis attacks. In this paper, a new heterogeneous dual-processing-element (dual-PE) architecture and a priority-oriented scheduling of right-to-left double-and-add-always EC scalar multiplication (ECSM) with randomized processing technique are proposed to achieve a power-analysis-resistant dual-field ECC (DF-ECC) processor. For this dual-PE design, a memory hierarchy with local memory synchronization scheme is also exploited to improve data bandwidth. Fabricated in a 90-nm CMOS technology, a 0.4- mm 2 160-b DF-ECC chip can achieve 0.34/0.29 ms 11.7/9.3 μJ for one GF(p)/GF(2 m ) ECSM. Compared to other related works, our approach is advantageous not only in hardware efficiency but also in protection against power-analysis attacks.
Considering the wave function, the decreasing thickness of ultrathin body from 10 nm down to 2 nm increases the intrinsic gate capacitance since the centroid of carriers located at the center of the ...channel is extremely close to the channel/oxide interface in the ultrathin body. By the self-consistent Poisson-Schrodinger solver with 6-kp parameters calibrated with nonlocal empirical pseudo-potential method (NEPM), the centroids of wavefunctions can be used to understand the increment in intrinsic gate capacitance with decreasing body thickness. Note that the simulated channel is p-type GeSn with Sn ranging from 0% to 20%. Our simulation also shows that nearly ideal subthreshold swing (SS) can be achieved by ultrathin body nanosheets (NSs). Thus, the concept of intrinsic areal gate capacitance proportional to channel peripheral width has to be modified in the ultrathin body channel.
For isolated power systems, an efficient and effective ancillary services market is one of the most important tools to ensure the system security and service quality. It is recognized that pumped ...storage units can play a unique role in the operation of isolated power systems. As part of the introduction of the ancillary services for Taiwan, a study was performed to identify the role and value of pumped storage units in the fast-response reserve (FRR). This paper analyzes the actual dispatching schedules of pumped storage units in the Taiwan Power System (TPS) to provide FRR when system was operated under seriously insufficient conditions for the year 2004. The results are used to quantify the value of pumped storage units in the ancillary services. Since the dispatching schedules of pumped storage units determined the cost of FRR in the TPS, the actual operating experience of pumped storage units studied in this paper can be used to evaluate the impact on the system security and to further define the role of pumped storage units in the ancillary services market.
Polypropylene (PP) fibers with a sorbital derivative nucleating agent (SDN) and rare earth aluminates (SrAl
2
O
4
:Eu
2+
,Dy
3+
) were prepared via melt compounding and melt-spinning. Non-isothermal ...crystallization kinetics and luminescence properties of PP and luminous PP fibers were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM), and decay of the afterglow test. The crystallization temperature determined by DSC increased with the addition of the nucleating agent during the cooling process from 200 °C. The Jeziorny model successfully described the non-isothermal crystallization behavior of the luminous PP with various SDN contents. The crystal grain size and morphology of the sample with the SDN was different from that without nucleating agent. The luminous PP fabric having high initial brightness intensity, approximately 461 mcd g
-1
m
-2
, can be prepared with addition of 10 wt% of rare earth aluminates and 0.5 % of SDN.
In Taiwan, freshwater clams (Corbicula fluminea) and hard clams (Meretrix lusoria) are the most frequently raised shellfish in land-based pond aquaculture, but research on the accumulation of ...organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in these shellfish is limited. We detected the levels of 14 OCPs in 62 shellfish from Taiwanese aquafarms by performing gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. OCP residues were detected in 4.84% of the samples including readings of 0.04 mg/kg chlordane (in a freshwater clam), 0.03 mg/g p,p′-DDE (in a freshwater clam), and 0.02 mg/g p,p′-DDE (in a hard clam). However, the associated estimated daily intake values were less than the acceptable daily intake levels of chlordane and p,p′-DDE Therefore, the consumption of these shellfish presents no immediate health risks. Our findings contribute to food safety and serve as a reference for OCP screenings for aquatic shellfish.
•Organochlorine pesticides residues were detected in 62 shellfishes by using GC–MS/MS.•Samples contained chlordane residues at 0.04 mg/kg, and p,p′-DDE at 0.02–0.03 mg/g.•For Taiwanese men and women, the EDI is less than 0.1% of the ADI for OCP residues.•Collectively, no immediate health risk for shellfish consumption in Taiwan
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic gastrointestinal (GI) disorder that causes relapsing inflammation and severe mucosal damage in the intestine. Crohn’s disease (CD)-related stricturing ...complications are a major cause of surgery, disability, and reduced quality of life. Endoscopic balloon dilation (EBD) has been shown to reliably delay or prevent surgery in patients with stricturing CD. However, cases of EBD performed for stricture in CD in Taiwan are rare. In this study, we want to evaluate the experiences regarding EBD for stricturing CD in Taiwan.
We conducted a retrospective analysis of 9 medical centers in Taiwan. Patients with CD-related strictures who were treated with EBD were included and analyzed.
In nine medical centers, a total of 26 CD patients (19 male, 7 female, mean disease duration 75.4 ± 65.2 months) underwent 42 EBD procedures during the study period. Among the subjects, an 83.3% (35/42) EBD success rate was seen, but 26.9% (7/26) patients underwent surgery after ineffective EBD. In the surgery group, the the small bowel strictures was high compared with the non-surgery group (p = 0.01). There were no significant differences in disease phenotype, disease duration or history of fistulizing disease. In the surgery group, immunosuppressant use was high, and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) use was low compared with the non-surgery group. After EBD, the physicians tended to change the drugs, especially increasing the use of biologic agents.
EBD is a safe and effective procedure for CD-related stricture, with a 83.3% success rate in Taiwan.
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