The restoration of sediment-related disasters and driftwood from national forest in Taiwan caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009

The number and area of new landslide, according to the interpreted SPOT images, caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009 is estimated as 30,223 and 43,996 ha, respectively. The new landslide area in 2009 increased by about 16,392 ha in comparison with the landslide area in 2008. The heavy rainfall with a return period well over 200 years during Typhoon Morakot centralized in southwestern and southeastern Taiwan, and that also resulted in serious landslide disasters in national forest. Four forest working circles, including Chishan, Laonong, Pintung, and Dawu, are the most serious landslide zones with the landslide ratio over 8.0%. The Forestry Bureau assesses and ranks the seriousness of the disasters by using slope, the number of protected objects, the distance from the disaster to the protected objects to execute the restoration of sediment disasters and landslide in national forest. Due to the most torrential rain in the past 50 years caused by Typhoon Morakot, a large number of trees in the mountain area were destroyed. They became the driftwood, with a total weight of about 1.52 million tons, which ended up at the farmlands and ports. In order to recover agricultural products and livelihoods, Forestry Bureau made strategy for disaster prevention and reduction. Based on the strategy, Forestry Bureau sweeps away the driftwood by estimating its distribution, overcomes the issues caused by the heavy rainfall disaster, and helps the victims to recover their life

A STUDY ON THE BENEFITS OF SPORTS TOURISM ON CITY MARKETING

The purpose of this study is to explore the benefits of sports tourism on city marketing. In recent years, Taiwan has been actively striving for the marketing of large-scale sports events in the development of international sports. The host city uses the resources invested before the holding of the sports event to develop sports tourism attractions, develop sports tourism policies, and make good use of marketing and promotion strategies to shape the city’s image; and uses media marketing as a tourism promotion tool to expand Taiwan’s sports tourism facets which would bring huge tourism effects. This study organizes the research of past scholars by way of literature discussion, and then collects, organizes and analyzes the data. It is concluded that Taiwan has opened up its international reputation through international large-scale sports events and city marketing. From the experience of hosting international large-scale events, Taiwan not only attracts countless domestic and foreign tourists, but also promotes its city’s culture, tourism, and economy. The vigorous development of related industries, the enhancement of sports tourism quality and the improvement of sports tourism image in Taiwan are also achieved. Finally, international large-scale events revitalize the city to bring business opportunities and make such events the pride of the city. Therefore, this study serves as a reference for future exploration of sports tourism development and city marketing issues, integrating relevant resources, and providing reference for relevant organizations to jointly build Taiwan as a sports tourism island. JEL: L10; L80; L83 Article visualizations

The investigation of STEM Self-Efficacy and Professional Commitment to Engineering among female high school students

This study employed social cognitive theory and social cognitive career theory (SCCT) as foundations to explore the influence of high school  students’ beliefs about female gender roles and female engineer role models on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)self-efficacy and professional commitment to engineering. A total of 88 students from a national girls’ high school participated in STEM  project-based learning. A survey questionnaire named The STEM  Self-efficacy and Professional Commitment to Engineering Questionnaire, developed by the researchers, was administered to collect data, and a structured equation model was employed to confirm the multi-theoretical model developed in this study. The results of this study show that  enhancing the gender role beliefs and engineer role models of female students may increase their STEM self-efficacy and professional  commitment to engineering. In other words, the female high school  students’ professional commitment to engineering model can explain  students’ intentions for future engineering careers. Thus, this study  suggests integrating STEM project-based learning into the curricula of various schools and integrating female engineer role models into STEM project-based learning activities for female students, which can enhance female high school students’ STEM self-efficacy and professional  commitment to engineering.Keywords: female engineer role model; female gender role beliefs;  professional commitment to engineering; STEM project-based learning; STEM self-efficac

What are the attractiveness aspects that influence customer loyalty to homestays? A study in Taiwan

The purpose of this study is to investigate the direct relationship between perceived attractiveness aspects and customer loyalty. The perceived attractiveness aspects are operationalized into five dimensions, namely surroundings of the building and features; service quality; homestay facilities; homestay operation and management; and homestay geist and community co-prosperity. The hypotheses are postulated and tested using a sample of 566respondents that were homestay customers in Taiwan The data used in this study was collected via self-administered questionnaires The study employs the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique to test the validity of the proposed hypotheses via Smart-PLS software. The results show that only four out of five sub-hypotheses are supported. The conclusion of this study provides theoretical implications and practical implications, as well as suggestions for future studies either in Malaysia or Taiwan

Local Practice of Intelligent Innovation and Sustainable Development of Environmental in NCUT of Taiwan

The purpose of this project is to assist local fruit farmers to increase output value through innovative development, build a distribution network for agricultural products, and increase farmers' income. In the technology of increasing agricultural output value, NCUT's professional team applies smart agricultural technology to monitor fruit trees to prevent pests and diseases, maintain the healthy growth and yield of fruit trees, and solve the problem of lack of labor in farmland. The NCUT team practices strategic marketing and business models to guide fruit farmers to promote local creation and enhance local cultural characteristics. This project assists in the implementation of new quality-guaranteed and value-added technologies, promotes high-quality agricultural products across the country and improves local tourism marketing, and activates agricultural product promotion activities to achieve mutual support between industry and academia. In addition, in response to the 50th anniversary of the World Earth Day, NCUT held a tree planting to save the earth to implement the concept of sustainable environmental development. President Chen, faculty and students planted 500 Cinnamomum camphor seedlings on the NCUT campus in response to the UN Climate Change Framework Convention.Keyword: Environmental Protection, Local Practice, Intelligent Innovation, Intelligent Agricultural Technology, Sustainable Developmen

Reviving musical indigeneity : institutionalization, transmission, and revival of Taiwan’s aboriginal music

This dissertation studies the revival of Taiwan’s Aboriginal music motivated by the emergence of a strong Aboriginal consciousness during the last three decades. This revivalism has been stimulated in part by government initiatives to foster diversity in the national arts, by the changing economies of Aboriginal musical performance, and by the Aboriginal communities’ emerging commitment to musical-cultural preservation. Instead of framing revival as a mere counterhegemonic move of returning to an “authentic tradition” with a long history, this research argues that Aboriginal music revival is a contemporary phenomenon of constructing or reimagining the musical past enacted in discursive, performative, and institutional efforts. By emphasizing the articulation of musical indigeneity, this dissertation teases out the processes and multiple ways practitioners respond to the state and engage in the specific aspects of revived music in relation to their adaptations, interpretations, and cultural choices. My dissertation links the study of Aboriginal music revival to recent literature related to affect, critical organology, and language revitalization, focusing on several essential phenomena of Aboriginal music revival: (1) the institutionalization and the state’s heritage projects of Paiwan nose flutes (lalingedan) and mouth flutes (pakulalu) that have reinforced a particular thoughtful sorrow as a core aesthetic symbol of the Paiwan; (2) the craftsmanship of Paiwan flute making and playing that are central to the transformation of the Paiwan soundscape and changing state’s heritage projects, and; (3) the emerging movement of Aboriginal mother-tongue songwriting that participated in a wider revalorization of the “local” in Taiwan’s music industry, with a particular focus on Paiwan songwriters. Through a close examination of affective, material, and vocal dimensions of Aboriginal Paiwan music, this study aims to provide an alternative mode to reexamine the naturalized connections to the ancient past and bounded reification of identities occurring in music revival. I argue that the examination of these dimensions of music contributes to the understanding of diverse manifestations of Aboriginal music and how certain aspects of local musical practices attain new importance as core values for revival.Musi

Development of a Multi-Region Input-Output Database for Policy Applications

Countries face different problems depending on factors such as geographical position, climate, wealth, political regime, and natural resources. Given this diversity, it is important that economic, social, and environmental assessments utilise regionally detailed and comprehensive information. However, when examining a particular type of assessment, studies (in most cases) are usually conducted without any regional or sectoral specificity due to the difficulty of creating an inter-regional modelling framework at sub-national levels. A fundamental tool for identifying specific economic characteristics of regions (either global or within a nation) is a multi-region input-output (MRIO) system. Through the understanding of regional economic distribution, sectoral contribution, and inter-regional supply chain network, input-output (I-O) based assessments are capable of providing a comprehensive picture of regional economic structures. However, the creation of an MRIO system is a time-consuming task that requires skill in handling the complexity of data compilation and reconciliation. To this end, finding an alternative method for creating an MRIO database in the most efficient way is necessary. In this thesis, I developed new MRIO databases that utilised virtual laboratory technology: IndoLab, TaiwanLab, SwedenLab, and USLab , and also took part in developing the JapanLab. I then demonstrated the use of these new facilities for addressing research questions surrounding employment multipliers in Indonesia, economic impacts due to natural disasters in Taiwan, regional consumer emissions in Sweden, and the responsibility for food loss in Japan. In addition, I presented the application of a new dataset in the global MRIO database for assessing the carbon footprints of global tourism sectors

Social and educational inclusion in Taiwan in relation to elementary Schooling with reference to the UK, particularly Scotland

Inclusive education, a relatively new education system, provides an environment for both non-disabled and disabled children to interact and to understand each other. The purpose of this study was to investigate relevant key stakeholders’ voices and opinions by means of interviews, observations, focus groups and parental surveys. It started from providing a general background of Taiwan’s history and education to the investigating of current implementation of social policies and primary inclusive education in Taiwan. In conducting the study, an investigation into inclusive education in Taiwan was undertaken, specifically the implementation of inclusive education in primary schools in Tainan region. This study obtained a great deal of information from a wide range of stakeholders: perspectives on inclusive policies were obtained by means of interviews. Non-disabled and disabled children’s daily school life and interactions among other children and teachers were recorded via observations and focus groups whilst data gathered through parental questionnaires provided parents’ opinions, reactions and responses. Starting from the pursuit of human rights in Western societies, the focus then shifted to the context of Taiwanese society. More and more attention on the issue of human rights and disadvantaged groups’ rights are paid and in general, the notion of all human beings are equal is rooted and sprouted in Taiwanese culture. The results showed that, in general, professionals believed that inclusive education was basically positive for both non-disabled and disabled children. Inclusive settings provide an environment for both non-disabled and disabled children to share their experiences so that when children grow up, they would have positive attitudes towards each other. However, some professionals were concerned about the consequences of locating disabled pupils, especially pupils with behavioural disorders, in mainstream schools. In most cases, pupils with physical impairments are more easily accepted than those with behavioural disorder ones. It is still not easy to break the barriers, such as people’s inherent notions towards disadvantaged groups, the reality that some behavioural disorder pupils are aggressive and teachers’ time might be spent more on special need pupils, in such a complicated social system. With regard to learning in inclusive settings; both non-disabled and disabled pupils, in general, felt comfortable or did not feel too much difference in the inclusive classroom. The study highlighted that, in most inclusive classrooms, both non-disabled and disabled pupils could be accepted by each other; and in some cases, non-disabled and disabled pupils liked to be located in the inclusive classroom. Parents, however, had more diverse opinions than in any other stakeholders. Inclusive education, though less than half of total respondents had heard before, was deemed basically good to both non-disabled and disabled pupils and in general, it will become future mainstream. Still, some parents, especially those whose children had been located in an inclusive classroom and had bad experiences, were strongly anti-inclusion. Their primary concern was to protect their own children. Quality of education was also their concern because some parents deeply believed that teachers’ time and attention are sometimes drawn to pupils with special educational needs. In conclusion, key stakeholders viewed inclusive education as a means of providing an environment for both non-disabled and disabled pupils to study and to share their experiences. There may however, be a need to re-think the real role of inclusive classroom because many people merely think of locating both non-disabled and disabled pupils in the same environment as inclusion instead of thinking the moral issue or equality for all when they hear about the term inclusion. This study investigated what key stakeholders’ opinions and responses were when discussing about inclusion. This study also concluded by suggesting and offering some of the main issues needing further consideration: issues related to the resources, shifting people’s impression towards disadvantaged groups and the paramount aim of inclusion. All of which are considered to be important for future implementation of inclusive education. The study concludes by a reflection on the findings in a broader context of Chinese thinking and addresses current Taiwanese education system with reference to Taiwanese culture