Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2008-02-29"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 56175

Immunohistochemical analysis of a novel dehydroepiandrosterone sulfotransferase-like protein in Drosophila neural circuits
(2008-02-29)
Liu, Tzu-An
;
Liu, Ming-Cheh
;
Yang, Yuh-Shyong
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生物科技學系
;
Department of Biological Science and Technology
Sulfotransferase (ST)-catalyzed sulfation plays an important role in various neuronal functions such as homeostasis of catecholamine neurotransmitters and hormones. Drosophila is a popular model for the study of memory and behavioral manifestations because it is able to mimic the intricate neuroregulation and recognition in humans. However, there has been no evidence indicating that cytosolic ST(s) is(are) present in Drosophila. The aim of this study is to investigate whether or not cytosolic ST(s) is(are) expressed in the Drosophila nervous system. Immunoblot analysis demonstrated the presence of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) ST-like protein in Drosophila brain and a sensitive fluorometric assay revealed its sulfating activity toward DHEA. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated this DHEA ST-like protein to be abundant in specific neurons as well as in several bundles of nerve fibers in Drosophila. Clarification of a possible link between ST and a neurotransmitter-mediated effect may eventually aid in designing approaches for alleviating neuronal disorders in humans. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Surface energy and adhesion energy of solution-based patterning in organic thin film transistors
(2008-02-29)
Zan, Hsiao Wen
;
Chou, Cheng-Wei
;
Yen, Kuo-Hsi
;
光電工程學系
;
顯示科技研究所
This study elucidates the patterning of pentacene by adjusting its surface energy. The surface energy was modified by self-assembled monolayer treatment and exposure to ultra-violet (UV) light through a quartz-glass mask. Then, following pentacene deposition, dipping in water was used to remove pentacene from the UV-exposed area. The adhesion energy and the intrusion energy were analyzed to determine the mechanism of this patterning process. The variation of the intrusion energy with the surface energy was found to be the main issue in pentacene patterning. The characteristics of pentacene-organic thin film transistors were also measured to confirm the proposed method. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Value systems and decision-making styles of newspaper front-line editors
(2008-03-01)
Sylvie, George
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Huang, J. Sonia
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交大名義發表
;
National Chiao Tung University
As American newspapers face declining readership, quality concerns, and changing technology and public tastes, newspaper decision-making style remains relatively unexamined. This study re-examines national survey data on U.S. editors charged with choosing, justifying, editing, and publishing the news. In a search for values that underlie decision-making styles, the study uncovers five style predictors: gender experience, social values, journalistic values, and organizational values. Audience-related values were not significant predictors.
A study of total relative Displacements of permutations in paths and cycles
(2008-03-01)
Cheng, Kai-Chung
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Fu, Hung-Lin
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Chiang, Nam-Po
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Tzeng, Chien-Kuo
;
應用數學系
Let G = (V, E) be a connected graph and let phi be a permutation of V. The total relative displacement of the permutation phi in G is delta(phi) (G) = Sigma ({x,y}CV) vertical bar d(x,y) - d(phi(x),phi(y))vertical bar, where d(x, y) means the distance between x and y in G, i.e., the length of a shortest path between x and y. A permutation phi which attains the minimum value of non-zero value of delta(phi)(G) is referred to as a near-automarphism of G and a permutation phi which attains the maximum value of delta(phi)(G) is referred to as a chaotic mapping of G. In this paper, we study the maximum value of delta(phi) (G) among all permutations in paths and cycles.
開膛手傑克的魅惑：道德懲戒、理性規訓與醫療想像
(國立陽明交通大學出版社, 2008-03-01)
陳重仁
本文試圖要回答的問題是：何以發生於西元1888年倫敦東區的開膛手連續殺人命案，到了今天依舊令人感到著迷？何以妓女的身體會成為公開處決與道德管束的對象？何以如此殘暴的公開處決會具有道德懲戒的教化寓含？何以開膛手要是個醫師？開膛手的醫師身分，為何與帝國的維繫以及追求現代化工具理性產生關連？百年來眾多有關開膛手身分與行兇動機的推斷中，皇室涉案論一直是最能增加想像空間並營造恐懼想像的推論，電影《開膛手》正是此推斷最具代表性的電影呈現。本文藉由交叉比對電影文本、解剖醫學史、解剖劇場空間呈現的權力關係，以及西方繪畫藝術與解剖醫學的互文脈絡，檢視西方民眾長久以來對屍體解剖具有的恐懼，並說明何以大體解剖延長施加於身體的刑罰，成為道德制約工具。本文試論受害者身體與醫師形象的想像與重現，是開膛手魅惑歷久彌新的主要原因，並從藝術品呈現、解剖法令制訂以及整建社會觀瞻各方面，探討何以開膛手凶案在文化想像的脈絡中具有執行道德懲戒與建立知識體系的雙重意涵。開膛手的想像營造中刻意挪用時空錯亂的醫療科普觀念，渲染現代醫療所象徵的工具理性。藉由美化開膛手具有專業醫療知識的形象，凸顯醫學象徵紀律與理性的印象，並從中玩弄醫學啟蒙辯證的內在矛盾與衝突：原本應該拿手術刀救人的醫師，在開膛手文學的集體想像中，轉換成為陰森冷酷的道德執行者。
A quaternary germanium(II) phosphate, Na[Ge-4(PO4)(3)]
(2008-03-01)
Lee, Chi-Shen
;
Weng, Sheng-Feng
;
應用化學系
;
應用化學系分子科學碩博班
;
Department of Applied Chemistry
A new germanium(II) phosphate, sodium tetragermanium tris( phosphate), Na[Ge-4(PO4)(3)], has been synthesized by a solid-state reaction. The compound is isotypic with [Sn-4(PO4)(3)] (A=Na, K, NH4). It features a [Ge-4(PO4)(3)](-) framework made up of GeO3 pyramids and PO4 tetrahedra, which are linked by shared corners, yielding a three-dimensional structure. The crystal studied showed partial inversion twinning.
Stylized rendering using samples of a painted image
(2008-03-01)
Yan, Chung-Ren
;
Chi, Ming-Te
;
Lee, Tong-Yee
;
Lin, Wen-Chieh
;
資訊工程學系
We introduce a novel technique to generate painterly art maps (PAMs) for 3D nonphotorealistic rendering. Our technique can automatically transfer brushstroke textures and color changes to 3D models from samples of a painted image. Therefore, the generation of stylized images or animation in the style of a given artwork can be achieved. This new approach works particularly well for a rich variety of brushstrokes ranging from simple 1D and 2D line-art strokes to very complicated ones with significant variations in stroke characteristics. During the rendering or animation process, the coherence of brushstroke textures and color changes over 3D surfaces can be well maintained. With PAM, we can also easily generate the illusion of flow animation over a 3D surface to convey the shape of a model.
擺脫束縛的都市經驗與文化：珠江三角洲農民工家庭研究
(國立陽明交通大學出版社, 2008-03-01)
葉蔭聰
當代中國由80年代初經濟改革開始，經歷激烈的社會變動，一些學者把這些有目共睹的觀察推進一步，討論在這些變化裡，是否有新的社會連結及政治意涵。一些人把政治熱情與幻想投注在擴張中的私營經濟部門，預言新的政治變動，其他人則對市場經濟所帶來的政治機遇不感樂觀，他們認為，各類新興的社會團體十分政治化，並視之為一種「逃避主義」。本文以幾個珠江三角洲的外來農民工家庭個案為重心，說明及探討這些工人在新的家居領域中的生活經驗；由於大部分工人住進工廠宿舍，而絕大部分工廠宿舍進行男女分隔，所以部分已婚男女民工會在工廠外租房子，與伴侶（已婚或未婚）建立臨時的親密居所，而由此衍生各類社會網絡與活動。本文嘗試超越把家庭視作「自然單元」的觀點，接合上近年研究家居領域的理論，視「家」為一組生活關係、想像空間、領域的集合體，「家」不是簡單地根著於一個地點的物理與社會單位，或一個家庭的容器，它是一處陷於各種張力的地方，包括定居與遷徙，本地實踐與全球力量，是資本主義重新編織權力關係的過程，當中最值得注意的是，弱勢者在日常生活中努力逃避開權力關係。對民工來說，工廠生涯的解放經驗不多，反而是為了一嘗現代生活及獲取經濟回報的自願囚牢，但不少人仍無法透過工廠生涯中找到相對安穩的工人階級生活，工廠的生產關係並沒有帶來工人階級家庭，相反地，農民工再次企圖擺脫自己的工人身分，嘗試從桎梏中逃離出來，創造自己的空間逃逸出政治經濟的羅網，維繫夫妻親密關係，享受同鄉及家庭生活，追求社會身分的上升，用他們自己的方法重新界定都市生活。
Circuit performance degradation of switched-capacitor circuit with bootstrapped technique due to gate-oxide overstress in a 130-nm CMOS process
(2008-03-01)
Chen, Jung-Sheng
;
Ker, Ming-Dou
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電機學院
;
College of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The MOS switch with bootstrapped technique is widely used in low-voltage switched-capacitor circuit. The switched-capacitor circuit with the bootstrapped technique could be a dangerous design approach in the nano-scale CMOS process due to the gate-oxide transient overstress. The impact of gate-oxide transient overstress on MOS switch in switched-capacitor circuit is investigated in this work with the sample-and-hold amplifier (SHA) in a 130-nm CMOS process. After overstress on the MOS switch of SHA with unity-gain buffer, the circuit performances in time domain and frequency domain are measured to verify the impact of gate-oxide reliability on circuit performances. The oxide breakdown on switch device degrades the circuit performance of bootstrapped switch technique.
Monodromy of Picard-Fuchs differential equations for Calabi-Yau threefolds
(2008-03-01)
Chen, Yao-Han
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Yang, Yian
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Yui, Noriko
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Erdenberger, Cord
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應用數學系
In this paper we are concerned with the monodromy of Picard-Fuchs differential equations associated with one-parameter families of Calabi-Yau threefolds. Our results show that in the hypergeometric cases the matrix representations of monodromy relative to the Frobenius bases can be expressed in terms of the geometric invariants of the underlying Calabi-Yau threefolds. This phenomenon is also verified numerically for other families of Calabi-Yau threefolds in the paper. Furthermore, we discover that under a suitable change of bases the monodromy groups are contained in certain congruence subgroups of Sp(4, Z) of finite index and whose levels are related to the geometric invariants of the Calabi-Yau threefolds.
Characteristics of RO foulants in a brackish water desalination plant
(2008-03-01)
Yang, Hui Ling
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Huang, Chihpin
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Pan, Jill R.
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環境工程研究所
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Institute of Environmental Engineering
This study identified the membrane fouling of a two-stage RO process of the Bai-sha brackish water desalination plant facing serious fouling problems. Two membrane modules, one from each stage, were autopsied and diagnosed for the cause for the failure of the RO system. Different morphologies were exhibited on the fouled membrane. Results suggested that the fouling on the first-stage membrane tended to be organic and biological, while that on the second-stage membrane appeared to be scaling. Higher than 85% of the foulants on the first stage membrane were organic substances in opposed to the 5 to 8% of those on the second stage membrane. However, the total organic matter on the second stage membrane was more than that on the first stage one. The thick layer of sealants on the surface of the second-stage membrane was identified to be calcium carbonate of which the crystal was clearly seen in the SEM images. The scaling was thickest at the outlet of the membrane. Huge amount of microbes were found on both membranes. The FTIR results also suggested the existence of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) on the first stage membrane. This study recommended that the recovery rate, pH and the potential for bio-fouling should be defined at the real operation.
Classification and medical diagnosis using wavelet-based fuzzy neural networks
(2008-03-01)
Lin, Cheng-Jian
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Chen, Chenghung
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Lee, Chiyung
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電控工程研究所
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Institute of Electrical and Control Engineering
In this paper, we propose a Wavelet-based Fuzzy Neural Network (WFNN) for classification and medical diagnosis. The proposed WFNN integrates the wavelet transform functions into a fuzzy system. We use non-orthogonal and compactly supported functions as the wavelet neural network (WNN) bases. The goal of the WFNN model combined with WNN is to improve the accuracy of function approximation. An on-line structure/parameter learning algorithm is used in the WFNN. Structure learning is based on the input partitions to determine the number of fuzzy rules and wavelet functions, and parameter learning is based on the supervised gradient descent method to adjust the shape of the membership functions and the connection weights of the wavelet neural networks. Computer simulations were conducted to test the performance and applicability of the proposed system.
Theory of magnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductor nanocrystals
(2008-03-01)
Cheng, Shun-Jen
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電子物理學系
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Department of Electrophysics
We present a theoretical investigation of magnetism in II-VI diluted magnetic semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs). The energy spectra, magnetizations, and magnetic susceptibilities of singly charged NCs with few substitutional magnetic Mn2+ ions are studied as functions of NC size, magnetic dopant distribution, and concentration by using the technique of exact diagonalization. For NCs containing long range interacting Mn ions, the quantum size effects improve the stability of ferromagnetic magnetic polarons. The carrier-mediated spin interactions between magnetic ions result in the enhancement of magnetism. By contrast, the ground states of NCs containing short ranged Mn clusters undergo a series of magnetic phase transitions from antiferromagnetism to ferromagnetism, with decreasing size of NC. An analysis based on a simplified constant interaction model, supported by the numerical calculations of local mean field theory, is presented for the magnetic NCs with many magnetic ions over a wide range of Mn concentration and NC size. Accordingly, we derive the condition for the formation of magnetic polaron and predict the observable signatures of the magnetic phases in magnetization measurements.
Architecture design of shape-adaptive discrete cosine transform and its inverse for MPEG-4 video coding
(2008-03-01)
Hsu, Hui-Cheng
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Lee, Kun-Bin
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Chang, Nelson Yen-Chung
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Chang, Tian-Sheuan
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交大名義發表
This paper presents efficient VLSI architectures of the shape-adaptive discrete cosine transform (SA-DCT) and its inverse transform (SA-IDCT) for MPEG-4. Two of the challenges encountered during the exploitation of more efficient architectures for the SA-DCT and SA-IDCT are addressed. One challenge is to handle the architectural irregularity due to the shape-adaptive nature. The other one is to provide acceptable throughput using minimal hardware. In the algorithm-level optimization, this work exploits the numerical properties found in the transform matrices of various lengths, and derives a fine-grained zero-skipping scheme for the IDCT which can perform 22.6% more zero-skipping than the common vector-based coarse-grained zero-skipping scheme does. In the architecture-level design, the 1-D variable-length DCT/IDCT architectures designed on the basis of the numerical properties are proposed. An auto-aligned transpose memory that aligns the data of different lengths is also incorporated. In addition, a zero-index table is also included in the transpose memory to support the fine-grained zero-skipping in the SA-IDCT. The synthesized designs of the SA-DCT and SA-IDCT are implemented using UMC 0.18-mu m technology. The SA-DCT architecture has 26 635 gates, and its average cycle-throughput is 0.66 pixels/cycle, which is comparable to other proposed architectures. On the other hand, the SA-IDCT architecture has 29960 gates, and its cycle-throughput is 6.42 pixels/cycle. While decoding for CIF@30FPS, the SA-IDCT is clocked at 0.7 MHz, and the power consumption is 0.14 mW. Both the throughput and power consumption of the proposed SA-IDCT architecture are an order better than those of the existing SA-IDCT architectures.
Electrical measurement of local stress and lateral diffusion near Source/Drain extension corner of uniaxially stressed n-MOSFETs
(2008-03-01)
Hsieh, Chen-Yu
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Chen, Ming-Jer
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電子工程學系及電子研究所
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Department of Electronics Engineering and Institute of Electronics
-On a 1.27-nm gate oxide n-MOSFET that undergoes longitudinal stress via a layout technique, subthreshold current is measured as a function of the gate edge to shallow-trench isolation (STI) spacing and is transformed via bandgap shift into the source/drain extension corner stress. The extracted local stress is quantitatively comparable with those of the channel as created by the gate direct tunneling measurement in inversion, the mobility measurement, and the threshold voltage measurement. In addition, its dependencies on the gate edge to STI spacing confirm the validity of the layout technique in controlling the corner or channel stress. The gate edge direct tunneling (EDT) measurement in accumulation straightforwardly leads to the quantified gate-to-source/drain-extension overlap length. Particularly, a retarded diffusion length of 1.1 nm for a stress change of -320 MPa and the resulting strain-induced activation energy both are in satisfactory agreement with those of the process simulation. A physically oriented analytic model is, therefore, reached, expressing the lateral diffusion as a function of the corner stress.
Adaptive placement method on pricing arithmetic average options
(2008-03-01)
Dai, Tian-Shyr
;
Wang, Jr-Yan
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Wei, Hui-Shan
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資訊管理與財務金融系註：原資管所+財金所
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Department of Information Management and Finance
Since there is no analytic solution for arithmetic average options until present, developing an efficient numerical algorithm becomes a promising alternative. One of the most famous numerical algorithms is introduced by Hull and White (J Deriv 1:21-31, 1993). Motivated by the common idea of reducing the nonlinearity error in the adaptive mesh model in Figlewski and Gao (J Financ Econ 53:313-351, 1999) and the adaptive quadrature method, we propose an adaptive placement method to replace the logarithmically equally-spaced placement rule in the Hull and White's model by placing more representative average prices in the highly nonlinear area of the option value as the function of the arithmetic average stock price. The basic idea of this method is to design a recursive algorithm to limit the error of the linear interpolation between each pair of adjacent representative average prices. Numerical experiments verify the superior performance of this method for reducing the interpolation error and hence improving the convergence rate. To show that the adaptive placement method can improve any numerical algorithm with the techniques of augmented state variables and the piece-wise linear interpolation approximation, we also demonstrate how to integrate the adaptive placement method into the GARCH option pricing algorithm in Ritchken and Trevor (J Finance 54:377-402, 1999). Similarly great improvement of the convergence rate suggests the potential applications of this novel method to a broad class of numerical pricing algorithms for exotic options and complex underlying processes.
Movie scene segmentation using background information
(2008-03-01)
Chen, Liang-Hua
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Lai, Yu-Chun
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Liao, Hong-Yuan Mark
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資訊工程學系
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Department of Computer Science
Scene extraction is the first step toward semantic understanding of a video. It also provides improved browsing and retrieval facilities to users of video database. This paper presents an effective approach to movie scene extraction based on the analysis of background images. Our approach exploits the fact that shots belonging to one particular scene often have similar backgrounds. Although part of the video frame is covered by foreground objects, the background scene can still be reconstructed by a mosaic technique. The proposed scene extraction algorithm consists of two main components: determination of the shot similarity measure and a shot grouping process. In our approach, several low-level visual features are integrated to compute the similarity measure between two shots. On the other hand, the rules of film-making are used to guide the shot grouping process. Experimental results show that our approach is promising and outperforms some existing techniques. (C) 2007 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
AIDOA: An adaptive and energy-conserving indexing method for on-demand data broadcasting systems
(2008-03-01)
Huang, Jiun-Long
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資訊工程學系
;
Department of Computer Science
Since only a modest improvement in battery lifetime is expected in the next few years, energy conservation is raised as a key factor in the design of mobile devices. In view of this, we propose in this paper an energy-conserving on-demand data broadcasting system that employs the data indexing technique. Different from prior work, the power consumption of turning on and turning off the wireless network interfaces is considered. In addition, we also employ a server cache to reduce the effect of the time to retrieve data items from the corresponding data servers. Specifically, we first analyze the access and tuning times of data requests,. and propose an Adaptive Index and Data Organizing Algorithm (AIDOA) to adjust the degree of buckets according to the system workload. Several experiments are then conducted to evaluate the performance of algorithm AIDOA. The experimental results show that algorithm AIDOA is able to greatly reduce the power consumption at the cost of a slight increase in the average access time and dynamically adjust the index and data organization to adapt to the change of system workload.
電激發光高分子材料
(2008-03-01)
韋光華
;
周嘉宏
一種電激發光高分子,其高分子主鏈的側鏈上含有高立體障礙結構之無機化物多面體聚矽氧烷(POSS),於高分子主鏈之間形成自由體積以避免分子間的堆疊,並增加高分子的發光效率與熱穩定度。
Determination of the parameter pattern and values for a one-dimensional multi-zone unconfined aquifer
(2008-03-01)
Chang, Ya-Chi
;
Yeh, Hund-Der
;
Huang, Yen-Chen
;
環境工程研究所
;
Institute of Environmental Engineering
In an aquifer, heterogeneity plays an important role in governing groundwater flow. Hence, aquifer characterization should involve both the pattern and values of the hydrogeological parameters. A new analytical solution describing the one-dimensional groundwater flow in a multi-zone unconfined aquifer is presented, and a methodology developed from the analytical solution and a heuristic approach for determining the pattern and values of the aquifer parameters are proposed. The analytical solution demonstrates that the hydraulic head varies spatially and is influenced by aquifer heterogeneity. Simulated annealing, a heuristic approach, is incorporated with the solution to simultaneously identify the pattern and values of the hydraulic conductivity for a horizontal multi-zone unconfined aquifer. This approach may be used to give an approximate result for a two-dimensional problem by dividing the model area into a number of transects along the transverse direction, identifying the parameter values along the longitudinal direction for each transect, and then smoothing the identified results.