Beliefs about self-care among nursing home staff and residents in Taiwan.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the beliefs about self-care among nursing home staff and residents. Subjects included 10 nursing home staff members and 10 residents. Results indicated 3 major themes: 1) the importance of performing self-care, 2) barriers to regaining self-care abilities, and 3) facilitators to regaining self-care ability.

Robustness and topology of the yeast cell cycle Boolean network.

Yeast cell cycle Boolean network was used as a case study of robustness to protein noise. Robustness was interpreted as involving stability of G1 steady state and sequence of gene expression from cell cycle START to stationary G1. A robustness measure to evaluate robustness strength of a network was proposed.

Exploring the key factors in the choice of home telehealth by using the health belief model.

The health belief model (HBM) was used in this study to identify and explore key factors in home telehealth. This study interviewed 369 people in Taiwan. A confirmatory factor analysis examined the reliability and validity of the measurement model, while the structural equation modeling technique was used to interpret the causal model.

Characteristics of elements in waste ashes from a solid waste incinerator in Taiwan.

Incineration, one of the most effective methods used to treat solid wastes, reduces the volume of solid wastes significantly and enables recovery of thermal energy. However, during this waste treatment, a small amount of heavy metals can be present in the form of fly ash or vapor in the flue gas, becoming a threat to human health and other living organisms once emitted into the environment. This study focuses on the characteristics and behavior of elements contained in the combustion residues and their impact on various wastes at Taiwan's municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI).

Application of methods (sequential extraction procedures and high-pressure digestion method) to fly ash particles to determine the element constituents: a case study for BCR 176.

Sequential extraction procedures and the high-pressure digestion method were selected to determine the element constituents of fly ash samples. Sequential extraction is one of the most useful methods used to measure the various elements from municipal solid waste incineration ash and contaminated soils. The extract from each step is analyzed using various techniques and equipment, and the results are then evaluated.

Feasibility study of a soil-based rubberized CLSM.

The development of beneficial uses of recycled scrap tires is always in great demand around the world. The disposal of on-site surplus excavated soil and the production of standard engineering aggregates have also been facing increasing environmental and ecological challenges in congested islands, such as Taiwan. This paper presents an experimental study using recycled crumb rubber and native silty sand to produce a lightweight, soil-based, rubberized controlled low strength material (CLSM) for a bridge approach repair.

Tetracycline release from tripolyphosphate-chitosan cross-linked sponge: a preliminary in vitro study.

Background And Objective: The aim of this study was to design a tripolyphosphate-chitosan cross-linked tetracycline-containing (TPP-TC) sponge that slowly releases tetracycline, for future periodontal applications.

Material And Methods: Chitosan sponge was made by freezing and drying 2.5% chitosan solution.

Vegetation recovery patterns assessment at landslides caused by catastrophic earthquake: a case study in central Taiwan.

The catastrophic earthquake, 7.3 on the Richter scale, occurred on September 21, 1999 in Central Taiwan. Much of standing vegetation on slopes was eliminated and massive, scattered landslides were induced at the Jou-Jou Mountain area of the Wu-Chi basin in Nantou County.

Biofiltration of ethyl acetate and amyl acetate using a composite bead biofilter.

Biodegradation kinetic behaviors of ethyl acetate and amyl acetate in a composite bead biofilter were investigated. The composite bead was the spherical PVA/peat/KNO3/GAC composite bead which was prepared in our previous works. Both microbial growth rate and biochemical reaction rate were inhibited at higher inlet concentration.

Slipping of the foot on the floor when pulling a pallet truck.

Workers pulling pallet trucks are likely to slip when pulling and stepping on a low-friction floor. This study investigated the slipping of male participants when pulling a pallet truck, walking backward, and stepping on either a dry, wet, or glycerol-contaminated vinyl surface. The weight of the load on the truck was either low (0 kg), medium (295 kg), or high (568 kg).

A model of users' satisfaction with Taiwan's Government website.

Taiwan's Government web portal has been the sole communication link between citizens and E-Government since being launched in 2002 to provide citizens with government-related information promptly via effective classification. The assessment of the service quality and citizens' satisfaction with E-Government has rarely been explored. The present study explored how the service quality of E-Government subsequently affects the users' psychological and behavioral responses.

Research into care quality criteria for long-term care institutions.

The purpose of this paper was to determine the criteria that reflect the quality of care provided by long-term care institutions. Research was conducted using a two-step procedure that first utilized the SERVQUAL model with Fuzzy Delphi Method to establish the proper criteria by which service quality could be measured. A total of 200 questionnaires were mailed to expert respondents, of which 89 were returned and 77 deemed valid for use in this study.

Kinetic characteristics of n-butyl alcohol and iso-butyl alcohol in a composite bead air biofilter.

Kinetic characteristics of n-butyl alcohol and iso-butyl alcohol in a composite bead biofilter were investigated. The microbial growth rate of n-butyl alcohol was greater than that of iso-butyl alcohol in the average inlet concentration range of 50-300 ppm. The microbial growth rate was inhibited at higher inlet concentration, and the inhibitive effect in the concentration range of 50-150 ppm was more pronounced than that in the concentration range of 150-300 ppm.

Feature selection and combination criteria for improving accuracy in protein structure prediction.

The classification of protein structures is essential for their function determination in bioinformatics. At present, a reasonably high rate of prediction accuracy has been achieved in classifying proteins into four classes in the SCOP database according to their primary amino acid sequences. However, for further classification into fine-grained folding categories, especially when the number of possible folding patterns as those defined in the SCOP database is large, it is still quite a challenge.

Improvement of remote monitoring on water quality in a subtropical reservoir by incorporating grammatical evolution with parallel genetic algorithms into satellite imagery.

Parallel GEGA was constructed by incorporating grammatical evolution (GE) into the parallel genetic algorithm (GA) to improve reservoir water quality monitoring based on remote sensing images. A cruise was conducted to ground-truth chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration longitudinally along the Feitsui Reservoir, the primary water supply for Taipei City in Taiwan. Empirical functions with multiple spectral parameters from the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) data were constructed.

Biofiltration of ketone compounds by a composite bead biofilter.

In this study, the biochemical kinetic behaviors of ketone compounds in a composite bead biofilter were investigated. Both microbial growth rate kg and biochemical reaction rate kd would be inhibited at higher average inlet concentration. For the microbial growth process, the inhibitive effect was the least pronounced for acetone and the order of kg value was MEK>MIPK>acetone in the average inlet concentration range of 100-150 ppm.

Self-organizing adaptive fuzzy neural control for a class of nonlinear systems.

This paper proposes a self-organizing adaptive fuzzy neural control (SAFNC) via sliding-mode approach for a class of nonlinear systems. The proposed SAFNC system is comprised of a computation controller and a supervisory controller. The computation controller including a self-organizing fuzzy neural network (SOFNN) identifier is the principal controller.

Using of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium to product the isoflavone aglycones in fermented soymilk.

The study determined isoflavone aglycone contents in soymilk and sugar-soymilk fermented with a single culture of two strains of Lactobacillus paracasei, two strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus, and one strain of Bifidobacterium longum respectively at 37 degrees C for 24 h. Isoflavone concentration was analyzed by HPLC. The viable count of bacteria in all of the fermented soymilk ranged from 7 to 9 log CFU/ml.

A comparison of MICU survival prediction using the logistic regression model and artificial neural network model.

Under the policy of restraint in medical expenditure and with the dual pressures of medical technology development and population aging, the critical care services will exert even greater pressure on the limited medical resources. Therefore, the objective of this study is to compare the abilities of two models, the Logistic Regression Model and the Neural Network Model, to predict the survival of critical care patients, in order to provide a more ethical and objective survival prediction system, as well as to promote more effective management of the resources of the medical intensive care unit (MICU). The two models use the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation-II (APACHE-II) and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores of 1,496 patients stayed who in the MICU of a Taiwan medical center during January 2002-January 2004 to conduct the survival prediction.

Study of a risk-based piping inspection guideline system.

A risk-based inspection system and a piping inspection guideline model were developed in this study. The research procedure consists of two parts--the building of a risk-based inspection model for piping and the construction of a risk-based piping inspection guideline model. Field visits at the plant were conducted to develop the risk-based inspection and strategic analysis system.

Developing a simplified river landscape assessment model: examples from the Chungkang and Touchien rivers, Taiwan.

Currently, river landscape evaluations cannot be conducted by the general public, due to their lack of professional training. However, consulting professionals is time consuming and costly. The research conducted addresses both problems by (1) developing suitable criteria for assessing river environments, and (2) formulating a strategy for using the proposed criteria, thereby creating an effective method for river management by non-professionals.

Biochemical kinetic behaviors between n-butyl acetate and composite bead in biofilter.

In this study, the kinetic behaviors between n-butyl acetate and composite bead were investigated. Both microbial growth rate and biochemical reaction rate would be inhibited with increasing average inlet concentration. The order of the inhibitive effect, which resulted from increased average inlet concentration for four operation temperatures, was 30>35>40>25 degrees C.

Kinetic behaviors between acetone and composite bead in biofilter.

In this study, the kinetic behaviors between acetone and composite bead were investigated. The microbial growth rate decreased with increasing average inlet concentration and increased with increasing operation temperature at average inlet concentration ranging from 50 to 300 ppm and operation temperature ranging from 30 to 40 degrees C. The microbial growth rate would be inhibited with increasing average inlet concentration, and the inhibitive effect was more pronounced at higher operation temperature.

A process to prepare a synthetic filter material containing nutrients for biofiltration.

In this study, an optimal process to prepare a synthetic filter material (poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/peat/KNO(3) composite bead) containing nutrients was developed for biofiltration. The optimal preparing condition was that each of the peat and PVA aqueous solutions contains 6.4 g KNO(3) and the nitrogen content in the boric and phosphate aqueous solutions must retain higher than 3.

The effect of shoe soling tread groove width on the coefficient of friction with different sole materials, floors, and contaminants.

Tread groove design is very common in footwear. However, coefficient of friction (COF) measurements between the footwear material and floor using a slipmeter were commonly performed using flat footwear pads. Such measurements might underestimate the actual slip resistance of the footwear pad.