Political and Cultural Foundations of Long-term Care Reform; Comment on “Financing Long-term Care: Lessons From Japan”

This paper comments on Naoki Ikegami’s editorial entitled “Financing long-term care: lessons from Japan.” Adding to the editorial, this paper focuses on analyzing the political and cultural foundations of long-term care (LTC) reform. Intergenerational solidarity and inclusive, prudential public deliberation are needed for the establishment or reform of LTC systems. Among various lines of ethical reasoning related to LTC, Confucian ethics and other familist ethics are specifically important in the societies that share these values. The core issue in the debates around LTC reform is how to (re-)define the scope of social entitlements and accordingly to allocate the responsibility for care between states and families, between social groups, and between generations with limited resources

Matrix Formulation of Hamiltonian Structures of Constrained KP Hierarchy

We give a matrix formulation of the Hamiltonian structures of constrained KP hierarchy. First, we derive from the matrix formulation the Hamiltonian structure of the one-constraint KP hierarchy, which was originally obtained by Oevel and Strampp. We then generalize the derivation to the multi-constraint case and show that the resulting bracket is actually the second Gelfand-Dickey bracket associated with the corresponding Lax operator. The matrix formulation of the Hamiltonian structure of the one-constraint KP hierarchy in the form introduced in the study of matrix model is also discussedComment: 19 pages, Revtex, no figures. Minor changes, reference correcte

Harvesting Green Energy from Blue Ocean in Taiwan: Patent Mapping and Regulation Analyzing

Taiwan is an island with abundant oceanic resources but devoid of resources to significantly utilize ocean power. In fact, the Taiwanese government has initiated several renewable energy policies to transform its energy supply structure from brown (fossil fuel-based) sources of energy to green (renewable-based) energy. In addition, in the 4th National Energy Conference held in 2015, ocean energy was identified as a key contributor to renewable energy source. Therefore, the Taiwanese government proposed the construction of a MW-scale demonstration electricity plant, powered by ocean energy, as promptly as possible. Compared with solar PV, wind, and biomass (waste) energy, the development of ocean energy in Taiwan has lagged behind. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to boost ocean energy adaptation using analysis from technical and legal perspectives. This chapter first illustrates the ocean energy potential and develop blueprint in Taiwan. Next, through patent research from the Taiwan Patent Search System, this chapter identifies advantageous ocean power technologies innovated by Taiwanese companies, primarily wave and current technologies. Furthermore, through the examination of regulations and competent authorities, this chapter discusses the possible challenges for implementing ocean energy technologies in Taiwan

Bacterial Leaf Nodule Symbiosis in Flowering Plants

Bacterial leaf nodule symbiosis within angiosperms is a less known phenomenon compared to the well-documented legume root-Rhizobium symbiosis and certainly deserved much more scientific attention. Leaf nodules associated with bacteria was first recognized in Pavetta (Rubiaceae) in early twentieth century. Further survey added other members of Rubiaceae, Primulaceae, Dioscoreaceae, and Styracaceae to the short list of plants with specialized bacteria-containing structure in aerial part of plants. The actual role of the bacteria has been questioned by several researchers, mostly due to the problems associated with the identities of these unculturable bacteria. Many progresses have been achieved provided with molecular phylogenetic analysis and also genomic data of the bacteria. Recent evidence from genomic sequences showed the symbiotic bacteria may serve as a defense role in Primulaceae and Rubiaceae, and may increase stress tolerance in Dioscoreaceae. In this article, we reviewed the current knowledge of the bacterial leaf nodule symbiosis in angiosperm. Future research and applications were also discussed

A CHALLENGE FOR THE OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATION IN TAIWAN

Owing to fulfill the policy of the multi‐education system in Taiwan, the government adopt the open strategy of the high level education system, the number of universities is increase drastically since the late of 20 century, so the students have a large of chances to select the institute to learning, there are many universities have already adopt the media‐teaching style of the Open and Distance Education (ODE), it enlarge the score and model of course's selection in the traditional universities, so the only multimedia‐teaching university, the National Open University (NOU) have already lose her monopoly power in the open and distance education system in Taiwan, the NOU also faced the problem that the number of students had decreased drastically during these years. In order to improve the development of the instructional media teaching and learning in the NOU, it need to change the policy of teaching and learning style in order to match the challenge for the ODE in Taiwan in the near future