The residual strain, crystallographic tilt, and surface topography of InxGa1−xAs and InxAl1−xAs (0<x<0.3) epilayers grown on GaAs substrates are investigated. The residual strain of the InxAl1−xAs grown on graded InyAl1−yAs is shown to be strongly dependent on the thickness of the underlying-graded buffer layers and is larger than that of the InGaAs of the same structure. The crystallographic tilt of the InGaAs epilayers with respect to GaAs substrate is found to be strongly dependent on the growth temperature as well as the layer structure of the underlying buffer layer, while that of InAlAs is insensitive to these two factors. This behavior is attributed to the different roughness of the growth front between these two material systems and is consistent with the observation by atomic force microscopy.

Aims: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the ventral capsule/ventral striatum (VC/VS) is a promising alternative to ablative surgery in treatment of refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A pilot study was conducted to assess 15-month outcomes of DBS in patients with refractory OCD in Taiwan.Methods: Four adult patients with a 3-year or more history of refractory OCD (Yale-Brown ObsessiveCompulsive Scale [Y-BOCS] score of at least 28) met the criteria for DBS surgery. DBS electrodes were implanted bilaterally in the VC/VS. Stimulation was adjusted for therapeutic benefit and absence of adverse effects. Psychiatric evaluation was conducted preoperatively, postoperatively, and at follow up at every 3 months for 15 months. Primary outcome measure was Y-BOCS. Secondary outcomes included the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), and the Global Assessment of Function Scale.Results: Mean severity of OCD was a Y-BOCS score of 36.3 Ϯ 2.1. At the end of 15 months' follow up, there was a 33.06% decrease in OCD severity (P = 0.001). Similar findings were seen for HAM-D (32.51% reduction, P = 0.005), and Global Assessment of Function Scale (31.03% increase, P = 0.026). In terms of adverse effects, two patients suffered from hypomania episodes after several weeks of DBS stimulation, and one had transient hypomania-like syndrome during DBS initial programming. One patient (Case 1) had an allergic reaction to implantation of the pulse generator in the chest, and another patient (Case 3) exhibited vertigo. Conclusions:We confirm that DBS of the VC/VS appears to be beneficial for improvements in function and mood among patients with treatmentresistant OCD. Compared to previous studies examining the therapeutic effects of DBS, no serious adverse effects were observed.

Abstract

Agriculture plays an important role for many countries. It provides raw materials for foodand provides large employment opportunities for people in the country, especially for countrieswith a dense population. To enhance agriculture productivity, modern technology such as wirelesssensor networks (WSNs) can be utilized to help in monitoring important parameters in thwagricultural field such as temperature, light, soil moisture, etc. During the monitoring process, ifsecurity compromises happen, such as interception or modification of the parameters, it may leadto false decisions and bring damage to agriculture productivity. Therefore, it is very important todevelop secure authentication and key agreement for the system. Recently, Ali et al. proposed anauthentication and key agreement scheme using WSNs for agriculture monitoring. However, it failsto provide user untraceability, user anonymity, and session key security; it suffers from sensor nodeimpersonation attack and perfect forward secrecy attack; and even worse has denial of service as aservice. This study discusses these limitations and proposes a new secure and more efficientauthentication and key agreement scheme for agriculture monitoring using WSNs. The proposedscheme utilizes dynamic pseudonym identity to guarantee user privacy and eliminates redundantcomputations to enhance efficiency.

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