Tainan University of Technology

About: Tainan University of Technology is a education organization based out in Tainan City, Taiwan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Password & Authentication. The organization has 311 authors who have published 641 publications receiving 10826 citations.

Local market of solar water heaters in Taiwan: Review and perspectives

Abstract: For promotion of solar water heaters in Taiwan, incentive programs were first initiated from 1986 to 1991 and re-initiated from 2000 to the present. The subsidies create an economic incentive for the end users and have been rather instrumental at the initial stage of each program but lost their significance thereafter. To analyze the behavior of the major actors in the local market, two questionnaires were developed. One was addressed to sales and distribution agents while the other one consisted of person-to-person interviews with household owners. The market-driven mechanism is a multi-parametric phenomenon. Other than the capital cost and energy price (cost to benefit), architectural type of buildings (or degree of urbanization) and household composition play the major roles in market diffusion.

Urine analysis in microfluidic devices

Abstract: Microfluidics has attracted considerable attention since its early development in the 1980s and has experienced rapid growth in the past three decades due to advantages associated with miniaturization, integration and automation. Urine analysis is a common, fast and inexpensive clinical diagnostic tool in health care. In this article, we will be reviewing recent works starting from 2005 to the present for urine analysis using microfluidic devices or systems and to provide in-depth commentary about these techniques. Moreover, commercial strips that are often treated as chips and their readers for urine analysis will also be briefly discussed. We start with an introduction to the physiological significance of various components or measurement standards in urine analysis, followed by a brief introduction to enabling microfluidic technologies. Then, microfluidic devices or systems for sample pretreatments and for sensing urinary macromolecules, micromolecules, as well as multiplexed analysis are reviewed, in this sequence. Moreover, a microfluidic chip for urinary proteome profiling is also discussed, followed by a section discussing commercial products. Finally, the authors' perspectives on microfluidic-based urine analysis are provided. These advancements in microfluidic techniques for urine analysis may improve current routine clinical practices, particularly for point-of-care (POC) applications.

Effect of short-term heat acclimation on endurance time and skin blood flow in trained athletes

Abstract: Background To examine whether short-term, ie, five daily sessions, vigorous dynamic cycling exercise and heat exposure could achieve heat acclimation in trained athletes and the effect of heat acclimation on cutaneous blood flow in the active and nonactive limb Methods Fourteen male badminton and table tennis athletes (age = 196 ± 12 years) were randomized into a heat acclimation (EXP, n = 7) or nonheat acclimation (CON, n = 7) group For 5 consecutive days, the EXP group was trained using an upright leg cycle ergometer in a hot environment (384°C ± 04°C), while the CON group trained in a thermoneutral environment (241°C ± 03°C) For both groups, the training intensity and duration increased from a work rate of 10% below ventilatory threshold (VT) and 25 minutes per session on day 1, to 10% above VT and 45 minutes per session on day 5 Subjects performed two incremental leg cycle exercise tests to exhaustion at baseline and post-training in both hot and thermoneutral conditions Study outcome measurements include: maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max); exercise heart rate (HR); O2 pulse; exercise time to exhaustion (tmax); skin blood flow in the upper arm (SkBFa) and quadriceps (SkBFq); and mean skin (Tsk) Results The significant heat-acclimated outcome measurements obtained during high-intensity leg cycling exercise in the high ambient environment are: (1) 56%-100% reduction in cutaneous blood flow to the active limbs during leg cycling exercise; (2) 28% drop in cutaneous blood flow in nonactive limbs at peak work rate; (3) 5%-10% reduction in heart rate (HR); (4) 10% increase in maximal O2 pulse; and (5) 66% increase in tmax Conclusion Heat acclimation can be achieved with five sessions of high-intensity cycling exercise in the heat in trained athletes, and redistribution of cutaneous blood flow in the skin and exercising muscle, and enhanced cardiovascular adaptations provide the heat-acclimated athletes with the capability to increase their endurance time in the hot environment

An extended chaotic maps based user authentication and privacy preserving scheme against DoS attacks in pervasive and ubiquitous computing environments

Abstract: As the era of pervasive and ubiquitous computing comes close, hand-held and smart devices are expected to achieve the dream of all time everywhere computing. Remote user authentication is important to verify the legitimacy of a login user over an insecure communication channel. Furthermore, in order to protect user privacy such that others cannot trace login users by eavesdropping the communication messages, several researchers proposed some dynamic ID-based remote user authentication schemes for providing user anonymity. On the other hand, the denial-of-service (DoS) attacks may make legal users unable to access a remote server by intercepting the authentication message which a login user sends to the remote server. It will make the latest user identities kept by login user and the remote server differ from each other. To ensure user anonymity and prevent such DoS attacks, we propose an extended chaotic map and dynamic ID-based user authentication scheme against DoS attacks. The proposed scheme is suitable for use in pervasive computing environments such as online financial authentication since it can ensure security while maintaining efficiency.

Product Yields and Characteristics of Corncob Waste under Various Torrefaction Atmospheres

Abstract: Biomass is a promising energy source due to its abundant, carbon-fixing, and carbon-neutral properties. Torrefaction can be employed to improve the properties of biomass in an oxygen-free or nitrogen atmosphere. This study investigates the product yields and the solid product characteristics from corncob waste torrefaction at the temperatures of 250 °C and 300 °C for 1 h. Nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and a gas mixture of air and carbon dioxide are employed as the carrier gases. The solid product characteristics approach those of coal at the higher temperature, regardless of what the carrier gases are. The fixed carbon, higher heating value, and solid and energy yields using carbon dioxide as a carrier gas at 300 °C are close to those using nitrogen. The product safety and storage properties before and after torrefaction are revealed by the measurements of ignition temperature and hygroscopicity. A higher torrefaction temperature leads to a higher ignition temperature of treated biomass, except using the mixture of air and carbon dioxide as the carrier gas. Carbon dioxide is a better carrier gas than nitrogen for biomass torrefaction, from the storage and transportation points of view.