A study of travel disputes from the legal viewpoint

Recently, due to economic growth, the people of Taiwan have become increasingly attentive to the quality of life. Engaging in leisure, as opposed to working, is one way of enjoying life and the first choice for many Taiwanese is to travel. Domestically and overseas, a dramatic rise in the number of tourists is evident during the holidays, and tourist businesses are flourishing. Even so, travel disputes are common, largely because of misunderstandings between travel agents and consumers. The consumer, however, is the disadvantaged party, since, having paid for the trip, or having paid a deposit, he or she is subject to the agency fulfilling its part of the agreement. When a consumer complains, the complaint may go unanswered, and it is difficult for the consumer to know what is available by way of legal redress. This study aims to provide consumers with ways of dealing with travel disputes, using real examples and legal explanations. Its purpose is to help consumers navigate the difficult waters of travel complaints, so that they can enjoy their trip knowing that they will receive the service they paid for. Key words: leisure activity, travel dispute, tourism and recreation

A Preliminary of Consumer Online Disputes from the Perspective of the Consumer Protection Act

Due to the rapid growth of the internet, online leisure has become an integral part of people’s lives. Online leisure leads to online consumer behavior, and buying over the internet has become the most common form of leisure consumption. As long as there is internet access, consumers can enjoy online shopping anytime, anywhere. However, during a transaction, if the seller’s reputation is not verified, a dispute may occur, leading to an unpleasant shopping experience for the consumer. In addition, when consumers receive damaged or incomplete orders, they may not know what to do. This study explores the issue of online shopping disputes, how to ensure internet shopping safety, and how to argue from the perspective of consumer protection, in the hope of preventing and resolving such disputes. In light of this, the study discusses internet disputes caused by online consumer behavior. The research method adopted is the content analysis method ‒ a qualitative research method ‒ and factual cases culled from the internet are analyzed. The research results include the types of leisure related to internet disputes and how to ensure the safety of internet transactions based on the Consumer Protection Act of the Republic of China. The expected benefit of this study is to help increase consumer awareness of, and self-protection with, online purchases. Key words: internet shopping, consumer protection act, online consumer disput

Effect RANKL Produced by Periodontal Ligament Cells on Orthodontic Tooth Movement

The bone remodeling process involved in orthodontic tooth movement consists of bone resorption on the compression side and bone formation on the tension side of the teeth. Osteoclasts play an important role in bone remodeling and are necessary for orthodontic tooth movement. Receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) is essential for osteoclast formation and differentiation. Several cell types have been reported to be capable of producing RANKL. We are interested in whether there is a dominant cell type which RANKL production is critical in generating orthodontic tooth movement. In this study, we used a Cre recombinase mouse model to study the effect of RANKL deletion in periodontal ligament cells on orthodontic tooth movement. We found RANKL deletion in periodontal ligament cells significantly decreased the amount of orthodontic tooth movement and reduced the number of osteoclasts formed on the compression side after subjecting the teeth to orthodontic force. It suggests RANKL production from periodontal ligament cells contributes greatly to orthodontic tooth movement and serves as an important source of RANKL in osteoclastogenesis during orthodontic tooth movement

Language maintenance through primary school education: the case of Daighi

Ongoing language shift to Taiwanese Mandarin is a pressing concern in Taiwan. With the concerns of losing the rich linguistic and cultural assets of Taiwan’s multilingual society, this study sets out to explore the language maintenance endeavours in primary schools, focusing on Daighi. Exploration of language attitudes is the angle this study adopts to approach language shift, looking specifically at whether language attitudes are promoted through the mandatory local languages class at primary school level. However, a large piece of the picture would be missed without the evaluation of the context, which is crucial to understand Daighi’s position. Sociocultural theory is then adopted as an analytical lens to view teachers’ practices as mediated actions, and to make visible the impact of context in Daighi maintenance. Interviews are used to explore the insights of the frontline Daighi teachers, and Daighi classes of these teachers are observed to investigate their practices, and to match these with their perceptions. In spite of the good teaching practices found at schools and attitudes to support language maintenance, there is still a gap in terms of actual language maintenance, which is defined as developing students to become functional bilinguals (Li Wei, 2006). It is possible that language maintenance is not best achieved by focusing on classroom practice alone. The Discussion Chapter then presents the mediators from global level, national level to classroom, students and teacher agency. Language policy, educational system, and perceived language attitudes of the government, local authority, school, colleagues, family and students emerge as influential mediators that contribute to the ongoing language shift to Taiwanese Mandarin. This study provides an analytical insight into Taiwanese local language education and language attitudes. Through engaging with the teachers, it also inspired critical reflections of their own practices. The findings of this study demonstrate an in-depth understanding of Daighi maintenance and shift, and provide a starting point for further research in Daighi, and in the area of language maintenance in multilingual settings

Voxel-lesion symptom mapping of coarse coding and suppression deficits in right hemisphere damaged patients

Several accounts of narrative comprehension deficits in adults with right hemisphere damage (RHD) focus on the basic comprehension processes of coarse semantic coding (CC) and suppression (SUP)1,2. CC activates wide-ranging aspects of word meaning, independent of the surrounding context. In RHD, CC deficits impair processing of more remote meanings/features of lexical-semantic representations (e.g., “rotten” as a feature of “apple”)3. The normal SUP process reduces mental activation of concepts that become contextually incompatible. SUP impairment in RHD is indexed by prolonged processing interference from contextually-inappropriate interpretations (e.g., the “ink” meaning of “pen,” in “He built a pen”)4,5. Adults with RHD may have deficits in CC, SUP, both, or neither6. Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping was used to identify right hemisphere (RH) anatomical correlates of CC and SUP deficits. Lesion-deficit correspondence data should help predict which RHD patients have which deficits and may be candidates for a deficit-focused treatment approach that simultaneously improves narrative comprehension7-9. The Bilateral Activation, Integration, and Selection (BAIS) framework of language processing10 suggests some basic hypotheses1. CC, related to the activation component, is hypothesized to involve posterior MTG and STG10,11. SUP, related to the attentionally-driven selection component, modulates lexical-level activation and message-level semantic integration to narrow representations to those most relevant to a comprehender’s goal. Selection is strongly associated with left IFGe.g,12 but RH IFG also is crucial for semantic filtering and selection13,14, especially for information more strongly active in the RH15. Basal ganglia circuits are likely involved, as well13,16

RANKL Deletion in Periodontal Ligament and Bone Lining Cells Blocks Orthodontic Tooth Movement

The bone remodeling process in response to orthodontic forces requires the activity of osteoclasts to allow teeth to move in the direction of the force applied. Receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) is essential for this process although its cellular source in response to orthodontic forces has not been determined. Orthodontic tooth movement is considered to be an aseptic inflammatory process that is stimulated by leukocytes inclduing T and B lymphocytes which are presumed to stimulate bone resorption. We determined whether periodontal ligament and bone lining cells were an essential source of RANKL by tamoxifen induced deletion of RANKL in which Cre recombinase was driven by a 3.2 kb reporter element of the Col1α1 gene in experimental mice (Col1α1.CreERTM+.RANKLf/f) and compared results with littermate controls (Col1α1.CreERTM-.RANKLf/f). By examination of Col1α1.CreERTM+.ROSA26 reporter mice we showed tissue specificity of tamoxifen induced Cre recombinase predominantly in the periodontal ligament and bone lining cells. Surprisingly we found that most of the orthodontic tooth movement and formation of osteoclasts was blocked in the experimental mice, which also had a reduced periodontal ligament space. Thus, we demonstrate for the first time that RANKL produced by periodontal ligament and bone lining cells provide the major driving force for tooth movement and osteoclastogenesis in response to orthodontic forces

The Construct of the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale Revision 4 for the Population of Taiwan

This study examines the factor structure of the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale Revision 4 (SQLS-R4) for inpatients with schizophrenia in a psychiatric hospital in southern Taiwan. All the participants (n=100) filled out the SQLS-R4, Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE), and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) under the supervision of one experienced occupational therapist. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we first determined that a 29-item model was more satisfactory than the original 33-item model based on the findings of better fit indices for the 29-item model. We then found that a three-correlated-factor structure was best for the SQLS-R4 after four models (namely, two-correlated-factor, three-correlated-factor, seven-correlated-factor, and second-order models) had been compared. In addition, the three constructs (psychosocial, physical, and vitality) were moderately to highly correlated with the constructs of the World Health Organization Quality of Life- (WHOQOL-) BREF (r=-0.38 to -0.69), except for one low correlation between the vitality construct of the SQLS-R4 and the psychological construct of the WHOQOL-BREF (r=-0.26). We tentatively conclude that the SQLS-R4 with a three-correlated-factor structure is a valid and reliable instrument for examining the quality of life of people with schizophrenia

Intradiscal injection of simvastatin retards progression of intervertebral disc degeneration induced by stab injury

Abstract Introduction Earlier work indicates that the cholesterol-lowering drug, simvastatin, is anabolic to chondrogenic expression of rat intervertebral disc (IVD) cells, which suggests a potential role for simvastatin in IVD regeneration. In this study, we expand on our earlier work to test the effectiveness of simvastatin on disc degeneration utilizing a rat tail disc degeneration model. Methods 30 rats that underwent 21 G needle-puncture at rat tail discs were injected with simvastatin-loaded poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-PLGA-PEG) gel (5 mg/ml) or vehicle control at 4 weeks after needle injury. All animals were sacrificed 2 weeks after simvastatin injection. Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), aggrecan, collagen type II, and collagen type I messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression in the rat nucleus pulposus (NP) were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed to monitor changes in disc degeneration. Rat discs were also assessed by histology using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and safranin O staining. In addition, the NP weight, glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) and DNA content were also measured. Results A single dose of simvastatin loaded in thermo-sensitive PEG-PLGA-PEG gel injected into the NP had the trend to increase aggrecan expression and sGAG content, and significantly increased mRNA levels of BMP-2, collagen type II, and the differentiation index (the ratio of collagen type II to collagen type I). The decreased NP weight, T2 intensity, as well as MRI index in the rat tail discs induced by needle puncture were significantly reversed after 2 weeks of simvastatin treatment. In addition, simvastatin treatment also improved histological changes induced by needle puncture. Conclusions A single injection of simvastatin loaded in PEG-PLGA-PEG gel into rat tail discs had the potential to retard or regenerate the degenerative disc.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112803/1/13075_2009_Article_2698.pd