Relocating empowerment as a management concept for Asia

Management theories, especially those in the area of human resource management, are predominantly Western-centric in origin and in the empirical testing that underpins them. The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of one such theory, employee empowerment, in an Asian context. Information gathered from an open ended questionnaire and focus groups provide an in-depth examination of hotel managers' perceptions and practice of empowerment in the workplace. This study provides tentative indicators of significant culturally-driven differences in the understanding and application of employee empowerment (in terms of both research and practice) between Western and Asian contexts. The results of this study indicate that empowerment in Asian cultures relates much more to the individual and his/her merits, in contrast to organizationally-driven empowerment in Western countries. The findings also indicate that empowerment by hotel managers is related to the level of personal trust the manager has in an employee

A High-Low Model of Daily Stock Price Ranges

We observe that daily highs and lows of stock prices do not diverge over time and, hence, adopt the cointegration concept and the related vector error correction model (VECM) to model the daily high, the daily low, and the associated daily range data. The in-sample results attest the importance of incorporating high-low interactions in modeling the range variable. In evaluating the out-of-sample forecast performance using both mean-squared forecast error and direction of change criteria, it is found that the VECM-based low and high forecasts offer some advantages over some alternative forecasts. The VECM-based range forecasts, on the other hand, do not always dominate –the forecast rankings depend on the choice of evaluation criterion and the variables being forecasted.daily high, daily low, VECM model, forecast performance, implied volatility

COMPATIBILITY OF EXTENSIONS OF A COMBINATORIAL GEOMETRY

Two extensions of a geometry are compatible with each other if they have a common extension. If the given extensions are elementary, their compatibility can be intrinsically described in terms of their corresponding linear subclasses. Certain adjointness relation between an extension of a geometry and the geometry itself is also discussed. Any extension of a geometry G by a geometry F determines and is determined by a unique quotient bundle on G indexed by F. As a study of the compatibility among given quotients of a geometry, we look at the possibility of completing to F-bundles a family of quotients indexed by a set I of flats of F. If the indexing geometry F is free and if the set I is a Boolean subalgebra or a sublattice of F, for any family Q(I) of quotients of a geometry G, there is a canonical construction which determines its completability and at the same time produces the extremal completion if it is a partial bundle. Geometries studied in this dissertation are furnished with the weak order. Almost invariably, the Higgs' lift construction, in a somewhat generalized sense, constitutes a convenient and indispensable means in various of the extremal constructions

The Flipped Classroom: An Effective Model of Active Learning

A a result of the development of humanistic psychology in the 1960s, there has been a growing recognition that affective factors can significantly impact the outcomes of education (Lu, 2001). Affective factors in language learning, particularly in second language acquisition, have been reckoned as non-cognitive factors and along with cognitive factors, have sparked substantial attention among academics. Affective variables that may influence foreign language acquisition include a variety of emotions and feelings arising in foreign language classroom such as anxiety, fear, embarrassment, or sense of inferiority. Among them, second language anxiety has long been a popular topic in foreign language instruction research

Developing Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Entrepreneurship Mindsets

The demand for knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is expanding as the twenty-first century progresses. Growing K-12 STEM education has risen to the top of the priority list in many countries’ educational reform efforts. Typical contexts for giving scientific instructions should be designed around engineering design-based thematic activities rather than the other way around. Teachers’ responsibilities as designers of design-based thematic activities would also present them with numerous chances for professional development and advancement. It is claimed that introducing entrepreneurship ideas into the engineering curriculum results in improved student satisfaction, longer professional careers, and a shift in attitudes toward engineering difficulties. It allows students to enjoy themselves more and draws their attention to the possibility of self-employment

Utility Maximisation: Non-concave utility and non linear expectation

Since the birth of mathematical nance, portfolio selection has been one of the topics which have attracted a lot of interest, with models formulated in discrete and continuous time and developed in complete and incomplete markets. In conventional or neoclassical finance, many models are based off the assumption that agents make decisions by maximising their expected utility. Deviations between models and market observations have generated a recent field of study, behavioural finance, which incorporates psychology, sociology and finance together to resolve observed phenomenon like bubbles which conventional finance cannot explain. In this thesis, we will be restricting ourselves to the complete continuous market and look at a new formulation of expected utility maximisation with behavioural finance elements incorporated into it, namely S-shaped utilities and probability distortions. We consider the three general cases of expected utility maximisation: utility from terminal wealth, utility from consumption and utility from terminal wealth and consumption. We shall review the neoclassical problems and then explore the cases with behavioural elements installed. \ud \ud Key Words: Portfolio Selection, continuous time, martingale approach, Sshaped function, probability distortion, cumulative prospect theor

Editor’s Remark

IN 2016, the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University, led by Professor Robert Slavin, kicked off an e-newsletter called Best Evidence in Brief (BEiB) which presents the latest empirical studies in education from the world’s top academic journals. Today this effort expands to the UK, Hong Kong, and Spain, including the Institute for Effective in Education of the University of York and the Centre for University and School Partnership Faculty of Education of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the La Caixa Foundation. Currently the majority of the selected studies in BEiB are from English-speaking countries. In 2018, the International Research Center for Educational Development and Evaluation at Nan- jing Normal University joined the BEiB family to further promote evidence- based reform in education in the Chinese speaking region. One of the main focuses of the BEiB in China is evidence-based research studies published in Chinese educational academic journals since its launched, the Chinese BEiB has been well-received by the Chinese educational communities.          During the past 40 years, reform and development in China have under- gone earth-shaking changes, including the extensive use of rigorous research methods in research. An increasing number of researchers have applied sophisticated research methods to explore the link between theories and educational reform, and dialectical thinking and scientific thinking. With the exchanges in educational circles from home and abroad, more and more researchers have learned the latest educational methods from Europe and North America. Many young researchers, who have the overseas training, are familiar to those concepts, including research samples, research hypotheses, re- search variables, effect sizes, causal relationships, and related relationships. These are the days that Chinese educational academic journals should pay at-tention to both evidence-based reforms and experimental research results in education. Happily, the proportion of empirical research studies published in Chinese education-related journals is growing

Use of Air Arthrograms to Aid in Joint Distraction During Hip Arthroscopic Surgery Decreases Postoperative Pain and Opioid Requirements.

BackgroundPositive-pressure air arthrography and venting of the hip capsule are techniques used to decrease the traction forces needed for joint distraction during hip arthroscopic surgery. Little is known about the effects that these techniques have on postoperative pain.HypothesisPositive-pressure air arthrography and venting during hip arthroscopic surgery will decrease patient-reported pain and narcotic requirements in the acute postoperative setting.Study designCohort study; Level of evidence, 3.MethodsA retrospective cohort analysis was conducted to analyze 35 patients who underwent positive-pressure air arthrography and venting to aid joint distraction during hip arthroscopic surgery versus a group with similar demographics, pathologies, and treatments who did not undergo air arthrography. Numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) scores and medication administration including narcotic and nonnarcotic analgesia in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) were tracked and compared.ResultsThe maximum (7.17 vs 4.97, respectively), minimum (2.43 vs 1.09, respectively), and mean (5.15 vs 3.11, respectively) NPRS scores were all higher in the control group compared with the air arthrogram group (P < .001, P = .007, and P < .001, respectively). The administration of oral morphine equivalents (OMEs) during the PACU stay was significantly lower in the air arthrogram group, with a mean of 36.75 ± 11.37 OMEs, compared with 44.53 ± 16.06 OMEs in the control group (P = .023). There was no difference in postoperative nonopioid medications, such as ketorolac or acetaminophen, given between groups.ConclusionPatients undergoing hip arthroscopic surgery with air arthrography and venting used to aid distraction had significantly less postoperative pain and required a lower total dosage of opioids during their PACU stay when compared with patients who underwent hip arthroscopic surgery without air arthrography

METHODS OF MAKING AND USING LIGNIN DERIVATIVES

Materials and methods for preparing reactive lignin and for preparing a bio-based adhesive are described herein. This disclosure generally relates to methods of making and using reactive lignin. This disclosure also generally relates to methods of making and using bio-based adhesives. Lignin is the second most abundant natural polymer behind cellulose, yet lignin has very little commercial value despite years of research. Lignin is one of the major components of the cell wall in wood and other plant based materials such as hemp or crop wastes. It is produced in enormous quantities each year, primarily as a by-product in the pulp and paper industries. Lignin has little economic value and the majority of lignin is burned as a low grade fuel or is discharged into the aquatic ecosystem as waste, causing a significant impact on the environment. For example, the majority of the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) from pulp mill effluents is due to waste lignin. In addition, an increase in the production of cellulosic ethanol from corn stalk and other biomass resources will add significantly to this glut of lignin. This tremendous oversupply of lignin presents an enormous opportunity for the development of renewable biomaterials to replace non-biodegradable petroleum-based products, and the present disclosure provides for commercially-viable and inexpensive methods of making reactive lignin that can be used to make a wide variety of lignin-based products. In a similar vein, there is a growing demand for developing non-petroleum-based materials to replace traditional plastics. There is a critical need to replace the commonly used formaldehyde-based resins found in many building materials such as plywood and particle boards. Formaldehyde-based resins have raised alarming health concerns because formaldehyde is highly toxic, allergenic and a classified carcinogenic. The off-gassing of formaldehyde-based resins is a significant source of indoor air pollution, particularly from formaldehyde pressed-wood products. Thus, this disclosure also describes the development of a class of formaldehyde-free, bio-based reactive adhesives for binding renewable biodegradable material such as lignin, cellulose, wood chips and crop waste to fabricate useful solid materials and composites

BIOADHESIVES

Materials and methods for preparing reactive lignin and for preparing a bio - based adhesive are described herein