Does the Universe Really Expand, or Does the Size of Matter Shrink Instead?

Modern cosmology is built on the concept of the spatial expansion of the Universe. And the current astronomical observation is consistent with this paradigm. However, the expansion of the Universe is an expansion relative to matter. Therefore, in this work we try to switch the viewpoint from the spatial expansion of the Universe to the shrinkage of the size of matter during the evolution of the Universe, by employing Einstein’s general relativity and performing a conformal transformation of the metric. The effect of the size shrinkage of matter is then through the variation of the physical parameters/constants in a coordinated way. From this alternative viewpoint, there are advantages in realizing the evolution of the Universe, and also in better understanding Dirac’s large number hypothesis.

Recent upper gastrointestinal panendoscopy increases the risk of pyogenic liver abscess

AIM To investigate the association between a recent gastrointestinal(GI) endoscopy and the subsequent risk of pyogenic liver abscess(PLA).METHODS We designed a nested case control study. Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, 2135 patients with a first diagnosis of PLA were identified from 1998 to 2011. Another 10675 patients without PLA matched by age and sex were selected as reference controls. We identified and compared the possible risk factors for PLA and GI endoscopies performed before the index date(when PLA was diagnosed) between the two cohorts. Multivariate analysis was conducted to examine the risk of PLA within the 90 d after the GI endoscopies.RESULTS Patients with a history of diabetes [adjusted odds ratio(a OR) = 4.92, 95%CI: 1.78-13.61], end-stage renal disease(a OR = 3.98, 95%CI: 1.45-10.91), biliary tract infection(a OR = 2.68, 95%CI: 2.11-3.40), liver cirrhosis(a OR = 2.19, 95%CI: 1.39-3.46), GI malignancies(a OR = 5.68, 95%CI: 4.23-7.64), appendicitis(a OR = 3.16, 95%CI: 2.27-4.41), diverticulitis(a OR = 1.64, 95%CI: 1.01-2.64), and recent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography(a OR = 27.04, 95%CI: 11.65-62.72) were significantly associated with an increased risk of PLA. After adjusting for the above risk factors and the frequency of outpatient department visits and abdominal ultrasounds during 90 d before the index date, an upper GI panendoscopy(a OR = 2.75, 95%CI: 2.05-3.69) but not a lower GI endoscopy(a OR = 1.07, 95%CI: 0.62-1.86) was significantly associated with PLA.CONCLUSION An upper GI panendoscopy performed before 90 d may increase the risk of PLA.

The Assessment of Ocean Wave Energy Along the Coasts of Taiwan

The wave energy resource around the coasts of Taiwan is investigated with wave buoy data covering a 3-year period （2007-2009）. Eleven study sites within the region bounded by the 21.5^°N-25.5°N latitudes and 118°E-122°E longitudes are selected for analysis. The monthly moving-average filter is used to obtain the low-frequency trend based on the available hourly data. After quantifying the wave power and annual wave energy, the substantial resource is the result of Penghu buoy station, which is at the northeastern side of Penghu Island in the Taiwan Strait. it is investigated that the Penghu sea area is determined to be the optimal place for wave energy production according to its abundant resource of northeasterly monsoon waves, sheltering of the Taiwan Island, operation and maintenance in terms of seasonal conditions, and constructability of wave power devices.

Self-Power Consumption Research with the Thermal Effects and Optical Properties of the HCRI-BIPV Window System

The building integrated photovoltaics （BIPV） application is one of the main study topics in the sustainable building field. In this paper, the high color rendering index （HCRI）-BIPV window system is developed to be used in the indoor environmental control, whose module material has appeared to be effective in improving the visible transmittance and reducing the absorption. This paper describes the performance of grid-connected HCRI-BIPV window system with 0.75 kWp capacity installed in an office building for a natural ventilation solution. The experimental results indicate that accumulative power generation of the HCRI-BIPV window system is 157.60 WKh during the 7-month experiment period. For consideration of each evaluated factors, the HCRI-BIPV window system not only offers the passive energy situation for its power loading but also improves the indoor thermal environment by natural ventilation.

Rapid Geometry Analysis for Earthquake-induced and Rainfall-induced Landslide Dams in Taiwan

Stability analysis of the dam is important for disaster prevention and reduction. The dam's geometry plays an important role in understanding its stability. This study develops a rapid landslide dam geometry assessment method for both earthquake-induced and rainfall-induced landslide dams based on nine real cases collected in Chinese Taipei and 214 cases collected worldwide. For simplification purposes, a landslide dam is classified into triangular or trapezoidal. The rapid landslide dam geometry assessment method in this paper uses only satellite maps and the topographic maps to get landslide area, and then analyze the dam geometry. These maps are used to evaluate the area of the landslide and the slope of the river bed. Based on the evaluation information, the proposed method can calculate dam height, the length of the dam, and the angles of the dam in both upstream and downstream directions. These geometry parameters of a landslide dam provide important information for further dam stability analysis. The proposed methodology is applied to a real landslide dam case at Hsiaolin Village. The result shows that the proposed method can be used to assess the landslide dam geometry.

Analysis of Landslide Dam Geometries

The geometry of a landslide dam is an important component of evaluating dam stability.However,the geometry of a natural dam commonly cannot be obtained immediately with field investigations due to their remote locations.A rapid evaluation model is presented to estimate the geometries of natural dams based on the slope of the stream,volume of landslides,and the properties of the deposit.The proposed model uses high resolution satellite images to determine the geometry of the landside dam.These satellite images are the basic information to a preliminary stability analysis of a natural dam.This study applies the proposed method to two case studies in Taiwan.One is the earthquakeinduced Lung-Chung landslide dam in Taitung,and the second is the rainfall-induced Shih-Wun landslide dam in Pingtung.

Reflection of Typhoon Morakot-The Challenge of Compound Disaster Simulation

Climate change has altered locally singletype disasters to large-scale compound disasters because of increasing intensity and frequency of extreme rainfall events.The compound disasters can combine small-scale floods,debris flows,shallow landslides,deep-seated landslides,and landslide lakes into a large-scale single disaster event.Although simulation models and evaluation tools are available for single-type disasters,no single model is well developed for compound disasters due to the difficulty of handling the interrelationship between two successive single-type disasters.This study proposes a structure for linking available single-type simulation models to evaluate compound disasters and provides a useful tool of decision making for warning and planning of disaster reduction.

Infra-Gravity Wave Generation by the Shoaling Wave Groups over Beaches

A physical parameter, fib, which was used to meet the forcing of primary short waves to be off-resonant before wave breaking, has been considered as an applicable parameter in the infra-gravity wave generation. Since a series of modulating wave groups for different wave conditions are perfonned to proceed with the resonant mechanism of infra- gravity waves prior to wave breaking, the amplitude growth of incident bound long wave is assumed to be simply controlled by the normalized bed slope, fib. The results appear a large dependence of the growth rate, a, of incident bound long wave, separated by the three-array method, on the normalized bed slope, fib. High spatial resolution of wave records enables identification of the cross-correlation between squared short-wave envelopes and infra-gravity waves. The cross- shore structure of infra-gravity waves over beaches presents the mechanics of incident bound- and outgoing free long waves with the formation of free standing long waves in the nearshore region. The wave run-up and amplification of infra-gravity waves in the swash zone appear that the additional long waves generated by the breaking process would modify the cross-shore structure of free standing long waves. Finally, this paper would further discuss the contribution of long wave breaking and bottom friction to the energy dissipation of infra-gravity waves based on different slope conditions.

Hydro-mechanical response with respect to the air ventilation for water filtration in homogeneous soil

When water penetrates into soil,interstitial air can become trapped by the infiltrating water.Neglecting the effect of air ventilation could cause deviations in the predicted pore water pressure and the associated effective stress.This study aims at the effect of air ventilation on the coupled hydro-mechanical responses in homogeneous soil during infiltration.A schematic concept of infiltration conditions(open-and closed-valve)in homogeneous soil is proposed for investigating their impacts on the pore water pressure and effective stress.Experiments of vertical soil column filled with Ottawa sand(ASTM C77820/30)were designed for two types of air ventilation(namely,open and closed infiltration).The evolution of pore water pressure at the cylinder bottom was recorded,and served as a benchmark problem for evaluating the coupled hydro-mechanical response.Coding with the commercial software,GeoStudio,was employed for the dynamic behaviors of pore-water and-air pressures as well as the evolving effective stress.It was found in both the experiments and numerical investigations that the infiltration condition plays a crucial role for the ascending rate of pore water pressure as well as the associated effective stress.These results illustrate the inevitable impacts of the air ventilation conditions on the mechanical properties of the soil during infiltration.

The fabrication of ideal diamond disk(IDD)by casting diamond film on silicon wafer

With the relentless densification of interconnected circuitry dictated by Moore’ s Law,the CMP manufacture of such delicate wafers requires the significant reduction of polishing pressure of integrated circuits,not only globally,but also locally on every tip of the pad asperities.Conventional diamond disks used for dressing the polyurethane pads cannot produce asperities to achieve such uniformity.A new design of diamond disk was fabricated by casting diamond film on a silicon wafer that contains patterned etching pits. This silicon mold was subsequently removed by dissolution in a hydroxide solution.The diamond film followed the profile of the etching pits on silicon to form pyramids of identical in size and shape.The variation of their tip heights was in microns of single digit that was about one order of magnitude smaller than conventional diamond disks for CMP production.Moreover,the diamond film contained no metal that might contaminate the circuits on polished wafer during a CMP operation.The continuous diamond film could resist any corrosive attack by slurry of acid or base.Consequently,in-situ dressing during CMP is possible that may improve wafer uniformity and production throughput.This ideal diamond disk(IDD) is designed for the future manufacture of advanced semiconductor chips with node sizes of 32 nm or smaller.

Numerical Study of a Confined Axisymmetric Jet Impingement Heat Transfer with Nanofluids

A numerical simulation on confined impinging circular jet working with a mixture of water and Al2O3 nanoparticles is investigated. The flow is turbulent and a constant heat flux is applied on the heated plate. A two-phase mixture model approach has been adopted. Different nozzle-to-plate distance, nanoparticle volume concentrations and Reynolds number have been considered to study the thermal performances of the system in terms of local, average and stagnation point Nusselt number. The local Nusselt number profiles show that the highest values within the stagnation point region, and the lowest at the end of the heated plate. It is observed that the average Nusselt number increases for increasing nanoparticle concentrations, moreover, the highest values are observed for H/D=5, and a maximum increase of 10% is obtained at a concentration equal to 5%.

Role of hepatitis A virus in diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND Although much information is available regarding hepatitis C virus infection and diabetes,less is known about the relationship between hepatitis A virus(HAV)infection and diabetes.AIM To examine the roles of HAV in diabetes risk.METHODS This cross-sectional study population included data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey collected between 2005-2012.Adult subjects(≥20 years old)with available body mass index measurements,defined diabetes status,history of HAV vaccination,and HAV serology were included.HAV vaccination was based on self-reported history.Successful HAV immunization was defined as the presence of both vaccination and anti-HAV antibody.HAV infection was defined by the absence of vaccination but presence of anti-hepatitis A antibody.The odds ratio(OR)for diabetes with 95%confidence intervals(95%CI)was calculated for each HAV status and then adjusted for covariates.Sensitivity tests,based on different definitions of diabetes,were performed to verify the results.RESULTS Among 19942 subjects,4229 subjects(21.21%)received HAV vaccination and HAV antibody was present in 9224 subjects(46.25%).Although HAV infection was associated with an increased risk of diabetes(OR:1.13;95%CI:1.08-1.18),HAV vaccination was not associated with diabetes(OR:1.06;95%CI:0.95-1.18),and successful HAV immunization had no impact on the risk of diabetes(OR:1.11;95%CI:0.97-1.27).Thus,HAV infection was an unlikely cause of diabetes.Alternatively,in non-vaccinated subjects,diabetes increased the risk of HAV infection by 40%(OR:1.40,95%CI:1.27-1.54).CONCLUSION An association between HAV infection and diabetes is observed which is best explained by an increased risk of HAV infection in diabetic patients.Diabetic subjects are more susceptible to HAV.Thus,HAV vaccination is highly recommended in diabetic patients.

Impairment of gastrointestinal quality of life in severely obese patients

AIM:To investigate the common gastro-intestinal symptoms and quality of life in severely obese subjects.METHODS:We prospectively recruited 340 severely obese patients[mean age 30.5±7.8 years;mean body mass index(BMI)42.9±6.1 kg/m2]and 340 healthy persons(mean BMI 23.1±3.8 kg/m2)matched in sex,age,marriage and education.The quality of life was studied using a specific gastrointestinal quality of life index(GIQLI)questionnaire.The 36 items and four functional domains of the GIQLI were compared and analyzed between the groups.The possible correlation of GIQLI scores with specific clinical variables in severely obese patients was assessed by measuring Pearson’s coefficient of correlation.RESULTS:The mean GIQLI score of severely obese patients was lower than the normal control group(108.5±17.1 vs 123.2±14.8,P<0.01).Severely obese patients had decreased scores in the domains of generalhealth,including physical(17.3±6.0 vs 22.4±3.1,P<0.01),emotional(12.6±4.3 vs 16.6±3.1,P<0.01)and social function(14.7±3.9 vs 17.9±2.5,P<0.01),and in the domain of gastrointestinal symptoms(63.9±6.7 vs 66.3±7.2,P<0.05).A significantly decreased score was found in nine items,and there was an increased score in one out of the 19 items in the domain of symptoms of the GIQLI questionnaire.The decreased score in the domain of symptoms was correlated with increasing glycosylated hemoglobin(HbA1c)levels.CONCLUSION:Severe obesity resulted in a significant impairment of the quality of life and caused specific gastrointestinal symptoms compared with normal controls.The development of gastrointestinal symptoms is correlated increasing HbA1c,suggesting that a poor control of hyperglycemia might be the etiology.

Detection of Breaking Waves Using X-Band Pulse Radar in the Nearshore Region

An X-band pulsed Doppler microwave radar has been used to determine the characteristics of breaking waves. Field experiments were conducted at the Shuang-Si estuary in the north of Taiwan in the winter of 2005. Analyses on maxima radar cross section and Doppler frequency shift are done to characterize wave breaking zones. Based on observations of breaking waves, the wave breaking zones are shown to be located at water depths of 1.8 to 2.2 m in the experimental site. In general, the results indicate that a radar system has the potential to delineate the spatial variation of breaking waves clearly and that this is sufficient to achieve a measurement operation for near-shore air-sea interaction events.

SAW filter with AIN on diamond

Diamond surface acoustic wave(SAW) has been used to boost the frequency of thin film filters made of piezoelectric materials.Many designs have been tested and with significant results,in particular,AlN on diamond(AlNoD) as the interface for transmitting Rayleigh wave was studied extensively .However,in all cases,nano crystalline or microcrystalline AlN coatings were deposited,typically by sputtering or CVD,on polycrystalline diamond film.The diamond film itself may contain nano or micro grains that are deposited by CVD.The presence of extensive grain boundaries in AlN can attenuate rapidly the propagation of Rayleigh wave.Moreover,the bonding between loose atomic packing of AlN and tight lattice of diamond is weak so much of the mechanical energy is dissipated as heat.In fact,the energy loss is much higher than energy transmitted during the resonating process.In this research,we attempted to improve the matching of atoms at the interface of AlNoD by doping AlN lattice with boron atoms.The shrinking of the lattice may allow more atoms are aligned at the interface.Moreover,a method of coupling single crystal AlN on single crystal diamond is proposed.Such a coupling can maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the resonating AlNoD at the same time minimize the insertion loss of the SAW filter.

Integer Wavelet-Based Image Interpolation in Lifting Structure for Image Resolution Enhancement

A floating-point wavelet-based and an integer wavelet-based image interpolations in lifting structures and polynomial curve fitting for image resolution enhancement are proposed in this paper. The proposed prediction methods estimate high-frequency wavelet coefficients of the original image based on the available low-frequency wavelet coefficients, so that the original image can be reconstructed by using the proposed prediction method. To further improve the reconstruction performance, we use polynomial curve fitting to build relationships between actual high-frequency wavelet coefficients and estimated high-frequency wavelet coefficients. Results of the proposed prediction algorithm for different wavelet transforms are compared to show the proposed prediction algorithm outperforms other methods.

An Evaluation for the Probability Density of the First Hitting Time

Let h(t) be a smooth function, Bt a standard Brownian motion and th=inf{t;Bt=h(t)} the first hitting time. In this paper, new formulations are derived to evaluate the probability density of the first hitting time. If u(x, t) denotes the density function of x=Bt for t th, then uxx=2ut and u(h(t),t)=0. Moreover, the hitting time density dh(t) is 1/2ux(h(t),t). Applying some partial differential equation techniques, we derive a simple integral equation for dh(t). Two examples are demonstrated in this article.

Simulations of Rayleigh’s Wave on Curved Surface

Impulsive line load in a half-space (Lamb’s problem) can be solved with a closed form solution. This solution is helpful for understanding the phenomenon of Rayleigh’s waves. In this article, we use a boundary element method to simulate the solution of an elastic solid with a curved free surface under impact loading. This problem is considered difficult for numerical methods. Lamb’s problem is calculated first to verify the method. Then the method is applied on the problems with different surface curvatures. The method simulates the phenomenon of Rayleigh’s wave propagating on a curved surface very well. The results are shown in figures.

Model for Predicting the Transport and Dispersal of Contaminants Incoming with Submarine Groundwater: Case Study for the Southwestern Taiwan Coastal Zone

As was recognized recently, the submarine groundwater transports a significant amount of various contaminants into the coastal ocean. An assessment of the impact of intruded pollutants in the coastal ecosystems requires understanding fate of the pollutants and processes of their dispersal in ambient waters. In this paper, we proposed a 3-D coupled ocean circulation/particle-tracking model for predicting the transport and dispersal of pollution-containing groundwater discharged into a coastal environment of the southwestern Taiwan. The particle-tracking model takes currents and turbulent diffusivities predetermined by the ocean circulation model and uses the Lagrangian approach to predict the motion of individual droplets, the sum of which constitutes a contaminant plume in result of discharge of contaminant-rich submarine groundwater. The ocean circulation model was forced by tides and seasonal favorable winds for the south-western coast of Taiwan. The initialization of the coupled model was set using field data obtained in 2009 on the Ping-tung shelf where shallow aquifer seepages were discovered. Several types of numerical experiment scenarios were set up to elucidate the transport and dispersal of conservative and nonconservative (nitrate) contaminants in the shallow coastal zone. The comparison of obtained numerical results with observations performed by other researches was discussed.