In-depth investigation of escalator riding accidents in heavy capacity MRT stations

In 2000, the accident rate for escalator riding was about 0.815 accidents per million passenger trips through Taipei Metro Rapid Transit (MRT) heavy capacity stations. In order to reduce the probability and severity of escalator riding accidents and enhance the safety of passengers, the Drury and Brill model [Drury, C.G., Brill, M., 1983. Human factors in consumer product accident investigation. Hum. Factors 25 (3), 329-342] for in-depth investigation was adopted to analyze the 194 escalator riding accidents in terms of victim, task, product and environment. Prevention measures have been developed based on the major causes of accidents and other related contributing factors. The results from the analysis indicated that the majority of the escalator riding accidents was caused by passengers' carrying out other tasks (38 cases, including carrying luggage 24 cases, looking after accompany persons 9 cases, and 5 others), loss of balance (26 cases, 13.4%), not holding the handrail (20 cases, 10.3%), unhealthy passengers (18 cases, 9.3%), followed by people struck by other passenger (16 cases, 8.2%). For female passengers aged 15-64 years, their rushing for trains accidents could have been prevented by wearing safer footwear or by appropriate signing being provided indicating the location and traveling direction of escalators. Female passengers aged 65 years and above whose accidents were caused by loss of balance, should be encouraged to take the elevator instead. To prevent entrapment injuries, following a stricter design code can be most effective. Further in-depth accident investigation is suggested to cover the activity of the victim prior to the accident, any involved product, the location of the accident on the escalator, any medical treatment, what went wrong, opinion of the respondent on the causes of the accident, and personal characteristics of the passengers. Also, management must trade off productivity and safety appropriately to prevent "Organizational Accidents".     

Succinctness in dependency systems

Two phenomena regarding succintness in dependency systems are given. In the first, a minimum system of FDs can be induced by a much smaller (log size) system of FDs over a larger set of attributes. In the second, a minimum system of FDs can be induced by a much smaller (again log size) system of FDs and MVDs over the same set of attributes.     

Applying a multimedia storytelling website in foreign language learning

Storytelling is a practical and powerful teaching tool, especially for language learning. Teachers in language classrooms, however, may hesitate to incorporate storytelling into language instruction because of an already overloaded curriculum. English foreign language (EFL) teachers in Taiwan report additional problems such as having little prior experience with integrating storytelling into language teaching, locating appropriate stories, and lacking the cultural and language abilities to handle storytelling in English. On the other hand, researchers have demonstrated successful usages of computer and network-assisted English learning. The researchers in this study have developed a multimedia Storytelling Website to study how web-based technology can assist overcoming the obstacles mentioned above. The website contains an accounts administration module, multimedia story composing module, and story re-playing module. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this Website in significantly facilitating teacher’s storytelling and children’s story recall processes in EFL classrooms, it was implemented in one elementary school to test its effectiveness in instruction and in resultant student learning. The results of the study support the significance and the education value of the multimedia Storytelling Website on EFL teaching and learning. If such a Website can be applied within elementary EFL classrooms, the quality of teaching and learning can be improved and students’ enjoyment and success in EFL learning may increase.     

Differential effect of arecoline on the endogenous dioxin-responsive cytochrome P450 1A1 and on a stably transfected dioxin-responsive element-driven reporter in human hepatoma cells

Dioxin-responsive element-mediated chemical activated luciferase expression (DRE-CALUX) is one of alternative bioassays for the determination of dioxin levels. We have previously established a DRE-CALUX cell line, Huh7-DRE-Luc, by using stable transfection of Huh-7 cells with a reporter plasmid (4xDRE-TATA-Luc) carrying a DRE-driven firefly luciferase gene. It was also shown that arecoline, a major areca nut alkaloid, inhibited the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD)-induced cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) activation in Huh-7 cells. The TCDD-activated aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) induces the DRE-CALUX activation and CYP1A1 gene expression via binding to DRE in promoter regions of these dioxin-responsive genes. In the present study, the effect of arecoline on the TCDD-induced activation of DRE-CALUX and CYP1A1 enzyme in Huh7-DRE-Luc and Huh-7 cells, respectively, was examined. It was found that arecoline inhibited TCDD-induced CYP1A1 activation and however enhanced TCDD-induced DRE-CALUX activation. This finding indicates the differential effect of arecoline on the endogenous dioxin-responsive CYP1A1 and on a stably transfected DRE-driven reporter in human hepatoma cells. The present study suggests that induction of DRE-CALUX alone does not necessarily parallel with endogenous CYP1A1 gene expression, and that the reporter assay may detect interactions that are not functional in endogenous gene.     

Characterization of nanoclay orientation in polymer nanocomposite film by small-angle X-ray scattering

The orientation distribution of layer-shaped nanoclays (e.g. organoclays and pristine clays) dispersed in a polymer matrix is an important parameter to control the properties of polymer nanocomposites. In this study, we demonstrate that the use of multi-directional 2-D small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) can quantitatively describe the orientation distribution of organoclays (e.g. Cloisite C20A) in melt-pressed nanocomposite films, containing ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers as polymer matrices. Different weight fractions of organoclays were used to alter the orientation profile of nanocomposite films, in which the dispersion and morphology of organoclays were also characterized by complementary 2-D and 3-D transmission electron microscopy (TEM). All nanocomposites exhibited mixed intercalation/exfoliation clay morphology, where the intercalated structure possessed partial orientation parallel to the in-plane direction of the film. The higher content of the clay loading showed a higher clay orientation. A simple analytical scheme for SAXS data analysis to determine the orientation parameter (P₂) was demonstrated, the results of which are in agreement with the gas permeation properties of the nanocomposite films.