Concentration Analysis of New Private Residential Units Market in Hong Kong

The new residential property price in Hong Kong has rocketed in the last decade and has ranked within the top three metropolitan cities in the world. Housing is a necessity for most people, high residential property price has its social ramification. The rocketing price seems not solely the result of the market. As such, this raised the issue of competition in this market. This study employs Concentration Ratio and Hirfindahl-Hirschman index to evaluate the market concentration of the New Private Resident Units Market in Hong Kong. Using the best information available in the public domains and applying universal thresholds, the New Private Resident Units Market in Hong Kong is considered moderately concentrated. It is noted that the big five listed developers in Hong Kong are collectively holding a dominant position of the potential supply. Moreover, the top three have comparable market shares thus suggesting no monopoly exists. It is also found that the substantial land banks held by the five big listed developers, amount to 60% of that owned by the Government. These developers will therefore retain their dominant market power in the future. Further study is recommended to examine whether the big developers have abused their market power

Project dispute resolution satisfaction of construction clients in Hong Kong

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyInspired by the concern over the dispute epidemic within the construction industry in Hong Kong, this research study sets out to examine the issue of construction dispute resolution from a management perspective. The main objectives of this research include the identification, through in-depth investigation and exploration, of the critical attributes that distinguish between Good and Bad projects in terms of their project dispute resolution satisfaction, and the development of a quantitative model for the prediction of same. Project dispute resolution satisfaction is defined as Good if the largest dispute was resolved within the site level. The novel application of the fault tree analysis provides the conceptual definition of a construction dispute. Variables selection for the model development was accomplished through a systematic and comprehensive literature review. The sustainability of the questionnaire so derived was successfully tested by a pilot study with industry experts, bringing into the research the valuable local and practical dimensions. The research problem as presented fits nicely with the classification and prediction ability of the multivariate discriminant analysis and artificial neural network multi-layer perceptron modeling. Both techniques were employed in this research for the identification of critical variables and the model development. The verification of the critical variables was carried out through a relative importance index study. The use of a principal component analysis groups the discriminating variables into three factors represented as a three level influence diagram. The relative importance index study confirmed the discriminating variables identified in the multivariate discriminant analysis model function. These variables are: The average change of tender price index; The claim consciousness of the contractor; The degree of design changes; The relationship between the project personnel; The use of alternative dispute resolution as provided in the contract; The degree of involvement of an external claim advisor by the client; The incentive of the client to settle the dispute during the resolution process; The degree of involvement of senior management during the resolution process. Prediction of project dispute resolution satisfaction by the model function achieved an accuracy of 76.92% on the hold-out sample. The sensitivity analysis of the mean for the 'Best' network obtained from the artificial neural network multi-layer perceptron modeling suggests that the degree of design changes could well be the pivotal root to all the problems associated with construction dispute resolution

Apologies, apology legislation and civil disputes : the practical implications of apology legislation for dispute resolution practitioners and their clients

An apology is arguably the most effective way for a defendant, or other alleged violator of an accepted legal standard, duty or obligation, to demonstrate their assumed responsibility for a wrong committed. Whether an apology is heartfelt, or more calculated and pro forma, there is little question that when an apology is delivered, its maker has assumed at least moral responsibility for the act or omission in question. Societies tend to respect individuals that ‘own up’ to their faults, admit mistakes, take responsibility for their conduct, and offer an appropriate apology to any affected innocent persons. Radzik and Murphy explain that apologising is likely the most explicit manner through which human errors of any kind are acknowledged; ‘well-formed’ apologies implicitly acknowledge wrongdoing, responsibility, and an expression of regret or remorse. However, as the following critical discussions tend to confirm, apologies can also create a legal liability minefield for dispute resolution (DR) practitioners and their clients alike

The roles of withdrawal in the negotiator personality-tactic relationship

The personality of a negotiator shall affect his choice of tactics. Moreover, mixed predictions of the personality-tactic relationship have been derived from prior studies. One possible explanation is the influence of other intervening factors. In this regard, this study examines the role of withdrawal, as an intervening variable, in the negotiator personality-tactic relationship. State of withdrawal refers to the level of interest to continue with a negotiation. In a state of complete withdrawal, the interest to continue no longer exists and breakdown of the negotiation is inevitable. With the participation of practicing professionals, an experiment was used to collect data for the study. It was found that competitors are prone to withdraw and use more distributive tactics. However, this pattern changes with the composition of the dyad. If the negotiating counterpart is a cooperator, a competitor will adopt a more integrative approach. This finding reminds the importance of the personality factor in selecting members of a negotiating team

The Fee Sensitive Risk Exposures of Project Authorized Person in Hong Kong

Authorized Persons (AP) play a critical role in the design and construction of building works in Hong Kong. Under the Building Ordinance, design and construction of building works need to be coordinated and monitored by an AP registered with the Buildings Department. Professionally qualified Architects, Engineers and Surveyors are eligible to register as AP after completing the prescribed assessment. In addition, the project AP is often appointed by the project owner to be the project team leader. In these capacities, a project AP is exposed to various risks. This paper seeks to identify the fee sensitive risk exposures of project APs. Through an ANOVA study, these risks exposures are those due to liabilities under the Building Ordinance at the construction stage, those towards the third parties and the clients

Intervening decision-making in using alternative dispute resolutions: A parsimonious intervention model

Extending the concept of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This study develops a parsimonious alternative dispute resolution intervention model. Experts’ opinions suggested normative pressures (NP) and trust (TR) are influencing forces in shaping attitude. Intervention is most effective in two situations (i) when a dispute surfaces; and (ii) during claim negotiation but before the dispute crystalises. In addition, effective interventions for ADR use could include ADR campaigns and highlighting ADR values. Favourable normative pressures (NP) and trusts (TR) would therefore then lead to a favourable attitude (ATT) and increase the overall intention (INT) to use ADR through the interactions of perceived ease of use (PE) and relative advantage (PA) with attitude (ATT)

Restoring Hong Kong's landscar in the Anderson Quarry : an analysis of civic engagement strategies

published_or_final_versionPolitics and Public AdministrationMasterMaster of Public Administratio

Non-granulomatous Interstitial Nephritis in a Chinese Man with Sarcoidosis

Clinical renal involvement in sarcoidosis is rare and has not been previously reported in Chinese patients. We report a case of non-granulomatous interstitial nephritis that presented with acute renal failure in a Chinese man with underlying sarcoidosis. Use of prednisolone led to dramatic renal improvement and partial resolution of his asymptomatic lung parenchymal lesions. Unfortunately, the patient subsequently died of cryptococcal meningitis and episodes of nosocomial pneumonia. One should closely monitor a patient with a presumptive diagnosis of sarcoidosis after embarking on treatment since infections like tuberculosis may mimic or coexist with the disease. This is particularly important in areas where sarcoidosis is exceedingly rare

Who wants a slimmer body? The relationship between body weight status, education level and body shape dissatisfaction among young adults in Hong Kong

Background: Body shape dissatisfaction has been thought to have an indispensable impact on weight control behaviors. We investigated the prevalence of body shape dissatisfaction (BSD) and explored its association with weight status, education level and other determinants among young adults in Hong Kong. Methods. Information on anthropometry, BSD, and socio-demographics was collected from a random sample of 1205 young adults (611 men and 594 women) aged 18-27 in a community-based household survey. BSD was defined as a discrepancy between current and ideal body shape based on a figure rating scale. Cross-tabulations, homogeneity tests and logistic regression models were applied. Results: The percentages of underweight men and women were 16.5% and 34.9% respectively, and the corresponding percentages of being overweight or obese were 26.7% and 13.2% for men and women respectively. Three-quarters of young adults had BSD. Among women, 30.9% of those underweight and 75.5% of those with normal weight desired a slimmer body shape. Overweight men and underweight women with lower education level were more likely to have a mismatch between weight status and BSD than those with higher education level. After controlling for other determinants, underweight women were found to have a higher likelihood to maintain their current body shapes than other women. Men were found to be less likely to have a mismatch between weight status and BSD than women. Conclusions: Overweight and obesity in men and underweight in women were prevalent among Hong Kong young adults. Inappropriate body shape desire might predispose individuals to unhealthy weight loss or gain behaviors. Careful consideration of actual weight status in body shape desire is needed in health promotion and education, especially for underweight and normal weight women and those with a low education level. © 2011 Cheung et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.published_or_final_versio

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference