Performing Shakespeare in Contemporary Taiwan

Since the 1980s, Taiwan has been subjected to heavy foreign and global influences, leading to a marked erosion of its traditional cultural forms. Indigenous traditions have had to struggle to hold their own and to strike out into new territory, adopt or adapt to Western models. For most theatres in Taiwan, Shakespeare has inevitably served as a model to be imitated and a touchstone of quality. Such Taiwanese Shakespeare performances prove to be much more than merely a combination of Shakespeare and Taiwan, constituting a new fusion which shows Taiwan as hospitable to foreign influences and unafraid to modify them for its own purposes. Nonetheless, Shakespeare performances in contemporary Taiwan are not only a demonstration of hybridity of Westernisation but also Sinification influences. Since the 1945 Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party, or KMT) takeover of Taiwan, the KMT’s one-party state has established Chinese identity over a Taiwan identity by imposing cultural assimilation through such practices as the Mandarin-only policy during the Chinese Cultural Renaissance in Taiwan. Both Taiwan and Mainland China are on the margin of a “metropolitan bank of Shakespeare knowledge” (Orkin, 2005, p. 1), but it is this negotiation of identity that makes the Taiwanese interpretation of Shakespeare much different from that of a Mainlanders’ approach, while they share certain commonalities that inextricably link them. This study thus examines the interrelation between Taiwan and Mainland China operatic cultural forms and how negotiation of their different identities constitutes a singular different Taiwanese Shakespeare from Chinese Shakespeare. In recognising this, the core of this thesis rests on how Shakespeare plays speak insightfully to Taiwan society across historical, geographical, and cultural boundaries. Many Shakespeare plays powerfully echo the political turmoil of contemporary Taiwan society, but it is the negotiation of the political and cultural dependency that constitutes a distinct Taiwanese Shakespeare identity that is different from Chinese Shakespeare. This study therefore focuses on Shakespeare performances in contemporary Taiwan between 1986 and 2003, emphasising political context as key factor in adaptation, as Taiwan society transited from a military age to post-millennium democracy after martial law was lifted in 1987

A Study Of Online Beauty Community Members\u27 Voices: EWOM Text Mining

The Internet promotes the development of the social media, these new media offer open platforms for participants to share product/service reviews with each other. This study applied the theory of conformity behavior to explain online community members’ information consumption behaviors by using text-mining techniques. NetBeans7.4 was used to conduct Chinese tokenization and data analysis. Next, factor analysis and correlation analysis were conducted to reduce the attribute size of products. Our findings demonstrate that more attributes a product/brand has more discussions found in an online community. The conformity phenomenon is seen in help to accumulate sufficient and complete eWOM to reach a sufficient quantity. Thus, brand is more likely to be mentioned. However, the few brand vendors with high product strength have the impact of conformity, in which, may result in a lower spread power with wrong marketing strategy. Therefore, we argue that the reputation bias generated by conformity will make a misleading purchase decision. Based on the conformity effect of eWOM, we establish the effectiveness of text mining technology applied to information search platform design and brand marketing strategy. Implications were proposed in the final section

The Role of Digital-Media-Based Pedagogical Aids in Elementary Entomology: An Innovative and Sustainable Approach

It has been challenging for city school pupils to learn about insects, given the lack of live insects. To overcome this challenge, the objective of this study is to propose the use of emerging digital media, namely three-dimensional printing (3DP) technologies, to create reusable, fake, “live” insects. In this study, we designed two 3D-printed pedagogical aids to support elementary entomology. The first aid was a set of cards showing photos of the 3D-printed insect prototype, which could help the learners in close observation of the insect body’s regions and parts, and the second 3D-printed aid was a construction kit mimicking physical insects, which were made of an enlarged 3D-printed insect prototype. The two aids were used in our field experiment to examine the effectiveness in learning and motivation. A total of 153 pupils were grouped into three groups (one using the existing multimedia e-book, one using the first 3DP aid, and one using the second aid). The results confirm that the digital media application—in this case, 3DP technologies—were able to compensate for the lack of the live insects. These results raised our confidence in using a customized size 3D-printed insect prototype to enhance rudimentary entomology inside the classroom. If the 3DP technologies are used properly, they could offer an innovative and sustainable solution

Reliability and validity of psychosocial and environmental correlates measures of physical activity and screen-based behaviors among Chinese children in Hong Kong

Background : Insufficient participation in physical activity and excessive screen time have been observed among Chinese children. The role of social and environmental factors in shaping physical activity and sedentary behaviors among Chinese children is under-investigated. The purpose of the present study was to assess the reliability and validity of a questionnaire to measure child- and parent-reported psychosocial and environmental correlates of physical activity and screen-based behaviors among Chinese children in Hong Kong. Methods : A total of 303 schoolchildren aged 9-14 years and their parents volunteered to participate in this study and 160 of them completed the questionnaire twice within an interval of 10 days. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), kappa statistics, and percent agreement were performed to evaluate test-retest reliability of the continuous and categorical variables, respectively. Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were conducted to assess convergent validity of the emergent scales. Cronbach\u27s alpha and ICCs were performed to assess internal and test-retest reliability of the emergent scales. Criterion validity was assessed by correlating psychosocial and environmental measures with self-reported physical activity and screen-based behaviors, measured by a validated questionnaire. Results : Reliability statistics for both child- and parent-reported continuous variables showed acceptable consistency for all of the ICC values greater than 0.70. Kappa statistics showed fair to perfect test-retest reliability for the categorical items. Adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability were observed in most of the emergent scales. Criterion validity assessed by correlating psychosocial and environmental measures with child-reported physical activity found associations with physical activity in the self-efficacy scale (r = 0.25, P &lt; 0.05), the peer support for physical activity scale (r = 0.25, P &lt; 0.05) and home physical activity environmental (r = 0.14, P &lt; 0.05). Children\u27s screen-based behaviors were associated with the family support for physical activity scale (r = -0.22, P &lt; 0.05) and parental role modeling of TV (r = 0.12, P = 0.053). Conclusions : The findings provide psychometric support for using this questionnaire for examining psychosocial and environmental correlates of physical activity and screen-based behaviors among Chinese children in Hong Kong. Further research is needed to develop more robust measures based on the current questionnaire, especially for peer influence on physical activity and parental rules on screen-based behaviors. <br /

Astragalus polysaccharide relieves reproductive toxicity in phenobarbital-treated epileptic rats

Purpose: To investigate the underlying mechanisms by which Astragalus  polysaccharide (APS) relieves the reproductive toxicity induced by phenobarbital (PB) treatment in epileptic rats.Methods: Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay kits were used to quantify cell apoptosis in an epileptic rat model. The weight of sex organs and levels of three reproductive hormones, viz, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone, were measured in order to evaluate the effect of APS administration on reproductive ability. Concentration, motility, morphology as well as fertilization rate of sperms were analyzed as well.Results: Increase in sex organ weight and decrease in apoptosis were both  associated with oral APS treatment. In APS-treated group, FSH, LH, and  testosterone levels were raised while concentration, motility and normal morphology of sperm also increased. This was consistent with the observed increase in fertilization rate. In addition, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of the testis was performed in the epileptic rat model showed that the size of cell lumen increased in APS-treated group. All APSassociated phenotypes occurred in a concentration-dependent manner.Conclusion: These data suggest that APS lowers reproductive toxicity in PB-treated epileptic rats by regulating the reproductive hormones, FSH, LH and testosterone, and also by altering the concentration, motility, and morphology of sperm. Thus, APS has a potential treatment for minimizing the side effects of antiepileptic drugs.Keywords: Astragalus polysaccharide, Reproductive toxicity, Phenobarbital,  Epileptic rat

Topographical control of cell-cell interaction in C6 glioma by nanodot arrays

Nanotopography modulates the physiological behavior of cells and cell-cell interactions, but the manner of communication remains unclear. Cell networking (syncytium) of astroglia provides the optimal microenvironment for communication of the nervous system. C6 glioma cells were seeded on nanodot arrays with dot diameters ranging from 10 to 200 nm. Cell viability, morphology, cytoskeleton, and adhesion showed optimal cell growth on 50-nm nanodots if sufficient incubation was allowed. In particular, the astrocytic syncytium level maximized at 50 nm. The gap junction protein Cx43 showed size-dependent and time-dependent transport from the nucleus to the cell membrane. The transport efficiency was greatly enhanced by incubation on 50-nm nanodots. In summary, nanotopography is capable of modulating cell behavior and influencing the cell-cell interactions of astrocytes. By fine-tuning the nanoenvironment, it may be possible to regulate cell-cell communications and optimize the biocompatibility of neural implants