•High-speed centrifugal processing and sedimentation-rate separation techniques were used to obtain diatom frustules.•Diatom frustules were added into TiO2 paste to prepare a TiO2-diatom paste ...mixture.•TiO2-diatom paste mixture was used to fabricate working electrodes for DSSCs.•TiO2-diatom electrodes improved the light-trapping effect and DSSC efficiency.•DSSCs with using the TiO2-diatom electrode exhibited a 38% increase in efficiency.
In this study, diatom frustules were added into TiO2 paste to prepare a TiO2-diatom paste mixture. Spin-coating and high-temperature sintering techniques were then used to fabricate working electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Mixing the diatom frustules with the TiO2 paste improved the light-trapping effect and scattering properties of the incident light in the TiO2-diatom working electrodes, thereby enhancing the power conversion efficiency of the DSSCs. In this study, a high-speed centrifugal processing technology and sedimentation-rate separation techniques were first used to obtain the diatom frustules, which were then mixed with the TiO2 paste at a weight ratio of 1:50; a spin-coating technique was then used to fabricate the working electrodes. Finally, a high-temperature sintering process (500°C) was performed. In this study, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and a surface profiler and spectrometer were used to analyze the characteristics of the working electrodes. The TiO2 or TiO2-diatom working electrodes were prepared under various spin-coating conditions for fabricating and analyzing the characteristics of the DSSCs. The results indicated that under identical conditions, the power conversion efficiency of the DSSCs was 3.81% when coated three times with a conventional TiO2 paste, and 5.26% when coated once with the TiO2-diatom paste before being coated twice again with the TiO2 paste, indicating a 38% increase in efficiency.
碩士
南臺科技大學
企業管理系
104
There are three kind of Capital reduction. It can be divided into "Capital reduction by cash", "Capital reduction for cover accumulated deficits" and "Capital reduction for ...treasury stock." In the past, most of the implement influenced to capital reduction is because of poor management led to the enterprise long-term deficits, until Formosa Hotel launched the capital reduction by cash in 2002. It not only changed the investors' negative impression of capital reduction, but also increased capital reduction behavior of Taiwan enterprises year by year.
Most of the previous studies examined the declaration of capital reduction of the fluctuation of stock price changes and cumulative abnormal return response. Therefore, this study reviewed the long- and short-term rates of return on equity (ROE) and earnings per share (EPS) during the years of 2011 to 2014, before and after public companies announced their various capital reduction objectives (cash reduction, stock repurchases and write-off of
Controlling ferroic orders (ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism and ferroelasticity) by optical methods is a significant challenge due to the large mismatch in energy scales between the order parameter ...coupling strengths and the incident photons. Here, we demonstrate an approach to manipulate multiple ferroic orders in an epitaxial mixed-phase BiFeO3 thin film at ambient temperature via laser illumination. Phase-field simulations indicate that a light-driven flexoelectric effect allows the targeted formation of ordered domains. We also achieved precise sequential laser writing and erasure of different domain patterns, which demonstrates a deterministic optical control of multiferroicity at room temperature. As ferroic orders directly influence susceptibility and conductivity in complex materials, our results not only shed light on the optical control of multiple functionalities, but also suggest possible developments for optoelectronics and related applications.The remote, non-volatile and reversible optical control of ferroic orders is challenging. Here, using laser illumination, multiple orders in epitaxial mixed-phase BiFeO3 are manipulated deterministically using a thermally driven flexoelectric effect.
Emerging evidence suggests that gut microbiome composition alterations affect neurodegeneration through neuroinflammation in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we evaluate gut ...microbiota alterations and host cytokine responses in a population of Taiwanese patients with PD.
Fecal microbiota communities from 80 patients with PD and 77 age and gender-matched controls were assessed by sequencing the V3-V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Diet and comorbidities were controlled in the analyses. Plasma concentrations of IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-13, IL-18, GM-CSF, IFNγ, and TNFα were measured by a multiplex immunoassay and relationships between microbiota, clinical characteristics, and cytokine levels were analyzed in the PD group. We further examined the cytokine changes associated with the altered gut microbiota seen in patients with PD in another independent cohort of 120 PD patients and 120 controls.
Microbiota from patients with PD was altered relative to controls and dominated by Verrucomicrobia, Mucispirillum, Porphyromonas, Lactobacillus, and Parabacteroides. In contrast, Prevotella was more abundant in controls. The abundances of Bacteroides were more increased in patients with non-tremor PD subtype than patients with tremor subtype. Bacteroides abundance was correlated with motor symptom severity defined by UPDRS part III motor scores (rho = 0.637 95% confidence interval 0.474 to 0.758, P < 0.01). Altered microbiota was correlated with plasma concentrations of IFNγ and TNFα. There was a correlation between Bacteroides and plasma level of TNFα (rho = 0.638 95% CI: 0.102-0.887, P = 0.02); and a correlation between Verrucomicrobia abundance and plasma concentrations of IFNγ (rho = 0.545 95% CI - 0.043-0.852, P = 0.05). The elevated plasma cytokine responses were confirmed in an additional independent 120 patients with PD and 120 controls (TNFα: PD vs. control 8.51 ± 4.63 pg/ml vs. 4.82 ± 2.23 pg/ml, P < 0.01; and IFNγ: PD vs. control: 38.45 ± 7.12 pg/ml vs. 32.79 ± 8.03 pg/ml, P = 0.03).
This study reveals altered gut microbiota in PD and its correlation with clinical phenotypes and severity in our population. The altered plasma cytokine profiles associated with gut microbiome composition alterations suggest aberrant immune responses may contribute to inflammatory processes in PD.
Green purchasing is a critical factor in sustainable enterprise development, and it often affects a company's business performance and environmental protection practices. An enterprise must have an ...appropriate assessment model to address the complexities of green purchasing. Most green purchasing studies have focused on the use of green criteria in the selection of suppliers to develop sustainable operations. By contrast, there have been few articles on green supply chain management discussing both green supplier evaluation and order allocation. This study proposes a novel model that integrates the best–worst method (BWM), modified fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and fuzzy multi-objective linear programming (FMOLP) to solve problems in green supplier selection and order allocation. We demonstrated the proposed method using actual data provided by an electronics company. The results indicate that this model can effectively evaluate the performance of green suppliers and can also optimize order allocation for qualified suppliers.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic and progressive fibrosing interstitial pneumonia, is a fatal lung disease with a median survival time of 3–5 years. Problems in accurate diagnosis, poor ...prognosis, limited clinical therapy, and high mortality rate together demonstrate that the development of efficient therapeutic strategies for IPF is an important future endeavor. Deeper understanding of pathogenesis and identification of biomarkers and pathways involved might lead in the future to the emergence of some agents as novel therapeutics for IPF. This review article presents the pathogenesis, therapeutic interventions, treatment approaches, and strategies employed for the design of antifibrotic agents for the treatment of IPF along with the patent literature from the past 10 years. With a dozen antifibrotic agents possessing exciting preclinical potential in the armory, it seems certain that some of them will advance to clinical stage investigations. The results of clinical trials for some of the new agents are also awaited to assess their benefits in terms of efficacy and survival benefits.
A multifunctional ion‐sensitive floating gate Fin field‐effect transistor (ISFGFinFET) for hydrogen and sodium detection is demonstrated. The ISFGFinFET comprises a FGFET and a sensing film, both of ...which are used to detect and improve sensitivity. The sensitivity of the ISFGFinFET can be adjusted by modulating the coupling effect of the FG. A nanoseaweed structure is fabricated via glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technology to obtain a large sensing area to enhance the sensitivity for hydrogen ion detection. A sensitivity of 266 mV per pH can be obtained using a surface area of 3.28 mm2. In terms of sodium ion detection, a calix4arene sensing film to monitor sodium ions, obtaining a Na+ sensitivity of 432.7 mV per pNa, is used. In addition, the ISFGFinFET demonstrates the functionality of multiple ions detection simultaneously. The sensor arrays composed of 3 × 3 pixels are demonstrated, each of which comprise of an FGFET sensor and a transistor. Furthermore, 16 × 16 arrays with a decoder and other peripheral circuits are constructed and simulated. The performance of the proposed ISFGFinFET is competitive with that of other state‐of‐the‐art ion sensors.
The necessity for high sensitivity for ion detection has been improved in recent years. In this work, to adjust and increase the sensitivity, a floating gate (FG) structure is introduced into the Fin field‐effect transistor (FinFET) device while the nanoseaweed Al2O3 structure is fabricated for the ion reacting layer via glancing angle deposition. Furthermore, combining different materials, the ion‐sensitive FGFinFET can realize multiple ion detection.
Maslinic acid is a pentacyclic triterpenoid that is distributed in the peel of olives. Previous studies found that maslinic acid inhibited inflammatory response and antioxidant effects. We ...investigated whether maslinic acid ameliorates nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in mice with high‐fat‐diet (HFD)‐induced obesity and evaluated the regulation of lipogenesis in hepatocytes. Male C57BL/6 mice fed a normal diet or HFD (60% fat, w/w) were tested for 16 wk. After the fourth week, mice were injected intraperitoneally with maslinic acid for 12 wk. In another experiment, HepG2 cells were treated with oleic acid to induce lipid accumulation or maslinic acid to evaluate lipogenesis. Maslinic acid significantly reduced body weight compared with HFD‐fed mice. Maslinic acid reduced liver weight and liver lipid accumulation and improved hepatocyte steatosis. Furthermore, serum glucose, leptin, and free fatty acid concentrations significantly reduced, but the serum adiponectin concentration was higher, in the maslinic acid group than in the HFD group. In liver tissue, maslinic acid suppressed transcription factors involved in lipogenesis and increased adipose triglyceride lipase. In vitro, maslinic acid decreased lipogenesis by activating AMPK. These findings suggest that maslinic acid acts against hepatic steatosis by regulating enzyme activity involved in lipogenesis, lipolysis, and fatty acid oxidation in the liver.—Liou, C.‐J., Dai, Y.‐W., Wang, C.‐L., Fang, L.‐W., Huang, W.‐C. Maslinic acid protects against obesity‐induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in mice through regulation of the Sirt1/AMPK signaling pathway. FASEB J. 33, 11791‐11803 (2019). www.fasebj.org
Currently, the potential risk of atrial fibrillation associated with antihyperglycemic drug use has been a topic of considerable interest. However, it remains uncertain whether different classes of ...antihyperglycemic drug therapy are associated with the risk of atrial fibrillation risk. Here, we investigated the association between different classes of antihyperglycemic drugs and new-onset atrial fibrillation (NAF). A case-matched study was performed based on the National Health Insurance Program in Taiwan. Patients who had NAF were considered the NAF group and were matched in a 1:4 ratio with patients without NAF, who were assigned to the non-NAF group. Patients were matched according to sex, age, diabetes mellitus duration, index date, and Charlson Comorbidity Index score. We used multivariate logistic regression controlling for potential confounders to examine the association between different classes of antihyperglycemic drug use and the risk of NAF. Overall, we identified 2,882 cases and 11,528 matched controls for the study. After adjusting for sex, age, comorbidities, and concurrent medications, users of biguanides or thiazolidinediones were at a lower risk of developing NAF when compared with non-users (odds ratio OR 0.81, 95% confidence interval CI 0.71-0.95 and OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.63-0.83, respectively). In contrast, users of insulin were at a higher risk of developing NAF than were non-users (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.06-1.35). Sulfonylureas, glinides, α-glucosidase inhibitors, and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors were not associated with developing the risk of NAF. In conclusion, the use of biguanides or thiazolidinediones may be associated with a low risk of NAF, whereas insulin may be associated with a significant increase in the risk of NAF in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus during long-term follow-up. Further prospective randomized studies should investigate which specific class of antihyperglycemic drug treatment for diabetes mellitus can prevent or postpone NAF.
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