Cultivating Social Capital through Interactivity on Social Network Sites

The Internet has changed from an information tool to a social tool. More and more people use social networking sites such as Facebook to build and maintain numerous interpersonal relationships. The benefits of online social interaction can be manifested in bridging and bonding social capital. This study examined how the four dimensions of perceived interactivity (control, synchronicity, surveillance, and social bandwidth) affected users’ bridging and bonding social capital. Moreover, this study also assessed how the effects of perceived interactivity on bridging and bonding social capital were mediated by communication quality and social relationship support. This study recruited 422 respondents to participate in the survey. The first results showed that three out of four dimensions of perceived interactivity (control, synchronicity, and social bandwidth) positively influenced bridging and bonding social capital, whereas perceived surveillance negatively affected bridging social capital. Moreover, they have a stronger effect on bridging than on bonding social capital. The second findings revealed that the relationships between the two dimensions of perceived interactivity (synchronicity and social bandwidth) and bridging social capital were mediated by social relationship support

EWOM EFFECTS ON FACEBOOK

The rapid growth of Facebook has become an important channel of eWOM. Facebook users can openly illustrate their attitudes toward products to their friends, either by casually clicking a like or deliberately writing a comment on advertisements. This study explored how friends’ involvement in advertisements and tie strength affected Facebook users’ product attitudes, intentions to purchase, and intentions to click. Moreover, we investigated how product type moderates fWOM (eWOM on Facebook) effects. This study recruited 384 respondents to participate in a 2 (friends’ involvement in advertisements: high/low, between-subject) × 2 (tie strength: strong/weak, between-subject) × 2 (product type: search/experience, within-subject) experimental design. The results showed that friends’ involvement in advertisements positively influenced users’ intentions to click. Tie strength of Facebook friends also positively affected users’ product attitudes, intentions to purchase, and intentions to click. Lastly, product type moderated the effects of tie strength of Facebook friends on users’ product attitudes and intentions to click; however, it did not moderate the effects of friends’ involvement in advertisements on their attitudes and intentions

Global agricultural commodity market responses to extreme weather

The study investigates the time-varying correlation between El Ni~no phenomenon and agricultural commodity markets by employing the bootstrap full- and sub-sample rolling-window Granger causality tests. We find that the El Ni~no index (ENI) which measures the intensity of El Ni~no phenomenon, has both positive and negative impacts on agricultural commodity prices (ACP). The positive impact indicates that El Ni~no phenomenon may reduce the output of agriculture commodities, resulting in supply shortages and price increases. However, the negative impact suggests that affected by external uncertainties, ENI does not always cause ACP to change in the same direction. Conversely, we find ACP has negative impact on ENI, showing that agricultural commodity markets can reflect the extreme climate conditions globally in advance. The analyses can assist investors to adjust investment decisions and optimize asset allocation. Additionally, countries can improve the abnormal climate monitoring system to mitigate losses, and consider the impact of external uncertainties on agricultural commodity markets and ensure food security

Steam Condensation Cooled by Piezoelectric Driven Oscillating Air Flow

The piezoelectric (PE) fan is first put forward to use in the air-cooled condenser, and to enhance the exhaust steam condensation of large thermal power plants. The cooling performance of such a method is evaluated through numerical simulations. The study shows that the surface heat transfer coefficient with PE fan at the air side is higher than that of a conventional axial flow (AF) fan. While at the steam side of the tube, the surface heat transfer coefficient is also enhanced owing to the obvious fluctuation of liquid film caused by the vibration of the piezoelectric fan.Key words: Piezoelectric fan; Air-cooling condenser; Numerical simulation; Surface heat transfer coefficien

The Application Of The IoT For Minimizing Consumption In Smart Home

Excessive consumption leads to 7 trends of crises, including destruction of the atmosphere, energy crisis, social decline and conflicts. Over consumption also deteriorates human health. To reduce excessive consumption not only can improve health, it can also secure home safety and less energy consumption. The reducing over consumption can benefit human health and environmental protection. This motivates us to devise an innovative smart home App (SHA). After a survey to potential users, it reveals that the new features can help reduce the excessive consumption and deterioration of the human health as well as the transportation, healthcare and destruction of earth environment. Enterprises can also achieve their social responsibility through the implementation and popularization of the SHA as soon as possible

Factors deterring dentistry, medical, pharmacy, and social science undergraduates from pursuing nursing as a healthcare career: a cross-sectional study in an Asian university

Background: Globally more registered nurses need to be recruited to meet the needs of aging populations and increased co-morbidity. Nursing recruitment remains challenging when compared to other healthcare programs. Despite healthcare students having similar motivation in joining the healthcare industry, many did not consider nursing as a career choice. This study aims to identify the deterrents to choosing nursing among healthcare undergraduates by examining the differences in the factors influencing healthcare career choices and nursing as a career choice. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted using a 35-parallel items instrument known as Healthcare Career Choice and Nursing Career Choice scale. Six hundred and four (n = 604) first year medical, pharmacy, dentistry and social science students from a university in Singapore completed the survey. Results: Nursing as a career was perceived by healthcare students to be more likely influenced by prior healthcare exposure, the nature of the work, job prospects, and social influences. Lack of autonomous decision making, perceived lower ability to make diagnosis, having to attend to patients’ hygiene needs, engendered stigma, and lack of parental support were identified as deterring factors to choosing nursing as a career. Conclusion: An understanding of the deterrents to choosing nursing as career allows policy makers and educational leaders to focus on recruitment strategies. These include providing more exposure to nurses’ roles in early school years, helping young people to overcome the fear of providing personal hygiene care, promoting nurses’ autonomous nursing practice, addressing gender stigma, and overcoming parental objection

Comparison of Sterile and Clean Dressing Techniques in Post-operative Surgical Wound Infection in a Chinese Healthcare Facility

Purpose: To investigate the effect of sterile and clean dressing techniques on wound management in a Chinese hospital, and to compare their impact on wound healing and the cost of the dressing materials with respect to postoperative surgical wounds.Methods: A total of 130 patients, comprising 70 (53.8 %) males and 60 (46.2 %) females, who had undergone surgery in The Affiliated Hospital of Changchun Traditional Chinese Medicine University, Changchun, China in 2012 – 2014 were enrolled in the study. Of these, 65 (50 %) received sterile dressings and 65 (50 %) clean dressings. A control group comprising 25 patients, 15 (60 %) males and 10 (40 %) females, who attended the clinic for change dressings only, was also included. The patients’ dressings were changed four times daily with 2x sterile and 2x clean dressings. Details of all the changes, including the nutritional status of the patients, were recorded. The patients were followed-up up to the time of their discharge.Results: Twelve (18.5 %) patients out of those who received sterile or clean dressings were found to have acquired an infection. The size of the wounds was approximately 1.8 to 32.4 cm3 (mean: 5.2 ± 6.4 cm3) in size at the start of the study and 0.6 to 4.2 cm3 at the end of the study. A significant difference was identified between the sterile and clean dressing groups at the beginning of the study (U = 72.5; p < 0.12). A decrease in wound size was observed in both of these groups but was not statistically significant, while the change in wound volume, was significantly different (U = 84.5; p < 0.25). When the cost of the two dressing types was compared, the sterile items were more expensive than that of the clean items; thus, sterile dressing procedure was significantly more costly than clean dressing procedure (p < 0.01).Conclusion: With mounting concern regarding antimicrobial resistance and hospital-acquired infections, suitable wound dressing techniques are required to prevent infection and reduce the duration of wound healing after surgery without compromising patient safety.Keywords: Wound dressing, Postoperative, Antimicrobial resistance, Hospital acquired infection

Exploration and practice of performance assessment and evaluation system in teaching and research office

参照学校相关政策和文件规定，按照一致性、系统性、创新性、可操作性原则制定学院教研室绩效考核评价标准，分为基本考核分（包括教研室管理、教学管理、师资队伍建设）和增减分（包括教学研究、科学研究、获奖情况、参加集体活动、教学事故，本项指标得分需除以教研室总人数）两部分，每一项均有可量化的分值，每一项得分均需提供支撑材料，按照考评得分向学校推荐优秀教研室和先进个人，对优秀者给予表彰及一定的物质奖励。该考核评价体系实施两年来，收到了良好的效果。Subject to policies and relevant provisions of the school, and according to according to the consistency, system, innovation, operational principles of performance assessment standards, the evaluation system is divided into two parts. One is basic evaluation scores (including management of teaching and research office, teaching management and teaching staff construction) and other part is increase or decrease in points (including teaching research, scientific research, honors and awards, participating in group activities, teaching accident, the scores of indicators need to be divided by the total number of staff). There are quantifiable scores for each item and each item needs supporting materials for application. Excellent teaching and research office and outstanding individuals will be recommended to the school in accordance with the evaluation score, and the outstanding individuals will get certain material rewards. The evaluation system received good effect upon its implementation during the past two years