Kaohsiung City Government Research Articles

A Responsive Evaluation of the Green Roof Policy in Kaohsiung City

<p>以高雄市政府建築物立體綠化及綠屋頂補助計畫為評估對象，依據政策評估指標六面向:效能性、效率性、充分性、公平性、回應性、適當性為架構，深度訪談利害關係人，包含政策執行者、專業顧問、環保團體之政策監督者，以及使用者與受補助者。研究目的為評估政策實施品質，同時檢討政策推動的阻礙因素。研究結果顯示綠屋頂隔熱降溫效益獲得一致肯定，但減緩都市熱島效應之政策目標必須擴增綠化面積與提升植栽養護品質，長期持續實施之後才能正確評估效能。目前申請補助不踴躍，因為經濟誘因不足、宣導層面不廣。阻礙因素在於初期設置成本、後續維護費用負擔，以及人力不足。建議設計規劃階段提供專業技術輔導，包含水資源管理、防水層評估、生態美學教育，以及綠屋頂搭配光電板配置，結合開源節流策略，使綠屋頂能永續經營，有助於達成政策預期目標。</p> <p> </p><p>The present study aimed at conducting performance evaluation and making recommendations on the green roof subsidy policy that the Kaohsiung City Government promotes for existing buildings improvement. Analytical framework is based on the six aspects of policy evaluation indicators: effectiveness, efficiency, adequacy, equity, responsiveness, appropriateness. Stakeholder in-depth interviews on site were used to gather opinions and perceptions from policy implementers, consultant, policy supervisors of environmental protection association, as well as users and recipients. The purpose was to evaluate the quality of policy implementation and to review the impediments to policy promotion. The research results show that the effectiveness of green roof insulation and cooling has been unanimously affirmed. However, the policy goal of mitigating the urban heat island effect requires more greening and better quality of planting and maintenance which have to be implemented continuously for a long term in order to evaluate its effectiveness correctly. At the current stage, the challenges for the promotion of the green roof subsidy policy are passive applicants, insufficient incentives, and the narrow promotion of target users. The barriers of implementing green roofs for existing buildings are substantial upfront cost, maintenance costs and staff shortage. It is suggested that professional technical consultants should involve in the design planning, such as water resources management, the waterproof layer assessment, ecological aesthetics education, and the configuration of green roofs with photovoltaic panels. These integrated strategies of broadening income sources and economizing expenditure help to manage green roofs sustainably and to achieve the policy desired goals.</p> <p> </p>

Managing competitive advantage through technology and innovation systems and its impacts on service delivery within the Kaohsiung City Government in Taiwan

Background: Technology and innovation were envisaged as the key to competitive advantages and have become a hallmark of business life worldwide. Without technologies and invention practically, no organisation can survive. Thus, this required a clear understanding of how managing innovation and technology influenced business survival. This was much more explicit in an unprecedented and unavoidable competition in the business world environment, and particularly in the local government authorities’ context, it can be of great significance.Objectives: The main objective of this article was to provide a framework for assessing the effects of managing competitive advantage through technology and innovation in the context of metropolitan cities. This study also helped to provide an understanding of how technological innovation factors affected the performance of organisation effectiveness.Methodology: The methodology used in this study was mainly the secondary data analysis. A complete and thoroughly secondary data analysis process has been utilised as a research design and approach to complete this research work. This section rationalised the selection of the preferred methodology, dealt with data collection and data analysis and covered how data originated from secondary data sources.Results: One of the fundamental contributions of this investigation has been the development of a pool of valuable data in relation to managing technology and innovation for sustainable competitive advantage in the City Government of Taiwan as public sector. Furthermore and based on the results of reviewing and evaluating the relevant literature and theories taken together, this study has led to the development and proposal of a model, the conceptual framework. This developed conceptual framework reflected the bond between managing competitive advantage techniques through technology and innovation and business performances, which can be applied to different business sectors of the central government. The concept can also be applied to different businesses or to different countries confronted by similar challenges and issues of managing technology and innovation.Conclusion: This article posited the importance of managing competitive advantage through technology and innovation, particularly as an essential ingredient of competitive advantage for the local government authorities or metropolitans and municipalities.

Experience with outreach services of a multidisciplinary team for child abuse identification

Identifying child abuse is sometimes challenging due to its various presentations. To facilitate timely identification of critical or complex cases of physical abuse outside our child protection center, we established an outreach multidisciplinary team (OMDT) to support Kaohsiung City Government in 2014. The objective of this study was to describe our experience of OMDT services during a 6-year period and examine its role in assisting law enforcement. We retrospectively analyzed all OMDT cases from January 2014 to January 2020. Clinical characteristics and OMDT reports were reviewed. After inspection by our OMDT, cases were determined as indicating either a high risk or low risk of child abuse. Associations among clinical characteristics, radiographic findings, OMDT decisions and case outcomes including law enforcement and prosecution were examined. Thirty-two cases (22 [68.8%] males and 10 [31.2%] females; mean age 24.2 months) received OMDT service, of whom 28 (87.5%) were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. The victims had an average of 2.2 types of wounds in 3.4 locations. The most common finding on radiography was subdural hemorrhage (18, 56.3%), followed by subarachnoid hemorrhage (31, 31.3%). Law enforcement was activated in 20 (64.5%) cases, and was only associated with the high-risk group as determined by the OMDT (p<0.05) but not with any other variables. Our experience indicates that an OMDT can play an important role in child protection and activating law enforcement for children with complex or critical physical abuse. We suggest that in Taiwan, OMDT services should be incorporated into child protection centers, National Health Insurance system and governmental child protection policies.

Key challenges facing metropolitan cities or municipalities in managing competitive advantage through technology and innovation

Background: Technology and innovation have become a worldwide feature of business. Virtually, no organisation can survive without technology and innovation. When it comes to developing technology and innovation strategies, managers are often left alone to decide which technology and innovation types to pursue.Aim: This article investigates the various key challenges faced by metropolitan cities or municipalities in managing competitive advantage through technology and innovation in Kaohsiung Government City, Taiwan.Setting: The study focused on key challenges faced by metropolitan cities or municipalities in managing competitive advantage through technology and innovation at Kaohsiung City Government in Taiwan.Methods: The methodology used in this study is mainly the secondary data analysis. A complete and thoroughly secondary data analysis process has been utilised as a research design and approach to complete this research work. This study collected secondary data through comprehensive analysis about various aspects such as document analysis or desktop study, technical reports, scholarly journals, government documents, research institutions.Results: The result shows that there are various key challenges including research and development and innovation, information security or contingency planning, rapidly advancing technologies, ageing technology and under-investment and the change in residents’ expectations.Conclusion: This article has identified various challenges affecting businesses or organisations, particularly City Governments in competitive advantage through managing technology and innovation. This include inter alias: manpower training and recruiting, organisational transformation, rapidly advancing technologies, ageing technology and underinvestment, the change in residents’ expectations.

Comparisons of a Multi-Objective Compromise Weight Model and a Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm in Hazmat Transportation Route Planning

On July 31, 2014, a series of gas pipeline explosions occurred in Kaohsiung City, causing 32 deaths and 321 injuries. Following this accident, the Kaohsiung City government decided to replace the use of pipelines with trucks for transporting hazmat, transfering the risk from beneath the road to the surface. This means that careful consideration needs to be given to safety and cost in hazardous material (hazmat) transportation route planning. The issue of how to design optimal routes for the transportation of hazmat is, therefore, important and involves consideration of various criteria. This research focuses on three objectives: cost, risk, and emergency response capability. It then constructs two solution algorithms, the compromise weight model and the evolutionary algorithm, to solve the multi-objective problem. The results from these two algorithms are observed and compared. In addition, this research also provides some recommendations for stakeholders, including the hazmat industry, government, and residents.

Analysis on the damage causes of sabo dam with one open cross section at upstream of Fuxing bridge in Lacus Creek

Lacus Creek is one of the important tributaries of the Laonong River upstream of the Gaoping River, which is an important river in southern Taiwan. After Typhoon Morakot in 2009, severe sediment disasters occurred, which affected the security of local revitalization, and the government has since invested in numerous projects to reduce the impact of sediment and flood disasters. In 2017, the Kaohsiung City government built a sabo type dam upstream of Fuxing Bridge in Lacus Creek; however, it was severely damaged by a heavy rain less than a year later. To investigate the cause of the damage, site investigations, concrete sampling tests, hydrology analysis, and reviews of the planning and design methods, construction process, etc. have been conducted, in order to understand the cause of the problem, avoid repeating mistakes, and clarify the responsibility of the administrative agency. The investigation and research found that many recent cases of torrent management have considered the transverse structures as isolated wildlife corridors, reduce the height of the transverse structures, create gentle slopes of the downstream surfaces, add fish passages, cut (openings) export slits, etc.; however, after setting up these environmentally friendly facilities, their effect and impact have not been explored in depth. This research survey found that, although the frequency of heavy rain events is not high in recent years, the current iterative impact of continuous rainfall may exceed the original design requirements. If the overflow mode with a single export opening is added, the scouring energy will be concentrated, and this additive effect is likely to cause the foundation of the sabo dam to lose bare space, and finally, the dam will be damaged. Therefore, it is recommended that when designing these torrent transverse structures, try to avoid using the method of a single narrow opening: it is better to increase the number of export openings (like a slit dam), expand the size of a single export opening, or adopt a fully enclosed dam design.

台灣2019高雄內門宋江陣活動之經濟效益分析

Since 2001, Taiwan Tourism Bureau (MOTC) has entitled the Neimen Songjiang Battle Array as one of the 12 major festivals in Taiwan. It celebrated the 19th year of its annual festival last year (2019) and has become a local traditional iconic activity in Kaohsiung. In this paper, a questionnaire survey was conducted on the “2019 Kaohsiung Neimen Songjiang Battle Array Festival” as a research object to understand the economic benefits brought about by the festival activities. The result indicates that the 9-day long Kaohsiung Neimen Songjiang Battle Array Festival 2019 attracted 119,385 visitors and resulted in an estimate of direct visitor expenditures of NTD 217,048,386, bringing the most impressive and direct benefits of tourism to Neimen area, a small town with only 14,000 people. The grant for this event was NTD 9.5 million in total, with NTD 2.5 million funded from the Taiwan central subsidy and NTD 7 million funded from the Kaohsiung City Government. A total of NTD 9.5 million created NTD 217 million in economic benefits and the benefit ratio was 22.85 times, showing Kaohsiung Neimen Songjiang Battle Array Festival, an important local festival event has successfully promoted the local economic development of Kaohsiung.

User's Segmentation on Continued Knowledge Management System Use in the Public Sector

Knowledge management systems (KMS) can help an organization support knowledge management activities and thereby increase organizational performance. This study extends the expectation-confirmation model for predicting mandatory continued KMS use in the public sector. The models are assessed using data from a sample of 627 employees of the Kaohsiung City government in Taiwan and analyzed using the finite mixture partial least squares (FIMIX-PLS) method. The results of this study indicate that (1) data heterogeneity (i.e., educational level) segments two specific groups that show different perceptions toward continued KMS use; (2) the results of aggregate-based data analysis are different from the results of group-specific data analysis; (3) compatibility, relative to confirmation, has larger impact on perceived usefulness regardless of groups; (4) the effect of user satisfaction on continued usage behavior is significant different between the two groups; (5) cognition-driven continued use and emotion-driven continued use are identified in the two groups.

Design and development of a friendly user interface for building construction traceability system

The traceability systems of agricultural and food products have been developed for a few years. Due to the fact that building construction projects are typically more complex and have long project durations, the builders are less willing to engage in the development of building traceability systems for construction projects. Starting from 2016, the Kaohsiung city government took the first step to develop and promote a building construction traceability system for building construction quality assurance in Taiwan. In the future, builders are required to input the construction inspection records into the system during the building construction process. However, this system is designed in such a way that records are input from personal computers. This creates more job load for site engineers because they need to first keep the records on paper in the field and then input the data into the system using the computer in the office. In light of this, this research would like to design a more user-friendly interface so that it’s easier for the engineer to directly input the inspection data using their hand-held devices on site. To achieve this, Responsive Web Design and Bootstrap framework are adopted to develop the new interface. Also, feedbacks and suggestions from current users are collected and incorporated into the new design.

Postpartum Care Service Experience Model: A Case of Postpartum Home Visiting Services.

The choice of postpartum care methods has expanded with changes in population structure and social forms. In addition to the traditional provision of postpartum assistance by senior members of the parents’ family, recent years have also seen a rapid growth in care centers and postpartum home visiting services. Postpartum home visiting services combine the features and services of senior family members’ assistance and postpartum care centers. Therefore, special attention has been drawn to the postpartum care service experience. This study conducted a survey among mothers participating in the Postpartum Home Visiting Service Project of the Social Affairs Bureau of Kaohsiung City Government, Taiwan. The effective sample included 43 participants. Partial least squares (PLS) analysis was performed. The results indicated that the service experience model could comprehensively reflect the relation between consumer experience, experiential value, and experience satisfaction. With regard to practical implications, the results provide postpartum home visiting service providers with a better understanding of consumers’ feelings and, thus, put them in a better position to improve experience through appropriate service methods.

A study on a instability slope in Taiwan subjected to rainfalls

After the long-term monitoring on the Chaishan area in Taiwan from 2005 to 2012 by Kaohsiung City Government, the obtained results showed that annual lateral displacements in the region are about 7-8cm to the Taiwan Strait. The geological surface profiles of Chaishan area are in sequence weathered limestone, clay layer, limestone and mudstone layer, respectively. Thus the frictional resistance between weathered soils and rock layer could decrease after infiltration of rainwater due to impervious to water of the lowest mudstone layer. Typhoon invades often Taiwan each year, resulting in rainfall infiltration and rising groundwater level, as well as increased pore water pressure within the soil mass, causing the earth movements in some parts of Chaishan, especially in the Temple A (Shan Hai Temple) accompanied with cracking phenomenon. In this paper, limit equilibrium (LE) and finite element method (FEM) are used for slope analysis, in which the slope is considered as unsaturated soil. Results showed groundwater amounts are easy to accumulate and increasing pore water pressure give resulting in decreased safety factor. Both of groundwater level and rain durations were also considered in this study.

Measuring the value variation of a service system: a Markov-switching model estimation

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to create a value variation measurement model to define the relationship among various roles in resource management within a service system; and divide value creation into two states (i.e. cocreation and codestruction) and use them as crucial indicators for value variation by adopting the service-dominant logic and using the Markov switching model.Design/methodology/approachThis study proposed that variations in value are similar to changes in economy because both are abstract, indefinable and not easy to identify. Therefore, this study used the Markov switching model to define the state of value through value cocreation and codestruction; analyze value variations in a service system; and provide a numerical evaluation method by using the concept of probability to depict state transitions. In addition, open data from the Kaohsiung City Government’s 1999 call center were collected to address the aforementioned research objectives. The 1999 call center (service provider) offers citizens (customers) efficient consultant services to help them solve problems regarding the city government’s affairs or policies. Thus, this call center can be considered a complex service system.FindingsThis study revealed that the call center can utilize the analysis results of the Markov switching model on answer rates to predict service quality patterns. In addition, most first call resolution rates occurred under State 1 (value cocreation). To address problems caused by accidental or rare events, the call center should formulate policies to increase people and technical resources and improve service system effectiveness.Originality/valueEnterprises currently focus on catering to customers’ needs and offering services through comprehensive service procedures to sustainably generate multiple values for customers, helping them to create values. Previous studies have mostly focused on analyzing the values of a service system and have failed to extensively explore actual value variations. Thus, the value variation measurement model proposed in the present study was able to analyze value variations of a set of call center data and illustrate value variations by using state transitions.

A Study of the Performance Evaluation on E-Learning in Public Sectors

In the 21st century, the major competitiveness of a country lies in the talents whose power generated from knowledge would become the most powerful tool, especially the knowledge and competitiveness resulted from e-learning. Aiming at the departments in Kaohsiung City Government, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied to the efficiency assessment of e-learning, in which Delphi Method is utilized for selecting inputs, including number of employees, invested costs, management expenses, and output of yearly performance assessment. Sensitivity Analysis is further applied to acquiring the departments with the best efficiency, and individual departments with management efficiency are also analyzed. The research outcomes show that 1.ten departments in Kaohsiung City Government with constant returns to scale achieve the optimization in e-learning efficiency, 2.two departments appear decreasing returns to scale that decreasing the scale might be able to enhance the marginal returns and improve the e-learning efficiency, and 3.eleven departments present increasing returns to scale, showing that the scale could be enlarged to enhance the marginal returns and further promote the efficiency.

Female Ghost or Worker Heroine? Gender, Space, and Feminist Intervention in Contemporary Taiwan

The Twenty-five Ladies’ Tomb was the collective burial site of female workers who were drowned during a ferry accident on their way to work at export processing zones in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1973. This essay focuses on the renovation of the tomb in the 2000s, and examines the politics of the feminist movement and the politics of memory as they are expressed through the different meanings bestowed on the deceased women. People involved in the renovation process included the Kaohsiung Association for the Promotion of Women’s Rights (KAPWR), the families of the deceased, and the Kaohsiung City government, all of whom had different considerations regarding the purpose and the future of the tomb. This essay argues the KAPWR activism illustrates the fact that specific feminist praxis is dependent on the socio-cultural and political-economic attributes of the society within which feminist groups are embedded. The KAPWR’s effort to refashion the image of the tomb resonates with feminist movements worldwide to rectify women’s history by rewriting and valorizing the contribution of women. Specifically, it was a critique of the Taiwanese patriliny that treasures sons as true and permanent members, but regards daughters as outsiders and thus temporary associates, of their father’s family. This symbolic differentiation has provided a framework on which many gender-based practices are constituted and justified. The approach of the KAPWR activism was therefore a strategic choice borne out of the particular context of Taiwan that, in turn, created the possibility to question patrilineal cultural practices.

Conditions and Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence among Taiwanese Women

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health issue among women. IPV victims usually seek help from hospitals, and emergency nurses are the frontline staff with whom the victims come into contact first. This study examined the conditions and patterns of IPV in southern Taiwan. From designated hospitals in Kaohsiung under the Department of Health Injury Assessment Clinic, data were collected on 497 women regarding their injury assessment for IPV reported to the Kaohsiung City Government. Taiwanese survivors were older compared to immigrant survivors. Taiwanese survivors also had higher education levels compared to immigrant survivors. Taiwanese survivors had higher employment rate than immigrant survivors did. The time between IPV and medical help seeking was longer for divorced than married women. These results can facilitate understanding of the conditions and patterns of IPV in Taiwan, increase the awareness of nurses, especially the emergency nurses for the prevention of IPV, and increase professional competency for the provision of appropriate healthcare services to survivors of IPV.

Effects of human resource outsourcing on service innovation in public sectors

To deal with a lot of public services, first-level human resources are largely required in governmental institutes. The changes of industries and employment structure have the government, in consideration of budgets and downsizing, apply Human Resource Outsourcing and introduce temporary employees to reduce labor personnel costs and labor flexibility and to solve the demands for temporary and non-core businesses for achieving the innovation of administrative services and organizational reform as well as enhance organizational competitiveness. Acquiring expected and stable temporary employees with favorable work performance is a dilemma for personnel units. By distributing and collecting questionnaires on-site, 230 copies of questionnaires were distributed to the superiors and public servants in various sectors of Kaohsiung City Government. A total of 169 valid copies were retrieved, with the retrieval rate of 73%. The empirical results show partially positive effects of Human Resource Outsourcing on Service Concept, Customer Interface, and Delivery System in Service Innovation, significantly positive effects of Human Resource Outsourcing on Technology Option in Service Innovation, and remarkable moderating effects of background variables on the correlations between Human Resource Outsourcing and Service Innovation.

Evaluating knowledge outsourcing performance Of public sectors with data envelopment Analysis

With the governmental sectors imitating the reformation of enterprises stressing on Knowledge, Contracting Out and Deregulation have become the core policies. Contracting Out is not based on the arbitrariness of an administrator, but the selective efficiency and competition. Connecting the resources between Public and Private Sectors is a concern of Contracting Out, while Knowledge Outsourcing is an innovation to enhance organizational knowledge and the reduction of organizational ignorance. Based on a Knowledge Outsourcing Investigation by the Kaohsiung City Government (Taiwan) in the past few years, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Sensitivity Analysis are integrated for measuring the total efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE), and scale efficiency (SE) of Knowledge Outsourcing of the sectors in the Kaohsiung City Government for the improvement reference of other counties and cities. From the message acquired from the efficiency and variables with the DEA, one DMU (Data Management Unit), or about 5% of all DMUs, appears to have strong Knowledge Outsourcing efficiency 1, showing favorable Knowledge Outsourcing efficiency. Two DMUs, comprising about 10% of all DMUs, reveal the marginal Knowledge Outsourcing inefficiency between 0.9 and 1. This implies that such sectors could better enhance the Knowledge Outsourcing efficiency. 17 DMUs, representing about 85% of all DMUs, exhibit an obvious Knowledge Outsourcing inefficiency of less than 0.9, so that the Finance and Transportation Bureaus present the lowest Knowledge Outsourcing efficiency.

A study on the performance of labor outsourcing in the public sector

Governments in many countries are gradually adjusting their traditional concepts and committing private businesses to conducting governmental business and services in order to achieve economic and operational goals and to introduce more dynamic technologies from private organisations for better financial flexibility. With a freely competitive mechanism in private markets, the quality and efficiency of public services could be effectively promoted in order to enhance economic benefits. Using data from garbage clean-up outsourcing in various districts under the 2008-2010Environmental Protection Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist Productivity Analysis were combined to measure the total efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE), and scale efficiency (SE) of the garbage clean-up services in 11 districts in Kaohsiung City to provide follow-up information on the garbage clean-up outsourcing initiative of the Environmental Protection Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government. The empirical results for overall efficiency show that optimal total efficiency was reported in the Hsin-hsing District (0.99), optimal pure technical efficiency in the Hsin-hsing District (0.99), and optimal scale efficiency in the San-min District (1.00).

Chewing ability, nutritional status and quality of life

In the literature, most researchers evaluate individuals' nutritional status and chewing ability by types of foods chosen or blood test. However, most of previous researches enrolled small sample size and the results might be influenced by personal preference of foods as well as the individuals' response to invasive examination. In this study, researchers assessed individuals' nutritional status and chewing ability with non-invasive test and excluded the personal preference of foods. This study had two aims: first, to explore associations between chewing ability, edentulous or dentulous, self-perceived oral health and individuals' nutritional status and quality of life; second, to assess whether the association proposed by Locker's model is valid. This study used the database of Phase I 'Publicly-funded Denture Installation Plan for the Elderly' of Kaohsiung City Government. Nine hundred and fifty-four subjects aged 65 years and older completed the questionnaires for data analysis. The research results supported and verified the theoretical model proposed by Locker. Individual's chewing ability associated significantly with his/her nutritional status and quality of life. The results demonstrated that better chewing ability of the elderly leads to better nutritional status and quality of life. The appropriateness of the indicators and measurements of individual's chewing ability and nutritional status used in this study has been evaluated and presented. These indicators and measurements are suggested to be generally used for clinical or research application on future-related issues. Consequently, the maintenance or improvement in the chewing ability of the elderly is extremely beneficial to healthy ageing.

Effects of Knowledge Outsourcing on Public Policy of Public Sectors

Policy formulation is facing new accommodation because the coverage of public affairs and the involvement of public governance becomes more complex than they used to be. More opportunities are open to the civil societies in the beginning of policy formulation, and a lot of new information, knowledge, and suggestions for policy construction are included. The supervisors and public servants of the departments and bur eaus in Kaohsiung City Government are selected as the research participants for questionnaire survey. Total 460 copies were distributed, and 278 copies were retrieved. Having deducted 16 incomplete ones, total 262 valid copies were retrieved, with the retrieval rate 57%. Each retrieved copy is regarded as a valid sample in this study. Centered on work value, the empirical research shows partially positive correlations between Knowledge Outsourci ng and Distributive Policy, Redistributive Policy, and Redistributive Policy in Public Policy, significantly positive correlations between Knowledge Outsourcing and Self-regulatory Policy, and moderating effects of demographic vari ables on the correlations between Knowledge Outsourcing and Public Policy.