Evaluating the Use of an Online Video Training Program to Supplement a Graduate Course in Applied Behavior Analysis

The primary purpose of the present article was to evaluate the effects of a supplemental online video program on student quiz performance for an online course in applied behavior analysis. Nineteen graduate students, in ages ranging from 22 to 40, agreed to participate in this study. A within-subject group design was used. The control condition contained textbook readings and accompanied selfguided notes, while an online video training program was added to supplement the experimental condition. Results indicated that the students scored significantly higher in their weekly quizzes under the condition supplemented with the online video training program. The students perceived the video training program as equally helpful as the textbook, but they enjoyed the online videos significantly more than the textbook. Students’ self-reported enjoyment of the online videos was also positively correlated to their quiz performance under the condition supplemented with the videos

The Acculturation of Chinese-American Adolescents in Negotiating Autonomy and Connectedness: Comparison between Chinese- and European-Americans

Chinese-American adolescents were compared with the major group in the United States (European-American adolescents) in negotiating self-concepts related with autonomy and connectedness. Senses of autonomy and connectedness were evaluated by examining adolescents' cultural value orientations (individualism and collectivism), parent-adolescent relationships (decision-making styles and power perception), and relations between the two constructs. Participants included 56 first- or second-generation Chinese-American adolescents (18.5% of first-generation and 81.5% of secondgeneration) and 45 European-American adolescents, accompanied with their mothers (47 Chinese-American mothers and 42 European-American mothers). In terms of cultural value orientations, Chinese- and European-Americans' selfconcepts were consistently oriented towards collectivism more than individualism in adolescents and mothers. With regard to parent-adolescent relationships, Chinese- American adolescents have identified with the dominant culture to show similar desires of being autonomous as European-American adolescents. However, Chinese-American mothers adopted more authoritarian, conservative, and inflexible parenting styles than European-American mothers. With regard to the relations between variables of cultural value orientations and variables of parent-adolescent relationships, the pattern of findings was consistent with the notion that Chinese-American adolescents who internalize highly collectivistic cultural values displayed more collectivistic communication styles in parent-adolescent relationships than European-American adolescents

Isolation and characterization of stromal progenitor cells from ascites of patients with epithelial ovarian adenocarcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>At least one-third of epithelial ovarian cancers are associated with the development of ascites containing heterogeneous cell populations, including tumor cells, inflammatory cells, and stromal elements. The components of ascites and their effects on the tumor cell microenvironment remain poorly understood. This study aimed to isolate and characterize stromal progenitor cells from the ascites of patients with epithelial ovarian adenocarcinoma (EOA).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventeen ascitic fluid samples and 7 fresh tissue samples were collected from 16 patients with EOA. The ascites samples were then cultured in vitro in varying conditions. Flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry were used to isolate and characterize 2 cell populations with different morphologies (epithelial type and mesenchymal type) deriving from the ascites samples. The in vitro cell culture model was established using conditional culture medium.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The doubling times of the epithelial type and mesenchymal type cells were 36 h and 48 h, respectively, indicating faster growth of the epithelial type cells compared to the mesenchymal type cells. Cultured in vitro, these ascitic cells displayed the potential for self-renewal and long-term proliferation, and expressed the typical cancer stem/progenitor cell markers CD44^high, CD24^low, and AC133⁺. These cells also demonstrated high BMP-2, BMP4, TGF-β, Rex-1, and AC133 early gene expression, and expressed EGFR, integrin α₂β₁, CD146, and Flt-4, which are highly associated with tumorigenesis and metastasis. The epithelial type cells demonstrated higher cytokeratin 18 and E-cadherin expression than the mesenchymal type cells. The mesenchymal type cells, in contrast, demonstrated higher AC133, CD73, CD105, CD117, EGFR, integrin α₂β₁, and CD146 surface marker expression than the epithelial type cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The established culture system provides an in vitro model for the selection of drugs that target cancer-associated stromal progenitor cells, and for the development of ovarian cancer treatments.</p

Biomaterials used in stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a common, severe damage to the central nervous system. Here, we discuss the use of biomaterials for stem cell transplantation in preclinical and clinical studies for the treatment of patients with SCI, because cell culture materials could influence the differentiation fate of stem cells, and not act only as carriers or scaffolds for delivery of stem cells and their differentiated cells. Therefore, the effects of cell culture materials on stem cell differentiation fate have been discussed. A direct injection of stem cells is the easiest method to transplant stem cells into the site of SCI. However, the stem cell solution tends to leak out from the injection site. Biomaterials such as fibrin have been used to reduce scarring at the transplantation site and facilitate the integration of transplanted stem cells or progenitor cells in animal models of SCI. Transplantation of stem cells using biomaterials (scaffolds or hydrogels) has been reported to be effective for the treatment of SCI in animal models. It would be necessary to investigate the optimal chemical structure, porosity, and morphology of biomaterials used for the transplantation of stem cells

BPR1K653, a Novel Aurora Kinase Inhibitor, Exhibits Potent Anti-Proliferative Activity in MDR1 (P-gp170)-Mediated Multidrug-Resistant Cancer Cells

Over-expression of Aurora kinases promotes the tumorigenesis of cells. The aim of this study was to determine the preclinical profile of a novel pan-Aurora kinase inhibitor, BPR1K653, as a candidate for anti-cancer therapy. Since expression of the drug efflux pump, MDR1, reduces the effectiveness of various chemotherapeutic compounds in human cancers, this study also aimed to determine whether the potency of BPR1K653 could be affected by the expression of MDR1 in cancer cells.BPR1K653 specifically inhibited the activity of Aurora-A and Aurora-B kinase at low nano-molar concentrations in vitro. Anti-proliferative activity of BPR1K653 was evaluated in various human cancer cell lines. Results of the clonogenic assay showed that BPR1K653 was potent in targeting a variety of cancer cell lines regardless of the tissue origin, p53 status, or expression of MDR1. At the cellular level, BPR1K653 induced endo-replication and subsequent apoptosis in both MDR1-negative and MDR1-positive cancer cells. Importantly, it showed potent activity against the growth of xenograft tumors of the human cervical carcinoma KB and KB-derived MDR1-positive KB-VIN10 cells in nude mice. Finally, BPR1K653 also exhibited favorable pharmacokinetic properties in rats.BPR1K653 is a novel potent anti-cancer compound, and its potency is not affected by the expression of the multiple drug resistant protein, MDR1, in cancer cells. Therefore, BPR1K653 is a promising anti-cancer compound that has potential for the management of various malignancies, particularly for patients with MDR1-related drug resistance after prolonged chemotherapeutic treatments

Development of Fast Charging and Diagnostic Techniques for Lead-Acid Batteries

本論文主要針對小容量鉛酸電池的充電法進行研究，經由本研究發現，若使用目前商用之快速充電方法（reflex充電方法、脈衝充電方法），對小容量鉛酸電池進行充電，將造成充電時間變長(3~6小時)以及電池溫度升高，導致電池損壞。本論文發展出一種對小容量鉛酸電池的充電法，使得充電時間為30分鐘且不會造成電池溫度升高（40°C以下）。由於傳統電池的各種檢測方法也都具有一些缺點，例如：準確度不高，再加上充電時所造成電池溫度升高（超過40°C），其誤差會更明顯，也造成電池損壞，因此我們同時使用LabView視窗軟體當作介面來即時監控鉛酸電池之電壓、以及電池是否充飽，將可隨時偵測電池之電壓、電流、溫度，隨時保護電池，不造成電池損壞。而本研究證實這種快速充電與診斷方法能達到高效率快速充電（30分鐘），且能取得實際電池內阻曲線圖、實際開路電壓曲線圖、實際電壓恢復時間曲線圖、容量公式，使得本系統診斷能力之準確度高達90％。The object of this research focuses on the development of the charge method for the small capacity lead-acid batteries. The conventional fast charge methods used to charge the small capacity lead-acid battery always required approximately 3 to 6 hours, which would damage the battery due to the long charge time and high battery temperature. In this thesis, a novel fast charge method has been developed for the small capacity lead-acid batteries. The charging time can be controlled within 30 minutes, and the battery temperature can be kept below 40C. In addition, an in-time battery diagnostic method is very important during the operation of the lead-acid batteries. Various detection methods of battery characteristics have been used but there still possess some shortcomings such as low accuracy and high battery temperature (normally, the temperature should be kept below 40C during charging of the battery). In this thesis, the LabView software was utilized as a convenient interface for the user to monitor the voltage level of the lead-acid battery immediately and to display the electric capacity during fast charging of the lead-acid battery. The voltage level, current, and temperature of the battery can be monitored simultaneously. The inner resistance graph, open circuit voltage graph, voltage resume time graph, and capacity formula can also be obtained. These make this system have high accurate diagnosis ability up to 90%. Thus we can avoid the damage and increase the lifetime of battery effectively. From our experimental results, the verified diagnostic system shows that the proposed fast charging method can be used for the lead-acid battery with high efficiency.誌 謝 I 中文摘要 II ABSTRACT III 目 錄 IV 圖目錄 VII 表目錄 X 第一章 緒論 1 1-1 研究動機與目的 1 1-2 研究方法 4 1-3 內容大綱 5 第二章 鉛酸電池之特性與充電方法 6 2-1 電池之簡介 6 2-1-1 電池之導論 6 2-1-2 電池之分類 6 2-2 鉛蓄電池之歷史與未來展望 9 2-3 鉛酸電池的基本原理 10 2-3-1 鉛蓄電池之內部結構簡介 11 2-3-2 鉛蓄電池之特性 14 2-4 二次電池之充電方法 14 2-5 快速充電方法 16 2-6 殘量檢測方法 18 2-7 壽命檢測方法 23 第三章 快速充電系統之規劃與設計 28 3-1 蓄電池充電之規劃 28 3-2 蓄電池充電系統概述 30 3-4 充電系統之硬軟體流程 35 3-5充電系統之充電方法設計 38 3-6 充電系統之實驗設計 45 3-6-1本實驗設計之簡介 45 3-6-2 LabView之簡介 47 3-6-3 資料擷取卡之簡介 51 第四章 實驗結果與討論 57 4-1 充/放電模式之實驗結果 57 4-1-1 電池充電時間與特性 58 4-1-2 電池放電時間與特性 60 4-2各類特性曲線圖 62 4-2-1 電池內阻之曲線圖 62 4-2-2 本實驗之開路電壓曲線圖 66 4-3容量公式 67 4-4恢復時間之特性 68 4-4-1 充電後之電池恢復時間 69 4-4-2 放電後之電池恢復時間 70 4-5放電次數之特性 71 4-6 電池診斷方法 73 4-7本研究結果 74 第五章 結論與未來展望 76 5-1 結論 76 5-1-1 本論文之貢獻 76 5-2 未來展望 78 參考文獻 7

A Study on the Impact of Consumers’Perceived Control and Perceived Risk to Innovation Resistance (A case study: Q-Shop)

[[abstract]]近年來，隨著服務業之蓬勃發展，各種業態不斷推陳出新，加上環境變遷與消費者偏好的轉變，同時，面對全球化的洪流與科技的革新，流通業必須面臨市場激烈的競爭。因此，發展創新服務以符合顧客需求，進而創造顧客價值，儼然成為企業所需重視的一門課題。很多公司開始推出新服務及新通路來創造自己的競爭優勢與利基。銀行的ATM、便利商店的多媒體機或是無人商店的販賣機這類的自助服務科技也都為順應此潮流而開始嶄露頭角，它們的出現似乎改變了消費者的生活型態，也改變了顧客與公司間互動的關係。然而，相較於先進國家，自助服務機在台灣的普及率似乎不高，甚至有很多功能也乏人問津。有鑑於此，本研究認為其背後的理由勢必值得去探究一番，決定以創新抵制為根基，並加入知覺控制與知覺風險進一步去探討消費者不去使用自助服務科技的因素。 本研究以問卷方式進行檢定，研究對象以台北、台中和高雄這三個地區曾使用過或未使用過自助服務科技的消費者做為調查對象，取得有效問卷為302份。研究結果發現(1)消費者知覺控制的程度對於創新抵制程度有顯著負向影響。(2)消費者知覺風險的程度對於創新抵制呈顯著正向影響。(3)消費者知覺控制程度對於知覺風險具顯著負向影響。 最後再根據研究結果與研究發現提出一些實務建議與行銷策略，期能為業者帶來有效的制定策略並可利用此來降低消費者抵制程度，此外也提供未來研究方向，以供後續學者參考。[[abstract]]Recently, service industry is flourishing, environment and the demand of consumer change, thus distribution industry face with intensive market competition. Meanwhile, confronted with globalization and the renovation of technology, it is very essential for businesses to develop innovative service to cope with customers‘ demand, further to create customers‘ value. Therefore, many companies begin to develop new channel and new service skills to create competitive advantage and develop its niche. Self-Service Technologies (SSTs) such as ATM, Multiple Media Kiosk; MMK, Smart vending machine appear to follow the trend, its emergence is revalorizing not only our lifestyle but also the way consumers interacting style with firms. However, comparing to advanced countries, the popularity of SSTs seems not good enough in domestic market. iii Despite companies strive for persuading their customers to adopt new SSTs, all consumers will neither use the new technologies, nor see these changes as improvements and very little is known about factors influencing customer usage of these SSTs options. Thus this study eager to explore the reason of resisting to adopt SSTs base on innovation resistance theory, and adds two factors - perceived control and perceived risk to discuss their impact on innovation resistance. An empirical study was conducted to survey people who had been used SSTs or had not been used it and they live in Kaohsiung, Taizhong and Taipei. A total of 302 effective samples were collected. The research findings are summarized as follows: (1) The higher of perceived control customer has in using SSTs, the lower innovation resistance customer has. (2) The higher of perceived risk customer has in using SSTs, the higher innovation resistance customer has. (3) The higher of perceived control customer has in using SSTs, the lower perceived risk customer has. The result proves the research hypotheses. In final, the conceptual of this study may provide some insights and strategies to practitioner; furthermore, future research directions and limitations are also addressed

Privacy-Preserved Image Protection Supporting Different Access Rights

The boom in cloud computing and social networking has led to a large number of online users in the networks. It is necessary to use appropriate privacy protection mechanisms to prevent personal privacy leakage. In general, image privacy protection techniques proceed with the whole image. However, the image may contain multiple users’ information, and different people’s data may require different privacy protection. In addition, cloud servers are semi-trusted instead of trusted service providers due to unknown security vulnerabilities and the possibility of grabbing sensitive data from the cloud server. In order to provide image protection with different privacy-preserved access rights and to prevent the cloud server from retrieving sensitive information from the image, we propose a privacy-preserved scheme that supports different privacy-preserved access rights in a single image based on the difficulty of solving the factorization problem and the discrete logarithm problem. The cloud server performed the image management method without knowing the privacy information contained in the protected images. By working out the proposed scheme in detail, we experimentally validate the scheme and discuss various options of access rights in practice