Aggregated Needs and the Location Choice of Households in Taipei

This paper examines the impact of aggregated needs of household members on the choice of housing location in Taipei, Taiwan, using a sample of 11,191 households and information collected from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing. Our results indicate that the choice of housing location is significantly affected impacted by the age, family origin, past housing location, education and occupation status, and the location of the workplaces of both spouses. We also find that this decision is more significantly influenced by the attributes of the male spouse than the female. However, among the households with a female household head, the female spouse characteristics are more likely to be significant. Our results also offer a snapshot of today’s Taiwanese culture and shows that it is dramatically different from the commonly believed male-dominated traditional Chinese culture.Aggregated Needs, Location Choice, Probit Model

Adaptive Ttwo-phase spatial association rules mining method

Since huge amounts of spatial data can be easily collected from various applications, ranging from remote sensing technology to geographical information system, the extraction and comprehension of spatial knowledge is a more and more important task. Many excellent studies on Remote Sensed Image (RSI) have been conducted for potential relationships of crop yield. However, most of them suffer from the performance problem because their techniques for mining association rules are based on Apriori algorithm. In this paper, two efficient algorithms, two-phase spatial association rules mining and adaptive two-phase spatial association rules mining, are proposed for address the above problem. Both methods primarily conduct two phase algorithms by creating Histogram Generators for fast generating coarse-grained spatial association rules, and further mining the fine-grained spatial association rules w.r.t the coarse-grained frequently patterns obtained in the first phase. Adaptive two-phase spatial association rules mining method conducts the idea of partition on an image for efficiently quantizing out non-frequent patterns and thus facilitate the following two phase process. Such two-phase approaches save much computations and will be shown by lots of experimental results in the paper.Facultad de Informátic

From Teachers’ Views to Explore the Implementation of Energy Education in Taiwan’s Elementary Schools

This study intended to explore the implementation of promoting “energy education” in Taiwan’s elementary schools. The research adopted a questionnaire (Likert five-point scale) from teachers’ view in three dimensions to construct examination. The 45 participants come from 10 different primary schools distributed across Taiwan, which participate in energy education program in the second period (2015-2017). The data was analyzed by ANOVA, mean and standard deviations of the viewpoints of the participants in the energy education learning achievement of the primary schools. The first findings in this research is, the program of energy education was most effective in “energy attitude” (M=4.282, SD=0.814), followed by “energy awareness” (M=4.049, SD=0.720) and “energy behavior” (M=3.983, SD=0.875). It shows that students have positive energy attitude, but they were relatively weak at energy saving behavior. Secondly, there is statistically significant difference in overall students learning performance with urban areas are higher than rural areas. Finally, it is suggested that in addition to strengthen energy attitudes and energy awareness, we should encourage students to take action in save energy in their daily life. Furthermore, we should invest more resources to rural areas to balance the students’ performances between urban and rural areas

Adaptive Ttwo-phase spatial association rules mining method

Since huge amounts of spatial data can be easily collected from various applications, ranging from remote sensing technology to geographical information system, the extraction and comprehension of spatial knowledge is a more and more important task. Many excellent studies on Remote Sensed Image (RSI) have been conducted for potential relationships of crop yield. However, most of them suffer from the performance problem because their techniques for mining association rules are based on Apriori algorithm. In this paper, two efficient algorithms, two-phase spatial association rules mining and adaptive two-phase spatial association rules mining, are proposed for address the above problem. Both methods primarily conduct two phase algorithms by creating Histogram Generators for fast generating coarse-grained spatial association rules, and further mining the fine-grained spatial association rules w.r.t the coarse-grained frequently patterns obtained in the first phase. Adaptive two-phase spatial association rules mining method conducts the idea of partition on an image for efficiently quantizing out non-frequent patterns and thus facilitate the following two phase process. Such two-phase approaches save much computations and will be shown by lots of experimental results in the paper.Facultad de Informátic

THE EFFECTS OF COMPRESSION GARMENTS ON SPORTS PERFORMANCE AND FATIQUE

This study is to explore the effects of compression garments on sports performance and fatigue. Testees performed 20-meter sprints in normal shorts and compression garments. Following the sprints, the testees performed vertical jumps before and after the fatigue test. Fatigue test is based on the Opto Jump 60-s CMJ test. Fatigue indices were then calculated. Biomechanics data were collected through two AMTl force plates and an eightcamera motion analysis system. Our research findings indicate that the average sprint times for normal shorts and compression garments are not statistically different, that the fatigue indices for compression garments are significantly lower than those for normal shorts, and, finally, that the jump performance pre- and post- fatigue test for compression garments did not differ statistically. This implies that compression garments can ease fatigue and, consequently, lead to better performance

Effects of IS Characteristics on the E-Business Success Factors for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The current research presents a theoretically sound model on information systems (IS) characteristics’ effects on end-users’ perception of computer self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Based on the IS success model and the social cognitive theory, the relationship among factors with regard to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan is examined. Using mail survey, 284 usable responses are obtained, and the total response rate is recorded at 51.64%. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed to assess the relationships among related constructs. In modeling the results of data analysis, it is shown that (1) there are no direct links between both information quality and service quality with computer self-efficacy, but the effect of system quality is observed; (2) the relationship between both system quality and service quality with outcome expectations is significant, but that with information quality is not; and (3) outcome expectations mediates the impacts of computer self-efficacy on end-users’ satisfaction. Finally, the implications of the results are provided, and directions for future research are discussed

Enhancement of brain-type creatine kinase activity ameliorates neuronal deficits in Huntington's disease

AbstractHuntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin (HTT) gene. Brain-type creatine kinase (CKB) is an enzyme involved in energy homeostasis via the phosphocreatine–creatine kinase system. Although downregulation of CKB was previously reported in brains of HD mouse models and patients, such regulation and its functional consequence in HD are not fully understood. In the present study, we demonstrated that levels of CKB found in both the soma and processes were markedly reduced in primary neurons and brains of HD mice. We show for the first time that mutant HTT (mHTT) suppressed the activity of the promoter of the CKB gene, which contributes to the lowered CKB expression in HD. Exogenous expression of wild-type CKB, but not a dominant negative CKB mutant, rescued the ATP depletion, aggregate formation, impaired proteasome activity, and shortened neurites induced by mHTT. These findings suggest that negative regulation of CKB by mHTT is a key event in the pathogenesis of HD and contributes to the neuronal dysfunction associated with HD. In addition, besides dietary supplementation with the CKB substrate, strategies aimed at increasing CKB expression might lead to the development of therapeutic treatments for HD

Evaluation on the Pharmacological Effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine SiJunZiTang on Stress-Induced Peptic Ulcers

Purpose. To explore the effects of SiJunZiTang (SJZT) on central neurotransmitters and the inhibition of HCl hypersecretion, along with the role of the vagus nerve. From this, the effects of SJZT and its constituent ingredients on inhibiting stress-induced peptic ulcers will be determined. Methods. Methods used to determine SJZT's effectiveness included (1) measuring the antipeptic ulcer effects of varying combinations of the constituents of SJZT; (2) evaluations of monoamine (MA) level in the brain; and (3) measuring the effects of longer-term SJZT treatment. Results. Comparing the control and experimental groups where the rats’ vagus nerves were not cut after taking SJZT orally (500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg), the volume of enterogastric juice, free HCl and total acidity all reduce dose-dependently. The group administered SJZT at 1000 mg/kg showed significant reductions (P<0.05). For the experimental groups where the vagus nerves were cut, a comparison with the control group suggests that the group receiving SJZT (500 mg/kg) orally for 21 days demonstrated a cure rate of 34.53%. Conclusion. The results display a correlation between the therapeutic effects of SJZT on stress-induced peptic ulcers and central neurotransmitter levels. Further to this, SJZT can inhibit the hypersecretion of HCl in the stomach, thus inhibiting stress-induced peptic ulcers

IGF-1/IGFBP-1 increases blastocyst formation and total blastocyst cell number in mouse embryo culture and facilitates the establishment of a stem-cell line

BACKGROUND: Apoptosis occurs frequently for blastocysts cultured in vitro, where conditions are suboptimal to those found in the natural environment. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) plays an important role in preventing apoptosis in the early development of the embryo, as well as in the progressive regulation of organ development. We hypothesize that IGF-1 and its dephosphorylated binding protein (IGFBP-1) may be able to improve embryo culture with an associated reduced cell death, and that the resultant increase in the total cell number of the embryo could increase the chances of establishing an embryonic stem-cell line. RESULTS: In vivo fertilized zygotes were cultured in medium containing supplementary IGF-1, or IGFBP-1/IGF-1. The stages of the resultant embryos were evaluated at noon on day five post-hCG injection. The extent of apoptosis and necrosis was evaluated using Annexin V and propidium iodine staining under fluorescent microscopy. The establishment of embryonic stem-cell lines was performed using the hatching blastocysts that were cultured in the presence of IGF-1 or IGFBP-1/IGF-1. The results show that the rate of blastocyst formation in a tissue-culture system in the presence of IGF-1 was 88.7% and IGFBP-1/IGF-1 it was 94.6%, respectively, and that it was significantly greater than the figure for the control group (81.9%). IGFBP-1/IGF-1 also resulted in a higher hatching rate than was the case for the control group (68.8% vs. 48.6% respectively). IGF-1 also increased the number of Annexin V-free and propidium iodine-free blastocysts in culture (86.8% vs. 75.9% respectively). Total cell number of blastocyst in culture was increased by 18.9% for those examples cultured with dephosphorylated IGFBP-1/IGF-1. For subsequent stem-cell culture, the chances of the successful establishment of a stem-cell line was increased for the IGF-1 and IGFBP-1/IGF-1 groups (IGF-1 vs. IGFBP-1/IGF-1 vs. control: 45.8% vs. 59.6% vs. 27.3% respectively). CONCLUSION: IGF-1 or dephosphorylated IGFBP-1/IGF-1 supplement does result in an anti-apoptotic effect for early embryo development in culture, with a subsequent increased total cell number resulting from cell culture. The effect is beneficial for the later establishment of a stem-cell line