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In 1957, the late well-known economist Alexander Eckstein who was sent from the United States to Taiwan to investigate academic conditions there, reported that Taiwan was a "cultural desert". Eckstein's view was shared by many Chinese scholars. But Eckstein's report was made 27 years ago. Taiwan is no longer a cultural desert. The United States and the Republic of China have had a history of more than 20 years of fruitful academic cooperation. In this paper we treat a number of themes which contributed to Taiwan's evolving from that cultural desert: 1) The establishment of the Chinese National Science Council under the support of the American Agency for International Development. 2) The financial assistance of U. S. private foundations to R.O.C. academic circles. 3) Sino-American cooperation which helped scientific and technological development in Taiwan. 4)The returned students who helped to build up academic standard in Taiwan; and. 5) Finally, an overview of American academic influence in Taiwan. This paper was originally delivered at the Conference on US-ROC Relations: From the White Paper to the Taiwan Relations Act (Sept. 23-24, 1983) held by St. John's University in New York, and published by the American Asian Review to which those who are interested may refer to for the original English text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we know, the main HCV strain in Japan (HCV-J 4) is highly diverse in sequence from the original American strain (HCV-US). By comparing the sequences of these two strains, a region, located in the 3'-terminus of the putative E gene in HCV genome, was selected for PCR amplification. In this region, the Japanese strain showed high diversity from the American strain. From 4 patients, 8 isolates with the length of 277 bp, were cloned and sequenced. The homology of these 8 clones was high, indicating that these clones were in the same strain. This strain might be the major strain in China, named HCV-CHN1 in this paper. Since there were still many varieties in these 8 clones, HCV CHN1 could be possibly divided into 3 substrains. HCV-CHN1 was also found to be similar to HCV-J 4, with nucleotide homology of 83.4-86.3%, and amino acid homology of 78.3-88.0%, but remote from HCV-US, with homologies of only 68.6-72.6% and 69.6-73.9%, respectively. These results might be of paramount significance in developing the detection method for HCV infection and in preparing HCV vaccine.

Using bibliometric method, the author counted the citation of papers published in American Journal of Epidemiology in the last 3 years. The highly cited papers and books were presented and the focus of recent years on American Journal of Epidemiology outlined.

This paper has a review of the transformation of American higher medical education in the early 20th century, which is signalized by the publication of Flexner report in 1910. At the same time, the author also has an analysis on the whole event. The experience of its success or failure is summarized in order to give references to the reform of Chinese higher medical education.

The expansion of applications of medical devices has attracted the increased attention of government regulatory bodies around the world to the safety and effectiveness of these products. Most developed countries, such as the United States and European Union, have developed well-established regulatory systems for medical devices, which have also consistently been amended to accommodate the changing requirements of safety and the trend of globalization.The current "Regulations for the Supervision and Administration of Medical Device (China)", established in 2000, has brought about great improvements for the safety and effectiveness of products, safeguarding public health. But there are still, at present, a lot of counterfeit and poor quality devices and device-related adverse events for lack of powerful post -market and in-use regulatory controls for products. It is therefore very urgent for the Chinese government to reform its medical device administration and management. This research paper analyses and compares the different requirements and executions of medical devices regulations in the EU, the US and China, to draw some experiences of the EU and US regimes that are very useful to China's regulatory reform. It is suggested that when developing a new scheme of medical devices regulatory reform in China, two prominent aspects have to be considered by policy makers and regulators. Firstly, the global trend of medical devices regulations has to be taken into account. Secondly, the experiences learned from the EU and US systems should be applied to the Chinese regulatory reform in combination with the concrete practice of China.

A critical factor in the advancement of biomedical research is the ease with which data can be integrated, redistributed and analyzed both within and across domains. This paper summarizes the Biomedical Information Core Infrastructure built by National Cancer Institute Center for Bioinformatics in America (NCICB). The main product from the Core Infrastructure is caCORE--cancer Common Ontologic Reference Environment, which is the infrastructure backbone supporting data management and application development at NCICB. The paper explains the structure and function of caCORE: (1) Enterprise Vocabulary Services (EVS). They provide controlled vocabulary, dictionary and thesaurus services, and EVS produces the NCI Thesaurus and the NCI Metathesaurus; (2) The Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR). It provides a metadata registry for common data elements. (3) Cancer Bioinformatics Infrastructure Objects (caBIO). They provide Java, Simple Object Access Protocol and HTTP-XML application programming interfaces. The vision for caCORE is to provide a common data management framework that will support the consistency, clarity, and comparability of biomedical research data and information. In addition to providing facilities for data management and redistribution, caCORE helps solve problems of data integration. All NCICB-developed caCORE components are distributed under open-source licenses that support unrestricted usage by both non-profit and commercial entities, and caCORE has laid the foundation for a number of scientific and clinical applications. Based on it, the paper expounds caCORE-base applications simply in several NCI projects, of which one is CMAP (Cancer Molecular Analysis Project), and the other is caBIG (Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid). In the end, the paper also gives good prospects of caCORE, and while caCORE was born out of the needs of the cancer research community, it is intended to serve as a general resource. Cancer research has historically contributed to many areas beyond tumor biology. At the same time, the paper makes some suggestions about the study at the present time on biomedical informatics in China.

In recent years, the Philippine folk dances have generally been performed by student organizations at colleges and dance troops at Filipino towns in the US, mainly on the West Coast. The purpose of this paper is to consider what kind of meanings the folk dances assume for Filipinos by examining these two different types of groups. This analysis can offer a key to understanding the significance or meaning of the homeland for modern immigrants and also the kinds of situations faced by nations in the present globalization era; this is because these dances were originally conceived to embody the Philippines as a nation-state. The dances performed by these two groups have much in common. The majority of their members are second-generation Filipinos. Their dances have almost the same style as that of the most famous folk dance troop in the Philippines and allow the performers to overcome their negative image of the Philippines and themselves. However, there are relative differences between the two groups. The folk dance of the community group expresses the members' long-distance nationalism toward the Philippines. On the other hand, the dance of the college students allows a glimpse of their Filipino ethnicity, which lies beneath their American identity. This paper analyzes the causes of these differences in order to show the complexity of modern transnational phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Epinephrine has a place in the treatment of pediatric cardiopulmonary arrest but has been controversy concerning its optimal dose. This meta-analysis aimed to seek for evidences of the effectiveness of different doses of epinephrine in children with cardiac arrest and to evaluate the effectiveness of high-dose versus standard-dose epinephrine in children with cardiac arrest., Method: Published papers on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective clinical controlled trials (CCTs) were electronically searched from MEDLINE (1966 to September 2006), EMBASE (1974 to June 2006), the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library Issue 3, 2006), CBM (1998 to 2006) and CNKI (1994 to 2006). We also had searched the related references and manual retrieval 10 professional academic journals about epinephrine treatment of pediatric cardiopulmonary arrest (1998 to 2006). The search strategy was made according to the collaborative review group search strategy. At first, we found 546 articles. Second, we excluded 474 of them through reading the title, abstract, excluding non-randomized, non-controlled trials and non-clinical studies. Finally, we identified 4 papers through searching for original articles and telephone contact with some of the authors after excluding 68 papers. Then we performed the meta-analysis by RevMan 4.2.7. For homogenous dichotomous data (P > or = 0.1, I(2) < or = 50%) we calculated fixed effects model, relative risk (RR), 95% confidence intervals (CI), For heterogeneity Dichotomous data (P < 0.1, I(2)>50%) we calculated random effects model, relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)., Result: Four trials involving 360 cases were included. The results of meta-analysis indicated that there were no statistical difference in recovery of spontaneous circulation [RR = 1.28, 95% CI (0.93, 1.77)]. Perondi, Patterson and Cheng xiuyong's study compared the rate of survival at 24 hours and showed statistical heterogeneity (P = 0.01, I(2) = 0.77). The random effects model indicated that there were no significant difference [RR = 1.40, 95% CI (0.43, 4.55)]. The sensitivity analysis showed that after deleting Perondi's group there were no statistical heterogeneity. Fixed effects model indicated that there were significant difference [RR = 2.50, 95% CI (1.52, 4.11)]. T When the rates of survival to hospital discharge were compared among the 4 studies, there was statistical heterogeneity (P = 0.07, I(2) = 0.58), the random effects model indicated that there were no statistical difference [RR = 1.78, 95% CI (0.42, 7.50)], There were no heterogeneity after Cheng Xiu-yong group was deleted., Conclusion: Higher doses of epinephrine in children with cardiopulmonary arrest may not increase the rate of recovery of spontaneous circulation, the rate of survival at 24 hours, the rate of survival to hospital discharge and worsen the neurological outcomes. Adverse reactions is difficult to monitor and evaluate because of the current restrictions on medical technology.

The development of professionalism in the health care industry has resulted in the existence of distinct lines of demarcation between disciplines. Duplication or absence of services, or lack of connection between services has made it difficult to respond to the needs of people with chronic conditions. With the rapid growth of the population with such conditions, the concept of integrated care has been proposed in order to increase accessibility, quality of care, cost sustainability and user satisfaction for such patients. The main content of this paper includes a definition of integrated care, the rationale behind it, and a model for it, as well as the advantages and disadvantages associated with it. Four integrated care systems were selected from different countries: Social HMO and PACE from USA, SIPA from Canada, Japan's community support system and Taiwan's long-term care resources management centers. Recommendations are also provided for members of the nursing profession actively participating in integrated care systems.

In the law systems of Britain and American, unjust enrichment was a old law. However, it is newly-established in China and the items are abstract and simple. The paper researches into the system of German and American in order to develop the Chinese system for the development of the marketing economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the present situation of clinical engineering in China and in the United States, and analyzes the gaps between them. Finally, from the staff's configuration and the work scope of clinical engineering, the developing trends and implementation strategies of China's clinical engineering are presented too.

Carlos Bulosan's America Is in the Heart represents the diasporic experience of Filipino migrant workers from the thirties to the forties in a quasi-autobiographical mode. This paper studies Bulosan's unique appropriation of the genre of autobiography in his inscription of the collective life of Pinoys, investigates the relationship between auto-bio-graphy and "reality," and explores Bulosan's politics of writing. Part One of this paper discusses the formal invention of America Is in the Heart, which traverses the boundaries of autobiography, fiction, and ethnography. Part Two delineates the perspective in which Bulosan re-presents the collective history of Pinoys. Part Three investigates the apparent contradiction embedded in this work, which repetitively articulates the faith in America through Carlos' autobiographical self while the American experience inscribed in the narrative is one of total victimization. Part Four adopts Derrida's view of self-identity as "plurality of masks" to observe how the work demonstrates Bulosan's negotiations with the various forces operating in the historical context and reveals Bulosan's unique politics of ethnic writing. Part Five concludes this paper by pointing out the transnational and cosmopolitan tendency in Carlos's "American Dream." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper compares the medical device registration system between China and FDA in U.S.A., with the main focus on the problems of design default of supervision and management in Chinese system. It analyzes the primary elements of substantial equivalence approval in medical device registration, and points out the design defaults of our medical device registration system and the basic points which need to be handled.

The purpose of this paper is to offer an overall assessment and discussion on the merits, shortcomings and controversies of the law and practice of prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in employment in the United States. The main contents of the paper are divided into four sections. Section One describes the general background of various hardships faced by sexual minorities in the job markets in the States. Section Two analyzes the reasons why federal fair employment statutes and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission cannot provide them with adequate protections. It also discusses several related decisions rendered by the federal courts and reform measures offered by Congress in recent years. Section Three details other legal remedies provided by the Federal Constitution, local statutes and regulations and common law. Section Four discusses the controversial issues arising from the treatment of gay and lesbian members of the U.S. armed forces. It also offers a comparative study of the same legal regime adopted by the European Union and evaluates whether the American experience in this field can provide any lessons for Taiwan given its recent endeavors to reform anti-discrimination measures in the legal system dealing with employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After World War Two, Tibet became an essential part of US Asian strategy. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Central Intelligence Agency secretly dispatched its agents to Tibet, in an attempt to urge separatist forces in Tibet to establish close ties with the US. However, the US government has consistently denied its involvement. Drawing on the newly released US government files, this paper examines in detail the secret expedition of two CIA agents, Douglas Mackiernan and Frank Bessac, with the aim of restoring the historical truth of the covert US operation that backed the Tibetan separatists against the new-born power of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the differences between American and Chinese conflict management styles and tries to decode areas of cultural differences that can lead to misunderstanding and conflict. In-depth interviews with foreign-born Chinese searching for jobs at American workplace and case studies with executives at American corporations in China were conducted. From analyzing the roots of Chinese culture, Chinese and American cultural differences, American and Chinese conflict management models, the paper proposes two fundamental differences in negotiation: a four-fold difference between the Chinese and Americans that could potentially cause conflict: directness-subtleness, aggressiveness-modesty, courtesy-command, and American-Chinese experiential differences, as well as a difference in the choice of conflict styles and tactics between Chinese and American negotiators. The case study demonstrated that the Chinese subsidiaries of America-based multinational corporations need to be more sophisticated in handling international business conflicts. The findings indicate that there is a strong relationship between Chinese and American value systems and in the choice of conflict-handling styles. Illustrations of how these parameters play out in the workplace and suggestions for both Americans and Chinese in handling conflicts are provided. Examples of how and where disconnects can occur are reviewed, as well as the hierarchy in which the conflict can occur and the potential impact on individuals and conflict resolution systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International system had a vivid change in 2008, in which the American subprime mortgage crisis broke out and caused a global financial crisis in the world. The Wall Street suddenly became the symbol of greedy. In August of 2008, the military conflict happened between Russia and Georgia after Georgia launch out military operation and fired the South Osetia. The UN could not negotiate the two countries to solve the problem without fire. Obxazia and South Osetia proclaimed independence and got admission from Russia. Georgia proclaimed to cease all foreign relations with Russia. The Russia-Georgia conflict showed the frustration of Georgia applying for entering NATO which tries to narrow the Russian strategic space and isolate Russia. The new Cold War is forming after Medvedev took the presidency in Kremlin. After Obama was elected the American president, the US media tried to attribute the financial crisis to China which tried to maintain the fixed currency in Reminbi. The bilateral relations between China and America will more and less reflect in the trade. The paper tries to analyze the media coverage from these three countries to show the characteristics of their foreign policies and international propaganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A person cannot be held criminally liable once he or she is found insane in criminal trial. In Clark v. Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that (1) Arizona's narrowing of its insanity test did not violate due process, and (2) Arizona's evidential rule, which excluded evidence of mental illness and incapacity due to mental illness on issue of mens rea, did not violate due process of law. The holding of the Supreme Court raises significant issues regarding the constitutional nature of the insanity defense and the constitutional right to present evidence. The issue is also tied to the defendant's mental state and challenges the common law tradition of mens rea and culpability. By reviewing the common law tradition and current legal models of the insanity defense in the U.S., this paper analyzes the case and its effects, and proposes an alternative means of thinking about the law and insanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asserts that existing studies on US Internet companies in China fail to acknowledge that technology is developed in a political economic context; that laws are drafted to consolidate the dominant groups; that nation-states are not the only primary actors in international negotiation; and that commercial information is valuable to Internet companies. This paper aims to redefine the "Google in China" question by examining how the Internet was developed in the US; how the Clinton Administration and US high-tech industry lobbied for trade with China; and how Google strategised for the China market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hassler Whitney is one of the most influential mathematicians in the 20th century. With an analysis based on the classification of primary sources, this paper discusses Whitney's work on graph theory before he switched to topology. It reviews his great contributions to planar graph, Hamiltonian circuits in planar graphs, chromatic polynomials and matroid theory, which was founded by Whitney in his paper entitled “On the abstract properties of linear dependence” in 1935. The results show that these contributions are closely related to the four-color conjecture. He made many theoretical achievements derived from it even though he didn't succeed. And his legacies have a great impact on the development of modern graph theory. A prime characteristic of Whitney's mathematical work is the search for inner reasons (SIR) for phenomena. And another one is the thought infiltration of topology into graph theory, which has significantly influenced graph theory and topology. It is expected to be beneficial for understanding Whitney's academic achievements in all aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the background of global financial crisis, a growing range of products were recalled from EU and USA, and the losses caused by recall were expanding. The international markets, especially the exporters paid more and more attention to the recalls. This paper analyzed the statistical data of consumer product recalls involved with CPSC and RAPEX during the period from Jan. to Nov. in 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the publication activity in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and learn more about the development and perspective of TCM as well as its subfields., Methods: TCM-related publications (from 1964 to 2008) indexed in Medline were analyzed, including publication number and proportion of TCM papers, TCM clinical research papers, papers in TCM subfields such as Chinese medicine, Chinese herbs and acupuncture. We also analyzed the journals in which they got published., Results: A total of 34 528 TCM-related papers were indexed in Medline from 1964 to 2008. The number and proportion of publication in Medline were increased steadily. TCM articles have changed towards clinical-oriented research, especially in complementary therapies and acupuncture subfields. Before 1973 the popular content of TCM articles was acupuncture, but at present it changed to Chinese herbs. TCM papers were found in core clinical journals, specialized complementary journals and non-core journals, the last one was the majority., Conclusion: The publication activity of TCM literature increased rapidly since 1970s. TCM attracts more and more attentions and researchers. The safety and efficacy of TCM have been tried to identify by conducting modern scientific researches.

Historical range of variability (HRV) characterizes the fluctuations of ecosystem structure and processes under natural disturbances, and is helpful in understanding the causes and consequences of ecosystem change, providing the researchers and managers a reference to evaluate the present status of ecosystems and guiding managers to develop effective management strategies to ultimately drive ecosystems to a sustainable state. In recent years, HRV has played an increasingly important role in forest ecosystem management, and has been successfully used in indicating the causes of ecosystem change, conservation of biological diversity and endangered species, and restoration of ecosystem function, etc. This paper outlined the concept of HRV, and discussed the applications, limitations (lack of data, environmental change, and human impacts, etc.), and challenges of applying HRV in forest ecosystem management. Strengthening data mining, focusing on the changes of natural environment and human society, and increasing the public's recognition of HRV would benefit the improvement of the application efficacy of HRV in forest ecosystem management, and make the forest ecosystem ultimately achieve a sustainable state.

This paper, from foreign communication's position, takes search engine into communication perspective, and gives it doctrinal concern. After analyzed the importance of search engine's recommended function, paper list the sample of it, especially those search results related with P. R. China and United States of America, to testify paper's viewpoints - - that is, United States of America has had the trace in employs search engine's recommended function to guide international voice. Then, paper, also, reasoning whether search engine's recommended function can work in guiding international voice. Finally, paper reinforces the importance of search engine in foreign communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natalie Zemon Davis is one of the pioneers in the study of international Women History. Her great contributions are laid on emphasizing the difference between the concepts of sex and gender and putting equal focus on the female and male history, which are the theoretic foundation of other historians who develop gender theory further. The paper presents her thought of women history and gender history based on her main works Society and Culture in Early Modern France, Fiction in the Archives and Women on the Margins from three aspects "female images under patriarchal control, female images from the lower classes, female images from margin to center". It also provides some references for historiophoty research at home by exploring her historical thoughts and methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three major theory patterns successively appeared in the studies of Chinese Americans in the past hundred years, namely the theories of assimilation model, neo-social history model rising in 1960s, and postmodernism model--disperalism, globalizationism and transnationalism. The change of the theoretic patterns is closely associated with the American social transformation, the development of the social science and the transition of the scholars' position. This paper reviews and criticizes the studies of U.S. on Chinese Americans for last hundred years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From April 2009 onward, a new strain of human H1N1 influenza virus has swept over the world. The genome of influenza virus consists of 8 segments, encoding 10 proteins, respectively. The reassortments among the 8 segments cause the variation of influenza virus. Therefore, phylogenetic analysis of the 8 genes is very important. In this paper, we choose neighboring word frequency as the genomic features, using VC++ programming to analyze evolution of the 8 segments of H1N1 virus. As a result, we found that PB2 genes and PA genes of these three isolated virus were originated from North American avian influenza virus, that PB1 genes were originated from the seasonal influenza virus of human, and that HA genes, NS genes and NP genes came from the North American classical swine influenza A virus. The NA segments and M segments were originated from the European swine influenza virus.

As the founder of American psychology, James established the first psychological laboratory in America. However, he did few experiments, and even on some public occasions he was openly against experimental psychology and laboratory methods. Even so, he exerted a profound impact on American experimental psychology. In this paper, the author explores a number of little known historical facts about James' experimental psychology, and re-evaluates the relationship between James and experimental psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textbooks are considered as the predominant classroom resource by most K-9 teachers. In particular, several studies have found that teachers in Taiwan are extremely anxious about challenging textual authority. As a result, their teaching is centered on textbooks. Even now educational policy in Taiwan is calling on the use of multiple-texts as supplementary materials along with designated textbooks, teachers still find it difficult to bring themselves to use alternative textbooks. In contrast, American teachers are given more autonomy to decide teaching materials as well as evaluation processes and formats. Yet, their accountability needs to be monitored. This is also the main reason the NCLB law calls for improvement of the teacher quality in the U.S. In the present paper, the author contends that due to different interpretations of "curriculum," "textbooks," and "evaluations" in different cultures, we need to learn from each other. However, the key elements for successful teaching in both countries are allowing specialists to exercise autonomy and empowering teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The co-occurrence of mental illness and substance abuse is among the most prevalent mental disorders worldwide. It has become more significant in the United States, Europe, and Hong Kong, and it presents complex issues for both mental health and substance abuse practitioners. This paper explores the historical and conceptual issues on dual diagnosis. In addition, different perspectives on dual diagnosis are crucial for developing public policies and programs to address client needs on the road to recovery. The dominant view on dual diagnosis has been the medical perspective. This paper describes three more perspectives: moralistic, psychosocial risk, and phenomenological. This broader view on dual diagnosis will benefit both policy and service development for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to observe and understand long-term and large-scale ecological changes, the US National Science Foundation initiated a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program in 1980. Over the past 30 years, the US LTER program has achieved advances in ecological and social science research, and in the development of site-based research infrastructure. This paper attributed the success of the program to five characteristics, i.e., 1) consistency of research topics and data across the network, 2) long-term time scale of both the research and the program, 3) flexibility in research content and funding procedures, 4) growth of LTER to include international partners, new disciplines such as social science, advanced research methods, and cooperation among sites, and 5) sharing of data and educational resources. The Virginia Coast Reserve LTER site was taken as an example to illustrate how the US LTER works at site level. Some suggestions were made on the China long-term ecological research, including strengthening institution construction, improving network and inter-site cooperation, emphasizing data quality, management, and sharing, reinforcing multidisciplinary cooperation, and expanding public influence.

Taking Duke University as an example, this article makes a comparison between the major of biomedical engineering in the Southeast University and that in American universities in term of subject direction, faculty, teaching principle and status of publishing academic papers. Through the comparison and analysis, the problems we face were explored. From the comparison and summary the future improvements in four aspects, such as strengthening the interdisciplinary among different majors, etc. so as to provide an inspiration on the future perspectives of research and teaching in biomedical engineering in China.

This paper simply introduced the scope of identification and requirement of content label, each fiber should be used its generic names. Labeling methods and the using of terms of different textiles were mainly presented, "New" "all" and "S" may be used on the label, different wool fabrics has its own identification principle. If a wool fiber product is labeled wholly of one fiber, the tolerance is 0% except to permissive ornamentation. If a wool fiber product which contains more than one fiber, the tolerance is 3% exclusive of permissive ornamentation. Each exported wool product shall be labeled with the name of the country where such product was processed or manufactured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares media relations in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. There are several significant findings. First, the media-public relations practitioner relationship is more informal and closer in Asia than it is in the U.S. Second, media ethics, such as gift giving and informal gatherings, are different in these Asian cultures and in the U.S. Finally, the U.S. journalists and public relations practitioners have more positive attitudes toward on-line types of source-reporter relations than Asian journalists and practitioners do. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed based on the findings of this comparative analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regulations and standards of flammability of textiles for toys in United States, Canada and European Union and other developed countries were explained in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the unique nature and treatment concept of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), TCMs have been respected again since 70s of last century. The regulatory agencies of some developed countries (the FDA, EMA and Health Canada etc) have published new guidance/guidelines/directives in recent years, such as the botanical drug product guidance of the FDA, the evidence for quality of finished natural health products guidance of the Health Canada and the guideline on quality of herbal medicinal products/ traditional herbal medicinal products of the EMA etc. All of the regulatory agencies are willing to scientifically evaluate the herbal medicines and accept it as therapeutic product. This paper analyzed the history of herbal medicine regulation and the similarities and differences of the regulatory requirements of the European Union, the United States and Canada, proposed possible future direction of the international development of Chinese medicine from the perspective of global regulatory affairs.

Based on survey of 16 Confucius Institutes in five countries including the United States, Japan, Russia, Thailand, Lebanon, this paper found that: The current Confucius Institutes worldwide have achieve a certain spread of results. But different levels of Chinese culture are quite different in the results of dissemination, Chinese culture in different cultural spheres, especially the Confucian cultural spheres and non-Confucian cultural spheres, are quite different in the results of dissemination, even there are large differences between countries. This paper suggests further that for non-Confucian cultural nation China's material culture should disseminate first, and behavior culture and spiritual culture can be temporarily put on hold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political conflict is part of Conflict Politics. It has by now not been formed as an independent research domain. In fact, people mentioned it only when exploring the types of political conflicts. The present attempt aims at drawing people's attention to this area. On the basis of sorting Out Seymour Martin Lipset's relevant studies, the paper integrates and works out a new analysis approach, which is termed conflict angle. It is extended to include all the areas of political life. The author discusses political conflicts and organization processes, summarizes the relevant key points, and explores in detail the gaming rules in election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To compare the differences on current ethical issues in the areas of epidemiological practice between China and America, to identify the major ethical problems existing in the epidemiological studies in China. Through searching and reviewing papers published on Chinese Journal of Epidemiology and American Journal of Epidemiology from Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2010, we made a comparison on ethical issues involved in the original studies that focusing on human beings. In total, 749 Chinese articles and 1221 American articles were recruited, with the following findings: (1) The proportion with announcements of "Informed consent by the subjects" was 29.24% in Chinese literature and 38.08% in the Americans (χ² = 16.02, P < 0.001). The proportion with "having had approvals from the ethic committees" was 29.24% in Chinese, while 38.08% in American (χ² = 604.40, P < 0.0001). (2) Both in China and America, there had been an increase of ethical issues in the last 5 years. (3) Articles derived from trial studies had better involvement on ethics than those from observational studies. (4) The level on ethical issues in the American Research Institutes exceeded those in China (5) American studies also had showed better ideas on Ethic issues on biological specimens collection and privacy protection, than those in Chinese studies. Among the studies on Chinese Journal of Epidemiology, the proportion of 'informed consent' was higher than in ethical review, but both ethical review and awareness on 'informed consent' had left far behind than the American Journal of Epidemiology. This could be seen at the institution level of the writers, during specimen collection and privacy protection, as well as at the overall level. The results reminded us that the Departments of Technology Management should spend more efforts on the improvement of public education regarding ethics for researchers and to update the process of edition for Journals as well as to reinforce the rules of ethics in epidemiological research.

This study has applied some basic principles of economic theory to the history of political institutions in England and America, and has also compared them with some political institutions in the history of China. It is argued in this paper that the relationship between local governments and the national government is vital to the success of great nations. To illustrate this point, the development of four important point institutions in English and American political history has been analyzed: the medieval Court of the Exchequer, the English common law, the English Parliament, and the American system of federal democracy. The Court of Exchequer was an important institution around 1200 in the early development of the English monarchy, which guaranteed that high officials were being appropriately judged for rewards or punishments. Each sheriff, governor of one of the provinces in medieval England, met the treasurer who was the representative of the central government twice a year at the Court of the Exchequer to settle the sheriff's accounts. And a large subset of the most powerful people in England gathered also at the Court of the Exchequer just to watch and verify everything that they did. Everything that the sheriff had been doing was publicly recorded there at the Exchequer. Therefore, local governors were motivated by the promise of large moral-hazard rents. The great common law in England, which had really begun to develop under Henry II around 1170, leaded directly to the legal tradition that we have in America and Britain today. After a long civil war between Henry's mother and his uncle Stephen, Henry who became the king in the end developed a court system that combined elements of centralization with a decentralized dependence on local governments to assure members of rival political elites that their ability to enjoy certain privileges would be protected under a new national leader. The English common law and the Confucian civil service examinations have some similarities both in historical origins and in their functions. A century after Henry II, around 1300, his great-grandson King Edward I developed Parliament as a way of strengthening the state. The early Parliament gave representation to the local officials who exercised the power of the state at its lowest level. Such parliamentary representation strengthened the state by creating decentralized protection for moral hazard rents of thousands of local government officials. The Parliament was just the Court of Exchequer for the local gentry. The fact that towns were represented in Parliament made them particularly effective as engines of economic growth in the early modern era. On the other hand, the fact that rural gentry were represented in England's Parliament was also important in the 1700s for the creation of some companies called turnpike trusts that built toll roads throughout England, giving England the best transportation system of the 18th century, and thus setting the stage for the industrial revolution. When looking for an analogue of Parliament in traditional China, the c!osest institution is the Confucian system of circulating memorials by scholar-officials. It gave a national political voice to government officials. A successful democracy requires more than just elections; it also requires alternative candidates who have good democratic reputations. Local governments provide the most opportunities for leaders to begin cultivating such reputations. Democratic development in America actually began with decentralized local democracy, and democracy in America has always been federal, in the sense of having separately elected offices at the local, provincial, and national levels. Local democracy can reduce barriers against entry into democratic competition at higher levels of government, and thus local democracy can make elections at higher levels more competitive. On the other hand, elections at higher levels of government can also help to sharpen the competitive incentives for good government in local democracy. Successful democratic development may depend on an interaction between democracy at different levels of government, from local to national. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, the authors analyze current state of clinical trials for acupuncture treatment of various types of diseases or clinical conditions in countries outside China in the past 30 years. The published top 5 more papers involve disorders of muscle-skeleton and connective tissues (295 papers), disorders of the nerve system (230), problems of the department of gynaecology and obstetrics (164), post-surgical complications (134), and addiction (70). The top 5 countries having more papers published are Germany (59 papers on disorders of muscle-skeleton and connective tissues, 62 on neurological disorders, 17 on problems of the department of gynaecology and obstetrics, 21 on post-surgical complications, and 8 on addiction), USA (43 papers on disorders of muscle-skeleton and connective tissues, 27 on neurological disorders, 24 on problems of the department of gynaecology and obstetrics, 27 on post-surgical complications, and 29 on addiction), British (38 papers on disorders of muscle-skeleton and connective tissues, 17 on neurological disorders, 14 on post-surgical complications, and 6 on addiction), Sweden (17 papers on disorders of muscle-skeleton and connective tissues, 16 on neurological disorders, and 28 on problems of the department of gynaecology and obstetrics), and South Korea (14 papers on neurological disorders, 5 on post-surgical complications, and 3 on addiction).

A new instrumental system developed by Nu Cybertek Inc., USA is introduced in the article, which is used to evaluate fabric performance related to human sensory perception. The term fabric here refers to any fibrous sheet products including textiles, paper and even leather, and the human sensory perception includes both the hand (tactile sense), and drape and wrinkle recovery (associated with viewing or sighting). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The belief that there are common elements in contemporary international educational policy has brought growing interest in sharing leadership theories and successful models cross-culturally. The challenge is to understand the complexity of cross-cultural translation of theories and applications, and to map out possible solutions to meaningful adaptation. This paper explores a U. S. framework for school leadership and investigates its cross-cultural generalizability both theoretically and empirically. Employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, findings from the studies give support to the claim that there is strong cross-cultural alignment on the overarching goal of improving student learning. However, the U. S. framework and assessment will need to be modified to reflect the Chinese reform priorities that emphasize the balance between academic and social learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Europe and North America, a few developed countries have gradually implemented an "open disclosure" mechanism characterized by openness, analysis, and learning in dealing with adverse medical events, so that the cost of medical litigation and the reoccurrence rate of adverse medical events can be decreased. The United States was the earliest country to implement an open disclosure mechanism, while Australia has developed the most comprehensive policy. This paper reviewed the histories and current status of the open disclosure mechanism in the United States and Australia to derive implications for constructing a disclosure mechanism for adverse medical events in Taiwan. Two suggestions were made after a review of the two countries' experiences. First, the dominant Department of Health should plan and conduct large-scale epidemiologic research on adverse medical events to force the medical system to face the issue of medical injury seriously. Second, social action supporters in various areas should be mobilized to propose comprehensive social legislation, promote education, and advocate for Taiwan to move toward the goal of dealing with adverse medical events with open disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, the SEER-Medicare data link cancer patients in the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) Program with Medicare enrollment to identify cancer patients who are eligible for Medicare and to provide Medicare Claims for these patients. Statistics from the National Cancer Institute show that there are over 650 peer-reviewed publications using the SEER -Medicare database. This database has been the primary data source for health services research in oncology since its inception, and it has made tremendous contributions to policies related to cancer control, treatment, and surveillance in the United States. The National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), established at the initiation of the Taiwan's National Health Insurance program in 1995, is a claims database. The Taiwan Cancer Database (TCDB), based on the Taiwan Cancer Registry, was established in 2002. The creation of a TCDB-NHIRD linked database could produce a SEER-Medicare-like database and has the potential to become an invaluable resource for cancer as well as policy researchers in Taiwan. This paper introduces the SEER-Medicare database, including data collection, software, applications of the database, data elements, structure, validation, the data request and application process, limitations of the database, and privacy and confidentiality issues. We then use a previously published breast cancer study to demonstrate the procedures involved in generating research from the SEER-Medicare database, followed by recommendations for the future development of a database that links TCDB to the NHIRD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American political philosopher Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is an important research book reflecting the crisis of American university education from the philosophical perspective. Its publication was seen as a miracle in the history of serious academic works in the 20th century. The author cites the proliferation of relativism and nihilism in America universities,analyzes the sources of crisis from the history of political philosophy based on the profound theories of Strauss School, and lastly proposes the way to restructure the liberal education in American universities. Although Chinese scholars have paid much more attention than before to the neo-conservative doctrine, the Strauss School and the American liberal education and have published papers, their research is not based on a comprehensive knowledge of the ideological origin of liberal education proposed by the Strauss School, which to some extent prevents them from thoroughly understanding Bloom's thoughts on liberal education. According to the Strauss School, the most significant contemporary problems are "the crisis "the of modernity" and crisis of Western civilization." But they insist that if people want to comprehensively examine the crisis of modernity in the western society, they must deny both the modern liberalism and left-wing academic views, which are rooted in the tradition of modernity, that is, having strong faith in modernity rather than antiquity, or even in the future rather than the present. Contemporary liberal scholars and their left counterparts are all "modem" or "progressive people" who criticize the modernity in the vein of the modem school. The Strauss School argue that a vision beyond the liberalism needs to be obtained, and they point out that the western classical thought must be just such a vision, especially the vision of what they called "the Plato- Al-Farabi- Maimonides' political philosophy. "Fully adhering to the Strauss School of thought and research style, Bloom often searched for inspiration from Socrates, Plato, Machiavelli, Rousseau and Kant, and made insightful academic observations of the U. S. academic community and higher education. The shift from the critique of modernity to that of modern higher education was indicated by the Strauss School, but was pushed forward and completed by Bloom in his book The Closing of the American Mind. The spread of modern crisis in higher education was the basic proposition of Bloom: relativism and nihilism lead to people's indifference to the history of natural rights and the origin of nation. They do not require the abandonment of old or new beliefs in order to retain the agreed natural rights. They worsen the crisis of faith, result in the widespread failure of the social contract,and create a new split. In all,it is producing spiritual closure and poverty in education. This crisis of modern universities highlights the necessity and urgency of liberal education. In Bloom's view,the core of humanistic education is to help students to explore the eternal theme "What is man?" to obtain a full and rich understanding of the world as a whole and to inspire students to continuously explore the answers to significant issues. By doing so, holistic and free persons will come into being. Bloom thus argues that universities need to fully understand the importance of the position and role of great classics, take the initiative in providing general education courses, and actively promote elite education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]