The Effectiveness of Inquiry and Practice During Project Design Courses at a Technology University.

Among the many teaching methods, inquiry-based teaching is considered to be an effective way for students to learn and solve problems on their own. However, most of the research related to inquiry-based teaching and learning has concentrated mainly on K-12 education, while few to no studies have focused on the application of inquiry-based teaching and learning in project design courses at university level. Therefore, in order to expand the understanding of the application effect of inquiry-based teaching at university level, this study adopted the quasi-experimental design method, and through the purposive sampling method, 20 students from the Department of Fashion Design at a University of Science and Technology were invited to participate in this study. During the 9-month period, teaching experiments were carried out using two inquiry models, QC/ADEAC and QD/ODEAC. First, when participants were thinking of a creative topic, they followed the process: Question (Q), Collection/Analysis (C/A), Discussion (D), Explanation (E), Amendment (A), and Confirmation (C) in the course. During the production process, the participants were allowed to improve on their work through the process of Question (Q), Doing/Observation (D/O), Discussion (D), Explanation (E), Amendment (A), and Confirmation (C). The teacher became a true guide, so that the participants could explore and work out how to improve their designs through independent inquiry and practice. In this study, questionnaires were administered to participants at five important stages of the design project: "theme development," "color development," "first Work," "second Work," and "third Work." The results of the five surveys showed that the participants' curriculum interest, curriculum value perception, and curriculum confidence in the inquiry program all increased.

Professional literacy that Taiwan's bag manufacturing industry talents should possess: Analyzing from a practical perspective.

Aim: This research aimed to explore the professional literacies that should be possessed by Taiwan's bag manufacturing industry talents. This understanding will also help the technical and vocational education system to cultivate talents in Taiwan's bag manufacturing industry. Methods: A qualitative research design was adopted. The outline of the interview on the professional literacy of Taiwan's bag manufacturing industry talents was compiled, and seven interviewees were selected by purposive sampling from those who had worked (including supervisors) in Taiwan's bag manufacturing industry for 21 to 42 years. One-on-one in-depth interviews with semi-structured interview questions were conducted. Using grounded theory, the content of the in-depth interviews was analyzed and discussed. Results and discussion: This study discusses what professional literacy of Taiwan's bag manufacturing industry talents should possess from the practical perspective of Taiwan's bag manufacturing industry leaders or senior managers. This study shows that bag manufacturing industry talents should possess knowledge, skills, and attitudes and values of common professional literacies. Moreover, bag designers, manufacturing technicians, patternmakers, hand stitchers, and production supervisors should acquire these professional literacies. The results of this study will help Taiwan's bag manufacturing industry leaders or senior managers to highlight the importance of professional literacy that Taiwan's bag manufacturing industry talents should possess. Conclusion: This study summarized the professional literacy of bag manufacturing industry talents into three major aspects: knowledge, skills, and attitudes and values. Based on this, suggestions are made as a reference for the implementation of curriculum development for talent cultivation in higher education institutions, and a reference for the learning and on-the-job training of bag manufacturing industry practitioners in the workplace.

[Value of four scoring systems for predicting prognosis of severe acute pancreatitis].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the value of Ranson, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II), Balthazar CT and pancreatitis outcome prediction (POP) scoring systems in predicting the prognosis of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). METHODS: A total of 253 consecutive patients with SAP, admitted into West China Hospital of Sichuan University from January 2004 to August 2007 were studied retrospectively. Data associated to Ranson, APACHE II, Balthazar CT and POP scoring systems after admissions were recorded. Four outcome signals including death, local complications, operation transformation, and development of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) were analyzed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were also drawn and the areas under the ROC curve (AUC) were obtained to compare the sensitivity, specificity, Youden index, and likelihood ratio positive test (LRPT) of the clinical scoring systems in assessing the prognosis of SAP. RESULTS: Through comparison of AUC, Ranson score could be used to predict the outcomes except for local complications (P=0.00), and all its diagnosis threshold was 5. APACHE II score showed that it could assess the outcomes of SAP except for local complications (P=0.00). Its thresholds in mortality, operation transformation, and incidence of MODS were 14, 10, and 12 respectively. Balthazar CT could predict all the outcomes, and the threshold was 6. POP score could predict all the outcomes except for local complications, and its predictive value in mortality was particularly prominent. The sensitivity and specificity of POP in predicting death were 0.90 and 0.92 as the cutoff was no less than 14. The thresholds of POP in mortality, operation transformation, and incidence of MODS were 14, 8, and 10 respectively. CONCLUSION: The prognostic ability of the four scoring systems is not the same. Ranson, APACHE II and POP scoring systems can predict the severity of SAP and entire complication, but they can't predict the local complications. POP score may predict the mortality well, and Balthazar CT scanning can predict all the outcomes, but the sensitivity and specificity are low.

[Risk factors and infection characteristics of secondary pancreatic infection in severe acute pancreatitis].

OBJECTIVE: To explore risk factors and infection characteristics of secondary pancreatic infection in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). METHODS: A clinical data of 49 patients with secondary pancreatic infection in severe acute pancreatitis (SPI group)were matched with 49 patients without infection in severe acute pancreatitis (NSPI group) between January 2003 and December 2005. The two groups were analyzed by a case-control study. Conditional Logistic regression model univariate and multivariate were used to screen out risk factors. The types of infection, the peak infection and the bacteria spectrum were analyzed in SPI group. RESULTS: (1) In univariate Logistic regression analysis, 7 factors including continuous hypoalbuminemia, prolonged time of central venous catheter, usage of hormone, high APACHE II scores, multi-antibiotics, intestine dysfunction and continuous hyperglycemia were selected out. Moreover, the first three were statistically significant in multivariate Logistic regression analysis. (2) Pancreatic abscess ranked first in SPI group. Of all the pancreatic infection, 22.5% occurred within two weeks and 71.4% occurred in the 4th week or later. (3) In SPI group, 81 strains of microorganisms were cultured, including 45 strains of gram-negative bacteria (55.6%), 22 strains of gram-positive bacteria (27.2%), and 14 strains of fungi (17.3%). The common gram-negative bacteria were Escherichia coli, and the common gram-positive bacteria were Staphylococci and Enterococci. The fungi included Monilia and Yeastoid fungus. Further study revealed that 35 strains of all the microorganisms were intestinal bacteria (43.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Continuous hypoalbuminemia, prolonged time of central venous catheter and usage of hormone were independent risk factors of SPI. The main type of infection was pancreatic abscess. Gram-negative bacteria, were the common bacteria causing secondary pancreatic infection.

[Risk factor analysis of severe acute pancreatitis complicated by pancreatic encephalopathy].

OBJECTIVE: To study the risk factors for severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) complicated by pancreatic encephalopathy (PE). METHODS: Clinical data from 255 patients with SAP from January 2005 to December 2006 were reviewed. Thirty-one SAP patients had PE, and 224 SAP patients did not. Clinical characteristics of SAP patients in both PE group and non-PE group were analyzed. RESULTS: Ranson scale and the incidence rates of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), renal failure, hypoproteinemia, hypocalcemia and hyperglycosemia in PE group were higher than those in non-PE group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II and CT severity index scales, the activities of amylase and lipase, the incidence rate of liver function failure, the infection rate and the operability between the PE group and the non-PE group (P>0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that ARDS and hyperglycosemia were high risk factors. Cure rate in PE group was higher than that in non-PE group. CONCLUSION: Nosogenesis of PE is the result of multiple factors. ARDS and hyperglycosemia may be the high risk factors for PE.