Evaluation of Survey Data Quality Based on Interviewers’ Assessments: An Example from Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Study

Chi-lin Tsai,Tsung-Wei Liu,Yi-ju Chen 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2019 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.7 No.1

Researchers usually examine the quality of survey data by several conventional measures of reliability and validity. However, those measures are mainly designed to examine the quality of an individual measurement, rather than the quality of a data set as a whole. There is a relative lack of methods for evaluation of the overall data quality. This paper attempts to fill this gap. We propose using interviewers’ assessments as one of criteria for evaluating the overall data quality. Interviewers are the ones who literally conduct and thus directly observe interviews. Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Studies (TEDS) have required interviewers to assess how trustworthy the responses of each of their interviewees are, and to provide several descriptions about the process and environment of the interviews. We use this information to evaluate the data quality of TEDS surveys and compare it with the results from the conventional test-retest method. The findings are that the interviewer assessment is a fair indicator of the overall reliability of attitudinal questions but not a good indicator when factual questions are examined. Regarding the evaluation of data validity, more data is required to see whether or not interviewers’ assessment is informative in terms of data quality.

The Effect of the First Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis Event on the Mortality of Cirrhotic Patients with Ascites: A Nationwide Population-Based Study in Taiwan

( Tsung-hsing Hung ),( Chen-chi Tsai ),( Yu-hsi Hsieh ),( Chih-chun Tsai ),( Chih-wei Tseng ),( Kuo-chih Tseng ) 대한간학회 2016 Gut and Liver Vol.10 No.5

Background/Aims: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) contributes to poorer short-term mortality in cirrhotic patients with ascites. However, it is unknown how long the effect of the first SBP event persists in these patients. Methods: The National Health Insurance Database, derived from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program, was used to identify and enroll 7,892 cirrhotic patients with ascites who were hospitalized between January 1 and December 31, 2007. All patients were free from episodes of SBP from 1996 to 2006. Results: The study included 1,176 patients with SBP. The overall 30-day, 90-day, 1-year, and 3-year mortality rates in this group were 21.8%, 38.9%, 57.5%, and 73.4%, respectively. The overall 30-day, 90-day, 1-year, and 3-year mortality rates in the non-SBP group were 15.7%, 32.5%, 53.3%, and 72.5%, respectively. After adjusting for gender, age, and other medical comorbidities, the adjusted hazard ratios of SBP for 30-day, 30- to 90-day, 90-day to 1-year, and 1- to 3-year mortality were 1.49 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30 to 1.71), 1.19 (95% CI, 1.02 to 1.38), 1.04 (95% CI, 0.90 to 1.20), and 0.90 (95% CI, 0.77 to 1.05), respectively, compared with the non-SBP group. Conclusions: The effect of SBP on the mortality of cirrhotic patients with ascites disappeared in those surviving more than 90 days after the first SBP event. (Gut Liver 2016;10:803-807)

Evaluation of Survey Data Quality Based on Interviewers' Assessments: An Example from Taiwan's Election and Democratization Study

Tsai, Chi-lin,Liu, Tsung-Wei,Chen, Yi-ju Center for Asian Public Opinion ResearchCollaborat 2019 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.7 No.1

Researchers usually examine the quality of survey data by several conventional measures of reliability and validity. However, those measures are mainly designed to examine the quality of an individual measurement, rather than the quality of a data set as a whole. There is a relative lack of methods for evaluation of the overall data quality. This paper attempts to fill this gap. We propose using interviewers' assessments as one of criteria for evaluating the overall data quality. Interviewers are the ones who literally conduct and thus directly observe interviews. Taiwan's Election and Democratization Studies (TEDS) have required interviewers to assess how trustworthy the responses of each of their interviewees are, and to provide several descriptions about the process and environment of the interviews. We use this information to evaluate the data quality of TEDS surveys and compare it with the results from the conventional test-retest method. The findings are that the interviewer assessment is a fair indicator of the overall reliability of attitudinal questions but not a good indicator when factual questions are examined. Regarding the evaluation of data validity, more data is required to see whether or not interviewers' assessment is informative in terms of data quality.

The Interaction of Oxytocin and Social Support, Loneliness, and Cortisol Level in Major Depression

Tsung-Yu Tsai,Huai-Hsuan Tseng,Mei Hung Chi,Hui Hua Chang,Cheng-Kuan Wu,Yen Kuang Yang,Po See Chen 대한정신약물학회 2019 CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE Vol.17 No.4

Objective: Loneliness is a specific risk factor for depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. The present study examined whether the serum oxytocin level would interact with social support and buffers loneliness and hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal (HPA)-axis activity in drug-naïve patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods: Twenty-six patients with MDD (male:female = 3:23; mean age, 45.54 ± 12.97 years) were recruited. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale and self-reported Measurement of Support Function Questionnaire were administered. Serum oxytocin and cortisol levels were assessed using a commercial immunoassay kits. Results: In MDD patients, a negative association was found between degrees of social support and loneliness ( = −0.39, p = 0.04). The interaction between social support and serum oxytocin level was negatively associated with loneliness ( = −0.50, p = 0.017) and serum cortisol level ( = −0.55, p = 0.020) after adjusting for age. Follow-up analyses showed that the association between higher social support and lower loneliness was observed only in the higher-oxytocin group (r = −0.75, p = 0.003) but not in the lower group (r = −0.19, p = 0.53). The significance remained after further adjusting for sex and depression severity. Conclusion: Low oxytocin level is a vulnerability factor for the buffering effect of social support for loneliness and aberrant HPA-axis activity in MDD patients.

Galangin Prevents Acute Hepatorenal Toxicity in Novel Propacetamol-Induced Acetaminophen-Overdosed Mice

Ming-Shiun Tsai,Chia-Chih Chien,Ting-Hui Lin,Chia-Chi Liu,Rosa Huang Liu,Hong-Lin Su,Yung-Tsung Chiu,Sue-Hong Wang 한국식품영양과학회 2015 Journal of medicinal food Vol.18 No.11

Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose causes severe liver and kidney damage. APAP-induced liver injury (AILI) represents the most frequent cause of drug-induced liver failure. APAP is relatively insoluble and can only be taken orally; however, its prodrug, propacetamol, is water soluble and usually injected directly. In this study, we examined the timedependent effects of AILI after propacetamol injection in mice. After analyses of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities and liver histopathology, we demonstrated that a novel AILI mouse model can be established by single propacetamol injection. Furthermore, we compared the protective and therapeutic effects of galangin with a known liver protective extract, silymarin, and the only clinical agent for treating APAP toxicity, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), at the same dose in the model mice. We observed that galangin and silymarin were more effective than NAC for protecting against AILI. However, only NAC greatly improved both the survival time and rate consequent to a lethal dose of propacetamol. To decipher the hepatic protective mechanism(s) of galangin, galangin pretreatment significantly decreased the hepatic oxidative stress, increased hepatic glutathione level, and decreased hepatic microsomal CYP2E1 levels induced by propacetamol injection. In addition, propacetamol injection also reproduced the probability of APAP-induced kidney injury (AIKI), appearing similar to a clinical APAP overdose. Only galangin pretreatment showed the protective effect of AIKI. Thus, we have established a novel mouse model for AILI and AIKI using a single propacetamol injection. We also demonstrated that galangin provides significant protection against AILI and AIKI in this mouse model.

Original Article : The Risk of Cellulitis in Cirrhotic Patients: A Nationwide Population-Based Study in Taiwan

( Ming Nan Lin ),( Chen Chi Tsai ),( Tsung Hsing Hung ),( Chih Chun Tsai ) The Editorial Office of Gut and Liver 2012 Gut and Liver Vol.6 No.4

Background/Aims: Cellulitis is a common infectious disease. However, the risk of cellulitis in cirrhotic patients is not well established, and whether liver cirrhosis is a risk factor for cellulitis remains unknown. This study evaluated the relationship between cellulitis and liver cirrhosis. Methods: The National Health Insurance Database, which was derived from the Taiwan National Health Insurance program, was used to identify patients. The study group consisted of 39,966 patients with liver cirrhosis, and the comparison group consisted of 39,701 randomly selected age- and sex-matched patients. Results: During the 3-year follow-up period, 2,674 (6.7%) patients with liver cirrhosis developed cellulitis, and 1,587 (4.0%) patients without liver cirrhosis developed cellulitis (p<0.001). Following a Cox`s regression analysis adjusted for age, sex, and underlying medical disorders, the cirrhotic patients demonstrated a greater risk for the occurrence of cellulitis than the non-cirrhotic patients during the 3-year period (hazard ratio [HR], 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.55 to 1.77; p<0.001). Additionally, cirrhotic patients with complications also had a greater risk for the occurrence of cellulitis than those patients without complications (HR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.33; p<0.001). Conclusions: We conclude that cirrhotic patients have a greater risk of cellulitis than non-cirrhotic patients. (Gut Liver 2012;6:482-485)

Low Gate Leakage Current HFET Structure Fabricated by Using a Step-free Airbridge Gate Process

Feng-Tso Chien,Chien-Liang Chan,Chi-Ling Wang,Chien-Nan Liao,Yao-Tsung Tsai,Hsien-Chin Chiu 한국물리학회 2010 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.56 No.3

Conventional heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) have a high gate leakage current due to the gate electrode being in contact with the exposed channel layer and with the carrier-providing layer on the mesa sidewall. In this study, we use a new step-free (SF) air-bridge gate structure to reduce the gate leakage and improve the breakdown voltage. The proposed structure does not increase any MASKs as compared with the conventional process. In addition, this new structure promises a gate-source capacitance smaller than those of conventional heterostructure FET devices. Consequently, the high-frequency performance of the HFETs using the proposed structure can be improved.

Manufacturing of GaAs MMICs for Wireless Communications Applications

Wu-Jing Ho,Joe Liu,Hengchang Chou,Chan Shin Wu,Tsung Chi Tsai,Wei Der Chang,Frank Chou,Yu-Chi Wang 대한전자공학회 2006 Journal of semiconductor technology and science Vol.6 No.3

Two major processing technologies of GaAs HBT and pHEMT have been released in production at Win Semiconductors corp. to address the strong demands of power amplifiers and switches for both handset and WLAN communications markets. Excellent performance with low processing cost and die shrinkage features is reported from the manufactured MMICs. With the stringent tighter manufacturing quality control WIN has successfully become one of the major pure open foundry house to serve the communication industries. The advancing of both technologies to include E/D-pHEMTs and BiHEMTs likes for multifunctional integration of PA, LNA, switch and logics is also highlighted.

Manufacturing of GaAs MMICs for Wireless Communications Applications

Ho, Wu-Jing,Liu, Joe,Chou, Hengchang,Wu, Chan Shin,Tsai, Tsung Chi,Chang, Wei Der,Chou, Frank,Wang, Yu-Chi The Institute of Electronics and Information Engin 2006 Journal of semiconductor technology and science Vol.6 No.3

Two major processing technologies of GaAs HBT and pHEMT have been released in production at Win Semiconductors corp. to address the strong demands of power amplifiers and switches for both handset and WLAN communications markets. Excellent performance with low processing cost and die shrinkage features is reported from the manufactured MMICs. With the stringent tighter manufacturing quality control WIN has successfully become one of the major pure open foundry house to serve the communication industries. The advancing of both technologies to include E/D-pHEMTs and BiHEMTs likes for multifunctional integration of PA, LNA, switch and logics is also highlighted.