Charting intellectual capital performance of the gateway to China

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate whether intellectual capital (IC) has an impact on the financial aspects of organizational performance as well as attempting to identify the IC components that are associated with corporate financial performance indicators that signal organizational growth. Design/methodology/approach: This study drew on financial data from publicly available annual reports of all the constituent companies of the Hang Seng Index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for the years 2001-2009. Following the value added intellectual coefficient™ (VAIC) methodology, regression models were constructed to examine the relationships between IC and the corporate financial performance indicators. Findings: Evidence was found to suggest that IC, as measured by VAIC, was positively associated with profitability of businesses. In particular, structural capital, as a key component of IC, played a notable part in enhancing corporate profitability, and showed a growing trend in its significance. Empirical findings, based on correlation and linear multiple regression analysis, indicated that the components of VAIC were strong predictors of corporate financial performance such as return on equity and profitability. In particular, capital employed efficiency (CEE) was a significant predictor of all four corporate financial performance indicators. Practical implications: The results may extend the understanding of the role of IC in business operations in Hong Kong, and may help to identify the specific IC drivers that may have a direct impact on the financial performance of these companies. In particular, although CEE was a significant predictor of all four corporate finance performance indicators, the increasing contribution of structural capital efficiency (SCE) in predicting ROA and ROE was observed. The role that structural capital plays in strengthening business performance warrants further investigation. Originality/value: There has only been one previous empirical study on the intellectual capital of constituent companies on the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index. This study adds to the literature as the second study in the field. It is the first comparative study across two time periods of the above-mentioned data. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.published_or_final_versio

The relationship between Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital in listed companies of mainland China

Open URL for the 8th ICICKM 2011 Proceedings - http://academic-conferences.org/pdfs/ICICKM_2011-Booklet.pdfAs the global economic power reshuffles, mainland China stood as the world’s biggest exporter in 2010, and has emerged as the second-largest economy in the world (CIA, 2010). In its transformation from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, how well a business manages its knowledge or utilizes its intellectual capital may be an important factor in determining a …postprintThe 8th International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management & Organisational Learning (ICICKM 2011), Bangkok, Thailand, 27-28 October 2011. In Proceedings of the 8th ICICKM, 2011, p. 14-1

Fostering interest in reading and strengthening reading comprehension ability of primary school students using a children’s literature e-quiz bank on the cloud

Theme: Learning through Gamification: Cultivating a Love of Reading in Primary StudentsReading proficiency and frequency is directly and positively related to students’ academic performance. An online e-quiz bank of children literature, Reading Battle, is developed to enhance students’ reading comprehension ability and interest in reading. Students are invited to read from a collection of children literature then attempt quizzes on the e-quiz bank to evaluate their understanding on the texts. The quizzing process is gamified into a “challenge” for their peers. This article presents the project’s implementation in a Hong Kong primary school over 2 academic years, and discusses findings on the e-quiz platform’s effectiveness. Survey and interview with students and teachers show that there is a perceived improvement in students’ reading comprehension ability and related grades in school assessments, and that gamification of reading books and taking comprehension quizzes has effectively fostered students’ interest in reading.postprin

Applications of social networking tools in libraries

Theme: Open access to knowledge - promoting sustainable progressThis is an exploratory study investigating on the use of social networking tools in academic libraries. The major areas examined include reasons for using or not using social networking tools, length of usage and perceived benefits and costs of using these tools. One hundred and forty universities were selected to complete a survey. Twenty-seven responses were received and the response rate reached 19.3%. Twenty-one (77.8%) used social networking tools for work, one (3.7%) was a potential user who planned to use these tools and 5 (18.5%) did not plan to use at all. Facebook and Twitter are the most commonly adopted tools in university libraries. Despite the fact that costs are incurred in managing social networking profiles, current users found that the benefits outweigh the costs. This study offers insights for academic librarians to make informed decisions in applying social networking tools. Academic libraries should not miss out on the potential of social networking tools in promoting their services.postprintThe 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly (IFLA 2010), Gothenburg, Sweden, 10-15 August 2010

Nutrient supplemented serum-free medium increases cardiomyogenesis efficiency of human pluripotent stem cells.

AIM: To development of an improved p38 MAPK inhibitor-based serum-free medium for embryoid body cardiomyocyte differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells. METHODS: Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) differentiated to cardiomyocytes (CM) using a p38 MAPK inhibitor (SB203580) based serum-free medium (SB media). Nutrient supplements known to increase cell viability were added to SB medium. The ability of these supplements to improve cardiomyogenesis was evaluated by measurements of cell viability, total cell count, and the expression of cardiac markers via flow cytometry. An improved medium containing Soy hydrolysate (HySoy) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) (SupSB media) was developed and tested on 2 additional cell lines (H1 and Siu-hiPSC). Characterization of the cardiomyocytes was done by immunohistochemistry, electrophysiology and quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: hESC cell line, HES-3, differentiating in SB medium for 16 d resulted in a cardiomyocyte yield of 0.07 +/- 0.03 CM/hESC. A new medium (SupSB media) was developed with the addition of HySoy and BSA to SB medium. This medium resulted in 2.6 fold increase in cardiomyocyte yield (0.21 +/- 0.08 CM/hESC). The robustness of SupSB medium was further demonstrated using two additional pluripotent cell lines (H1, hESC and Siu1, hiPSC), showing a 15 and 9 fold increase in cardiomyocyte yield respectively. The age (passage number) of the pluripotent cells did not affect the cardiomyocyte yields. Embryoid body (EB) cardiomyocytes formed in SupSB medium expressed canonical cardiac markers (sarcomeric alpha-actinin, myosin heavy chain and troponin-T) and demonstrated all three major phenotypes: nodal-, atrial- and ventricular-like. Electrophysiological characteristics (maximum diastolic potentials and action potential durations) of cardiomyocytes derived from SB and SupSB media were similar. CONCLUSION: The nutrient supplementation (HySoy and BSA) leads to increase in cell viability, cell yield and cardiac marker expression during cardiomyocyte differentiation, translating to an overall increase in cardiomyocyte yield.published_or_final_versio

Sustainability of Treatment Effect of a 3-year Early Intervention Programme for First-episode Psychosis in Hong Kong

Parallel Session 1 – Health and Health Services: abstract no. S2published_or_final_versio

Subjective recovery in patients with first-episode psychosis in Hong Kong

Poster PresentationINTRODUCTION: The concept of recovery can be organized into two types: objective and subjective (1). Objective recovery is defined as the remission of clinical symptoms and improved everyday functioning, while subjective recovery is a personal understanding of recovery that varies individually. Understanding subjective recovery facilitates treatment adherence. The study aims to investigate the subjective determinants of perceived non-recovery to patients with first-episode psychosis in Chinese sample and the factors affecting subjective recovery ...published_or_final_versio