Real-time interactive learning through smart mobile devices

Smart phones and tablet PCs are very popular nowadays. Many schools use these new tools for teaching and learning. The e-Learning Technology Development Laboratory of the EEE Department had developed a mobile application called iClass. This tool can facilitate teachers to conduct interactive classes through different mobile devices. Students can share their ideas and express their views by drawing pictures or entering keywords. The students' works can be instantly sent to the lecture screen through the WiFi. Students can then learn from their peers through the peer review function. The iClass system also supports an editable e-book for assignment submission and 2D barcode to facilitate field trip or technical visit. Examples on how teachers can use iClass for in-class interactive teaching are carefully considered. Lastly, innovative pedagogy models are also being evolved to cope with many possible new changes.published_or_final_versio

Open Innovation: A Study of Industry-University Collaboration in Environmental R&D in Hong Kong

Innovation plays a key role in driving industries to gain competitive advantage. Increasingly, open innovation is considered a key driver to help industries accelerate the rate of innovation through exploitation of the free flow of internal and external knowledge and expertise. With the external input of expertise and knowledge, industries can acquire stronger capability for innovation, and achieve better competitiveness than those which rely only on traditional closed innovation approach. Industries, especially small and medium enterprises, are particularly interested in partnering with universities as niche collaborators due to their innovation competence. In face of intensive global competition, university-industry collaboration has been advocated by the government as a form of open innovation to enhance the development and commercialization of niche technologies for the environment. In 2009–2010, Hong Kong ranked third in Global Innovation Index, out of 132 economies surveyed. In terms of university-industry collaboration, Hong Kong ranked twenty-seven. To gain a deeper understanding of what determines industry-university innovation, this study focusses on all cleaner energy and environmental-oriented Innovation-and-Technology (ITF) funded projects that have been approved since the establishment of Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Fund in 1999 and that have involved university-industry collaboration. A total of 145 out of 2,345 ITF funded projects that carry the theme of cleaner energy and environment research and development during 1999–2010 have been selected. Quantitative surveys and qualitative face-to-face interviews have been conducted to identify what drivers and barriers for this group of ITF industries are involved in their engagement in industry-university collaboration, and why these drivers and barriers exist. The result obtained shows that majority of the local industries surveyed and interviewed are eager to collaborate with universities in environmental innovation for competitive advantage, especially for gaining reputations and securing future business opportunities. However, huge obstacles exist for local industries to partner with universities, especially for the SMEs, due to policy and institutional constraints. Innovation policies in support of SME innovation and institutional mechanisms to help SMEs find the right university partners are particularly relevant and critical for promoting open innovation (in the form of university-industry collaboration) in environmental and cleaner energy research among local industries in future.published_or_final_versio

Open Innovation for Environmental Research

Innovation plays a key role in driving industries to gain competitive advantage. Increasingly, open innovation is considered a key driver to help industries accelerate the rate of innovation through exploitation of the free flow of internal and external knowledge and expertise. It is believed that industries will thus acquire stronger capability for innovation given the external input of expertise and knowledge that complements their internal capabilities. As a result, such businesses can achieve higher industrial competitiveness than those which rely only on traditional closed innovation approach. University-industry collaboration can be considered as a form of open innovation. Industries, especially small and medium enterprises, are particularly interested in partnering with universities as niche collaborators due to their innovation competence. In face of intensive competition from other neighboring cities in China like Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, and neighboring countries like Singapore, Hong Kong has increasingly attempted to achieve economic competitiveness through innovation. University-industry collaboration has been increasingly advocated by the government as an effective means for innovation, such as the development and commercialization of niche technologies for the environment. In 2009-2010, Hong Kong ranked third in Global Innovation Index, out of 132 economies surveyed. In terms of university-industry collaboration, Hong Kong ranked twenty-seven. To gain a deeper understanding of what determines industry-university innovation, this study focusses on all cleaner energy and environmental-oriented Innovation-and-Technology (ITF) funded projects that have been approved since the establishment of Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Fund in 1999 and that have involved university-industry collaboration. A total of 145 out of 2,345 ITF funded projects that carry the theme of cleaner energy and environment research and development during 1999-2010 have been selected. Quantitative surveys and qualitative face-to-face interviews have been conducted to identify what drivers and barriers for this group of ITF industries are involved in their engagement in industry university collaboration, and why these drivers and barriers exist. The result obtained shows that majority of the local industries surveyed and interviewed are eager to collaborate with universities in environmental innovation for competitive advantage, especially for gaining reputations and securing future business opportunities. However, huge obstacles exist for local industries to partner with universities, especially for the SMEs, due to policy and institutional constraints. Innovation policies in support of SME innovation and institutional mechanisms to help SMEs find the right university partners are particularly relevant and critical for promoting open innovation (in the form of university-industry collaboration) in environmental and cleaner energy research among local industries in future.published_or_final_versio

A time domain binaural model based on spatial feature extraction for the head-related transfer function

A complex-valued head-related transfer function (HRTF) can be represented as a real-valued head-related impulse response (HRIR). The interaural time and level cues of HRIRs are extracted to derive the binaural model and also to normalize each measured HRIR. Using the Karhunen–Loeve expansion, normalized HRIRs are modeled as a weighted combination of a set of basis functions in a low-dimensional subspace. The basis functions and the space samples of the weights are obtained from the measured HRIR. A simple linear interpolation algorithm is employed to obtain the modeled binaural HRIRs. The modeled HRIRs are nearly identical to the measured HRIRs from an anesthetized live cat. Typical mean-square errors and cross-correlation coefficients between the 1816 measured and modeled HRIRs are 1% and 0.99, respectively. The real-valued operations and linear interpolating in the model are very effective for speeding up the model computation in real-time implementation. This approach has made it possible to simulate real free-field signals at the two eardrums of a cat via earphones and to study the neuronal responses to such a virtual acoustic space (VAR). ©1997 Acoustical Society of America.published_or_final_versio

Wavelet analysis of head-related transfer functions

The directional-dependent information in the head-related transfer function (HRTF) is important for the study of human sound localization system and the synthesis of virtual auditory signals. Its time-domain and frequency-domain characteristics have been widely studied by researchers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ability of discrete wavelet transform to describe the time-scale characteristics of HRTFs. Both the time-domain characteristics and energy distribution of different frequency subbands were studied. Discrete wavelet analysis is found to be a new direction-dependence information showing the relation of the characteristics of the HRTFs to sound source directions.published_or_final_versio

Predicting intensive care outcome: comparing three outcome prediction models, APACHE II, SAPS II, and MPM II

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A dose response study of diskhaler salbutamol treatment in asthmatic patients

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Pathway of psychiatric care in Hong Kong

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A quantitative high resolution computed tomography assessment of patients with stable bronchiectasis

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