A Novel Thin NIPAM Gel Cassette Dosimeter for Photon-Beam Radiotherapy

The response of thin polymer gel cassettes (called NIPAM gels) to ionizing radiation was investigated in this study. The NIPAM gels were prepared from gelatin, N-isopropyl acrylamide, tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphoniumchloride, and N,N′-methylene-bis-acrylamide. Gel cassettes were irradiated in a phantom using a linear accelerator, and the polymerization morphology of irradiated NIPAM gel was characterized using scanning electron microscopy. The dose-response sensitivity of the NIPAM gels was evaluated using the differences in optical densities. The optical densities were obtained using a computer-controlled CCD camera that was connected to a planar illumination source for acquisition of optical transmission images. The central axis depth dose profiles of the phantom were extracted, and a comparison with ionization chamber measurements demonstrated similarities in profiles. The sensitivity, linearity of the response, accuracy, and reproducibility of the polymer gel cassettes were acceptable. However, the profiles of the half-blocked field irradiation showed no significant dispersion in the visible region. This study also extensively investigated the spatial stability of the NIPAM gel. The results showed that the gel cassette response remains stable for up to three months after irradiation

ACQUIRING SCOPE: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Based on the spontaneous data of a Chinese-speaking child collected from 1 year old up to 4+ years old, this study focuses on the development of his scope by examining the scope interaction between negation and quantified NPs that occur in preverbal positions. It is found that the child is sensitive to scope at 3;2, an age much earlier than the age reported in other studies (e.g., age of 6 in Lee 1991). Further evidence shows that the child has mastered scope of negation and scope in general at the age of 4. First, starting from age 4;3, the child has managed to mark universal quantifiers and wh-phrases as well as duration phrases occurring in the preverbal position with scope markers such as dou ‘all’ and you ‘have’. Second, by the age of 4;5, the child has placed duration phrases in target positions in relation to negation

A Study of Effectiveness and Satisfaction Level of Cloud CRM Users in Taiwan\u27s Enterprises

Cloud computing in recent years has become a popular IT application. In Taiwan, enterprises currently using CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications seek to take advantages of cloud computing features to enhance CRM effectiveness. However, despite international IT service providers’ investments in Taiwan’s market for establishing a cloud computing environment for CRM users, no statistics are available to reflect experience with actual use. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to understand the satisfaction levels of the current cloud CRM users (i.e., Taiwan’s enterprises) and to determine the key factors, which significantly affect enterprises’ managerial effectiveness and users’ satisfaction with cloud CRM. The basis for the research model is the Information System Success model and the characteristics of SaaS and CRM. This study has obtained contacts with Taiwan’s enterprises currently using cloud CRM, and the complete analyses of valid survey responses will occur shortly

Testing The Antecedents of Well-Being and Its Effects on Loyalty: A Comparison Between Taiwan and Sweden College Students

Cross-cultural well-being is more critical to a social network service (SNS) development, since this kind of services need to help their users to builds social skills throughout the world. The purpose of this study is to investigate the antecedents of well-being and its effects on loyalty cross-culture differences between Sweden and Taiwan students on SNS. In the model, the well-being is divided into two formative second-order constructs: personal well-being and social well-being. personal well-being is driven by self-acceptance, autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth, and social well-being is driven by positive relations with others and environmental mastery. A cross-cultural survey will be conducted to valid data from Sweden and Taiwan. The insights from this study will be expected to benefit social sellers in implementing more effective marketing strategies to foster brand loyalty

Investigation of Emotion Characters of Internet Abusers Using Psychophysiological Signals

Because of ubiquitous Internet and devices, the numbers of the Internet users rapidly increase. Internet addiction (IA) is also a fast growing, serious, and unavoidable problem around the world. The fifth version of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders suggested that IA should be studied in a scientific manner, and more related data must be acquired. Emotion was one important character of IA, and emotion-related syndrome was also reported in these years. IA contains psychological and physiological features and usually is assessed by IA scales. However, self-reporting scale is a subjective measurement tool that may be biased. Furthermore, scales or questionnaires assess the long-term developed states of IA rather than the developing states of IA or short-term change. The physiological signals of IA abusers can provide objective, short-term, dynamic change information instead. Therefore, the dynamic physiological regulation and the psychological and physiological responses to emotion of IA abusers, particularly respiration and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, were studied. IA abusers tended to perform thoracic movement for emotion regulation, whereas people without IA tended to perform abdominal movement. IA abusers exhibited stronger RSA reactivity following negative emotion, but exhibited weaker RSA reactivity following positive emotion

Properties of the Molecular Cores of Low Luminosity Objects

We present a survey toward 16 Low Luminosity Objects (LLOs with an internal luminosity, Lint, lower than 0.2 Lsun) with N2H+ (1-0), N2H+ (3-2), N2D+ (3-2), HCO+ (3-2) and HCN (3-2) using the Arizona Radio Observatory Kitt Peak 12m Telescope and Submillimeter Telescope. Our goal is to probe the nature of these faint protostars which are believed to be either very low mass or extremely young protostars. We find that the N2D+/N2H+ column density ratios of LLOs are similar to those of typical starless cores and Class 0 objects. The N2D+/N2H+ column density ratios are relatively high (> 0.05) for LLOs with kinetic temperatures less than 10 K in our sample. The distribution of N2H+ (1-0) line widths spreads between that of starless cores and young Class 0 objects. If we use the line width as a dynamic evolutionary indicator, LLOs are likely young Class 0 protostellar sources. We further use the optically thick tracers, HCO+ (3-2) and HCN (3-2), to probe the infall signatures of our targets. We derive the asymmetry parameters from both lines and estimate the infall velocities by fitting the HCO+ (3-2) spectra with two-layer models. As a result, we identify eight infall candidates based on the infall velocities and seven candidates have infall signatures supported by asymmetry parameters from at least one of HCO+ (3-2) and HCN (3-2).Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, accepted to Ap