Exploring the Influence of Ethical Norms on Organizaional Knowledge Management: An Ethical Climate Perspective

Since 1990, knowledge management has been developed and adopted as an essential strategy to foster the creation as well as utilization of organizational intellectual resources. Organizational intellectual capital is derived both individually and collectively from the process to create, store, share, acquire and apply the personal and organizational knowledge. Numerous studies have proposed that organizational culture is essential to support organizational knowledge management activities and effectiveness. However, many organizations put much emphasis on the individuals’ knowledge contribution and subsequent performance, neglecting the importance of brainstorming or contribution of knowledge sharing with others. In addition, some organizations only focus on the development of public goods, despite the concerns of individuals’ self-interest or possible risk. The only single aspect of individual or collective approach toward knowledge management will inevitably lead to the ethical conflicts in the organization. The purpose of this study intends to examine the ethical norms within an organization and its possible influence on the members’ evaluation, satisfaction, engagement, and job performance about the organizational knowledge management process. The research constructs are identified and measuring items will be developed on the basis of literature review. The method to carry out this study will utilize survey methodology. Meanwhile, statistical analysis will also be conducted to test our hypothesized relationships between constructs

Using Corpus Analysis to Explore Local Tourism Attraction: An Example of Tainan City Government’s Facebook Page

With the rapid development of Internet communication and digital technologies, government can create and share travel information through social media. The purpose of this study is to understand how tourism attraction is constructed by government departments on the social media and how social media users perceive these tourism attractions. The technique of text corpus was utilized to analyze the posting messages elected from Tainan City Government’s Facebook page─@traveltainan. The research results reveal that 10 types of tourism attraction were identified. In addition, the interactive responses on @traveltainan were also examined in terms of “likes,” “comments,” and “shares.” The findings and suggestions are proposed for future studies and implementations about tourism policy and planning in the local area. (Article content in Chinese with English extended abstract

Motivating and Sustaining Women\u27s Digital Literacy through ICT Learning

Digital literacy is one of the most important issues that women confront today. Lacking of digital literacy excludes women from lifelong learning and development. Our two-phase, multi-method study attempted to examine how ICT literacy affects women and identifies the key factors that motivate adult females to acquire ICT skills. The first phase identified important theoretical constructs that affect and sustain ICT learning and usage among women, using a qualitative approach based on Social Cognitive and Social Capital Theories. In the second phase, a quantitative study was conducted to validate the research model. Our findings suggest that social capital and learning satisfaction contribute significantly to ICT usage, and that this in turn has a positive impact on the level of well-being

An Empirical Evaluation Of User Satisfaction With A School Nursing Information System

The adoption of a school nursing information system is considered one of the most efficient ways in which to document health records as well as monitor health conditions electronically. However, despite the importance of computerized health records in school nursing practice, few studies have examined user satisfaction of a school nursing information system. The aim of this study is to investigate the critical factors effecting school nurses’ satisfaction with a school nursing information system Utilizing a survey approach, questionnaires are distributed to nurses working in a primary or high school which introduces a new school nursing information system. The findings show several factors, including perceived usefulness, perceived of ease of use, training and workload are significant with user satisfaction. These results suggest that school nursing information system designers should comprehensively understand users’ demands and perceptions about the system, which will further facilitate user satisfaction, decrease their workload, and ultimately enhance job performance

A Chinese Herbal Decoction, Modified Yi Guan Jian, Induces Apoptosis in Hepatic Stellate Cells through an ROS-Mediated Mitochondrial/Caspase Pathway

The Chinese herb modified Yi Guan Jian (mYGJ) is an effective regimen that is usually used in outpatients with chronic liver diseases such as fibrosis and cirrhosis. However, the mechanism for the action of mYGJ on liver fibrosis is not yet clear. In this study, we found that mYGJ induced hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) apoptosis concomitant with the downregulation of Bcl-2 expression and slight elevation of Bax level. Moreover, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) were generated in the early stages of mYGJ-induced HSCs apoptosis to facilitate calcium and cytochrome c release from the mitochondria to cytosol. Subsequently, caspase 9 and caspase 3 were activated. Furthermore, the activation of ER stress-associated caspase 12 in HSCs was also evaluated. Together, we report the first evidence-based study to demonstrate that mYGJ decoction induces HSCs apoptosis through ROS accumulation and the intrinsic apoptosis pathway. These findings provide rationale for further clinical investigation of traditional Chinese medicine recipes against liver fibrosis

Identification of the genetic determinants of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium that may regulate the expression of the type 1 fimbriae in response to solid agar and static broth culture conditions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Type 1 fimbriae are the most commonly found fimbrial appendages on the outer membrane of <it>Salmonella enterica </it>serotype Typhimurium. Previous investigations indicate that static broth culture favours <it>S</it>. Typhimurium to produce type 1 fimbriae, while non-fimbriate bacteria are obtained by growth on solid agar media. The phenotypic expression of type 1 fimbriae in <it>S</it>. Typhimurium is the result of the interaction and cooperation of several genes in the <it>fim </it>gene cluster. Other gene products that may also participate in the regulation of type 1 fimbrial expression remain uncharacterized.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the present study, transposon insertion mutagenesis was performed on <it>S</it>. Typhimurium to generate a library to screen for those mutants that would exhibit different type 1 fimbrial phenotypes than the parental strain. Eight-two mutants were obtained from 7,239 clones screened using the yeast agglutination test. Forty-four mutants produced type 1 fimbriae on both solid agar and static broth media, while none of the other 38 mutants formed type 1 fimbriae in either culture condition. The flanking sequences of the transposons from 54 mutants were cloned and sequenced. These mutants can be classified according to the functions or putative functions of the open reading frames disrupted by the transposon. Our current results indicate that the genetic determinants such as those involved in the fimbrial biogenesis and regulation, global regulators, transporter proteins, prophage-derived proteins, and enzymes of different functions, to name a few, may play a role in the regulation of type 1 fimbrial expression in response to solid agar and static broth culture conditions. A complementation test revealed that transforming a recombinant plasmid possessing the coding sequence of a NAD(P)H-flavin reductase gene <it>ubiB </it>restored an <it>ubiB </it>mutant to exhibit the type 1 fimbrial phenotype as its parental strain.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Genetic determinants other than the <it>fim </it>genes may involve in the regulation of type 1 fimbrial expression in <it>S</it>. Typhimurium. How each gene product may influence type 1 fimbrial expression is an interesting research topic which warrants further investigation.</p

Apoptosis in Hepatic Stellate Cells through an ROS-Mediated Mitochondrial/Caspase Pathway

The Chinese herb modified Yi Guan Jian (mYGJ) is an effective regimen that is usually used in outpatients with chronic liver diseases such as fibrosis and cirrhosis. However, the mechanism for the action of mYGJ on liver fibrosis is not yet clear. In this study, we found that mYGJ induced hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) apoptosis concomitant with the downregulation of Bcl-2 expression and slight elevation of Bax level. Moreover, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) were generated in the early stages of mYGJ-induced HSCs apoptosis to facilitate calcium and cytochrome c release from the mitochondria to cytosol. Subsequently, caspase 9 and caspase 3 were activated. Furthermore, the activation of ER stress-associated caspase 12 in HSCs was also evaluated. Together, we report the first evidence-based study to demonstrate that mYGJ decoction induces HSCs apoptosis through ROS accumulation and the intrinsic apoptosis pathway. These findings provide rationale for further clinical investigation of traditional Chinese medicine recipes against liver fibrosis