In this note, we study the inverse of the Abel transform for the symmetric space ${\bf SU}^{\star}(2n)/{\bf Sp}(n)$. We start by giving a recursive formula for the dual of the Abel transform on the root system $A_{n-1}$. This formula allows us to consider a transmutation property on the generalized Abel transform associated to $A_{n-1}$. / This paper has not been published. However, it has been cited in peer reviewed venues.

In this thesis, the root-locus theory for a class of diffusion systems is studied. The input and output boundary operators are co-located in the sense that their highest order derivatives occur at the same endpoint. It is shown that infinitely many root-locus branches lie on the negative real axis and the remaining finitely many root-locus branches lie inside a fixed closed contour. It is also shown that all closed-loop poles vary continuously as the feedback gain varies from zero to infinity.

In this thesis, the root-locus theory for a class of diffusion systems is studied. The input and output boundary operators are co-located in the sense that their highest order derivatives occur at the same endpoint. It is shown that infinitely many root-locus branches lie on the negative real axis and the remaining finitely many root-locus branches lie inside a fixed closed contour. It is also shown that all closed-loop poles vary continuously as the feedback gain varies from zero to infinity.

Two kinds of companding filters are presented in this dissertation. The first one is a square-root domain filter based on operational transconductance amplifier (OTA). This one is compact and simple. The total are of the circuit excluding pads is 0.013 mm2. The supply voltage is 1.5V and the cutoff frequency can be tuned from 1.1 kHz to 35.2 kHz when the external capacitance C is 1nF. The total harmonic distortions is 0.93% and the power consumption is 152.29 £gW for a 10£gA DC input current. The other one is a tunable log-domain filter. The log domain filters uses parasitic vertical bipolar junction transistor (VBJT) in standard CMOS process for high frequency. The cut-off frequency is from 8.6 MHz to 25.8 MHz and the power dissipation is 585 £gW. All experimental results in a TSMC 0.35 £gm 2P4M CMOS process confirm the feasibility of the methodology.

Several molecular changes occur following axotomy, such as gene up-regulation and down-regulation. In our previous study using Affymetrix arrays, it was found that after the axotomy of sciatic nerve, there were many novel genes with significant expression changes. Among such genes was neuronatin, whose expression was significantly up-regulated. Neuronatin was identified as a gene selectively expressed in the neonatal brain and is involved in neuronal differentiation during brain development, and markedly reduced in adult brains. The present study investigated whether the expression of neuronatin correlates with symptoms of neuropathic pain in adult rats with transected sciatic nerve. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats weighting 230 to 280 g were used. The rats were grouped into two: those that were sham operated and those that had sciatic nerve axotomy. The specimens-L4,5 dorsal root ganglians(DRG) and their corresponding spinal cords-were collected at post-axotomy day 1, day 3, and day 5. The neuronatin protein contents were analyzed by western blotting and immunohisto- chemistry. Changes in the mRNA levels were evaluated using RT-PCR. Randall and Selitto test was performed to reveal changes in the animal behaviors. The subcellular co-localization of neuronatin with neuronal cell type specific markers were also investigated in correlation with pain-related animal behavior. It was found that after sciatic nerve injury, the expression of neuronatin in dorsal root ganglians was increased in protein extracts. Furthermore, the results of immunohistochemistry revealed that the cell numbers of DRGs were relatively increased. Unmyelinated C-fiber and thinly myelinated A-£_ fiber in adult DRGs were also among the principal sub-population of primary afferent neurons with distributed neuronatin. The increased expression of neuronatin and its subcellular localization were related to mechanical hyperalgesia. The results indicated that there was a following significant correlation between mechanical allodynia axotomy of sciatic nerve and the increased expression of neuronatin in C-fiber and A-£_ fiber of DRG neurons.

The U.S. Institute of Medicine estimates that there are 98,000 people died yearly from medical errors; approximate 20,000 people died from medical adverse events annually was estimated in Taiwan. All these reports indicate that the medical errors have great impact on patient safety. The hemodialysis population in Taiwan keeps increasing these years, and this means more attention should be paid to patient safety with the growing hemodialysis population. In 2005, Taiwan Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation sets six goals for patient safety, general guidelines for healthcare facilities, and relative regulations are mostly on standard devices. This study tries to provide more possible root causes about patient safety at a hemodialysis center. Root cause analysis (RCA) has been greatly used in patient safety because latent factors can be determined by RCA. RCA was simulated in this study at a hemodialysis center. Firstly, a series of formal questions, developed by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, were used to examine the current situation. The questions used are composed of six dimensions. Then, cause-effect-diagram was used to locate latent causes, and finally identified four dimensions. Research results are mainly summarized as human resource management issues, including two root causes of inadequate professional training and overwork. Adjusted job assignment and job content are also suggested in this study.

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The purpose of this study was to treat soils contaminated by pyrene through phytoremediation. The plant species selected were Phragmites communis Trin., Typha orientalis Presl, Vetiveria zizanioides, Rohdea japonica (Thunb.) Roth et Kunth, Cyperus malaccensis. Lam. subsp. monophyllus (Vahl) T. Koyama, Bolboschoenus planiculmis (F. Schmidt) T. Koyama and Bidens pilosa respectively. The degradation efficiencies of pyrene in soils and concentration of pyrene in the plant tissues were evaluated in this study. In addition, the change of microbial biota in soils was investigated in the tests of this study. The experimental results indicated that after twenty-two weeks, soils planted with V. zizanioides, R. japonica and T. orientalis have better pyrene degradation efficiencies. Especially, after fourteen weeks the pyrene degradation efficiencies were 86%, 84% and 77% respectively, which showed that the efficiencies 10% to 20% higher than those unplanted control experiments, which was 66%. In addition, the pyrene degradation efficiencies in summer were found to be higher than those in winter. The degradation efficiencies of pyrene in sterilized soil with and without T. orientalis were found equal to 59% and 55%, respectively. These values were found lower than those in the experiment without sterilization, in which the pyrene degradation efficiencies with and without T. orientalis were 77% and 66%, respectively, after the fourteen weeks experiment. Hence the rhizospheric microorganisms had a significant effect on the degradation of pyrene in soils. The pyrene degradation efficiencies were improved with application of fertilizer (HYPONeX No.2, HYPONeX Co., USA). After fourteen weeks, it was found that the experiment with fertilizer and with or without T. orientalis planted were 7% higher, which were 84% and 73% respectively, compared to 77% and 66% with no application of fertilizer. Proper surfactants have positive effect on phytoremediation. In this study, we found that addition of the surfactant Triton X-100 or combined surfactants (Triton X-100, Tween 20 and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate) both presented better pyrene degradation efficiencies than the system without adding surfactant. After ten weeks, soils planted with V. zizanioides and added with surfactants showed the pyrene degradation efficiencies equal to 85% and 87% (combined) respectively, which showed that 4% and 6% higher rate than the system without adding surfactants (81% ). After twenty two weeks, soils planted with V. zizanioides and added with surfactants showed that the pyrene degradation efficiencies were 96% and 96% (combined) respectively. They were all higher than the system without adding surfactants (94%). Soils planted with R. japonica also showed the same results. In this study, it was also found that the degradation efficiencies were higher at the surface layer of the soil than subsurface layer due to better oxygen content there. Hence the activities of microorganisms in the surface layer were higher than those in the subsurface layer of soils. After twenty two weeks, soils planted with V. zizanioides showed the residual concentration of pyrene were 5.7mg/Kg (surface layer) and 10.8 mg/Kg (subsurface layer). The difference between them was about 50%. Soils planted with R. japonica, T. orientalis or unvegetation also showed the same results. The pyrene concentrations of the roots, stems and leaves were analyzed and the results showed that pyrene did not exist in the plant stems or its leaves. Since pyrene could not be absorbed into plant¡¦s tissues by plants, the phytoextraction and phytovolatilization did not occur in this study. It was concluded that the degradation of pyrene in soils was mainly in rhizoremediation. The soils planted with V. zizanioides showed that the inhibition of Lactobacillus sp, while the soils planted with R. japonica and T. orientalis showed unfavorable conditions to Rhibopus sp.. Four weeks after this experiment, both Lactobacillus sp. and Rhibopus sp. were not existent. The soils planted with V. zizanioides, R. japonica and T. orientalis showed an increase of the number of bacteria (CFU), and thus the pyrene degradation efficiency was increased.

The auxins, including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), promotes the formation of adventitious root in hypocotyls of soybean (Glycine max). IBA significantly promotes the formation of adventitious roots more than IAA and NAA . The activity of anionic pI 3.7 peroxidase (POX) and cationic pI 8.5 POX were inhibited by exogenous auxins during the induction of adventitious root on day 2. Besides, the activity of pI 5.3 POX was enhanced by IBA during the initiation stage on day 4. The increase of the activity of pI 5.3 POX was accompanied by the increase of H2O2 levels. In the previous researches, it shows that the promoter of pI 8.5 POX gene contains both ARF/AuxRE and CATATGGMSAUR motifs that are responded to auxins. In this studies, the pI 5.3 POX gene, which responses to auxins a day or two later, contains only ARF/AuxRE motif. The regulation of pI 5.3 POX gene is probably initiation phase-dependent. The results suggest that anionic pI 5.3 POX produces significant amount of H2O2 through the binding of auxin to POX and mediate the auxin signaling pathway leading to plant growth .