Abstract: The legal and ethics subject is one of the discipline subjects being offered in the hospitality and tourism programs. To investigate the effectiveness of this subject, this paper aims to examine, based on the hospitality and tourism students? perceptions in Hong Kong, (1) based on their work experiences; how much emphasizes their employers stress on those legal issues, and whether there are any discrepancies between students? perception and reality; (2) the usefulness and importance of law subject in general; and (3) what legal issues students face in their workplaces.
From sixteen legal and ethics issues, students perceived a greater importance of those issues than the companies? emphasis. The most discrepancies are employment law, insurance law, and tort. However, students have no different perception in legal issue of ?duty to protect guests? properties.? 63% of students agree that the law subject is the most important subject; and 68% of them believe that the law subject should be assigned to the compulsory category. Students have encountered in various legal issues such as ?employment law,? ?hygiene & safety,? ?duty to protect guest,? and ?contract law?; whereas, students have less encountered in legal issues of discrimination, copyright, and agency relationship. The legal and ethics subject is essential for hospitality and tourism students to apply those legal issues in the workplaces. The contents should focus in employment law, hygiene and safety, and duty to protect guests. In addition, the hospitality and tourism companies can provide more training legal knowledge, so that they can meet the employees? perceptions of those legal applications.
Abstract: Food is critical to the survival of human beings. High-quality and safety food is not only essential to the health of human beings but also to the economy and sustainable development of a country. With the increase in the number of food contamination incidents and recalls of food products in recent years, the stability and quality of food supply chain has become a worldwide concern. This paper provides an overview of the common quality management measures in food supply chain and examines how McDonald?s Hong Kong utilizes some of these measures in controlling and assuring the quality of its food supply chain.
Abstract: Recent studies on the use of Internet among youngsters suggest problematic behaviour and adverse impacts on overall health as there are uncharted boundaries of information and media through Internet. Such related problems include Internet addiction, shyness, alienation, psychological distress and academic performance decrement over time. As a consequence, the ability of students in tertiary education to communicate effectively and interact humanly could deteriorate as they become more accustomed to networking via Internet. However, students nowadays do increasingly rely on the Internet to perform research under the knowledge-based economy despite concerns over reliability and truthfulness of information available from Internet. There are a role and values of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) for an optimal use of Internet. With reference to an interdisciplinary review, we suggest an interventionist approach to orient students in tertiary education to develop a strategic mindset that exploits Internet as a source for developing knowledge about learning outcomes while mitigating the risks associated with over-reliance and inadequate uses.
Abstract: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and one of the top five major causes of cancer deaths among Hong Kong women. Screening is regarded as the critical component in early detection as well as the initial step in making a definitive diagnosis. Researches have indicated that mammography is the most commonly employed examination to detect breast cancer in the early stage, resulting in the reduction of mortality from breast cancer.
Currently, there are some non-territory wide breast screening programmes in Hong Kong and their effectiveness is considered to be low. With reference to screening programmes in the Asian-pacific perspectives, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the effectiveness of mammography in order to make some recommendations to the Breast Cancer screening programme in Hong Kong. To maximize its effectiveness, both public education and collaboration between the government and healthcare organizations are needed to develop a comprehensive community-based breast screening programme.
Abstract: As more and more students bring electronic gadgets to the classroom, more and more find teachers struggle to keep students actively engaged in the learning process. Whole brain teaching (WBT) is a relatively new strategy adopted by teachers in the United States. Its purpose is to increase student engagement and, in turn, increase student achievement. Currently, there is very limited literature about the WBT in academic databases. The current literature is mainly about WBT practices in secondary education or lower levels. This is the report of an attempt to use some of the WBT techniques in post-secondary education.
Two WBT techniques were used in teaching the course of Project Management at the top-up degree level. After the course ended, self-administered questionnaires were used to collect student feedback from students. Thirty-five questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 85%. The data were analysed using SPSS.
This is one of the first attempts to apply WBT in post-secondary education. The results show that students have generally positive attitudes towards WBT. This is encouraging because it implies that WBT is potentially suitable for Hong Kong students at the top-up degree level. Most items in the questionnaire have high reliability when measured by Cronbach?s Alpha. The questionnaire and experience can be used by future educators to further research into this area.
Abstract: There are increasing skyscrapers in the world. Lift maintenance services industry has become one of the most important engineering industries nowadays. A study was conducted through the survey with over a hundred respondents. These respondents are property management professionals. Results show that trust exists among lift maintenance contractors and management companies of the buildings. Trust is positively related to the level of switching cost during maintenance contract renewal.
Abstract: This research aimed to understand health promoting practices of Hong Kong college students by collecting some preliminary data. The research was a cross-sectional study, which was conducted in Hung Hom Bay and West Kowloon campuses of the College of Professional and Continuing Education (CPCE). Participants were mainly college students who studied in CPCE. Information about health promoting behavior of the college students were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire. The participants were chosen by random selection. The data were collected from March to April 2015 in the two campuses and were analyzed generally and by gender through the application of the SPSS. A total of 616 questionnaires were distributed and 610 were returned. The response rate was 99%. 40.4% seldom did physical activity as a routine and only 35.4% lived on a balanced diet. About two-thirds of the college students were mentally well because of enough sleep and seldom having insomnia. The majority of the students was positive in their spiritual well-being, and found life interesting and challenging. It is nice to know that over three quarters of the subjects were confident with their outlook and thus self-esteem.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of how tourism and hospitality students learn and how they develop their approaches to learning in a self-financed college. The study investigates whether there is a change in students? approaches to learning as they progress through their programmes of study. Data was collected on student approaches to learning at four points: the initial entry to their associate degree programmes, the second year of study (associate degree), the beginning of the first semester of their degree programmes (top-up degree) and the final year of the same programmes. The study is a longitudinal one. It is hoped by that assessing and analyzing students? learning approaches and the direction of any change will allow feedback to be provided to colleges, curriculum planners, and teaching staff about how they are affecting the way their students approach to learning, and thereby assist them to work towards continued improvement and enhancement of learning and teaching.
Abstract: Although the concept of state capacity seems to highlight the importance of the state, I argue that the core insight that emerges from the literature review is quite the opposite. This insight is that the government can only do so much. Certain important kinds of state capacity depend on whether and how the state is connected to important stakeholders in society. After reviewing three concepts of state capacity in the literature, namely the capacity for social control, the capacity for industrial policy, and the capacity for industrial upgrading, I discuss the capacity for healthcare reform, which is relatively new in the literature about state capacity. In this new scenario, what the government finds is the medical profession who has been given the privilege for professional self-regulation. How to deal with a profession who has been enjoying a lot of autonomy, and who is unlikely to give up any power without seeing any return to its ?sacrifice,? will pose a great challenge to the state. I argue that when the issue is about state capacity for healthcare reform, the connection between the state and the medical profession as one of the most important stakeholders in the healthcare sector becomes even more critical.
Abstract: Bus is one of the significant segments in Hong Kong public transport. Since 1970s, Hong Kong bus companies have faced keen competition with other modes of transport. The purpose of this study is to identify the connection among Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), service quality and customer satisfaction for Hong Kong bus industry with respect to the 5 components of SERVQUAL by comprehensive literature review. The discussion reveals that ITS can enhance service quality of Hong Kong bus companies, as well as its customer satisfaction. Through ITS, Hong Kong bus companies could improve the performance and increase their competitive advantages to compete with Mass Transit Railway (MTR).
Abstract: Considering the trend of using mobile devices for 3D medical image viewing, we constructed a cloud service system for 3D medical image processing using mobile devices. A multi-plane 3D display system was built that allows user to see and interact with 3D image via multiple mobile devices. 3D images are constructed by stacking continuous 2D image data other than the traditional 3D object. The cooperation of mobile devices brings out a special feature, cascaded view, which has a property that cutting faces of different mobile devices are concerned. Considering user experience, bookmark and annotation functions were provided for user to return to specific cutting face state and make note on it as picture archiving and communication system (PACS). We made a service prototype using computed tomography image as resource of 3D image for proof of service. Methodology of Service experience Engineering (SEE) was applied to test the satisfaction of users. Results show that both doctors and patients are satisfied with our prototype of 3D medical image processing systems. Conclusions are suggested that the proposed 3D medical image processing systems could be helpful for future healthcare.
Abstract: Every teacher understands the importance of getting timely student feedback for effective and efficient teaching and learning. However, students in Hong Kong are not keen to respond to prompts from teachers for questions and examples. There is a need for an efficient method to engage all the students in a classroom, and evaluate the progress of their learning. Studies have shown that student response systems (SRS) are effective increasing student engaging and active learning. In a traditional SRS, the students use a small portal device, called a clicker, to choose their answers to questions. With the widespread use of smart mobile phones, it is possible to replace the clickers with mobile phones, and the proprietary software with commercially available polling web site. The author subscribed to a polling website and used it together with the mobile phones of students to form an SRS. The SRS was used over a period of 6 weeks. Thirty-five polls were conducted and 1,155 answers were received. A follow-up survey showed that the students involved have very positive attitude towards the SRS. Over 90% of the students indicated the polling website was easy to access and worked well. The majority of the students indicated that it SRS made the lessons more interesting and helped them to maintain their attention. They also indicate that they were willing to use SRS in future. It is suggested that the Technology Acceptance Model be used to study teacher?s intention to use SRS in future.
Abstract: Non-profit organisations and their financial viability to execute their missions are of growing importance and focus in a global context. In addition, the drastic increase in the number of non-profit organisations also poses increasing challenges for non-profits to compete for funding and resources, which has forced them to find ways to improve their fundraising effectiveness. Although research illustrates that the implementation of market orientation contributes to better organisational and fundraising performance of non-profit organisations in different countries, non-profit organisations find the transition to market orientation to be difficult. The greatest challenge is the lack of knowledge in using marketing techniques that are prevalent in the non-profit arena. The deficiency of non-profit marketing research in the Chinese context and the low generalizability of western studies in other cultural contexts deter non-profit organisations from elevating fundraising effectiveness through market orientation and relationship marketing with donors. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the extant literature in the field of fundraising-related market orientation for non-profit organisations and suggest agenda for future research. The paper highlights a research field that is becoming vitally important yet immature particularly for the Chinese context in Hong Kong.
Abstract: The aim of the research presented here is to understand and evaluate the impacts of MOOCs (massive open online courses) on associate degree students? academic English learning at Hong Kong Community College of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Using Song & Hill?s (2007) self-directed learning model as a conceptual framework of this research, the work in progress project is aiming to analyse the influences of personal attributes, process attributes and learning context in MOOCs learning. As a preparation course for undergraduate degree studies, ?English for Academic Studies? is compulsory for all the year one students at HKCC. Through a 2-semester observational study, the researcher has found that she has encountered resistance and low attendance rate when she used examples and sample essays from textbooks. On the other hand, when she adopted tailored MOOCs (Massive Open Online courses) materials in and outside classroom, unexpected popularity was perceived. The preliminary finding of this research has shown that tailored MOOCs materials are extremely helpful for students who are using English as a second language; nevertheless, the role of classroom teachers cannot be neglected as appropriate guidance is desired from students. The research findings validate Song & Hill?s (2007) self-directed learning model.
Abstract: Technology grows fast in recent decades and has contributed to the development of health information system. The Government has established the eHR sharing system to bring about a host of benefits to the community through more efficient health care services, reduction on medical costs as a result of more effective and early treatment. The system would also enhance the availability and transparency of information through sharing of patient records between healthcare providers in both the public and private sectors, with the objectives to reduce the frequency of consultations, to improve the accuracy of diagnosis and patient management, to avoid duplicate investigations and errors associated with paper records, and to enable disease surveillance and public health research leading more effective policy formulation. In this essay, the authors suggest that there is much to be learned from the development and implementation of their electronic medical record system in Taiwan. A social marketing approach is recommended in order to improve and promote the electronic health record project in Hong Kong.
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