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Background: The assessment of symptoms distress is an important strategy for symptoms management and treatment of patients with liver cirrhosis (LC); however, appropriate instruments are limited. Objective: The objective of this study was to validate a symptoms distress scale (SDS) by confirming the appropriateness of each item using item response theory. Methods: A cross-sectional and convenience sampling was conducted to recruit eligible cirrhotic outpatients from the gastroenterology outpatient department of a single medical university hospital. In total, 163 patients with LC completed the 21-itemSDS. A graded response model with two-parameter (discrimination and difficulty) estimation was used for data analysis. Results: The item response theory model identified the validity of the SDS and found that most of the items in the SDS represented a high level of symptoms distress; moreover, three items of bruising, drowsiness, and dark urine were reported in cirrhotic patients with severe symptom distress. Four items comprising bodily pain, right upper quadrant pain, muscle cramps, and change in appearance can be appropriately represented in cirrhotic patients with mild symptoms distress. Moreover, the amount of test information in the SDS was >0.70, indicating acceptable reliability. Discussion: Items of the SDS can be useful for assessing different levels of symptoms distress; however, using the scale to assess mild symptoms distress in populations with LC should be done with great caution

Service quality has been extensively used to improve corporate performance in business; however, few studies have applied this concept to the sports field. In Taiwan, students’ sporting events play an important role in national sports development as they are the main channels in which to incubate elite athletes and a way to develop professional experiences related to holding mega-sports events. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is the application of the service quality concept to sports events. Specifically, a model was proposed to examine the relationships among service quality, perceived value, and satisfaction. Self-administered questionnaire surveys were completed by 356 student athletes recruited from the 2013 National Tug of War Competition in Taiwan. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with LISREL 8.52. Results of this study indicated that the research model fit the data well. Participants’ overall satisfaction was directly influenced primarily by perception of event value, followed by staff service quality and interaction service quality; finally, the perceived event value served as a mediator, and significant indirect effects on participants’ satisfaction were found in administrative service quality and facility service quality. The study established a model including service quality, value, and satisfaction for tug of war competitions. Suggestions for sports organizers and implications for future studies are provided. Keywords: Service Quality; Perceived Event Value, Satisfaction, Tug of War Competitions To cite this document: De-Jen Lee, Li-Wen Hsieh, and Eva (Hui-Ping) Cheng, "Relationships among Service Quality, Value, and Student Athlete Satisfaction at Taiwan’s National Tug of War Competition", Contemporary Management Research, Vol.12, No.3, pp. 275-288, 2016. Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.7903/cmr.15852

The study attempted to explore the relationships among recreation hassles, coping, and hiker satisfaction and to examine the moderating role of coping in the relationship between hassles and satisfaction. Questionnaire surveys were conducted on trails in Yangmingshan National Park in Taiwan in spring 2011. Overall, 316 questionnaires were completed, of which 301 were valid. The results indicated that recreation hassles correlated positively with all coping strategies. Further analysis indicated that the coping behaviors of rationalization significantly moderated the relationship between recreation hassles and hiker satisfaction. The study suggested that an increase in the perceived hassles decreases the satisfaction of hikers. It also indicated that the engagement of the coping strategy of rationalization was likely to decrease the negative effects of hassles on hiker satisfaction. Although a number of studies have discussed a similar argument, relevant empirical works were insufficient. This study clearly confirmed the moderating effect of emotion-focused coping on the relationship between recreation hassles and hiker satisfaction. The study suggests that the Park Headquarters should give the hikers more information on the difficulties and the use of the trails so that the hikers could choose one in accordance with their abilities as well as the frequency of the use of trails. Keywords: Problem-Focused Coping, Emotion-Focused Coping, Moderating Effects To cite this document: Wei-Li Hung and Li-Wen Hsieh, "Coping as a Moderator of The Relation between Recreation Hassles and Hiker Satisfaction", Contemporary Management Research, Vol.10, No.4, pp.273-286, 2014. Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.7903/cmr.12579

The main purpose of this study was to apply the Rasch model to student athletes perceived event service quality scale and to construct the interval and objective measurement model for the scale. Total three hundred and seventy-seven valid questionnaires were collected from the student athletes of 2010 National Intercollegiate Athletic Games. The results indicated that the scale can treat as uni-dimensional measurement for overall student perceived event service quality. A modified 4-point rating scale was found more suitable than original 5-point scale to Rasch model analysis. The global model fit and person fit were found to be acceptable with the empirical data. Item fit analysis showed that 4 misfit items need to be eliminated from the scale. With the determined 34- item scale, the Rasch model was utilized to estimate item difficulties and participant perceived scores. The most difficult items of the scale were observed from the ”Environment and Facility” factor and the easiest were found from the ”Accomplishment and Experience” factor. Furthermore, the items’ difficulties were invariant by gender. The differences of estimated scores were found not significant by gender, compete level and participate frequency for student athletes perceived service quality about the Intercollegiate Athlete Games. However, gymnastic athletes showed a significant higher score than swimming athletes. This study concludes that the data obtained with student athlete perceived event service quality scale from the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games fit with the Rasch model, which means Rasch model is able to meet the purpose to have interval and objective measure. It could be used for related studies in future.

A fitness centre is a facility common on university campuses, intended to increase college students’ rate of physical activity. Fitness centre accessibility is often a goal of university policy. The study presented here examines the effect of one university's free-use policy on participation in on-campus fitness activities. It surveys participation in fitness activities within a 2-year span by 674 undergraduate students from a mid-size university in northern Taiwan, using a three-cross-sectional research design with a stratified random sampling method. Multinomial logistic regression was utilised to assess these data. The results showed that the proportion of the student population reporting that they were current users of the fitness centre had significantly increased 10 and 22 months after the implementation of the free-use policy. Upon further examination, controlling for important variables, a significant effect was detected only after 22 months of the free-use policy, increasing by 3.30 times the odd...

A three-dimensional (3D) ocean environment is assimilated with measured ocean data in the ASIAEX SCS (Asian Seas International Acoustics EXperiment, South China Sea) experiment. The experiment site is characterized as an active internal wave propagation region along the Northwestern shelf break of the South China Sea. Three-dimensional acoustics effects in the area are studied using FOR3DW, a wide-angle version of the parabolic equation code FOR3D (a Finite difference solution, an Ordinary differential equation, and Rational function approximations for solving 3D problems), and MOS3DPEF (MOdal Spectrum analysis based on 3D PE Field). The TL comparison between Nx2D and 3D calculations are shown to demonstrate the 3D effects. Variations in topography of the shelf break and in the water column due to the internal waves cause the 3D effects in the acoustic field. The intercomparison of the importance of bottom steering 3D effects and nonlinear internal wave refraction 3D effects is therefore proposed to realize which possesses the major part of the 3D effects. Also, 3D modal analysis results show that the nonlinear internal wave front causes severe horizontal refraction for higher modes.

A compact finite-difference scheme is presented in this paper for efficiently solving the variable Helmholtz equation. This scheme development involves relating the derivative terms, namely, uxx and uxxxx, to u at the two adjacent nodal points in order to yield a 3-point stencil implicit scheme. In addition to sixth-order accuracy, the proposed scheme can conditionally provide oscillation-free solutions using the underlying M-matrix theory. Computations have been carried out for several problems which are amenable to exact solutions. Agreement with the exact solutions is excellent even in a grid system involving fewer number of mesh points. Thus, the integrity of the compact scheme and the efficiency of the alternating direction implicit algorithm are demonstrated. The proposed scheme is applied to study the effect of variable wave number on the wave propagation characteristics for the problem, which is partly bounded by a scatter surface.

The azimuthal limitation of the Parabolic Equation (PE) approximation in solving the three-dimensional (3D) wave equation in cylindrical coordinate has been studied in this paper. Typically, 3D problems are dealt with an N × 2D approximation, which treats a 3D field as a fan-like composition of many 2D vertical slices (r - z plane in cylindrical coordinate) ignoring the θ-coupling terms. To deal with problems possessing 3D effects, the θ-coupling terms have to be considered in PE approximation. Nevertheless, the azimuthal limitation in the 3D PE approximation is not defined as well as the vertical angle limitation. Hence, the theoretical derivation estimating the azimuthal limitation is put forth in this work. Numerical results of a modified benchmark problem are also presented to validate the arguments and the wide angle version of the 3D PE model, FOR3D.

A three-dimensional wave equation has been introduced by Lee–Schultz–Saad (LSS equation). This equation has been discretized into a difference equation. A stable numerical solution has been introduced to solve this difference equation. A computer model, FOR3D, implements this numerical solution. The FOR3D has been used for various applications in the acoustic community. It is important and of great interest to find out whether or not the LSS equation is energy-conserving. This paper will discuss fully the energy-conserving property of the LSS equation.

We present in this paper a compact scheme for modelling underwater wave propagation in large-coastal areas. The proposed Helmholtz scheme relates the derivative terms uxxxx and uxx to u itself at four adjacent nodal points to yield a five-point stencil implicit scheme with eighth-order accuracy. Besides enjoying high-order accuracy and good stability properties, the proposed scheme can provide oscillation-free solutions provided that the grid size is appropriately chosen. The underlying theory is the M-matrix theory. Computations have been carried out for several problems which are amenable to exact solutions. Agreement with the exact solutions is generally good even in a grid system involving fewer mesh points, thus demonstrating the efficiency of the proposed scheme implemented within the alternating direction context. The compact scheme has been applied to problems bounded partly by a scatter surface. Both incident and scattering wave propagation problems have been studied with great success. 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this article, we develop a two-dimensional enite-difference scheme for solving the convection-diffusion equation. The numerical method involves using transformation on the prototype scalar transport equation and transferring it to a Helmholtz equation. We apply the alternating-directionimplicit scheme of Polezhaev to solve for the Helmholtz equation. As the key to success in simulating the convection-diffusion equation, we exploit the solution pertaining to the Helmholtz equation in the course of scheme development, thereby providing high-level accuracy to the prediction. Since this is a new method developed for solving the model equation, it is illuminating to conduct modieed equation analysis on the discrete equation in order to make a full assessment of the proposed method. The results provide us with useful insights into the nature of the scheme. It is standard practice to validate the code by investigating test problems which are amenable to exact solutions to the working equation. Results show exact agreement for the one-dimensional test problem and good agreement withtheanalyticsolutions for two-dimensional problems. In this article, we develop a numerical method for solving the convection-diffusion scalar transport equation. This equation is encountered in a broad range of £uid dynamics and heat transfer applications. The model equation to be investigated is also academically important since it is regarded as the simplest prototype equation for modeling most of the transport phenomena. It is this practical as well as theoretical importance that makes numerical prediction of this model equation worthwhile and thus motivates the present study. We restrict our attention to two-dimensional cases in the x^y plane. A reliable transport scheme must have the ability to suppress numerical instabilities arising from convective terms. The problem of numerical instabilities of this sort is, in particular, severe when convective terms dominate diffusive terms in multiple dimensions [1]. The aim of the present article is to ¢nd a way to avoid dealing with these convective terms in the equation. One way to make progress

In predicting wave propagation, the size of the angle of propagation plays an important role; thus, the concept of wide angle is introduced. Most existing acoustic propagation prediction models do have the capability of treating the wide angle but the treatment, in practice, is vertical propagation angle. This is desirable for solving 2D (r–z) problems. Typically, 3D problems are dealt with an N by 2D approximation. To deal with problems possessing 3D effects, the azimuthal coupling terms have to be considered in PE approximation. Moreover, in extending the 2D treatment to 3D, the wide−angle capability is maintained in most 3D models, but it is still vertical. Hence, the concept of wide angle is introduced in the azimuthal direction to enhance the capability of predicting the azimuthal coupling and thus the 3D effects. A truncated wedge−shaped ocean which is modified from ASA benchmark problems is used in this study. The results show apparent 3D effects and validate the 3D wide−angle azimuthal PE model, a...

A three‐dimensional ocean environment is generated using measured ocean data from the ASIAEX South China Sea experiment. The experiment site is characterized as an active internal tide/solibore propagation region along the Northwestern shelf break of the South China Sea. The three‐dimensional acoustic effects are studied using a wide‐angle version of the parabolic equation code for3d. Mode coupling matrices and horizontal refractions are shown to demonstrate the 3‐D effects. Variations in topography of the shelf break and in the water column due to the internal solibore propagation cause significant mode coupling and 3‐D effects in the acoustic field. [Work supported by National Science Council of Republic of China for first and second authors. Work supported by ONR for the third and fourth authors.]