Gene-related Parkinson's disease diagnosis via feature-based multi-branch octave convolution network.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly population. PD is irreversible and its diagnosis mainly relies on clinical symptoms. Hence, its effective diagnosis is vital. PD has the related gene mutation called gene-related PD, which can be diagnosed not only in the specific PD patients, but also in the healthiest people without clinical symptoms of PD. Since mutations in PD-related genes can affect healthy people, and unaffected PD-related gene carriers can develop into PD patients, it is very necessary to distinguish gene-related PD diseases. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has a lot of information about brain tissue, which can distinguish gene-related PD diseases. However, the limited amount of the gene-related cohort in PD is a challenge for further diagnosis. Therefore, we develop a joint learning framework called feature-based multi-branch octave convolution network (FMOCNN), which uses MRI data for gene-related cohort PD diagnosis. FMOCNN performs sample-feature selection to learn discriminative samples and features and contains a deep neural network to obtain high-level feature representation from various feature types. Specifically, we first train a cardinality constrained sample-feature selection (CCSFS) model to select informative samples and features. We then establish a multi-branch octave convolution neural network (MBOCNN) to jointly train multiple feature inputs. High/low-frequency learning in MBOCNN is exploited to reduce redundant feature information and enhance the feature expression ability. Our method is validated on the publicly available Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) dataset. Experiments demonstrate that our method achieves promising classification performance and outperforms similar algorithms.

Mobile community learning programme's effectiveness in case management for psychiatric nurses: A preliminary randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The global health care system has applied case management (CM) as a care delivery service provided by nurses. Nurses require continuing education in CM to enhance their professional knowledge and competence. Mobile communities have been used to promote continuing education for medical professionals. However, limited studies have examined the effectiveness of such learning programmes in CM for psychiatric nurses. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile community learning (MCL) programme in CM for psychiatric nurses. DESIGN: This study used an experimental two-group pre- and post-test design. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: Psychiatric nurses employed in a psychiatric teaching hospital situated in northern Taiwan were recruited. METHODS: Nurses were randomly allocated to the experimental or comparison group. The former participated in the learning intervention in CM. The CM knowledge index and a competence scale were used to determine outcomes. Pre-tests and 2-month post-tests were conducted. The MCL programme comprised five simulated learning modules, self-assessment questions, learning cases, learning resources and experience sharing. A two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was performed to evaluate the effect of the intervention on target outcomes. RESULTS: The questionnaires were completed by 48 participants. The two groups possessed high homogeneity with regard to characteristics and pre-test outcomes. Differences between the two groups regarding CM knowledge (F = 22.99, p < .01) and competence (F = 6.33, p = .015) were significant. The programme had a positive benefit on the learning experience in the experimental group; the mean satisfaction score for the programme reached 4.27 (range, 1-5). CONCLUSIONS: MCL programmes for psychiatric nurses can effectively enhance CM knowledge and competence. However, these methods cannot completely replace the continuing education approach for achieving CM competence.

The Coupled Photothermal Reaction and Transport in a Laser Additive Metal Nanolayer Simultaneous Synthesis and Pattering for Flexible Electronics.

The Laser Direct Synthesis and Patterning (LDSP) technology has advantages in terms of processing time and cost compared to nanomaterials-based laser additive microfabrication processes. In LDSP, a scanning laser on the substrate surface induces chemical reactions in the reactive liquid solution and selectively deposits target material in a preselected pattern on the substrate. In this study, we experimentally investigated the effect of the processing parameters and type and concentration of the additive solvent on the properties and growth rate of the resulting metal film fabricated by this LDSP technology. It was shown that reactive metal ion solutions with substantial viscosity yield metal films with superior physical properties. A numerical analysis was also carried out the first time to investigate the coupled opto-thermo-fluidic transport phenomena and the effects on the metal film growth rate. To complete the simulation, the optical properties of the LDSP deposited metal film with a variety of thicknesses were measured. The characteristics of the temperature field and the thermally induced flow associated with the moving heat source are discussed. It was shown that the processing temperature range of the LDSP is from 330 to 390 K. A semi-empirical model for estimating the metal film growth rate using this process was developed based on these results. From the experimental and numerical results, it is seen that, owing to the increased reflectivity of the silver film as its thickness increases, the growth rate decreases gradually from about 40 nm at initial to 10 nm per laser scan after ten scans. This self-controlling effect of LDSP process controls the thickness and improves the uniformity of the fabricated metal film. The growth rate and resulting thickness of the metal film can also be regulated by adjustment of the processing parameters, and thus can be utilized for controllable additive nano/microfabrication.

Battle between influenza A virus and a newly identified antiviral activity of the PARP-containing ZAPL protein.

Previous studies showed that ZAPL (PARP-13.1) exerts its antiviral activity via its N-terminal zinc fingers that bind the mRNAs of some viruses, leading to mRNA degradation. Here we identify a different antiviral activity of ZAPL that is directed against influenza A virus. This ZAPL antiviral activity involves its C-terminal PARP domain, which binds the viral PB2 and PA polymerase proteins, leading to their proteasomal degradation. After the PB2 and PA proteins are poly(ADP-ribosylated), they are associated with the region of ZAPL that includes both the PARP domain and the adjacent WWE domain that is known to bind poly(ADP-ribose) chains. These ZAPL-associated PB2 and PA proteins are then ubiquitinated, followed by proteasomal degradation. This antiviral activity is counteracted by the viral PB1 polymerase protein, which binds close to the PARP domain and causes PB2 and PA to dissociate from ZAPL and escape degradation, explaining why ZAPL only moderately inhibits influenza A virus replication. Hence influenza A virus has partially won the battle against this newly identified ZAPL antiviral activity. Eliminating PB1 binding to ZAPL would be expected to substantially increase the inhibition of influenza A virus replication, so that the PB1 interface with ZAPL is a potential target for antiviral development.

Determination of the position and orientation of a flat piezoelectric micro-stage by moving the optical axis.

A moving optical axis measurement system with six degrees-of-freedom (DOF) is proposed in this study. The system is very simple and can be placed inside a flat piezoelectric micro-stage. The system comprises three two-DOF optical measurement modules, each having a quadrant photo diode (QPD), a lens, and a laser diode. These three modules and the geometric configuration of their installation allow displacement measurements with up to six-DOF to be made. A mathematical model of this system is also presented. By analyzing the sensitivity and relationship between the displacement of the stage and each of the QPD light spots, movement can be observed. Signal feedback enables multi-axis nano-scale positioning control. We also present a new six-DOF nano stage, which uses piezoelectric actuators for displacement. This stage was used to verify the proposed six-DOF measurement system. Linear and angular resolution of the system can be down to 10 nm and 0.1 arcsec. Linear and angular displacement measurement errors of this six-DOF measurement system are in the range of ±70 nm and ±0.65 arcsec.

Development of a steel ball center alignment device based on Michelson interference concept.

This study presents a ball center alignment method based on the Michelson interferometer where one of the reflecting mirrors is replaced by a lens and steel ball. By locating the ball away from the focal length of the lens, the beam is reflected as a spherical wave. The interference ring formed by the planar and spherical waves can be clearly observed using a camera without a lens. The distance of the offset of the ball center can be enhanced by more than 140% using this method. A fast ring profile fitting method can reduce circle fitting time to around a third of that needed for Hough transformation.

Development of a machine for automatically measuring static/dynamic running parallelism in linear guideways.

This work develops a machine for automatically measuring static/dynamic running parallelism for use in the linear guideway manufacturing industry. The automatic static/dynamic running parallelism measurement machine consists of a running parallelism measurement system, a linear motor, a precision granite air-suspension table, and a PC-based human-machine interface. The machine can be used simultaneously to measure the horizontal and vertical running parallelism of a linear guideway and automatically determine its accuracy. The measured parallelism is digitalized and analyzed to detect turning points in the linear guideway. The results concerning the accuracy of the running parallelism are not affected by the measurement platform. Experimental results showed that the standard deviation of the running parallelism measurement system is 0.4 µm and the measuring time is about 10 s for every 1000 mm of length (equal to a measuring speed of 0.1 m/s); this measurement time is 80% shorter than that of a traditional measurement system (which has a maximum speed of 1 m/s, a maximum sampling frequency of 100 kHz, and a maximum measurement length of 2000 mm).

Cellular DDX21 RNA helicase inhibits influenza A virus replication but is counteracted by the viral NS1 protein.

Influenza A virus RNA synthesis is catalyzed by the viral polymerase comprised of the PA, PB1, and PB2 proteins. We show that the host DDX21 RNA helicase restricts influenza A virus by binding PB1 and inhibiting polymerase assembly, resulting in reduced viral RNA and protein synthesis. Later during infection, the viral NS1 protein overcomes this restriction by binding to DDX21 and displacing PB1. DDX21 binds to a region of the NS1 N-terminal domain that also participates in other critical functions. A virus mutant whose NS1 protein is unable to bind DDX21 exhibits reduced viral protein synthesis at both late and early times of infection, a phenotype converted to wild-type upon DDX21 knockdown. As sequential interaction of PB1 and NS1 with DDX21 leads to temporal regulation of viral gene expression, influenza A virus likely uses the DDX21-NS1 interaction not only to overcome restriction, but also to regulate the viral life cycle.

Annealing effect and photovoltaic properties of nano-ZnS/textured p-Si heterojunction.

The preparation and characterization of heterojunction solar cell with ZnS nanocrystals synthesized by chemical bath deposition method were studied in this work. The ZnS nanocrystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Lower reflectance spectra were found as the annealing temperature of ZnS film increased on the textured p-Si substrate. It was found that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the AZO/ZnS/textured p-Si heterojunction solar cell with an annealing temperature of 250°C was η = 3.66%.

Photoheterotrophic growth of Chlorella vulgaris ESP6 on organic acids from dark hydrogen fermentation effluents.

In this work, Chlorella vulgaris ESP6 was used to assimilate the soluble metabolites in the hydrogen fermentation broth of Clostridium butyricum CGS5 to obtain valuable microalgae biomass. The results show that C. vulgaris ESP6 could grow on the 4-fold diluted dark fermentation broth. Acetate was efficiently utilized during the growth of C. vulgaris ESP6, whereas the microalgae growth was inhibited by lactate, butyrate, and HCO3(-) when their concentrations were higher than 0.5, 0.1, and 2.72 g/L, respectively. C. vulgaris ESP6 could completely consume butyrate (the most abundant dark fermentation metabolite) when it was grown on Tris-Acetate-Phosphate medium under a food to microorganism (F/M) ratio of 1.11.

Note: Development of a high resolution six-degrees-of-freedom optical vibrometer for precision stage.

A high resolution six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) optical vibrometer is proposed. 6-DOF vibrations can be simultaneously measured using the proposed optical vibrometer, which reduces measurement time and number. The performance of the proposed vibrometer is verified by experiments. The results show that the accuracy of the proposed optical vibrometer is ±30 nm∕200 nm and ±0.04 arcsec∕0.1 arcsec at 1000 Hz.

Development of an optical three-dimensional laser tracker using dual modulated laser diodes and a signal detector.

Laser trackers are widely used in industry for tasks such as the assembly of airplanes and automobiles, contour measurement, and robot calibration. However, laser trackers are expensive, and the corresponding solution procedure is very complex. The influence of measurement uncertainties is also significant. This study proposes a three-dimensional space position measurement system which consists of two tracking modules, a zero tracking angle return subsystem, and a target quadrant photodiode (QPD). The target QPD is placed on the object being tracked. The origin locking method is used to keep the rays on the origin of the target QPD. The position of the target QPD is determined using triangulation since the two laser rays are projected onto one QPD. Modulation and demodulation are utilized to separate the coupled positional values. The experiment results show that measurement errors in the X, Y, and Z directions are less than ±0.05% when the measured object was moved by 300, 300, and 200 mm in the X, Y, and Z axes, respectively. The theoretical measurement error estimated from the measurement model is between ±0.02% and ±0.07% within the defined measurable range. The proposed system can be applied to the measurements of machine tools and robot arms.

Thickness measurement system for transparent plates using dual digital versatile disc (DVD) pickups.

A low-cost high-precision thickness measurement system for transparent plates that uses dual digital versatile disc (DVD) pickups is proposed. The two DVD pickups are used as the transmitter and the receiver in the measurement system, respectively. One of the DVD pickups emits a laser to the other DVD pickup (receiver) and projects on the photodiode integrated circuit of the receiver. The transparent plate is placed in the optical path to change the focused point that will affect the focusing error signal (FES) of the receiver. Using the FES, a mathematical model for thickness measurement based on the geometric optical method is developed. The experimental results show that the accuracy is 1.5 microm, and the uncertainty is estimated to be +/-1.37 microm for the measured thickness of 150 microm.

Development of a straightness measurement and compensation system with multiple right-angle reflectors and a lead zirconate titanate-based compensation stage.

This paper presents a real-time straightness measurement and compensation system with an optical straightness measurement system and a single-axis flexure-hinge type lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-based compensation stage. The optical straightness measurement system consists of a He-Ne laser, a quadrant photodiode detector, and five right-angle reflectors. Multiple laser beam reflections between the right-angle reflectors increase the sensitivity of the straightness measurement by a factor of 6. The right-angle reflectors can be moved by the flexure-hinge type PZT-based compensation stage that is actuated by a PZT actuator to ensure that the laser beam is always projected onto the center of the quadrant detector. These two systems are integrated and fixed on a scanning stage. The resolution of the straightness measurement system is 0.1 microm. Using the real-time straightness compensation system, the straightness error of the scanning stage is fed back to the control system. The compensated straightness error of the scanning stage system was reduced from 6.5 microm to less than 1 microm.

Improvement of the nonlinear dynamic response of a Z-tilts lead zirconate titanate-based compensation stage using the capacitor insertion method.

This paper presents a Z-tilts compensation stage with three piezoelectric actuators and three guided hinges, which are a combination of a two-dimensional rotational hinge and a spring-type hinge. In order to reduce the nonlinearity of the three piezoelectric actuators, the capacitor insertion method was applied on each piezoelectric actuator. The relationship between the improved nonlinearity and the decreased displacement with various inserted capacitors is discussed and suitable capacitors for the stage are determined. A three-dimensional feedback measuring system composed of a laser interferometer and a quadrant photodiode detector was used to directly measure the real working position of the platform of the Z-tilts compensation stage without measuring the individual displacement of the three piezoelectric actuators. The minimum displacement and angular displacement of the Z-tilt stage were +/-10 nm and +/-0.1 arc sec, respectively. The error of the dynamic response of z, theta(x), and theta(y) with amplitudes of 3 microm of a sine wave at 30 Hz were +/-70 nm, +/-0.1 arc sec, and +/-0.4 arc sec, respectively, with the capacitor insertion method and a simple proportional-integral controller.

Five-degrees-of-freedom diffractive laser encoder.

Linear laser encoders have been widely used for precision positioning control of a linear stage. We develop a five-degrees-of-freedom (5-DOF) laser linear encoder to simultaneously measure the position, straightness, pitch, roll, and yaw errors along one moving axis. This study integrates the circular polarized interferometric technique with the three-dimensional diffracted ray-tracing method to develop a novel laser encoder with 5-DOF. The phases encoded within the +1 and -1 order diffraction lights reflected from the diffraction grating are decoded by the circular polarized interferometric technique to measure the linear displacement when the diffraction grating moves. The three-dimensional diffracted ray tracing of the +1- and -1-order diffraction lights induced by the motion errors of the moved grating were analyzed to calculate the other motion errors based on the detection of light spots on two quadrant photodiode detectors. The period of the grating is 0.83 microm and the experimental results show that the measurement accuracy was better than +/-0.3 microm/+/-41 microm for straightness, +/-1 arc sec/+/-215 arc sec for angular error components, and +/-160 nm/2 mm for linear displacement.

Application of the astigmatic method to the thickness measurement of glass substrates.

We developed a high accuracy thickness measurement system for glass substrates based on the optical design of the astigmatic method. The astigmatic optical system includes a laser diode, a cylindrical lens, a convex lens, and a quadrant detector. This method measures the astigmatic focusing error signal induced from the measured glass placed in the astigmatic optical system. The astigmatic focusing error signal is converted into the thickness of the glass substrate. The proposed glass thickness measurement system is verified by using a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). The accuracy of the proposed system is 0.2 microm, with a standard deviation of 0.7 microm within the thickness measuring range of 1.2 mm.

Lipolytic activity of suspended and membrane immobilized lipase originating from indigenous Burkholderia sp. C20.

In this work, a simple, inexpensive, and efficient method of preparing immobilized lipase is presented. The lipase originating from a newly isolated indigenous strain Burkholderia sp. C20 was immobilized onto cellulose nitrate (CN) membrane via filtration. The CN-immobilized lipase was able to retain 60% of its original activity after repeated uses for nine times. The thermal stability of the lipase was also slightly improved after immobilization. The optimal reaction conditions of CN-lipase were pH 9.0 and 55 degrees C, which are similar to those for the suspended lipase. Both suspended and immobilized lipase could hydrolyze the six oil substrates examined, while immobilized lipase displayed less specificity over the oil substrates. Kinetic analysis shows that the dependence of lipolytic activity of both suspended and immobilized lipase on oil substrate concentration can be described by Michaelis-Menten model with good agreement. The estimated kinetic constants for suspended lipase (v(max)=243.9 U/mg, K(m)=0.024 mM) and immobilized lipase (v(max)=32.8 U/mg, K(m)=5.61 mM) were quite different. Employment of immobilization seemed to result in a decrease in v(max) and an increase in K(m), most likely due to the mass transfer resistance arising from formation of micelles during the lipase immobilization process.

Diffusion characteristics and controlled release of bacterial fertilizers from modified calcium alginate capsules.

An indigenous Cellulosimicrobium cellulans GS6 isolate able to solubilize insoluble phosphate complexes in soil is a potential bacterial fertilizer. Enclosure of the phosphate-solubilizing bacterium (PSB) in biodegradable capsules may protect the PSB cells inoculated into soil and, in the meantime, enable the control of cell release that confers long-term fertilizing effects. In this study, calcium alginate (CA) was used as the core matrix to encapsulate cells of C. cellulans GS6. The cell-liberating properties of the CA-based capsules were modified by blending with a variety of supplemental materials (SM), including chitin, cellulose, olive oil, and gelatin. The experimental results showed that the maximum cell-release percentage (MCR%) of the capsules decreased in the order of CA-cellulose>CA-olive oil>CA-chitin>CA-gelatin>CA. Furthermore, a mass transport model was developed to accurately describe the kinetics of cell release results for each capsule. The diffusion coefficient (D(e)) of each capsule was also determined from the model simulation. We found that the estimated D(e) values are positively correlated to the release rate with rare exceptions. Lastly, as our results underscored the crucial roles that the type of capsules plays in the rate and amount of cell release, controlled release of the bacterial fertilizer (C. cellulans GS6 cells) may be achieved via the design of capsule materials.