Recent analyses of Lee et al. (2018, 2019) have confirmed that Galactic bulge consists of stellar populations originated from Milky Way globular clusters (MWGCs). Motivated by this, here we present the evolutionary population synthesis (EPS) for the Galactic bulge and early-type galaxies (ETGs) with the realistic treatment of individual variations in light elements observed in the MWGCs. We have utilized our model with GC-origin populations to explain the CN spread observed in ETGs, and the results show remarkable matches with the observations. We further employ our model to estimate the age of ETGs, which are considered as good analogs for the MW bulge. We find that, without the effect of our new treatments, EPS models will almost always underestimate the true age of ETGs. Our analysis indicates that the EPS with GC-origin populations is an essential constraint in determining the ETG formation epoch and is closely related to understanding the evolution of the Universe.

To evaluate the appropriateness of the screening strategy for healthcare personnel (HCP) during a hospital-associated Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, we performed a serologic investigation in 189 rRT-PCR–negative HCP exposed and assigned to MERS patients. Although 20%–25% of HCP experienced MERS-like symptoms, none of them showed seroconversion by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT).

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:234–238

This study examined the role of transcription skills (including spelling and handwriting fluency) and oral language skills in Chinese writing development among upper elementary grade students in Hong Kong. Measures assessing verbal working memory, spelling, handwriting fluency, oral narrative skills, syntactic skills, and written composition were administered to 97 students in Grade 4 (n = 47) and Grade 6 (n = 50). Hierarchical multiple regression results showed that spelling and oral narrative skills were unique predictors of Chinese writing performance. The significant interaction effect of grade and spelling showed that transcription skills played a more important role in Chinese writing performance among sixth graders than among fourth graders. Together, the present results provide important support for the “simple view of writing” model and underscore the importance of transcription skills and oral narrative skills in children's writing development in Chinese.

The contact mechanism should be analyzed for an estimation of the performance of a traveling wave ultra-sonic motor (TWUSM), because the operation of this type of motor depends on the frictional force between the rotor and the stator. However, the nonlinearity of the contact mechanism of the TWUSM makes it difficult to proposed a proper contact model, a characteristic analysis method and an optimal design method. To address these problems, a characteristic analysis and optimal design method using a cylindrical dynamic contact model (CDCM), an analytical method, a numerical method and an evolutionary strategy algorithm (ESA) is proposed in this research. The feasibility and usefulness of the proposed characteristic analysis and optimal design method are verified through experimental data. Furthermore, the importance of the shape of the teeth and the reason for the improvement of motor performances by the chamfering at the teeth are proposed and verified in this paper.

We developed the Hong Kong Specific Learning Difficulties Behavior Checklist for Junior Secondary School Students (BCL-JS) for teachers to rate the frequency of 52 reading-related behavioral characteristics of Chinese secondary school students. An item factor analysis based on ratings on 947 students yielded seven distinct dimensions. In a separate sample of 90 students, the seven constructs of the BCL-JS significantly correlated with students’ performances on most literacy and reading-related cognitive measures, and differentiated adolescents with or without dyslexia. Discriminant analysis showed that the BCL-JS had a high rate of correct classification (82.2%). These findings support that the BCL-JS is a reliable screening tool for Chinese junior secondary school students at risk for dyslexia.

The longitudinal predictive power of four important reading-related skills (phonological skills, rapid naming, orthographic skills, and morphological awareness) to Chinese word reading and writing to dictation (i.e., spelling) was examined in a 3-year longitudinal study among 251 Chinese elementary students. Rapid naming, orthographic skills, and morphological awareness assessed in Grade 1 were significant longitudinal predictors of Chinese word reading in Grades 1 to 4. As for word spelling, rapid naming was the only significant predictor across grades. Morphological awareness was a robust predictor of word spelling in Grade 1 only. Phonological skills and orthographic skills significantly predicted word spelling in Grades 2 and 4. After controlling for autoregressive effects, morphological awareness and orthographic skills were the significant longitudinal predictors of Chinese word reading and word spelling, respectively. These findings reflected the impacts of the Chinese orthography on children's reading and spelling development.

We present new population synthesis models (Chung et al.2011) for quiescent early-type galaxies (ETGs) with UV-upturn phenomenon using relatively metal-poor and helium-enhanced subpopulations in the model. We find that the presence of helium-enhanced subpopulations in ETGs can naturally reproduce the strong UV-upturns observed in giant elliptical galaxies (Figure 1. left panel), without invoking unrealistically old ages (Park & Lee 1997). Our models with helium-enhanced subpopulations also predict that the well-known Burstein relation can be explained by the fraction of helium-enhanced subpopulation, the mean age, and the mean metallicity of the underlying stellar populations (Figure 1. right panel).

The mean-free-paths for inelastic scattering of high-energy electrons (200 keV) for AlAs and GaAs have been determined based on a comparison of thicknesses as measured by electron holography and convergent-beam electron diffraction. The measured values are 77 ± 4 nm and 67 ± 4 nm for AlAs and GaAs, respectively. Using these values, the mean inner potentials of AlAs and GaAs were then determined, from a total of 15 separate experimental measurements, to be 12.1 ± 0.7 V and 14.0 ± 0.6 V, respectively. These latter measurements show good agreement with recent theoretical calculations within experimental error.

The hot He-burning horizontal-branch (HB) stars and their progeny are most likely dominant ultraviolet (UV) sources in the old stellar population systems such as globular clusters (GCs). Integrated FUV flux can be an age indicator of GCs and allow us to investigate age distributions of GCs within a given galaxy or between galaxies. The unprecedented set of UV photometry for M31 by Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), coupled with most recent detailed population models enable to study detailed global UV properties of M31 GCs.

The present study examined word learning difficulties in Chinese dyslexic children, readers of a nonalphabetic script. A total of 105 Hong Kong Chinese children were recruited and divided into three groups: Dyslexic (mean age 8;8), CA control (mean age 8;9), and RL control (mean age 6;11). They were given a word learning task and a familiar word writing task. It was found that the Dyslexic group performed less well than the RL group in learning irregular words over trials but not the regular ones. Error analyses showed that the Dyslexic group made more orthographic and word association errors but less intra-wordlist interference errors than the RL control group. The Dyslexic group also performed significantly less well than both control groups in writing familiar words (e.g. their own name). These findings suggest that Chinese dyslexic children have difficulty learning new words, especially irregular ones, and retaining overlearned words in long-term memory. We conclude that Chinese dyslexic children have a specific impairment in word learning like their alphabetic counterparts.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004 in Savannah, Georgia, USA, August 1–5, 2004.

The degradation behavior of integrated Pt/SrBi2Ta2O9/Pt capacitors caused by hydrogen impregnation during the spin-on glass (SOG)-based intermetal dielectric (IMD) process was investigated. SOG was tested as an IMD since it offers better planarity for multilevel metallization processes compared to other SiO2 deposition methods. It was found that the SOG itself does not degrade the ferroelectric performance. Deposition of an under-layer of SiOxNy by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using SiH4 + N2O + N2 source gases and a SiO2?x capping layer by another PECVD process using SiH4 + N2O source gases produced hydrogen as a reaction by-product. The hydrogen diffused into the SBT layer and degraded the ferroelectric performance during subsequent annealing cycles. A very thin (10 nm) Al2O3 layer grown by atomic layer deposition before the IMD process successfully blocked the impregnation of the hydrogen. Therefore, excellent ferroelectric performance of the SBT capacitors were maintained after the multilevel metallization process as well as passivation. The adoption of SOG in the IMD process greatly improved the surface flatness of the wafer resulting in a higher capacitor yield with very good uniformity in ferroelectric properties over the 8-in.-diameter wafer.

When a melt of BaO and CuO mixture was infiltrated into sintered Y2BaCuO5(211) compact to form YBa2Cu3Ox(123) superconductor, butterfly-like plane patterns of 211-free regions were observed to form within growing 123 grains. In a 123 grain, the 211-free region was found to be a pair of vertex-shared pyramids and 211 entrapped region to be the rest of the bulk of the grain. An observation of patterns and cracks formed within 123 grains revealed the base of the pyramids to be (001) plane. The difference in entrapment, which depends on crystallographic planes and results in the formation of the pattern, was explained by the dihedral angles between 123 and 211. The dihedral angle between a - (or b-) plane and 211, which is believed to be greater than zero degree, might cause the entrapment of 211 particles in a [100] (or [010]) direction. In contrast, the dihedral angle of most probably zero degree between c-plane and 211 inhibited the entrapment. The observed shape of 211 particles in front of a-(or b-) and c-planes supports the above explanation of 211 entrapment to form the butterfly-like patterns. was explained by the dihedral angles between 123 and 211. The dihedral angle between a- (or b-) plane and 211, which is believed to be greater than zero degree, might cause the entrapment of 211 particles in a [100] (or [010[) direction. In contrast, the dihedral angle of most probably zero degree between c-plane and 211 inhibited the entrapment. The observed shape of 211 particles in front of a-(or b-) and c-planes supports the above explanation of 211 entrapment to form the butterfly-like patterns.