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School buildings and facilities constitute essential educational infrastructure and have a formative impact on the safety, development, and socialization of students. However, many existing school buildings are increasingly aging and deteriorating, requiring urgent refurbishment, raising the need to assess and develop a quality function to propose strategies for improved school building reconstruction. Apart from the initial planning phase, the reconstruction design process usually requires detailed information regarding owner/user demands and is often presented in terms of user dissatisfaction. This paper applies fuzzy quality function deployment (FQFD) to transform actual user needs into an improved technical strategy that can be realized by the design unit through the sequence of the matrix method. The resulting framework identifies a total of eight major components of user dissatisfaction, along with three key school-design improvement strategies, including the use of environmentally sound materials, overall quality of design and planning, and playground planning. In terms of technology improvement strategies, the prioritized design improvement strategies for increasing school reconstruction satisfaction include considerations of practicality and constructability, planning use points and maintenance methods, designing the site according to the local terrain, and using materials that match the layout of the environment. The approach proposed in this study can be used to enhance the efficiency of the reconstruction of aging buildings and the research results can also augment ontological knowledge on the reconstruction of aging campus buildings.

The meshed control theory assumes that cognitive control and automatic processes work together in the natural attention of experts for superior performance. However, the methods adopted by previous studies limit their capacity to provide in-depth information on the neuromotor processes. This experiment tested the theory with an alternative approach. Twelve skilled golfers were recruited to perform a putting task under three conditions: (1) normal condition, with no focus instruction (NC), (2) external focus of attention condition (EC), and (3) internal focus of attention condition (IC). Four blocks of 10 putts each were performed under each condition. The putting success rate and accuracy were measured and electroencephalographies (EEGs) were recorded. The behavioral results showed that the NC produced a higher putting success rate and accuracy than the EC and IC. The EEG data showed that the skilled golfers’ attentional processes in the NC initially resembled those in the EC and then moved toward those in the IC just before putting. This indicates a switch from more automatic processes to cognitive control processes while preparing to putt. The findings offer support for the meshed control theory and indicate the dynamic nature of neuromotor processes for the superior performance of athletes in challenging situations.

In this brief, a nighttime vehicle distance measuring system using charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras is proposed. The authors use the proportionality of similar triangles to measure the distance between a CCD camera and taillights of a vehicle in front. At night, the taillights form two bright spots in the CCD image, therefore producing two measurable signals. A circuit for counting the number of external clock pulses between the two bright spots is employed to calculate the interval between them in the video image. Due to the proportionality of similar triangles, there is a linear relationship between the actual distance and the interval of the two taillights. Thus, the actual distance from the CCD camera to the vehicle can be calculated from a simple formula. One does not have to use an expensive high-speed digital signal processing microprocessor to identify the taillights of the vehicle or use pixels to measure distance, but just use simple circuits to identify the taillights at night and use a simple formula to measure distance. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system. Index Terms--Distance measuring systems, proportionality of similar triangles, voltage comparator.

The article focuses on a study which uses integrated geographic information system (GIS) to assess carcinogenic risks via food-chain exposure of ingesting inorganic arsenic (As) in aquacultural tilapia, milkfish, mullet, and clam in As-affected groundwater areas. It mentions that Monte Carlo simulation and sequential indicator simulation are used to characterize the uncertainty of the parameters. It reports that clams farmed at the western coastal ponds and milkfish farmed at the southwestern coastal ponds have high risks to human health while tilapia at inland ponds has high risks at the 95th percentile of target cancer risks (TRs). It notes that generally mullets have low risks to humans.

This work explored a risk-based arsenic (As) regulation in farmed pond water by ingesting tilapia ( Oreochromis mossambicus) in blackfoot disease hyperendemic areas and discussed a rational As regulation in pond water. Monte Carlo analysis was used to propagate the parameter uncertainty and to assess probabilistically regulation risks. A dynamic scheme of groundwater management was proposed that curves of utilization ratios against As concentrations in groundwater were established based on the risk-based regulation. The 5th to 95th percentiles of risks range from 3.5 × 10−7 to 6.0 × 10−5 via ingesting the farmed tilapia under the current As regulation in farmed pond water in Taiwan, 50 μg/L. To compare to inorganic As regulation in drinking water, the current As regulation in farmed pond water does not pose a great threat to human health, but it is unsafe. Therefore, this study suggests that the regulation of As in farmed pond water is revised to be 25 μg/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated total arsenic (As) and As species contents of oysters ( Crassostrea gigas) in different production areas, seasons and sea locations on the southwestern coast of Taiwan. Analytical results indicate that contents of total As, arsenite, arsenate, dimethylarsinic acid, monomethylarsonic acid and arsenobetaine in oysters are 9.90 ± 3.68, 0.091 ± 0.104, 0.033 ± 0.038, 0.529 ± 0.284, 0.037 ± 0.046 and 3.94 ± 1.33 mg/g (dry wt), respectively. A ratio of inorganic As concentrations to total As concentrations is 1.26%. Total As contents of oysters cultured in the outer sea are statistically significantly lower than those of oysters cultured in the inner sea. The total As contents of oysters is the highest in Putai, where the blackfoot disease prevails. The low As contents in oysters is attributed to the low temperature in winter, which slows the metabolism of oysters. A maximum value is 33.37 μg/g (dry) in Putai in spring, because a considerable amount of aquacultural waste water with high As contents is discharged into adjacent drainage channels and rivers there during that season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]