Evaluation In Taiwan Research Articles

台湾地区职业院校的通识音乐教育体系研究

With the continuous deepening of education reform, educational achievements and experiences on an international scale are overlapping, from learning to actively demonstrating advantages or taking the lead. Through field research on general music education in vocational colleges in Taiwan, this paper summarizes the advantages and characteristics of music curriculum objectives, course materials, course contents, teaching methods and course evaluation in Taiwan, and analyzes the system model of general music education. Combining with the actual situation of general music education in vocational colleges of our country, this paper considers the criticism of general music education in vocational colleges of our country and probes into its development model, in order to promote the development of general music in vocational colleges of our country.

The “populist imbecile” versus the “heartless shrew”: Polarizing election coverage and voters’ evaluation in Taiwan

This study content analyzes the news coverage of two major presidential candidates—one populist challenger, the other female incumbent—in the 2020 Taiwan election. A nation-wide survey of voters and their newspaper uses was also utilized to verify the association between partisan news reliance and candidate evaluations. Based on the concept of partisan press, the study confirms that the coverage is highly polarizing and that it includes more horse race analysis than discussion of serious issues. Sexist and misogynistic terms were used more often by party-opponent (Blue-camp) newspapers to describe the female incumbent. The male populist candidate was portrayed more often in a personal fashion than the female candidate. The voters’ primary newspaper uses were found to be positively associated with their candidate evaluations and preferences. The study sheds new light on populist vis-à-vis gendered election coverage in the context of an Asian democracy.

Evaluation of Climate Change Impact on Groundwater Recharge in Groundwater Regions in Taiwan

Climate change can directly or indirectly influence groundwater resources. The mechanisms of this influence are complex and not easily quantified. Understanding the effect of climate change on groundwater systems can help governments adopt suitable strategies for water resources. The baseflow concept can be used to relate climate conditions to groundwater systems for assessing the climate change impact on groundwater resources. This study applies the stable baseflow concept to the estimation of the groundwater recharge in ten groundwater regions in Taiwan, under historical and climate scenario conditions. The recharge rates at the main river gauge stations in the groundwater regions were assessed using historical data. Regression equations between rainfall and groundwater recharge quantities were developed for the ten groundwater regions. The assessment results can be used for recharge evaluation in Taiwan. The climate change estimation results show that climate change would increase groundwater recharge by 32.6% or decrease it by 28.9% on average under the climate scenarios, with respect to the baseline quantity in Taiwan. The impact of climate change on groundwater systems may be positive. This study proposes a method for assessing the impact of climate change on groundwater systems. The assessment results provide important information for strategy development in groundwater resources management.

Receiver operating characteristic analysis to determine optimal cutting point of cage in predicting physical and mental comorbidities among alcohol users

IntroductionAlcohol use disorder (AUD) is highly related to various comorbidities, such as cancer, cognitive impairment, cirrhosis, chronic sclerosing stomatitis, stroke, and depression. The CAGE (Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, Eye-opener) questionnaire is a simple screening material to make a diagnosis of alcoholism.ObjectivesOur study aimed to find an optimal cut-off point of CAGE for alcohol-related comorbidities in Taiwan.MethodsWe performed demographic analysis for 280 participants with AUD and categorized them into two groups according to CAGE scores. We applied receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine optimal cutting point of CAGE in predicting physical and mental problems among alcohol users. Statistical analysis was performed with the Statistical Software Stata version 12.0 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA).ResultsThe mean age of participants was 45.9 ± 10.5 years, and all of them were male. Among 280 participants, 134 (47.9%) had physical diseases, including 37 (13.2%) with liver disease, 10 (3.6%) with pancreatitis, 22 (7.9%) with gout, and 5 (1.8%) with esophageal varices; while 33 (11.8%) had one or more mental illnesses. Patients with CAGE score greater than 3 were more likely to have both mental health problems and/or physical diseases, especially hepatic disease and esophageal varices.ConclusionsThis study revealed that with CAGE score greater than 3, male patients with AUD are at higher risks of both physical and mental comorbidities. Further research as well as female participants are needed to identify the associations between the severity of alcohol use disorder and related diseases for comprehensive evaluation in Taiwan.

Mandarin version of dementia and driving decision aid (DDDA): Development and stakeholder evaluation in Taiwan

Dementia causes cognitive and memory difficulties which can reduce the driving safety of the individuals. The decision-making process for driving retirement is challenging, and yet limited guidance is available. This article reports the development of the Taiwanese version of dementia and driving decision aid (DDDA) and the evaluation from stakeholders through a dementia and driving education programme. A multi-method approach was adopted using a pre-test, post-test survey and focus group interviews. A total of 154 healthcare professionals, family caregivers and people with dementia participated education programme, and 12 experts attended the focus group discussion. The survey included demographics, knowledge, confidence, competence and awareness of using DDDA. Participants completed a survey prior and immediately after the education programme. We translated a 32-page interactive DDDA booklet from the original English version to Mandarin. The education programme consisted of three-hour dementia and driving education module delivered both face-to-face and online. The majority of participants described the booklet as balanced (91.7%) with the information presented in a 'good' or 'excellent' manner (93.4%). Most participants (85.3%) felt that DDDA helps them in making decisions about driving. Five themes were extracted from the focus group interview: (1) approach targeted to people with dementia, (2) specific content and additional information, (3) culturally appropriate modification, (4) having the right to drive and (5) booklet dissemination. The knowledge, confidence, competence and awareness of using the DDDA increased significantly (p<0.001) after the education programmes. We anticipate that use of the DDDA booklet will raise awareness of this social and health issue among the general public and facilitate collaborations with clinicians, municipalities and related organisations in providing a decision-making resource material for those with people living with dementia and their families. This study was not a clinical trial and the focus of this study was development and evaluation of the DDDA booklet. As mentioned in the methods section, participants were invited to attend the education program and provided their thoughts on the DDDA booklet based on their satisfaction level. Moreover, the education program was a one-day, workshop type program. This study was neither "prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions" nor "to evaluate the effects on health outcomes", according to the definition of clinical trial by WHO. Therefore, we did not consider this study was a clinical trial. There is an urgent need for supporting people with dementia and their families to negotiate the complex decision-making involved in deciding to change their approach to driving. The DDDA booklet can fill an important gap in service delivery to people with dementia who are adjusting to life without driving.

Satellite-based assessment of the long-term efficacy of PM2.5 pollution control policies across the Taiwan Strait

Evaluating the efficacy of air pollution control policies is an essential part of the decision-making process to develop new policies and improve existing measures. Since 2005, Fujian Province of Mainland China and Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait have both implemented aggressive air pollution control policies designed based on different principles, but a comprehensive evaluation of these control policies on PM2.5pollution levels is still lacking. In the current study, we assessed the effects of these policies in the Taiwan Strait Region from 2005 to 2018 using full-coverage, high-resolution PM2.5generated by a satellite-driven machine learning model. A ten-fold cross-validation for our prediction model showed an R2value of 0.89, demonstrating that these predictions can be used for policy evaluation. During the 14-year period, PM2.5levels in all areas of Fujian and Taiwan underwent a significant decrease. Separate regression models for policy evaluation in Taiwan and Fujian showed that all considered policies have mitigated PM2.5pollution to various degrees. The Clean Air Action Plans (CAAP) is the most effective control policy in Taiwan, while the Action Plan of Air Pollution Prevention and Control (APPC-AP) and Three-year Action Plan for Blue Skies (3YAP-BS) as well as their provincial implementation plans are the most successful in Fujian. The effectiveness of control policies, however, varies by land-use types especially for Taiwan.

Phenotypic and Genotypic Shifts in Hepatitis B Virus in Treatment-Naive Patients, Taiwan, 2008-2012.

We examined the characteristic changes of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in antiviral drug treatment–naive patients referred for pretreatment evaluation in Taiwan during 2008–2012. Over time, we observed substantial decreases in the prevalence of HBV e antigen (HBeAg) and increasing prevalence of the precore G1899A mutation and HBV-DNA levels in HBeAg-positive patients.

Phenotypic and Genotypic Shifts in Hepatitis B Virus in Treatment-Naive Patients, Taiwan, 2008–2012

Abstract We examined the characteristic changes of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in antiviral drug treatment–naive patients referred for pretreatment evaluation in Taiwan during 2008–2012. Over time, we observed substantial decreases in the prevalence of HBV e antigen (HBeAg) and increasing prevalence of the precore G1899A mutation and HBV-DNA levels in HBeAg-positive patients.

Evaluation of PM2.5 surface concentration simulated by Version 1 of the NASA's MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis over Israel and Taiwan.

Version 1 of the NASA MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero) assimilates bias-corrected aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from MODIS-Terra and MODIS-Aqua, and simulates particulate matter (PM) concentration data to reproduce a consistent database of AOD and PM concentration around the world from 2002 to the end of 2015. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate MERRAero's simulation of fine PM concentration against surface measurements in two regions of the world with relatively high levels of PM concentration but with profoundly different PM composition, those of Israel and Taiwan. Being surrounded by major deserts, Israel's PM load is characterized by a significant contribution of mineral dust, and secondary contributions of sea salt particles, given its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, and sulfate particles originating from Israel's own urban activities and transported from Europe. Taiwan's PM load is composed primarily of anthropogenic particles (sulfate, nitrate and carbonaceous particles) locally produced or transported from China, with an additional contribution of springtime transport of mineral dust originating from Chinese and Mongolian deserts. The evaluation in Israel produced favorable results with MERRAero slightly overestimating measurements by 6% on average and reproducing an excellent year-to-year and seasonal fluctuation. The evaluation in Taiwan was less favorable with MERRAero underestimating measurements by 42% on average. Two likely reasons explain this discrepancy: emissions of anthropogenic PM and their precursors are largely uncertain in China, and MERRAero doesn't include nitrate particles in its simulation, a pollutant of predominately anthropogenic sources. MERRAero nevertheless simulates well the concentration of fine PM during the summer, when Taiwan is least affected by the advection of pollution from China.

Which way is better for teacher evaluation? The discourse on teacher evaluation in Taiwan

There are no summative evaluations for compulsory and basic education in Taiwan. This research discusses and analyzes present teacher evaluation implementation. The implementation of policy nowadays means “Teacher evaluation for professional development”. Teacher evaluation for professional development is a voluntary growing project of the Ministry of Education. The objective of this research is to understand the professional development of teachers and school leaders as a microscopic phenomenon, and discuss the interaction between strategies for school principals’ leadership and teachers’ professional development. This research attempts to understand the correlation between school leadership and teacher evaluaction for professional development. The case study used the qualitative narrative inquiry method to gather information in the form of documents, records, interviews and observations. This research deals with both teacher evaluation policies and school case experiences in Taiwan. Finally, the study concludes with recommendations on enhancing the school administrative units. It also provides some suggestions for teacher evaluation programs in the future.

Fuzzy VIKOR method: A case study of the hospital service evaluation in Taiwan

This study proposes a framework based on the concept of fuzzy sets theory and the VIKOR method to provide a rational, scientific and systematic process for evaluating the hospital service quality under a fuzzy environment where the uncertainty, subjectivity and vagueness are addressed with linguistic variables parameterized by triangular fuzzy numbers. This study applies the fuzzy multi-criteria decision making approach to determine the importance weights of evaluation criteria and the VIKOR method is taken to consolidate the service quality performance ratings of the feasible alternatives. An empirical case involving 33 evaluation criteria, 2 public and 3 private medical centres in Taiwan assessed by 18 evaluators from various fields of medical industry is solicited to demonstrate the proposed approach. The analysis result reveals that the service quality of private hospitals is better than public hospitals because the private hospitals are rarely subsidized by governmental agencies. These private hospitals have to fend themselves to retain existing patients or attract new patients to ensue sustainable survival.

Using a combined AHP and PLS path modelling on blog site evaluation in Taiwan

Blogs have turned into a key part of the world’s online culture these years. Many world-famous websites are providing blog services in an attempt to make their own blog service at least comparable to others at minimum. The main purpose of the paper is to answer the questions, “What determinants matter when bloggers choose staying a particular blog site?” Are there the determinants existing any relationship among them? This study proposes a combined Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Partial Least Squares (PLSs) path analysis to advance our understanding of the processes involved in blog site evaluation from the perspectives of student-bloggers in Taiwan, during 2009/09∼2010/03. The results provide insight for those who are concerned with this topic.

Visual Req calculation tool for green building evaluation in Taiwan

Abstract The Ratio of Equivalent Transparency (Req) is a basic index for assessing whether a building is energy-efficient in Taiwan. Req is the ratio of the area of total building envelope and the area of envelope equivalent transparency. Calculation of Req requires not simply the consideration of natural factors such as building location, direction, ambient lighting and sunshine, but also and physical factors such as material, structure, ventilation and sunshade. Current practices in Taiwan of manually calculating Req render the results prone to error, and are also time-consuming. Therefore, this research developed a visual Req calculation tool based on a 3D environment. This system provides users with various visualization tools to view the status and Req results of the building project. Furthermore, object-oriented modeling and parametric design can shorten the time taken to look-up tables and simplify the process of Req calculation, and also help to reduce computation time and errors.

Resources Allocation in Healthcare System under Government Governance: An Evaluation in Taiwan

The Taiwanese government tends to play a leading role in the control and allocation of health care resources. Although this intention partially protects people's rights when undergoing health care ...

Essential competencies for program evaluators in a diverse cultural context

Essential evaluator competencies as identified by Stevahn, King, Ghere, and Minnema (2005) were studied in regard to how well they generalize to an Asian (Taiwan) context. A fuzzy Delphi survey with two iterations was used to collect data from 12 experts. While most competencies fit Taiwan, there were a number of unique ones. A complete set of results is provided along with the implications of the findings and what they might mean for evaluation in Taiwan particularly in relationship to the professionalization of evaluation.

Technology evaluation in Taiwan's technology industries: Strategies, trajectories, and innovations

Technology evaluation, as an organizational process, is the essential ability to comprehend the values of technologies very soon after they emerge. Meanwhile, the technology evaluation process is inevitably influenced by the firm's industrial context, such as its technological trajectory. This study defines technology evaluation strategy in terms of the processes, methods, and participants involved, and uses this definition as a taxonomy to explore different types of technology evaluation strategies. A survey on the technological industries is conducted to explore types of technology evaluation strategies and their relationships with the advantages of different types of innovation under the effects of different technological trajectories. The survey identifies four types of technology evaluation strategies, namely, those of the flexible executive strategist, the emergent executive intuitionist, the deliberate quantitative strategist, and the deliberate consensual strategist, are identified. This study has found that certain types of technology evaluation strategies have better innovation performances than the others. The patterns of technological trajectories are also found to influence a firm's technology evaluation strategy and the advantages of certain types of innovations. The established explanations of the relationships among the technological trajectory, innovation type, and technology evaluation strategies may guide technology businesses to develop a better technology evaluation capability. The theoretical framework developed in this research enriches the strategic management literature with a new taxonomy for technology evaluation strategies.

Is it enough to set national patient safety goals? An empirical evaluation in Taiwan

In 2004, the Taiwan Department of Health set the national patient safety goals. To date, however, there has been no evaluation of these goals. This study aimed to develop a method to evaluate the status of the national patient safety goals in Taiwan. A cross-sectional questionnaire surveys to measure achievements on Taiwan's national patient safety goals. This survey was also followed up with an onsite audit to ensure accuracy. All hospitals in Taiwan. A total of 361 hospitals in Taiwan respond to questionnaire survey and 80 randomly selected hospitals for onsite audit. None. Average scores on achievements of the national patient safety goals. Among the 516 hospitals to which the questionnaire was sent, 361 (70%) responded. A total of 80 hospitals were randomly selected according to geographic location and size for onsite audit. The results show that the longer the period of implementation, the higher the average scores on achievements of the goals. After stratified analysis by hospital size, the large hospitals were found to have a higher average score in every goal, especially in the new goals. Furthermore, in terms of the difference between self-report results and the onsite audit, the score in the self-report was higher than the score given by experts upon onsite audit; however, they were similar. Most items were approximately the same in the self-report score and the onsite judgment, and those that differed were merely either one rank higher or lower. The self-report questionnaire combined with an onsite audit appears to be a promising approach for measuring scores on achievements of the national patient safety goals. The Department of Health could conduct this program annually to evaluate the progress and propose coping strategies.

Fuzzy MCDM approach to R&amp;D project evaluation in Taiwan's public sectors

PurposeEstablishing a performance‐oriented evaluation in public sectors is the key to successful administrations. However, because of lacking relative comparable measuring standards, it is difficult to measure the relative performance of one unit while comparing to other units with regard to the multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) of performance evaluation. This paper aims to focus on the performance ranking of research and development (R&amp;D) projects in Taiwan's public sectors.Design/methodology/approachThe algorithm in this paper is based on the concept of fuzzy set theory and the hierarchical structure analysis. The analyzing method adopts the methods of standard normal distribution, linear transformation, and fuzzy MCDM, carrying on the analysis of multiple criteria of the performance evaluation.FindingsThis paper constructs linguistic values to the subjective judgments and analyzes the ranking results of the performance evaluation with respect to 45 R&amp;D projects of one of Taiwan's electric power companies. Thus, the paper demonstrates a successful way of evaluating R&amp;D projects in the public sector.Originality/valueIn this paper, a decision algorithm based on the fuzzy set theory is proposed to solve the performance evaluation of R&amp;D projects in public sectors. In order to solve the difficulties of measuring one unit of the relative performance of quantitative criteria comparing to the other units, the method of standard normal distribution is adopted while measuring the quantitative criteria. The concept of linguistic values and fuzzy numbers are used in this paper since they could easily be used to describe the subjective measurement of the appropriateness of alternatives and the importance weightings of criteria.

Impact of ATM intensity on cost efficiency: An empirical evaluation in Taiwan

Although the use of ATMs in the U.S. is approaching saturation, ATM deployment is still increasing in other parts of the world, such as Australia, China, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The relationship between IT investment and firm performance has been extensively studied, but few researchers have examined the impact of self-service technology (SST) in general and ATMs in particular on a firm's cost efficiency. Given the growing importance of SSTs in the banking industry, it is thus surprising that few studies have examined the impact of SST on banking cost efficiency. We therefore empirically examined the cost efficiency effects on ATMs. Several prior studies tried to determine the value of ATM investments, These, however, failed to provide actual ATMs investment data that measured the intensity of its deployment and, as a result, used a dummy variable to indicate whether or not the ATM investment was made. This practice has made it impossible to assess the true value of ATM investment. To improve this imperfect measure, we utilized actual ATM numbers and bank operating and financial data to measure the extent of ATM investment. Our results suggested that ATM investments were associated with positive cost efficiency in the banking industry. To this end, we added new insights into cost effects of SST in general and ATM in particular.

An Experimental Model of Regulatory Science in Asia: Center for Drug Evaluation in Taiwan

New drug development is a regulation-intensive global activity. To protect and promote public health, in 1998 Taiwan set up the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) as a nonprofit, nongovernment organization to perform regulatory consultation, clinical trial protocol, new drug application, and health technology assessment delegated by the legal regulatory authority, the Bureau of Pharmaceutical Affairs (BPA). Over the last 10 years, this innovative experimental model of regulatory science in Asia has had many achievements to share with the international regulatory communities, such as bridging study evaluations, the Critical Path Project for index cases, and the proposed revival of the Pharmaceutical Evaluation Report scheme in APEC. CDE/BPA has now been recognized as one of a few regulatory agencies in Asia that can perform in-depth in-house review following the best international practice.