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ABSTRACT This paper investigates adverbial relative clauses in world Englishes, in particular relative clauses expressing place ( the place where), time ( the time when), manner ( the way in which) and reason ( the reason why). Using data from the ICE corpora, it compares the varieties spoken in India, Hong-Kong and Singapore. In particular we consider: (i) the meaning expressed by the relative clause; (ii) the nominal antecedent, both its meaning and form; and (iii) the relative word used to introduce the relative clause (adverbial relative word, wh- pronoun, that and zero). An examination of these issues reveals distinguishing features in the distribution of relative words that are related to the different constructions, to the specific postcolonial varieties that have been developed in the different countries and, finally, to the interaction between the superstrate and the different substrate languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Available corpus data show that adverbs with modifying meanings, already, also, and only, occur at the clause-final or sentence-final position more often in 'Asian Englishes' (Hong Kong English and Singapore English) than British English and Canadian English. This paper posits a link between the motivation of sentence-final adverbs in Asian English and substrate transfer due to linguistic (both grammatical and pragmatic) structures of influential non-English languages in the regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article conceptualizes the financial policy regimes of London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, in the process of comparing and contrasting the sociopolitical relations that exist within the four cities. Based on the data collected from extensive field research, I identify four distinct financial policy regimes. First, a combination of low state intervention and influential industry actors in London reflects a financial policy regime that features dominant industry interest groups. While Hong Kong similarly features low state intervention, its industry actors are not influential. In contrast, financial sector development in Singapore features a ‘cocreation’ of financial policies by a close-knit network of state and industry actors. Lastly, Shanghai’s financial policy regime is largely dominated by state actors from both the central and local levels. By delineating and analyzing the policy regimes of the four international financial centers (IFCs), this article provides the first step toward a clearer and more critical understanding of how sociopolitical relations impact IFC development. In the process, it extends the analysis of IFCs beyond conventional neoliberal understandings of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

English has become such a widespread international language that it has spawned Anglophone literatures in many countries. The spread of English has been one of the largely unintended benefits of empire, including in Hong Kong. For most countries the era of empire sufficiently belongs to history that literary -postcolonial studies now seem to have largely run their course, to be replaced by the more open -transcultural studies. This signifies the English language's loss of the stigma of empire as it gains a local habitation and a name. However, English often remains a minority language and a minority literature in a specific national context. These literatures are certainly minority ones in global terms, routinely ignored in the Norton, Oxford and other major anthologies of modern English literature. This makes all the more important a possible fraternity, or sorority, of such immigrant Anglophone literatures and the reading of them in relation to each other. Such writing will be, in the words of the editors of the first anthology of writing in English from South-east Asia, -separated by distance, cultural diversity and differing historical trajectoriesl (Patke et al, xv). What the writing will have in common are the characteristics of English, thereby encouraging an attention to the aesthetic qualities of the writing as well as the socio-political issues which have dominated literary criticism over the last fifty years in reaction against New Criticism. This paper attempts such a glocal study through a comparison of the work of established contemporary poets from Hong Kong, Singapore and The Philippines, each an Asian place with a recent but now strong enough Anglophone poetry to mark the foundations of a tradition. For practical purposes, this is a sample of countries and of poets, the three being Agnes Lam (Hong Kong), Kirpal Singh (Singapore) and Isabela Banzon (The Philippines). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various topics within the issue, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on social workers in Australia, posttraumatic growth (PTG), and the preparedness of social workers in Israeli hospitals for the next pandemic.

This article considers a form of marketing strategy among upmarket food and beverage establishments in Hong Kong and Singapore involving the use of Chinese text in their decor. Although the two cities have a majority Chinese population, English is widely considered the language of social mobility and an unmarked language in the discursive construction of eliteness. In asking, "Why Chinese?" we consider how the indexical value of a vernacular language can be rescaled in upmarket commercial spaces for an emergent group of consumers known as "cultural omnivores." Through the process of indexical selectivity, the invocation of Chinese in these establishments taps into the unique disposition of cultural omnivores by feeding their multilingual desires, and more specifically their desire to consume relatively more or less prestigious languages omnivorously in indexing social distinction. Such alternative readings of the prestige value of the vernacular by a privileged group of consumers point to the ambivalent indexicality of language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban resilience is an attractive concept among academies and governments with the increasing severity of climate change and relevant disasters in cities. Few studies have been conducted to compare the key elements of attentions for enhancing urban resilience among Asian cities, although resilience is context-dependent. This study aims to compare the key elements of attentions for enhancing urban resilience among Singapore, Hong Kong and Hangzhou. A comprehensive literature review and expert interview validation were used to solicit the preliminary elements of attentions for enhancing urban resilience. Planners and researchers in the field of urban planning were surveyed to assess the significance level of the preliminary elements in the three case cities, as professional knowledge is required in the survey. Statistics were used to identify the key elements of attentions in the three case cities. Results demonstrate that the three cities have various elements of attentions for enhancing urban resilience despite sharing many similarities, which also demonstrate the guidance limitation of the general urban resilience framework. It also provides a reference for other international comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While studies have documented the valence (e.g., facilitation and harm) of residents' behaviors toward tourists, research into the intensity (i.e., activeness or passiveness) for such behaviors and the corresponding matrix that could be generated by considering both of these dimensions in the context of tourism remains unexplored. This research offers a more holistic conceptualization of residents' behaviors by generating a matrix that constitutes the framework of the Behaviours from Intergroup Affect and Stereotype (BIAS) Map. Twelve behaviors were measured and cross-culturally validated via samples from Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States: Active Facilitation (i.e., socializing, interacting, and starting a conversation with tourists); Passive Facilitation (i.e., tolerating, accepting, and enduring tourists' behaviors); Active Harm (i.e., mocking, threatening, and being unfriendly to tourists); and Passive Harm (i.e., resisting, refraining, and being reluctant to help tourists). This research provides implications for tourism policy makers to manage host–guest relations that could influence destination image and destination competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic, an exceptional crisis, sparked the introduction of new digital infrastructure to halt the novel coronavirus's spread. This paper explores how such digital infrastructure's impact might reverberate over the long term, by comparing Singapore, Hong Kong, and mainland China's utilization of digital technology in response to the 2003 SARS outbreak, and their responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. We find that advancements in digital technology since 2003 have boosted governments' surveillance and segregation abilities substantially—most dramatically so in China. Even though some of these new digital interventions are ostensibly designed to be temporary ones to address the needs of the immediate crisis, we argue that the resultant extensions of state power experienced during COVID-19 are likely to have profound long-term effects because they fundamentally affect sociopolitical contexts, institutional capabilities, and digital cultures. We also find that the extent to which governments can extend digital surveillance and segregation abilities during the pandemic is contingent on their respective sociopolitical, institutional, and digital cultural contexts. • COVID-19 pandemic sparked calls for a new digital infrastructure. • We compare 2003 SARS outbreak to COVID-19 pandemic. • New digital technologies increased governments' ability to surveil and segregate. • Their impact on surveillance and segregation will persist post COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Productive approaches to studying (deep and strategic learning) are associated with a variety of favourable academic outcomes, and may be of particular importance for students in multifaceted and complex disciplines such as occupational therapy. To explore associations between student characteristics and their dominant approaches to studying in two samples of occupational therapy students: a national sample of Norwegian first-year students, and an international sample of students in different year cohorts (Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Norway). A total of 180 (national sample) and 665 (international sample) students were included in the study. Approaches to studying were measured with the Approaches to Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST). Data were analyzed with adjusted multinomial regression analyses. Age, gender and prior higher education were not associated with the dominant study approach. More time spent on independent study (international sample: OR = 1.07/1.08, p < 0.01/<0.001) and having current study program as the top priority line of education at enrolment (national sample: OR = 2.89, p < 0.05) predicted productive study approaches. Factors such as age, gender and prior higher education seem to be of limited importance for understanding students' dominant approaches to studying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs the industry of origin approach to compare value-added and labour productivity of Singapore and Hong Kong's wholesale and retail sectors for the period 2001-08. The direct comparison between these two economies was motivated by the statement of the Singapore Government that its services sector, especially the retail sector, lagged behind Hong Kong's productivity levels. The results show that since 2005, Singapore's wholesale and retail sector performance in terms of labour productivity has been below Hong Kong's level, largely due to the poor performance of its retail sector arising from an influx of foreign workers. Results from total factor productivity analysis of these two economies also suggest that Hong Kong's better performance (since 2005) was largely due to its ability to employ more educated and trained workers with limited use of capital. The results suggest that polices that have worked in Hong Kong may not work in Singapore because its population is more diverse, which poses a challenge to policymakers in raising its productivity level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore are the top five cities/countries with the cheapest fixed line broadband as proportion of monthly income. It is interesting to know that several decades ago, they were still among the list of developing nations, struggling for survival and relief. However, they are climbing to the top in ICT development now. Aims: This paper reviews the ICT development in school education of Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore with respect to their social, geographical, and economic backgrounds. Johannessen's three orders of benchmarks are proposed for the comparison. Method: Literature reviews on recent reports, research articles, books and internet data were used to understand the current situation of the ICT development in education for Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. Conclusion: It is clear that these three cities' determination and relative amount that had invested in the development of ICT in education were enormous when compared with the US investment. Among these three cities, the investment of Singapore has been much larger than the other two. Singapore's apparent leading in the development of ICT in education is not an accident, especially for the first benchmarks. For the second and third benchmarks, Macau lags behind Hong Kong and Singapore, this is partially due to Macau education system is comparatively much liberal than the other two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the need to improve the buildability of building designs pursuant to an industry-wide study, a Buildability Assessment Model (BAM) has been developed for use in Hong Kong by adapting the Buildable Design Appraisal System of Singapore. This paper is aimed at evaluating the practicalities of implementing the BAM, and identifying any possible resistance and corresponding improvement strategies based on a questionnaire survey with industry practitioners. Results showed that the BAM is a useful tool for assessing the buildability of completed designs. There is, however, inherent resistance hindering the smooth implementation of the BAM, such as designers valuing aesthetics more than buildability and the lack of incentive conducive to buildability improvement. Measures for enhancing buildability are suggested, including the establishment of formal channels for coordination and communication between contractors and designers. Independent survey results indicate that consultants and contractors have the consensus that the BAM would help to improve buildability in the longer term. Together with other pull and push factors, the benefits to be brought about by such measures and the feasibility of possible legislation are analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Politicians increasingly treat radio talkback as a valuable resource through which to communicate directly with the public. Whilst research has examined the role of talkback in the public sphere in the United States, United Kingdom and recently Australia, little is known about the use of talkback in Asia. This paper begins an initial examination of the role of talkback in Singapore and Hong Kong as a vehicle for public opinion and political engagement by those who produce and host the programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost a decade ago, the electronic commerce revolution began, led by such companies as Amazon.com and Ebay.com. These companies have grown into the internet business giants they are today, diversifying in the products they sell, the services they provide and the jurisdictions they conduct business in. However, aside from these rare examples, most medium and small internet-based business enterprises have grown with the dot.com bubble and dissolved when it burst mid-way through the decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anti-corruption successes of Singapore and Hong Kong have encouraged the establishment of strong, centralized anti-corruption agencies across the globe. This study charts the emergence of anti-corruption agencies (ACAs), and then examines recent experiences with these bodies in developing countries. We propose a set of criteria for assessing and explaining their performance. The analysis applies within strict limits to those countries that have established the minimum political, legal, and socio-economic conditions for effective governance. Where these conditions are in place, success is possible. However, ACAs in poor and badly governed states are generally ineffective, if not actively harmful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biotechnology, the surging wave of economic development in the world, prompted Newly Industrialised Economies (NIEs) in Asia to emulate developed countries in biotechnology development. The stakes are however high and the uncertainty about return on investment has provoked a careful assessment of national scientific and technological strengths. With a focus on Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, this paper reviews the current market conditions and key factors that may advantage the development of biotechnology industry in the NIEs. It is argued that co-evolution of scientific and technology capabilities are essential, and the NIEs will have to leverage their comparative advantages in technological capabilities and should focus on core competencies in the already locally established biotechnology areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests the random walk hypothesis for China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Using variance ratio tests, robust to heteroskedasticity and employing a recently developed bootstrap technique to customize percentiles for inference purposes it is found that Class A shares for Chinese stock exchanges and the Hong Kong equity markets are weak form efficient. However, Singapore and Class B shares for Chinese stock exchanges do not follow the random walk hypothesis, which suggests that liquidity and market capitalization may play a role in explaining results of weak form efficiency tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper develops and tests a model of the key factors affecting the sharing of international joint venturing experience in parent firms. Experience sharing here refers to the extent that joint venturing experience is shared among managers at different levels of the parent. Joint venture-specific factors include overseeing effort and management involvement; parent-specific factors consist of firm size, foreign direct investment experience, and institutionalization of experience. • The discussion is based on survey responses from 73 Singapore and 89 Hong Kong companies with respect to their joint ventures set up in China. The statistical technique of partial least squares was used to test the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This opening article has three main objectives. First, it seeks to present a general description of the three island states covered by the essays in the volume. Second, it attempts to set the general theoretical framework within which notions of identity may be discussed based on the peculiar geopolitical and social characteristics of islands and as a sociolinguistic enterprise. Third, but not least in significance, it presents a brief but critical summary of each of the essays in the volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary comprises two parts. In the first part, different ways 'ideological manoeuvres' performed in and around Pink Dot discourses in Singapore and Hong Kong, as evinced in this special issue, are highlighted. 'Ideological manoeuvres' refer to the ideological actions and skilful management undertaken by social actors, explicitly or implicitly, to bring about or secure a tactical end in support of, or in opposition to, the Pink Dot LGBT social movement. In the second part, how the ideological manoeuvres are on-goingly shaped by, and shape, the geopolitics of gender/sexuality in Singapore and Hong Kong are discussed. In this regard, two areas are highlighted: the politics of Pink Dot's expressed apoliticism; and the transnational purchase of Pink Dot's mode of political organising. Both of these areas 'speak to' a critical project on the decolonisation of gender/sexual knowledge-making and practice in these two Asian contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much discussion about the high performance of East Asian students in international high stakes testing, but little attention has been paid to their lifeworlds beyond school. In this article we explore findings from a survey of 627 Year 4 children (nine and ten years old) in three global cities (Hong Kong, Singapore, and Melbourne), focusing on their out-of-school activities as one aspect of their lifeworlds. The findings indicate that the most common activities in each location were comparable. Since the activities in the three locations were largely similar, the findings problematise East/West binaries which have been a feature of research and discussions in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Current inactivated influenza vaccines provide suboptimal protection against antigenic drift, and repeated annual vaccinations shape antibody specificity but the effect on protection from infection is not well understood. Methods: We studied the effects of cumulative and staggered vaccinations in mice to determine the effect of influenza vaccination on protection from infection and immune quality. Results: We found that the timing of vaccination and antigenic change impacted the quality of immune responses. When mice received two different H3N2 strains (A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 and A/Singapore/INFIMH‐16‐0019/2016) by staggered timing of vaccination, there were higher H3HA antibody and B‐cell memory responses than four cumulative vaccinations or when two vaccinations were successive. Interestingly, after challenge with a lethal‐drifted H3N2 virus (A/Hong Kong/1/1968), mice with staggered vaccination were unable to produce high titres of antibodies specific to the challenge strain compared to other vaccination regimens because of high levels of vaccine‐specific cross‐reactive antibodies. All vaccination regimens resulted in protection, in terms of viral loads and survival, from lethal challenge, while lung IL‐6 and inflammation were lowest in staggered or cumulative vaccination groups, indicating further advantage. Conclusion: Our findings help justify influenza vaccination policies that currently recommend repeat vaccination in infants and annual seasonal vaccination, with no evidence for impaired immunity by repeated seasonal vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The role of smoking in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains uncertain, especially in endemic regions. We conducted an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to investigate the associations between smoking exposure and risk of NPC.Methods: We obtained individual participant data of 334 935 male participants from six eligible population-based cohorts in NPC-endemic regions, including two each in Guangzhou and Taiwan, and one each in Hong Kong and Singapore. We used one- and two-stage approaches IPD meta-analysis and Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of NPC for smoking exposure adjusting for age and drinking status.Results: During 2 961 315 person-years of follow-up, 399 NPC evens were ascertained. Risks of NPC were higher in ever versus never smokers (HRone-stage = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.07-1.63, P = 0.0088; HRtwo-stage = 1.27, 1.01-1.60, 0.04). These positive associations appeared to be stronger in ever smokers who consumed 16+ cigarettes/day (HRone-stage = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.29-2.16, P = 0.0001), and in those who started smoking at age younger than 16 (2.16, 1.33-3.50, 0.0103), with dose-response relationships (P-values for trend = 0.0028 and 0.0103, respectively). Quitting (versus daily smoking) showed a small reduced risk (stopped for 5+ years: HRone-stage = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.60-1.39, P = 0.66; for former smokers: HRtwo-stage = 0.84, 0.61-1.14, 0.26).Conclusions: This first IPD meta-analysis from six prospective cohorts in endemic regions has provided robust observational evidence that smoking increased NPC risk in men. NPC should be added to the 12-16 cancer sites known to be tobacco-related cancers. Strong tobacco control policies, preventing young individuals from smoking, would reduce NPC risk in endemic regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singapore's air travel bubble was finally in place and you were on board a four-hour flight to Hong Kong. As you settled back to watch a movie after the meal service, you heard an announcement: "We are seeking the assistance of a doctor or any healthcare provider. If you are one, please identify yourself to a member of our cabin crew." Even though you were unsure if you were sufficiently competent to attend to the medical condition, you bravely reached for the call button. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the role of global real estate capital flows, the real estate sector and the politics of cities in the economic growth and urban development in Asia. Explanation on how property prices in global cities like Singapore and Hong Kong is made; Role of urban politics in cities in reducing negative externalities that have the power to retard economic growth; Strategies used by Singapore and Hong Kong in marketing their cities.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rare hepatic malignancy in children. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a key predisposing factor in endemic regions but its impact on outcome has not been studied. We aim to evaluate the prognostic implication of HBV seropositivity and role of cancer surveillance in children with HCC from East Asian populations with national HBV vaccination. Methods: Review of population-based databases for patients (< 18 years old) diagnosed with HCC from 1993 to 2017 in two Southeast Asian regions with universal HBV vaccination (instituted since 1988 and 1987 in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively). Results: Thirty-nine patients were identified (Hong Kong, 28; Singapore, 11). Thirty were male; median age at diagnosis was 10.8 years (range, 0.98–16.6). Abdominal pain was the commonest presentation while five patients were diagnosed through surveillance for underlying condition. Alpha-fetoprotein was raised in 36 patients (mean, 500,598 ng/ml). Nineteen had bilobar involvement, among the patients in whom pretreatment extent of disease (PRETEXT) staging could retrospectively be assigned, 3 had stage I, 13 had stage II, 4 had stage III, and 11 had stage IV disease. Seventeen had distant metastasis. HBsAg was positive in 19 of 38 patients. Two patients had fibrolamellar HCC. Upfront management involved tumor resection in 16 (liver transplantation, 2), systemic chemotherapy in 21, interventional procedures in 6 [transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), 5, radiofrequency ablation (RFA), 1], and radiotherapy in 4 (selective internal radiation, 3, external beam radiation, 1). Five-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were 15.4 ± 6.0 and 26.1 ± 7.2%, respectively. Patient's HBsAg positivity, metastatic disease and inability to undergo definitive resection represent poor prognostic factors in univariate and multivariable analyses. Patients diagnosed by surveillance had significantly better outcome. Conclusion: Pediatric HCC has poor outcome. HBV status remains relevant in the era of universal HBV vaccination. HBV carrier has inferior outcome and use of surveillance may mitigate disease course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Geriatric depression is a growing public health issue worldwide. This study aims at identifying the relevant neighbourhood attributes, separate from the individual-level characteristics, that are related to the onset of depressive disorders among the geriatric population. Methods: This study adopts a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to understand the effect of the neighbourhood environment on geriatric depression, as identified by data collected from community-dwelling elderly living in Hong Kong and Singapore. Using network buffers as the unit of analysis, different features of the neighbourhood environment are captured and analysed. SEM also examines the strength and direction of the relationships using different parameters at both the individual and neighbourhood levels, as well as the prevalence of depressive symptoms among the elderly. Results: The total sample size is 347, with 173 and 174 elderly people in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively. The results show that in addition to one's physical health status, both objective and subjective neighbourhood factors including the size of parks, land use mix, walkability, and connectivity are all statistically significant influential factors in geriatric depression. In particular, enhancing walkability and providing more parks at the neighbourhood level can bring mental health benefits. Conclusions: Public health policy initiatives aimed at tackling geriatric depression can be achieved by adopting a holistic and integrative approach to better prepare the neighbourhood environment in an ageing society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual-class stock (DCS) structures, and their implications for managerial accountability and corporate governance more broadly, have become prevalent concerns for corporate lawyers and policymakers. Recent academic and practitioner debates on DCS have tended to focus less on the general merits and drawbacks of DCS versus one share/one vote structures, and more on the specific common-ground concern as to whether and how such structures are subjected to contingent reversal or "sunset". This Article compares the relative advantages and disadvantages of time-, ownership- and transfer-centered models of DCS sunset provisions. It argues in favor of the transfer-centered model on the grounds that: (a) its specific event-based trigger renders it less arbitrary in application than the time-centered model, and protects against the possibility of founders being prevented prematurely from realizing their long-term strategic vision (as is a risk with the time-centered sunset model); (b) it avoids the moral hazard and other perverse controller incentives that are prone to ensue from time-centered sunsets; and (c) unlike both the time- and ownership-centered models (which are motivated primarily by agency cost concerns), the transfer-centered model is sensitive to the powerful non-financial incentives that controllers typically have to safeguard and promote firm value, even where their corporate control rights significantly outweigh their corresponding cash flow rights. Accordingly, it suggests that the SEC and principal U.S. exchanges should resist recent calls from influential investor-related bodies to mandate time-based sunsets. Instead, domestic policymakers should look overseas to Hong Kong and Singapore, whose respective listing authorities have recently introduced transfer-based sunset requirements for DCS issuers, in considering the most appropriate blueprint for any future regulatory initiatives in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Reducing unsafe behaviors is the primary challenge for construction safety. • The studies on safety leadership, safety culture, and safety behavior are reviewed. • An LCB approach for construction safety is proposed. • The implementation process and practical implication of LCB approach are introduced. • New directions for future research of construction safety are discussed. The unsafe behavior that is seen everywhere on construction sites is the biggest challenge for further improvement of construction safety performance. Focusing on the "human" related issues in construction safety, this paper reviews the research and practices of safety management and comes up with three key elements to look at, namely safety leadership, safety culture, and safety behavior. Through systematic exploration on the connotation of and interaction between safety leadership, safety culture, and safety behavior, a Leadership-Culture-Behavior (LCB) approach for construction safety is proposed with the kernel - leadership driven culture development and behavior control. The LCB approach emphasizes the role of safety leadership to not only directly reduce unsafe behavior but also to fundamentally change the causes of unsafe behavior through safety culture development, ultimately achieving the goal of reducing unsafe behaviors sustainably and preventing accidents. The LCB approach has been implemented in a number of railway and building projects in mainland and Hong Kong SAR, China, and Singapore. Significant improvement of L/C/B has been observed. Taking a high-speed railway project in China as an example, safety leadership, safety culture, and safety behavior of the project stakeholders at all levels were significantly improved. In the end, based on LCB, new directions and potential areas for future research of construction safety are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers Asia news brief as of December 2012 related to changes intellectual property laws. The Hong Kong Government has issued a consultation paper for knowing the views from interested parties on a review of the patent system in Hong Kong, China. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been signed by Singapore with seven countries including Australia, Canada and Japan. Amendments related to the trade marks, patents and designs laws have been passed in Singapore.

Very low fertility rates can be found in many high-income Pacific Asian societies, such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Governments in these territories have already taken pronatalist policies but with only modest effects, especially when measured by overall total fertility rate. Mistargeting has been cited as a potential explanation for this impact. To explore this notion in greater depth, we first identify the potential target groups that are most influential in changing the TFR for the five societies, based on a stochastic model and fertility elasticity analyses. Then we examine the targeting of current pronatalist policies, especially financial incentives and marriage policies. The analyses show that marriage rates, especially among women aged 25–29 are the most influential factor in shaping contemporary TFRs. Third and higher order births are insignificant in changing the fertility trajectories for all the five places. Besides, there are also territory-specific patterns. For Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, first births (especially among women aged 30–34) are the second most influential factor; for South Korea, second births (especially among women aged 30–34) actually play a very important role, next only to marriage; for Japan, first- and second births are much less influential while marriage is an overwhelmingly essential factor of fertility. Furthermore, the review of financial incentives in these places reveals the mismatch between the targeting suggested by our analysis and the targeting implied by current policy measures. The mistargeting, piecemeal measures and the low level of financial support may be partly responsible for the ineffectiveness of the governmental action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing evidence demonstrates that in many places language coexistence has become ubiquitous and essential for supporting language and cultural diversity and associated with its financial and economic benefits. The competitive evolution among multiple languages determines the evolution outcome, either coexistence, or decline, or extinction. Here, we extend the Abrams-Strogatz model of language competition to multiple languages and then validate it by analyzing the behavioral transitions of language usage over the recent several decades in Singapore and Hong Kong. In each case, we estimate from data the model parameters that measure each language utility for its speakers and the strength of two biases, the majority preference for their language, and the minority aversion to it. The values of these two biases decide which language is the fastest growing in the competition and what would be the stable state of the system. We also study the system convergence time to stable states and discover the existence of tipping points with multiple attractors. Moreover, the critical slowdown of convergence to the stable fractions of language users appears near and peaks at the tipping points, signaling when the system approaches them. Our analysis furthers our understanding of evolution of various languages and the role of tipping points in behavioral transitions. These insights may help to protect languages from extinction and retain the language and cultural diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests for similarities and differences in the uses of near-synonymous mental predicates by speakers of different ENL and ESL speech communities to capture whether, and if so to what degree, speakers of different first and second language English varieties use the four near-synonymous predicates semantically differently. Specifically, we focus on I believe, I think, I suppose and I guess in eight native and second-language varieties of English (i.e. American, British, Canadian, Irish, Hong Kong, Indian, Singapore and New Zealand). We adopt a multivariate modeling approach to analyze mental predicates annotated for six semantic variables (verifiability, epistemic mode, epistemic class, epistemic type, evaluation and negotiability) as well as genre. Our findings show the usefulness of exploring Englishes through the lens of semantic structure. Although, on the surface, two groups of English varieties emerge with different preferential patterns of predicates (British, Indian, Irish and Singapore vs. Canadian, Hong Kong and American), at a more abstract level, those predicates share similar semantic combinatory patterns common to all varieties in focus. It emerges that modeling the development of Englishes based on theoretical frameworks that account for simultaneous development of generic (i.e. common to all Englishes) and specialized (i.e. specific to individual Englishes) linguistic patterns may be beneficial. At a time when English has become a worldwide language shaped by globalization, the present study adds to the discussion on the developmental pathways that characterize the evolution of non-native Englishes in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New media has been described as both a boon and a bane for journalism in contemporary times, enabling more issues to be tabled while drawing resources away from traditional newsrooms and spreading unverifiable content. How new media has impacted journalism, however, has tended to be couched within the liberal-democratic ideological framework found typically in dominant Anglo-American literature; research has been scant on societies that may be exposed to Western liberal ideals but whose media systems still experience some form of authoritarian influence or control. Of interest are two Asian 'global cities' in transition, Singapore and Hong Kong, labeled by scholars as 'authoritarian' and 'semi-authoritarian' respectively. Through a textual analysis of survey and interview responses from 160 news journalists, this study identifies the need for a three-dimensional approach to examine new media's impact on journalism crisis perceptions in such hybrid societies – at the material, discursive, and ideological levels. Despite less state control on the media in Hong Kong, both online and offline, this study discovers that it is the Singaporeans that experience less fear of journalism crisis in the digital age, prompting alternative ways to understand state mediation of the press in a digital media landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests that variations in the dominant pattern of innovation policy coordination can be analysed and understood effectively by dividing innovation and other complementary socio-economic policies into low-complexity and high-complexity tasks. The effective implementation of these two sets of policy tasks that differ in the extent, nature and intractability of collective action problems confronting the coordination process hinges on the strength of two sociopolitical institutions: bureaucratic organizational structures and interactive governing arrangements. While bureaucratic organizational structures are better suited to delivering low-complexity tasks, interactive governing arrangements are more effective in resolving high-complexity policy problems. They interact differently across political economies to structure the management of coordination challenges and thus give rise to divergent patterns of innovation policy-making. The comparative analysis of innovation policy coordination between Hong Kong and Singapore over the past two decades lends strong support to the central theoretical propositions of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effect of related party transactions (RPTs) on value relevance and informativeness of accounting earnings for firms based in East Asia. Using a hand-collected sample of 398 listed companies comprising 1194 firm-year observations from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, we find that firms engaging more extensively in RPTs have significantly lower value relevance and lower informativeness of earnings both in the current year and subsequent year than firms engaging less in RPTs. Furthermore, the results indicate that the types of RPTs affect value relevance and informativeness of earnings differently in that the effect of simple and loans RPTs are more negative than complex transactions. The extent of the negative effect of RPTs is lower in Hong Kong and Singapore where investor protection is higher compared to the other two economies. These findings are robust to controlling for firm-specific attributes, corporate governance, ownership structure, earnings quality, and a variety of sensitivity tests. These results are consistent with the conflict of interest view that RPTs compromise the quality of accounting earnings and this leads to the reduction in earnings and market value relationship for firms that engage in RPTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Supreme Court held in Asset Land Plc v. FCA [2016] UKSC 17 that the land-banking scheme required authorization as a collective investment scheme in order to be sold to retail investors. This article critically analyses that decision in light of various approaches to regulating real estate investment trusts ('REITs') in the UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong, respectively. It considers the degree to which deference should be given to the views of the regulators, and the ramifications for other areas like initial coin offerings which regulators are increasingly seeing as securities requiring both prospectus disclosure for the token offering and intermediary regulation for its trading. It argues that the regulation of token offerings is both necessary and desirable. Regulation not only helps protect investors from fraudulent token issuers but also helps to fulfil other worthwhile goals, such as providing additional funding for small to medium-sized enterprises and financial inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The equivalent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) by Mahayana Buddhists with vegetarian diets is quantitatively evaluated. The Buddhists in seven Mahayana-dominated countries or regions, i.e., China, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, are studied. Assessments of the vegetarian population among these Mahayana-dominated countries or regions are performed. Correlation formulas based on data from a national survey are developed to quantify the GHGEs of various dietary groups by using the meat consumption as the only required input. To demonstrate its reliability, the prediction from the formulas developed is first compared with the results of a food production-and-consumption study using a different approach. Then, the formulas are used to assess the GHGE reduction due to Mahayana Buddhists with vegetarian diets. The assessment indicates that Mahayana Buddhists with vegetarian diets account for the equivalent GHGE reduction of 48.83 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is a huge amount and is equal to 11.3 or 8.9% of the GHGEs from France or the UK in 2012, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tall buildings unquestionably need to improve their impact on the urban habitat. A human-focused approach to measuring the social impact of tall buildings' ground conditions, i.e., public space and interface, has been applied in three CBDs of Asian megacities facing similar problems: Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore. Specifically, typical patterns and categories of lower-level public spaces among the three CBDs were abstracted via typological analyses and field studies. Evaluations of social impacts were achieved through statistical surveys, wearable devices and virtual reality environments. The study revealed the quantitative relevance between tall buildings' lower public spaces and their social effects. The findings of this study could support more efficient place-making and promote better social benefits around tall buildings' ground planes. The research also suggests a design code for tall buildings aimed at a more human-oriented urban habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research draws on elements of systemic functional linguistics to conduct a discourse analysis of dragon-boating in Asia, predominantly in the commercial areas of Hong Kong and Singapore, where this sport has both a long history and strong culture today. It seeks to understand how experiential and interpersonal meanings are related to this sport in a variety of online texts ranging from local news media sites, corporation team websites, sites from dragon boat companies specialising in training corporations, dragon boat paddlers' websites and other popular sources such as 'expatliving'. Findings demonstrate that dragon boating has certain unique characteristics which help to give it significance in this region. With the Duanwu Festival held annually, the sport is steeped firmly in mythology and legend. Additionally, the nature of the boat as a synchronised machine is exploited by corporations and linked to competitive performance. As an intense sport, physical and mental attributes such as 'strength' and 'tenacity' are associated with it; the upper body requirements of the practice also gives it a unique trait for breast cancer survivors. 'Tragedy' is also a part of dragon boat's modern history with a fatal accident for the Singapore men's team during an international race in Cambodia. In sum, the sport of dragon boating can be seen to have a rich schema of semiotic associations in Hong Kong and Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: High‐quality research is the foundation of occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy. A bibliometric study on the research productivity of occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy scholars in different Western and Asian countries/regions could provide a snapshot of current research achievement in rehabilitation science. Method: On the basis of an understanding of the leading role of rehabilitation research in Western countries and a recognition of achievements made by Asian occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy scholars, the current bibliometric study examined the research productivity of occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy professors and associate professors from four Western countries (Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom) and five Asian countries/regions (Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea). The h‐indices of these scholars were retrieved online and aggregated to quantify the research productivity of institutions and countries/regions. Results: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the United States were identified as countries/regions with higher research productivity in occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy. The institutions were ranked on the basis of the median h‐indices of their professors and associate professors; the top 20 productive institutions with occupational therapy programmes had a median h‐index of 17.5 or higher, whereas the benchmark of the top 20 institutions with physical therapy/physiotherapy programmes was 25. Conclusion: Professors and associate professors in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the United States are productive in occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy research. The number of faculty members and university connections are regarded as important for research achievement. Recommendations for various levels of collaboration are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) appeared at its inception to be a Beijing‐led multilateral development bank that is focused on the financing of mega infrastructure projects. The role for meaningful participation by offshore financial centers such as Hong Kong and Singapore was less defined. This article maps the growing role and influence of these two city‐states within the ongoing development of the AIIB. It analyzes the respective and distinct motivations of Hong Kong and Singapore as members in the AIIB, and assesses how each city is positioning itself to make unique contributions to the new multilateral development bank. Despite their minority shares in the AIIB, and indirect representation on the AIIB's influential Board of Directors, Hong Kong and Singapore have put a lot of stake in the new bank, and each could end up 'punching above their weight', as they each look to marshal their respective markets and knowledge capacities for AIIB infrastructure projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies of Asian migrant domestic workers' pre‐migration overseas networks have tended to be ethnographic, small‐n case studies such that it is unclear if network differences between migrants are due to individual‐ or country‐level differences or both. This article draws from an original survey of 1,206 Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore and Hong Kong to reveal statistically significant differences in the pre‐migration overseas networks of these two nationality groups even after controlling for migrants' educational attainment, marital status, employment status, age, year of first migration, and survey location. Multiple regression analysis highlights how Filipino respondents are more likely than Indonesian respondents to have known existing migrants prior to their first migration from their homeland. Filipino respondents' overseas networks are also significantly larger, more geographically dispersed, and comprise more white‐collar contacts. These findings open up new terrain for migration scholars to study the impact of these nationality‐based network differences on the two groups' divergent migration experiences and aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: An Asia-Pacific regional collaboration group conducted its first multi-country research project to determine whether or not European quality indicators (QIs) for psychosocial care in dementia could be implemented as a valid tool in residential aged care across seven Asia-Pacific sites (Australia, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand). Method: Following the European QI protocol, auditing and data extraction of medical records of consenting residents with dementia were conducted by trained auditors with relevant health care backgrounds. Detailed field notes by the auditors were also obtained to describe the characteristics of the participating care facilities, as well as key issues and challenges encountered, for each of the 12 QIs. Results: Sixteen residential care facilities in the seven Asia-Pacific sites participated in this study. Data from 275 residents' records revealed each of the 12 Qis' endorsement varied widely within and between the study sites (0%-100%). Quality of the medical records, family and cultural differences, definitions and scoring of certain indicators, and time-consuming nature of the QI administration were main concerns for implementation. Conclusion: Several items in the European QIs in the current format were deemed problematic when used to measure the quality of psychosocial care in the residential aged care settings in participating Asia-Pacific countries. We propose refinements of the European QIs for the Asian-Pacific context, taking into account multiple factors identified in this study. Our findings provide crucial insights for future research and implementation of psychosocial dementia care QIs in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore and compare the age, source and future risk of COVID-19 infection in Hong Kong SAR China and Singapore as of March 5, 2020. Results: We find significant difference in age patterns of confirmed cases in these 2 localities early in the pandemic. Conclusion: We highlight the potential importance of population age structure in confirmed cases, which should be considered in evaluation of the effectiveness of control effort in different localities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction projects require input from professionals of diverse disciplines. Effective cooperation among contracting parties is a necessary condition for successful projects; however, goals and motivations of contracting parties may not always be aligned. In fact, misalignment of interests is a major source of dispute. When disputes arise, contracting parties are likely to interpret contractual provisions in a way that favor their positions and as a result cause confrontation. This is not conducive to solving problems that require joint efforts. A cultural change is therefore needed to engender cooperation among contracting parties. In this connection, incentive schemes have been used as the bridge to engender common interests that in turn will provide the platform for cooperation. This study is about (1) investigating the use of incentive schemes in construction projects, (2) analyzing the effects of using incentive schemes on contracting behavior, and (3) explaining the roles of interdependency in the incentives-cooperation relationship. A conceptual framework is developed from literature on concepts of incentives, interdependency, and cooperation. A questionnaire is designed to collect data from construction professionals, mainly in Hong Kong, PRC, and Singapore. The proposed linkages among these three constructs are tested by partial least-square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggest that cooperative behavior can result from the use of incentive schemes that engender interdependency. The acceptance of interdependency would have both psychological (alignment of objectives and trust) and economical (relationship-specific investment and previous working experience) influence on the parties by making them more likely to be cooperative. The findings further recommend that incentive schemes must be prudently designed with clear objectives, common interests, and resource supports. With that, careful implementation would maximize its effectiveness in fostering cooperation among contracting parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]