To evaluate the accuracy of the AViTA oscillometric upper arm home blood pressure (BP) monitor in adult and pregnant populations according to the American National Standards Institute/Association for ...the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation/ International Organization for Standardization (ANSI/AAMI/ISO) Universal Standard (ISO 81060-2:2013).
BP measurements on the upper arm were performed on 85 adult subjects and 46 pregnant subjects. The AViTA BPM636 and a standard mercury reference sphygmomanometer were applied and followed the same arm sequential BP measurement method. The universal cuff of the test device was used for arm circumference of 22-42 cm.
For validation criterion 1, the mean ± SD of the differences between the test device and reference BP readings was 1.1 ± 5.49/2.9 ± 5.17 mmHg (systolic/diastolic) for adults; and -2.2 ± 5.93/1.5 ± 4.92 mmHg (systolic/diastolic) for pregnant women. For criterion 2, the SD of the averaged BP differences between the test device and reference BP per adult subject was 4.45/4.20 mmHg (systolic/diastolic) and per pregnant women was 4.66/3.96.
The AViTA BPM636 had passed the criteria of the ANSI/AAMI/ISO 81060-2:2013 protocol and can be recommended for home BP measurements in adults and pregnant populations.
The purposes of this study were to elucidate the associations between exposure to particulate matter, gaseous pollutants, and road traffic noise and asthma prevalence and to determine the interaction ...between exposure to multiple pollutants and asthma in children. A total of 3,246 children were recruited from 11 kindergartens in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Land use regression (LUR) was used to establish predictive models for estimating individual exposure levels of particulate matter, gaseous pollutants, and the 24 h A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level (LAeq,24). Multiple logistic regression was performed to test the associations between exposure to these environmental factors and asthma prevalence in children. Multiple-exposure models revealed that an interquartile-range (IQR) increase in PM2.5 (1.17 μg/m3) and PM10 (10.69 μg/m3) caused a 1.34-fold (95% confidence interval CI = 1.05–1.70) and 1.17-fold (95% CI = 1.01–1.36) increase in risk of asthma prevalence in children after adjusting for LAeq,24 and NO2. Co-exposure to PM2.5, LAeq,24, and O3, SO2, or CO, as well as co-exposure to PM10, LAeq,24, and CO produced similar findings. Only exposure to one IQR of SO2 (0.15 ppb) was observed a significant association (odds ratio = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.00–1.34) with the asthma prevalence in children after adjusting for PM10 and LAeq,24. Exposure to PM2.5, PM10, and SO2 may be associated with a higher asthma prevalence in children, while other gaseous pollutants and road traffic noise did not demonstrate significant associations. The interaction of exposure to air pollutants and road traffic noise on asthma prevalence in children was not observed in this study.
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•Exposure to PM2.5 is associated with an increased prevalence of asthma in children.•PM10 exposure has a positive association with the asthma prevalence in children.•Only SO2 is one of four gaseous pollutants associated with children asthma.•Road traffic noise is not associated with the asthma prevalence in children.•Interaction between air pollutants and road traffic noise on asthma is not found.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous crystalline materials with tailorable structural versatility that were recently considered as one of the most promising alternative anode materials for ...lithium-ion batteries. Herein, we have synthesized lead-based MOFs (Pb-1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate, Pb-BTC), which had a high efficiency and reversibe lithium storage for anode material in lithium-ion batteries. The Pb-BTC based battery delivers highly reversible lithium storage capacities of 625 and 450 mA h g–1 at current densities of 0.1 and 0.5 A g–1, respectively, and can maintain its performance up to 150 charging/discharging cycles. The ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies on the electrode materials at different charging/discharging states and cyclic intervals reveal that the Li+ insertion, conversion, and alloying mechanism play central roles on improving the lithium storage capability. The DFT simulation reveals that the Pb sites in MOFs absorb Li atoms efficiently that support the high storage capacity. The electrochemical performance of Pb-BTC in our work is among the best compared with other reported MOF anode electrodes.
We determined the optical and electrical characteristics of GaN-based, ultraviolet micro light emitting diodes (microLEDs). Such microLEDs are essential to next-generation high-resolution ...micro-displays. Square-shaped microLEDs of different sizes (side lengths: 5-50 μm) were designed. The peak emission wavelength of these devices shifted <0.15 nm during the current injection. The 50 μm device had a 3.8 times greater relative illumination intensity than did the 5 μm device, suggesting a degradation in quantum efficiency in small devices. Measurements of temperature-dependent reverse leakage current indicated (1) thermal activation from deep centers and (2) a high percentage of components with surface recombination current in the small devices.
Summary Objectives Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used to treat depression-like symptoms in Taiwan. We aim to examine factors associated with utilization of TCM in patients with ...depression and to test whether the use of TCM would impact the use of psychiatric services with a subsequent impact on healthcare costs. Methods Adult patients ( n = 216,557) who received antidepressant treatment for depression in 2003 was identified in the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. A Two-Part model was conducted. A multivariate logistic regression was employed to explore factors associated with the use of TCM, with a particular focus on baseline comorbidities, painful physical symptoms (PPS), and frequency of psychiatric service contacts over the ensuing 12-month study period. Multivariate generalized linear modeling was then applied to examine factors associated with healthcare costs for TCM users. Results More than 40% of individuals prescribed with antidepressant treatments for depression used TCM services. Younger age, female gender, the presence of certain comorbid mental/physical illnesses or PPS, as well as having fewer psychiatric service contacts were found to be associated with the use of TCM services. These factors also affected TCM costs for users; the TCM costs equaled to 30% of costs of psychiatric out-patient services for TCM users. Conclusions The current study suggested a set of significant factors which could influence use and cost of TCM services for patients with depression. Utilization of TCM services could have a substantial impact on use of psychiatric services and healthcare costs for patients with depression.
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•The ultrathin cluster-Ag passivation structure bonded at 70 ℃ by the TCB process has been demonstrated.•The bonding mechanism of different topography of the Ag passivation structure ...has been investigated in details in this research.•The Cu/SiO2 hybrid bonding with cluster-Ag passivation layer has been complete with a low thermal budget.•After 2000 h of electromigration test, the Cu/SiO2 hybrid bonding with cluster-Ag passivation layer demonstrate the high electromigration resistance.
The novel low-temperature Cu/SiO2 hybrid bonding scheme using cluster-Ag passivation has been proposed in this study for the heterogeneous integration application. With the addition of cluster-Ag passivation layer, electromigration and reliability of hybrid bonding structure have been investigated for the first time, indicating negligible deterioration of electrical performance in the bonding structure after applying 107 A/cm2 current density for over 2000 h. The bonding mechanism of cluster-Ag passivation has been explored by the analysis of HR-TEM, and the difference between cluster-Ag passivation and thin-film Ag passivation has been discussed in detail. Based on an ultrathin cluster-Ag passivation layer, Cu-Cu bonding can be achieved at 70 ℃, showing high mechanical strength and good reliability. Therefore, the achievements reported in this paper realize Cu-Cu bonding and hybrid bonding with high quality and high reliability under ultra-low thermal budget, paving the way for the development of next-generation heterogeneous integration and three-dimensional integrated circuits (3DIC) technologies.
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•The passivated-Cu bonding structure bonded at 180 °C by the TCB process has been demonstrated.•Diffusion of Cu atoms and recrystallization of amorphous Cu into polycrystalline Cu can ...eliminate voids at the interface to achieve passivated-Cu bonding.•Diffusion of Cu atoms and Cu recrystallization requires low energy, therefore high-quality bonding results can be obtained with low thermal budget.
The bonding mechanism of low-temperature CuCu thermal compression bonding (TCB) with passivation layer has been investigated in this research. After the structures of Cu with Au passivation and Cu with Pd passivation were bonded at 180 °C, the analyses of transmission electron microscope (TEM) were performed for the bonded structures to explore the bonding behavior of passivated-Cu during different stages of the TCB process. The results indicate that grain boundary diffusion of Cu leads to formation of amorphous Cu at the bonding interface in the passivated-Cu structure. Furthermore, diffusion of Cu atoms and recrystallization of amorphous Cu into polycrystalline Cu can eliminate voids at the bonding interface during the TCB process. Comparing to conventional Cu direct bonding with high crystallinity Cu at the bonding interface, passivated-Cu bonding can be achieved by much lower energy, leading to high quality bonding results with low thermal budget.
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