192 research outputs found
An Empirical Study of Civil Servants’ Lifelong E-Learning Continuance Intention
E-learning is an effective way for job-training and continuous education. In recognizing the need for civil servants to embrace the lifelong learning to sustain competitiveness, many countries around the world have created policies to develop e-learning. This study is focus on civil servants’ e-learning continuance intention and through e-learning experience to achieve lifelong learning. Based on Information system (IS) success model proposed by Seddon (1997) and adding organizational factors (Incentive, Supervisor Support, and Technical Support) to survey civil servants’ e-learning behaviour. The sample for the study was taken from the civil servants in Taiwan who have the experience of using the lifelong e-learning websites. The results also support Seddon’s IS success model. Finally, the implications and limitations of the study are discussed
A Study on the Satisfaction of Supply Chain Management System from the View of Justice and Value
Due to the common, most enterprises have utilized information technology (IT) to enhance their competition and performance. Meanwhile, governments in Taiwan have encouraged enterprises to adapt e-commerce by putting policies and facilitating technology. Nevertheless, only few literatures discuss or evaluate the satisfaction of E-SCM after establishing information systems by enterprises. This research attempts to integrate three well-founded theories – Information System Success model (ISS), Organization Justice Theory and Consumer Value to develop our model. Using Structural Square Modeling (SEM) analysis performed on results of a questionnaire given to the providers of SCM who have established the E-SCM in their enterprises. The results showed that the distributive justice, procedural justice and interactive justice in the organization justice theory have a significant effect on the performance outcome in the E-SCM. It also showed that the system and service quality in the IS success model and the cost and service value in shopping value have a significant effect on the satisfaction of the E-SCM. The contribution of this study can be further research in academic and practical
FRBs' Brownian Motion on Time-Energy Bivariate Space
The origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs), the brightest cosmic explosion in
radio bands, remains unknown. Magnetar-related mechanisms are currently
favored. The searches for short-term periodicity that is naturally expected for
such fast-spinning compact objects, however, have failed. We introduce here a
novel method for a comprehensive analysis of active FRBs' behaviors in the
time-energy domain. Using ``Pincus Index'' and ``Maximum Lyapunov Exponent'',
we were able to quantify the stochasticity and chaos, respectively, of the
bursting events and put FRBs in the context of common transient physical
phenomena, such as pulsars, earthquakes, and solar flares. In the bivariate
time-energy domain, repeated FRB bursts' behaviors deviate significantly (more
random, less chaotic) from pulsars, earthquakes, and solar flares. FRB bursts
wander in time-energy space stochastically, akin to Brownian motions. The high
degree of stochasticity suggests complex and even multi-origins for FRBs.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitte
Different Influences on Tacrolimus Pharmacokinetics by Coadministrations of Zhi Ke and Zhi Shi in Rats
Tacrolimus, an immunosuppressant with narrow therapeutic window, has been used widely in transplant patients. Grapefruit juice and pomelo have been reported to increase the blood levels of tacrolimus. Zhi Ke and Zhi Shi, the ripe peels and unripe fruits of Citrus aurantium which is chemotaxonomically related to grapefruit and pomelo, are in wide use in clinical Chinese medicine. To investigate the possible interaction of these two Citrus herbs with tacrolimus, male Sprague-Dawley rats were orally given tacrolimus (1.5 mg/kg) with and without Zhi Ke and Zhi Shi decoctions in a cross-over design. Blood samples were withdrawn via cardiopuncture at specific time and quantitated by a microparticle enzyme immunoassay. In addition, to explore the mechanism of interaction, LS 180 cell line was used for the transport study of rhodamine 123, a typical substrate of P-glycoprotein (P-gp). The results showed that Zhi Shi significantly decreased the Cmax and AUC0−t of tacrolimus by 72.4% and 72.0%, respectively, whereas Zhi Ke did not affect tacrolimus pharmacokinetics. LS 180 cell line study indicated that Zhi Shi increased the efflux activity of P-gp, enabling us to explain the decreased oral bioavailability of tacrolimus caused by Zhi Shi. Hence, we suggest that Zhi Shi be contraindicated for transplant patients treated with tacrolimus to reduce the risk of allograft rejection
Observing parity-time symmetry in diffusive systems
Phase modulation has scarcely been mentioned in diffusive systems since the
diffusion process does not carry momentum like waves. Recently, the
non-Hermitian physics provides a new perspective for understanding diffusion
and shows prospects in the phase regulation of heat flow, for example, the
discovery of anti-parity-time (APT) symmetry in diffusive systems. The precise
control of thermal phase however remains elusive hitherto and can hardly be
realized in APT-symmetric thermal systems due to the existence of phase
oscillation. Here we construct the counterpart of APT-symmetric diffusive
systems, i.e., PT-symmetric diffusive systems, which can achieve complete
suppression of thermal phase oscillation. We find the real coupling of
diffusive fields can be readily established through a strong convective
background, where the decay-rate detuning is enabled by thermal metamaterial
design. Moreover, we observe phase transition of PT symmetry breaking in
diffusive systems with the symmetry-determined amplitude distribution and phase
regulation of coupled temperature fields. Our work uncovers the existence of
PT-symmetry in dissipative energy exchanges and provides a unique approach for
harnessing the mass transfer of particles, the wave propagation in strongly
scattering systems as well as thermal conduction
Plasma fatty acids and the risk of metabolic syndrome in ethnic Chinese adults in Taiwan
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Evidence of predictive power of various fatty acids on the risk of metabolic syndrome was scanty. We evaluated the role of various fatty acids, including saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, transfat, n-6 fatty acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), for the risk of the metabolic syndrome in Taiwan.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A nested case-control study based on 1000 cases of metabolic syndrome and 1:1 matched control subjects. For saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and transfat, the higher the concentration the higher the risk for metabolic syndrome: participants in the highest quintile had a 2.22-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.66 to 2.97) higher risk of metabolic syndrome. In addition, the participants in higher EPA quintiles were less likely to have the risk of metabolic syndrome (adjusted risk, 0.46 [0.34 to 0.61] for the fifth quintile). Participants in the highest risk group (low EPA and high transfat) had a 2.36-fold higher risk of metabolic syndrome (95% CI, 1.38 to 4.03), compared with those in the lowest risk group (high EPA and low transfat). For prediction power, the area under ROC curves increased from 0.926 in the baseline model to 0.928 after adding fatty acids. The net reclassification improvement for metabolic syndrome risk was substantial for saturated fat (2.1%, <it>P </it>= 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Plasma fatty acid components improved the prediction of the metabolic syndrome risk in Taiwan.</p
Effects of Growth Hormone Treatment on Height, Weight, and Obesity in Taiwanese Patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome
BackgroundInformation regarding the efficacy of growth hormone (GH) therapy in Asian Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) patients is lacking. We report our experience with GH treatment in children with PWS in Taiwan.MethodsForty-six PWS patients (27 males, 19 females; age range, 1 year 4 months to 13 years 7 months) who received and/or who are currently receiving GH treatment (0.1 IU/kg/day subcutaneously) for a period from 1 year to 3 years were retro-spectively analyzed. We evaluated height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and Rohrer index, before and after GH treatment.ResultsAfter patients had received GH for 1, 2 and 3 years, a significant improvement in mean height standard deviation score (SDS) was noted from −1.24 to −0.31 (p <0.01), 0.00 (p <0.001) and −0.26 (p <0.001), respectively. Mean BMI SDS decreased significantly from 1.93 to 1.13 (p <0.05) after 1 year of treatment; however, no significant changes were observed afterward. Mean Rohrer index decreased significantly, from 224.2 to 186.6 (p <0.001), 178.9 (p <0.001) and 169.3 (p <0.001). No significant gender or genotype pattern differences were noted among the 4 parameters examined.ConclusionThis 3-year, retrospective study indicates that PWS patients benefit from GH therapy in height increase and improved body composition
FAST observations of an extremely active episode of FRB 20201124A: II. Energy Distribution
We report the properties of more than 800 bursts detected from the repeating
fast radio burst (FRB) source FRB 20201124A with the Five-hundred-meter
Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) during an extremely active episode on
UTC September 25-28, 2021 in a series of four papers. In this second paper of
the series, we mainly focus on the energy distribution of the detected bursts.
The event rate initially increased exponentially but the source activity
stopped within 24 hours after the 4th day. The detection of 542 bursts in one
hour during the fourth day marked the highest event rate detected from one
single FRB source so far. The bursts have complex structures in the
time-frequency space. We find a double-peak distribution of the waiting time,
which can be modeled with two log-normal functions peaking at 51.22 ms and
10.05 s, respectively. Compared with the emission from a previous active
episode of the source detected with FAST, the second distribution peak time is
smaller, suggesting that this peak is defined by the activity level of the
source. We calculate the isotropic energy of the bursts using both a partial
bandwidth and a full bandwidth and find that the energy distribution is not
significantly changed. We find that an exponentially connected broken-power-law
function can fit the cumulative burst energy distribution well, with the lower
and higher-energy indices being and ,
respectively. Assuming a radio radiative efficiency of , the
total isotropic energy of the bursts released during the four days when the
source was active is already erg, exceeding of
the available magnetar dipolar magnetic energy. This challenges the magnetar
models invoking an inefficient radio emission (e.g. synchrotron maser models).Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Research in
Astronomy and Astrophysic
FAST observations of an extremely active episode of FRB 20201124A: III. Polarimetry
As the third paper in the multiple-part series, we report the statistical
properties of radio bursts detected from the repeating fast radio burst (FRB)
source FRB 20201124A with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio
telescope (FAST) during an extremely active episode between the 25th and the
28th of September 2021 (UT). We focus on the polarisation properties of 536
bright bursts with . We found that the Faraday rotation
measures (RMs) monotonically dropped from to in the 4-day window. The RM values were compatible with
the values ( to ) reported 4 month ago (Xu et
al. 2022). However, the RM evolution rate in the current observation window was
at least an order of magnitude smaller than the one ($\sim 500\ {\rm rad \
m^{-2}\, day^{-1}}\le 1\ {\rm rad \ m^{-2} day^{-1}}L/IV/I\sigma$) were observed in 33% of
all bursts. The polarisation of single pulses seems to follow certain complex
trajectories on the Poincar\'e sphere, which may shed light on the radiation
mechanism at the source or the plasma properties along the path of FRB
propagation.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures. Accepted by Research in Astronomy and
Astrophysics (RAA
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