Explaining the variations in the pedestrian flow values of shopping centres

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse the crucial variables of pedestrian flow value of the shopping centres in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach: The study identifies the key determinants of pedestrian flow value (PFV) which is measured by net rental income per floor area per pedestrian flow. Based on the rental and pedestrian flow survey data of 146 shopping centres along the subway (Mass Transit Railway) stations in Hong Kong, the authors have estimated the marginal effects of these determinants on the PFV. The research explains different variations' impacts of pedestrian flow on the rental value of the shopping centres in Hong Kong. Findings: It is found that shopping centres owned by the same owners tend to achieve a lower PFV, which suggests that owners of multiple shopping malls may adopt a uniform pedestrian flow management strategy that may not be ideal for each individual mall. Research limitations/implications: This study focuses on the shopping centres that are located along the railway stations. Researchers are encouraged to test the shopping centres that are less affected by the railway stations. Practical implications: It is useful for shopping centre owners and operators to determine the optimal strategy for managing pedestrian flow in their shopping centres. Originality/value: The relationship between pedestrian flow and the shopping centre value is coined in the research as pedestrian flow value (PFV) which is to calculate the pedestrian flow effectiveness measured by net rental income per floor area per pedestrian flow. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.postprin

The psychological well-being of elderly persons living in old urban areas of Hong Kong: A social perspective

Using the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) and the short form of the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), this study found that the Chinese elderly who live in old urban areas of Hong Kong are at risk of suffering from poor mental health because of their relatively deprived social conditions. It was also found that the respondent's scores in the GDS-15 correlated with their social conditions, including type of housing, availability of helpers, financial status and family support. However, Chinese elderly people often avoid seeking help because of the fear of being stigmatised. There is a need for more research in the future to study their needs and problems so that social work practitioners can be well informed and culturally competent to help this disadvantaged group.postprin

Improved parallel algorithms for finding connected components

Finding the connected components of a graph is a basic computational problem. In recent years, there were several exciting results in breaking the log2 n-time barrier to finding connected components on parallel machines using shared memory without concurrent-write capability. This paper further presents two new parallel algorithms both using less than log2 n time. The merit of the first algorithm is that it uses only a sublinear number of processors, yet retains the time complexity of the fastest existing algorithm. The second algorithm is slightly slower but its work (i.e., the time-processor product) is closer to optimal than all previous algorithms using less than log2 n time.published_or_final_versio

Evaluation of a Structured Volunteering Programme as an Intervention for Enhancing Resilience Level of Parents of People with Learning Disabilities

The East Asian Archives of Psychiatry can be viewed at: http://easap.asia/journal_file/EASAP-Suppl-2012.pdfPoster session D: Child and Adolescent Mental Health ProblemsConference Theme: Mental Health for AllBackground: Stresses have consistently been found to be higher in parents of people with learning disabilities (LD). However, some parents are able to be more resilient and better adapted in the face of these challenges. It is known that volunteering experience is able to increase one’s resilient protector factors. This study was an initial attempt to evaluate how a structured volunteering programme enhances the resilience level of parents of people with LD. The programme lasted for 6 months and the parent volunteers paid home visits regularly to elderly who were living alone and were invited to attend the debriefing sessions after every visit. Objectives: The researchers examined the effectiveness of the structured volunteering programme in enhancing the resilience level of parents of people with LD, and to identify the specific resilience domains that are correlating with the programme. Methods: A pretest-posttest design was adopted, with the intervention of a 6-month structured volunteering programme. The researchers developed a 24-item scale which extracted from the Resilience Scale – Chinese Version (Chen, 2007; the original scale was developed by Friborg et al. in 2006) and the Purpose in Life Test – Chinese Version (Song, 1992; the original test was developed by Crumbaugh & Maholic in 1964). The scale achieved good reliability (α = 0.935). Data on 36 participants’ measures of 4 resilience domains, namely, self-competence, social skills, social resources, and meaning of life, were analysed. Results: Statistically significant positive changes in the resilience domains of social resources (p = 0.05) and meaning of life (p = 0.04) were found, the domain of social skills also showed positive change. Conclusion: The results suggest the effectiveness of the structured volunteering programme for parents of LD in resilience enhancement. The programme design would be discussed.published_or_final_versio

Measuring Drug Abuse: The Development of the Chinese Drug Involvement Scale in Hong Kong

The development of the Chinese Drug Involvement Scale for use in Chinese communities.Method: A battery of scales, including the Chinese Drug Involvement Scale and threemental health measures, were administered to 152 students of 13 to 18 years of age. Reliabilityand validity analyses were performed. The refined version was then cross-validated on a groupof identified drug abusers (N = 77). Results: The final version of the Chinese Drug InvolvementScale is a 22-item scale. Validation results demonstrate that the Chinese Drug Involvement Scalehas high reliability and a satisfactory level of validity. Conclusion: The Chinese Drug InvolvementScale is a global assessment of an individual's beliefs and values relating to drug use, apartfrom actual drug abuse behavior. The scale will be particularly useful for periodic assessmentsor outcome evaluation in treatment programs.postprin

香港公立醫院中外陰切開術的應用情況

OBJECTIVE. To review the use of episiotomy during vaginal delivery in Hong Kong public hospitals. DESIGN. Prospective observational survey. SETTING. Public hospitals, Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS. Women who underwent normal vaginal delivery of a singleton foetus with cephalic presentation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES. Number of women having an episiotomy, severe-degree (third- or fourth-degree) tear, other types of tear, blood loss at delivery, postpartum haemorrhage, need for blood transfusion, puerperal pyrexia, wound infection, gaping wound that required suture removal, and drainage or resuturing of a perineal wound. RESULTS. Between 1 January and 31 March 2003, there were 6222 singleton spontaneous normal vaginal deliveries in the public hospitals of Hong Kong. Of the 6167 women in whom the status of the perineum was known, episiotomy was performed in 5274 (85.5%). Primiparous women were more likely to undergo episiotomy at delivery than multiparous women (97.9% vs 71.4%). Women with episiotomy had significantly less perineal tearing of any kind than those without. The occurrence of any type of perineal tear and severe-degree (third- or fourth-degree) tear was significantly lower in primiparous women who had an episiotomy than those without (P<0.05). Women with episiotomy had increased mean blood loss at delivery but other complications were not significantly increased. CONCLUSIONS. In Hong Kong, episiotomy is routinely performed during normal vaginal delivery. It is associated with a significantly lower overall rate of perineal tearing. This study was observational, nonetheless the occurrence of other complications was likely to increase when episiotomy was performed. Firm evidence from several randomised controlled studies shows that routine episiotomy is unjustified and possibly harmful. Routine episiotomy should not be promoted in Hong Kong without further randomised controlled study.published_or_final_versio

A very low bit-rate video coding algorithm by focusing on moving regions

2000-2001 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

An efficient low bit-rate video-coding algorithm focusing on moving regions

2001-2002 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

An efficient color compensation scheme for skin color segmentation

2002-2003 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers based on P(VDF-TrFE) copolymer thin films

2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe