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Background In Taiwan, nurse practitioners (NPs) have taken on expanded clinical roles in the intensive care unit (ICU) due to insufficient staffing of attending physicians and resident physicians. Local problem The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of NP staffing on the quality of patient care in ICUs. Methods This is a retrospective study that selected patients from the ICUs of three hospitals during 2015. The mortality risks among the three hospitals were compared after adjusting variables using the Cox regression model. The care qualities of the three hospitals were analyzed using the standardized mortality ratio. Interventions Hospital A consisted of attending physicians and resident physicians. Hospital B consisted of attending physicians and NPs. Hospital C consisted of attending physicians, NPs, and resident physicians. Results Outcomes were assessed for 2,932 patients. The patients in hospital A had a lower mortality risk than hospital B or C. Septic shock patients received better care quality in hospital B than in hospital A or hospital C. Conclusions In regional hospitals with lower NP-to-patient ratios, increasing that ratio could reduce the risk of mortality in the ICU and increase the quality of care.

This paper explores the issue of the neutral-point oscillation in the four-leg neutral-point clamped inverter. Such an issue is closely associated with the neutral-point current, so this study models the inverter on the dc side to clarify its relationship and presents a three-dimension pulsewidth modulation to eliminate the neutral-point oscillation. In addition, an offset-injection approach to reducing the neutral-point oscillation is also investigated and discussed. The laboratory test results will validate the analysis of the proposed approach, and a discussion will be presented to evaluate the effectiveness of eliminating the neutral-point oscillation.

This study explored the effects of coenzyme Q(10) (CoQ(10)) on the testicular functions of male mice exposed to cigarette smoke. Eight-week-old BALB/c male mice were divided into the following groups: the AV group (air with a vehicle), the AQ group (air with CoQ(10)), the SV group (smoke with a vehicle), and the SQ group (smoke with CoQ(10)). The results showed that the CoQ(10) concentrations in the sera and testes were decreased in the groups subjected to smoke but they were improved after the administration of CoQ(10). Neither smoke nor CoQ(10) supplementation affected the serum or testis testosterone concentrations. Regarding the antioxidant system in the testis, the exposure to smoke induced malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide production and decreased the catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities. Oral CoQ(10) administration reversed the oxidative damage. In apoptosis, the cytochrome c, c-caspase 9, and c-caspase 3 proteins were increased in the groups exposed to smoke but they were decreased after the CoQ(10) administration. In mitochondrial biogenesis, smoke exposure led to decreases in the PGC1-α, NRF1, and NRF2 levels, but CoQ(10) increased the expressions of these proteins. Additionally, oral CoQ(10) administration improved the mitochondrial copy numbers that were reduced following the exposure to smoke. In summary, CoQ(10) administration reduces smoke-induced testicular damage by regulating the antioxidant capacity, the cell apoptosis, the mitochondrial biogenesis, and the copy numbers in the testes.

A multi-residue method for determining 81 pesticides and metabolite residues in vegetables and fruits by liquid chromatography/ tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) with electrospray ionization was developed. Pesticide residues were extracted from samples with acetone. Macroporous diatomaceous earth column was used instead of the separatory funnel for liquid/liquid extraction. Ethyl acetate was used as eluting solvent for diatomaceous earth column. This sample preparation technique by diatomaceous earth column was easy, fast and environment-friendly. It can reduce the sample preparation time and solvent consumption as well as eliminate the emulsion problem. Eighty-one analytes of different chemical families of insecticides, acaricides, fungicides, herbicides, plant growth regulators and 4 pesticide metabolites were determined in a single 25 min LC/MS/MS run. The pesticides were separated on an Atlantis T3 column using a gradient elution. Data acquisition under MS/MS for every pesticide or metabolite was achieved by applying multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of two fragment ion transitions to provide high sensitivity and selectivity for both quantification and confirmation. A total of 162 MRM transitions were monitored. The standard addition was employed to compensate for the matrix effects to achieve the maximum accuracy of the LC/MS/MS method. Vegetable (bok choy) and fruit samples (grape or orange) were fortified with pesticides of low (0.05 or 0.1 ppm) and high (0.5 ppm) levels, and the triplicate results showed satisfactory recoveries and repeatability. The recoveries for most pesticides ranged from 70 to 120% and the coefficients of variation of all pesticides were below 25% in all matrices. The developed method, compared with traditional GC or LC method, showed less time-consumption and higher sensitivity. The proposed method is considered satisfactory for routine monitoring of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables.

The 14-16 kDa rice allergenic proteins have been reported to be the products of a multigene family, and react most frequently with IgE in serum of rice allergic patients. The aim of this study was to assay the content of endogenous 14-16 kDa rice major allergenic proteins in both phytase-transgenic (GR) and non-transgenic rice (NR) (wild-type, Oryza sative L. cv. Tainung 67). We want to investigate whether the foreign gene will change the allergenicity of rice or not, should be evaluated in order to clarify its pre-market safety. First, the RA17 gene encoding 16 kDa rice allergenic protein was amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and cloned into the expression vector pET-29a(+). The constructed expression vector, pET-29a(+)-RA17, was transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The host strain was induced to express recombinant RA17, which was purified by Ni(superscript 2+)-NTA resin column and used as the antigen for the production of a polyclonal antibody via rabbits. We used the antibody as a detective tool of western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods. The western blotting analysis showed that the content of major allergenic proteins in phytase-transgenic rice was 96.3% of that in wild-type rice. The content of 14-16 kDa allergens estimated by ELISA were 1.73±0.09 (NR) and 1.66±0.08 mg/g (GR). The results indicated that the level of 14-16 kDa allergens was not significantly different (p＞0.05) between wild-type rice and phytase-transgenic rice, and the transformation of phytase gene into rice plant did not enhance the content of rice major allergenic proteins in transgenic rice.

Staphylococcal intoxications are often associated with staphylococcal enterotoxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus. However, several studies revealed that other Staphylococcus species, such as S. intermedius and S. warneri, could produce enterotoxins as well. To facilitate the identification of a mixed culture while tracing the causative staphylococci of food poison, a polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) method was developed to differentiate Staphylococcus species using Staphylococcus-specific primers targeting the elongation factor Tu gene (tuf gene). Eleven tested species were differentiated to 10 separated patterns. Variance of the patterns between strains within a species was analyzed using 9 strains of S. aureus and several strains of other species. It was shown that strains within a species migrated the same distance in the DGGE assay. When mixed cultures of different Staphylococcus species in milk were subjected to DNA extraction and PCR-DGGE, the resulted patterns faithfully corresponded to the species of the mixed cultures, including those of potential to secret enterotoxins.

The neutral-point voltage-balancing control is a critical issue of a neutral-point-clamped converter. The conventional control strategy is to inject the specific zero-sequence voltage to regulate the redundant vector, but it is unacceptable to the three-phase four-wire system. This paper provides a neutral-point voltage-balancing control by the dipolar modulation, and the control freedom of the zero-sequence voltage is flexible. Therefore, the proposed method is suitable for both three-phase three-wire and three-phase four-wire systems. Besides, the proposed method improves the control dynamic in a reactive power system. The proposed neutral-point voltage-balancing control is verified by the mathematical analysis and experimental results. The control dynamic, power loss estimation, and the output current performance are analyzed in this paper.

Common-mode voltage output is closely associated with switching states in three-phase three-wire neutral point clamped converter. Detailed analysis shows avoiding redundant states can effectively improve the common-mode voltage, so this paper proposes a pulse width modulation (PWM) technique with zero redundant state to reduce the common-mode voltage output, and evaluates their performance with the conventional PWM schemes. This paper also takes the compensation of neutral point potential deviation into consideration. Laboratory test results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

As more distributed renewable energy sources are installed in the utility grid, the static synchronous compensators are applied to manage the power factor and the grid voltage in the medium-voltage level of the power system. The cascaded multilevel converter with single-star topology is well applied to this application. The dc-capacitor voltage balancing control is a fundamental issue, and it can be accomplished by negative-sequence current and/or zero sequence voltage injection. Unfortunately, the zero sequence voltage injection increases the risk of over-modulation and the negative-sequence current injection results in high peak current. This paper provides the voltage balancing strategy to manage the peak current or the modulation index. Besides, all the asymmetrical grid voltages are considered in the proposed method to satisfy the grid fault operation. Laboratory test results verify that the proposed method limits the peak current or manages the modulation index during the grid fault operations.

Curcumin, a major yellow pigment and spice in turmeric and curry, has been demonstrated to have an anticancer effect in human clinical trials. Mutation of KRAS has been shown in 35%-45% of colorectal cancer, and regorafenib has been approved by the US FDA to treat patients with colorectal cancer. Synthetic lethality is a type of genetic interaction between two genes such that simultaneous perturbations of the two genes result in cell death or a dramatic decrease of cell viability, while a perturbation of either gene alone is not lethal. Here, we reveal that curcumin significantly enhanced the growth inhibition of regorafenib in human colorectal cancer HCT 116 cells (KRAS mutant) to a greater extent than in human colorectal cancer HT-29 cells (KRAS wild-type), producing an additive or synergistic effect in HCT 116 cells and causing an antagonistic effect in HT-29 cells. Flow cytometric analysis showed that the addition of curcumin elevated apoptosis and greatly increased autophagy in HCT 116 cells but not in HT-29 cells. Mechanistically, curcumin behaved like MEK-specific inhibitor (U0126) to enhance regorafenib-induced growth inhibition, apoptosis and autophagy in HCT 116 cells. Our data suggest that curcumin may target one more gene other than mutant KRAS to enhance regorafenib-induced growth inhibition (synthetic lethality) in colorectal cancer HCT 116 cells, indicating a possible role of curcumin in regorafenib-treated KRAS mutant colorectal cancer.

This paper presents the flexible dc capacitor voltages balancing control method for star-connected cascaded H-bridge converters. In this paper, the power flows are analyzed by investigating all the converter's control freedoms. Based on the analyses, users can accomplish the dc capacitor voltage balancing with both negative-sequence current and zero-sequence voltage. These two kinds of control options are further integrated together with the defined weighting factor $K$ . The low-voltage ride-through operation of a proposed control method is also discussed in this paper. The control method is verified with a 220-V 1-kVA static synchronous compensators based on the star-connected cascaded H-bridge converters, and the experimental test results show that all the dc voltages are well regulated at the commanded value with different weighting factor $K$ .

The low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability is a critical requirement of grid-connected converters of renewable energy resources to uphold the stability of the power system. The step-up transformer that connects the power converter to the grid is exposed to sudden voltage changes throughout the LVRT, and the resulting magnetic flux deviation often leads to severe inrush current when the grid fault clears. The inrush current exerts significant mechanical forces in the transformer and damages its insulation. This paper proposes a control method of the power converter to reduce the risk of inrush current by mitigating the magnetic flux deviation during the LVRT operation. The proposed method also manages the output current of the power converter within the capacity of semiconductor devices to reduce their stress while performing the proposed flux compensation and other LVRT operations. The reliability of the power converter and the transformer can be improved by the proposed control method.

The LCL -based filter has been widely applied to mitigate the size of the inductor in the high-power converter, but it usually leads to resonance in the system. Therefore, an active damping technique based on the virtual resistor is provided in this paper for the LCL -filter system. The literature papers only suppressed the resonance of the LCL -filter and focused on the stability of the internal current control loop with an inductive grid impedance. Therefore, these previous stability analysis methods cannot be suitable for offshore wind farm applications due to the multiple resonance frequency characteristic of the transmission cable and multiparalleled converters. Therefore, this paper analyzes the control stability with both of the internal resonance ( LCL -filter) and external resonance (between the grid impedance and current controller). Besides, the behavior of multiparalleled converter and the multiple resonance frequency of long transmission cable are discussed and analyzed for the offshore wind farm applications. Finally, the laboratory and simulation results are for the proposed method verification.

本文以臺灣某私立綜合大學（以下簡稱T大）通識教育課程架構為研究對象，文獻回顧釐清兩種常被提及的通識教育課程規劃和運作模式：「核心課程」和「分類選修」，並且指出「核心課程」模式在過去十幾年為臺灣通識教育規劃主事者所看重並鼓勵採行。再者，本文以六所通識教育辦學具特色的綜合大學（臺大、清大、政大、輔任、中原、元智）來分析其課程規劃和運作情形，研究 得出大部分學校採取「核心課程」和「分類選修」兩種模式的折衷來達成其通識教育目標。接著，本文以校外專家諮詢意見、T大一些師生訪談意見以及上述六所大學歸納出的相似點來檢視T大現行通識課程架構，得出五項缺失。為了修正這些缺失，同時顧及T大辦學理念，本文以「核心課程」和「分類選修」的折衷模式，提出新的通識課程架構。 This study analyzes the general education course structure of a private university (referred to as TU) in Taiwan. First of all, this study reviews two popular models for G.E. course structure, the “core curriculum” model and the “distribution requirement” model. The core curriculum model in the past decade has been favored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. Several Taiwan’s universities were encouraged to adopt this model through government grand. However, after analyzing the G.E. course structure of six universities known for their outstanding G.E. program in Taiwan, this study found that the majority apply a “mixed” model to their own course-structure design. Using the data collected from consulting the experts from other universities and interviewing some teachers and students of TU, and the common features drawn from these six outstanding universities, this study is able to detect the problems from the G.E. course structure of TU, and thus redesign a new model, a model with the mixture of “core curriculum” and “distribution requirement”.

The LCL-filter is one of the methods to reduce the size of the filter inductor but it leads to resonance in the system. The resonance usually results in unstable system and triggers the over-current protection. An active damping technique based on the virtual resistor is provided in this paper. The concept and the mathematical analysis of the proposed method are explained, and then the stability of the single converter operation and multiple grid-connected converter operation are analysed. Moreover, the simulation and the laboratory experiment results are for the verification.

With more and more distributed energy resources being installed in the utility grid, grid operators start imposing the low-voltage ride-through requirement on such systems to remain grid-connected and inject reactive and/or active current to support grid voltage during fault conditions. This paper proposes a positive and negative sequence current injection method to meet such requirement. In the meantime, the proposed method can reduce the second harmonic ripples in the dc link of the power converter without violating the peak current constraint of the power transistors. The long-term reliability of the converter system can thus be improved.

A total of 16 Bifidobacterium species were assayed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and PCR–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR–DGGE) methods targeted on a 770-bp region of the tuf gene. Based on this sequence, a genus-specific primer set and 12 primer sets for 12 Bifidobacterium species including those previously reported for six probiotic species were developed. On the other hand, when these 16 Bifidobacterium species were subjected to PCR–DGGE analysis, 13 product migration patterns were obtained. PCR products for strains in pairs of B. adolescentis/B. thermophilum, B. longum/B. magnum and B. lactis/B. gallinarum migrated the same distance on the DGGE gel. Combined with species-specific PCR primers specific to B. adolescentis, B. longum and B. lactis, all of the 16 Bifidobacterium species could be identified. In addition, the subspecies of B. animalis, i.e., B. animalis and B. lactis, could be discriminated. This study indicated that the tuf gene is highly useful for the molecular detection of different Bifidobacterium species. Using the PCR and PCR–DGGE methods, 16 Bifidobacterium species, including those from probiotic products and those from other origins, could be rapidly identified.

Common mode voltage output is closely associated with switching states in three-phase three-wire neutral-point clamped inverter. Detailed analysis shows avoiding redundant states can effectively improve the common mode voltage, so this paper proposes a pulse width modulation (PWM) technique with zero redundant states to reduce the common mode voltage output, and evaluate their performance with the conventional PWM scheme. This study also takes the issue of neutral point potential deviation compensation into consideration. Laboratory test results are presented to verify the effectiveness of proposed scheme.

This paper investigates different compensation methods for neutral point potential deviation based on modular multilevel single star neutral point clamped bridge converter. Theoretical analysis indicates injecting an offset for a cell can effectively decrease this deviation, so this research presents different offset-based compensation techniques, and evaluates their output performance. Besides, this research also presents a hierarchical voltage balancing control to efficiently manage the power flow among cells. Laboratory test results are provided to verify their effectiveness.

Three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) converters/inverters have become a popular topology for not only medium-voltage (1k–33k) but also low-voltage level industrial application because of its reduced transistor block voltage and lower output current distortion. The neutral point voltage balancing control is one of the important issues of NPC converter to ensure system operation since the voltage drift in neutral point could lead to low-frequency current distortion and increases the risk of over-voltage in power electronic semiconductor devices. This paper provides a zero-sequence voltage (ZSV) injection to charge and discharge electric potential in the upper or the lower capacitor for unipolar switching. In addition, a novel neutral point potential control by bipolar switching is presented in this paper, which has better control dynamic under pure reactive power operation. The concept of these two neutral point potential control methods will be introduced, and then the laboratory test results are presented for verification.

Transfer theories, which are closely related to evaluation theory, have been developed from a holistic perspective, but most of empirical transfer research has not effectively utilized holistic models to investigate transfer of learning until the late 1990s. Additionally, little has been done in examining the relationship between situational variables, demographic variables, and transfer system characteristics. This study contributes to transfer research by examining the combined effects of situational and demographic variables on a holistic model of perceived organizational transfer systems. A key finding was that demographic variables make only a marginal contribution to predicting transfer system characteristics when compared to situational variables. It seems clear that the differences in transfer system characteristics depend on diverse situational influences, primarily due to types of training programs and types of organizational cultures. This finding does not support one-size-fits-all transfer interventions. Future research may focus on investigating benchmark transfer practices in certain types of organizations or industries to empirically identify the true leverage points of a diagnosing instrument of transfer—the Learning Transfer System Inventory—for interventions and change.

This paper presents the application of a Delta-Connected Cascaded H-Bridge Converter in unbalanced load compensation. The compensation includes positive sequence reactive power current and negative sequence current compensation. The controller designed based on the detail power flow analysis which can achieve dc capacitor voltage balancing control by zero sequence current injection even when compensating the negative sequence current. But zero sequence current injection may cause high peak phase current which may break converter switches. This paper also proposed Peak Current Limit Control (PCLC) in delta-connected cascaded converter. Laboratory and Simulation test results are provided to validate the proposed PCLC method.

The modular multilevel cascaded converter with single-star bridge-cell (MMCC-SSBC) is very suitable for next generation high-scale renewable energy resource system for the low switching loss, low output current distortion, and high reliability. The voltage balancing control is an important issue for MMCC-SSBC to maintain system operation which can be accomplished by negative sequence current and/or zero sequence voltage injection. The pure negative sequence current injection results in unbalanced output current, and thus increasing the stress of power electronic devices. On the other hand, pure zero sequence voltage injection increases the DC voltage utilization, and thus increasing the risk of over-modulation. This paper provides a flexible voltage balancing by regulating the effectiveness between these two injections to manage the DC voltage utilization and reduce the imbalance of output currents. The laboratory test results verify the proposed method, which are tested under unbalanced output power between each phase of MMCC-SSBC and asymmetrical voltage faults.

The electric arc furnaces (EAFs) are the major disturbances in the medium-voltage level of power system for the low frequency voltage variations, which lead to incandescent lamp flickering. In order to alleviate these voltage variations, the modular multilevel cascaded converter with the topology of single-delta bridge-cell (MMCC-SDBC) is used to the medium-voltage level flicker compensator application. The voltage balancing control of MMCC-SDBC is a fundamental issue to maintain the system operation. This paper presents a voltage balancing control by zero sequence current injection based on the average power flow management. Besides, the proposed method has ability to operate at unbalanced grid voltages since both the positive and negative sequence voltages are considered. The laboratory test results show the verifications of proposed method, which are tested at a down-scaled 220V and 1kVA converter.

The static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) are installed at the medium-voltage level of power system for grid voltage regulation and power factor improvement. The star-connected cascaded multilevel converter is widely for high voltage and high rated power STATCOM application. The voltage balancing control is a fundamental issue for cascaded converter, which can be implemented by negative sequence current and zero sequence voltage injection. The zero sequence voltage injection increases the DC voltage utilization, thus the DC voltage and cascaded number should be expanded to avoid over-modulation. However, the increase of DC voltage and cascaded number result in the high cost of the system but reduce the efficiency. On the other hand, the negative sequence current injection results in significant peak current and would trigger the over-current protection. This study provides a voltage balancing strategy to improve the DC voltage utilization by regulating the effectiveness between zero sequence voltage and negative sequence current injection. In addition, the proposed method is based on power flow management. All the unbalanced components of grid voltage and converter output current are considered, thus the proposed method can satisfy for grid fault operation. Laboratory test results are for proposed method variation and validate that the converter can accomplish system operation and manage DC voltage utilization during grid fault operation.

As more and more renewable and distributed energy sources are connected to the grid, the static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) plays an important role in power system to increase the power factor and regulate the load voltage. In general cases, these STATCOM systems are required to install at the medium voltage level (1kV to 50kV) and regulated for the high reliability. Thus, the modular multilevel cascaded converters are applicable to these requirements. This paper provides a zero sequence voltage injection, so called neutral point shift, for fault tolerant operation as the module of bridge cell is broken. The limit of zero sequence voltage injection and the proposed phase/clustered voltage balancing control are also introduced in this paper. The control algorithm is applied with a 7-level star-connected cascaded converter and test results verify the proposed fault tolerant operation and phase/clustered voltage balancing control.

Assessment center (AC), driven by job analysis or competency development, has long proven to have strong content-related and criterion-related validities and some construct-related validity to assess behavior, which is one important dimension for demonstrating training effectiveness and human resource development (HRD) accountability. Yet, AC has not been effectively utilized in HRD research and practice for such purposes. This article reviews research and practice of AC, discusses validity issues of ACs, identifies conceptual and evidence-based factors that affect AC validity, and discusses strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities if AC is applied in HRD. The author suggests more adoption of AC to HRD practice. However, to make AC most useful for HRD and be able to integrate with other HR functions, HRD researchers should focus on how to improve the construct-related validity of ACs, particularly through design and development aspects of ACs and through the view of unified concept of construct validity.

Although assessment center has been proven effective in predicting performance, the issue of establishing construct-related validity of assessment center is still unsolved, resulting in an unmet research challenge. Woehr and Arthur asserted that the lack of construct-related validity in assessment center literature is primarily due to issues of design and development. This article focuses on the design aspect of assessment center to develop an integrative competency-based assessment center model that links competency development, training design, assessment center, and multi-rater assessment together. Built around validity (particularly construct-related) issues of assessment center, the model guides scholarly practitioners on how to design a competency-based assessment center that has potential to improve construct-related validity and capability to build into training design and assessment and other human resource functions. Nine propositions related to validity were developed in accordance with the model to evoke future research. Practical implications are also provided.

This descriptive exploratory study sought to assess the values priorities of individuals and groups across various HRD occupational specialties. Findings showed that, in general, respondents felt the most important guides to the practice of HRD should be those emphasizing performance-related outcomes. However, results also showed meaningful variation in top-priority values across individuals and significant differences in the comparative importance of six values across education level, degree of involvement in organizational practice, nationality, and occupational and stakeholder groups. Findings suggested that HRD professionals operate from a structured set of values and that the relative importance of those values may vary according to the settings and challenges faced in practice.

This study sought to identify measures of individual value orientations related to how HRD professionals believe the ideal HRD process should be viewed. The goal of the research was to refine a set of HRD value orientation measures generated from earlier research and to discover the extent to which items used in those measures formed coherent and independent subsets. Construct validation efforts using exploratory factor analysis showed an exceptionally clean and interpretable latent structure consisting of six variables. These results were highly consistent with the hypothesized conceptual framework. Implications for HRD and directions for future research are presented.

No previous research in the United States has compared and contrasted learning transfer systems across organizations and training types, primarily because no standard instruments were used in previous research. This study, based on a subset of responses in the Learning Transfer System Inventory response database, is the first to conduct such a comparison. Using a subset of 1,099 respondents, transfer systems are compared across three organization types, eight organizations, and nine types of training. MANOVA and univariate ANOVA were used to compare transfer systems. The results suggest that transfer systems differ across organizational types, organizations, and training types. Implications for HRD practice and future research directions are discussed.

This study represents an initial effort to identify and measure a set of values that reflect the goals that human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners believe HRD should strive to achieve. Six values reflecting two value facets (locus of HRD influence and HRD outcomes) and a seventh value that relates to a perceived normative component inherent of HRD activity were identified and measured. Results indicated the value scales measured individual value priorities of HRD scholars and practitioners, and that the structure of these value priorities varied as a function of individual differences. Suggestions for future research are offered.

The problem and the solution.Quality standards and guiding principles are needed to enable workforce development systems to meet the needs ofemployers and individuals. Ho wever, the multistep process ofdeveloping a comprehensive,integrated workforce development system requires a significant amount of planning. This chapter outlines a five-step planning process and provides specific action steps designed to facilitate this task.

This paper presents a dc capacitor voltage balancing control method for the star-connected cascaded H-bridge pulsewidth modulation converter in the static synchronous compensator applications. With the zero-sequence voltage injection as a basis for dc capacitors voltage balancing, this paper investigates the detailed power flow of the converter as a whole and within individual modules under unbalanced grid voltages and then proposes a method to control the reactive power output and the dc capacitors voltage by precisely managing the power flow. This approach enhances the low-voltage ride-through capability, which is very critical as the penetration of distributed energy resources grows rapidly. The proposed control method is verified by a scaled-down prototype in the laboratory.

This paper presents an average power balancing control technique for the modular multilevel cascaded converter (MMCC) based on single-star bridge cells (SSBC) in the static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) applications. Detailed power flow analyses of the MMCC-SSBC converter, from the bottoem level of individual H-bridge modules, then the middle level of per-phase circuit, to the top level of the three-phase circuit, are performed. By utilizing the outcome of such power flow analyses, the proposed method can precisely control all the DC bus voltages of the MMCC-SSBC while performing the reactive power compensation, even under extreme conditions like voltage sags, thus enhance the low voltage ride through functionalities of the STATCOM, which is very critical for renewable energy deployment. The proposed control algorithm is verified by a MMCC-SSBC test bench in the laboratory under normal and fault grid conditions.

With more and more renewable and other distributed energy resources (DERs) being adopted, the utility requires these DERs systems have low voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability, which means the DERs converters must remain grid-connected and to provide reactive or active power for grid support during low voltage situations caused by faults. As such voltage sags occur, the deformed grid voltages often result in magnetic flux deviations in the grid-side transformer of the DERs converter. When the fault clears and the voltages restore to normal level, the flux deviation can easily result in inrush current of the transformer. This paper proposes an inrush current mitigation method for the grid-connected converters in the LVRT operation. The proposed method reduces the risk of inrush current by compensating the magnetic flux deviation during the LVRT operation. A pre-defined ampere constraint is imposed upon the LVRT and flux compensation to avoid burdening the power semiconductor devices. The proposed method can reduce the the stress of the converter and its grid-side transformer while performing the LVRT operation.

With more and more distributed energy resources (DERs) are installed in the utility grid, the utility requires the DER generation system to remain grid-connected and injects reactive and active power to support grid voltage during voltage sags. In this paper, a positive- and negative-sequence current injection method is proposed to meet the low-voltage ride through (LVRT) requirement. The proposed method predefined a current constraint to avoid the overcurrent during the LVRT operation and adjust the positive-sequence reactive current to reduce the DC-bus voltage ripple. Comparisons of the proposed method and other LVRT techniques are also presented.

Donors of nitroxyl (HNO) have shown promise for treatment of stroke, heart failure, alcoholism and cancer. However, comparing the pharmacological capacities of various donors is difficult without first quantifying the amount of HNO released from each donor. Detection and quantitation of HNO has been complicated by the rapid self-consumption of HNO through irreversible dimerization, poor selectivity of trapping agents against other nitrogen oxides, and/or low sensitivity towards HNO. Here, an assay is described for the trapping of HNO by glutathione (GSH) followed by labeling of GSH with the fluorogenic agent, naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde (NDA), and subsequent quantitation by fluorescence difference. The newly developed assay was used to validate the pH-dependence of HNO release from isopropylamine NONOate (IPA/NO), which is a dual donor of HNO and NO at physiological pH. Furthermore, varied assay conditions were utilized to suggest the ratios of the products of the reaction of GSH with HNO. At intracellular concentrations of GSH, the disulfide (GSSG) was the major product, but significant concentrations of glutathione sulfinamide (GS(O)NH₂) were also detected. This suggests that GS(O)NH₂, which is a selective biomarker of HNO, may be produced in concentrations that are amenable to in vivo analysis.

With the rapid expansion of Internet and distributed technology, multimedia security and digital rights management have been received much attention in the literature, As a major method for intellectual property right protecting, digital watermarking techniques have been widely studied and used. Extensive algorithms have been proposed for digital images. In this paper, a robust digital image watermarking scheme which applies the common transformation domain methods and evolutionary computation technique is presented. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme is robust to several common image-processing attacks, and has good perceptual quality at the same time.

Due to the increasing use of bifidobacteria in probiotic products, it is essential to establish a rapid method for the qualitative and quantitative assay of the bifidobacteria in commercial products. In this study, partial sequences of the tuf gene for 18 Bifidobacterium strains belonging to 14 species were determined. Alignment of these sequences showed that the similarities among these Bifidobacterium species were 82.24% to 99.72%. Based on these tuf gene sequences, 6 primer sets were designed for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay of B. animalis subsp. animalis, B. animalis subsp. lactis, B. bifidum, B. breve, B. longum subsp. infantis, B. longum subsp. longum, and the genus of Bifidobacterium, respectively. These Bifidobacterium species are common probiotic species present in dairy and probiotic products. When each target Bifidobacterium spp. was assayed with the designed primers, PCR product with expected size was generated. In addition, for each target species, more than 70 bacterial strains other than the target species, including strains of other Bifidobacterium species, strains of Lactobacillus spp., Enterococcus spp., and other bacterial species, all generated negative results. PCR assay with primers specific to B. animalis subsp. lactis and B. longum subsp. longum confirmed the presence of these Bifidobacterium species in commercial yogurt products. In addition, for each product, enumeration of the bifidobacteria cells by culture method with BIM-25 agar and the quantitative real-time PCR showed similar cell counts. Such results indicated that within 15-d storage (4 °C) after manufacture, all the bifidobacteria cells originally present in yogurt products were viable and culturable during the storage.

With the rapid growth of online users, the on-line religious activities have become a popular Internet application around the world. In Taiwan, on-line religion has become a very popular phenomenon The purpose of this research aims to improve understanding of the nature of online religion by examining the religious websites and religious web activities, based on the theory of the Social Network Analysis (SNA). Activeness matches up to degree centrality and betweenness. Beginning with an overview of the widespread use of the Internet in Taiwan and its use in Buddhism, this research will examine the Buddhist websites' presentation and contents that promote the religious use of the Internet in Taiwan

The relationships between physical and chemical properties of mixed hardwood and cellulolytic hydrolysis were studied. Mixed hardwood was pretreated using alkaline peroxide, ethylenediamine, autohydrolysis, or acid hydrolysis at three levels of pretreatment severity. The pretreated wood fractions were then hydrolyzed using Trichoderma reesei cellulase, and their crystallinities, lignin contents, and surface areas available to the enzyme determined. The 2 h glucose yields from enzymatic hydrolysis were found to depend solely on the surface area available to the enzyme, regardless of pretreatment method. This result is significant since it provides a common basis for the comparison of pretreatment effectiveness, whereas in the past no such comparison was available.

PCR primers specific for the detection of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei group, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, and Bifidobacterium longum were designed based on the elongation factor Tu gene (tuf). The specificity of these four primer sets were confirmed by PCR with 88 bacterial strains of Lactobacillus, Enterococcus, Bifidobacterium, and other bacterial species. Results indicated that these primer sets generated predicted PCR products of 397, 230, 202, and 161 bp for L. acidophilus, L. delbrueckii, L. casei group, and B. longum, respectively. Bacterial species other than the target organisms tested did not generate false-positive results. When these four primer sets were combined for the simultaneous detection of the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in fermented milk products including yogurt, the LAB species listed on the labels of these products could be identified without the preenrichment step. The identification limit for each LAB strain with this multiplex PCR method was N X 10(3) CFU/ml in milk samples. The results of our multiplex PCR method were confirmed by PCR assay using primers based on the 16S rDNA or the 16S-23S intergenic spacer region and by biochemical tests using the API 50 CHL kit. When this multiplex PCR method was used with the determination of counts of total viable LAB and bifidobacteria, the quality of commercial fermented milk products could be assured.

Data exchange between companies needs to fulfill the requirements of common data format and data representation. The core technique for solving schema conflict in data exchange is matching imported XML documents into internal schemas. There are two major methods in schema mapping: linguistic matching and structural matching. Based on previous research results, one single method can not effectively solve the schema mapping problems. Therefore, this paper proposes an intelligent schema matcher based on the similarity flooding method to solve the schema matching problem in one-to-one case. This intelligent matcher uses linguistic similarity values to simplify the directed graph to increase the effectiveness of schema mapping. This matcher reduces the computational effort due to the simplification of the graph, and it increases the matching performances compared to the original similarity flooding method in many indices.