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The rapid increase in camping activities and campsites has had negative environmental impacts in mountainous areas. Tourism policies may be an important factor in changing recreational behavior and increasing campsites. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of tourism policies on campsite-related landscape changes in Taiwan. The study area consisted of 276 campsites in the Jianshi and Wufeng Townships in Hsinchu County. The tourism policy periods were divided into 2001-2007 (Taiwan's agri-tourism policy), 2008-2015 (China and Taiwan's travel permit policy), and 2016-2019 (China's travel restriction policy), based on a reference review and relative theories. The 2000, 2008, 2016, and 2019 campsite landscapes were classified into forestland and non-forestland through object-based classification. This study established a general linear model to analyze the effect of tourism policy period on campsite forestland and non-forestland landscape change, according to the 50, 100, 250, 500, and 1000 m radii of 276 campsites. The results showed that tourism policies had a significant effect on campsite forestland and non-forestland landscape changes. The effect sizes ranged from medium to large. The Chinese tourist travel permit policy was significantly associated with increased non-forestland in campsites from 2008 to 2016. This policy likely affected recreational behavior indirectly, promoting camping and increasing non-forestland through the crowding-out effects of the many Chinese tourists, which was not the original purpose of the policy. Tourism policy decision-makers should consider the potential negative landscape change effects of changes in recreational behavior, and provide supporting measures to maintain recreational quality and avoid crowding-out effects. Campsite development should also be regulated to prevent forestland changes and achieve sustainable management.

This paper reported the IGZO and IZO thin-film transistor (TFT) with titanium-oxide semiconductor as channel capping layer. After the ${\hbox{TiO}}_{x}$ Gettering process, the oxygen vacancies in IGZO channel were successfully modified to maximize the carrier concentration and device mobility. The superior transfer characteristics included a low sub-threshold swing of 79 mV/decade, a very high mobility of ${\hbox{68}}~{\hbox{cm}}^{2}/{\hbox{V}}{\cdot}{\hbox{s}}$ , and good on/off-current ratio of ${\hbox{5.61}}\times {\hbox{10}}^{6}$ . However, the IZO channel with nano-crystallized grains and without Ga atom doping showed unfavorable transistor characteristics. In addition to apparently degraded transfer properties, the spontaneously oxidized ${\hbox{TiO}}_{x}$ capping layer also lead to an increase of channel parasitic resistance that limits the output driving current. Therefore, we believe that the existence of Ga–O bonds among IGZO channel would be helpful to stabilize oxygen diffusion behavior and electric structure during Gettering process.

Population increase and urbanization have considerably altered land-use patterns in central Taiwan. To determine the effects of urbanization in central Taiwan, this study used a buffer analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling to identify the relationship between egret nesting sites and land-use changes during the agricultural, industrial, and service economy periods of the urbanization process. The results demonstrate that built-up land increased markedly over time in central Taiwan, especially within the 1-km circle buffer of egret nesting sites. A longer interquartile range in the service economy period indicates that the distribution of cultivated land near egret nesting sites was relatively fragmented. The types of land-use with similar features were clustered into the same group using hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. The group classification results of the hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling were consistent with the results of the Pearson correlation analyses. The horizontal axis in the multidimensional scaling dendrogram may represent the gradient from the main to minor food source areas. Hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling could be used for initial identification of urbanization processes. Furthermore, egrets in central Taiwan adapted to urbanization and fed on discarded human food during Taiwan’s service economy period.

Taiwan, located in the East Asia, is an island country with limited natural resources. To increase economic growth and reduce CO2 emission levels, the Taiwanese government is promoting a sustainable low-carbon tourism industry. This study investigated the CO2 emission coefficient of tourist activities and identified the CO2 emissions (CE) patterns of international visitors to Taiwan. The total CO2 emission per visitor without considering international transportation was estimated using a questionnaire. The total CO2 emission comprises the CO2 emission of transportation, the CO2 emission of accommodation, and the CO2 emission of tourist activities. The results suggest that more convenient public transportation might help to reduce the total CO2 emission. Without considering CO2 emission from international air travel, in contrast to many non-island countries where CO2 emission of transportation is the main contributor to total CO2 emission, the CO2 emission of accommodation was the main contributor to total CO2 emission in Taiwan. To reduce the CO2 emission of accommodation, the Taiwanese government should improve the energy-use efficiency of devices in tourist hotels and promote bed-and-breakfast accommodations with low CO2 emission coefficients. Visitors enjoyed culinary journeys and shopping, both of which are activities that contribute highly to the CO2 emission of tourist activities because of their high CO2 emission coefficients.

This paper reports an InGaZnO thin-film transistor involving a wide bandgap gate dielectric of ${\hbox{ZrO}}_{2}$ and IGZO/ ${\hbox{TiO}} _{x}$ channel stack. According to our experimental results, the IGZO TFT with a thin ${\hbox{TiO}} _{x}$ channel capping layer shows good device integrity of a low threshold voltage of 0.37 V, a small sub-threshold swing of 77 mV/decade, and a high mobility of 33 ${\hbox{cm}}^{2} /{\hbox{V}}{\cdot}{\hbox{s}}$ under a low drive voltage of $ . We also demonstrate that the significantly improved electrical property is mainly contributed by the enhanced channel electric field after ${\hbox{TiO}} _{x}$ capping, associated with maximizing charge accumulated capability. The favorable high-temperature transfer characteristics are also obtained in IGZO/ ${\hbox{TiO}} _{x}$ TFT, indicating a weak Fermi-level pinning in IGZO/ ${\hbox{TiO}} _{x}$ channel structure. With the operating temperature increasing further, the thermal activated effect shall dominate IGZO channel property beyond percolation conduction.

This paper focuses on a conventional debate regarding whether Chinese outward direct investors tend to invest in countries with high political risk. Using 2003–2011 data from the World Bank, the Heritage Foundation and the KOF Swiss Economic Institute, we investigate China's political risk distribution and political risk index (PRI). Our results indicate that China's political risk index was ranked 48th among 153 economies in 2011, in the lower risk level of the PRI spectrum. In an international comparison of political risk distribution, the proportion of Chinese outward direct investment (ODI) among countries with high political risk is less than the world average. The Chinese ODI political risk index has significantly improved and remains lower than the world average. To improve Chinese ODI PRI, the Chinese Government should continue to implement differentiation strategies and to offer official development assistance to improve the investment environment in developing countries and reduce political risk.

Thermal comfort is a subjective psychological perception of people based also on physiological thermoregulation mechanisms when the human body is exposed to a combination of various environmental factors including air temperature, air humidity, wind speed, and radiation conditions. Due to the importance of gender in the issue of outdoor thermal comfort, this study compared and examined the thermal comfort-related differences between male and female subjects using previous data from Taiwanese questionnaire survey. Compared with males, the results indicated that females in Taiwan are less tolerant to hot conditions and intensely protect themselves from sun exposure. Our analytical results are inconsistent with the findings of previous physiological studies concerning thermal comfort indicating that females have superior thermal physiological tolerance than males. On the contrary, our findings can be interpreted on psychological level. Environmental behavioral learning theory was adopted in this study to elucidate this observed contradiction between the autonomic thermal physiological and psychological-behavioral aspects. Women might desire for a light skin tone through social learning processes, such as observation and education, which is subsequently reflected in their psychological perceptions (fears of heat and sun exposure) and behavioral adjustments (carrying umbrellas or searching for shade). Hence, these unique psychological and behavioral phenomena cannot be directly explained by autonomic physiological thermoregulation mechanisms. The findings of this study serve as a reference for designing spaces that accommodates gender-specific thermal comfort characteristics. Recommendations include providing additional suitable sheltered areas in open areas, such as city squares and parks, to satisfy the thermal comfort needs of females.

This article defines the social welfare needs of residents living in a severely polluted community by examining a set of communities around the An-shun plant in southern Taiwan that were polluted by dioxin. The study examines the inhabitants' economic status, the communities' manpower utilization, and the prevention of social contingencies and the provision of aftercare. A survey conducted between March–April 2008 revealed the need to reduce poverty in these highly polluted communities, to identify and maximize each community's human resources, to address illness, aging, pollution, and lack of professional skills, and to better inform residents about pollution so that they can understand how to protect themselves. The article concludes with suggested programs to meet the social welfare needs of residents in a highly polluted community. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study investigated the prevalence of flatfoot in children with delayed motor development and the relevant factors affecting it. In total, 121 preschool-aged children aged 3-6 with delayed motor development (male: 81; female: 40) were enrolled in the motor-developmentally delayed children group, and 4 times that number, a total of 484 children (male: 324; female: 160), of gender- and age-matched normal developmental children were used as a control group for further analyses. The age was from 3.0 to 6.9 years old for the participants. The judgment criterion of flatfoot was the Chippaux-Smirak index >62.70%, in footprint measurement. The results showed that the prevalence of flatfoot in children with motor developmental delay was higher than that in normal developmental children, approximately 58.7%, and that it decreased with age from 62.8% of 3-year-olds to 50.0% of 6-year-olds. The results also showed that motor-developmentally delayed children with flatfoot are at about 1.5 times the risk of normal developmental children (odds ratio=1.511, p=0.005). In addition, the prevalence of flatfoot is relatively higher in overweight children with delayed motor development, and that in obese children is even as high as 95.8% (23/24). Children with both excessive joint laxity and delayed development are more likely to suffer from flatfoot. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for clinical workers to deal with foot issues in children with delayed motor development.

In this study, we investigate the impact of orientated crystalline InGaZnO (IGZO) thin film transistor. To evaluate interface thermodynamic stability of temperature-sensitive IGZO film, the film-structural stabilities of high- and low-indium-content InGaZnO were studied. With increasing annealing temperature up to 700 °C, the crystallinity becomes more pronounced while device electrical characteristics are further improved. We find that the apparently reduced off-state current can be attributed to the formation of c-axis-orientated crystalline located at the X-ray diffraction peak of . The performance improvements include a very low turn-on voltage close to zero voltage, a small subthreshold swing of 130 mV/dec, and a low off-state current of 2.4 × 10−14 A/µm at a low operating voltage of 4 V.