Activity In Taiwan Research Articles

Secular trend of Kawasaki disease and its correlation with viral activity in Taiwan: a nationwide population-based study

BackgroundKawasaki disease (KD) is the most important acquired heart disease in children. This study investigated annual incidence, seasonality, secular trend and the correlation of KD incidence with viral activity in Taiwan.MethodsThrough the national health insurance database, we identified KD during 2001–2020. The viral activity was obtained from nationwide surveillance database. We analyzed KD age-specific annual incidence, secular trends, seasonality and the correlation between KD incidence and common enteric or respiratory viral activity.ResultsThe KD incidence of subjects younger than 18 years significantly increased from 2001 to 2020 (11.78 and 22.40 per 100,000 person-years, respectively), and substantially decreased with age. Infants younger than 1 year presented the highest KD annual incidence at 105.82 to 164.34 per 100,000 person-years from 2001 to 2020. For all KD patients, the most frequently occurring season was summer followed by autumn. The KD incidence of infants younger than 1 year had significantly positive correlation with enteric (r = 0.14) and respiratory (r = 0.18) viral activity.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates the increasing trend of KD annual incidence and seasonality (more in summer and autumn) in Taiwan. The activity of common respiratory and enteric viruses was significantly correlated with KD incidence in infants.

Construction and use of real-time seismic velocity change detection system to monitor the temporal and spatial changes of crustal stress and fault activity in Taiwan

Taiwan is a hotbed of seismic and orogeny activity and this is the basis of the research of Dr Hsin-Hua Huang, Earth Structures Laboratory, Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. He has illuminated detailed crustal and slab structures that have furthered understanding of Taiwan orogeny, incorporated ambient noise data to resolve high-resolution imaging of the volcanic and fault structure in northern Taiwan and conducted research that led to the discovery of multi-layering magma beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano in the US. The ultimate goal of his diverse studies is to achieve an improved imaging of the structure of the Earth and establish better understanding of the orogenic tectonic process and assess and mitigate natural hazards, such as volcanoes and earthquakes. In their latest project, Huang and the team are using the seismic wave interferometry method, combined with Taiwan's existing real-time signal transmission Taiwan Broadband Seismic Network (BATS) and the Central Weather Bureau Seismic Network (CWB24), to develop an automated real-time seismicity change detection system. The idea is that by measuring changes in the transmission velocity of seismic waves in the crust, physical parameters such as the degree of rock compression or changes in porosity can be linked and discussed. The researchers have performed an extensive review of knowledge about the current stage of fault zone failure and healing processes,the advantages of seismic noise interferometry and the need for Taiwan fault zone monitoring and related seismic interferometry research. In order to understand the temporal changes in crustal structure and the behaviour of velocity changes across faults, a long-term and stable real-time seismic velocity change monitoring system is necessary.

United States Intervention In The China - Taiwan Conflict Over Taiwan Territorial Sovereignty

The China-Taiwan conflict has again caught the world's attention. This is marked by increased Chinese military activity in Taiwan's airspace, which is claimed as an effort to maintain stability. On the other hand, Taiwan vehemently rejects China's actions and considers such actions a violation of its sovereignty. The tensions between China and Taiwan, as well as the tendency of the United States (US) deportment towards the situation, are caused by Taiwan having an important role in the region. The US also has good interests with Taiwan as well as the Region and then paid attention to the conflict between China-Taiwan. The attitude shown by the US in the midst of the China-Taiwan tempest is of course within the framework of its rivalry with China in the region. The most important thing for countries in the region is that the China-Taiwan conflict does not develop into an open conflict, because this can have an impact on regional security.

Recreational scuba diving as a special form of tourism: lessons from Taiwan

Purpose Recreational scuba diving is one of the fastest growing tourism industries around the world and has become a popular activity in Taiwan. Few studies focus on enduring involvement with a high risk or difficult activity specialization, so this study aims to explore the causal relationship between enduring involvement and specialization and seeks to explain sustained involvement in scuba diving activity as a recreation specialization. Design/methodology/approach This research selects four diving sites in Taiwan as survey locations, specifically Yeliou, Longdong, Kenting and Green Island. The questionnaire consists of three sections, including demographic information, enduring involvement and specialization. By analyzing the data collected from 810 scuba divers in Taiwan, structural equation modeling is used to examine the causal relationships among the variables. Findings The primary findings of this study are as follows: attraction positively affects divers’ commitment and lifestyle through joy, relaxation and sharing diving experiences; the results indicate that self-expression is associated with past experience of participating in scuba diving activity; and centrality indicates that participants’ daily life and recreation are related to each other and become central to their life. Results show that most theoretical hypotheses are supported, but there is no significant evidence of attraction impacting past experience or self-expression influencing commitment and lifestyle. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the causal influence of enduring involvement and specialization in the scuba diving context. The findings provide a solid theoretical basis for the study of sustained involvement motivation and behavior on specialization. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Market Timing Skill and Trading Activity in Taiwan’s Retail-Dominated Futures Market

There has been substantial research on performance persistence among professional and retail investors. These studies typically employ infrequently sampled data on portfolio holdings and returns, making it difficult to distinguish skill from luck, let alone differentiate between superior security selection and market timing ability. Based on 10 years of comprehensive account-level data comprising 61 million trades made by investors in Taiwan’s retail-dominated futures market, the authors confirm that institutions consistently earn alpha at the expense of behaviorally biased individual traders. The authors introduce an approach for separating overconfident traders from skilled market timers. This novel skill measure interacts prior performance with past trading volume. Investors identified as highly skilled subsequently earn a net-of-cost average annual return of 115%. The authors’ results contribute in two ways: (1) introducing a new measure for assessing high-frequency trading skill and (2) validating the intuition that significant alpha can be harvested by active investors in retail-dominated markets. <b>TOPICS:</b>Futures and forward contracts, emerging markets, manager selection, performance measurement <b>Key Findings</b> ▪ The authors employ comprehensive data on 61 million individual trades made by investors in Taiwan’s financial futures market over a 10-year period to confirm that behaviorally biased retail investors consistently lose to institutional investors. ▪ They demonstrate weak performance persistence and a nonlinear relationship between past trading volume and future performance, characterized by overconfidence on the part of a vast majority of traders and rational learning about skill by the most active traders. ▪ The authors describe a method for inferring true market timing ability from a combination of data on prior performance and past trading volume and identify a small subset of skilled traders who subsequently earn extraordinary profits after accounting for transaction costs.

A phenological object-based approach for rice crop classification using time-series Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data in Taiwan

ABSTRACT Spatial assessment of rice-cultivated areas is a crucial activity in Taiwan due to government initiatives to provide policymakers with reliable and timely information for devising successful rice grain import and export plans. The objective of this study is to develop a phenological object-based approach for collectively mapping patches of rice fields using the time-series Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. We processed the data for 2019 cropping seasons, following three main steps: (1) data pre-processing to construct the smooth twelve-day time-series composite vertical transmit and horizontal receive (VH) polarized data, (2) object-based image classification of rice-cultivated areas using phenological metrics, and (3) accuracy assessment of the mapping results. The classification maps compared with the government’s ground reference maps indicated satisfactory accuracies, with producer’s accuracies of 84.2% and 82.6% and user’s accuracies of 82.1% and 85.3% for the first and second crops, respectively. These results were reaffirmed by close agreement in area estimates between the satellite-derived rice area and government’s reference data at township level, with coefficient of determination (R 2) values of 0.96 and 0.94 for the first and second crops, respectively. In spite of some error sources, including mixed-pixel issues and edge effects, that lowered the mapping accuracy, the results of this study have demonstrated that our mapping approach using the time-series Sentinel-1 VH data and information of crop phenology could be potentially applied at a larger scale in Taiwan and transferable to other regions for updating rice crop maps on a timely and frequent basis.

Factors Related to Childbirth Intention of Migrant Women in Multicultural Marriages in Korea.

Background:We aimed to identify factors related to childbirth intention in multicultural marriage migrant women in Korea. The study was based on the raw data of a National Survey on Multicultural Families 2015 in Korea, covering 7 countries and 31,047 participants.Methods:Data were analyzed with multiple regression analysis using SPSS and WIN 21.0 programs.Results:First, the consistent outcome in the seven countries was Residence period in Korea. The shorter the period of residence in Korea and the lower the age, the higher childbirth intentions. Second, the major factors according to country were Economic Activity, Satisfaction of Marital Relationship, Life Satisfaction, and Education. The most influential factors in each country were economic activity in Taiwan and Hong Kong, satisfaction with marital relationships in Korean-China, life satisfaction in Cambodia, and education in Mongolia and the Philippines. The higher the participation in economic activities, satisfaction with marital relationship, life satisfaction, and education level, the greater the number of childbirth intentions. Third, a contradictory result was found in State of health. In Vietnam, better health predicted greater numbers of childbirth intentions, while in China, Korean-Chinese, Mongolia, Cambodia, worse health predicated greater numbers of childbirth intentions.Conclusion:The findings suggest a need for a comprehensive multicultural policy and support services for multicultural marriage migrant women that considers characteristics such as country, cultural differences, and nationality in order to contribute to family formation and settlement of Korean society.

Tea for Well-Being: Restaurant Atmosphere and Repurchase Intention for Hotel Afternoon Tea Services

Afternoon tea has become a popular leisure activity in Taiwan. Most hotels, restaurants, and cafes have started to provide an afternoon tea service in addition to their regular menus. Restaurant atmosphere research has largely focused on single environmental factors in upscale restaurants. Several studies have indicated that a restaurant’s atmosphere influences the degree of customer satisfaction, thereby affecting their well-being and repurchase intention. However, the relationships between a restaurant’s overall atmosphere, its degree of service performance, and customer well-being have rarely been explored. This study utilized the Mehrabian–Russell environmental psychology model to investigate the relationships between hotel restaurant atmosphere, service performance, customer well-being, and repurchase intention for afternoon tea services. The results indicated that a hotel restaurant’s atmosphere and service performance influence customer well-being, which can positively affect customers’ repurchase intentions.

Relationship between the Interannual Variations of Summer Convective Afternoon Rainfall Activity in Taiwan and SSTA(Ni\xf1o3.4) during 1961\u20132012: Characteristics and Mechanisms

This study examines the interannual variation of the Convective Afternoon Rainfall (CAR) activity (including frequency and intensity) in Taiwan during the summers (JJA) of 1961–2012 with a focus on identifying its relationship with the changes in sea surface temperature anomalies over the Niño3.4 region [SSTA(Niño3.4)] and the underlying physical mechanisms. Our analyses show that during the colder (warmer) phase of SSTA(Niño3.4), the subtropical high system over the region east of Taiwan is enhanced (weakened), the local surface wind convergence is enhanced (weakened), and the local thermal instability is enhanced (weakened), which facilitates (suppresses) the formation of CAR in Taiwan. This consistent negative relationship between the interannual variation of CAR frequency in Taiwan and SSTA(Niño3.4) occurs throughout 1961–2012. In contrast, the relationship between the interannual variation of CAR intensity in Taiwan and SSTA(Niño3.4) changed from positively correlated to negatively correlated in the late 1980s. This change is attributed to the change in the moisture supply for maintaining the CAR intensity in Taiwan from an increase (decrease) in the warmer (colder) phase of SSTA(Niño3.4) before the mid-1980s to the opposite after the late 1980s. These findings highlight how the rainfall characteristics in East Asia may change in response to changes in SSTA(Niño3.4).

Fractal and spectral investigation of the shallow seismicity in Taiwan

We studied the whole and aftershock-depleted shallow (depth ≤ 30 km) Taiwanese seismicity from 1990 to 2017 by using several independent methods. The coefficient of variations and the Allan Factor have revealed that time-clustering characterizes not only the time distribution of the whole seismic catalogue, but also that of the aftershock-depleted one, although this displays time-clustering at larger timescales. In particular the Allan Factor shows that at small timescales the seismic process of the whole as well as the aftershock-depleted one can be well described by a Poisson process. The detrended fluctuation analysis clearly evidence persistence in the interevent times and weak persistence or randomness in the magnitudes. The singular spectrum analysis of the daily counts in the aftershock-depleted catalogue reveals the existence of quasi-monthly and bi-weekly periodicities. Furthermore, quasi-annual and quasi-semestral periodicities have been identified that strengthen the link between seismic activity in Taiwan and Earth’s tides.

Democracy under Siege

Research Article| August 01 2018 Democracy under Siege: Xiangmin Politics in Sunflower Taiwan Ya-Chung Chuang Ya-Chung Chuang Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google boundary 2 (2018) 45 (3): 61–78. https://doi.org/10.1215/01903659-6915581 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter Email Permissions Search Site Citation Ya-Chung Chuang; Democracy under Siege: Xiangmin Politics in Sunflower Taiwan. boundary 2 1 August 2018; 45 (3): 61–78. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/01903659-6915581 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll Journalsboundary 2 Search Advanced Search This essay examines the recent crisis of democracy in Taiwan. The Sunflower Movement and its enduring dynamism have successfully mobilized Taiwanese voters to rethink an urgent situation with regard to the “PRC effect,” which, related to an economic and political assertion of sovereignty and hegemony, has recently extended to efforts to dismantle democracy and to undermine shared consciousness, local wisdom, and political life. This nationwide project for a democratic reevaluation is therefore about a new mode of social protest. The Sunflower Movement has revealed that a generation of young, frank-talking critics has been born into this now not-so-young democracy. Often called the politics of xiangmin (literally “country people”) for their style of straightforwardness, this new contentious activity in Taiwan involves netizens as cyberactors and presents the most recent force of antagonism against this new threat to the nation’s search for democracy. democracy, social protest, Sunflower Movement, PRC effect The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2018 Duke University Press2018 You do not currently have access to this content.

How human activities in commercial areas contribute to phthalate ester pollution in street dust of Taiwan

Exposure to phthalate esters (PAEs) poses health risks to humans. Much research has been performed evaluating PAE levels in foodstuffs, river sediment and drinking water, but little attention has been paid to their presence in urban outdoor environments where human activities are highly intense. Here we evaluated PAE presence and distribution in street dust in Kaohsiung, the most industrialized city in Taiwan. Our results showed that PAEs were ubiquitous in fifty-two street-dust samples (levels of total PAEs 5.4–989.2 mg kg−1). Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate was the most abundant congener observed and made up 85.0%, 79.7%, and 97.2% of the total PAEs found in industrial, residential and commercial areas, respectively. PAE levels in street dust in commercial areas (night markets) were significantly higher, suggesting a higher risk of contamination on people present in these areas (H value > χU2). In residential and commercial areas, the higher the intensity of human activity, the higher the PAE content observed. PAE content decreased progressively from the center to the outskirts of the Houjing night market, suggesting that the increased human and consumer activities inside this commercial hotspot were the main PAE source in street dust. Children had higher estimated daily intakes (DIs) than adults and dermal absorption contributed more to these levels than oral ingestion. Although all calculated DIs were below referenced danger thresholds, street dust PAEs in the area should remain an environmental concern especially since night markets play an important role in Taiwanese/Asian culture and economy. Contrary to other studies, PAEs in this study were found less related to industrial manufacturing activities but highly linked to commercial activities. These findings are relevant for future pollution prevention efforts dedicated to mitigating public exposure to PAEs. Main findingsPAE levels in street dust are related to commercial activities. Night markets, an important commercial activity in Taiwan, were found to contribute considerably to PAE contamination in street dust.

Impact of boreal summer intra‐seasonal oscillations on warm season diurnal convection activity in Taiwan

ABSTRACTDiurnal convection (DC), which is characterized by rainy days with maximum rainfall during the afternoon without strong synoptic disturbances, is the most frequently observed weather system that affects local rainfall in Taiwan. In this study, we investigate the impact of boreal summer intra‐seasonal oscillations (BSISOs) on the modulation of warm season (May–September) DC activities in Taiwan. Our analyses focus on (1) identifying the relationships between changes in DC characteristics (e.g. DC days and the mean rainfall intensities on DC days) and the phase evolutions of two types of BSISOs (including the 30–60‐day ISO named BSISO1 and the 10–30‐day ISO named BSISO2) and (2) the related maintenance mechanisms. Analyses of DC days demonstrate that the contribution of DC days to the total quantity of rainy days in Taiwan generally reaches a maximum value when Taiwan is being modulated by intensified southwesterly winds, intensified local sea breeze circulations, and intensified local thermal instabilities (i.e. phase 3 of BSISO1 and phase 7 of BSISO2). Analyses of the mean rainfall intensities on DC days show that maximum values are generally reached when the moisture convergence line propagates northwards over Taiwan (i.e. phase 1 of BSISO1 and phase 3 of BSISO2). Further examinations indicate that the abovementioned findings are not dependent upon the strengths of the BSISOs.

Childhood Adversity and Early Age Sexual Activity in Taiwan: Gender Differences

The experience of childhood family adversity may affect adolescent sexual behavior, yet the variation in the types of adversities is unknown. We analyzed data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey. In 2007, 18,995 students aged 18 years retrospectively reported the age of first sexual activity and the experiences of childhood adversities. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the association of childhood adversities with the timing of first sexual occurrence. Parental psychopathology and parental death had significant associations with first sex to occur during periods before age 12, ages 12 to 15, and ages 15 to 18. The impact of some types of adversities on sexual behavior started as early as elementary school, but others influenced children’s sexual behavior at a later stage. Parental separation/divorce showed a stronger association with early onset of sex activity for females, that is, sexual debut before age 12.

Quality Improvement in Acute Ischemic Stroke Care in Taiwan: The Breakthrough Collaborative in Stroke.

In the management of acute ischemic stroke, guideline adherence is often suboptimal, particularly for intravenous thrombolysis or anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation. We sought to improve stroke care quality via a collaborative model, the Breakthrough Series (BTS)-Stroke activity, in a nationwide, multi-center activity in Taiwan. A BTS Collaborative, a short-term learning system for a large number of multidisciplinary teams from hospitals, was applied to enhance acute ischemic stroke care quality. Twenty-four hospitals participated in and submitted data for this stroke quality improvement campaign in 2010–2011. Totally, 14 stroke quality measures, adopted from the Get With The Guideline (GWTG)-Stroke program, were used to evaluate the performance and outcome of the ischemic stroke patients. Data for a one-year period from 24 hospitals with 13,181 acute ischemic stroke patients were analyzed. In 14 hospitals, most stroke quality measures improved significantly during the BTS-activity compared with a pre-BTS-Stroke activity period (2006–08). The rate of intravenous thrombolysis increased from 1.2% to 4.6%, door-to-needle time ≤60 minutes improved from 7.1% to 50.8%, symptomatic hemorrhage after intravenous thrombolysis decreased from 11.0% to 5.6%, and anticoagulation therapy for atrial fibrillation increased from 32.1% to 64.1%. The yearly composite measures of five stroke quality measures revealed significant improvements from 2006 to 2011 (75% to 86.3%, p<0.001). The quarterly composite measures also improved significantly during the BTS-Stroke activity. In conclusion, a BTS collaborative model is associated with improved guideline adherence for patients with acute ischemic stroke. GWTG-Stroke recommendations can be successfully applied in countries besides the United States.

Exploring intercultural competence through an intercultural extracurricular activity in Taiwan

Abstract This study used interviews to explore how 10 Taiwanese college students' intercultural competence was developed after participating in an intercultural extracurricular activity designed with a purpose to facilitate foreign students’ study in Taiwan and to promote meaningful home-foreign student contacts. In-depth information and narratives from the interviews were collected as evidence of intercultural competence development. The results showed all the interviewees appreciated the experience and felt it to have been of value to them in terms of building international friendships, heightening their intercultural awareness and the benefits of intercultural competence, and having more appreciation and better understanding of Taiwanese culture. Students also realized that a lack of understanding of Taiwanese culture could exacerbate communication difficulties. Students thus became aware of the importance of describing Taiwanese cultural practices in English and realized that more language practice was necessary for smoother communication. Suggestions for both extracurricular activities and language programs improvement in the future were also provided in the conclusion.

Glocalization: the outlook for Taiwan evidence based health care

Public attention to evidence-based health care (EBHC) has increased significantly in recent years. Key problems related to applying EBHC in current healthcare practice include the timely update of up-to-date knowledge and skills and the methodology used to implement EBHC in clinical settings. EBHC has been introduced to the Taiwan healthcare system for the past two decades. The annual EBM (Evidence based medicine) National Competition is a unique and important EBHC activity in Taiwan. EBHC has been promoted widely in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and other professions, and EBHC-related organizations such as the Taiwan Evidence Based Medicine Association (TEBMA), and Taiwan Evidence Based Nursing Association (TEBNA), have increased in number and grown in membership. In addition to domestic developments, Taiwan is also actively involved in global organizations, such as the Cochrane Collaboration, East Asian Cochrane Alliance (EACA), and the International Society for Evidence Based Health Care (ISEHC). In Taiwan, most medical professionals work cooperatively to promote EBHC, which facilitates the gradual improvement of healthcare quality.

Potential for future eruptive activity in Taiwan and vulnerability to volcanic hazards

Taiwan is subjected to several natural hazards such as extreme weather, seismic activity or tsunamis excited by earthquakes occurring along the Pacific Ocean subduction zones. Fortunately, Taiwan has not experienced any volcanic activity in historical times, a fact which reinforced the belief that its volcanic centers are by now extinct. During the past decade, volcanological, seismological and geochemical observations have shown that such a belief is erroneous and that two of Taiwan’s volcanic centers (Tatun Volcano Group and Kueishantao island) have potential for future eruptive activity. Additionally, there is historical evidence for four submarine eruptions offshore the northern and eastern coast of Taiwan over the last 150 years. The types of volcanic hazards that may affect Taiwan’s infrastructure and population are ashfall, pyroclastic flows, lava flows, landslides/volcanic debris avalanches, lahars, phreatic explosions and tsunami. Two of Taiwan’s nuclear power plants (and a third whose construction has been temporarily suspended) are close to the volcanic centers and could be affected by ashfall and lava flows, an issue that needs to be addressed by the operator of the plants. Even though the probability of future volcanic activity is low, it has to be recognized that the vulnerability to volcanic hazards for an advanced technological society such as Taiwan’s has increased considerably. Volcanic risk therefore cannot be considered insignificant, and its mitigation has to be addressed by a co-ordinated research/monitoring program. Furthermore, the development of contingency plans is a must for such high risk phenomena even if they are considered “low probability” events.

Molecular epidemiology of Japanese encephalitis virus in mosquitoes in Taiwan during 2005-2012.

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito-borne zoonotic disease caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). Pigs and water birds are the main amplifying and maintenance hosts of the virus. In this study, we conducted a JEV survey in mosquitoes captured in pig farms and water bird wetland habitats in Taiwan during 2005 to 2012. A total of 102,633 mosquitoes were collected. Culex tritaeniorhynchus was the most common mosquito species found in the pig farms and wetlands. Among the 26 mosquito species collected, 11 tested positive for JEV by RT-PCR, including Cx. tritaeniorhynchus, Cx. annulus, Anopheles sinensis, Armigeres subalbatus, and Cx. fuscocephala. Among those testing positive, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus was the predominant vector species for the transmission of JEV genotypes I and III in Taiwan. The JEV infection rate was significantly higher in the mosquitoes from the pig farms than those from the wetlands. A phylogenetic analysis of the JEV envelope gene sequences isolated from the captured mosquitoes demonstrated that the predominant JEV genotype has shifted from genotype III to genotype I (GI), providing evidence for transmission cycle maintenance and multiple introductions of the GI strains in Taiwan during 2008 to 2012. This study demonstrates the intense JEV transmission activity in Taiwan, highlights the importance of JE vaccination for controlling the epidemic, and provides valuable information for the assessment of the vaccine's efficacy.

Incense burning at home and the blood lead level of preschoolers in Taiwan.

The growth and intellectual development of children less than 6 years old may be affected by exposure to low levels of lead. To further reduce environmental lead exposure, this study examined possible household-related factors that affect the blood lead levels of Taiwanese children. In total, based on a stratified random sampling strategy, 934 kindergarten students were recruited throughout Taiwan from April to October 2011 after their parents signed a statement of consent. A venous blood sample was drawn from each participant and analyzed for lead content using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Information on the demographics and household environment of the study subjects was collected by administering a questionnaire (Table 1). The geometric mean lead level in the blood samples of the study subjects was 1.84 μg/dL with a geometric standard deviation of 1.55. The blood lead level was negatively correlated with household income and parental educational levels (p < 0.0001). Study subjects with more siblings also tended to have higher blood lead levels (p < 0.0001). Incense burning in the home, an ethnic tradition, was also identified as a significant factor for increased blood lead levels (p < 0.0003) and demonstrated a dose-dependent relationship with frequency of incense burning at home (p = 0.0022). Because the health effects of low levels of lead exposure have been reported in recent years and because no consensus has been reached regarding a safety threshold for blood lead level in children, any trivial factor is worth investigating to further prevent lead exposure in children. Incense burning at home is a common traditional religious activity in Taiwan; therefore, more study is warranted to further eliminate the lead content in incense and reduce lead exposure for the families who practice this activity.