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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]

In the past, scholars of academic dependency have tended to focus their discussions on social sciences while treating other fields as separate. They suggest that in order to escape dependency, alternative discourse and autonomy should be developed. In this paper, we examine the Public Health Liberation (PHL) movement in Taiwan and theorize on the marketization and medicalization of the healthcare system since the 1980s as a dependency syndrome. The PHL was initiated by a group of public health scholars—with the second author of this paper being one of its key protagonists—and frontline public health practitioners after the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003. Inspired by the mass mobilization model in public health in Asian and Latin American countries, particularly China, the Philippines, and Nicaragua, PHL trains grassroots public health educators, nurtures critical research, and has built a network of activists for radical public health reform in Taiwan. Based on participatory action research, this paper analyzes the emergence of this influential public health movement and situates it within the global context of neoliberal health reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 term 'grey zone' indicates a state actor's actions up to the point of armed conflict and is increasingly associated with China's foreign policy. China has harnessed Western social media to defend its national interests, drawing international attention to its discourse of war and its often-hostile rhetoric. This paper analyses Chinese state-sponsored tweets about Taiwan, a focal point for Chinese grey zone activity. Empirical topic modelling techniques to aggregate narratives in large-scale social media data were leveraged to interpret them from a doctrinal understanding of Chinese influence operations. Additionally, the authors used statistical methods to examine the relationship between China's information and military operations toward Taiwan. This paper finds that China uses its state-sponsored accounts to coordinate and amplify social media messaging around military campaigns with strategic importance. Additionally, the presence of a multipronged approach using social media to support military campaigns may indicate an escalation in conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States brought many financial institutions to the brink of bankruptcy. Securities firms were not immune to such issues, given their prominence in the financial market. Consequently, evaluating the performance of securities companies' post-recession is important when determining how to confront market-shaking macroeconomic problems. Consequently, this paper employs a non-radial model of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the performance of revival on Taiwan's securities industry. The research findings suggest that Tachan Securities (TCS) outperformed its peers in the operational period immediately after the global financial crisis, while Capital Securities (CAPITAL) is the best performer in the profit-making period. This paper applies the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix to analyze strategic positioning and trajectory on the basis of the efficiency value of the two-stage of non-radial DEA model. In order to validate any variances between the efficiencies of different stages after the global financial crisis, this paper conducts non-parametric statistical analysis to examine the variances in the efficiency values of the single-stage and the two-stage model. Finally, the purpose is to understand the impact of the post-crisis environmental variables on the efficiency of the securities industry. The empirical findings can serve as a reference for industry management on the assessment of operating performances and profitability by the characteristic of radial efficiency. Decision-makers in the industry may also refer to the findings as a benchmarking tool for the evaluation of business performance after the global financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discusses how People's Music (1950-2019) in relation to the path of Taiwan's pop as a discourse has undergone the 'hostility', 'yellow music', 'spiritual pollution', followed by a 'legitimation'. The paper then identifies the later decline in importance for social critique and the move towards a 'media & culture' discourse after 2001. The paper argues that this has involved the binary structure of a feeling of sacred-profane construction, and negotiates its role as a propaganda institute in the dominant discourse of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It reveals the governmentality of the CCP towards foreign cultures. This article problematized the musical discourse of People's Music as a sociological discourse, in the hope of expanding the direction of cultural sociology. This paper finds that Taiwanese pop has transitioned from the sacred-profane to an acceptable form of media culture, and that its legitimacy has contributed to its gradual absence from People's Music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper complicates the classic security dilemma by considering the notions of ontological security and relational deterrence. It studies how the ontological security dilemma has emerged between the US, China, and Taiwan from the relational perspective and how these spiral chains will further develop in the future. The paper incurs the literature on relational analysis to expound on how different ontological security concerns allude to relational deterrence between the three actors. Taiwan's separatism is more of a threat to China's relational self than to physical security because the separatist does not belong to any already agreed relationship. A geometric model and a few simulations yield three unconventional findings. 1) The less advantaged the US military is over China, the less likely armed unification will occur. 2) The US anti-Chinese tendency is irrelevant in determining the probability of armed unification. 3) What may escalate the spiral are China's anti-Taiwan independence and Taiwan's anti-unification. Case sensitivity indicates the ontological sensibilities of a security dilemma. [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 paper analyses military-grade AI initiatives by the United States (US) and China in the cyber domain. It sheds light on these nations’ strategic priorities and implications for the ever-changing landscape of AI-driven cybersecurity. Since 1949, with evolving dynamics among China, the US, and Taiwan, marked by the unresolved civil war and the inception of the Taiwan Relations Act, China has emerged as a potential rival and the US as a possible ally. Understanding the disparity in their AI interests is now vital for Taiwan. Do so to avoid a lag in the swiftly advancing realm of AI-driven cybersecurity. Recognising this urgency, Taiwan should contemplate strategic adjustments to bridge the gap between China and the US in this domain. Our analysis reveals that the US and China prioritise addressing supply chain vulnerabilities but differ in their secondary priorities for various reasons. For the US, the secondary focus lies in enhancing defence capabilities, whereas China emphasises augmenting intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). These commonalities and differences in direction are discussed in the context of the two nations’ respective national strategies and current situations. Thus, this paper contributes to Taiwan’s proactive consideration of information to help shape its cybersecurity strategy and ensure Taiwan remains competitive in an increasingly AI-centric world. [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]

B Wen-jen Hsieh, National Cheng Kung University: b This paper presents an overall picture of Taiwan's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan, from its efforts to curb the coronavirus from spreading to its population and the relevant impacts of the pandemic to its domestic economy. As COVID-19 is a rather new and complicated issue, this paper is valuable in terms of introducing Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control disease prevention strategies to the international community, as many of the countries and regions around the world may be still suffering badly from the pandemic. [Extracted from the article]

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]

Adenostemma lavenia is a perennial herb belonging to the Compositae family and is widely distributed in the tropical parts of Asia. It has been widely used as medicine in Taiwan with the whole plant used to treat pulmonary congestion, pneumonia, bacterial infections of the respiratory tract, edema, and inflammation. This study sought to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of A. lavenia in vitro and in animal models. The anti-inflammatory effects of ethyl acetate fractions of A. lavenia (EAAL) were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) murine macrophages (RAW 264.7) and lung injury in mice. EAAL reduced proinflammatory cytokine responses. Preoral EAAL alleviated LPS-induced histological alterations in lung tissue and inhibited the infiltration of inflammatory cells and protein concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). EAAL prevented protein expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2); phosphorylation of I κ B- α , MAPKs, and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK); and activated anti-oxidant enzymes (catalase, SOD, and GPx), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in LPS-stimulated cells and lung tissues. Fingerprinting of EAAL was performed with HPLC to control its quality, and p -coumaric acid was found to be a major constituent. This study suggests that EAAL is a potential therapeutic agent to treat inflammatory disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Psychological insulin resistance is a common barrier to initiation and persistence with insulin therapy that affects approximately 42.7% of people living with type II diabetes mellitus, which may negatively impact self‐management. This study aimed to assess patients' levels of psychological insulin resistance and to identify factors associated with self‐management in patients with type II diabetes mellitus treated with insulin therapy. Methods: We adopted a cross‐sectional design. Subjects from the metabolism and endocrinology outpatient departments of a regional teaching hospital in central Taiwan were recruited by consecutive sampling. Patients were assessed for psychological insulin resistance and self‐management using the barriers to insulin treatment questionnaire and the partners in health scale. Results: A total of 222 patients with type II diabetes mellitus were recruited. Patients had an average psychological insulin resistance score of 3.14 (maximum of 8). Positive self‐management was associated with insulin therapy injection by patient, fewer expectations regarding positive insulin‐related outcomes, no diabetes‐related complications, less fear of injection and self‐testing, no hypoglycaemia within the previous year, and younger age. Conclusion: Insulin therapy injection by patient and no diabetes‐related complications were the most common factors associated with overall self‐management and with each domain of self‐management in patients with type II diabetes mellitus treated with insulin therapy. Insulin therapy education should be offered to improve patients' beliefs about insulin therapy and enhance patients' ability to perform self‐management. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Psychological insulin resistance is a common psychological barrier to initiation and persistence with insulin therapy.Psychological insulin resistance causes poor glycaemic control and diabetes‐related complications.Psychological insulin resistance may negatively impact self‐management in patients with type II diabetes mellitus. What is the contribution of this paper? Positive self‐management was associated with insulin therapy injection by patient, fewer expectations regarding positive insulin‐related outcomes, no diabetes‐related complications, less fear of injection and self‐testing, no hypoglycaemia within the previous year, and younger age.Insulin therapy injection by patient and no diabetes‐related complications were the most common factors associated with overall self‐management and with each domain of self‐management in patients with type II diabetes mellitus treated with insulin therapy.Patients with poor self‐management had statistically significantly higher levels of overall psychological insulin resistance, fear of injections and self‐testing, expectations regarding positive insulin‐related outcomes, and stigmatization by insulin injections, compared to those with appropriate self‐management. What are the implications of this paper? Knowing in advance the factors associated with diabetes self‐management will allow healthcare professionals prevent psychological insulin resistance in patients with type II diabetes mellitus treated with insulin therapy.Healthcare professionals can design and provide patient‐centred diabetes education based on education level to enhance self‐management. [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]

This paper investigates the impact of the environmental conditions during the first half of the 2020 mei-yu season (Y20) and the southwest vortex (SWV), as well as their interaction, on heavy precipitation in southern Taiwan during late May 2020, based on a quantitative approach through ensemble simulations. The control experiment successfully replicates observed heavy precipitation in southern and central Taiwan and reveals a positive spatial correlation between precipitation occurrence probabilities and mean accumulated precipitation, emphasizing continuous rainfall accumulation over intermittent extreme events. Comparative analyses with sensitivity experiments elucidate that the Y20, featuring an extended western North Pacific subtropical high, intensify pressure gradients and southwesterly flow near Taiwan, favoring precipitation in windward regions but hindering it in the east. The SWV creates a moist and vortical environment near Taiwan, amplifying moisture supply and westerly winds, promoting precipitation in southern Taiwan, and enhancing frontal activity. The interaction between the SWV and the Y20, though limited in its impact on providing favorable wind and moisture conditions for precipitation southwest of Taiwan, significantly contributes to precipitation in southern Taiwan. The reason is that although the SWV primarily enhances moisture and the Y20 predominantly boost southwesterly flow, creating favorable conditions for rainfall, substantial precipitation occurs only when both factors converge in a nonlinear interaction. The interaction increases frontal activity over the Taiwan Strait and influences the movement and strength of the SWV, enhancing southwesterly flow and moisture flux in southwestern Taiwan. [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]

Objectives To analyse the contributions of authors from three major regions of China - the Mainland ( ML), Hong Kong ( HK) and Taiwan ( TW) - in the field of health care sciences and services. Methods Articles published by Chinese authors between 1998 and 2012 in the category of health care sciences and services were retrieved from the Science Citation Index Expanded ( scie) database. The numbers of total articles, impact factors, citations, articles included in the top 10 highest impact journals and the 10 journals that published the most papers were recorded. Results ML, HK and TW published 615, 415 and 1162, respectively, with accumulated impact factors of 1281.65, 904.29 and 2361.44; average impact factor of 2.08, 2.18 and 2.03; and total citation times of 2313, 2652, and 4818. Regarding the top 10 high-impact journals, ML, HK and TW accounted for 28.25%, 27.68% and 44.07%, respectively. Total impact factors of the most popular 10 journals for ML, HK and TW were 20.86, 22.08 and 18.92, respectively. Discussion and Conclusions Both the quality and quantity of papers published in health care sciences and services journals from ML, HK and TW have greatly improved. ML and HK have different strong points, while the gap with TW diminished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates how parliamentary efforts to represent the interests of female electorates influence the legislators' re-election chances. Taiwan is chosen as the case study and, for empirical analysis, I utilise an original bill co-sponsorship dataset that consists of roughly 400,000 cosponsors for all bills submitted between 1992 and 2016. The findings, based on regression analyses, show that making more legislative effort on women's issues – by prioritising them over other issues – results in electoral losses, and this negative effect is more pronounced among female legislators. The paper contributes to the gender politics literature by theorising and testing a hitherto underexplored relationship between two representational processes: how the substantive representation women by female legislators affects their descriptive representation. It also contributes to legislative and electoral studies by demonstrating that legislators' policy-vote trade-offs are policy-sensitive and gendered, thus calling for a more nuanced approach to be taken in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased waste production is a by‐product of economic growth, and that is why countries worldwide are working on turning waste into useful resources and enhancing recycling effectiveness. Aside from using symbols and words for identifying which recycle bins for which types of recyclable materials, color is also a useful code and visual element in recycle bin design. This study conducted questionnaire survey (n = 418) among participants from Taiwan and from East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) to explore the current condition of resource recycling and determine the best color‐material pairings. This study's result suggests that the most frequently recycled material by participants from Taiwan and from EAP were paper and plastic. The study participants sorted and recycled materials as frequently as five to six days a week. From analyzing the pairings of four colors (red, green, blue, and yellow) with four recyclable materials (paper, glass, plastic, and metal), differences were found between participants from Taiwan and those from EAP. Because resource classification and color coding are different from country to country, this study found that color provides limited information of recycle bins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a project on Chinese Malaysians' educational mobility across the Chinese-speaking world, this paper highlights their reasons for attending university in Taiwan while examining their subjective formations as ethnic Chinese vis-à-vis transnational processes. Resulting from ethnographic and interview-based research conducted in 2019–2021, the findings demonstrate that the students' choices for higher education are, to a great extent, culturally driven and historically contingent. Thus they provide an alternative view to the dominant paradigm of international student mobility that emphasises economic and future career incentives. By focusing on three factors—state racism, historical connections, and Sinophone cultural consumption—that motivated them to leave Malaysia and go to Taiwan, this paper moreover draws attention to the transnational infrastructures (e.g. policy, media, interpersonal networks) that have continually reproduced and transformed a long-existing migration pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the importance of non-state actors in international relations is now widely acknowledged, formal state-to-state ties remain an essential measure of a state's strength in the international community. When traditional components of sovereignty are eroded, what options remain open to states seeking to forestall international isolation? Drawing on a case study of Taiwan, this paper explores the potential and the pitfalls of using paradiplomacy as a substitute for traditional diplomacy. I argue that Taiwan uses paradiplomacy for three primary purposes: as a 'hedge' against weakness in the central-level US-Taiwan relationship; as a tool for developing long-term relationships with rising political stars; and as a performative strategy for asserting Taiwan's statehood by showing others that it acts like a state. While paradiplomacy enables Taiwan to strengthen ties to US policymakers, these efforts have become increasingly complicated as mainland Chinese influence on local US politics increases. This paper thus sheds light on paradiplomacy in the US-Taiwan relationship, but also on the ways in which American federalism can complicate US foreign policy toward East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question remains how to integrate the core service proposals within a smart tourism platform setting for further facilitating tourist value co-creation behaviours in sustainable ways. This paper investigates the paradigm of smart tourism service (STS) platforms within the context of an ecosystem space. It conceptualizes concepts by laying a reasonable theoretical foundation (service-dominant logic) and proposing a scale for smart services. Applying sequential mixed methods to an exploratory research design, with seven interlocking stages and data from Fuzzy Delphi experts and tourist surveys in Taipei City, a smart city in Taiwan, this paper proposes a second-order scale with six dimensions, comprising smart services of attractions, transportation, accommodation, diet, purchase, and payment. The final 32-item STS scale is thoroughly developed and subsequently validated in different contexts (i.e. travellers in different phases of travel, pre-travel and during the trip, respectively). The scale significantly reveals the tourist-operated technologies for the provision of STS, determining the development of conceptual STS platforms in this paper. Next, the platforms disclose the locus between ICT functions, information-related services, tourist applications and behaviours, and sustainable value co-creation. The potential path of "STS → behaviour → sustainable value co-creation" explored herein is helpful for illustrating the conceptualization of STS platforms. Moreover, predictions from the platforms of tourists' smart behaviours make it practically relevant in assessing demands about smart services for tourism. In the end, this paper describes the theoretical implications and managerial implications for tourism practitioners. [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]

This study investigated the diversity of the BOD and explored its impact on corporate governance through quantitative empirical analysis. This study uniquely adopted Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporate Governance 100 Index (TWSE CG 100 Index) as the measurement of corporate governance performance. Five highly related indicators, i.e. gender, independence, education, legal, finance or accounting profession, and seniority to measure board diversity, which could be efficient variables on predicting the firms' likelihood being listed in the TWSE CG 100 Index, were used as independent variables. The results showed that board independence and the seniority of directors have a positive impact on corporate governance. This study made several important contributions. First, this study shed light on the conflicting evidence on the relationship between board diversity and firm corporate governance performance for the Taiwan economy. Second, this paper uniquely adopted TWSE CG 100 Index, and the findings can contribute to giving investors predictions about the quality of corporate governance and can serve as an incentive for corporates to enhance superior corporate governance. Furthermore, this study can contribute to practice by providing optimization suggestions for BOD composition and nomination. At last, this paper demonstrated policy justifications and implications for Taiwan government. [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]

Aims: To assess the effectiveness of an unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐management program in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Background: A few recent studies have shown that unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation can improve the clinical outcome of patients with COPD. More studies are needed to prove its benefits. Design: This study used a quasi‐experimental design. Methods: Seventy‐two admitted COPD patients were assigned to experimental group or control group through purposeful sampling. Data were collected from March 2016 to November 2017 in the Thoracic Intensive Care Unit of a Medical Center in Taiwan. The Medical Research Council dyspnea scale, the COPD Self‐Efficacy Scale and the Clinical COPD Questionnaire were measured before education and at the first, second and third months after discharge. Results: The Medical Research Council dyspnea scale and COPD Self‐Efficacy Scale results in the experimental group were significantly improved compared with the control group in the third month after discharge. The Clinical COPD Questionnaire score continued to improve in both groups in the third month after discharge, and there was no difference between the two groups. Conclusion: A short‐term unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐ management program had significant benefits for patients with COPD. The long‐term effects need to be confirmed. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? The literature emphasizes the importance of alternative supervision of home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation rather than center‐based pulmonary rehabilitation for patients who find this inconvenient to access.Few studies have shown that unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation can improve the clinical outcome of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). What this paper adds? This study demonstrates that a short‐term unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐management program can improve dyspnea during physical activity, self‐care efficacy in certain activities and quality of life after discharge in patients with COPD. The implications of this paper: The findings of this study can be used as the basis for providing a short‐term unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐management program for patients with COPD after discharge.We recommend that patients with COPD undergo unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation with self‐management for 3 months after discharge, especially if regular hospital visits for this are not convenient.The effect of longer‐term unsupervised home‐based pulmonary rehabilitation can be further studied in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil liquefaction is one of the complex topics in geotechnical engineering, and a variety of liquefaction studies have been reported, including the hyperbolic function (HBF) method for calculating the liquefaction factor of safety. This research aims to assess its performance, quantitatively, in terms of accuracy, recall, precision, etc. To achieve the objective, a new soil liquefaction database with the data from published papers was also compiled. Based on a total of 796 soil liquefaction case histories, the study shows that the accuracy of the HBF method is about 92%. In addition, the findings from this research also include: (i) the accuracy of the HBF method is comparable with other well-known methods (also SPT-based) for computing the liquefaction factor of safety; and (ii) the HBF method mainly developed with the data from Taiwan is applicable to other regions, given its accuracy still above 90% based on the data outside Taiwan. [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]

Foreigners in the past in Taiwan could only rely on financial institutions to remit money to their home countries. The procedures were complex, and the fees were high. Starting in 2010, peer-to-peer (P2P) payment operators emerged in Taiwan and changed the landscape of international remittance services. Most prior academic studies on P2P are about loans or for one single country. This paper thus examined migrant workers and new immigrants from four nations in Taiwan by anchoring upon the theoretic foundation of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and referring to risks and total expenditures as moderating factors. The research results and analysis on the use of P2P cross-border remittance platforms by migrant workers and new immigrants cover (1) the current status in Taiwan; (2) the statistically significant and supported relation with TAM; and (3) the moderating effect of risks and total expenditures on attitude and intention of use, albeit not statistically significant. Finally, this paper derived the reasons for not using remittance platforms based on research findings and provides practical contributions and suggestions to follow-up studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hotel booking websites to collect information about hospitality products/services are becoming more popular in the hotel industry. As a result, the importance of these websites for tourism firms marketing their services and products through electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on these hotel booking websites continues to grow. Despite its importance, there has been little research on how guests interact with information to increase eWOM. This paper creates a new scale for assessing guest interaction with Meituan.com information to fill this void. To this end, a three-step mixed-methods approach using open-ended surveys and published relevant research is used. Data were gathered from 440 hotel guests in Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong. Using SmartPLS 4, confirmatory factor analysis revealed 33 final items for the new scale. This paper significantly contributes to potential guest behavior by creating and confirming this new scale in the hospitality context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]