As Low Birth Weight Babies Grow, Can 'Good' Parents Buffer this Adverse Factor? A Research Note.

This research note combines two national Taiwanese datasets to investigate the relationship between low birth weight (LBW) babies, their family background and their future academic outcomes. We find that LBW is negatively correlated with the probability of such children attending university at the age of 18; however, when both parents are college or senior high school graduates, such negative effects may be partially offset. We also show that discrimination against daughters does occur, but only in those cases where the daughters were LBW babies. Moreover, high parental education (HPE) can only buffer the LBW shock among moderately-LBW children (as compared to very-LBW children) and full term-LBW children (as compared to preterm-LBW children).

Decision making in visual search: a dual-modelling approach to examine the influences of attentional templates in response time distributions

The remarkable ability of human search inspires computer vision algorithms that have influenced our life. The algorithms often automatically reach an optimal decision upon finishing analysing stimulus information. This is not how human search works. One missing puzzle psychophysical studies have yet to answer is how a search decision is reached. This thesis addressed this question, using descriptive models to examine response time (RT) distributions and cognitive process models to reveal the hidden information. The thesis focused on those search paradigms, guided (Wolfe, 2007a) by an attentional template (Duncan & Humphreys, 1989), because not until recent years, relevant techniques become more accessible to apply the pioneering approach of dual-modelling. The thesis compared RT distributions and cognitive processes when observers were guided by different attentional templates to search for a target. The first search paradigm was to discriminate 2 from 5. Study 2 varied the working memory strengths in templates, and they were represented differently (null, abstract vs. concrete) in Study 3. The findings suggest attentional templates selectively influence different parts of a search decision and RT distributions, depending on how a template is represented, whether il is strengthened or weakened by the conditions, and whether it is concrete or abstract

Single glass substrate liquid crystal device using electric field-enforced phase separation and photoinduced polymerization

An in-plane switching liquid crystal (LC) cell using a glass substrate and a photoinduced polymer layer is demonstrated. The fabrication process is based on the electrodynamics of dielectric fluids. When the fringing field is present, the LC molecules tend to aggregate in the strong electric field regions while the monomers diffuse to the weak field regions. After photopolymerization, the LC molecules are confined by a thin polymer layer and polymer walls which define the cell gap. This approach enables single-substrate large panel display devices to be fabricated

A Proposed Framework for Influencing Factors of Partnership in E-Marketplace

This paper attempts to integrate concepts of e-marketplace and inter-organizational relationship to built a framework for influencing factors of e-business partnership and empirically explore it. The importance for five dimensions of the Research Model based on four top representatives of interviewed Taiwanese companies engaged in e-marketplaces is summarized. Fuzzy Delphi Method is used to decide which factors are vital for the success in three phases of partnership in e-marketplace. Data are collected through a survey of organizations that are actively involved in the planning or operation of e-marketplaces. Except exploiting of new market, the result has been shown the influencing factors are not the same in three phases of partnership in e-marketplace. It implies that to manage an e-marketplace must have different strategies to select, develop, and maintain participants

A direct reconstruction algorithm for the anisotropic inverse conductivity problem based on Calderon's method in the plane

A direct reconstruction algorithm based on Calderon's linearization method for the reconstruction of isotropic conductivities is proposed for anisotropic conductivities in two-dimensions. To overcome the non-uniqueness of the anisotropic inverse conductivity problem, the entries of the unperturbed anisotropic tensors are assumed known a priori, and it remains to reconstruct the multiplicative scalar field. The quasi-conformal map in the plane facilitates the Calderon-based approach for anisotropic conductivities. The method is demonstrated on discontinuous radially symmetric conductivities of high and low contrast.Peer reviewe

Polarization-independent phase modulation using a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal

Polarization-independent phase-only modulation of a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) is demonstrated. In the low voltage region, PDLC is translucent because of light scattering. Once the voltage exceeds a saturation level, PDLC is highly transparent and exhibits phase-only modulation capability. Although the remaining phase is not too large, it is still sufficient for making adaptive microdevices, such as microlens. A tunable-focus microlens for arrays using PDLC is demonstrated. This kind of microlens is scattering free, polarization independent, and has fast response time

Polarization-independent phase modulation of a homeotropic liquid crystal gel

A homeotropic liquid crystal (LC) gel with submicron domain size is fabricated and its phase-only modulation property evaluated. The LC gel is highly transparent in the voltage-off state and exhibits pure phase modulation before light scattering occurs. Compared to a nanosized polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (nano-PDLC), our gel possesses a larger phase change but at a lower operating voltage because of a higher LC concentration. Similar to a nano-PDLC, our gel also exhibit submillisecond response time, hysteresis-free, and polarization-independent phase change