Marketing practices and their effectiveness in Taiwan's colleges of technology

The main purpose of this study was to investigate marketing practices in Taiwan's institutions of higher education and their relationship with students' college choice behaviors and attitudes. The study was conducted in 11 Taiwan's colleges of technology. It employed a multistrand conversion mixed model design, consisting of a qualitative and a quantitative strand. Funnel-sequenced interviews were conducted with 19 college administrators and the results were content analyzed using a constant-comparative method. The administrator interview data were also quantitized and used in cluster analysis of the institutions. Questionnaire data were collected from 1474 freshmen students, and analyzed using several univariate and multivariate statistical techniques including factor analysis, MANOVA, and correspondence analysis. ^ Analyses indicated that a weak relationship existed between institutions' marketing intensity and students' college choice. Students did not consider institutions' recruitment activities useful in their college searching process. They also reported little knowledge of their current school when they were deciding to enroll. Data analysis also revealed that students were practically oriented in their college selection. Academic resources, employability after graduation, and tuition were the most important attributes in students' college selection. Parents and students' social network such as friends and high school teachers were significant personal sources in enrollment decisions while institutions' representatives (i.e., recruiters) were considered the least influential. ^ Using cluster analysis, institutions were divided into three groups based on intensity of marketing efforts. Multivariate analysis of variance did not reveal significant differences between the college choice behaviors and attitudes of students who entered these three types of institutions. ^ Content analysis of the administrators' interviews indicated that the majority of them practiced passive marketing. This was primarily as a result of resistance to active marketing, lack of leadership commitment, insufficient financial and human resources, little faculty involvement, and inexperience in marketing. In comparison to public institutions, private institutions showed a more favorable attitude towards marketing concepts. They were well advanced in their recruitment activities while public schools were relatively hesitant to use marketing. Curriculum issues were not well represented in marketing activities and did not seem to be impacted by marketing needs. Based on the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, it can be concluded that in these colleges, curriculum was more driven by commercial and industrial interest than by students' demands. ^ Theoretical, policy, and methodological implementation of the results were discussed. ^

A Suite of Prey Traits Determine Predator and Nutrient Enrichment Effects in a Tri-Trophic Food Chain

Predation, predation risk, and resource quality affect suites of prey traits that collectively impact individual fitness, population dynamics, and community structure. However, studies of multi-trophic level effects generally focus on a single prey trait, failing to capture trade-offs among suites of covarying traits that govern population responses and emergent community patterns. We used structural equation models (SEM) to summarize the non-lethal and lethal effects of crayfish, Procambarus fallax, and phosphorus (P) addition, which affected prey food quality (periphyton), on the interactive effects of behavioral, morphological, developmental, and reproductive traits of snails, Planorbella duryi. Univariate and multivariate analyses suggested trade-offs between production (growth, reproduction) and defense (foraging behavior, shell shape) traits of snails in response to non-lethal crayfish and P addition, but few lethal effects. SEM revealed that non-lethal crayfish effects indirectly limited per capita offspring standing stock by increasing refuge use, slowing individual growth, and inducing snails to produce thicker, compressed shells. The negative effects of non-lethal crayfish on snails were strongest with P addition; snails increased allocation to shell defense rather than growth or reproduction. However, compared to ambient conditions, P addition with non-lethal crayfish still yielded greater per capita offspring standing stock by speeding individual snail growth enabling them to produce more offspring that also grew faster. Increased refuge use in response to non-lethal crayfish led to a non-lethal trophic cascade that altered the spatial distribution of periphyton. Independent of crayfish effects, snails stimulated periphyton growth through nutrient regeneration. These findings illustrate the importance of studying suites of traits that reveal costs associated with inducing different traits and how expressing those traits impacts population and community level processes.

Perceptions regarding intercollegiate alliance among administrators of Taiwanese technological higher education institutions

This study explored Taiwanese technological higher education administrators' perceptions about the motivation and capability of their institutions to form intercollegiate alliance, their preferred areas of collaboration, and their preferred partner attributes. Possible differences in perceptions of administrators from public and private institutions were also explored. ^ The study targeted six chief administrators in each of 88 technological and vocational higher education institutions in Taiwan. A mix of quantitative and qualitative research designs was used to collect and analyze data. Quantitative data were collected from 328 administrators through a questionnaire and analyzed using univariate and multivariate statistical techniques. In addition, to obtain a deeper understanding of the process of alliance formation, qualitative data were collected through interviews with 13 administrators and content analyzed using emergent themes analysis. ^ Findings revealed that Taiwanese technological education administrators were not strongly confident in the competitive positions of their institutions. They perceived themselves as non-competitive in faculty research performance, in getting financial support, and having easy-access locations. Administrators believed that forming an alliance would help them obtain more external resources, achieve academic enhancement, provide better services, have a stronger voice, and obtain promotion to a higher institutional level. Cost cutting was not believed to be an attainable goal. ^ Strong interest was expressed for an alliance in the sharing of technology, information networks, and library resources; cross-registration; admissions and recruitment practices; school-industry endeavors; and international academic exchanges. Sharing of administrators and staff, joint bidding and purchasing, and cooperative fundraising were considered of less interest. ^ Administrators favored partners who have excellent academic programs, who have complementary skills, who are willing to share resources, and who are enthusiastic leaders. They also wanted partners to match their institutions in performance and prestige and to be geographically close to them. ^ Multivariate analysis of variance did not reveal significant differences between the perceptions of the administrators from public and private institutions. It was concluded that despite governmental encouragement and the institutions' eagerness for forming an alliance, the administrators had little confidence that a sustainable alliance could be arranged. ^

Temporal analysis of land use and transportation investments with geographic information system

Land use and transportation interaction has been a research topic for several decades. There have been efforts to identify impacts of transportation on land use from several different perspectives. One focus has been the role of transportation improvements in encouraging new land developments or relocation of activities due to improved accessibility. The impacts studied have included property values and increased development. Another focus has been on the changes in travel behavior due to better mobility and accessibility. Most studies to date have been conducted in metropolitan level, thus unable to account for interactions spatially and temporally at smaller geographic scales. ^ In this study, a framework for studying the temporal interactions between transportation and land use was proposed and applied to three selected corridor areas in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The framework consists of two parts: one is developing of temporal data and the other is applying time series analysis to this temporal data to identify their dynamic interactions. Temporal GIS databases were constructed and used to compile building permit data and transportation improvement projects. Two types of time series analysis approaches were utilized: univariate models and multivariate models. Time series analysis is designed to describe the dynamic consequences of time series by developing models and forecasting the future of the system based on historical trends. Model estimation results from the selected corridors were then compared. ^ It was found that the time series models predicted residential development better than commercial development. It was also found that results from three study corridors varied in terms of the magnitude of impacts, length of lags, significance of the variables, and the model structure. Long-run effect or cumulated impact of transportation improvement on land developments was also measured with time series techniques. The study offered evidence that congestion negatively impacted development and transportation investments encouraged land development. ^

Substance use and sexual risk behaviors among adolescent detainees

There is a commonly presumed link among sexual risk behavior, substance use, and other psychosocial factors among adolescents. However, these relationships have been relatively understudied in detained, low-income, minority, substance abusing adolescents. This study addresses this gap in the literature with a secondary data analysis based on a sample of adolescent offenders in two detention and treatment centers in Miami-Dade County. Univariate, bivariate statistical analysis and multivariate logistic regressions were conducted on baseline data from structured interviews with 455 adolescents participating in an NIH funded prevention intervention. Data were analyzed to assess relationships among self-reported substance use, STD history, HIV/AIDS knowledge, condom use, condom use attitudes, and skills, peer and parental approval to use condoms, and race/ethnicity. The adolescent sample was 74.1% male, and 25.9% female and 35.4% African American, 25.1% non-African American Latino, 11.2% White, and 28.4% of other race/ethnicity categories. The mean age was 15.6 years. Results suggested that alcohol use (p < 0.001) and use of marijuana, cocaine and other drugs (p < 0.001) are significant variables when explaining the variability in sexual risk behaviors. Results also suggested that unprotected vaginal, anal, and oral sex increased with higher alcohol and drug use (p < 0.001) and that positive attitudes about personally using condoms (p < 0.001) were also significantly related to condom use. Logistic regressions showed that race/ethnicity was a significant control variable when explaining the variability of condom use. Being White and Latino were significantly associated with less condom use during oral and anal sex when compared to other racial/ethnic groups. These results indicated that risky sexual behavior and HIV infection risk are significantly associated with substance use, particularly alcohol use. Therefore, proper screening and identification of alcohol use, and condom use attitudes could maximize the efficacy of referrals to programs targeting both issues and increase the potential for appropriate primary and secondary prevention and treatment among adolescent detainees.

Derivation of lake mixing and stratification indices from high-resolution lake buoy data

Lake Analyzer is a numerical code coupled with supporting visualization tools for determining indices of mixing and stratification that are critical to the biogeochemical cycles of lakes and reservoirs. Stability indices, including Lake Number, Wedderburn Number, Schmidt Stability, and thermocline depth are calculated according to established literature definitions and returned to the user in a time series format. The program was created for the analysis of high-frequency data collected from instrumented lake buoys, in support of the emerging field of aquatic sensor network science. Available outputs for the Lake Analyzer program are: water temperature (error-checked and/or down-sampled), wind speed (error-checked and/or down-sampled), metalimnion extent (top and bottom), thermocline depth, friction velocity, Lake Number, Wedderburn Number, Schmidt Stability, mode-1 vertical seiche period, and Brunt-Väisälä buoyancy frequency. Secondary outputs for several of these indices delineate the parent thermocline depth (seasonal thermocline) from the shallower secondary or diurnal thermocline. Lake Analyzer provides a program suite and best practices for the comparison of mixing and stratification indices in lakes across gradients of climate, hydro-physiography, and time, and enables a more detailed understanding of the resulting biogeochemical transformations at different spatial and temporal scales.