Search

Marine spatial planning (MSP) was developed as a place-based, integrated marine governance approach to address sectoral and fragmented management issues and has seen significant evolvement over the past two decades. MSP has rapidly become the most commonly endorsed management regime for sustainable development in the marine environment, with initiatives being implemented across multiple regions of the globe. Despite its broad and growing acceptance and use, there are several key challenges that remain, both conceptual and practical, that are negatively impacting the realization of MSP’s potential. These include institutional shortcomings, the exclusion of stakeholders, a failure to account for the human and social dimensions of marine regions, the marginalization of different types of knowledge, and the growing need to adapt to global environmental change. Although studies have examined the emergence of MSP in different geographical and institutional contexts, there is a lack of comparative analysis of how initiatives are progressing and if the foundational aims of MSP are being achieved. There is a need to analyze the degree to which MSP initiatives are responding to the environmental challenges that they have been set up to tackle and, as marine plans are setting out long-term visions for marine management, to understand if current initiatives are fit for purpose. This article responds to these concerns and reviews the evolution of MSP within 12 regional ocean areas. We utilize the term regional ocean areas to illustrate the geographical spread of MSP, with examinations conducted of the approach to MSP that specific nations within each of the 12 chosen clusters have followed. By critically assessing how MSP is progressing, it is possible to shed light on the opportunities and challenges that are facing current initiatives. This can help to reveal learning lessons that can inform future MSP systems and guide initiatives along more sustainable pathways.

Jhan, H.-T.; Chiang, H.-T.; Lin, Y.-F.; Liu, W.-H., and Ting, K.-H., 2018. Trade-off analysis for marine recreation activities management along the Tainan Gold Coast. In: Wang, D. and Guido-Aldana, P.A. (eds.), Select Proceedings from the 3rd International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE2017). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 84, pp. 144–148. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Marine recreation activities have been flourishing in Taiwan recently. “Gold Coast” with a beautiful and long gold beach in Tainan City has excellent natural environmental conditions for marine recreation activities. However, how marine recreation activities coexist with offshore oyster farming becomes an important issue. This study explored the trade-off analysis of Tainan Gold Coast recreation activities with stakeholders' perspective, in order to make various sea uses coexist and develop. The approach of trade-off analysis adopts a framework of Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) to organize information and facilitate evaluation of the options and their impacts. This study developed 3 scenarios of “Gold Coast” sea use. The areas of oyster farming and marine recreation activities (with power and with non-power) along the “Gold Coast” were presented with different use proportions. The values of 3 scenarios based on social, economical and ecological criteria and their 6 indicators were derived with the contingent valuation method and official statistical data. Finally, this study used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to gain the weights of 3 criteria and 6 indicators from stakeholders including oyster farmers, water recreation enthusiasts, local residents and officers in Tainan City. The findings indicate that the scenario C that oyster farming and marine recreation activities use the proportion of the waters area along “Gold Coast” as 3:7 over the conflicting zone is the optimum solution.

Background The study aims to investigate the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after earthquakes among the elderly. Methods Data from cross-sectional studies focusing on the prevalence of PTSD after earthquakes among the elderly were collected from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure in December 2019. The search terms included post-traumatic stress disorder, earthquake, and elderly. This study used Review Manager 5.0 to evaluate the impact of the results. In addition, forest plots, sensitivity analysis, and bias analysis were carried out on the included articles. The combined estimate of the risk ratio and the standard deviation of the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were measurements of the size of the effect. Results There were 4,834 patients included from 10 eligible studies. The sample sizes of PTSD group and non-PTSD group were 1,277 and 3,557, respectively. The meta-analysis showed that the overall occurrence of PTSD after earthquakes among the elderly was 0.25; the occurrence in females was higher than that in males, and the occurrence in the same province indicated little difference (Wenchuan city 0.25 and Ya'an city 0.24). Conclusions After earthquakes, the occurrence of PTSD is higher among the elderly than among other age groups, and higher among the females than among the males, while there is little difference among different areas within the same province. This indicated that prioritized specific psychological interventions should be provided to the aged and the females.

Diabetes mellitus is becoming a major health burden worldwide. Pancreatic β-cell death is a characteristic of type 2 diabetes (T2D), but the underlying mechanisms of pancreatic β-cell death remain unknown. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify potential targets in the pancreatic islet of T2D. The GSE20966 dataset was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by using the GEO2R tool. The Gene Ontology terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Pathway enrichment analysis of DEGs were further assessed using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. Furthermore, protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed for the up- and downregulated genes using STRING databases and were then visualized with Cytoscape. The body weight, fasting blood glucose (FBG), pancreatic index and biochemistry parameters were measured in db/db mice. Moreover, the morphology of the pancreas was detected by hematoxylin and eosin staining, and hub genes were assessed using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blot analysis. In total, 570 DEGs were screened, including 376 upregulated and 194 downregulated genes, which were associated with 'complement activation, classical pathway', 'proteolysis', 'complement activation' and 'pancreatic secretion pathway'. It was found that the body weight, FBG, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total cholesterol, triglycerides, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, fasting serum insulin, glucagon and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were significantly higher in db/db mice, while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and the pancreatic index were significantly decreased. Furthermore, albumin, interleukin-8, CD44, C-C motif chemokine ligand 2, hepatocyte growth factor, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, histone cluster 1 H2B family member n, mitogen-activated protein kinase 11 and neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 2 were identified as hub genes in PPI network. RT-qPCR and western blotting results demonstrated the same expression trend in hub genes as found by the bioinformatics analysis. Therefore, the present study identified a series of hub genes involved in the progression of pancreatic β-cell, which may help to develop effective therapeutic strategy for T2D.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, Background: Epidemiology studies suggested that shift work or night work may be linked to prostate cancer (PCa); the relationship, however, remains controversy. Methods: PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Embase (Ovid) databases were searched before (started from the building of the databases) February 4, 2017 for eligible cohort studies. We pooled the evidence included by a random- or fixed-effect model, according to the heterogeneity. A predefined subgroup analysis was conducted to see the potential discrepancy between groups. Sensitivity analysis was used to test whether our results were stale. Results: Nine cohort studies were eligible for meta-analysis with 2,570,790 male subjects. Our meta-analysis showed that, under the fixed-effect model, the pooled relevant risk (RR) of PCa was 1.05 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00, 1.11; P = .06; I2 = 24.00%) for men who had ever engaged in night shift work; and under the random-effect model, the pooled RR was 1.08 (0.99, 1.17; P = .08; I2 = 24.00%). Subgroup analysis showed the RR of PCa among males in western countries was 1.05 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.11; P = .09; I2 = 0.00%), while among Asian countries it was 2.45 (95% CI: 1.19, 5.04; P = .02; I2 = 0.00%); and the RR was 1.04 (95% CI: 0.95, 1.14; P = .40; I2 = 29.20%) for the high-quality group compared with 1.21 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.41; P = .02; I2 = 0.00%) for the moderate/low-quality group. Sensitivity analysis showed robust results. Conclusions: Based on the current evidence of cohort studies, we found no obvious association between night shift work and PCa. However, our subgroup analysis suggests that night shift work may increase the risk of PCa in Asian men. Some evidence of a small study effect was observed in this meta-analysis.

In this paper, the real-time problem of heat transfer model for continuous casting billets has been converted to an optimization problem of multiple time steps. In the optimization problem, the time steps as the optimal variables were constrained by the numerical stability. Furthermore, the objective function was defined by the relative calculation time, and the calculations were subject to the accuracy constraint determined by the maximum absolute temperature difference from the reference grid system. The optimization problem has been solved by particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, by introducing a penalty factor for the accuracy constraint. Results and corresponding analysis show that when the penalty factor is big enough, especially when it tends to positive infinity, the optimized time steps are only determined by the accuracy constraint, independent of the penalty factor and also computers.

Chen, L.-S.; Liu, W.-H., and Yen, H.-L., 2019. Applying the system conservation planning method to the South Penghu Marine National Park marine protected area in Penghu. In: Yu, T.-s. (ed....

In this work, iminodiacetic acid-functionalized poly(glycidyl methacrylate)grafted carbon fibers (CCFs) were prepared by electrochemically mediated atom transfer radical polymerization (eATRP) for nano-nickel recovery from spent electroless nickel (EN) plating baths. The adsorption behaviors of Ni2+ were investigated at CCFs in the spent EN plating baths. The adsorption kinetics perfectly fitted pseudo-second order model with a chemisorption process. The thermodynamic parameters suggested that adsorption was feasible, spontaneous, and endothermic. The adsorption maximum capacity was 0.908 mM g−1 under optimum conditions (pH 5.2, 50 °C and 40 min). The present materials were carefully characterized by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscope, and electrochemical techniques. Experimental results showed that CCFs were successfully prepared, which were efficient adsorbent and support for nano-nickel recovery from the spent EN plating baths.

Due to population growth, rapid economic development and inadequate marine control, the use of ocean and coastal regions in Taiwan has become more frequent and intense in recent years. However, the lack of comprehensive marine and coastal planning in this island nation has led to many conflicts over space and resources and limited its ability to prepare for and respond to environmental hazards, thus threatening national security as well as the safety and property of its citizens. This study proposes a marine zoning scheme for southern Taiwan. The results show that many important habitats in the southern sea areas have not been properly protected due to the extremely small size of the marine protected area. Furthermore, the majority of the conflicts derive from the exclusive fishing right vs. other uses such as marine conservation. Therefore, it is crucial to establish the marine spatial planning (MSP) for the Southern Taiwan to deal with the conflicts of use seas and uncertainties associated with complex, heterogeneous, and dynamic marine system.

Novel specific 16S rDNA-targeted primers were successfully designed and applied to the characterization of endophytic diversity in Dendrobium officinale. Using the popular universal bacterial primers 27f/1492r, the fragments of chloroplast and mitochondrion 16S/18S rDNA were amplified from D. officinale. They shared high nucleotide identity with the chloroplast 16S rDNAs (99-100 %) and with the mitochondrion 18S rDNAs (93-100 %) from various plants, respectively, and both shared 73-86 % identities with the bacterial 16S rDNA sequences in GenBank. The current bacterial universal primers, including 27f/1492r, match well with the chloroplast and mitochondrion 16S/18S rDNAs, which accordingly renders these primers not useful for endophytic diversity analysis. Novel 16S rDNA-targeted primers fM1 (5'-CCGCGTGNRBGAHGAAGGYYYT-3') and rC5 (5'-TAATCCTGTTTGCTCC CCAC-3') were designed, which show good specificity compared to the 16S/18S rDNAs of D. officinale, and perfect universality within bacteria except for Cyanobacteria. The primers fM1/rC5, together with 515f-GC/rC5, which overlaps the whole V4 region of 16S rDNA, were subjected to nested polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) to analyze the diversity of endophytic bacteria in D. officinale from three different sources in China. The results showed diversities in roots and stems of the plants from all three locations. Altogether, 29 bands were identified as bacteria, with the dominant group being Proteobacteria and the dominant genus being Burkholderia, some of which commonly has the function of nitrogen fixation and thus may play potentially important roles in D. officinale. Therefore, the nested PCR-DGGE method based on the novel primers provides a good alternative for investigating the communities and roles of endophytes in D. officinale.

The continuous casting process is used for the solidification of molten steel into semi-finished shapes. To improve billet quality and the trackability and stability of secondary cooling water during continuous casting, the tundish temperature was introduced into the water distribution for secondary cooling to design the relevant control system, based on the water distribution model, tundish temperature, surface temperature and fuzzy self-adaptive PID. The solidification model calculated the prime water distribution according to procedure parameters. And the other two control strategies adjusted it on line. The control system has been applied on some caster and the effect is obvious, which indicates that the dynamic control system is better than the conventional open-loop system.

The present study aims to investigate the effect of a trans-disciplinary design of curricula, deemed a powerful tool for teaching and research on complex environmental problems, with a goal to help solve the real problems that climate change has brought to the coastal environment in Taiwan. Three major real-life problems in southern Taiwan—declining mullet fisheries, flooding, and coral bleaching—were integrated into four courses. Adopting a qualitative case study method, the researchers investigated the student perceptions of the trans-disciplinary learning experiences, their attitudes toward marine and coastal environmental protection, and their capability of solving the problems related to marine and coastal environments. The researchers employed various methods to analyze the student reflection reports, student self-evaluation forms, and the tape-recorded class meetings. The findings suggest the following: the trans-disciplinary curriculum stands to be an innovative yet indispensable design for coastal management education; such a curriculum benefits students by equipping them with essential knowledge and skills to succeed in future marine conservation; action learning for marine and coastal sustainability serves as the final goal of trans-disciplinary learning project; a trans-disciplinary case study on the design of curricula provides effective knowledge integration of marine and coastal sustainability.

Background Abnormal expression of serum TGF-β1 was found in patients with diabetic nephropathy. However, the association of TGF-β1 with the risk of diabetic nephropathy remains unknown. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether such an association exists. Methods We searched the Chinese VIP, Wangfang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar databases for relevant studies and extracted all eligible data. Stata12 software was used for statistical analysis. Results Nine reports met our criteria and were used for data extraction. There were 264 patients and 227 healthy controls from qualified reports in this meta-analysis. The results suggested that serum TGF-β1 levels were significantly up-regulated in patients with diabetic nephropathy; the instrumental variable was 3.94 (95% confidence interval 3.20–4.68, p

To evaluate the utility of ADC values and Gd-DTPA equilibrium phase MR imaging in staging hepatic fibrosis in rats. 48 rats were allocated into experimental and control groups. Experimental rats were subcutaneously injected with a mixture of CCl4. From 4th-12th weeks, MR images were obtained, which include pre-enhanced phase imaging, DWI and equilibrium phase imaging. Then the rat groups were subdivided according to the stages of fibrosis (S0, S1, S2, S3 and S4) after histopathological analysis. The original MRI data were forwarded to the workstation to obtain apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps at b value of 500 s/mm2. Pre-enhanced phase and equilibrium phase signal intensities and relative contrast enhancement index (RCEI) were measured as well. Lastly, the ADC values and RCEI of the experimental group were compared with each other and with the control group. All statistical analyses were carried out with SPSS, where P < 0.05 is considered to represent a significant difference. Hepatic ADC values are significantly different between the experimental and control groups (P = 0). There is a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups on RCEI (P = 0). Comparing the S1, S2, S3 and S4 groups, there is a statistically significant difference between the mild group (S1 and S2) and the severe group (S4) in terms of ADC values and RCEI (all P < 0.05). A statistically significant difference is also found between the moderate group (S3) and the severe group in ADC values. As the degree of fibrosis increases, there are a reduction in ADC values and an increase in RCEI. Comparing the groups with ADC values and enhancement index, there are statistically significant differences in sensitivity and specificity on diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis. The ADC values have the best sensitivity (93.1%) and specificity (83.3%). Quantitative ADC values and RCEI may be helpful to the staging of rat fibrosis, but their application in human is controversial.

Weather disaster events were frequent and caused loss of lives and property in Taiwan recently. Excessive concentration of population and lacking of integrated planning led to Taiwanese coastal zone face the impacts of climate change directly. Comparing to many countries which have already set up legislation, competent authorities and national adaptation strategies, the ability of coastal management adapting to climate change is still insufficient in Taiwan. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a complete institutional arrangement for coastal management due to climate change in order to protect environment and sustain socio-economic development. This paper firstly reviews the impact of climate change on Taiwanese coastal zone. Secondly, development of Taiwanese institutional arrangement of coastal management is introduced. Followed is the analysis of four dimensions of legal basis, competent authority, scientific and financial support and international cooperations of institutional arrangement. The results show that Taiwanese government shall: 1) integrate climate change issue into Coastal Act, Wetland Act and territorial planning Act and pass them; 2) establish the high level competent authority for coastal management; 3) set up the climate change disaster coordinate platform; 4) link scientific information and decision markers; 5) establish the climate change adjustment fund; 6) participate in international climate change organizations and meetings actively; 7) cooperate with near countries to exchange experiences., {"references":["","Urwin, K. and A. Jordan. (2008). Does public policy support or\nundermine climate change adaptation? Exploring policy interplay across\ndifferent scales of governance. Global Environmental Change, 18:\n180-191.","Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2007). Climate change\n2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group Ⅱ to\nthe Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate\nChange. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York.","Satterthwaite, D., S. Huq, H. Reid, M. Pelling and P.R. Lankao. (2009).\nAdapting to climate change in urban areas: the possibilities and\nconstraints in low- and middle-income nations. . Adapting cities to\nclimate change. Edited by J. Bicknell, D. Dodman, D. Satterthwaite.\nEarthscan, London.","Dowden, M. (2008). Climate change & sustainable development – Law,\npolicy & practice. Short Run Press, Devon.","Tribbia, J. and S.C. Moser. (2008). More than information: what coastal\nmanagers need to plan for climate change. Environmental Science &\nPolicy, 11(4): 315-328.","Cai, F., X. Su, J. Liu, B. Li and G. Lei. (2009). Coastal erosion in China\nunder the condition of global climate change and measures for its\nprevention. Progress in Natural Science, 19: 415-426.","Dow, K. and T.E. Downing. (2007). The Atlas of climate change.\nEarthscan, London.","McGranahan, G., D. Balk and B. Anderson. (2009). The rising tide:\nassessing the risks of climate change and human settlements in\nlow-elevation coastal zones. Adapting cities to climate change. Edited by\nJ. Bicknell, D. Dodman, D. Satterthwaite. Earthscan, London.","International Human Dimensions Programme. (2004). Annual Report\n2003/2004. International Human Dimensions Programme, Bonn.\n[10] Lin, G.H., Z.H. Sun. (2004). The research of global changing humanities\ndimension new development-IHDP 2003 open meeting reviewing. Global\nchanging communication magazine, 41: 40-43.\n[11] Wei, G.Y., H. X. Xu. (1997). The Introduction of Global Environmental\nChange. Environmental Protection Group, Ministry of Education, Taipei.\n[12] Arnold, M., M. Dilley, U. Deichmann, R.S. Chen, and A. L. Lerner-Lam\n(2005). Natural disaster hotspots-A global risk analysis. World Bank.\nWashington DC.\n[13] Chen, Y. L. (2008). Climate Change in Taiwan by Extreme Climate\nIndicator. The Conference of Climate Change in Taiwan, 2008. Taipei.\n[14] Hsu, H.H. and C.T. Chen (2002). Observed and projected climate change\nin Taiwan. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, 79: 87-104.\n[15] Hung, C.W. and P.K. Kao. (2010). Weakening of the winter monsoon and\nabrupt increase of winter rainfalls over northern Taiwan and southern\nChina in the early 1980s. Journal of Climate, 23(9): 2357-2367.\n[16] Liu, Z.M., C.Y. Hua, B.S. You. (2008). The Climate Change Long-term\nEffect Evaluation and Adapting Strategy Consulting Authorized Planning\nReport. Economic Construction Council, Executive Yuan, Taipei.\n[17] Shiu, C.J., S.C. Liu, and J.P. Chen. (2009). Diurnally asymmetric trends\nof temperature, humidity and precipitation in Taiwan. Journal of climate,\n22(21): 5635-5649.\n[18] Wang, Z.H. (2006). The impact of climate warming for aquaculture\nenvironment. Dong Yuan Science and Engineering College Paper, 13(4):\n74-79.\n[19] Lu, M.M., J.Z. Chen, Y.J. Lin. (2007). In 1951-2005, The variety of\nExtreme Precipitation Events Frequency in Taiwan. Atmosphere Science,\n37(1): 1-10.\n[20] Webster P.J., G.J. Holland, J.A. Curry and H.R. Chang. (2005). Changes\nin tropical cyclone number, duration and intensity in a warming\nenvironment. Science, 309(5742): 1844-1846.\n[21] Tu, J.Y., C. Chou, P.S. Chu (2009). The abrupt shift of typhoon activity\nin the vicinity of Taiwan and its association with Western North\nPacific-East Asian climate change. American Meteorological Society, 22:\n3617-3628.\n[22] Executive Yuan. (2011). The disaster prevention white paper. The 100th\nyear of the \"Republic Era\". Executive Yuan, Taipei.\n[23] Department of Climate Change. (2009). Australia's fifth national\ncommunication on climate change – A report under the United Nations\nFramework Convention on Climate Change 2010 (Online). Available at:\nhttp://www.climatechange.gov.au/publications/international/nc5.aspx\n(Accessed: 20 May 2011)\n[24] Environmental Protection Administration. (2002). National\nCommunication, UNFCCC.\nwww.epa.gov.tw/FileLink/FileHandler.ashx?file=12434\n[25] Xu, H.X., C.D. Chen, M.M. Lu, Y.M. Chen, J. Zhou, Y.M. Wu. (2011).\nThe Scientific Report of Climate Change in Taiwan, 2011. National\nScientific Council, Executive Yuan, Taipei.\n[26] Ministry of Economy. (2008). Sustainable Energy Policy Framework.\nMinistry of Economy, Taipei.\n[27] Liu, Z.M., C.Y. Hua, B.S. You. (2009). The draft suggestion of Global\nClimate Change Long-term Evaluation and Adapting Impact Strategy\nFramework Planning. Homeland Planning and Immoveable Property\nInformation Center, Taipei.\n[28] Xiao, D.J., J.R. Yeh, C.Y. Hua, Z.L. Lin (2011). The Research of Global\nClimate Change Adapting policy. The Research Paper of Research,\nDevelopment and Evaluation Commission, Executive Yuan, Economic\nResearch Yuan, R.O.C., Taipei.\n[29] Schneider S.H., and M.D. Mastrandrea. (2010). The politics of climate\nscience. The politics of climate change – A survey. Edited by M.T.\nBoykoff. Taylor & Francis, London.\n[30] Jordan, A. D. Huitema and H.V. Asselt (2010). Climate change policy in\nthe European Union: An introduction. Climate change policy in the\nEuropean Union. Edited by A. Jordan, D. Huitema, H.V. Asselt, T.\nRayner and F. Berkhout. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.\n[31] Huntjens, P., L. Lebel, C. Pahl-Wostl, J. Camkin, R. Schulze, and N.\nKranz. (2012). Institutional design propositions for the governance of\nadaptation to climate change in the water sector. Global Environmental\nChange, 22: 67-81.\n[32] Storbjırk, S. and J. Hedrén. (2011). Institutional capacity-building for\ntargeting sea-level rise in the climate adaptation of Swedish coastal zone\nmanagement. Lessons from Coastby. Ocean & Coastal Management, 54:\n265-273.\n[33] Street, T. (2008). Domestic ocean and coastal resource law and policy and\nclimate change. Sustainable Development Law & Policy, 8(2): 61-65.\n[34] Næss L.O.,G. Bang, S. Eriksen and J. Vevatne (2005). Institutional\nadaptation to climate change: Flood responses at the municipal level in\nNorway. Global Environmental Change, 15: 125-138.\n[35] Stojanovic, T and N. Barker. 2008. Improving governance through local\ncoastal partnerships in the UK. The Geographical Journal, 174(4):\n344-360.\n[36] Demeritt, D. and D. Langdon. (2004). The UK climate change\nprogramme and communication with local authorities. Global\nEnvironmental Change, 14: 325-336.\n[37] Chiau, W.Y. (2011). Establishing sustainable cities in the coastal zones:\nTaiwan's challenges and strategies. Megacities and the Coast:\nTransformation for resilience. Edited M. Pelling. Land-Ocean\nInteractions in the Coastal Zone, Geesthacht.\n[38] Zhou, J.X. (2008). The research of central and local marine affairs\nexecutive functions and organizations. Research, Development and\nEvaluation Commission, Executive Yuan, Taipei.\n[39] You, G.C. (2009). The research of Marine Affairs Executive Organization\nSet Mode. Law Monographs Published in a serious, 54: 63-84.\n[40] Thom, B. (2007). Climate change and the coast: the institutional\nchallenge. Climate Change Forum. Department of Primary Industries &\nSouthern Rivers Catchment Management Authority. 19-20 June, 2007.\nBega & Nowra.\n[41] Hoepffner, N. (2006). Marine and coastal dimension of climate change in\nEurope – A report to the European Water Directors. Office for Official\nPublications of the European Communities, Luxembourg."]}

Effectiveness and adequacy of test case design is the important part of the research in the field of software testing. In this paper, we analysis the software failure which may occur, based on software-related documentation and data, to establishment the software fault tree and get the minimal cut sets. We use the equivalence class methods for test case design, based on the Minimal cut sets model. Based on the set of test cases Obtained by this method, we can use the minimum test cases to cover all the test requirements. Keywordssoftware testing; test case;fault tree;equivalence class

The impact of climate change on the coastal zones of Taiwan not only affects the marine environment, ecology, and human communities whose economies rely heavily on marine activities, but also the sustainable development of national economics. The southwest coast is known as the area most vulnerable to climate change; therefore, this study aims to develop indicators to assess social vulnerability in this area of Taiwan using the three dimensions of susceptibility, resistance, and resilience. The modified Delphi method was used to develop nine criteria and 26 indexes in the evaluation, and the analytic hierarchy process method was employed to evaluate the weight of each indicator based on the perspectives of experts collected through questionnaire surveys. The results provide important information pertaining to the vulnerability of the most susceptive regions, the lowest-resistance areas, and the least resilient townships on the southwest coast. The most socially vulnerable areas are plotted based on the present analysis. Experts can consider the vulnerability map provided here when developing adaptation policies. It should be kept in mind that improving the capacities of resistance and resilience is more important than reducing susceptibility in Taiwan.

Fritillaria thunbergii Miq., known as the bulbous plants of the genus fritillaria, produces a large amount of sterols. Homology based polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) with degenerate primers designed from the conserved sequences among the known cycloartenol synthase (CAS) resulted in cloning of a CAS from the young leaves of F. thunbergii Miq. A putative cycloartenol synthase cDNA (FtCAS) consists of a 2271 bp open reading frame, which encodes for 756 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence shows 82% homology to cycloartenol synthases from Dioscorea zingiberensis. Heterologous expression of the FtCAS in the methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris, resulted in production of cycloartenol. Our results indicate that FtCAS encode cycloartenol synthase.Key words: Fritillaria thunbergii Miq., cycloartenol synthase, cDNA cloning, 2,3-oxidosqualene cyclase.

To investigate the prevalence of eight common rheumatic diseases in a large Chinese population.A population-based epidemiological investigation of the prevalence of eight common rheumatic diseases in a suburb of Beijing was conducted in 14 642 individuals. A community-based survey was carried out using a screening questionnaire. Positive responders were included in a clinical and laboratory examination. Diagnosis was based on the criteria of ACR or those used widely in literature.A total of 10 556 inhabitants were interviewed. Forty-three cases of RA were identified with an age-adjusted prevalence of 0.28% (95% CI 0.19%, 0.41%). Gout was diagnosed with a crude prevalence of 0.09% (95% CI 0.05%, 0.17%). Psoriasis was reported in 28 individuals with a prevalence of 0.27% (95% CI 0.18%, 0.38%). This included two cases diagnosed with PsA, resulting in a prevalence of 7.14% (95% CI 0.88%, 23.5%) in psoriasis patients and 0.02% (95% CI 0%, 0.07%) in the general population. Three individuals were identified with SLE, with a prevalence of 0.03% (95% CI 0%, 0.06%). One individual was identified with SSc and the calculated prevalence was 0.01% (95% CI 0%, 0.05%). One case of Behçet's disease was identified, giving a prevalence of 0.01% (95% CI 0%, 0.05%).This large-scale epidemiological survey provides an estimate of the burden of rheumatic diseases in China.

In the title compound, C16H16ClN, the dihedral angle between the benzene rings is 24.61 (13)°. In the crystal, only van der Waals interactions occur between neighbouring molecules.

To investigate the relationship between lamivudine-resistant mutants of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and serum HBV DNA loading before antiviral therapy.This study involved 106 patients with hepatitis B receiving lamivudine treatment for an average of 32 months (rang 12-48 months). Serum HBV DNA loadings were measured with PCR before and every 4 to 6 months during lamivudine therapy. HBV YMDD mutants were detected using mismatched PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) during lamivudine treatment.HBV DNA loading was significantly higher in patients infected with HBV YMDD mutants during lamivudine therapy than those infected with HBV without YMDD mutation.High viral loading in hepatitis B patients before treatment is associated with high likeliness of HBV YMDD mutation during lamivudine treatment. HBV DNA loading may be indicative for the occurrence of YMDD mutation during lamivudine therapy.

To determine the collateral supply is sufficiency or not in patients with carotid stenosis.Fifteen consecutive patients with carotid stenosis underwent carotid endarterectomy (CEA). We evaluated the patent collateral pathways through the anterior and posterior communicating arteries or the ophthalmic artery (ACoA; PCoA; OA) with TCD before CEA. A total of 15 subjects were monitored the mean velocity of the ipsilateral middle cerebral artery (mvMCA) by TCD and simultaneously detected stump pressure (SP) after cross clamping carotid artery during the operation.Three subjects patent anterior communicating artery; 5 cases patent posterior communicating artery; 6 of 15 patent OA. SPor = 50 mm Hg in 8 cases and SP50 mm Hg in 7 patients were detected after cross clamping. The decrease of the ipsilateral mvMCA is less than 30% of baseline in 11 cases. Both TCD preoperatively and SP during CEA indicated collateral blood adequately or not in 9 cases. Results of 12 patients evaluated collateral supply by means of SP and mvMCA changes were common.TCD is a useful tool for the evaluation of the sufficiency of collateral circulation in patients with carotid artery severe stenosis, especially monitoring the ipsilateral mvMCA changes during carotid endarterectomy.

The title compound, C(15)H(18)O(3), was isolated from Lacta-rius piperatus (Fr.) S. F. Gary collected from the Kunming area in Yunnan province, China. The central cyclo-hexyl ring adopts a chair conformation, while the furan-one ring is close to planar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0174 Å). The remaining methyl-ene cyclo-hexene ring has a flattened chair conformation. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked via inter-molecular O-H⋯O and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds into zigzag chains along the a axis.

JIAN YANG, Ph.D. Student, ZHI XIE and JING NING, Professors, are with the College of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University at Shenyang, Liaoning, P.R. China 110819. Contact e-mail: neuyangjian@163.com WENHONG LIU, Associate Professor, is with State Key Laboratory of Synthetical Automation for Process Industries, Northeastern University at Shenyang, Liaoning, P.R. China 110819. ZHENPING JI, Professor, is with the College of Information Science and Engineering, Shenyang Ligong University at Shenyang, P.R. China 110159. The online version of the original article can be found under doi: 10.1007/s11663-014-0079-y. Article published online October 16, 2014.

In the title compound, C15H18ClNO4S·H2O, the thiazolidine ring displays a half-chair conformation. In the crystal, the water molecules are linked to the organic acid molecules via intermolecular O—H...O hydrogen bonds.