Taiwan Region Research Articles

Impact of agricultural modernization on agricultural carbon emissions in China: a study based on the spatial spillover effect.

Taking the data of 30 provinces (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions and Tibet) at the provincial level from 2010 to 2019 as the research object, this paper analyzes the current situation and characteristics of China's agricultural modernization and response to carbon emissions. Agricultural modernization is decomposed into production modernization, management modernization, and ecological modernization. This study uses the spatial Dobbin model to demonstrate the impact of agricultural modernization on carbon emissions and analyzes the impact of agricultural modernization on carbon emissions in the East. The direct effect and spatial spillover effect of the three western regions are to different degrees. The results show that agricultural carbon emissions are spatially dependent. The development of agricultural modernization and transportation of neighboring provinces and cities will have an impact on agricultural carbon emissions in this region. Therefore, under the background of rural revitalization and low-carbon agriculture, this paper further analyzes the impact of agricultural modernization on the spatial distribution of carbon emissions in the eastern, central, and western regions. Recommendations are proposed with a view to giving better play to the process of agricultural modernization.

Nature-Based Solutions for Disaster Reduction and Improving Ecosystem Services in the Hutoubi Watershed, Taiwan

The Hutoubi Reservoir and its mainstream, Huyuan Stream, in the southern mountainous region of Taiwan, have experienced riverbed sedimentation and flood disasters for the past 150 years. In addition to climate change, it is necessary to scientifically consider its regulation for the next hundred years. This study adopted a collaborative approach, involving industry, government, and academia, using Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to enhance ecosystem services. The solution layout is constructed by widening the channel and constructing additional farm ponds and wetlands. An hydraulic simulation indicated that flood control was addressed. The restoration project would create diverse aquatic habitats by simulating and evaluating the distribution of ecological biotopes, using porous materials as revetments. It provided urban residents with forest leisure and recreational sites and supported the local agricultural and forestry products. The restoration has propagated local culture and created environmental and professional education. Therefore, ecological services are enhanced regarding regulation, support, provision, and culture. This pilot study, led by researchers, aimed to promote comprehensive management concepts considering all stakeholders and their active participation. We integrated NbS into the watershed and its river system as a pathway for facing the challenges of rapid urbanization and climate change and improving ecosystem services.

Dynamics of spatial and temporal population structure of Pyricularia oryzae in Taiwan.

To gain a better understanding of how Pyricularia oryzae population shifts is important for selecting suitable resistance genes for rice breeding programs. However, the relationships between P. oryzae pathogenic dynamics, geographic distribution, rice varieties, and timeline are not well studied. Resistance genes Piz-5, Pi9(t), Pi12(t), Pi20(t), Pita-2, and Pi11 showed stable resistance to the Taiwan rice blast fungus over eight years of observations. 1,749 rice blast isolates were collected from 2014 to 2021 and categorized into five pathotype clusters based on their correlation analysis between the geographic sources and virulence of Lijiangxintuanheigu monogenic lines. A detailed map of their distributions in Taiwan was presented. Isolates collected from the western region of Taiwan had greater pathotype diversity than those from the east region. Isolates collected from the subtropical region had greater diversity than those from the tropical region. Rice cultivars carrying Pik alleles were highly susceptible to pathotype L4. Cultivars with Piz-t were highly susceptible to pathotype L5, and those with Pish were highly susceptible to pathotype L1. The geographical distribution of each pathotype was distinct, and the population size of each pathotype fluctuated significantly each year. The regional mega cultivars significantly impact the evolution of Pyricularia oryzae in Taiwan within the span of 8 years. However, the annual fluctuation of pathotype populations likely correlate to the rising annual temperatures that selected pathotype clusters by their optimal growth temperature. The results will provide useful information for effective disease management, and enable the R-genes to prolong their function in the fields. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A Study of the Innovation Ecology of China’s Semiconductor Industry Based on the Triple Helix Model: A Comparison with the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and the Taiwan Region

A Study of the Innovation Ecology of China’s Semiconductor Industry Based on the Triple Helix Model: A Comparison with the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and the Taiwan Region

Unlocking Innovation and Sustainability in Communities of Practice: Exploring Duality in SME Clusters

The significance of industrial clusters in the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in remote areas has long been acknowledged. However, there is a lack of research examining innovation and sustainability within these clusters through the lens of Communities of Practice (CoPs). Thus, this study was carried out to specifically investigate the concept of Duality in SME clusters in remote regions of Taiwan to comprehend how Duality contributes to innovation and sustainability in these clusters. To gather data, a combination of purposive and snowball sampling methods was used. We visited a total of 12 SME clusters and interviewed the cluster leader and a senior member within each cluster, resulting in 24 respondents in total. The findings indicated that innovation within SME industrial clusters in remote areas of Taiwan is spurred by the concept of Duality, which is deeply rooted in shared practices and collaborative tasks. These collaborative tasks and shared practices facilitate continuous cycles of mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire, ultimately nurturing creativity. It was confirmed that the concept of Duality allows for clarifying how SME clusters establish their learning mechanisms, not only enhancing creativity but also reinforcing sustainability.

A simulation study on the utility of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms-Second Edition (SIRS-2) in Taiwan Region adults

ABSTRACT The Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS) and its revised edition (SIRS-2) are frequently used in forensic psychological evaluations for assessing response style. The present research investigated the utility of this instrument in Taiwan Region adults. In a simulation design, 143 nonclinical volunteers were randomly assigned to either simulating or honest-responding groups. Results indicated that the primary scales of the Chinese SIRS-2 possessed acceptable internal consistency and generated large to very large effect sizes (1.39–2.17) in differentiating simulators and genuine respondents. The convergent validity of the Chinese SIRS-2 was supported by the correlations of its scales with the Chinese MMPI-2 validity scales. Confirmatory factor analysis results showed a one-factor model. The decision models of both the SIRS and SIRS-2 resulted in few to no false positives, while the SIRS had greater sensitivity than the SIRS-2. The SIRS-2 total score generated discrimination rates comparable to the published manual in detecting feigning or honest responding. Results supported the use of the Chinese SIRS-2 in Taiwan Region adults. However, as the research methodology inflates both effect sizes and specificity estimates, further research is needed to examine the clinical utility of the Chinese SIRS-2.

Source-apportionment and spatial distribution analysis of VOCs and their role in ozone formation using machine learning in central-west Taiwan

This study assessed the machine learning based sensitivity analysis coupled with source-apportionment of volatile organic carbons (VOCs) to look into new insights of O3 pollution in Yunlin County located in central-west region of Taiwan. One-year (Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2021) hourly mass concentrations data of 54 VOCs, NOX, and O3 from 10 photochemical assessment monitoring stations (PAMs) in and around the Yunlin County were analyzed. The novelty of the study lies in the utilization of artificial neural network (ANN) to evaluate the contribution of VOCs sources in O3 pollution in the region. Firstly, the station specific source-apportionment of VOCs were carried out using positive matrix factorization (PMF)—resolving six sources viz. AAM: aged air mass, CM: chemical manufacturing, IC: Industrial combustion, PP: petrochemical plants, SU: solvent use and VE: vehicular emissions. AAM, SU, and VE constituted cumulatively more than 65% of the total emission of VOCs across all 10 PAMs. Diurnal and spatial variability of source-segregated VOCs showed large variations across 10 PAMs, suggesting for distinctly different impact of contributing sources, photo-chemical reactivity, and/or dispersion due to land-sea breezes at the monitoring stations. Secondly, to understand the contribution of controllable factors governing the O3 pollution, the output of VOCs source-contributions from PMF model along with mass concentrations of NOX were standardized and first time used as input variables to ANN, a supervised machine learning algorithm. ANN analysis revealed following order of sensitivity in factors governing the O3 pollution: VOCs from IC > AAM > VE ≈ CM ≈ SU > PP ≈ NOX. The results indicated that VOCs associated with IC (VOCs-IC) being the most sensitive factor which need to be regulated more efficiently to quickly mitigate the O3 pollution across the Yunlin County.

Measuring the effects of typhoon trajectories on dengue outbreaks in tropical regions of Taiwan: 1998-2019.

Dengue fever is a rapidly spreading mosquito-borne contagion. However, the effects of extreme rainfall events on dengue occurrences have not been widely evaluated. With their immense precipitation and high winds, typhoons may have distinct effects on dengue occurrence from those during other heavy rain events. Frequented by typhoons and situated in the tropical climate zone, southern Taiwan is an appropriate study area due to its isolated geographic environment. Each subject to distinct orographic effects on typhoon structure and typhoon-induced precipitation, 9 typhoon trajectories around Taiwan have not been observed until now. This study analyzes typhoon-induced precipitation and examines historical typhoon events by trajectory to determine the effects of typhoons on dengue occurrences in different urban contexts of Tainan and Kaohsiung in high-epidemic southern Taiwan. We employed data from 1998 to 2019 and developed logistic regression models for modeling dengue occurrence while taking 28-day lag effects into account. We considered factors including typhoon trajectory, occurrence, and typhoon-induced precipitation to dengue occurrences. Our results indicate that typhoon trajectories are a significant risk factor for dengue occurrence. Typhoons affect dengue occurrence differently by trajectory. One out of four northbound (along the Taiwan Strait) and four out of five westbound (across Taiwan) typhoons were found to be positively correlated with dengue occurrences in southern Taiwan. We observe that typhoon-induced precipitation is not associated with dengue occurrence in southern Taiwan, which suggests that wind destruction during typhoon events may serve as the primary cause for their positive effects by leaving debris suitable for mosquito habitats. Our findings provide insights into the impact of typhoons by trajectory on dengue occurrence, which can improve the accuracy of future dengue forecasts in neighboring regions with similar climatic contexts.

Are Aquavoltaics Investable? A Framework for Economic and Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis

Aquaculture has long been a significant industry in Taiwan, contributing significantly to the country’s GDP through both exports and domestic consumption. However, certain aquaculture practices have faced criticism due to their heavy groundwater usage, resulting in environmental damage such as land subsidence in the southwestern region of Taiwan. In order to change the industry’s negative environmental image and achieve the ambitious targets set by the Taiwanese government, including 20 GW of solar photovoltaic power by 2025 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the utilization of aquaculture lands, particularly aquaculture ponds, has emerged as a promising option for solar power development. As the government promotes the symbiosis of aquaculture and solar PV power to attain its renewable energy goals, various stakeholders have engaged in discussions surrounding this approach. Consequently, it is crucial to assess the costs and benefits of such integrated practices from both economic and environmental perspectives, as it will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of the industry. A comparative analysis reveals that an aquaculture–electricity symbiosis with a capacity of 227 MW can further reduce carbon emissions by approximately 150,393.6 tons of CO2e per year, along with reductions of 56.8 tons/year of SOx, 82.3 tons/year of NOx, 3.7 tons/year of PM2.5, and 4.6 tons/year of PM10. These environmental benefits are equivalent to approximately TWD 7626.43 million annually. (Note: CO2e refers to carbon dioxide equivalent, SOx refers to sulfur oxides, NOx refers to nitrogen oxides, PM2.5 refers to fine particulate matter, and PM10 refers to particulate matter with a diameter of 10 μm or less).

Take a Step Back: A Window Period for Resolving the Taiwan Straits Crisis

In this paper, discussing the possibility of solving the Taiwan issue is a significant task. By adopting defensive realism and estimating the power of America and China, this paper finds their core interest and baseline in the Taiwan region and gives several solutions. China and America have faced a power decline and will concentrate on securing their supreme; the PRC has inflicted an economic recession, and the US has suffered a domestic political crisis combined with the disintegration of the alliance system. This situation thereby remains the space for resolving regional tension by mutual negotiation. Additionally, this paper assesses the baselines of two countries in the Taiwan strait, of which both powers can accept finite compromise. By the previous discussion, the remedy 'Federation' is their best solution.

Influence of film destination placement on travel intention: mediating effect of involvement and place attachment

PurposeThis study aims to examine the public’s acceptance of film-induced tourism and develops the relationship among placement marketing, involvement, place attachment and travel intention. The film Your Love Song shot in the Hualien and Taitung regions in Taiwan was selected as the case study.Design/methodology/approachAn online sample survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire, and statistical tests and overall structural equation modeling analysis using the SPSS and AMOS statistical software packages, respectively, were performed.FindingsThis study results demonstrate that destination placement marketing has a significant positive effect on the level of destination involvement, place attachment and travel intention of viewers. Moreover, the level of involvement has some intermediary effect on the interrelationship between placement marketing and travel intention. Hence, this study suggests that relevant government agencies and tourism operators should promote local tourism through films and television shows and attract more tourists by retaining the original shooting scenes.Originality/valueWhile previous studies have only analyzed two or three of the four concepts of film-induced tourism, placement marketing, travel intention, involvement and place attachment, this study completely integrates these four concepts and proves the correlation between them.

Spatiotemporal seismicity pattern of the Taiwan orogen

Abstract. We investigate the temporal and spatial seismicity patterns prior to eight M > 6 events nucleating in different regions of Taiwan through a region–time–length algorithm and an analysis of a self-organizing spinodal model. Our results show that the spatiotemporal seismicity variations during the preparation process of impending earthquakes display distinctive patterns corresponding to tectonic settings. Q-type events occur in southern Taiwan and experience a seismic quiescence stage prior to the mainshock. A seismicity decrease of 2.5 < M < 4.5 events occurs around the relatively high b-value southern Central Range, which contributes to the accumulation of tectonic stress for preparing for the occurrence of the Q-type event. On the other hand, A-type events occur in central Taiwan and experience a seismic activation stage prior to the mainshock, which nucleates on the edge of the seismic activation area. We should pay attention when accelerating seismicity of 3 < M < 5 events appears within the low b-value area, which could promote the nucleation process of the A-type event.

Smart bridge maintenance using cluster merging algorithm based on self-organizing map optimization

Bridge structures deteriorate due to various factors, and their maintenance can be made more efficient by utilizing relevant information. This paper describes an algorithm called Self-Organizing Map-based Cluster Merging (SOMCM) using a multi-dimensional matrix composite neural network, and a surface image identification system. The algorithm is designed to investigate the relevance between the main components of bridges and their types of deterioration. 6140 records on bridge maintenance were collected for all bridges in the Taoyuan region of Taiwan in 2021. The SOMCM algorithm involves finding the winner neuron through merging processes. 61 clusters were merged into 8 clusters after a predetermined number of iterations. Clustering analysis of the final 8 clusters revealed 9 major bridge maintenance association rules. Follow-up studies can apply the algorithm to integrate more technologies including GIS coordinates, material availability, real-time traffic conditions, and weather information to be of benefit to engineering practitioners.

Health-promoting lifestyle and its predictors among health-related and non-health-related university students in Taiwan: a cross-sectional quantitative study

BackgroundUniversity students majoring in different disciplines are believed to have different personality traits, courses exposure, and future roles, which may further affect their health behaviors and health status. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in health-promoting lifestyle (HPL) and its predictors among health-related and non-health-related students.MethodsThe research participants were university students in the main island of Taiwan, and a two-stage sampling approach was adopted to obtain the samples from November 2020 to March 2021. First, 37 universities were randomly selected based on the ratio of public and private universities in each region of Taiwan. Then, based on the ratio of health-related and non-health-related majors of selected university, 25–30 students were randomly drawn from each university according to the student ID number to complete self-administered questionnaires, which included items for personal factors, perceived health status (PHS), health conception (HC), and health-promoting lifestyle profile (HPLP). A total of 1062 valid questionnaires were recovered, including 458 from health-related students and 604 from non-health-related students. Chi-squared test, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were performed.ResultsThe results showed that gender (p < 0.001), residential status (p = 0.023), body mass index (p = 0.016), and daily sleep duration (p = 0.034) of the students majoring in different disciplines were different. Health-related students having better HC (p = 0.002) and HPLP (p = 0.040) than non-health-related students. In addition, for both majors, females, low PHS scores, and low scores for functional/role, clinical, and eudaimonistic dimensions of HC were important indicators of a relatively negative HPLP, while health-related students who exercised 75 min or less per week and non-health-related students with a monthly disposable income of 15,000 TWD or less or who dined out 15 times or more per week also required attention in the promotion of HPL (health-related majors: adjusted R2 = 0.481, p < 0.001; non-health-related majors: adjusted R2 = 0.443, p < 0.001).ConclusionsStudents majoring in each discipline who had poor HPLP which is mentioned above should be prioritized in the provision of appropriate exercise or nutritional support programs on campus to promote their awareness and ability to pay attention to their health.

A cross-sectional survey on the allocation of nursing human resources in burn centers in China

Objective: To investigate the allocation of nursing human resources in burn centers in China. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Using a self-designed questionnaire, a survey was carried out from January to March 2022 to investigate the January to December 2021 status of 39 burn centers in China that met the inclusion criteria based on six strategic regions and other regions, including the hospital grade and the region, the number of nurses and opening beds in the burn centers and burn intensive care units (BICUs), the age, working seniority in burn specialty, educational background, professional title, personnel employment, and turnover of nurses and training of newly recruited nurses in the burn centers. Results: This survey covered 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China (excluding Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region of China). A total of 39 questionnaires were collected, all of which were valid. The 39 burn centers were located in 38 tertiary A hospitals and 1 tertiary B hospital, with 26 burn centers in strategic areas. The nurse/bed ratio of burn centers in the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao was the highest, while the nurse/bed ratio of burn centers in border ethnic minority area was the lowest. Except for the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, BICUs had been set up in burn centers in other regions. Among the 39 burn centers, the percentage of nurses aged 25 to 34 years was 51.21% (738/1 441), the percentage of nurses worked in burn specialty for less than 5 years was 31.16% (449/1 441), the percentage of nurses with bachelor's degree was 69.74% (1 005/1 441), and the percentage of nurses with nursing professional title was 44.14% (636/1 441), which were the highest. There were significant differences in the employment of nurses, the percentage of permanent nurses in burn centers in the collaborative development zone of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei was 82.48% (113/137), while the percentage of permanent nurses in burn centers in important military strategic area was only 9.42% (34/361); the turnover rate of nurses was 9.03% (143/1 584), among which the turnover rate of nurses was 18.14% (80/441) in burn centers in important military strategic area. The training for newly recruited nurses in 39 burn centers was mainly based on the guidance of senior nurses and the pre-job education+specialist training. Conclusions: The burn nursing human resources in strategic areas in China are seriously insufficient and unevenly distributed, with unstable nurse team and lack of standardized specialist training. In particular, the nursing human resources in BICUs need to be equipped and supplemented urgently.

A Stabilized Kriging Method for Mapping Disease Rates.

Mapping disease rates is an important aspect of epidemiological research because it helps inform public health policy. Disease maps are often drawn according to local administrative areas (LAAs), such as counties, cities, or towns. In LAAs with small populations, disease rates are unstable and are prone to appear extremely high or low. The empirical Bayes methods consider variance differences among different LAAs, thereby stabilizing the disease rates. The methods of kriging break the constraints of geopolitical boundaries and produce a smooth curved surface in the form of contour lines, but the methods lack the stabilizing effect of the empirical Bayes methods. An easy-to-implement stabilized kriging method is proposed to map disease rates, which allows different errors in different LAAs. Monte Carlo simulations revealed that the stabilized kriging method had smaller symmetric mean absolute percentage error than three other types of methods (the original LAA-based method, empirical Bayes methods, and traditional kriging methods) in nearly all scenarios considered. Real-world data analysis of oral cancer incidence rates in men from Taiwan demonstrated that the age-standardized rates in the central mountainous sparsely-populated region of Taiwan were stabilized using our proposed method, with no more large differences in numerical values, whereas the rates in other populous regions were not over-smoothed. Additionally, the stabilized kriging map had improved resolution and helped locate several hot and cold spots in the incidence rates of oral cancer. We recommend the use of the stabilized kriging method for mapping disease rates.

The high diversity of Scedosporium and Lomentospora species and their prevalence in human-disturbed areas in Taiwan.

Scedosporium and Lomentospora are important opportunistic pathogens causing localized or disseminated infection in humans. Understanding their environmental distribution is critical for public hygiene and clinical management. We carried out the first environmental survey in urbanized and natural regions in Taiwan. Overall, Scedosporium and Lomentospora species were recovered in 132 out of 273 soil samples (48.4%) across Taiwan. We morphologically and molecularly identified six Scedosporium species and one Lomentospora species. All four major clinical relevant species were isolated with high frequency, i.e. S. apiospermum (42.4%), S. boydii (21.8%), L. prolificans (14.5%), S. aurantiacum (8.5%); two clinically minor species, Pseudallescheria angusta (6.7%) and S. dehoogii (5.6%) and a saprobic species, S. haikouense (0.6%), had moderate to rare incidence. These fungal species had high incidence in urban (48.6%) and hospital (67.4%) soil samples, and had limited distribution in samples from natural regions (5%). Multivariate analysis of the fungal composition revealed strong evidence of the preferential distribution of these fungi in urban and hospital regions compared to natural sites. In addition, strong evidence suggested that the distribution and abundance of these fungal species were highly heterogeneous in the environment; samples in vicinity often yielded varied fungal communities. We concluded that these fungal species were prevalent in soil in Taiwan and their occurrences were associated with human activities. Although hygiene sensitive sites such as hospitals were not harboring heavier fungal burdens than other urban facilities in our survey, still, aware should be taken for the high frequency of these clinical relevant species around hospital regions.

“Through Pluripolarity to Socialism: A Manifesto” One Year On

ABSTRACT The International Manifesto Group launched its manifesto, “Through Pluripolarity to Socialism” on 5 September 2021. Then, the world’s attention was riveted to the US’s ignominious exit from Afghanistan. The following speeches, delivered at the webinar to mark the first anniversary of the event, reflect on the tumultuous events of the year since, dominated by the US-led war on Russia, using Ukraine as a proxy, its wider international reverberations which have underlined as well as accelerated the US’s decline and declining international influence and by the very real prospect that a similar US-led war is being planned against China using Taiwan region as a proxy. The speeches below find that, though the Manifesto’s text was finalised before anyone could have imagined such wars, its general line pointing to the decline of capitalism and imperialism and the imperative for humanity to progress through pluripolarity—a world of variety of national economic formations that will inevitably result as efforts to build productive and egalitarian societies are undertaken—to socialism as capitalism’s ability to deliver anything remotely similar is manifestly exhausted, has been vindicated.

National surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibilities to ceftaroline, dalbavancin, telavancin, tedizolid, eravacycline, omadacycline, and other comparator antibiotics, and genetic characteristics of bacteremic Staphylococcus aureus isolates in adults: Results from the Surveillance of Multicenter Antimicrobial Resistance in Taiwan (SMART) program in 2020.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes invasive infections and is associated with community-acquired infections (CAIs) and hospital-associated infections (HAIs). In 2020, 315 S. aureus isolates, including 145 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and 170 MRSA, mainly associated with bacteremia and mostly CAIs, were collected from 16 hospitals in different regions of Taiwan. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined using the Sensititre™ complete automated AST system. Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) types were analysed using multiplex polymerase chain reaction. The median age of patients infected with MRSA was significantly higher than that of patients infected with MSSA (72.5 years vs. 67.0 years, P=0.027). MIC50/MIC90 values of eravacycline and omadacycline were 0.06/0.12, and 0.25/0.5, respectively. Of the MRSA isolates, 4.1% presented susceptible dose-dependence to ceftaroline, most of which (85.7%) were HAI- and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)-negative. Among the MRSA isolates, 7.1% were not susceptible to telavancin and tedizolid (mainly type IV, PVL-negative, and CAI), 0.6% were not susceptible to daptomycin (type III, PVL-negative, and HAI), and 1.8% were not susceptible to quinupristin/dalfopristin (three isolates were type III, IV, and VT, respectively, and all were PVL-negative), but all were susceptible to dalbavancin. In conclusion, patients with bacteremia caused by MRSA were older than those with bacteremia caused by MSSA, SCCmec type IV was more predominant in CAI than in HAI, and MRSA isolates not susceptible to novel anti-MRSA antimicrobials belonged to types II, III, or IV. Further studies that include comprehensive demographics and more detailed descriptions of other antimicrobial-resistant genes are urgently needed.

SPORTS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND OVERALL PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: A LONGITUDINAL CASE STUDY / 運動與體育活動對於學業表現及全人發展的關聯：一個個案的長期研究

&lt;p&gt;Many researchers and scholars have done research and published theses, dissertations, scholarly papers and articles on the benefits and positive impacts of physical activities (exercise, sports, sports participations, and other related physical activities) on students’ academic performance as well as overall personal development. In fact, these PA (physical activities) can be considered as the backbones of the lives of students. However, most of these studies have been done mostly in a quantitative approach, synchronically, which makes it difficult to find out what changes these physical activities can bring to the lives of students in the long run. The present study is a qualitative, longitudinal and descriptive individual case study, which investigated the benefits and positive impacts of sports and physical activities on a single male student’s academic performance and his overall personal development during his 9 and half years of compulsory education in Taiwan region. For authenticity, reliability and validity, the research data were collected using a triangulation data collection approach - observation, documentation, and face-to-face interviews over a period of nine and half years of compulsory education in Taiwan. Results: First, there was a strong link between the case study subject’s involvement level and frequency in sports and physical activity and his academic performance. Second, higher intensity and higher frequency yielded better academic results. Third, a slight declining tendency was found in both physical activity and academic performance over the course of the study. Fourth, doing sports and physical activities regularly not only helped the case study subject to be active, energetic and healthy but also helped him to outperform academically those physically inactive students. Fifth, the case study subject improved physically and academically and became more disciplined, self-confident and responsible. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;許多研究人員和學者們曾經對於體育相關活動（包括訓練，運動，運動競技，及其它有關的體育活動）之於學生的學業成績與個人的全面發展所帶來的益處和積極影響分別進行了研究，並發表了報告，論文及專業論文。事實上，這些體育活動（PA, physical activities）就像是學生生活中的脊樑骨。然而，這些研究大多是截取特定時間的量化研究，難以發現體育活動(PA)對於學生生活所帶來的延續的(for a long run)變化。本研究採用的是質的、長時期的，以個案為研究對象的描述性研究。研究一名來自台灣地區男學生於9 年半的義務教育期間，他的運動競技與體育活動對其學業成績和個人的整體發展所產生的益處與積極影響。為了取得真實、可靠和有效性，本研究所蒐集到的資料則採用三角交叉法分析，對於個案接受九年半的義務教育期間進行觀察、檔案分析和面對面訪談。研究結果發現：第一，研究對象的運動競技及體育活動的涉入程度和頻率與其學業成績之間曾有強烈的關聯。第二，較強度的和高頻率的運動及體育活動能產生更好的學業成績。第三，在研究過程中，體育活動和學業成績兩者都有輕微下降的趨勢。第四，從事規律的運動競技和體育活動，不僅有助於個案保持活躍、精力充沛和健康，他的學業成績也超越那些不愛運動的學生。第五，個案在身體和學業上得到提升，同時也變得更加自律、自信和負責任。&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/soc/0023/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;