Assessing the Economic Value of Public Service Broadcasting in Taiwan Using the Contingent Valuation Approach

The objective of the study is to provide empirical evidence on the value of public service broadcasting (PSB) in Taiwan, which is a critical factor when considering the provision of more public funding. Being based on a nationwide telephone survey in Taiwan, this study uses the contingent valuation method to elicit citizens' willingness to pay (WTP) for maintaining the current PSB in Taiwan. The results show that household average WTP per year for PSB is estimated to be NT$982 (US$29.89), which is equal to 0.18% of GDP per capita in 2007. Such WTP estimate is much higher than the current government subsidy for PSB per household, which implies respondents' high appreciation on PSB as well as the potential benefit that Taiwan PSB could bring to the family. Our estimates of WTP provide important information for government authorities and policy-makers when making funding decisions. Furthermore, our survey results also point to some prioritized functions as potential niches on which the Taiwan PSB could focus in the future.     

Modeling of Star-shaped and Parallel-wire Carrier Distribution Systems

It is often desirable to represent carrier distribution systems by networks so that analysis can be made to predict the behavior of these systems. Modeling of two canonical carrier distribution systems, the star-shaped system and the parallel-wire system by networks was carried out in this paper. The representation is given in terms of lumped parameters when the lengths of the carrier lines are short and it is given in terms of lumped and distributed parameters when the lengths of the carrier lines are long.     

部分国家和地区体育彩票经销商遴选政策分析及启示

采用政策分析法分析与我国体育彩票销售体系相似,经销商遴选方式趋同的部分国家和地区的体育彩票业经销商遴选政策,具体包括新加坡、 美国、西班牙、澳大利亚、新西兰、加拿大6 个国家及地区,寻找不同国家和地区政策分析的规律性特点,即均有基本资格审核,注重道德品质和遵纪守 法;注重是否具备营销、管理能力;要求体育彩票经销商有运动兴趣和博彩知识;将经销人员培训纳入彩票业务体系之中;重视经销地点选择和店面规 格;技术供应商执照与经销商执照不得同有。在分析其特征的基础上,与国际体育彩票经销商政策比较发现,得出对我国现行体育彩票经销商政策的 借鉴和启示,目前我国体育彩票经销商遴选仍有许多相关内容的考量值得借鉴和参考,即关于经济利害关系人的考量;关于运动兴趣和体育专业知识 的考量;关于“负责任博彩”的考量;关于推行“体育彩票经理人”职业资格认证制度的考量;关于技术供应商执照与经销商执照不得同有的考量,通过 部分国家或地区体育彩票经销商遴选政策分析研究,希望能够为我国体育彩票业经销商遴选政策的完善与发展提供智力支持和学术支撑。     

Investigating Coherence About Nature of Science in Science Curriculum Documents

Science & Education - The article focuses on the analysis of curriculum documents from Taiwan to investigate how benchmarks for learning nature of science (NOS) are positioned in different...     

從性别與文化談女性詞作美感特質之演進

多年來,我雖曾寫過不少篇有關詞與詞學方面的論文,但却大都是以男性之作品為主,而未曾寫過任何一篇有關女性詞人的論述.一年前應香港城市大學之邀前往講學,曾做過一次題為<從雙重性別與雙重語境談早期詞之美感特質之形成>的講演.     

The influence of social interaction on meaning construction in a virtual community

As proposed by social constructive theorists, meaningful learning and individual development were achieved through social interaction. To foster social interaction among students, this study formed an online learning community in which they played multiple roles as writers, editors and commentators. In playing different roles, they read peers' texts, edited peers' errors, evaluated peer editors' corrections and finally reconstructed their own texts. Results of this study showed that the multiple roles they played allowed them to have opportunities to view their own texts from others' perspectives. Based on these perspectives, they were more willing to acquire information from and contribute information to peers. All of this extensive information acquisition and contribution resulted in meaning construction of texts as active students improved their final drafts in both local revision (grammatical correction) and global revision (the style, organisation and development of a text) after receiving and evaluating feedback from peer editors. Their final drafts were very different from those of passive students whose first and final drafts were almost the same despite some grammatical revisions. This study suggests that, rather than relying only on an examination of students' final drafts, there may be benefits in teachers encouraging students to actively participate in social interaction by reading peers' texts, editing peers' errors and evaluating peer editors' corrections during text revisions.     

女性語言與女性書寫——早期詞作中的歌伎之詞

西方女性主義,從20世紀40年代末期女性自我意識之覺醒,繼之以女性主義文學批評之興起,開始了對於"文學中的女性"與"女性的文學"之種種反思和研討.到以後女性主義性别之論述,則結合了舆政治學、社會學、心理學等各學派的對話,而且與時俱進地滲入了後結構主義舆後現代主義的種種新說.     

The interactive effects of personal traits and guided practices on preservice teachers' changes in personal teaching efficacy

Personal teaching efficacy is associated with a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom. To enhance this efficacy in a computer‐simulated training program, both personal traits and guided practices need to be considered concurrently. In this study, it was hypothesised that the interactive effects from the coupling of personal traits with guided practices would be a reliable predictor of the degree of improvement in personal teaching efficacy during computer‐simulated training. One hundred and seventy‐eight preservice teachers completed an interactive teaching experience via the Computer Simulation for Teaching General Critical‐thinking Skills in which guided practices were integrated via specially designed teaching sequences and loops. The findings suggest that intrapersonal intelligence, critical‐thinking dispositions and a judicial thinking style are related to self‐awareness, analytical learning and reflective thinking and that in this study, these personal qualities seemingly interacted with guided practices, which resulted in reflective teaching and mastery experience. This, in turn, may very well have brought about improvement in the preservice teachers’ personal teaching efficacy during the computer‐simulated teaching.