News

Study on Taipei 101 frequency could help Taiwan on building safety

Researchers have concluded a study on how weather conditions and human activity influence Taipei 101's frequencies and vibrations, and feel that it will enhance methods of monitoring building safety in Taiwan.

Aha! That's it! How insight happens in the mechanism of brain operation

The Aha! experience is the reaction that humans may have during the problem-solving process when they suddenly discover the solution to a problem. The restructuring of the initial problem representation is the key to solving insight problems. However, while solving insight problems, not all individuals reach an impasse or need to restructure the problem. Only problems that cannot be solved without representational changes can be regarded as pure insight problems; others are classified as pseudo-insight problems. Based on the homonymy of Chinese characters, we developed two sets of Chinese remote associates tests (CRATs) for this study. By comparing the brain activity of adults during pure and pseudo-insight problem solving, we analysed the commonality and uniqueness of brain activation while solving these two types of insight problems. The results show that these two types of insight problem solving share the same brain activation area but different operating areas, with the ventral precuneus connected to pure and pseudo-insight problem solving, and the left thalamus showing significant activation when only semantic search and conceptual integration are required. This study initiates the exploration of the brain activity of insight problem solving, and enhances our understanding of how representational change generates insight.

Visit by University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center to Enhance US Awareness of Taiwan

A delegation from University of Pittsburgh’s Asian Studies Center visited National Taiwan Normal University on 12 June. Pitt’s Asian Studies Center is currently undertaking “Centering Taiwan in Global Asia,” a three-year-long education initiative spearheaded by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. One of the goals for the visit to NTNU is to forge a deeper partnership with the Department of Taiwanese Culture, Languages and Literature and the Department of History, which will not only provide opportunities for exchange between faculty and students, but also improve the English website designed by the Asian Studies Center to educate about Taiwan and raise its visibility in the United States.

Visit by Queensland University of Technology Promotes Exchange and Cooperation with NTNU

Queensland University of Technology International visited National Taiwan Normal University on 2 June and conducted extensive discussions on possible areas for exchange and cooperation between the two universities with Dr. Elise Li, NTNU’s Associate Vice President for International Affairs as well as Dr. Yung-Cheng Shen, Dean of the College of Management, and Mr. Cheng-Yi Wu, AACSB Accreditation Manager. The QUT delegates were Mr. Paul Bolt, Executive Director of QUT International; Ms. Annie Chan, Regional Manager for North Asia; and Ms. Virginia Hung, Engagement Manager for Taiwan.

U.S. Educators and NTNU Professors Exchange Bilingual Education Experiences During Visit to NTNU

To increase and strengthen educational cooperation and exchanges between the United States and Taiwan, education leaders from various U.S. State Departments of Education visited National Taiwan Normal University on 5 June, coinciding with NTNU’s 101st school anniversary. The US educators shared their experiences in language education and discussed with NTNU representatives on how to create immersive bilingual learning environments within the school system.