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1 – 10 of 196Mikhail Fiadotau, Külliki Tafel-Viia and Alessandro Nanì
This chapter focuses on the micro-contexts of cross-innovation between digital audiovisual media and the health care sector by examining two cases, both start-ups working on…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the micro-contexts of cross-innovation between digital audiovisual media and the health care sector by examining two cases, both start-ups working on virtual reality-assisted rehabilitation solutions. Through a discussion of the two cases, this chapter aims to elucidate the broader dynamics of digital health care as experienced by innovators seeking to contribute to it. It addresses the challenges faced by innovators, including the lengthy and costly nature of medical licensing, the inflexibility and fragmentation of pertinent regulations, and health care institutions’ and insurers’ resistance to change. It also highlights the importance of networking and the emergence of digital health care as a distinct and increasingly visible epistemic community, while touching upon the tensions between the public and the private sectors as a target market for innovators.
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Ming-Miin Yu, Bo Hsiao, Shih-Hsun Hsu and Shaw Yu Li
This paper presents an alternative approach to evaluating the overall efficiency and performance of Taiwanese container ports. Specifically, a parallel activity with series…
Abstract
This paper presents an alternative approach to evaluating the overall efficiency and performance of Taiwanese container ports. Specifically, a parallel activity with series structure concept in the form of data envelopment analysis (MNDEA) is used to construct a model that applies to three different activities: harbor management, stevedoring and warehousing operations. We will further divide each activity into two process types, production processes and services processes. We will also adopt a Delphi survey approach and use the Analytic Network Process (ANP) to identify these processes’influence dependence and their degree of importance for the MNDEA model setting. An empirical application demonstrates the performance of Taiwanese container ports by using MNDEA with window analysis techniques via the directional distance functionThe results demonstrate that the application is effective in indicating and/or suggesting resource-adjustments, while considering which undesirable output levels and shared inputs were involved. The results also present directions for possible improvements in workplace efficiency.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the medical incident responses from two public hospitals in Hong Kong, namely, Kowloon Hospital and Caritas Medical Centre, in order to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the medical incident responses from two public hospitals in Hong Kong, namely, Kowloon Hospital and Caritas Medical Centre, in order to improve the strategic preparation for crisis management in hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses two medical incidents using Situational Crisis Communication Theory by Coombs (2007). The two case studies presented herein demonstrate the importance of consistency in terms of crisis responses.
Findings
For the first case, the crisis responses from different parties after the incident, including Hospital Authority, the doctor and the nurses from Kowloon Hospital, are contradicting to each other. First, Hospital Authority confirmed that the incident is solely an accident which is a denial response. Second, the doctor passed the responsibility to the nurses which is a scapegoating response. Third, the nurses tend to reduce the responsibility for the death of patient by excusing strategy. As a whole, their responses are inconsistent to each other. For the second case, Caritas had initially denied the responsibilities, but finally had given partial apology under public pressure. That makes people think that Caritas does not really regret.
Originality/value
Rebuilding posture should be used instead of denial and diminishment posture. However, public organization and civil servants are reluctant to use a full apology due to possible legal consequences. The apology ordinance would ease the pressure to express regret and sympathy.
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Xue Xin, Yuepeng Jiao, Yunfeng Zhang, Ming Liang and Zhanyong Yao
This study aims to ensure reliable analysis of dynamic responses in asphalt pavement structures. It investigates noise reduction and data mining techniques for pavement dynamic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to ensure reliable analysis of dynamic responses in asphalt pavement structures. It investigates noise reduction and data mining techniques for pavement dynamic response signals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper conducts time-frequency analysis on signals of pavement dynamic response initially. It also uses two common noise reduction methods, namely, low-pass filtering and wavelet decomposition reconstruction, to evaluate their effectiveness in reducing noise in these signals. Furthermore, as these signals are generated in response to vehicle loading, they contain a substantial amount of data and are prone to environmental interference, potentially resulting in outliers. Hence, it becomes crucial to extract dynamic strain response features (e.g. peaks and peak intervals) in real-time and efficiently.
Findings
The study introduces an improved density-based spatial clustering of applications with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm for identifying outliers in denoised data. The results demonstrate that low-pass filtering is highly effective in reducing noise in pavement dynamic response signals within specified frequency ranges. The improved DBSCAN algorithm effectively identifies outliers in these signals through testing. Furthermore, the peak detection process, using the enhanced findpeaks function, consistently achieves excellent performance in identifying peak values, even when complex multi-axle heavy-duty truck strain signals are present.
Originality/value
The authors identified a suitable frequency domain range for low-pass filtering in asphalt road dynamic response signals, revealing minimal amplitude loss and effective strain information reflection between road layers. Furthermore, the authors introduced the DBSCAN-based anomaly data detection method and enhancements to the Matlab findpeaks function, enabling the detection of anomalies in road sensor data and automated peak identification.
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Huiwen Shi and Lok Ming Eric Cheung
While most language departments of the university offer service-learning (SL) subjects based on language teaching, such as “Teaching Chinese as a Second Language in Local Schools”…
Abstract
Purpose
While most language departments of the university offer service-learning (SL) subjects based on language teaching, such as “Teaching Chinese as a Second Language in Local Schools” and “Serving the Community through Teaching English,” this paper aims to argue that teaching students to teach language(s) is yet to be the best strategy to serve the service recipients.
Design/methodology/approach
SL is widely understood as an experiential learning pedagogy that integrates academic focus, reflection and community service and is shown to be impactful. In Hong Kong, the first university that has made SL a graduation requirement is the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (the University). Considering this, new SL courses have proliferated over the past decade. Adopting a narrative inquiry approach, this paper examines personal narratives from a new SL subject aiming to raise awareness of refugees in Hong Kong. The data includes students’ reflective journals, co-created personal narratives and podcasts and semi-structured interviews.
Findings
This paper finds that crafting and recording narratives of shared experiences deepens cultural understanding, cultivates empathy and facilitates language learning in a genuine setting.
Social implications
Ultimately, this paper advocates a well-designed SL that combines language, content and technology as a powerful, transformational experience for both college students and service recipients.
Originality/value
This paper focuses on a brand new SL course, “Storytelling for Understanding: Refugee Children in Hong Kong,” offered in Semester 1, 2022–2023. The subject was developed by the two authors from a language division affiliated to the University. The deliverables were podcast recordings, co-authored and co-edited by the students and the children.
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Dorothy Ai-wan Yen, Benedetta Cappellini, Jane Denise Hendy and Ming-Yao Jen
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe challenges to ethnic minorities in the UK. While the experiences of migrants are both complex and varied depending on individuals' social…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe challenges to ethnic minorities in the UK. While the experiences of migrants are both complex and varied depending on individuals' social class, race, cultural proximity to the host country and acculturation levels, more in-depth studies are necessary to fully understand how COVID-19 affects specific migrant groups and their health. Taiwanese migrants were selected because they are an understudied group. Also, there were widespread differences in pandemic management between the UK and Taiwan, making this group an ideal case for understanding how their acculturation journey can be disrupted by a crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative data were collected at two different time points, at the start of the UK pandemic (March/April 2020) and six months on (October/November 2020), to explore migrant coping experiences over time. Theoretically, the authors apply acculturation theory through the lens of coping, while discussing health-consumption practices, as empirical evidence.
Findings
Before the outbreak of the pandemic, participants worked hard to achieve high levels of integration in the UK. The pandemic changed this; participants faced unexpected changes in the UK’s sociocultural structures. They were forced to exercise the layered and complex “coping with coping” in a hostile host environment that signalled their new marginalised status. They faced impossible choices, from catching a life-threatening disease to being seen as overly cautious. Such experience, over time, challenged their integration to the host country, resulting in a loss of faith in the UK’s health system, consequently increasing separation from the host culture and society.
Research limitations/implications
It is important to note that the Taiwanese sample recruited through Facebook community groups is biased and has a high level of homogeneity. These participants were well-integrated, middle-class migrants who were highly educated, relatively resourceful and active on social media. More studies are needed to fully understand the impact on well-being and acculturation of migrants from different cultural, contextual and social backgrounds. This being the case, the authors can speculate that migrants with less resource are likely to have found the pandemic experience even more challenging. More studies are needed to fully understand migrant experience from different backgrounds.
Practical implications
Public health policymakers are advised to dedicate more resources to understand migrants' experiences in the host country. In particular, this paper has shown how separation, especially if embraced temporarily, is not necessarily a negative outcome to be corrected with specific policies. It can be strategically adopted by migrants as a way of defending their health and well-being from an increasingly hostile environment. Migrants' home country experience provides vicarious learning opportunities to acquire good practices. Their voices should be encouraged rather than in favour of a surprising orthodox and rather singular approach in the discussion of public health management.
Social implications
The paper has clear public health policy implications. Firstly, public health policymakers are advised to dedicate more resources to understand migrants' experiences in the host country. Acknowledging migrants' voice is a critical first step to contribute to the development of a fair and inclusive society. Secondly, to retain skilful migrants and avoid a future brain-drain, policymakers are advised to advance existing infrastructure to provide more incentives to support and retain migrant talents in the post-pandemic recovery phase.
Originality/value
This paper reveals how a group of previously well-integrated migrants had to exercise “coping with coping” during the COVID crisis. This experience, over time, challenged their integration to the host country, resulting in a loss of faith in the UK’s health system, consequently increasing separation from the host culture and society. It contributes to the understanding of acculturation by showing how a such crisis can significantly disrupt migrants' acculturation journey, challenging them to re-acculturate and reconsider their identity stance. It shows how separation was indeed a good option for migrants for protecting their well-being from a newly hostile host environment.
Ming Yang, Duoxiang Wang, Xiaofeng Chen, Xiaomiao Lei and Linxiang Cao
This study aims to analyse the scientific relationship between technological innovation and carbon emissions. Taking the Chinese electric power industry as the empirical research…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse the scientific relationship between technological innovation and carbon emissions. Taking the Chinese electric power industry as the empirical research object, this study examined the effect of power technological innovation on carbon emissions and proposed policy recommendations for the development of technological innovation in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study first calculated the energy consumption and carbon emission level of the Chinese electric power industry from 2005 to 2018. Secondly, this study built an evaluation index system for technological innovation of electric power with six indicators: average utilisation hours of power generation equipment; power consumption rate of power plant; line loss rate; standard coal consumption for power generation; standard coal consumption for power supply; and number of patent applications granted for generation, conversion or distribution of electric power in China. Finally, from a practical point of view, the relationship between technological innovation and carbon emissions of the Chinese electric power industry from 2005 to 2018 is evaluated and analysed.
Findings
Power technology innovation has been found to have a long-term and relatively large effect on carbon emissions, and carbon emissions have a short-term and insignificant impact on power technology innovation.
Research limitations/implications
This study puts forward relevant suggestions for developing technological innovation and technology transfer, which is essential to establishing a low-carbon or zero-carbon power system in China.
Practical implications
This study provides empirical evidence for clarifying the relationship between technological innovation and carbon emissions in the power industry and further develops research theories on technological innovation and carbon emissions.
Social implications
Relevant authorities will adopt measures to promote technological innovation and development in the power sector to reduce carbon emissions.
Originality/value
This study built an evaluation index system with six indicators for technological innovation of electric power. The evaluation method was used to measure the technological innovation level of the Chinese electric power industry. The causal link between technological innovation and carbon emissions in China was analysed.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence for the motivations of SMEs for introducing the Living Wage (LW), focussing on retail as one specific sector. It develops…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence for the motivations of SMEs for introducing the Living Wage (LW), focussing on retail as one specific sector. It develops understanding of the strategic benefits and challenges these employers face in balancing financial, ethical and social considerations in small businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed mixed methods: a survey and semi-structured interviews. The interviews are presented as part of three case studies.
Findings
Findings indicate that employers were, for the most part, motivated by personal ethics and beliefs about fair wages and social justice. They suggest that SME accrue benefits from LW accreditation such as reputational benefits and higher employee morale, but that there are also potential pitfalls of LW adoption related to pay structure and incentives. The sustainability of the LW emerged as an issue in terms of the long-term strategy and brand positioning of the companies involved.
Research limitations/implications
The nature of the research was exploratory and thus the study only allows for limited generalisation. Recommended avenues for further research include gathering data from different levels of organisations and from different stakeholders.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to investigate the drivers for, and implementation of, the LW in SMEs. The specific characteristics of SMEs – their ethos, low visibility, reliance on trusting relationships and limited resources, among others – make the study of why and how they choose to implement the LW very interesting. This study is the first to gather and analyse data from SME retailers and wholesalers that have implemented the LW.
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Yeh Ju-Hsuan, Tsai-Yun Lo, Ming-Chang Wu and Li-Feng Wang
This paper aims to probe into the implementation of internship courses under the five-year cosmetology program in Taiwan from the perspective of Dewey's philosophies in hopes that…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to probe into the implementation of internship courses under the five-year cosmetology program in Taiwan from the perspective of Dewey's philosophies in hopes that the analysis can serve as reference for schools in planning their internship courses in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper probes into the off-campus internship courses under Taiwan's five-year junior college education program by applying Dewey's empirical philosophy.
Findings
The study aims to understand the learning experience acquired by students from learning by doing internship courses as reference for future internship design. The current internship courses comprise the follows: summer, during the semester and for a full academic year. The experience of summer internship is career exploration, the experience for semester internship is career experience and the experience from academic-year internship is career choice. The internship strategies are designed according to the three different internship approaches, so that the internship courses can implement the educational effect of “learning from experience”.
Practical implications
To minimize the discrepancy between the cosmetology program under the five-year junior college education and the employment market, credit-based off-campus internship courses are arranged for students' final years at school.
Social implications
Through on-site trainings, students accumulate work experience and explore into a related career field. The accumulation of experience and gaining of insights mirror the philosophy of learning by doing, which involves students' reflective thinking.
Originality/value
It is hoped that the analysis can serve as reference for internship courses planning in the future.
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Ki Yool Ohk and Ming Wu
This study presents a new informed trading probability measure VPIN (Volume-Synchronized Probability of Informed Trading) to estimate toxic order flow of KOSPI200 index futures in…
Abstract
This study presents a new informed trading probability measure VPIN (Volume-Synchronized Probability of Informed Trading) to estimate toxic order flow of KOSPI200 index futures in a high frequency world. This measure does not require to estimate non-observable parameters as PIN. Also, it is estimated based on volume time, so it can estimate toxicity of order flow in a high frequency world. We show a relation between KOSPI200 index futures VPIN and futures market volatility using correlation and conditional probability distribution. A main empirical result is that persistently high VPIN signifies a high risk of subsequent large futures market volatility. It means that VPIN is a useful measure to estimate a toxicity induced volatility.
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