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This study aims to expand our understanding of the relations of oral reading fluency at word, sentence, and passage levels to reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking secondary school-aged students. In total, 80 participants (46 males and 34 females) ranging from 13 to 15 years old joined this study and were tested on tasks of oral reading fluency at three levels, reading comprehension, and nonverbal IQ. Our results showed a clear relationship from fluency at the level of the word to the sentence and then the passage in oral reading fluency as well as both the direct and indirect importance of word-level oral reading fluency in reading comprehension. Only the indirect effect from word-level oral reading fluency to reading comprehension through passage-level oral reading fluency was significant. Our findings suggest that sentence-level oral reading fluency is the crucial component to reading comprehension in Chinese. Additionally, recognition of the potential value of unique features, such as syntactic awareness and word segment accuracy, that happen at the sentence level should be integrated into instructional activities for reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexually exploited adolescent girls are disproportionately affected by adverse psychosocial conditions, such as intra-familial child physical and sexual abuse, extra-familial violence and sexual assault, alcohol and drug use, and suicide. Syndemic theory suggests that these adverse psychosocial or syndemic conditions are concentrated and co-occurring in socially marginalized populations, including sexually exploited adolescents, and increase their sexual health risks, including pregnancy, abortion, and the acquisition of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). To examine clusters of syndemic conditions, latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to classify 335 sexually exploited girls in Taiwan into subgroups based on their probability of experiencing each syndemic condition. We used syndemic class membership to predict their sexual health outcomes, specifically pregnancy, abortion, and the acquisition of STDs. The results of LCA revealed three classes, which were "low-risk syndemic," "moderate-risk syndemic," and "high-risk syndemic." The risk of acquisition of STDs among sexually exploited girls in the "high-risk syndemic class" and "moderate-risk syndemic class" was 239% and 135% higher, respectively, than the risk of acquisition of STDs among sexually exploited girls in the "low-risk syndemic class." Differences between these three classes in pregnancy and abortion were not significant. Our findings support the syndemic theory that a pattern of syndemic conditions is associated with an increased risk of acquiring STDs. Interventions aimed at reducing the acquisition of STDs among sexually exploited girls in Taiwan should adopt a comprehensive approach to address co-occurring conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wrapping layer's foaming process of the car steering wheel industry usually relies on the manual parameter setting by experienced engineers, but the reliability and validity are usually hard to control due to many foaming factors that affect the hardness of steering wheel wrapping layer (e.g., vulcanization time, mold temperature, material liquid temperature, material discharge pressure, humidity). This paper first proposes an intelligent process parameter recommendation system architecture, then develops a neural network-based hardness prediction (NNHP) model to predict the car steering wheel's wrapping hardness. Consequently, we combine NNHP and genetic algorithm (GA) to develop a foaming process parameter recommendation model (NNHP-GA) to effectively recommend the most suitable combinations of process parameters for achieving the desired wrapping hardness in an IoT-based intelligent manufacturing environment. An empirical study is applied in Taiwan's world-leading car steering wheel company. By analyzing the 16 important process sensor data installed in each casting machine, the five experimental results show that the NNHP-GA recommendation system can successfully predict the hardness of the steering wheel's wrapping layer and recommend appropriate process parameters (e.g., sensors S1-vulcanization time, S2-mold temperature, S5-A.P. pressure, S6-B.I. pressure, and "pressurization time") under a specific hardness target. The manufacturing company may employ the NNHP-GA model to build a process parameter recommendation system and increase the quality of process parameter setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous research has indicated an association between school engagement and adolescent victimization, its causal direction has not been determined, particularly in Chinese and East Asian cultural contexts. This study used a longitudinal panel data to explore the likely causal direction between school engagement and adolescent victimization in the context of school and cyberspace. Three hundred fifty-six students and their homeroom teachers in lower secondary school (Grades 7–9) in Hong Kong participated in a 2-wave panel study with a 9-month time interval. Students provided self-report information on their experiences with school violence and cyberbullying, and their homeroom teachers assessed their students' engagement in school. The results of latent variables and autoregressive cross-lagged panel analysis suggested that school engagement at wave 1 was a significant predictor of school victimization at wave 2, but school victimization at wave 1 did not predict school engagement at wave 2. Similarly, school engagement at wave 1 was a significant predictor of cyberbullying victimization at wave 2, but school victimization at wave 1 did not predict school engagement at wave 2. These findings were also relevant for both sexes. The findings demonstrated that school engagement could be a protective factor against adolescent exposure to violence in school and cyberspace in Hong Kong. The findings informed school practitioners in Hong Kong that increasing student engagement in school could be a key strategy to reduce students' risk of being bullied in school and cyberspace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of test anxiety on academic difficulties has been investigated in typically developing students, but the mechanism underlying the influence remains unclear, especially for those with specific learning disabilities (SpLDs). This study examined the role of metacognition in the relationship between test anxiety and literacy difficulties among Chinese typically developing adolescents as well as those who have been identified as having an SpLD and significant literacy difficulties (i.e., typically functioning SpLD) and without significant literacy difficulties (i.e., high-functioning SpLD) in Taiwan. A total of 238 first-year undergraduate students were recruited from eleven universities in South Taiwan. Among 238 students, 105 were identified to have SpLDs, and 133 were typically developing students. These students were asked to complete questionnaires on demographics, test anxiety, metacognition, and literacy difficulties (i.e., reading and writing). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that test anxiety among Chinese adolescents was linked to literacy difficulties but that only high-functioning and typically functioning students with SpLDs experienced a direct effect (without mediation by other factors). For those without SpLDs, the influence of test anxiety on literacy difficulties was not direct but significantly mediated by metacognition. Various components of these students' metacognition had mediating effects on different literacy difficulties. Test anxiety might influence the reading and writing difficulties of typically developing adolescents and those with typically functioning and high-functioning SpLDs through different mechanisms. Moreover, teachers at the university level are encouraged to consider students' test anxiety and metacognition when preparing their teaching materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the effects of temporal processing training on the reading abilities of Chinese children with dyslexia. In total, 69 Chinese children with dyslexia in grades three through six were recruited in Taiwan. The children were divided into the following three equal groups: (1) auditory temporal processing training group, (2) visual temporal processing training group, and (3) control group with no specific training. The participants in both training groups received instruction with identical durations (30-40 min), intensities (12 times in total), and frequencies (three to four times per week). The participants in the control group were asked to independently surf some specified websites using devices similar to those used by the two experimental groups for an identical duration, intensity, and frequency. Our results indicated that the two groups who received temporal processing training exhibited significant correlations among Chinese character reading, rapid naming, and corresponding reading-related abilities, while visual temporal processing served as a significant predictor of Chinese character reading ability even if all background data, reading-related abilities, and auditory temporal processing were introduced first. Additionally, significant interactions were found between the Groups and Tested sessions in all the measures, except for phonological awareness, confirming the distinct effects of different temporal processing on most measures involved in this study. Further simple main effects revealed that only those who received the visual temporal processing training gained benefits in the corresponding reading-related ability (i.e., orthographic knowledge) and far-transfer to Chinese character reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the vast amount of capital invested in the wafer fab facility, how to effectively utilize the capacity is always a crucial challenge for semiconductor capacity planners. Currently, static capacity planning approach is widely applied to estimate the planned capacity; however, fab management believes that the ideal planned capacity is too optimistic and unachievable since many production constraints and the impact of abnormal events (e.g., machine breakdown) are not considered. Therefore, a managerial question must be solved: "What is the reasonable capacity plan?" Hence, this paper aims to develop an object-oriented capacity analysis and planning simulation (CAPS) model, which takes into account the production constraints, the operation characteristics of machine tools (e.g., multi-chamber), and the dispatching rules applied in a full-scale wafer fab. Then, capacity planners may employ CAPS model to study the impact of the available time (AT) and its fluctuation of critical machine tools to fab overall capacity and output performance (e.g., wafer out, utilization, work in process (WIP)); a reasonable planned capacity may be generated. Consequently, fab managers only need to watch attentively on the key machine tools, which will cause high impact on the throughput, and keep their promised AT level or increase AT level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic factory simulation has been considered as an effective means to control a factory. However, the large amount of money, time, efforts, and know-how required for conducting a factory simulation study force a factory to pursue the persistent application of the factory simulation model, i.e. the sustainability of the factory simulation model. Therefore, strategies are required to facilitate the rapid establishment of the factory simulation model, to lower the technical requirements of the model, and to reduce the effort and time spent on simulation tasks, thus increasing users’ willingness to continue the application of the model. However, such issues have rarely been discussed. In addition, no method is available for estimating the sustainability of a factory simulation model. To address this problem, short-time evidence was analyzed rather than observing data over a long period. Then, a multi-granularity approach is proposed to estimate the sustainability of a factory simulation model based on these evidences. The proposed methodology has been applied to the simulation of a real semiconductor packaging facility. According to the experimental results, the multi-granularity approach reduced the input space by 89% and maintained a very high estimation accuracy. In addition, it also saved considerable time in building the models for estimating sustainability. Furthermore, without the multi-granularity approach, the sustainability of the factory simulation model could be observed only after a long period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing mobile hotel recommendation systems are usually subject to a difficult problem—travelers choose dominated hotels. This problem is difficult to resolve because there is no reason to recommend a hotel that is inferior to another in all aspects. To address this problem, an artificial dimension is added to each hotel to model unknown personal preferences. The possible values along the artificial dimension and the weight associated with it are derived by solving an integer nonlinear programming problem. Thus, the proposed methodology hybridizes objective and subjective weights. An illustrative example is provided to show the applicability of the proposed methodology. In addition, a field study was conducted in a small region of Seatwen District, Taichung City, Taiwan to evaluate the possible advantages of the proposed methodology over existing methods. The experimental results showed that the proposed methodology outperformed five existing methods in improving the successful recommendation rate, with the most significant advantage being up to 33 %. Furthermore, the recommendation results generated using the proposed methodology were found to be less risky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider auditory and visual temporal processing and alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric rapid naming to separately examine the associations of temporal processing and rapid naming with Chinese character reading in children with and without dyslexia. A total of 112 Chinese children in primary school from third grade to sixth grade were recruited from Taiwan. Half of them were identified as dyslexic, and the other half were typically developing children matched to the dyslexic group by age, gender, and IQ. The interaction of groups of participants and non-alphanumeric rapid naming contributed significantly to Chinese character reading in addition to temporal processing and rapid naming. Moreover, the important role of rapid naming in the contribution of temporal processing to Chinese character reading was found only in children with dyslexia (specific to non-alphanumeric rapid naming). On the contrary, the significant contributions of temporal processing to Chinese character reading without rapid naming were found in children with and without dyslexia. However, the auditory modality was identified for typically developing children, while the visual modality was identified for children with dyslexia. The present study is among the first to show the associations among temporal processing on visual and auditory modalities, different rapid naming, and reading in Chinese children with and without dyslexia. Our results imply qualitative differences between the cognitive profiles of Chinese children with and without dyslexia. Our findings in this study may enhance understanding and preliminarily bridge the current research gap in the field of temporal processing in Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon nanotube field emission backlight (CNT-BLU) is promising to replace traditional backlighting devices in liquid crystal display (LCD) industry. This study reports a laser irradiation process to enhance field emission properties of buckypaper, a thin sheet of high-loading carbon nanotube network. The scanning laser treated the selected region of buckypaper to activate CNT emitters. The improvement of phosphorescence luminance intensity, uniformity, and the reduction of turn-on field were achieved by adjusting machining parameters of laser power, laser lens motion speed, laser resolution, laser beam size, and pattern orientation. Design of experiment and response surface methodology provided ways to rapidly search the feasible laser parameter setting for processing buckypaper field emitters and improving field emission properties within fewer experimental runs. 25−1 Fractional fracotrial design presented the initial models of five repsponses. In addition, the face-centered central composite design is applied since the 25−1 factional factorial design showed curvature significance. It assisted to give the scientifical insight of the following conclusions. High-energy laser treatment damages and burns the CNTs into carbon oxide materials; furthermore, it loses the effective CNTs. Low-energy laser treatment performs CNT activation and produced low field emission performance. In this study, we succeeded to apply statistical analysis methods to understand the physics and mechanics of laser-activated buckypaper field emission and, furthermore, improve, optimize, and demonstrate performance by material selection, process development, and characterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]