Implementing an institutional repository for digital archive communities: Experiences from National Taiwan University

This paper presents an empirical study of expanding and extending DSpace digital repository system for an academic institution. National Taiwan University created a portal web site, the Digital Archives Resource Centre (DARC), to provide the digital archives communities with preservation base for their rich research materials, and to provide the public with a helpful information retrieval service. Several modifications and extensions for the DSpace system are made in order to integrate various database resources with different formats among university departments. In this paper, we will present our empirical case in which adjustments of the DSpace system are made in areas such as data submission, metadata mapping, digital rights management, user interface and visualization. Our discussion will be focused on the useful applications in which digital archives communities benefit from the adapted DSpace system in disseminating their contents and long-term preservation within NTU campus. We will also discuss the ways in which the users benefit from the new system for searching and using digital archives

Foreign body in the urinary bladder causing persistent cystitis

SummaryAn unusual cause of a urinary tract infection (UTI) that presented in a woman who had previously undergone anti-incontinence sling surgery is presented here. A urinary bladder stone had formed on an eroded, nonabsorbable suture that had been used in the previous operation. Before identifying the underlying cause, the patient suffered from lower urinary tract symptoms and had undergone a prolonged course of antibiotic therapy for 3 years. Following removal of the suture, the UTI symptoms were rapidly resolved and only a short course of antibiotics was needed after the operation

Design And Fabrication of Condenser Microphone Using Wafer Transfer And Micro-electroplating Technique

A novel fabrication process, which uses wafer transfer and micro-electroplating technique, has been proposed and tested. In this paper, the effects of the diaphragm thickness and stress, the air-gap thickness, and the area ratio of acoustic holes to backplate on the sensitivity of the condenser microphone have been demonstrated since the performance of the microphone depends on these parameters. The microphone diaphragm has been designed with a diameter and thickness of 1.9 mm and 0.6 $\mu$m, respectively, an air-gap thickness of 10 $\mu$m, and a 24% area ratio of acoustic holes to backplate. To obtain a lower initial stress, the material used for the diaphragm is polyimide. The measured sensitivities of the microphone at the bias voltages of 24 V and 12 V are -45.3 and -50.2 dB/Pa (at 1 kHz), respectively. The fabricated microphone shows a flat frequency response extending to 20 kHz.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838

Biomechanical Characteristics and EMG Activities of Weighted Countermovement Jump

The purpose of this study was to investigate the biomechanical characteristics and EMG activities during a weighted countermovement jump (WCMJ) with 0%, 25% and 50% of body weight. Eight male college students participated this study. An AMTI force platform, Penny&Giles goniometer and Biovision EMG system were used synchronously to record the related parameters while subjects performed WCMJs. The results indicate that by increasing load, the eccentric mean force, the maximum force and concentric impulse increases significantly. With the load increase, the EMG activities of soleus and gastrocnemius did not changed significantly, while the eccentric mean EMG amplitude of rectus femoris got greater. This reveals that WCMJ has a marked influence on the lower extremity, especially on the rectus femoris

System Simulation and Implementation of SIPS in Taiwan

This study describes the system simulation and implementation of the system integrity protection schemes (SIPS) in an independent, intensive, and island-type power system. It also elucidates a smart grid plan to provide grid security in this power grid. The proposed SIPS can prevent blackouts that could otherwise result from the transient instability of N-3 contingencies and has been fully implemented and operated. The entire SIPS installation comprises two stages. The first-stage SIPS takes generator tripping system simulation and the second-stage SIPS involves generator tripping, load rejection, and bus-tie switching countermeasures. The proposed SIPS can prevent isolated power system blackout from extreme contingencies system and provide a valuable system simulation experience for similar independent power grids

Co-Design Disaster Management Chatbot with Indigenous Communities

Indigenous communities are disproportionately impacted by rising disaster risk, climate change, and environmental degradation due to their close relationship with the environment and its resources. Unfortunately, gathering the necessary information or evidence to request or co-share sufficient funds can be challenging for indigenous people and their lands. This paper aims to co-design an AI-based chatbot with two tribes and investigate their perception and experience of using it in disaster reporting practices. The study was conducted in two stages. Firstly, we interviewed experienced first-line emergency managers and invited tribal members to an in-person design workshop. Secondly, based on qualitative analysis, we identified three themes of emergency communication, documentation, and user experience. Our findings support that indigenous communities favored the proposed Emergency Reporter chatbot solution. We further discussed how the proposed chatbot could empower the tribes in disaster management, preserve sovereignty, and seek support from other agencies

Asymptomatic ratio for seasonal H1N1 influenza infection among schoolchildren in Taiwan

Studies indicate that asymptomatic infections do indeed occur frequently for both seasonal and pandemic influenza, accounting for about one-third of influenza infections. Studies carried out during the 2009 pH1N1 pandemic have found significant antibody response against seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 vaccine strains in schoolchildren receiving only pandemic H1N1 monovalent vaccine, yet reported either no symptoms or only mild symptoms

The effect of adding a home program to weekly institutional-based therapy for children with undefined developmental delay: A pilot randomized clinical trial

AbstractBackgroundEarly rehabilitation for children with developmental delay without a defined etiology have included home and clinic programs, but no comparisons have been made and efficacy is uncertain. We compared a weekly visit for institutional-based therapy (IT) to IT plus a structured home activity program (HAP).MethodsSeventy children who were diagnosed with motor or global developmental delay (ages 6-48 months and mean developmental age 12.5 months) without defined etiology were recruited (including 45 males and 23 females). The outcomes included the comprehensive developmental inventory for infants and toddlers test and the pediatric evaluation of disability inventory.ResultsChildren who received only IT improved in developmental level by 2.11 months compared with 3.11 months for those who received a combination of IT and HAP (p = 0.000). On all domains of the comprehensive developmental inventory for infants and toddlers test, except for self-help, children who participated in HAP showed greater improvements, including in cognition (p = 0.015), language (p = 0.010), motor (p = 0.000), and social (p = 0.038) domains. Except on the subdomain of self-care with caregiver assistance, the HAP group showed greater improvement in all the pediatric evaluation of disability inventory subdomains (p < 0.05).ConclusionEarly intervention programs are helpful for these children, and the addition of structured home activity programs may augment the effects on developmental progression

Cloud Computing-Based TagSNP Selection Algorithm for Human Genome Data

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) play a fundamental role in human genetic variation and are used in medical diagnostics, phylogeny construction, and drug design. They provide the highest-resolution genetic fingerprint for identifying disease associations and human features. Haplotypes are regions of linked genetic variants that are closely spaced on the genome and tend to be inherited together. Genetics research has revealed SNPs within certain haplotype blocks that introduce few distinct common haplotypes into most of the population. Haplotype block structures are used in association-based methods to map disease genes. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm for identifying haplotype blocks in the genome. In chromosomal haplotype data retrieved from the HapMap project website, the proposed algorithm identified longer haplotype blocks than an existing algorithm. To enhance its performance, we extended the proposed algorithm into a parallel algorithm that copies data in parallel via the Hadoop MapReduce framework. The proposed MapReduce-paralleled combinatorial algorithm performed well on real-world data obtained from the HapMap dataset; the improvement in computational efficiency was proportional to the number of processors used