An investigation of the effectiveness of human resource management in the Hong Kong police

In the literature, there is the increasing trend to link human resource planning with strategic planning giving greater importance to, and greater involvement of, human resource management in organization strategy. Also the Hong Kong Police is a manpower oriented discipline force and the human resource management functions play a critical role in the effective management of these human resources. Therefore, the critical nature of the human resource management of the Hong Kong Police justifies a management report orientation where the focus is on the production of positive and practical recommendations. The objectives of the report are to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing human resource management system of the Hong Kong Police and also if and where appropriate to make recommendations designed to enhance the present system. In order to achieve the objectives, four aspects were evaluated. The first aspect is the human resource management goals of the Hong Kong Police. It was evaluated against the criteria of the extent to which it is consistent with the ii Vision, Statement of the Common Purposes and Values of the Police. The second aspect is its policies and practices of the each of the functions, which include 1. human resource planning (HRP), 2. recruitment and selection, 3. training and career development, 4. compensation and benefits management, 5. performance evaluation, 6. employee and labor relations, 7. counseling and 8. termination of the existing human resource management. It was evaluated through the comparison between the policies and practices of the each of the functions mentioned above and the corresponding theoretical functional goals. The third aspect is outcomes of human resource management, including complaints from the public, and opinions to it from the general public. It was evaluated against the overall goals of human resource management of the Hong Kong Police. The last but not the least, others, which are the things other than the above, factors viewed as relevant including what it has done during 1996 to 1999. Peters and Waterman Model was used as a framework for evaluating how well the Police was doing during this period. After considering all the aspects, we concluded that the Hong Kong Police did well in the planning process of the human resource management, as theoretically, the effectiveness of the human resource management was achieved. However, further improvement is needed in certain areas concerning the actual performance during the implementation, which may imply there are some problems that may affect the effectiveness of the human resource management of the Hong Kong Police. Based on the evaluation, we suggest that Competency Assessment Methods can be used as a framework for the Hong Kong Police to develop a set of competency for evaluating the performance of the employees. Also, a number of ways were suggested to improve the existing promotion mechanism. The supervisor’s recommendation involved in it can be improved by giving guidelines to the supervisors and having a group of supervisors to evaluate the performance of the employee. Also the recommendations should base on credible information. Moreover, feedback channels should be given to the employees to raise their opinions towards the decision in the promotion mechanism. In order to improve the competency of the supervisors, training should be given to strengthen their accountability for handling their work. Also a flexible and cafeteria benefits package was recommended to increase the flexibility of the existing benefits package iv for motivating the employees by giving autonomy to choose the benefits they need

Challenges and Status on Design and Computation for Emerging Additive Manufacturing Technologies

The revolution of additive manufacturing (AM) has led to many opportunities in fabricating complex and novel products. The increase of printable materials and the emergence of novel fabrication processes continuously expand the possibility of engineering systems in which product components are no longer limited to be single material, single scale, or single function. In fact, a paradigm shift is taking place in industry from geometry-centered usage to supporting functional demands. Consequently, engineers are expected to resolve a wide range of complex and difficult problems related to functional design. Although a higher degree of design freedom beyond geometry has been enabled by AM, there are only very few computational design approaches in this new AM-enabled domain to design objects with tailored properties and functions. The objectives of this review paper are to provide an overview of recent additive manufacturing developments and current computer-aided design methodologies that can be applied to multimaterial, multiscale, multiform, and multifunctional AM technologies. The difficulties encountered in the computational design approaches are summarized and the future development needs are emphasized. In the paper, some present applications and future trends related to additive manufacturing technologies are also discussed

The photometric observation of the quasi-simultaneous mutual eclipse and occultation between Europa and Ganymede on 22 August 2021

Mutual events (MEs) are eclipses and occultations among planetary natural satellites. Most of the time, eclipses and occultations occur separately. However, the same satellite pair will exhibit an eclipse and an occultation quasi-simultaneously under particular orbital configurations. This kind of rare event is termed as a quasi-simultaneous mutual event (QSME). During the 2021 campaign of mutual events of jovian satellites, we observed a QSME between Europa and Ganymede. The present study aims to describe and study the event in detail. We observed the QSME with a CCD camera attached to a 300-mm telescope at the Hong Kong Space Museum Sai Kung iObservatory. We obtained the combined flux of Europa and Ganymede from aperture photometry. A geometric model was developed to explain the light curve observed. Our results are compared with theoretical predictions (O-C). We found that our simple geometric model can explain the QSME fairly accurately, and the QSME light curve is a superposition of the light curves of an eclipse and an occultation. Notably, the observed flux drops are within 2.6% of the theoretical predictions. The size of the event central time O-Cs ranges from -14.4 to 43.2 s. Both O-Cs of flux drop and timing are comparable to other studies adopting more complicated models. Given the event rarity, model simplicity and accuracy, we encourage more observations and analysis on QSMEs to improve Solar System ephemerides.Comment: 23 pages, 5 appendixes, 16 figures, 7 table

The draft genome, transcriptome, and microbiome of Dermatophagoides farinae reveal a broad spectrum of dust mite allergens

© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. Background A sequenced house dust mite (HDM) genome would advance our understanding of HDM allergens, a common cause of human allergies. Objective We sought to produce an annotated Dermatophagoides farinae draft genome and develop a combined genomic-transcriptomic-proteomic approach for elucidation of HDM allergens. Methods A D farinae draft genome and transcriptome were assembled with high-throughput sequencing, accommodating microbiome sequences. The allergen gene structures were validated by means of Sanger sequencing. The mite's microbiome composition was determined, and the predominant genus was validated immunohistochemically. The allergenicity of a ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase binding protein homologue was evaluated with immunoblotting, immunosorbent assays, and skin prick tests. Results The full gene structures of 20 canonical allergens and 7 noncanonical allergen homologues were produced. A novel major allergen, ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase binding protein-like protein, was found and designated Der f 24. All 40 sera samples from patients with mite allergy had IgE antibodies against rDer f 24. Of 10 patients tested, 5 had positive skin reactions. The predominant bacterial genus among 100 identified species was Enterobacter (63.4%). An intron was found in the 13.8-kDa D farinae bacteriolytic enzyme gene, indicating that it is of HDM origin. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis revealed a phototransduction pathway in D farinae, as well as thiamine and amino acid synthesis pathways, which is suggestive of an endosymbiotic relationship between D farinae and its microbiome. Conclusion An HDM genome draft produced from genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic experiments revealed allergen genes and a diverse endosymbiotic microbiome, providing a tool for further identification and characterization of HDM allergens and development of diagnostics and immunotherapeutic vaccines.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data