Search

This article reports on the implementation of a web-based video-annotation system that supports online peer-assessment activities in a nursing communication training scenario. A quasi-experimental design was applied to investigate the effects of using video annotation on communication skills and professional attitudes. The participants were fourth-year students from two classes at a nursing college in Taiwan. One class of 50 students served as the experimental group, who used the video-annotation tool we designed to add their comments to videos. The other class of 50 students served as the control group and used YouTube to add comments. Although YouTube also provides video-annotation features, these are not often used. Two rounds of peer-assessment activities indicated that the video-annotation tool notably enhanced nursing students' communication performance. Specifically, the tool was helpful in promoting students' development of communication skills, but not their professional attitudes. The students using the video-annotation tool provided more suggestions in their peer comments than those who did not use it. Moreover, video annotation resulted in closer agreement between peer and expert ratings of students' communication. The use of a video-annotation feature could improve the effectiveness of online peer assessment and thus promote student performance.

Examines 16 high school computer textbooks used in Taiwan with an attempt to analyze the nature and the presentation styles of programming examples in them. Concludes that presentation of programming examples in most of the analyzed textbooks lacked a detailed explanation of some of the problem-solving steps. (Contains 26 references.) (Author/ASK)

Previously, language teaching has been focused on the passive learning of the alphabet. In addition, the research on teaching listening and speaking skills was limited. Listening skill is the key to learning a language, and speaking is the first explicit behavior of language. In order to improve language skills which are emphasized in new curriculum guidelines, student-centered thematic language teaching is considered as valuable. Through this, the concepts of multiple intelligences and curriculum integration were re-emphasized. An experimental design was adopted in the current study. This study was conducted with the participation of 224 students from the Department of Multimedia Design in universities in the south of Taiwan. The research data were collected between September 2021 and December 2021. The implementation process took 16 weeks (a total of 48 h) of thematic language teaching. The research results revealed 1. significant positive effects of thematic language teaching on listening, 2. significant positive effects of thematic language teaching on speaking skill, and 3. significant negative effects of thematic language teaching on learning anxiety. According to the results, it is expected that this study can help multimedia design students improve their listening and speaking skills as well as core language skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on the implementation of a web-based video-annotation system that supports online peer-assessment activities in a nursing communication training scenario. A quasi-experimental design was applied to investigate the effects of using video annotation on communication skills and professional attitudes. The participants were fourth-year students from two classes at a nursing college in Taiwan. One class of 50 students served as the experimental group, who used the video-annotation tool we designed to add their comments to videos. The other class of 50 students served as the control group and used YouTube to add comments. Although YouTube also provides video-annotation features, these are not often used. Two rounds of peer-assessment activities indicated that the videoannotation tool notably enhanced nursing students' communication performance. Specifically, the tool was helpful in promoting students' development of communication skills, but not their professional attitudes. The students using the video-annotation tool provided more suggestions in their peer comments than those who did not use it. Moreover, video annotation resulted in closer agreement between peer and expert ratings of students' communication. The use of a video-annotation feature could improve the effectiveness of online peer assessment and thus promote student performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan is an island with a humid subtropical climate. The relatively warm seawater results in biofouling of the surfaces of marine facilities. Biocide application is a common practice for combating and eliminating adhesive fouling. However, a single type of biocide may have limited antimicrobial effects due to the relatively high microbial diversity in marine environments. Therefore, applying a mixture of various biocides may be necessary. In this study, the antimicrobial and anticorrosion properties of a newly designed composite biocide, namely a combination of thymol and benzyldimethyldodecylammonium chloride, were investigated by applying the biocide to 304 stainless steel substrates immersed in inocula containing bacterial strains from Tamsui and Zuoying harbors. The ability of 3TB and 5TB treatments to prevent sessile cells and biofilm formation on the 304 stainless steel coupon surface was determined through scanning electron microscopy investigation. In addition, confocal laser scanning microscopy indicated that the 5TB treatment achieved a greater bactericidal effect in both the Tamsui and Zuoying inocula. Moreover, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that the diameter of the Nyquist semicircle was almost completely unaffected by Tamsui or Zuoying under the 5TB treatment. Through these assessments of antimicrobial activity and corrosion resistance, 5TB treatment was demonstrated to have superior bactericidal activity against mixed strains in both southern and northern Taiwanese marine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs) derived from root exudates and complexed with available metals in the rhizosphere soils of Taiwan red cypress (Chamaeyparis formosensis, FRS), peacock pine (Cryptomeria japonica, JRS), and moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens, PRS) were identified by gas chromatograph (GC). The fresh plants (i.e., leaves, stems, roots, and litters) and soil samples of those three vegetations were examined for their organic functional groups. This study focused on (1) assessing methods for processing LMWOAs in the rhizosphere soils and fresh plants by GC analysis and (2) determining the relative proportions of organic carbon (C) functional groups in the three vegetations and fresh plant materials with 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The proportion of LMWOAs contents followed the order of PRS>FRS>JRS>bulk soils. The recovery and spiking tests analyzed by GC showed good recovery (>83.6%) and reproducibility of LMWOAs. The proportion of organic functional groups in the rhizosphere and bulk soil quantified by 13C NMR analysis followed the general order alkyl-C>aromatic-C>O-alkyl-C>N-alkyl-C>phenolic-C>acetal-C>carboxyl-C. The carbohydrates, hemicellulose, lignin, and cellulose contents obtained by 13C NMR analysis suggested that Phyllostachys pubescen (PB) cannot easily be decomposed under the mountain forest soil environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effect of group size on incubation effort in Taiwan Yuhinas (Yuhina brunneiceps) at the Highlands Experimental Farm of National Taiwan University at Meifeng, Nantou County, central Taiwan, during 2000 and 2001. The Taiwan Yuhina is a joint-nesting, cooperatively breeding species endemic to Taiwan. We compared differences in parental investment among individuals of different sexes and status, explored the effect of group size on group incubation effort, and investigated whether individuals show compensatory reductions in care with respect to the number of females laying. Constancy of incubation increased as group size increased. Alpha females exhibited a significantly greater incubation effort than other individuals, but effort was similar among other group members. Both alpha males and females decreased their relative and absolute incubation effort as group size increased (i.e., there was a compensatory reduction in parental effort). However, beta pairs maintained a consistent but low incubation effort when either gamma pairs or an extra individual joined the group. Our study also demonstrated a new potential group-size benefit for cooperatively breeding birds--an increase in the constancy of incubation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We used evidence-based medicine to suggest guidelines of nutritional support for Taiwanese patients with acute kidney injury (AKI)., Methods: Our panel reviewed the medical literature in group meetings to reach a consensus on answering clinical questions related to the effects of the nutritional status, energy/protein intake recommendations, timing of enteral, and parenteral nutrition supplementation., Results: Markers of the nutritional status of serum albumin, protein intake, and nitrogen balance had positive relationships with low mortality. A forest plot of the comparison of mortality between a body mass index (BMI) of <18.5 and ≥18.5 kg/m2 was produced using data from seven observational studies which showed that a lower BMI was associated with higher mortality. The energy recommendation of 20-30 kcal/kg body weight (BW)/day was determined to be valid for all stages of AKI. The protein recommendation for noncatabolic AKI patients is 0.8-1.0 g/kg BW/day, and 1.2-2.0 g/kg BW/day is the same as that for the underlying disease that is causing AKI. Protein intake should be at least 1.5 g/kg BW/day and up to 2.5 g/kg BW/day in patients receiving continuous renal replacement therapy. Considering that patients with AKI often have other critical comorbid situations, early enteral nutrition (EN) is suggested, and parenteral nutrition is needed when >60% energy and protein requirements cannot be met via the enteral route in 7-10 days. Low energy intake is suggested in critically ill patients with AKI, which should gradually be increased to meet 80%-100% of the energy target., Conclusion: By examining evidence-based research, we provide practicable nutritional guidelines for AKI patients., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to the subject matter or materials discussed in this article., (Copyright © 2021, the Chinese Medical Association.)

Nutritional status affects the survival of patients with sepsis. This retrospective study analyzed the impact of body mass index (BMI) and modified nutrition risk in critically ill (mNUTRIC) scores on survival of these patients. Data of 1291 patients with sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) were extracted. The outcomes were mortality, duration of stay, ICU stay, and survival curve for 90-day mortality. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the risk factors for mortality. Cytokine and biomarker levels were analyzed in 165 patients. The 90-day survival of underweight patients with low mNUTRIC scores was significantly better than that of normal-weight patients with low mNUTRIC scores (70.8% vs. 58.3%, respectively; p = 0.048). Regression model analysis revealed that underweight patients with low mNUTRIC scores had a lower risk of mortality (odds ratio = 0.557; p = 0.082). Moreover, normal-weight patients with low mNUTRIC scores had the lowest human leukocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR) level on days 1 (underweight vs. normal weight vs. overweight: 94.3 vs. 82.1 vs. 94.3, respectively; p = 0.007) and 3 (91.8 vs. 91.0 vs. 93.2, respectively; p = 0.047). Thus, being underweight may not always be harmful if patients have optimal clinical nutritional status. Additionally, HLA-DR levels were the lowest in patients with low survival.

In the Internet era, information security literacy is a global imperative for nursing students. This study combined an audience response system and an online system to formulate an assessment strategy based on the concept of blended learning. The participants of this study comprised two college nursing classes of an introductory computer science course in Taiwan. With information security as the teaching content, we adopted a quasi-experimental approach to conduct a 5-week teaching experiment. A blended assessment model was adopted for the experiment group, while slide presentation and verbal assessment were used for the control group. Pretests and posttests were administered for information security literacy and learning environment stimulation. The study results indicate the following: (1) the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in information security literacy, with statistically significant differences in scores regarding information security knowledge and information security skills; (2) the experimental group also presented higher learning motivation than the control group, with statistically significant differences in scores regarding self-efficacy, achievement goals, and learning environment stimulation.

Purpose: We aimed to determine whether the combination of dynamic pulse pressure and vasopressor (DPV) use is applicable for mortality risk stratification in patients with severe sepsis. We proposed the use of the DPV tool and compared it with traditional sepsis severity indices., Materials and Methods: All adult patients who met the sepsis criteria of the Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3) between August 2013 and January 2017 were eligible for the study. Patients who expired within 3 days of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) were excluded. The primary outcomes were 7-day and 28-day mortality., Results: The study participants included 757 consecutive adult patients. A subpopulation of 155 patients underwent immune profiling assays on days 1, 3, and 7 of ICU admission. The DPV tool had a better performance for predicting 7-day mortality (area under curve, AUC: 0.70), followed by the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) (AUC: 0.64), the plus pulse pressure (AUC: 0.64). For predicting 28-day mortality, the DPV tool was not inferior to the SOFA (AUC: 0.61), DPV tool (AUC: 0.59)., Conclusions: The DPV tool can be applied for 7-day and 28-day mortality risk prediction in patients with sepsis., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this technology era, information literacy is a global imperative. This is true for nursing students as well because they will have to help patients through operating computerized equipment. The key foundation of learning is concentration. The primary objectiveof this research was to explore the effect of clickers on nursing college students' concentration. The research involved 51 student volunteers and was quasi-experimental, with both a pretest and a posttest design. Student concentration was measured by using Student Concentration Scale in a Classroom-Learning Environment. The results showed that students' learning concentration improved, an outcome that could support integrating clickers into classroom teaching activities, and students' concentration level was better after clickers were used in the teaching process as a whole. Items under the "Concentration Capacity and Concentration Consciousness" category reached a significant level. Based on the analysis of the results, suggestions have been made for teaching and future research.

Background: Some nursing educators have been using blogs as a channel to reflect on, share, and discuss questions and ideas for educational purpose. There were not many studies focused on the application of blog technology to the professional development of nursing education in Taiwan., Objectives: The major goal of this study was to use a blog platform for students, writing their reflection notes, and observing the feedbacks from peers during their clinical practicum. Then we tried to probe the nursing students' attitude toward adopting 3-R categories based blog, which included wRiting reflection notes, Reading peers' notes, and Receiving peers' feedback., Participants: Of the 179 fourth grade from one five-year technical college students enrolled in a clinical practice course in Taiwan were used as a pool of sampling. Four-eight students were invited by the researcher to take part in this project., Results: 90% of the participants agreed that blogs provided them with opportunities to share personal experiences with others. 81% of them valued that blogs provided opportunities to offering encouragement and emotional support to their peers. A majority of the participants believed that reading peers' journals was helpful in enhancing their professional development. In addition, all of them agreed that reading peers' journals can help them understand their peer's viewpoints. Most of the participants agreed that they were benefited through receiving feedbacks on the blogs. About 98% of them agreed that feedbacks can promote interaction with peers., Conclusions: The findings of this study generally indicated the participants' positive attitude toward using blogs in their clinical practicum. A majority of the participants also claimed that blogs provided them the opportunities to share personal experiences with their peers as well as to see things from their peers' viewpoints. They believed that reading peers' notes was helpful in enhancing their professional development. In addition, most of them agreed that receiving feedbacks could promote in-depth reflections; therefore, they were encouraged to write more reflective notes. Thus, future clinical practicum design should exert efforts to foster students' collaboration, reflections, and dialogues by providing blog platform., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Identifying the factors that modulate cooperative and competitive behaviours is the key to understanding social evolution. However, how ecological factors affect social conflict and their fitness consequences remain relatively unexplored. Here, using both a game-theoretical model and empirical data, we show that Taiwan yuhinas (Yuhina brunneiceps)--a joint-nesting species in which group members are unrelated--employ more cooperative strategies in unfavourable environmental conditions. Fighting duration was lower, fewer total eggs were laid and incubation was more likely to start after all females completed egg laying (which causes more synchronous egg hatching). Surprisingly, as a consequence, there were more surviving offspring in unfavourable conditions because the cooperative strategies resulted in fewer dead nestlings. To our knowledge, this study is the first theoretical analysis and empirical study demonstrating that an unfavourable environment reduces social conflict and results in better fitness consequences in social vertebrates.