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Although Instant Messaging (IM) has established itself as one of the most popular modes of communication, little empirical research has explored how adolescents are affected by its use to satisfy their virtual interpersonal relationships. This research investigates cause and effect in the satisfaction of these relationships among adolescents in both their real and virtual life by using IM. Data were collected from 401 junior high school students via a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and SEM analysis methods were used to analyze the data. Primary findings indicate that (1) there is significant cause and effect on the adolescents' satisfaction with their interpersonal relationships between their real life and the virtual world (via IM); and (2) adolescents may enhance their interpersonal behavior by using IM, leading to an increase in satisfaction with their interpersonal relationships in the virtual world. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

Due to its geographic location, Taiwan frequently experiences severe natural disasters (for example earthquakes and typhoons) that significantly interrupt business operations and subsequently cause extensive financial losses. Prior work on economic losses resulting from such natural disasters in Taiwan has not considered regional and sectoral spillover effects. In this work, we estimate the economic impacts resulting from the 1999 Chichi earthquake, the 2009 typhoon Morakot, the 2016 Tainan earthquake, and the 2016 typhoon Megi. We do so in the new TaiwanLab, a collaborative virtual laboratory that is capable of generating a time-series of subnational multiregional input–output (MRIO) tables, capturing interregional transactions among 267 sectors across Taiwan's 22 city-counties. We identify critical economic sectors in regions of high vulnerability to natural disasters. Our research is, thus, a credible reference to decision-making that determines regional and sectoral prioritisation for damage mitigation, improved resiliency, and faster recovery schedules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taiwan government has imposed a daily visitation quota with strict regulations on Chinese visitor travel modes, length of stay, and visa authorisations since July 2008. This highly controlled scheme was an attempt to maintain service quality over security and political considerations. The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth analysis regarding the Chinese tourist satisfaction over time under different travel modes. The results indicated that package tour (PT) visitors generally gave higher satisfaction scores than free and independent travel visitors. However, PT visitors demonstrated a decreased level of satisfaction on their tour arrangements of hotels, meals, and itineraries. Addressing safety and environmental issues is the priority task in order to provide quality travel services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sun, Y.-C. (2011). The impact of locus of control and priming on the endowment effect. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 420-426. This paper demonstrates the effects of different priming conditions on the endowment effect with respect to seller and buyer roles for individuals with different loci of control. Individuals with an external locus of control process information less rationally, and they are more susceptible to external influences. In addition, the literature reports that when individuals are making a purchasing decision, they tend to perceive the value of the product as being higher because of its utility aspect because decision makers search for reasons and arguments to justify their choices (; ). Therefore, this study investigates the effects of different priming conditions (utilitarian priming vs. hedonic priming) on the endowment effect according to each type of locus of control (internal vs. external). The results showed that the endowment effect was larger when externals were exposed to utilitarian priming as opposed to hedonic priming. Finally, the implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many tools for economic impact evaluation, such as input-output models and computable general equilibrium models, rely on the jobs-to-sales ratio (JSR) to convert direct, indirect and induced effects of sales into employment. For service sectors, this ratio is strongly influenced by capacity utilization and exhibits a non-linear pattern, especially for short-term tourism applications that involve dramatic demand fluctuations as a consequence of mega events, natural disasters or societal instability. The purpose of this study is to decompose the relationship between capacity utilization and the JSR so that the underlying factors that cause the instability of JSR can be identified. Time-series data from the Taiwanese tourist hotels and aviation sectors are adopted to discuss the strength of the relations between price per unit and capacity utilization, total employee numbers and utilization, service capacity and utilization, and labor efficiency and utilization, respectively. The results indicate that the adjustment of labor efficiency is the prominent factor in determining the stability of the jobs-to-sales ratio, while price, to employee number and service capacity are relatively stable in response to demand, leading to changing JSRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though use of the internet by adolescents has grown exponentially, little is known about the correlation between their interaction via Instant Messaging (IM) and the evolution of their interpersonal relationships in real life. In the present study, 369 junior high school students in Taiwan responded to questions regarding their IM usage and their dispositional measures of real-life interpersonal relationships. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and quantile regression methods were used to analyze the data. Results indicate that (1) IM helps define adolescents' self-identity (forming and maintaining individual friendships) and social-identity (belonging to a peer group), and (2) how development of an interpersonal relationship is impacted by the use of IM since it appears that adolescents use IM to improve their interpersonal relationships in real life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Instant Messaging (IM) has established itself as one of the most popular modes of communication, little empirical research has explored how adolescents are affected by its use to satisfy their virtual interpersonal relationships. This research investigates cause and effect in the satisfaction of these relationships among adolescents in both their real and virtual life by using IM. Data were collected from 401 junior high school students via a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and SEM analysis methods were used to analyze the data. Primary findings indicate that (1) there is significant cause and effect on the adolescents' satisfaction with their interpersonal relationships between their real life and the virtual world (via IM); and (2) adolescents may enhance their interpersonal behavior by using IM, leading to an increase in satisfaction with their interpersonal relationships in the virtual world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the economic impact estimation for international visitors to Taiwan using an Input–Output Model to demonstrate the differences of economic contribution by market segments. Economic impacts are compared based on visitor segments by country of residence and travel purpose. The results indicated that high spenders contributed two to three times more expenses in Taiwan than low spenders. In 2000–2001, excluding airfares, business visitors from North America (US$1,360), Japanese sightseers (US$1,323) and Singapore/Malaysia sightseers (US$1098) were the top three segments in terms of per person per trip expenditure, whereas tourists from Korea with a purpose of visiting friends and relatives spent approximately US$314 per party per trip. Type I multipliers on sales, personal income and value added were similar across all visitor segments. Type I jobs to sales multiplier, however, had stronger variation by segments, depending on the relative composition of different items/services that visitors consumed during the trip. Policy implications are proposed for the Taiwan national tourism policy, “Doubling Tourist Arrivals Plan”, which aimed to increase inbound tourism from 2.7 million person visits in 2002 to 5 million person visits by 2008. It is suggested that multiple indicators, such as length of stay, segment shares, and daily spending by individual visitor segments, should be concurrently incorporated in the policy formulation and evaluation process. Relying on one measurement objective, such as 5 million yearly visits, is inadequate in determining the overall achievement and efficiency of tourism policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon mitigation strategies are an urgent and overdue tourism industry imperative. The tourism response to climate action has been to engage businesses in technology adoption, and to encourage more sustainable visitor behaviour. These strategies however are insufficient to mitigate the soaring carbon footprint of tourism. Building upon the concepts of optimization and eco-efficiency, we put forward a novel carbon mitigation approach, which seeks to pro-actively determine, foster, and develop a long-term tourist market portfolio. This can be achieved through intervening and reconfiguring the demand mix with the fundamental aim of promoting low carbon travel markets. The concept and the analytical framework that quantitatively inform optimization of the desired market mix are presented. Combining the "de-growth" and "optimization" strategies, it is demonstrated that in the case study of Taiwan, great potential exists to reduce emissions and sustain economic yields. The implications for tourism destination managers and wider industry stakeholders are discussed. • Optimizing the demand mix to promote low carbon travellers has a great potential for carbon mitigation. • A methodological and analytical framework is presented to inform optimization of the desired market mix. • Combining the "de-growth" and "optimization" strategies is an efficient approach to reduce CO2 and sustain economic yields. • Destinations are encouraged to pro-actively determine, foster, and develop a long-term tourist market portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: We investigated dialysis duration, dose of erythropoietin (EPO), and clinical manifestations in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients with subclinical hypothyroidism., Methods: This cross-sectional study, performed in 3 centers, assessed 122 adult patients on PD for more than 6 months with regard to demographic data, dialysis duration, thyroid function, biochemical data, EPO dose, and clinical manifestations. Thyroid dysfunction was determined by serum thyroid-stimulating hormone, free thyroxine, total thyroxine, total triiodothyronine, antithyroid peroxidase antibodies, and auto-antibodies against thyroglobulin., Results: Of the 122 study patients, 98 (80.3%) were assessed as having euthyroidism; 19 (15.6%), subclinical hypothyroidism; and 5 (4.1%), subclinical hyperthyroidism. The proportion of women (74.2% vs. 57.1%, p = 0.038), the mean duration of PD (58.1 months vs. 37.9 months, p = 0.032), and the weighted mean monthly EPO dose (1.22 μg/kg vs. 1.64 μg/kg, p = 0.009) were significantly higher in the subclinical hypothyroidism group than in the euthyroidism group, but the prevalences of coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular disease were not. From the multivariate model, PD duration was more significant than sex as a risk factor for subclinical hypothyroidism (p = 0.0132)., Conclusions: Subclinical hypothyroidism is frequent in PD patients, especially female patients and patients with a longer PD duration. Compared with euthyroid patients, patients with subclinical hyperthyroidism need a higher dose of EPO to maintain a stable hemoglobin level.

Background: The predictive accuracy of scores on the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) for in-hospital mortality among critically ill cancer patients varies., Objective: To evaluate the predictive accuracy of APACHE II scores for severity of illness in critically ill cancer patients and to find clinical indicators to improve the accuracy., Methods: Actual hospital mortality rates were compared with predicted rates. Data were collected prospectively from 1263 cancer patients admitted to the intensive care unit during a 5-year period in a cancer center in Taiwan. The APACHE II score for each patient was calculated at admission. Stepwise logistic regression was used to identify clinical predictors associated with increased mortality., Results: The scores ranged from 2 to 54. The mortality rates were 19% overall, 45% for medical patients, and 1% for surgical patients. The fit of the scores was good for the medical patients (Hosmer-Lemeshow statistic 8.2, P = .41). The estimated odds ratios for mortality of presence of metastasis and respiratory failure were 4.18 (95% CI 2.65-6.59) and 2.03 (95% CI 1.22-3.38), respectively. When metastasis and respiratory failure were incorporated into the APACHE II model, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for medical patients increased from 0.82 to 0.86. The fit of the modified model was excellent (Hosmer and Lemeshow statistic 6.57, P=.58)., Conclusions: APACHE II scores are predictive of hospital mortality in critically ill cancer patients. The presence of metastasis and respiratory failure at admission are also associated with outcome.