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In Taiwan, particularly in rural settlements, the temple serves as the religious and social centre. In the past 30 years, as Taiwan experienced rapid economic growth, modernizing temple architecture was something worshipers viewed as the newest and best offering. Many old temples were demolished entirely or in parts to build larger temples using modern materials and construction methods.

In the early 1990s, finding the old temple too small to fulfil the large number of worshipers from outside the community, the Chen-An Temple Association proposed to raise funds for a new temple. It commissioned a Japanese architecture firm, well known for several public projects in I-Lan, to design the new temple. The design partially preserved the old temple building, integrating it into the landscape design of the new temple. At the time, the central government cultural bureau was promoting the preservation of community historic spaces, and at first had agreed to give funding. However, after reviewing, funding was refused because the jurors had failed to see community involvement in the design.

It was under these circumstances that the Er-Jie community invited our organization to work with them, in hope that by bringing in a new perspective, the original scheme could be altered to satisfy government funding. Through a nine month participation process, the community realized that what meant the most to them about the old temple was the public square defined by the temple building, the large canopy of the Banyan trees, and the social activities that took place there. After much deliberation and numerous design workshops with the architects of the new temple, the resulting design preserved the entire old temple building by moving it to an unused space across from its current location; and to recreate the character of the temple square through attention to design elements.

Our work in Er-Jie demonstrated that although language is a vital part of preservation efforts, most community members do not have a grasp of the planning and design language, including words, drawings, body language, and actions. Not having adequate language ability leads to misunderstanding, prevents one’s voice from being heard, and creates obstacles in dialogue. In retrospect, the lack of a common language was the cause of many of the difficulties and issues we confronted during the project.

There were five key players in the project -the government, the Chen-An Temple Association, the community, the architects, and us. The participation process was about encouraging a common language. Through the process, we observed a rise in the community’s confidence, as they were increasingly able to share their thoughts with and define their values to the others involved.

Accordingly, we were able to draw from the community that the temple square was what they valued most. The end product of the preservation effort is more than a conserved temple building. The revitalization effort also preserved the meaning the public square holds for the community. For the community, temple preservation is about public space because of the cultural and historical attachments the local residents have to that space. Revitalization is about providing the opportunity for the community to redefine the role of the building given the community’s current needs.

The success of the conservation effort can be measured by the effect the process has on the community. Following the preservation of the Chen-An Temple, the community led the restoration of a waterway that runs through their community. As the community became more comfortable with the language of participation, preservation, space, and design, there emerges a preservation and environmental design consciousness in the community.

Seekers who visit professional virtual communities (PVCs) are usually motivated by knowledge-seeking, which is a complex cognitive process. How do seekers search for knowledge, and how is their search linked to prior knowledge or PVC situation factors? From the cognitive process and interactional psychology perspectives, this study investigated the three-way interactions between seekers’ expertise, task complexity, and perceptions of PVC features (i.e. knowledge quality and system quality) on knowledge-seeking strategies and resultant outcomes.

A field experiment was conducted with 119 seekers in a PVC using a 2 × 2 factorial design of seekers’ expertise (i.e. expert versus novice) and task complexity (i.e. low versus high).

The study reveals three significant insights: (1) For a high-complexity task, experts adopt an ask-directed searching strategy compared to novices, whereas novices adopt a browsing strategy; (2) For a high-complexity task, experts who perceive a high system quality are more likely than novices to adopt an ask-directed searching strategy; and (3) Task completion time and task quality are associated with the adoption of ask-directed searching strategies, whereas knowledge seekers’ satisfaction is more associated with the adoption of browsing strategy.

We draw on the perspectives of cognitive process and interactional psychology to explore potential two- and three-way interactions of seekers’ expertise, task complexity, and PVC features on the adoption of knowledge-seeking strategies in a PVC context. Our findings provide deep insights into seekers’ behavior in a PVC, given the popularity of the search for knowledge in PVCs.

Knowledge management (KM) is crucial to ensure construction organisations effectively take advantage of existing expertise, engendering faster and more effective decision-making. Most importantly, it helps organisations to learn from past experiences. Despite its increasing academic attention, the implementation of KM is still relatively slow across the construction industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to gain a renewed understanding of the extent of KM practices in construction.

Quantitative approach using a questionnaire survey was used to prioritise the 15 critical factors and 9 enables of knowledge creation. Finally, an exploratory factor analysis is used to determine the principal elements of successful KM implementation in construction.

KM in a construction organisation is significantly influenced by knowledge sharing, collaboration, learning from mistakes, employee training and knowledge strategy. On the other hand, knowledge is created mostly through project mistakes, individual constant self-improvement, challenging barrier, review session and brainstorming discussion. With factor analysis technique, three underlying factors impacting KM practices are capacity and capability improvement, long-term commitment and innovation and synergetic working culture.

Questionnaire survey was used as the single data collection instrument. The findings of the current study shed light on the salient issues affecting KM practices in construction but may not generalise to organisations operating in other industries.

These findings can support first-order KM implementation decision-making and enable the exploitation of existing knowledge assets towards achieving sustainable development and competitive advantage.

Effective KM practices are about finding the best ways to deliver the right knowledge to the right person at the right time, enabling informed decision-making and improving operational efficiencies. The contribution of this study is built upon the examination of the underlying factors of KM implementation; the findings provide insights into the core aspects of KM practices, facilitating managers in prioritising KM strategies that are really going to make a difference.

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate empirically a research model that depicts the relationships between the identified key value proposition attributes of mobile value‐added services and the core factors of brand equity.

Survey data collected from 497 mobile value‐added service consumers were examined using structural equation modeling to validate the research model.

The results indicate that the mobile service attributes of personalization, identifiability, and perceived enjoyment have significant positive influences on the key brand equity factors, including brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness, and brand associations. Additionally, the results confirm the significance of all four of the brand equity factors in interpreting consumer purchase intention in the context of mobile value‐added service consumption.

The research results provide insights into how mobile value‐added services may be better designed and delivered to enhance brand equity and, in turn, profits.

While the market potential of mobile value‐added services and the importance of brand equity have both been widely recognized, the development and empirical validation of a model that specifically depicts the determinants of mobile value‐added service consumption from a brand‐equity perspective has not yet been undertaken. Consequently, this study investigates the relationships among key m‐commerce attributes, core brand‐equity components, and consumer behaviors. The research results have extended the application and advanced the understanding of previous mobile‐commerce and brand‐equity theories in the context of mobile value‐added service consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the value added of exports of services, which increasingly involve intermediate inputs to manufacturing and are indirectly embodied in intermediate and finished good exports to the global market earned by Taiwan and South Korea.

This paper uses the World Input-Output Database to examine and compare the competitiveness of service industry between Taiwan and South Korea in China from 1995 to 2011. The author measures the value added of export in two ways: value added in trade (VAiT) and trade in value added (TiVA).

The proportion of domestic (intermediate and final demand) VAiT was created by Taiwanese and South Korean exports to China. The services amount share of value added embodied in Taiwanese electrical and optical equipment (ELE) exports to China increased gradually (38.0–45.7 percent) from 1996 to 2011, that was more than that of South Korea (26.7–23.3 percent). Taiwanese financial and business (F&B) service contributed to Taiwanese ELE production exported to China. In service sectors, the proportion of VAiT of Taiwanese F&B service embodied in ELE exports to China increased annually (9.8–11.5 percent), that was similar to that of South Korea (12.2–11.3 percent). Thus, F&B sector played an increasingly important role in service sectors. Taiwanese F&B promotes the ELE export to China with higher efficiency than South Korea does.

Over the past two decades, the development of information technology and the growth of international specialization and fragmentation of production processes have brought about a global value chains (GVCs) phenomenon in services, which has already been taking place in manufacturing for a long time. Intangible value added of services increasingly involved intermediate inputs from manufacturing and were indirectly embodied in intermediate and finished goods exported to the global market. The focus of this paper is to analyze how the service industry participates in the development of the GVC, with emphasis on the export of ELE production to China in the bilateral trade of Taiwan and Korea with China. In addition to the value-added components, the exports of F&B intermediate products to China have been increasing year by year, and Taiwanese is higher than South Korean. In the bilateral trade between Taiwan or Korea and China, for ELE production exported to China, double counted part of intermediate products is increasing year by year. In terms of the value added of the double counting of F&B exports to China, Taiwan is higher (PDC, 31.23–17.26 percent) than South Korea. (PDC, 8.7–15.12 percent). South Korea and China are not as closely related as Taiwan and China.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the historical background of genealogical records and analyze the value of Chinese genealogical research through the study of names and genealogical resources.

The paper examines the historical evolution and value of Chinese genealogical records, with the focus on researching the Islamic Chinese names used by the people living in Guilin. The highlight of this paper includes the analysis and evolution of the Islamic Chinese names commonly adopted by the local people in Guilin. It concludes with the recommendations on emphasizing and making the best use of genealogical records to enhance the research value of Chinese overseas studies.

The paper covers the history of Islam and describes how the religion was introduced into China, as well as Muslims' ethnicity and identity. It also places focus on the importance of building a research collection in Asian history and Chinese genealogy.

This research study has a strong subject focus on Chinese genealogy, Asian history, and Islamic Chinese surnames. It is a narrow field that few researchers have delved into.

The results of this study will assist students, researchers, and the general public in tracing the origin of their surnames and developing their interest in the social and historical value of Chinese local history and genealogies.

The study of Chinese surnames is, by itself, a particular field for researching the social and political implications of contemporary Chinese society during the time the family members lived.

Very little research has been done in the area of Chinese local history and genealogy. The paper would be of value to researchers such as historians, sociologists, ethnologists and archaeologists, as well as students and anyone interested in researching a surname origin, its history and evolution.

Previous research has posited country image to operate at two levels: the country’s macro image, based on general politico-economic descriptors of the country, and the country’s micro image, based on perceptions of products from the country. The purpose of this paper is to further explore this premise in a practical study, using a psychometric assessment of macro and micro country images by ascertaining the nature of differences in macro and micro images of leading exporters, the USA and China, for consumers in Malaysia, a top import destination of US and Chinese goods; the images of Malaysian goods were similarly assessed.

The study used a systematic sample, with questionnaires distributed to adult respondents using a street intercept. Interviewers asked every other passer-by to fill out a questionnaire, and stood in close proximity to address any questions from respondents. The study hypothesized that there is a significant difference between country macro and micro image, respectively for the USA, China and Malaysia, and that there is significant relationship between country macro image and country micro image in each country, respectively, USA, China and Malaysia.

The study found support for the reliability of existing country micro and macro image measures, and further refined them for increased validity. The study compared between the countries and found significant differences on both macro and micro dimensions of country image. The US scored highest on technological research, high quality products, standards of living, labor costs, welfare system, industrialization, civilian government, development, literacy, free-market system and democracy, followed by China on technological research, industrialization, development and free-market system, with Malaysia scoring higher on product quality, labor costs, welfare system, civilian government is civilian/non-military, literacy, free-market system and democracy.

A broader study of countries that share geopolitical and cultural similarities might offer additional insights into country macro and micro image.

The study cautions marketers to assess the acceptance of their products in the context of their country’s macro and micro image perceptions in target markets, and steer those perceptions in a manner that would be beneficial to their marketing efforts.

The conceptualization of the macro and micro aspects of country image has been one of the less studied dimensions of country image. This study is the first to address these dimensions from an emerging-market perspective, suggesting that, at the macro level, country perceptions regarding technology, economy, and politics contribute to an overall impression of the country, which would then influence the desirability of its products originating there. For the micro country image, products from countries perceived as innovative, excelling in product design, and producing prestigious products, are likely to be perceived as desirable.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact paths of the social capital and the effects of microfinance in rural China, and address effective methods to enhance the effects of microfinance for rural China.

Using a structural equation model with survey data from 350 rural households in China, this paper analyzes empirically whether greater level of social sanctions and social relations caused more tangible effects of microfinance, and whether tangible effects of microfinance are associated with social capital formation of households.

The results indicate that social capital promotes the effects of microfinance and the process of providing microfinance service is also the process of building social capital. Moreover, social sanctions diminish the effects of microfinance while social relations boost them and enhance the effects of microfinance that can encourage social capital formation. Results also show that a reverse causal relationship exists between social sanctions and social relations.

The empirical results imply that actively utilizing and creating social capital is vital to improve the effects of microfinance, and microfinance institutions (MFIs) should concentrate more on harmonious social relations and deliberately build social capital.

These findings imply that actively utilizing and creating social capital is vital to improve the effects of microfinance, and the MFIs should concentrate more on harmonious social relations and deliberately build social capital to enhance the effects of microfinance while prudently use social sanctions.

Enhancing the effects of microfinance, while prudently using social sanctions, increases households income.

This paper originates to investigate the links between the social capital and the effects of microfinance in a mutual way, and the results urge more attentions on the harmonious social relations which have been ignored to enhance the effects of microfinance.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process through which an organization develops organizational capabilities by tapping the technical skills and social skills of its employees in the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) to deliver lean and green project outcomes. The resulting framework for BIM-based organizational capabilities development comprising of three hierarchical layers – technology, process and outcomes – is explained.

For this study, BIM has been identified as an enabler and a process for achieving lean and green outcomes on construction projects. Based on a detailed literature review, this paper identifies the organizational capabilities needed by the architecture, engineering and construction organizations to effectively implement BIM on construction projects. The study has been conducted through a sequential mixed-method approach involving semi-structured interviews, focus groups and qualitative comparative analyses.

It was discovered that to attain desired project outcomes, an organization needs to embrace an underlying BIM adoption culture not only within its project teams but also within the organization as a whole. The study also concluded that an integrated approach to BIM usage – connecting it with lean and green initiatives – on construction projects resulted in improved project outcomes, especially ones targeting lean and green aspects of improvements.

The proposed outline for BIM-based organizational capabilities will help the organizations focus on the “human factors” along with the technical factors while striving for successful usage within their organizations.

Using the organizational capabilities matrix, this paper highlights the importance of technical and social skill sets of an individual employee and their role in developing the organizational capabilities to gain the desired lean and green outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using conductive polymers such as polyaniline (PANI) as corrosion inhibitors for metals.

In this study, the effect of the addition of praseodymium (Pr³⁺) cations on the corrosion inhibition performance of PANI for AZ31 magnesium alloy was appraised through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization tests.

The results of EIS and potentiodynamic polarization tests indicated the improvement of corrosion resistance of AZ31 during different immersion times.

This anti-corrosion ability of PANI/Pr³⁺ composite applies as non-toxic environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor on the self-healing corrosion protection properties.

The conductive polymers are interested for many industries. The reported data can be used by the formulators working in the R&D departments.

The anti-corrosion ability of PANI/Pr³⁺ composite present a novel and high effective route against metal corrosion besides application of toxic corrosion.

The application of titanium dioxide coating in the field of architectural heritage is a great challenge. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to study the synthesis, characterization and corrosion inhibition performance of Pr³⁺ cations doped PANI nano-fibers as an anti-corrosion additive for AZ31 magnesium alloy in 3.5 Wt.% NaCl solution.