National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences

The paper presents an early fire-alarm raising method based on video processing. The basic idea of the proposed of fire-detection is to adopt a RGB (red, green, blue) model based chromatic and disorder measurement for extracting fire-pixels and smoke-pixels. The decision function of fire-pixels is mainly deduced by the intensity and saturation of R component. The extracted fire-pixels will be verified if it is a real fire by both dynamics of growth and disorder, and further smoke. Based on iterative checking on the growing ratio of flames, a fire-alarm is given when the alarm-raising condition is met. Experimental results show that the developed technique can achieve fully automatic surveillance of fire accident with a lower false alarm rate and thus is very attractive for the important military, social security, commercial applications, and so on, at a general cost.

This paper proposes a new quadratic stabilization condition for Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy control systems. The condition is represented in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and is shown to be less conservative than some relaxed quadratic stabilization conditions published recently in the literature. A rigorous theoretic proof is given to show that the proposed condition can include previous results as special cases. In comparison with conventional conditions, the proposed condition is not only suitable for designing fuzzy state feedback controllers but also convenient for fuzzy static output feedback controller design. The latter design work is quite hard for T-S fuzzy control systems. Based on the LMI-based conditions derived, one can easily synthesize controllers for stabilizing T-S fuzzy control systems. Since only a set of LMIs is involved, the controller design is quite simple and numerically tractable. Finally, the validity and applicability of the proposed approach are successfully demonstrated in the control of a continuous-time nonlinear system.

Controlling for Heterogeneity in Gravity Models of Trade and IntegrationI-Hui Cheng and

In this paper, a printed wide-slot antenna fed by a microstrip line with a rotated slot for bandwidth enhancement is proposed and experimentally studied. Impedance, radiation, and gain characteristics of this antenna are presented and discussed. From experimental results, the measured impedance bandwidth, defined by 10 dB return loss, can reach an operating bandwidth of 2.2 GHz at operating frequencies around 4.5 GHz, which is about four times that of a conventional microstrip-line-fed printed wide-slot antenna. Also, the antenna gain within the operating band is measured and studied, and a 2-dB gain bandwidth of at least 1 GHz is achieved.

To evaluate the practical application of waste oyster shells (WOS) as controlled low-strength materials (CLSM), using a reference sample and four fine aggregate replacement 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% WOS sand, and the cement was replaced by 20% fly ash of the materials were tested. The hardened properties and the durability are tested and other various engineering properties are investigated. The experimental results demonstrate that there was no significant reduction in the compressive strength up to 20% of dosages of WOS sand instead of sand, and a proper amount of fly ash material and WOS sand for the replacement of the fine aggregate in cement mortar fills material pores, reduces the absorption rate. WOS sand can be resources of pure calcareous materials and effective in replacement of sand, indicating appropriate application of oyster shells, it is feasible to use in CLSM.

Abstract Past studies on the issue of learning‐theory foundations in game‐based learning stressed the importance of establishing learning‐theory foundation and provided an exploratory examination of established learning theories. However, we found research seldom addressed the development of the use or failure to use learning‐theory foundations and categorized these learning theories into relative types and synthesized their development. We investigate this issue from the perspective of learning theories invoked to underpin educational computer game design and use based on the four types of learning theories: behaviourism, cognitivism, humanism and constructivism. Because the investigation needs to examine and analyse the results from a large number of independent previous studies, this study applied the meta‐analysis method to present a more comprehensive description and discussion of the influence and implications of the findings. This study shows the distribution of development trends for the use of learning theory as a theoretical foundation, as opposed to those that fail to use learning theory in game‐based learning, along with the distribution of types and principles of learning theories that used a learning‐theory foundation. These new findings can supplement the results of previous studies with regard to the issue of learning‐theory foundations in game‐based learning. The contributions of this study for the issue of learning‐theory foundations in game‐based learning are discussed.

BACKGROUND: College students' health behavior is a topic that deserves attention. Individual factors and eHealth literacy may affect an individual's health behaviors. The integrative model of eHealth use (IMeHU) provides a parsimonious account of the connections among the digital divide, health care disparities, and the unequal distribution and use of communication technologies. However, few studies have explored the associations among individual factors, eHealth literacy, and health behaviors, and IMeHU has not been empirically investigated. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the associations among individual factors, eHealth literacy, and health behaviors using IMeHU. METHODS: The Health Behavior Scale is a 12-item instrument developed to measure college students' eating, exercise, and sleep behaviors. The eHealth Literacy Scale is a 12-item instrument designed to measure college students' functional, interactive, and critical eHealth literacy. A nationally representative sample of 525 valid college students in Taiwan was surveyed. A questionnaire was administered to collect background information about participants' health status, degree of health concern, major, and the frequency with which they engaged in health-related discussions. This study used Amos 6.0 to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to identify the best measurement models for the eHealth Literacy Scale and the Health Behavior Scale. We then conducted a multiple regression analysis to examine the associations among individual factors, eHealth literacy, and health behaviors. Additionally, causal steps approach was used to explore indirect (mediating) effects and Sobel tests were used to test the significance of the mediating effects. RESULTS: The study found that perceptions of better health status (t520=2.14-6.12, P<.001-.03) and greater concern for health (t520=2.58-6.95, P<.001-.003) influenced college students' development of 3 dimensions of eHealth literacy and adoption of healthy eating, exercise, and sleep behaviors. Moreover, eHealth literacy played an intermediary role in the association between individual factors and health behaviors (Sobel test=2.09-2.72, P<.001-.03). Specifically, higher levels of critical eHealth literacy promoted students' health status and their practice of multiple positive health behaviors, including eating, exercise, and sleep behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Because this study showed that eHealth literacy mediates the association between individual factors and health behaviors, schools should aim to enhance students' eHealth literacy and promote their health behaviors to help them achieve high levels of critical eHealth literacy. Although some of the study's hypotheses were not supported in this study, the factors that influence health behaviors are complex and interdependent. Therefore, a follow-up study should be conducted to further explore how these factors influence one another.

Highly efficient blue emitters based on the Lewis acid–base carbazole-π-dimesitylborane framework are synthesized and characterized. Among four bipolar blue fluorophores, the nondoped OLED fabricated with CzThB exhibits the best performance blue electroluminescence with CIEx, y (0.13,0.21), maximum electroluminance of 28 300 cd m−2 and external quantum efficiency of 6.9%.

Purpose – This study aims to examine how open innovation can be effective in changing organizational inertia to create business model innovation and improve firm performance. It also seeks to explore whether the existence of open innovation has a mediating effect and influence. Design/methodology/approach – This study constructs a theoretical model to explore the relationship between latent variables and uses a questionnaire to collect research data. In the conceptual framework, organizational inertia is a second-order latent variable and comprises three first-order latent variables: insight inertia, action inertia, and psychological inertia. Open innovation is also a second-order latent variable, and consists of two first-order latent variables: outbound and inbound open innovation. To clarify the relationship between these latent variables, structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test the goodness of fit of the theoretical model and research hypotheses. This study uses 141 small to medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan as the research subjects. Findings – The SEM analysis revealed that open innovation has a significant mediating effect on the relationship between organizational inertia and business model innovation, and the relationship between organizational inertia and firm performance; business model innovation also has a positive influence on firm performance. Originality/value – This study contributes the empirical analysis of SMEs to illustrate the role of open innovation on business model innovation processes.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build a comprehensive model and examine the relationship among green brand positioning (GBP), green brand knowledge (GBK), attitude toward green brand (AGB), and green purchase intention (GPI). Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was deployed to collect data from the members of Taiwan's Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) Club, obtaining 425 valid samples which were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Findings – GBP and GBK influence green brand attitudes separately. GBK affects green brand attitudes. Meanwhile, green brand attitudes influence GPIs. Another finding indicates that the mediating effects exist. Research limitations/implications – By applying the environmental knowledge-attitude-intention paradigm to green brand research, it was empirically supported the existence of a GBK-attitude-intention hierarchy in the context of GPIs. Practical implications – GBP can be used as brand marketing strategy to improve consumers’ GBK and form positive green brand attitudes as well as enhance GPIs. Originality/value – Proposing two novel concepts, i.e. GBK and green brand attitude to develop and test the framework of this study.

Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) are novel nanofillers possessing attractive characteristics, including robust compatibility with most polymers, high absolute strength, and cost effectiveness. In this study, GNPs were used to reinforce epoxy composite and epoxy/carbon fiber composite laminates to enhance their mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of GNPs/epoxy nanocomposite, such as ultimate tensile strength and flexure properties, were investigated. The fatigue life of epoxy/carbon fiber composite laminate with GPs‐added 0.25 wt% was increased over that of neat laminates at all levels of cyclic stress. Consequently, significant improvement in the mechanical properties of ultimate tensile strength, flexure, and fatigue life was attained for these epoxy resin composites and carbon fiber‐reinforced epoxy composite laminates.

Manganese oxide electrodes composed of interconnected nanowires are electrochemically synthesized in manganous acetate solution at room temperature without any template and catalyst. Annealing temperature affects the electrode morphology, crystallization, and electrochemical performance. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) results show that nanowires are uniformly distributed and sizes are about 12-18 nm in diameter; the diameter decreases to about 8-12 nm after annealing at 300 degrees C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) images indicate that nanowires have poor crystalline characteristics. The higher the annealing temperature, the higher the crystalline degree is in manganese oxide. The synthesized anode material shows a much larger capacity than the traditional graphite materials for lithium storage. After annealing at 300 degrees C, the electrode's reversible capacity reaches 800 mAhg(-1), and the specific capacity retention remains nearly constant after 100 cycles.

The antioxidant and antibacterial activities of wood vinegar from Litchi chinensis, and its components have been studied. The chemical compositions of wood vinegar were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 17 chemical compounds were identified, representing 83.96% of the compositions in the wood vinegar. Three major components, included 2,6-dimethoxyphenol (syringol, 29.54%), 2-methoxyphenol (guaiacol, 12.36%), and 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxytoluene (11.07%), were found in the wood vinegar. Antioxidant activities of the acids were investigated from the aspects of 1,1-Diphyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals scavenging capacity, superoxide anion radical scavenging capacity, and reducing power. The pyroligneous acid exhibited high antioxidant activity which was comparable to the reference standards (vitamin C and butylated hydroxyl toluene) at the same dose with IC50 values of 36.5 ppm calculated by the DPPH radical scavenging assay, 38.38 g Trolox equivalent/100 g DW by the trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assay, and 67.9 by the reducing power analysis. Antibacterial activity was evaluated using the disc diffusion and microdilution methods against a group of clinically antibiotic resistant isolates. The major components exhibited broad spectrum inhibition against all the bacterial strains with a range of disc inhibition zoon between 15-19 mm. The minimum inhibition concentration and minimum bactericide concentration against the test strains was ranging in 0.95-3.80 μL/100 μL and 1.90-3.80 μL/100 μL, respectively. Most of the antibiotic resistant strains were more susceptible to the wood vinegar than the non-antibiotic resistant strain except the strain of ornithine resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Based on the chemical profile, it was considered that the strongest antioxidant and antibacterial activity of Litchi chinensis wood vinegar was due to its highly phenolic compositions. This study revealed that the Litchi chinensis wood vinegar is valuable to develop as alternative food antioxidant and antibiotics.

Background:With the advent of the digital age, traditional didactic teaching and online learning have been modified and gradually replaced by “Blended Learning.” The purpose of this study was to explore the influences of blended learning pedagogy on junior high school student learning achievement and the students’ attitudes toward mathematics.Material and methods:To investigate the outcomes of the combination of Moodle online teaching platform and traditional instruction, a quasi-experiment was conducted using a pre-test–post-test control group design.Results:ANCOVA and MANCOVA analyses showed that the blended learning experience benefitted students in the experimental group by having a positive effect not only on the learning outcomes, but also on their attitudes toward studying mathematics in a blended environment.Conclusions:Preliminary results indicated that male students and high-ability students were more motivated in the blended learning environment. Students gave positive feedback on the use of the Moodle learning platform for mathematics after experiencing blended learning.

A low-profile planar monopole antenna with a shorted parasitic inverted-L wire fed using a microstrip feedline for wireless communications in the wireless local-area network (WLAN) bands is studied. The driven monopole element and shorted parasitic wire can separately control the operating frequencies of two excited resonant modes, which cover the 2.4-, 5.2-, and 5.8-GHz WLAN bands. This antenna design is not only suitable as a monopole antenna but also as a diversity antenna for 2.4-, 5.2-, and 5.8-GHz band operations. The lower mode of the proposed antenna has an impedance bandwidth (2:1 VSWR) of about 188 MHz (2313-2501 MHz), which covers the required bandwidth for 2.4 GHz WLAN band (2400-2484 MHz); on the other band, the upper mode has a bandwidth of about 2843 MHz (3930-6773 MHz) covering the HIPERLAN band (5150-5350 MHz) and 5.8-GHz WLAN band (5725-5852 MHz). For frequencies across the three operating bands, the proposed antenna shows similar monopole-like radiation patterns, and good antenna gain across the operating bands is obtained. Details of the design considerations for the proposed antenna are described, and the experimental results of the antenna performances obtained are presented and discussed.

This paper proposes a novel transformerless grid-connected power converter with negative grounding for a photovoltaic generation system. The negative terminal of the solar cell array can be directly connected to the ground in the proposed grid-connected power converter to avoid the transparent conducting oxide corrosion that occurs in some types of thin-film solar cell array. The proposed grid-connected power converter consists of a dc-dc power converter and a dc-ac inverter. The salient features of the proposed power converter are that some power electronic switches are simultaneously used in both the dc-dc power converter and dc-ac inverter, and only two power electronic switches operate at high switching frequency at the same time (one is in the dc-dc power converter and the other is in the dc-ac inverter). The leakage current of the photovoltaic generation system is reduced because the negative terminal of the solar cell array is connected directly to the ground. Finally, a prototype was developed to verify the performance of the proposed grid-connected power converter. The experimental results show that the performance of the proposed grid-connected power converter is as expected.

The current study moves beyond customer-perceived value and corporate image and demonstrates that switching costs are important factors in influencing a customer's decision to stay with a service provider. This work finds support for a contingency model involving customer-perceived value, corporate image, and switching costs. The results indicate that the impacts of customer-perceived value and corporate image on customer loyalty decrease under conditions of high switching costs. Implications of the results are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A simplified control method for the single-phase active power filter is proposed. This method has the advantages of using only one current sensor, a simple control circuit and low implementation cost. A model of this method is derived. A prototype is also developed to demonstrate the performance of this method. The test results show that the proposed active power filter has the expected performance.

Abstract. Optimization problems are very important in many fields. To the present, many optimization algorithms based on computational intelligence have been proposed, such as the Genetic Algorithm, Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). In this paper, a new optimization algorithm, namely, Cat Swarm Optimization (CSO) is proposed. CSO is generated by observing the behavior of cats, and composed of two sub-models by simulating the behavior of cats. According to the experiments, the results reveal that CSO is superior to PSO.

A web-based content analysis of the management education for sustainability-related curricula of 642 business schools from the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) and Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation system revealed drastic variations in curriculum design between European and American business schools. European schools favored an elective-oriented approach and placed more emphasis on the graduate level; whereas American business schools placed more sustainability-related courses at the undergraduate level, mandating them as compulsory. Additional differences were found between global regions including Asia and Oceania, and between national developmental stage and university ranking with regard to the overall level of sustainability-related curriculum offered, specific sustainability content, and teaching methods. Differences were noted as well in the distribution across undergraduate and graduate levels and in compulsory and elective offerings. Our findings suggest diverse differences in sustainability-related curriculum design from business schools of different backgrounds. If curriculum design is a reflection of local circumstances, we are cautious about an accreditation-led imposition of standards on business schools, since it is only at the local level where the best ideas regarding sustainability education tailored to surrounding situations can originate.