INVESTIGATING THE POSSIBILITY FOR IS/IT TO SUPPORT THE DELIVERY OF CHINESE MEDICINE

As Chinese medicine (CM) has increased in popularity globally it now becomes imperative to investigate ways in which safe, efficient, effective and evidence-based approaches might be adopted into CM practice. In the case of western or more traditional healthcare delivery practice, IS/IT is often adopted and employed to assist in this regard and thus this paper examines how IS/IT might be used to support the delivery of CM. In particular, the paper investigates how IS/IT tools and techniques might be used in supporting CM clinics daily processes and thereby bring greater value to a country’s healthcare. In doing so, this paper studies the current global CM situation and provides a solid foundation for how to design and develop an enterprise wide CM clinical management system

Understanding tourists’ dining behaviors at traditional Chinese nutraceutical restaurants

Nutraceutical restaurants providing medical and/or health benefits have become an emerging market; however, the underlying factors and the mechanism explaining dining behaviours in nutraceutical restaurants remain unknown. This study utilized a mixed-methods approach to bridge this research gap. An exploratory qualitative interview was conducted to identify the determinants of patronage behaviour at nutraceutical restaurants. We further conducted a quantitative study utilizing an extended value-attitude-behaviour model to provide quantitative evidence. The results showed that health, cultural values, and social norms significantly influenced customers’ attitudes, thus leading to their revisit intentions. Furthermore, we found a significant role of social norms in determining nutraceutical consumption. Additionally, age was found to moderate the effects of health values and social norms on revisit intention

The Construction of a Community Long-term Care Model for Home-based Elderly Individuals

With rapidly aging populations, family care functions can become weakened, and community health services often lack unified standards. A standardized and professional community home-based long-term care model (CHLCM) for the elderly is urgently needed in many regions of China and in other countries. Here, we explored the indicators of the need for a CHLCM among elderly individuals, and we constructed a CHLCM. We created and distributed a questionnaire regarding the requirement of long-term care services, based on a literature review. The two-rounds Delphi method was used, involving 20 experts who were randomly selected from among the medical universities, community health service centers, and nursing homes in Nanning, Guangxi, China. The experts’ enthusiasm rates in the questionnaire’s two rounds were 95% and 100%, respectively. The authentic coefficient of the experts’ consulting was 0.857, and that of the experts’ academic level was 0.835; the judgement coefficient was 0.880 and the familiar coefficient was 0.855. The CHLCM includes service content and an evaluation. The coordination coefficients for the two primary, eight secondary, and 29 tertiary indicators were 0.200, 0.386, and 0.184, respectively (p<0.05). The experts’ enthusiasm and authority were high. The coordination of the experts’ agreement was sufficient, and the analysis results were reliable. The CHLCM includes 29 items that provide a foundation and references for the formulation of concrete indicators and subsequent research

A business plan: TCM health-preservation club

This master project has the objective to develop a Business Plan which will enable the launch of a TCM health-preservation club which will offer TCM method servicess for modern female consumers in Anyang area, Henan Province, China. The health problems of modern females are rising rapidly due to the unhealthy lifestyle and environmental problems and the TCM in this area has highly potential market, especially targeting for females. However, based on a ground study, we quickly realised that all clinic or club look alike and propose the same local specialties with less professional and services level. By catching the markt opportunities, we analyse the current market with macro data and comparing them with field data I acquired with a questionnaire and a field trip, I decided to launch a TCM club - the new serves intends to change female relationship with TCM consumption providing them a solution specifically designed to satisfy their needs. It is aiming to use TCM therapy to not only solve females’ health problems, but also improve females' life quality, even achieve longevity. We show in this business plan that our business are low capital requirement business that become quickly profitable and we do not need to have a loan. It should reach a turnover of 47,617€ and a profit of 4,130€ the first year.O objetivo deste projeto de mestre é desenvolver um Plano de Negócios que poderá abrir um clube de preservação da saúde da Medicina Tradicional Chinesa (MTC), que oferecerá os serviços de métodos da MTC para as consumidoras femininas modernas na área da cidade de Anyang, Província de Henan, China. Devido ao estilo da vida pouco saudável e aos problemas ambientais, os problemas de saúde das mulheres modernas estão a aumentar rapidamente, por isso, a MTC nesta área tem um grande mercado potencial, especialmente direcionada para as mulheres. No entanto, de acordo com um estudo preliminar, percebemos rapidamente que todas clínicas ou clubes locais são parecidos e consideram que eles faltam as especialidades e têm um nível mais baixo. Para aproveitar as oportunidades do mercado, analisamos o mercado atual pelos dados macroeconómicos e comparamos os dados macroeconómicos com os dados adquiridos pelo inquérito e pela viagem de campo, decidi organizar um clube da MTC - os serviços novos que pretendem mudar o relacionamento entre as mulheres e o consumo da MTC a qual lhes fornecerá especificamente as soluções projetadas para satisfazer as suas necessidades. O Clube visa utilizar a terapia da MTC para não só resolver os problemas de saúde das mulheres, mas também para melhorar a qualidade de vida delas, até mesmo prolongar a vida. Manifestamos neste plano de negócios que o nosso negócio é capital baixa, ganha rapidamente o benefício e não precisa empréstimo. No primeiro ano, deve atingir um volume de negócios de 47.617 € e um lucro de 4.130€

Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China: From the cultural to the digital revolution in Shanghai

If we want to understand contemporary China, the key is through understanding the older generation. This is the generation in China whose life courses almost perfectly synchronised with the emergence and growth of the ‘New China’ under the rule of the Communist Party (1949). People in their 70s and 80s have double the life expectancy of their parents’ generation. The current oldest generation in Shanghai was born in a time when the average household could not afford electric lights, but today they can turn their lights off via their smartphone apps. Based on 16-month ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai, Ageing with Smartphones in Urban China tackles the intersection between the ‘two revolutions’ experienced by the older generation in Shanghai: the contemporary smartphone-based digital revolution and the earlier communist revolutions. We find that we can only explain the smartphone revolution if we first appreciate the long-term consequences of these people’s experiences during the communist revolutions. The context of this book is a wide range of dramatic social transformations in China, from the Cultural Revolution to the individualism and Confucianism in Digital China. Supported by detailed ethnographic material, the observations and analyses provide a panoramic view of the social landscape of contemporary China, including topics such as the digital and everyday life, ageing and healthcare, intergenerational relations and family development, community building and grassroots organizations, collective memories and political attitudes among ordinary Chinese people

Pulse Signal System: Sensing, Data Acquisition and Body Area Network

Heart rate variability (HRV) is an important physiological signal of the human body, which can serve as a useful biomarker for the cardiovascular health status of an individual. There are many methods to measure the HRV using electrical devices, such as ECG and PPG etc. This work presents a novel HRV detection method which is based on pressure detection on the human wrist. This method has been compared with existing HRV detection methods. In this work, the proposed system for HRV detection is based on polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) sensor, which can measure tiny pressure on its surface. Three PVDF sensors are mounted on the wrist, and a three-channel conditioning circuit is used to amplify signals generated by the sensors. An analog-to-digital converter and Arduino microcontroller are used to sample and process the signal. Based on the obtained signals, the HRV can be processed and detected by the proposed PVDF-sensor-based system. Another contribution of this work is in designing a wireless body area network (WBAN) to transmit data acquired on the human body. This WBAN combines two different wireless network protocols, for both efficient power consumption and data rate. Bluetooth Low Energy protocol is used for transmitting data from the microcontroller to a personal device, and Wi-Fi is used to send data to other terminals. This provides the potential for remote HRV signal monitoring. A dataset consisting of two subjects was used to experimentally validate the proposed system design and signal processing method. ECG signals are acquired from subjects with wrist pulse signals for comparison as standard signal. The waveforms of ECG signals and wrist pulse signals are compared and HRV values are calculated from these two signals separately. The result shows that HRV calculated by wrist pulse has low error rate. A test of movement effect shows the sensor can resist mild motions of wrist. Some future improvements of system design and further signal processing methods are also discussed in the last chapter

The brain of the smart transportation system : exploring the role of future expectations and sociotechnical imaginaries in cutting-edge science and technology policymaking in China

The brain of the smart transportation system: exploring the role of future expectations and sociotechnical imaginaries in cutting-edge science and technology policymaking In recent years, Big Data has developed rapidly, improving the efficiency and safety of the transportation system, but varied understandings of Big Data have shaped contextualised expectations and imaginaries, which has introduced new tension in the policymaking of technology. Additionally the mixed use of concepts such as “future expectation” and “sociotechnical imaginary” in future-oriented STS studies makes the relevant case studies unclear at the theoretical level. Thus, this thesis endeavours to distinguish these concepts within a specific situated context, to shed light on how they work in China’s science and technology policymaking process, and to understand the nature of Big Data. To do so it explores a new technology that emerged in China since the 2000s – the Smart Transportation System – a hybrid of the traditional transportation system and Big Data. This thesis draws on a mixed-methods approach, including an analysis of governmental policy documents from 2016 to 2020, 29 semi-structured qualitative interviews with engineers, academics, and local government officials, conducted in seven Chinese cities. This thesis contributes three advances to knowledge of future-oriented studies, science and technology policymaking studies, and Big Data studies in the Chinese context: 1) by showing that future expectation is related to the paradigms and the interests of two scientific communities of the Smart Transportation System field, while sociotechnical imaginary links to the epistemology and knowledge used in the decision-making process; 2) by outlining a two-way, dynamic circle in which the sociotechnical imaginary of the central government creates an intended institutional void, leaving space for local governments interpretations, and these interpretations in turn drive the birth of a new sociotechnical imaginary of central government; 3) by furthering our understanding of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence via revisiting the nature of Big Data from the perspective of traditional Chinese culture