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Climate change induced partly by emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) is an urgent issue worldwide, calling for advanced methods of carbon sequestration. Since CO2-emitting industries often generate alkaline waste, sequestrating CO2 by mineral carbonation of alkaline waste is promising both for carbon capture and utilization, and for preventing waste disposal. Here we review the principles of mineral carbonation and we discuss mineral carbonation of alkaline waste and byproducts in Taiwan. We focus on wastes such as iron and steel slag, cement and concrete waste, incineration ash, coal combustion ash, and paper waste. We evaluate the CO2 reduction potential to reveal promising materials and industries. We found that 4.2 Mt CO2 can be directly sequestered annually. Moreover, the use of alternative materials in the cement and concrete industries can indirectly facilitate CO2 sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study analyzes bibliometric characteristics of Taiwan's highly cited papers published from 2000 to 2009. During this period, Taiwan ranked within the top 30 countries by number of highly cited papers, defined in Thomson Reuters' Essential Science Indicators (ESI) as those that rank in the top 1 % by citations for their category and year of publication. Taiwan made notable progress in world-class research in the two consecutive 5-year periods 2000-2004 and 2005-2009. For the group of highly cited papers from Taiwan, USA, China, Germany, and Japan were the top collaborating countries over the decade. In recent years, Taiwan has increasingly collaborated with European countries whose output of highly cited papers is relatively high and increasing, rather than with its neighboring countries in Asia. Overall, Taiwan produced highly cited papers in all the 22 ESI subject categories during the 10-year period. Taiwan's output of highly cited papers was greatest in the categories of Engineering, Clinical Medicine, and Physics, while those in Agricultural Sciences and Mathematics exceeded the expected output level in relative terms. More detailed analyses would be useful for a holistic understanding of Taiwan's research landscape and their progress in world-class research, combining both bibliometric and non-bibliometric data, such as researcher mobility, research grants, and output from internationally-collaborated research programs. [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 paper explores how civic food networks (CFN) use public forums to engage with other initiatives and stakeholders in civil society. It develops the concept of social infrastructure to capture the assemblages of discourses, networking and spaces around agrifood forums. The research then examines how social infrastructures support CFNs' capacity to organize communities and challenge power relations in the agrifood system. Two cases are compared: News&Market, a Taiwan-based agrifood news platform which also sells organic food products, and Foodthink, a collective blog created by a farmers' market in China. Both started in the late 2010s but one focuses on policy critiques while the other focuses on market critiques. A comparison finds that CFNs develop different critiques to address the specific challenges facing local alternative food networks (AFNs), and use networking and space creation to promote social dialogue with other stakeholders or build networks across AFNs and NGOs. The paper argues that a social infrastructure such as that built around agrifood forums enables CFNs to shape food democracy and food citizenship practices in new ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts a comparative analysis of data governance mechanisms concerning the secondary use of health data in Taiwan and the European Union (EU). Both regions have adopted distinctive approaches and regulations for utilizing health data beyond primary care, encompassing areas such as medical research and healthcare system enhancement. Through an examination of these models, this study seeks to elucidate the strategies, frameworks, and legal structures employed by Taiwan and the EU to strike a delicate balance between the imperative of data-driven healthcare innovation and the safeguarding of individual privacy rights. This paper examines and compares several key aspects of the secondary use of health data in Taiwan and the EU. These aspects include data governance frameworks, legal and regulatory frameworks, data access and sharing mechanisms, and privacy and security considerations. This comparative exploration offers invaluable insights into the evolving global landscape of health data governance. It provides a deeper understanding of the strategies implemented by these regions to harness the potential of health data while upholding the ethical and legal considerations surrounding its secondary use. The findings aim to inform best practices for responsible and effective health data utilization, particularly in the context of medical AI applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, the Taiwan government promulgated some regulatory measures and promotional actions on energy efficiency promotion and renewable energy development. In March 2022, the "Taiwan's Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050" was announced to respond to the Paris Agreement. In order to achieve the goal, the Climate Change Response Act (CCRA) was passed on February 15, 2023, requiring the de-carbonization measures and adaptation strategies. The main aim of this paper was to analyze the changes in GHG emissions and renewable energy supply by using the updated data from the official statistics in connection with the trends of environmental and energy sustainability since 2000. The findings showed that total installed capacity of renewable power (especially in solar power and wind power) showed an amazing increase over the past decade, leading to the inclined GHG emissions and thus supporting the environmental and energy sustainability toward a low-carbon society. Furthermore, this paper summarized the development history and main differences concerning the carbon neutrality policy and legislation in Japan and South Korea. For achieving the staged targets of GHG emissions by 2030 and 2050, this paper finally addressed the technological approaches for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 in Taiwan, focusing on the transformation of energy and industry, and the policy implications by all levels of government. [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]

To strengthen brand identity, enrich tourist experiences, and promote heritage education, Taijiang National Park proposed to reconstruct Taiwan's Dutch Trading Post in a different location from where it was initially erected in the 17th century. This paper is a case study of the reconstruction proposal for a lost colonial architectural complex in the context of heritage tourism. It discusses the practical and academic issues of rebuilding long-lost colonial heritage sites. The author provided a first-hand account of the technical and practical reasoning for reconstructing a bygone complex erected by Dutch settlers. Historical development phases of the Dutch Trading Post of Taiwan were first introduced, and then a reconstruction strategy was proposed to resolve conflicts with legal constraints. Additionally, a site selection process using GIS, a conceptually driven plan for reconstruction, and a 3D simulation were provided. Three specific issues in heritage rebuilding were further discussed, including the decision to reconstruct a heritage building (complex), the authenticity of the reconstructed building if done in a different location from where it was initially situated, and the need to discover more archaeological facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a close reading of a recent paper entitled 'A comparative analysis of scientific publications in management journals by authors from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau: 2003-2012' in Scientometrics, some potential problems regarding the data and conclusion of this paper are found. Several comments are made to this paper after replicating the data collection and analysis process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some movement parties successfully institutionalize into a functioning party organization while others struggle? This paper argues that not all movement parties institutionalize in the same way. Movement parties that emanate out of a long-term social movement organization face a qualitatively different set of challenges than those that form out of a short-term movement. Routinization—the process of parties developing rules, regulation, and predictable behavior—is a particularly crucial component for short-term movement party institutionalization. When parties emanate out of long-standing social movement organizations, they are advantaged because they already have existing formal rules and regulations. Short-term parties however, are disadvantaged because they lack these organizational structures. Further, short-term movement parties not only need routinization, but must make it a priority; the sequencing of their institutionalization matters. I demonstrate the importance of routinization with the case of Taiwan's New Power Party, a movement party formed out of the 2014 Sunflower Movement. This case shows how struggles to routinize early for short-term movement parties leads to crucial causal mechanisms hindering party institutionalization instead of helping it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper seeks to examine whether and on what basis the international human rights law applies to the territorial non-state entities, having as an example the cases of the Republic of China and the territorial non-state entities from the post-Soviet space. For this purpose, the paper will focus first, on the applicability of the relevant international human rights treaties and general international human rights law regulations. Second, it will look at what place is reserved for the international human rights law in the national legal systems of the analysed territorial non-state entities. It is argued here that these territorial non-state entities proclaim their commitment to the rule of law and human rights by transplanting international regulations, especially the human rights ones, into their national provisions. After analysing the two case studies, it will be claimed that although the territorial non-state entities committed themselves to following international human rights law norms and standards, legal transplant is not sufficient and the territorial non-state entities shall engage more at the practical level in order to ensure the effectiveness of human rights protection on their territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the U.S. capital market perceives corporate social responsibilities (CSRs) by examining the constituent companies of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and explores whether the implementation of CSR policies and verification by independent organizations contribute to variances in financial performance . This paper also examines different events (i.e., nominations, inclusions, and awards) in the analysis of how much importance investors place on CSR. The results show that investors do not exhibit significant recognition of U.S. companies included in the DJSI. However, when CSR becomes common practice within a given industry, certification by independent third parties regarding CSR policies conveys actual benefits to corporate performance. In addition, this paper compares degrees of CSR recognition between investors in the United States and investors in Taiwan. This study uses the Awards of Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility given by Common Wealth Magazine to assess whether investors form different expectations of CSR based on company size. The results indicate that Taiwanese investors are increasingly aware of CSRs and the awards received by mid-sized companies show significant impacts. Changes in share prices for mid-sized companies are slower than for large companies. This paper argues that CSR policies not only enhance reputation but also lead to good financial performance. Companies are encouraged to take an active attitude toward CSR by understanding the relevant costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On average, women menstruate for approximately half of their lives. Little is known about whether and how health-related quality of life (HRQOL) differs across users of different types of menstrual products. To answer this question, this study collected data from 1,245 female university students in Taiwan through an anonymous online survey and compared users of different types of menstrual products in four HRQOL domains. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed significant differences in all four domains. For instance, regarding physical health, tampon users reported better HRQOL (β =.054) than pad users; regarding social health, tampon (β =.059) and menstrual cup (β =.071) users both reported better HRQOL than pad users. Furthermore, factors influencing HRQOL also differed between pad and tampon users. For example, having many premenstrual symptoms affected both pad (β = -.115) and tampon (β = -.172) users' physical HRQOL; while pad users with many premenstrual symptoms also had worse psychological (β = -.085), social (β = -.100), and environment (β = -.104) HRQOL, their tampon-using counterparts were not significantly affected. Bisexual tampon-using college women reported worse social HRQOL (β = -.149) than their heterosexual peers. In addition, relationship status and varsity team membership had differential significant associations with the four domains. Future menstrual health education could focus more on introducing the different features of various menstrual products. Our empirical findings can help empower women to make informed decisions about which menstrual products could best suit their needs and improve their HRQOL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study reports on the early implementation of bilingual education by teachers working in pre-tertiary contexts in Taiwan, with a specific focus on perceived challenges and the resulting bilingual education arrangements. Taiwan's public schools have begun to implement bilingual education in response to the Bilingual 2030 policy. Several scholars have identified potential challenges that may affect implementation. However, little is known about the challenges perceived by teachers and their effect on the implementation of bilingual education. This study addresses this gap using data collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 teachers from various academic disciplines in five primary schools and five junior high schools in northern Taiwan. Three challenges and six bilingual education arrangements were reported by the participating teachers. The paper discusses how these challenges may produce varying arrangements that are designed to achieve different outcomes, highlighting the need for policymakers to clearly define the intended outcomes of the bilingual education policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature suggests that recent years have witnessed a fundamental shift in higher education internationalisation. This paper argues that a reorientation of policy, which is upheld through an initiative known as the Higher Education Sprout Project, indicates the fundamental shift in higher education internationalisation in Taiwan. The paper begins with an explanation of how the notion of world-class university induced elitism in East Asian higher education. Next, it reviews the last two decades of Taiwan's efforts on developing world-class universities. In particular, the paper explains how perceived domestic problems in higher education, such as an overemphasis on certain performance indicators and the resulting effects of homogenisation, and the phenomenon of emphasising research but neglecting teaching, are considered the consequences of emphasising global competition and the associated quest for building world-class universities. The paper argues that the recent policy change reveals an intention to uphold egalitarianism, thereby reaching a balance between fulfilling global ambition and addressing local needs in higher education. This intention highlights the political essence of internationalisation policy for higher education. It also reaffirms the significance of the global–local dynamics in higher education policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores variation by vessel type and target species in how fishers describe their daily work patterns and physical demands on distant water fishing vessels operated from Taiwan, and the implications for how labour standards might be created and enforced. The vessel types, species, and gears examined include squid jiggers that fish for both squid and pacific saury, and longliners that target large pelagic fish, including tuna. We find important variation in how fishers describe their working hours, the physical demands on their bodies, and risks. These variations occur over time, as well as between different kinds of vessels. Overall, fishers describe work on longliners as the most difficult, involving long hours of intense physical and dangerous work in ways that often violate basic standards such as those in the Work in Fishing Convention (ILO C188). Work on squid jiggers, while difficult, is less demanding in terms of working hours and physical demands on bodies. In addition, longliners go without visiting port for much longer periods than squid jiggers. These findings speak to the need for qualitative research to supplement and qualify models that try to predict likelihood of forced labour based on vessel tracking data. The findings also suggest that employment standards that do not account for variations among vessel types could be supplemented by standards that are specific to vessel type. We argue that that participation of fisher associations or unions in both the creation of standards, and in monitoring and enforcement, could move toward addressing these variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify and review literature relevant to the medical response to the 921 earthquake in order to analyse Taiwan's immediate and long-term management of the medical issues arising from the disaster. Methods: Pubmed and Google Scholar searches were conducted in June 2008 to identify papers relevant to the topic. These were reviewed and the findings of each collated to develop a critical review of Taiwan's response to the earthquake. Pubmed and Google Scholar searches were conducted again in March 2010 to verify the currency of the literature reviewed. Results: A total of 14 papers were identified and reviewed. Many concluded that while disaster response efforts were initiated quickly, the inexperience of the authorities, the timing and location of the earthquake, and the associated destruction of vital infrastructure, meant much of the initial rescue planning and coordination was improvised. This resulted in poor response times by emergency teams, inefficient mobilisation of military and medical resources, poor cooperation between authorities and a failure to fully utilise international assistance when it arrived. Conclusion: Taiwan was unprepared for a disaster of the magnitude of the 921 earthquake. The government has since taken initiatives to ensure Taiwan is better prepared for any future large scale disaster, including the establishment of the National Institute for Disaster Management. There is a paucity of literature on the medical response to the disaster. Only one new paper of relevance to the topic has been listed on Pubmed or Google Scholar in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to critically reflect on the possibility of developing a distinctive Taiwanese philosophy of education in the global world. The inquiry into the Taiwanese philosophy of education involves a more profound request for Taiwan identity, which is like a sprectre, continuously facing the threat of being eradicated, sometimes emerging and sometimes disappearing. Taiwan is being under erasure. To unravel the predicament, this paper uses Derrida’s sous rature and the notion of deconlonisation. Taiwan is now recognised as a democratic state, but it was ruled by different colonial regimes during various periods in history. The colonial history has embedded in Taiwan’s current conundrum of identity and philosophy of education. This paper argues that decolonisation involves two levels: ‘Asia as method’ and ‘Native as method’. By addressing both, the lived experiences of the people can be genuinely acknowledged, as well as their identity. Then, a distinctive native philosophy of education becomes possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge flow between public and private sectors is widely recognized as a way to stimulate innovation and regional development, particularly in science parks. This work employs a bibliometric approach, based on patent citation, non-patent citation, and public-private co-authorship of scientific publications to measure the use of public research in Hsinchu Science Park (HSP) in Taiwan. The result shows that the number of jointly published papers has increased constantly, implying the collaboration between HSP and universities has become more common. However, from the aspect of co-patenting, patent citation, and non-patent reference, technological innovation stemming from public research needs to be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a network approach to understanding ownership patterns and director interlocks in Taiwan. In particular, this paper analyzes ties among Taiwan’s top 200 publicly listed companies in 1990 and 2000. The speed of change in Taiwan’s economic organization during the period has been striking. Not only have the identities of many of Taiwan’s largest firms changed, there seems to have been a substantial pruning and thinning of director ties over time and also a substantial transformation of the ownership network. What continuity remains appears to be largely a consequence of business group membership, and the strength of those ties appears to be considerable. Overall, this research finds that Taiwan’s financial sector has been quite central to the island’s big business network, that business groups are an extremely important category for understanding patterns of ownership ties, and that most director interlocks in Taiwan appear to cross industry boundaries rather than occur within them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has imposed a rippling effect on educational institutions globally, substantially impacting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries. Recognizing Taiwan as an atypicality during this crisis for suffering from a relatively moderate mortality/morbidity compared with the rest of the world, the present paper qualitatively explores the pedagogical, technological and social impact of COVID-19 on higher education students in Taiwan. Employing the focus group discussion methodology, we recruited a cohort of 23 students, comprising of 15 local and 8 international students. Findings show diverse pedagogical experiences in students' instructional modalities. Trending by either discipline of study, students from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines expressed a greater preference for face-to-face instruction compared to their humanities counterparts. Distance learners reported a decrease in study efficacy and a lack of sense of belongingness to their university. All students demonstrated a high sense of perceived safety and reported minimal changes in their socializing norms during the pandemic. In terms of career planning, local students expressed minimal concerns about potential changes in their careers, versus international students who expressed high degrees of uncertainty, fear and pessimism in the same regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been nearly two decades since the education reform movement initiated in Taiwan in 1994. As a consequence of the lift of martial law, this wave of education reform exceeds previous reforms in terms of scale, initiatives, and impacts. Although the performance of Taiwanese students has been in the leading group of various international rankings, the call for an education system that can cater various needs of students rather than focusing on academic achievement has been recurring in the public debate in Taiwan. How to maintain the existing performance and provide opportunities for students with different talents becomes the center of education reform. This paper aims at exploring the path of education reform in Taiwan with a focus on the shifting paradigm of education since 1994. Two aspects including teacher education and curriculum are discussed. We firstly introduce the social context of the recent education reform movement and then explicate the major trends of education reform and various key initiatives. In the third part of this paper, we map out the trajectory of policies, changes, and implementations in the above-mentioned aspects during education reform with the emerging issues, challenges, and future directions. This paper offers international readers insights on how a well-performed education system attempts to improve itself within a complicated and fast-changing social and political context. We argue that unsuccessful reform attempts might provide more lessons than those successful ones. This paper is based on the discussion of two unsuccessful attempts made by the Ministry of Education to reveal the bumping reforming process in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines gravity data collected from airborne, shipborne and terrestrial surveys and those derived from satellite altimetry to determine a high-resolution gravimetric and hybrid geoid model (on a 30” × 30″ grid) in and around Taiwan. Some 6000 new land gravity values at a 0.03-mGal precision make a notable contribution to the geoid modeling. Shipborne gravity data in waters 20 km offshore Taiwan were collected to improve the coastal geoid precision. In a circular area of 50 km around each of the five major tide gauges in Taiwan, gravity data were measured to improve vertical datum connections between Taiwan and its four offshore islands. Height anomalies were computed first and then converted to geoid heights. At > 2000 benchmarks, we obtained measured geoid heights to assess the gravimetric-only geoid and to create a hybrid geoid. Our assessments and formal errors from least-squares collocation indicate few cm of standard deviations for both geoid models, but the gravimetric geoid has mean differences of up to 20 cm with the measured geoidal heights. The hybrid geoid is used in RTK-VBS orthometric heighting, achieving a 5-cm precision. The gravimetric geoid is used to determine the relative differences in the ocean’s mean dynamic topography (MDT) between Taiwan and the four offshore islands, which are also compared with those from oceanic and altimetric methods for estimating MDT. Differences in MDT help to identify 41.7 cm and 54.1 cm offsets in the current vertical datums of Penghu and Lanyu islands. In a low-lying, flood-prone region of southern Taiwan, the hybrid geoid improves LiDAR mapping of sub-zero elevation zones by 20 cm, corresponding to 70 years of sea level rise at an assumed rate of 0.286 cm/yr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores whether MacIntyrean virtue ethics concepts are applicable in non-Western business contexts, specifically in SMEs in Taiwan, a country strongly influenced by the Confucian tradition. It also explores what differences exist between different polities in this respect, and specifically interprets observed differences between the Taiwanese study and previous studies conducted in Europe and Asia. Based on case study research, the findings support the generalizability of the MacIntyrean framework. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective and synthesizing this with MacIntyrean concepts, the paper explains the differences between the studies largely by reference to the Confucian tradition operating at both the micro-level within firms and at the macro-level as a means of harmonizing the potentially competing institutional logics to which firms are subject. The recent weakening of this tradition, however, suggests that increased conflict may characterize the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we adopt a computable general equilibrium model to investigate the impacts of achieving Taiwan's target of nationally determined contributions (NDC). We consider two types of scenarios: one implemented with the emission trading system (ETS) and the other designed under cap without trade. Our findings suggest that Taiwan's NDC target is achievable in two policies but with different economic costs. On the one hand, ETS reconciles the demand and supply for emission allowances. More participants in the ETS increase the chance that a buyer can match the seller; moreover, the carbon price is lower. On the other hand, in the cap-without-trade scenario, industrial sectors have to pay higher prices for emission allowances if there is no market for emission–allowance exchanges. Furthermore, we find that the initial distribution of free emission allowances affects not only sectoral emissions but also GDP loss. In 2030, the GDP loss ranges from 1.8 to 2.2% in the cap-without-trade scenario and around 1.8% in the ETS. Therefore, the ETS helps achieve Taiwan's NDC target with a lower economic loss. Taiwan, an independent energy system isolated from other countries or regions, can achieve its NDC target with the launch of ETS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Taiwan, the critical development of inclusive policy is linked to legislation around inclusion and the programs promoted by educational authorities and local governments in the 1990s. Although this previous educational reform ushered in a new era of inclusion, this type of educational campaign triggered various responses among stakeholders. This study aims to understand the experience of the implementation of inclusive programs implemented in four primary schools in Hsinchu City and County in north-west Taiwan, exploring inclusion-oriented school life in these institutes. The investigation of school-based inclusive practices is based on a qualitative approach such as the Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC) and entails a series of observations of inclusive activities in the four educational institutes under study. The results reveal that the inclusive environment is conducive to verbal interaction among teachers and students. It also indicates that inclusive programs place more weight on factors such as curriculum, teachers' professional development, educational resources and the support system. In conclusion, the authors argue that the inclusive environment creates an educational and social position advantage among all students, both with and without disabilities. This paper offers international readers insights into how inclusive policy in Taiwan has created an ongoing dialogue between stakeholders and led to educational improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motor vehicles are indicative of transportation facilities in every country. In this regard, tires are important commodities of domestic and international trade due to their major material compositions (i.e., rubber, carbon black and steel coil). However, improper treatment of waste tires, once they have been removed from discarded (end-of-life) vehicles without the possibility of being retreaded, will lead to the problems of environmental health and fire hazard. The waste tires' recycling in Taiwan started in the late 1980s' demonstrating that the regulatory and subsidiary policies had significant impacts on its success. The objective of this paper was to update the status of waste tires' recycling in Taiwan. Furthermore, this paper also presented a successful case regarding the waste tires' pyrolysis plant in Taiwan, which may be the first commercial operation system through continuous process. Under the 16-year promotion of waste tires' recycling, the tire-derived materials from the certified recycling volume of waste tires (100,000-120,000 metric tons) have been almost utilized to rubber recycling and energy recovery. Finally, some prospects were addressed to increase the economic value and resource recycling rate of waste tires through green procurement and innovative technologies in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Simplified Express Consignment Clearance System was first introduced in Taiwan in 2001 to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of customs clearance operations of air cargo. This system, which is based on simplified declaration procedures, is expected to facilitate the effective and efficient collection of taxes and duties even with limited manpower. The Customs Administration (CA) has highlighted the system's efficiency, but its effectiveness is yet to be validated. Thus, this study comprehensively examines this system by adopting both bottom-up and top-down approaches from operation and policy perspectives. Import express cargo clearance records were collected and logistic regression analysis was performed to identify critical factors that influence the system's effectiveness. Results reveal the 'inspector' to be the most significant factor. Having a diligent inspector will result in a high number of customs declarations that should be charged for duties or taxes with penalty. This finding questions the notion that the inspector is indeed the most significant factor. Thus, the scope of this study was expanded to cover the simplified system's policy and structure, and concerned parties were interviewed to gain an in-depth understanding. Findings reveal that the system flaw originates from the inability of the simplified system to perform its designated function. This paper offers several contributions to the literature. First, this paper examines the CA's development of the simplified clearance system. Second, this paper provides a detailed analysis of the consignment clearance system's effectiveness and its critical influencing factors. Third, the paper provides new insights into the system flaw and examines the trade-off between the system's efficiency and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks into failed attempts by the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) minority government (2000-2008) to alter Taiwan's Mandarin-dominated language regime by drafting law proposals recognizing the languages of all Taiwanese ethnic groups as equal national languages. This paper argues that the failure to enact language regime change in Taiwan can best be explained by the logic of the Taiwanese party system, which incentivized mainstream parties to play down their antagonistic Hoklo-Taiwanese and Mainland-Chinese ethnocultural cores to vie for electoral support from Hakka and Aboriginal ethnic minorities. This party logic, compounded by the DPP's minority position in the legislature, had two implications for language policy-making in Taiwan. First, the electoral incentive for the DPP to de-radicalize its pro-Taiwan identity platform pushed the party to resort to covert ways of showing commitment to its radical faction, such as appointing language revivalists to ethnolinguistic committees. This resulted in a shift in focus from de jure language regime change to a reliance on bureaucratic channels in language policy-making. Second, the same political dynamics have discouraged parties from appealing to ethnonationalist rhetoric, prompting them to express their antagonistic ideologies of Taiwanese and Chinese nationalism through typically liberal conceptions of language rights. Appeals to linguistic human rights, however, may not have constituted a strong enough justification for substantial changes in language policy. By appealing to the political and cultural status quo, the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuo Min Tang or KMT) has had the upper hand in the debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-determination is vital to the successful transition of youths with disabilities into adult life; however, this ability does not emerge without these skills being fostered during the early years of childhood. On the basis of the survey proposed by Palmer and Summers (Early Intervention & Early Childhood Special Education Goal 2: U. S. Institute of Education Sciences Goal 2 Development Project, Unpublished manuscript, 2010), the current study gathered general information related to Taiwanese families’ perspectives on promoting the foundations of self-determination skills of young children with disabilities. This paper reports the results of a survey of families’ general perspectives on their children’s abilities and the families’ strategies to promote self-determination at home or in the community. A total of 102 individuals responded to the questionnaire. The results indicated that Taiwanese families exhibited very positive attitudes toward promoting such skills for young children with disabilities. Family education, income levels and the severity of children’s emotional and behavioral problems affected the families’ perception of their children’s foundational self-determination skills. This paper also discusses cultural implications for future research and professional practice regarding the promotion of foundations of self-determination for young children with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a part of the inevitable process of industrialization, urbanization and its associated spatial forms generally have a substantial effect on sustainability. This paper considers the spatial form and sustainability of urbanization by evaluating the interaction between land-use planning, urban regimes and the fragmented structure of land ownership. This paper conceptualizes the structure of landownership as an institution that affects the form of spatial development and thereby determines the spatial implications of urban sprawl on sustainability. With reference to the Ilan experience of urbanizing Taiwan, it shows that the development of spatial form and sustainability is the product of planning institution and urban regime mobilization, and it reflects the institutional impact of a fragmented landownership structure. The conclusion also discusses policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major trend in disaster management is to build resilience for sustainable development. Resilience is defined as the ability which may be learned from previous disaster experiences to make the system more stable than before through absorbing and adapting the changes caused by the disaster. In this paper, enhancing disaster resilience in a river basin is studied and regarded as an important operation process to achieve sustainability of urban area. The measurement of disaster resilience can be used as a potential environmental disaster diagnosis of previous urban planning policy strategies, and is a required foundation for drafting future spatial and urban planning policies. This paper proposes an application that combines fuzzy Delphi and analytic network process techniques in order to establish a set of disaster resilience indicators for a re-developed urban area in Tan-sui River Basin (Taiwan). By incorporating expert opinion, a priority index is calculated for each studied disaster resilience indicator. And, an enhanced resilience indicator evaluation methodology, which reflects interdependencies among evaluation dimensions using an integrated approach, is suggested in this paper. The results show that the main influences on satisfaction are: (1) factors of the management institute of basin, (2) financial capability, (3) conservation of water resource, (4) environmentally sensitive area, and (5) conservation of slope area. Overall, these main influences (five resilience indicators) show future directions for sustainable development in Tan-sui River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turmoil in the Taiwan Strait addresses Ambassador Wellington Koo's role in Chinese foreign policy from 1953 to 1956 and his relevance in the larger Cold War context. In particular, it focuses on Koo's involvement in the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty and the 1955 Dachen Islands Crisis. This paper argues that, although Koo accomplished a fair amount during this time, he would have encountered fewer professional obstacles had he not represented Chiang Kai-Shek, who had become a controversial figure by the mid-1950s. At the same time, one can conclude that Koo creatively used media and meetings with statesmen abroad to shore up support for the Republic of China during this turbulent decade. This article attempts to provide another perspective on Koo, who has traditionally been understudied in the West. Furthermore, this work seeks to add a meaningful contribution to the historiography on cross-strait relations-particularly in the contemporary era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networks and related social processes play a critical role in natural resources and environmental governance. In this paper, an environmental governance case is analyzed from a social network perspective. We explore how social networks of proponents for and opponents against environmental regulations are formed and developed and how these social networks facilitate or hinder environmental regulations in different periods. The results reveal that government leaders with political power, the key node of the social network, can connect specific networks with their value orientation and can therefore influence the structure and development of networks, which significantly affect subsequent policy formation and governance results. Social networks affect and are affected by the processes and results of environmental governance. Consequently, actors in key positions and value orientations of the community to which they belong to play a critical role; this finding has rarely been discussed in past analyses of social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has always been a daunting task for any government to allocate the budgets for public infrastructure effectively so as to maximize the benefits of the limited resources. The most important contribution this paper makes is to conduct an empirical study of the budget allocations of the six region-based road system construction plans in northern Taiwan using the transportation budget allocation model devised in this paper. After reviewing the results, the experts consulted while preparing this paper believe that these results are both objective and able to meet the actual requirements. The competent authority also believes that they are better than those obtained using their original approach. In particular, the construction of this model takes into consideration the highest-level supervisors. To a certain degree, it caters for the practices in budget allocation so that the managers are able to assume the authority corresponding to their responsibility concerning management efficiency and final outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how the so-called social construct, i.e., the frame of heteronormativity, can be maintained, reproduced and enacted by language within same-sex dating communities in the twenty-first century. That is, we examine heteronormativity in discourse collected from two popular same-sex dating websites in Taiwan in order to analyze how heteronormative ideologies influence the linguistic construction of homosexual desires, dating preferences, and queer relationships. By scrutinizing the keywords in the corpora through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics, we argue that there are still power relationships among Taiwanese gay men and lesbian women seeking romantic love online that are informed by heteronormative ideologies around gender within the scope of homosexuality. On the one hand, the keywords contain many binary roles providing conventional interactional modes for Taiwanese homosexual couples that show great similarity to those in heterosexual relationships. On the other hand, the analysis indicates that heteronormative constructions of masculinity and femininity are related to anxieties over mainstream preferences for dating on the two target websites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the intergenerational earnings mobility between fathers and sons in Taiwan. We apply the two-sample approach developed by Björklund and Jäntti (Am Econ Rev 87(5):1009–1018, 1997) and find that the intergenerational earnings elasticity in Taiwan was around 0.4–0.5 in both the early 1990s and the late 2000s. We also estimate the intergenerational rank association in earnings to have been around 0.3 in both periods. Intergenerational earnings mobility in Taiwan is similar to that in less mobile countries such as the USA, and it appears to remain stable during a period of rapid economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a substantial number of studies have examined public opinion on the death penalty in the USA, and more recently parts of Asia, including China, very few empirical studies have considered support for the death penalty in Taiwan. This paper examines public attitudes in Taiwan and the role of 'value conflict' in attitudes to both death penalty abolition and in the context of alternatives. Using the results of 1016 respondents drawn from a national face-to-face sample (n = 2039) survey conducted by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) in 2014, we demonstrate that public attitudes in Taiwan are simultaneously committed to many underlying values in conflict. The results also indicate that value conflict exists among the majority of the sample (more than 60 per cent) who are prepared to accept alternatives to abolition, and whom we can describe as ambivalent. Recognition of value conflict, ambivalence and the moral psychology underpinning public attitudes to the death penalty is essential, not only conceptually but to allow for a more appropriate and nuanced understanding of the abolitionist/retentionist debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is an introduction to the study of European migration into Asia-Pacific through the case study of northern Taiwan. Here, several Spanish and Dutch colonial outposts were founded during the first part of the seventeenth century. Since 2011 and up to 2016 we have uncovered six burials of the cemetery of the Spanish colony of San Salvador de Kelang (Heping Dao, Keelung) (1626–42). The cemetery was associated with the Convento de Todos los Santos, Convent of All Saints, also discovered anew during our excavations. DNA analysis shows that at least one of the individuals was of European descent. This finding is unprecedented in Asia-Pacific within this early chronological framework. The archaeological evidence stands in contrast to the scarcity of contemporary written information relating to death and burials, both in Spanish and Dutch sources. We use the written sources to contextualize the archaeological data, inquiring about the life trajectories of the European colonists in Taiwan, people who truly lived in a global world. We aim to synthesize these data to create a documentary background for future research towards a better understanding of the European migration patterns into Asia-Pacific within cultural, biological, and demographic dimensions. This study offers a valuable contrast with research on the same topic elsewhere in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structurally inert firms suffer elevated failure risks in the face of environmental change because inertia makes it difficult to keep pace with the speed of such change. Traditionally, this ecology theory based outlook focuses on the risks of mortality, treating the make-up of an organization's architecture as uniform and thus relatively inconsequential for understanding this hazard. Renewing recent debates on inertia and on structure, in this paper we examine the specifics of the make-up of structural inertia in the context of failure hazards—the measurable survival risks associated with failure. Developing a classification of structural inertia, we test a sample of 755 firms listed on the Taiwanese Security Exchange across 52 industries to develop a convention on organizational structure, ratifying that structural inertia differs by type in incorporating failure hazards. Findings differentiate between and elaborate the validating environmental and resource conditions for these different categories, detailing the extent to which failure hazards are related to the specifics of each type. This variation is helpful in explaining better why, despite conditions leading to failure, inert organizations continue to thrive over time. Discussing this logic addresses the narrow representation of structural inertia and limitations to its theoretical development over several decades. It also shows that traditional organizational ecology measures can be legitimately underplayed in organizations dealing with increased failure hazards in favor of the characteristics of different structural inertia types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends investigation of religiosity and longevity to Taiwan using a 1989 survey: N = 3849, aged 60+, with 18 years of follow-up. Religious activity is measured as worship and performance of rituals. A Gompertz regression, adjusted and non-adjusted for covariates and mediating factors, shows the hazard of dying is lower for the religiously active versus the non-active. Transformed into life table functions, a 60-year-old religiously active Taiwanese female lives more than 1 year longer than her non-religious counterpart, ceteris paribus. Mainland Chinese migrants are examined carefully because of unique religious and health characteristics. They live longer, but the religiosity gap is similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates links between firm clustering and firm specialization. The paper argues that firms located in multi-centered, locally owned industrial districts are likely to be relatively specialized. Based on data from 163 companies in Taiwan’s machine tool industry, this study finds support for a positive association between location in a multi-centered, locally owned industrial district and firm specialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of higher education in Taiwan starting from the late 1980s has successfully raised the average level of education. Using the concept of the education Gini, we find that the educational inequality declined as average schooling rose during the period of 1976–2003. The impacts of a rising average schooling and a declining educational inequality are also tested empirically in this paper. The evidence supports that a higher level of average schooling will generate a lower income inequality. On the other hand, a lower educational inequality, as measured by education Gini coefficient, will also cause a lower income inequality. Skill-biased technological change that shifts the labor demand from unskilled workers toward skilled workers is the most likely cause for the rising income inequality in Taiwan. However, the trend of rising income inequality could be reversed due to possible future over-education and unemployment in the labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethics is central to leadership because of the impact leaders have on establishing organizational values and engaging followers to accomplish mutual goals. The ethical concerns of leaders may influence ethical decision-making of their followers. This paper attempts to investigate the relationship between leaders and followers on moral judgment, and make a comparison between China and Taiwan on the leader-follower moral judgment relationship. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey on purchasing professionals in China and Taiwan. The development of moral judgment was measured using the defining issues test. Research findings indicate that followers exhibit higher level of moral judgment while their leaders have higher level of moral judgment. A positive moral judgment relationship exists between leaders and followers. The comparative study between China and Taiwan reveals that Chinese purchasing professionals are more easily influenced by their workplace leaders than their Taiwanese counterparts. Power distance would strengthen the leader-follower moral judgment relationship. The present research makes contributions toward the ethics literature by providing empirical insight into the relationship between leader moral judgment and follower moral judgment. This paper also suggests implications and opportunities for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the effects of selection and group socialisation on support of human rights, moral reasoning and prejudice in police officers in Taiwan. Methods: We used a longitudinal quasi-experimental design to track three cohorts of police officers (n = 585) and a comparison group of criminology undergraduates (n = 43). Results: There were no statistically significant differences in measures of human rights, moral reasoning and prejudice between new police recruits and the control group. However, time in police education was associated with a statistically significant reduction in police officer support of human rights, moral reasoning and an increase in prejudice. In the control group, the reverse was true. Conclusions: Exposure to police education in Taiwan resulted in police officers being significantly more prejudiced and significantly less adherent to the principles of human rights and moral reasoning. These results appear to be attributable to police socialisation rather than selection effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Heeding the call to examine industrial fisheries with a migratory lens, this article explores how homeland processes in Vietnam—linked to the 2016 chemical spill—affect migrant fish workers' work on the high seas. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in Vietnam and Taiwan, my paper relays two findings. First, the disaster's negative consequences undermined many men and women's ability to adequately contribute to household subsistence. Second, the inability to sustain livelihoods in Vietnam compelled migrant fish workers to exchange longer, and potentially more hazardous, workdays for additional wages and wage advances. These findings illustrate the benefits of studying industrial fisheries with a transnational prospective and can be applied to other contexts, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glass beads and beadmaking waste have been excavated at the Iron Age site of Jiuxianglan (ca. third century BC–eighth century AD) in southeastern Taiwan. It was suggested that this site may be a production and exchange centre of glass beads in Iron Age Taiwan. This paper presents the analysis of 44 samples, to explore the relationship between glass beads and waste and the nature of bead production at Jiuxianglan. The analysis combines data on style, chemical composition, microstructure and distribution of glass beads and waste. The results do not show a compositional or structural match between the glass beads and glass waste, suggesting that the glass beads may not have been produced at this site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translingual practices have been observed in English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction in Taiwan even though monolingual orientations are still highly prevalent in Taiwanese EFL education. This paper reports on a study focusing on an annual play performed by the graduating class of a university English department in Taiwan. Despite the long-standing expectation that the play should be English-only, these students deviated from the precedent by incorporating Mandarin Chinese in the play. Through a case study informed by ethnographic perspectives, I analyzed the students' script, script notes, and rehearsals for translingual practices and interviewed the scriptwriters and faculty supervisors for their perceptions of the play. The findings show that students' enacted translingual practices through bilingual and multimodal resources to most appropriately achieve the performative and communicative goals for each situated context. Furthermore, students invent ways of justifying the decision to include Chinese and creating a "translanguaging space" through the performance. I conclude the paper with pedagogical implications about the rich potential for the use of plays in EFL instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]