Vocational Education and Training (VET) of Quantity Surveying in Hong Kong

Vocational education and training (VET) in Hong Kong has long been regarded as non-mainstream and second-tier education for students who failed in academic education (Lim, 2008, 2010). The government of HKSAR and some non-government organizations are offering education programmes for these students in concerning with social injustice. In Hong Kong, VET has acquired a stigma and is automatically seen as second-class education. (Lim, 2008). This assertion is tested on quantity surveying education in this study. Quantity surveying education originated as part time day-release programmes which allowed students to receive academic and practical training at the same time. It was then developed into full time sandwich or part-time degrees which are provided by mainstream universities. University education emphasizes more on the training of mind and all-rounded knowledge and general surveying programmes are popular. In Hong Kong, quantity surveying programmes are provided by local universities as general surveying degrees and also by Vocational Training Council (VTC), through its branch, the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE), as higher diploma programme which focuses on quantity surveying and building surveying. VTC, being the largest vocational education and training provider in Hong Kong, is also the largest VET provider on quantity surveying in Hong Kong. The curriculum design, pedagogy, professional accreditation, articulation and career path of the higher diploma programme are studied to examine the effectiveness of the VET of quantity surveying in Hong Kong. These will be summarized as the overall VET strategies on quantity surveying, which can provide significant references for professional bodies and industry stakeholders, to set the level of recognition on VET graduates

Engineering Education in Hong Kong Secondary Schools - The Applied Learning Course Approach

In Hong Kong, the efficacy of engineering education in secondary schools is always difficult to measure. This is mainly because there are limited engineering-oriented subjects and few teachers with backgrounds in engineering. Engineering education is often infused into the curriculum of secondary schools through science, technology and mathematics (STM) subjects. Students’ involvement in engineering related school-based and extracurricular activities are limited. Only a few technical schools in Hong Kong are offering engineering-oriented subjects such as Electronics & Electricity and Technology Fundamentals. Some previous studies have identified that the lack of engineering education in secondary schools may affect the students’ aspiration to become engineers, while some studies have investigated the gap of engineering education at the secondary-tertiary interface. Likewise, many post-industrial societies are facing the same challenges as Hong Kong, which have strong demand for engineers but struggled with the low intake of engineering programmes in higher education and subsequent careers. This paper responds to the addressed issues of engineering education in Hong Kong secondary schools and performs a practical study of the effectiveness of Applied Learning Courses (ApL), which are introduced to diversify the curriculum of senior secondary students by the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR government. The design of ApL emphasizes the development of fundamental skill set, career-related competencies and generic skills of students, and explore their career aspirations and orientation for lifelong learning. The overall curriculum design and pedagogy of two selected ApL courses of engineering (electrical & energy engineering and digital construction) will be studied to investigate how the courses can instil engineering knowledge, provide practical ‘hands-on’ experiences and enhance engineering aspirations among secondary school students. The study also provides recommendations on improving the design and structure of ApL courses as an approach of effective engineering education in secondary schools

Collaboration and Author Order: Changing Patterns in IS Research

In this article we examine changes in the patterns of collaboration among information systems researchers since 1987, in terms of number of authors and order of authorship. The proportion of multiple authored papers, particularly among articles published in more prestigious journals, increased significantly. One possible explanation may be in increased research complexity, as evidenced by much longer papers. At the same time, among prestigious journals, the alphabetical model for ordering authorship all but disappeared. The article calls for consideration of a standard for authorship order in IS research

New class of 3D topological insulator in double perovskite

We predict a new class of three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs) in which the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) can more effectively generate a large band gap at $\Gamma$ point. The band gap of conventional TI such as Bi$_2$Se$_3$ is mainly limited by two factors, the strength of SOC and, from electronic structure perspective, the band gap when SOC is absent. While the former is an atomic property, we find that the latter can be minimized in a generic rock-salt lattice model in which a stable crossing of bands {\it at} the Fermi level along with band character inversion occurs for a range of parameters in the absence of SOC. Thus, large-gap TI's or TI's comprised of lighter elements can be expected. In fact, we find by performing first-principle calculations that the model applies to a class of double perovskites A$_2$BiXO$_6$ (A = Ca, Sr, Ba; X = Br, I) and the band gap is predicted up to 0.55 eV. Besides, more detailed calculations considering realistic surface structure indicate that the Dirac cones are robust against the presence of dangling bond at the boundary with a specific termination.Comment: submitted; title changed and new references added; see DOI for published versio

Adaptive Display Frequency Control for Power Savings

This publication describes systems and techniques directed at adaptive display frequency control for power savings. In aspects, a display manager can adjust a base frequency and/or a driving frequency of display panel circuitry based on determining a number of operating conditions, including an ambient light condition, a current base frequency and driving frequency, a user interaction with the display, and/or a display brightness. Responsive to determining one or more of these conditions, the display manager can implement a base frequency and a driving frequency that can reduce power consumption and eliminate display artifacts commonly associated with automatic driving frequency transition

DEC2 modulates orexin expression and regulates sleep.

Adequate sleep is essential for physical and mental health. We previously identified a missense mutation in the human DEC2 gene (BHLHE41) leading to the familial natural short sleep behavioral trait. DEC2 is a transcription factor regulating the circadian clock in mammals, although its role in sleep regulation has been unclear. Here we report that prepro-orexin, also known as hypocretin (Hcrt), gene expression is increased in the mouse model expressing the mutant hDEC2 transgene (hDEC2-P384R). Prepro-orexin encodes a precursor protein of a neuropeptide producing orexin A and B (hcrt1 and hcrt2), which is enriched in the hypothalamus and regulates maintenance of arousal. In cell culture, DEC2 suppressed prepro-orexin promoter-luc (ore-luc) expression through cis-acting E-box elements. The mutant DEC2 has less repressor activity than WT-DEC2, resulting in increased orexin expression. DEC2-binding affinity for the prepro-orexin gene promoter is decreased by the P384R mutation, likely due to weakened interaction with other transcription factors. In vivo, the decreased immobility time of the mutant transgenic mice is attenuated by an orexin receptor antagonist. Our results suggested that DEC2 regulates sleep/wake duration, at least in part, by modulating the neuropeptide hormone orexin

Quantifying the Performance Benefits of Partitioned Communication in MPI

Partitioned communication was introduced in MPI 4.0 as a user-friendly interface to support pipelined communication patterns, particularly common in the context of MPI+threads. It provides the user with the ability to divide a global buffer into smaller independent chunks, called partitions, which can then be communicated independently. In this work we first model the performance gain that can be expected when using partitioned communication. Next, we describe the improvements we made to \mpich{} to enable those gains and provide a high-quality implementation of MPI partitioned communication. We then evaluate partitioned communication in various common use cases and assess the performance in comparison with other MPI point-to-point and one-sided approaches. Specifically, we first investigate two scenarios commonly encountered for small partition sizes in a multithreaded environment: thread contention and overhead of using many partitions. We propose two solutions to alleviate the measured penalty and demonstrate their use. We then focus on large messages and the gain obtained when exploiting the delay resulting from computations or load imbalance. We conclude with our perspectives on the benefits of partitioned communication and the various results obtained

Developing Feature Sets for Geographically Diverse External End Users: A Call for Value-Based Preference Modeling

ABSTRACT Here we explore the terrain of understanding the value of IT applications for diverse users across geographically diverse markets. The domain of our investigation is the development of features for applications that make use of presence and location information about the user. There is good reason to believe that such applications might create substantial value for mobile device users because the systems could use our declared availability and intentions (presence) along with our location to present us with information and choices of high circumstantial value. We explored the use of wide audience requirements engineering (WARE) to collect and analyze data from potential lead users in Helsinki, Las Vegas, and Hong Kong about their preferences for applications using presence and location information. We further analyzed the data to differentiate among the three cities. Results showed substantial differences in user preferences for presence and location enabled applications across the three cities, suggesting that applications developed for one market might not succeed in the others. We propose the design of new methods to develop distinct feature sets for IT applications intended for use by diverse users in different markets. INTRODUCTION Global products can no longer be designed for national markets and then rolled out at leisure to the world on a take it or leave it basis (Honold 2000). Intense competition demands that they be designed to accommodate the preferences of customers in different markets for simultaneous introduction. Consequently, product features and attributes need to accommodate a diverse audience of users outside the organization and outside the market of origin. In addition, for more and more products, information systems are not only the channel through which they are marketed, but also major components of the products themselves. As a result a significant crossover between IS design and consumer product research may be required to meet the needs of systems and products in, for example, areas such as web site design (Luna, Peracchio and Juan 2002) and mobile technology based applications. Furthermore, such new systems often involve functions and technology consumers have never seen or considered before and have all the same pitfalls and concerns of other disruptive product innovations. The failure to recognize the need to understand varied and changing market preferences can spell disaster for global system and product introductions. Good examples can be seen in the troubles that the telecommunication industry has faced when rolling out global wireless Internet services (Barwise and Meehan 2004): products that suit the Northern European customer may flop in North American or Asian markets. In this paper we explore the problem of developing application features for new consumer oriented systems that must be designed for diverse, geographically dispersed customers and which make use of technologies that the customers haven\u27t hitherto seen. We explore the adaptation of wide audience requirements engineering (WARE) (Tuunanen, Peffers and Gengler 2004), a method we developed to collect and analyze user preferences and reasoning for new system features, for use in developing the features for geographically diverse user sets. The context of our investigation is a study of user preferences and reasoning for applications and features using presence and location data to be designed for users in Europe, North America, and Asia. The paper applies WARE to a cross continental context for requirements engineering (RE) of new consumer oriented mobile systems that will meet the needs of users in a variety of national markets. WARE is a requirements engineering method for capturing, modeling, and presenting feature preferences from dispersed end-users and potential end users, who may have little connection with the firm, the technology, or the products. Such users may have little basis for feature preferences, may have little understanding of the underlying technology, and may have little motivation to participate in the development process.

Developing Feature Sets for Geographically Diverse External End Users: A Call for Value-Based Preference Modeling

Here we explore the terrain of understanding the value of IT applications for diverse users across geographically diverse markets. The domain of our investigation is the development of features for applications that make use of presence and location information about the user. There is good reason to believe that such applications might create substantial value for mobile device users because the systems could use our declared availability and intentions (presence) along with our location to present us with information and choices of high circumstantial value. We explored the use of wide audience requirements engineering (WARE) to collect and analyze data from potential lead users in Helsinki, Las Vegas, and Hong Kong about their preferences for applications using presence and location information. We further analyzed the data to differentiate among the three cities. Results showed substantial differences in user preferences for presence and location enabled applications across the three cities, suggesting that applications developed for one market might not succeed in the others. We propose the design of new methods to develop distinct feature sets for IT applications intended for use by diverse users in different markets