Assessing Nurses' Workplace Social Capital : A Study Protocol for Culturally Appropriate Instrument Development

Workplace social capital positively influences the quality but reduces the cost of healthcare services. Academic research suffers from limited and inadequate culturally sensitive nurses' workplace social capital instruments. Here we report on the design and protocol of a culturally focused instrument development study in China. The overarching objective of our dual phase study is to develop and validate a questionnaire measuring nurses' workplace social capital tailored toward Chinese cultural values and norms. In the first phase of INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT, the qualitative phase, we will conduct interviews with purposefully sampled nurses from five geographically diverse regions capturing 16 provinces in China to formulate the initial version of the Nurses' Workplace Social Capital Questionnaire (NWSCQ). Data collection will be stopped at the saturation point and content analysis will be performed for interview data in parallel. The initial version of the NWSCQ will be evaluated and confirmed by two-rounds of expert consultation (target N = 20) and pre-tested among 70 nurses. During the second phase of INSTRUMENT VALIDATION or the quantitative phase, we will validate the psychometric properties of the NWSCQ. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire will be examined and validated through three cross-sectional surveys among nurses (target N = 1154) randomly selected from 12 tertiary hospitals. We have reported our study protocol with the intention of sharing our experience with researchers in other countries who are striving to advance the phenomenon of culturally sensitive and social normatively appropriate nurses' workplace social capital. Findings from our study should advance the development of culturally appropriate and valid instrument of nurses' workplace social capital, another important step toward recognition and incorporation of cultural diversity in the daily operation of healthcare industry.Peer reviewe

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

The Application of a Novel Catalytic Membrane in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

在直接甲醇燃料電池中Nafion® 膜因有高甲醇穿透現象，會降低電池功率甚至產生CO毒化催化劑使電池失去作用。為使直接甲醇燃料電池更趨於實用化，許多的研究紛紛朝向減低穿透作用來進行。本研究中運用新型催化劑薄膜－薄膜修飾鉛釕黃綠石氧化物，進行減少甲醇穿透的測試。利用Nafion® 膜具有陽離子交換的特性，進行鉛釕雙離子之離子交換作用，最後製作出新型催化劑薄膜。在電化學循環伏安法的測試中，驗證修飾過後之薄膜對甲醇具有氧化作用，而鉛釕黃綠石氧化物合成在薄膜之中佔據部份的質子交換點，形成了阻擋作用。結合修飾過後薄膜的催化與阻擋功能，進行單電池測試時，操作溫度為50℃之下，在高甲醇濃度下電池功率比未修飾Nafion® 膜來的高，證明利用鉛釕黃綠石氧化物修飾Nafion® 膜，可以成功地減少甲醇穿透，使電池在高濃度甲醇時有更好的功率表現。Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) are typically very simple and efficient devices among the other renewable energy sources. In DMFC, methanol fuel is directly fed into the cell without any other pre-chemical treatment process. The crossover of the reactant from one electrode to another is undesirable, as it reduces the reactant's utilization efficiency and degrades the performance of the fuel cell. Since Nafion® membrane has high methanol permeability in DMFC, the development of new protocols to control the permeability is a challenging problem in this area. Recently, our group developed a stable and recyclable Nafion polymer anchored metal oxides for organic reactions. Lead ruthenate pyrochlore (Py, Pb2Ru2O6O') modified Nafion® membrane (|NPy|) was used for these reactions. The modified membrane was prepared by in-situ precipitation method using Ru3+ and Pb2+ ions in the presence of molecular O2 under alkaline condition at 53℃. The catalytic activity of this catalyst was first confirmed by electrochemical method using a lead ruthenate pyrochlore modified electrode for the oxidation of methanol. It showed a well defined oxidation peak in CV clearly indicating its catalytic behavior towards the methanol oxidation. The control of methanol crossover by using the lead ruthenate pyrochlore modified Nafion® membrane was conducted directly in the DMFC. The modified Nafion® membrane showed good response compared to that of a unmodified Nafion® membrane. In sum, the gradient lead ruthenate pyrochlore modified membrane has been proved as a efficient catalyst for controlling the methanol crossover in DMFC.目錄 IV 圖目錄 VI 表目錄 IX 第一章 前言 1 1-1 燃料電池起源與發展簡述 1 1-2 燃料電池種類 3 1-3 直接甲醇燃料電池 9 1-4 極化過程理論模式 14 1-4-1 活化極化 17 1-4-2 歐姆極化 21 1-4-3 濃度極化 21 第二章 文獻回顧 25 2-1 鉛釕黃綠石氧化物簡介 25 2-2實驗參數之參考文獻 33 2-2-1 陽極催化劑金屬成分組成比例 33 2-2-2 漿料溶劑選用 36 2-2-3 催化層中催化劑與Nafion比例 36 2-3 修飾Nafion膜文獻 39 第三章 實驗 41 3-1 實驗藥品 41 3-2 儀器 43 3-3 實驗流程 44 3-4 催化劑製備 46 3-5 催化劑特性分析 47 3-5-1 循環伏安法催化劑性能測試 47 3-5-2 穿透式電子顯微鏡(TEM)分析 48 3-5-3 單電池測試 48 3-6 催化劑塗佈 49 3-7 Nafion膜前處理 50 3-8 薄膜電極組組裝－熱壓壓力 51 3-9 單電池操作參數 51 3-9-1氧氣流速 51 3-9-2甲醇流速 52 3-9-3活化時間 52 3-10 鉛釕黃綠石氧化物電化學測試 53 3-11 薄膜修飾方式 55 3-11-1直接修飾 55 3-11-2漸層式修飾 56 3-11-2-1不同空白溶液 58 3-11-2-2不同修飾離子 58 3-11-2-3修飾時間 59 3-12修飾薄膜穩定度 59 3-13甲醇濃度與單電池功率 60 第四章 結果與討論 61 4-1催化劑特性分析 61 4-1-1循環伏安法催化劑性能測試 61 4-1-2穿透式電子顯微鏡(TEM)分析 63 4-1-3單電池測試 66 4-2催化劑塗佈 67 4-3薄膜電極組組裝－熱壓壓力 68 4-4單電池操作參數 70 4-4-1氧氣流速 70 4-4-2甲醇流速 73 4-4-3活化時間 74 4-5鉛釕黃綠石氧化物電化學測試 79 4-6 薄膜修飾方式 85 4-6-1 直接修飾 85 4-6-2 漸層式修飾 87 4-6-2-1不同空白溶液 87 4-6-2-2不同修飾離子 89 4-6-2-3修飾時間 91 4-7薄膜穩定度 95 4-8甲醇濃度與電池功率 99 第五章 結論與未來展望 101 5-1結論 101 5-2未來展望 102 參考文獻 10

The Relation between Employee Stock Options and Firm Performance：Taiwan Evidence

[[abstract]]本論文擬針對民國92年到96年台灣上市櫃電子公司進行縱斷面之實證分析。藉由複迴歸模型來探討有無實施員工認股權證制度對公司績效之影響，以及兩者是否存在顯著之差異性。本研究利用建立一組未發行員工認股權證公司之「配對控制組」，在相同產業與同等規模之條件下，將每一家發行員工認股權證公司與配對控制組進行配對，進而得到所有變數的「配對差異」，從整體因素來探討電子產業實施員工認股權證對提升公司長期績效。實證結果顯示，研究發展費用差異與公司會計績效（ROA、ROE）差異呈顯著的負向關係、權益比率差異與公司會計績效（ROA、ROE）差異呈顯著的正向關係，而與公司財務績效（Tobin’s Q）差異呈顯著的負向關係。[[abstract]]This paper compares the performance of Taiwan electronic companies offering employee stock options to companies similar in size and industry that do not introduce employee stock option plans in 2001-2007 The paired differences in levels of performance between the stock option companies and their counterparts are assessed using multiple regression techniques with long-autodial specifications Performance measures include return on assets return on equity and Tobin’s q Major findings are that 1) there are significant negative R&D expense difference and significant positive net equity between stock option and non stock option companies 2) We do not find evidence that size capital intensity and net sales result in superior increase in company performanc

In Situ/Operando Studies for Reduced Eletromigration in Ag Nanowires with Stacking Faults

Abstract In this study, the effect of stacking faults (SFs) on electromigration in silver nanowires (AgNWs) in particular, with respect to their effects on necking and void growth, is investigated. The galvanic replacement reaction is used to synthesize the AgNWs in bulk at low cost. By varying the concentration of silver nitrate, AgNWs are obtained with and without SFs. In situ TEM analysis provides strong evidence that the SFs can effectively suppress the migration of surface atoms. Furthermore, an investigation of the void growth process reveals that SF facets parallel to the {111} plane contribute to the anisotropic change in morphology and slow down the rate of void growth by 135 times. Thus, planar defects can be beneficial to extending the lifetimes of devices by causing intrinsic changes to the material properties

Spiny Rhombic Dodecahedral CuPt Nanoframes with Enhanced Catalytic Performance Synthesized from Cu Nanocube Templates

Platinum was coated on the surfaces of copper nanocubes to form Cu–CuPt core–alloy–frame nanocrystals with a rhombic dodecahedral (RD) shape. Co-reduction of Pt²⁺ ions and residual Cu⁺ ions in the supernatant of the Cu nanocube solution followed by the interdiffusion of Cu and Pt atoms over the core–shell interface allowed their formation. Growth in the ⟨100⟩ directions of the {100}-terminated Cu nanocubes resulted in the {110}-faceted rhombic dodecahedra. By the introduction of additional Pt precursor, the {100} vertices of the Cu–CuPt RD nanocrystals could be selectively extended to form spiny CuPt RD nanocrystals. After removing the Cu core template, both CuPt alloy RD and spiny CuPt alloy RD nanoframes (NFs) were obtained with Pt/Cu ratios of 26/74 and 41/59, respectively. Abundant surface defects render them highly active catalysts due to the open frame structure of both sets of NFs. The spiny RD NFs showed superior specific activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction, 1.3 and 3 times to those of the RD NFs and the commercial Pt/C catalysts, respectively. In 4-nitrophenol reduction, both NFs displayed better activity compared to commercial Pt NPs in the dark. Their activities were improved ∼1.3 times under irradiation of visible light, attributed to the effect of LSPR enhancement by the Cu-rich skeleton