A Study on the Growth and Formation of Single Person Households and Their Housing Decisions in Taiwan

The number of single person households has dramatically increased in Taiwan in the past several decades as it has elsewhere in the world, but this phenomenon has been largely neglected in the literature. This research explores the factors that affect the formation of single person households and their housing decisions. Taiwan¡¦s population census data for 1980, 1990 and 2000 are used. Some interesting trends can be found. First of all, people who are married or cohabiting have exhibited an increasing tendency to live alone census by census. This shows the increasing need in a modern society for the husband and wife to live separately due to employment or other reasons. Secondly, unmarried and widowed elderly persons have had an increasing probability of living alone over the decades. Thirdly, the number of female single person households has been increasing rapidly, and there is a higher probability that they are homeowners and also occupying a larger living space than their male counterparts. To sum up, the results of this study show that the demand for housing among single person households will continue to increase as their numbers increase. Their demand for homeownership and living space are also increasing.Single person household formation; Tenure choice; Living space; Binary probit model; Sample selection model

Orderly Spanning Trees with Applications

We introduce and study the {\em orderly spanning trees} of plane graphs. This algorithmic tool generalizes {\em canonical orderings}, which exist only for triconnected plane graphs. Although not every plane graph admits an orderly spanning tree, we provide an algorithm to compute an {\em orderly pair} for any connected planar graph $G$, consisting of a plane graph $H$ of $G$, and an orderly spanning tree of $H$. We also present several applications of orderly spanning trees: (1) a new constructive proof for Schnyder's Realizer Theorem, (2) the first area-optimal 2-visibility drawing of $G$, and (3) the best known encodings of $G$ with O(1)-time query support. All algorithms in this paper run in linear time.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, A preliminary version appeared in Proceedings of the 12th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA 2001), Washington D.C., USA, January 7-9, 2001, pp. 506-51

An interactively recurrent functional neural fuzzy network with fuzzy differential evolution and its applications

In this paper, an interactively recurrent functional neural fuzzy network (IRFNFN) with fuzzy differential evolution (FDE) learning method was proposed for solving the control and the prediction problems. The traditional differential evolution (DE) method easily gets trapped in a local optimum during the learning process, but the proposed fuzzy differential evolution algorithm can overcome this shortcoming. Through the information sharing of nodes in the interactive layer, the proposed IRFNFN can effectively reduce the number of required rule nodes and improve the overall performance of the network. Finally, the IRFNFN model and associated FDE learning algorithm were applied to the control system of the water bath temperature and the forecast of the sunspot number. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method

Application of Ultrasonography in Thyroid Cysts

Thyroid ultrasonography has been used to detect thyroid lesions since the 1960s. In early 1970s, thyroid cyst had been reported to present as thyroid nodules. With over one-third of all isolated thyroid nodules being cystic, over half exhibit cystic degeneration and approximately 17–32% of the cystic thyroid nodules are malignant. The pathogenesis of thyroid cysts is unknown. Possible causes include infarcts and other destructive processes including hemorrhaging in the thyroid follicle, clustering of thyroid follicles followed by cystic degeneration, and benign or malignant tumor necrosis. Cystic fluid analysis for amylase, lactate dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase reveals substantially higher levels than in the serum. Immunoreactive endothelin, vascular epithelial growth factor and β2-microglobulin were investigated in the cystic fluid of developing and recurrent thyroid nodules. Ultrasound-guided aspiration near the solid part of the thyroid cysts, combined with cytologic study by experienced endocrine cytopathologists, constitutes the best form of preoperative diagnosis of malignant thyroid cysts. Of the malignant cysts, most are papillary thyroid carcinoma. However, medullary cystic carcinoma and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma with cystic changes are also reported. Observation, repeated aspiration, thyroid hormone therapy, percutaneous ethanol injection, ultrasound-guided interstitial laser photocoagulation and surgical treatment are the most common treatment for thyroid cysts. Depending on the definition of response rate and the period of follow-up, the response rate to ethanol injection for thyroid cysts ranges from 72.1% to 93.9%. In conclusion, the pathogenesis of the thyroid cysts requires further investigation. Recurrent thyroid cysts larger than 3 cm may require surgical treatment

A Proposed Framework for Influencing Factors of Partnership in E-Marketplace

This paper attempts to integrate concepts of e-marketplace and inter-organizational relationship to built a framework for influencing factors of e-business partnership and empirically explore it. The importance for five dimensions of the Research Model based on four top representatives of interviewed Taiwanese companies engaged in e-marketplaces is summarized. Fuzzy Delphi Method is used to decide which factors are vital for the success in three phases of partnership in e-marketplace. Data are collected through a survey of organizations that are actively involved in the planning or operation of e-marketplaces. Except exploiting of new market, the result has been shown the influencing factors are not the same in three phases of partnership in e-marketplace. It implies that to manage an e-marketplace must have different strategies to select, develop, and maintain participants

Syndecan-2 induces filopodia and dendritic spine formation via the neurofibromin–PKA–Ena/VASP pathway

Syndecan-2 induced filopodia before spinogenesis; therefore, filopodia formation was used here as a model to study the early downstream signaling of syndecan-2 that leads to spinogenesis. Screening using kinase inhibitors indicated that protein kinase A (PKA) is required for syndecan-2–induced filopodia formation in both human embryonic kidney cells and hippocampal neurons. Because neurofibromin, a syndecan-2–binding partner, activates the cyclic adenosine monophosphate pathway, the role of neurofibromin in syndecan-2–induced filopodia formation was investigated by deletion mutant analysis, RNA interference, and dominant-negative mutant. The results showed that neurofibromin mediates the syndecan-2 signal to PKA. Among actin-associated proteins, Enabled (Ena)/vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) were predicted as PKA effectors downstream of syndecan-2, as Ena/VASP, which is activated by PKA, induces actin polymerization. Indeed, when the activities of Ena/VASP were blocked, syndecan-2 no longer induced filopodia formation. Finally, in addition to filopodia formation, neurofibromin and Ena/VASP contributed to spinogenesis. This study reveals a novel signaling pathway in which syndecan-2 activates PKA via neurofibromin and PKA consequently phosphorylates Ena/VASP, promoting filopodia and spine formation

Current Status of Antimicrobial Resistance in Taiwan

While some trends in antimicrobial resistance rates are universal, others appear to be unique for specific regions. In Taiwan, the strikingly high prevalence of resistance to macrolides and streptogramin in clinical isolates of gram-positive bacteria correlates with the widespread use of these agents in the medical and farming communities, respectively. The relatively low rate of enterococci that are resistant to glycopeptide does not parallel the high use of glycopeptides and extended-spectrum beta-lactams in hospitals. The evolving problem of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates is substantial, and some unique enzymes have been found. Recently, some gram-negative bacteria (e.g., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii) that are resistant to all available antimicrobial agents including carbapenems have emerged

SUMOylation of the MAGUK protein CASK regulates dendritic spinogenesis

Membrane-associated guanylate kinase (MAGUK) proteins interact with several synaptogenesis-triggering adhesion molecules. However, direct evidence for the involvement of MAGUK proteins in synapse formation is lacking. In this study, we investigate the function of calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine protein kinase (CASK), a MAGUK protein, in dendritic spine formation by RNA interference. Knockdown of CASK in cultured hippocampal neurons reduces spine density and shrinks dendritic spines. Our analysis of the time course of RNA interference and CASK overexpression experiments further suggests that CASK stabilizes or maintains spine morphology. Experiments using only the CASK PDZ domain or a mutant lacking the protein 4.1–binding site indicate an involvement of CASK in linking transmembrane adhesion molecules and the actin cytoskeleton. We also find that CASK is SUMOylated. Conjugation of small ubiquitin-like modifier 1 (SUMO1) to CASK reduces the interaction between CASK and protein 4.1. Overexpression of a CASK–SUMO1 fusion construct, which mimicks CASK SUMOylation, impairs spine formation. Our study suggests that CASK contributes to spinogenesis and that this is controlled by SUMOylation

A Study of Digital Image Enlargement and Enhancement

Most image enlargement techniques suffer the problem of zigzagged edges and jagged images following enlargement. Humans are sensitive to the edges of objects; if the edges in the image are sharp, the visual is considered to be high quality. To solve this problem, this paper presents a new and effective method for image enlargement and enhancement based on adaptive inverse hyperbolic tangent (AIHT) algorithm. Conventional image enlargement and enhancement methods enlarge the image using interpolation, and subsequently enhance the image without considering image features. However, this study presents the method based on Adaptive Inverse Hyperbolic Tangent algorithm to enhance images according to image features before enlarging the image. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is capable of adaptively enhancing the image and extruding object details, thereby improving enlargements by smoothing the edge of the objects in the image