Police Legitimacy in Taiwan and Policing COVID-19

To tackle the spread of COVID-19 since its outbreak in January 2020, the police have been given additional powers in Taiwan. Studies have consistently revealed that police legitimacy, the belief that the police are trustworthy and allowed to exercise their authority to maintain order, is the main factor determining whether people are willing to cooperate with the police and comply with laws. This paper explores police legitimacy in Taiwan in terms of whether it exists and whether the Taiwanese police have built or damaged their legitimacy during the unprecedented challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the relevant literature, historical events, public opinion survey results, and official crime data, we find that police legitimacy existed before and has continued to exist during the pandemic in Taiwan.

Evaluation of the VOC pollution pattern and emission characteristics during the Beijing resurgence of COVID-19 in summer 2020 based on the measurement of PTR-ToF-MS

A second wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections emerged in Beijing in summer 2020, which provided an opportunity to explore the response of air pollution to reduced human activity. Proton-transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) coupled with positive matrix factorization (PMF) source apportionment were applied to evaluate the pollution pattern and capture the detailed dynamic emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the representative period, with the occurrence of O-3 pollution episodes and the Beijing resurgence of COVID-19. The level of anthropogenic VOC was lower than during the same period in previous years due to the pandemic and emission reduction measures. More than two thirds of the days during the observation period were identified as high-O-3 days and VOCs exhibited higher mixing ratios and faster consumption rates in the daytime on high-O-3 days. The identified VOC emission sources and the corresponding contributions during the whole observation period included: vehicle + fuel (12.41 +/- 9.43%), industrial process (9.40 +/- 8.65%), solvent usage (19.58 +/- 13.46%), biogenic (6.03 +/- 5.40%), background + long-lived (5.62 +/- 11.37%), and two groups of oxygenated VOC (OVOC) factors (primary emission and secondary formation, 26.14 +/- 15.20% and 20.84 +/- 14.0%, respectively). Refined dynamic source apportionment results show that the 'stay at home' tendency led to decreased emission (-34.47 +/- 1.90%) and a weakened morning peak of vehicle + fuel during the Beijing resurgence. However, a growing emission of primary OVOCs (+51.10 +/- 8.28%) with similar diurnal variation was observed in the new outbreak and afterwards, which might be related to the enhanced usage of products intended to clean and disinfect. The present study illustrated that more stringent VOC reduction measures towards pandemic products should be carried out to achieve the balanced emission abatement of NO (x) and VOC when adhering to regular epidemic prevention and control measures.

A Study on the Intention to Use the Online Face Mask Ordering System - An Application of Network Psychometrics

In December 2019, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic emerged in Wuhan city, China and it quickly spread to across the world. Many experts suggest that wearing medical masks is a good protection against this disease. To help citizens obtain face masks, Taiwanese government instituted a name-based mask rationing system. This study intends to construct a research model which based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in the context of using the face mask ordering system to buy face masks. The research factors in the study include measurements of perceived usefulness of online face mask ordering system, perceived ease of use of online face mask ordering system, and the users' behavioral intention to use online face mask ordering system. Responses from a total of 120 users of the face mask ordering system were collected. After all, this study has identified important factors in perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of this mask distribution system. It may provide the Minister of Health with implications for factors in users' intention to use this system. Understanding these factors may help the government increase users' willingness to use this online service when buying face masks. © 2020 IEEE.