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Hong Kong's domestic economy has been through a roller coaster ride over the past decade. In early 2004, increasing the number of holidays as a strategy to boost domestic consumption was mooted. In this paper, we estimate the effect of holidays on private domestic consumption in Hong Kong. We do this by estimating both the long term and short-term consumption functions. Our estimates suggest that an additional day holiday per quarter would increase private consumption expenditure (PCE) by HKD 213 on a per capita basis. Although an extra day holiday could add 0.34% to GDP, policy makers should also consider the possible costs (e.g. cost of unproductive) of such a policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are frequently used to assess students in health science disciplines. However, few educators have formal instruction in writing MCQs and MCQ items often have item-writing flaws. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of item-writing flaws on student achievement in high-stakes assessments in a nursing programme in an English-language university in Hong Kong. Methods From a larger sample, we selected 10 summative test papers that were administered to undergraduate nursing students in 1 nursing department. All test items were reviewed for item-writing flaws by a 4-person consensus panel. Items were classified as ‘flawed’ if they contained ≥ 1 flaw. Items not containing item-writing violations were classified as ‘standard’. For each paper, 2 separate scales were computed: a total scale which reflected the characteristics of the assessment as administered and a standard scale which reflected the characteristics of a hypothetical assessment including only unflawed items. Results The proportion of flawed items on the 10 test papers ranged from 28–75%; 47.3% of all items were flawed. Fewer examinees passed the standard scale than the total scale (748 [90.6%] versus 779 [94.3%]). Conversely, the proportion of examinees obtaining a score ≥ 80% was higher on the standard scale than the total scale (173 [20.9%] versus 120 [14.5%]). Conclusions Flawed MCQ items were common in high-stakes nursing assessments but did not disadvantage borderline students, as has been previously demonstrated. Conversely, high-achieving students were more likely than borderline students to be penalised by flawed items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second half of August 1998 was dominated by two events. From 14 to 28 August, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) intervened in Hong Kong equity markets to prevent a speculative double play against their currency board. On 17 August, Russia announced its default on sovereign bonds. This paper demonstrates that the HKMA interventions had a substantial impact on the outcomes for US Treasury markets during this period using a careful analysis of high-frequency bond market data. On this evidence the shocks emanating from Hong Kong provided liquidity to the US Treasury market when it was most needed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the long-run money neutrality across different exchange rate regimes, empirically extending the concept of M. E. Fisher and J. J. Seater. Strong evidence shows the non-neutrality of two forms of money for the Hong Kong economy across the two regimes. While the Hong Kong M1 is marginally non-neutral under the float, it is clearly not neutral afterwards. The M2 is non-neutral both before and after the linked exchange rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within a framework of ecological modernization theory this paper focuses on the process of environmental reform in Hong Kong. It argues that there is significant inertia within the environmental policy process in Hong Kong, but that with leadership from the business sector there exists the potential for positive change. We identify ways to further drive the process of environmental reform through an emphasis on the role of the business sector and technological innovation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of Hong Kong–mainland China trade on the wage inequality in Hong Kong. Because of the large volume of trade and the large income disparity between these two regions, this empirical study provides a good test of the theories on North–South trade. The econometric analyses show that the relative wage between the skilled and unskilled workers in Hong Kong increased as the share of the volume of Hong Kong's trade with mainland China in Hong Kong's total trade volume rose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

woo h. & twinn s. (2004) Journal of Advanced Nursing 45(6), 595–602 Health needs of Hong Kong Chinese pregnant adolescents The outcomes of adolescent pregnancy have been associated with health risks such as obstetric complications and depression, and educational risks such as school dropout and reduced employment opportunities. These outcomes arise from a range of needs including perceived health needs, which are the focus of this paper. This paper reports a study to identify the perceived needs of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents following confirmation of an unintended pregnancy. An exploratory qualitative approach was used with a purposive sample of 10 Hong Kong Chinese pregnant adolescents. The study was undertaken during their stay in a non-government organization maternal shelter. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore adolescents’ perceptions of their psychological, social and health needs and the extent to which each of these needs was met. Six major categories were identified within the context of need, of which three were related to health needs: acceptance of the pregnancy; psychological reactions to the pregnancy; and use of contraception and health advice. The findings contribute to an understanding of the perceived health needs of Chinese adolescents, in particular those that are culturally determined. Implications for nursing practice indicate the significance of comprehensive health assessments and health promotion strategies to help adolescents increase their knowledge about sexual health and contraception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the paradigm shift in teaching that has resulted from the use of information technology (IT) and the ways in which IT in the curriculum enhances music learning in Hong Kong. In 1998 the government proposed a five-year strategy plan, Information Technology for Quality Education, and since this time the Hong Kong education system has changed rapidly, with increasing demands on teachers to upgrade their technological skills and practices. Semi-structured interviews concerning concepts of IT with 29 primary and secondary school teachers and their 543 students, held between February and August 2002, give situation-specific insights into their views. The paper concludes that when IT is carefully planned, designed and integrated into good music practice in classrooms, it can support students’ motivation and enhance the quality of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Developmental action inquiry (DAI) was chosen as the change strategy for introducing problem-based learning (PBL) in a pre-registration nursing programme. The central task was to transform the tutor and student participants to become collaborators in this curriculum reconstruction project. AIM: This paper expounds the way in which the action inquiry was constructed and in light of students' feedback analysis, the way in which PBL has made a difference in student learning was evaluated. DESIGN: Taking into consideration the change context and different group characteristics, the DAI was conducted in terms of two dynamically interlinked circles that formed partnerships between PBL core group members and tutors, and between tutors and students in coconstructing knowledge useful for PBL curriculum development. FINDINGS: The findings of the student evaluation questionnaire reveal that the majority of students felt PBL made a difference to their expectations of self, the student group and the teacher role in creating a facilitative environment to enhance learning. However, there was a significant difference among individual student group responses. The students' positive and negative PBL experience in self-learning, tutor-student interaction, and group-learning were identified as crucial factors contributing to these group variations. CONCLUSION: The evaluation findings show that a paradigm shift from teacher-centred to student-centred learning, from valuing self-learning to co-operative group-learning, and from theory-based to practice-based learning occurred among the students. DAI was found to be an effective change strategy for transforming participants to become collaborators in searching for useful knowledge and coconstructing the PBL learning context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper estimates the demand for the Hong Kong currency circulating in the Guangdong Province of China and Macau. The amount of Hong Kong dollars circulating in the Guangdong (Macau) region is reckoned to be 7.4 (3.2) percent of the total amount issued in Hong Kong. The estimated coeficients in the currency demand equation suggest that the Hong Kong currency in Guangdong is used mainly for transactions. Therefore, in spite of strong evidence of currency substitution of the Renminbi with the Hong Kong Dollar, its impact on the exchange rate and on the international reserves of Hong Kong during currency crisis should be minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of mentors in an undergraduate nursing programme in Hong Kong Aim of the paper. This paper reports the results of a multiple-phase study on a mentoring scheme for nursing students in one of the universities in Hong Kong. Using a qualitative approach, students’ perceptions of the various roles of mentors were collected, and this information was used as the basis to design a tool for subsequent evaluation of the mentoring scheme. Background. The nursing department in one of the universities in Hong Kong initiated and developed the idea of an ‘Honorary Clinical Instructors’ scheme (HCI scheme) for the supervision of the pre-registration nurses. The scheme was examined in a local context, where the Chinese culture dominated, so that a standardized protocol that takes into account the potential cultural dimensions could be established. Design. The mentoring roles outlined by the English National Board (ENB) for Nursing, Midwifery, Health Visiting were used as a framework to identify undergraduate nursing students’ perception of the effectiveness of mentors. Information gathered from interviews with Year 2 students (n=12) and Year 3 students (n=10) was used as the basis to design a questionnaire for subsequent programme evaluation. An evaluation questionnaire based on the interviewing results was developed for further evaluation of the mentoring scheme. Findings. After the mentoring scheme was evaluated in semester one, a series of strategies were designed to improve the preparation of mentors and the implementation of the scheme. The strategies were identified as effective by the significant differences in the perceptions students had towards the mentoring scheme in semester one and semester two (t189=–4·80, P < 0·001), with semester two (n=81) having a mean score difference of 8·69 higher than in semester one (n=110). Conclusions. It was concluded that the... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hong Kong’s economy has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past two decades. The rapid expansion of the service sector is a major outcome. Within the services sector, the finance, insurance, real estate (FIRE) and business services sub-sector is the most influential and also the major source of generating demand for office space in the economy. This paper examines how the rapid expansion of the FIRE and business service sub-sector influences new office construction. Using the Engle-Granger (1987) methodology for cointegration and error correction mechanism (ECM), the causal relationships between growth of sub-sectors of the services sector and the new office space construction were explored. The FIRE and business services sub-sector growth is shown to be cointegrated with new office space construction. The paper reports empirical findings based on a sample survey on location and quality of space. The study reveals that the growth of the FIRE and business service sector has influenced office space development in terms of location of space, per capita space and the type and quality space during 1981-2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a model for the generation of daily work duties of airside crew (being bus drivers) at the Hong Kong International Airport. The results can be adopted as a good crew schedule, in the sense that it is both feasible, satisfying requirements of various work conditions, and "optimal' in minimizing overtime shifts. It is formulated as a goal programme, specifically designed to cater for the manpower planning issues to handle frequent changes of flight schedules by flexibility in work patterns of driver duties. Illustrative results from an actual case study are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption has been a perennial problem in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong of the post-war years represented what appeared to have become an intractable case of a society in which corruption was entrenched as part of political, economic and social life. This paper seeks to delineate the experience of Hong Kong’s fight against corruption in the midst of a rapidly changing political and social environment. After describing the context in which the Hong Kong anti-corruption programme is set, this paper identifies the critical policy decisions that account for the programme’s success and the lessons Hong Kong has learned from the campaign. It ends by highlighting some of the current issues and problems that arise from the changing circumstances of Hong Kong’s development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last dozen years have seen a considerable investment of resources into the research and development of group support systems (GSS) technology. This paper describes how GSS was used to support a process improvement project in a Hong Kong accounting firm. Although the project encountered many difficulties, the application of action research facilitated the adaptation of the GSS to the shifting circumstances, and the project was successfully completed. A variety of lessons concerning the use of GSS are presented, while increased use of action research in complex organizational contexts is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each welfare system has its own welfare relations for shaping and maintaining certain types of welfare practices and welfare ideologies. Welfare relations concern the distribution of welfare responsibilities among various social institutions, the public's welfare expectations and entitlements, and the status of welfare recipients. Welfare policies, which are a legal basis of the dominant class's philosophy as well as a mechanism for policing welfare recipients' use of benefits, play an important role in shaping and constructing the welfare relations of a country. This paper discusses how welfare policies construct the required welfare relations with regard to Hong Kong's social security system. It is argued that the persistence of Hong Kong's residual welfare model is partly based on the residual welfare relations which facilitate family--centred and market-oriented welfare practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the differential returns to education and to language ability of natives and Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong. The large difference in quality between Hong Kong schools and Chinese schools provides a natural experiment for evaluating the effect of school quality on students' performance in the labor market. We show that the rate of return to schooling is more than three times higher among local-born workers than among Chinese immigrants to Hong Kong. Our analysis also suggests that English language education is one important component of the success of the Hong Kong education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides an estimate of wage compensation for fatal job risk in Hong Kong. It uses the 1991 Population Census of Hong Kong merged with job fatality data collected by the Labour Department. The results show that there is a positive and significant compensating wage differential for job fatal risk for manual workers in Hong Kong. The estimated 'statistical value of a life' is approximately HK$10.8m in 1990 prices (about US$1.4m). While this figure is somewhat lower than many estimates for developed countries, it is much higher than workers' compensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of cultural adaptations and diffusion for managerial strategies in host societies to which work enterprises are not indigenous in terms of their capital and management or either. With illustrations drawn from a series of case-studies of work organisations in Hong Kong managed respectively by Chinese, British and Japanese capital, there was an appearance of support for the thesis of ‘cultural’ determinism and its implications for strategical adaptations in work organisations. The implication was drawn that the Oriental nexus of altruism, trust and subtlety could be rooted in the more laudible and perhaps global influence of Confucianism. Some subsequent issues are raised. First, the problem of cultural adaptation is not specific to multinationals or foreign firms visiting from outside but also applies where the management and their ethic background are not indigenous. The other issue is the extent of cultural adaptation within work organisations, as determined by the degree of affinity with a common mother culture. The paper suggests that a common denominating mother culture can serve a strategical starting point to bring about intra-organisational and organisation-society link and harmony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the findings of a survey on the use of quality management techniques in Hong Kong industry and its investment in China. It reflects the attitude of industry towards the new quality management concepts, particularly ISO 9000. The second part of the paper reports some observations of auditing some companies in Hong Kong and south China and discusses the weaknesses of the quality systems in these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is a major health problem world-wide. Therefore, it is not surprising that cancer is identified as the top priority disease group for an improvement programme by the Hospital Authority in Hong Kong. Laser therapy for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, for example, is evidence of the advancement of the scientific and technological developments for cancer treatment. Furthermore, the establishment of the Cancer Centre has provided ample opportunities for clinical practices and research studies. In response to the proclamation of the urgent need for the establishment of a cancer society in every country by Searle in 1990, the Oncology Care Society of Hong Kong, which aims to promote both cancer education and cancer research, was established in 1993. Adopted from the core curriculum of the European Oncology Nursing Society, the specialist course of cancer nursing care was first implemented in Hong Kong in 1993 and the nurse specialist is now a permanent part of nursing career structure in Hong Kong. This paper attempts to review the development of oncology nursing in Hong Kong according to these factors and to find ways to improve the current situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the validation results of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) as applied to a sample of Chinese mothers in Hong Kong. A cross-sectional research survey was launched employing a purposive sample of 248 Hong Kong Chinese mothers. The PSI was found to have a reliability coefficient of .93. The concurrent validity of the instrument was established by correlations of the PSI with various measurements for stress. Moreover, results from discriminant analysis indicated that using PSI scores, "high-stress" respondents could be discriminated from "low-stress" respondents with 93% overall accuracy. Finally, results of the study replicated the major factorial structure of the original scale. The present study indicates that the PSI represents an appropriate tool for measuring parenting stress with Hong Kong Chinese mothers. Findings from the study will facilitate practitioners and administrators in early screening of parenting stress, individual diagnostic assessment, pre-post measures of intervention effectiveness, and future research in parenting stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines decisions among low-income mothers in Hong Kong on the use of self-care, or the arrangement of leaving children unattended at home. An analysis of individual interviews with 23 mothers, based on a family ecology perspective, highlighted the contexts in which mothers make decisions based on economic, social and technical grounds. Findings showed that self-care was used with family orientated demands, in spite of the worries and fears associated with the self-care arrangement. Self-care was generally favoured when it was felt to be an efficient way of carrying out family and domestic tasks. An argument was also made that self-care encouraged appropriate independence in children. Nevertheless, mothers recognised the risks involved in self-care and planned to minimise the potential dangers of young children being left unattended. The views of the children themselves, as well as their fathers, often influenced the care arrangements made by mothers. Social policies in relation to unattended children are also examined. This analysis reveals ideological assumptions about the nature of good parenting that places great pressure on mothers to fulfil their responsibilities even though they often lack adequate economic, social and technical support. Rather than deploy deterrent legal measures, it is suggested that social measures, including the provision of `family life education', occasional child care services and enhancement of community support, be developed to help parents carry out their child-rearing roles effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accommodating the dead in Hong Kong is more than a planning issue. A study of Hong Kong's urban cemeteries and columbaria reveals that they are associated with a cosmography, or world view, suffused with fengshui . They are regarded by many Chinese people in Hong Kong as dangerous and powerful places that link earth, heaven and the underworld, i.e. the material and non-material worlds. Their unique time-geography involves year-round desertion except at the appropriate time for graveside rituals related to ancestor veneration. The different forms of burial - either in coffins, or in urns for ashes or for bones - require different spaces. This paper summarises the historical development of the provision of such spaces in Hong Kong and provides a descriptive analysis of four of them. It emerges that Hong Kong's cemeteries have a strongly, though not exclusively, secular significance. Furthermore, inscriptions on grave tablets indicate the position in the lineage, and the ancestral place, of those buried there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces events and information in the field of finance for 1991. The Academy of Financial Services will be holding its Annual Meeting on October 9, 1991 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. A new journal, "International Review of Economics and Finance" will be published in 1991. The International Conference on Asian-Pacific Financial Markets will be held at the City Polytechnic University in Hong Kong on September 12-14, 1991.

Copyright of Journal of Sociolinguistics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper proposes a regime-switching model to examine the correlation dynamics of the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets with high-frequency A-, B-, H-shares and Red Chip indexes. We find significant evidence of volatility persistence and asymmetries in these markets. Our model further suggests all correlations are significantly time-varying with various patterns and co-persistence in both low- and high-correlation states. Our findings have important implications for both policymakers and investors, such as understanding the extent and nature of integration between the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets over time and developing dynamic strategies for optimal hedging and portfolio management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the origin and development of the stock market in Hong Kong. The first formal stock exchange, the Association of Stockbrokers in Hong Kong, was formed in 1891. However, the activities of the stock exchange are generally regarded as insignificant until the 1970s. Since the 1980s, there have been a number of major reforms and some significant developments. These include the unification of four stock exchanges; the establishment of the Securities and Futures Commission; the closer economic relations with Mainland China; the merger of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Futures Exchange to form the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited ( HKEx); the launch of the second board (Growth Enterprise Market); and the demutualisation of the HKEx. The Exchange generally responded positively to these reforms and developments. As a result, the Hong Kong stock market experienced significant growth in terms of its market capitalisation ratio, turnover ratio, and the total value traded ratio. Despite the impressive growth in various stock market indicators, however, the Hong Kong stock market still faces some challenges, including regulatory challenges, as well as some concern over its future viability as a global equity hub. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Heavy rain events or rainstorms of various scales often occur in Hong Kong from April to September. In extremes cases, they lead to serious landslides and flash floods resulting in loss of life, and damage to property and infrastructure. With climate change, extreme rain events are projected to be more frequent and more intense in this region. A system to gauge and label the severity of rainstorms would be useful for identifying and communicating extreme conditions in warning and disaster prevention operations. In parallel, a better understanding of the characteristics of rainstorms would also be important for impact assessments and engineering design purposes. This paper formulates a practical framework to index the magnitude and severity of rainstorms in Hong Kong. An index termed as the Severity Index combining the magnitude of different rainstorm attributes is devised for quantifying the overall severity of rainstorms. This index is flexible to allow tuning for specific applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and tests a model of how firms acquire knowledge from their international joint venturing experience. Based on survey response from 73 Singapore and 89 Hong Kong firms with respect to their joint ventures set up in China, the results indicate that both overseeing effort and management involvement are significant channels of knowledge acquisition. The former channel is more important for firms with a great deal of operational experience in China and for parents of older joint ventures. This finding indicates that firms improve their skills of knowledge acquisition through learning-by-doing. Moreover, the strategic importance of the venture concerned, instead of the learning intent of the parent, is the driving force behind the allocation of resources to the two channels. This implies that firms mainly learn through managing their key joint ventures. Since a venture that provides novel and fruitful learning experience may not, and need not, be an operation of great strategic importance, this finding suggests the existence of learning myopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the role of limit orders in the liquidity provision in a pure order-driven market. Results show that market depth rises subsequent to an increase in transitory volatility, and transitory volatility declines subsequent to an increase in market depth. We also examine how transitory volatility affects the mix between limit orders and market orders. When transitory volatility arises from the ask (bid) side, investors will submit more limit sell (buy) orders than market sell (buy) orders. This result is consistent with the existence of limit-order traders who enter the market and place orders when liquidity is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, there has been considerable corporate governance reform in the region. But such reform has proceeded on two tracks. On one track, international rules are dominant, and common accounting and financial reporting standards are essentially accepted as necessary for trade and investment. On the second track, however, local cultural norms continue to exert a strong influence on the functioning of the boards, the quality of dialogue with shareholders, and the way they manage related party transactions and capital raising. As a consequence, in these matters of internal governance-where legacy issues and culture, and not international standards, continue to be the main driving force behind governance-there continue to be significant differences among Asian countries. And thus even as convergence is occurring in certain aspects of governance, it is expected to remain limited, particularly in the functioning of boards and internal governance. As for the case of China, there was such a flurry of rule-making in the early 2000s-a national Code of Corporate Governance in 2002, and a Directive on Quarterly Reports in 2003-that people in Hong Kong used to enjoy saying that China's corporate governance standards were higher than Hong Kong's. But if that may have been true on paper, the reality has been quite different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we develop a theoretical model of an optimal currency basket for a small open economy. A currency basket for the home economy is defined as a chosen weighted average of a subset of foreign currencies, and an optimal currency basket is taken to be one that minimizes a given weighted average of the expected output volatility and expected inflation volatility. This theoretical model is then applied to Hong Kong, which has adopted a currency board system for close to 30 years. We estimate an optimal currency basket for Hong Kong and compare its performance with the existing currency board system as well as with currency baskets whose weights are given by export and import trade shares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how individuals use their labour supply-hours of work and participation decisions-as a margin of adjustment or 'buffer' in response to financial shocks. The financial shock measure is constructed using individuals' expected change to their financial situation in the year ahead relative to the perceived outcome one year later. Using BHPS data, we find that both men and women adjust their labour supply in response to financial shocks. The propensity to participate in the labour market also appears to respond to the experience of a financial shock, but is less robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please cite this paper as: Wong et al. (2012) Cigarette smoking as a risk factor for influenza-associated mortality: evidence from an elderly cohort. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 7(4), 531-539. Background The effects of individual lifestyle factors on the mortality risk after influenza infection have not been explored. Objectives In this study, we assessed the modifying effects of cigarette smoking on mortality risks associated with influenza in a cohort of Hong Kong elders with a follow-up period of 1998-2009. Methods We used the Cox proportional hazards model with time-dependent covariates of weekly proportions of specimens positive for influenza (termed as influenza virus activity), to calculate the hazard ratio of mortality associated with a 10% increase in influenza virus activity for never, ex- and current smokers. Other individual lifestyle and socioeconomic factors as well as seasonal confounders were also added into the models. Results The overall hazard ratio associated with influenza was 1·028 (95% confidence interval, 1·006, 1·051) for all natural cause mortality and 1·035 (1·003, 1·068) for cardiovascular and respiratory mortality. We found that influenza-associated hazard ratio was greater in current and ex-smokers than in never smokers for mortality of all natural causes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Conclusions The findings suggest that smoking might increase influenza-associated mortality risks among elders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the differential between the share prices of China's large state-owned commercial banks traded in Shanghai versus prices observed in Hong Kong. We find a significant role for investor sentiment, as reflected in relative price-earnings ratios, in explaining these price differentials for all four banks. The share price in Shanghai tends to move ahead of the share price in Hong Kong when more positive sentiment in Shanghai makes local investors willing to pay more for the same predicted earnings. We also identify common trends in relative bank price-earnings ratios and price differentials across the two markets. ( JEL G14, G15) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to explore the adaptation-related challenges that Bangladeshi migrant workers in Hong Kong face and the strategies they adopt to triumph over them. Data were collected through administering both closed and open-ended questionnaires to 56 migrant workers in Hong Kong during 2005-2006. The study revealed that most of the respondents stayed in Hong Kong legally but worked illegally because of the fact that although they could extend their stay permits, they were not grated work permits. This exclusive circumstance places them in a number of difficult situations. In attempting to adapt to Hong Kong society, they embrace a number of interesting and unique strategies to surmount challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT One of the decisive factors in Schneider's innovative Dynamic Model for the transition from phase 3 (nativisation) to phase 4 (endonormative stabilisation) for the case of Hong Kong English (HKE) is the parameter of local acceptance. This paper examines the attitudes of young professionals towards native vis-à-vis non-native English accents in a number of English-speaking contexts in Hong Kong by means of the verbal-guise technique, focus group discussions and a written task. The findings suggest that many of the participants have the ability to distinguish native speakers' from non-native speakers' accents. Although an Anglophone-centric attitude is still found to be prominent in high-stakes English-using situations, there seems to be a tendency that the less formal and more interactive the communication context, the fewer reservations the participants have about non-native accents. The correlation analysis indicates a lack of association between the participants' perceived intelligibility and their preferred accents in nearly all of the designated contexts for the case of HKE and, thus, the paper offers explanations based on the tension between English pronunciation as economic capital and identity carrier in local people's perception. It concludes by discussing the implications of this contextual variation in pronunciation acceptance for future attitudinal studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to develop an integrated policy index system using a Surface Measure of Overall Performance ( SMOP) approach to comprehensively evaluate and compare the policy input and social output of the retirement payment system in urban and rural China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. With this, a tool may be developed to help insightfully examine the old-age income policies and appropriately, and perhaps theoretically in the future, categorize the types of retirement provisions or social security policies as a whole in the East and West. The results indicate that, particularly in urban China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, a low level of de-familization and medium and high levels of gender equality are the common features of these five pensions in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Furthermore, it is found that the retirement provisions in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan can well be divided into two groups based on the level of pension right protection and illustrate different characteristics between them accordingly. In addition, policy implications and suggestions for further reforms of these retirement payment schemes are elaborated in the light of the findings of this policy index system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the evening of 11 April 2011, vortex/wave shedding from a mountain to the south of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) appeared to occur following the establishment of fresh to strong easterly airflow in Hong Kong. This paper documents the observations by the various meteorological instruments of the event and discusses the possibility of forecasting the vortex/wave shedding using a high resolution numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. The vortex/wave shedding was well observed by the Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system at HKIA. The vortex/wave appeared as an area of reversed flow against the background east to southeasterly airflow in the airport area. It was detached from the mountain and moved to the northwest with the background southeasterly flow, with a gradual decrease of the spatial extent in the area of reversed flow. The vortex/wave brought about significant wind shear to both arrival flight paths to the west of HKIA, as evidenced from the headwind profile data measured by the LIDARs and the aircraft data. It had rather large vertical extent, reaching the top of the boundary layer, but did not extend downward to the surface, as shown from the vertical scans of the LIDAR and the surface wind observations. The shedding event is successfully captured by high-resolution NWP model with a spatial resolution of 50 m. The model output has a lead time of 6-7 h ahead of the event, indicating the possible occurrence of terrain-induced wind shear in the form of vortex/wave shedding from a mountain. As a result, the numerical simulation could be useful in giving an early alert to the aviation weather forecaster about the significant wind shear event, which could be hazardous to the landing aircraft. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the morning of 5 March 2010, an aircraft experienced tail strike when it departed from the south runway of the Hong Kong International Airport to the west. This paper documents the meteorological conditions in the tail strike event, and discusses the alerting and the forecasting aspects of the event. Based on the analysis of the aircraft manufacturer, the tail strike is believed to arise from significant wind shear (headwind loss) experienced by the aircraft. By analysing the surface and the LIDAR observations, it appears that the significant wind shear is related to disruption of the background southwesterly flow by the complex terrain near the airport. From the surface observations, there is a microscale cyclone at the western part of the south runway. The radial velocity image of the LIDAR also depicts an area of reverse flow in that region against the background southerly flow. The alerting of the wind shear based on the two wind shear alerting algorithms developed by the Hong Kong Observatory is discussed, and it turns out that the anemometer-based wind shear algorithm could successfully capture this wind shear occurring close to the ground. On the other hand, due to geometrical constraint, the LIDAR does not pick up the headwind loss experienced by the aircraft. The forecasting of this wind shear event is considered by performing high resolution (down to a horizontal resolution of 50 m) using a mesoscale numerical weather prediction model. The simulated headwind profile at the event time is generally consistent with the aircraft data, though the headwind loss in the simulation is smaller than the reality. Together with the forecast wind gusts, it may be possible to alert the aviation weather forecaster at an earlier time about the occurrence of terrain-induced wind shear over the south runway in this particular event. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In 1960, Ronald Coase suggested that there are many methods to solve the problem of externalities apart from imposing Pigovian taxes. Internalisation is one of those noted in his classic paper, 'The Problem of Social Cost'. This paper studies the possibility of residents receiving compensation from pollutant generators. Data collected from Hong Kong law reports over the past 20 years show that there is forty-fold increase in number of water seepage court cases since the first case in 1994. The total amount of compensation has also increased greatly. There are, however, far fewer court cases where residents seek compensation from generators of noise and air pollution. This may reflect a combination of high transaction costs and low expected benefits from such cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the role of Hong Kong in China's grand scheme to build up the RMB as a global reserve currency. We highlight the economic importance of Hong Kong to China in terms of channeling foreign direct investment into China, some of which, in the future, will be denominated in the RMB. We discuss the development of China's RMB currency swap and deposit markets in Hong Kong. These offshore markets enable the RMB to trade freely, setting the stage for the RMB to become fully convertible and allowing market forces to play a role in pricing the value of the RMB, and help in the development of the RMB-denominated bond (or dim sum bond) market in Hong Kong. Finally, we present evidence of the phenomenal growth of the dim sum bond market in Hong Kong, which can further enhance and strengthen the use of the RMB outside China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The path towards a closer integration in Advanced Producer Services (APS) industries between Hong Kong and Shenzhen has been difficult despite favorable locational factors. Based on the authors' long-term and extensive working experience in the APS sectors in the Pearl River Delta, combined with in-depth interviews with senior officers of companies who are APS providers in Hong Kong in 2009, this paper will examine the factors, both tangible and intangible as in institutional and non-institutional, regulatory and non-regulatory, as well as legal, governmental, social and cultural, which affect and resist APS integration between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The findings suggest that the integration of APS between Hong Kong and Shenzhen has been greatly impeded by unfavourable institutional factors that have overwhelmed locational advantages. There are substantial inhibitions against free competition in the China marketplace including non-regulatory and intangible inhibitions, embodied by local protectionism, heavy reliance on guanxi, rampant insider games and nepotism, excessive bureaucracy, an inadequate legal system, pervasive rent seeking and so forth that block integration between the two cities. The paper will also examine the Qianhai Free Trade Service Zone, the ambitious initiative made by the Shenzhen government to promote APS cooperation between the two areas. 摘要 提升香港、深圳两地现代服务业（高端生产性服务业）的融合，受两地政府、学者、及商业团体热烈支持。两地地域的接近，经济互补性，及人民的紧密联系，都鼓励经济融合。然而地域优势不能令所有经济活动相同受益，而两地边界对不同人及行业的阻碍，分别很大。根据作者在珠三角的工作经验及在二零零九年在香港对业内资深行政人员所作的访问，此论文探讨影响两地高端服务业融合的各方面因素，包括制度、惯例、法规、法制、政府管治、社会及文化等。调查指出内地不利的制度及惯例因素全面压倒地域的优势，严重阻碍市场竞争及两地高端服务业的融合，特别是非监管和无形的限制，地方保护主义，严重依赖关系，猖獗的内幕交易和裙带关系，过度的官僚主义，缺乏适当的法律制度及明晰的监管规章，选择性执法的法律，缺乏非市场机制，普遍的利润垄断等，完全阻隔两地经济结合，其不利影响，极之深邃。本文还对深圳政府在前海设立自由贸易服务区以推动两地高端服务业的合作，作出探讨。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advancement of inclusive educational provision in the Asia-Pacific region has been guided by international research. As one example, Hong Kong has developed a unique and cultural response to inclusive practice within the region. This paper reviews Hong Kong's development of inclusive education practice for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It provides an account of how services in education have developed for Chinese children with ASD, from diagnosis to school placement, and how the students are supported. A number of challenges for the region are discussed including those related to pedagogy, mentoring, placement, support and the need for culturally appropriate professional learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyse scientific papers published by Chinese authors in nursing journals included in the Science Citation Index Expanded and compare the published scientific papers from mainland China (ML), Taiwan (TW) and Hong Kong (HK). All articles published in 62 journals that were related to nursing originating from ML, TW and HK from 1999 to 2008 were retrieved from the PubMed and Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Knowledge database. The total number of articles published in nursing journals, impact factors and citation reports and articles were estimated for quantity and quality comparisons. The number of articles from the three regions increased significantly from 1999 to 2008. There were 1015 articles in total from the three regions: ML (48), HK (414) and TW (553) in PubMed. In the ISI Web of Knowledge database, TW derived the highest total citations (1755 citations from 500 articles), followed by HK (1316 citations from 347 articles) and ML (158 citations from 55 articles). HK had the highest average citations of 3.79, followed by TW (3.51) and then ML (2.87). The difference between the quantity and quality of nursing research articles published in ML, TW and HK is significant, although the gap appears to be narrowing. Long-term job stresses, low levels of education and language barriers are likely the main factors. ML, TW and HK have the same culture and ethnicity. We expect that ML will benefit significantly from increased exchanges with TW and HK in nursing research and education. We also speculate that TW and HK will benefit from exchanges because ML may have diverse nursing problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at constructing a modern theoretical conception of a harmonious society and testing it in relation to governance and citizenship rights, based on an empirical study of Chinese people's perceptions in Hong Kong. It is proposed that a harmonious society can be defined as 'a society in which the component parts are integrative and cooperative; even if there is conflict, it can be resolved within the established mechanisms and does not interrupt the orderly functioning of society.' This study investigates the social, economic, and political aspects and their related institutions in the renewed conception of harmonious society. Overall, less than two-fifths of the respondents felt that Hong Kong was a harmonious society. The strength of governance in Hong Kong is its sound and trustworthy institutions; the weaker elements are social and interpersonal relations. This finding is in contrast to the traditional notion, which regards social harmony as harmonious social and interpersonal relationships. It is clear that the greatest challenge for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is the need to rebalance the interests of big business and those of labor and the lower class in order to enhance the perception of a harmonious society among its citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to discuss creativity and world Englishes from a range of perspectives. It begins with a discussion of the changing face of English studies over recent decades, and then proceeds to discuss definitions of 'creativity' and 'bilingual creativity'. In the later sections of the paper, there is discussion of postcolonial literature and world fiction in English, with particular reference to the work of Timothy Mo. Finally, the implications of this discussion for contemporary English studies in Hong Kong are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how the characteristics of a Hong Kong-listed firm influence its odds of going bankrupt, being acquired, and going private. A competing risks model is estimated. Our results reveal that larger firms are more vulnerable to bankruptcy, and that fast-growing firms are more likely to be acquired. We also demonstrate that undervaluation is a key driver of going private. Despite the low agency cost due to the concentrated ownership structure, the propensity of Hong Kong-listed firms to go private still increases with the level of free cash flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]