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Neoliberalism was widely adopted both in South Korea and Taiwan in the mid-1990s. With governmental reforms, both countries adopted variants of competition-based funding mechanisms for higher education. This funding mechanism has been widely applied in most funding allocations for higher education in Korea from 2003 to 2017 and in Taiwan from 2004 to 2015. This study investigates whether competition-based funding is based on institutional performance rather than on traditional funding approaches such as budget history-based and student enrollment-based approaches. This study collected institutional funding data from 142 four-year universities in Korea and 100 four-year universities in Taiwan. This study found that funding is mostly contingent on the number of students, especially undergraduate students in Korea, and on prior budget history in Taiwan. This implies that although competition-based funding is widely applied in Korea and Taiwan, traditional factors such as student enrollment and budget history still influence funding decisions. However, this study also found that institutional performance is established in both countries' government funding mechanisms. Institutional performance accounted for 27.6% in Korea in 2017, and for 16.7% in Taiwan in 2015. This study further discusses side effects brought by the funding scheme of both countries.

This study analyzes and discusses how competition-based funding has been institutionalized in the three North East Asian countries of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan since the neoliberal reforms in the 1990s. We found that states set aside additional, 'competition-based' funding for distribution among higher education institutions. In addition, private universities have emerged as winners at the zero-sum game because their management styles are much more aligned with the managerial style. However, private universities are bound by state policy, and regulatory frameworks are deeply institutionalized within them with the growing public funding. We also observe that institutional practices of public universities are moving to market-oriented systems because of the growing competition. However, the increased responsiveness of HEIs to state policy does not necessarily result in an increase in their societal contributions because a university as a professional organization has the potential for generating a better societal contribution through collaborations as well as competition.

Recently, many efforts have been made to address the rapid spread of newly identified COVID-19 virus variants. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is considered a potential early warning tool for identifying the rapid spread of this virus. This study investigated the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in eight wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and their sewerage systems which serve most of the population in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Across the entire study period, the wastewater viral concentrations were correlated with the number of COVID-19 cases in each WWTP (Spearman's r = 0.23–0.76). In addition, it is confirmed that several treatment technologies could effectively eliminate the virus RNA from WWTP influent (> 90%). On the other hand, further results revealed that an inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation and hotspot model combined with the geographic information system (GIS) method could be applied to analyze the spatiotemporal variations of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater from the sewer system. In addition, socio-economic factors, namely, population density, land use, and income tax were successfully identified as the potential drivers which substantially affected the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan. Finally, the data obtained from this study can provide a powerful tool in public health decision-making not only in response to the current epidemic situation but also to other epidemic issues in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Exploiting indoor‐resting mosquitoes' innate behavioral responses to commonly used insecticide is crucial in vector control programs. Indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long‐lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) treated with pyrethroids have become widely used for controlling dengue fever vectors. The present study tested the effects of piperonyl butoxide (PBO) synergism and cuticular thickening on the contact irritancy response of field A. aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) to deltamethrin in Taiwan and Thailand. RESULTS: The escape response of field mosquitoes treated with PBO was significantly elicited, with an escape percentage increase between 2‐ and 10‐fold. In addition, the escape time was significantly lower in PBO‐pretreated mosquitoes compared with field mosquitoes treated with deltamethrin alone. PBO‐pretreated mosquitoes from seven out of 11 field strains exhibited a knockdown percentage of 11.23–54.91%, significantly higher than that of mosquitoes in corresponding strains treated with deltamethrin only. The Annan, Zhongxi, Sanmin, and North strains exhibited weak knockdown responses (≤3.75%). The mortality of PBO‐pretreated field mosquitoes increased 2‐ to 75‐fold compared with those treated with deltamethrin alone (mortality: 0–6.70%). Furthermore, the effect of cuticular thickness on the escape response of field mosquitoes was significant, that is, the escape response marginally increased inversely to cuticular thickness. By contrast, cuticular thickness was not significantly associated with knockdown or mortality percentage. CONCLUSION: Irritant behavior in mosquitoes was significantly elicited by PBO synergism. PBO incorporating deltamethrin IRS or LLINs may be effective for controlling dengue fever vectors. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A trade-off between life history traits in the evolution of insecticide resistance is common in insects because energy acquisition is mainly channeled for detoxification enzyme production. In addition, sublethal exposure to insecticides may have an effect on the physiology and behaviors of surviving insects. Similar to other agricultural pests, pesticide use may have led to insecticide resistance in populations of Paederus fuscipes Curtis. In this study, we determined the median lethal time of 10 field-collected strains in Taiwan for three insecticides that are commonly employed to manage agricultural pests. We determined that the susceptibility of these strains to cyhalothrin and fenitrothion were similar, with resistance ratios (RRs) ranging from 1 to 4; however, significantly different to imidacloprid (RRs: 1–16). The effect of imidacloprid resistance on the life history traits studied of Paederus beetles was limited; only a prolonged egg incubation period, and adult longevity decreased as imidacloprid resistance increased. Regarding sublethal exposure to imidacloprid, adult sex ratios were female biased in most combinations, though nonsignificant. The quality of offspring, particularly the length of eggs significantly decreased. In addition, a hormetic effect was apparent when the individual was exposed to LT 25 and LT 50 ; mean fecundity per female increased from 12.80 ± 8.95 (± standard error [SE]) to 42.70 ± 13.77 eggs compared with that of the control (7.10 ± 1.32). However, the hormetic effect was inconsistent among the tested strains, possibly because of the difference in insecticide resistance levels given that reproductive compensation was absent among the resistant population. Highlights • Paederus beetles developed insecticide resistance to imidacloprid. • The fitness costs resulting from imidacloprid resistance prolonged egg incubation period, and decreased adult beetle longevity. • Sublethal exposure to imidacloprid caused strong hormetic effect and skewed sex ratio in Paederus beetles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioassay-guided fractionation of an ethanolic extract of Zoanthus spp. collected in Taiwan has resulted in the isolation of one new ecdysone, zoanthone A ( 1 ), along with thirteen known compounds ( 2 – 14 ). The structures of these compounds were determined by spectroscopic methods, especially 2D NMR analyses. The in vitro antiviral activities of all isolated ecdysones ( 1 – 14 ) against dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2) were evaluated using DENV infectious system. New compound ( 1 ) exhibited potent antiviral activity (EC 50 = 19.61 ± 2.46 μM) with a selectivity index (CC 50 /EC 50 ) value of 36.7. The structure–activity relationships of isolated ecdysones against DENV-2 were concluded. Molecular docking information of 3 and NS5 polymerase was performed either. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To elucidate the historical improvement and advanced measure of river water quality in the Taipei metropolitan area, this study applied the self-organizing map (SOM) technique with factor analysis (FA) to differentiate the spatiotemporal distribution of natural and anthropogenic processes on river water-quality variation spanning two decades. The SOM clustered river water quality into five groups: very low pollution, low pollution, moderate pollution, high pollution, and very high pollution. FA was then used to extract four latent factors that dominated water quality from 1991 to 2011 including three anthropogenic process factors (organic, industrial, and copper pollution) and one natural process factor [suspended solids (SS) pollution]. The SOM revealed that the water quality improved substantially over time. However, the downstream river water quality was still classified as high pollution because of an increase in anthropogenic activity. FA showed the spatiotemporal pattern of each factor score decreasing over time, but the organic pollution factor downstream of the Tamsui River, as well as the SS factor scores in the upstream major tributary (the Dahan Stream), remained within the high pollution level. Therefore, we suggest that public sewage-treatment plants should be upgraded from their current secondary biological processing to advanced treatment processing. The conservation of water and soil must also be reinforced to decrease the SS loading of the Dahan Stream from natural erosion processes in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plenty of thermal explosions and runaway reactions of cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) were described from 1981 to 2010 in Taiwan. Therefore, a thermal explosion accident of CHP in oxidation tower in 2010 in Taiwan was investigated because of piping breakage. In general, high concentration of CHP for thermal analysis using the calorimeter is dangerous. Therefore, a simulation method and a kinetic parameter were used to simulate thermal hazard of high concentrations of CHP only by the researcher. This study was applied to evaluate thermal hazard and to analyze storage parameters of 80 and 88 mass% CHP using three calorimeters for the oxidation tower, transportation, and 50-gallon drum. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) (a non-isothermal calorimeter), thermal activity monitor III (TAM III) (an isothermal calorimeter), and vent sizing package 2 (VSP2) (an adiabatic calorimeter) were employed to detect the exothermic behavior and runaway reaction model of 80 and 88 mass% CHP. Exothermic onset temperature ( T), heat of decomposition (Δ H), maximum temperature ( T), time to maximum rate under isothermal condition (TMR) (as an emergency response time), maximum pressure ( P), maximum of self-heating rate ((d T/d t)), maximum of pressure rise rate ((d P/d t)), half-life time ( t), reaction order ( n), activation energy ( E), frequency factor ( A), etc., of 80 and 88 mass% CHP were applied to prevent thermal explosion and runaway reaction accident and to calculate the critical temperature ( T). Experimental results displayed that the n of 80 and 88 mass% CHP was determined to be 0.5 and the E of 80 and 88 mass% CHP were evaluated to be 132 and 134 kJ mol, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study spatially analyzed potential carcinogenic risks associated with ingesting arsenic (As) contents in aquacultural smeltfish (Plecoglossus altirelis) from the Lanyang Plain of northeastern Taiwan. Sequential indicator simulation (SIS) was adopted to reproduce As exposure distributions in groundwater based on their three-dimensional variability. A target cancer risk (TR) associated with ingesting As in aquacultural smeltfish was employed to evaluate the potential risk to human health. The probabilistic risk assessment determined by Monte Carlo simulation and SIS is used to propagate properly the uncertainty of parameters. Safe and hazardous aquacultural regions were mapped to elucidate the safety of groundwater use. The TRs determined from the risks at the 95th percentiles exceed one millionth, indicating that ingesting smeltfish that are farmed in the highly As-affected regions represents a potential cancer threat to human health. The 95th percentile of TRs is considered in formulating a strategy for the aquacultural use of groundwater in the preliminary stage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper assesses health risks due to the ingestion of inorganic arsenic from fish and shellfish farmed in blackfoot disease areas by general public in Taiwan. The provisional tolerable weekly intake of arsenic set by FAO/WHO and the target cancer risk assessment model proposed by USEPA were integrated to evaluate the acceptable consumption rate. Five aquacultural species, tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), milkfish (Chanos chanos), mullet (Mugil cephalus), clam (Meretrix lusoria) and oyster (Crassostrea gigas) were included. Monte Carlo analysis was used to propagate the parameter uncertainty and to probabilistically assess the health risk associated with the daily intake of inorganic As from farmed fish and shellfish. The integrated risk-based analysis indicates that the associated 50th and 95th percentile health risk are 2.06×10−5 and 8.77×10−5, respectively. Moreover, the acceptable intakes of inorganic As are defined and illustrated by a two dimensional graphical model. According to the relationship between C inorg and IR f derived from this study, two risk-based curves are constructed. An acceptable risk zone is determined (risk ranging from 1×10−5 to 6.07×10−5) which is recommended for acceptable consumption rates of fish and shellfish. To manage the health risk due to the ingestion of inorganic As from fish and shellfish in BFD areas, a risk-based management scheme is derived which provide a convenient way for general public to self-determine the acceptable seafood consumption rate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Chi-Chi earthquake occurred in the western foothills of central Taiwan, which triggered coseismic and catastrophic Chiufengershan dip-slope landslides, Tsaoling rockslides and surface stripping of the Jiujiufeng area. After a few days of the Chi-Chi event, the Hongtsaiping area in central Taiwan was reported to have several meters of slide in a small scale area. The reported landslides are dissimilar to the catastrophic events. To better understand the characteristics of such non-catastrophic and unobvious landslide, we try to characterize in detail the sliding directions, their magnitudes and region of the landslide. We analyzed three orthorectified aerial photographs of the Hongtsaiping area, which were taken in 1998/06/13, 1999/11/18 and 2002/10/26, using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique. Through the method we correlated the image pixels of the two aerial photographs in order to derive the displacement vector field. The results of the PIV analysis have helped us not only find the areas where sliding had happened, but also evaluate the azimuth and magnitudes of the sliding event. The PIV analysis in the Hongtsaiping area covers a dimension of about 3228×2448 pixels in an area of about 1.2 km2. Our results show that the maximum horizontal displacement of the landslide is about 24 m towards NW in the study area. This unobvious but wide-coverage landslide may need further investigation in mechanisms combining with available or new geological data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]