A structural equation model of feasibility evaluation and project success for publicprivate partnerships in Hong Kong

A successful publicprivate partnership (PPP) scheme can be described as one that can lead to the delivery of high-quality end products and/or services, which can satisfy the needs of the community, achieve the intended targets/goals of the government, as well as provide a favorable financial return for the private sector involved with the project. This study aims to establish an evaluation framework for the initial feasibility evaluation of a PPP project that would satisfy all the stakeholders. The factors for evaluating the feasibility of PPP projects can be classified into five broad categories: technical; financial and economic; social; political and legal; and others. Through the structural equation modeling approach, data attained from a questionnaire survey conducted in Hong Kong was analyzed and a model was developed to examine the relationships between different evaluation factors and the overall satisfaction of stakeholders. The results indicate that technical and social aspects are critical to the feasibility of PPP projects, and therefore, are the determining factors for success. This paper should assist relevant stakeholders to improve their understanding on the relative importance of the evaluation factors, and help to establish a comprehensive framework for decision makers to evaluate the feasibility of PPP projects. The predictors for PPP project success were also determined to enrich the knowledge base and help formulate management strategies to better implement the PPP project delivery approach. © 2010 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

A life cycle based green building product labelling scheme

Buildings account for 40 per cent of the overall environmental burden in industrialised countries. Acknowledging that thousands of building materials are available and many might have adverse impact to the environment, careful selection of green building products could help enhance the environmental performance of construction facilities. To facilitate decision-makers selecting green building materials, a reliable and transparent mechanism is needed and a green building product labelling scheme would be the way forward. While there are various green or eco labelling schemes around the world, they are not specifically designed for the construction market. With a desire to promote a greater adoption of green building products in construction projects, the Hong Kong Green Building Council has commissioned The University of Hong Kong to develop a life cycle based green building product labelling scheme. This paper presents the key features of the green building product labelling scheme.postprin

A note on the estimation of extreme value distributions using maximum product of spacings

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Test for homogeneity in gamma mixture models using likelihood ratio

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The changing epidemiology of recurrent pyogenic cholangitis

Recurrent pyogenic cholangitis is prevalent in Hong Kong and East Asia. While the recent influx of Asian immigrants has resulted in more cases appearing in the West, over the past three decades, the overall incidence in East Asia has been in decline. The experience of the Queen Mary Hospital and other hospitals in the region has been confirmed by comprehensive surveys. The decline in incidence has been attributed to the improved economic situation and living standards with the associated westernisation of diet.published_or_final_versio

A Case of Bowen’s Disease and Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma: Long-Term Consequences of Chronic Arsenic Exposure in Chinese Traditional Medicine

Chronic arsenic toxicity occurs primarily through inadvertent ingestion of contaminated water and food or occupational exposure, but it can also occur through medicinal ingestion. This case features a 53-year-old lifetime nonsmoker with chronic asthma treated for 10 years in childhood with Chinese traditional medicine containing arsenic. The patient was diagnosed with Bowen’s disease and developed extensive-stage small-cell carcinoma of the lung 10 years and 47 years, respectively, after the onset of arsenic exposure. Although it has a long history as a medicinal agent, arsenic is a carcinogen associated with many malignancies including those of skin and lung. It is more commonly associated with non–small-cell lung cancer, but the temporal association with Bowen’s disease in the absence of other chemical or occupational exposure strongly points to a causal role for arsenic in this case of small-cell lung cancer. Individuals with documented arsenic-induced Bowen’s disease should be considered for more aggressive screening for long-term complications, especially the development of subsequent malignancies

Pediatric spinal cord lipoma - operative experience

The Abstracts in pdf format are available for download at the HKNS website: http://www.ns.org.hk/asmSession - Free Paper 5Meeting Theme: Degenerative Lumbar SpineBACKGROUND: Spinal cord lipoma causes tethered cord syndrome. The tethering produces neurological, urological and orthopaedic problems which cause significant morbidity in both children and adult. Prophylactic surgery was shown to have a trend in minimizing tethered cord syndrome in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patient.1,2 Long term results are …published_or_final_versio

Opioid-sparing effects of perioperative paracetamol and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in children.

Perioperative pain in children can be effectively managed with systemic opioids, but addition of paracetamol or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce opioid requirements and potentially improve analgesia and/or reduce adverse effects

Standards of pancreaticoduodenectomy in a tertiary referral centre in Hong Kong: retrospective case series.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the perioperative outcomes of pancreaticoduodenectomy in a tertiary referral centre in Hong Kong. DESIGN: Retrospective case series. SETTING: University teaching hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS: One hundred and forty patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy from July 1989 through June 2001. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mortality and morbidity. RESULTS: Overall hospital mortality among 140 patients was 2.9% (n=4), and 30-day operative mortality was 2.1% (n=3). There was no significant difference in the hospital mortality rate between 43 elderly patients aged 70 years or older and 97 younger patients (2.3% versus 3.1%). The overall morbidity rate was 38.6% (n=54). Intra-abdominal abscess (13.6%) and pancreaticojejunal anastomotic leakage (12.9%) were the two most common complications. Presence of co-morbid illness (risk ratio, 2.823; 95% confidence interval, 1.541-4.385; P=0.01), preoperative cholangitis (risk ratio, 2.565; 95% confidence interval, 1.166-5.643; P=0.02), and intra-operative blood loss >/=1.5 L (risk ratio, 2.236; 95% confidence interval, 1.132-6.213; P=0.03) were independent risk factors for postoperative morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Pancreaticoduodenectomy is associated with a low risk of operative death when performed in a tertiary referral setting in Hong Kong. The postoperative morbidity rate remains high, however. Further improvement by reducing intra-operative blood loss may help curtail the high postoperative morbidity.published_or_final_versio