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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.

This study aims to increase the understanding of the pregnancy-related information behavior (IB) of pregnant women in Estonia.

The research involved a quantitative research methodology consisting of a semi-structured questionnaire. Data was collected from pregnant Estonian women through a self-administered Web-based questionnaire using a convenience sampling during the period from January to February 2019. A total of 300 pregnant women answered the questionnaire. The data were analysed using statistical analysis and the results of the study were compared with the results of previous studies.

The three topics on which information was most frequently sought were: fetal development, use of medicines during pregnancy and symptoms of pregnancy. The main sources of information were the internet and the midwife. The most reliable and valuable source of information was a midwife. Health-related information was sought mainly because it helped women make decisions related to pregnancy and childbirth. A number of factors facilitate the information seeking process. In addition, widespread access to the internet and technological skills facilitated IB. The following factors hindered the search for information: the controversy and/or ambiguity of information published on the internet and the time spent searching for information. Most women used wearable technologies during pregnancy.

This study has several limitations. First, the weakness of online surveys is the potential lack of representativeness, as it excludes from the survey those who do not have access to or ability to use the internet for various reasons (Evans and Mathur, 2005; Limbu et al., 2021). Second, as most recruitment for the study took place online, there was a risk that those who did not use the internet could be excluded from the survey. Third, as the questionnaire was also shared in the Facebook news feed by the Women’s Clinic and Maternity Hospital of the East Tallinn Central Hospital, it may be that the respondents recruited through it more often used the support provided by medical professionals. Fourth, due to the volume limits of the study, it is not possible to present all the results of the study on the basis of socio-demographic characteristics and stage of pregnancy. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to the broader population and future studies should explore a larger and more representative populations.

This study will give some useful information to help to improve the services offered for pregnant women in Estonia.

The findings of this study may inform how to better support this target group.

There is a lack of research in Estonia that focuses on the IB of pregnant women and this research fills this gap.

This paper aims to identify and analyze the barriers to the implementation of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s programxk for export consortia in the Iranian handmade carpet industry.

To accomplish its objectives, the study relied on a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) research method. Primarily, unstructured interviews were conducted to identify the effective barriers. Then, the validity of the barriers identified was evaluated through content validity ratio analysis. Finally, the interrelationships between the barriers were determined using the rough decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory technique (DEMATEL).

Results revealed that “a lack of leadership,” “a traditional business environment” and “a lack of awareness of consortium benefits” were the most significant causal barriers. Meanwhile, the most important effect barriers were “a lack of long-term vision,” “a lack of business ethics” and “a lack of motivation.”

The findings and results could help the stakeholders of the handmade carpet industry in Iran to improve existing export consortium programs, increasing the country’s share in the global markets in this industry.

This investigation seeks to fill an existing gap in the literature on export consortium formation in the handmade carpet industry by providing a network of barriers for the first time.