NCUE faculty members actively assist policymakers and lawmakers by providing outreach activities and courses relating to sustainable development (SDG) concepts such as economics, law, technology, migration, displacement, and climate change. The NCUE faculty members in relevant professional fields serve as advisory members to government agency committees and help implement the agencies’ plans. They ensure that the policymakers and lawmakers recognize and understand the sustainable development concepts and guide them in finding feasible strategies and specific actions toward achieving the United Nations’ 2030 SDGs. Some examples are as follows: (Annex 16.3.2A)

1. In 2021, four NCUE faculty members undertook eight government agency projects. In the current year (2022), this number has increased to 30 faculty members participating in 13 government department projects, as described below:

(1)2 faculty members assisted with two projects in the “Economics” theme:

(a)Professor Yi-Shun Wang of the Department of Information Management undertook the NSTC project “Total Plan and Sub-Project 1: The Theoretical Development and Empirical Analysis of Applying Business Simulation Systems in Universities’ Business Management Education--Theory Development and Validation for the Application of Business Simulation Systems in Entrepreneurship Education” for the 2022 academic year (2022/08/01-2025/07/31). The development of usage behavior models for business simulation systems by faculty members from the College of Management in this sub-project is envisaged to contribute to the application and diffusion of business simulation systems in the fields of university business management and entrepreneurship education. It will also help explore the impact of business simulation systems on the learning effectiveness of university business management students in entrepreneurship education, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of young Taiwanese students in innovation and entrepreneurship.

(b)Professor Chia-Yu Chiang of the Department of Business Administration undertook the NSTC project “Integrating Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility Criteria into Executive Compensation and Environmental Investment: U.S and International Evidence” for the 2022 academic year (2022/08/01-2024/01/31). This study manually collected data from the U.S. and other regions of the world over a period of years to verify the relevance of an executive compensation system that incorporates environmental CSR indicators on environmental investments and long-term corporate value, to provide the findings and recommendations of the practical and academic communities on how to formulate an executive compensation system that incorporates CSR indicators.

(2)One faculty member assisted in one project under the theme of “Law”. Professor Li-An Kuo of the Department of Guidance & Counseling undertook the Ministry of Education’s “Student Guidance and Counseling Act Revision and Improvement of Student Counseling Work Plan” for the 2022 academic year (2022/05/01-2023/04/30). Professor Kuo provides opinions on the amendment of the Student Guidance and Counseling Act to the Ministry of Education, as well as insights and practical suggestions on student physical and mental health, holistic development, and comprehensive student counseling work.

(3)7 faculty members assisted in four projects under the theme of “Technology”:

(a)Professor Der-Jiunn Deng of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering undertook the NSTC project “Performance Evaluation and Improvement of Next Generation WLAN Protocol” for the 2020 academic year (2020/08/01-2023/10/31). In a smart factory, thousands of industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices or sensors are installed in production machines to collect big data on machine conditions and transmit it to a cyber-physical system in the cloud center. Then, the system employs a variety of condition-based maintenance (CBM) methods to predict the time point when machines start to be operated abnormally and to maintain them or replace their components in advance so as to avoid manufacturing enormous detective products. CBM suffers from problems of concept drifts (i.e., the distribution of fault patterns may change over time) and imbalanced data (i.e., the data with faults accounts for a minority of all data). Ensemble learning that integrates the diversity of multiple classifiers provides a high-performance solution to address these problems. In practice, most companies may not have a sufficient budget to establish a sound infrastructure to support real-time online classifiers, but may have off-the-shelf offline classifiers in their existing systems. However, most previous works on ensemble learning only focused on supporting online classifiers. Consequently, this work proposes an ensemble learning algorithm that supports offline classifiers to cope with three-stage CBM with concept drifts and imbalance data, in which Stages 1 (training an ensemble classifier) and 3 (creating a new ensemble) employ an improved Dynamic AdaBoost.NC classifier and the SMOTE method to address imbalance data; and Stage 2 (detecting concept drifts in imbalance data) employs an improved LFR (Linear Four Rates) method. Experimental results on datasets with different degrees of imbalance show that the proposed method can successfully detect all concept drifts, and has a high accuracy rate in detecting minority-class data, which is over 94%.

Annex 16.3.2B: Professor Der-Jiunn Deng’s Project on “Performance Analysis and Improvement of Next-Generation Wireless LAN Protocols” of the NSTC.

(b)Professor Shih-Feng Fu from the Department of Biology, Yang-Wei Lin from the Department of Chemistry, and Kai-Chao Yao from the Department of Industrial Education and Technology undertook the NSTC project “Advanced and Emerging Technologies in Breeding Tomato, Detecting and Monitoring Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus Diseases” for the 2020 academic year (2020/08/01-2023/07/31). This project started by utilizing the latest gene-editing CRISPR Cas13 to insert the host tomato leaf curl virus RNA in tomatoes, thereby enhancing the tomatoes’ defense mechanisms. Subsequently, a novel DNA/gold nanoparticle atomic nucleic acid probe fast screening paper was developed, and this technology was transferred for the rapid detection and accurate quantification of the tomato yellow leaf curl virus in the fields in Taiwan.

(c)Professor Jin-Fa Chang of the Department of Electrical Engineering undertook the implementation of the NSTC project “Research on Low Noise Amplifier and Modulated Gain Technology for Fifth Generation NR Mobile Communication Networks” for the 2022 academic year (2022/08/01-2023/07/31). This project proposed a new high-performance uniform distributed phase-array wireless transceiver architecture and its key sub-circuits. This architecture is expected to be more cost-effective and offers improved performance compared to traditional digital/baseband beamforming transceivers. In addition, several innovative sub-circuit architectures with low power consumption and high performance were proposed in this project. These include low-noise wideband amplifiers, high-efficiency power amplifiers, ultra-wideband switches, and power distribution/combiner circuits. Some of the outcomes and technologies will be licensed to IC companies.

(d)Professor Ting-Yi Chang from the Department of Industrial Education and Technology and Professor Cheng-Jung Tsai from the Graduate Institute of Statistics and Information Science conducted a research project funded by the NSTC for the 2022 academic year (2022/11/01-2023/10/31). The project was titled “Mobile Payment Smart Car Wash Workshop with Data Compression and Smart Currency Exchange Machine – Android/IoS Platform.” This project aimed to integrate a customized app for businesses with data compression technology. Before consumers upload data to the cloud database, file compression should be executed first, effectively reducing the cost of data storage in the database. Through the app, administrators can remotely obtain information about the amount of change in the coin changer and control the coin changer, effectively solving the shortcomings of traditional management methods.

(4)14 faculty members assisted in one project under the theme of “Immigration and Displacement”: Professor Han-Wen Lee from the Department of Chemistry, Professor Yi-Sheng Hong from the Office of International and Cross-Strait Affairs, Professor Wen-Ran Yang from the Department of Electrical Engineering, and 11 other faculty members were involved in one project titled “2022-2023 Taiwan Experience and Education Program (TEEP)” focusing on the theme of “Immigration and Displacement.” The program invited promising young scholars from overseas to Taiwan for systematic academic courses and internships in specific academic fields, this initiative aimed to help them gain insights into Taiwan’s educational and academic resources. The goal was to encourage them to consider Taiwan for future academic pursuits or employment, thereby contributing their talents to our country.

(5)6 faculty members assisted in five projects on the theme of “Climate Change”:

(a)Professor Chien-Yi Tu of the Department of Geography undertook the NSTC project “Impacts of Large-Scale Circulation Changes on Precipitation in the Asian Monsoon Region under Global Warming” for the 2022 academic year (2022/08/01-2023/10/31). This project started with the analysis of observational data and connected it to assess the potential impact of Asian monsoon circulation changes on regional rainfall under future warming scenarios. This assessment can be beneficial for Taiwan’s future disaster prevention and water resource management.

(b)Professor Yu-Ling Sung and Professor Heng-Chang Che from the Department of Geography undertook the NSTC project titled “The Tragedy of Objects? -The Network and Change of Coastal Social-Ecological Systems under Impact of the Skywalk in Fangyuan County, Changhua (Total Plan and Sub-Project 6) (1/3)” for the 2022 academic year (2022/08/01-2023/07/31). This research was based on the integration of social and ecological actor networks as an analytical framework. It also integrated other sub-projects focusing on coastal morphology, regional climate, land use, ecological service systems, marine spatial planning, and benthic ecological diversity. This interdisciplinary analysis aimed to understand the development and impacts on coastal communities at the edge.

Annex 16.3.2C: Professor Yu-Ling Sung’s presentation on the NSTC project “The Tragedy of Objects? -The Network and Change of Coastal Social-Ecological Systems under Impact of the Skywalk in Fanyuan County, Changhua”.

(c)Professor Yi-Ching Chen of the Department of Geography undertook the NSTC project “Constructing an Evaluation Framework for Large-Scale Landscape Changes and Ecosystem Services Using Remote Sensing (Sub-Project 2) (1/3)” for the 2022 academic year (2022/08/01-2023/07/31). This project employed multi-scale aerial remote sensing technology to establish the topographic changes of Chaopu along the Changhua coast over the past 30 years, and the impacts of natural environmental changes and man-made structures (e.g., sea-air trails, mangrove forests, and wind, solar, and power facilities) on the topography of Chaopu.

(d)Professor Su-Fen Wang of the Department of Geography executed the NSTC project “Constructing an Evaluation Framework for Large-Scale Landscape Changes and Ecosystem Services Using Remote Sensing (Sub-Project 2) (1/3)” for the 2022 academic year (2022/08/01-2023/07/31). This project primarily focused on the impact of land use changes on ecosystem services. By utilizing remote sensing as a tool to quantify the relationship between land use change processes and ecosystem services, it can serve as the basis for estimating the conversion of ecological function values into economic values in the future. Linking with other sub-projects, the project will channel scientific data to local communities and local governments to avoid inappropriate land use development.

(e)Professor Pei-Wen Lu and Professor Yu-Ling Sung of the Department of Geography had worked on the NSTC project “Resilient Development and Risk Adaptation under Climate Extremity: Changhua County” for the 2022 academic year (2022/08/01-2023/07/31). This project aimed to provide an understanding and knowledge of subsidence in the research area, as well as the impact of flooding and climate change scenarios on the region. It also focused on establishing long-term and reliable collaborative relationships with the local communities as part of the national disaster prevention strategy. Through these efforts, the project actively addressed the impacts of climate change and developed climate-resilient strategies that connect local community development, regional revitalization, and industrial needs.

2. NCUE’s faculty members serve as the members of government agencies’ committees advising policymakers on feasible strategies and specific actions for specific SDGs:

(1)Professor Wei-Tzer Huang from the Department of Industrial Education and Technology serves as a member of the Electric Reliability Council of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, participating in meetings concerning Taiwan’s long-term power load forecasting, renewable energy development, and power system operation reliability.

(2)Professor Chung-Chi Lin from the Department of Biology serves as the executive director of the National Red Imported Fire Ant Control Centre of the Council of Agriculture and is responsible for planning and implementing professional technical support and emergency control plans. Among the exotic species in Taiwan, Solenopsis invicta, red imported fire ants or RIFA, are extremely dangerous pests. First found in Taiwan in October 2003, RIFAs have since invaded large areas in Taoyuan County, Taipei County (now New Taipei City), and Chiayi County, with sporadic outbreaks in neighbouring counties and cities. The RIFAs have caused varying degrees of harm to the agricultural environment, ecological environment, and human health. The National Red Imported Fire Ant Control Centre was established in November 2004 to provide overall notifications and control actions on RIFA infestations. The Centre also researches effective monitoring methods and control strategies suitable for Taiwan’s ecological environment, cooperates with communal and non-governmental organizations to educate the public about the problems, and helps train seeded teachers to help the government mitigate the spread of RIFAs. NCUE’s Professor Chung-Chi Lin has been an expert consultant to the Centre since its establishment. Since 2015, he has served as the volunteer executive director of the Centre and is responsible for planning, implementing, and supervising professional technical support and emergency control projects.

(3)Professor Der-Jiunn Deng from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering serves as a technology expert to the Department of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economic Affairs. For the past two years, Professor Der-Jiunn Deng has been a consultant with the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT), Ministry of Economic Affairs, responsible for R&D and innovation in Taiwan’s ICT. He supervises relevant institutions and companies to solve technical bottlenecks and increase Taiwan’s ICT competitiveness. Reference Website: https://trh.gase.most.ntnu.edu.tw/tw/article/content/188.