Urban Areas In Taiwan Research Articles

Three-Dimensional Numerical Analysis on the Influence of Buttress Wall Removal Timing on the Lateral Deformation of Diaphragm Walls during Deep Excavation

Urban areas in Taiwan are densely populated with limited land. Excavation often takes place near existing buildings, necessitating protective measures for adjacent properties. Among these measures, cross walls or buttress walls are commonly employed, especially in weak foundation soils, which have seen many successful applications. These mechanisms mainly contribute to reducing lateral deformation of the diaphragm walls, ground subsidence, and excavation face uplift. However, the behavior of these walls is essentially three-dimensional, and common engineering analyses employing one-dimensional elastoplastic beam analysis cannot adequately simulate their mechanical behavior. This study utilized the PLAXIS 3D 2018 software to analyze real-life cases of buttress walls and cross walls. Then, the results of the numerical models were validated against actual field measurements, and the outcomes were satisfactory, and within the regulatory allowable values. The primary objective of this study was to find the influence of different buttress wall removal timings on the lateral deformation of the diaphragm wall. The findings suggest that the gradual removal of buttress walls will effectively control the lateral deformation of diaphragm walls during the excavation of deeper floors like mezzanines.

Sources-oriented contributions to ozone and secondary organic aerosol formation potential based on initial VOCs in an urban area of Eastern Asia

Over the past decades, the pollution of ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosols (SOA) in the atmosphere has become a major concern worldwide due to their adverse effects on human health, air quality and climate. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are crucial precursors of O3 and SOA, but identifying the primary sources of VOCs that contribute to the formation of O3 and SOA has been challenging due to the rapid consumption of VOCs by oxidants in the air. To address this issue, a study was conducted in a Taipei urban area in Taiwan, where the hourly data of 54 VOC species were collected from March 2020 to February 2021 detected by Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS). The initial mixing ratios of VOCs (VOCsini) were determined by combining the observed VOCs (VOCsobs) and the consumed VOCs resulting from photochemical reactions. Additionally, the ozone formation potential (OFP) and secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAFP) were estimated based on VOCsini. The OFP derived from VOCsini (OFPini) was found to exhibit a strong correlation with O3 mixing ratios (R2 = 0.82), whereas the OFP obtained from VOCsobs did not show such a correlation. Isoprene, toluene and m,p-xylene were the top three species contributing to OFPini, while toluene and m,p-xylene were the top two contributors to SOAFPini. Positive matrix factorization analysis revealed that biogenic, consumer/household products, and industrial solvents were the major contributors to OFPini in four seasons, and SOAFPini mostly came from consumer/household products and industrial solvents. This study highlights the importance of considering photochemical loss caused by different VOCs reactivity in the atmosphere when evaluating OFP and SOAFP. Moreover, it emphasizes the need to prioritize controlling the sources emitting the dominant VOC precursors of O3 and SOA to effectively alleviate the scenarios of elevated O3 and particulate matter.

A knowledge elicitation approach to traffic accident analysis in open data: comparing periods before and after the Covid-19 outbreak

Extracting knowledge from open data of traffic accidents has been attracting increasing attention to policymakers responsible for road safety. This article presents a knowledge elicitation approach to exploring the determinants of traffic accidents from open government data of an urban area in Taiwan. The collected open dataset contains 34 decisional attributes and one predictive attribute (i.e., type of injury, including head, breast, leg), and 47,974 cases. Prediction models using a classification-oriented mechanism and generated rules that considered datasets from before (B-dataset; 30,116 cases) and after (A-dataset; 17,868 cases) beginning to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in an urban area of Taiwan were compared. The findings showed that prediction accuracy was acceptable but not high, at 70.73% for B-dataset and 74.77% for A-dataset. Determinants in the human and vehicle categories revealed higher classification ranks than those in the temporal and environment categories. Traffic accidents involving motorcycles were 5.13% higher in A-dataset, whereas those involving cars were 4.11% lower. Injury on leg or foot was 3.46% higher in A-dataset, whereas other types of injury were up to 1.00% lower. The average support for rules in the A-dataset rule base and the simplicity of the A-dataset decision tree were higher than those of B-dataset. The research demonstrates the value of open government data in prediction model development and knowledge elicitation to support policymaking in the traffic safety domain.

To predict PM2.5 by a deep learning method of long-short term memory network - A case study of Kaohsiung City

BACKGROUND AND AIM: In recent years, particulate matter (PM) has become a serious air pollutant in urban areas of Taiwan and has drawn more and more attention. This study selected possible factors affecting the concentration of PM2.5 (PM with aerodynamic particle size of less than 2.5 μm) and aimed at establishing a model using machine learning for predicting air pollution. METHODS: Long-short term memory (LSTM) is a special recurrent neural network (RNN) model proposed to solve the problem of gradient dispersion of RNN model. In this study, we applied the LSTM network to identifying air pollutants (SO2, NO2) and meteorological factor (wind speed) that affect the concentration of PM. We used the information provided by the Air Quality Monitoring Network of the Environmental Protection Administration and obtained data on three air pollutants (PM2.5, SO2, NO2) from the eight monitoring stations in Kaohsiung City from 2017 to 2018. The LSTM network was used to classify, process, and train time series. The prediction model of PM2.5 was based on supervised learning that used the air pollution on the previous 3 hours to predict the level of PM2.5 every other hour. RESULTS:The average concentration of PM2.5 in Kaohsiung City from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018 was 25.329 μg/m3. PM2.5 had a correlation coefficient of 0.261 with SO2, and that with NO2 was 0.648 and -0.085 respectively. By integrating the above four air pollutants, an LSTM network analysis was used to establish a prediction model of PM2.5. By comparing the trained values with the test values, we obtained a root mean square error value of the model as 2.759. CONCLUSIONS:This study showed that the LSTM network approach could be applied to predict daily pollution levels. This may improve the accuracy of air quality forecasting and the warning of specific pollution elements. KEYWORDS: Long-short term memory (LSTM), deep learning, particulate matter (PM)

Acoustic preadaptation to transmit vocal individuality of savanna nightjars in noisy urban environments

As urbanization has expanded dramatically, the impacts of urban noise on wildlife have drawn increasing attention. However, previous studies have focused primarily on diurnal songbirds and much less on nocturnal nonpasserines such as nightjars. The savanna nightjar has recently successfully colonized urban areas in Taiwan. Using 1925 calls recorded from 67 individuals, we first investigated the individual differences of the acoustic structures; and, for those acoustic variables with significant individual differences, we examined the correlation between the acoustic structures and the ambient noise levels. We then compared the transmission efficacy of vocal individuality among three sets of acoustic variables: all acoustic variables, noise-related variables, and noise-unrelated variables. Using seven artificial frequency-shifted calls to represent seven different individuals in playback-recording experiments, we also investigated the transmission efficacy of vocal individuality and variable accuracy in three different urban noise levels (high, medium, low). We found that all 30 acoustic variables derived from the acoustic structures demonstrated significant individual differences, and 14 frequency-based variables were negatively correlated with ambient noise levels. Although transmission efficacy was significantly affected by urban noise, individuality information was still transmitted with high accuracy. Furthermore, the noise-unrelated structures (which included the maximum frequency, the maximum amplitude frequency, and the mean frequency of the call) had a significantly higher transmission efficacy of vocal individuality than the noise-related variables (which included the minimum frequency, the frequency at the start and the end of the call) in both field observation and playback-recording experiments. We conclude that these noise-unrelated acoustic features may be one of the key preadaptations for this nocturnal nonpasserine to thrive so successfully in its newly adopted urban environment.

Risk Assessment for People Exposed to PM2.5 and Constituents at Different Vertical Heights in an Urban Area of Taiwan

Environmental epidemiological studies have consistently reported associations between ambient particulate matter (PM) concentrations and everyday mortality/morbidity. Many urban dwellers in Asia live in high-rise apartment buildings; thus, the pollutant concentrations of their immediate outdoor environments are affected by the vertical distribution of pollutants in the atmosphere. The vertical distributions of pollutants provide unique information about their sources and dynamic transport in urban areas, as well as their relationship to people’s exposure at ground level, while the vertical distributions of pollutants have rarely been considered in exposure assessment. In the current study, PM concentrations (with aerodynamic diameters less than 1.0 μm (PM1), 2.5 μm (PM2.5), and 10 μm (PM10)), nanoparticles, black carbon (BC), and particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (p-PAHs) were measured at different residential heights—6 m, 16 m, and 27 m—at Feng Chia University near a popular night market in Western Taiwan. PM2.5 data were further adopted for health risk estimations. In winter, the magnitude of PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations were 16 m > 6 m > 27 m; nanoparticle concentrations were 6 m > 27 m > 16 m; and BC and p-PAHs concentrations were 27 m > 16 m > 6 m. In summer, PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations ranged from 6 m > 16 m > 27 m; nanoparticle concentrations were 6 m > 16 m; and BC and p-PAHs concentrations were from 27 m > 16 m. PM and constituents concentrations during winter were significantly higher in the nighttime than those in daytime, and levels of PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 increased rapidly on 6 m and 16 m heights (but did not increase at 27 m) after 5 pm, whereas these trends became less significant in summer. Health risk analysis for PM2.5 concentrations showed a decrease in lung cancer mortality rate and an extended lifespan for residents living at 27 m. Overall, the current study investigated the vertical profile of particulate matters and analyzed health impacts of PM2.5 at different residential heights in urban area of Taiwan. As the distributions of PM and the constituents varied at different residential heights, exposure and risk assessment of particle concentrations with multiple sizes and various components at broader vertical heights should be further investigated.

An Integrated Urban Positioning Algorithm Using Matching, Particle Swam Optimized Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System and a Spatial City Model

In urban environments, Global Positioning System (GPS) signals are often reflected or blocked by buildings causing multipath effects and Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) reception. These effects degrade GPS positioning performance. Although improved receiver and antenna design can reduce the multipath effect to some extent, NLOS elimination is limited due to sensor cost. Measurements based modelling methods have shown promise to reduce NLOS, while positioning accuracy is limited by the correct classification of the signal reception types. These limitations are addressed in this paper by developing an integrated algorithm using matching, Particle Swam Optimized Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (PSO-ANFIS) and a spatial city model. The user's location is determined by matching the high accuracy signal reception type determined by PSO-ANFIS with satellite visibility of each candidate position determined by the ray-tracing and a 3D city model. The results from a field test in an urban area in Taiwan show that the PSO-ANFIS based algorithm achieves a classification accuracy of 96%, 88%, and 91% for LOS, multipath and NLOS signals, respectively, which is superior to the other classification algorithms. The final horizontal positioning accuracies in terms of the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) are 3.20 m using a commercial receiver and 1.88 m using a geodetic receiver. The proposed algorithm has consistent improvements of 88% and 70% respectively compared to the traditional Weighted Least Square (WLS) based positioning method, and is the best compared to the other state-of-the art methods with the improvements ranging from 15% to 77% depending on the test conditions.

Metallic elements emitted from industrial sources in Taiwan: Implications for source identification using airborne PM

Filterable stack total suspended particle (TSP) samples emitted from electric arc furnace (EAF) steel manufacturing plants, coal-fired power plants (CPP), cement mills (CM), and petroleum refineries (PR), were isokinetically collected using an in-stack PM device and analyzed for thirty-one targeted elements. The results showed that metallic elements constituted a majority (43–61%) of stack TSP mass in EAF steel plants and CM whereas contributed to a less fraction (11–27%) in CPP and PR. The coefficient of divergence (COD) values varied from 0.58 to 0.81, indicating that the elemental profiles between each industrial source were very distinct. Geological elements such as Al, Fe, Ca, Na, Mg, and K were the dominant elements in all industrial sources (50–96% of elemental mass). Besides, Zn was another dominant metal (22–40% of element mass) in addition to Fe in EAF steel plants and Ni (~3.6%) was the most predominant metal in oil-refinery. Tracers in different industrial sectors were also identified by source marker calculations. Moreover, the ratios of La/Ce (1.8) and La/Nd (6.0) in fluidized bed catalytic cracking (FCC) were 20–30 times higher than those of other industrial sectors. Utilizing both La/Ce and La/Nd ratios, the contribution of FCC PR to ambient primary TSP surrounding by the petroleum refinery was estimated to be 0.6%, which was comparable to the Taiwan Emission Data (0.7%). This highlighted that La/Ce and La/Nd ratios can be able to track the influence of petroleum refining sources on airborne particles in an industrial urban area in Taiwan.

Aspects of socio-emotional learning in Taiwan\u2019s pre-schools: an exploratory study of teachers\u2019 perspectives

This paper explores the attitudes and practices of kindergarten teachers in Taiwan related to socio-emotional learning in children aged 3–6. Unlike in Western countries where socio-emotional learning is an important aspect of life in pre-schools, such learning has been given little attention in Taiwan until recently with the publication of new curriculum guidelines for kindergarten aged children. Based on an internationally recognised definition of socio-emotional learning, 1:1 interviews were conducted with 27 teachers in two urban areas in Taiwan. The study attempted to illuminate how teachers interpret their role in supporting children’s socio-emotional learning. Even in the public sector it was found that the relatively new curriculum guidelines were only casually referred to in the teachers’ professional practice though several teachers recognised that children’s socio-emotional learning in the kindergarten was now essential. However, in some pre-schools more attention was paid to developing other areas of the curriculum such as language and math, rather than to developing social and emotional skills. In the private sector, which provides two-thirds of Taiwan’s kindergarten places, the guidelines were almost completely ignored. Many teachers considered children’s socio-emotional learning in the kindergarten to be incidental even when children express negative emotions such as anger. In Taiwan’s traditional culture, the family is the dominant socialising unit for children’s early learning. Teachers hitherto have not regarded children’s socio-emotional learning as their responsibility. The authors maintain that this tradition now needs to be challenged and propose that programs of both initial and in-service training should be given priority to improve children’s socio-emotional learning and suggest ideas from an on-going initiative in the US.

Differences in Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage Cases between Urban and Rural Regions of Taiwan: Big Data Analytics of Government Open Data.

This study evaluated the differences in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH) between rural and urban areas of Taiwan with big data analysis. We used big data analytics and visualization tools to examine government open data, which included the residents’ health medical administrative data, economic status, educational status, and relevant information. The study subjects included sICH patients of Taipei region (29,741 cases) and Eastern Taiwan (4565 cases). The incidence of sICH per 100,000 population per year in Eastern Taiwan (71.3 cases) was significantly higher than that of the Taipei region (42.3 cases). The mean coverage area per hospital in Eastern Taiwan (452.4 km2) was significantly larger than the Taipei region (24 km2). The residents educational level in the Taipei region was significantly higher than that in Eastern Taiwan. The mean hospital length of stay in the Taipei region (17.9 days) was significantly greater than that in Eastern Taiwan (16.3 days) (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in other medical profiles between two areas. Distance and educational barriers were two possible reasons for the higher incidence of sICH in the rural area of Eastern Taiwan. Further studies are necessary in order to understand these phenomena in greater depth.

Flood damage assessment of an urban area in Taiwan

In Taiwan, flooding is one of the major natural hazards causing death and millions of dollars of economic losses every year. In order to minimize damage, a detailed and comprehensive flood damage assessment is necessary for both flood control planning and emergency service operations. As such, the objectives of this study were to assess possible flood damages and provide a comprehensive flood risk index for Taichung City in Taiwan. An analytic hierarchy process questionnaire, which included the factors of different land-use types, was designed and answered by 33 experts from governments, industry, and academia in Taiwan. Questionnaire responses were analyzed, and numerical values were allocated for each land-use type. A flood risk index was then produced by combining the potential of inundation and the flood damage scores. Higher flood risk was found along major roads and the main channel of the Fazih River. The methodology used in this study can be applied to most urbanized areas in Taiwan and elsewhere in the world when the required data sets are available.

Estimation of anthropogenic heat emissions in urban Taiwan and their spatial patterns

High energy consumption in the urban environment impacts the urban surface energy budget and causes the emission of anthropogenic heat fluxes (AHFs) into the atmosphere. AHFs vary over time and space. Thus, a reliable estimation of AHF is needed for mesoscale meteorological modeling. This study used a statistical regression method to estimate the annual mean gridded AHF with high spatial (1-km) resolution. Compared with current methods for AHF estimation, the statistical regression method is straightforward and can be easily incorporated with meteorological modeling. AHF of the highly populated urban areas in Taiwan were estimated using data from the anthropogenic pollutant emission inventory of CO and NOx for year 2010. Over 40% of the total AHF values in Taiwan main island fell within the range of 10–40 Wm−2. When the study domain was confined to urban land, the percentage contributions from AHF values were increased, with over 68% of the total AHF values within the range of 10–40 Wm−2. AHF values > 40 Wm−2 were more abundant in the Southern region, followed by the Central and Northern regions. An assessment of the heat emissions by the large scale urban consumption of energy (LUCY) model revealed that the mean AHFs are reasonably close to those produced while the maximum AHFs are underestimated. The results obtained evidence the impact of spatial distribution of land use types, particularly population densities, main highways and industries on AHF generation in Taiwan.

Modeling the spatio-temporal heterogeneity in the PM10-PM2.5 relationship

This paper explores the spatio-temporal patterns of particulate matter (PM) in Taiwan based on a series of methods. Using fuzzy c-means clustering first, the spatial heterogeneity (six clusters) in the PM data collected between 2005 and 2009 in Taiwan are identified and the industrial and urban areas of Taiwan (southwestern, west central, northwestern, and northern Taiwan) are found to have high PM concentrations. The PM10-PM2.5 relationship is then modeled with global ordinary least squares regression, geographically weighted regression (GWR), and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR). The GTWR and GWR produce consistent results; however, GTWR provides more detailed information of spatio-temporal variations of the PM10-PM2.5 relationship. The results also show that GTWR provides a relatively high goodness of fit and sufficient space-time explanatory power. In particular, the PM2.5 or PM10 varies with time and space, depending on weather conditions and the spatial distribution of land use and emission patterns in local areas. Such information can be used to determine patterns of spatio-temporal heterogeneity in PM that will allow the control of pollutants and the reduction of public exposure.

Mathematically gifted adolescent females’ mixed sentiment toward gender stereotypes

There has been a paucity of research on gifted individuals’ perceptions of gender stereotypes. The purpose of this study was to explore mathematically gifted adolescent females’ perceptions of gender stereotypes through a research design of the qualitative multiple case study involving the constant comparison and the Three C’s analysis scheme. Nine female junior high school students living in an urban area of Taiwan were recruited. Five major themes emerged after data analysis: uncomfortable feelings about gender inequality, denial of the importance of beauty, high career aspirations, agreement on the stereotypes of negative female dispositions, and identification with masculine qualities and interests. These themes reflected their mixed sentiment toward gender stereotypes. The social identity approach, social status theory, and optimal distinctiveness theory were employed to explain these young women’s perception of gender stereotypes. Implications for interventions to address inner conflict and for future research were also discussed.

Nutritional status and its health-related factors among older adults in rural and urban areas.

To compare health-related characteristics, nutrition-related factors and nutritional status of older adults living in rural and urban counties of Taiwan. The older adult population of Taiwan is increasing. Furthermore, older people living in rural areas have shorter life expectancy and more chronic diseases than their urban counterparts. However, little is known about the health-related characteristics, nutrition-related factors and nutritional status of older adults living in rural and urban areas of Taiwan, limiting nurses' ability to identify and care for older adults at risk of poor nutritional health. Cross-sectional, comparative. Older adults were randomly selected from names of residents of an adjacent rural and urban area of northern Taiwan and having completing the 2009 health evaluation. From March-July 2010, older adult participants (N=366) provided data on demographic and health-related information, nutritional self-efficacy, health locus of control and nutritional status. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics and compared using chi-square and t-test. Older rural participants had significantly lower educational level, less adequate income, higher medication use, lower scores on self-rated health status and researcher-rated health status and lower self-rated healthy eating status than their urban counterparts. Moreover, rural participants had significantly lower nutritional self-efficacy, higher chance health locus of control and poorer nutritional status than their urban counterparts. Our results suggest that nurses should assess older adults living in rural areas for nutritional health and nutrition knowledge. Based on this assessment, nurses should develop easy, practical and accessible nutritional programmes for this population.

Exploring the relationships between analogical, analytical, and creative thinking

The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationships between analogical, analytical, and creative thinking and other relevant issues through a carefully constructed and self-designed instrument. Participants were 287 six-graders living in an urban area of Taiwan. Major findings are shown as follows. Whereas three factors with larger-than-one eigenvalues were extracted, the g factor can be considered existing in the present study because the variance explained by the first principal factor was much larger than those explained by the other two. The two types of novel analogies were significantly and negatively correlated with each other. Analogical thinking straddles both the fields of analytical and creative thinking. Of the four analogy subscales, the traditional analogical-verbal section was most capable of predicting analytical thinking, creative thinking, and academic achievements. Discussions of the findings were presented in the context of the existing literature.

Corrosion Risk of Welded Steel Frames in the Urban Areas of Taiwan

This paper reviews the recent experimental work on steel welds and connections, as to investigate the effects of corrosion on steel welded frames in the urban areas in Taiwan. In the first part of the paper, the tensile strengths have been compared for steel welds with and without rust. In the worst case, the steel plates were placed outdoors for 9 months, as to cause pitting on the welding surface (i.e. the rust level was raised to the SSPC level D). The rust was found to reduce the strength 5% on average. In the second part, the hysteresis loops were depicted and compared for the 2 connections taken from an existing building. The connections were tested after being exposed to air and moisture 10 years. The non-rehabilitated connection developed strength well until the top beam flange fractured at the interstory drift over 3%. Despite that, the connection tests didnt show any impacts of corrosion. Based on the above work, corrosion can be considered to affect the steel welded frames in Taiwan, but to a limited extent.

Addressing watercourse sanitation in dense, water pollution-affected urban areas in Taiwan

The process of urbanization places urban watercourses at greater risk of the kind of pollution that affects public health, ecology and the environment. In Taiwan, municipal wastewater is the largest source of pollution in rivers and canals, particularly in dense urban areas that lack adequate sewer systems. As research on Taiwan’s watercourses is dominated by landscape design and ecological engineering, watercourse sanitation is rarely examined in any depth. This paper presents findings on the impact of wastewater on two natural and two artificial waterways located in major cities in Taiwan. As a result of interviews, direct observation, photographs and a review of government documents, several issues emerge. First, due to the poor water quality, local residents prefer watercourses to be concealed, leading to underground culverts; however, water pollution is made worse, the ecological value is damaged and the amenity benefit reduced. Second, despite large investments in improving channel-side landscapes, poor water quality diminishes the success of watercourse rehabilitation. Third, because of the low completion rate of municipal sewer systems, the construction of channel-side sewage-intercepting facilities is effective against riparian wastewater in the short term. In conclusion, improving water quality may be the first step towards successful watercourse redevelopment. A combination of establishing short-term sewage-intercepting facilities and long-term municipal sewer systems is suggested to advance national environmental quality in Taiwan.

Prediction of Energy Usage Intensity of the Commercial Blocks in the Urban Areas of Taiwan

This study develops a set of prediction models to estimate energy usage for commercial blocks in urban areas. Commercial blocks in Taipei City, Taichung City, and Tainan City of Taiwan were selected as research subjects, and a total of 93 blocks were surveyed. With the survey of land use type and intensity, building usage, and actual building energy usage of the blocks, a set of commercial block energy usage prediction models were proposed and tested, and two commonly used land use variables (the floor area ratio and total floor areas) were included as independent variables in these models. The average number of floors and an indicator of commercial activity intensity were then employed to help define the level of energy usage intensity for the blocks surveyed in order to refine the models, and the R2 for both energy usage prediction models increases to 0.94 and 0.92, respectively. This study shows that land use variables can be utilized to rapidly estimate energy usage of commercial blocks in urban areas, and the finding should be useful for decision-makers to formulate policies on urban energy management and land use planning.

The associations between health literacy, reasons for seeking health information, and information sources utilized by Taiwanese adults

Objective: To determine the associations between health literacy, the reasons for seeking health information, and the information sources utilized by Taiwanese adults. Method: A cross-sectional survey of 752 adults residing in rural and urban areas of Taiwan was conducted via questionnaires. Chi-squared tests and logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results: Health literacy was found to be lower among adults who were older, with lower educational attainment, with lower household income, with blue-collar occupation, and living in rural areas. After socio-demographic characteristics were controlled for, adults with adequate health literacy were significantly more likely than adults with inadequate or marginal health literacy to report desires for health-related information, autonomous medical decision making, and finding information on their own, as reasons for seeking health information. Adults with inadequate or marginal health literacy were more likely to cite recommendations from medical professionals and hesitation to ask medical professionals questions as their reasons for seeking health information. Adults with adequate health literacy were significantly more likely than those with inadequate or marginal health literacy to obtain health information from the Internet, books, newspapers, and magazines, and were less likely to seek health information from alternative care providers. Conclusion: The findings suggest the need to consider target groups’ health literacy when developing health education programmes. More attention must be focused on providing interventions that motivate information seeking and improve information-seeking skills for adults with limited health literacy.