Sample records for taiwan national science

  1. National Program for e-Learning in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Maiga; Wang, Chin-Yeh; Chen, Gwo-Dong

    2009-01-01

    Taiwan government has initiated a five-year program since 2002: the National Science and Technology Program for e-Learning. The national program started from 2003 and was completed at the end of year 2007, involving thirteen government agencies. This paper describes the results that the national program has accomplished at its first phase, 2003 to…

  2. A Major E-Learning Project to Renovate Science Learning Environment in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Chun-Yen; Lee, Greg

    2010-01-01

    This article summarizes a major e-Learning project recently funded by the National Science Council of Taiwan and envisions some of the future research directions in this area. This project intends to initiate the "Center for excellence in e-Learning Sciences (CeeLS): i[superscript 4] future learning environment" at the National Taiwan…

  3. The fast development of solar terrestrial sciences in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Jann-Yenq; Chang, Loren Chee-Wei; Chao, Chi-Kuang; Chen, Ming-Quey; Chu, Yen-Hsyang; Hau, Lin-Ni; Huang, Chien-Ming; Kuo, Cheng-Ling; Lee, Lou-Chuang; Lyu, Ling-Hsiao; Lin, Chia-Hsien; Pan, Chen-Jeih; Shue, Jih-Hong; Su, Ching-Lun; Tsai, Lung-Chih; Yang, Ya-Hui; Lin, Chien-Hung; Hsu, Rue-Ron; Su, Han-Tzong

    2016-12-01

    In Taiwan, research and education of solar terrestrial sciences began with a ground-based ionosonde operated by Ministry of Communications in 1952 and courses of ionospheric physics and space physics offered by National Central University (NCU) in 1959, respectively. Since 1990, to enhance both research and education, the Institute of Space Science at NCU has been setting up and operating ground-based observations of micropulsations, very high-frequency radar, low-latitude ionospheric tomography network, high-frequency Doppler sounder, digital ionosondes, and total electron content (TEC) derived from ground-based GPS receivers to study the morphology of the ionosphere for diurnal, seasonal, geophysical, and solar activity variations, as well as the ionosphere response to solar flares, solar wind, solar eclipses, magnetic storms, earthquakes, tsunami, and so on. Meanwhile, to have better understanding on physics and mechanisms, model simulations for the heliosphere, solar wind, magnetosphere, and ionosphere are also introduced and developed. After the 21 September 1999 Mw7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake, seismo-ionospheric precursors and seismo-traveling ionospheric disturbances induced by earthquakes become the most interesting and challenging research topics of the world. The development of solar terrestrial sciences grows even much faster after National Space Origination has been launching a series of FORMOSAT satellites since 1999. ROCSAT-1 (now renamed FORMOSAT-1) measures the ion composition, density, temperature, and drift velocity at the 600-km altitude in the low-latitude ionosphere; FORMOSAT-2 is to investigate lightning-induced transient luminous events, polar aurora, and upper atmospheric airglow, and FORMOSAT-3 probes ionospheric electron density profiles of the globe. In the near future, FORMOSAT-5 and FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 will be employed for studying solar terrestrial sciences. These satellite missions play an important role on the recent development of solar

  4. Evaluating a National Science and Technology Program Using the Human Capital and Relational Asset Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hung, Chia-Liang; Chou, Jerome Chih-Lung; Roan, Hung-Wei

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this research is to evaluate the performance of the National Science and Technology Program (NSTP) by targeting the Taiwan National Telecommunication Program (NTP) initiated in 1998. The Taiwan telecommunications industry has prospered, currently occupying key positions in global markets even though NTP seldom contributes positively…

  5. A study of assessment indicators for environmental sustainable development of science parks in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chen, Han-Shen; Chien, Li-Hsien; Hsieh, Tsuifang

    2013-08-01

    This study adopted the ecological footprint calculation structure to calculate the ecological footprints of the three major science parks in Taiwan from 2008 to 2010. The result shows that the ecological footprints of the Hsinchu Science Park, the Central Taiwan Science Park, and the Southern Taiwan Science Park were about 3.964, 2.970, and 4.165 ha per capita. The ecological footprint (EF) of the Central Taiwan Science Park was the lowest, meaning that the influence of the daily operations in the Central Taiwan Science Park on the environment was rather low. Secondly, the population density was relatively high, and the EF was not the highest of the Hsinchu Science Park, meaning that, while consuming ecological resources, the environmental management done was effective. In addition, the population density in Southern Taiwan Science Park is 82.8 units, lower than that of Hsinchu Science Park, but its ecological footprint per capita is 0.201 units, higher than Hsinchu, implying its indicator management has space for improvement. According to the analysis result above, in the science parks, the percentages of high-energy-consuming industries were rather high. It was necessary to encourage development of green industries with low energy consumption and low pollution through industry transformation.

  6. Education and Outreach on Space Sciences and Technologies in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tiger Liu, Jann-Yeng; Chen, hao-Yen; Lee, I.-Te

    2014-05-01

    The Ionospheric Radio Science Laboratory (IRSL) at Institute of Space Science, National Central University in Taiwan has been conducting a program for public outreach educations on space science by giving lectures, organizing camps, touring exhibits, and experiencing hand-on experiments to elementary school, high school, and college students as well as general public since 1991. The program began with a topic of traveling/living in space, and was followed by space environment, space mission, and space weather monitoring, etc. and a series of course module and experiment (i.e. experiencing activity) module was carried out. For past decadal, the course modules have been developed to cover the space environment of the Sun, interplanetary space, and geospace, as well as the space technology of the rocket, satellite, space shuttle (plane), space station, living in space, observing the Earth from space, and weather observation. Each course module highlights the current status and latest new finding as well as discusses 1-3 key/core issues/concepts and equip with 2-3 activity/experiment modules to make students more easily to understand the topics/issues. Regarding the space technologies, we focus on remote sensing of Earth's surface by FORMOSAT-2 and occultation sounding by FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC of Taiwan space mission. Moreover, scientific camps are given to lead students a better understanding and interesting on space sciences/ technologies. Currently, a visualized image projecting system, Dagik Earth, is developed to demonstrate the scientific results on a sphere together with the course modules. This system will dramatically improve the educational skill and increase interests of participators.

  7. Exploring Secondary Science Teachers' Perceptions on the Goals of Earth Science Education in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Chun-Yen; Chang, Yueh-Hsia; Yang, Fang-Ying

    2009-01-01

    The educational reform movement since the 1990s has led the secondary earth science curriculum in Taiwan into a stage of reshaping. The present study investigated secondary earth science teachers' perceptions on the Goals of Earth Science Education (GESE). The GESE should express the statements of philosophy and purpose toward which educators…

  8. Outreach Education Modules on Space Sciences in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, I.-Te; Tiger Liu, Jann-Yeng; Chen, Chao-Yen

    2013-04-01

    The Ionospheric Radio Science Laboratory (IRSL) at Institute of Space Science, National Central University in Taiwan has been conducting a program for public outreach educations on space science by giving lectures, organizing camps, touring exhibits, and experiencing hand-on experiments to elementary school, high school, and college students as well as general public since 1991. The program began with a topic of traveling/living in space, and was followed by space environment, space mission, and space weather monitoring, etc. and a series of course module and experiment (i.e. experiencing activity) module was carried out. For past decadal, the course modules have been developed to cover the space environment of the Sun, interplanetary space, and geospace, as well as the space technology of the rocket, satellite, space shuttle (plane), space station, living in space, observing the Earth from space, and weather observation. Each course module highlights the current status and latest new finding as well as discusses 1-3 key/core issues/concepts and equip with 2-3 activity/experiment modules to make students more easily to understand the topics/issues. Meanwhile, scientific camps are given to lead students a better understanding and interesting on space science. Currently, a visualized image projecting system, Dagik Earth, is developed to demonstrate the scientific results on a sphere together with the course modules. This system will dramatically improve the educational skill and increase interests of participators.

  9. [The evolution of national health and the development of the nursing practice in Taiwan].

    PubMed

    Yin, Teresa J C

    2014-08-01

    Nursing is an applied science. While there is a wide range of nursing theories and nursing care models, resolving the health problems and meeting the health needs of clients is the common objective of all in the nursing profession. The nursing profession may be subdivided into hospital clinical nursing and community health nursing (CHN). CHN is further subdivided into public health nursing, school health nursing, and industrial health nursing. The past 60 years has been a period of significant growth and improvement in Taiwan that has enhanced the nation's socioeconomic condition, general living standards, and general public health. The nursing profession has seen profound progress as well, not only in terms of content but also in terms of nursing care models, which are increasingly framed around core public health needs and take into consideration different health perspectives. Nursing in Taiwan has gradually established its own professional function and autonomy.

  10. Indigenous Elementary Students' Science Instruction in Taiwan: Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Huei; Yen, Chiung-Fen; Aikenhead, Glen S.

    2012-01-01

    This preliminary ethnographic investigation focused on how Indigenous traditional wisdom can be incorporated into school science and what students learned as a result. Participants included community elders and knowledge keepers, as well as 4th grade (10-year-old) students, all of Amis ancestry, an Indigenous tribe in Taiwan. The students'…

  11. Kindergartener's Technology Education in Taiwan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Chun-Chin

    According to the American Association for Advancement of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) and its Technology for All Americans Project (TfAAP), technology education should begin in kindergarten. Educators in Taiwan have also advocated beginning technology education in…

  12. Interpreters' Perceptions about the Goals of the Science Museum in Taiwan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chin, Chi-Chin

    The competence of interpreters, so called "docents," influences visitors' learning in museums. The study reported in this paper investigated 16 interpreters' perceptions about: the educational goals of the science museum in Taiwan, the function of the interpreter in the science museum, the requirements for a competent interpreter, and…

  13. NRAO Welcomes Taiwan as a New North American ALMA Partner

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2008-12-01

    The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has announced a formal agreement enabling Taiwanese astronomers to participate in the North American component of the international ALMA partnership, alongside American and Canadian astronomers. Taiwan's efforts will be led by the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA). ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, is the most ambitious ground-based astronomical observatory in history. Currently under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert at an altitude of 16,500 feet, it promises to revolutionize our understanding of the formation of planets, stars, and galaxies when it begins full science operations early in the next decade. The agreement, signed by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office and the American Institute in Taiwan, provides for approximately $20 million in ALMA construction funding through the National Science Council (NSC), Taiwan’s equivalent to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and Canada's National Research Council (NRC), which have jointly funded North America's existing contribution to the international ALMA project. Activities under the agreement will include joint research projects, development projects, collaboration on construction, support of observatory operations and other forms of cooperation. Access to ALMA observing time will be shared, as will membership on advisory committees. “Taiwan is a world-class center for submillimeter-wavelength astronomical research, and we’re delighted that the ALMA project and all its future users will benefit from the resources and expertise that Taiwan’s deepening participation brings to this great, global endeavor,” said Dr. Fred Lo, NRAO's director. This new agreement increases and diversifies Taiwan’s Academia Sinica investment in ALMA beyond the levels achieved through its participation in the East Asian component of the ALMA partnership, which is led by the National Astronomical

  14. Assessing Students' Conceptual Understanding in Science: An Introduction about a National Project in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chiu, Mei-Hung; Guo, Chorng-Jee; Treagust, David F.

    2007-01-01

    In this article, we discuss several aspects of the national project, the National Science Concept Learning Study, designed to assess elementary, middle, and secondary students' conceptual understanding in science. After a short introduction to provide some history of the project, we describe the processes used in the integrative study, the…

  15. The Mother Tongues as Second Languages: Nationalism, Democracy and Multilingual Education in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dupré, Jean-François

    2014-01-01

    After nearly half a century of authoritarianism characterized by Chinese nationalism and Mandarin promotion, democratization in 1990s Taiwan was accompanied by a Taiwanization movement featuring calls for the revitalization of local languages and the promotion of linguistic equality. To that end, the government began planning for local language…

  16. Examining visitors' behavioral intentions and behaviors in a Taiwan National Park

    Treesearch

    Chieh-Lu Li; Garry E. Chick

    2011-01-01

    In 2007-2008, some visitors to Taroko National Park in Taiwan were surveyed to allow testing of a behavioral prediction model in the context of national park recreation. This model includes three constructs: values (a cultural anthropology factor), perceptions of service quality (service marketing factors), and perceptions of crowding (a national park recreation factor...

  17. Nonemergent emergency department visits under the National Health Insurance in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Tsai, Jeffrey Che-Hung; Chen, Wen-Yi; Liang, Yia-Wun

    2011-05-01

    To explore the magnitude of nonemergent emergency department visits under the Taiwan National Health Insurance program and to identify significant factors associated with these visits. A cross-sectional analysis of the 2002 Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database was used to identify nonemergent emergency department conditions according to the New York University algorithm. The data contained 43,384 visits, of which 83.89% could be classified. Multivariate logistic regression identified individual and contextual factors associated with nonemergent emergency department visits. Nearly 15% of all emergency department visits were nonemergent; an additional 20% were emergent-preventable with primary care. Patients likely to make nonemergent emergency department visits were older, female, categorized as a Taiwan National Health Insurance Category IV beneficiary, and without major illness. Hospital accreditation level, teaching status, and location were associated with an increased likelihood of nonemergent emergency department visits. Understanding the factors leading to nonemergent emergency department visits can assist in evaluating the overall quality of a health care system and help reduce the use of the emergency department for nonemergent conditions. Policy makers desiring cost-effective care should assess emergency department visit rates in light of available resources for specific populations. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Taiwan's second remote sensing satellite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chern, Jeng-Shing; Ling, Jer; Weng, Shui-Lin

    2008-12-01

    FORMOSAT-2 is Taiwan's first remote sensing satellite (RSS). It was launched on 20 May 2004 with five-year mission life and a very unique mission orbit at 891 km altitude. This orbit gives FORMOSAT-2 the daily revisit feature and the capability of imaging the Arctic and Antarctic regions due to the high enough altitude. For more than three years, FORMOSAT-2 has performed outstanding jobs and its global effectiveness is evidenced in many fields such as public education in Taiwan, Earth science and ecological niche research, preservation of the world heritages, contribution to the International Charter: space and major disasters, observation of suspected North Korea and Iranian nuclear facilities, and scientific observation of the atmospheric transient luminous events (TLEs). In order to continue the provision of earth observation images from space, the National Space Organization (NSPO) of Taiwan started to work on the second RSS from 2005. This second RSS will also be Taiwan's first indigenous satellite. Both the bus platform and remote sensing instrument (RSI) shall be designed and manufactured by NSPO and the Instrument Technology Research Center (ITRC) under the supervision of the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL). Its onboard computer (OBC) shall use Taiwan's indigenous LEON-3 central processing unit (CPU). In order to achieve cost effective design, the commercial off the shelf (COTS) components shall be widely used. NSPO shall impose the up-screening/qualification and validation/verification processes to ensure their normal functions for proper operations in the severe space environments.

  19. The Geothermal Potential, Current and Opportunity in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Sheng-Rong

    2016-04-01

    Located in the west Pacific Rim of Fire, Taiwan possesses rich geothermal resources due to volcanic activities and rapid uplifting of plate collision. Based on available data prior to 1980, Taiwan may have about 1 GWe of potential shallow geothermal energy, which is less than 3% of the national gross power generation. A 3-Mw pilot power plant, therefore, was constructed in 1981 and terminated in 1993 in the Chingshui geothermal field of Ilan, northeastern Taiwan. Recently, one of the National Science & Technology Program (NSTP) projects has been conducting research and reevaluating the island-wide deep geothermal energy. Four hot potential sites have been recognized. They are: (1) Tatun Volcano Group of northern Taiwan; (2) I-Lan Plain of NE Taiwan; (3) Lu-Shan area of Central Taiwan; and (4) Hua-Tung area of eastern Taiwan. We found that the geothermal resource in Taiwan may be as high as 160 GWe, with 33.6 GWe of exploitable geothermal energy. There are no any commercial geothermal power plants until now in Taiwan, although the potential is great. However, geothermal energy has been listed as one of major tasks of National Energy Program, Phase II (NEP-II) in Taiwan. We will conduct more detailed geothermal energy surveys on some proposed hot sites and to construct an EGS pilot geothermal plant with 1 MWe capability in a few years. Currently, there are three nuclear power plants, named No. 1, 2 & 3, in operations, which produce 16.5% gross generation of electricity and one (No. 4) is under construction, but is stopped and sealed now in Taiwan. Furthermore, the life-span of 40-year operation for those three power plants will be close-at hand and retire in 2018-2019, 2021-2023 and 2024-2025, respectively. Therefore, to find alternative energy sources, especially on the clean, renewable and sustainable ones for generating electricity are emergent and important for Taiwan's government in next few years. Among various energy sources, geothermal energy can be as base

  20. Science Education Reform in Confucian Learning Cultures: Teachers' Perspectives on Policy and Practice in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Ying-Syuan; Asghar, Anila

    2018-01-01

    This empirical study investigates secondary science teachers' perspectives on science education reform in Taiwan and reflects how these teachers have been negotiating constructivist and learner-centered pedagogical approaches in contemporary science education. It also explores the challenges that teachers encounter while shifting their pedagogical…

  1. Progress and Prospect of Physics Research and Education in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raynien Kwo, J.

    2010-03-01

    Started about two decades ago, the global trend of shifting industrial manufacture power from western developed countries toward developing countries in Asia has in turn become the impetus in building up physical science and research in these areas. A very good example is the remarkable progress of physical research and education in Taiwan, in terms of quantity and quality. The continuous elevation of Taiwan's high education into graduate level plus the government's strong commitment to research and development on a level of 2.62 % GDP have led to an impressive physics program with an annual budget ˜32 million USD from National Science Council in supporting 568 PIs. The investigation scope encompasses high energy and astrophysics, nano and condensed matter, and semiconductor, optoelectronic physics, etc. The former is vigorously conducted via international collaborative efforts of LHC, KEK, ALMA, Pan-STARRS, etc. The latter is driven by vital Taiwan high tech industry mostly semiconductor IC and optoelectronics flourished during this period. The early trend of outflows of BS physics majors to western world for advanced studies has reversed dramatically. Nearly 80% of the BS students continue their MS and PhD degrees in Taiwan, attracted by lucrative job markets of high tech industry. In addition, healthy inflow of high-quality science manpower of well trained PhDs and senior scholars returning to homeland has strengthened the competitiveness. Overall, the physics community in Taiwan is thriving. The annual Physical Society meeting is expanding at a rate of 6%, reaching ˜1800 attendants and 1200 papers, and dedicated to promotions of female physicists and students. The publication quantity of Taiwan in top journals of PRs and PRL is ranked among top 20^th for all fields of physics, and ranked the 6^th in APL. Clearly Taiwan has now emerged as a strong power in applied science, not limited by its population size. Concerted efforts on scientific exchanges are being

  2. Science education reform in Confucian learning cultures: teachers' perspectives on policy and practice in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Ying-Syuan; Asghar, Anila

    2018-03-01

    This empirical study investigates secondary science teachers' perspectives on science education reform in Taiwan and reflects how these teachers have been negotiating constructivist and learner-centered pedagogical approaches in contemporary science education. It also explores the challenges that teachers encounter while shifting their pedagogical focus from traditional approaches to teaching science to an active engagement in students' learning. Multiple sources of qualitative data were obtained, including individual interviews with science teachers and teachers' reflective journals about Confucianism in relation to their educational philosophies. Thematic analysis and constant comparative method were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that Confucian traditions play a significant role in shaping educational practices in Taiwan and profoundly influence teachers' epistemological beliefs and their actual classroom practice. Indeed, science teachers' perspectives on Confucian learning traditions played a key role in supporting or obstructing their pedagogical commitments to inquiry-based and learner-centered approaches. This study draws on the literature concerning teachers' professional struggles and identity construction during educational reform. Specifically, we explore the ways in which teachers respond to educational changes and negotiate their professional identities. We employed various theories of identity construction to understand teachers' struggles and challenges while wrestling with competing traditional and reform-based pedagogical approaches. Attending to these struggles and the ways in which they inform the development of a teacher's professional identity is vital for sustaining current and future educational reform in Taiwan as well as in other Eastern cultures. These findings have important implications for teachers' professional development programs in East Asian cultures.

  3. Graduate Students' Usage of and Attitudes towards E-Books: Experiences from Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Ming-der; Chen, Shih-chuan

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: University libraries are increasing their e-book collections. The purpose of this study is to investigate graduate students' usage of and attitudes towards e-books at National Taiwan University. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 20 graduate students from the fields of humanities, social sciences, science and technology, and medicine…

  4. Music Education Reform in Taiwan: Beginning Music Teachers' Perceptions of Their Teacher Preparation at National Taiwan Normal University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lo, Ling-I.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate beginning music teachers' perceptions of their music teacher preparation at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) regarding the Arts and Humanities field of the Grade 1-9 Curriculum. Research questions focused on discovering the most and least effective components of undergraduate training at NTNU,…

  5. Why aren't women sticking with science in Taiwan?

    PubMed

    Cheng, Ling-Fang

    2010-06-01

    This paper explores the factors that contribute to the "leaky pipeline" in science, technology and medicine in Taiwan. The term "leaky pipeline" refers to the steady attrition of women throughout their careers in science, technology and medicine-fields in which men constitute the majority. As a result of this attrition, women are under-represented in the top positions. This phenomenon has been well studied in the United States, and based on the available data in the Chinese and English-language literature, this paper focuses on: (1) the social-cultural factors that keep young women away from science and medicine; (2) the difficulties faced by woman scientists when trying to balance work and family responsibilities; and (3) the impact of the pervasive masculine culture on training and promotion in career development. Conclusions include suggestions for improvements for equality between the sexes in science education, family responsive policies, and institutional reform. 2010 Elsevier. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. The Role of Language in National and Multinational Enterprises in Taiwan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Du-Babcock, Bertha; Babcock, Richard D.

    Communication patterns and language use in four national and multinational companies operating in Taiwan illustrate the potential for communication problems when more than one language is in use. The companies include Texas Instruments, Kaohsiung Monomer Company, Ltd., Bank of America, and Cheng-Yia International Corporation. In the four…

  7. Rethinking Taiwanese Nationality and Subjectivity: Implications from Language Issues in Colonial Taiwan in the 1920s

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Hsuan-Yi

    2017-01-01

    This historical study reflects on history curriculum debates over the last 20 years in Taiwan. To open up possibilities for contemporary Taiwanese to rethink themselves in terms of national culture and subjectivity, this paper explores the construction of Taiwanese subjectivity in the past. It focuses on the history of Taiwan under Japanese…

  8. The Relationships among Scientific Epistemic Beliefs, Conceptions of Learning Science, and Motivation of Learning Science: A Study of Taiwan High School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ho, Hsin-Ning Jessie; Liang, Jyh-Chong

    2015-01-01

    This study explores the relationships among Taiwanese high school students' scientific epistemic beliefs (SEBs), conceptions of learning science (COLS), and motivation of learning science. The questionnaire responses from 470 high school students in Taiwan were gathered for analysis to explain these relationships. The structural equation modeling…

  9. The Effect of Reform-Based Science Teaching on SES-Associated Achievement Gap on PISA 2006: A Comparative Study of the United States and Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tang, Nai-En

    The goal of this study is to examine how reform-based science teaching has been implemented and whether reform-based science teaching has promoted education equity through being available and beneficial for students from different socioeconomic status (SES) family backgrounds in the U.S. and Taiwan. No existing study used large-scale assessment to investigate the implementation and outcomes of the science reform movement in the U.S. and Taiwan. This study was developed to fill this gap using the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 data including 5,611 students in the United States and 5995 students in Taiwan. A Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to classify students into different science learning subgroups to understand how broadly reform-based science learning has been implemented in classrooms. The results showed that students in the U.S. had more opportunity to learn science through the reform-based learning activities than students in Taiwan. Latent Class Regression (LCR) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were used for examining the availability of reform-based science teaching in both countries. The results showed that in the U.S., higher SES students had more opportunity to learn science reform-based learning activities. On the other hand, students' SES had no association with reform-based science learning in Taiwan. Regression Mixture Modeling and SEM were used to examine whether there was an association between reform-based science teaching and SES-associated achievement gaps. The results found no evidence to support the claim that reform-based science teaching helps to minimize SES-associated achievement gaps in both countries.

  10. Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Their Professional Teaching Competencies: Differences between Teachers of Math/Science Majors and Non-Math/Science Majors in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Li-Chen; Chao, Li-ling; Cheng, Pi-Yun; Tuan, Hsiao-Lin; Guo, Chorng-Jee

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to probe the differences of perceived professional teaching competence between elementary school math/science teachers in Taiwan who are majored in math/science and those who are not. A researcher-developed Math/Science Teachers' Professional Development Questionnaire was used in a nationwide survey, using a two-stage…

  11. Science Education Curriculum Development Principles in Taiwan: Connecting with Aboriginal Learning and Culture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Tzu-Hua; Liu, Yuan-Chen

    2017-01-01

    This paper reflects thorough consideration of cultural perspectives in the establishment of science curriculum development principles in Taiwan. The authority explicitly states that education measures and activities of aboriginal peoples' ethnic group should be implemented consistently to incorporate their history, language, art, living customs,…

  12. Family medicine publications in Taiwan: an analysis of the Web of Science database from 1993 to 2012.

    PubMed

    Lin, Ming-Hwai; Hwang, Shinn-Jang; Hwang, I-Hsuan; Chen, Yu-Chun

    2014-11-01

    Academic publications are important for developing a medical specialty or discipline. Since family medicine is a rapidly growing medical specialty in Taiwan, this study aimed to analyze family medicine publications from 1993 to 2012 in Taiwan using the Web of Science database. Published academic articles submitted from departments/institutes of family medicine were retrieved and analyzed from the Web of Science database, which includes articles published in the Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Indexed journals from 1993 to 2012. Among 33,073 published articles submitted from the departments/institutes of family medicine worldwide during the years 1993-2012, 1552 articles (4.69%) were submitted from Taiwan, ranking fourth in the world after the USA, Canada, and Sweden. In total, 1409 articles from Taiwan, excluding meeting abstracts and corrections, were selected for further analyses. During these two decades, family medicine publications increased rapidly. There were 60 articles published during 1993-1997, 180 articles during 1998-2002, 334 articles during 2003-2007, and up to 836 articles during 2008-2012. However, the mean citation number of articles decreased from 19.0 to 17.7, 15.1, and 3.8, and the mean impact factor of published journals decreased from 3.41 to 3.15, 2.78 and 2.82 during the periods 1993-1997, 1998-2002, 2003-2007, and 2008-2012, respectively. Most articles belonged to the subject category of the Medicine, General and Internal category (194 articles, 13.8%), followed by Public Environmental Occupational Health (144 articles, 10.2%), Oncology (126 articles, 9.2%), Endocrinology Metabolism (111 articles, 7.9%), Geriatrics Gerontology (99 articles, 7.0%), and the Gastroenterology Hepatology category (85 articles, 6.0%). However, only six articles (0.4%) were published in the Primary Health Care category. Publications from departments/institutes of family medicine in Taiwan increased rapidly from 1993 to 2012. However

  13. Building a national electronic medical record exchange system - experiences in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Li, Yu-Chuan Jack; Yen, Ju-Chuan; Chiu, Wen-Ta; Jian, Wen-Shan; Syed-Abdul, Shabbir; Hsu, Min-Huei

    2015-08-01

    There are currently 501 hospitals and about 20,000 clinics in Taiwan. The National Health Insurance (NHI) system, which is operated by the NHI Administration, uses a single-payer system and covers 99.9% of the nation's total population of 23,000,000. Taiwan's NHI provides people with a high degree of freedom in choosing their medical care options. However, there is the potential concern that the available medical resources will be overused. The number of doctor consultations per person per year is about 15. Duplication of laboratory tests and prescriptions are not rare either. Building an electronic medical record exchange system is a good method of solving these problems and of improving continuity in health care. In November 2009, Taiwan's Executive Yuan passed the 'Plan for accelerating the implementation of electronic medical record systems in medical institutions' (2010-2012; a 3-year plan). According to this plan, a patient can, at any hospital in Taiwan, by using his/her health insurance IC card and physician's medical professional IC card, upon signing a written agreement, retrieve all important medical records for the past 6 months from other participating hospitals. The focus of this plan is to establish the National Electronic Medical Record Exchange Centre (EEC). A hospital's information system will be connected to the EEC through an electronic medical record (EMR) gateway. The hospital will convert the medical records for the past 6 months in its EMR system into standardized files and save them on the EMR gateway. The most important functions of the EEC are to generate an index of all the XML files on the EMR gateways of all hospitals, and to provide search and retrieval services for hospitals and clinics. The EEC provides four standard inter-institution EMR retrieval services covering medical imaging reports, laboratory test reports, discharge summaries, and outpatient records. In this system, we adopted the Health Level 7 (HL7) Clinical Document

  14. Essential components in developing public policy to control viral hepatitis: lessons from Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Wallace, Jack; Pitts, Marian; Locarnini, Stephen; Ellard, Jeanne; Carman, Marina; Chen, Ding-Shinn

    2016-03-01

    Over 500 million people are estimated to be infected with chronic viral hepatitis with an increasing burden resulting from the infections. In 2010, the World Health Organization recommended national governments develop effective strategies to reduce the global impact of viral hepatitis. Taiwan, to support the implementation of the world's first national vaccination program, developed the first of a series of 5-year national strategies in 1982. Our study sought to identify the essential constituents of the strategic response to chronic viral hepatitis in Taiwan, which could then be used by other governments to inform best practice in strategy development. Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with key participants involved in the national response to viral hepatitis in Taiwan (n = 26) and a review of the literature. The development of a national strategic response is one of several factors in reducing the burden of viral hepatitis in Taiwan. Other critical factors are effective health services, a prioritization of disease prevention, government funding of science and technology, and sustained advocacy informed by a rigorous evidence base. While there has been significant policy, structural and financial commitment to reduce the burden of related to viral hepatitis, essential challenges remain. Taiwan's viral hepatitis policy response focuses on clinical interventions and would be strengthened by a broader involvement of interdisciplinary stakeholders, including people with viral hepatitis, and stronger coordination between the policy and government agencies responsible for their implementation.

  15. Techno-politics of genomic nationalism: tracing genomics and its use in drug regulation in Japan and Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Kuo, Wen-Hua

    2011-10-01

    This paper compares the development of genomics as a form of state project in Japan and Taiwan. Broadening the concepts of genomic sovereignty and bionationalism, I argue that the establishment and use of genomic databases vary according to techno-political context. While both Japan and Taiwan hold population-based databases to be necessary for scientific advance and competitiveness, they differ in how they have attempted to transform the information produced by databases into regulatory schemes for drug approval. The effectiveness of Taiwan's biobank is severely limited by the IRB reviewing process. By contrast, while updating its regulations for drug approval, Japan, is using pharmacogenomics to deal with matters relating to ethnic identity. By analysing genomic initiatives in the political context that nurtures them, this paper seeks to capture how global science and local societies interact and offers insight into the assessment of state-sponsored science in East Asia as they become transnational. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. A Scheme for "The Window of Taiwan National Park"

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tang, E. Y.-F.

    2015-08-01

    There are nine distinguished national parks in Taiwan. Each one has its own wild variety of natural inhabitants and cultural resources. However, due to the geographical inaccessibility, partially closed by natural disaster, or under the restrict protection by the authority, most of the places are difficult to reach for the public, not to mention for the disabled people. Therefore, a scheme, with the cutting edge technology, comprising the essences of all nine national parks in a space located in one of the national parks which is more convenient with public transportation system is presented. The idea is to open a window in the hope to offer a platform for better and easy understanding the features of all national parks, to increase the accessibility for disabled people, and to provide advanced services for the public. Recently, the progressing of digital image technology becomes more and more promising. Using mutual interactive ways and game-liked formation to promote the participation of visitors to gain learning experiences is now becoming a mainstream for exhibition in visitor centers and museums around the world. The method of the motion-sensing interactive exhibition has personalized feature which is programmed to store visitor's behaviors and become smarter in response with visitor in order to make each person feel that they are playing in a game. It involves scenarios, concepts and visitors' participation in the exhibition design to form an interactive flow among human, exhibits, and space. It is highly attractive and low barrier for young, senior and disabled people, and for the case of no physical objects to exhibit, visual technology is a way of solution. This paper presents the features and difficulties of national parks in Taiwan. Visitors' behavior and several cases have been investigated and analysed to find a suitable way for combining all the features of national parks in an exhibition. However, it should be noticed that this is not an alternative

  17. Patterns of outpatient care utilization by seniors under the National Health Insurance in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Hsu, Wen-Chin; Hsu, Yi-Ping

    2016-05-01

    Taiwan has one of the fastest growing aging populations in the world, which makes the effective allocation of scarce medical resources a key issue. This paper investigates patterns in the use of outpatient services by elderly individuals in Taiwan under the National Health Insurance (NHI) program. We assembled a random sample from the NHI Research Database in Taiwan, comprising 50% of all claims made for elderly people (65 years old) in 2010 (n 1,239,836 beneficiaries) including 14 variables. In 2010, individuals aged 65 years or older comprised 10.74% of the population of Taiwan, and accounted for 11.39% of all physician and outpatient visits. The rate of medical care visits was 28.54 ± 21.23 (Standard deviation) times per person per annum, with a higher rate for women, those in the 80-84 age group, low-income beneficiaries, and the inhabitants of offshore islands. The three most frequent diagnoses for elderly patients were hypertension, diabetes, and acute upper respiratory infections. The mean insured medical costs per person per annum were US Dollars 1,132, with higher expenses for men, those in the 80-84 age group, and those inhabiting urban areas. This study employed nationally representative data in the detection of patterns in outpatient care utilization by elderly individuals in Taiwan. Medical care providers and policymakers should be fully aware of the complex patterns unique to older patients. The results of this study could be used as a benchmark with which to assess the impact of future medical care policy on elderly people. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  18. Governmental Disability Welfare Expenditure and National Economic Growth from 1991 to 2006 in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Jin-Ding; Lin, Lan-Ping

    2009-01-01

    The purposes of the present study were to describe the welfare expenditure for people with disabilities and examine its relation to national economic growth from 1991 to 2006 in Taiwan. We analyzed data mainly from the information of population with disabilities, disability welfare expenditure and national economic growth and gross national…

  19. Willingness to pay to sustain and expand National Health Insurance services in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lang, Hui-Chu; Lai, Mei-Shu

    2008-12-17

    The purpose of the present study was to investigate people's willingness to pay to sustain the current National Health Insurance (NHI) program in Taiwan and to extend that program to cover long-term care services. A survey was administered to 1800 inpatients and 1800 outpatients, selected from health care facilities across all accreditation levels that were operating under the supervision of six different regional branches of Taiwan's Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI). We used a contingent valuation method with closed-ended questions to elicit participants' willingness to pay for continued national heath insurance and additional institutional long-term care services. We divided participants into six subgroups and asked individuals in these groups referendum-like yes-no questions about whether they were willing to pay one of six price bids: New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) 50, NT$100, NT$200, NT$300, NT$400, or NT$500. Logistic regression was used to analyze willingness to pay. We found maximum willingness to pay for continued coverage by the NHI program and additional institutional long-term care services to be NT$66 and NT$137 dollars per month, respectively. We found that people were willing to pay more for their insurance coverage. With regard to methodology, we also found that using a contingent valuation method to elicit peoples' willingness to pay for health policy issues is valid. The results of the present referendum-like study can serve as a reference for future policy decision making.

  20. An Assessment of Science Teachers' Perceptions of Secondary School Environments in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Shwu-Yong L.

    2006-01-01

    This study investigates the psychosocial environments of secondary schools from science teachers’ perspectives, as well as associated variables. Using a sample of 900 secondary science teachers from 52 schools in Taiwan, the results attest to the validity and reliability of the instrument, the Science Teacher School Environment Questionnaire, and its ability to differentiate among schools. The descriptive results show that a majority of science teachers positively perceived their school environments. The teachers reported high collegiality, good teacher student relations, effective principal leadership, strong professional interest, and low work pressure—but also low staff freedom. Multiple regression results further indicate that policy-relevant variables like school level, school location, and teachers’ intentions to stay in teaching were associated with science teachers’ perceptions of their school environments. Qualitative data analysis based on interviews of 34 science teachers confirmed and enriched these findings.

  1. Perioperative medicine and Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database.

    PubMed

    Chang, C C; Liao, C C; Chen, T L

    2016-09-01

    "Big data", characterized by 'volume', 'velocity', 'variety', and 'veracity', being routinely collected in huge amounts of clinical and administrative healthcare-related data are becoming common and generating promising viewpoints for a better understanding of the complexity for medical situations. Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), one of large and comprehensive nationwide population reimbursement databases in the world, provides the strength of sample size avoiding selection and participation bias. Abundant with the demographics, clinical diagnoses, and capable of linking diverse laboratory and imaging information allowing for integrated analysis, NHIRD studies could inform us of the incidence, prevalence, managements, correlations and associations of clinical outcomes and diseases, under the universal coverage of healthcare used. Perioperative medicine has emerged as an important clinical research field over the past decade, moving the categorization of the specialty of "Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine". Many studies concerning perioperative medicine based on retrospective cohort analyses have been published in the top-ranked journal, but studies utilizing Taiwan NHIRD were still not fully visualized. As the prominent growth curve of NHIRD studies, we have contributed the studies covering surgical adverse outcomes, trauma, stroke, diabetes, and healthcare inequality, etc., to this ever growing field for the past five years. It will definitely become a trend of research using Taiwan NHIRD and contributing to the progress of perioperative medicine with the recruitment of devotion from more research groups and become a famous doctrine. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  2. Cancer Incidence in Physicians: A Taiwan National Population-based Cohort Study.

    PubMed

    Lee, Yu-Sung; Hsu, Chien-Chin; Weng, Shih-Feng; Lin, Hung-Jung; Wang, Jhi-Joung; Su, Shih-Bin; Huang, Chien-Cheng; Guo, How-Ran

    2015-11-01

    Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Taiwan since 1982. Physicians have many health-related risk factors which may contribute to cancer, such as rotating night shift, radiation, poor lifestyle, and higher exposure risk to infection and potential carcinogenic drugs. However, the cancer risk in physicians is not clear. In Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 14,889 physicians as the study cohort and randomly selected 29,778 nonmedical staff patients as the comparison cohort for this national population-based cohort study. Cox proportional-hazard regression was used to compare the cancer risk between physicians and comparisons. Physician subgroups were also analyzed. Physicians had a lower all-cancer risk than did the comparisons (hazard ratio [HR] 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.76-0.97). In the sex-based analysis, male physicians had a lower all-cancer risk than did male comparisons (HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.73-0.94); and female physicians did not (HR 1.29, 95% CI 0.88-1.91). In the cancer-type analysis, male physicians had a higher risk of prostate cancer (HR 1.72, 95% CI 1.12-2.65) and female physicians had twice the risk of breast cancer (HR 2.00, 95% CI 1.11-3.62) than did comparisons. Cancer risk was not significantly associated with physician specialties. Physicians in Taiwan had a lower all-cancer risk but higher risks for prostate and breast cancer than did the general population. These new epidemiological findings require additional study to clarify possible mechanisms.

  3. Reported Numbers of Patients with Rare Diseases Based on Ten-Year Longitudinal National Disability Registries in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Jin-Ding; Lin, Lan-Ping; Hung, Wen-Jiu

    2013-01-01

    This paper aims to describe a general demographic picture of patients with rare diseases in Taiwan and particularly focuses on the prevalence of rare diseases over time, age and gender distributions. We analyzed data mainly from the national disability registry from 2002 to 2011 in Taiwan, Republic of China. The results showed that the number of…

  4. Governmental disability welfare expenditure and national economic growth from 1991 to 2006 in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lin, Jin-Ding; Lin, Lan-Ping

    2009-01-01

    The purposes of the present study were to describe the welfare expenditure for people with disabilities and examine its relation to national economic growth from 1991 to 2006 in Taiwan. We analyzed data mainly from the information of population with disabilities, disability welfare expenditure and national economic growth and gross national product (GNP) per capita in Taiwan from 1991 to 2006. The percentage and overtime trend were used to examine the change in disability welfare expenditure, national economic growth and GNP per capita. Taiwan's economy continued its steady expansion on record an annual average growth of 5.4% and GNP per capita of 5.7% for the year 1991-2006. At the same period of time, the registered population with disabilities increased nearly five times (204,158 persons in 1991 to 981,015 persons in 2006), the government disability welfare expenditure was dramatically increasing to over 10 times from 1991 to 2006 (US$ 74 million to US$ 784 million). Although the total disability budget increased, the beneficiary of the individual with disability increased only 2.2 times. In the content of annual welfare budget for people with disabilities, it is difficult to figure out the increase pattern of the budget growth. However, the local government plays a vital role in disability welfare services gradually, it provides more than 85% welfare budget for people with disabilities. Finally, the author emphasizes that government should examine the long term effects of welfare budget allocation shifting from central government to local government to ensure the right of people with disabilities.

  5. Willingness to pay to sustain and expand National Health Insurance services in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Lang, Hui-Chu; Lai, Mei-Shu

    2008-01-01

    Background The purpose of the present study was to investigate people's willingness to pay to sustain the current National Health Insurance (NHI) program in Taiwan and to extend that program to cover long-term care services. Methods A survey was administered to 1800 inpatients and 1800 outpatients, selected from health care facilities across all accreditation levels that were operating under the supervision of six different regional branches of Taiwan's Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI). We used a contingent valuation method with closed-ended questions to elicit participants' willingness to pay for continued national heath insurance and additional institutional long-term care services. We divided participants into six subgroups and asked individuals in these groups referendum-like yes-no questions about whether they were willing to pay one of six price bids: New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) 50, NT$100, NT$200, NT$300, NT$400, or NT$500. Logistic regression was used to analyze willingness to pay. Results We found maximum willingness to pay for continued coverage by the NHI program and additional institutional long-term care services to be NT$66 and NT$137 dollars per month, respectively. Conclusion We found that people were willing to pay more for their insurance coverage. With regard to methodology, we also found that using a contingent valuation method to elicit peoples' willingness to pay for health policy issues is valid. The results of the present referendum-like study can serve as a reference for future policy decision making. PMID:19091093

  6. Women scientists in Taiwan: an update.

    PubMed

    Wang, Hsiu-Yun; Stocker, Joel Floyd

    2010-06-01

    This paper reflects upon issues of gender and science in Taiwan. Its starting point is the first academic paper on the subject published in Taiwan in 1996 by Fu and Wang, and then it draws upon the biographical accounts of 20 women scientists. We emphasize the importance of focusing on the specific contexts of the history of science and women in Taiwan. Partly as a result of Taiwan's colonial past and women's limited access to education, women scientists did not emerge in Taiwan until the second half of the 20(th) century when higher education became available to women. The gender issues with which women scientists in Taiwan have had to cope include the ways in which women have been excluded or included, their marital and career status, the local and global politics of scientific knowledge, and negotiating social networks. These issues have remained largely the same since the Fu and Wang study, but they have certainly gained wider attention and understanding, and greater articulation, both within academia and society. 2010 Elsevier. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Pioneering a web-Based Museum in Taiwan: Design and Implementation of Lifelong Distance Learning of Science Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Young, Shelley Shwu-Ching; Huang, Yi-Long; Jang, Jyh-Shing Roger

    2000-01-01

    Describes the development and implementation process of a Web-based science museum in Taiwan. Topics include use of the Internet; lifelong distance learning; museums and the Internet; objectives of the science museum; funding; categories of exhibitions; analysis of Web users; homepage characteristics; graphics and the effect on speed; and future…

  8. Instrumental neutron activation analysis data for cloud-water particulate samples, Mount Bamboo, Taiwan

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Lin, Neng-Huei; Sheu, Guey-Rong; Wetherbee, Gregory A.; Debey, Timothy M.

    2013-01-01

    Cloud water was sampled on Mount Bamboo in northern Taiwan during March 22-24, 2002. Cloud-water samples were filtered using 0.45-micron filters to remove particulate material from the water samples. Filtered particulates were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) at the U.S. Geological Survey National Reactor Facility in Denver, Colorado, in February 2012. INAA elemental composition data for the particulate materials are presented. These data complement analyses of the aqueous portion of the cloud-water samples, which were performed earlier by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Central University, Taiwan. The data are intended for evaluation of atmospheric transport processes and air-pollution sources in Southeast Asia.

  9. The NCU Lu-Lin Observatory Survived the Taiwan 921 Earthquake

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsay, W. S.; Chang, K. H.; Li, H. H.

    1999-12-01

    The NCU (National Central University) Lu-Lin Observatory is located at Mt. Front Lu-Lin, 120o 52' 25" E and 23o 28' 07" N, a 2862-m peak in the Yu-Shan National Park. The construction of Lu-Lin Observatory was finished in January 1999. Fortunately the Lu-Lin Observatory survived the Taiwan 921 Earthquake that was 7.3 on the Ritcher scale. We are proud of the design of Lu-Lin Observatory adopted H-beam and steel wall even the center of earthquake was only 40 km away. The initial study of Lu-Lin site was started since late 1989. Later on, a three-year project was founded by the National Science Council , which supported the development of a modern seeing monitor for this site survey study from 1990 through 1993. The average seeing of Lu-Lin site is about 1.39 arc-second with average 200 clear nights annually. The sky background of this site is 20.72 mag/arcsec2 in V band and 21.22 mag/arcsec2 in B band. The Lu-Lin observatory is developed for both research and education activity. A homemade 76-cm Super Light Telescope (SLT) and three TAOS's 50-cm robotic telescopes will be the two major research facilities. This work is supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan.

  10. Teacher communication behavior and its association with students' cognitive and attitudinal outcomes in science in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    She, Hsiao-Ching; Fisher, Darrell

    2002-01-01

    In the study described in this article a questionnaire was employed that can be used to assess students' and teachers' perceptions of science teachers' interpersonal communication behaviors in their classroom learning environments. The Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ) has five scales: Challenging, Encouragement and Praise, Non-Verbal Support, Understanding and Friendly, and Controlling. The TCBQ was used with a large sample of secondary science students in Taiwan, which provided additional validation data for the TCBQ for use in Taiwan and cross-validation data for its use in English-speaking countries. Girls perceived their teachers as more understanding and friendly than did boys, and teachers in biological science classrooms exhibited more favorable behavior toward their students than did those in physical science classrooms. Differences were also noted between the perceptions of the students and their teachers. Positive relationships were found between students' perceptions of their teachers' communication behaviors and their attitudes toward science. Students' cognitive achievement scores were higher when students perceived their teacher as using more challenging questions, as giving more nonverbal support, and as being more understanding and friendly. The development of both teacher and student versions of the TCBQ enhances the possibility of the use of the instrument by teachers.

  11. Scientific publications in gastroenterology and hepatology in Taiwan: An analysis of Web of Science from 1993 to 2013.

    PubMed

    Chang, Hsiao-Ting; Lin, Ming-Hwai; Hwang, I-Hsuan; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Lin, Han-Chieh; Hou, Ming-Chih; Hwang, Shinn-Jang

    2017-02-01

    Scientific publications are important for evaluating the achievements of a medical specialty or discipline. Gastroenterology and Hepatology is a medical specialty in great demand in Taiwan, therefore, this study aimed to analyze the Gastroenterology and Hepatology publications from 1993 to 2013 in Taiwan, using the Web of Science (WoS) database. Scientific publications from departments/institutes of gastroenterology and hepatology were retrieved and analyzed from the WoS database, which included articles published in the Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Science Citation Index journals from 1993 to 2013. Among 229,030 articles published from departments/institutes of gastroenterology and hepatology worldwide during 1993-2013, 5061 (2.21%) were published in Taiwan, ranking the country 13 th in the world. In total, 4759 articles from Taiwan were selected for further analysis, excluding meeting abstracts and corrections. During these two decades, the number of gastroenterology and hepatology publications increased rapidly. There were 440 articles published during 1993-1997, 646 articles during 1998-2002, 1211 articles during 2003-2007, and up to 2462 articles during 2008-2013. However, the mean number of articles cited decreased from 25.35 to 27.25 to 20.64 to 7.28, and the mean impact factor of publishing journals decreased from 5.0 to 4.20 to 4.13 to 4.03 during 1993-1997, 1998-2002, 2003-2007, and 2008-2013, respectively. Most of those publications belong to the subject category gastroenterology and hepatology (2346 articles, 49.30%), followed by surgery (677 articles, 14.23%), medicine, general and internal (358 articles, 7.52%), oncology (316 articles, 6.64%), and pharmacology pharmacy (286 articles, 6.01%). The Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology published the most papers (326 articles, 6.9%), followed by World Journal of Gastroenterology (201 articles, 4.2%), Hepato-Gastroenterology (165 articles, 3.5%), Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (159 articles

  12. Evaluating a national science and technology program using the human capital and relational asset perspectives.

    PubMed

    Hung, Chia-Liang; Chou, Jerome Chih-Lung; Roan, Hung-Wei

    2010-11-01

    The purpose of this research is to evaluate the performance of the National Science and Technology Program (NSTP) by targeting the Taiwan National Telecommunication Program (NTP) initiated in 1998. The Taiwan telecommunications industry has prospered, currently occupying key positions in global markets even though NTP seldom contributes positively to patent citation performance. Hence, the authors of this study investigate the qualitative perspective of intellectual capital rather than quantitative technological indices. The current study focuses on both human capital and relational assets through surveys of 53 principal investigators of NTP projects and 63 industrial R&D managers of telecommunications corporations in the Taiwan market. Results show that NSTP member quality and the flow of employment are good indicators of human capital and that both perform better than the middle value in the case of Taiwan NTP. In addition, we find that industrial participants are more likely to share R&D resources than other academic researchers with higher intention of co-publishing, co-funding, and sharing equipment and facilities. The industrial NTP participants also have higher expectations regarding achieving advanced technology breakthroughs in contrast to non-NTP industrial interviewees. Moreover, industrial participants with greater industry-university cooperation intensity indeed obtain a particular advantage, that is, greater knowledge acquisition from other fields related to the effect of knowledge spillovers through the particular NSTP linkage. Accordingly, from the perspectives of human capital and relational assets, the authors conclude by articulating the importance of absorptive capacity resulting from good human capital and knowledge spillover contributed by relational assets within governmental technology policy and NSTP programming. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. National Science Board: 2020 Vision for the National Science Foundation. NSB-05-142

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, 2005

    2005-01-01

    History suggests that a nation that relinquishes the torch of science puts its future prosperity at risk and jeopardizes its place in the history of civilization. The National Science Board believes this fate must not be allowed to befall the country. The National Science Board 2020 Vision for the National Science Foundation (NSF) provides a…

  14. Ophthalmic plastic and orbital surgery in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Hsu, Chi-Hsin; Lin, I-Chan; Shen, Yun-Dun; Hsu, Wen-Ming

    2014-06-01

    We describe in this paper the current status of ophthalmic plastic and orbital surgery in Taiwan. Data were collected from the Bureau of National Health Insurance of Taiwan, the Bulletin of the Taiwan Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Society, and the Statistics Yearbook of Practicing Physicians and Health Care Organizations in Taiwan by the Taiwan Medical Association. We ascertained that 94 ophthalmologists were oculoplastic surgeons and accounted for 5.8% of 1621 ophthalmologists in Taiwan. They had their fellowship training abroad (most ophthalmologists trained in the United States of America) or in Taiwan. All ophthalmologists were well trained and capable of performing major oculoplastic surgeries. The payment rates by our National Health Insurance for oculoplastic and orbital surgeries are relatively low, compared to Medicare payments in the United States. Ophthalmologists should promote the concept that oculoplastic surgeons specialize in periorbital plastic and aesthetic surgeries. However, general ophthalmologists should receive more educational courses on oculoplastic and cosmetic surgery. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  15. Estimating Source Duration for Moderate and Large Earthquakes in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chang, Wen-Yen; Hwang, Ruey-Der; Ho, Chien-Yin; Lin, Tzu-Wei

    2017-04-01

    Estimating Source Duration for Moderate and Large Earthquakes in Taiwan Wen-Yen Chang1, Ruey-Der Hwang2, Chien-Yin Ho3 and Tzu-Wei Lin4 1 Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan, ROC 2Department of Geology, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC 3Department of Earth Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC 4Seismology Center, Central Weather Bureau, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC ABSTRACT To construct a relationship between seismic moment (M0) and source duration (t) was important for seismic hazard in Taiwan, where earthquakes were quite active. In this study, we used a proposed inversion process using teleseismic P-waves to derive the M0-t relationship in the Taiwan region for the first time. Fifteen earthquakes with MW 5.5-7.1 and focal depths of less than 40 km were adopted. The inversion process could simultaneously determine source duration, focal depth, and pseudo radiation patterns of direct P-wave and two depth phases, by which M0 and fault plane solutions were estimated. Results showed that the estimated t ranging from 2.7 to 24.9 sec varied with one-third power of M0. That is, M0 is proportional to t**3, and then the relationship between both of them was M0=0.76*10**23(t)**3 , where M0 in dyne-cm and t in second. The M0-t relationship derived from this study was very close to those determined from global moderate to large earthquakes. For further understanding the validity in the derived relationship, through the constructed relationship of M0-, we inferred the source duration of the 1999 Chi-Chi (Taiwan) earthquake with M0=2-5*10**27 dyne-cm (corresponding to Mw = 7.5-7.7) to be approximately 29-40 sec, in agreement with many previous studies for source duration (28-42 sec).

  16. What Are Elementary and Middle School Students Expected to Learn about the Sun and Moon in Taiwan and the US?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Li-Ling; Soprano, Kristina; McAllister, Meredith

    2012-01-01

    The overarching goal of this study is to examine what is considered most important regarding the depth, breadth and content of space science concepts as reflected in current national science education standards and science curricula in Taiwan and the US. Major findings of this study conclude that many skills and concepts articulated in the…

  17. Assessing health information technology in a national health care system--an example from Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chi, Chunhuei; Lee, Jwo-Leun; Schoon, Rebecca

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to investigate one core research question: How can health information technology (HIT) be assessed in a national health care system context? We examine this question by taking a systematic approach within a national care system, in which the purpose of HIT is to contribute to a common national health care system's goal. to promote population health in an efficient way. Based on this approach we first develop a framework and our criteria of assessment, and then using Taiwan as a case study, demonstrate how one can apply this framework to assess a national system's HIT. The five criteria we developed are how well does the HIT (1) provide accessible and accurate public health and health care information to the population; (2) collect and provide population health and health care data for government and researchers to analyze population health and processes and outcomes of health care services, (3) provide accessible and timely information that helps to improve provision of cost-effective health care at an institutional level and promotes system-wide efficiency; (4) minimize transaction and administrative costs of the health care system; and (5) establish channels for population participation in governance while also protecting individual privacy. The results indicate that Taiwan has high levels of achievement in two criteria while falling short in the other three. Major lessons we learned from this study are that HIT exists to serve a health care system, and the national health care system context dictates how one assesses its HIT. There is a large body of literature published on the implementation of HIT and its impact on the quality and cost of health care delivery. The vast majority of the literature, however, is focused on a micro institutional level such as a hospital or a bit higher up, on an HMO or health insurance firm. Few have gone further to evaluate the implementation of HIT and its impact on a national health care system

  18. Education Reform in Taiwan: A Search for a "National" Identity through Democratisation and Taiwanisation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Law, Wing-Wah

    2002-01-01

    Argues that democratisation, localization, and national identity are indivisible in Taiwan. Explains that social pressure groups, teachers, and parents are empowered in policy making processes, while the power of school officials to respond to these groups is limited. Discusses the role of school curriculum in promoting ethnic cultures and…

  19. Applying the Technology Acceptance Model in a Study of the Factors Affecting Usage of the Taiwan Digital Archives System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hong, Jon-Chao; Hwang, Ming-Yueh; Hsu, Hsuan-Fang; Wong, Wan-Tzu; Chen, Mei-Yung

    2011-01-01

    The rapid development of information and communication technology and the popularization of the Internet have given a boost to digitization technologies. Since 2001, The National Science Council (NSC) of Taiwan has invested a large amount of funding in the National Digital Archives Program (NDAP) to develop digital content. Some studies have…

  20. An Analysis of Applied Mechanics Contest for Senior High School Students in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Nelson Cheng-Chih; Chen, Ching-Hao; Lin, Ming-chun

    2008-01-01

    The applied mechanics education contest hosted by STAM (Society of Theoretical Applied Mechanics) has been held in Taiwan for several years. The contest pattern has been changed from a simple written test to an experiment-oriented test after the NSTM (National Science and Technology Museum) proceeded to hold the competition in 2005. The major…

  1. User inspection of National Taiwan University Hospital's telehealth care information system.

    PubMed

    Wu, Pei Hsuan; Chen, Chi-Huang; Chen, Hui-Te; Shu, Che-Hsuan; Lin, Feng-Sheng; Wang, Yi-Van; Li, Hao-Jhun; Wu, Yuan-Ting; Lai, Feipei

    2010-01-01

    The telehealth care system has been important in the healthcare world for several decades; however, Taiwan only began work on telehealth care this past year. This paper outlines the effectiveness of the telehealth care system developed by the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH). The usability of the integrated telehealth care system was analyzed through of heuristic evaluation and its usefulness. By using the heuristic evaluation form as developed by Nielsen, it is possible to examine the telehealth care system from the user's perspective. In addition, in assessing the usefulness through lists of criteria, system developers can determine the pros and the cons of the database. Ultimately, the heuristic evaluation revealed several violations on the system, but are not prohibitive to the development of such as system. Similarly, evaluation of the usefulness comes out positive; despite the fact that the suggested changes proposed by the users can be said are the main weaknesses of the system. With some improvements, the telehealth care system can be used efficiently in NTUH's healthcare system.

  2. Maternity Leave in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Feng, Joyce Yen; Han, Wen-Jui

    2010-01-01

    Using the first nationally representative birth cohort study in Taiwan, this paper examines the role that maternity leave policy in Taiwan plays in the timing of mothers returning to work after giving birth, as well as the extent to which this timing is linked to the amount of time mothers spend with their children and their use of breast milk…

  3. 78 FR 68480 - National Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-14

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board The National Science Board's ad hoc Committee on Honorary Awards, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation... gives notice in regard to the scheduling of a meeting for the transaction of National Science Board...

  4. 77 FR 1956 - National Science Board; Notice of Opportunity for Public Comment on the National Science Board...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-01-12

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Notice of Opportunity for Public Comment on the National Science Board Data Policies Report AGENCY: National Science Board (NSB), NSF. ACTION: Request for public comments. SUMMARY: The National Science Board seeks comments from the public on the...

  5. Medical education in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chou, Jen-Yu; Chiu, Chiung-Hsuan; Lai, Enoch; Tsai, Duujian; Tzeng, Chii-Ruey

    2012-01-01

    Taiwan's medical education system bears a close relationship with its colonial and post-colonial history. Since the late nineteenth century, Western medicine, Chinese medicine, and the practice of the other forms of traditional healing have encountered complex transactions with the state and one another, eventually evolving into the present medical system. Nowadays, the mainstream form of medical education in Taiwan is a 7-year Western program; other forms of medical education include a 5-year graduate program and traditional medicine programs. Challenged by the National Health Insurance that emphasizes cost management since 1995 and criticized by the US National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation in 1998, medical education reform was implemented by the Taiwan Medical Accreditation Council established in 2000. The reform tries to bring humanities into various aspects of medical education, including student recruitment, curriculum, licensing, and continuing education. Similar to other modernization projects, the reform transplants the American and British standards to Taiwan. These changes hope to insure the reflective capabilities in physicians on the welfare of patients. However, frustration of current and future physicians may be deepened if the reform is insensitive to local issues or incapable of addressing new global tendencies.

  6. The national science agenda as a ritual of modern nation-statehood: The consequences of national "Science for National Development" projects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Drori, Gili S.

    This study is a comparative investigation of the ways by which the globalization of modern science affects the characteristics of different nation-states. Whereas much research and policy discussion focuses on science as an instrumental, or technical, system with immediate consequences for national conditions, such as economic development, science should also be regarded as a general cultural framework, which is highly institutionalized at the global level. As such, the institutionalization of science at both the global and national levels affects a wide variety of national properties. Following this line of reasoning, this dissertation study employs cross-national and longitudinal data and multiple-indicator methods to show national-level consequences of scientific expansion on the processes of rationalization and modernization of social and political life. It appears that the cross-national expansion of science practice results in, or is associated with, a variety of measures of (a) the standardization of civil and governmental procedures and (b) the expansion of the political rights and political engagement. I conclude from these empirical findings that scientization encourages (a) greater general societal rationalization and (b) expanded notions of social actorhood and agency. This evidence demonstrates how the globalization of science alters local conditions, both civil and political, by supporting the institutionalization of bureaucratic practices and participatory politics. Thus, the expansion of science--clearly affected by global processes--carries a general secularized faith in a rationalized world and in human agency. In this sense, the practice of science is a national ritual, whose social role is as a legitimacy-providing institution, rather then a technically functional institution. On a broader level, the study emphasizes the relations between globalization processes and the sovereignty of the nation-state. I conclude that science carries modernist

  7. Program Changes in Technology Teacher Education in Taiwan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Chih-Chien Steven

    Taiwan has two technology teacher departments: one at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) and the other at National Kaohsiung Normal University (NKNU). In recent years, both universities' technology teacher education programs have simultaneously followed two lines of development: the transition from an industrial arts education program to…

  8. The development of a questionnaire to describe science teacher communication behavior in Taiwan and Australia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    She, Hsiao-Ching; Fisher, Darrell

    2000-11-01

    Teachers contribute enormously to a positive social climate in science classes, particularly through their communication with students. This article describes the development and validation of a questionnaire, the Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ) (see pp. 723-726), which assesses student perceptions of the following five important teacher behaviors: Challenging, Encouragement and Praise, Non-Verbal Support, Understanding and Friendly, and Controlling. The TCBQ was administered to 1202 students from 30 classes in Taiwan and to 301 students from 12 classes in Australia. The reliability and factorial validity of the TCBQ were found to be satisfactory for both the Taiwanese and Australian data. To further validate the questionnaire and understand the differences in teacher behavior according to the perceptions of students from the two countries, a qualitative approach was used. Students were interviewed (two from each of five classes) in both Taiwan and Australia. The interview questions focused on these students' responses to selected questionnaire items. The results obtained from the interviews supported and helped explain the quantitative results. In an application of the TCBQ in both countries, students' perceptions on four of the scales of the TCBQ were associated with their attitudes to their science classes.

  9. Space programs in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Lou-Chuang; Chang, Guey-Shin; Ting, Nan-Hong

    2013-10-01

    Taiwan's current and future space programs are briefly introduced in this paper. The National Space Organization (NSPO) in Taiwan has successfully carried out three satellite programs (FORMOSAT-1, 2, &3) since its establishment in 1991. FORMOSAT-1 is a scientific satellite performing three scientific experiments for measuring the density, velocity and temperature of ionospheric plasmas, taking the ocean color image, and conducting Ka-band communication experiments. Equipped with a 2m ground resolution remote sensing instrument, FORMOSAT-2 operates in a sun-synchronous orbit with revisit time equal to one day. This unique feature of the daily revisit capability is significantly useful for post disaster assessment and environmental monitoring. FORMOSAT-2 also carries a scientific payload "Imager of Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (ISUAL)". ISUAL provides the world's first long-term satellite observations on the lighting phenomenon in the earth's upper atmosphere. FORMOSAT-3 is a constellation of six micro-satellites to collect atmospheric and ionospheric data for weather prediction and for climate, ionosphere, and geodesy research. FORMOSAT-3 has demonstrated the ability to significantly increase the accuracy of weather forecasting by utilizing the GPS Radio Occultation (GPS-RO) technique. Currently, NSPO is pursuing the follow-on space missions of FORMOSAT-5 and FORMOSAT-7. FORMOSAT-5 will be the first to utilize a CMOS detector on a high-resolution earth-observation camera. FORMOSAT-7 is a joint mission of Taiwan/US to deploy a 12-satellite constellation operational system to provide dense and timely GNSS RO data to the global communities for real-time weather forecast as well as space science research.

  10. Development of Ocean-Bottom Seismograph in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chang, H.; Jang, J. P.; Chen, P.; Lin, C. R.; Kuo, B. Y.; Wang, C. C.; Kim, K. H.; Lin, P. P.

    2016-12-01

    Yardbird-20s, one type of Ocean-Bottom Seismograph (OBS), is fabricated by Taiwan Ocean Research Institute (TORI), the Institute of Earth Science of Academia Sinica and the Institute of Undersea Technology of the National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan. Yardbirds can be deployed up to 5000m deep for up to 15 months. The total weight with anchor in the air is about 170Kg. The rising and sinking rate is about 0.8 m/s. We utilized ultra-low power micro control unit (MCU) and SD card to design a data logger. The sensors are three of 4.5Hz geophones that were extended the lower frequency response to 20 sec. The sensor module also includes the leveling system, which is design by dual-axis DC motor-driven module to level the vertical component to be less than 0.1 degree with respect to the gravity. Yardbirds have been successfully deployed and recovered in several research cruises in Taiwan and Korea. In this study, we'll also display the data quality and power spectral density (PSD) calculations, probability density function (PDF) plots and from the Yardbirds that deployed and recovered in the East Sea near sough-east of Korea.

  11. Women's Representation in Science Predicts National Gender-Science Stereotypes: Evidence from 66 Nations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, David I.; Eagly, Alice H.; Linn, Marcia C.

    2015-01-01

    In the past 40 years, the proportion of women in science courses and careers has dramatically increased in some nations but not in others. Our research investigated how national differences in women's science participation related to gender-science stereotypes that associate science with men more than women. Data from ~350,000 participants in 66…

  12. Physics teaching in the medical schools of Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Hsu, Jiann-wien; Hsu, Roy

    2012-02-01

    We describe and analyze the statistics of general physics and laboratory courses in the medical schools of Taiwan. We explore the development of the general physics curriculum for medical students of Taiwan. Also, an approach to designing a general physics course in combination with its application to medical sciences is proposed. We hope this preliminary study can provide a useful reference for physics colleagues in the medical schools of Taiwan to revolutionize the dynamics of teaching physics to the medical students of Taiwan. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  13. The Taiwan National Health Insurance program and full infant immunization coverage.

    PubMed

    Chen, Chin-Shyan; Liu, Tsai-Ching

    2005-02-01

    We compared hospital-born infants and well-baby care use associated with complete immunizations in Taiwan before and after institution of National Health Insurance (NHI). We used logistic regression to analyze data from 1989 and 1996 National Maternal and Infant Health Surveys of 1398 and 3185 1-year-old infants, respectively. Infants born in hospitals were found to receive fewer immunizations than those born elsewhere before NHI but significantly more after NHI. Use of well-baby care correlates strongly and positively with the probability that a child will receive a full course of immunization after NHI. The NHI policy of including hospitals as immunization providers facilitates access to immunization services for children born in those facilities. Through NHI provision of free well-baby care, health planners have stimulated the demand for immunization.

  14. National Identity and Its Relationship with Teachers' Historical Knowledge and Pedagogy: The Case of Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sung, Pei-Fen; Yang, Meng-Li

    2009-01-01

    National identity is one of the most important forms of ideology that affects human behaviours. Yet, the issue of whether it influences history teachers' subject matter knowledge or teaching practice is overlooked most of the time. With regime change in Taiwan, history curriculum and textbooks are no longer dominated by a China-centred narrative;…

  15. National GDP, Science Interest and Science Achievement: A Person-by-Nation Interaction

    PubMed Central

    Drob, Elliot M. Tucker; Cheung, Amanda K.; Briley, Daniel A.

    2014-01-01

    Maximizing science achievement is a critical target of educational policy, with important implications for national and international economic and technological competitiveness. Previous research has identified both science interest and socioeconomic status (SES) as robust predictors of science achievement, but little research has examined their joint effects. In a dataset drawn from approximately 400,000 high school students from 57 countries, we document large interest by SES and interest by per capita gross domestic product (GDP) interactions in the prediction of science achievement. Student interest in science is a substantially stronger predictor of science achievement in higher socioeconomic contexts and in higher GDP nations. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that, in higher opportunity contexts, motivational factors play larger roles in learning and achievement. They add to the growing body of evidence indicating that substantial cross national differences in psychological effect sizes are not simply a logical possibility, but in many cases, an empirical reality. PMID:25304883

  16. A National Investigation of Teachers' Environmental Literacy as a Reference for Promoting Environmental Education in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Shiang-Yao; Yeh, Shin-Cheng; Liang, Shi-Wu; Fang, Wei-Ta; Tsai, Huei-Min

    2015-01-01

    Taiwan's government enacted the Environmental Education Act in June 2011. In the beginning of the implementation of the Act, a national assessment of schoolteachers' environmental literacy was performed in order to establish the baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental education policy. This large-scale assessment involved a…

  17. Growing concerns and controversies to Taiwan's National Health Insurance-what are the lessons from mainland China, South Korea and Singapore?

    PubMed

    Lee, Yen-Han; Ang, Ting Fang Alvin; Chiang, Timothy C; Kaplan, Warren A

    2018-01-01

    It has been over 20 years since Taiwan's implementation of its National Health Insurance (NHI) program. Under this program, the health insurance coverage rate has reached approximately 99% of the population. Despite guaranteeing the residents of Taiwan equal access regardless of socioeconomic status and background, critical problems and controversies persist, and they continue to challenge the NHI. We analyze the primary issues facing the NHI program with emphasis on financial and consumer behavioral aspects. Furthermore, we apply models from mainland China, South Korea and Singapore to discuss what Taiwan could learn from the systems employed by these countries to modify the NHI. Targeting the needs of the NHI, we have three policy recommendations: separating the NHI scheme into different target populations, strengthening the NHI referral system and regulating the access of overseas citizens to health services while in Taiwan. After two decades in existence, problems persist and there is a continuing need to improve Taiwan's NHI. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. Research of Helium Isotopes in Taiwan: The Legacy of Dr. Tsanyao Frank Yang

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Tsanyao Frank; Lan, Tefang; Lee, Hsiao-Fen; Fu, Ching-Chou; Chuang, Pei-Chuan; Hong, Wei-Li; Walia, Vivek; Chen, Hsuan-Wen; Wen, Hsin-Yi; Chen, Ai-Ti; Chen, Hsiao-Chi; Chiu, Chun-Ming; Cheng, Chun-Yuan; Wu, Nian-Ru; Cheng, Yu-Chen; Chuang, Jin-Lun; Kao, Li-Hsin; Chen, Cheng-Hong; Sano, Yuji

    2016-04-01

    Helium isotope systematics is a powerful proxy to distinguish fluid origins and conveys fruitful geological information. In the past several decades, this robust isotope systematics had offered pivotal knowledge on many key issues in Earth and planetary sciences. It revealed essential geological information of Taiwan as well. Taiwan is located on the junction of two subduction systems-Ryukyu Arc and Luzon Arc. The geotectonic setting is complex and intriguing. Dr. Tsanyao Frank Yang was the pioneer of gas geochemistry studies in Taiwan. He established the first gas geochemistry laboratory in National Taiwan University in 1998 and started exploring all possible research topics on and around this tectonic-active island. In the past two decades, his research covered volcanic/hydrothermal gas studies, volcanic activity monitoring, gas hydrate exploration, soil gas as a tool to locate fault traces, soil gas flux measurement, earthquake precursory, mud volcanoes, low-temperature geochronology and many more. He died of pancreas cancer in March 2015. He was a warm and enthusiastic mentor, a prolific scientist and a great friend. He will always be remembered. Here we present Dr. Yang's achievement on helium isotopes studies in Taiwan throughout his research career. We integrate all the research results from his team and summarize the observations. We will show the distribution of helium isotope ratios in Taiwan and its implications on tectonic settings.

  19. Two new species of the genus Sinopodisma Chang, 1940 (Orthoptra, Acridoidea, Catantopidae, Podisminae) from Taiwan, China.

    PubMed

    Ye, Bao-Hua; Shi, Jian-Ping; Yin, Zhan

    2017-05-03

    Two new species of the genus Sinopodisma Chang, 1940 from Taiwan, China are described in this paper. The new species Sinopodisma orchofemura sp. nov. is similar to Sinopodisma kodamae (Shiraki, 1910), but differs from latter in antennae length of joint 2.9 times width in the middle part, hind femur yellow, length of interspace of mesosternum larger than narrowest, tegmina almost reaching the hind margin of second abdominal tergum. The Sinopodisma hsinchuensis sp. nov. is similar to Sinopodisma orchofemura sp. nov., but differs from latter by vertical diameter of eyes 1.7 times horizontal diameter and 1.8 times subocular furrow; tegmina extending over the hind margin of first abdominal tergite slightly; the length of interspace of mesosternum equal to narrowest and subgenital plate longer than ovipositor valves ventral view. Type specimens are deposited in the National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung, Taiwan, China and the Institute of Entomology, Taiwan University, Taibei, Taiwan, China respectively.

  20. Examining the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect on Students' Self-Concept of Learning Science in Taiwan Based on the TIMSS Databases

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liou, Pey-Yan

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between student self-concept and achievement in science in Taiwan based on the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) model using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 and 2007 databases. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the effects of the…

  1. The Taiwan National Health Insurance Program and Full Infant Immunization Coverage

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Chin-Shyan; Liu, Tsai-Ching

    2005-01-01

    Objectives. We compared hospital-born infants and well-baby care use associated with complete immunizations in Taiwan before and after institution of National Health Insurance (NHI). Methods. We used logistic regression to analyze data from 1989 and 1996 National Maternal and Infant Health Surveys of 1398 and 3185 1-year-old infants, respectively. Results. Infants born in hospitals were found to receive fewer immunizations than those born elsewhere before NHI but significantly more after NHI. Use of well-baby care correlates strongly and positively with the probability that a child will receive a full course of immunization after NHI. Conclusions. The NHI policy of including hospitals as immunization providers facilitates access to immunization services for children born in those facilities. Through NHI provision of free well-baby care, health planners have stimulated the demand for immunization. PMID:15671469

  2. Disability and Hospital Care Expenses among National Health Insurance Beneficiaries: Analyses of Population-Based Data in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Lan-Ping; Lee, Jiunn-Tay; Lin, Fu-Gong; Lin, Pei-Ying; Tang, Chi-Chieh; Chu, Cordia M.; Wu, Chia-Ling; Lin, Jin-Ding

    2011-01-01

    Nationwide data were collected concerning inpatient care use and medical expenditure of people with disabilities (N = 937,944) among national health insurance beneficiaries in Taiwan. Data included gender, age, hospitalization frequency and expenditure, healthcare setting and service department, discharge diagnose disease according to the ICD-9-CM…

  3. The impact of national health insurance on the utilization of health care services by pregnant women: the case in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chen, L M; Wen, S W; Li, C Y

    2001-03-01

    Substantially increased funding for health care services occurred in Taiwan after the implementation of a national health insurance plan in 1995. This study attempts to examine the impact of this national health insurance plan on the utilization of prenatal and intrapartum care services. Nationally representative surveys of all pregnant women in Taiwan in 1989 (1,662 participants) and in 1996 (3,626 participants) were included in the analysis. We first compared the distribution of birth characteristics between the two surveys. We then calculated the rate of utilization of various prenatal and intrapartum care services in the two surveys in the overall sample and in subsamples, stratified by maternal education, age, and parity. The utilization of most prenatal and intrapartum care services, especially the complicated laboratory tests, increased in 1996 compared to 1989. For example, the proportion of women who received amniocentesis increased from 1.62% in 1989 to 5.60% in 1996 and German measles testing increased from 5.96% to 27.11%. By contrast, the proportion of women who received consultation services was stable over time, or for family planning, consultation declined from 33.21% to 27.00%. These changes in utilization over time were consistently observed across different maternal education, age, and parity groups. The utilization of prenatal and intrapartum care services, especially for the more expensive services, has substantially increased in Taiwan since the implementation of the national health insurance. For countries considering similar national health insurance plan, it may be helpful to consider cost-containing measures before the implementation of such a plan.

  4. [Nursing manpower and solutions in Taiwan].

    PubMed

    Teng, Su-Wen

    2014-04-01

    The shortage of nursing manpower is a long-term problem worldwide that affects Taiwan despite this country's internationally admired achievements in terms of its healthcare and national health insurance systems. This article reviews discussions related to the nursing shortage issue published by the World Health Organization, International Council of Nurses, and Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare. Next, an overview is given of the nursing workforce profile, causal factors behind the nursing shortage, and demand for and supply of nursing manpower. Finally, problems, resolutions, and expected outcomes for the nursing shortage in Taiwan are analyzed.

  5. Conceptions of the nature of science and worldviews of preservice elementary science teachers in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Shiang-Yao

    This exploratory investigation aimed to identify preservice science teachers' conceptions of the nature of science (NOS), and worldviews that represent their culturally dependent beliefs about the world, in the context of Taiwan. The interrelationships between the responses elicited from both the assessments of NOS understandings and worldviews were examined. Participants included 54 third-year students enrolled in the departments of science education and mathematics education at a teachers college. Their worldviews and NOS conceptions were tabulated by two questionnaires and 14 of them were purposefully selected to participate follow-up interviews. The worldview questionnaire contained five open-ended items, of which each examines one of the worldview domains in Kearney's model (1984). The NOS questionnaire consisting of nine open-ended questions was developed, specifically addressing cultural characteristics, to assess participants' views on the development of scientific knowledge. An anthropocentric-moderate continuum emerged to describe participants' views of the humanity's relationship with Nature. It was found that participants with informed NOS conceptions were more likely to emphasize harmony with Nature, recognize the limitations of scientific knowledge, and accept the idea that science involves subjective and cultural components. On the other hand, participants who provided a pragmatic perspective of Nature seemed to possess narrow views about the scientific enterprises by describing science as close to technology and as a materialistic benefit. Authoritarianism was also a noticeable cultural trait hindering some participants from reflecting on the values inherent to the development of scientific knowledge, and also prohibiting them from searching empirical evidence to solve problems. It was found that there were differences between science education and mathematics education majors in their worldviews and NOS understandings. The results in this study not

  6. Identity Exploration, Commitment, and Distress: A Cross National Investigation in China, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berman, Steven L.; You, Yu-Fang; Schwartz, Seth; Teo, Grace; Mochizuki, Kohei

    2011-01-01

    This study tested cross cultural measurement equivalence of three identity constructs by testing the factor invariance among participants from four nations. Data from measures of identity exploration, commitment, and distress were collected from university students in Mainland China (n = 85), Taiwan (n = 117), Japan (n = 117), and the United…

  7. Science Indicators, 1976: Report of the National Science Board.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC. National Science Board.

    This ninth annual report of the National Science Board presents the third assessment of the state of science in the United States. The assessment includes reports on the status and health of science including national resources and manpower. Indicators reviewed in the report include: international science and technology, resources for research and…

  8. Classroom climate and science-related attitudes of junior high school students in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Bao-Shan; Crawley, Frank E., III

    Differences in classroom climate and science related attitudes were investigated among junior high school science classes and students in Taiwan. The sample consisted of 1,269 students enrolled in 40 science classes distributed equally among ten junior high schools, five metropolitan and five rural. Classes were further classified according to sex (21 boys and 19 girls classes) and ability (19 high and 21 low ability classes). Using the Learning Environment Inventory (Anderson, Walberg, & Fraser, 1982) to measure climate, science classes in metropolitan schools, more than rural, were found to be characterized by Speed, Friction, Favoritism, Difficulty, Cliqueness, and Competitiveness. No differences were found in the classroom climates of classes in which students were grouped according to sex or ability. Using the Test of Science-Related Attitudes (Fraser, 1981), students in science classes in metropolitan schools, in contrast to rural, expressed more positive attitudes toward the Social Implications of Science, Adoption of Scientific Attitudes, and Attitude to Scientific Inquiry. Boys more than girls recorded high scores on Leisure Interest in Science and Career Interest in Science. High ability students were found to have higher scores on Attitude to Scientific Inquiry than did low ability students. When examining the relationship between the 15 subscale scores of the LEI and the seven subscale scores of the TOSRA for the 40 classes, only 9 out of 105 correlations proved to be significant. Most differences in climate, attitude, and their interactions were attributed to school location rather than to student characteristics.

  9. Motivations for Older Adults' Participation in Distance Education: A Study at the National Open University of Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mulenga, Derek; Liang, Jr-Shiuan

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated the factor structure of motivational constructs as expressed by older adult learners and examined how these constructs correlated with selected socio-demographic characteristics at the National Open University of Taiwan (NOUT). Results were based on the responses of 371 elders to the 32-item Reasons for Participation Scale…

  10. National Science Bowl | NREL

    Science.gov Websites

    and high school student teams on science and math topics. The National Science Bowl provides an opportunity for students to develop science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills in a non tournament challenges students' knowledge of science. Student teams are questioned on life science, math

  11. The National Science Education Standards.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bybee, Rodger W.; Champagne, Audrey B.

    2000-01-01

    Describes efforts under the sponsorship of the National Research Council (NRC) to improve science education. Provides an overview of the National Science Education Standards. First published in 1995. (YDS)

  12. Validity of cancer diagnosis in the National Health Insurance database compared with the linked National Cancer Registry in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Kao, Wei-Heng; Hong, Ji-Hong; See, Lai-Chu; Yu, Huang-Ping; Hsu, Jun-Te; Chou, I-Jun; Chou, Wen-Chi; Chiou, Meng-Jiun; Wang, Chun-Chieh; Kuo, Chang-Fu

    2017-08-16

    We aimed to evaluate the validity of cancer diagnosis in the National Health Insurance (NHI) database, which has routinely collected the health information of almost the entire Taiwanese population since 1995, compared with the Taiwan National Cancer Registry (NCR). There were 26,542,445 active participants registered in the NHI database between 2001 and 2012. National Cancer Registry and NHI database records were compared for cancer diagnosis; date of cancer diagnosis; and 1, 2, and 5 year survival. In addition, the 10 leading causes of cancer deaths in Taiwan were analyzed. There were 908,986 cancer diagnoses in NCR and NHI database and 782,775 (86.1%) in both, with 53,192 (5.9%) in the NHI database only and 73,019 (8.0%) in the NCR only. The positive predictive value of the NHI database cancer diagnoses was 94% for all cancers; the positive predictive value of the 10 specific cancers ranged from 95% (lung cancer) to 82% (cervical cancer). The date of diagnosis in the NHI database was generally delayed by a median of 15 days (interquartile range 8-18) compared with the NCR. The 1, 2, and 5 year survival rates were 71.21%, 60.85%, and 47.44% using the NHI database and were 71.18%, 60.17%, and 46.09% using NCR data. Recording of cancer diagnoses and survival estimates based on these diagnosis codes in the NHI database are generally consistent with the NCR. Studies using NHI database data must pay careful attention to eligibility and record linkage; use of both sources is recommended. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  13. A synthesized biophysical and social vulnerability assessment for Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Yung-Jaan

    2017-11-01

    analyze the biophysical vulnerability of Taiwan, hazards on eight maps from Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) are analyzed. Statistical data from the NCDR on social vulnerability are also adopted. Finally, a GIS overlaying method was used to perform the synthesized vulnerability analysis of biophysical and social vulnerability for municipalities and counties in Taiwan.

  14. Drugs Cheaper Than Threepenny: The Market of Extremely Low-Priced Drugs within the National Health Insurance in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Chou, Li-Fang

    2014-01-01

    While most drug policy researches paid attention to the financial impact of expensive drugs, the market situation of low-priced drugs in a country was seldom analyzed. We used the nationally representative claims datasets to explore the status within the National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan. In 2007, a total of 12,443 distinct drug items had been prescribed 853,250,147 times with total expenditure of 105,216,950,198 new Taiwan dollars (NTD). Among them, 7,366 oral drug items accounted for 701,353,383 prescribed items and 68,133,988,960 NTD. Besides, 2,887 items (39.2% of oral drug items) belonged to cheap drugs with the unit price ≤1 NTD (about 0.03 of US dollar). While the top one item among all oral drugs had already a market share of 5.0%, 30 items 30.3% and 107 items 50.0%, the cheap drugs with aggregate 332,893,462 prescribed items (47.5% of all prescribed oral drug items) only accounted for 2,750,725,433 NTD (4.0% of expenditure for oral drugs and 2.6% of total drug expenditure). The drug market of Taiwan's NHI was abundant in cheap drugs. The unreasonably low prices of drugs might not guarantee the quality of pharmaceutical care and the sustainability of a healthy pharmaceutical industry in the long run. PMID:24719568

  15. Drugs cheaper than threepenny: the market of extremely low-priced drugs within the National Health Insurance in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Wang, Bih-Ru; Chou, Chia-Lin; Hsu, Chia-Chen; Chou, Yueh-Ching; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Chou, Li-Fang

    2014-01-01

    While most drug policy researches paid attention to the financial impact of expensive drugs, the market situation of low-priced drugs in a country was seldom analyzed. We used the nationally representative claims datasets to explore the status within the National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan. In 2007, a total of 12,443 distinct drug items had been prescribed 853,250,147 times with total expenditure of 105,216,950,198 new Taiwan dollars (NTD). Among them, 7,366 oral drug items accounted for 701,353,383 prescribed items and 68,133,988,960 NTD. Besides, 2,887 items (39.2% of oral drug items) belonged to cheap drugs with the unit price ≤ 1 NTD (about 0.03 of US dollar). While the top one item among all oral drugs had already a market share of 5.0%, 30 items 30.3% and 107 items 50.0%, the cheap drugs with aggregate 332,893,462 prescribed items (47.5% of all prescribed oral drug items) only accounted for 2,750,725,433 NTD (4.0% of expenditure for oral drugs and 2.6% of total drug expenditure). The drug market of Taiwan's NHI was abundant in cheap drugs. The unreasonably low prices of drugs might not guarantee the quality of pharmaceutical care and the sustainability of a healthy pharmaceutical industry in the long run.

  16. National Medal of Science

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-11-20

    President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the National Medals of Science and National Medals of Technology and Innovation Awards Ceremony, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 in the East Room of the White House in Washington. MESSENGER Principal Investigator, director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Sean Solomon, was awarded the National Medal of Science, the nation's top scientific honor, at the ceremony. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

  17. Preliminary physician and pharmacist survey of the National Health Insurance PharmaCloud system in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Tseng, Yu-Ting; Chang, Elizabeth H; Kuo, Li-Na; Shen, Wan-Chen; Bai, Kuan-Jen; Wang, Chih-Chi; Chen, Hsiang-Yin

    2017-10-01

    The PharmaCloud system, a cloud-based medication system, was launched by the Taiwan National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) in 2013 to integrate patients' medication lists among different medical institutions. The aim of the preliminary study was to evaluate satisfaction with this system among physicians and pharmacists at the early stage of system implementation. A questionnaire was developed through a review of the literature and discussion in 6 focus groups to understand the level of satisfaction, attitudes, and intentions of physicians and pharmacists using the PharmaCloud system. It was then administered nationally in Taiwan in July to September 2015. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were performed to identify variables influencing satisfaction and intention to use the system. In total, 895 pharmacist and 105 physician questionnaires were valid for analysis. The results showed that satisfaction with system quality warranted improvement. Positive attitudes toward medication reconciliation among physicians and pharmacists, which were significant predictors of the intention to use the system (β= 0.223, p < 0.001). Most physicians and pharmacists agreed that obtaining signed patient consent was needed but preferred that it be conducted by the NHIA rather than by individual medical institutions (4.02 ± 1.19 vs. 3.49 ± 1.40, p < 0.01). The preliminary study results indicated a moderate satisfaction toward the PharmaCloud system. Hospital pharmacists had a high satisfaction rate, but neither are physicians and community pharmacists. Continuously improvement on system quality has been performing based on the results of this preliminary survey. Policies and standardization processes, including privacy protection, are still warranted further actions to make the Taiwan PharmaCloud system a convenient platform for medication reconciliation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. The National Health Insurance system as one type of new typology: the case of South Korea and Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lee, Sang-Yi; Chun, Chang-Bae; Lee, Yong-Gab; Seo, Nam Kyu

    2008-01-01

    A typology is the useful way of understanding the key frameworks of health care system. With many different criteria of health care system, several typologies have been introduced and applied to each country's health care system. Among those, National Health Service (NHS), Social Health Insurance (SHI), and Private Health Insurance (PHI) are three most well-known types of health care system in the 3-model typology. Differentiated from the existing 3-model typology of health care system, South Korea and Taiwan implemented new concept of National Health Insurance (NHI) system. Since none of previous typologies can be applied to these countries' NHI to explain its unique features in a proper manner, a new typology needs to be introduced. Therefore, this paper introduces a new typology with two crucial variables that are 'state administration for health care financing' and 'main body for health care provision'. With these two variables, the world's national health care systems can be divided into four types of model: NHS, SHI, NHI, and PHI (Liberal model). This research outlines the rationale of developing new typology and introduces main features and frameworks of the NHI that South Korea and Taiwan implemented in the 1990 s.

  19. Household out-of-pocket medical expenditures and national health insurance in Taiwan: income and regional inequality

    PubMed Central

    Chu, Tu-Bin; Liu, Tsai-Ching; Chen, Chin-Shyan; Tsai, Yi-Wen; Chiu, Wen-Ta

    2005-01-01

    Background Unequal geographical distribution of medical care resources and insufficient healthcare coverage have been two long-standing problems with Taiwan's public health system. The implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI) attempted to mitigate the inequality in health care use. This study examines the degree to which Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) has reduced out-of-pocket medical expenditures in households in different regions and varying levels of income. Methods Data used in this study were drawn from the 1994 and 1996 Surveys of Family Income and Expenditure. We pooled the data from 1994 and 1996 and included a year dummy variable (NHI), equal to 1 if the household data came from 1996 in order to assess the impact of NHI on household out-of-pocket medical care expenditures shortly after its implementation in 1995. Results An individual who was older, female, married, unemployed, better educated, richer, head of a larger family household, or living in the central and eastern areas was more likely to have greater household out-of-pocket medical expenditures. NHI was found to have effectively reduced household out-of-pocket medical expenditures by 23.08%, particularly for more affluent households. With the implementation of NHI, lower and middle income quintiles had smaller decreases in out-of-pocket medical expenditure. NHI was also found to have reduced household out-of-pocket medical expenditures more for households in eastern Taiwan. Conclusion Although NHI was established to create free medical care for all, further effort is needed to reduce the medical costs for certain disadvantaged groups, particularly the poor and aborigines, if equality is to be achieved. PMID:16137336

  20. 75 FR 10845 - Subcommittee on Forensic Science; Committee on Science; National Science and Technology Council

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-09

    ... OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY Subcommittee on Forensic Science; Committee on Science; National Science and Technology Council ACTION: General Notice. Nominations for Interagency Working Group participants. SUMMARY: The Subcommittee on Forensic Science of the National Science and Technology Council's...

  1. 77 FR 41205 - Sunshine Act Meetings; National Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-12

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Sunshine Act Meetings; National Science Board The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended... National Science Board business and other matters specified, as follows: AGENCY: National Science Board...

  2. Taiwan Teacher Preparation Program Evaluation: Some Critical Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Tze-Chang

    2015-01-01

    This paper focuses on the influences and changes of recent Taiwan teacher preparation program evaluation (TTPPE) as one of the national evaluation projects conducted by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan. The main concerns are what kind of ideology is transformed through the policy by means of evaluation, and what…

  3. Los Alamos National Lab: National Security Science

    Science.gov Websites

    SKIP TO PAGE CONTENT Los Alamos National Laboratory Delivering science and technology to protect Permit for Storm Water Public Reading Room Environment Home News Los Alamos National Lab: National deposition operations for the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at Los Alamos. Innovation drives his

  4. Weekly lottery sales volume and suicide numbers: a time series analysis on national data from Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chen, Vincent Chin-Hung; Stewart, Robert; Lee, Charles Tzu-Chi

    2012-07-01

    To investigate the association between weekly lottery sales and number of suicide deaths in Taiwan. All suicides aged 15+ years during 2004-2006 in Taiwan were included. Poisson autoregression time series models investigated associations of weekly numbers with contemporaneous and recent sales from two national lotteries in operation. Adjustments were made for seasonal fluctuation, temperature, monthly unemployment and autocorrelation. In fully adjusted models, suicide deaths were negatively correlated with sales of tickets for a low-prize, low-cost lottery system. However, they were correlated positively with recent sales for a higher-cost, larger-prize system. Both correlations were stronger for male than female suicide numbers but differed in terms of age groups most strongly implicated. Associations between lottery sales and suicide numbers differed according to the nature of the lottery. A low-prize, low-publicity system appeared to be more benign than a high-prize, high-publicity one.

  5. Prescriptions of Chinese herbal medicine for constipation under the national health insurance in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Jong, Maw-Shiou; Hwang, Shinn-Jang; Chen, Yu-Chun; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Chen, Fun-Jou; Chen, Fang-Pey

    2010-07-01

    Constipation is a common gastrointestinal problem worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of use and prescriptive patterns of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in treating constipation by analyzing the claims data of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) from the National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan. The computerized claims dataset of the TCM office visits and the corresponding prescription files in 2004 compiled by the NHI Research Institute in Taiwan were linked and processed. Visit files with the single diagnostic coding of constipation (ICD-9-CM code 564.0) were extracted to analyze the frequency and pattern of corresponding CHM prescriptions. The association rule was applied to analyze the co-prescription of CHM in treating constipation. There were 152,564 subjects who visited TCM clinics only for constipation in Taiwan during 2004 and received a total of 387,268 CHM prescriptions. Subjects between 20 and 29 years of age comprised the largest number of those treated (25.5%). Female subjects used CHM for constipation more frequently than male subjects (female:male = 3.31:1). There was an average of 4.6 items of single Chinese herbs or formula in a single prescription for constipation. Ma-zi-renwan was the most commonly prescribed herbal formula, while Da-huang (Rheum palmatum) was the most commonly used single Chinese herb. According to the association rule, the most common prescribed pattern of 2-drug combination of CHM for treating constipation was Ban-xia-xie-xin-tang plus Ma-zi-ren-wan, while the 3-drug combination of CHM was Fang-feng-tong-sheng-san, Rheum palmatum and Ma-zi-ren-wan. This study showed the pattern of single Chinese herbs or herbal formulae used in treating constipation in Taiwan. Further clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of these CHMs in treating constipation. 2010 Elsevier. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Counseling Psychology Licensure in Taiwan: Development, Challenges, and Opportunities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Li-fei; Kwan, Kwong-Liem K.; Huang, Su-Fei

    2011-01-01

    The development and consequences of licensure for counseling psychologists in Taiwan are presented to promote cross-cultural awareness surrounding issues in the counseling psychology profession. The national licensure statute for counseling psychologists in Taiwan was established by the Taiwanese Legislature in 2001. While the licensing system…

  7. National differences in gender–science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement

    PubMed Central

    Nosek, Brian A.; Smyth, Frederick L.; Sriram, N.; Lindner, Nicole M.; Devos, Thierry; Ayala, Alfonso; Bar-Anan, Yoav; Bergh, Robin; Cai, Huajian; Gonsalkorale, Karen; Kesebir, Selin; Maliszewski, Norbert; Neto, Félix; Olli, Eero; Park, Jaihyun; Schnabel, Konrad; Shiomura, Kimihiro; Tulbure, Bogdan Tudor; Wiers, Reinout W.; Somogyi, Mónika; Akrami, Nazar; Ekehammar, Bo; Vianello, Michelangelo; Banaji, Mahzarin R.; Greenwald, Anthony G.

    2009-01-01

    About 70% of more than half a million Implicit Association Tests completed by citizens of 34 countries revealed expected implicit stereotypes associating science with males more than with females. We discovered that nation-level implicit stereotypes predicted nation-level sex differences in 8th-grade science and mathematics achievement. Self-reported stereotypes did not provide additional predictive validity of the achievement gap. We suggest that implicit stereotypes and sex differences in science participation and performance are mutually reinforcing, contributing to the persistent gender gap in science engagement. PMID:19549876

  8. Validity of EQ-5D in general population of Taiwan: results of the 2009 National Health Interview and Drug Abuse Survey of Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Yu, Sheng-Tsung; Chang, Hsing-Yi; Yao, Kai-Ping; Lin, Yu-Hsuan; Hurng, Baai-Shyun

    2015-10-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the validity of the EuroQOL five dimensions questionnaire (EQ-5D) using a nationally representative data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) through comparison with short-form 36 (SF-36). Data for this study came from the 2009 NHIS in Taiwan. The study sample was the 4007 participants aged 20-64 years who completed the survey. We used SUDAAN 10.0 (SAS-Callable) to carry out weighed estimation and statistical inference. The EQ index was estimated using norm values from a Taiwanese study as well as from Japan and the United Kingdom (UK). The SF-36 score was standardized using American norm values. In terms of concurrent validity, the EQ-5D met the five hypotheses. The results did not fulfill hypothesis that women would have lower visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) scores. In terms of discriminant validity, the EQ-5D fulfilled two hypotheses. Our results approached but did not fulfill hypothesis that there would be a weak association between the physical and psychological dimensions of the EQ-5D and the mental component summary score of the SF-36. Results were comparable regardless of whether the Japanese or UK norm value sets were used. We were able to fulfill many, not all of our validity hypotheses regardless of whether the established Japanese or UK norm value sets or the Taiwanese norm values were used. The EQ-5D is an effective and simple instrument for assessing health-related quality of life of general population in Taiwan.

  9. 78 FR 69138 - Sunshine Act Meeting; National Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-18

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Sunshine Act Meeting; National Science Board The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended... the scheduling of meetings for the transaction of National Science Board business and other matters...

  10. National Academy of Sciences

    MedlinePlus

    ... special activities. Through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the NAS provides objective, science-based ... YouTube Instagram Resources Member Directory Meetings & Events Locations Careers Newsroom | Directory | Meetings & Events | Support the NAS Copyright © ...

  11. History and development of ophthalmology in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Hou, Yu-Chih; Oren, Gale A; Chen, Muh-Shy; Hu, Fung-Rong

    2016-12-01

    Western medicine was first introduced to Taiwan by medical missionaries in the mid-19 th century. Modernization of medicine was systematically transplanted to Taiwan in the Japanese colonial period, and ophthalmology was established third among hospital departments, following internal medicine and surgery. Dr Hidetaka Yamaguchi, an ophthalmologist, was the first head of the Taihoku Hospital, later known as National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH; Taipei, Taiwan). Ophthalmologists during the colonial period conducted studies on tropical and infectious eye diseases. After World War II, ophthalmologists at NTUH played an important role in medical education, residency training, studies, and teaching. Dr Yan-Fei Yang established the Taiwan Ophthalmological Society in 1960 and instituted its official journal in 1962. Dr Ho-Ming Lin established the Department of Ophthalmology at the Tri-Service General Hospital in the 1950s and the Veterans General Hospital in the 1960s. Taiwan ophthalmologists eradicated trachoma by 1971. Cataract surgery and penetrating keratoplasty were initially performed in the 1960s. Currently, there are about 1600 ophthalmologists in Taiwan conducting an estimated 120,000 cataract surgeries and 600 corneal transplantations annually. Many subspecialty societies have been established recently that serve to educate Taiwanese ophthalmologists and to connect with international ophthalmic societies. Taiwan ophthalmologists continue to contribute to the advancement of ophthalmic knowledge globally. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  12. A Study of Older Adult Students' Satisfaction with Web-Based Distance Learning at the National Open University of Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Ho-Yuan

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between older learners' demographic characteristics and their satisfaction with distance learning in the Web-based environment at National Open University in Taiwan (NOUT). Increases in the older adult population have had many impacts throughout societies. The major purpose of older…

  13. Women in physics? Identity and discourse in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsai, Li-Ling

    This dissertation argues that the deeply held hope for gender equity in science can no longer be simply realized as a project to increase women's participation in science. Understanding women's vexed relations with science requires a reconceptualization of the terms women and science, not as given categories to signal how "women" are coping with their disadvantaged positions in "science," but rather as two discourses formed in relation to each other, in institutional practices and in particular social and historical contexts. This dissertation investigates discourses of women and science by focusing on women in physics in Taiwan. This focus extends debates about gender and science by showing that the intervention of a particular discourse---in this case, the discourse of "women in physics"---into an existing discursive field exposed the contested terrain of the gender politics of physics and the identity politics of women physicists in Taiwan. "Women in physics" emerged as an internationally legitimate subject position in Taiwan in 1999 following a call to form a local working team on women in physics. The participants I interviewed utilized this internationally legitimate subject position to reconstruct, in different ways, their gendered identities in physics. Scholarship in the field of gender and science education studies has, over the past three decades, focused on equity and inclusion to address gender inequalities in science. This dissertation suggests, by contrast, that a focus on identity is necessary for understanding gendered career decisions in science. The term identity refers to how individuals perceive themselves and how others respond to their claims; identity involves the purposes, interests and contexts of particular naming processes. In the structural inequalities of gender and science, a focus on identity aims to track individual and collective forms of agency exercised in changing discursive fields. This dissertation concludes by viewing

  14. Cancer studies based on secondary data analysis of the Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database: A computational text analysis and visualization study.

    PubMed

    Chiang, Jui-Kun; Lin, Chih-Wen; Wang, Chun-Lung; Koo, Malcolm; Kao, Yee-Hsin

    2017-04-01

    There has been a surge in the academic publication output based on secondary analyses of the data from the Taiwan's National Health Insurance claim records. It has become a challenge to comprehend such a rapid expansion of the literature. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the conceptual content of National Health Insurance Research Database-based cancer research, using the abstract of articles extracted from PubMed between 2002 and 2015. Search terms including "National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) AND Taiwan," "Taiwan AND population-based," and "Taiwan AND nationwide" were used to search in PubMed with the publication date limited to between 1997 and 2015. The retrieved articles were manually screened to retain only those that were cancer-related and were based on secondary data analysis of the NHIRD. A total 589 articles were selected for subsequent text mining using the R software. Among the 589 articles, the top 5 most studied cancer types were breast (16.3%), lung (11.4%), colorectal (10.4%), liver (8.3%), and prostate (7.5%). The articles that received the highest number of citations by PubMed Central articles were cited 92 times. The top 3 most frequently occurred keywords in the abstracts of the 589 articles were cancer, patient, and risk, with 3670, 2535, and 1652 times, respectively. Analysis of key conception indicated that the most common conceptions were diabetes, survival, breast cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer. In conclusion, in this study of 589 published articles on secondary data analysis of the NHIRD, indexed by PubMed between 2002 and 2015, we found that while the risk factors of cancer, treatment of cancer, and survival of cancer patients were popular research topics, end-of-life cancer care issues were less studied. Further studies should explore these areas since they are as important as treatment of the disease itself for many patients.

  15. Herbal Medicine Research in Taiwan*

    PubMed Central

    Kaphle, Krishna; Wu, Leang-Shin; Yang, Nai-Yen Jack; Lin, Jen-Hsou

    2006-01-01

    Of all the countries in the world, why did you choose Taiwan to pursue your study? It is a question that I (comments of the first author) have answered a thousand times. My first visit to a laboratory at National Taiwan University opened my eyes to the possibilities of herbal medicine research, especially in the area of veterinary medicine. It became my ambition to link the knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda from the Indian subcontinent and their integration with other systems of medicine, including Western medicine (WM), to achieve the concept of Sustainable Medicine, firstly for animals and then for humans. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has implemented a technology development program to quickly establish the key technologies, and this is a moment of opportunity for Taiwan's traditional herbal medicine industry to upgrade and transform itself. This paper, initially intended to be a student's narration, has evolved into a multi-author treatise on the present state and likely future scenario of herbal medicine research in Taiwan. PMID:16550238

  16. 78 FR 51752 - Sunshine Act Meetings; National Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-21

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Sunshine Act Meetings; National Science Board The National Science... CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n- 5), and the... for the transaction of National Science Board business, as follows: DATE AND TIME: Monday, August 26...

  17. 78 FR 2451 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-11

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings The National Science... National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5... transaction of National Science Board business and other matters specified, as follows: DATE AND TIME...

  18. Pyogenic Liver Abscess as Endemic Disease, Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Tsai, Feng-Chiao; Huang, Yu-Tsung; Chang, Luan-Yin

    2008-01-01

    Pyogenic liver abscess has become a health problem in Taiwanese society. However, the extent of this problem has remained unclear because of the lack of a population-based study. We therefore performed a nationwide analysis of pyogenic liver abscess in Taiwan from 1996 through 2004. We analyzed 29,703 cases from the Taiwan National Health Insurance database and 506 cases from National Taiwan University Hospital. Our analysis showed that the annual incidence of pyogenic liver abscess increased steadily from 11.15/100,000 population in 1996 to 17.59/100,000 in 2004. Diabetes, malignancy, renal disease, and pneumonia were associated with a higher risk for the disease. By contrast, death due to pyogenic liver abscess decreased over time, although population-based abscess-related death increased slightly. Renal disease, malignancy, pneumonia, and heart disease correlated with higher death rates; Klebsiella pneumoniae infection and therapeutic procedures were related to lower death rates. Diabetes did not significantly change death rates for the 506 patients from the hospital. PMID:18826824

  19. A Crowdsourcing-based Taiwan Scientific Earthquake Reporting System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liang, W. T.; Lee, J. C.; Lee, C. F.

    2017-12-01

    To collect immediately field observations for any earthquake-induced ground damages, such as surface fault rupture, landslide, rock fall, liquefaction, and landslide-triggered dam or lake, etc., we are developing an earthquake damage reporting system which particularly relies on school teachers as volunteers after taking a series of training courses organized by this project. This Taiwan Scientific Earthquake Reporting (TSER) system is based on the Ushahidi mapping platform, which has been widely used for crowdsourcing on different purposes. Participants may add an app-like icon for mobile devices to this website at https://ies-tser.iis.sinica.edu.tw. Right after a potential damaging earthquake occurred in the Taiwan area, trained volunteers will be notified/dispatched to the source area to carry out field surveys and to describe the ground damages through this system. If the internet is available, they may also upload some relevant images in the field right away. This collected information will be shared with all public after a quick screen by the on-duty scientists. To prepare for the next strong earthquake, we set up a specific project on TSER for sharing spectacular/remarkable geologic features wherever possible. This is to help volunteers get used to this system and share any teachable material on this platform. This experimental, science-oriented crowdsourcing system was launched early this year. Together with a DYFI-like intensity reporting system, Taiwan Quake-Catcher Network, and some online games and teaching materials, the citizen seismology has been much improved in Taiwan in the last decade. All these constructed products are now either operated or promoted at the Taiwan Earthquake Research Center (TEC). With these newly developed platforms and materials, we are aiming not only to raise the earthquake awareness and preparedness, but also to encourage public participation in earthquake science in Taiwan.

  20. National Transportation Science and Technology Strategy.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1999-04-01

    The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committee on Technology, Subcommittee on Transportation Research and Development (R&D), has created a National Transportation Science and Technology Strategy that builds on the earlier strategy publi...

  1. Redistributive effects of the National Health Insurance on physicians in Taiwan: a natural experiment time series study.

    PubMed

    Yang, Chiang-Hsing; Huang, Yu-Tung A; Hsueh, Ya-Seng A

    2013-02-04

    Previous studies have evaluated the effects of various health manpower policies but did not include full consideration of the effect of universal health insurance on physician re-distribution. This study examines the effects of implementing National Health Insurance (NHI) on the problem of geographic mal-distribution of health providers in Taiwan. Data on health providers and population between 1971 and 2001 are obtained from relevant governmental publications in Taiwan. Gini coefficients derived from the Lorenz curve are used under a spline regression model to examine the impact of the NHI on the geographic distribution of health providers. The geographic distribution equality of the three key health providers has improved significantly after the implementation of NHI program. After accounting for the influences of other confounding factors, Gini coefficients of the three key providers have a net reduction of 1.248% for dentists, 0.365% for western medicine physicians, and 0.311% for Chinese medicine physicians. Overall, the absolute values of the three key providers' Gini coefficients also become close to one another. This study found that NHI's offering universal health coverage to all citizens and with proper financial incentives have resulted in more equal geographic distributions among the key health care providers in Taiwan.

  2. Redistributive effects of the National Health Insurance on physicians in Taiwan: a natural experiment time series study

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background Previous studies have evaluated the effects of various health manpower policies but did not include full consideration of the effect of universal health insurance on physician re-distribution. This study examines the effects of implementing National Health Insurance (NHI) on the problem of geographic mal-distribution of health providers in Taiwan. Methods Data on health providers and population between 1971 and 2001 are obtained from relevant governmental publications in Taiwan. Gini coefficients derived from the Lorenz curve are used under a spline regression model to examine the impact of the NHI on the geographic distribution of health providers. Results The geographic distribution equality of the three key health providers has improved significantly after the implementation of NHI program. After accounting for the influences of other confounding factors, Gini coefficients of the three key providers have a net reduction of 1.248% for dentists, 0.365% for western medicine physicians, and 0.311% for Chinese medicine physicians. Overall, the absolute values of the three key providers’ Gini coefficients also become close to one another. Conclusions This study found that NHI’s offering universal health coverage to all citizens and with proper financial incentives have resulted in more equal geographic distributions among the key health care providers in Taiwan. PMID:23374629

  3. National Medal of Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wendel, JoAnna

    2014-04-01

    The nation's highest honor for American scientists and engineers, the National Medal of Science is awarded annually by the president of the United States to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to or for the total impact of their work on the current state of chemical, physical, biological, social or behavioral sciences; mathematics; or engineering. Anyone can submit a nomination. Submit a short description of the nominee's contribution and three letters of support to http://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/medal.jsp by 1 May 2014.

  4. Impact of Excellence Programs on Taiwan Higher Education in Terms of Quality Assurance and Academic Excellence, Examining the Conflicting Role of Taiwan's Accrediting Agencies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hou, Angela Yung-chi

    2012-01-01

    Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT) was established in 2005 and began to accredit 76 four-year comprehensive universities and colleges in Taiwan in 2006. Commissioned officially with a dual mission, HEEACT has been encouraged to conduct various ranking research projects, including global and national ones…

  5. Completeness and timeliness of tuberculosis notification in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Tuberculosis (TB) is a notifiable disease by the Communicable Disease Control Law in Taiwan. Several measures have been undertaken to improve reporting of TB but the completeness and timeliness of TB notification in Taiwan has not yet been systemically evaluated. Methods To assess completeness and timeliness of TB notification, potential TB cases diagnosed by health care facilities in the year 2005-2007 were identified using the reimbursement database of national health insurance (NHI), which has 99% population coverage in Taiwan. Potential TB patients required notification were defined as those who have TB-related ICD-9 codes (010-018) in the NHI reimbursement database in 2005-2007, who were not diagnosed with TB in previous year, and who have been prescribed with 2 or more types of anti-TB drugs. Each potential TB case was matched to the national TB registry maintained at Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) by using national identity number or, if non-citizen, passport number to determine whether the patients had been notified to local public health authorities and Taiwan CDC. The difference in the number of days between date of anti-tuberculosis treatment and date of notification was calculated to determine the timeliness of TB reporting. Results Of the 57,405 TB patients who were prescribed with 2 or more anti-tuberculosis drugs, 55,291 (96.3%) were notified to National TB Registry and 2,114 (3.7%) were not. Of the 55,291 notified cases, 45,250 (81.8%) were notified within 7 days of anti-tuberculosis treatment (timely reporting) and 10,041(18.2%) after 7 days (delayed reporting). Factors significantly associated with failure of notification are younger age, previously notified cases, foreigner, those who visited clinics and those who visited health care facilities only once or twice in 6 months. Conclusion A small proportion of TB cases were not notified and a substantial proportion of notified TB cases had delayed reporting, findings with implication for

  6. National health insurance, physician financial incentives, and primary cesarean deliveries in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Tsai, Yi-Wen; Hu, Teh-Wei

    2002-09-01

    Taiwan's National Health Insurance Program (NHI) was implemented on March 1, 1995. This study analyzed the influences of the Case Payment method of reimbursement for inpatient care and of physician financial incentives on a woman's choice for primary cesarean delivery. Logistic regressions were used to analyze 11 788 first-time deliveries in a nonprofit hospital system between March 1, 1994, and February 29, 1996. After implementation of the NHI's Case Payment scheme, the likelihood that a woman would choose primary cesarean delivery increased by four to five times compared with the choice behavior of uninsured individuals prior to NHI (P <.0001). Out-of-pocket payment discourages the selection of primary cesarean delivery. No robust statistics were found relating physician financial incentives to delivery choice.

  7. Science Indicators, 1978: Report of the National Science Board.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buzzelli, Donald E.; And Others

    This eleventh annual report of the National Science Board presents the fourth assessment of the state of science in the United States. The assessment includes reports on the status of science, with the following indicators reviewed within the report: international science and technology, resources for research and development, resources for basic…

  8. Incidence of eye cancer in Taiwan: an 18-year review.

    PubMed

    Cheng, C-Y; Hsu, W-M

    2004-02-01

    To describe the incidence and histologic patterns of eye cancers in Chinese in Taiwan. Beginning in 1979, cases of cancer in Taiwan were reported to the Taiwan National Cancer Registry. Information on all Chinese patients diagnosed with eye malignancies under the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, site 190, was retrieved for analysis from the data bank of the Taiwan National Cancer Registry. In all, 733 cases with primary eye cancers were identified from 1979 to 1996, an 18-year period. The average annual age-standardized incidence of eye cancers was 2.46 per million population (2.57 for male and 2.33 for female). For cases less than 15 years of age, the most common eye malignancy was retinoblastoma (86.0%), followed by rhabdomyosarcoma (3.9%) and lymphoma (2.8%). For cases 15 years of age or older, the most common eye malignancy was melanoma (28.6%), followed by squamous cell sarcoma (21.0%) and lymphoma (20.8%). The time trends of the incidence of eye cancers were relatively stable over the 18-year period in Taiwan. Retinobalstoma, melanoma, and lymphoma were the three most common eye cancers in this Chinese population.

  9. 76 FR 50759 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-16

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meeting The National Science Board's Task Force on Merit Review, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science....T. SUBJECT MATTER: Discussion of proposed revisions to the draft principles and review criteria...

  10. Gender and Geographic Differences in Developmental Delays among Young Children: Analysis of the Data from the National Registry in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Der-Chung; Tseng, Yen-Cheng; Guo, How-Ran

    2011-01-01

    Although developmental delays are not uncommon in children, the incidence is seldom assessed, and the reported prevalence varies widely. In Taiwan, the government mandates the reporting of suspected cases. Using the national registry data, we conducted a study to estimate the incidence and prevalence of developmental delays in young children in…

  11. National Medal of Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nineteen scientists and engineers were awarded the nation's highest scientific honor, the National Medal of Science, by President Ronald Reagan in late February in a ceremony held in the East Room of the White House. Among the recipients were two AGU members.

  12. From waste minimization to ISO 14000: Taiwan`s experience and prospects

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wen-Huei Chen; Wain-Sun Hou

    Taiwan has completed a very successful five-year industrial waste minimization (IWM) demonstration and promotion project sponsored by the government. From 1990 to 1995, the project successfully disseminated the IWM concept of pollution prevention (P2) to industries. It effectively reduced industrial waste while significantly benefitting the economy by assisting industries in implementing in-plant IWM programs. In July 1995, the second stage of the five-year IWM and ISO 14000 promotion project was initiated for further promoting the IWM, P2, and cleaner production and, in particular, coping with the upcoming international environmental management standards (ISO 14000). To assist industries in establishing an environmentalmore » management system (EMS) and accumulating related experience, an EMS pilot demonstration project of five model industries and an ISO 14001 EMS demonstration and promotion project for 22 factories in 13 industries were initiated in October 1995 and August 1996, respectively. These projects can assist Taiwan`s industries in changing the constitution of their enterprises, enhancing competition in the international market, and helping our nation achieve the forerunner`s profits in sustainable development. 9 refs., 3 figs.« less

  13. 45 CFR 650.2 - National Science Foundation patent policy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false National Science Foundation patent policy. 650.2 Section 650.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.2 National Science Foundation patent policy. As authorized by the National Science...

  14. 45 CFR 650.2 - National Science Foundation patent policy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false National Science Foundation patent policy. 650.2 Section 650.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.2 National Science Foundation patent policy. As authorized by the National Science...

  15. 45 CFR 650.2 - National Science Foundation patent policy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false National Science Foundation patent policy. 650.2 Section 650.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.2 National Science Foundation patent policy. As authorized by the National Science...

  16. 45 CFR 650.2 - National Science Foundation patent policy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false National Science Foundation patent policy. 650.2 Section 650.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.2 National Science Foundation patent policy. As authorized by the National Science...

  17. 45 CFR 650.2 - National Science Foundation patent policy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false National Science Foundation patent policy. 650.2 Section 650.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.2 National Science Foundation patent policy. As authorized by the National Science...

  18. 78 FR 49297 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-13

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as... of the scheduling of a teleconference meeting of the Executive Committee National Science Board...

  19. 77 FR 71453 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-11-30

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as...: These meetings will be held at the National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Rooms 1235 and 1295...

  20. [Toward a national system on science and technology].

    PubMed

    Cilento-Sarli, A

    1994-01-01

    This essay discuss the integration of a National System on Science and Technology (SINACYT), supported with resources arising from a National Found for Science and Technology (FONACYT), and whose leader entity should be the Institute of the National Found for Science and Technology (INFONACYT) to substitute CONICIT.

  1. National Ocean Sciences Bowl in 2013: A National Competition for High School Ocean Science Education

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-09-30

    The school even has begun to list oceanography as an extracurricular activity in its advertisements! I have seen firsthand how NOSB has raised an...event at the NOSB Finals; • Develop a career booklet to help guide students selecting a career related to ocean sciences; and • Actively encourage...students from diverse communities to participate in NOSB activities . APPROACH The National Ocean Sciences Bowl® (NOSB ®) is a nationally

  2. 77 FR 5282 - National Science and Technology Council

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-02

    ... OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY National Science and Technology Council ACTION: Notice of... Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee of the Committee on Technology, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), will hold an ``International Symposium on Assessing the Economic...

  3. The effect of cigarette price increase on the cigarette consumption in Taiwan: evidence from the National Health Interview Surveys on cigarette consumption.

    PubMed

    Lee, Jie-Min; Hwang, Tsorng-Chyi; Ye, Chun-Yuan; Chen, Sheng-Hong

    2004-12-14

    This study uses cigarette price elasticity to evaluate the effect of a new excise tax increase on cigarette consumption and to investigate responses from various types of smokers. Our sample consisted of current smokers between 17 and 69 years old interviewed during an annual face-to-face survey conducted by Taiwan National Health Research Institutes between 2000 to 2003. We used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) procedure to estimate double logarithmic function of cigarette demand and cigarette price elasticity. In 2002, after Taiwan had enacted the new tax scheme, cigarette price elasticity in Taiwan was found to be -0.5274. The new tax scheme brought about an average annual 13.27 packs/person (10.5%) reduction in cigarette consumption. Using the cigarette price elasticity estimate from -0.309 in 2003, we calculated that if the Health and Welfare Tax were increased by another NT 3 dollars per pack and cigarette producers shifted this increase to the consumers, cigarette consumption would be reduced by 2.47 packs/person (2.2%). The value of the estimated cigarette price elasticity is smaller than one, meaning that the tax will not only reduce cigarette consumption but it will also generate additional tax revenues. Male smokers who had no income or who smoked light cigarettes were found to be more responsive to changes in cigarette price. An additional tax added to the cost of cigarettes would bring about a reduction in cigarette consumption and increased tax revenues. It would also help reduce incidents smoking-related illnesses. The additional tax revenues generated by the tax increase could be used to offset the current financial deficiency of Taiwan's National Health Insurance program and provide better public services.

  4. Disease burden and related medical costs of rotavirus infections in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Lu, Chun-Yi; Lauderdale, Tsai-Ling; Fang, Yin-Hua; Wang, Chung-Yi; Ho, Yu-Huai; Hung, Che-Lun; Chang, Luan-Yin; Lee, Chin-Yun; Huang, Li-Min

    2006-01-01

    Background The disease burden and associated medical costs of rotavirus infections in inpatient and outpatient sectors in Taiwan were examined in anticipation of the availability of new rotavirus vaccines. Methods The yearly national case number and medical costs for all for inpatients and outpatients with acute gastroenteritis (AGE) were extracted from the Bureau of National Health Insurance database in Taiwan according to ICD-9-CM codes. A retrospective study was also performed using records of children with AGE seen at three hospitals in Taiwan in 2001 to identify laboratory confirmed rotavirus infection cases. The annual incidence and related medical costs of AGE due to rotavirus infection were then estimated. Results Children <5 years old comprised 83.6% of inpatient and 62.0% of outpatient pediatric AGE cases in Taiwan in 2001. Rotavirus was the most common agent detected among AGE patients in this age group in the three hospitals, and was detected in 32.9% (221/672) of inpatient and 24% (23/96) of outpatient stool specimens tested for microbial etiologies. An estimated 277,400 to 624,892 cases of rotavirus infections sought medical care in Taiwan in 2001, equaling one in 2 to 5 children <5 years old required medical care due to rotavirus infection. The incidence of hospitalization due to rotavirus infections was 1,528–1,997/100,000 for children <5 years old. The total associated medical costs due to rotavirus infection were estimated at US $10–16 millions in Taiwan in 2001. Although the per-capita medical cost of rotavirus infection was lower in Taiwan than in the United States or Hong Kong, the personal economic burden was similar among the three places when normalized for gross national incomes per capita. Conclusion Infections caused by rotavirus constitute an important human and economic burden among young children in Taiwan. A safe and effective vaccine is urgently needed. PMID:17173677

  5. 76 FR 70168 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-10

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings The National Science Board's Subcommittee on Facilities (SCF), pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives notice in regard to the...

  6. 77 FR 49462 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-08-16

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives notice in regard to the scheduling of a teleconference...

  7. National Disability Registers Report on Causes of Intellectual Disability in Taiwan: 2000-2007

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Jin-Ding; Yen, Chia-Feng; Wu, Jia-Ling; Kang, Shih-Wan

    2009-01-01

    The main purposes of the present analysis were to describe the causes of intellectual disability (ID) and examine its overtime change from 2000 to 2007 in Taiwan. Data of the present study mainly come from the public web-access information which collected by the Department of Statistics, Ministry of the Interiors, Taipei, Taiwan. Data were…

  8. Chinese herbal prescriptions for osteoarthritis in Taiwan: analysis of national health insurance dataset

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been commonly used for treating osteoarthritis in Asia for centuries. This study aimed to conduct a large-scale pharmaco-epidemiologic study and evaluate the frequency and patterns of CHM used in treating osteoarthritis in Taiwan. Methods A complete database (total 22,520,776 beneficiaries) of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) outpatient claims offered by the National Health Insurance program in Taiwan for the year 2002 was employed for this research. Patients with osteoarthritis were identified according to the diagnostic code of the International Classification of Disease among claimed visiting files. Corresponding prescription files were analyzed, and an association rule was applied to evaluate the co-prescription of CHM for treating osteoarthritis. Results There were 20,059 subjects who visited TCM clinics for osteoarthritis and received a total of 32,050 CHM prescriptions. Subjects between 40 and 49 years of age comprised the largest number of those treated (19.2%), followed by 50-59 years (18.8%) and 60-69 years group (18.2%). In addition, female subjects used CHMs for osteoarthritis more frequently than male subjects (female: male = 1.89: l). There was an average of 5.2 items prescribed in the form of either an individual Chinese herb or formula in a single CHM prescription for osteoarthritis. Du-zhong (Eucommia bark) was the most commonly prescribed Chinese single herb, while Du-huo-ji-sheng-tang was the most commonly prescribed Chinese herbal formula for osteoarthritis. According to the association rule, the most commonly prescribed formula was Du-huo-ji-sheng-tang plus Shen-tong-zhu-yu-tang, and the most commonly prescribed triple-drug combination was Du-huo-ji-sheng-tang, Gu-sui-pu (Drynaria fortune (Kunze) J. Sm.), and Xu-Duan (Himalaya teasel). Nevertheless, further clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of these CHMs for treating osteoarthritis. Conclusions This study

  9. [Glocalization: the outlook for Taiwan evidence based health care].

    PubMed

    Chen, Chiehfeng

    2014-12-01

    Public attention to evidence-based health care (EBHC) has increased significantly in recent years. Key problems related to applying EBHC in current healthcare practice include the timely update of up-to-date knowledge and skills and the methodology used to implement EBHC in clinical settings. EBHC has been introduced to the Taiwan healthcare system for the past two decades. The annual EBM (Evidence based medicine) National Competition is a unique and important EBHC activity in Taiwan. EBHC has been promoted widely in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and other professions, and EBHC-related organizations such as the Taiwan Evidence Based Medicine Association (TEBMA), and Taiwan Evidence Based Nursing Association (TEBNA), have increased in number and grown in membership. In addition to domestic developments, Taiwan is also actively involved in global organizations, such as the Cochrane Collaboration, East Asian Cochrane Alliance (EACA), and the International Society for Evidence Based Health Care (ISEHC). In Taiwan, most medical professionals work cooperatively to promote EBHC, which facilitates the gradual improvement of healthcare quality.

  10. 76 FR 55422 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-07

    ... Professor, School of Life Science, Arizona State University. CSB Subcommittee on Facilities (SCF) Open... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as...

  11. 78 FR 26399 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-06

    ... (DBI): The iPlant Collaborative-- Cyberinfrastructure for the Life Sciences (NSB-13-25) Closed... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as...

  12. Administrative Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders Based on National Disability Registers in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Jin-Ding; Lin, Lan-Ping; Wu, Jia-Ling

    2009-01-01

    The aim of this paper was to describe the over time prevalence of autism from 2000 to 2007 in Taiwan, with particular focus on the age, gender, prevalence and causes. We analyzed data from the public web-access information collected by the Department of Statistics, Ministry of the Interiors, Taipei, Taiwan. The data included: (1) the physically…

  13. Estimating the Economic Burden of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Taiwan Using the National Health Insurance Database.

    PubMed

    Wang, Bruce C M; Hsu, Ping-Ning; Furnback, Wesley; Ney, John; Yang, Ya-Wen; Fang, Chi-Hui; Tang, Chao-Hsiun

    2016-03-01

    Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation and destruction of the joints. This research aims to estimate the economic burden of RA in Taiwan. The National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), a claims-based dataset encompassing 99 % of Taiwan's population, was applied. We used a micro-costing approach for direct healthcare costs and indirect social costs by estimating the quantities and prices of cost categories. Direct costs included surgeries, hospitalizations, medical devices and materials, laboratory tests, and drugs. The costs and quantities of the direct economic burden were calculated based on 2011 data of NHIRD. We identified RA patients and a control cohort matched 1:4 on demographic and clinical covariates to calculate the incremental cost related to RA. Indirect costs were evaluated by missed work (absenteeism) and worker productivity (presenteeism). For the indirect burden, we estimated the rate of absenteeism and presenteeism from a patient survey. Costs were presented in US dollars (US$1 = 30 TWD). A total of 41,269 RA patients were included in the database with incremental total direct cost of US$86,413,971 and indirect cost of US$138,492,987. This resulted in an average incremental direct cost of US$2050 per RA patient. Within direct costs, the largest burdens were associated with drugs (US$73,028,944), laboratory tests (US$6,132,395), and hospitalizations (US$3,208,559). For indirect costs, absenteeism costs and presenteeism costs were US$16,059,681 and US$114,291,687, respectively. The economic burden of RA in Taiwan is driven by indirect healthcare costs, most notably presenteeism.

  14. Estimating the Economic Burden of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Taiwan Using the National Health Insurance Database.

    PubMed

    Wang, Bruce C M; Hsu, Ping-Ning; Furnback, Wesley; Ney, John; Yang, Ya-Wen; Fang, Chi-Hui; Tang, Chao-Hsiun

    Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation and destruction of the joints. This research aims to estimate the economic burden of RA in Taiwan. The National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), a claims-based dataset encompassing 99 % of Taiwan's population, was applied. We used a micro-costing approach for direct healthcare costs and indirect social costs by estimating the quantities and prices of cost categories. Direct costs included surgeries, hospitalizations, medical devices and materials, laboratory tests, and drugs. The costs and quantities of the direct economic burden were calculated based on 2011 data of NHIRD. We identified RA patients and a control cohort matched 1:4 on demographic and clinical covariates to calculate the incremental cost related to RA. Indirect costs were evaluated by missed work (absenteeism) and worker productivity (presenteeism). For the indirect burden, we estimated the rate of absenteeism and presenteeism from a patient survey. Costs were presented in US dollars (US$1 = 30 TWD). A total of 41,269 RA patients were included in the database with incremental total direct cost of US$86,413,971 and indirect cost of US$138,492,987. This resulted in an average incremental direct cost of US$2050 per RA patient. Within direct costs, the largest burdens were associated with drugs (US$73,028,944), laboratory tests (US$6,132,395), and hospitalizations (US$3,208,559). For indirect costs, absenteeism costs and presenteeism costs were US$16,059,681 and US$114,291,687, respectively. The economic burden of RA in Taiwan is driven by indirect healthcare costs, most notably presenteeism.

  15. 77 FR 21812 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-11

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meeting The National Science Board's Committee on Strategy and Budget Task Force on Data Policies, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b), hereby give...

  16. 78 FR 56745 - Sunshine Act Meetings; National Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-09-13

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Sunshine Act Meetings; National Science Board The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives notice of the scheduling of a teleconference meeting of the...

  17. 75 FR 81678 - Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee; Committee on Technology; National Science and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-12-28

    ... OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee; Committee on Technology; National Science and Technology Council ACTION: Notice of Meeting--Public input is.... SUMMARY: The Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee (ASTS) of the National Science and Technology...

  18. The 1992 Science Olympiad National Tournament

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Perry, W. D.; Simon, Marllin L.

    1992-01-01

    In the fall of 1991, approximately 8000 Junior and Senior High Schools from 39 states in the country registered one or more teams with the National Science Olympiad Headquarters, and started working their way towards the Science Olympiad National Tournament, which was held at Auburn University, Alabama on May 15 and 16, 1992. Teams that made it to the Science Olympiad National Tournament had to compete at the regional (e.g., Alabama had five regional tournaments) and state levels. In most cases a team had to be number one in the state in order to make it into the National Tournament. Since the decision was made to invite 50 teams from each division (division B is Junior High and division C is Senior High), for each state that did not participate, another state could send two teams. The selection of states that could send a second team was based on statewide registration with the National Headquarters.

  19. Classification management plan of groundwater quality in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Chun Ming; Chen, Yu Ying; Pan, Shih Cheng; Li, Hui Jun; Hsiao, Fang Ke

    2017-04-01

    Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration has been monitoring regional water quality for 14 years. Since the beginning of 2002 till now, there are 453 regional groundwater monitoring wells in ten groundwater subregions in Taiwan, and the monitoring of groundwater quality has been carried out for a long time. Currently, water quality monitoring project has reached 50 items, while the number of water quality monitoring data has reached more than 20,000. In order to use the monitoring data efficiently, this study constructed the localized groundwater quality indicators of Taiwan. This indicator takes into account the different users' point of view, incorporating the Taiwan groundwater pollution monitoring standards (Category II), irrigation water quality standard and drinking water source water quality standard. 50 items of water quality monitoring projects were simplified and classified. The groundwater quality parameters were divided into five items, such as potability for drinking water, salting, external influence, health influences and toxicity hazard. The weight of the five items of groundwater was calculated comprehensively, and the groundwater quality of each monitoring well was evaluated with three grades of good, ordinary, and poor. According to the monitoring results of the groundwater monitoring wells in October to December of 2016, about 70% of groundwater quality in Taiwan is in good to ordinary grades. The areas with poor groundwater quality were mostly distributed in coastal, agriculture and part of the urban areas. The conductivity or ammonia nitrogen concentration was higher in those regions, showing that groundwater may be salinized or affected by external influences. Groundwater quality indicators can clearly show the current comprehensive situation of the groundwater environment in Taiwan and can be used as a tool for groundwater quality classification management. The indicators can coordinate with the Taiwan land planning policy in the

  20. Exploring Factors Affecting Learner's Perception of Learning Information and Communication Technology: A HLM Analysis of a National Farmers' Training Program in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yueh, Hsiu-Ping; Chen, Tzy-Ling; Chiu, Li-An; Lin, Wei-Chien

    2013-01-01

    The present study, pertaining to a national information literacy training program for both farmers and rural communities in Taiwan, explores factors that affect learners' perception of learning information and communication technology (ICT). It further analyzes effects of individual characteristics and varied training designs on learners'…

  1. The influences of Taiwan's National Health Insurance on women's choice of prenatal care facility: Investigation of differences between rural and non-rural areas

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Likwang; Chen, Chi-Liang; Yang, Wei-Chih

    2008-01-01

    Background Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI), implemented in 1995, substantially increased the number of health care facilities that can deliver free prenatal care. Because of the increase in such facilities, it is usually assumed that women would have more choices regarding prenatal care facilities and thus experience reduction in travel cost. Nevertheless, there has been no research exploring these issues in the literature. This study compares how Taiwan's NHI program may have influenced choice of prenatal care facility and perception regarding convenience in transportation for obtaining such care for women in rural and non-rural areas in Taiwan. Methods Based on data collected by a national survey conducted by Taiwan's National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) in 2000, we tried to compare how women chose prenatal care facility before and after Taiwan's National Health Insurance program was implemented. Basing our analysis on how women answered questionnaire items regarding "the type of major health care facility used and convenience of transportation to and from prenatal care facility," we investigated whether there were disparities in how women in rural and non-rural areas chose prenatal care facilities and felt about the transportation, and whether the NHI had different influences for the two groups of women. Results After NHI, women in rural areas were more likely than before to choose large hospitals for prenatal care services. For women in rural areas, the relative probability of choosing large hospitals to choosing non-hospital settings in 1998–1999 was about 6.54 times of that in 1990–1992. In contrast, no such change was found in women in non-rural areas. For a woman in a non-rural area, she was significantly more likely to perceive the transportation to and from prenatal care facilities to be very convenient between 1998 and 1999 than in the period between 1990 and 1992. No such improvement was found for women in rural areas. Conclusion We

  2. The influences of Taiwan's National Health Insurance on women's choice of prenatal care facility: Investigation of differences between rural and non-rural areas.

    PubMed

    Chen, Likwang; Chen, Chi-Liang; Yang, Wei-Chih

    2008-03-29

    Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI), implemented in 1995, substantially increased the number of health care facilities that can deliver free prenatal care. Because of the increase in such facilities, it is usually assumed that women would have more choices regarding prenatal care facilities and thus experience reduction in travel cost. Nevertheless, there has been no research exploring these issues in the literature. This study compares how Taiwan's NHI program may have influenced choice of prenatal care facility and perception regarding convenience in transportation for obtaining such care for women in rural and non-rural areas in Taiwan. Based on data collected by a national survey conducted by Taiwan's National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) in 2000, we tried to compare how women chose prenatal care facility before and after Taiwan's National Health Insurance program was implemented. Basing our analysis on how women answered questionnaire items regarding "the type of major health care facility used and convenience of transportation to and from prenatal care facility," we investigated whether there were disparities in how women in rural and non-rural areas chose prenatal care facilities and felt about the transportation, and whether the NHI had different influences for the two groups of women. After NHI, women in rural areas were more likely than before to choose large hospitals for prenatal care services. For women in rural areas, the relative probability of choosing large hospitals to choosing non-hospital settings in 1998-1999 was about 6.54 times of that in 1990-1992. In contrast, no such change was found in women in non-rural areas. For a woman in a non-rural area, she was significantly more likely to perceive the transportation to and from prenatal care facilities to be very convenient between 1998 and 1999 than in the period between 1990 and 1992. No such improvement was found for women in rural areas. We concluded that women in rural areas were

  3. An investigation of the use of acupuncture in stroke patients in Taiwan: a national cohort study.

    PubMed

    Weng, Shu-Wen; Chen, Ta-Liang; Yeh, Chun-Chieh; Liao, Chien-Chang; Lane, Hsin-Long; Lin, Jaung-Geng; Shih, Chun-Chuan

    2016-08-26

    Acupuncture is considered a complementary and alternative medicine in many countries. The purpose of this study was to report the pattern of acupuncture use and associated factors in patients with stroke. We used claims data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database and identified 285001 new-onset stroke patients in 2000-2008 from 23 million people allover Taiwan. The use of acupuncture treatment after stroke within one year was identified. We compared sociodemographics, coexisting medical conditions, and stroke characteristics between stroke patients who did and did not receive acupuncture treatment. The use of acupuncture in stroke patients increased from 2000 to 2008. Female gender, younger age, white-collar employee status, higher income, and residence in areas with more traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physicians were factors associated with acupuncture use in stroke patients. Ischemic stroke (odds ratio [OR] 1.21, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.15-1.28), having no renal dialysis (OR 2.76, 95 % CI 2.45-3.13), receiving rehabilitation (OR 3.20, 95 % CI 3.13-3.27) and longer hospitalization (OR 1.23, 95 % CI 1.19-1.27) were also associated with acupuncture use. Stroke patients using rehabilitation services were more likely to have more acupuncture visits and a higher expenditure on acupuncture compared with stroke patients who did not receive rehabilitation services. The application of acupuncture in stroke patients is well accepted and increasing in Taiwan. The use of acupuncture in stroke patients is associated with sociodemographic factors and clinical characteristics.

  4. 76 FR 74077 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-30

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Subcommittee on Facilities, Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations... Office, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230. A public listening room will...

  5. National Medal of Science nominations sought

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Showstack, Randy

    2013-03-01

    The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is accepting nominations for the 2013 National Medal of Science until 1 April 2013. Congress established the medal in 1959 as a presidential award for individuals "deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences." Later, Congress expanded the recognition to include the social and behavioral sciences. NSF notes, "We are especially interested in identifying women, members of minority groups, and persons with disabilities for consideration." More information is available at http://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/medal.jsp and http://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/nsf_2013nationalmedalofscience_callfornominations.pdf. For more details, contact the Medal of Science program manager at nms@nsf.gov or 703-292-8040.

  6. 76 FR 6828 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-08

    ... Future Advancement: Discussion in the Context of Recent STEM Education Policy Developments Committee on... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as...

  7. 75 FR 21045 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-22

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to National Science Foundation regulations (45... designated for the public to listen to this teleconference meeting. All visitors must contact the Board...

  8. 76 FR 6829 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-08

    ... the National Science Board website www.nsf.gov/nsb for additional information and schedule updates... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Programs and Plans, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the...

  9. 75 FR 48996 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-12

    ...., Arlington, VA 22230. UPDATES & POINT OF CONTACT: Please refer to the National Science Board website http... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Audit & Oversight, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the...

  10. 76 FR 38430 - Subcommittee on Forensic Science; Committee on Science; National Science and Technology Council

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-30

    ... OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY Subcommittee on Forensic Science; Committee on Science; National Science and Technology Council ACTION: Notice of Panel Session. Public input is requested... Sciences 2009 report: ``Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward'' ( http://www...

  11. The effect of cigarette price increase on the cigarette consumption in Taiwan: evidence from the National Health Interview Surveys on cigarette consumption

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Jie-Min; Hwang, Tsorng-Chyi; Ye, Chun-Yuan; Chen, Sheng-Hong

    2004-01-01

    Background This study uses cigarette price elasticity to evaluate the effect of a new excise tax increase on cigarette consumption and to investigate responses from various types of smokers. Methods Our sample consisted of current smokers between 17 and 69 years old interviewed during an annual face-to-face survey conducted by Taiwan National Health Research Institutes between 2000 to 2003. We used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) procedure to estimate double logarithmic function of cigarette demand and cigarette price elasticity. Results In 2002, after Taiwan had enacted the new tax scheme, cigarette price elasticity in Taiwan was found to be -0.5274. The new tax scheme brought about an average annual 13.27 packs/person (10.5%) reduction in cigarette consumption. Using the cigarette price elasticity estimate from -0.309 in 2003, we calculated that if the Health and Welfare Tax were increased by another NT$ 3 per pack and cigarette producers shifted this increase to the consumers, cigarette consumption would be reduced by 2.47 packs/person (2.2%). The value of the estimated cigarette price elasticity is smaller than one, meaning that the tax will not only reduce cigarette consumption but it will also generate additional tax revenues. Male smokers who had no income or who smoked light cigarettes were found to be more responsive to changes in cigarette price. Conclusions An additional tax added to the cost of cigarettes would bring about a reduction in cigarette consumption and increased tax revenues. It would also help reduce incidents smoking-related illnesses. The additional tax revenues generated by the tax increase could be used to offset the current financial deficiency of Taiwan's National Health Insurance program and provide better public services. PMID:15598345

  12. 78 FR 69462 - National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan; National Science and Technology Council...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-19

    ... OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY OFFICE National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan; National Science and Technology Council; National Nanotechnology Coordination Office AGENCY: Executive... Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Strategic Plan. The draft plan will be posted at www.nano.gov/2014strategy...

  13. Maternity Leave in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Feng, Joyce Yen; Han, Wen-Jui

    2011-01-01

    Using the first nationally representative birth cohort study in Taiwan, this paper examines the role that maternity leave policy in Taiwan plays in the timing of mothers returning to work after giving birth, as well as the extent to which this timing is linked to the amount of time mothers spend with their children and their use of breast milk versus formula. We found that the time when mothers returned to work coincided with the duration of guaranteed leave. In particular, mothers with a labor pension plan resumed work significantly earlier than mothers with no pension plan, and mothers with no pension plan returned to work significantly later than those with pension plans. The short leave of absence guaranteed under existing policies translated into mothers spending less time with their children and being more likely to exclusively use formula by 6 months after birth. In contrast, mothers who resumed work later than 6 months after birth were more likely to have not worked before birth or to have quit their jobs during pregnancy. Implications and recommendations for parental leave policy in Taiwan are discussed. PMID:21603074

  14. Maternity Leave in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Feng, Joyce Yen; Han, Wen-Jui

    2010-07-01

    Using the first nationally representative birth cohort study in Taiwan, this paper examines the role that maternity leave policy in Taiwan plays in the timing of mothers returning to work after giving birth, as well as the extent to which this timing is linked to the amount of time mothers spend with their children and their use of breast milk versus formula. We found that the time when mothers returned to work coincided with the duration of guaranteed leave. In particular, mothers with a labor pension plan resumed work significantly earlier than mothers with no pension plan, and mothers with no pension plan returned to work significantly later than those with pension plans. The short leave of absence guaranteed under existing policies translated into mothers spending less time with their children and being more likely to exclusively use formula by 6 months after birth. In contrast, mothers who resumed work later than 6 months after birth were more likely to have not worked before birth or to have quit their jobs during pregnancy. Implications and recommendations for parental leave policy in Taiwan are discussed.

  15. 75 FR 2893 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-19

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Subcommittee on Facilities, Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the...

  16. 75 FR 13141 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-18

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Subcommittee on Facilities, Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the...

  17. 76 FR 20720 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-04-13

    ... AND POINT OF CONTACT: Please refer to the National Science Board website http://www.nsf.gov/nsb for... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Programs and Plans (CPP) Task Force on Unsolicited Mid-Scale Research (MS...

  18. 76 FR 6163 - Subcommittee on Forensic Science; Committee on Science; National Science and Technology Council

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-03

    ... OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY Subcommittee on Forensic Science; Committee on Science; National Science and Technology Council ACTION: Notice of meeting. Public input is requested concerning... Forensic Science can be obtained through the Office of Science and Technology Policy's NSTC Web site at...

  19. 77 FR 15141 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-14

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings The National Science Board's Committee on Strategy and Budget Task Force on Data Policies, pursuant to NSF regulations (45..., VA 22230. A public listening room will be available for this teleconference meeting. All visitors...

  20. Taiwan’s Transition to Democracy

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1997-03-01

    hard authoritarianism established by Chiang-Kai Shek’s regime allowed the institutions of private property and free enterprise to promote economic ... stability . Rapid growth followed and Taiwan transitioned from an agrarian based economy to a modem industrialized nation. The pressures from economic

  1. 77 FR 68851 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-11-16

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's ad hoc Committee on Honorary Awards, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5...

  2. 76 FR 75916 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-12-05

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's ad hoc Committee on Honorary Awards, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5...

  3. 76 FR 36938 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-23

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's ad hoc Committee on Nominations for the NSB Class of 2012--2018, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n- 5), and the...

  4. 75 FR 13265 - National Board for Education Sciences

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-19

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education Sciences. The...

  5. 75 FR 53280 - National Board for Education Sciences

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-31

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences AGENCY: Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education Sciences. The...

  6. 76 FR 12136 - National Science Board; Notice of Delegation of Authority

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-04

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Notice of Delegation of Authority In accordance with Section 1863(e)(2) of the National Science Foundation Act, as amended, the National Science Board (Board) hereby gives notice in regards to a delegation of authority provided to the Director, National Science Foundation (NSF), as follows: Per...

  7. Achieving and Sustaining Universal Health Coverage: Fiscal Reform of the National Health Insurance in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lan, Jesse Yu-Chen

    2017-12-01

    The paper discusses the expansion of the universal health coverage (UHC) in Taiwan through the establishment of National Health Insurance (NHI), and the fiscal crisis it caused. Two key questions are addressed: How did the NHI gradually achieve universal coverage, and yet cause Taiwanese health spending to escalate to fiscal crisis? What measures have been taken to reform the NHI finance and achieve moderate success to date? The main argument of this paper is that the Taiwanese Government did try to implement various reforms to save costs and had moderate success, but the path-dependent process of reform does not allow increasing contribution rates significantly and thereby makes sustainability challenging.

  8. 75 FR 4882 - Subcommittee on Forensic Science; Committee on Science; National Science and Technology Council

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-29

    ... OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY Subcommittee on Forensic Science; Committee on Science; National Science and Technology Council ACTION: Notice of Panel Session. Public input is requested... be obtained through the Office of Science and Technology Policy's NSTC Web site at http://www.ostp...

  9. The effect of Taiwan's national health insurance on mortality of the elderly: revisited.

    PubMed

    Chang, Simon

    2012-11-01

    A recent paper estimates the effects of Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) on the elderly and concludes that NHI greatly increased the medical care utilization of the elderly but did not reduce their mortality. Using more recent and more accurate mortality data of the same group of elderly, this note re-estimates the NHI effect on mortality and finds that the mortality hazard of the previously uninsured elderly in the post-NHI period was on average 24% lower than it would have been in the absence of NHI. However, the NHI effect on the mortality hazard is only evident in the first 6 years following the enactment of NHI, suggesting that it may be difficult to undo the damage caused by the lack of insurance in early life. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  10. 75 FR 49538 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-13

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives notice in regard...

  11. 76 FR 31992 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-02

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Education and Human Resources (CEH), pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives...

  12. 76 FR 51064 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-17

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board (NSB) Committee on Audit and Oversight and the NSB Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Ac...

  13. 76 FR 35050 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-15

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Strategy and Budget's Subcommittee on Facilities, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n- 5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b),...

  14. 77 FR 39270 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-02

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives notice in regard to the scheduling of a...

  15. 75 FR 34769 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-18

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meeting Notice The National Science Board's Subcommittee on Facilities, Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b),...

  16. 75 FR 17786 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-07

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Subcommittee on Facilities, Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b),...

  17. 76 FR 76191 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-12-06

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Strategy and Budget and the CSB Task Force on Data Policies, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S....

  18. 78 FR 23312 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-18

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Task Force on Administrative Burdens, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives notice in...

  19. 78 FR 45983 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-30

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Subcommittee on Facilities of the Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552...

  20. In Brief: National Medal of Science nomination deadline

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Showstack, Randy

    2010-03-01

    The deadline for nominations for the 2010 U.S. National Medal of Science is 31 March 2010. The Medal of Science, which is presented annually by the president of the United States to distinguished scientists and engineers, is the nation's highest honor for American scientists and engineers. For more information, visit http://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/nominations.jsp or contact Mayra Montrose at the U.S. National Science Foundation, mmontros@nsf.gov.

  1. Current Trends in Aerospace Engineering Education on Taiwan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hsieh, Sheng-Jii

    A proposal for current trends in Aerospace Engineering Education on Taiwan has been drawn from the suggestions made after a national conference of "Workshop on Aerospace Engineering Education Reform." This workshop was held in January 18-20, 1998, at the Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan,…

  2. Epidemiological features and costs of herpes zoster in Taiwan: a national study 2000 to 2006.

    PubMed

    Jih, Jaw-Shyang; Chen, Yi-Ju; Lin, Ming-Wei; Chen, Yu-Chun; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Huang, Yu-Lin; Chen, Chih-Chiang; Lee, Ding-Dar; Chang, Yun-Ting; Wang, Wen-Jen; Liu, Han-Nan

    2009-11-01

    To analyse the epidemiological characteristics and related costs of herpes zoster in Taiwan, a nationally representative cohort of 1,000,000 individuals from the National Health Insurance register was followed up from 2000 to 2006 and their claims data analysed. Overall, 34,280 patients were diagnosed with zoster (incidence 4.89/1000 person-years) and 2944 patients (8.6%) developed post-herpetic neuralgia 3 months after the start of the zoster rash (incidence 0.42/1000 person-years). People with older age, diabetes, and immunocompromising conditions were at higher risk of developing zoster and post-herpetic neuralgia. The overall hospitalization rate for zoster was 16.1 cases per 100,000 person-years. The cost for each home care case and per hospitalized case were approximately 53.30 euro and 1224.70 euro, respectively. Further research into the cost-effectiveness of zoster vaccine is needed.

  3. Gross domestic product, science interest, and science achievement: a person × nation interaction.

    PubMed

    Tucker-Drob, Elliot M; Cheung, Amanda K; Briley, Daniel A

    2014-11-01

    Maximizing science achievement is a critical target of educational policy and has important implications for national and international economic and technological competitiveness. Previous research has identified both science interest and socioeconomic status (SES) as robust predictors of science achievement, but little research has examined their joint effects. In a data set drawn from approximately 400,000 high school students from 57 countries, we documented large Science Interest × SES and Science Interest × Per Capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) interactions in the prediction of science achievement. Student interest in science is a substantially stronger predictor of science achievement in higher socioeconomic contexts and in higher-GDP nations. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that in higher-opportunity contexts, motivational factors play larger roles in learning and achievement. They add to the growing body of evidence indicating that substantial cross-national differences in psychological effect sizes are not simply a logical possibility but, in many cases, an empirical reality. © The Author(s) 2014.

  4. 75 FR 21223 - National Academy of Sciences Study

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-23

    ... CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD [Docket No. CSB-10-01] National Academy of Sciences... Board (CSB) provides funding for a study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to examine the use... processes and an examination of the cost of alternatives at the Bayer CropScience facility in Institute...

  5. Application of INCSEA principles to the Taiwan Strait.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wen-Chung, Chai

    2003-06-01

    The waters surrounding Taiwan are important international waterways. In addition to merchant ships of every nation, the warships of the United States, Japan, Russia, and China may appear in these waters. No hostility is expected between Taiwan and the United States, Japan, or Russia; however, Taiwan and China have a tense relationship, and both sides face a potential for naval incidents. As Taiwan and China expand their naval capability, the International Maritime Organization Convention for the lnternational Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea may not be sufficient to prevent naval incidents, any of which might develop into conflict or war.more » Therefore, China and Taiwan need to develop maritime confidence building measures (CBMs) that could reduce the chance of naval incidents and strengthen mutual trust and confidence. Among the variety of maritime CBM concepts for military purposes, the most successful and effective measure has been the 1972 U.S.-Soviet Union Agreement on the Prevention of Incidents On and Over the High Seas (INCSEA). The success of the agreement demonstrates that CBMs represent a workable alternative to traditional arms controls. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a concrete approach to the constraint of naval activities between China and Taiwan to reduce accidents and misunderstandings. This paper outlines the categories and characteristics of incidents at sea. Next, the author identifies the successful factors of the U.S.-Soviet INCSEA and applies the INCSEA concept to the Taiwan Strait. Finally, the author develops a framework of options and a step-by-step approach for establishing an INCSEA between Taiwan and China.« less

  6. The National Science Foundation and the History of Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rothenberg, Marc

    2014-01-01

    The National Science Foundation (NSF) is the major funder of the history of science in the United States. Between 1958 and 2010, the NSF program for the history of science has given 89 awards in the history of astronomy. This paper analyzes the award recipients and subject areas of the awards and notes significant shifts in the concentration of award recipients and the chronological focus of the research being funded.

  7. 78 FR 68480 - Sunshine Act Meetings; National Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-14

    ..., December 11, 2013, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. e.s.t. SUBJECT MATTER: A discussion of the results of the Task Force... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Sunshine Act Meetings; National Science Board The National Science Board's Task Force on Administrative Burdens, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the...

  8. National Institute of General Medical Sciences

    MedlinePlus

    ... Over Navigation Links National Institute of General Medical Sciences Site Map Staff Search My Order Search the ... NIGMS Website Research Funding Research Training News & Meetings Science Education About NIGMS Feature Slides View All Slides ...

  9. National innovation policy and public science in Australia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carter, Lyn

    2017-12-01

    In this paper, I have positioned myself with Kean Birch and explored some of the political-economic actors/actants of policy suites implicated in the biotechnologies and bioeconomy. In particular, I have considered Australia's recent National Innovation and Science Agenda and allied documents and entities (that is, Innovation and Science Australia, the National Science Statement and the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap) as one of the National Innovation Strategies in place now in OECD countries and beyond. In overview, these policy suites utilise the same high knowledge creation/low translation and commericalisation arguments as elsewhere to press for particular ideologically based `improvements' to public science. Mapping the terrain of these entities has revealed the innovation, biotechnology and bioeconomy policy space to be inordinately complex and challenging to navigate. Reviewing Australia's position enables the type of comparative work that contributes to a closer understanding of the largely neoliberal global economic imperatives shaping contemporaneity. Moreover, while these policy suites attempt to constitute and circulate particular visions of science education, their complex nature mitigates against science teachers/educators grappling with their implications.

  10. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use, expenditure, and outcomes in taiwan from 2000 to 2010.

    PubMed

    Hsu, Chiao-Po; Lee, Wui-Chiang; Wei, Hsiu-Mei; Sung, Shih-Hsien; Huang, Chun-Yang; Shih, Chun-Che; Lu, Tse-Min

    2015-01-01

    No study to date has systematically examined use, expenditure, and outcomes associated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) use in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to examine ECMO use, expenditure, and outcomes during an 11-year period in Taiwan. Claims data were collected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database for patients who received ≥1 ECMO treatment between January 2000 and December 2010. Measurements included demographics, indications for ECMO use, length of hospital stay, outcome, and expenditure. A total of 3969 patients received ECMO during the study period (median age: 54.6 years). The number of patients receiving ECMO increased from 52 in 2000 to 1045 in 2010. The major indication for ECMO was cardiovascular disease (68.7%), followed by respiratory disease (17.9%). Median length of hospital stay was 13 days in 2000 and 17 days in 2010. Median expenditure (New Taiwan dollars) was $604 317 in 2000 and $673 888 in 2010. Some variables significantly differed by age, sex, hospital setting, calendar year, and indication for ECMO, and were associated with in-hospital and after-discharge mortality. ECMO use has increased dramatically in Taiwan over the last decade. The high mortality rate of ECMO users suggested that ECMO may be being used in Taiwan for situations in which it provides no added benefit. This situation may be a reflection of the current reimbursement criteria for National Health Insurance in Taiwan. Refinement of the indications for use of ECMO is suggested.

  11. Real-Time Surveillance of Infectious Diseases: Taiwan's Experience.

    PubMed

    Jian, Shu-Wan; Chen, Chiu-Mei; Lee, Cheng-Yi; Liu, Ding-Ping

    Integration of multiple surveillance systems advances early warning and supports better decision making during infectious disease events. Taiwan has a comprehensive network of laboratory, epidemiologic, and early warning surveillance systems with nationwide representation. Hospitals and clinical laboratories have deployed automatic reporting mechanisms since 2014 and have effectively improved timeliness of infectious disease and laboratory data reporting. In June 2016, the capacity of real-time surveillance in Taiwan was externally assessed and was found to have a demonstrated and sustainable capability. We describe Taiwan's disease surveillance system and use surveillance efforts for influenza and Zika virus as examples of surveillance capability. Timely and integrated influenza information showed a higher level and extended pattern of influenza activity during the 2015-16 season, which ensured prompt information dissemination and the coordination of response operations. Taiwan also has well-developed disease detection systems and was the first country to report imported cases of Zika virus from Miami Beach and Singapore. This illustrates a high level of awareness and willingness among health workers to report emerging infectious diseases, and highlights the robust and sensitive nature of Taiwan's surveillance system. These 2 examples demonstrate the flexibility of the surveillance systems in Taiwan to adapt to emerging infectious diseases and major communicable diseases. Through participation in the GHSA, Taiwan can more actively collaborate with national counterparts and use its expertise to strengthen global and regional surveillance capacity in the Asia Pacific and in Southeast Asia, in order to advance a world safe and secure from infectious disease.

  12. Real-Time Surveillance of Infectious Diseases: Taiwan's Experience

    PubMed Central

    Jian, Shu-Wan; Chen, Chiu-Mei; Lee, Cheng-Yi

    2017-01-01

    Integration of multiple surveillance systems advances early warning and supports better decision making during infectious disease events. Taiwan has a comprehensive network of laboratory, epidemiologic, and early warning surveillance systems with nationwide representation. Hospitals and clinical laboratories have deployed automatic reporting mechanisms since 2014 and have effectively improved timeliness of infectious disease and laboratory data reporting. In June 2016, the capacity of real-time surveillance in Taiwan was externally assessed and was found to have a demonstrated and sustainable capability. We describe Taiwan's disease surveillance system and use surveillance efforts for influenza and Zika virus as examples of surveillance capability. Timely and integrated influenza information showed a higher level and extended pattern of influenza activity during the 2015-16 season, which ensured prompt information dissemination and the coordination of response operations. Taiwan also has well-developed disease detection systems and was the first country to report imported cases of Zika virus from Miami Beach and Singapore. This illustrates a high level of awareness and willingness among health workers to report emerging infectious diseases, and highlights the robust and sensitive nature of Taiwan's surveillance system. These 2 examples demonstrate the flexibility of the surveillance systems in Taiwan to adapt to emerging infectious diseases and major communicable diseases. Through participation in the GHSA, Taiwan can more actively collaborate with national counterparts and use its expertise to strengthen global and regional surveillance capacity in the Asia Pacific and in Southeast Asia, in order to advance a world safe and secure from infectious disease. PMID:28418738

  13. Health, Healthcare Utilization and Psychiatric Disorder in People with Intellectual Disability in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, J. D.; Yen, C. F.; Li, C. W.; Wu, J. L.

    2005-01-01

    The aims of the present study were to examine health characteristics and healthcare utilization in relation to people with intellectual disability (ID) having psychiatric disorders in Taiwan. A cross-sectional study was employed; study subjects were recruited from the National Disability Registration Database. Taiwan, stratified by administrative…

  14. Health Expenditure Growth under Single-Payer Systems: Comparing South Korea and Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Cheng, Shou-Hsia; Jin, Hyun-Hyo; Yang, Bong-Min; Blank, Robert H

    2018-05-03

    Achieving universal health coverage has been an important goal for many countries worldwide. However, the rapid growth of health expenditures has challenged all nations, both those with and without such universal coverage. Single-payer systems are considered more efficient for administrative affairs and may be more effective for containing costs than multipayer systems. However, South Korea, which has a typical single-payer scheme, has almost the highest growth rate in health expenditures among industrialized countries. The aim of the present study is to explicate this situation by comparing South Korea with Taiwan. This study analyzed statistical reports published by government departments in South Korea and Taiwan from 2001 to 2015, including population and economic statistics, health statistics, health expenditures, and social health insurance reports. Between 2001 and 2015, the per capita national health expenditure (NHE) in South Korea grew 292%, whereas the corresponding growth of per capita NHE in Taiwan was only 83%. We find that the national health insurance (NHI) global budget cap in Taiwan may have restricted the growth of health expenditures. Less comprehensive benefit coverage for essential diagnosis/treatment services under the South Korean NHI program may have contributed to the growth of out-of-pocket payments. The expansion of insurance coverage for vulnerable individuals may also contribute to higher growth in NHE in South Korea. Explicit regulation of health care resource distribution may also lead to more limited provisioning and utilization of health services in Taiwan. Under analogous single-payer systems, South Korea had a much higher growth in health spending than Taiwan. The annual budget cap for total reimbursement, more comprehensive coverage for essential diagnosis and treatment services, and the regulation of health care resource distribution are important factors associated with the growth of health expenditures. Copyright © 2018

  15. Treated prevalence and incidence of dementia among National Health Insurance enrollees in Taiwan, 1996-2003.

    PubMed

    Chien, I-Chia; Lin, Yu-Chung; Chou, Yiing-Jenq; Lin, Ching-Heng; Bih, Shin-Huey; Lee, Cheng-Hua; Chou, Pesus

    2008-06-01

    The National Health Insurance database to determine the treated prevalence and incidence of dementia in Taiwan was used in this study. A population-based random sample of 22 118 subjects aged 65 or older was obtained as a dynamic cohort. Those study subjects who had filed at least one service claim from 1996 to 2003 for either outpatient care or inpatient care with a principal diagnosis of dementia were identified. The annual treated prevalence increased from 0.71% to 1.92% from 1996 to 2003. The annual treated incidence rates were around 0.76% to 1.04% per year from 1997 to 2003. The annual treated incidence rates for the 5-year age groups, from 65 to 90 years and older, were 0.44%, 0.65%, 0.98%, 1.46%, 1.81%, and 1.80%, respectively. Both the treated prevalence and incidence rates of dementia in National Health Insurance were lower than those of community studies.

  16. The epidemiology and burden of Alzheimer’s disease in Taiwan utilizing data from the National Health Insurance Research Database

    PubMed Central

    Hung, Yen-Ni; Kadziola, Zbigniew; Brnabic, Alan JM; Yeh, Ju-Fen; Fuh, Jong-Ling; Hwang, Jen-Ping; Montgomery, William

    2016-01-01

    Purpose The objectives of this study were to estimate the incidence, cumulative incidence, and economic burden of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Taiwan, using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Materials and methods This was a retrospective, longitudinal, observational study using data from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database of the NHIRD. Patients were included in this study if they were 50 years of age or older and their records included a primary or secondary diagnosis of AD. New patients who met inclusion criteria were followed up longitudinally from 2005 to 2010. Costs were calculated for the first year following the diagnosis of AD. Results Overall, a higher percentage of women than men were diagnosed with AD (54% vs 46%, respectively). The first AD diagnosis occurred most frequently in the age of 75–84 years. The person-year incidence rate increased from 5.63/1,000 persons (95% CI, 5.32–5.94) in 2005 to 8.17/1,000 persons (95% CI, 7.78–8.57) in 2010. The cumulative incidence rate was 33.54/1,000 persons (95% CI, 32.76–34.33) in 2005–2010. The total mean inflated annual costs per patient in new Taiwan dollars (NT$) in the first year of diagnosis ranged from NT$205,413 (2009) to NT$227,110 (2005), with hospitalization representing the largest component. Conclusion AD represents a substantial burden in Taiwan, and based on the observed increase in incidence rate over time, it is likely that this burden will continue to increase. The findings reported here are consistent with previous research. The NHIRD contains extensive real-world information that can be used to conduct research, allowing us to expand our understanding of the incidence, prevalence, and burden of disease in Taiwan. PMID:27536149

  17. Australian National University Science Extension Day

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fletcher, Sarah

    2016-01-01

    The first Australian National University (ANU) Science Extension Day was held on September 8, 2015. The ANU Science Extension Day is a project that was initiated by Theodore Primary School (ACT) and developed by Theodore Primary, Calwell High School, Science Educators Association of the ACT (SEA*ACT), and the ANU. The project was developed with a…

  18. Gender and Geographic Differences in the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Children: Analysis of Data from the National Disability Registry of Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Der-Chung; Tseng, Yen-Cheng; Hou, Yuh-Ming; Guo, How-Ran

    2012-01-01

    The prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the world has increased dramatically in the recent decades. However, data at the national level are limited, and geographic differences are seldom evaluated. According to the law, the local governments in Taiwan began to certify disabled residents and provide various services in 1980, and the…

  19. Future STEM Leaders Prepare for the National Science Bowl

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Benjamin, Angela

    2014-06-11

    Each year, students from across the country converge on Washington, DC, for the National Science Bowl, an intense academic competition that tests the students' knowledge in science, engineering, chemistry, math and Earth science. Follow one team, from Washington DC's Woodrow Wilson High School, as they prepare for and compete in the 2014 National Science Bowl.

  20. Future STEM Leaders Prepare for the National Science Bowl

    ScienceCinema

    Benjamin, Angela

    2018-05-18

    Each year, students from across the country converge on Washington, DC, for the National Science Bowl, an intense academic competition that tests the students' knowledge in science, engineering, chemistry, math and Earth science. Follow one team, from Washington DC's Woodrow Wilson High School, as they prepare for and compete in the 2014 National Science Bowl.

  1. The HSP, the QCN, and the Dragon: Developing inquiry-based QCN instructional modules in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, K. H.; Liang, W.; Chang, C.; Yen, E.; Lin, C.; Lin, G.

    2012-12-01

    High Scope Program (HSP) is a long-term project funded by NSC in Taiwan since 2006. It is designed to elevate the quality of science education by means of incorporating emerging science and technology into the traditional curricula in senior high schools. Quake-Catcher Network (QCN), a distributed computing project initiated by Stanford University and UC Riverside, encourages the volunteers to install the low-cost, novel sensors at home and school to build a seismic network. To meet both needs, we have developed a model curriculum that introduces QCN, earthquake science, and cloud computing into high school classrooms. Through professional development workshops, Taiwan cloud-based earthquake science learning platform, and QCN club on Facebook, we have worked closely with Lan-Yang Girl's Senior High School teachers' team to design workable teaching plans through a practical operation of seismic monitoring at home or school. However, some obstacles to learning appear including QCN installation/maintain problems, high self-noise of the sensor, difficulty of introducing earthquake sciences for high school teachers. The challenges of QCN outreach in Taiwan bring out our future plans: (1) development of easy, frequently updated, physics-based QCN-experiments for high school teachers, and (2) design of an interactive learning platform with social networking function for students.

  2. Geophysicist picked to lead US National Science Board

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gwynne, Peter

    2016-07-01

    Maria Zuber, a planetary geophysicist who is vice-president for research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US, has been elected chair of the country's National Science Board (NSB) - the body that oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF).

  3. 78 FR 52923 - Meetings of the National Biodefense Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-27

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meetings of the National Biodefense Science Board AGENCY... giving notice that the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) will be holding a public meeting on...: The National Biodefense Science Board mailbox: [email protected] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to...

  4. Geotransects in the Taiwan region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yen, T. P.; Yeh, Yih-Hsing

    The Republic of China National Committee for the Inter-Union Commission on the Lithosphere organized an ad hoc working group in 1988 for compilation and construction of geotransects in the Taiwan region, a region considered by the scientific world as a classic example of collision and subduction of plates.Three geotransects have been constructed, with insufficient data: geotransect N along latitude 24°30‧N, geotransect M along latitude 23°30‧, and geotransect S along latitude 22°30‧N. The data used in the constructions are mainly scattered in publications on the geology and geophysics of Taiwan. The purpose of the study is to promote further investigation of the mechanism of plate motion in terms of geology and geophysics, to improve interpretation of the geotectonics of the region.

  5. The influence of medical cost controls implemented by Taiwan's national health insurance program on doctor-patient relationships.

    PubMed

    Chiu, Jhih-Ling

    2015-01-01

    To prevent medical costs from rising, the National Health Insurance administration implemented the global budget system for financial reform, effective 1 July 2004. Since the implementation of this system, patients have been required to pay for some medicines to limit costs to the system. More recently, as they have faced constant increases in health insurance fees and also faced an increase in the number of medical expenses they must pay during an economic recession and a rise in unemployment, would the economic burden on the people of Taiwan not be increased? Even though National Health Insurance is a form of social insurance, does it guarantee social equality? The value of the healthcare industry is irreplaceable, so the most critical concern is whether worsening doctor-patient relationships will worsen healthcare quality. In short, while the global budget system saves on National Health Insurance costs, whether its implementation has affected healthcare quality is also worth exploring. This commentary also hopes to serve as a reference for the implementation of national health insurance in the United States. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. Taiwan-U.S. Relations: Recent Developments and Their Policy Implications

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-10-03

    Olympics (August) and the Paralympic Games (September). For instance, while appearing more conciliatory in a reported letter to U.N. Secretary-General... Games . A 1989 agreement stipulated that Taiwan be called “Zhonghua Taipei” — or “Chinese Taipei,” a term suggesting a more ambiguous Chinese...would use to refer to Taiwan during the 2008 Olympic Games .22 Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense also has said that acquiring submarines — a move

  7. Assessing the relationship between healthcare market competition and medical care quality under Taiwan's National Health Insurance programme.

    PubMed

    Liao, Chih-Hsien; Lu, Ning; Tang, Chao-Hsiun; Chang, Hui-Chih; Huang, Kuo-Cherh

    2018-06-04

    There is still significant uncertainty as to whether market competition raises or lowers clinical quality in publicly funded healthcare systems. We attempted to assess the effects of market competition on inpatient care quality of stroke patients in a retrospective study of the universal single-payer health insurance system in Taiwan. In this 11-year population-based study, we conducted a pooled time-series cross-sectional analysis with a fixed-effects model and the Hausman test approach by utilizing two nationwide datasets: the National Health Insurance Research Database and the National Hospital and Services Survey in Taiwan. Patients who were admitted to a hospital for ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke were enrolled. After excluding patients with a previous history of stroke and those with different types of stroke, 247 379 ischemic and 79 741 hemorrhagic stroke patients were included in our analysis. Four outcome indicators were applied: the in-hospital mortality rate, 30-day post-operative complication rate, 14-day re-admission rate and 30-day re-admission rate. Market competition exerted a negative or negligible effect on the medical care quality of stroke patients. Compared to hospitals located in a highly competitive market, in-hospital mortality rates for hemorrhagic stroke patients were significantly lower in moderately (β = -0.05, P < 0.01) and less competitive markets (β = -0.05, P < 0.01). Conversely, the impact of market competition on the quality of care of ischemic stroke patients was insignificant. Simply fostering market competition might not achieve the objective of improving the quality of health care. Other health policy actions need to be contemplated.

  8. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Use, Expenditure, and Outcomes in Taiwan From 2000 to 2010

    PubMed Central

    Hsu, Chiao-Po; Lee, Wui-Chiang; Wei, Hsiu-Mei; Sung, Shih-Hsien; Huang, Chun-Yang; Shih, Chun-Che; Lu, Tse-Min

    2015-01-01

    Background No study to date has systematically examined use, expenditure, and outcomes associated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) use in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to examine ECMO use, expenditure, and outcomes during an 11-year period in Taiwan. Methods Claims data were collected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database for patients who received ≥1 ECMO treatment between January 2000 and December 2010. Measurements included demographics, indications for ECMO use, length of hospital stay, outcome, and expenditure. Results A total of 3969 patients received ECMO during the study period (median age: 54.6 years). The number of patients receiving ECMO increased from 52 in 2000 to 1045 in 2010. The major indication for ECMO was cardiovascular disease (68.7%), followed by respiratory disease (17.9%). Median length of hospital stay was 13 days in 2000 and 17 days in 2010. Median expenditure (New Taiwan dollars) was $604 317 in 2000 and $673 888 in 2010. Some variables significantly differed by age, sex, hospital setting, calendar year, and indication for ECMO, and were associated with in-hospital and after-discharge mortality. Conclusions ECMO use has increased dramatically in Taiwan over the last decade. The high mortality rate of ECMO users suggested that ECMO may be being used in Taiwan for situations in which it provides no added benefit. This situation may be a reflection of the current reimbursement criteria for National Health Insurance in Taiwan. Refinement of the indications for use of ECMO is suggested. PMID:25797598

  9. A HISTORY IN HIGHLIGHTS 1950-2000: The National Science Board

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2001-02-15

    built a solid foundation for the future. Through its stewardship of the National Science Foundation and its advice to the President and Congress on...consists of twenty-four men and women and the Director of the National Science Foundation eminent scientists, engineers, and educators who guide the...the Board in its governance of the National Science Foundation and in its national policy role.

  10. 75 FR 41241 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-15

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the... information and schedule updates (time, place, subject matter or status of meeting) may be found at http://www...

  11. 78 FR 57136 - National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-09-17

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, ED. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES). The notice also...

  12. Typhoon Soudelor's Eye over Northwestern Taiwan

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2015-08-10

    In this MODIS image from NASA's Aqua satellite, the eye of Typhoon Soudelor is seen over northwestern Taiwan on August 8, 2015 at 05:25 UTC (1:25 a.m. EDT). At that time, Soudelor had maximum sustained winds near 90 knots. It was less than 100 miles southwest of Taipei, Taiwan. Typhoon-force winds were felt up to 35 miles from the center, covering a 70 mile-wide diameter. Image credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team/Jeff Schmaltz..NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

  13. A new species of Mollitrichosiphum Suenaga from Taiwan Island (Hemiptera, Aphididae), based on morphological characteristics and DNA sequences

    PubMed Central

    Jiang, Li-Yun; Chen, Jing; Qiao, Ge-Xia

    2015-01-01

    Abstract A new species of Mollitrichosiphum Suenaga, Mollitrichosiphum tumorisiphum Qiao & Jiang, sp. n., from Fagus longipetiolata in Taiwan island is described. Siphunculi of Mollitrichosiphum tumorisiphum in alatae are distinctly swollen on the distal part, unlike those of the other known species in the genus. Updated keys to apterous and alate viviparous females of all known Chinese species of Mollitrichosiphum are provided. The specimens studied are deposited in the National Zoological Museum of China, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China and the Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom. PMID:26478705

  14. Science and engineering research opportunities at the National Science Foundation.

    PubMed

    Demir, Semahat S

    2004-01-01

    Research at the interface of the physical sciences and life sciences has produced remarkable advances and understanding in biology and medicine over the past fifty years. These bases for many of these healthcare and research advances have been discoveries in the quantitative sciences and engineering approaches to applying them. The National Science Foundation supports research and development in the physical sciences which underpins multi-disciplinary approaches to addressing problems in biology and medicine. This presentation will cover research opportunities offered by the NSF and collaborative programs with the NIH to transfer the resulting advances and technologies.

  15. Brazilian science communication research: national and international contributions.

    PubMed

    Barata, Germana; Caldas, Graça; Gascoigne, Toss

    2017-08-31

    Science communication has emerged as a new field over the last 50 years, and its progress has been marked by a rise in jobs, training courses, research, associations, conferences and publications. This paper describes science communication internationally and the trends and challenges it faces, before looking at the national level. We have documented science communication activities in Brazil, the training courses, research, financial support and associations/societies. By analyzing the publication of papers, dissertations and theses we have tracked the growth of this field, and compared the level of activity in Brazil with other countries. Brazil has boosted its national research publications since 2002, with a bigger contribution from postgraduate programs in education and communication, but compared to its national research activity Brazil has only a small international presence in science communication. The language barrier, the tradition of publishing in national journals and the solid roots in education are some of the reasons for that. Brazil could improve its international participation, first by considering collaborations within Latin America. International publication is dominated by the USA and the UK. There is a need to take science communication to the next level by developing more sophisticated tools for conceptualizing and analyzing science communication, and Brazil can be part of that.

  16. Nominations sought for U.S. National Medal of Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Showstack, Randy

    2012-01-01

    Nominations are now being accepted for the 2012 U.S. National Medal of Science, which is the nation's highest honor for American scientists and engineers, presented annually by the president. The award is given to individuals “deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding cumulative contributions to knowledge” in the physical, biological, chemical, mathematical, engineering, or behavioral or social sciences, in combination with exemplary service to the nation, according to the program, which is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. A note in NSF's call for nominations states, “We are especially interested in identifying women, members of minority groups, and persons with disabilities for consideration.”

  17. "Foreign brides" meet ethnic politics in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Tsai, Ming-Chang

    2011-01-01

    A great number of women from China, Vietnam, and Indonesia recently arrived in Taiwan to marry men of lower social strata. Such an unusual pattern of migration has stimulated debates about the status and the citizenship of the new arrivals. This study analyzes Taiwanese responses toward these marriage migrants by using a national survey conducted in 2004. Three aspects of restrictive attitudes were tapped concerning these newcomers: (1) rights to work; (2) access to public health insurance; and (3) full citizenship. Immigrants from China were most opposed, compared to women with other origins (Southeast Asia, Japan, Europe, and the US). The seemingly unrelated regression estimation regression results do not support the split labor market hypotheses, as marriage migrants do not appear to be economic threats toward members of the lower classes. In contrast, ethnic nationalism plays a key role in determining the natives’ restrictive attitudes. The case of Taiwan represents a special genre, where ethnic politics selectively arouses the social rejection of women immigrants of certain origins.

  18. National Medal of Science

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-11-20

    President Barack Obama congratulates MESSENGER Principal Investigator, director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Sean Solomon, after awarding him the National Medal of Science, the nation's top scientific honor,Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

  19. An investigation of snakebite antivenom usage in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lin, Chih-Chuan; Chaou, Chung-Hsien; Tseng, Chiung-Yao

    2016-08-01

    Four types of antivenom are used to treat snakebites by the six species of venomous snakes native to Taiwan. Research into antivenom use in Taiwan and its outcomes, as well as the utility of current Taiwan Poison Control Center guidelines for antivenom use, has been limited. We aimed to provide increased understanding by investigating the treatment and outcomes of patients treated for snakebite in Taiwan. On the basis of data collected from the 2009 Taiwan National Health Insurance database, patients with snakebites were identified and categorized into two sets of groups according to types of antivenom administered. The relationships between antivenom types, dosage and the variables of antibiotic use, surgical intervention, acute respiratory failure acute, renal failure, antivenom-related allergic reaction, mortality, need for hospital admission, and length of hospitalization were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression and the Kruskal-Wallis test. The majority of patients were successfully treated by administration of 1 vial of antivenom and discharged without complications. However, patients treated for neurotoxic-type venom snakebite required administration of larger doses of antivenom and > 30% required surgical intervention, particularly those treated for Chinese cobra snakebite. Approximately 10% of patients were administered two types of antivenom. The results partially support Taiwan Poison Control Center guidelines for treating the hemorrhagic-type venom snakebite. However, deficit in the guidelines for treatment of neurotoxic-type venom snakebite is obvious and new guidelines for treatment of neurotoxic-type venom snakebite and diagnosis should be developed. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  20. Math and Science Are America's Future. National Math and Science Initiative Annual Report, 2008

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Math and Science Initiative, 2008

    2008-01-01

    This paper presents the annual report of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) for 2008. Eighteen months ago, the National Math and Science Initiative did not exist. Today NMSI is helping lead the country forward in math and science. In just 18 months, NMSI has rolled out the first round of grants and has implemented programs in 14…

  1. Human Freshwater Demand for Economic Activity and Ecosystems in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferng, Jiun-Jiun

    2007-12-01

    Freshwater is necessary to economic activity, and humans depend on goods and services generated by water-dependent ecosystems. However, national freshwater management usually focuses on direct use of domestic freshwater. With an increasing scarcity of freshwater, attention has turned to two indirect uses of freshwater by humans. The first indirect use is freshwater used by foreign countries when producing products for export. The second use is freshwater required by local ecosystems: human survival and development depend on goods and services generated in these ecosystems. This work adopted Taiwan as a case study. In addition to two widely recognized ecosystem freshwater demands, evapotranspiration and reversed river flow, this study suggests that freshwater is a constituent of some abiotic components, such as groundwater in aquifers, because excessive withdrawal has already caused significant land subsidence in Taiwan. Moreover, the estimated results show that Taiwan’s net imports of freshwater through trade amounts to approximately 25% of its total freshwater use for economic production. Integrating industrial policy, trade policy, and national freshwater management is a useful approach for developing strategies to limit the growing use of freshwater in Taiwan. Policy implications are then developed by further analyzing withdrawal sources of freshwater (domestic and foreign) for supporting economic production in Taiwan and identifying the factors (domestic final demand and export) driving freshwater-intensive products.

  2. National Assessment Program--Science Literacy Year 6 Report, 2006

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donovan, Jenny; Lennon, Melissa; O'Connor, Gayl; Morrissey, Noni

    2008-01-01

    In 2003 the first nationally-comparable science assessment was designed, developed and carried out under the auspices of the national council of education ministers, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). In 2006 a second science assessment was conducted and, for the first time nationally, the…

  3. A survey of student opinions on ethical design standards in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lee, Yingying; You, Manlai; Yang, Ming-Ying

    2015-04-01

    Design ethics has been offered as a course in undergraduate design programs in Taiwan for over a decade, but research on teaching design ethics and the results of teaching these courses is scant. We conducted two tests to examine (1) the effect of an ethics course, and (2) the differences among the effects of design department, gender, and study year on student opinions regarding ethical design standards (EDSs) at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (YunTech) in Taiwan. The participants comprised 934 undergraduates (660 women and 274 men) from the five design departments at YunTech's College of Design from Years 1-4. The results confirmed the effect of an ethics course on student EDS opinions. In addition, we observed significant variations among students according to design departments, suggesting that the characteristics of the design departments also affected students' EDS opinions. The results indicated that gender did not significantly affect design students' EDS opinions; however, students in their early years of study produced higher scores than those in their advanced years of study did, based on the six EDS opinions. The implications of these results for teaching design ethics and future research are discussed in this paper.

  4. National Patterns of Science and Technology Resources 1981.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chirichiello, John; Crowley, Michael

    An overview of two science and technology resources (financial support and scientific/technical personnel) is presented, based on a series of National Science Foundation (NSF) surveys on research and development (R&D) resources and scientific/technical personnel in the United States. Areas addressed related to national perspectives of R&D…

  5. LLNL: Science in the National Interest

    ScienceCinema

    George Miller

    2017-12-09

    This is Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. located in the Livermore Valley about 50 miles east of San Francisco, the Lab is where the nations topmost science, engineering and technology come together. National security, counter-terrorism, medical technologies, energy, climate change our researchers are working to develop solutions to these challenges. For more than 50 years, we have been keeping America strong.

  6. Interdisciplinary, interinstitutional and international collaboration of family medicine researchers in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lin, Yi-Hsuan; Tseng, Yen-Han; Chang, Hsiao-Ting; Lin, Ming-Hwai; Tseng, Yen-Chiang; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Hwang, Shinn-Jang

    2015-01-01

    The family medicine researches flourished worldwide in the past decade. However, the collaborative patterns of family medicine publications had not been reported. Our study analyzed the collaborative activity of family medicine researchers in Taiwan. We focused on the types of collaboration among disciplines, institutions and countries. We searched "family medicine" AND "Taiwan" in address field from Web of Science and documented the disciplines, institutions and countries of all authors. We analyzed the collaborative patterns of family medicine researchers in Taiwan from 2010 to 2014. The journal's impact factor of each article in the same publication year was also retrieved. Among 1,217 articles from 2010 to 2014, interdisciplinary collaboration existed in 1,185 (97.3%) articles, interinstitutional in 1,012 (83.2%) and international in 142 (11.7%). Public health was the most common collaborative discipline. All international researches were also interdisciplinary and interinstitutional. The United States (75 articles), the United Kingdom (21) and the People's Republic of China (20) were the top three countries with which family medicine researchers in Taiwan had collaborated. We found a high degree of interdisciplinary and interinstitutional collaboration of family medicine researches in Taiwan. However, the collaboration of family medicine researchers in Taiwan with family medicine colleagues of other domestic or foreign institutions was insufficient. The future direction of family medicine studies could focus on the promotion of communication among family medicine researchers.

  7. Sustainability of Higher Education Institutions in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Su, H. Jenny; Chang, Tzu-chau

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide the rationale and context for recent national policy and funded initiatives to support sustainability developments within higher education in Taiwan, including practical and educational aspects. Concrete examples and specific outcomes are reviewed, to produce a profile across the higher education…

  8. Agency problems of global budget system in Taiwan's National Health Insurance.

    PubMed

    Yan, Yu-Hua; Yang, Chen-Wei; Fang, Shih-Chieh

    2014-05-01

    The main purpose of this study was to investigate the agency problem presented by the global budget system followed by hospitals in Taiwan. In this study, we examine empirically the interaction between the principal: Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) and agency: medical service providers (hospitals); we also describe actual medical service provider and hospital governance conditions from a agency theory perspective. This study identified a positive correlation between aversion to agency hazard (self-interest behavior, asymmetric information, and risk hedging) and agency problem risks (disregard of medical ethics, pursuit of extra-contract profit, disregard of professionalism, and cost orientation). Agency costs refer to BNHI auditing and monitoring expenditures used to prevent hospitals from deviating from NHI policy goals. This study also found agency costs negatively moderate the relationship between agency hazards and agency problems The main contribution of this study is its use of agency theory to clarify agency problems and several potential factors caused by the NHI system. This study also contributes to the field of health policy study by clarifying the nature and importance of agency problems in the health care sector. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. National Medal of Science

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-11-20

    President Barack Obama, right, and MESSENGER Principal Investigator, director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Sean Solomon, listen as a citation is read prior to the President bestowing the National Medal of Science, the nation's top scientific honor to Solomon, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

  10. National Science Education Standards.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC.

    The National Science Education Standards present a vision of a scientifically literate populace. The standards outline what students need to know, understand, and be able to do to be scientifically literate at different grade levels. They describe an educational system in which all students demonstrate high levels of performance, teachers are…

  11. The Challenge of Learning Physics Before Mathematics: A Case Study of Curriculum Change in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chiu, Mei-Shiu

    2016-12-01

    The aim of this study was to identify challenges in implementing a physics-before- 10 mathematics curriculum. Obviously, students need to learn necessary mathematics skills in order to develop advanced physics knowledge. In the 2010 high school curriculum in Taiwan, however, grade 11 science students study two-dimensional motion in physics without prior learning experiences of trigonometry in mathematics. The perspectives of three curriculum developers, 22 mathematics and physics teachers, two principals, and 45 science students were obtained by interview. The results of qualitative data analysis revealed six challenges and suggested likely solutions. The national level includes political and social challenges, resolved by respecting teachers as professionals; the teacher level includes knowledge and teaching challenges, resolved by increasing teacher trans-literal capacities; and the student level includes learning and justice challenges, resolved by focusing on students' diverse developments in cross-domain learning.

  12. 75 FR 40754 - Government in the Sunshine Act Regulations of the National Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-14

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 45 CFR Part 614 RIN 3145-AA53 Government in the Sunshine Act Regulations of the National Science Board AGENCY: National Science Board (NSB), National Science Foundation (NSF). ACTION: Direct final rule. SUMMARY: The National Science Board (NSB) National Science Foundation...

  13. The Effect of Free Adult Preventive Care Services on Subsequent Utilization of Inpatient Services in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Tian, Wei-Hua

    2016-07-01

    The objective of this article is to investigate the relationship between the utilization of free adult preventive care services and subsequent utilization of inpatient services among elderly people under the National Health Insurance program in Taiwan. The study used secondary data from the 2005 Taiwan National Health Interview Survey and claim data from the 2006 Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database for the elderly aged 65 or over. A bivariate probit model was used to avoid the possible endogeneity in individuals' utilization of free adult preventive care and inpatient services. This study finds that, when individuals had utilized the preventive care services in 2005, the probability that they utilized inpatient services in 2006 was significantly reduced by 13.89%. The findings of this study may provide a good reference for policy makers to guide the efficient allocation of medical resources through the continuous promotion of free adult preventive care services under the National Health Insurance program. © Australian Council for Educational Research 2016.

  14. Temporal trend and nationwide utility for hysterectomies in Taiwan, 1997-2010.

    PubMed

    Huang, Wei-Yi; Huang, Kuo-How; Chang, Wen-Chun; Wu, Shiao-Chi

    2016-10-01

    This study investigates the nationwide utilization and temporal trend of hysterectomies in Taiwan. The present study used the National Health Insurance Research Database that included claims of nearly the entire population in Taiwan since the inception of the National Health Insurance program in 1995. We analyzed age-adjusted rates of hysterectomies in Taiwan from 1997 through to 2010 and compared with the rates in 16 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. We also examined the utilization of various types of hysterectomies in Taiwan during this period. There was a cross-country variation in the age-standardized rate of hysterectomy: 105 per 100,000 females in Spain, 156 per 100,000 females in Taiwan, 179 per 100,000 females in 16 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, and 325 per 100,000 females in the United States in 2008. The trend of the age-standardized rate of hysterectomy in Taiwan declined from 222.3 per 100,000 women in 1998 to 145.2 per 100,000 women in 2010. The most common type of hysterectomy during this period was total abdominal hysterectomy (51.2%). Subtotal hysterectomies increased by 117% (r 2 =0.89; p<0.01), from 672 in 1997 to 1458 in 2010; however, total hysterectomies decreased by 3.5% (r 2 =0.43; p=0.01), from 20,966 in 1997 to 20,230 in 2010. Laparoscopically assisted procedures (laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy and laparoscopic hysterectomy) increased 4.98-fold (r 2 =0.23; p=0.09), from 1453 in 1997 to 8684 in 2010. By contrast, the proportion of conventional open hysterectomies (total abdominal hysterectomy, and subtotal or supracervical abdominal hysterectomy) decreased by 36.5% (r 2 =0.59; p<0.01), from 17,327 in 1997 to 10,994 in 2010. The proportion of vaginal hysterectomies decreased by 29.7% (r 2 =0.72; p<0.01), from 2858 in 1997 to 2010 in 2010. As in most Western countries, hysterectomy rates in Taiwan declined by year. There was a marked shift in the types of

  15. The United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haubold, Hans; Balogh, Werner

    2014-05-01

    The basic space science initiative was a long-term effort for the development of astronomy and space science through regional and international cooperation in this field on a worldwide basis, particularly in developing nations. Basic space science workshops were co-sponsored and co-organized by ESA, JAXA, and NASA. A series of workshops on basic space science was held from 1991 to 2004 (India 1991, Costa Rica and Colombia 1992, Nigeria 1993, Egypt 1994, Sri Lanka 1995, Germany 1996, Honduras 1997, Jordan 1999, France 2000, Mauritius 2001, Argentina 2002, and China 2004; http://neutrino.aquaphoenix.com/un-esa/) and addressed the status of astronomy in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Western Asia. Through the lead of the National Astronomical Observatory Japan, astronomical telescope facilities were inaugurated in seven developing nations and planetariums were established in twenty developing nations based on the donation of respective equipment by Japan.Pursuant to resolutions of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space of the United Nations (COPUOS) and its Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, since 2005, these workshops focused on the preparations for and the follow-ups to the International Heliophysical Year 2007 (UAE 2005, India 2006, Japan 2007, Bulgaria 2008, South Korea 2009; www.unoosa.org/oosa/SAP/bss/ihy2007/index.html). IHY's legacy is the current operation of 16 worldwide instrument arrays with more than 1000 instruments recording data on solar-terrestrial interaction from coronal mass ejections to variations of the total electron content in the ionosphere (http://iswisecretariat.org/). Instruments are provided to hosting institutions by entities of Armenia, Brazil, France, Israel, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. Starting in 2010, the workshops focused on the International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI) as mandated in a three-year-work plan as part of the deliberations of COPUOS. Workshops on ISWI

  16. 76 FR 44333 - National Biodefense Science Board; Call for Nominees

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-25

    ..., and opportunities presented by advances in biological and life sciences, biotechnology, and genetic... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Biodefense Science Board; Call for Nominees... considered for membership on the National Biodefense Science Board. Seven members have membership expiration...

  17. 78 FR 35035 - National Biodefense Science Board; Call for Nominees

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-06-11

    ... and future trends, challenges, and opportunities presented by advances in biological and life sciences... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Biodefense Science Board; Call for Nominees... considered for membership on the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB). Six members have membership...

  18. 75 FR 30832 - National Biodefense Science Board; Call for Nominees

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-02

    ... opportunities presented by advances in biological and life sciences, biotechnology, and genetic engineering with... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Biodefense Science Board; Call for Nominees... considered for membership on the National Biodefense Science Board. Six members have membership expiration...

  19. 78 FR 40480 - National Biodefense Science Board; Call for Nominees

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-05

    ... and future trends, challenges, and opportunities presented by advances in biological and life sciences... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Biodefense Science Board; Call for Nominees... deadline for all application submissions to the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) is extended from...

  20. Science informs stewardship: Committing to a national wilderness science agenda

    Treesearch

    Susan A. Fox; Beth A. Hahn

    2016-01-01

    The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) is a vital component of the national and international infrastructure for science, education, and information. The NWPS serves as an important resource for advancing research, from discovering new dinosaurs (Arbour et al. 2014, Landon 2016) to understanding human history on the American landscape (Rasic 2003). The NWPS...

  1. Tablet splitting of narrow therapeutic index drugs: a nationwide survey in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chou, Chia-Lin; Hsu, Chia-Chen; Chou, Chia-Yu; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Chou, Li-Fang; Chou, Yueh-Ching

    2015-12-01

    Tablet splitting or pill splitting frequently occurs in daily medical practice. For drugs with special pharmacokinetic characters, such as drugs with narrow therapeutic index (NTI), unequal split tablets might lead to erroneous dose titration and it even cause toxicity. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of prescribing split NTI drugs at ambulatory setting in Taiwan. A population-based retrospective study was conducted using the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. All ambulatory visits were analyzed from the longitudinal cohort datasets of the National Health Insurance Research Database. The details of ambulatory prescriptions containing NTI drugs were extracted by using the claims datasets of one million beneficiaries from National Healthcare Insurance Research Database in 2010 in Taiwan. The analyses were stratified by dosage form, patient age and the number of prescribed tablets in a single dose for each NTI drugs. Main outcome measures Number and distinct dosage forms of available NTI drug items in Taiwan, number of prescriptions involved split NTI drugs, and number of patients received split NTI drugs. A total of 148,548 patients had received 512,398 prescriptions of NTI drugs and 41.8 % (n = 62,121) of patients had received 36.3 % (n = 185,936) of NTI drug prescriptions in form of split tablets. The percentage of splitting was highest in digoxin prescriptions (81.0 %), followed by warfarin (72.0 %). In the elderly patients, split tablets were very prevalent with digoxin (82.4 %) and warfarin (84.5 %). NTI drugs were frequently prescribed to be taken in split forms in Taiwan. Interventions may be needed to provide effective and convenient NTI drug use. Further studies are needed to evaluate the clinical outcome of inappropriate split NTI drugs.

  2. Sediment characteristics and provenance of the Taiwan Shoal in the southern Taiwan Strait

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koo, W. S.; Lin, A. T.; Kuo, L. W.; Lee, Y. H.

    2016-12-01

    The Taiwan Shoal in the southern Taiwan Strait exhibits a lobe-shaped shallow water area, with a depth less than around 40 m and an area approximately of 13,000 km2. The Shoal consists of relict sediments remnant from deltaic deposits during the last glacial period and associated with the paleo-Min River. We collected seafloor sediments in and around the Taiwan Shoal to study the sediment characteristics and provenance of the Shoal as well as Taiwanese river sediments to characterize sediment sourced from southern Taiwan. Our results help to understand possible sediment delivery pathways in a source-to-sink context from the southern Taiwan Strait to the northern South China Sea. The method of X-ray diffraction is used to identify mineral compositions for muds and mineral compositions are examined under polarized microscope for sands. Zircon grains are separated from heavy minerals for U-Pb dating in order to understand the sediment source terranes. Sediments of the Taiwan Shoal are mostly tawny-colored, medium to coarse-grained sands with abundant shell fragments and shallow-water benthic foraminifera. Sediments to the south of the Taiwan Shoal and in the outer shelf consist of dark brown-colored and fine-grained sands with rare shell fragments. Siliciclastic compositions of the Taiwan Shoal sediments are mostly quartz. The second abundant composition is rock fragments with more occurrences near the Chinese coastline and the Penghu archipelago. Slate fragments are found to occur near Taiwan, especially in the Penghu Channel area. Clay minerals from the Penghu Channels and south of the Taiwan Shoal are dominated by illite and chlorite with minor smectite and kaolinite. The sediment colors and mineral species are very different for the sediments of the Taiwan Shoal and outer shelf, revealing that these two areas featuring different oceanographic processes and sediment provenance.

  3. Taiwan`s experience with municipal waste recycling

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lee, C.H.

    1998-12-31

    Currently, each person on the average produces 1.15 kg of the municipal waste per day and a total of 9 million metric tons were generated annually in Taiwan. The disposal of such a huge amount of waste presents tremendous challenge for the island due to the scarcity of landfills and incineration facilities available locally. EPA of Taiwan, R.O.C. thus takes an active role in promoting waste recycling to reduce the garbage produced in municipalities. In order to efficiently utilize the government`s human and financial resources used in recycling, started from January 31, 1989, EPA has mandated the producer responsibility recyclingmore » program for several designated post-consumer products such as PET, PVC bottles, scrap tires, scrap motor vehicles, etc. Producer responsibility recycling program specifies that the manufacturers, importers and sellers of these designated products have the responsibility to retrieve their products and recycle them properly. Several negative effects have been encountered while the implementation of this producer responsibility recycling program in Taiwan which resulted in a modification of this recycling program recently. This paper presents the encountered experiences on the implementation of municipal waste recycling program in Taiwan.« less

  4. Psychology and the National Medal of Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lowman, Robert P.; Benjamin, Ludy T., Jr.

    2012-01-01

    When Congress created the National Medal of Science in 1959 to be awarded by the president of the United States, psychology was not among the eligible sciences. A concerted lobbying effort in the late 1970s changed that situation, adding social and behavioral sciences to the listing of eligible disciplines. This article describes how the award…

  5. From the National Academies: Overview of the National Research Council's Board on Science Education and Personal Reflections as a Science Teacher

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wieman, Carl

    2005-01-01

    Over the past year, the National Academies have established a Board on Science Education (BOSE). This marks a major restructuring of the portion of the National Research Council (NRC) that deals with science education. As the first chair of BOSE, the author describes in this column the new structure and advantages of this board and discusses some…

  6. 75 FR 36722 - Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee; Committee on Technology; National Science and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-28

    ... OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee; Committee on Technology; National Science and Technology Council ACTION: Notice of Meeting--Public input is... Evaluation (RDT&E) Infrastructure Plan. SUMMARY: The Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee (ASTS...

  7. 76 FR 12718 - National Board for Education Sciences Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences Meeting AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education...

  8. 77 FR 57079 - National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-09-17

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education...

  9. 77 FR 51537 - Meetings of the National Biodefense Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-08-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meetings of the National Biodefense Science Board AGENCY... notice that the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) will be holding a closed session under exemption... Biodefense Science Board mailbox: [email protected] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 319M of the...

  10. 77 FR 7164 - Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-10

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board AGENCY... giving notice that the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) will be holding a closed session by... Biodefense Science Board. The Board shall provide expert advice and guidance to the Secretary on scientific...

  11. Only One Science: Twelfth Annual Report of the National Science Board.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC. National Science Board.

    Departing markedly from previous reports to Congress by the National Science Board, this document presents in an informal, narrative style six stories depicting scientific discoveries and their effects on society. Drawn from the physical, biological, medical, and social sciences, topics discussed include: (1) computers and semiconductors; (2)…

  12. A Comparative Study of Scientific Publications in Health Care Sciences and Services from Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, and India (2007-2014).

    PubMed

    Lv, Yipeng; Tang, Bihan; Liu, Xu; Xue, Chen; Liu, Yuan; Kang, Peng; Zhang, Lulu

    2015-12-24

    In this study, we aimed to compare the quantity and quality of publications in health care sciences and services journals from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Japan, and India. Journals in this category of the Science Citation Index Expanded were included in the study. Scientific papers were retrieved from the Web of Science online database. Quality was measured according to impact factor, citation of articles, number of articles published in top 10 journals, and the 10 most popular journals by country (area). In the field of health care sciences and services, the annual incremental rates of scientific articles published from 2007 to 2014 were higher than rates of published scientific articles in all fields. Researchers from the Chinese mainland published the most original articles and reviews and had the highest accumulated impact factors, highest total article citations, and highest average citation. Publications from India had the highest average impact factor. In the field of health care sciences and services, China has made remarkable progress during the past eight years in the annual number and percentage of scientific publications. Yet, there is room for improvement in the quantity and quality of such articles.

  13. Analysis on the Critical Rainfall Value For Predicting Large Scale Landslides Caused by Heavy Rainfall In Taiwan.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsai, Kuang-Jung; Chiang, Jie-Lun; Lee, Ming-Hsi; Chen, Yie-Ruey

    2017-04-01

    Analysis on the Critical Rainfall Value For Predicting Large Scale Landslides Caused by Heavy Rainfall In Taiwan. Kuang-Jung Tsai 1, Jie-Lun Chiang 2,Ming-Hsi Lee 2, Yie-Ruey Chen 1, 1Department of Land Management and Development, Chang Jung Christian Universityt, Tainan, Taiwan. 2Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan. ABSTRACT The accumulated rainfall amount was recorded more than 2,900mm that were brought by Morakot typhoon in August, 2009 within continuous 3 days. Very serious landslides, and sediment related disasters were induced by this heavy rainfall event. The satellite image analysis project conducted by Soil and Water Conservation Bureau after Morakot event indicated that more than 10,904 sites of landslide with total sliding area of 18,113ha were found by this project. At the same time, all severe sediment related disaster areas are also characterized based on their disaster type, scale, topography, major bedrock formations and geologic structures during the period of extremely heavy rainfall events occurred at the southern Taiwan. Characteristics and mechanism of large scale landslide are collected on the basis of the field investigation technology integrated with GPS/GIS/RS technique. In order to decrease the risk of large scale landslides on slope land, the strategy of slope land conservation, and critical rainfall database should be set up and executed as soon as possible. Meanwhile, study on the establishment of critical rainfall value used for predicting large scale landslides induced by heavy rainfall become an important issue which was seriously concerned by the government and all people live in Taiwan. The mechanism of large scale landslide, rainfall frequency analysis ,sediment budge estimation and river hydraulic analysis under the condition of extremely climate change during the past 10 years would be seriously concerned and recognized as a required issue by this

  14. 76 FR 34069 - National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-10

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting AGENCY: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education...

  15. 76 FR 58789 - National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education...

  16. 78 FR 28811 - National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education...

  17. 78 FR 8499 - National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-06

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting AGENCY: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education...

  18. 77 FR 6789 - National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education...

  19. Identifying Internet Sites to Coordinate with National Science Education Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fehrenbach, Carolyn R.; Morris, Maxine G.

    2004-01-01

    Identifying Internet sites to coordinate with National Science Education Standards can be challenging for teachers and students. By identifying quality free Internet sites in science, teachers and students can use the extensive resources of the Internet to enhance learning and instruction while meeting National Science Education Content Standards…

  20. In Brief: Rita Colwell receives National Medal of Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, Mohi

    2007-07-01

    Rita Colwell, director of the U.S. National Science Foundation from 1998 to 2004, was awarded a U.S. National Medal of Science in a White House ceremony on 27 July 2007. Colwell, currently a professor of microbiology and biotechnology at the University of Maryland at College Park and a professor at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, received the award for her research on global infectious diseases and marine microbes, specifically the bacterium that causes pandemic cholera. The National Medal of Science is the United States' highest honor for scientific achievement. Colwell currently serves on AGU's development board.

  1. A Nation-Wide Cancer Registry-Based Study of Adenosquamous Carcinoma in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Lan, Yuan-Tzu; Huang, Kuo-Hung; Liu, Chien-An; Tai, Ling-Chen; Chen, Ming-Huang; Chao, Yee; Li, Anna Fen-Yau; Chiou, Shih-Hwa; Shyr, Yi-Ming; Wu, Chew-Wun; Fang, Wen-Liang

    2015-01-01

    Background Adenosqamous carcinoma (ASC) is a rare disease involving various organs, yet there are no large-scale population-based comparative studies on ASC among different organs. Methods The incidence and overall survival of ASC among various organs in cases diagnosed in Taiwan from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2010 were calculated and compared using data from the Taiwan Cancer Registry (TCR). The various organs were classified and divided into three different systems: the female reproductive, respiratory, and alimentary systems. Survival analysis were also compared among 30,850 patients diagnosed as ASC, adenocarcinoma (AC) or squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in organs with frequent ASC. Results During the study period, a total of 576 ASC cases were diagnosed in Taiwan. The most common primary system was respiratory (73.8%), followed by alimentary (16.2%) and female reproductive (10%). The overall survival were significantly higher for cases involving the female reproductive system, followed by the respiratory and alimentary systems (P = 0.016). The median overall survival were worse in males than females for cases involving the respiratory system (22.4 vs. 31.8 months, P = 0.044). Multivariate analysis showed that age≧65, more advanced T and N categories were independent unfavorable prognostic factors of overall survival in ASC. ASC histology is an independent unfavorable prognostic factor compared with AC and SCC. Conclusions ASC at an old age and more advanced T and N categories were found to be associated with a poor prognosis. PMID:26445240

  2. Medical malpractice in Taiwan: injury types, compensation, and specialty risk.

    PubMed

    Chen, Kuan-Yu; Yang, Che-Ming; Tsai, Shin-Han; Chiou, Hung-Yi; Lin, Mau-Roung; Chiu, Wen-Ta

    2012-05-01

    The authors analyzed all medical malpractice claims from 2000 to 2008 using cases from the national database of the judicial system of Taiwan. The objective was to describe the factors associated with malpractice claims in Taiwan, a non-Western country that does not have a common law heritage. Emergency physicians (EPs) were the most likely to be sued and made the highest median payments. Most lawsuits involved death or permanent injury. Eighty-two percent of the cases were settled in the physician's favor. © 2012 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

  3. A Sketch of the Taiwan Zebrafish Core Facility.

    PubMed

    You, May-Su; Jiang, Yun-Jin; Yuh, Chiou-Hwa; Wang, Chien-Ming; Tang, Chih-Hao; Chuang, Yung-Jen; Lin, Bo-Hung; Wu, Jen-Leih; Hwang, Sheng-Ping L

    2016-07-01

    In the past three decades, the number of zebrafish laboratories has significantly increased in Taiwan. The Taiwan Zebrafish Core Facility (TZCF), a government-funded core facility, was launched to serve this growing community. The Core Facility was built on two sites, one located at the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI, called Taiwan Zebrafish Core Facility at NHRI or TZeNH) and the other is located at the Academia Sinica (Taiwan Zebrafish Core Facility at AS a.k.a. TZCAS). The total surface area of the TZCF is about 180 m(2) encompassing 2880 fish tanks. Each site has a separate quarantine room and centralized water recirculating systems, monitoring key water parameters. To prevent diseases, three main strategies have been implemented: (1) imported fish must be quarantined; (2) only bleached embryos are introduced into the main facilities; and (3) working practices were implemented to minimize pathogen transfer between stocks and facilities. Currently, there is no health program in place; however, a fourth measure for the health program, specific regular pathogen tests, is being planned. In March 2015, the TZCF at NHRI has been AAALAC accredited. It is our goal to ensure that we provide "disease-free" fish and embryos to the Taiwanese research community.

  4. Fall 1978 Directory - Assembly of Life Sciences, National Research Council.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.

    This directory of the Assembly of Life Sciences (ALS), National Research Council, reflects the status of all committees, their membership, Corresponding Societies, and ALS staff as of October, 1978. Organization charts illustrate the relationship between the Assembly of Life Sciences and the general structure of the National Academy of Sciences,…

  5. Brain cancer associated with environmental lead exposure: evidence from implementation of a National Petrol-Lead Phase-Out Program (PLPOP) in Taiwan between 1979 and 2007.

    PubMed

    Wu, Wei-Te; Lin, Yu-Jen; Liou, Saou-Hsing; Yang, Chun-Yuh; Cheng, Kuang-Fu; Tsai, Perng-Jy; Wu, Trong-Neng

    2012-04-01

    In 1981, a Petrol-Lead Phase-Out Program (PLPOP) was launched in Taiwan for the abatement of environmental lead emissions. The present study was intended to examine whether the high Petrol-Lead Emission Areas (PLEA) would result in an increase in the incidence rate of brain cancer based on a national data bank. The national brain cancer incidence data was obtained from the Taiwan National Cancer Registry. Age standardized incidence rates were calculated based on the 2000 WHO world standard population, and gasoline consumption data was obtained from the Bureau of Energy. The differences in the trend tests for age-standardized incidence rates of brain cancer between high, median, low, and small PLEA were analyzed. A significant increase was found from small to high PLEA in age-standardized incidence rates of brain cancer. By taking six possible confounders into account, the age-standardized incidence rates for brain cancer were highly correlated with the median and high PLEA by reference to the small PLEA. After being adjusted for a number of relevant confounders, it could be concluded that high PLEA might result in an increase in the incidence rate of brain cancer resulting from high lead exposures. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. 77 FR 33732 - National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-06-07

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting AGENCY: ED, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of an Open Meeting. SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Board for Education...

  7. 5 CFR 5301.105 - Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... National Science Board. 5301.105 Section 5301.105 Administrative Personnel NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SUPPLEMENTAL STANDARDS OF ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION § 5301.105 Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board. (a) Participation in proposals and awards. (1...

  8. 5 CFR 5301.105 - Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... National Science Board. 5301.105 Section 5301.105 Administrative Personnel NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SUPPLEMENTAL STANDARDS OF ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION § 5301.105 Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board. (a) Participation in proposals and awards. (1...

  9. 5 CFR 5301.105 - Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... National Science Board. 5301.105 Section 5301.105 Administrative Personnel NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SUPPLEMENTAL STANDARDS OF ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION § 5301.105 Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board. (a) Participation in proposals and awards. (1...

  10. 5 CFR 5301.105 - Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... National Science Board. 5301.105 Section 5301.105 Administrative Personnel NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SUPPLEMENTAL STANDARDS OF ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION § 5301.105 Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board. (a) Participation in proposals and awards. (1...

  11. 5 CFR 5301.105 - Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... National Science Board. 5301.105 Section 5301.105 Administrative Personnel NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SUPPLEMENTAL STANDARDS OF ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION § 5301.105 Restrictions applicable to Members of the National Science Board. (a) Participation in proposals and awards. (1...

  12. Taiwan Regulation of Biobanks.

    PubMed

    Fan, Chien-Te; Hung, Tzu-Hsun; Yeh, Chan-Kun

    2015-01-01

    This paper introduces legal framework and governance structure in relation to the management and development of biobanks in Taiwan. At first, we briefly describe Taiwan's population, political system and health care system. Secondly, this research introduces biobanking framework of Taiwan including 25 biobanks established with the approval of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. In those biobanks, "Taiwan Biobank" is the first and the largest government-supported biobank which comprises population-based cohort study and disease- oriented study. Since the collection of information, data, and biological specimen of biobanks often involve highly sensitive personal information, in the legal framework of Taiwan, there is a specific regulation, "Human Biobank Management Act" (HBMA), which plays an important role in regulating biobanks in Taiwan. HBMA, the Personal Information Act and other regulations constitute a comprehensive legal and regulatory privacy framework of biobanks. Through the introduction and analysis of the current legal framework applicable to biobanks, we found that there are several challenges that need to be solved appropriately that involve duplicate review systems, the obstacles in the international collaboration, and data sharing between biobanks in Taiwan. © 2015 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

  13. Exoplanet Science in the National Science Olympiad

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Komacek, Thaddeus D.; Young, Donna

    2015-11-01

    The National Science Olympiad is one of the United States' largest science competitions, reaching over 6,000 schools in 48 states. The Olympiad includes a wide variety of events, stretching a full range of potential future STEM careers, from biological sciences to engineering to earth and space sciences. The Astronomy event has been a mainstay at the high school level for well over a decade, and nominally focuses on aspects of stellar evolution. For the 2014-2015 competition season, the event focus was aligned to include exoplanet discovery and characterization along with star formation. Teams studied both the qualitative features of exoplanets and exoplanetary systems and the quantitative aspects behind their discovery and characterization, including basic calculations with the transit and radial velocity methods. Students were also expected to have a qualitative understanding of stellar evolution and understand the differences between classes of young stars including T Tauri and FU Orionis variables, and Herbig Ae/Be stars. Based on the successes of this event topic, we are continuing this event into the 2015-2016 academic year. The key modification is the selection of new exoplanetary systems for students to research. We welcome feedback from the community on how to improve the event and the related educational resources that are created for Science Olympiad students and coaches. We also encourage any interested community members to contact your regional or state Science Olympiad tournament directors and volunteer to organize competitions and supervise events locally.

  14. 75 FR 65305 - National Board for Education Sciences

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences AGENCY: Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting with a closed session. SUMMARY: This... Education Sciences. The notice also describes the functions of the Committee. Notice of this meeting is...

  15. Taiwan: Background Notes Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reams, Joanne Reppert

    Concise background information on Taiwan is provided. The publication begins with a profile of Taiwan, discussing the people, geography, political establishment, and economy. A map of the country is provided. The bulk of the publication then provides more detailed information on Taiwan's people, geography, history, administration, political…

  16. The International Space Station: A National Science Laboratory

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Giblin, Timothy W.

    2011-01-01

    After more than a decade of assembly missions and on the heels of the final voyage of Space Shuttle Discovery, the International Space Station (ISS) has reached assembly completion. With visiting spacecraft now docking with the ISS on a regular basis, the Station now serves as a National Laboratory to scientists back on Earth. ISS strengthens relationships among NASA, other Federal entities, higher educational institutions, and the private sector in the pursuit of national priorities for the advancement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In this lecture we will explore the various areas of research onboard ISS to promote this advancement: (1) Human Research, (2) Biology & Biotechnology, (3) Physical & Material Sciences, (4) Technology, and (5) Earth & Space Science. The ISS National Laboratory will also open new paths for the exploration and economic development of space.

  17. "Getting Practical" and the National Network of Science Learning Centres

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chapman, Georgina; Langley, Mark; Skilling, Gus; Walker, John

    2011-01-01

    The national network of Science Learning Centres is a co-ordinating partner in the Getting Practical--Improving Practical Work in Science programme. The principle of training provision for the "Getting Practical" programme is a cascade model. Regional trainers employed by the national network of Science Learning Centres trained the cohort of local…

  18. Taiwan Space Programs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Jann-Yenq

    collection and analysis can be completed in three hours while the sounding data is updated every 90 minutes for updating weather forecast. In addition, this system can also be used as the long-term climate change research, interactive ionosphere monitoring, global space weather forecast, and earth gravity research. From 1997 to 2003, there are three launches of sounding rockets. To compliment the second phase of Taiwan's national space technology long-term development plan, the sounding rocket space exploration project was established. The timeframe of the second phase sounding rocket project is 15 years, from January 2004 to December 2018, and 10 15 sounding rockets will be launched during this time period. In this paper, the current status and results of the programs are presented in detail.

  19. The prescribing of Chinese herbal products in Taiwan: a cross-sectional analysis of the national health insurance reimbursement database.

    PubMed

    Hsieh, Shu-Ching; Lai, Jung-Nien; Lee, Chuan-Fang; Hu, Fu-Chang; Tseng, Wei-Lum; Wang, Jung-Der

    2008-06-01

    The consumption of Chinese herbal products (CHPs) is increasing exponentially. However, the scientific evidence is lacking and there is an urgent requirement for detailed pharmacoepidemiological information on CHP usage. This study was to investigate CHP prescription patterns in Taiwan. We carried out a cross-sectional analysis on a cohort of 200,000 patients based on 2004 data from the National Health Insurance (NHI) reimbursement database. Data mining techniques were applied to explore CHP co-prescription patterns. A total of 46,938 patients had been prescribed CHPs on at least one occasion in 2004. Patients using CHPs were generally female and middle-aged, made more outpatient visits, had fewer hospitalizations and consumed more medical resources than non-users of CHPs. A total of 1,073,030 CHPs were contained within 220,123 prescriptions, for which acute nasopharyngitis was the most common indication. Yan hu suo and Jia Wei Xiao Yao San were the most frequently prescribed single herb (SH) and herbal formula (HF), respectively. The results of the data mining showed that the best predictions were provided by co-prescriptions of 'Mo yao and Ru xiang', 'Ye jiao teng and Suan Zao Ren Tan' and 'Dang Gui Nian Tong Tang and Shu Jing Huo Xue Tang' in the groups of SH-SH, SH-HF and HF-HF, respectively. This study provides national-level CHP prescription profiles and utilization rates, and documents, for the first time, HF-HF prescription combinations in Chinese medicine (CM) practices in Taiwan. We conclude that more studies are needed to validate the safety and effectiveness of CHP prescriptions.

  20. Epidemiological Features of Japanese Encephalitis in Taiwan from 2000 to 2014

    PubMed Central

    Chang, Yu-Kang; Chang, Hsiao-Ling; Wu, Ho-Sheng; Chen, Kow-Tong

    2017-01-01

    The incidence of Japanese encephalitis (JE) decreased sharply after the national vaccination program was implemented in Taiwan in 1968. However, cases of JE still occur. The purpose of this study was to assess the epidemiology and vaccination policy for JE in Taiwan. We analyzed the data on JE cases reported to the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) between 2000 and 2014. During the 15-year study period, a total of 4,474 cases were reported to the Taiwan CDC. Of these, 379 (8.5%) were classified as confirmed cases, and 4,095 (91.5%) were classified as suspected cases. The incidence of JE ranged from 0.59 to 1.61 per 1,000,000 people and peaked in 2007. Men had a higher incidence of JE than women (1.37 versus 0.84 per 1,000,000; P = 0.03). Patients who were 40–59 years of age had a higher incidence than did patients younger than 20 years (1.82 versus 0.23; P < 0.001). Patients who lived in the eastern region of Taiwan had the highest incidence rate of JE (P < 0.001). Compared with those who were not vaccinated with the JE vaccine, patients who received four doses of JE vaccine had a lower risk of suffering from death and/or hospitalization (adjusted odds ratio: 0.26; 95% confidence interval: 0.08–0.90; P = 0.04). JE is still a public health problem in Taiwan, and monitoring JE via diagnostic testing to determine the best vaccination program along with enforcing JE vaccine boosters for adults is necessary to eliminate JE in Taiwan. PMID:27821699

  1. Epidemiological Features of Japanese Encephalitis in Taiwan from 2000 to 2014.

    PubMed

    Chang, Yu-Kang; Chang, Hsiao-Ling; Wu, Ho-Sheng; Chen, Kow-Tong

    2017-02-08

    The incidence of Japanese encephalitis (JE) decreased sharply after the national vaccination program was implemented in Taiwan in 1968. However, cases of JE still occur. The purpose of this study was to assess the epidemiology and vaccination policy for JE in Taiwan. We analyzed the data on JE cases reported to the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) between 2000 and 2014. During the 15-year study period, a total of 4,474 cases were reported to the Taiwan CDC. Of these, 379 (8.5%) were classified as confirmed cases, and 4,095 (91.5%) were classified as suspected cases. The incidence of JE ranged from 0.59 to 1.61 per 1,000,000 people and peaked in 2007. Men had a higher incidence of JE than women (1.37 versus 0.84 per 1,000,000; P = 0.03). Patients who were 40-59 years of age had a higher incidence than did patients younger than 20 years (1.82 versus 0.23; P < 0.001). Patients who lived in the eastern region of Taiwan had the highest incidence rate of JE ( P < 0.001). Compared with those who were not vaccinated with the JE vaccine, patients who received four doses of JE vaccine had a lower risk of suffering from death and/or hospitalization (adjusted odds ratio: 0.26; 95% confidence interval: 0.08-0.90; P = 0.04). JE is still a public health problem in Taiwan, and monitoring JE via diagnostic testing to determine the best vaccination program along with enforcing JE vaccine boosters for adults is necessary to eliminate JE in Taiwan. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

  2. The National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2003-01-01

    The National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC), located in Huntsville, Alabama, is a laboratory for cutting-edge research in selected scientific and engineering disciplines. The major objectives of the NSSTC are to provide multiple fields of expertise coming together to solve solutions to science and technology problems, and gaining recognition as a world-class science research organization. The center, opened in August 2000, focuses on space science, Earth sciences, information technology, optics and energy technology, biotechnology and materials science, and supports NASA's mission of advancing and communicating scientific knowledge using the environment of space for research. In addition to providing basic and applied research, NSSTC, with its student participation, also fosters the next generation of scientists and engineers. NSSTC is a collaborated effort between NASA and the state of Alabama through the Space Science and Technology alliance, a group of six universities including the Universities of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH),Tuscaloosa (UA), and Birmingham (UAB); the University of South Alabama in Mobile (USA);Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AM) in Huntsville; and Auburn University (AU) in Auburn. Participating federal agencies include NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy. Industries involved include the Space Science Research Center, the Global Hydrology and Climate Center, the Information Technology Research Center, the Optics and Energy Technology Center, the Propulsion Research Center, the Biotechnology Research Center, and the Materials Science Research Center. This photo shows the completed center with the additional arnex (right of building) that added an additional 80,000 square feet (7,432 square meters) to the already existent NSSTC, nearly doubling the size of the core facility. At

  3. The National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2002-01-01

    The National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC), located in Huntsville, Alabama, is a laboratory for cutting-edge research in selected scientific and engineering disciplines. The major objectives of the NSSTC are to provide multiple fields of expertise coming together to solve solutions to science and technology problems, and gaining recognition as a world-class science research organization. The center, opened in August 2000, focuses on space science, Earth sciences, information technology, optics and energy technology, biotechnology and materials science, and supports NASA's mission of advancing and communicating scientific knowledge using the environment of space for research. In addition to providing basic and applied research, NSSTC, with its student participation, also fosters the next generation of scientists and engineers. NSSTC is a collaborated effort between NASA and the state of Alabama through the Space Science and Technology alliance, a group of six universities including the Universities of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH),Tuscaloosa (UA), and Birmingham (UAB); the University of South Alabama in Mobile (USA); Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AM) in Huntsville; and Auburn University (AU) in Auburn. Participating federal agencies include NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy. Industries involved include the Space Science Research Center, the Global Hydrology and Climate Center, the Information Technology Research Center, the Optics and Energy Technology Center, the Propulsion Research Center, the Biotechnology Research Center, and the Materials Science Research Center. An arnex, scheduled for completion by summer 2002, will add an additional 80,000 square feet (7,432 square meters) to NSSTC nearly doubling the size of the core facility. At full capacity, the completed NSSTC will top 200

  4. 76 FR 34103 - President's Committee on the National Medal of Science; Notice of Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-10

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION President's Committee on the National Medal of Science; Notice of... Science Foundation announces the following meeting: Name: President's Committee on the National Medal of Science (1182). Date and Time: Wednesday, July 6, 2011, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Place: National Science...

  5. 78 FR 48724 - President's Committee on the National Medal of Science; Notice of Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-09

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION President's Committee on the National Medal of Science; Notice of... Science Foundation announces the following meeting: Name: President's Committee on the National Medal of Science (1182). Date and Time: Tuesday, September 3, 2013, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Place: National Science...

  6. 77 FR 61644 - President's Committee on the National Medal of Science Notice of Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-10

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION President's Committee on the National Medal of Science Notice of... Science Foundation announces the following meeting: Name: President's Committee on the National Medal of Science (1182). Date and Time: Wednesday, October 31, 2011, 8:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Place: National Science...

  7. Tardigrades from Taiwan, with the description of a new species of Doryphoribius (Tardigrada, Hypsibiidae).

    PubMed

    Li, Xiaochen; Li, Hongqun

    2008-05-01

    A total of eleven species of tardigrades from Taiwan are reported in this article. They belong to two classes, three orders, four families, and ten genera. Ten species are new records for Taiwan and one is new to science. Doryphoribius taiwanus sp. nov. is similar to Dor. mariae , but differs from it by larger body size, by conspicuous tubercles on the lateral side and dorsal sides of the body, by lacking gibbosities and undulations, by a narrower buccal tube, and by longer claws.

  8. Taiwan: improving radiography through application of Six Sigma techniques.

    PubMed

    Chen, Yan-Kwang; Lin, Jerry; Chang, Cheng-Chang

    2005-01-01

    The healthcare industry has shown significant recent growth potential in Taiwan. Associated financial problems have grown considerably since 1995, when national health insurance was implemented. Taiwan's healthcare bureau began to change the primary quantity-based healthcare expense payment method to a case-based payment model. Hospitals are now challenged to minimize healthcare waste. This article examines the application of manufacturing-based Six Sigma methods to an X-ray radiography improvement project to reduce the defect ratio of films for a teaching hospital in Taiwan. It was determined that (1) analysis of customer satisfaction data helped the Six Sigma improvement team identify critical quality elements; (2) the Six Sigma Level in this healthcare project is Lower than that in the manufacturing industry; (3) the improvement opportunity and the time required for the project had a direct correlation to the importance ascribed to the project and the cooperation received; and (4) process change can be made more quickly in the healthcare industry than in the manufacturing industry.

  9. An NSTA Position Statement: International Science Education and the National Science Teachers Association

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Teachers Association (NJ1), 2009

    2009-01-01

    The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) encourages and promotes international science education because it has the ability to improve the teaching and learning of science, as well as to "empower people, improve their quality of life, and increase their capacity to participate in the decision-making processes leading to social, cultural,…

  10. What Do China’s Military Reforms Mean for Taiwan

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-10-01

    is a Research Fellow in the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, Institute for National Strategic Studies, at the National Defense...organizations directly under the CMC, where they can be more closely scrutinized. Another strengthens auditing and discipline inspection functions...developing doctrine and conduct- ing training and operations relevant to a Taiwan contingency. The PLA is already instituting professional military

  11. Predictors of Burnout Among Nurses in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lee, Huan-Fang; Yen, Miaofen; Fetzer, Susan; Chien, Tsair Wei

    2015-08-01

    Nurse burnout is a crucial issue for health care professionals and impacts nurse turnover and nursing shortages. Individual and situational factors are related to nurse burnout with predictors of burnout differing among cultures and health care systems. The predictors of nurse burnout in Asia, particularly Taiwan, are unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictors of burnout among a national sample of nurses in Taiwan. A secondary data analysis of a nationwide database investigated the predictors of burnout among 1,846 nurses in Taiwan. Hierarchical regression analysis determined the relationship between predictors and burnout. Predictors of Taiwanese nurse burnout were age, physical/psychological symptoms, job satisfaction, work engagement, and work environment. The most significant predictors were physical/psychological symptoms and work engagement. The variables explained 35, 39, and 18 % of the emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and depersonalization variance for 54 % of the total variance of burnout. Individual characteristics and nurse self-awareness, especially work, engagement can impact Taiwanese nurses' burnout. Nurse burnout predictors provide administrators with information to develop strategies including education programs and support services to reduce nurse burnout.

  12. A Comparative Study of Scientific Publications in Health Care Sciences and Services from Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, and India (2007–2014)

    PubMed Central

    Lv, Yipeng; Tang, Bihan; Liu, Xu; Xue, Chen; Liu, Yuan; Kang, Peng; Zhang, Lulu

    2015-01-01

    In this study, we aimed to compare the quantity and quality of publications in health care sciences and services journals from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Japan, and India. Journals in this category of the Science Citation Index Expanded were included in the study. Scientific papers were retrieved from the Web of Science online database. Quality was measured according to impact factor, citation of articles, number of articles published in top 10 journals, and the 10 most popular journals by country (area). In the field of health care sciences and services, the annual incremental rates of scientific articles published from 2007 to 2014 were higher than rates of published scientific articles in all fields. Researchers from the Chinese mainland published the most original articles and reviews and had the highest accumulated impact factors, highest total article citations, and highest average citation. Publications from India had the highest average impact factor. In the field of health care sciences and services, China has made remarkable progress during the past eight years in the annual number and percentage of scientific publications. Yet, there is room for improvement in the quantity and quality of such articles. PMID:26712774

  13. The National Educational Science Planning Conference.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-01-27

    OF STANDARDS-1963-A =7 FTD-ID(RS)T-1606-82 FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY DIVISION THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE PLANNING CONFERENCE DTIC EECTE %%C.. D...institute were abolished; people were laid off. Many officials and teachers never learned education theories and do not know anything about S Sponsored by...levels of education must learn educational sciences in order to master the objective laws of educational work. *: We must turn laymen into professionals

  14. Learning Vietnamese as a Heritage Language in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeh, Yu-Ching; Ho, Hsiang-Ju; Chen, Ming-Chung

    2015-01-01

    In 2011, the Taiwanese Government began a campaign to encourage new immigrants to teach their native languages (heritage languages) to their children. However, these heritage languages are seldom used in cross-national families and the effectiveness of formal heritage language courses in Taiwan has yet to be explored. The present study examines…

  15. Challenges and Opportunities Facing Technology Education in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Lung-Sheng Steven

    2009-01-01

    The technology education in Taiwan is prescribed in the national curriculum and provided to all students in grades 1-12. However, it faces the following challenges: (1) Lack of worthy image, (2) Inadequate teachers in elementary schools, (3) Deficient teaching vitality in secondary schools, and (4) Diluted technology teacher education programs. In…

  16. 76 FR 3091 - National Annual Catch Limit Science Workshop; Meeting Announcement

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-19

    ... Annual Catch Limit Science Workshop; Meeting Announcement AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...: Richard Methot, Office of Science and Technology, NMFS at [email protected] , or at (206) 860-3365. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NOAA Fisheries Service is announcing a National Annual Catch Limit (ACL) Science...

  17. Taiwan Biobank: a project aiming to aid Taiwan's transition into a biomedical island.

    PubMed

    Fan, Chien-Te; Lin, Jui-Chu; Lee, Chung-His

    2008-02-01

    Essentially, the term 'biobank' can be defined in different ways. Taking the UK Biobank's experience as the main example, the Taiwan Biobank aims to collect the DNA of a large group of people on the population base and track their health and lifestyle for at least 10 years. It is hoped that the information collected, regarding the mechanisms underlying how genes and environmental factors interact with each other to make us ill, will benefit the society in various ways, including the exploration of a new generation of treatments, support to preventive medicine discovery and also the possible benefits for the promotion of evolving public health-related industries in Taiwan. However, the involvement of large-scale population base gene data collection also triggered serious ethical, legal and social issues. In Taiwan, the challenge is even more serious than for any other biobanking experiences that have occurred previously. Among all the ethical, legal and social issues, the convergence of aboriginal people protection provided under Taiwan's Constitution imposes on the research team an obligation to create an innovative Ethical & Legal Governance Framework adaptable to the unique social background of Taiwan, including a workable public consultation/communication mechanism. In early 2005, the creation of the 'Taiwan Biobank' has been included as a part of Taiwan's strategic development in promoting the country as an island of biomedicine. In this report, the ideology, the goals and special features, government strategy, visions and, in particular, the ethical, legal and social issue planning of the Taiwan Biobank will be briefly introduced and reviewed.

  18. College Access, Equity, and Student Success in the Context of Higher Education Expansion and Differentiation in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Cheng-Cheng

    2010-01-01

    The expansion of higher education has become a significant trend in the East Asia region, and Taiwan has proven no exception. The driving forces of higher education expansion in Taiwan include enhancing national competitiveness and human capital, responding to social and industrial needs, and reducing educational inequalities among social groups.…

  19. New Drug Reimbursement and Pricing Policy in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chen, Gau-Tzu; Chang, Shu-Chen; Chang, Chee-Jen

    2018-05-01

    Taiwan has implemented a national health insurance system for more than 20 years now. The benefits of pharmaceutical products and new drug reimbursement scheme are determined by the Expert Advisory Meeting and the Pharmaceutical Benefit and Reimbursement Scheme (PBRS) Joint Committee in Taiwan. To depict the pharmaceutical benefits and reimbursement scheme for new drugs and the role of health technology assessment (HTA) in drug policy in Taiwan. All data were collected from the Expert Advisory Meeting and the PBRS meeting minutes; new drug applications with HTA reports were derived from the National Health Insurance Administration Web site. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the timeline of a new drug from application submission to reimbursement effective, the distribution of approved price, and the approval rate for a new drug with/without local pharmacoeconomic study. After the second-generation national health insurance system, the timeline for a new drug from submission to reimbursement effective averages at 436 days, and that for an oncology drug reaches an average of 742 days. New drug approval rate is 67% and the effective rate (through the approval of the PBRS Joint Committee and the acceptance of the manufacturer) is 53%. The final approved price is 53.6% of the international median price and 70% of the proposed price by the manufacturer. Out of 95 HTA reports released during the period January 2011 to February 2017, 28 applications (30%) conducted an HTA with a local pharmacoeconomic study, and all (100%) received reimbursement approval. For the remaining 67 applications (70%) for which HTA was conducted without a local pharmacoeconomic analysis, 54 cases (81%) were reimbursed. New drug applications with local pharmacoeconomic studies are more likely to get reimbursement. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  20. Historical context for the growth of medical professionalism and curriculum reform in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chiu, Chiung-Hsuan; Arrigo, Linda Gail; Tsai, Duujian

    2009-09-01

    Medical school curricular reform to address humanism is now a prominent issue in Taiwan. Taiwan's community of medical professionals have for the last 100 years played a leading role in the nation's modernization and democratization. With the democratic opening of 1990, they took up the cause of humanistic reform of medical education. Although the reform has not sufficiently specified the depth and breadth of professionalism to be achieved through the medical school curriculum, it points at least to the most desired professionalism goals. Collaboration with the international community, particularly with Taiwanese-American medical educators and researchers who bring their experience back to Taiwan, has been a potent force for the advancement of the humanities and professionalism in medical education. This paper presents the definition of professionalism and the history of the medical profession from the perspective of medical education in Taiwan, and discusses recent transitions.

  1. The Perpetration of School Violence in Taiwan: An Analysis of Gender, Grade Level and School Type

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Ji-Kang; Astor, Ron Avi

    2009-01-01

    Using a nationally representative sample in Taiwan, this study aims to describe the prevalence of perpetration of school violence in Taiwan. The study explores how gender, age and school type relate to students' perpetration of violence in an Asian culture context. The sample included 14,022 students from elementary to high schools in grades 4 to…

  2. Enhancement of Elementary School Students' Science Learning by Web-Quest Supported Science Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Min-Hsiung, Chuang; Jeng-Fung, Hung; Quo-Cheng, Sung

    2011-01-01

    This study aimed to probe into the influence of implementing Web-quest supported science writing instruction on students' science learning and science writing. The subjects were 34 students in one class of grade six in an elementary school in Taiwan. The students participated in the instruction, which lasted for eight weeks. Data collection…

  3. A case study on the influences of long-range transport to Taiwan`s acid deposition using Taiwan air quality model

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ken-Hui Chang; Fu-Tien Jeng

    1996-12-31

    The long-range and transboundary transport of precursors of add deposition in East Asia became important due to the industrial development around this area. We started to develop Taiwan Air Quality Model (TAQM) system since 1992, which is based on regional Acid Deposition Model (RADM) system. A typical episode in Mei-Yu season has been selected to study. A case considering all emissions within simulated domain has been run as a reference case, and another perturbed case, not including Taiwan`s emission, has been also run for analyzing quantitatively the influence of long-range transport to Taiwan`s wet deposition during the episode are 31%more » and 24% for total sulfur compounds and total nitrogen compounds respectively; but for dry deposition, only 6% is contributed by long range transport for sulfur compounds and 29% for total nitrogen compounds. Therefore, the percentages of total acid deposition contributed by long-range transport are 27% and 25% for total sulfur compounds and total nitrogen compounds, respectively.« less

  4. Geological mechanism of hazardous debris flows in central Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, H.; Chen, R. H.; Lin, M. L.; Su, D. Y.

    2003-04-01

    GEOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF HAZARDOUS DEBRIS FLOWS IN CENTRAL PART OF TAIWAN H. Chen (1), R. H. Chen (2), M. L. Lin (2), D.Y. Su (3) (1) Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, (2) Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, (3) MAA Ltd., Taiwan hche02@esc.cam.ac.uk/Fax:+44-01223-333450 This study revealed that the distribution of rock discontinuities, geomaterial characteristics and water pressure were the major hazardous factors of the triggering mechanism in the debris flows. Attention is drawn to the discontinuities pattern within the sidewalls of the gullies, which emphasized the significance of material slumping and forming the accumulated deposits in the gullies. The accumulated deposits are the main source of the debris flow once the disaster is triggered and produced large quantities of debris. A modified channel box test was used to comprehend the effect of water sources in this study. The results of this experimental test displayed that water supplied from the bottom or the top will both cause large material movement. But water supplied from the bottom tends to cause a larger and faster flow than water from the top. The visual evidence of a flushed network of discontinuities exposed after the debris flow provided in situ indications of increased pore water pressure. This rapidly increasing water pressure evidently contributed a sizable dynamic force to initiate movement of the debris flow. The heavy slurry became an effective cutting device to erode the sidewalls and move large quantities of the debris materials to the end of the gullies. Based on field investigations and laboratory tests, the precipitation could increase the water content and water pressure, and decrease the shear strength of the gullies material. It also can add confirmation to this research that debris flows are triggered by accumulated deposits from sidewalls and moved by high intensity precipitation.

  5. Higher Education Expansion and Low-Income Students in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Chih-Chun

    2009-01-01

    In this paper, we report on a study of 1510 undergraduates from five national universities in Taiwan, and we show that compared to "non-prestigious" universities, a larger proportion of students at prestigious universities come from middle and high socioeconomic classes and a smaller proportion experience financial insecurity. These…

  6. NSF in a Changing World: The National Science Foundation's Strategic Plan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    The National Science Foundation's (NSF) role as a leader and steward of the Nation's science and engineering enterprise faces new tests--promoting new approaches to research, education, and workforce training that reach all Americans; responding to the increased importance of science and engineering in many aspects of daily life; modernizing the…

  7. Ambulance traffic accidents in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chiu, Po-Wei; Lin, Chih-Hao; Wu, Chen-Long; Fang, Pin-Hui; Lu, Chien-Hsin; Hsu, Hsiang-Chin; Chi, Chih-Hsien

    2018-04-01

    Ambulance traffic accidents (ATAs) are the leading cause of occupation-related fatalities among emergency medical service (EMS) personnel. We aim to use the Taiwan national surveillance system to analyze the characteristics of ATAs and to assist EMS directors in developing policies governing ambulance operations. A retrospective, cross-sectional and largely descriptive study was conducted using Taiwan national traffic accidents surveillance data from January 1, 2011 to October 31, 2016. Among the 1,627,217 traffic accidents during the study period, 715 ATAs caused 8 deaths within 24 h and 1844 injured patients. On average, there was one ATA for every 8598 ambulance runs. Compared to overall traffic accidents, ATAs were 1.7 times more likely to result in death and 1.9 times more likely to have injured patients. Among the 715 ATAs, 8 (1.1%) ATAs were fatal and 707 (98.9%) were nonfatal. All 8 fatalities were associated with motorcycles. The urban areas were significantly higher than the rural areas in the annual number of ATAs (14.2 ± 7.3 [7.0-26.7] versus 3.1 ± 1.9 [0.5-8.4], p = 0.013), the number of ATA-associated fatalities per year (0.2 ± 0.2 [0.0-0.7] versus 0.1 ± 0.1 [0.0-0.2], p = 0.022), and the annual number of injured patients (who needed urgent hospital visits) in ATAs (19.4 ± 7.3 [10.5-30.9] versus 5.2 ± 3.8 [0.9-15.3], p < 0.001). The ATA-associated fatality rate in Taiwan was high, and all fatalities were associated with motorcycles. ATAs in a highly motorcycle-populated area may require further investigation. An ambulance traffic accident reporting system should be built to provide EMS policy guidance for ATA reduction and outcome improvements. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  8. Maternal nationality and developmental delays in young children: Analysis of the data from the national registry in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Tseng, Yen-Cheng; Guo, How-Ran; Lai, Der-Chung

    2016-01-01

    With globalization, transnational marriages become more and more common around the world. Children born to immigrant mothers might be more likely to have developmental delays, but studies on this topic are limited and with inconsistent results. To determine whether children born to immigrant mothers are more likely to have developmental delays. We analyzed the data from the national registry of children with developmental delays from 2009 to 2013 and compared the incidence of developmental delays between children born to immigrant mothers and native mothers. We also performed stratified analyses by age, sex, and geographic area. From 2009 to 2013, 78,946 new cases of developmental delays under 6 years of age were registered, including 5619 (7.1%) born to immigrant mothers. The incidence was higher in children born to native mothers in every year with rate ratios ranging from 1.32 to 1.48, and the differences reached statistical significance even after stratification by age, sex, and geographic area. Children born to immigrant mothers had lower incidence of developmental delays in Taiwan. The result may help reduce the discrimination of foreign spouses and their children. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. A zonation technique for landslide susceptibility in southern Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chiang, Jie-Lun; Tian, Yu-Qing; Chen, Yie-Ruey; Tsai, Kuang-Jung

    2016-04-01

    In recent years, global climate changes violently, extreme rainfall events occur frequently and also cause massive sediment related disasters in Taiwan. The disaster seriously hit the regional economic development and national infrastructures. For example, in August, 2009, the typhoon Morakot brought massive rainfall especially in the mountains in Chiayi County and Kaohsiung County in which the cumulative maximum rainfall was up to 2900 mm; meanwhile, the cumulative maximum rainfall was over 1500m.m. in Nantou County, Tainan County and Pingtung County. The typhoon caused severe damage in southern Taiwan. The study will search for the influence on the sediment hazards caused by the extreme rainfall and hydrological environmental changes focusing on southern Taiwan (including Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung). The instability index and kriging theories are applied to analyze the factors of landslide to determine the susceptibility in southern Taiwan. We collected the landslide records during the period year, 2007~2013 and analyzed the instability factors including elevation, slope, aspect, soil, and geology. Among these factors, slope got the highest weight. The steeper the slope is, the more the landslides occur. As for the factor of aspect, the highest probability falls on the Southwest. However, this factor has the lowest weight among all the factors. Likewise, Darkish colluvial soil holds the highest probability of collapses among all the soils. Miocene middle Ruifang group and its equivalents have the highest probability of collapses among all the geologies. In this study, Kriging was used to establish the susceptibility map in southern Taiwan. The instability index above 4.21 can correspond to those landslide records. The potential landslide area in southern Taiwan, where collapses more likely occur, belongs to high level and medium-high level; the area is 5.12% and 17.81% respectively.

  10. Bradbury science museum: your window to Los Alamos National Laboratory

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Deck, Linda Theresa

    The Bradbury Science Museum is the public's window to Los Alamos National Laboratory and supports the Community Program Office's mission to develop community support to accomplish LANL's national security and science mission. It does this by stimulating interest in and increasing basic knowledge of science and technology in northern New Mexico audiences, and increasing public understanding and appreciation of how LANL science and technology solve our global problems. In performing these prime functions, the Museum also preserves the history of scientific accomplishment at the Lab by collecting and preserving artifacts of scientific and historical importance.

  11. Heterogeneous impact of Taiwan's national health insurance on labor force participation of married women by income and family structures.

    PubMed

    Liao, Pei-An

    2011-02-01

    In this study, I investigate how the impact of the National Health Insurance (NHI) introduction in Taiwan in 1995 on the labor force participation (LFP) decisions of married women varies with income and family structures. Employing the difference-in-differences (DID) approach, I find that the NHI introduction reduced LFP of married women in the twenty-fifth to fiftieth percentiles of the income distribution between 17.8 and 21.7 percentage points (33%-40%). The difference-in-differences-in-differences (DIDID) results suggest that married women in different family structures (the presence of children under 3 or less healthy elderly household members) did not respond differently to the NHI introduction.

  12. 78 FR 62634 - Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board AGENCY... hereby giving notice that the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) will be holding a public meeting via teleconference. The meeting is open to the public. DATES: The NBSB will hold a public meeting on...

  13. 78 FR 76626 - Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-18

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board AGENCY... hereby giving notice that the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) will be holding a public meeting via teleconference. The meeting is open to the public. DATES: The NBSB will hold a public meeting on...

  14. 77 FR 20805 - National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-06

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION National Board for Education Sciences; Meeting AGENCY: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. ACTION: Notice of an Open Teleconference Meeting. SUMMARY: This... Education Sciences. The notice also describes the functions of the Committee. Notice of this meeting is...

  15. A Science Information Infrastructure for Access to Earth and Space Science Data through the Nation's Science Museums

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Murray, S.

    1999-01-01

    In this project, we worked with the University of California at Berkeley/Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics and five science museums (the National Air and Space Museum, the Science Museum of Virginia, the Lawrence Hall of Science, the Exploratorium., and the New York Hall of Science) to formulate plans for computer-based laboratories located at these museums. These Science Learning Laboratories would be networked and provided with real Earth and space science observations, as well as appropriate lesson plans, that would allow the general public to directly access and manipulate the actual remote sensing data, much as a scientist would.

  16. 76 FR 14974 - Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-18

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board AGENCY... notice that the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) will be holding a public meeting. The meeting is open to the public. DATES: The NBSB will hold a public meeting on April 28-29, 2011. Tentatively the...

  17. 77 FR 35430 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-06-13

    ... Board's Committee on Science and Engineering Indicators, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614... policy Companion to Science and Engineering Indicators 2012 on the topic of state funding of public... National Science Board Web site www.nsf.gov/nsb for additional information and schedule updates (time...

  18. EPA at the National Science Teachers Association STEM Forum

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    EPA staff will be sharing educational resources, materials, information and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) hands-on activities at the National Science Teachers Association's STEM Forum in Philadelphia, PA

  19. 78 FR 9071 - Comment Request: National Science Foundation Proposal/Award Information-Grant Proposal Guide

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-07

    ... research potential; Science and engineering education programs at all levels and in all the various fields... science and engineering and enhancing the potential for research and education to contribute to the Nation... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Comment Request: National Science Foundation Proposal/Award...

  20. Factors associated with utilization of traditional Chinese medicine by white collar foreign workers living in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Daly, Maria; Tai, Chen-Jei; Deng, Chung-Yeh; Chien, Li-Yin

    2009-01-14

    Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has remained an integral part of Chinese culture and society for thousands of years. In Taiwan TCM is a recognized element of its National Health Insurance Scheme. However, there is no knowledge about how TCM is accessed by foreign workers from a non-Asian cultural background. The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence and patterns of TCM use among non-Asian white-collar workers living in Taiwan, and examine factors likely to influence their use of TCM. This study applied a cross-sectional survey design. A total of 207 white-collar foreign workers of a non-Asian background currently holding National Health Insurance cards who had lived in Taiwan for 4 months or more participated in this study. The prevalence of TCM use was 45%. The most frequently used therapies were traditional Chinese herbs/medicine and acupuncture. Factors indicating the likelihood of TCM usage were age 31-40 years, visit to an allopathic medical doctor in the last year, ability to read Chinese, having a friend or family member available to assist in the use of TCM, and access to information about TCM services available in Taiwan. Utilization of TCM by people of a non-Asian background living in Taiwan appears to be most influenced by enabling factors including language ability, access to information, and informal reference persons.

  1. 76 FR 15349 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-21

    ... National Science Board business and other matters specified, as follows: DATE, TIME AND SUBJECT MATTER..., 2011 8:30 National Science Foundation Perspective 8:45-10:30 Session V: Policy Issues 10:45-11 Public... schedule updates (time, place, subject matter or status of meeting) may be found at http://www.nsf.gov/nsb...

  2. 77 FR 70483 - President's Committee on the National Medal of Science; Notice of Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-11-26

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION President's Committee on the National Medal of Science; Notice of... Science. Originally the meeting was scheduled for October 31, 2012. A notice was published in the Federal... Science Foundation announces the rescheduled meeting: Name: President's Committee on the National Medal of...

  3. 77 FR 35430 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-06-13

    ... Board's Committee on Science and Engineering Indicators, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614... policy Companion to Science and Engineering Indicators 2012 on the topic of state funding of public... refer to the National Science Board Web site www.nsf.gov/nsb for additional information and schedule...

  4. Plasma Physics at the National Science Foundation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lukin, Vyacheslav

    2017-10-01

    The Town Meeting on Plasma Physics at the National Science Foundation will provide an opportunity for Q&A about the variety of NSF programs and solicitations relevant to a broad cross-section of the academic plasma science community, from graduating college seniors to senior leaders in the field, and from plasma astrophysics to basic physics to plasma engineering communities. We will discuss recent NSF-hosted events, research awards, and multi-agency partnerships aimed at enabling the progress of science in plasma science and engineering. Future outlook for plasma physics and broader plasma science support at NSF, with an emphasis on how you can help NSF to help the community, will be speculated upon within the uncertainty of the federal budgeting process.

  5. National Patterns of Science and Technology Resources, 1982.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    The National Science Foundation, in attempting to monitor the health of U.S. science and technology, assembles and analyzes comprehensive measures of the financial and human resources that various sectors (government, industry, academia, and other nonprofit institutions) devote to scientific and technological activities. This annual report…

  6. 76 FR 6162 - Public Availability of the National Science Foundation FY 2010 Service Contract Inventory

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-03

    ... National Science Foundation homepage at the following link: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Public Availability of the National Science Foundation FY 2010 Service Contract Inventory AGENCY: National Science Foundation. ACTION: Notice of Public Availability of FY 2010...

  7. 76 FR 3853 - National Science Foundation Rules of Practice and Statutory Conflict-of-Interest Exemptions

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-21

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 45 CFR Part 680 RIN 3145-AA51 National Science Foundation Rules of Practice and Statutory Conflict-of-Interest Exemptions AGENCY: National Science Foundation. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is amending its regulations to remove the...

  8. 75 FR 61520 - President's Committee on the National Medal of Science; Notice of Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-05

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION President's Committee on the National Medal of Science; Notice of... Science Foundation announces the following meeting: Name: President's Committee on the National Medal of Science (1182). Date and Time: Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Place: Conference Room...

  9. 76 FR 2388 - Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-13

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meeting of the National Biodefense Science Board AGENCY... notice that the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) will be holding a public meeting. The meeting is open to the public. DATES: The NBSB will hold a public meeting on January 25, 2011 from 1:15 p.m. to 3...

  10. NASA Sees Tropical Storm Linfa Between Taiwan and Northern Philippines

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2017-12-08

    NASA's Aqua satellite captured a picture of Tropical Storm Linfa in the South China Sea on July 7 when it was between southern Taiwan and the northern Philippines. Aqua passed over Linfa on July 7 at 05:25 UTC (1:25 a.m. EDT) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument captured a visible image of the storm. Bands of thunderstorms wrapping into the center of circulation from the south, draped over western Luzon. The MODIS image showed the tight concentration of thunderstorms around Linfa's center were located over the South China Sea. Fragmented bands of thunderstorms north of the center were brushing over Southern Taiwan while clouds from another band of fragmented thunderstorms stretched northwest through the Taiwan Strait. On July 7 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT), Tropical Storm Linfa's maximum sustained winds had increased to 50 knots (57.5 mph/92.6 kph), up from 45 knots (51.7 mph/83.3 kph) six hours before. Linfa strengthened in the warm waters of the South China Sea now that its center has moved away from the northern Philippines and was no longer over land. Linfa was centered near 21.0 North latitude and 118.8 East longitude, about 277 nautical miles (319 miles/513.3 km) east-southeast of Hong Kong, China. Linfa has tracked northward at 3 knots (3.5 mph/5.5 kph). China's National Meteorological Centre has (CNMC) issued a yellow category warning of typhoon at 6:00 a.m. July 7, Beijing Time. CNMC noted that Linfa is the tenth typhoon this year and at that time it was centered about 430 km (267.2 miles) southeast of border between Fujian and Guangdong For updated warnings and watches from the China Meteorological Service, visit: www.cma.gov.cn/en/WeatherWarnings/. Linfa is moving north between Luzon and Taiwan. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects Linfa to strengthen to 60 knots (69 mph/111 kph) by mid-day on July 9, before weakening and then making landfall in mainland China. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid

  11. 78 FR 42976 - Notice Pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993-Heterogeneous...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-18

    ... Computer Science and Engineering, Seoul, REPUBLIC OF KOREA; Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO; Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan, Chutung, Hsinchu, TAIWAN, Northeastern... activity of the group research project. Membership in this group research project remains open, and HSA...

  12. Prescription profile of potentially aristolochic acid containing Chinese herbal products: an analysis of National Health Insurance data in Taiwan between 1997 and 2003.

    PubMed

    Hsieh, Shu-Ching; Lin, I-Hsin; Tseng, Wei-Lum; Lee, Chang-Hsing; Wang, Jung-Der

    2008-10-23

    Some Chinese herbal products (CHPs) may contain aristolochic acid (AA) or may be adulterated by the herbs suspected of containing AA which is nephrotoxic and carcinogenic. This study aims to identify the risk and the prescription profile of AA-containing CHPs (AA-CHPs) in Taiwan. A longitudinal analysis was conducted on a randomly sampled cohort of 200,000 patients using the data from the National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan between 1997 and 2003. During the 7-year study period, 78,644 patients were prescribed with AA-CHPs; most patients were females, or middle-aged, or both. A total of 526,867 prescriptions were made to use 1,218 licensed AA-CHPs. Over 85% of the AA-exposed patients took less than 60 g of AA-herbs; however, about 7% were exposed to a cumulated dose of over 100 g of Radix et Rhizoma Asari (Xixin), Caulis Akebiae (Mutong) or Fructus Aristolochiae (Madouling). Patients of respiratory and musculoskeletal diseases received most of the AA-CHP prescriptions. The most frequently prescribed AA-CHPs Shujing Huoxie Tang, Chuanqiong Chadiao San and Longdan Xiegan Tang, containing Radix Stephaniae Tetrandrae, Radix et Rhizoma Asari and Caulis Akebiae, respectively. About one-third of people in Taiwan have been prescribed with AA-CHPs between 1997 and 2003. Although the cumulated doses were not large, further actions should be carried out to ensure the safe use of AA-CHPs.

  13. Prescription profile of potentially aristolochic acid containing Chinese herbal products: an analysis of National Health Insurance data in Taiwan between 1997 and 2003

    PubMed Central

    Hsieh, Shu-Ching; Lin, I-Hsin; Tseng, Wei-Lum; Lee, Chang-Hsing; Wang, Jung-Der

    2008-01-01

    Background Some Chinese herbal products (CHPs) may contain aristolochic acid (AA) or may be adulterated by the herbs suspected of containing AA which is nephrotoxic and carcinogenic. This study aims to identify the risk and the prescription profile of AA-containing CHPs (AA-CHPs) in Taiwan. Methods A longitudinal analysis was conducted on a randomly sampled cohort of 200,000 patients using the data from the National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan between 1997 and 2003. Results During the 7-year study period, 78,644 patients were prescribed with AA-CHPs; most patients were females, or middle-aged, or both. A total of 526,867 prescriptions were made to use 1,218 licensed AA-CHPs. Over 85% of the AA-exposed patients took less than 60 g of AA-herbs; however, about 7% were exposed to a cumulated dose of over 100 g of Radix et Rhizoma Asari (Xixin), Caulis Akebiae (Mutong) or Fructus Aristolochiae (Madouling). Patients of respiratory and musculoskeletal diseases received most of the AA-CHP prescriptions. The most frequently prescribed AA-CHPs Shujing Huoxie Tang, Chuanqiong Chadiao San and Longdan Xiegan Tang, containing Radix Stephaniae Tetrandrae, Radix et Rhizoma Asari and Caulis Akebiae, respectively. Conclusion About one-third of people in Taiwan have been prescribed with AA-CHPs between 1997 and 2003. Although the cumulated doses were not large, further actions should be carried out to ensure the safe use of AA-CHPs. PMID:18945373

  14. National IQs Predict Educational Attainment in Math, Reading and Science across 56 Nations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lynn, Richard; Mikk, Jaan

    2009-01-01

    The results of the 2006 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) study of reading comprehension, mathematical ability, and science understanding administered to 15 year olds in 56 countries [OECD (2007). PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World. Paris: OECD.] are examined to assess the predictive validity of the national IQs…

  15. The National Science Foundation’s Management Information System: A Status Report.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-04-08

    is.alsoneeded in addressing user needs. RECOMMENDATIONS We recommend that the Director of the National Science Foundation improve MIS by taking actions in the...Committee and National Science Foundation recipients. Subsequent distribution will be made to interested parties 1 week from the date of the report. y...Agency comments and our evaluation 23 Recommendations 27 ATTACHMENT I Organization of the NSF MIS 29 II National Science Foundation organization chart

  16. Comparison of electrocardiographic findings and associated risk factors between Taiwan Chinese and US White adults.

    PubMed

    Wu, Chih-Cheng; Yeh, Wen-Ting; Crow, Richard S; Bai, Chyi-Huey; Pan, Wen-Harn

    2008-08-18

    Electrocardiographic (ECG) findings are known to differ by race, however, systematic comparisons of findings between eastern and western countries are rare. To compare the ECG findings and associated coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors between Taiwan Chinese and US White adults aged >or=40 years. We compared the prevalence rate of Minnesota Code criteria based ECG findings and associated CHD risk factors by using data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT, 1993-1996). Examining all the ECG findings collectively, we observed a higher prevalence of major Minnesota Code findings in Taiwan Chinese women than in US White women (15.0% vs. 10.5%), particularly ST segment depression (5.4% vs. 2.4%) and T wave abnormalities (10.8% vs. 4.8%). The prevalence of major Minnesota Code findings was similar in both Taiwan Chinese and US White men (22.7% vs. 19.6%). Taiwan Chinese men had a higher prevalence of ST segment elevation (13.7% vs. 0.9%). Taiwan Chinese also had a higher prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy with repolarization change than US Whites in both sexes (2.7% vs. 1.4% for men, 4.3% vs. 1.3% for women). Taiwan Chinese had more favorable CHD risk factor profiles than US Whites, including lipid profile, obesity, central obesity, and smoking status. The prevalence of hypertension was similar between the two groups, however, a lower percentage of Taiwan Chinese received treatment. Taiwan Chinese men had a lower prevalence of diabetes mellitus than US White men, whereas Taiwan Chinese women had a higher prevalence than US White women. These results suggest that substantial differences in ECG findings exist between Taiwan Chinese and US Whites which cannot be entirely explained by CHD risk factors alone.

  17. The Primary Resistance of Helicobacter pylori in Taiwan after the National Policy to Restrict Antibiotic Consumption and Its Relation to Virulence Factors—A Nationwide Study

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Mei-Jyh; Chen, Chieh-Chang; Fang, Yu-Jen; Lee, Ji-Yuh; Wu, Jeng-Yih; Luo, Jiing-Chyuan; Liou, Tai-Cherng; Chang, Wen-Hsiung; Tseng, Cheng-Hao; Wu, Chun-Ying; Yang, Tsung-Hua; Chang, Chun-Chao; Wang, Hsiu‐Po; Sheu, Bor-Shyang; Lin, Jaw-Town; Bair, Ming-Jong; Wu, Ming-Shiang

    2015-01-01

    Objective The Taiwan Government issued a policy to restrict antimicrobial usage since 2001. We aimed to assess the changes in the antibiotic consumption and the primary resistance of H. pylori after this policy and the impact of virulence factors on resistance. Methods The defined daily dose (DDD) of antibiotics was analyzed using the Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) research database. H. pylori strains isolated from treatment naïve (N=1395) and failure from prior eradication therapies (N=360) from 9 hospitals between 2000 and 2012 were used for analysis. The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined by agar dilution test. Genotyping for CagA and VacA was determined by PCR method. Results The DDD per 1000 persons per day of macrolides reduced from 1.12 in 1997 to 0.19 in 2008, whereas that of fluoroquinolones increased from 0.12 in 1997 to 0.35 in 2008. The primary resistance of amoxicillin, clarithromycin, metronidazole, and tetracycline remained as low as 2.2%, 7.9%, 23.7%, and 1.9% respectively. However, the primary levofloxacin resistance rose from 4.9% in 2000–2007 to 8.3% in 2008–2010 and 13.4% in 2011–2012 (p=0.001). The primary resistance of metronidazole was higher in females than males (33.1% vs. 18.8%, p<0.001), which was probably attributed to the higher consumption of nitroimidazole. Neither CagA nor VacA was associated with antibiotic resistance. Conclusions The low primary clarithromycin and metronidazole resistance of H. pylori in Taiwan might be attributed to the reduced consumption of macrolides and nitroimidazole after the national policy to restrict antimicrobial usage. Yet, further strategies are needed to restrict the consumption of fluoroquinolones in the face of rising levofloxacin resistance. PMID:25942450

  18. Utilization of nuclear medicine scintigraphy in Taiwan, 1997-2009.

    PubMed

    Hung, Mao-Chin; Hsieh, Wanhua Annie; Chang, Peter Wushou; Hwang, Jeng-Jong

    2011-12-01

    To analyze the utilization of nuclear medicine scintigraphy in the Taiwanese population within the national health-care system between 1997 and 2009. Based on the Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database of 1997-2009, a retrospective population-based analysis was conducted. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were employed to analyze the frequencies and longitudinal trends in the utilization of diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures during the period. In addition, correlation analysis was applied to determine the correlated factors in the utility of nuclear medicine scintigraphy. The annual total nuclear medicine scintigraphy was estimated to be 256,389 on average in 1997-2009 and 11.7 per 1,000 population over the period. The frequency had increased by 67% over the years, from 8.2 per 1,000 population in 1997 to 13.7 per 1,000 population in 2009. The most frequently performed procedures were whole-body bone scans (33.4% of total) and myocardial perfusion scans (29.4% of total), with 4,615 and 5,620 increments per year, respectively. Most patients were in the age group of 41-65 years old when taking examinations. In addition, male subjects were slightly more than female patients (51.5 vs. 48.5%). Furthermore, the frequencies of whole-body bone scans and PET scans were proportional to the incidences of cancers (correlation coefficients were 0.96 and 0.94, respectively). The utilization of nuclear medicine scintigraphy with the National Health Insurance system in Taiwan has been changed considerably in the past 13 years. Both whole-body bone scan and myocardial perfusion scan were performed most often with significantly increases. The trend of nuclear medicine scintigraphy may have potential impact on making health-care policy in Taiwan.

  19. Is a diabetes pay-for-performance program cost-effective under the National Health Insurance in Taiwan?

    PubMed

    Tan, Elise Chia-Hui; Pwu, Raoh-Fang; Chen, Duan-Rung; Yang, Ming-Chin

    2014-03-01

    In October 2001, a pay-for-performance (P4P) program for diabetes was implemented by the National Health Insurance (NHI), a single-payer program, in Taiwan. However, only limited information is available regarding the influence of this program on the patient's health-related quality of life. The aim of this study was to estimate the costs and consequences of enrolling patients in the P4P program from a single-payer perspective. A retrospective observational study of 529 diabetic patients was conducted between 2004 and 2005. The data used in the study were obtained from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in Taiwan. Direct cost data were obtained from NHI claims data, which were linked to respondents in the NHIS using scrambled individual identification. The generic SF36 health instrument was employed to measure the quality-of-life-related health status and transformed into a utility index. Patients enrolled in the P4P program for at least 3 months were categorized as the P4P group. Following propensity score matching, 260 patients were included in the study. Outcomes included life-years, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), diabetes-related medical costs, overall medical costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). A single-payer perspective was assumed, and costs were expressed in US dollars. Nonparametric bootstrapping was conducted to estimate confidence intervals for cost-effectiveness ratios. Following matching, no significant difference was noted between two groups with regard to the patients' age, gender, education, family income, smoking status, BMI, or whether insulin was used. The P4P group had an increase of 0.08 (95 % CI 0.077-0.080) in QALYs, and the additional diabetes-related medical cost was US$422.74 (95 % CI US$413.58-US$435.05), yielding an ICER of US$5413.93 (95 % CI US$5226.83-US$5562.97) per QALY gained. Our results provides decision makers with valuable information regarding the impact of the P4P program of diabetes care

  20. Vocational Education at the Crossroads. The Case of Taiwan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Gerald C.; Shih, Mingfa

    Programs and curricula in vocational education in Taiwan have traditionally been linked to the nation's priority of economic development. The current vocational education system originated in the 1950s. In the 1970s, public free education was extended from 6 years of elementary school education to include an additional 3 years of junior high…

  1. 75 FR 31818 - National Science Board; Committee on Strategy and Budget; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-04

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Committee on Strategy and Budget; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice The National Science Board's Committee on Strategy and Budget, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the...

  2. Pregnancy-associated mortality in Taiwan, 2004-2011.

    PubMed

    Sha, Li; Wu, Tung-Pi; Liang, Fu-Wen; Chen, Lea-Hua; Lu, Tsung-Hsueh; Huang, Ya-Li

    2016-06-01

    Pregnancy-associated death is defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as "a death of a woman while pregnant or within 1 year of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the cause of death." We sought to determine pregnancy-associated mortality ratio (PAMR) in Taiwan and to compare the cause of death pattern with other countries to assess the national health status of Taiwanese women. We linked four nationwide population-based data sets (birth registration, birth notification, National Health Insurance claims, and cause of death mortality) from 2004 to 2011 to identify women aged 15-49 years that died from pregnancy-associated deaths. We then calculated the PAMR and cause of death distribution by maternal age. A total of 559 pregnancy-associated deaths were identified with an overall PAMR of 36 (deaths per 100,000 live births). The J-shaped age-specific PAMR mortality pattern was noted, in which the PAMR was 32, 25, 24, 36, 71, 143, and 369 for women aged 15-19 years, 20-24 years, 25-29 years, 30-34 years, 35-39 years, 40-44 years, and 45-49 years, respectively. The age-standardized PAMR decreased drastically from 45 in 2004-2005 to 36 in 2006-2007 and 30 in 2008-2009, but leveled off to 33 in 2010-2011. The proportion of indirect causes increased from 2004-2007 to 2008-2011 among women aged 15-29 years and 35-49 years. Compared with previous studies, the PAMR of Taiwan is moderate. However, the proportion of external causes of pregnancy-associated deaths in Taiwan is the lowest compared with other regions. Further studies (such as death review) are needed to explore possible preventable factors. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  3. Glaucoma correlates with increased risk of Parkinson's disease in the elderly: a national-based cohort study in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lai, Shih-Wei; Lin, Cheng-Li; Liao, Kuan-Fu

    2017-08-01

    Very little is known about the association between glaucoma and Parkinson's disease in the elderly. The objective of this study was to determine whether glaucoma is associated with Parkinson's disease in older people in Taiwan. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program database from 2000 to 2010. We included 4330 subjects aged 65 years or older with newly diagnosed glaucoma as the glaucoma group, and 17,000 randomly selected subjects without a glaucoma diagnosis as the non-glaucoma group. Both groups were matched for sex, age, other comorbidities, and index year of glaucoma diagnosis. The incidence of Parkinson's disease at the end of 2011 was measured. A multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to measure the hazard ratio and 95% confidence intervals for Parkinson's disease associated with glaucoma. The overall incidence of Parkinson's disease was 1.28-fold higher in the glaucoma group than that in the non-glaucoma group (7.73 vs. 6.02 per 1000 person-years; 95% confidence interval 1.18, 1.40). After controlling for potential confounding factors, the adjusted hazard ratio of Parkinson's disease was 1.23 for the glaucoma group (95% confidence interval 1.05, 1.46), compared with the non-glaucoma group. Older people with glaucoma correlate with a small but statistically significant increase in the risk for Parkinson's disease. Whether glaucoma may be a non-motor feature of Parkinson's disease in older people requires further research to confirm.

  4. Characteristics of Broadband Seismic Noise in Taiwan and Neighboring Islands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Ching-Wei; Rau, Ruey-Juin

    2017-04-01

    We used seismic waveform data from 115 broad-band stations of BATS (Institute of Earth Science, Academia Sinica) and Central Weather Bureau Seismic Network from 2012 to 2016 for noise-level mapping in Taiwan and neighboring islands. We computed Power Spectral Density (PSD) for each station and analyzed long-term variance of microseism energy and polarizations of noise for severe weather events. The island of Taiwan is surrounded by ocean and the Central Range which has the highest peak Jade Mountain at 3,952 meters height occupies more than 66% of the island and departs it into the east and west coasts. The geographic settings then result in the high population density in the western plain and northern Taiwan. The dominant noise source in the microseism band (periods from 4-20 seconds) is the coupling between the near-coast ocean and sea floor which produces the high noise of averaging -130 dB along the west coastal area. In the eastern volcanic-arc coastal areas, the noise level is about 7% smaller than the west coast due to its deeper offshore water depth. As for the shorter periods (0.1-0.25 seconds) band, the so-called culture noise, an anthropic activity variance with the highest -103 dB can be identified in the metropolitan areas, such as the Taipei city and the noise level in the Central Range area is averaging -138 dB. Moreover, the noise also shows a daily and temporal evolution mainly related to the traffic effect. Furthermore, we determined the noise level for the entire island of Taiwan during 26-28 September, 2016, when the typhoon Megi hit the island and retrieved the enhancement of secondary microseism energy for each stations. Typhoon Megi landed in eastern and central Taiwan and reached the maximum wind speed of 45m/s in the surrounded eyewall. The Central Range, as a barrier, decreased the wind speed in southern Taiwan making an enhancement less than 10 dB, while in northern Taiwan where the direction the typhoon headed to, can reach more than 35

  5. Boundaries and audiences of national histories of science: insights from the history of science and technology of the Netherlands.

    PubMed

    Homburg, Ernst

    2008-01-01

    The present paper traces the evolution of writing national-oriented histories of science and technology of the Netherlands. Several episodes are distinguished. A first wave of national histories of science and technology was written during the first decades of the 19th century. These histories had a wide scope, which included science, technology, the humanities and the arts. A second wave, which lasted from about 1865 to 1900, was strongly connected to the rise of the scientific professions. Its focus was on the sciences perse, and on the Dutch "Golden Age" of the 17th century. A third wave occurred during and shortly after the Second World War. Its focus was mainly on the "Second Golden Age" of Dutch science (1870-1910), and its major audience were young boys that were to be recruited to the sciences. The second part of the paper discusses the growing influence of "contextualization" in both the history of science and the history of technology from about 1975 onwards. As a result, local factors often received more attention in historical studies of science and technology than national influences. In 1985, Klaas van Berkel undertook a bold attempt to write a new synthesis of the history of Dutch science, but his approach was too strongly influenced by the three previous waves of national histories. From 1989 to 2003 two projects on the national history of technology resulted in 13 volumes on Dutch technology between 1800 and 1970. New research was initiated, and the issue of "national styles" in the development of technology received ample attention. In his conclusions the author points to lessons to be learned from economic history and the history of art, and he concludes with a plea for more historiographical discussion in the history of science and technology.

  6. National Science Foundation Annual Report 1989.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    The report begins with a statement from the National Science Foundation (NSF) director, followed by a series of research notes summarizing research findings and results during the year 1989. Chapter 1, "Research Collaborations," describes some examples of the collaborations between universities, industry, and government in astronomy,…

  7. Foreign science and engineering doctoral attainment at American universities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hamilton, Robert V.

    This dissertation analyzes the nearly 100,000 foreign students who attained science and engineering (S&E) doctorates in the five fields of physical sciences, life sciences, engineering, mathematics and computer sciences, and social and behavioral sciences at American universities from 1994 to 2005. Two models are presented. In the first model controlling for population, multivariate regression results testing for whether foreign students from higher or lower income nations (181 nations) tended to attain S&E doctorates showed that certain S&E fields tended to be represented by students from higher income nations early in the time period (e.g. 1994 to 1999) but the national income variable explaining foreign S&E doctoral attainment was not statistically significant in four of the fields after the year 2000. Four nations, China, India, South Korea and Taiwan stand out due to their large S&E doctoral student presence at American universities, but virtually all growth in foreign doctoral attainment in four of the S&E fields from 1994 to 2005 came from Chinese students, and this growth was most pronounced after the year 2001. In short, whereas the foreign student populations from South Korea and Taiwan were the outliers in 1994 and as such skewed testing results, they had largely been displaced in 2005 by the increased presence of Chinese students. From the US public policy perspective, to the extent that growth in foreign S&E doctoral attainment is an issue to include its related costs and benefits, the appropriate policy focus should shift more specifically towards the growth in Chinese S&E doctoral attainment. Further, with the exception of China and India, foreign doctoral students from the lowest income nations of the world in all five S&E fields were greatly under represented on American campuses from 1994 to 2005. Testing results from the second model complement the findings in the first model. Whereas the first model tested for the effects of national income on

  8. Childlessness patterns in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Poston Dl

    1988-06-01

    Taiwan is a newly developed and industrialized area, and along with Korea, Brazil, Argentina, and a few other countries, belongs in a special class of recently industrialized areas. Taiwan has been undergoing large-scale modernization since the 1950s when the Nationalist government 1st began to implement land reform programs and today is 1 of the showcase of newly developed areas of the world. Demographic transition theory shows that fertility is negatively associated with modernization. During the past 3 decades, fertility in Taiwan has followed this pattern in a dramatic manner. Studies of childlessness conducted in Western countries have shown also that as the modernizing influences continue, fertility declines, and childlessness increases as it becomes more and more voluntary. Subregions with the highest levels of modernization and the lowest fertility rates should therefore be characterized by the highest levels of childlessness, particularly among younger women, and vice versa. Given the levels of socioeconomic and demographic development in Taiwan and its subregions circa 1980, as well as its variability among the hsiens and major cities, the author would expect to find higher levels of childlessness in the more developed localities, and lower levels in the less developed subregions. This hypothesis is tested with data from the 1980 Census of Population and Housing: General Report, Taiwan--Fukien Area (Republic of China, 1982) and the 1980 Taiwan--Fukien Demographic Fact Book (Republic of China, 1980).

  9. 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education: Status of Elementary School Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trygstad, Peggy J.

    2013-01-01

    The 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education was designed to provide up-to-date information and to identify trends in the areas of teacher background and experience, curriculum and instruction, and the availability and use of instructional resources. A total of 7,752 science and mathematics teachers in schools across the United…

  10. 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education: Status of Middle School Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weis, Aaron M.

    2013-01-01

    The 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education was designed to provide up-to-date information and to identify trends in the areas of teacher background and experience, curriculum and instruction, and the availability and use of instructional resources. A total of 7,752 science and mathematics teachers in schools across the United…

  11. The United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haubold, H. J.

    2006-08-01

    Pursuant to recommendations of the United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) and deliberations of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), annual UN/ European Space Agency workshops on basic space science have been held around the world since 1991. These workshops contribute to the development of astrophysics and space science, particularly in developing nations. Following a process of prioritization, the workshops identified the following elements as particularly important for international cooperation in the field: (i) operation of astronomical telescope facilities implementing TRIPOD, (ii) virtual observatories, (iii) astrophysical data systems, (iv) concurrent design capabilities for the development of international space missions, and (v) theoretical astrophysics such as applications of nonextensive statistical mechanics. Beginning in 2005, the workshops focus on preparations for the International Heliophysical Year 2007 (IHY2007). The workshops continue to facilitate the establishment of astronomical telescope facilities as pursued by Japan and the development of low-cost, ground-based, world-wide instrument arrays as lead by the IHY secretariat. Wamsteker, W., Albrecht, R. and Haubold, H.J.: Developing Basic Space Science World-Wide: A Decade of UN/ESA Workshops. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht 2004. http://ihy2007.org http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/bss/ihy2007/index.html http://www.cbpf.br/GrupPesq/StatisticalPhys/biblio.htm

  12. The United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haubold, H. J.

    Pursuant to recommendations of the United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space UNISPACE III and deliberations of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space UNCOPUOS annual UN European Space Agency workshops on basic space science have been held around the world since 1991 These workshops contribute to the development of astrophysics and space science particularly in developing nations Following a process of prioritization the workshops identified the following elements as particularly important for international cooperation in the field i operation of astronomical telescope facilities implementing TRIPOD ii virtual observatories iii astrophysical data systems iv concurrent design capabilities for the development of international space missions and v theoretical astrophysics such as applications of nonextensive statistical mechanics Beginning in 2005 the workshops focus on preparations for the International Heliophysical Year 2007 IHY2007 The workshops continue to facilitate the establishment of astronomical telescope facilities as pursued by Japan and the development of low-cost ground-based world-wide instrument arrays as lead by the IHY secretariat Further information Wamsteker W Albrecht R and Haubold H J Developing Basic Space Science World-Wide A Decade of UN ESA Workshops Kluwer Academic Publishers Dordrecht 2004 http ihy2007 org http www oosa unvienna org SAP bss ihy2007 index html http www cbpf br GrupPesq StatisticalPhys biblio htm

  13. Science, environment and technology summit: A long term national science strategy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Trivelpiece, A.W.

    1995-06-01

    This document contains the text of the testimony given by Alvin W. Trivelpiece, Director, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, before the Subcommittee on Basic Research, Committee on Science, US House of Representatives in Oak Ridge, TN on June 1, 1995.

  14. Factors associated with utilization of traditional Chinese medicine by white collar foreign workers living in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Daly, Maria; Tai, Chen-Jei; Deng, Chung-Yeh; Chien, Li-Yin

    2009-01-01

    Background Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has remained an integral part of Chinese culture and society for thousands of years. In Taiwan TCM is a recognized element of its National Health Insurance Scheme. However, there is no knowledge about how TCM is accessed by foreign workers from a non-Asian cultural background. The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence and patterns of TCM use among non-Asian white-collar workers living in Taiwan, and examine factors likely to influence their use of TCM. Methods This study applied a cross-sectional survey design. A total of 207 white-collar foreign workers of a non-Asian background currently holding National Health Insurance cards who had lived in Taiwan for 4 months or more participated in this study. Results The prevalence of TCM use was 45%. The most frequently used therapies were traditional Chinese herbs/medicine and acupuncture. Factors indicating the likelihood of TCM usage were age 31–40 years, visit to an allopathic medical doctor in the last year, ability to read Chinese, having a friend or family member available to assist in the use of TCM, and access to information about TCM services available in Taiwan. Conclusion Utilization of TCM by people of a non-Asian background living in Taiwan appears to be most influenced by enabling factors including language ability, access to information, and informal reference persons. PMID:19144152

  15. HIV/HCV Coinfection in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Hsu, Ching-Sheng; Kao, Jia-Horng

    2016-01-01

    Both human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are important global public health problems with shared transmission routes. Although HIV/HCV coinfection is not uncommon, the prevalence rates vary significantly across different studies and regions. In Taiwan, injection drug users have become the major contributors to the HIV/AIDS epidemic since 2005. Because the prevalence of HCV infection is high in injection drug users, this HIV epidemic is also associated with a significant increase of HIV/HCV coinfection in Taiwan. To control Taiwan's HIV epidemic, Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) launched a harm-reduction program in 2006. The HIV epidemic, the percentage attributed to injection drug users, and the prevalence of HIV/HCV coinfection gradually declined thereafter. In this article, we aimed to thoroughly examine the current literatures of HIV/HCV coinfection in Taiwan and hope to provide a better understanding of the needs for the management of this coinfection. We conducted a narrative review and searched for literature from PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library database untill August 2015. Studies relevant to the epidemiology and associated risk factors of HIV/HCV coinfection in Taiwan were examined and discussed.

  16. The Current Status and Future of E-Learning in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tsai, Chin-Chung; Chen, Nian-Shing; Chen, Gwo-Dong

    2010-01-01

    Like any other modern, forward-looking and technologically advanced nation, Taiwan has realised the current and future importance of electronic learning--now commonly referred to as "e-learning". Bearing this in mind, some years ago, the Taiwanese government introduced a number of initiatives that were intended to promote the development…

  17. 75 FR 2864 - National Biodefense Science Board: Notification of Public Teleconference

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-19

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Biodefense Science Board: Notification of Public...) is hereby giving notice that the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) will hold a teleconference... wish to participate in the public comment session should e-mail [email protected]GOV to RSVP. DATES: The...

  18. Maintaining the Status Quo in the Taiwan Strait

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-03-01

    of National Security and Strategy 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) U.S. Army...Count: 5,308 14. ABSTRACT In order to ensure vital U.S. interests concerning security and economic freedom in the region, the status quo in the...international/regional support of Taiwan, Taiwanese military deterrence backed by strategically ambiguous U.S. assurances of security , intertwined

  19. Integrated structural model for active arc-continental collision from southern Taiwan to central Taiwan inferred from seismogenic views

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagai, S.; Wang, Y.; Ma, K.; Wu, Y.; Huang, H.

    2010-12-01

    The Taiwan Island is located in ongoing arc-continent collision zone between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate. Numerous geophysical and geological studies have explained the tectonic processes and developed various models. There are two end-member models for Taiwan collision; Thin-skinned model [e.g. Suppe, 1987] and Lithospheric collision model [Wu et al., 1997]. One of most important issue is that collision in Taiwan involves and contributes deformation to what depth. We have presented on this point in central Taiwan through seismological views, including both observed facts and results of tomographic inversion [Nagai et al., 2010 in WPGM 2010]. We have concluded that orogenic process should involve and contribute to depth of 30 km at least in central Taiwan, and suggested ’Upper Crustal Stacking Model’. We have indicated that existence of low-velocity blocks under Central Mountain Range (CMR) is one of the most important factors to understand Taiwan arc-continental collision process. We extend this idea to southern and northern Taiwan and to connect with balanced cross-sections proposed in Ustaszewski et al. [2010]. In this talk, we focused on the structural variation from southern Taiwan to central Taiwan. We have been performing the local double-difference tomography [Zhang and Thurber, 2003] in southern and northern Taiwan using the Central Weather Bureau Seismic Network with temporary array observations. These results in seismic tomography show variation of seismic velocity under the CMR like in central Taiwan. Low-velocity anomalies are also detected. Although it should be checked carefully, velocity blocks segmented some parts and seismic activities seem to be located on their boundaries. The Jiaxian earthquake on 4th Mar, 2010 occurred on one of these segmentation boundaries. The tectonic process in Taiwan arc-continental collision consists of different-scale structures, which means finer resolution structures may be nested with the

  20. 76 FR 8381 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Impromptu Notice of Time & Location Change

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-14

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Impromptu Notice of Time & Location Change The National Science Board's Committee on Program and Plans, pursuant to NSF regulations (45 CFR Part 614), the National Science Foundation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n-5), and the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552...

  1. USGS Science: Addressing Our Nation's Challenges

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Larson, Tania M.

    2009-01-01

    With 6.6 billion people already living on Earth, and that number increasing every day, human influence on our planet is ever more apparent. Changes to the natural world combined with increasing human demands threaten our health and safety, our national security, our economy, and our quality of life. As a planet and a Nation, we face unprecedented challenges: loss of critical and unique ecosystems, the effects of climate change, increasing demand for limited energy and mineral resources, increasing vulnerability to natural hazards, the effects of emerging diseases on wildlife and human health, and growing needs for clean water. The time to respond to these challenges is now, but policymakers and decisionmakers face difficult choices. With competing priorities to balance, and potentially serious - perhaps irreversible - consequences at stake, our leaders need reliable scientific information to guide their decisions. As the Nation's earth and natural science agency, the USGS monitors and conducts scientific research on natural hazards and resources and how these elements and human activities influence our environment. Because the challenges we face are complex, the science needed to better understand and deal with these challenges must reflect the complex interplay among natural and human systems. With world-class expertise in biology, geology, geography, hydrology, geospatial information, and remote sensing, the USGS is uniquely capable of conducting the comprehensive scientific research needed to better understand the interdependent interactions of Earth's systems. Every day, the USGS helps decisionmakers to minimize loss of life and property, manage our natural resources, and protect and enhance our quality of life. This brochure provides examples of the challenges we face and how USGS science helps decisionmakers to address these challenges.

  2. An Analysis of English Language Education and Its Impact on Business Practice in Taiwan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Du-Babcock, Bertha; Babcock, Richard D.

    The state of English language instruction in Taiwan and its impact on firms doing business there are examined. The analysis draws on case studies of language training and use in four national and multinational corporations, each representing different nationalities and a different industry: Texas Instruments, Kaohsiung Monomer Company Limited,…

  3. The prosecution of Taiwan sexuality researcher and activist Josephine Ho.

    PubMed

    Wang, Ping

    2004-05-01

    In April 2003, following a newspaper report of a hyperlink to a website on bestiality on the Sexuality Databank website of the Center for the Study of Sexualities, National Central University, Taipei, Taiwan, 14 conservative NGOs filed charges against the Center's founder, Josephine Ho, for "propagating obscenities that corrupt traditional values." Ho has been researching sexuality and supporting freedom for marginalised sexual minorities for ten years. In a public statement in response to the charges, she said that the work of scholarly research must not be dictated by prejudice and that differences in sexual values should not be arbitrated by law and should be open for public discussion. As the legal process began in January 2004, Ho's supporters in Taiwan have called for the preservation of the Taiwan Constitutional decree on integrity and autonomy of academic research and freedom of expression on the internet, for the University to resist calls to dismiss Ho from her post, and for respect for freedom of speech and expression and the right to create spaces to educate people about non-normative sexualities.

  4. Information science and technology developments within the National Biological Information Infrastructure

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Frame, M.T.; Cotter, G.; Zolly, L.; Little, J.

    2002-01-01

    Whether your vantage point is that of an office window or a national park, your view undoubtedly encompasses a rich diversity of life forms, all carefully studied or managed by some scientist, resource manager, or planner. A few simple calculations - the number of species, their interrelationships, and the many researchers studying them - and you can easily see the tremendous challenges that the resulting biological data presents to the information and computer science communities. Biological information varies in format and content: it may pertain to a particular species or an entire ecosystem; it can contain land use characteristics, and geospatially referenced information. The complexity and uniqueness of each individual species or ecosystem do not easily lend themselves to today's computer science tools and applications. To address the challenges that the biological enterprise presents, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) (http://www.nbii.gov) was established in 1993 on the recommendation of the National Research Council (National Research Council 1993). The NBII is designed to address these issues on a national scale, and through international partnerships. This paper discusses current information and computer science efforts within the National Biological Information Infrastructure Program, and future computer science research endeavors that are needed to address the ever-growing issues related to our nation's biological concerns. ?? 2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. 76 FR 24923 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-03

    ...: Some portions open, some portions closed. UPDATES: Please refer to the National Science Board Web site... Information Item: Status Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory Information Item: High...

  6. 77 FR 16846 - National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity Meeting; Office of Biotechnology Activities...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity Meeting; Office of Biotechnology Activities, Office of Science Policy, Office of..., as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), notice is hereby given of the following meeting of the National Science...

  7. Challenges and Strategies of Laboratory Diagnosis for Newly Emerging Influenza Viruses in Taiwan: A Decade after SARS

    PubMed Central

    Wu, Ho-Sheng

    2015-01-01

    Since the first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Taiwan was identified in March 2003, viral respiratory infections, in particular the influenza virus, have become a national public health concern. Taiwan would face a serious threat of public health problems if another SARS epidemic overlapped with a flu outbreak. After SARS, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control accelerated and strengthened domestic research on influenza and expanded the exchange of information with international counterparts. The capacity of influenza A to cross species barriers presents a potential threat to human health. Given the mutations of avian flu viruses such as H7N9, H6N1, and H10N8, all countries, including Taiwan, must equip themselves to face a possible epidemic or pandemic. Such preparedness requires global collaboration. PMID:26290876

  8. Taiwan: growing, growing, gone.

    PubMed

    Hanson, R

    1979-10-01

    Accommodation between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China may not be inconceivable as trade contacts (though officially disallowed) grow. Because of Taiwan's well-established success and the pressing need in China to industrialize, it appears, however, that such an accommodation will occur only after China becomes more like Taiwan. Taiwan owes its success, first, to land reform and then, in the 1960s, to steady industrialization. Besides broad controls over money supply and capital designed to ward off inflationary pressures when needed, and the grand outlines for development, another factor in the island's economic success is that the government has interfered little with private enterprise. The economy has an underpinning of small to medium size businesses. There are more than 10,000 trading companies. This diverse foundation has given the economy as a whole a flexible buffer on which more sophisticated industires can be formed.

  9. Risk factors of suicide mortality among multiple attempters: A national registry study in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chen, I-Ming; Liao, Shih-Cheng; Lee, Ming-Been; Wu, Chia-Yi; Lin, Po-Hsien; Chen, Wei J

    2016-05-01

    Little is known about the risk factors of suicide mortality among multiple attempters. This study aims to investigate the predictors of suicidal mortality in a prospective cohort of attempters in Taiwan, focusing on the time interval and suicide method change between the last two nonfatal attempts. The representative data retrieved from the National Suicide Surveillance System (NSSS) was linked with National Mortality Database to identify the causes of death in multiple attempters during 2006-2008. Cox-proportional hazard models were applied to calculate the hazard ratios for the predictors of suicide. Among the 55,560 attempters, 6485 (11.7%) had survived attempts ranging from one to 11 times; 861 (1.5%) eventually died by suicide. Multiple attempters were characterized by female (OR = 1.56, p < 0.0001), nonrecipient of national aftercare service (OR = 1.62, p < 0.0001), and current contact with mental health services (OR = 3.17, p < 0.0001). Most multiple attempters who survived from hanging (68.1%) and gas poisoning (61.9%) chose the same method in the following fatal episode. Predictors of suicidal death were identified as male, older age (≥ 45 years), shorter interval and not maintaining methods of low lethality in the last two nonfatal attempts. Receipt of nationwide aftercare was associated with lower risk of suicide but the effect was insignificant. The time interval of the last two nonfatal attempts and alteration in the lethality of suicide method were significant factors for completed suicide. Risk assessment involving these two factors may be necessary for multiple attempters in different clinical settings. Effective strategies for suicide prevention emphasizing this high risk population should be developed in the future. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  10. 75 FR 9000 - Comment Request: National Science Foundation Proposal/Award Information-Grant Proposal Guide

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-26

    ... process; Programs to strengthen scientific and engineering research potential; Science and engineering..., authority to support applied research was added to the Organic Act. In 1980, The Science and Engineering... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Comment Request: National Science Foundation Proposal/Award...

  11. Severe Dengue Fever Outbreak in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Sheng-Fan; Wang, Wen-Hung; Chang, Ko; Chen, Yen-Hsu; Tseng, Sung-Pin; Yen, Chia-Hung; Wu, Deng-Chyang; Chen, Yi-Ming Arthur

    2016-01-01

    Dengue fever (DF) is a vector-borne disease caused by dengue viruses (DENVs). Epidemic dengue occurs intermittently in Taiwan. In 2014, Taiwan experienced its largest DF outbreak. There were 15,732 DF cases reported. There were a total of 136 dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) cases, of which 20 resulted in death. Most DF cases were reported in southern Taiwan. A total of 15,043 (96%) cases were from Kaohsiung, a modern city in southern Taiwan. This report reviews DF epidemics in Taiwan during 2005–2014. The correlation between DF and DHF along with temperature and precipitation were conjointly examined. We conclude that most dengue epidemics in Taiwan resulted from imported DF cases. Results indicate three main factors that may have been associated with this DF outbreak in Kaohsiung: an underground pipeline explosion combined with subsequent rainfall and higher temperature. These factors may have enhanced mosquito breeding activity, facilitating DENV transmission. PMID:26572871

  12. Severe Dengue Fever Outbreak in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Wang, Sheng-Fan; Wang, Wen-Hung; Chang, Ko; Chen, Yen-Hsu; Tseng, Sung-Pin; Yen, Chia-Hung; Wu, Deng-Chyang; Chen, Yi-Ming Arthur

    2016-01-01

    Dengue fever (DF) is a vector-borne disease caused by dengue viruses (DENVs). Epidemic dengue occurs intermittently in Taiwan. In 2014, Taiwan experienced its largest DF outbreak. There were 15,732 DF cases reported. There were a total of 136 dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) cases, of which 20 resulted in death. Most DF cases were reported in southern Taiwan. A total of 15,043 (96%) cases were from Kaohsiung, a modern city in southern Taiwan. This report reviews DF epidemics in Taiwan during 2005-2014. The correlation between DF and DHF along with temperature and precipitation were conjointly examined. We conclude that most dengue epidemics in Taiwan resulted from imported DF cases. Results indicate three main factors that may have been associated with this DF outbreak in Kaohsiung: an underground pipeline explosion combined with subsequent rainfall and higher temperature. These factors may have enhanced mosquito breeding activity, facilitating DENV transmission. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

  13. 78 FR 66369 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-05

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Initial Review Group Training and Workforce Development Subcommittee--D. Date: November 7, 2013... Review Officer, Office of Scientific Review, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National...

  14. 76 FR 10911 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-28

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Special Emphasis Panel; Review of Minority Biomedical Research Support Applications. Date: March... Review, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health, 45 Center Drive...

  15. 78 FR 66367 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-05

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Initial Review Group; Training and Workforce Development Subcommittee--A. Date: November 21, 2013... Review Officer, Office of Scientific Review, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National...

  16. 76 FR 4947 - Comment Request: National Science Foundation Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures Guide

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-27

    ... process; Programs to strengthen scientific and engineering research potential; Science and engineering..., authority to support applied research was added to the Organic Act. In 1980, The Science and Engineering... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Comment Request: National Science Foundation Proposal & Award Policies...

  17. Coprescription of Chinese herbal medicine and Western medication among female patients with breast cancer in Taiwan: analysis of national insurance claims.

    PubMed

    Wang, Bih-Ru; Chang, Yuh-Lih; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Chiu, Jen-Hwey; Wu, Jing Chong; Wu, Min-Shan; Chou, Chia-Lin; Chou, Yueh-Ching

    2014-01-01

    Many female breast cancer (FBC) patients take Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and Western medication (WM) concurrently in Taiwan. Despite the possibility of interactions between the CHM and WM mentioned in previous studies, the pattern of these coprescriptions in FBC patients remains unclear. Hence, the aim of the present study is to investigate the utilization of coprescriptions of CHM and WM among the FBC patients in Taiwan. The study was a cross-sectional survey using the sampled cohort in 2009 obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. There were 3,507 FBC patients identified from the registry for catastrophic illness patients. Ambulatory visit records, corresponding prescriptions, and the data of beneficiaries belonging to the FBC patients were further extracted. A total of 1,086 FBC patients used CHM at least once. CHM and WM prescribed within any overlapping duration were defined as coprescriptions. There were 868 (80.0%) patients simultaneously receiving CHM and WM. A total of 4,927 CHM prescriptions and 6,358 WM prescriptions were prescribed concurrently. Among these coprescriptions, the most frequently used CHM was jia-wei-xiao-yao-san (21.2%), and the most frequently coprescribed WM was acetaminophen (38.9%), followed by tamoxifen (25.5%). There were 346 patients using systemic adjuvant therapy and CHM concurrently. The most commonly coprescribed CHM with chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, and trastuzumab was xiang-sha-liu-jun-zi-tang, jia-wei-xiao-yao-san, and zhi-gan-cao-tang, respectively. The combined use of CHM with WM is prevalent. The main purpose of combining CHM with systemic cancer treatment is to alleviate the treatment-related adverse effects. However, the combination may result in the potential risk of drug-herb interactions. Further clinical studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the CHM and WM coprescriptions for FBC patients.

  18. Frequency and pattern of Chinese herbal medicine prescriptions for urticaria in Taiwan during 2009: analysis of the national health insurance database.

    PubMed

    Chien, Pei-Shan; Tseng, Yu-Fang; Hsu, Yao-Chin; Lai, Yu-Kai; Weng, Shih-Feng

    2013-08-15

    Large-scale pharmaco-epidemiological studies of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for treatment of urticaria are few, even though clinical trials showed some CHM are effective. The purpose of this study was to explore the frequencies and patterns of CHM prescriptions for urticaria by analysing the population-based CHM database in Taiwan. This study was linked to and processed through the complete traditional CHM database of the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan during 2009. We calculated the frequencies and patterns of CHM prescriptions used for treatment of urticaria, of which the diagnosis was defined as the single ICD-9 Code of 708. Frequent itemset mining, as applied to data mining, was used to analyse co-prescription of CHM for patients with urticaria. There were 37,386 subjects who visited traditional Chinese Medicine clinics for urticaria in Taiwan during 2009 and received a total of 95,765 CHM prescriptions. Subjects between 18 and 35 years of age comprised the largest number of those treated (32.76%). In addition, women used CHM for urticaria more frequently than men (female:male = 1.94:1). There was an average of 5.54 items prescribed in the form of either individual Chinese herbs or a formula in a single CHM prescription for urticaria. Bai-Xian-Pi (Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz) was the most commonly prescribed single Chinese herb while Xiao-Feng San was the most commonly prescribed Chinese herbal formula. The most commonly prescribed CHM drug combination was Xiao-Feng San plus Bai-Xian-Pi while the most commonly prescribed triple drug combination was Xiao-Feng San, Bai-Xian-Pi, and Di-Fu Zi (Kochia scoparia). In view of the popularity of CHM such as Xiao-Feng San prescribed for the wind-heat pattern of urticaria in this study, a large-scale, randomized clinical trial is warranted to research their efficacy and safety.

  19. Low accuracy of the national reporting system of acute hepatitis C infection in Taiwan, 1995-2004.

    PubMed

    Kee, Kwong-Ming; Hung, Chi-Ming; Wang, Jing-Houng; Hung, Chao-Hung; Chen, Pao-Fei; Lin, Kuo-Sin; Lu, Sheng-Nan

    2010-07-01

    This study attempted to clarify accuracy of acute hepatitis C (AHC) and its clinical characteristics. We reviewed 632 reported cases from national surveillance data of the Taiwan Center for Disease Control between 1995 and 2004, and reclassified diagnoses. A definite case was defined as alanine aminotransferase (ALT) > 10 x the upper limit of normal (ULN) with seroconversion of anti-hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV). A probable case was defined as (i) seroconversion of anti-HCV and/or elevated ALT levels; or (ii) anti-HCV(+) but titers increased (from < 40 S/CO to >or= 40 S/CO) and ALT > 10 x the ULN. A suspected case was defined as initial anti-HCV(+) and ALT level > 10 x the ULN and/or jaundice. Excluded cases were defined as ALT levels less than 10 x ULN with initial positive anti-HCV Ab. A total of 310 (49%) cases were confirmed as AHC; these included 95 (15%) definite and 215 (34%) probable cases. Higher incidence rates and accuracy of AHC were demonstrated in the southern area significantly if compared with northern, eastern and central areas, respectively (all P < 0.05). On comparison between blood centers and hospitals, more AHC cases were found in Southern Taiwan than in other areas (157/73 vs 24/40, P < 0.001), younger mean age (33.3 +/- 11.1 vs 49.3 +/- 16.4, P < 0.001), lower ALT levels (263.1 +/- 200.9 vs 1264.2 +/- 706.8, P < 0.001) and male predominance (191/39 vs 46/18, P = 0.046). This study showed our reporting system over-estimated the AHC diagnosis, which is also a common issue worldwide. Greater efforts are needed to establish appropriate reporting systems, as well as more supplemental methods to distinguish between prevalent and incident cases.

  20. Disease burden and epidemiology of herpes zoster in pre-vaccine Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lin, Yung-Hsiu; Huang, Li-Min; Chang, I-Shou; Tsai, Fang-Yu; Lu, Chun-Yi; Shao, Pei-Lan; Chang, Luan-Yin

    2010-02-03

    Herpes zoster, a common disease, has an important impact on the health of adults, particularly the elderly, and the health system. This study evaluated the disease burden and epidemiological characteristics of herpes zoster in Taiwan. Using herpes zoster-related ICD-9-CM codes used on Taiwan's National Health Insurance claims, we analyzed overall and age group differences in incidence, complications, utilization of healthcare facilities, lengths of stay, and cost of their medical care in Taiwan's population from 2000 to 2005. The overall annual incidence of zoster was 4.97 cases per 1000 people, with women having a significantly higher incidence than men (5.20 per 1000 vs. 4.72 per 1000, p<0.001). The incidence increased stepwise with age, with 5.18 cases per 1000 in people 40-50 years old, 8.36 in those 50-60, 11.09 in those 60-70, and 11.77 in those above 70 years old. The estimated lifetime risk of developing herpes zoster was 32.2%. Zoster-related hospitalizations and medical cost per patient increased with age. In conclusion, about two-thirds of Taiwan's zoster cases occur in adults older than 40 years old and about one-third of the population would develop zoster within their lifetime. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. A taxonomic note on Homorosoma horridulum Voss, 1958 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), with new records from Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Korotyaev, Boris A; Yoshitake, Hiraku; Huang, Junhao

    2014-04-08

    Homorosoma horridulum Voss 1958 (Curculionidae: Ceutorhynchinae) was described from Kuatun, China, based on two specimens in the J. Klapperich collection. Since that time it has been uninvestigated for more than half a century, except by Colonnelli (2004), who listed it in his world catalogue of the subfamily. The recent examination of the holotype of H. horridulum revealed that it should be placed in the genus Scleropteroides Colonnelli 1979. In addition, Scleropteroides specimens from Taiwan agree well with the holotype of H. horridulum not only in general appearance but also in male genital structures. Here we transfer Homorosoma horridulum Voss 1958 to the genus Scleropteroides Colonnelli 1979 as Scleropteroides horridulus (Voss 1958) and record the species from Taiwan for the first time. Depositories of specimens examined are abbreviated as follows: CMNC: Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa; CWOB: C.W. O'Brien collection, Green Valley, Arizona, USA; EUMJ: Laboratory of Environmental Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan; NIAES: National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan; SMNH: Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden; and ZIN: Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia. Before going further, we wish to express our cordial thanks to R. S. Anderson, François Génier (CMNC), H. Kojima (Tokyo University of Agriculture), M. Sakai (Ehime University), C.W. O'Brien, and B. Viklund (SMNH) for the loan or donation of specimens examined. The first author thanks the late P. Lindskog (SMNH) for the help during his first visit to Stockholm. The study by the first author was supported by Grant No 13-04-01002 from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

  2. An Integrated Syndromic Surveillance System for Monitoring Scarlet Fever in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Wu, Wan-Jen; Liu, Yu-Lun; Kuo, Hung-Wei; Huang, Wan-Ting; Yang, Shiang-Lin; Chuang, Jen-Hsiang

    2013-01-01

    Objective To develop an integrated syndromic surveillance system for timely monitoring and early detection of unusual situations of scarlet fever in Taiwan, since Hong Kong, being so close geographically to Taiwan, had an outbreak of scarlet fever in June 2011. Introduction Scarlet fever is a bacterial infection caused by group A streptococcus (GAS). The clinical symptoms are usually mild. Before October, 2007, case-based surveillance of scarlet fever was conducted through notifiable infectious diseases in Taiwan, but was removed later from the list of notifiable disease because of improved medical care capacities. In 2011, Hong Kong had encountered an outbreak of scarlet fever (1,2). In response, Taiwan developed an integrated syndromic surveillance system using multiple data sources since July 2011. Methods More than 99% of the Taiwan population is covered by National Health Insurance. We first retrospectively evaluated claims data from the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) by comparing with notifiable diseases reporting data from Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (TCDC). The claims data included information on scarlet fever diagnosis (ICD-9-CM code 034.1), date of visits, location of hospitals and age of patients from outpatient (OPD), emergency room (ER) and hospital admissions. Daily aggregate data of scarlet fever visits or hospitalizations were prospectively collected from BNHI since July 2011. Over 70% of the deaths in Taiwan are reported to the Office of Statistics of Department of Health electronically. We obtained daily data on electronic death certification data and used SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA) for data management and analysis. Deaths associated with scarlet fever or other GAS infections were identified by text mining from causes of death with keywords of traditional Chinese ‘scarlet fever’, ‘group A streptococcus’ or ‘toxic shock syndrome’ (3). Results From January 2006 to September 2007, the

  3. 78 FR 66370 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-05

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Special Emphasis Panel; Peer Review of SCORE Grant Applications. Date: November 15, 2013. Time: 8... Officer, Office of Scientific Review, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes...

  4. 77 FR 19678 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-02

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Special Emphasis Panel; NIH Loan Repayment Program for Clinical and Pediatric Research. Date... Scientific Review, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health, 45 Center...

  5. 75 FR 55617 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-09-13

    ... to the National Science Board Web site http://www.nsf.gov/nsb for additional information and schedule... of Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) on South Dakota Graduate Education in...

  6. Elucidating challenges that electronic cigarettes pose to tobacco control in Asia: a population-based national survey in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chang, Hui-Chin; Tsai, Yi-Wen; Shiu, Ming-Neng; Wang, Ying-Ting; Chang, Po-Yin

    2017-03-27

    This study investigated the prevalence and correlates of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) use in Taiwan. We studied a nationally representative random sample in the 2015 Taiwan Adult Smoking Behavior Survey. This study included 26 021 participants aged 15 years or older (51% women, 79% non-smokers, 16% aged 15-24 years), after excluding 31 persons (0.1%) who had missing information on e-cigarette use. The prevalence of ever having used e-cigarettes was calculated in the overall sample and by smoking status (current, former and never) or age (15-24, 25-44 and ≥45 years). We performed multivariable log-binomial regression to assess correlates of ever having used e-cigarettes among all participants and separately for subgroups by smoking status and age. Approximately 3% of all participants had ever used e-cigarettes. The prevalence of ever having used e-cigarettes was high in current smokers (14%) and people aged 18-24 years (7%). E-cigarette use was particularly common in people aged 15-24 years who were current (49-52%) or former (22-39%) smokers. Ever having used e-cigarettes was positively associated with tobacco smoking (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR): 21.5, 95% CI 15.4 to 29.8, current smokers; aPR: 8.3, 95% CI 15.2 to 13.1, former smokers), younger age and high socioeconomic status. Age remained a significant factor of ever having used e-cigarettes across smoking status groups. Among non-smokers, men had a 2.4-fold (95% CI 1.5 to 3.8) greater prevalence of e-cigarette use than women. E-cigarette use was uncommon in the general population in Taiwan, but prevalence was high among smokers and young people. This study highlights challenges that e-cigarettes pose to tobacco control, which warrant high priority action by policymakers and public health professionals. E-cigarette regulations should focus on young people. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  7. National Science Foundation Grants and Awards for Fiscal Year 1982.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    Provided is a listing of all National Science Foundation (NSF) program grants and contracts awarded in Fiscal Year 1982. The listing is organized by specific NSF programs within these areas: (1) mathematical and physical sciences; (2) engineering; (3) biological, behavioral, and social sciences; (4) astronomical, earth, and ocean sciences…

  8. National Science Foundation. Grants and Awards for Fiscal Year 1981.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    Provided is a listing of all National Science Foundation (NSF) program grants and contracts awarded in Fiscal Year 1981. The listing is organized by specific NSF programs within these areas: (1) mathematical and physical sciences; (2) engineering; (3) biological, behavioral, and social sciences; (4) astronomical, atmospheric, earth, and ocean…

  9. Science Achievement and Students' Self-Confidence and Interest in Science: A Taiwanese Representative Sample Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Chun-Yen; Cheng, Wei-Ying

    2008-01-01

    The interrelationship between senior high school students' science achievement (SA) and their self-confidence and interest in science (SCIS) was explored with a representative sample of approximately 1,044 11th-grade students from 30 classes attending four high schools throughout Taiwan. Statistical analyses indicated that a statistically…

  10. Structural Features of the Western Taiwan Foreland Basin in the Eastern Taiwan Strait since Late Miocene

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    WANG, J. H.; Liu, C. S.; Chang, J. H.; Yang, E. Y.

    2017-12-01

    The western Taiwan Foreland Basin lies on the eastern part of Taiwan Strait. The structures in this region are dominated by crustal stretch and a series of flexural normal faults have been developed since Late Miocene owing to the flexural of Eurasia Plate. Through deciphering multi-channel seismic data and drilling data, these flexural features are observed in the offshore Changhua coastal area. The flexure normal faults are important features to realize structural activity in the western Taiwan Foreland Basin. Yang et al. (2016) mention that the reactivated normal faults are found north of the Zhushuixi estuary. It should be a significant issue to decipher whether these faults are still active. In this study, we have analyzed all the available seismic reflections profiles in the central part of the Taiwan Strait, and have observed many pre-Pliocene normal faults that are mainly distributed in the middle of the Taiwan Strait to Changyun Rise, and we tentatively suggest that the formation of these faults may be associated with the formation of the foreland basal unconformity. Furthermore, we will map the distribution of these normal faults and examine whether the reactivated normal faults have extended to south of the Zhushuixi estuary. Finally, we discuss the relation between the reactivated normal faults in the Taiwan Strait and those faults onshore. Key words: Multichannel seismic reflection profile, Taiwan Strait, Foreland basin, normal fault.

  11. Quality Assurance at a Distance: International Accreditation in Taiwan Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hou, Angela Yung-Chi

    2011-01-01

    In response to the global competitiveness in higher education, the government, in recent years, has encouraged Taiwan colleges and universities to seek international accreditation, which raises several questions, such as jurisdiction over national accreditation, a single set of standards for local and global quality assurance, demand for the…

  12. [A Long Stream: The Historical Influence of Peking Union Medical College on the Development of Modern Nursing Education in Taiwan].

    PubMed

    Tsai, Duu-Jian; Lee, Meng-Chih

    2017-10-01

    The faculty of Peiping Union Medical College (PUMC) formatively influenced the development of modern nursing in Taiwan. PUMC, which retreated with the national government to Taiwan from Mainland China in 1949, was initially established earlier in that century by enthusiastic medical missionaries and later reformed by the Rockefeller Foundation. After relocating to Taiwan, PUMC teachers and graduates have provided critical leadership in disseminating modern nursing education in Taiwan and in integrating public health and clinical services to establish a solid foundation for Taiwanese nursing education. To highlight the significant contributions of PUMC alumni in Taiwan, this article explores three dimensions as follows: 1) Establishing the foundation of modern nursing education in Taiwan; 2) Channeling aids from the United States and the international communities to improve nursing education; and 3) Raising the international profile and influence of the Taiwan nursing society. In celebration of the centennial anniversary of PUMC, we encourage in the spirit of PUMC congeniality greater Cross-Strait collaboration among elite professionals in order to further advance PUMC leadership in Asian medical education and cultural enlightenment.

  13. Emerging Issues in Science and Technology, 1982. A Compendium of Working Papers for the National Science Foundation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    Presented are nine working papers prepared for the National Science Foundation as one means of assisting the Office of Science and Technology Policy in preparing the administration's "Annual Science and Technology Report to the Congress, 1982." The papers explore aspects of three broad themes central to the administration's science and…

  14. Cross National Study on Pre-Service Elementary and Science Teachers' Opinions on Science Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Šorgo, Andrej; Pipenbaher, Nataša; Šašic, Slavica Šimic; Prokop, Pavol; Kubiatko, Milan; Golob, Nika; Erdogan, Mehmet; Tomažic, Iztok; Bilek, Martin; Fancovicova, Jana; Lamanauskas, Vincentas; Usak, Muhammet

    2015-01-01

    Cross national study on opinions on science teaching was revealed on a sample of 1799 (596 males, 1203 females) pre-service elementary and science teachers' enrolled in various departments at selected universities in Croatia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. Three factors explaining 43.4% of variance were extracted from a…

  15. The Nation's Report Card: Science 2011. National Assessment of Educational Progress at Grade 8. NCES 2012-465

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Center for Education Statistics, 2012

    2012-01-01

    This report presents results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) U.S. science assessment in 2011. A representative sample of 122,000 eighth-graders participated in the 2011 NAEP science assessment, which is designed to measure students' knowledge and abilities in the areas of physical science, life science, and Earth and…

  16. Early Adolescence: Perspectives and Recommendations to the National Science Foundation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Katzenmeyer, Conrad G., Ed.; Rivkin, Mary S., Ed.

    Contained in this publication is the final report of a panel of experts, convened by the Assistant Director for Science Education of the National Science Foundation, interested in science education for early adolescence. The document also contains three appendices. Appendix A lists members of the panel and their professional affiliation. Appendix…

  17. 75 FR 71134 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-11-22

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Special Emphasis Panel; Conference Grants Review. Date: December 13, 2010. Time: 1 p.m. to 6 p.m..., Office of Scientific Review, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of...

  18. 78 FR 70311 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-25

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Special Emphasis Panel; Review of R-13 Conference Grant Applications. Date: December 3, 2013. Time..., National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health, 45 Center Drive, Room 3An.22...

  19. 78 FR 32672 - National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); Notice of Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-31

    ... Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the NIH Reform Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 281 (d)(4)), notice is hereby given that the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS... Popovich, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Division of Extramural Research and Training...

  20. 78 FR 32259 - National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Amended Notice of Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Amended Notice of Meeting Notice is hereby given of a change in the meeting of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Special Emphasis Panel, July 15, 2013, 8:00 a...

  1. Defining a Mechanism of Educational Interface Between NASA Life Sciences the Nation's Students

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chamberland, D.; Dreschel, T.; Coulter, G.

    1995-01-01

    Harnessing our greatest national resource, as represented by the nation's students, will require a thoughtful, well developed and administered program that includes precise, executable strategies and valid evaluation tools. Responding to a national education outreach priority, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Life and Biomedical Sciences and Applications Division has initiated a process or organizing and implementing various strategies through a steering committee that includes representatives from Headquarters and three field centers with major Life Sciences programs. The mandate of the Life Sciences Education Outreach Steering Committee is to develop ways of communicating space life science issues to America's students through the nation's teachers by curriculum enhancement and direct participation in the education process with an emphasis in the primary and secondary schools. Metrics are also developed for each individually defined process so that the mechanis can be continuously refined and improved.

  2. Prognostic impact of peritonitis in hemodialysis patients: A national-wide longitudinal study in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Cheng-Chia; Wu, Patricia W.; Chang, Chee-Jen; Tian, Ya-Chung; Yang, Chih-Wei

    2017-01-01

    Background Peritonitis has been independently associated with increased morbidity and mortality in peritoneal dialysis patients. However, there are few reports on peritonitis in hemodialysis patients. We aim at investigating both the risk profiles and prognostic impact of peritonitis in hemodialysis patients. Methods This nation-wide longitudinal study uses claims data obtained from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. A total of 80,733 incident hemodialysis patients of age ≥ 20 years without a history of peritonitis were identified between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2009. Predictors of peritonitis events were estimated using Cox proportional hazard models. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratio for mortality attributed to peritonitis exposure. Results Of 80,733 incident hemodialysis patients over a 13-year study period, peritonitis was diagnosed in 935 (1.16%), yielding an incidence rate of 2.91 per 1000 person-years. Female gender, liver cirrhosis and polycystic kidney disease were three of the most significant factors for peritonitis in both non-diabetic and diabetic hemodialysis patients. The cumulative survival rate of patients with peritonitis was 38.8% at 1 year and 10.1% at 5 years. A time-dependent Cox multivariate analysis showed that peritonitis had significantly increased hazard ratio for all cause mortality. Additionally, the risk of mortality remained significantly higher for non-diabetic hemodialysis patients that experienced peritonitis. Conclusions The risk of peritonitis in hemodialysis patients is higher in female gender, liver cirrhosis and polycystic kidney disease. Although peritonitis is a rare condition, it is associated with significantly poorer outcome in hemodialysis patients. PMID:28301536

  3. Prognostic impact of peritonitis in hemodialysis patients: A national-wide longitudinal study in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lu, Yueh-An; Tu, Kun-Hua; Lee, Cheng-Chia; Wu, Patricia W; Chang, Chee-Jen; Tian, Ya-Chung; Yang, Chih-Wei; Chu, Pao-Hsien

    2017-01-01

    Peritonitis has been independently associated with increased morbidity and mortality in peritoneal dialysis patients. However, there are few reports on peritonitis in hemodialysis patients. We aim at investigating both the risk profiles and prognostic impact of peritonitis in hemodialysis patients. This nation-wide longitudinal study uses claims data obtained from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. A total of 80,733 incident hemodialysis patients of age ≥ 20 years without a history of peritonitis were identified between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2009. Predictors of peritonitis events were estimated using Cox proportional hazard models. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratio for mortality attributed to peritonitis exposure. Of 80,733 incident hemodialysis patients over a 13-year study period, peritonitis was diagnosed in 935 (1.16%), yielding an incidence rate of 2.91 per 1000 person-years. Female gender, liver cirrhosis and polycystic kidney disease were three of the most significant factors for peritonitis in both non-diabetic and diabetic hemodialysis patients. The cumulative survival rate of patients with peritonitis was 38.8% at 1 year and 10.1% at 5 years. A time-dependent Cox multivariate analysis showed that peritonitis had significantly increased hazard ratio for all cause mortality. Additionally, the risk of mortality remained significantly higher for non-diabetic hemodialysis patients that experienced peritonitis. The risk of peritonitis in hemodialysis patients is higher in female gender, liver cirrhosis and polycystic kidney disease. Although peritonitis is a rare condition, it is associated with significantly poorer outcome in hemodialysis patients.

  4. Basic science conferences in residency training: a national survey.

    PubMed

    Cruz, P D; Charley, M R; Bergstresser, P R

    1987-02-01

    Basic science teaching is an important component of dermatology residency training, and the basic science conference is the major tool utilized by departments of dermatology for its implementation. To characterize the role of basic science conferences in dermatology training, a national survey of chief residents was conducted. Although the survey confirmed that a high value is placed on basic science conferences, a surprising finding was a significant level of dissatisfaction among chief residents, particularly those from university-based programs. Results of the survey have been used to redefine our own objectives in basic science teaching and to propose elements of methodology and curriculum.

  5. [Centennial retrospective on the evolution and development of nursing education in Taiwan].

    PubMed

    Yeh, Mei Chang

    2014-08-01

    Nursing education in Taiwan has developed significantly over the past one hundred years. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, nursing education in Taiwan ended at the high school level. However, over the most recent 50 years, this level has been gradually raised, and nursing doctoral programs are now offered today. Changes in the nursing profession over the past century have been influenced by social and political factors, war, the health care policies, and national education policies. Areas of nursing education that have presented key challenges to change and innovation include the nursing faculty, curriculum, teaching materials, and quality of teaching. Today, key future goals for nursing education in Taiwan are: Raising the entry level of generic nursing education from junior high to the high-school level, improving the curricula for master's and doctoral students, cultivating advanced practice nurses, improving the quality of nursing faculties, and establishing a mechanism to ensure the consistent quality of nursing education.

  6. 78 FR 39741 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-02

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Special Emphasis Panel; SCORE Grant Applications. Date: July 23, 2013. Time: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m..., Office of Scientific Review, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of...

  7. 76 FR 36932 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-23

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Special Emphasis Panel, MBRS Score. Date: July 18-19, 2011. Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Agenda: To..., Office of Scientific Review, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of...

  8. The Politics of Implementing Local Cultures in Music Education in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ho, Wai-Chung

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to investigate how the national development of Taiwan has shaped the context of music learning through the development of local cultures in current education reform. Through the examination of relevant literature, official documents, websites and a selection of music education publications that are commonly…

  9. Legislating Language in Taiwan: From Equality to Development to Status Quo

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dupré, Jean-François

    2016-01-01

    This paper looks into failed attempts by the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) minority government (2000-2008) to alter Taiwan's Mandarin-dominated language regime by drafting law proposals recognizing the languages of all Taiwanese ethnic groups as equal national languages. This paper argues that the failure to enact language regime change in…

  10. National Science Board Approves VLA Expansion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2001-11-01

    The National Science Board, the governing body for the National Science Foundation (NSF), has approved an expansion project for the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico. The board recommended an NSF award of approximately 58.3 million for the project over the next decade. The action came at the Board's meeting in Washington on Nov. 15. The Very Large Array The Very Large Array "This approval means that the VLA, already the most scientifically productive ground-based telescope in all of astronomy, will remain at the cutting edge of astrophysical research through the coming decades," said Paul Vanden Bout, director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). The expansion project will replace aging equipment left over from the VLA's construction during the 1970s with modern technology, improving the VLA's scientific capabilities more than tenfold. Using the existing 27 dish antennas, each weighing 230 tons, the Expanded VLA will have greatly improved ability to image distant celestial objects and to decipher the physical nature of those objects. In addition to the 58.3 million NSF allocation, the governments of Canada and Mexico plan to provide funding for the VLA expansion. The VLA Expansion Project was formally proposed to the NSF, which owns the VLA, last year. Also last year, the project received a strong endorsement from the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee of the National Research Council, the working arm of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering. That committee had been given the task of setting nationwide priorities for astronomy spending over the next decade. The Survey Committee report listed the Expanded VLA as an important contributor to new understanding in three high-priority research areas for the next decade: studies of star and planet formation; research into black holes; and unraveling details about the "dawn of the modern universe." Dedicated in 1980, the VLA is the most powerful, flexible and widely

  11. Comparing Lanes in the Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) Images

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2001-10-25

    Department of Computer and Information Science, National Chiao Tung University, Hsin Chu Taiwan 2 Department of Biological Science and Technology, National...Chiao Tung University Hsin Chu Taiwan Performing Organization Report Number Sponsoring/Monitoring Agency Name(s) and Address(es) US Army Research...image contains several lanes. And each lane consists of bands. Two lanes are identical if the relative positions of bands are the same. We present a

  12. CPTAC Establishes Formal Relationships with Two Academic Institutions in Taiwan | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

    Cancer.gov

    The National Cancer Institute's Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) has entered into memorandum of understandings (MOUs) with Chang Gung University and Academia Sinica, in Taipei, Taiwan.

  13. Quality assessment and improvement of nationwide cancer registration system in Taiwan: a review.

    PubMed

    Chiang, Chun-Ju; You, San-Lin; Chen, Chien-Jen; Yang, Ya-Wen; Lo, Wei-Cheng; Lai, Mei-Shu

    2015-03-01

    Cancer registration provides core information for cancer surveillance and control. The population-based Taiwan Cancer Registry was implemented in 1979. After the Cancer Control Act was promulgated in 2003, the completeness (97%) and data quality of cancer registry database has achieved at an excellent level. Hospitals with 50 or more beds, which provide outpatient and hospitalized cancer care, are recruited to report 20 items of information on all newly diagnosed cancers to the central registry office (called short-form database). The Taiwan Cancer Registry is organized and funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The National Taiwan University has been contracted to operate the registry and organized an advisory board to standardize definitions of terminology, coding and procedures of the registry's reporting system since 1996. To monitor the cancer care patterns and evaluate the cancer treatment outcomes, central cancer registry has been reformed since 2002 to include detail items of the stage at diagnosis and the first course of treatment (called long-form database). There are 80 hospitals, which count for >90% of total cancer cases, involved in the long-form registration. The Taiwan Cancer Registry has run smoothly for >30 years, which provides essential foundation for academic research and cancer control policy in Taiwan. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  14. Multi-usages of the Ilan geothermal field, NE Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, C. S.; Tseng, P.; Wang, S.; Chang, C.

    2017-12-01

    The tectonics of Taiwan is very dynamic. The area produces more than 30,000 earthquakes/year; the mountains uplift 4-5 cm/year; the rainfall culminates 3,000 mm/year; there are some 4,000 hot spring operators. One of the two hot geothermal areas is located in NE Taiwan - the Ilan geothermal field. In order to develop the geothermal energy for the electricity need, the Ministry of Science and Technology have provided the fund to drill two 2,500 deep wells. The results are not so encourage for the need of an Enhanced Geothermal System. However, one of the wells has a bottom temperature of 160oC and the water up loading with 60 ton/hr. This can be combined with the near-by wells drilled by the private drilling company and the Cardinal Tien Junior College of Healthcare and Management to develop the multi-usages of the geothermal energy, such as 1 MW of electricity for the college and village, the long-term healthcare and hot spring medicare, aquaculture and agriculture need etc. The universities and private drilling company cooperate together to join the development. Hope this will provide a new model for the need of a self-sufficient community. The geothermal is a clean, renewable, and no pollution energy. Taiwan is in an initial stage of using this green energy.

  15. 77 FR 31627 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-29

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Special Emphasis Panel COBRE (P20). Date: June 19-20, 2012. Time: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Agenda... Review Officer, Office of Scientific Review, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National...

  16. 77 FR 33471 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-06-06

    ... General Medical Sciences; Notice of Closed Meeting Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... Sciences Special Emphasis Panel MBRS SCORE Grant Applications. Date: June 27, 2012. Time: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00..., National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health, 45 Center Drive, Room 3An.18...

  17. Leisure Experiences and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese Older People: A National Survey in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lu, Luo

    2011-01-01

    We aimed to explore older people's subjective leisure experiences and to further examine associations of such experiences with their depressive symptoms in Taiwan. Known correlates of depression, such as demographics, physical health, and social support, were taken into account. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect data using…

  18. 76 FR 9054 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Impromptu Notice of Change (Addition of Agenda Item)

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-16

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Impromptu Notice of Change (Addition of Agenda Item) The National Science Board's (NSB) Audit & Oversight (A&O) Committee..., National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230. Telephone: (703) 292-7000. Daniel A...

  19. Intraclass reliability for assessing how well Taiwan constrained hospital-provided medical services using statistical process control chart techniques.

    PubMed

    Chien, Tsair-Wei; Chou, Ming-Ting; Wang, Wen-Chung; Tsai, Li-Shu; Lin, Weir-Sen

    2012-05-15

    Few studies discuss the indicators used to assess the effect on cost containment in healthcare across hospitals in a single-payer national healthcare system with constrained medical resources. We present the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to assess how well Taiwan constrained hospital-provided medical services in such a system. A custom Excel-VBA routine to record the distances of standard deviations (SDs) from the central line (the mean over the previous 12 months) of a control chart was used to construct and scale annual medical expenditures sequentially from 2000 to 2009 for 421 hospitals in Taiwan to generate the ICC. The ICC was then used to evaluate Taiwan's year-based convergent power to remain unchanged in hospital-provided constrained medical services. A bubble chart of SDs for a specific month was generated to present the effects of using control charts in a national healthcare system. ICCs were generated for Taiwan's year-based convergent power to constrain its medical services from 2000 to 2009. All hospital groups showed a gradually well-controlled supply of services that decreased from 0.772 to 0.415. The bubble chart identified outlier hospitals that required investigation of possible excessive reimbursements in a specific time period. We recommend using the ICC to annually assess a nation's year-based convergent power to constrain medical services across hospitals. Using sequential control charts to regularly monitor hospital reimbursements is required to achieve financial control in a single-payer nationwide healthcare system.

  20. The National Science Foundation and the philosophy of chemistry.

    PubMed

    Seely, Bruce E

    2003-05-01

    Since its founding in 1950, the National Science Foundation has provided support for a variety of studies in history, philosophy, and social studies of science. The fact that a relatively small number of projects dealing with the philosophy of chemistry have received NSF support is due to the small number of such proposals that have been submitted. The NSF Science and Technology Studies Program (STS) welcomes proposals dealing with philosophy of chemistry.

  1. 75 FR 61779 - National Science Board: Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-06

    ...:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. SUBJECT MATTER: Review of NSB Action Item (NSB/CPP-10-63) (Deep Underground Science... National Science Board Web site http://www.nsf.gov/nsb for additional information and schedule updates...

  2. Disaster Risk Management and Measurement Indicators for Cultural Heritage in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yen, Y. N.; Cheng, C. F.; Cheng, H. M.

    2015-08-01

    Under the influence of global climate change, the risk preparedness has become a universal issue in different research fields. In the conservation of cultural heritage, disaster risk management is becoming one of the major research topics. Besides researches on the theory and mechanism of disaster risk management, the tools for the performance of site managers to protect cultural heritage is another important issue that needs development. UNESCO and ICOMOS have released some important documents on disaster risk management including its concept, identification, evaluation, mitigation, monitoring and resilience, etc. However, there is a big gap between concept and implementation in Taiwan. Presently there are 2000 monuments in Taiwan that hardly meet the modern code. First, based on international documents released, this research presents 13 disaster indicators on monuments and their environments. Next, 345 monuments in northern Taiwan are taken as examples to evaluate their risk situations with indicators designed in 2011. Some positive recommendations were given at the same time. As a result, a comparative evaluation was completed in 2012 and some key issues are found, such as too many electrical facilities, lack of efficient firefighting equipment, and a shortage of management mechanism, just to name a few. Through the improvement of the management, some major risk can be mitigated. In 2013~14, this research took 23 national monuments from the 345 monuments to evaluate their risk situations and compare the differences between national and local monuments. Results show that almost all management mechanisms in the national monuments have been established and are running well. However, problems like inappropriate electrical facilities and insufficient monitoring equipment remain. In addition, the performance of private monuments is not as good as public ones. Based on the collected information and evaluation, this research develops safety measures of heritage

  3. Education, Human Capital Enhancement and Economic Development--Comparison between Korea and Taiwan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Maw-Lin; And Others

    1994-01-01

    Examines major determinants of economic development in South Korea and Taiwan. Investigates the role of human capital, measured by educational attainment, in driving output growth and enlarging the labor income share. Physical capital accumulation and export expansion affected output growth in both nations. Although technical progress…

  4. Review: Progress in rotational ground-motion observations from explosions and local earthquakes in Taiwan

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Lee, William H K.; Huang, Bor-Shouh; Langston, Charles A.; Lin, Chin-Jen; Liu, Chun-Chi; Shin, Tzay-Chyn; Teng, Ta-Liang; Wu, Chien-Fu

    2009-01-01

    Rotational motions generated by large earthquakes in the far field have been successfully measured, and observations agree well with the classical elasticity theory. However, recent rotational measurements in the near field of earthquakes in Japan and in Taiwan indicate that rotational ground motions are 10 to 100 times larger than expected from the classical elasticity theory. The near-field strong-motion records of the 1999 Mw 7.6 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake suggest that the ground motions along the 100 km rupture are complex. Some rather arbitrary baseline corrections are necessary in order to obtain reasonable displacement values from double integration of the acceleration data. Because rotational motions can contaminate acceleration observations due to the induced perturbation of the Earth’s gravitational field, we started a modest program to observe rotational ground motions in Taiwan.Three papers have reported the rotational observations in Taiwan: (1) at the HGSD station (Liu et al., 2009), (2) at the N3 site from two TAiwan Integrated GEodynamics Research (TAIGER) explosions (Lin et al., 2009), and (3) at the Taiwan campus of the National Chung-Cheng University (NCCU) (Wu et al., 2009). In addition, Langston et al. (2009) reported the results of analyzing the TAIGER explosion data. As noted by several authors before, we found a linear relationship between peak rotational rate (PRR in mrad/sec) and peak ground acceleration (PGA in m/sec2) from local earthquakes in Taiwan, PRR=0.002+1.301 PGA, with a correlation coefficient of 0.988.

  5. Results of a Study of Hong Kong and Taiwan Open Universities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sherritt, Caroline

    Although the National Open University of Taiwan (NOU) and Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) both opened in the 1980s in environments of rapid economic growth and political stability, the NOU reflects traditional Chinese values whereas the OUHK merges Chinese and Western beliefs. Categorized as a "supplemental" school, the NOU occupies…

  6. Gender, Sibship Structure, and Educational Inequality in Taiwan: Son Preference Revisited

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yu, Wei-Hsin; Su, Kuo-Hsien

    2006-01-01

    This study examines how sibship characteristics affect educational attainment in Taiwan. Using a multilevel analysis of a sibling sample of 12,715 observations from 3,001 families drawn from a national survey, we investigate the effects of family size, sibship density, birth-order rank, and sibship gender composition. The results support the…

  7. The feasibility of QR-code prescription in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lin, C-H; Tsai, F-Y; Tsai, W-L; Wen, H-W; Hu, M-L

    2012-12-01

    An ideal Health Care Service is a service system that focuses on patients. Patients in Taiwan have the freedom to fill their prescriptions at any pharmacies contracted with National Health Insurance. Each of these pharmacies uses its own computer system. So far, there are at least ten different systems on the market in Taiwan. To transmit the prescription information from the hospital to the pharmacy accurately and efficiently presents a great issue. This study consisted of two-dimensional applications using a QR-code to capture Patient's identification and prescription information from the hospitals as well as using a webcam to read the QR-code and transfer all data to the pharmacy computer system. Two hospitals and 85 community pharmacies participated in the study. During the trial, all participant pharmacies appraised highly of the accurate transmission of the prescription information. The contents in QR-code prescriptions from Taipei area were picked up efficiently and accurately in pharmacies at Taichung area (middle Taiwan) without software system limit and area limitation. The QR-code device received a patent (No. M376844, March 2010) from Intellectual Property Office Ministry of Economic Affair, China. Our trial has proven that QR-code prescription can provide community pharmacists an efficient, accurate and inexpensive device to digitalize the prescription contents. Consequently, pharmacists can offer better quality of pharmacy service to patients. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  8. Seismic Strain Field in Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kao, H.; Liang, W.; Chang, T.; Liu, Y.; Lee, E.

    2001-12-01

    Centroid-moment-tensor (CMT) solutions determined by inverting waveform data of Broadband Array in Taiwan for Seismology (BATS) are collected for earthquakes that occurred in the Taiwan region. In total, the dataset contains more than 300 events that scattered across an area of 400 km by 400 km, including the devastating 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake sequence. The entire region is divided into 3 layers (0-40 km, 40-70 km, and greater than 70 km) with blocks of 0.2 degree by 0.2 degree in lateral dimension. Seismic moment tensors of all earthquakes that occurred inside each block are summed to give the strain tensor characterizing the corresponding seismic deformation. We calculate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the resulted strain tensor for each block and project the normalized maximum compressional (P) and extensional (T) axes on horizontal plane to resolve the strain field in Taiwan associated with regional seismic activities. For the majority of events with depths less than 40 km (i.e., at crustal scale), the strain field is characterized by nearly E-W compression along the eastern coastline and immediately offshore east of Taiwan. Once inland, clear fan-shaped trajectories of P-axes are observed, ranging from NW-SE in the northwest to NE-SW in the southwest. The Ryukyu and Luzon subduction systems show compression in the forearc region and extension in the backarc and outerrise regions. For depths greater than 40 km, a clear pattern of lateral compression is observed within the subducted Philippine Sea plate to the northeast of Taiwan. It is doubtless that the "slab-continent" collision is predominant at deeper depths near the junction between the Ryukyu arc and Taiwan Collision Zone, whereas the "arc-continent" collision is predominant in the central and southern Taiwan.

  9. Recent Studies of Research Ethics at the National Academy of Sciences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bissell, Richard

    2012-01-01

    Over the last few years, the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council has been asked to revisit some of the core ethical issues for science that had not been properly explored since the 1990s. Some of the interest in this area related to the impact of technology changes in the sciences (e.g., management of massive data bases) and some to institutional changes (e.g., globalization of research teams, emergence of new scientific powers abroad, and new models in the publishing industry). As a result, a series of authoritative reports from the Academies’ Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy have been developed by expert committees and published - the third edition of On Being A Scientist (2009), a report on Ensuring the Integrity, Accessibility, and Stewardship of Research Data in the Digital Age (2009), and underway there is a new edition of Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process (first published in 1992, forthcoming in 2012). It is relevant in this age of global science that the latest edition of OBAS has been translated into multiple foreign languages, and the InterAcademy Council has launched its own project on research ethics with a report due from this multi-science academy body in the 2012-2013 period. Some of the principal findings and issues raised in these reports will be presented by Richard E. Bissell, Executive Director for Policy and Global Affairs at the National Academy of Sciences.

  10. Comparison of illegal drug use pattern in Taiwan and Korea from 2006 to 2014.

    PubMed

    Feng, Ling-Yi; Yu, Wen-Jing; Chang, Wei-Ting; Han, Eunyoung; Chung, Heesun; Li, Jih-Heng

    2016-09-23

    Illegal drug use has long been a global concern. Taiwan and Korea are geographically adjacent and both countries have experienced the illegal use problems of methamphetamine, a predominant prototype of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). NPS, a term coined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in recent years, have not been scrutinized for their safety and may become a new threat to public health and security worldwide. To conduct evidence-based drug policy, it is imperative to estimate the trend and pattern of illegal drug use. Therefore, this study aims to analyze and compare the current status of drug-related seizures, arrests and illegal drug use, with a focus on methamphetamine and NPS, between Taiwan and Korea. Data of illegal drug (including NPS)-related seizures and arrests were collected via anti-drug related agencies of both countries from 2006 through 2014.Since listing of NPS as controlled substances was a result of NPS abuse liability through official evaluation, the items of controlled NPS were used as an indicator of emerging use. These data obtained from Taiwan and Korea was then compared. The results showed that while methamphetamine remained as a predominant drug in both Taiwan and Korea for decades, different illegal drug use patterns have been observed in these two countries. In Taiwan, the major illegal drugs were methamphetamine, heroin, and ketamine, whereas in Korea those were methamphetamine and cannabis. By comparison of per capita illicit drug seizures, the illegal drug use situation in Taiwan was at a higher stake than that in Korea. In terms of NPS use, ketamine has been a major drug in Taiwan, but it was seldom found in Korea. Besides ketamine, the major type of NPS was synthetic cathinones in Taiwan whereas it was synthetic cannabinoids and phenethylamines in Korea. The difference in the numbers of controlled NPS items between Taiwan (23) and Korea (93) may be due to the implementation of temporary control on NPS in

  11. Similarity and difference: Student cooperation in Taiwanese and Australian science classrooms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wallace, John; Chou, Ching-Yang

    2001-11-01

    In this study, we examine the way in which students cooperate in Taiwanese and Australian science classrooms. We adopt the position that student cooperation is best understood by examining the patterns of variation within and between countries rather than trying to describe similarities and differences in essential terms. A critical analysis of large-scale learning environment questionnaire data combined with in-depth interview and observational data leads to several findings about the nature of student cooperation in the two countries. We conclude that students from Taiwan and Australia have a range of understandings and interpretations about what it means to cooperate in science classrooms. There are complex connections between cooperative behavior, student academic ability, sex, and nationality, which are best understood in socio-cultural terms.

  12. Comparison of the hospice systems in the United States, Japan and taiwan.

    PubMed

    Lee, Chung Yul; Komatsu, Hiroko; Zhang, Weihua; Chao, Yann-Fen; Kim, Ki Kyong; Kim, Gwang Suk; Cho, Yoon Hee; Ko, Ji Sook

    2010-12-01

    The aim of hospice care is to provide the best possible quality of life both for people approaching the end of life and for their families and carers. The Korean government has been implementing a pilot project for hospital hospice services and trying to develop the national hospice system. To assist in the development of the Korean hospice system, the Korean government supported the present study comparing the hospice systems of three countries, United States, Japan, and Taiwan, which currently have a developed hospice system. Data from three countries were collected in the following ways: reviewing hospice related literature, searching government documents on the Internet, collecting government hospice data, surveying six hospice institutions in each country, and conducting an international workshop. The hospice system was evaluated by comparing hospice management systems and hospice cost systems. The comparison of the hospice management system included five items of hospice infra structures and four items of hospice services. The hospice cost system included four items: funding source, hospital hospice cost, day care hospice cost, and home hospice cost. Based on the comparison of three countries, the most interesting thing was that home hospice care accounted for more than 90% of all hospice services in the United States and Taiwan. The results of this study will aid the countries that are in the process of developing a hospice system including Korea, which has been implementing a pilot project only for hospital hospice services. Copyright © 2010 Korean Society of Nursing Science. Published by . All rights reserved.

  13. Digital Technology at the National Science Museum of Japan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lydens, Lois; Saito, Yasuji; Inoue, Tohru

    2007-01-01

    The National Science Museum (NSM) in Japan has recently completed a project using different types of visitor-oriented digital technologies. With sponsorship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), the NSM team carried out a four-year study to examine how digital technologies can be used to enhance as well as educationally…

  14. Pre-College Science Curriculum Activities of the National Science Foundation. Report of Science Curriculum Review Team, Volume II-Appendix.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    Presented is a detailed study of National Science Foundation (NSF) programs in pre-college science education. The development of policies and operational procedures are traced over the past quarter century and their impact on management practice analyzed. The report is presented in two parts: Volume 1, the findings and recommendations, and Volume…

  15. Institutionalization and Sustainability of the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bailey, Thomas R.; Matsuzuka, Yukari; Jacobs, James; Morest, Vanessa Smith; Hughes, Katherine L.

    This document reports on a study conducted by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that examines the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. ATE aims to promote systemic reform of the nation's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The study analyzed the influence of the ATE program on the nature of STEM…

  16. Delivering Climate Science for the Nation's Fish, Wildlife, and Ecosystems: The U.S. Geological Survey National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Beard, T. Douglas

    2011-01-01

    Changes to the Earth's climate-temperature, precipitation, and other important aspects of climate-pose significant challenges to our Nation's natural resources now and will continue to do so. Managers of land, water, and living resources need to understand the impacts of climate change-which will exacerbate ongoing stresses such as habitat fragmentation and invasive species-so they can design effective response strategies. In 2008 Congress created the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); this center was formed to address challenges resulting from climate change and to empower natural resource managers with rigorous scientific information and effective tools for decision-making. Located at the USGS National Headquarters in Reston, Virginia, the NCCWSC has invested over $20M in cutting-edge climate change research and is now leading the effort to establish eight regional Department of the Interior (DOI) Climate Science Centers (CSCs).

  17. Effects of School Principals' Leadership Behaviors: A Comparison between Taiwan and Japan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Yi-Gean; Cheng, Jao-Nan; Sato, Mikio

    2017-01-01

    This study is a cross-national research in school leadership behaviors. Research subjects in this study include primary and secondary school teachers in Taiwan and northeastern Japan. By referring to "School leadership of the future," this study summarized that school leadership is working toward a team approach to instruction…

  18. The 2017 Focused Update of the Guidelines of the Taiwan Society of Cardiology (TSOC) and the Taiwan Hypertension Society (THS) for the Management of Hypertension.

    PubMed

    Chiang, Chern-En; Wang, Tzung-Dau; Lin, Tsung-Hsien; Yeh, Hung-I; Liu, Ping-Yen; Cheng, Hao-Min; Chao, Ting-Hsing; Chen, Chen-Huan; Shyu, Kou-Gi; Ueng, Kwo-Chang; Chen, Chung-Yin; Chu, Pao-Hsien; Sung, Shih-Hsien; Wang, Kang-Ling; Li, Yi-Heng; Wang, Kuo-Yang; Chiang, Fu-Tien; Lai, Wen-Ter; Chen, Jyh-Hong; Chen, Wen-Jone; Yeh, San-Jou; Chen, Ming-Fong; Lin, Shing-Jong; Lin, Jiunn-Lee

    2017-05-01

    Hypertension (HT) is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Over the past 25 years, the number of individuals with hypertension and the estimated associated deaths has increased substantially. There have been great debates in the past few years on the blood pressure (BP) targets. The 2013 European Society of Hypertension and European Society of Cardiology HT guidelines suggested a unified systolic BP target of 140 mmHg for both high-risk and low-risk patients. The 2014 Joint National Committee report further raised the systolic BP targets to 150 mmHg for those aged ≥ 60 years, including patients with stroke or coronary heart disease, and raised the systolic BP target to 140 mmHg for diabetes. Instead, the 2015 Hypertension Guidelines of the Taiwan Society of Cardiology and the Taiwan Hypertension Society suggested more aggressive BP targets of < 130/80 mmHg for patients with diabetes, coronary heart disease, chronic kidney disease with proteinuria, and atrial fibrillation patients on antithrombotic therapy. Based on the main findings from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) and several recent meta-analyses, the HT committee members of the Taiwan Society of Cardiology and the Taiwan Hypertension Society convened and finalized the revised BP targets for management of HT. We suggested a new systolic BP target to < 120 mmHg for patients with coronary heart disease, chronic kidney disease with an eGFR of 20-60 ml/min/1.73 m 2 , and elderly patients aged ≥ 75 years, using unattended automated office BP measurement. When traditional office BP measurement is applied, we suggested BP target of < 140/90 mmHg for elderly patients with an age ≥ 75 years. Other BP targets with traditional office BP measurement remain unchanged. With these more aggressive BP targets, it is foreseeable that the cardiovascular events will decrease substantially in Taiwan.

  19. An analysis of national collaboration with Spanish researchers abroad in the health sciences.

    PubMed

    Aceituno-Aceituno, Pedro; Romero-Martínez, Sonia Janeth; Victor-Ponce, Patricia; García-Núñez, José

    2015-11-07

    The establishment of scientific collaborations with researchers abroad can be considered a good practice to make appropriate use of their knowledge and to increase the possibilities of them returning to their country. This paper analyses the collaboration between Spanish researchers abroad devoted to health sciences and national science institutions. We used the Fontes' approach to perform a study on this collaboration with Spanish researchers abroad. We measured the level of national and international cooperation, the opportunity provided by the host country to collaborate, the promotion of collaboration by national science institutions, and the types of collaboration. A total of 88 biomedical researchers out of the 268 Spanish scientists who filled up the survey participated in the study. Different data analyses were performed to study the variables selected to measure the scientific collaboration and profile of Spanish researchers abroad. There is a high level of cooperation between Spanish health science researchers abroad and international institutions, which contrasts with the small-scale collaboration with national institutions. Host countries facilitate this collaboration with national and international scientific institutions to a larger extent than the level of collaboration promotion carried out by Spanish institutions. The national collaboration with Spanish researchers abroad in the health sciences is limited. Thus, the practice of making appropriate use of the potential of their expertise should be promoted and the opportunities for Spanish health science researchers to return home should be improved.

  20. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Science and Engineering Apprentice Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1997-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Science and Engineering Apprentice Program for high school students is one of NASA's many efforts toward a goal of scientific literacy. It embraces science, mathematics, and technology as keys to purposeful and sustained progress and security for our nation and its people. It serves as a model for helping reform education by striving to address mechanisms to influence the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of our students. It focuses on what to do today to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

  1. Taiwan industrial cooperation program technology transfer for low-level radioactive waste final disposal - phase I.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Knowlton, Robert G.; Cochran, John Russell; Arnold, Bill Walter

    2007-01-01

    Sandia National Laboratories and the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Taiwan have collaborated in a technology transfer program related to low-level radioactive waste (LLW) disposal in Taiwan. Phase I of this program included regulatory analysis of LLW final disposal, development of LLW disposal performance assessment capabilities, and preliminary performance assessments of two potential disposal sites. Performance objectives were based on regulations in Taiwan and comparisons to those in the United States. Probabilistic performance assessment models were constructed based on limited site data using software including GoldSim, BLT-MS, FEHM, and HELP. These software codes provided the probabilistic framework, container degradation, waste-formmore » leaching, groundwater flow, radionuclide transport, and cover infiltration simulation capabilities in the performance assessment. Preliminary performance assessment analyses were conducted for a near-surface disposal system and a mined cavern disposal system at two representative sites in Taiwan. Results of example calculations indicate peak simulated concentrations to a receptor within a few hundred years of LLW disposal, primarily from highly soluble, non-sorbing radionuclides.« less

  2. A Comparative Analysis of the Information Sectors of South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Mee-Jean

    1996-01-01

    Discussion of disparities between developed and developing nations and the influence of information technology focuses on the newly industrializing countries of South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan and their development of the information sectors as strategic industries to gain international competitiveness. Topics include information activities,…

  3. Professional Counseling in Taiwan: Past to Future

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guo, Yuh-Jen; Wang, Shu-Ching; Combs, Don C.; Lin, Yi-Chun; Johnson, Veronica

    2013-01-01

    Because of the recent introduction of a licensure law, professional counseling has grown rapidly in Taiwan after decades of slow development. The authors provide a historical review of the development of professional counseling in Taiwan and discuss the current status and future trajectory of professional counseling in Taiwan.

  4. The Role of the National Laboratory in Improving Secondary Science Education

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    White,K.; Morris, M.; Stegman, M.

    While the role of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers in our education system is obvious, their role in our economic and national security system is less so. Our nation relies upon innovation and creativity applied in a way that generates new technologies for industry, health care, and the protection of our national assets and citizens. Often, it is our science teachers who generate the excitement that leads students to pursue science careers. While academia provides these teachers with the tools to educate, the rigors of a science and technology curriculum, coupled with the requisite teaching courses, often limitmore » teacher exposure to an authentic research environment. As the single largest funding agency for the physical sciences, the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science plays an important role in filling this void. For STEM teachers, the DOE Academies Creating Teacher Scientists program (ACTS) bridges the worlds of research and education. The ACTS program at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), one of several across the country, exemplifies the value of this program for participating teachers. Outcomes of the work at BNL as evidenced by the balance of this report, include the following: (1) Teachers have developed long-term relationships with the Laboratory through participation in ongoing research, and this experience has both built enthusiasm for and enriched the content knowledge of the participants. (2) Teachers have modified the way they teach and are more likely to engage students in authentic research and include more inquiry-based activities. (3) Teachers have reported their students are more interested in becoming involved in science through classes, extra-curricular clubs, and community involvement. (4) Teachers have established leadership roles within their peer groups, both in their own districts and in the broader teaching community. National laboratories are making an important contribution to the

  5. Prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine, western medicine, and integrated Chinese-Western medicine for allergic rhinitis under the National Health Insurance in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Huang, Sheng-Kang; Ho, Yu-Ling; Chang, Yuan-Shiun

    2015-09-15

    Allergic rhinitis has long been a worldwide health problem with a global growth trend. The use of traditional Chinese medicines alone or integrated Chinese-Western medicines for its treatment is quite common in Taiwan. Respiratory diseases account for the majority of outpatient traditional Chinese medicine treatment, while allergic rhinitis accounts for the majority of respiratory diseases. We hereby conduct a comparative analysis between traditional Chinese medicine treatments and western medicine treatments for allergic rhinitis in Taiwan. The results of the analysis on the prescription difference of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine treatments would be helpful to clinical guide and health policy decision making of ethnopharmacological therapy. Patients diagnosed as allergic rhinitis with diagnostic code 470-478 (ICD-9-CM) were selected as subjects from 2009-2010 National Health Insurance Research Database based on the claim data from the nationwide National Health Insurance in Taiwan. This retrospective study used Chi-Square test to test the effects of gender and age on visit of traditional Chinese medicine, western medicine, and integrated Chinese-Western medicine treatments. A total of 45,804 patients diagnosed as allergic rhinitis with ICD-9-CM 470-478 were identified from 2009-2010 NHIRD. There were 36,874 subjects for western medicine treatment alone, 5829 subjects for traditional Chinese medicine treatment alone, and 3101 subjects for integrated Chinese-Western medicine treatment. Female patients were more than male in three treatments. 0-9 years children had the highest visit frequency in western medicine and integrated Chinese-Western medicine groups, while 10-19 years young-age rank the highest in traditional Chinese medicine group. The Chi-square test of independence showed that the effects of gender and age on visit of three treatments were significant. The prescription drugs of western medicine treatment alone were almost for

  6. 77 FR 4584 - Sunshine Act Meetings; National Science Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-01-30

    ... of a National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council study CPP Task Force on Unsolicited Mid... and December 13 meeting minutes Discussion of the MS Task Force draft report CSB Task Force on Data... Task Force Closing Remarks From the Chairman Committee on Audit and Oversight (A&O) Open Session: 4-4...

  7. 77 FR 75450 - Request for Information (RFI): Use of National Science Foundation Overseas Offices in Paris...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-12-20

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Request for Information (RFI): Use of National Science Foundation Overseas Offices in Paris, Tokyo, Beijing by Broader Stakeholder Community AGENCY: National Science Foundation. ACTION: Request for information (RFI). FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: NSF-FOREIGN-OFFICE-INFO...

  8. National Academy of Sciences Recommends Continued Support of ALMA Project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2000-05-01

    A distinguished panel of scientists today announced their support for the continued funding of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) Project at a press conference given by the National Academy of Sciences. The ALMA Project is an international partnership between U.S. and European astronomy organizations to build a complete imaging telescope that will produce astronomical images at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The U.S. partner is the National Science Foundation, through Associated Universities, Inc., (AUI), led by Dr. Riccardo Giacconi, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). "We are delighted at this show of continued support from our peers in the scientific community," said Dr. Robert Brown, ALMA U.S. Project Director and Deputy Director of NRAO. "The endorsement adds momentum to the recent strides we've made toward the building of this important telescope." In 1998, the National Research Council, the working arm of the National Academy of Sciences, charged the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee to "survey the field of space- and ground-based astronomy and astrophysics" and to "recommend priorities for the most important new initiatives of the decade 2000-2010." In a report released today, the committee wrote that it "re-affirms the recommendations of the 1991 Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee by endorsing the completion of . . . the Millimeter Array (MMA, now part of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array)." In the 1991 report "The Decade of Discovery," a previous committee chose the Millimeter Array as one of the most important projects of the decade 1990-2000. Early last year, the National Science Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a consortium of European organizations that effectively merged the MMA Project with the European Large Southern Array project. The combined project was christened the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. ALMA, expected to consist of 64 antennas with 12-meter diameter dishes

  9. Educational Tracking and Juvenile Deviance in Taiwan: Direct Effect, Indirect Effect, or Both.

    PubMed

    Lin, Wen-Hsu; Yi, Chin-Chun

    2016-02-01

    Educational tracking in Chinese society is quite different from that in Western society, in that the allocation to either the vocational or academic track is based on a national entrance examination, which happens at ninth grade (age 14-15). Hence, students in many Asian countries (e.g., China and Taiwan) have to face academic tracking in early adolescence. Because of cultural emphasis on education in Taiwan, the impact of tracking on deviance is profound and can be seen as a crucial life-event. With this concept in mind, we examine how educational tracking influences adolescent deviance during high school. In addition, we also examine how educational tracking may indirectly influence deviance through other life domains, including depression, delinquent peer association, and school attachment. By using longitudinal data (the Taiwan Youth Project), we find that educational tracking increases deviance not only directly but also indirectly through delinquent peers and low school attachment. Some implications and limitations are also discussed. © The Author(s) 2014.

  10. Taiwan's population and family planning efforts: an historical perspective.

    PubMed

    Cernada, G; Sun, T H; Chang, M C; Tsai, J F

    The unprecedented decline of Taiwan's natural population increase rate from 3% in 1963 to 1.9% in 1973, attributed primarily to an increasing use of contraception, brought universal attention to one of the first and most successful national family planning programs, at a time when successes were few. Taiwan met its goal of decreasing its natural increase rate despite its young population, increasing numbers of women of childbearing ages, a strong preference for sons and a per capita income at the outset in 1963 of less than U.S.$200. Recognition of this achievement brought thousands of professionals, particularly from developing countries, to study the program firsthand: more than 3,000 during 1970--73 alone. This was matched by an avalanche of publications about the program that appeared around the world, written by practitioners, academics and others. This article tells the story of this success.

  11. Literacy in the National Science and Mathematics Standards: Communication and Reasoning. Report Series 3.14.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kouba, Vicky L.; Champagne, Audrey B.; Piscitelli, Michael; Havasy, Monique; White, Kara; Hurley, Marlene

    A study analyzed in detail the perspectives in science and mathematics literacy found in the national standards for science and mathematics. The National Science Education Standards (NSES), the Benchmarks for Science Literacy, the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, and the Professional Teaching Standards for School…

  12. Building a portable data and information interoperability infrastructure-framework for a standard Taiwan Electronic Medical Record Template.

    PubMed

    Jian, Wen-Shan; Hsu, Chien-Yeh; Hao, Te-Hui; Wen, Hsyien-Chia; Hsu, Min-Huei; Lee, Yen-Liang; Li, Yu-Chuan; Chang, Polun

    2007-11-01

    Traditional electronic health record (EHR) data are produced from various hospital information systems. They could not have existed independently without an information system until the incarnation of XML technology. The interoperability of a healthcare system can be divided into two dimensions: functional interoperability and semantic interoperability. Currently, no single EHR standard exists that provides complete EHR interoperability. In order to establish a national EHR standard, we developed a set of local EHR templates. The Taiwan Electronic Medical Record Template (TMT) is a standard that aims to achieve semantic interoperability in EHR exchanges nationally. The TMT architecture is basically composed of forms, components, sections, and elements. Data stored in the elements which can be referenced by the code set, data type, and narrative block. The TMT was established with the following requirements in mind: (1) transformable to international standards; (2) having a minimal impact on the existing healthcare system; (3) easy to implement and deploy, and (4) compliant with Taiwan's current laws and regulations. The TMT provides a basis for building a portable, interoperable information infrastructure for EHR exchange in Taiwan.

  13. Emerging Issues in Science and Technology, 1981. A Compendium of Working Papers for the National Science Foundation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    The eight working papers presented in this compendium were prepared for the National Science Foundation (NSF) as one means to assist the Office of Science and Technology Policy with preparation of the Administration's Annual Science and Technology Report to the Congress, 1981. They focus on specific aspects of three central themes directly related…

  14. 75 FR 78719 - National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-12-16

    ... Committee: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Special Emphasis Panel. Method Development... Environmental Health Sciences; Notice of Closed Meetings Pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory... clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Name of Committee: National Institute of Environmental...

  15. Health care satisfaction among foreign residents in Taiwan - An assessment and improvement.

    PubMed

    Kumar, Ajit; Maskara, Sanjeev; Chiang, I-Jen

    2014-01-21

    In 2012, almost half-million foreigners (2.3% of the total population) from 160 countries were estimated to live in Taiwan. In 2010, approximately eighty-seven percent of the population expressed high satisfaction in the national health care system of Taiwan. However, satisfaction level among foreign residents towards the Taiwanese health care system has not been clearly documented in the literature.OBJECTIVE: In this study, we assessed satisfaction level among foreign residents for receiving healthcare facility in Taiwanese hospital. In addition, the study came out with some potential solutions to improve health care received by them. Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach was deployed, which included three phases: observation, pattern recognition, and ideation and delivery. Each phase involved various steps. Techniques, such as ethnography, interview, discussion, and survey were used in accomplishing various steps within each phase. Four participants and two facilitators from Taiwan took part in the study. The study revealed various stories, insights, and themes about the health care received by the foreigners in Taiwan. In addition, some potential solutions and immediate available opportunities were recommended to improve their health care. The results provided a deeper understanding into the satisfaction level among foreign residents in Taiwan. For instance, this study pointed out the need to improve English proficiency of hospital's administrative staffs because a lack of English language proficiencies was found to be a major barrier in delivering quality health care to foreign residents. Therefore, adoption of various training modalities, such as English training using mobile device based games, role-play, and hospital's workflow depiction using English posters were recommended.

  16. Health care satisfaction among foreign residents in Taiwan--an assessment and improvement.

    PubMed

    Kumar, Ajit; Maskara, Sanjeev; Chiang, I-Jen

    2014-01-01

    In 2012, almost half-million foreigners (2.3% of the total population) from 160 countries were estimated to live in Taiwan. In 2010, approximately eighty-seven percent of the population expressed high satisfaction in the national health care system of Taiwan. However, satisfaction level among foreign residents towards the Taiwanese health care system has not been clearly documented in the literature. In this study, we assessed satisfaction level among foreign residents for receiving healthcare facility in Taiwanese hospital. In addition, the study came out with some potential solutions to improve health care received by them. Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach was deployed, which included three phases: observation, pattern recognition, and ideation and delivery. Each phase involved various steps. Techniques, such as ethnography, interview, discussion, and survey were used in accomplishing various steps within each phase. Four participants and two facilitators from Taiwan took part in the study. The study revealed various stories, insights, and themes about the health care received by the foreigners in Taiwan. In addition, some potential solutions and immediate available opportunities were recommended to improve their health care. The results provided a deeper understanding into the satisfaction level among foreign residents in Taiwan. For instance, this study pointed out the need to improve English proficiency of hospital's administrative staffs because a lack of English language proficiencies was found to be a major barrier in delivering quality health care to foreign residents. Therefore, adoption of various training modalities, such as English training using mobile device based games, role-play, and hospital's workflow depiction using English posters were recommended.

  17. The effect of local circulations on the variation of atmospheric pollutants in the northwestern Taiwan

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pay-Liam Lin; Hsin-Chih Lai

    1996-12-31

    A field experiment was held in the northwestern Taiwan as a part of a long-term research program for studying Taiwan`s local circulation. The program has been named as Taiwan Regional-circulation Experiment (TREX). The particular goal of this research is to investigate characteristics of boundary layer and local Circulation and their impact on the distribution and Variation of pollutants in the northwestern Taiwan during Mei-Yu season. It has been known for quite sometime that land-sea breeze is very pronounced under hot and humid conditions. Extensive network includes 11 pilot ballon stations, 3 acoustic sounding sites, and 14 surface stations in aboutmore » 20 km by 20 km area centered at National Central University, Chung-Li. In addition, there are ground temperature measurements at 3 sites, Integrated Sounding System (ISS) at NCU, air plane observation, tracer experiment with 10 collecting stations, 3 background upper-air sounding stations, 2 towers etc. NOAA and GMS satellite data, sea surface temperature radar, and precipitation data are collected. The local circulations such as land/sea breezes and mountain/valley winds, induced by thermal and topographical effects often play an important role in transporting, redistributing and transforming atmospheric pollutants. This study documents the effects of the development of local circulations and the accompanying evolution of boundary layer on the distribution and the variation of the atmospheric pollutants in the north western Taiwan during Mei-Yu season.« less

  18. Lithospheric Structure Beneath Taiwan From Sp Converted Waves

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glasgow, D.; McGlashan, N.; Brown, L.

    2006-12-01

    Taiwan is the product of three dimensionally complex interaction between the Eurasian Plate (EP) and the Philippine Sea plate (PSP), with the EP subducting eastward beneath the PSP in southern Taiwan while the PSP subducts northward beneath the EP in northern Taiwan. The structural emplacement of Philippine Arc lithosphere onto Chinese passive margin lithosphere is an exemplar of continental amalgamation, yet there are relatively few contraints on the geometry of lithosphere involved at depth. We have used teleseismic data recorded by the Broadband Array for Taiwan Seismology (BATS) to compute S-to-p wave receiver functions for the Taiwan region to provide new constraints on deep geometries. Moho conversions provide independent new estimates of crustal thickness, which vary from 35 to 55 km across the island in agreement with previous P to S conversion studies and local tomography. More significantly, our results suggest that the lithosphere- asthenosphere boundary (LAB) varies in depth from ca 140 km beneath northeastern Taiwan to ca 120 km beneath central Taiwan to perhaps less than 80 km beneath southern Taiwan. We attribute this along strike variation to the depression and decapitation of the Eurasian plate in the transition to northward subduction of the PSP.

  19. The Relationship between Science Achievement and Self-Concept among Gifted Students from the Third International Earth Science Olympiad

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Chun-Yen; Lin, Pei-Ling

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the relationship between gifted students' academic self-concept (ASC) and academic achievement (AC) in earth science with internationally representative high-school students from the third International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO) held in Taiwan in 2009. The results of regression analysis indicated that IESO students' ASC…

  20. Current situation and industrialization of Taiwan nanotechnology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Su, Hsin-Ning; Lee, Pei-Chun; Tsai, Min-Hua; Chien, Kuo-Ming

    2007-12-01

    Nanotechnology is projected to be a very promising field, and the impact of nanotechnology on society is increasingly significant as the research funding and manufactured goods increase exponentially. A clearer picture of Taiwan's current and future nanotechnology industry is an essential component for future planning. Therefore, this investigation studies the progress of industrializing nanotechnology in Taiwan by surveying 150 companies. Along with understanding Taiwan's current nanotechnology industrialization, this paper also suggests ways to promote Taiwan's nanotechnology. The survey results are summarized and serve as the basis for planning a nanotechnology industrialization strategy.

  1. Quantifying the seismicity on Taiwan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Yi-Hsuan; Chen, Chien-Chih; Turcotte, Donald L.; Rundle, John B.

    2013-07-01

    We quantify the seismicity on the island of Taiwan using the frequency-magnitude statistics of earthquakes since 1900. A break in Gutenberg-Richter scaling for large earthquakes in global seismicity has been observed, this break is also observed in our Taiwan study. The seismic data from the Central Weather Bureau Seismic Network are in good agreement with the Gutenberg-Richter relation taking b ≈ 1 when M < 7. For large earthquakes, M ≥ 7, the seismic data fit Gutenberg-Richter scaling with b ≈ 1.5. If the Gutenberg-Richter scaling for M < 7 earthquakes is extrapolated to larger earthquakes, we would expect a M > 8 earthquake in the study region about every 25 yr. However, our analysis shows a lower frequency of occurrence of large earthquakes so that the expected frequency of M > 8 earthquakes is about 200 yr. The level of seismicity for smaller earthquakes on Taiwan is about 12 times greater than in Southern California and the possibility of a M ≈ 9 earthquake north or south of Taiwan cannot be ruled out. In light of the Fukushima, Japan nuclear disaster, we also discuss the implications of our study for the three operating nuclear power plants on the coast of Taiwan.

  2. Team care of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Wang, Chih-Yuan; Yu, Neng-Chun; Sheu, Wayne Huey-Herng; Tsai, Shih-Tzer; Tai, Tong-Yuan

    2014-12-01

    Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a global health-care and national policy issue. As fluctuating glycemic control in diabetes often results in serious complications, we must encourage the diabetes educators' efforts at long-term follow-up among patients with T2DM. Therefore, certified diabetes educators (CDEs) play the most pivotal roles as life-long protectors for patients with T2DM. In the past 15 years, more than 4,000 CDEs have been trained and qualified, including health professionals such as physicians, nurses, dieticians, and pharmacists. The most important initiation of diabetes share care in Taiwan was originated in I-Lan County. Initiated to provide regional diabetes care, the name of this program is the Lan-Yang Diabetes Shared Care System. In 2006, the Taiwanese Association of Diabetes Educators (TADE) carried out a nationwide survey to evaluate the status of diabetes control in Taiwan, focusing on the "ABC" goal (A: HbA1c <7.0%, B: blood pressure <130/80 mmHg, C: LDL-cholesterol <100 mg/dl/total cholesterol <160 mg/dl). The results revealed that the percentage of patients with diabetes who fulfilled all ABC goals was only 4.1%. Five years later, in 2011, TADE compared two nationwide surveys and found total ABC attainment rates of 4.1% and 8.6%, respectively. The team-care approach to T2DM has been underway for over 20 years in Taiwan. Future interventions and treatment algorithms with team-based education should aim at preventing acute and chronic complications, which remains a long-term challenge in Taiwan. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Induction Programs for the Support and Development of Beginning Teachers of Science. National Science Teachers Association Position Statement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Teachers Association (NJ1), 2007

    2007-01-01

    The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) recommends that schools and teacher preparation programs provide new teachers of science with comprehensive induction programs. Research suggests these programs should address specifics for teachers of science, involve trained mentors, provide adequate time to support continual learning of new…

  4. The National Space Science Data Center

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1989-01-01

    An overview is presented of the services offered by the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC). The NSSDC was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) over 20 years ago to be the long-term archive for data from its space missions. NSSDC's goal is to provide the research community with data and attendant services in the most efficient, economical, and useful manner possible now and in the future. The organization is dedicated to getting the most scientific value out of NASA's initial investment in its missions. Each service available to scientists through the world is discussed. Also a contact person is identified for each service in case more information in needed.

  5. 76 FR 62424 - National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Amended Notice of Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-10-07

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Amended Notice of Meeting Notice is hereby given of a change in the meeting of the Interagency Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Coordinating Committee's State of Science...

  6. National Institutes of Health addresses the science of diversity.

    PubMed

    Valantine, Hannah A; Collins, Francis S

    2015-10-06

    The US biomedical research workforce does not currently mirror the nation's population demographically, despite numerous attempts to increase diversity. This imbalance is limiting the promise of our biomedical enterprise for building knowledge and improving the nation's health. Beyond ensuring fairness in scientific workforce representation, recruiting and retaining a diverse set of minds and approaches is vital to harnessing the complete intellectual capital of the nation. The complexity inherent in diversifying the research workforce underscores the need for a rigorous scientific approach, consistent with the ways we address the challenges of science discovery and translation to human health. Herein, we identify four cross-cutting diversity challenges ripe for scientific exploration and opportunity: research evidence for diversity's impact on the quality and outputs of science; evidence-based approaches to recruitment and training; individual and institutional barriers to workforce diversity; and a national strategy for eliminating barriers to career transition, with scientifically based approaches for scaling and dissemination. Evidence-based data for each of these challenges should provide an integrated, stepwise approach to programs that enhance diversity rapidly within the biomedical research workforce.

  7. Frequency and pattern of Chinese herbal medicine prescriptions for urticaria in Taiwan during 2009: analysis of the national health insurance database

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background Large-scale pharmaco-epidemiological studies of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for treatment of urticaria are few, even though clinical trials showed some CHM are effective. The purpose of this study was to explore the frequencies and patterns of CHM prescriptions for urticaria by analysing the population-based CHM database in Taiwan. Methods This study was linked to and processed through the complete traditional CHM database of the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan during 2009. We calculated the frequencies and patterns of CHM prescriptions used for treatment of urticaria, of which the diagnosis was defined as the single ICD-9 Code of 708. Frequent itemset mining, as applied to data mining, was used to analyse co-prescription of CHM for patients with urticaria. Results There were 37,386 subjects who visited traditional Chinese Medicine clinics for urticaria in Taiwan during 2009 and received a total of 95,765 CHM prescriptions. Subjects between 18 and 35 years of age comprised the largest number of those treated (32.76%). In addition, women used CHM for urticaria more frequently than men (female:male = 1.94:1). There was an average of 5.54 items prescribed in the form of either individual Chinese herbs or a formula in a single CHM prescription for urticaria. Bai-Xian-Pi (Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz) was the most commonly prescribed single Chinese herb while Xiao-Feng San was the most commonly prescribed Chinese herbal formula. The most commonly prescribed CHM drug combination was Xiao-Feng San plus Bai-Xian-Pi while the most commonly prescribed triple drug combination was Xiao-Feng San, Bai-Xian-Pi, and Di-Fu Zi (Kochia scoparia). Conclusions In view of the popularity of CHM such as Xiao-Feng San prescribed for the wind-heat pattern of urticaria in this study, a large-scale, randomized clinical trial is warranted to research their efficacy and safety. PMID:23947955

  8. Origins of Semisulcospira libertina (gastropoda: semisulcospiridae) in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chiu, Yuh-Wen; Bor, Hor; Kuo, Po-Hsun; Hsu, Kui-Ching; Tan, Mian-Shin; Wang, Wei-Kuang; Lin, Hung-Du

    2017-07-01

    The most accepted hypothesis has suggested that the fauna in Taiwan Island originated from South China, but some studies supported the Japan, Ryukyu Archipelago, and Taiwan Islands as a unique biogeographical district. This study examines whether the populations of freshwater snail Semisulcospira libertina in Taiwan are closer to those in Japan based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences. Our study shows the populations in North Taiwan originated from Japan and the cyclic glacial caused the migrations among islands and continent repeatedly; the populations in South Taiwan might originate from South China or South Asia. Our results will not only affect the conclusions in phylogeography of freshwater species in Taiwan but also change the sampling plans in the future studies about evolutionary of freshwater species in East Asia.

  9. Simultaneous Promotion of Indigenisation and Internationalisation: New Language-in-Education Policy in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Su-Chiao

    2006-01-01

    The indigenisation and internationalisation of Taiwan emerged as issues of national concern as a result of the democratisation of politics in the late 1980s which profoundly changed the sociopolitical and economic climate. One manifestation of these changes was "new" language-in-education policies. These were the…

  10. Developing and Refining the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study (TBCS): Five Years of Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lung, For-Wey; Chiang, Tung-Liang; Lin, Shio-Jean; Shu, Bih-Ching; Lee, Meng-Chih

    2011-01-01

    The Taiwan Birth Cohort Study (TBCS) is the first nationwide birth cohort database in Asia designed to establish national norms of children's development. Several challenges during database development and data analysis were identified. Challenges include sampling methods, instrument development and statistical approach to missing data. The…

  11. Engineering Efforts and Opportunities in the National Science Foundation's Math and Science Partnerships (MSP) Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Pamela; Borrego, Maura

    2013-01-01

    The National Science Foundation's Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program (NSF, 2012) supports partnerships between K-12 school districts and institutions of higher education (IHEs) and has been funding projects to improve STEM education in K-12 since 2002. As of 2011, a total of 178 MSP projects have received support as part of a STEM…

  12. NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences celebrates 45 years of Discovery for Health

    MedlinePlus

    ... Alison Davis NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences celebrates 45 years of Discovery for Health The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) is the NIH institute that primarily supports ...

  13. Scrap car recycling in Taiwan

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lee, C.H.; Tai, H.S.; Fan, R.K.S.

    1997-12-31

    The official figure of registered automobiles released by the Ministry of Transportation of Taiwan, R.O.C. as of the end of April 1996, is approximately 4.8 millions. Among them, 18% of the cars are between seven and ten years old and 15% of the cars are old than ten years. The result of this large number of old cars is the problem of abandoned cars on the street of Taiwan. This phenomena not only hinders traffic flow but also undermines the living quality in the cities. To minimize these negative effects, EPA has promulgated a Scrap Motor Vehicles Management Regulation tomore » enforce the scrap car recycling in Taiwan. Under this regulation, a buyer of a new vehicle has to pay the Scrap Motor Vehicle Disposal fee (NT$ 3000, or US$ 110 for a car; and NT$ 700, or US$ 25 for a motorcycle). This paper presents the current status of scrap car recycling in Taiwan.« less

  14. Prescription profile of Chinese herbal products containing coumestrol, genestein, and/or daidzein among female users: an analysis of national health insurance data in Taiwan between 1997 and 2007.

    PubMed

    Wu, Chien-Tung; Tzeng, Jeng-Nan; Lai, Jung-Nien; Tsan, Shun-Hua; Wang, Jung-Der

    2012-10-16

    Some Chinese herbs contain several kinds of phytoestrogens, and these herbs are commonly prescribed in Taiwan. Phytoestrogens may influence the effects of estrogen in females, although their activities are weak. This study aims to identify the risk and analyze the prescription profile of commonly used phytoestrogenic herbs in Taiwan. The study analyzed women who had been prescribed phytoestrogenic herbs including coumestrol, genistein and/or daidzein between 1997 and 2007 in a fixed cohort taken from all female beneficiaries from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. The prescription frequencies, cumulated dosages, and primary indications were listed. A total of 462,861 women were included in the study, of whom ~47.0% had used phytoestrogenic herbs at least once during the study period. A total of 6,270,813 prescriptions were recorded, and more than 20% of these contained phytoestrogens. The most commonly prescribed herb and formula were Puerariae Radix and Ge gen tang (Pueraria Decoction), respectively. Most of the prescriptions were issued for diseases of the respiratory system, followed by symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions and diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue. This study shows that women who sought medical treatment from Chinese medicine doctors for relief of respiratory discomfort had a high possibility of exposure to phytoestrogenic herbs. Safety issues related to the female endocrine system should be a priority for future research.

  15. EarthLabs: A National Model for Earth Science Lab Courses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McDaris, J. R.; Dahlman, L.; Barstow, D.

    2008-12-01

    As a response to the need for more rigorous, inquiry-based high school Earth science courses, a coalition of scientists, educators, and five states have created EarthLabs, a set of pilot modules that can serve as a national model for lab-based science courses. The content of EarthLabs chapters focuses on Earth system science and environmental literacy and conforms to the National Science Education Standards as well as the states' curriculum frameworks. The effort is funded by NOAA's Environmental Literacy program. The pilot modules present activities on Corals, Drought, Fisheries, and Hurricanes. The Fisheries and Hurricanes units were reviewed and field-tested by educators in Texas and Arizona. The feedback from this evaluation led to revisions of these units and guided development of the Corals and Drought chapters. Each module consists of activities that use online data sets, satellite imagery, web-based readings, and hands-on laboratory experiments. The project comprises two separate websites, one for the instructor and one for students. The instructor's site contains the pedagogical underpinnings for each lab including teaching materials, assessment strategies, and the alignment of activities with state and national science standards. The student site provides access to all materials that students need to complete the activities or, in the case of the hands-on labs, where they access additional information to help extend their learning. There are also formative and summative questions embedded in the student webpages to help scaffold learning through the activities.

  16. Discrepancy of cytogenetic analysis in Western and eastern Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chang, Yu-Hsun; Chen, Pui-Yi; Li, Tzu-Ying; Yeh, Chung-Nan; Li, Yi-Shian; Chu, Shao-Yin; Lee, Ming-Liang

    2013-06-01

    This study aimed at investigating the results of second-trimester amniocyte karyotyping in western and eastern Taiwan, and identifying any regional differences in the prevalence of fetal chromosomal anomalies. From 2004 to 2009, pregnant women who underwent amniocentesis in their second trimester at three hospitals in western Taiwan and at four hospitals in eastern Taiwan were included. All the cytogenetic analyses of cultured amniocytes were performed in the cytogenetics laboratory of the Genetic Counseling Center of Hualien Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital. We used the chi-square test, Student t test, and Mann-Whitney U test to evaluate the variants of clinical indications, amniocyte karyotyping results, and prevalence and types of chromosomal anomalies in western and eastern Taiwan. During the study period, 3573 samples, 1990 (55.7%) from western Taiwan and 1583 (44.3%) from eastern Taiwan, were collected and analyzed. The main indication for amniocyte karyotyping was advanced maternal age (69.0% in western Taiwan, 67.1% in eastern Taiwan). The detection rates of chromosomal anomalies by amniocyte karyotyping in eastern Taiwan (45/1582, 2.8%) did not differ significantly from that in western Taiwan (42/1989, 2.1%) (p = 1.58). Mothers who had abnormal ultrasound findings and histories of familial hereditary diseases or chromosomal anomalies had higher detection rates of chromosomal anomalies (9.3% and 7.2%, respectively). The detection rate of autosomal anomalies was higher in eastern Taiwan (93.3% vs. 78.6%, p = 0.046), but the detection rate of sex-linked chromosomal anomalies was higher in western Taiwan (21.4% vs. 6.7%, p = 0.046). We demonstrated regional differences in second-trimester amniocyte karyotyping results and established a database of common chromosomal anomalies that could be useful for genetic counseling, especially in eastern Taiwan. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  17. Examining the types and payments of the disabilities of the insurants in the National Farmers' Health Insurance program in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Wang, Jiun-Hao; Chang, Hung-Hao

    2010-10-26

    In contrast to the considerable body of literature concerning the disabilities of the general population, little information exists pertaining to the disabilities of the farm population. Focusing on the disability issue to the insurants in the Farmers' Health Insurance (FHI) program in Taiwan, this paper examines the associations among socio-demographic characteristics, insured factors, and the introduction of the national health insurance program, as well as the types and payments of disabilities among the insurants. A unique dataset containing 1,594,439 insurants in 2008 was used in this research. A logistic regression model was estimated for the likelihood of received disability payments. By focusing on the recipients, a disability payment and a disability type equation were estimated using the ordinary least squares method and a multinomial logistic model, respectively, to investigate the effects of the exogenous factors on their received payments and the likelihood of having different types of disabilities. Age and different job categories are significantly associated with the likelihood of receiving disability payments. Compared to those under age 45, the likelihood is higher among recipients aged 85 and above (the odds ratio is 8.04). Compared to hired workers, the odds ratios for self-employed and spouses of farm operators who were not members of farmers' associations are 0.97 and 0.85, respectively. In addition, older insurants are more likely to have eye problems; few differences in disability types are related to insured job categories. Results indicate that older farmers are more likely to receive disability payments, but the likelihood is not much different among insurants of various job categories. Among all of the selected types of disability, a highest likelihood is found for eye disability. In addition, the introduction of the national health insurance program decreases the likelihood of receiving disability payments. The experience in Taiwan can

  18. MAGDAIRE: A Model to Foster Pre-Service Teachers' Ability in Integrating ICT and Teaching in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Chun-Yen; Chien, Yu-Ta; Chang, Yueh-Hsia; Lin, Chen-Yung

    2012-01-01

    This report describes our efforts in fostering Taiwanese pre-service teachers' ability to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) and teaching. The current state of science teacher education and ICT policies in Taiwan are documented briefly. The course model, MAGDAIRE (abbreviated from Modeled Analysis, Guided Development,…

  19. The effects of pay-for-performance on tuberculosis treatment in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Li, Ya-Hsin; Tsai, Wen-Chen; Khan, Mahmud; Yang, Wen-Ta; Lee, Tsuey-Fong; Wu, Yi-Chun; Kung, Pei-Tseng

    2010-07-01

    In order to make tuberculosis (TB) treatment more effective and to lower the transmission rate of the disease, the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) in Taiwan implemented the 'Pay-for-Performance on Tuberculosis' programme (P4P on TB) in 2004. This study investigates the effectiveness of the P4P system in terms of cure rate and length of treatment. This retrospective study obtained information on all TB cases in the national data sets of Taiwan for the years 2002 to 2005. The number of cases in pre-P4P years (2002 and 2003) was 25 754, compared with 33 536 in the post-P4P implementation years (2004 and 2005). The effectiveness of the programme was evaluated by comparing the TB cure rate and length of treatment before and after the implementation of the P4P programme, and between participating and non-participating hospitals. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the factors affecting TB patients' cure rate within a 12-month treatment period. The cure rate and the average length of treatment before the implementation of P4P were 46.9% and 256.24 days, respectively, compared with 63.0% and 249.74 days after implementation of P4P. The cure rate and length of treatment in P4P hospitals were 68.1% and 249.13 days, respectively, compared with 42.4% and 53.71 days in non-P4P hospitals. This study found that both the cure rate and average length of treatment for cured cases improved significantly after the implementation of the P4P on TB programme in Taiwan. Compared with non-P4P hospitals, P4P hospitals had significantly better treatment outcomes. Patients' age, income level, the physician density of a patient's place of residence, and whether the hospital has joined the P4P on TB programme are factors affecting the treatment outcomes of TB patients in Taiwan.

  20. 75 FR 47316 - National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice (Subject Matter Revised From Earlier Notice)

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-05

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Science Board; Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice (Subject Matter... for the transaction of National Science Board business and other matters specified, as follows: Date and Time: August 12, 2010, at 3 p.m. EDT. Subject Matter: Review and Discussion of Current Mid-Scale...