What do they eat? A survey of eat-out habit of university students in Taiwan

[EN] Main purpose of this research is trying to understand food likeliness of Taiwan college students, and probe whether these food are healthy. Three survey steps are taken as: step 1, market survey for what kind of foods are selling around the campuses; step 2, questionnaire investigation for students food preference; step 3, analyzing whether these favorite foods are healthy or not. The result shows: major consideration for students food selection are “taste” and “price”; 63% of students are taking food or snacks late at night at least once a week. Top three most favorite foods are: Taiwanese fries (yan su ji), carbon grilled chicken and fried fish steaks. Quantities of these foods are small, prices are low, and easy access from roadside food stands. Problems of them are high calories, easy to accumulate free radical in human body, plus insanitary food processing environment. They are harmful to student health. We suggest Taiwan government take it seriouslyShih, K.; Wang, M.; Shih, H.; Lee, S.; Lin, T. (2020). What do they eat? A survey of eat-out habit of university students in Taiwan. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 421-430. https://doi.org/10.4995/INN2019.2019.10562OCS42143

Team Quotients, Resilience, and Performance of Software Development Projects

Past studies have examined actions and strategies that software project teams can take to reduce the negative impact of uncertainties, such as changing requirements. Software development project teams often have to be flexible to follow the pre-defined plans and strive to meet project goals. Sometimes uncertainty may go extreme to temporarily slow projects down and set project teams into reduced productivity. Project teams should be resilient to recover from the reduce productivity condition and move forward toward predefined goals. This study focuses on understanding the importance of team resilience for software project teams and exploring the antecedents of team resilience. Specifically, we investigate the impacts of intelligence and emotional quotient on team resilience capability, the extent to which project team can recover from the impediment and move forward. This is a research-in-progress work. A future empirical test plan has been discussed at the end

Refrigerant- Lubricant Mixture Properties Influencing Bubble Dynamic Parameters and Heat Transfer Coefficient in Nucleate Pool Boiling

We have been successfully developed a model regarding lubricant effect on individual processes of bubble nucleation, growth and departure period for nucleate pool boiling heat transfer. In this study, three type POE refrigeration lubricants with different refrigerant miscibility (POEA/POEB/POEC), two viscosity grades (ISO68 & 170), three kind of refrigerants (R-134a/R-1234ze/R-134yf), and three different saturated temperatures (10℃/0℃/10℃) are taken into calculation under different heat flux ranging from 10 KW/m2 to 80 KW/m2. Based on this model, a knowledge of chemical structures and physical properties of lubricant and refrigerant is sufficient to get bubble dynamic parameters and predict the boiling performance near metal surface. According to calculating results, several key factors play an important role in pool boiling heat transfer and show drastic influence on bubble parameters and HTC, such as refrigerant type, saturated temperature, heat flux and lubricant concentration. Regarding lubricant chemical structure effect on heat transfer performance, it will be direct related to OCR and following influence on HTC in real evaporator environment. But if keeping same lubricant concentration, different results will appear. Various lubricant structures may provide different volume size, adsorption energy on metal surface and interaction force between refrigerant and lubricant, but these factors sometimes offset each other and lead to only a slight difference in bubble size, contact angle, surface coverage concentration, and HTC. The calculation indicates that the presence of lubricant imposes a negative effect on HTC during waiting period of bubble formation and departure period, but a positive effect on HTC may prevail in bubble growth period. Such two effects compete during the boiling process and could lead increase or impair heat transfer performance at a low lubricant concentration

Serum leptin is associated with cardiometabolic risk and predicts metabolic syndrome in Taiwanese adults

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Leptin is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, few studies have assessed its relationship with metabolic syndrome, especially in an Asian population. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess leptin levels and evaluate its association with CVD and metabolic syndrome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In 2009, 957 subjects, who underwent a routine physical examination and choose leptin examination, were selected to participate. Participants (269 females and 688 males) were stratified according to leptin level quartiles. Metabolic syndrome was defined by NCEP ATP III using waist circumference cutoffs modified for Asian populations, and CVD risk was determined using the Framingham Heart Study profile.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Leptin levels were correlated with CVD risk in men and women. With the exception of fasting plasma glucose, increased leptin levels were observed as factors associated with metabolic syndrome increased in both males and females. After adjusting for age, an association between leptin levels and metabolic syndrome was observed. After adjusting for age alone or with tobacco use, subjects in the highest leptin quartile had a higher risk of having metabolic syndrome than those in the lowest quartile (OR = 6.14 and 2.94 for men and women, respectively). After further adjustment for BMI, metabolic syndrome risk remained significantly increased with increasing leptin quartiles in men. Finally, increased leptin levels were a predictor of metabolic syndrome in men and women.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Serum leptin levels are correlated with CVD risk and metabolic syndrome. Analysis of leptin as part of routine physical examinations may prove beneficial for early diagnosis of metabolic syndrome.</p

Energy dissipation behaviours and seismic reduction performance of a proposed velocity and displacement dependent hydraulic damper (VDHD)

A new oil‐pressure Velocity and Displacement Dependent Hydraulic Damper (VDHD) is proposed by adding an additional Relief Valve parallel to the Throttle Valve with a different aperture size. This objective is to obtain an adaptive control by changing the damping coefficient of the VDHD for better control of structural movement during earthquake. In order to simulate its actual energy elimination, a mathematical analysis model is developed based on the Maxwell Model, which is modified by adding a serial friction model and a small damper parallel to the friction model in this study. The mathematical simulated results are compared with the actual energy‐dissipating behaviours of this proposed damper. The comparison shows that this proposed mathematical modelling could accurately simulate the relation of force and displacement as well as the relation of force and velocity during the process of energy dissipation. In addition, results of both the laboratory shaking table test and simulation analyses are used to test and verify the seismic reduction performance of this proposed damper. The experimental and simulation results show that in spite of the magnitude of the earthquake, the proposed VDHD device has a superior effect on the control of structural displacement by achieving effective acceleration reduction. Santrauka Siūlomas naujas hidraulinis i greiti ir poslinki reaguojantis slopintuvas (HGPS), sukurtas prie droselinio vožtuvo su kintama apertūra pridejus atbulini vožtuva. Buvo siekiama užtikrinti geresne adaptyvia konstrukcijos judejimo žemes drebejimo metu kontrole keičiant HGPS slopinimo koeficienta. Norint modeliuoti tikraji energijos pašalinima, buvo sukurtas matematinis modelis, pagristas Maksvelo modeliu. Šis modelis buvo pakeistas prie trinties modelio pridejus nuosekluji trinties modeli ir nedideli slopintuva. Matematinio modeliavimo rezultatai lyginami su tikraja siūlomo gesintuvo energijos sklaida. Palyginimas rodo, kad matematinio modeliavimo rezultatai atitinka tikraja siūlomo gesintuvo elgsena. Lyginant skaičiavimo rezultatus su eksperimentiniais matyti, kad siūlomas matematinis modeliavimas leidžia tiksliai išreikšti jegos ir poslinkio bei jegos ir greičio ryšius, susidarančius energijos sklaidos metu. Laboratoriniai rezultatai, gauti naudojant vibracini stala, ir modeliavimo rezultatai taikomi tirti bei tikrinti siūlomo gesintuvo itaka mažinant seismines konstrukcijos charakteristikas. Eksperimentiniai ir modeliavimo rezultatai rodo, kad nepaisant žemes drebejimo laipsnio, siūlomas gesintuvas labai pagerina konstrukcijos poslinkiu kontrole efektyviai mažindamas judejimo pagreiti. First Published Online: 10 Feb 2011 Reikšminiai žodžiai: HGPS, Maksvelo modelis, diskretusis sprendinys, pasyvusis energijos skaidos prietaisas, vibracinio stalo bandymas, modeliuojamas konstrukcijos reakcijos mažinima

The role of autologous bone graft in surgical treatment of hypertrophic nonunion of midshaft clavicle fractures

AbstractBackgroundThis study was conducted to evaluate the results of treating hypertrophic nonunion of mid-shaft clavicle fracture with a limited contact dynamic compression plate (LC-DCP) without autologous cancellous bone graft.MethodsFrom 1995 to 2008, 51 cases of hypertrophic nonunion of mid-shaft clavicle fracture were managed with open reduction and internal fixation by LC-DCP without bone graft involvement. Of these 51 cases, 30 had nonunion after failure of initial surgical treatment (Group 1), and 21 had nonunion after failure of conservative treatment (Group 2). Preoperative and postoperative case management were the same for both groups, with the average follow-up period being 20.4 months (range 18–36). Our study evaluated the radiographic results and functional outcomes of these cases according to the quick disability of arm, shoulder, and hand score.ResultsAll 51 cases resulted in uneventful unions. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding patient demography, cause of injury, preoperative and postoperative functional scores, length of operation, union time, and duration of hospitalization (p>0.05).ConclusionLC-DCP fixation is an effective method for treating hypertrophic nonunion of mid-shaft clavicle fracture. Local bone graft is sufficient to achieve necessary union, and autologous bone graft from other sites of the body appears unnecessary