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

The Context of Cloud Computing/Services Adoption in Business: A Systematic Review with Activity Theory perspective

Cloud computing has been established as a prominent research topic with the rise of a ubiquitous provision of computing resources over the last decade. According to literature review, previous studies are found focusing on the technical issue mostly; however, accompanying with the cloud service developing progress, there are a wide range of applications for adopting cloud computing/services and without an overall comprehension. This study aims to proposed a conceptual framework to systematically explore the activities and elements related to cloud computing/services adoption in business. The research framework is found useful for understanding the context of cloud computing and services and the preliminary findings are helpful to further explore the related activities and relationships behind on cloud computing/services adoption in business

The Intoxication Effects of Methanol and Formic Acid on Rat Retina Function

Objective. To explore the potential effects of methanol and its metabolite, formic acid, on rat retina function. Methods. Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3- and 7-day groups and a control. Experimental groups were given methanol and the control group were provided saline by gavage. Retinal function of each group was assessed by electroretinogram. Concentrations of methanol and formic acid were detected by GC/HS and HPLC, respectively. Results. The a and b amplitudes of methanol treated groups decreased and latent periods delayed in scotopic and photopic ERG recordings. The summed amplitudes of oscillatory potentials (OPs) of groups B and C decreased and the elapsed time delayed. The amplitudes of OS1, OS3, OS4, and OS5 of group B and OS3, OS4, and OS5 of group C decreased compared with the control group. The IPI1 of group B and IPI1-4 of group C were broader compared with the control group and the IPI1-4 and ET of group B were broader than group C. Conclusions. Both of scotopic and photopic retinal functions were impaired by methanol poisoning, and impairment was more serious in the 7-day than in the 3-day group. OPs, especially later OPs and IPI2, were more sensitive to methanol intoxication than other eletroretinogram subcomponents

Distribution of Spectral Lags in Gamma Ray Bursts

Using the data acquired in the Time To Spill (TTS) mode for long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) collected by the Burst and Transient Source Experiment on board the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (BATSE/CGRO), we have carefully measured spectral lags in time between the low (25-55 keV) and high (110-320 keV) energy bands of individual pulses contained in 64 multi-peak GRBs. We find that the temporal lead by higher-energy gamma-ray photons (i.e., positive lags) is the norm in this selected sample set of long GRBs. While relatively few in number, some pulses of several long GRBs do show negative lags. This distribution of spectral lags in long GRBs is in contrast to that in short GRBs. This apparent difference poses challenges and constraints on the physical mechanism(s) of producing long and short GRBs. The relation between the pulse peak count rates and the spectral lags is also examined. Observationally, there seems to be no clear evidence for systematic spectral lag-luminosity connection for pulses within a given long GRB.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure