Case Study In Taiwan Research Articles

Predicting load on ground anchor using a metaheuristic optimized least squares support vector regression model: a Taiwan case study

Abstract Failure of ground anchor is a major cause of landslides and severe natural hazards, especially in the highly developed mountainous areas such as New Taipei City. Accurately estimating load on ground anchors is thus essential for evaluating the stability status of slope to prevent landslide from happening. This study first employed correlation analyses to identify possible influential factors of load on ground anchors. Second, various artificial intelligence models were used to map the relationship of the found influencing factors with the current load on ground anchors. The results indicated that the symbiotic organisms search-optimized least squares support vector regression (SOS-LSSVR) model had the optimal accuracy by earning the smallest value of mean absolute percentage error (9.10%) and the most outstanding value of correlation coefficient (R = 0.988). The study applied the established inference model for the real case of estimating load on un-monitoring ground anchors. The analyzed results strongly advised administrators to conduct site surveying and patrolling more frequently to take early proper actions. In summary, the obtained results have demonstrated SOS-LSSVR as an effective alternative for the conventional subjective evaluation methods, which is able to rapidly provide accurate values of load on un-monitoring ground anchors.

Lecturer teaching styles and student learning involvement in large classes: a Taiwan case study

ABSTRACT Previous studies have indicated the challenges posed by large classes in promoting quality education and better student learning. This paper argues that empirically exploring other latent variables inherent in the pedagogical triangle of the teacher, the learner and the content hold a number of promises in elucidating the dynamics of large classes as an emerging phenomenon in global higher education. This study intends to examine how university lecturers’ teaching styles moderate the relationship between teaching job and student learning involvement in the context of large classes. A multi-aspect survey was conducted with 446 electrical engineering students from six public universities in Taiwan. The use of inferential statistics revealed marked differences in the lecturers’ teaching job involvement and teaching styles when grouped according to institutional types, positions at their respective universities, and years of service. Notably, among the various teaching styles, the expert-model and delegator teaching styles can significantly predict students’ learning involvement; the formal authority teaching style moderates the relationship between lecturers’ teaching job involvement and students’ learning involvement. General implications are drawn from these findings and are discussed as they apply to the teaching of large classes.

Model-based carrying capacity investigation and its application to total maximum daily load (TMDL) establishment for river water quality management: A case study in Taiwan

The carrying capacity of a river was explored through combining use of HEC-RAS and Qual2K and the obtained results were applied to establishing the total maximum daily load (TMDL) system for water quality management , considering three water quality protection (i.e., long-, mid- and short-term) targets and two wastewater reduction strategies (i.e., individual- and group-reductions). Group-reduction control strategy was regarded as a better pollution control measure , in which more pollution reduction in high volume wastewater discharges resulted in a better improvement of river water quality. While many studies statistically investigated the conceptual framework of carrying capacity under the premises of mass balance between pollution sources and sinks, this study quantified the carrying capacity and established a TMDL system based on the respective water quality criteria using water quality modelling. • Qual2K and HEC-RAS were used for carrying capacity and TMDL calculation. • Carrying capacity was estimated based on the respective water quality criterion. • The downstream carrying capacity becomes smaller because pollution accumulates. • Control of the high volume discharge contributes to significant pollution reduction.

The relationship between business performance, corporate social responsibility, and innovation capital: A case study of Taiwan

This study investigates the relationship of innovation capital and corporate social responsibility (CSR) with business performance. The sample is from 33 manufacturing companies that won the 2016 Corporate Citizenship Award of CommonWealth Magazine. Empirical analysis result shows that the average technical efficiency (TE) of the 33 corporate citizens is 0.835. Among companies, nine companies are relatively efficient, 24 companies are in scale inefficiency, and 20 companies are in mixed inefficiency. The relationship between the CSR total score and TE fails to reach a significant level, reflecting no significant association between the CSR total score evaluation result and TE value.

Exploring the changes in risk perceptions and adaptation behaviors based on various socioeconomic characteristics before and after earthquake disasters – a case study in Taiwan

Abstract. Resilience, which has rapidly become an area of interest in multiple disciplines, is regarded as being key in disaster mitigation and adaptation. The objective-indicator framework is a common way to evaluate resilience, but limited attention has been paid to measuring the risk perceptions and adaptation behaviors of individuals. In addition, due to limitations related to predicting potential earthquake events, past studies have placed more emphasis on predisaster discussions. Fortunately, this paper explores the changes in risk perceptions and adaptation behaviors in different socioeconomic groups through a comparative analysis between pre- and postearthquake disasters and through one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a post hoc test applied to examine the changes in risk perceptions and adaptation behaviors. The results show that people tend to have greater risk perceptions of future earthquakes but are less willing to retrofit their houses after a serious disaster. Females show greater fear and worry accompanied by a higher willingness to retrofit their houses compared to males. In addition, people with a higher education level and a better occupation might be more willing than others to adopt adaptation behaviors. The results can serve as a reference to provide risk communication, risk education, and diverse disaster adaptation options. Although limitations exist, the results of comparative analysis between the predisaster and postdisaster conditions could serve as a reference for adequate strategies and government decisions on the prioritization of risk management policies.

Using Costs and Health Benefits to Estimate the Priority of Air Pollution Control Action Plan: A Case Study in Taiwan

A comparative analysis was conducted between the costs and health benefits of the Air Pollution Control Action Plan (APCAP), which can be implemented in any country to improve air quality and human health. In this study, air quality modeling was used to simulate several scenarios and implement the Kriging method to describe the PM2.5 reduction concentration instantly. Then, health benefits were estimated using the environmental benefit mapping and analysis program (BenMAP) with results from the air quality modeling and Kriging method. To estimate the priority of APCAP, 14 pollution control measures that cover point, mobile, and area sources of air pollution in Taiwan were analyzed. The results indicate that the health benefits of the Taiwan APCAP (TAPCAP) are generally greater than the technical costs. Thus, the implementation of this strategy may result in net benefits. In addition, the benefit-to-control cost ratio for health for the 14 pollution control measures was calculated. The results provide evidence to prioritize the implementation of air quality policies with a higher benefit-cost ratio.

Blame Avoidance Strategies of Multiple Administrative Agencies During Policy Failure: A Case Study of Taiwan’s 2014 Waste Oil Scandal

This study examines the blame avoidance (BA) strategies that may be adopted after policy failures of multiple agencies. A classification of agencies is proposed based on two factors: the amount of actual responsibility that an agency is obliged for, and the extent of an agency’s perceived responsibility. Agencies can thus be classified into four types, which may have different tactical goals and specific BA strategies that contradict other agencies’ goals, thereby leading to a complicated interaction between them. The results show that one of the three related agencies does not adopt suggested BA strategy and therefore fails to avoid blame.

Important Factors Influencing the Implementation of Independent Port State Control Regimes

This study investigated the factors influencing the implementation of a port state control (PSC) system. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was employed to develop a framework including 4 dimensions and 14 factors for assessing the priority of the major factors and subfactors. An expert questionnaire was conducted in Taiwan. The priority levels of the factors in influencing PSC operation are presented herein. In addition, conclusions were derived from an empirical case study of Taiwan. Some challenges are also discussed to reveal the common problems and special difficulties faced by independent PSC regimes that remain excluded from regional memoranda of understanding.

The production and consumption of land use planning: A neo-institutional economic perspective & three Taiwan case studies of planning layering

Hitherto research by planning researchers on the economics of land use planning have sought to interpret and re-interpret the role of such planning as a non-market measure to: (a) remedy market failure; (b) delineate and re-delineate property rights to land; and (c) determine the economic impact (effectiveness) of (a) and (b) on, say, efficiency (welfare), property values, and development. This paper develops the thesis from a neo-institutional economic perspective that the land use planning process is not just an indicative exercise of plan preparation, promulgation, and interpretation, but also a real production and consumption process. The former for laying out or platting a greenfield site is explained by elaborating on the analogy of cutting a diamond, while the latter is explained in terms of the physical features of public goods other than being informational. It then proceeds to how a formal de jure layout imposed by the state as a kind of corrective for an antecedent bottom-up (and in this sense “spontaneous”) de facto pre-existing layout constrains subsequent development of a place. Three Taiwanese examples are used to show how pre-existing ‘cuts’, to places that varied in terms of population and modernity, may constrain and survive subsequent cuts that seek to modernize and reform the former. Reasons based on transaction costs are offered for the key observations.

Understanding match-fixing from the perspective of social capital: A case study of Taiwan’s professional baseball system

The present study aims to explore the social conditions and underlying mechanism of match-fixing, especially when it is not facilitated in a quid pro quo relationship. Analyzing scandals in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League, our research investigates how both individual agendas and organizational interests are served in match-fixing. Practically, the prerequisites and actors’ rationales for their involvement in match-fixing are explained. Theoretically, actors’ motivations and the exchange of intangible resources (not in the form of money) are examined. Our findings speak to theories of structural, cognitive and relational social capital by elaborating on the dark side of social capital. The relational attributes possessed by actors embedded in their social networks are involved in the cognitive process of actors’ decision making. Alternative policy implications are proposed to reduce the potential for match-fixing.

Integrating Intergenerational Learning into Elder Education in University: A Case Study from Taiwan

ABSTRACT In an aging society, caring for older adults poses large burden on the working population; in this context, positive intergenerational interaction and understanding are thus extremely crucial. Here, we developed a model to integrate intergenerational learning into elder education in university by conducting a case study at a Taiwanese university by using a 6-year experimental teaching programme. We performed content analysis to examine the syllabi of courses, students’ midterm and final reflective reports each year, as well as the interview from teachers who had participated in the experimental project. With reference to the current intergenerational theories and case study in Taiwan, we constructed a teaching model to guide university teachers in how to construct an intergenerational learning course from goal setting, elder member introduction, and content design to course evaluation. We also proposed the principles of course design and the teacher’s role and identified the challenges faced during the promotion of intergenerational learning.

Managing tourism emissions through optimizing the tourism demand mix: Concept and analysis.

Carbon mitigation strategies are an urgent and overdue tourism industry imperative. The tourism response to climate action has been to engage businesses in technology adoption, and to encourage more sustainable visitor behaviour. These strategies however are insufficient to mitigate the soaring carbon footprint of tourism. Building upon the concepts of optimization and eco-efficiency, we put forward a novel carbon mitigation approach, which seeks to pro-actively determine, foster, and develop a long-term tourist market portfolio. This can be achieved through intervening and reconfiguring the demand mix with the fundamental aim of promoting low carbon travel markets. The concept and the analytical framework that quantitatively inform optimization of the desired market mix are presented. Combining the “de-growth” and “optimization” strategies, it is demonstrated that in the case study of Taiwan, great potential exists to reduce emissions and sustain economic yields. The implications for tourism destination managers and wider industry stakeholders are discussed.

Precision education with statistical learning and deep learning: a case study in Taiwan

The low birth rate in Taiwan has led to a severe challenge for many universities to enroll a sufficient number of students. Consequently, a large number of students have been admitted to universities regardless of whether they have an aptitude for academic studies. Early diagnosis of students with a high dropout risk enables interventions to be provided early on, which can help these students to complete their studies, graduate, and enhance their future competitiveness in the workplace. Effective prelearning interventions are necessary, therefore students’ learning backgrounds should be thoroughly examined. This study investigated how big data and artificial intelligence can be used to help universities to more precisely understand student backgrounds, according to which corresponding interventions can be provided. For this study, 3552 students from a university in Taiwan were sampled. A statistical learning method and a machine learning method based on deep neural networks were used to predict their probability of dropping out. The results revealed that student academic performance (regarding the dynamics of class ranking percentage), student loan applications, the number of absences from school, and the number of alerted subjects successfully predicted whether or not students would drop out of university with an accuracy rate of 68% when the statistical learning method was employed, and 77% for the deep learning method, in the case of giving first priority to the high sensitivity in predicting dropouts. However, when the specificity metric was preferred, then the two approaches both reached more than 80% accuracy rates. These results may enable the university to provide interventions to students for assisting course selection and enhancing their competencies based on their aptitudes, potentially reducing the dropout rate and facilitating adaptive learning, thereby achieving a win-win situation for both the university and the students. This research offers a feasible direction for using artificial intelligence applications on the basis of a university’s institutional research database.

Planetary boundary downscaling for absolute environmental sustainability assessment — Case study of Taiwan

• The PB concept has been applied in assessing AES in local level. • The current national data can be easily connected with PB concept. • Downscaled PBs by territorial perspective can be the local targets for AES. • Dynamic concept was introduced for enhancing normalization and weighting. The planetary boundary (PB) concept can be used as a guide for the absolute environmental sustainability (AES) of humanity. However, the downscaling of PB as a guide remains a challenge at the local scale. This study aims to establish absolute environmentally sustainable indicators (AESIs) and a threshold based on five processes of the Earth system, namely, climate change, ocean acidification, biogeochemical flow (phosphorus and nitrogen cycles), land system change, and freshwater use, for local AES assessment. A case study of Taiwan was conducted. This work also introduced the dynamic concept into developing dynamic normalization factors (DNFs) and dynamic weighting factors (DWFs) for AESIs to support decision-making. DNFs were defined as desired targets in the future; they were developed on the basis of the thresholds of AESIs at the global and national levels in a different timeline. DWFs were defined as weights for assessing the distance of a current situation from the desired targets; they were evaluated on the basis of the distance-to-target approach. The territorial perspective was adopted as a downscaling method to develop 11 AESIs and thresholds based on the PB framework for the AES assessment of Taiwan. Results showed that the nationally determined contribution target of the carbon pathway is not ambitious compared with the annual and cumulative boundaries of climate change and ocean acidification. Phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers are two of the three subcategories in biogeochemical flow with very high risks. Phosphorus flow from a freshwater system to the oceans and forest cover was evaluated as moderate risk. Meanwhile, annual freshwater use was determined as low risk. However, when spatial and temporal factors were considered, annual freshwater use was assessed as high risk during the dry season in Southern and Central Taiwan. DNFs and DWFs are more suitable at the local level than at the global level when applying normalization and weighting to reflect a real situation. This study not only provided a new concept for local policy makers to rethink environmental sustainability, but also explored various AES tools at the local scale to connect the local situation with global issues to support decision-making.

Diversionary Behavior for Weak States: A Case Study of Taiwan

This paper explores the mechanisms and circumstances under which leaders in weak states adopt diversionary behavior to deal with domestic problems. We examine the case of Taiwan to see if its President, Tsai Ingwen, has adopted diversionary behavior from 2016 to the present. We found that, unlike great powers, weak-state leaders often resort to non-force tactics such as blaming foreign opponents, but the emergence of diversionary behavior is conditional on the stability of their relationship with a major power. In the case of Taiwan, Tsai adopted a more confrontational foreign policy toward China only when USA–Taiwan relations had become more stable and more favorable toward Taiwan. Future work could continue to explore the circumstances and tools unique to weak states’ diversionary behavior.

Applying Grey Relational Analysis to Evaluate Internal Marketing Practice: A Cross-Cultural Case Study in Taiwan and Mainland China Hotels

The need for real enhancement of capabilities of an organization to provide various valuable services for customers, as fundamental to competitive advantage, has become a significant issue. This paper aims to consider employee satisfaction by collecting in Taiwan and mainland China hotel industry. It is conducted by referring to the grey relative analysis method to examine what demands employee expects and requires. The findings indicated that employees in both countries have similar requirements for internal marketing regarding personal demographics, although they are under different growing backgrounds and environments. The findings also have implications for the manager in the services organization.

Does a farmland zoning program impact farm income: empirical evidence from farm households in Taiwan

Abstract Does farmland zoning affect farm income, and why? This study addresses these questions using a case study in Taiwan. We use a unique farmland-level dataset and apply the regression discontinuity design to quantify the effects of zoning on farm income. We find that the zoning program decreases farm income. The programme effects are heterogeneous, as they are more pronounced for farms in the higher percentiles of the farm income distribution. Moreover, a larger effect is found for elderly farm operators. Concerning the mechanism, we argue that the zoning program generated an optional benefit or wealth effect for eligible farms. This wealth effect then reallocates family labour to off-farm jobs. Consequently, the zoning program reduces income from farming.

The critical criteria for innovation entrepreneurship of restaurants: Considering the interrelationship effect of human capital and competitive strategy a case study in Taiwan

This study clarifies different mechanisms among multiple mediation-moderation models related to 622 restaurants in Taiwan, that won innovation awards and entrepreneurship loan subsidies from governments and that joined an innovative brand for less than three years from 2015 to 2017. Regarding mediation, we found that absorptive capacity and innovation mediate the relationships between market orientation and performance, and market orientation mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance. Regarding moderation, we discovered that the critical moderating role of human capital strengthens the relationships between market orientation, absorptive capacity and innovation, and that competitive strategy strengthens the relationships between market orientation and innovation to performance. The first and second orders of the proposed models are also discussed for improving the relevance and accuracy of examinations of moderation and mediation in tourism and hospitality research.

Enhancing Community-School-University Partnership for Rural Landscape Conservation: a Case Study in Taiwan

The study chooses one of the national-level geosites, the Lichi badlands in Taitung County, Taiwan, as a case study area. The area is surrounded by two rural villages; each has a branch of elementary school. Given research looks into the way how these communities and schools collaborated on planning and implementing common community development projects. It also focuses on analyzing the process and outcomes of setting up a school-community-university partnership platform for conducting collaborative projects. Through regular panel discussions during platform meetings and training workshops, local people and school teachers managed to work out a common ground for their interests and goals. They cooperated in drawing up and carrying out several geoconservation and geotourism projects aimed at enhancing a better understanding of relationships between the livelihoods of local people and the badlands resources. The image of badlands, which was originally negatively perceived by the local people, now was viewed as the local community’s resource with a positive impact on tourism development. School-community-university partnership platform proved to be an efficient tool in stimulating knowledge resources, relational resources, and mobilization capacity among the local stakeholders, while advancing geoconservation and rural community development.

An Economy-Wide Assessment of Artificial Intelligence Investment on Manufacturing: A Case Study of Taiwan’s Semiconductor and ICT Industries

With the rapid development of digital computing capabilities, the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT), cloud and big data analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an important innovative tool for digital transformation and technological upgrading of global manufacturing. In this paper, using dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model of MONASH-type and Taiwan’s input-output tables to capture the supply-chain interdependence and resource constraints, we present the economy-wide assessment of government policies and private companies’ investment in smart manufacturing, as well as the impact on the output and employment of Taiwan semiconductor and ICT industry. Simulation results show that, under increasing AI investment, semiconductor output will be 10.34% higher than the baseline, and employment demand will be 24.61% lower than the baseline in 2025. The result is similar on the ICT industry as well. The development of smart manufacturing is an adaptation strategy for private enterprises to cope with declining birthrate, labor shortage, and improving production yield and efficiency. At the same time, the unemployment and the uneven income distribution may be the side effect while developing the AI on manufacturing. It is suggested that in addition to focusing on AI talent cultivation and the establishment of the infrastructures, the government may also adopt fiscal and tax policies to improve the income distribution and strengthen the labor transfer.