The Impact of Disclosure Reform on the NZX's Financial Information Environment

This study investigates the impact of amendments to the New Zealand Exchange's listing rules and the Securities Markets Act 1988 enacted in December 2002. These reforms provided statutory backing for a continuous disclosure listing rule requiring companies to immediately release all price-sensitive information to investors. We follow the methodology employed by Helfin et al. (2003) to test the impact of Regulation FD in the US. Our results show that under New Zealand's continuous disclosure regime analysts' earnings forecast errors did not decline but that analysts' forecasts showed less dispersion in the post-reform period. In respect of informational efficiency we find a smaller abnormal return around the annual earnings announcement date in the post-reform period for small companies. Our results suggest that the reforms have improved the flow of information to investors consistent with the intent of the reform

The Impact of Disclosure Reform on the NZX's Financial Information Environment

This study investigates the impact of amendments to the New Zealand Exchange's listing rules and the Securities Markets Act 1988 enacted in December 2002. These reforms provided statutory backing for a continuous disclosure listing rule requiring companies to immediately release all price-sensitive information to investors. We follow the methodology employed by Helfin et al. (2003) to test the impact of Regulation FD in the US. Our results show that under New Zealand's continuous disclosure regime analysts' earnings forecast errors did not decline but that analysts' forecasts showed less dispersion in the post-reform period. In respect of informational efficiency we find a smaller abnormal return around the annual earnings announcement date in the post-reform period for small companies. Our results suggest that the reforms have improved the flow of information to investors consistent with the intent of the reform

In Vitro Evaluation of a Composite Gelatin–Hyaluronic Acid–Alginate Porous Scaffold with Different Pore Distributions for Cartilage Regeneration

Although considerable achievements have been made in the field of regenerative medicine, since self-repair is not an advanced ability of articular cartilage, the regeneration of osteochondral defects is still a challenging problem in musculoskeletal diseases. Cartilage regeneration aims to design a scaffold with appropriate pore structure and biological and mechanical properties for the growth of chondrocytes. In this study, porous scaffolds made of gelatin, hyaluronic acid, alginate, and sucrose in different proportions of 2 g (SL2) and 4 g (SL4) were used as porogens in a leaching process. Sucrose with particle size ranges of 88–177 μm (Hμ) and 44–74 μm (SHμ) was added to the colloid, and the individually cross-linked hydrogel scaffolds with controllable pore size for chondrocyte culture were named Hμ-SL2, Hμ-SL4, SHμ-SL2 and SHμ-SL4. The perforation, porosity, mechanical strength, biocompatibility, and proliferation characteristics of the hydrogel scaffold and its influence on chondrocyte differentiation are discussed. Results show that the addition of porogen increases the porosity of the hydrogel scaffold. Conversely, when porogens with the same particle size are added, the pore size decreases as the amount of porogen increases. The perforation effect of the hydrogel scaffolds formed by the porogen is better at 88–177 μm compared with that at 44–74 μm. Cytotoxicity analysis showed that all the prepared hydrogel scaffolds were non-cytotoxic, indicating that no cross-linking agent residues that could cause cytotoxicity were found. In the proliferation and differentiation of the chondrocytes, the SHμ-SL4 hydrogel scaffold with the highest porosity and strength did not achieve the best performance. However, due to the compromise between perforation pores, pore sizes, and strength, as well as considering cell proliferation and differentiation, Hμ-SL4 scaffold provided a more suitable environment for the chondrocytes than other groups; therefore, it can provide the best chondrocyte growth environment for this study. The development of hydrogels with customized pore properties for defective cartilage is expected to meet the requirements of the ultimate clinical application

教師角色知覺及其進修歷程之關係研究－以國小男性教師為例分析之

[[abstract]]本研究主要是由角色理論出發，以國民小學在職進修碩士班之男性教師為例，進行對教師在職進修與其角色知覺間關係之探究。大體上，是以進修之整個歷程，包括進修前動機、進修期間經驗、進修後影響，作為本文探討國小男性教師角色知覺之三個分析架幹，次而輔以相關理論文獻作為參照。 在研究方法上，是以質性研究之深入訪談方式，分別對五位已婚男性教師、一位未婚男性教師與一位已婚女性教師進行研究資料之蒐集，其中，女性研究對象主要乃作為分析之基本參照考量，但不列入本文探究之範圍。而在研究分析之程序上，乃先後分為研究對象之個別分析與綜合分析，最後整以研究之結果討論與建議。 在本研究之結果分析上，發現國小男性教師之角色知覺普遍受到社會文化中之男性角色期待與價值影響，並與其進修動機與自我期許密切相關。而在盡興歷程與影響上，進修顯然提供了國小男性教師們一個調適性別角色與國小教師間角色衝突之有利機制，無論是在未來生涯規劃上、教師角色知覺與定位上，皆更能確立個人之角色與價值。不過研究也發現，進修雖能提高教師個人價值，卻不一定能提高其小學教育工作士氣與積極態度，其原因乃因研究對象經由進修後對小學既有之行政文化與組織氣氛不認同故

Global Analysis of Phosphoprotein by Nanodiamond Based Two-step Affinity Purification and Mass Spectrometry

[[abstract]]一般來說在質譜上的離子化效應會抑制所偵測到訊號強度，所以萃取在質譜上去偵測單磷酸與多磷酸的胜?是很有挑戰性的，為了克服這一個障礙本篇論文研究了一個新的策略方法來純化單磷酸與多磷酸的胜?，藉由以奈米鑽石為基材的兩步驟親和層析技術，利用奈米鑽石包覆著聚精胺酸與奈米鑽石包覆著二氧化鈦進行連續性的萃取，在質譜上進行分析。 為了證明這個方法的可行性，我們使用了經過消化過後的β-酪蛋白、混和過後的蛋白質和牛奶中的蛋白質，此策略方法有很高的特異性，在萃取以經過消化過後的蛋白質，用含有磷酸的胜?(β-酪蛋白)與非磷酸胜?牛血清蛋白(BSA)，其比例達到1:1000，依然只有純化出有磷酸根的胜?證明這個方法的選擇性是非常的好，而無論在MALDI MS 和 ESI MS/MS使用這個策略去萃取經消化後的低脂牛奶的結果所鑑定出的磷酸化胜?數量多於使用單一的親和層析技術(IMAC,TiO2,PA)所鑑定出的數量還多，之後要在LC MS/MS的數據可以萃取經過免疫沉澱純化過後的蛋白激B (AKT)中磷酸化胜?證明這個策略的應用性。 這個以鑽石為基材的策略提供了簡單、有效、快速的萃取方法，無論是在MALDI-TOF MS或是ESI-MS/MS都能做到鑑定與分離出單磷酸與多磷酸胜?，並能原始中的物質所得到的許多訊息，而使在蛋白質體學上能有全面性的分析。[[abstract]]Simultaneous detection of multiply and singly phosphorylated peptides using mass spectrometer is challenging because of suppression effect during ionization. To overcome this obstacle, this study presents a new approach to fractionate the multiply and singly phosphorylated peptides prior to MS analysis by nanodiamond-based two-step affinity purification using polyarginine-coated nanodiamonds (PA-coated NDs) and titanium dioxide-coated nanodiamonds (TiO2-coated NDs). The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated using tryptic digests of β-casein, complex protein mixture, and non-fat milk. The high specificity of the approach is shown in its effective enrichment and fractionation of phosphopeptides from the digest of β-casein and bovine serum albumin (BSA) at a molar ratio as low as 1: 1000. The total number of identified phosphopeptides and phosphorylation sites obtained with ND-based two-step enrichment was significantly larger than that obtained with TiO2 enrichment for MS analysis of milk digest by MALDI MS and ESI-MS/MS. Finally, we applied this approach to study the phosphorylation sites of immunoprecipitated protein kinase B (AKT) by LC-ESI-MS/MS. The ND-based two-step enrichment offers a simple and effective alternative for fractionation of multiply and singly phosphorylated peptides prior to phosphoprotein analysis by MALDI MS and ESI-MS/MS, and allows for more comprehensive phosphoproteome analysis from limited starting materials.[[note]]碩

Effect of pH on the In Vitro Biocompatibility of Surfactant-Assisted Synthesis and Hydrothermal Precipitation of Rod-Shaped Nano-Hydroxyapatite

Given their wide range of biomedical applications, hydroxyapatite (HA) nanoparticles are an attractive material widely used in many fields. Therefore, a simple, inexpensive, and stable process for the synthesis of HA nanoparticles is necessary to meet current needs. Herein, we studied HA synthesis assisted by four surfactants, namely cation, anion, non-ionic, and zwitterion templates, to verify the synthesis phase, aspect ratio, morphology, and biocompatibility under different environments (i.e., pH 4 and 9) before and after calcination. Results showed that before calcination, the surfactant-free groups could not produce HA but showed an abundant dicalcium phosphate anhydrous (DCPA) phase at pH 4. Except for the anionic group containing a small amount of DCPA, all surfactant-assistant groups presented single-phase HA in acidic and alkaline environments. The diameter of HA synthesized at pH 4 was significantly larger than that of HA synthesized at pH 9, and the effect of aspect ratio changes after calcination was more significant than that before calcination. The uncalcined rod-shaped HA synthesized with a non-ionic template at pH 4 demonstrated excellent cell viability, whereas anionic, cationic, and non-ionic surfactants exhibited biocompatibility only after calcination. At pH 9, non-ionic and uncalcined zwitterion-assisted rod-shaped HA showed excellent biocompatibility. In conclusion, the uncalcined HA rod-shaped nanoparticles synthesized from the non-ionic template at pH 4 and 9 and the zwitterion template at pH 9, as well as all surfactant-assisted HA after calcination, had no cytotoxicity. These tailor-made non-toxic HA types can meet the different requirements of apatite composite materials in biomedical applications

In Vitro Evaluation of a Composite Gelatin–Hyaluronic Acid–Alginate Porous Scaffold with Different Pore Distributions for Cartilage Regeneration

Although considerable achievements have been made in the field of regenerative medicine, since self-repair is not an advanced ability of articular cartilage, the regeneration of osteochondral defects is still a challenging problem in musculoskeletal diseases. Cartilage regeneration aims to design a scaffold with appropriate pore structure and biological and mechanical properties for the growth of chondrocytes. In this study, porous scaffolds made of gelatin, hyaluronic acid, alginate, and sucrose in different proportions of 2 g (SL2) and 4 g (SL4) were used as porogens in a leaching process. Sucrose with particle size ranges of 88–177 μm (Hμ) and 44–74 μm (SHμ) was added to the colloid, and the individually cross-linked hydrogel scaffolds with controllable pore size for chondrocyte culture were named Hμ-SL2, Hμ-SL4, SHμ-SL2 and SHμ-SL4. The perforation, porosity, mechanical strength, biocompatibility, and proliferation characteristics of the hydrogel scaffold and its influence on chondrocyte differentiation are discussed. Results show that the addition of porogen increases the porosity of the hydrogel scaffold. Conversely, when porogens with the same particle size are added, the pore size decreases as the amount of porogen increases. The perforation effect of the hydrogel scaffolds formed by the porogen is better at 88–177 μm compared with that at 44–74 μm. Cytotoxicity analysis showed that all the prepared hydrogel scaffolds were non-cytotoxic, indicating that no cross-linking agent residues that could cause cytotoxicity were found. In the proliferation and differentiation of the chondrocytes, the SHμ-SL4 hydrogel scaffold with the highest porosity and strength did not achieve the best performance. However, due to the compromise between perforation pores, pore sizes, and strength, as well as considering cell proliferation and differentiation, Hμ-SL4 scaffold provided a more suitable environment for the chondrocytes than other groups; therefore, it can provide the best chondrocyte growth environment for this study. The development of hydrogels with customized pore properties for defective cartilage is expected to meet the requirements of the ultimate clinical application