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Publications in Renal Failure in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) between 1992 and 2021 were analyzed. Six publication indicators: total, independent, collaborative, first author, corresponding author, and single author publications as well as their related citation indicators, were used to compare performances of countries, institutes, and authors. Comparison of the highly cited papers and journal's impact factor (IF) contributors was discussed. In addition, the main research topics in the journal were presented. Results show that China published the most total articles and reviews, as well as the first-author papers and corresponding-author papers in the journal. The Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan ranked the top in five publication indicators: total, single-institution, inter-institutionally collaborative, first author, and corresponding-author papers. A low percentage of productive authors emerged as a journal IF contributor. Similarly, only a limited relationship between highly cited papers and IF contributing papers was found. Publications related to hemodialysis, chronic kidney disease, and acute kidney injury were the most popular topic, while meta-analysis was new focus in the last decade in the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of plagiarism, cheating, and other acts of academic dishonesty may be as high as 80% in populations of high school and post-secondary students. Various educational interventions have been developed and implemented in an effort to educate students about academic integrity and to prevent academic misconduct. We reviewed the peer-reviewed research literature describing face-to-face workshops, e-learning tutorials, or blended approaches for promoting academic integrity and the effectiveness of these approaches. In general, the educational interventions were described as effective in terms of satisfaction with the intervention, and changes in students' attitudes and knowledge of academic integrity. Few studies provided evidence that the educational interventions changed student behaviour or outcomes outside the context of the intervention. Future research should explore how participation in educational interventions to promote academic integrity are linked to long-term student outcomes, such as graduate school admission, alumni career success, service to society, and personal stability.

Paper cultural relics such as double-sided printed newspapers and periodicals represent modern cultural heritage. Severe damage such as embrittlement, decay, and dreg generally occur to paper; hence, it urgently needs conservation and restoration. Therefore, herein, a new reinforcement method for the fragile double-sided printed paper cultural relics is proposed with cotton mesh and adhesive PVA217 as reinforcement materials. Using a computer measured and controlled folding endurance tester, a pendulum tensile strength tester, pH meter, pulp viscosimeter, and other instruments, the physical properties of newspaper samples before and after aging were evaluated. In addition, the mechanical properties, chromatic aberration and surface morphology of simulated samples before and after the cotton mesh reinforcement and Japanese washi paper reinforcement were assessed. The experimental results indicate that this new reinforcement method could effectively improve the physical strength, chromatic aberration and durability of the simulated samples. Widespread applications of this cotton mesh reinforcement method for the reinforcement and protection of the red revolutionary cultural relics such as double-sided printed newspaper and periodicals during the Republic of China era are foreseeable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used bibliometrics to analyze the characteristics of funded papers in the social sciences in Taiwan from 2015 to 2019, including the number of funded papers, funded paper ratio, document types, fields, type of publishing organizations, journal impact, and paper citation impact. The results indicate that the number of funded papers and the funded paper ratio of SSCI papers from Taiwan have both increased. In addition to articles and reviews, conference papers are a major type of funded paper for local SSCI papers. In terms of fields, the nontraditional social sciences, such as environmental sciences, psychiatry, and public/environmental & occupational health, have a particularly high funded paper ratio. However, the number of funded papers and funded paper ratio is the highest in the field of education & educational research. The fields of economics, management, and business have a large number of funded papers but a low funded paper ratio. Universities are the main funded institutions, but hospitals have the highest funded paper ratio. Funded papers tend to have higher paper citation impacts. Therefore, funding positively affects the productivity and impact of SSCI papers from Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Taiwan, the incidence and prevalence of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have risen significantly in recent years. Moreover, data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) show that more than 85% of PsA patients are treated with just non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and/or conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (csDMARDs). Taiwanese clinicians have also expressed concerns regarding uncertainties in the diagnosis of PsA and the delayed, interrupted, and/or tapered use of biologics, as well as differences in therapeutic preferences between and within dermatologists and rheumatologists. To address these issues, the Taiwan Rheumatology Association and the Taiwanese Association for Psoriasis and Skin Immunology jointly convened a committee of 28 clinicians from the fields of rheumatology, dermatology, orthopedics, and rehabilitation, to develop evidence-based consensus recommendations for the practical management of PsA in Taiwan. A total of six overarching principles and 13 recommendations were developed and approved, as well as a treatment algorithm with four separate tracks for axial PsA, peripheral PsA, enthesitis, and dactylitis. Psoriasis (PsO) management was not discussed here, as the Taiwanese Dermatological Association has recently published a comprehensive consensus statement on the management of PsO. Together, these recommendations provide an up-to-date, evidence-based framework for PsA care in Taiwan., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article., (Copyright © 2020 Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study used the subcritical hydrothermal liquefaction technique (SHLT) in the co- liquefaction of process rejects at a wastepaper-based paper mill (PRWPM) and waste soybean oil (WSO) for the production of biofuels and bio-char material. PRWPM emits complicated waste composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and plastic from sealing film. The waste is produced from the recycled paper process of a mill plant located in central Taiwan. The source of WSO is the rejected organic waste from a cooking oil factory located in north Taiwan. PRWPM and WSO are suitable for use as fuels, but due to their high oxygen content, their use as commercial liquid fuels is not frequent, thus making deoxygenation and hydrogenation necessary. The temperature and pressure of SHLT were set at 523–643 K and 40–250 bar, respectively. The experimental conditions included solvent ratios of oil–water, temperature, reaction time, and ratios of solvent to PRWPM. The analysis results contained approximated components, heating values, elements, surface features, simulated distillations, product compositions, and recovery yields. The HHV of the product occurred at an oil–water ratio of 75:25, with a value of 38.04 MJ kg−1. At an oil–water ratio of 25:75, the liquid oil-phase product of SHTL has the highest heating value 42.02 MJ kg−1. Higher WSO content implies a lower heating value of the oil-phase product. The simulated distillation result of the oil-phase product with higher content of alcohol and alkanes obtained at the oil–water ratio of 25:75 is better than the other ratios. Here, the carbon number of the oil product is between C8–C36. The product conversion rate rises with an increase of the WSO ratio. It is proved that blending soybean oil with water can significantly enhance the quality of liquefied oil and the conversion rate of PRWPM. Therefore, the solid and liquid biomass wastes co-liquefaction to produce gas and liquid biofuels under SHLT are quite feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans introduced paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) from Taiwan into the Pacific over 5000 years ago as a fiber source to make barkcloth textiles that were, and still are, important cultural artifacts throughout the Pacific. We have used B. papyrifera, a species closely associated to humans, as a proxy to understand the human settlement of the Pacific Islands. We report the first genetic analysis of paper mulberry textiles from historical and archaeological contexts (200 to 50 years before present) and compare our results with genetic data obtained from contemporary and herbarium paper mulberry samples. Following stringent ancient DNA protocols, we extracted DNA from 13 barkcloth textiles. We confirmed that the fiber source is paper mulberry in nine of the 13 textiles studied using the nuclear ITS-1 marker and by statistical estimates. We detected high genetic diversity in historical Pacific paper mulberry barkcloth with a set of ten microsatellites, showing new alleles and specific genetic patterns. These genetic signatures allow tracing connections to plants from the Asian homeland, Near and Remote Oceania, establishing links not observed previously (using the same genetic tools) in extant plants or herbaria samples. These results show that historic barkcloth textiles are cultural materials amenable to genetic analysis to reveal human history and that these artifacts may harbor evidence of greater genetic diversity in Pacific B. papyrifera in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pineapples are an important agricultural economic crop in Taiwan. Considerable human resources are required to protect pineapples from excessive solar radiation, which could otherwise lead to overheating and subsequent deterioration. Note that simple covering all of the fruit with a paper bag is not a viable solution, due to the fact that it makes it impossible to determine whether the fruit is ripe. This paper proposes a system by which to automate the detection of ripe pineapples. The proposed deep learning architecture enables detection regardless of lighting conditions, achieving accuracy of more than 99.27% with error of less than 2% at distances of 300 ~ 800 mm. This proposed system using an Nvidia TX2 is capable of 15 frames per second, thereby making it possible to mount the device on machines that move at walking speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) L’Hér. ex Vent. (Moraceae), a dioecious species, was transported by humans from Taiwan to the islands of Remote Oceania. Its introduction and cultivation in Remote Oceania was intentional due to its cultural importance as a fiber source for barkcloth textiles. The aim of this study was to explore the genetic diversity and structure of paper mulberry populations within Remote Oceania in order to infer dispersal patterns that may reflect past human interaction among island groups. We present the integrated analysis of 380 samples (313 contemporary and 67 herbarium specimens) collected in Near and Remote Oceania. Genetic characterization was based on a set of ten microsatellites developed for B. papyrifera and complemented with the analysis of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer ITS-1 sequence, a sex marker and the chloroplast ndhF–rpl32 intergenic spacer. Microsatellite data identify a total of 64 genotypes, despite this being a clonally propagated crop, and show three major dispersal hubs within Remote Oceania, centered on the islands of Fiji, Tonga, and Pitcairn. Of 64 genotypes identified, 55 correspond to genotypes associated to female-sexed plants that probably descend from plants introduced by the prehistoric Austronesian-speaking voyagers. The ratio of accessions to genotypes between herbarium and contemporary samples, suggests recent loss of genetic diversity. In addition to the chloroplast haplotypes described previously, we detected two new haplotypes within Remote Oceania both originating in Taiwan. This is the first study of a commensal species to show genetic structuring within Remote Oceania. In spite of the genetic bottleneck, the presence of only one sex, a timespan of less than 5000 years, and asexual propagation of this crop in Remote Oceania, we detect genetic diversity and regional structuring. These observations suggest specific migration routes between island groups within Remote Oceania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oyster Farming is one of important fisheries and aquaculture industries in Taiwan. Each year, approximately 4000–5000 tons of discarded bamboo scaffolding (BS) used in oyster farming, are generated, so the treatment and utilization of BS should be taken seriously. This study evaluates the suitability of BS for pulp and papermaking by assessing the chemical compositions, microstructural, and fiber morphology. The pulping properties is investigated by soda pulping. The chemical composition of BS shows the potential for application in pulping. The BS microstructure shows that can enhance pulping reactions, while the fiber morphology indicates the possibility of producing high-strength paper. Through the pulping experiment, it demonstrated that BS is suitable for pulping with lower NaOH dosage and longer digestion time. The condition at 170 °C with 14% NaOH dosage for 90 min digestion has the highest yield. After refining the highest pulping yield BS pulp, it can improve the handsheet strength and bulk of the OCC-BS mixed pulp, which can achieve the strength property required for industrial paper. In summary, BS exhibits the potential for pulping application and produces a better paper strength than OCC pulp, exhibiting the feasibility of enhancing the circular utilization value of BS in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates research writing anxiety and self-efficacy beliefs among English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) graduate students in engineering-related fields. The relationship between the two writing affective constructs was examined and students' perspectives on research writing anxiety were also explored. A total of 218 survey responses from engineering graduate students at Taiwanese universities were analyzed, along with qualitative data from open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews. The findings show that while master's and doctoral students felt a similar moderate level of writing anxiety, senior doctoral students were more self-efficacious about writing research papers in English than their junior counterparts. Overall, students with higher writing self-efficacy felt less apprehensive. Additionally, among the individual variables, experience in writing for publication better predicted writing anxiety and self-efficacy than students' self-reported English proficiency and the number of writing courses taken. The qualitative findings indicated various sources of graduate-level writing anxiety, including insufficient writing skills in English, time constraints, and fear of negative comments. Furthermore, composing different sections of a research paper provoked different levels of anxiety due to the variations in the rhetorical purposes and discourse structures of particular sections. Implications on dealing with research writing anxiety are also discussed.

The peopling of Remote Oceanic islands by Austronesian speakers is a fascinating and yet contentious part of human prehistory. Linguistic, archaeological, and genetic studies have shown the complex nature of the process in which different components that helped to shape Lapita culture in Near Oceania each have their own unique history. Important evidence points to Taiwan as an Austronesian ancestral homeland with a more distant origin in South China, whereas alternative models favor South China to North Vietnam or a Southeast Asian origin. We test these propositions by studying phylogeography of paper mulberry, a common East Asian tree species introduced and clonally propagated since prehistoric times across the Pacific for making barkcloth, a practical and symbolic component of Austronesian cultures. Using the hypervariable chloroplast ndhF-rpl32 sequences of 604 samples collected from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceanic islands (including 19 historical herbarium specimens from Near and Remote Oceania), 48 haplotypes are detected and haplotype cp-17 is predominant in both Near and Remote Oceania. Because cp-17 has an unambiguous Taiwanese origin and cp-17-carrying Oceanic paper mulberries are clonally propagated, our data concur with expectations of Taiwan as the Austronesian homeland, providing circumstantial support for the "out of Taiwan" hypothesis. Our data also provide insights into the dispersal of paper mulberry from South China "into North Taiwan," the "out of South China-Indochina" expansion to New Guinea, and the geographic origins of post-European introductions of paper mulberry into Oceania.

A multimedia version of Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale 2 (Piers-Harris 2) was created with audio and cartoon animation to facilitate the measurement of self-concept among younger children. This study aimed to assess the psychometric qualities of the computer version of Piers-Harris 2 scores, examine its score equivalence with the paper-and-pencil version, and survey the respondent preference of the two versions. Two hundred and forty eight Taiwanese students from the first to fourth grade were recruited. In regard to the psychometric properties, high internal consistency (α = .91) was found for the total score of multimedia Piers-Harris 2. High interscale correlations (.77 to .83) of the multimedia Piers-Harris 2 scores and the results of confirmatory factor analysis suggested the multimedia Piers-Harris 2 contained good structural characteristics. The scores of the multimedia Piers-Harris 2 also had significant correlations with the scores of the Elementary School Children's Self Concept Scale. The equality of convergence and criterion-related validities of Piers-Harris 2 scores for the multimedia and paper-and-pencil versions and the results of ICCs between the scores of the multimedia and paper-and-pencil Piers-Harris 2 suggested their high level of equivalence. Participants showed more positive attitudes towards the multimedia version.

On behalf of the editorial office of Neurospine, we would like to extend our appreciation to all the readers who have supported the journal throughout the year. Neurospine was established in March 2018 through a collaboration of 3 leading spinal neurosurgery societies from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Since then, Neurospine has continued to enhance its academic impact, serving as a platform for sharing knowledge and information related to the management of spinal diseases. In this article, we aim to present the bibliometrics of Neurospine, including the submission and publication of manuscripts and the peer review process. We are looking forward to continued growth and serving the academic community to the best of our ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore the timing and strategies of teacher participation in children's play and the factors which have a bearing on teacher participation. This study used qualitative research and conducted observation of natural situations. The samples were preschool teachers in an elementary school's affiliated kindergarten in Hualien. The children were observed while playing at learning areas during free play time. In order to enhance the depth of the research, data were collected from observations of play, interviews with the teacher, and examination of on-site documents. The results of qualitative analysis revealed that preschool teachers usually intervene in children's play actively. Preschool teachers used different strategies depending on the different behavior of children play. As for whether or not to participate; these depend on the teacher's educational philosophy, degree of familiarity with the children, and the overall situation in which the play is occurring. Moreover, each of these factors influences one another, and thus need to be considered together.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, as of January 2023, there have been over 670 million cases and more than 6.8 million deaths worldwide. Infections can cause inflammation in the lungs and decrease blood oxygen levels, which can lead to breathing difficulties and endanger life. As the situation continues to escalate, non-contact machines are used to assist patients at home to monitor their blood oxygen levels without encountering others. This paper uses a general network camera to capture the forehead area of a person's face, using the RPPG (remote photoplethysmography) principle. Then, image signal processing of red and blue light waves is carried out. By utilizing the principle of light reflection, the standard deviation and mean are calculated, and the blood oxygen saturation is computed. Finally, the effect of illuminance on the experimental values is discussed. The experimental results of this paper were compared with a blood oxygen meter certified by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan, and the experimental results had only a maximum error of 2%, which is better than the 3% to 5% error rates in other studies The measurement time was only 30 s, which is better than the one minute reported using similar equipment in other studies. Therefore, this paper not only saves equipment expenses but also provides convenience and safety for those who need to monitor their blood oxygen levels at home. Future applications can combine the SpO2 detection software with camera-equipped devices such as smartphones and laptops. The public can detect SpO2 on their own mobile devices, providing a convenient and effective tool for personal health management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Phosphorus (P) is the limiting nutrient in many mature tropical forests. The ecological significance of declining P stocks as soils age is exacerbated by much of the remaining P being progressively sequestered. However, the details of how and where P is sequestered during the ageing in tropical forest soils remains unclear. Results: We examined the relationships between various forms of the Fe and Al sesquioxides and the Hedley fractions of P in soils of an incipient ferralitic chronosequence on an altitudinal series of gently sloping benches on Green Island, off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. These soils contain limited amounts of easily exchangeable P. Of the sesquioxide variables, only Fe and Al crystallinities increased significantly with bench altitude/soil age, indicating that the ferralisation trend is weak. The bulk of the soil P was in the NaOH and residual extractable fractions, and of low lability. The P fractions that correlated best with the sesquioxides were the organic components of the NaHCO3 and NaOH extracts. Conclusions: The amorphous sesquioxides, Feo and Alo, were the forms that correlated best with the P fractions. A substantial proportion of the labile P appears to be organic and to be associated with Alo in organic-aluminium complexes. The progression of P sequestration appears to be slightly slower than the chemical and mineralogical indicators of ferralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the potential for collaboration between China and Pakistan in the healthcare field, specifically in terms of research and publications. While China has made significant progress in medical research and publications, there are concerns about unethical publication practices that regulatory bodies are addressing. The Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences has been receiving research papers from China for the past twenty years, but the acceptance rate has remained low due to a commitment to maintaining standards and intellectual integrity. The author recently visited China to promote academic collaboration and met with faculty members from hospitals in Shanghai and Changsha. The article emphasizes the importance of following ethical guidelines and provides tips for Chinese researchers to improve their chances of acceptance. Overall, the article highlights the potential for collaboration while acknowledging the challenges and the importance of maintaining quality and ethical standards in research and publications. [Extracted from the article]

As the threat of global warming to human beings has gradually received attention, this article introduces the terror management theory to explain whether health risk awareness will affect their willingness to accept smart green buildings and that relationship is positively regulated by death anxiety. In addition, this article introduces the concept of materialismto propose that consumers will also accept smart green buildings due to the influence of materialism. This article interviewed two consumers and two professors in Taiwan, and verified the three hypotheses of this article through qualitative coding analysis. This article also used quantitative research methods to verify the theoretical model. This article not only introduces the cross-cutting contributions between terrormanagement theory, materialism and smart green buildings, but also helps the construction industry develop strategies to attract consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an action research project investigating a Global Englishes course offered at a Taiwanese university, in the context of Taiwan’s Bilingual 2030 policy. The study aimed to address the issue of English being viewed as a foreign language in Taiwan, and native speakers being stereotypically considered as the custodians of the language and culture. To address these problems, the researcher implemented a course called Learning Englishes and Cultures Through Movies based on the Global Englishes paradigm. 14 secondyear undergraduate English majors fully participated in the course during the second semester of the 2020–2021 academic year. Qualitative data were collected from biweekly reflections provided by the students and analysed through content analysis. The findings showed that the course helped students develop more global attitudes and perceptions, and supported the effectiveness of the materials and tasks included in the course. The results offer guidance for future cycles of action research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many non-native English speaking (NNES) graduates are required to write academic papers in English; consequently, recent research in the past decade has been devoted to investigating the usefulness of genre-based Writing Instructions (GBWI) on learners' writing cultivation. There is little specific guidance, however, on how GBWI can be employed in online learning environments. The study aimed to design an e-learning tool with a Chinese-based interface and to evaluate its perceived usefulness on users' English academic writing development. Needs analysis and GBWI were employed as the main approaches for the system development, for which 32 participants involved in the trail. The results indicate that the participants considered the system useful and helpful while learning English academic writing and extract the design principles derived from the empirical results in the study. The findings provide both learning content developers and e-learning tool designers with developmental insights for graduates to acquire academic writing ability in English. In conclusion, this study contributes to the understanding of GBWI acting on the NNES engineering graduates' development of English academic writing knowledge and skills with the development of e-learning tools.

This paper aimed to explore customer value-driven factors and evaluated competitive positioning to formulate the sustainable business strategy for theme parks in Taiwan. We employed Borda count to obtained the customer value-driven factors. This paper further developed a hybrid quantified SWOT analysis to identify the competitive positioning for the four major theme parks in Taiwan, The findings in this paper were: (1) There are nine customer value-driven factors attributed into the three dimensions of park characteristics, service characteristics, and exogenous characteristics, which are significant important for theme park sustainable survive; (2) Lihpao Resort is located in the first (SO) quadrant with its internal strengths and external opportunities simultaneously but it has less external opportunities; (3) Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village is located in the third (WT) quadrant with its internal weakness and external threats, which has the worst performance compared with other theme parks in this paper; (4) Leafoo Village Theme Park is located in the first (SO) quadrant with its internal strengths and external opportunities, which has less internal strengths compared with Lihpao Resort; and (5) Janfusun Fancy World is located in the fourth (TS) quadrant with its the external threats and internal strengths. Conclusions and suggestions are also discussed. Plain Language Summary: Label the Competitive positioning for Theme Parks In a time where consumers are increasingly informed, adopting a customer-focused marketing approach is crucial for long-term business success. This means that effective marketing strategies can not only benefit customers but also enhance the competitiveness of the theme park industry. This paper presents a methodology to discover customer value-driven factors and assess the competitive position of theme parks. It highlights areas for improvement in each park, serving as a valuable guide for operators aiming to strengthen their competitive edge. However, it's important to note a limitation of this study, which arises from collecting data during a specific period in Taiwan, namely, the summer vacation. This restricts the generalizability of the findings. To enhance external validity, future studies should consider gathering a more diverse sample from various time periods. Additionally, exploring whether there are cultural differences in customer value-driven factors and competitive positioning through replication of this study presents an intriguing avenue for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation examines English proficiency levels across Taiwanese primary education, revealing a significant divergence in skills characterized by an M-shaped distribution among students in the fifth and sixth grades. To address this disparity, the study employs a performance evaluation method that combines importance–performance analysis (IPA) and the refined Kano model, aiming to identify and improve upon the current deficiencies in English language teaching. Further analytical depth is provided by applying a three-factor theory, which re-evaluates the traditional five-factor framework of the Kano model, informed by a survey of 443 respondents. The analysis identified that, out of twenty evaluative items, four are critical and demand targeted enhancement efforts. The paper has identified four items for enhancement to improve English language instruction quality. Specifically, it suggests that two items from the importance–performance analysis are critically under resourced and require immediate intervention. Additionally, the paper recognizes two items from the Kano model that also need focused improvement. The study recommends swift and targeted actions to address these areas, with the goal of raising the overall standard of teaching. Based on these findings, the study proposes a set of practical recommendations aimed at increasing the overall effectiveness of teaching and fostering an environment that enhances student motivation. The ultimate goal of this study is to support English teachers in primary schools by providing strategic insights that can lead to the enhancement of teaching practices and the amelioration of English language education deficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), as coating materials, possess oil-resistant and waterproof properties. However, their persistency and toxicity have caused concerns. This study developed a method for determining five types of 20 PFASs with ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, and measured seven categories of 32 commercial samples of oil-resistant food packaging in Taiwan. The assay was validated according to the specification of Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA). Samples of 100 cm² were cut into pieces and were ultra-sonicated in 20-mL methanol at 50 °C for 45 minutes. The extracts were concentrated to 1 mL for instrumental analysis. Most matrix effect factors and extraction efficiencies of the analytes were 50%e80% and 52%e99%, respectively. Most limits of detection and limits of quantification were between 0.07e11.3 ng/dm² and 0.17e18.3 ng/dm², respectively. Most recoveries ranged from 70% to 117% at three tested levels, and the precisions (%RSD) were lower than 19%. Microwave popcorn paper contained more types and higher levels of PFASs than other packaging, with perfluoroalkyl acids at 8.3e1960 ng/dm² and fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) at 9.7e7188 ng/dm². High concentrations of FTOHs were also observed in one oil-proof paper bag at 454¡2595 ng/dm² and in one French fries paper bag at 22.4e167 ng/dm². [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined Taiwanese graduate students' language anxiety over writing academic papers utilizing an adapted version of the FLCAS and in-depth individual interviews. The results suggested that the majority of these ten Taiwanese graduate students have experienced high anxiety over writing academic papers. The anxiety they experience over writing stems primarily from grammatical errors, using Chinese English, lacking adequate vocabulary or misuse of English vocabulary, lack of personal opinions, and not understanding the instructions for assignments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a decision analysis on product integration of family security services and residential fire insurance in the London and Taiwan markets by using the proposed mathematical models for counting sustainable value. This paper shows the five main different results between London and Taiwan markets with ten different parameters of the family security market, to find out the optimal number of family security integrated services for each security company in London. The improvement of the risk aversion effect based on risk and financial management will enhance the market share of the private security industries in the London and Taiwan markets. The results of this research can serve as a reference for the decision-making of private security industries on product integration under sustainable value consideration. The research findings highlight the potential benefits for both the private security industry and the insurance industry in their design and negotiation for product integration to improve both of business operation and achieve corporate social responsibility goals to match the sustainability in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of cultural and creative industries, cultural creativity has gradually become an important factor to promote the value of design in the future, and it is also a trend to integrate "cultural elements" into the design of products. At present, the cultural and creative industries in Western countries and Taiwan are the mainstay of their economic development. We should actively absorb their successful experiences and, with the support of national policies, carry out effective and lasting development of them, as well as continuously improve the quality of cultural and creative products. In today's steady economic development, the emotionalization of cultural and creative consumption has gradually formed a new consumption trend. When cultural and creative consumers buy stationery, they will inevitably have three situations: purchasing instinct, purchasing behavior, and reflection. Therefore, this paper adopts the method based on machine learning to conduct in-depth research on the users of cultural and creative products of "Forbidden Day and Night Set Gift Box." Through the research on the cultural and creative consumption intention of "Forbidden Day and Night Set Gift Box," it can effectively promote the development of domestic cultural and creative enterprises, and then promote the customer satisfaction of cultural and creative enterprises. This paper makes a detailed analysis of it from the perspectives of data processing, feature engineering, classification prediction models, and future development directions. By studying the cultural and creative behavior of users, a deep learning model based on neural network is established. The feature extraction, feature preprocessing, feature selection, and asymmetric data collection in the process of data processing are discussed in depth. In order to further improve the prediction accuracy and conduct more in-depth research, this paper establishes a deep learning prediction model based on depth. This model is experimentally validated and it can be observed that the model is 10% more efficient than the traditional model, so the model can learn data better from the user's behavior in several aspects, and the proposed and practice of this model has good practical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic entomology as the study and ordering of insect biodiversity is a material-based practice that relies on insect bodies as a resource. Especially large amounts of insect specimens were collected and traded globally in the decades surrounding the turn of the twentieth century, often relying on colonial infrastructures. Taking colonial-era Taiwan as a case study, this paper asks under which circumstances specific places became collecting sites. It takes a series of articles on the insect fauna of the island as a point of departure, titled H. Sauter's Formosa-Ausbeute after the German naturalist who sent the specimens around the world in the early twentieth century. It explores how collecting specimens was entangled with colonial infrastructure projects, insect policies, and forest-based industries. After Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, newly constructed railways, including push car lines and logging trains, gave naturalists access to inner frontiers. Conversely, insects moved into the spotlight by disrupting these same infrastructures. A rush into the mountains was brought on by the island's abundance in old growth forests, as evergreen trees such as camphor laurels became valuable export resources. The location of insect collecting sites was determined not just by ecological factors but by forest-based industries and colonial policies as well. As ancient trees were felled and aboriginal peoples violently displaced, insect collectors followed colonial infrastructures into the mountains, resulting in what a German entomologist called the "mass fabrication" of articles about Taiwan's insect fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an improved one-line evolution formulation is proposed and derived for the dynamic shoreline planforms of embayed beaches. Although embayed sandy beaches can perform several functions, serving as leisure spots and areas of coastal protection, shoreline advances and retreats occur continuously as a result of many natural forces, such as winds, waves, currents, tides, etc. The one-line evolution formulation for dynamic shoreline planforms based on the polar coordinate can be adopted to simulate high-planform-curvature shorelines and achieve better stability and simplicity in comparison with other description coordinates. While the polar coordinate and rectangular control volume are adopted to derive the one-line evolution formulation for dynamic shoreline planforms, the difference between the radial direction of the polar coordinate and the normal direction of the shoreline segment may result in inaccurate predictions of shoreline movements. In this study, a correction coefficient, which can adjust the influence of these two misaligned directions, is derived and included in the one-line evolution formulation, which is based on the polar coordinate. Thus, by considering the correction coefficient, an improved one-line evolution formulation for dynamic shoreline planforms of crenulate-shaped bays is proposed in this paper. Some numerical examples are provided to verify the merits of the proposed improved one-line evolution formulation. Moreover, the proposed numerical approach is applied to simulate the dynamic movements of the shoreline in Taitung—the southeastern part of Taiwan—and the effectiveness of the proposed formulation in solving realistic engineering applications is evidently verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Career building can be challenging for young surgeons, especially when topics such as lifestyle, work–life balance and subspecialization arise. Suggestions and advice from senior colleagues is very valuable but many young surgeons do not have such opportunities or are limited to a few senior surgeons. The International Microsurgery Club (IMC), in collaboration with the World Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery, organized a combined webinar for this topic and invited world renowned microsurgery masters polled by the IMC members to join, including Prof. Peter Neligan (Emeritus from University of Washington, United States), Prof. Raja Sabapathy (Ganga Hospital, India), Dr. Gregory Buncke (The Buncke Clinic, United States), Prof. Isao Koshima (Hiroshima University Hospital, Japan), Prof. David Chwei-Chin Chuang (Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan), and Prof. Eric Santamaria (Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea Gonzalez, Mexico) on May 1, 2022. Prof. Joon-Pio Hong (Asan Medical Center, South Korea) and Prof. Fu-Chan Wei (Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan) were also selected but unfortunately could not make it and were therefore invited to another event in April 2023, summarized in a recently published paper. There is ample literature reporting on different aspects of developing a microsurgical career but the goal of this session was to offer an opportunity for direct exchange with experienced mentors. Moreover, insights from experienced microsurgeons from different part of the world were more likely to offer different perspectives on aspects such as career building, failure management, and team culture. This webinar event was moderated by Dr. Jung-Ju Huang (Taiwan), Dr. Susana Heredero (Spain), and Dr. Wei F. Chen (United States). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a 50G passive optical network (PON) low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder, decoding performance and area efficiency must be balanced. This paper adopts a layered decoder method to improve the area efficiency of the decoder. By parallel processing of three submatrices and storage reuse of node information, optimizing the matrix partitioning and processing order of the 50G-PON standard, the throughput of 1235 bps was reached under 100 MHz circuit frequency in field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation, and 9.864 Gbps was achieved based on Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company (TSMC) 65 nm synthesis with 800 MHz circuit frequency in an area of 2.61 mm 2 by proposing a mechanism of spare decision storage to avoid errors caused by quantization overflow of the decoder and using full verification to terminate decoding in advance to improve performance. Finally, at an input bit error rate (BER) of 2.3 × 10 − 2 (signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of about 3.72 dB), the output BER was lower than 10 − 12 , and the throughput area rate (TAR) also increased by 2 to 4 times compared with other papers. In conclusion, an area-efficient LDPC decoder without sacrificing decoding performance is made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing pressure to cut carbon emissions and develop sustainability plans, companies need carbon credits to offset emissions that cannot be eliminated from their operations, new global carbon exchange to launch in Singapore by 2021 end, the high-quality credit can bridge this gap and play an important role in the overall climate change mitigation strategy. The purpose of this research is to use the production data (including carbon emissions) of paper-making companies in Taiwan to establish a circular economy mathematical programming model and the concept based on the activity cost method (ABC) to explore the impact of different carbon emissions costs (such carbon tax, carbon cap-and-trade, etc.) on the company's production structure and profitability impact. The research results show that different carbon emission cost models have different effects on the company's optimal product-mix and profitability. The managerial implication is to combine the extensive application of the carbon emission credit mechanism, which can offset the carbon emissions in the production process and have a significant impact on the company's sustainable competitiveness. In addition, this study can also enable decision makers to understand the impact of different carbon emission cost models on the profitability of the company's product mix, which can be used as a reference for production planning decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasing cost of health insurance, for decades, many countries have endeavored to constrain the cost of insurance by utilizing a DRG payment system. In most cases, under the DRG payment system, hospitals cannot exactly know which DRG code inpatients are until they are discharged. This paper focuses on the prediction of what DRG code appendectomy patients will be classified with when they are admitted to hospital. We utilize two models (or classifiers) constructed using the C4.5 algorithm and back-propagation neural network (BPN). We conducted experiments with the data collected from two hospitals. The results show that the accuracies of these two classification models can be up to 97.84% and 98.70%, respectively. According to the predicted DRG code, hospitals can effectively arrange medical resources with certainty, then, in turn, improve the quality of the medical care patients receive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In current times that emphasize active aging, older adults are often encouraged to participate in interest classes at community centers. Adopting an ethnographic research approach to understand the subjectivities of older mothers, this paper not only sees community centers as a space for older adults for taking interest classes, but also as an infrastructure that defines relationship values. This paper examines the motivations of older mothers in urban Taiwan who have established a routine at a community center. By emphasizing the public space, that is, the values indoctrinated at the community centers, this paper investigates how community center activities offer self-care practices for older women, and how these women embody motherhood by taking care of themselves. This paper expands the notion of motherhood by investigating the subjectivities of older mothers as well as the effects of the global aging discourse on them. This study of urban Taiwan sheds light on understanding the subjectivity of aging mothers in other East Asian cities. The data of this paper were collected through participant observations at community centers, in-depth interviews, and analysis of newspaper archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, heavy rainfall conditions have caused damages around the world. To prevent damages by floods, levees have often been constructed in prone-to-inundation areas. This study performed reliability analyses for the Chiuliao 1st Levee located in southern Taiwan. The failure-related parameters were the water level, the scouring depth, and the in-situ friction angle. Three major failure mechanisms were considered, including the slope sliding failure of the levee, and the sliding and overturning failures of the retaining wall. When the variabilities of the in-situ friction angle and the scouring depth are considered for various flood return periods, the variations of the factor of safety (FS) for the different failure mechanisms show that the retaining wall sliding and overturning failures are more sensitive to the variability of the friction angle. When the flood return period is greater than 2 years, the levee can undergo slope sliding failure for all values of the water level difference. The results for levee stability analysis considering the variability of different parameters could assist engineers in designing the levee cross sections, especially with potential failure mechanisms in mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019 spreads over the world extensively and rapidly. The daily lives are affected by lockdowns, work-from-home, and travel bans. The economic growth is stagnated. Many industries are severely affected by this pandemic. There are, however, also industries that are unexpectedly benefited from the pandemic. The objective of this paper is to investigate the industries in Taiwan that are affected by the pandemic. Samples of the top 1,000 manufacturing and the top 500 service companies in Taiwan are collected to calculate their productivities before the pandemic, in the period of 2016e2019, and during the pandemic, in the year of 2020. The results show that three industries: automobile, tourism, and electronic products distribution, have their productivities significantly decreased by 3.98%, 4.92%, and 1.27%, respectively. There are also four industries: electronic components, optoelectronic, electrical and cable, and oil, gas and electricity, whose productivities are unexpectedly increased significantly by 1.37%, 1.98%, 3.32%, and 4.31%, respectively. The impact of COVID-19 to large companies in Taiwan seems to be not severe. In 2021, approximately five sixths of the industries have their productivities increased. There are only five industries whose productivities become lower; however, the decreases are not significant, indicating that the economy in Taiwan is recovering from the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) are one of the innovative solutions to achieve net-zero emissions. Given that Taiwan has abundant wind power resources in its western waters and wind farms are evaluated as potential sites, a strategic emphasis on the extensive expansion of wind power is imperative. This paper chooses four different designs of hybrid mooring systems, comparing them with the conventional pure chain mooring arrangement in shallow water regions in Taiwan through integrated numerical simulations, ANSYS AQWA, and Orcina OrcaFlex. The use of synthetic fiber ropes in hybrid moorings provides substantial economic and operational advantages, making them the preferred alternative to traditional chains in deepwater offshore renewable energy (ORE) mooring configurations. Hybrid mooring enables the FOWT to survive in extreme sea conditions and is presented as the ultimate limit state (ULS) and fatigue limit state (FLS). In addition, hybrid mooring not only reduces mooring line costs but also minimizes the footprint area on the seabed, enhancing economic competitiveness and optimizing marine space utilization. However, it increases the entanglement risk that may pose a potential threat to marine mammals. Building on prior research, this paper proposes a unique approach to calculate the mooring line swept volume, which is essential for entanglement assessment and marine spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Altruistic communication by non-profit organizations plays a crucial role in shaping individuals' perceptions and beliefs about altruism. One of the indicators of effective communication is the anchoring of the messages. Therefore, understanding the underlying determinants of anchoring in altruistic communication is essential. Despite the importance of anchoring in the communication of altruism, extant research has not done much to examine the determinants of anchoring in altruistic communication. This paper investigates the determinants of anchoring in non-profit organizations' altruistic communication through the lens of the dual process theory. It applies the Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (F-DEMATEL) method to analyze the causal and effect factors. Data were gathered from 12 social communication experts based in Taiwan. Out of the 12 proposed determinants, three factors, namely consistency, cultural consideration, and emotional anchoring, were established as significant causal factors. Consistency had causal effects on five other factors, namely, the use of metaphors, the use of antinomies, thematic anchoring, understanding the cognitive ability of the audience, and crafting engaging information. Cultural consideration had causal effects on feedback, naming, use of antinomies, thematic anchoring, emotional anchoring, and repetition. Emotional anchoring had causal effects on thematic anchoring, use of antinomies, use of metaphors, consistency, naming, feedback, understanding the cognitive ability of the audience, and repetition. On the other hand, feedback, naming, and use of antinomies were established as significant effect factors. The study's findings offer crucial contributions to the social communication literature and provide important insights for social communication practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ship tracking and mapping capabilities that geospatial technology provides create an opportunity to observe fishing vessels as they move through established maritime boundaries. This paper connects data availability to ground-truthing research and explores the limits of vessel movement mapping in representing worker abuse at sea through three related themes. First, a conceptual background links the advancements in maritime remote sensing to critical GIS scholarship and provides a background on worker abuse aboard Taiwanese fishing vessels. Second, the paper examines the potential of machine learning algorithms to represent worker abuse at sea, arguing that more extensive ground-truthing research with workers could help address variations in the data and limited data sets. Third, I use remote sensing data to identify and unpack Taiwanese fishing across the three EEZs with the most concentrated Taiwanese fishing activity: starting with Taiwan, followed by the Falkland Islands, and Seychelles. I argue that fishing activity and the digital representation of vessel movements are governed by terrestrial geopolitics and subject to manipulation by ship captains. Finally, the conclusion offers recommendations for how future research can capitalize on the capabilities of AIS, particularly with respect to addressing problems of working conditions and abuse at sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridges may undergo structural vibration responses when exposed to seismic waves. An analysis of structural vibration characteristics is essential for evaluating the safety and stability of a bridge. In this paper, a signal time-frequency feature extraction method (NTFT-ESVD) integrating standard time-frequency transformation, singular value decomposition, and information entropy is proposed to analyze the vibration characteristics of structures under seismic excitation. First, the experiment simulates the response signal of the structure when exposed to seismic waves. The results of the time-frequency analysis indicate a maximum relative error of only 1% in frequency detection, and the maximum relative errors in amplitude and time parameters are 5.9% and 6%, respectively. These simulation results demonstrate the reliability of the NTFT-ESVD method in extracting the time-frequency characteristics of the signal and its suitability for analyzing the seismic response of the structure. Then, a real seismic wave event of the Su-Tong Yangtze River Bridge during the Hengchun earthquake in Taiwan (2006) is analyzed. The results show that the seismic waves only have a short-term impact on the bridge, with the maximum amplitude of the vibration response no greater than 1 cm, and the maximum vibration frequency no greater than 0.2 Hz in the three-dimensional direction, indicating that the earthquake in Hengchun will not have any serious impact on the stability and security of the Su-Tong Yangtze River Bridge. Additionally, the reliability of determining the arrival time of seismic waves by extracting the time-frequency information from structural vibration response signals is validated by comparing it with results from seismic stations (SSE/WHN/QZN) at similar epicenter distances published by the USGS. The results of the case study show that the combination of dynamic GNSS monitoring technology and time-frequency analysis can be used to analyze the impact of seismic waves on the bridge, which is of great help to the manager in assessing structural seismic damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]