The Research of Early Childhood Art Education in Taiwan

In general, the research of early childhood art education has its importance. For this reason, research into early childhood art education in Taiwan has been emphasized by scholars, in the hope that preschool teachers can better understand the early childhood art education. By reading, analyzing and discussing related studies, this paper aims to explore the research of early childhood art education in Taiwan. Hopefully, such an exploration can help teachers understand concepts related to early childhood art education, and most importantly develop an excellent praxis of early childhood art education. After reading, analyzing and discussing related studies, the research issues of early childhood art education in Taiwan we identified are as follows: (1) young children’s art making processes, (2) the practice of implementing an aesthetic thematic curriculum, (3) the development of learning indicators of the aesthetic domain for kindergarten curriculum in Taiwan, (4) the teaching principles of aesthetic education in early childhood, (5) multicultural art education for children, (6) investigation of art education in kindergartens, (7) children’s art learning with parents, (8) making use of picture books to design a suitable art integrated curriculum for children, (9) teaching art appreciation in kindergarten, (10) employee retention and collaboration with art institutions on early childhood education, (11) integrating mangrove environmental education into art teaching for young children, and (12) the progress of implementing aesthetic feelings by integrating a community based viewpoint

Internationalization in Higher Education – International Student’s Chinese Learning as Serious Leisure in Taiwan

Due to the economic and commercial rise of China, the economic value, political value, and instrumental advantages produced by Chinese have become more significant. The fever for learning Chinese continues to intensify all over the world, and Chinese instruction has become increasingly popular. Taiwan is a country with Chinese as its official language; and an important issue rose in international educational policy is how to attract international students to study Chinese in Taiwan. At the same time, Taiwan has promoted the internationalization of universities in the recent years; it hopes to elevate the visibility of its universities on the international stage, and intends to broaden diplomacy and promote economic development. This study found that international students who came to Taiwan to learn Chinese tended to be Asians. The different original residence locations of international students would significantly affect learning Chinese as serious leisure. International students who rented apartments with others off-campus or who chose home-stays had greater life planning, effort in Chinese learning, continuous benefits from Chinese learning, and a sense of community identification with their learning peers, as compared to international students who lived in school dormitories or lived alone off-campus. International students who had mor e disposable income each month were more likely to gain lasting benefits from Chinese learning and strong community identification with their learning peers. Key words: International education; International students; Chinese learning; Language learning as serious leisure Resumé: En raison de l'essor économique et commercial de la Chine, la valeur économique, la valeur politique et les avantages instrumentaux produits par les Chinois sont devenus plus importants. L'enthouiasme pour apprendre le chinois continue de s'intensifier dans le monde entier, et l'enseignement du chinois est devenu de plus en plus populaire. La langue officielle de Taiwan est le chinois, et l'une des questions importantes dans la politique éducative internationale est de savoir comment attirer des étudiants étrangers à étudier le chinois à Taiwan. En même temps, Taiwan a favorisé l'internationalisation des universités dans les années récentes. Il espère rehausser la visibilité de ses universités sur la scène internationale et il a l'intention d'élargir la diplomatie et promouvoir le développement économique. Cette étude a révélé que les étudiants étrangers qui sont venus à Taiwan pour apprendre le chinois sont plutôt des Asiatiques. Les localisations différentes de résidence originale des étudiants étrangers auraient une influence significative sur leur apprentissage du chinois en tant que loisir sérieux. Les étudiants étrangers qui ont loué des appartements avec d'autres étudiants en dehors du campus ou ceux qui ont choisi une famille d'acceuil avaient une planification de vie plus longue et un effort d'apprendre le Chinois plus grand. Ils bénéficiaient des avantages continus de l'apprentissage du chinois et avaient un sentiment d'identification de communauté avec leurs partenaires de l'apprentissage, par rapport aux étudiants étrangers qui vivaient dans les dortoirs scolaires ou vivaient seuls en dehors du campus. Les étudiants étrangers qui avaient un revenu disponible plus élevé chaque mois étaient plus susceptibles d'obtenir des avantages durables de l'apprentissage du chinois et avaient une identification forte de communauté avec leurs partenaire de l'apprentissage. Mots-clés: éducation internationale; étudiants internationaux; apprentissage du chinois; apprentissage de langue en tant que loisir sérieu

Spectacle and space: epistemological anxiety (ethics) in Jose Rivera's Marisol

[[abstract]]This paper examines the epistemological anxiety evident in social spaces presented in Jose Rivera's play Marisol. Using magic realism, Rivera twists the metropolitan space to demonstrate spatial arrangements that marks a break of ethics, hence a break of humanity in Levinasian (Emmanuel Levinas) terms. By altering the space, Rivera reverses the self-other relationship reflecting what Emmanuel Levinas calls "substitution" and "proximity of the one for the other" (peace). Awarded the aBlE award in 1993, Marisol is a statement on New York mayor Ed Koch's "anti-loitering" policy, under which the homeless, not fitting into Koch's image of a progressive metropolis, were criminalized as urban misfits. Merely trying to survive, the homeless were in no position to form a social resistance movement themselves. The strategy of magic realism realizes many spatial theories on spatial discord, including Henri Lefebvre's socially produced spaces, Michel de Certeau's voyeur perception from world trade centre, and Guy Debord's criticism of capitalist society's domination by image and spectacle, to name just a few. This paper argues that these discourses which reify "theoretical space" reflect epistemological anxieties, where the dislocation of the self's relationship with its SOcial/natural/supernatural others is inscribed in space. This paper analyzes the political purpose of Revera's strategy of magic realism - several spatial and ethical distortions which Revera adopts to create a topsy-turvy world - so as to pose questions concerning its epistemological (as well as ideological) status and functions. While distinctions such as urban/suburban, homeowner/renter/homeless, order/chaos in Marisol present contested spaces, intimating a critique of the established socio-political hierarchy, Revera also suggests the anticipation of revolution, a possible reconciliation. What epistemological model adequately situates these extreme oppositional tensions reflected in these distinctions? This paper demonstrates how opposition entails spatial separation - as in both Debord's notions of image-mediated spectacle and De Certeau's abstraction of poverty - that breaks the Levinasian ethical relation, whereby the other's proximity and distance must be strongly felt to ensure the recognition of the demands of the Other's face and alterity.[[sponsorship]]中華民國英美文學學會; 輔仁大學英國語文學系[[notice]]缺頁數[[conferencetype]]國際[[conferencedate]]20121124~20121124[[iscallforpapers]]Y[[conferencelocation]]新北市, 臺

THE ANTECEDENTS OF AN INDIVIDUAL\u27S COMMITMENTS TOWARD CONTINUOUSLY USING SOCIAL NETWORK SITE

The Social network sites (SNS) has been rapid diffusion around the world. With the increasing importance of SNS, continuance intention also becomes a popular issue in the SNS context. SNS providers have to maintain better relationships with users and make individuals continue to use their sites. Based on this phenomenon, the objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of the continuance intention of SNS through examining the effects of commitments. Specifically, followed Meyer and Allen’s three-component model of commitment, we develop a theoretical model to understand the factors that influence normative, affective and continued commitment and investigate the effects of commitments on continuance intention in the SNS context. Through a survey-based empirical investigation, we anticipate the results to enhance our existing knowledge on continuance intention in the SNS context

KinasePhos: a web tool for identifying protein kinase-specific phosphorylation sites

KinasePhos is a novel web server for computationally identifying catalytic kinase-specific phosphorylation sites. The known phosphorylation sites from public domain data sources are categorized by their annotated protein kinases. Based on the profile hidden Markov model, computational models are learned from the kinase-specific groups of the phosphorylation sites. After evaluating the learned models, the model with highest accuracy was selected from each kinase-specific group, for use in a web-based prediction tool for identifying protein phosphorylation sites. Therefore, this work developed a kinase-specific phosphorylation site prediction tool with both high sensitivity and specificity. The prediction tool is freely available at

Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in a Primary Care Setting in Taiwan: Comparison with Secondary/Tertiary Care

BackgroundThis study investigated the status of diabetes control and management in patients treated in a primary healthcare setting and compared the results with data previously obtained for secondary/tertiary care patients in Taiwan.MethodsThis study was conducted at 51 primary healthcare stations randomly selected island-wide in Taiwan in 2001. A total of 1302 type 2 diabetes patients who had been followed-up for more than 1 year were included. Blood was collected for centralized HbA1c assay. The remaining data and information were collected by review of medical records and patient interview.ResultsCompared with the results of a previous study on patients treated in a secondary/tertiary care setting, a significantly smaller percentage of primary care patients were receiving insulin therapy. Primary care patients also had a shorter duration of diabetes, a higher HbA1c level, better blood pressure control and a lower prevalence of complications. The proportion of patients achieving optimal control of glycemia and blood pressure was low. Patients aged < 65 years had a significantly shorter duration of diabetes, poorer diabetes control and better blood pressure control than elderly patients aged ≥ 65 years. Primary care patients aged ≥ 65 years had a significantly higher frequency of stroke than those aged < 65 years. The elderly group of secondary/tertiary care patients had a significantly higher frequency of coronary heart disease and stroke. Duration of diabetes and hypertension were the leading risk factors for complications in diabetes patients treated in both primary and secondary/tertiary care settings.ConclusionDiabetes control was poorer in primary care than in secondary/tertiary care patients, but control of blood pressure was better in primary care patients. The shorter duration of diabetes and better control of blood pressure in primary care patients and in patients aged < 65 years compared with their elderly counterparts might be related to a lower prevalence of complications