An in-depth pilot study on patterns, destinations, and purposes of walking in Hong Kong older adults

Walking is a suitable activity for older adults and has physical and mental health benefits. To devise interventions that impact on levels of walking it is necessary to first understand the purposes for which people walk and the destinations to which they walk. Using a 7-day diary and accelerometry, this study investigated destinations and purposes of walking in older adult residents of an ultra-dense Asian city. Participants reported an average of 17.1 walking trips per week and total weekly accelerometer/diary determined trip walking time averaged 735 minutes per week, much higher than reported for older adults in non-Asian settings. The most common destinations were within the neighborhood: parks and streets for recreation walking and shops and eating places for transport-related walking. Errands and eating were the most common purposes for transportation trips. The study results can help inform urban design to encourage walking.

Exploring the travel behaviors of inbound tourists to Hong Kong using geotagged photos

Insight into tourist travel behaviors is crucial for managers engaged in strategic planning and decision making to create a sustainable tourism industry. However, they continue to face significant challenges in fully capturing and understanding the behavior of international tourists. The challenges are primarily due to the inefficient data collection approaches currently in use. In this paper, we present a new approach to this task by exploiting the socially generated and user-contributed geotagged photos now made publicly available on the Internet. Our case study focuses on Hong Kong inbound tourism using 29,443 photos collected from 2100 tourists. We demonstrate how a dataset constructed from such geotagged photos can help address such challenges as well as provide useful practical implications for destination development, transportation planning, and impact management. This study has the potential to benefit tourism researchers worldwide from better understanding travel behavior and developing sustainable tourism industries.

Neighbourhood environment, physical activity, quality of life and depressive symptoms in Hong Kong older adults: a protocol for an observational study

INTRODUCTION: The neighbourhood environment can assist the adoption and maintenance of an active lifestyle and affect the physical and mental well-being of older adults. The psychosocial and behavioural mechanisms through which the environment may affect physical and mental well-being are currently poorly understood. AIM: This observational study aims to examine associations between the physical and social neighbourhood environments, physical activity, quality of life and depressive symptoms in Chinese Hong Kong older adults.

METHODS AND ANALYSES: An observational study of the associations of measures of the physical and social neighbourhood environment, and psychosocial factors, with physical activity, quality of life and depressive symptoms in 900 Hong Kong older adults aged 65+ years is being conducted in 2012-2016. The study involves two assessments taken 6 months apart. Neighbourhood walkability and access to destinations are objectively measured using Geographic Information Systems and environmental audits. Demographics, socioeconomic status, walking for different purposes, perceived neighbourhood and home environments, psychosocial factors, health status, social networks, depressive symptoms and quality of life are being assessed using validated interviewer-administered self-report measures and medical records. Physical functionality is being assessed using the Short Physical Performance Battery. Physical activity and sedentary behaviours are also being objectively measured in approximately 45% of participants using accelerometers over a week. Physical activity, sedentary behaviours, quality of life and depressive symptoms are being assessed twice (6 months apart) to examine seasonality effects on behaviours and their associations with quality of life and depressive symptoms.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study received ethical approval from the University of Hong Kong Human Research Ethics Committee for Non-Clinical Faculties (EA270211) and the Department of Health (Hong Kong SAR). Data are stored in a password-protected secure database for 10 years, accessible only to the named researchers. Findings will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Investor legal protection and earnings management : a study of Chinese H-shares and Hong Kong shares

Under the unique "one country, two systems" arrangement, the more stringent investor protection rules in Hong Kong are not enforceable in firms that are incorporated in China but listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange (H-shares). As such, H-shares and other local Hong Kong firms are subject to different investor protection regimes in the same stock market. We find that H-shares are associated with higher earnings management than local Hong Kong firms after controlling for disparity in economic development, types of controlling shareholders and other factors. More importantly, this relationship is weaker after China implemented the Securities Law in 1999. The results are robust after considering the dual-listing status of H-shares and board characteristics. These results provide direct evidence showing the effect of investor legal protection on financial reporting quality.

Scientists and the cultural politics of academic disciplines in late 19th-century Germany: Emil Du Bois-Reymond and the controversy over the role of the cultural sciences

This article is concerned with interactions between the natural and the human sciences. It examines a specific late 19th-century episode in their relationship and argues that the schism between the two branches of knowledge was due to cognitive factors, but consolidated through the social dynamics of institutionalized disciplines. It contends that the assignment of a social function to the human sciences to compensate for the self-destructive tendencies inherent in the technological society was expressed even by those, at the end of the 19th century, who were fervent advocates of a science- and technology-driven modernization.

Simultaneous volatility transmissions and spillover effects: U.S. and Hong Kong stock and futures markets

Contemporaneous transmission effects across volatilities of the Hong Kong Stock and Index futures markets and futures volume of trade are tested by employing a structural systems approach. Competing measures of volatility spillover, constructed from the overnight U.S. S&P500 index futures, are tested and found to impact on the Hong Kong asset return volatility and volume of trade patterns. The examples utilize intra-day 15-min sampled data from this medium-sized Asia Pacific equity and derivative exchange. Both the intra- and inter-day patterns in the Hong Kong market are allowed for in the estimation process.

Evaluating health promotion in schools: a case study of design, implementation and results from the Hong Kong Healthy Schools Award Scheme

Health promoting schools (HPS) and Healthy Schools Award Schemes from a number of countries have demonstrated positive changes in children’s health behaviours and the culture and organisation of the school. The Hong Kong Healthy Schools Award Scheme (HKHSA) aims to promote staff development, parental education, involvement of the whole school community, and linkage with different stakeholders to improve the health and well-being of the pupils, parents and staff, and the broader community, supported by a system to monitor the achievement. This concept is very much in line with the research literature on school effectiveness and improvement. The indicators examined to evaluate the success of the HKHSA reflect outcomes related to both health and education and are not limited to changes in population health status. The early results demonstrated significant improvements in various aspects of student health and also improvement in school culture and organisation. The evaluation framework described in this paper and data collected to assess how schools perform in the HKHSA scheme, provides insight into how HPSs could lead to better outcomes for both education and health.

A values approach to business education in Hong Kong

This paper investigates the learning behaviour, learning environment and learning outcomes of Hong Kong Chinese students enrolled on an Australian university's Bachelor of Business degree course taught by visiting Australian lecturers in Hong Kong. The Chinese students are task-focused and passive learners. They do not demonstrate creative thinking, critical analysis or risk taking in problem solving, and appear to focus on surface-level rote learning. Semi-structured interviews with students and lecturers identified the changes experienced in learning behaviour and teaching strategies. By applying a teaching and learning value chain developed by Radbourne in 2001 and using Biggs's 3P culturally modified model of teaching and learning, new teaching strategies were developed to ensure that the Chinese Hong Kong students graduated with the capabilities required to be effective in the global workplace. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)

Environmental benchmarking of Hong Kong buildings

A method for assessing the environmental performance of Hong Kong’s buildings has been developed, known as the Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method or HK-BEAM. The assessment is a type of expert-based survey, either of the design, in the case of proposed buildings, or an evaluation of building performance for newly built or existing buildings. The assessment essentially provides a benchmark of environmental performance against a series of qualitative and quantitative measures that earn “credits”. Buildings can be rated as “excellent”, “very good”, “good” or “fair”. The assessment covers global, local and indoor issues. The original assessment has been in use since 1996 and allowed appraisal of new and existing air-conditioned offices. A new version has been recently produced for residential buildings. The latest version has addressed some of the criticisms of the earlier versions and covers a wider range of issues, taking a life-cycle approach. Reviews the latest new residential version, making comparisons with the earlier new offices scheme.

Low energy strategies for high-rise apartments in Hong Kong

High-rise apartments provide 90% of the living requirements in Hong Kong. (Lam 1995) The construction material of these buildings is primarily concrete for both external wall and interior partitions with little or no thermal insulation. Due to the hot and humid climatic conditions and expectations of an ever-increasing standard of living, occupants are installing air-conditioning systems into their apartments. This has generated a tremendous electrical demand as well as an environmental (greenhouse gas emission) concern. This paper explores some of the low energy strategies that can be applied to this building typology. The effect of seven energy-saving strategies ranging from thermal insulation to different window systems and shading devices was investigated. The results show that there is the potential to reduce the annual cooling energy consumption and peak cooling load by 40% and 33% respectively.