Search

Virtual reality (VR) can promote design performance, and may generate a high cognitive load and affect creative design thinking as well. In order to examine the effect of VR application on cognitive load and engineering design creativity, this study recruited 81 eighth‐grade students as participants and employed a non‐equivalent‐groups quasi‐experimental design to examine how VR application influences creativity components and creative performance. A creativity component scale (creative motivation, creative thinking, and professional cognition), a measurement of creative performance, and a cognitive load scale were used to collect data. The study also investigated the ability of VR application to predict creativity components and creative performance, using cognitive load as the mediator. The conclusions are as follows: (1) VR application had marked effects on professional cognition and creative motivation but no effect on creative thinking skills. (2) VR application had marked effects on the novelty and usefulness aspects of creative performance, particularly with respect to usefulness. (3) VR application had marked effects on extraneous and germane cognitive load, but no influence on intrinsic cognitive load, and (4) Both VR application and cognitive load were able to predict creativity components and creative performance. Their abilities to predict creative performance approached an acceptable level. Nevertheless, VR application had no effect on general creative thinking skills; therefore, other teaching strategies are needed to strengthen creative thinking. Lay Description: What is already known about this topicVirtual reality (VR) can transmit complex knowledge.Virtual reality (VR) can promote design performance.What this paper addsInfluence of VR application on creativity components and creative performance.Ability of VR application and cognitive load to predict creativity components.Ability of VR application and cognitive load to predict creative performance.Implications for practice and/or policyUsing VR teaching to improve learning effects and creativity in high‐risk, expensive, and inaccessible learning fields.Using VR teaching to practice repeatedly, and facilitate basic understanding of the application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the way durability has been introduced to steel fiber reinforced concrete in Taiwan. It is generally acknowledged that steel fibers are added to improve the toughness, abrasion resistance, and impact strength of concrete. However, a locally developed mixture design method, the densified mixture design algorithm (DMDA), was applied to solve not only the entanglement or balling problem of steel fibers in concrete or to produce steel fiber reinforced self-consolidating concrete (SFRSCC) with excellent flow-ability, but also to increase the durability by reduction in the cement paste content. By dense packing of the aggregates and with the aid of pozzolanic material and superplasticizer (SP), concrete can flow honey-like with less entanglement of steel fibers. Such SFRSCC has already been successfully applied in several projects, such as construction of a low radiation waste container, bus station pavement, road deck panel, and two art statues. So it is recommended that the SFRSCC can be used for improving the performance of ordinary steel fiber reinforced concrete in many ways and should be considered for increasing the lifecycle of a concrete structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using ERA5 reanalysis data and the tropical cyclone (TC) best track datasets from the China Meteorological Administration and Joint Typhoon Warning Center (from 1979 to 2021), TC-induced low-level winds near Taiwan Island are statistically analyzed. This study mainly concerns TC activity, low-level wind fields around Taiwan Island under TCs, and the detailed characteristics of TC wind structure. Results show that on average, 8.3 TCs enter the study region near Taiwan Island every year mainly from May to November, with more frequent and stronger TCs on the eastern and southern sides of Taiwan Island. For TC centers located at different positions around Taiwan Island, positive and negative vertical vorticity belts alternate between Taiwan Island and the TC center. Moreover, stronger and more frequent TC-induced winds mainly occur on the eastern side of Taiwan Island and the north of Taiwan Strait. TCs to the east of Taiwan Island have stronger maximum sustained wind than those on the western side of the island. Radii of the maximum wind (RMW) for TCs around Taiwan Island range from 5 to 90 nautical mile (nm, 9.3 to 116.7 km) with a mean value of 24.7 nm (44.4 km). Moreover, the RMWs of TCs are the largest (smallest) when the TC centers are located to the southwest (east) of the island. In addition, the outer sizes of TC winds vary from 52 to 360 nm (17.2 to 666.7 km) in the study region, with 187.4 nm (347.1 km) on average, and smaller values for TCs on the western side of the island. The average radii of severe winds, including R34, R50, and R64, are largest in the northeast quadrant and smallest in the southwest quadrant of the TC. The higher the specific wind speed is, the smaller the TC radius and the more symmetric its wind circle. These statistical results may provide references for TC gale forecasting and wind-resistant design for offshore engineering to mitigate TC-induced wind hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It is desirable that shape appeal in craft design takes people's cultural and emotional influencers into consideration. Five Royal Lords worship, prevalent in the southwest coastal part of Taiwan and a source of religious and spiritual support to the local residents, offers such a shape appeal. This study takes the design of Taiwan's cultural handicrafts as the main point of discussion and uses Kansei engineering with semantic technique to promote the linkage between shape and the mental image of the Five Royal Lords' headwear. There are only two types of traditional headwear for the Five Royal Lords: the Imperial Crown and Lord Crown, despite the different personal characteristics of the five deities. This study aims to design a crown for each that matches their individuality. Design/methodology/approach: In the first stage of the research process, the Kawakita Jiro method was used to arrive at appropriate descriptions representative of the deities' individuality. Fuzzy set theory was then applied to convert the relationship between the representative descriptions and headwear shape features into a quantitative one, after which the headwear could be redesigned and validated. Findings: The study results show that: (1) analysis of the relationship between shape features and representative deity descriptions offered guidance to the redesign. (2) A method combining fuzzy theory and description terms could generate quantitative data that helped to provide design suggestions and result validation, supporting both scientific rationality and designers' sensibility. (3) The validation revealed that the redesigned headwear was better than the original headwear. Originality/value: The study successfully established a design and development process featuring collaboration by folklore experts, designers, craftspeople and worshippers, and helping to promote new cultural product development. The success of the research process can serve as a reference to the development of other different products with shape features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cloud-based learning exerted a moderate influence on the steps of problem identification, preparation, and response validation and communication in the creative process. • Creative self-efficacy positively influenced the steps of response generation, validation, and communication. • Cloud-based learning had positive effects on sophistication in the assessment of participants with low creative self-efficacy. This paper discusses the effects of cloud-based learning and creative self-efficacy on creativity in engineering design. A nonequivalent pretest–posttest quasi-experimental design was used to recruit 97 students from a university in Taipei City in northern Taiwan. This study revealed two main conclusions. First, cloud-based learning exerted a moderate influence on the steps of problem identification, preparation, and response validation and communication in the creative process; creative self-efficacy positively influenced the steps of response generation, validation, and communication. Second, cloud-based learning had positive effects on novelty and functionality in the assessment of product creativity and significant positive effects on sophistication in the assessment of participants with low creative self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an update of the Hyperbolic Function (HBF) method to evaluate the liquefaction potential of sandy soils. The HBF method was created after the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan Earthquake (M w = 7.6) using the database of case histories developed based on field observations and in situ and laboratory tests in areas affected by the 1999 event. The updated HBF method reported herein reflects the 20-year efforts of research and practice in Taiwan after the 1999 event. Here, the original database created by Hwang and his co-workers was first re-examined and updated. The updated Chi-Chi database was supplemented with the cases derived from the 2016 Meinong, Taiwan Earthquake, and some selected data from other parts of the world. This new database was then used to update the parameters of the HBF model through rigorous statistical methods. The HBF model is unbiased (as it corresponds to a probability of 50%). The updated HBF method, a deterministic model, is further extended into a probabilistic version through rigorous statistical calibration. This probabilistic version is expressed as a mapping function that relates the factor of safety (F S) against liquefaction to the probability of liquefaction (P L). The design recommendation for engineering practice in Taiwan is provided based on the calibrated P L - FS mapping function. The updated HBF method is demonstrated through examples to be an easy-to-use procedure for liquefaction potential evaluation. Use of Bayes' theorem for updating the liquefaction probability and the new concept of liquefaction likelihood ratio are also discussed. • An updated database of liquefaction and non-liquefaction cases from Taiwan is created. • An easy-to-use HBF model for liquefaction evaluation is presented, which emerged from two decades of research in Taiwan. • Procedures for the calibration of empirical models for liquefaction evaluation are introduced and illustrated. • The concept of the liquefaction likelihood ratio (LR) is presented with a graph of LR contour curves for Bayesian updating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this work is to propose an estimating procedure that building designers can use to choose methods of suppressing chloride ingress, i.e. concrete-cover thickness, concrete-surface coating and concrete mix (water–cement ratio), for reinforced concrete (RC) buildings with a specified durability performance. At first, the authors build equations for estimating airborne chloride concentrations in coastal regions in Taiwan by regressing measurement data. Then, an analytical model incorporates these data into a deterioration model for chloride-induced corrosion and to estimate corrosion of reinforcing steel bars. This work also presents a novel computational procedure to calculate the risk of corrosion for reinforcing steel bars embedded in concrete, while considering uncertainties in environmental conditions, material properties and model error. Using risk curves of corrosion, building designers can set an allowable durable reliability to determine the minimal required concrete-cover thickness for RC members. Finally, this work adopts coastal regions in Taiwan as an example to determine the minimum required concrete-cover thicknesses. Furthermore, reliability-based methods of suppressing chloride ingress for RC buildings are also suggested for each division zone of Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses the cognitive factor of "visual harmony" to assess the visual quality of stream engineering in a mountainous region. Images of engineering structures such as revetments and submerged dams in the mountain streams of Taiwan were collected. Three image groups with different structures invaded by vegetation were used for a questionnaire survey, which yielded 154 valid samples. We used statistical analysis to develop a model of visual harmony H with respect to the percentage of visible greenery GR, that is, the perceived curve of vegetation change. A comparison of our data with the literature determined the upper and lower bound curves of the relationship between H and GR. We found that the physical elements of "softscape" and "hardscape"—namely, percentage of visible water WR, visible structure IR, and visible natural material on the structure NR—affected this relationship. Results show that H is equivalent to visual preference P, and both can be improved by better green visibility (increasing GR and GR < 50%), avoiding low water visibility (WR < 10%), or increasing the amount of visible natural material (NR > 0.9). High visibility of the structures (IR > 0.3) may decrease H and P. We ultimately propose a visual harmony or preference model concerning a combined physical indicator that comprises GR, WR, IR and NR. Results of this study could be helpful to improve or access the aesthetics of stream engineering design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]