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This paper aims to present approaches towards improving some specific infrastructure maintenance principles, strategies, models and practices, based on a recent study of bridge management systems in Hong Kong. A specific goal is to develop better informed and more systematic approaches to condition assessment, deterioration forecasting, and maintenance decision making over the life‐cycle of the built asset.

Improved performance prediction and decision‐making approaches are developed and presented based on a research exercise to formulate a maintenance management framework for concrete bridge elements in Hong Kong. This includes for example, the presentation of decision‐making approaches for optimizing inspection intervals on bridge expansion joints.

The findings show that judicious integration is needed in incorporating valuable elements of, and lessons learned from, previous practice with proposed new strategies/ principles, models and practices for specific scenarios.

Based on the findings, practitioners' understandings can be deepened as regards the barriers to improving condition assessment, deterioration forecasting, and maintenance decision making over the life‐cycle of the built asset. Furthermore, the results also provide useful information for developing strategies and practices to improve currently used infrastructure management systems.

Major obstacles are overcome in developing better informed and more systematic approaches as above, and in extending current knowledge on condition assessment, performance prediction and decision‐making models by utilizing more pertinent data and addressing some barriers in practical implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual framework to assist decision makers in identifying an appropriate decision-supporting method (DSM) to evaluate public-private partnership (PPP) contract types in a disciplined and systematic manner.

A systematic literature review was conducted to compare and analyse DSMs in construction procurement processes, and explore the benefits and limitations of using DSMs. A conceptual framework is then developed to accommodate client characteristics when selecting DSM in a PPP context. An example was obtained to illustrate the implementation of the proposed framework.

DSMs employed in the procurement method selection are identified by using a systemic literature review. The benefits and limitations of each DSM are established and comparisons of DSMs are provided to fit the client characteristics and a conceptual framework is developed to assist decision makers in choosing DSM for contract selection.

This paper demonstrates a link between DSMs and PPP contracts which adds value at the stage of PPP contract evaluation. Also, the proposed framework sheds some light on an important aspect of the public sector to consider the improvement of current policies (PPP framework/guideline).

The purpose of this paper is to determine the value of I‐Ching (also called Book of Changes), the ancient Chinese book of wisdom, which has been used for thousands of years to help people make decisions in daily life. Recently, eastern and western scholars have begun discussing how to apply the wisdom of I‐Ching to the field of business administration, particularly decision‐making practices.

A content analysis method was adopted to uncover possible modern management decision‐making constructs. The single words approach did not find frequently appearing words that integrated decision‐making constructs in the context of I‐Ching. Further uncovering I‐Ching's administrative decision‐making approach, the managerial decision‐making model of I‐Ching is explained, including the premises, the decision contingencies, and the decision process.

By using an academic comparative analysis method, as it applies to managerial decision making, I‐Ching's early management decision‐making model is subsequently compared with western management decision models, which include rational decision making, bounded‐rationality decision making, intuitive decision making, implicit favorite decision making, and garbage‐can decision making.

The majority of scholars that study I‐Ching focus on “practice divination” research, paying attention to the interpretation or critique of the text only. Unfortunately, related literature based upon a social science research foundation is limited.

The value of I‐Ching was determined to lie in allowing flexibility in the decision‐making process.

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.

We applied a true-experimental randomized control posttest design to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to compare the effects of the AR and traditional board games on students’ SDG learning achievements.

We applied a true-experimental randomized control posttest design to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to compare the effects of AR and traditional board games on students' SDG learning achievements.

Our analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data revealed that the effects of AR and traditional board games on the students' cognitive outcomes differed significantly, indicating the importance of providing a situated learning environment in SDG education. Moreover, the students perceived that the incorporation of the AR game into SDG learning improved their learning effectiveness – including both cognitive and affective dimensions – thus confirming its educational value and potential in SDG learning.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the effectiveness of different learning tools (AR and traditional board games) and to evaluate the importance of providing a situated learning environment through a true-experimental randomized control posttest design.

Purpose: The public health burden caused by tobacco is heavy among first-generation Chinese immigrant men whose home country has significantly higher smoking rates than the United States. The current study is part of a larger effort to pilot an mHealth tobacco cessation intervention using MMS (graphic) mobile phone technologies to target East Asian immigrant populations. Grounded in the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM), our specific aims were to determine what message themes, level of graphic intensity, and types of efficacy information are most appropriate and useful for mHealth interventions targeting this population.

Methodology/Approach: A qualitative study utilizing a series of focus groups (k = 5) was conducted with male adult smokers who were born in China and currently reside in the United States. The primary aim of the focus groups was to solicit reactions to a series of preliminary messages developed by the research team. A secondary aim was to gauge receptivity to the use of MMS as a vehicle for smoking cessation intervention. Participants (n = 32) were recruited from local Chinese communities in a large Mid-Atlantic metropolitan area.

Findings: Opinions about different message strategies were mixed. However, participants tended to rate messages more positively when they focused on the impact of smoking on family and loved ones, particularly children. Messages with fear-arousing images were also perceived to be effective at low frequency of exposure, but there were concerns that they may backfire at high exposure. Awareness of and interest in Quitline were low, and concrete quitting tips were perceived as more effective. Participants reported a preference for receiving messages a few times a week, and an MMS message platform was generally preferred to WeChat (a Chinese social media platform).

Implications: Our results suggest that graphic MMS messaging holds promise as an effective intervention method for this population and that EPPM is an appropriate framework to develop, test, and analyze mHealth intervention messages. While messages that focused primarily on impact on children, health, and specific quitting tips were generally found to be more effective, a mix of different types of messages that address a wide range of issues may be most appropriate for this population.

Originality/Value: This study is the first to explore the utility of graphic text messaging as an intervention method to promote smoking cessation among male Chinese immigrants. Findings from the study provide important insights for future intervention work targeting this underserved population.

In the construction sector, the knowledge-based process outgrows its emphasis on technological aspects. Yet, there is a lack of applied studies showing how a procurement system (PS) could be selected in the digital age. In particular, there is a radical need to establish an innovative process to visualise novel PS decision. Therefore, this paper aims to present a knowledge visualised framework for aiding construction PS decision-making.

This paper describes the construction of process innovation. The framework (process) is supported by four influential decision supporting methods (mean utility values, analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy set theory and Delphi method) and computer programming (Matlab).

There are four stages of this framework: (1) uniform rating for decision alternatives; (2) group decision for determining the decision attribute; (3) determining the final choice; (4) reporting the cognitive computing process. Supported by individual and groups decision dynamics, this framework emphasises how the dashboard aided innovative approach enables the induction of understanding, cognitive computing for decision-making and how the information would precisely be represented, which are vital requirements of modern construction.

The contribution of this paper presents two leverage points that support the modern PS decision. Firstly, this paper provides a holistic view of the decision supporting methods on the basis of how a suitable PS would be systematically sought. Based on the existing studies, this paper upgrades into a visualised knowledge decision supporting process. It helps the participants understand and improve their cognitive learning. Secondly, this framework allows the participants to have a view of the individual and group decisions. It sheds light on the development of the collaborative decision-making process.

This study aims to investigate scholars’ roles in resolving environmental community conflict, as environmental community conflict is becoming an increasingly serious problem in contemporary China, and it explored the underlying factors and mechanisms that influence successful conflict resolution.

Based on a combination of three types of sources – interviews, participant observation and existing literature, the study compared and contrasted 35 cases through a two-stage study project with 25 environmental community conflict cases in the first stage and ten non-environmental cases in the second.

Results indicate that scholars serve seven roles in community conflict resolution: identification persons for potential sources of community conflict and supporters for the people who evaluate conflict problems before attempting to solve them; advisers for conflict protagonists; leaders of many knowledge-related activities; organizers of entrepreneurial activities for other community members; information brokers between community members and other stakeholders; representatives of the government, firms, community members and other stakeholders; and self-interested participants. While scholars’ participation is important for resolving community conflict, their actions are often not effective. Successful community conflict resolution involving scholars must satisfy eight underlying factors: local scholars’ sustained participation; high capacity; improvement on the organizational level of community members; emphasis on high efficiency knowledge and information transmission; effective finding and use of the community’s social capital; continual optimization on their action strategies; obtainability of some benefits; and non-local scholars’ sustained external support through social capital. The more closely these rules are followed, the more successful scholars’ participation in community conflict resolution will be.

The findings have practical implications for improving the effectiveness of scholars’ participation in community conflict resolution in contemporary China and even in other countries.

The purpose of this study is to explore how nationalistic appeals may affect consumers’ perception and purchasing of targeted brands. Qualitative historical data from old China (1900–1949) reveal that social movement groups can adopt nationalistic appeals assisted by meaning framing – defined as a creative interpretation of symbols, designs, behaviors, social events and cultural identities to serve social and political goals – to shape consumers’ attitudes toward foreign brands. After examining the mechanisms and processes underlying consumer boycotts from 1900 to 1949, the responsive strategies of affected foreign companies are illustrated.

Critical historical research method is applied to historical data and historical “traces” from China’s corporate documents, memoirs, posters, advertisements, newspapers and secondhand sources documenting Chinese boycotts from 1900 to 1949.

Consumers may pursue interests beyond economic interests. Nationalistic appeals can mobilize consumer boycotts against foreign brands that were perceived to support or relate to targeted countries. Political framing of certain events shapes consumers’ perceptions and concomitant brand choices.

Although differences between historical and current contexts may require tailoring past marketing strategies to current conditions, past strategies can inform current and future strategies.

Strategies adopted by foreign companies in old China (1900–1949) can help contemporary companies design effective marketing strategies for a hostile marketplace infused with nationalistic appeals and competing interests.

Although local companies can adopt economic or political nationalism to realize their economic goals, it represents a double-edged sword that can harm national brands.

A historical analysis of nationalistic business appeals in pre-1949 China can inform the counterstrategies modern companies adopt to overcome consumer boycotts.

Presents a framework for deciding on a good execution strategy for a given program based on the available data and task parallelism in the program on PC laboratory clusters. Proposes a virtual cluster scheduling scheme to take account of the relationships between tasks for task parallelism, and also processor speed, processor load and network environment to balance load for data parallelism in a PC cluster environment. The approach is very effective in terms of the overall execution time, and demonstrates the feasibility of automatic cluster assignment, processor set selection and data partition functions for data and task parallel programs.