Height and construction costs of residential buildings in Hong Kong and Shanghai

A widely recognised theme of construction economics suggests that the cost of construction per square metre increases as building height rises. However, after many years, research conducted regarding the height and cost issue have established a classic relationship between those two, well known as a U-shaped curve. This paper describes the study of height-cost relationship of high-rise residential buildings in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Initial findings indicated that the curved relationships of height-cost of residential buildings in Shanghai and Hong Kong exhibit different profiles. The differences suggest that, Hong Kong contractors have more expertise in multi-storey and high-rise construction than contractors in Shanghai. The dissimilarities also imply that different sets of criteria should be applied in the judgement of height affects cost in different locations. Many factors could be contributors, such as the history and experience in constructing residential high-rise buildings, location, linkage and relationships to the neighbourhood provinces, design and construction regulations, and government policy on residential construction.

Outcomes and costs of primary care surveillance and intervention for overweight or obese children : the LEAP 2 randomised controlled trial

Objective To determine whether ascertainment of childhood obesity by surveillance followed by structured secondary prevention in primary care improved outcomes in overweight or mildly obese children.

Design Randomised controlled trial nested within a baseline cross sectional survey of body mass index (BMI). Randomisation and outcomes measurement, but not participants, were blinded to group assignment.

Setting 45 family practices (66 general practitioners) in Melbourne, Australia.

Participants 3958 children visiting their general practitioner in May 2005-July 2006 were surveyed for BMI. Of these, 258 children aged 5 years 0 months up to their 10th birthday who were overweight or obese by International Obesity Taskforce criteria were randomised to intervention (n=139) or control (n=119) groups. Children who were very obese (UK BMI z score 3.0) were excluded.

Intervention Four standard consultations over 12 weeks targeting change in nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour, supported by purpose designed family materials.

Main outcomes measures Primary measure was BMI at 6 and 12 months after randomisation. Secondary measures were mean activity count/min by 7-day accelerometry, nutrition score from 4-day abbreviated food frequency diary, and child health related quality of life. Differences were adjusted for socioeconomic status, age, sex, and baseline BMI.

Results Of 781 eligible children, 258 (33%) entered the trial; attrition was 3.1% at 6 months and 6.2% at 12 months. Adjusted mean differences (intervention – control) at 6 and 12 months were, for BMI, –0.12 (95% CI –0.40 to 0.15, P=0.4) and –0.11 (–0.45 to 0.22, P=0.5); for physical activity in counts/min, 24 (–4 to 52, P=0.09) and 11 (–26 to 49, P=0.6); and, for nutrition score, 0.2 (–0.03 to 0.4, P=0.1) and 0.1 (–0.1 to 0.4, P=0.2). There was no evidence of harm to the child. Costs to the healthcare system were significantly higher in the intervention arm.

Conclusions Primary care screening followed by brief counselling did not improve BMI, physical activity, or nutrition in overweight or mildly obese 5-10 year olds, and it would be very costly if universally implemented. These findings are at odds with national policies in countries including the US, UK, and Australia.

Risk assessment of sexual offenders for extended supervision orders in New Zealand : basic principles and current practice

A growing number of jurisdictions in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australasia have enacted legislation allowing for special sentencing, civil commitment, and community supervision options for high risk sexual offenders. In New Zealand, one example of this concern for public protection is the Parole (Extended Supervision) Amendment Act 2004, which provides for additional supervision of sexual offenders with child victims for up to 10 years after their release from prison. Recent experience with expert evidence and judicial decision making in such cases suggests that those involved in the process might benefit from a more thorough understanding of the current state of sexual offender risk assessment that can be provided by mental health professionals.

Measuring the summary informativeness of orders and trades

Improved preservation of order flow history from the automation of derivative trading platforms suggests that traders are potentially learning from the recent history of both order and trade parameters. Consequently, a model to measure price discovery should encapsulate the dynamic interaction between the price-size coordinates of orders and trades. The Hasbrouck (1991) model is extended to measure the summary informativeness of order size and trade size. The two models are used to test for price discovery improvements in the FTSE 100 index futures market from order flow consolidation post deletion of its E-mini counterpart. The informativeness of trades has declined sharply, while the informativeness of orders has risen significantly in the post deletion sample.