1,754 research outputs found
Effect of Animal Manure on Forage Yield and Quality of Pangolagrass and Soil Fertility
Animal wastes may cause environmental pollution. Lu & Hsu (2004) reported that N utilisation in the manure by pangolagrass was 10-28%. Objectives of this study were to determine the effect of animal manure on forage yield and quality of pangolagrass and soil fertility
Probing the C-H Activation of Linear and Cyclic Ethers at (PNP)Ir
Interaction of the amido/bis(phosphine)-supported (PNP)Ir fragment with a series of linear and cyclic ethers is shown to afford, depending on substrate, products of α,α-dehydrogenation (carbenes), α,β-dehydrogenation (vinyl ethers), or decarbonylation. While carbenes are exclusively obtained from tert-amyl methyl ether, sec-butyl methyl ether (SBME), n-butyl methyl ether (NBME), and tetrahydrofuran (THF), vinyl ethers or their adducts are observed upon reaction with diethyl ether and 1,4-dioxane. Decarbonylation occurs upon interaction of (PNP)Ir with benzyl methyl ether, and a mechanism is proposed for this unusual transformation, which occurs via a series of C−H, C−O, and C−C bond cleavage events. The intermediates characterized for several of these reactions as well as the α,α-dehydrogenation of tert-butyl methyl ether (MTBE) are used to outline a reaction pathway for the generation of PNP-supported iridium(I) carbene complexes, and it is shown that the long-lived, observable intermediates are substrate-dependent and differ for the related cases of MTBE and THF. Taken together, these findings highlight the variety of pathways utilized by the electron-rich, unsaturated (PNP)Ir fragment to stabilize itself by transferring electron density to ethereal substrates through oxidative addition and/or the formation of π-acidic ligands
Social and Communicative Functions of Informed Consent Forms in East Asia and Beyond
The recent research and technology development in medical genomics has raised
new issues that are profoundly different from those encountered in traditional clinical
research for which informed consent was developed. Global initiatives for international
collaboration and public participation in genomics research now face an increasing
demand for new forms of informed consent which reflect local contexts. This article
analyzes informed consent forms (ICFs) for genomic research formulated by four
selected research programs and institutes in East Asia – the Medical Genome Science
Program in Japan, Universiti Sains Malaysia Human Research Ethics Committee in
Malaysia, and the Taiwan Biobank and the Taipei Medical University- Joint Institutional
Review Board in Taiwan. The comparative text analysis highlights East Asian contexts
as distinct from other regions by identifying communicative and social functions of
consent forms. The communicative functions include re-contact options and offering
interactive support for research participants, and setting opportunities for family or
community engagement in the consent process. This implies that informed consent
cannot be validated solely with the completion of a consent form at the initial stage
of the research, and informed consent templates can facilitate interactions between
researchers and participants through (even before and after) the research process.
The social functions consist of informing participants of possible social risks that
include genetic discrimination, sample and data sharing, and highlighting the role of
ethics committees. Although international ethics harmonization and the subsequent
coordination of consent forms may be necessary to maintain the quality and consistency
of consent process for data-intensive international research, it is also worth paying more
attention to the local values and different settings that exist where research participants
are situated for research in medical genomics. More than simply tools to gain consent
from research participants, ICFs function rather as a device of social communication
between research communities and civic communities in liaison with intermediary agents
like ethics committees, genetic counselors, and public biobanks and databases
The factors affecting knowledge sharing behaviour within a case study Taiwanese small business
Organisations need to create, retrieve and distribute new knowledge within their companies before applying it to gain, or maintain competitive business.Additionally, recent research has identified a variety of factors that lead to effective knowledge sharing, such as motivation and culture. Moreover, there is few established body of literature that has identified discernible difference between China and Taiwan.Nearly all of the knowledge management literature is in respect of the cross cultural aspect of modern international business, largely in interactive
networking, knowledge acquisition and sharing (Holden, 2002).However, SMEs are recognised to be
a distinct industry sector with some characteristic elements of culture that will impact upon knowledge sharing with regard to the stages of creation, transfer, sharing, integration and translation into practice.Factors, including elements relating to cultural perspectives, were discussed arising from the case study of a small Taiwanese company. The research methodology was based on qualitative research and a case study. Given the objectives of the research, indepth
interviews would be necessary to supplement
the research.Using constructivist grounded theory
this research examined how humans construct reality.It concludes that the organisational context and culture are significant factors that help employees to carry out their tasks.Additionally, the Taiwanese organisational context and how it impacts on interactions between employees and with management, was another important factor
Using diffusion tensor imaging to identify corticospinal tract projection patterns in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy.
AIM: To determine whether diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can be an independent assessment for identifying the corticospinal tract (CST) projecting from the more-affected motor cortex in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy (CP). METHOD: Twenty children with unilateral spastic CP participated in this study (16 males, four females; mean age 9y 2mo [standard deviation (SD) 3y 2mo], Manual Ability Classification System [MACS] level I-III). We used DTI tractography to reconstruct the CST projecting from the more-affected motor cortex. We mapped the motor representation of the more-affected hand by stimulating the more- and the less-affected motor cortex measured with single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). We then verified the presence or absence of the contralateral CST by comparing the TMS map and DTI tractography. Fisher's exact test was used to determine the association between findings of TMS and DTI. RESULTS: DTI tractography successfully identified the CST controlling the more-affected hand (sensitivity=82%, specificity=78%). INTERPRETATION: Contralateral CST projecting from the lesioned motor cortex assessed by DTI is consistent with findings of TMS mapping. Since CST connectivity may be predictive of response to certain upper extremity treatments, DTI-identified CST connectivity may potentially be valuable for determining such connectivity where TMS is unavailable or inadvisable for children with seizures.K08 NS073796 - NINDS NIH HHS; TL1 RR024158 - NCRR NIH HHS; K01 NS062116 - NINDS NIH HHS; UL1 RR024156 - NCRR NIH HHS; KL2 RR024157 - NCRR NIH HHS; R01 HD076436 - NICHD NIH HHSPublished versio
Insight into aspheric misfit with hard tools: mapping the island of low mid-spatial frequencies
This paper addresses computer numerical control (CNC) polishing of aspheric or freeform optics. Prior CNC grinding of the asphere tends to produce mid-spatial frequencies (MSFs) at some level. Precessions polishing can rectify these, but the very ability of the bonnet tooling to adapt to the local asphere enables it to do so, at least in part, to similar spatial frequencies in the MSFs. To accelerate smoothing, hard tools can, in principle, be used, but aspheric misfit is often assumed to preclude this. In this paper, we explore new insight into the role of abrasive particle size in accommodating misfit. First, we report on a glass-bending rig to produce a continuous range of complex surfaces, while withstanding process forces. Then, we describe how this was used to evaluate the triangle of misfit, abrasive size, and MSFs produced for hard rotating tools. This has revealed a regime in which such tools can be used without introducing significant new MSFs, as evidenced by manufacture of prototype off-axis aspheric segments for the European Extremely Large Telescope project
Weak convergence of Vervaat and Vervaat Error processes of long-range dependent sequences
Following Cs\"{o}rg\H{o}, Szyszkowicz and Wang (Ann. Statist. {\bf 34},
(2006), 1013--1044) we consider a long range dependent linear sequence. We
prove weak convergence of the uniform Vervaat and the uniform Vervaat error
processes, extending their results to distributions with unbounded support and
removing normality assumption
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