Chin-Ping Fung

Evaluation of computer-assisted multimedia instruction in intravenous injection

The purpose of this study was to develop a computer-assisted multimedia training course for intravenous injection and evaluate its effect on the knowledge and self-perceived performance of intravenous injection for novice nurses. Eighty-one novice nurses randomly assigned to the experimental group and control group participated a designed training procedure and took pretest and posttests. The test results were analyzed using statistical methods. From the study it could be concluded that the training course had a significant effect on the intravenous injections knowledge. Besides, a high rate of satisfaction for the multimedia program showed the self-developed program was successful.

Driving performance assessment: effects of traffic accident location and alarm content.

According to accident statistics for Taiwan, the two most common traffic accident locations in urban areas are roadway segments and intersections. On roadway segments, most collisions are due to drivers not noticing the status of leading vehicle. At intersections, most collisions are due to the other driver failing to obey traffic signs. Using a driving simulator equipped with a collision warning system, this study investigated driving performance at different accident locations and between different alarm contents, and identified the relationship between crash occurrences and driving performance. Thirty participants, aged 20-29 years, were recruited in this study. Driving performance measures were perception-reaction time, movement-reaction time, speed and a crash. Experimental results indicated that due to different demands for processing information under different traffic conditions, driving performance differed at the two traffic accident locations. On a roadway segment, perception-reaction time for a beep was shorter than the time for a speech message. Nevertheless, at an intersection, a speech message was a great help to drivers and, thus, perception-reaction time was effectively reduced. In addition, logistic regression analysis indicates that perception-movement time had the greatest influence on crash occurrence.

The Effect of Injection Molding Process Parameters on the Tensile Properties of Short Glass Fiber-Reinforced PBT

This study investigates the influence of various injection molding process parameters and fiber amount on the tensile properties of short fiber-reinforced polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). The parameters that govern injection molding process are filling time, melt temperature, mold temperature, and packing pressure. The tensile properties of neat PBT, 15 wt%, and 30 wt% short fiber-reinforced PBT are obtained using a computerized closed-loop servohydraulic testing system. The frozen core morphology is observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which can define the layer thickness. The observation can explain the influence of fiber orientation on the tensile properties. The fracture surfaces are also observed by SEM to understand the fracture mechanisms of different fiber orientations. It is found that the addition of short glass fibers can significantly strengthen neat PBT. The strength depends on the thickness of the layer where fibers are oriented in the loading direction. The layer thickness is strongly affected by the injection molding parameters and pin gate locations. Also, the fracture mechanisms of fiber pullout and across-matrix crack dominate the failure process in the layer where fibers are parallel to the direction of applied load. However, the failure of fiber–matrix interface dominates the fracture mechanism of the layer where fibers are mostly perpendicular to the applied load.

The Study on the Optimization of Injection Molding Process Parameters with Gray Relational Analysis

This paper studies the optimization of injection molding process parameters by using the gray relational analysis method. Nine experimental runs based on Taguchi method’s orthogonal arrays are studied to pick the best factor level condition. The mechanical properties of yield stress and elongation are selected to be the target of quality. The factor levels are assessed according to the chosen two mechanical properties. The degree of influence that the controllable process factors exert on the mechanical properties is studied by investigating the correlation between them. From the analysis of gray relational grade matrix, the most influential process factor and the most easily influenced mechanical property can be picked. It is found that the melt temperature is the most influential factor to mechanical properties of both yield stress and elongation. The yield stress is more easily influenced by those factors than the elongation is. The sequence of the importance that the controllable factors affect the yield stress is slightly different from it for the elongation, but the melt temperature is still the most important factor.

Vibration and stability of laminated plates based on a modified plate theory

Abstract Vibration and stability results for a laminated plate based on a modified higher order plate theory with seven kinematic variables are presented. Natural frequency parameters and buckling coefficients obtained by the present theory are compared with the Mindlin plate theory (first order plate theory) results, Reddys theory results and other higher order plate theory results. The present higher order plate theory satisfies the stress-free boundary conditions and predicts natural frequencies and buckling loads very accurately. Also, the benefit of significant simplification can be observed as compared with the Lo et al. higher order plate theory.

The study of auditory and haptic signals in a virtual reality-based hand rehabilitation system

The purpose of the present study is to assess the influence of auditory and haptic signals on the manipulation performance in a virtual reality-based hand rehabilitation system. A personal computer, a tracker, and a data glove were included in this system. Three-dimensional virtual environments were developed. Forty volunteers were recruited to participate in a pick-and-place procedure, with three levels of difficulty and four feedback modes. Task time and collision frequency were the parameters used to evaluate their manipulation performance. It can be concluded that the haptics is a significant signal for improving a subjects performance at the high difficulty level.

Bending of a bimodulus laminated plate based on a higher-order shear deformation theory

Abstract This paper presents an exact flexural analysis of rectangular simply supported single-layer and two-layer cross-ply plates of bimodulus materials. The governing equations of a bimodulus plate based on a higherorder shear deformation theory are simplified from the composite plate. The present analysis of displacements in flexure is compared with Berts results and Turveys results which are based on Mindlin plate theory. The in-plane stress and bending stress are included in the present study. All the present numerical results are compared with the Mindlin plate theory (first-order plate theory) results. From those comparisons, the effects of higher-order shear deformation terms on the neutral surface locations and the flexure displacements can be observed.

Vibration and buckling of bimodulus laminated plates according to a higher-order plate theory

Abstract This paper presents the governing equations of rectangular simply supported single-layer and two-layer cross-ply plates of bimodulus materials related to the higher order shear deformation terms. Natural frequency parameters and buckling coefficients obtained by the iteration method are compared with published results for ordinary thick plates. The Mindlin plate theory result can be obtained by simplifying the governing equation of the higher-order plate theory formulation. The effects of higher-order shear deformation terms on neutral surface locations, buckling coefficients and natural frequencies are evaluated by observing the difference between the present higher-order theory results and the Mindlin plate theory results. Also, the bending stress is shown to affect significantly the buckling coefficient K cr and the non-dimensional frequency parameter Ω.

The assessment of stability and reliability of a virtual reality-based intravenous injection simulator.

The aim of this study was to validate the feasibility of a virtual reality-based (without haptic feedback) intravenous injection system as an effective tool for computer-assisted instruction and training. The stability and reliability of the system were assessed. A personal computer, a needle/catheter device, and a data acquisition interface are included in this system. Using Virtual Reality Modeling Language, an interactive virtual environment was developed. Ten participants, ranging from 20 to 28 years of age, were recruited for this study. The self-learning and training procedures encompassed an intravenous catheterization process. The experimental results showed that after a few trials, the change in task time was not obvious in each trial, and the error frequency decreased slightly with more trials. High intraclass correlation coefficients also were obtained for task time and error frequency by analyzing the test-retest reliability. These results indicated that the system was stable and that the system reliability was acceptable.

Study of surface temperature on laser cutting and welding power absorption

Abstract This paper studied the absorption of CO2 laser beam in AISI 4340 steel under conditions of laser welding. The influence of the power density, the type of shielding gas, the shielding gas flow rate and the initial temperature of workpiece on absorption of laser beam were considered. The temperature were measured at various monitoring locations and the measured values of dimensionless temperature profiles are plotted as a function of time. The absorptivity was determined from good matching between the measured temperature profiles and the corresponding predicted values. In summary, shielding gas will decrease the absorption of laser beam in welding, especially the using of He gas obtained the lowest absorptivity. The absorption of laser beam increases with increasing initial temperature of workpiece.