Browsing by Author "Chao, Yi-Ping"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Culture-Related and Individual Differences in Regional Brain Volumes: A Cross-Cultural Voxel-Based Morphometry Study
(2019-09-10)
Huang, Chih-Mao
;
Doole, Robert
;
Wu, Changwei W.
;
Huang, Hsu-Wen
;
Chao, Yi-Ping
Converging behavioral and functional neuroimaging evidence indicates that East Asian and Western individuals have different orientations for processing information that may stem from contrasting cultural values. In this cross-cultural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) approach to investigate culture-related and individual differences of independent-interdependent orientation in structural brain volume between 57 Taiwanese and 56 Western participants. Each participant's degree of endorsement of independent and interdependent cultural value was assessed by their self-report on the Singelis Self-Construal Scale (SCS). Behaviorally, Taiwanese rated higher SCS scores than Westerners in interdependent value and Westerners rated higher SCS scores than Taiwanese in independent value. The VBM results demonstrated that Western participants showed greater gray matter (GM) volume in the fronto-parietal network, whereas Taiwanese participants showed greater regional volume in temporal and occipital regions. Our findings provide supportive evidence that socio-cultural experiences of learned independent-interdependent orientations may play a role in regional brain volumes. However, strategic differences in cognition, genetic variation, and/or modulations of other environmental factors should also be considered to interpret such culture-related effects and potential individual differences.
Effects on Organic Photovoltaics Using Femtosecond-Laser-Treated Indium Tin Oxides
(2016-09-28)
Chen, Mei-Hsin
;
Tseng, Ya-Hsin
;
Chao, Yi-Ping
;
Tseng, Sheng-Yang
;
Lin, Zong-Rong
The effects of, femtosecond-laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) on an indium tin oxide (ITO) surface applied to an organic photovoltaic (OPV), system were investigated. The modifications of ITO induced by LIPPS in OPV devices result in more than 14% increase in power conversion efficiency (PCE) and short-circuit current density relative to-those of the standard device. The basic mechanisms for the enhanced short-circuit current density are attributed to better light harvesting, increased scattering effects, and more efficient charge collection between the ITO and photoactive layers: Results show that-higher PCEs would be achieved by laser-pulse-treated electrodes.
Mindfulness Improves Emotion Regulation and Executive Control on Bereaved Individuals: An fMRI Study
(2019-01-28)
Huang, Feng-Ying
;
Hsu, Ai-Ling
;
Hsu, Li-Ming
;
Tsai, Jaw-Shiun
;
Huang, Chih-Mao
The grief of bereavement is recognized as a severe psychosocial stressor that can trigger a variety of mental and physical disorders, and the long-lasting unresolved grief has a detrimental effect on brain functionality. Literature has documented mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) as an efficient treatment for improving well-being, specifically related to the mood and cognition, in a variety of populations. However, little attention has been devoted to neural mechanisms with regard to bereaved individuals' cognition after MBCT intervention. In this study, we recruited 23 bereaved participants who lost a significant relative within 6 months to 4 years to attend 8-week MBCT course. We used self-reporting questionnaires to measure emotion regulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with the numerical Stroop task to evaluate the MBCT effect on executive control among the bereaved participants. The self-reported questionnaires showed improvements on mindfulness and reductions in grief, difficulties in emotion regulation, anxiety, and depression after the MBCT intervention. The fMRI analysis demonstrated two scenarios: (1) the activity of the fronto-parietal network slightly declined accompanied with significant improvements in the reaction time of incongruent trials; (2) the activities in the posterior cingulate cortex and thalamus were positively associated with the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief, implying emotional interferences on cognitive functions. Results indicated that MBCT facilitated the executive control function by alleviating the emotional interferences over the cognitive functions and suggested that the 8-week MBCT intervention significantly improved both executive control and emotion regulation in bereaved individuals.
Multiparametric graph theoretical analysis reveals altered structural and functional network topology in Alzheimer's disease
(2019-01-01)
Lin, Shih-Yen
;
Lin, Chen-Pei
;
Hsieh, Tsung-Jen
;
Lin, Chung-Fen
;
Chen, Sih-Huei
Alzheimer's disease (AD), an irreversible neurodegenerative disease, is the most common type of dementia in elderly people. This present study incorporated multiple structural and functional connectivity metrics into a graph theoretical analysis framework and investigated alterations in brain network topology in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. By using this multiparametric analysis, we expected different connectivity metrics may reflect additional or complementary information regarding the topological changes in brain networks in MCI or AD. In our study, a total of 73 subjects participated in this study and underwent the magnetic resonance imaging scans. For the structural network, we compared commonly used connectivity metrics, including fractional anisotropy and normalized streamline count, with multiple diffusivity-based metrics. We compared Pearson correlation and covariance by investigating their sensitivities to functional network topology. Significant disruption of structural network topology in MCI and AD was found predominantly in regions within the limbic system, prefrontal and occipital regions, in addition to widespread alterations of local efficiency. At a global scale, our results showed that the disruption of the structural network was consistent across different edge definitions and global network metrics from the MCI to AD stages. Significant changes in connectivity and tract-specific diffusivity were also found in several limbic connections. Our findings suggest that tract-specific metrics (e.g., fractional anisotropy and diffusivity) provide more sensitive and interpretable measurements than does metrics based on streamline count. Besides, the use of inversed radial diffusivity provided additional information for understanding alterations in network topology caused by AD progression and its possible origins. Use of this proposed multiparametric network analysis framework may facilitate early MCI diagnosis and AD prevention.
Origins of vertical phase separation in P3HT:PCBM mixed films
(2014-04-01)
Liu, I-Hsiu
;
Chao, Yi-Ping
;
Fang, Jian-Jhih
;
Tseng, Wei-Hsuan
;
Lan, Yu-Bing
The origins of vertical phase separation and their implication on the device efficiency of poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) based solar cells, with both regular and inverted structures, were investigated. We found that the light irradiation and the filtration processes during the device fabrications are two key steps that induce the vertical phase separation in the active layers. Upon light irradiation, the devices with inverted structures exhibit improved power conversion efficiency, whereas the regular devices show degradation. The inverted devices spun cast with filtered P3HT:PCBM solution also present a better improvement as compared to regular devices. X-ray and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopies indicate that both illumination and filtration enhance the vertical phase separation of the blend film with additional PCBM segregated to the bottom interface. (C) 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics