An investigation of transnational higher education in Hong Kong : developing transnational intercultural communities of practice

Driven by globalisation and neoliberal agendas (GATE, 2000; WTO, 2015), Transnational Higher Education (TNHE) has emerged to meet the educational demand of markets around the world, including those in Hong Kong (Lo, 2017; UK Higher Education International Unit, 2016). In view of the rapid development of TNHE over the past decade, focus has turned to quality and the purpose of TNHE (Leung and Walters, 2013a, 2013b), with scholars advocating the development of throuintercultural collaboration and interaction in order to bring distinctive value to TNHE (Djerasimovic, 2014; Keay et al., 2014; Montgomery, 2014).This study aims to enable a new understanding of the phenomenon of TNHE in Hong Kong, with particular focus on how different TNHE models of provision offer intercultural experiences to staff and students and how they develop interculturality, through intercultural communities of practice (Keay et al., 2014). The conceptual framework of this study is built on the concept of communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). The unique nature of communities of practice as a social form of learning is essential to the development of interculturality in TNHE communities (Kim, 2009) and presents a new perspective through which to interpret TNHE. This study adopts a qualitative method and is set within the interpretive paradigm. Case study approach have been adopted to include universities from the United Kingdom and the USA delivering TNHE programmes in Hong Kong, under the models of branch campus, joint delivery and franchised delivery. Prior to the data collection, a review of documents was carried out to explore the institutional mission and internationalisation strategies of the selected universities, and to contextualise the case studies. Individual interviews and focus group interviews with TNHE staff and students were conducted to explore their perceptions of intercultural interaction in TNHE.The findings of the study reveal that diverse models of transnational education, namely: branch campus, joint delivery and franchised delivery, have a significant impact on the development of perceived intercultural communities of practice. In these models, members of the communities of practice are engaged in diverse rhythms of intercultural interaction, according to which distinctive communities of practice are formed with different forms of interculturality. The study also shows the distinctive value of TNHE in developing positional advantage for graduates in the global labour market, through the nurturing of intercultural and professional competence (British Council, 2013; Mellors-Bourne et al., 2015; Jones, 2013).Central to this study is the innovative contribution in reconstructing the framework of communities of practice, to develop the concept of transnational interculturality in TNHE communities of practice. This concept illustrates a set of processes of intercultural interaction between TNHE communities of practice, which may contribute to the long term benefits and distinctive value of TNHE as a form of education

Evaluation of an Internet–Short Message Service–Based Intervention for Promoting Physical Activity in Hong Kong Chinese Adolescent School Children: A Pilot Study

Evaluation of acceptability and preliminary efficacy of an Internet and short message service (SMS) intervention for promoting physical activity (PA) in Hong Kong Chinese school children. An 8-week quasi-experimental study non-randomly assigned 78 school children (mean age=12.8 years) to (a) an intervention group that received a stage-matched, Internet PA program two times a week and tailored SMS messages daily; or (b) a no-treatment control. Data were collected from September 2008 until June 2009. Acceptability measures included exposure rate and participant\u27s satisfaction. Efficacy measures were changes in stage of motivational readiness (SMR) and self-reported PA level. Intervention participants demonstrated significant pre-post increments in SMR (Z=−2.558, p=0.011) and self-reported PA level [F(1, 76)=4.50, p=0.04]. There was a non-significant trend between groups in both SMR (p=0.24) and PA (p=0.13). Despite the similar ratings of satisfaction between Internet (M=3.12±0.74) and SMS (M=3.12±0.84), participants displayed distinct patterns of exposure with 66% exhibiting a weekly login rate of 0.5 times/person and an average of 3.75 minutes/visit/person. In contrast, 79% of participants read an average of 1.3 SMS/person/week and 47% voluntarily replied to 3.8 SMS/person. These findings demonstrate the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of an Internet-SMS-based intervention for promoting PA in Hong Kong school children. The divergent exposure rates between the Internet and SMS may be a unique pattern for adolescents in early SMR. Future research should be cognizant of the importance of SMR since it may influence utilization and/or adherence

User-centric analytic approach to evaluate the performance of sports facilities: A study of swimming pools

While the performance of sports facilities such as swimming pools is crucial to the health, safety and enjoyment of pool users, little research has been conducted to explore how to analytically evaluate the holistic performance of such facilities from the users' perspective. Even an evaluation framework portraying the key performance attributes of swimming pools is yet to be available. Recognising this research gap, this study aims to adopt a user-centric approach to evaluate the performance of swimming pools and a multi-stage study was initiated. After a thorough literature review, a performance attribute hierarchy for swimming pools was established through a focus group study and then two surveys, covering four swimming pools and 103 pool users interviewed, were conducted in Hong Kong. Analysing the responses using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method illustrates that the building services (i.e. utilitarian) aspect of swimming pools is more important than the architectural counterpart, and survey participants cared more about the performance attributes inside water than those outside. This study's novelty lies in that it adopted the user-centric approach, which can differentiate between the relative importance of different swimming pool components and prioritize resources for their maintenance and management. The evaluation framework as well as the findings of the study provides facilities managers with important benchmark criteria for optimising the performance of these sports facilities. In the long run, this study contributes to enabling the project stakeholders to conduct evidence-based decision making over the life cycle of sport facilities development and management

Maternal Weight Gain in Pregnancy and Risk of Obesity among Offspring: A Systematic Review

Objectives. To systematically review the evidence from prospective and retrospective cohort studies on the association between gestational weight gain (GWG) and offspring’s body weight. Methods. Electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Academic Search Premiere were searched from inception through March 18, 2013. Included studies (n=23) were English articles that examined the independent associations of GWG with body mass index (BMI) and/or overweight status in the offspring aged 2 to 18.9 years. Two authors independently extracted the data and assessed methodological quality of the included studies. Results. Evidence from cohort studies supports that total GWG and exceeding the Institute of Medicine maternal weight gain recommendation were associated with higher BMI z-score and elevated risk of overweight or obesity in offspring. The evidence of high rate of GWG during early- and mid-pregnancy is suggestive. Additionally, the evidence on inadequate GWG and net GWG in relation to body weight outcomes in offspring is insufficient to draw conclusions. Conclusions. These findings suggest that GWG is a potential risk factor for childhood obesity. However, findings should be interpreted with caution due to measurement issues of GWG and potential confounding effects of shared familial characteristics (i.e., genetics and maternal and child’s lifestyle factors)

Factors associated with cognitive decline and delirium after transcatheter aortic valve implantation: Preliminary evidence

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has become the standard for treating severe symptomatic aortic stenosis in those with prohibitive surgical risk. Cognitive complications, including delirium and cognitive decline are common following TAVI, yet an understanding of pre-procedural factors associated with these outcomes is lacking. This prospective observational study set out to identify geriatric pre-procedural factors associated with post-procedural delirium and cognitive decline in patients undergoing TAVI. / Methods: Cognitive outcomes of TAVI patients aged ≥60 years (N=32) were measured over one-year post-TAVI. Pre-procedural measures included frailty, gait, visual symptoms, voice pitch, dysphagia, blink rate, mood, and sleep. Primary outcomes were post-procedural delirium and cognitive decline. / Results: Delirium was present in 25% of patients over two days following TAVI and 26% experienced cognitive decline in the year post-TAVI. Daily physical activity was a protective factor against cognitive decline, and worse baseline visual memory was associated with delirium. While non-significant and with very large confidence intervals, moderate to large effect sizes were found for associations between slowed gait speed, pre-existing atrial fibrillation, and dysphagia for delirium, and slower gait speed, higher blink rate, pre-existing atrial fibrillation for cognitive decline. / Conclusion: Though underpowered, measures of considerable effect size were identified (although non-significant and with large variability). In larger studies, these novel geriatric factors could further be explored for predicting cognitive complications following TAVI. Improvement of risk prediction for cognitive decline and delirium following TAVI could assist with early identification of those at risk, informing clinical decision-making and allowing for targeted intervention to reduce post-procedural incidence of these complications

The impact of nitric oxide toxicity on the evolution of the glutathione transferase superfamily: A proposal for an evolutionary driving force

Background: Why do ancestral GSTs utilize cysteine/serine as catalytic residues, whereas more recently evolved GSTs utilize tyrosine? Results: Only the more recently evolved GSTs display enough affinity to bind and make harmless the toxic DNDGIC (a natur

Longitudinal association of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D with adipokines and markers of glucose metabolism among Brazilian pregnant women

This study aimed to evaluate the longitudinal association of vitamin D status with glycaemia, insulin, Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR), adiponectin and leptin. A prospective cohort with 181 healthy, pregnant Brazilian women was followed at the 5th–13th, 20th–26th, and 30th–36th gestational weeks. In this cohort, 25(OH)D plasma concentrations were analysed using liq¬uid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Vitamin D status was categorized as sufficient or insufficient using the Endocrine Society Practice Guidelines (ES) (≥75/<75 nmol/L) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (≥50/<50 nmol/L) thresholds. Linear mixed-effect regression models were employed to evaluate the association between vitamin D status and each outcome, considering the interaction terms between vitamin D status and gestational age (P<0.1). At baseline, 70.7% of pregnant women had 25(OH)D levels <75 nmol/L and 16% had levels <50 nmol/L. Women with sufficient vitamin D status at baseline, using both the ES and IOM thresholds, presented lower glycaemia than those with insufficient 25(OH)D. Pregnant women with 25(OH)D concentrations <75 nmol/L showed lower insulin (β=-0.12; 95% CI -0.251, 0.009; P=0.069) and adiponectin (β=-0.070; 95% CI -0.150, 0.010; P=0.085) concentrations throughout pregnancy than those with 25(OH)D levels ≥75 nmol/L. Pregnant women with 25(OH)D <50 nmol/L at baseline presented significantly higher leptin concentrations than those with 25(OH)D levels ≥50 nmol/L (β=-0.253, 95% CI: -0.044; 0.550, P=0.095). The baseline status of vitamin D influences the biomarkers involved in glucose metabolism. Vitamin D sufficient women at baseline had higher increases of insulin and adiponectin changes throughout gestation than those who were insufficient

Personal Protective Equipment and Antiviral Drug Use during Hospitalization for Suspected Avian or Pandemic Influenza1

In a pandemic, many current national stockpiles of PPE and antiviral medications are likely inadequate