Farzana Quoquab, Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin, Rohaida Basiruddin and Abdul Hamid Mohamed
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a complete medical healthcare system that encompasses acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, herbal medicine, diet, tui na massage, and…
Abstract
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a complete medical healthcare system that encompasses acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, herbal medicine, diet, tui na massage, and exercises (tai chi and qigong) among other traditional therapies. It uses herbs and natural resources to produce the traditional medicines and focuses on maintaining the balance between body and mind. As such, many aspects of TCM can be considered as green and sustainable. While there is market demand for TCM in some countries and among some communities, some others are still not aware of TCM. Moreover, there are fewer discussions in the academic platforms on TCM. This case highlights the scenario of TCM based on Malaysia’s perspective and discusses its challenges and prospects.
Details
Keywords
Hon Lam and Jan Selmer
Third‐culture kids (TCKs) are adolescents who have lived at least one of their formative years in another country. This study compares survey data collected from British TCKs who…
Abstract
Third‐culture kids (TCKs) are adolescents who have lived at least one of their formative years in another country. This study compares survey data collected from British TCKs who were currently living in Hong Kong with those of their adolescent peers living in the UK and Hong Kong. The results unequivocally suggest that TCKs’ perception of being international and their characteristics are different than that of their adolescent peers in the host and home country. More than the other adolescents, TCKs indicated that international experience, parental and institutional education, a second language, neutrality, open‐mindedness and flexibility, attitudes towards other systems and cultures, respect for others, tolerance of others’ behaviour and views, all contributed to the perception of being international. Similarly, TCKs had distinctive characteristics in terms of stronger family relationships, enjoying travelling to foreign places, acceptance of foreign languages, acceptance of cultural differences, and future orientation. Implications for international firms of these fundamental findings are discussed in detail.
Details
Keywords
Jan Selmer and Hon Lam
The quest of globalizing business firms to find enough candidates with the requisite skills for foreign assignments may be met by former “third‐culture kids”. These are…
Abstract
The quest of globalizing business firms to find enough candidates with the requisite skills for foreign assignments may be met by former “third‐culture kids”. These are individuals who as adolescents have lived in a foreign country for a period of time. The cultural exposure, during their highly impressionable adolescence, may have made them absorb cultural and behavioral norms developing a cultural frame of references different from, but assembled by the cultures they have been exposed to; establishing a third culture. Testing this generally held belief empirically, characteristics of a group of British expatriate adolescents in Hong Kong were compared with those of local Hong Kong adolescents and local British adolescents residing in Britain. Controlling for the effects of age and gender, results showed that the British expatriate adolescents had distinct characteristics in terms of their perceptions of being international as well as their international mobility preferences and consequences. These findings support the claims and anecdotal evidence of the development of third‐cultureness. The potentially far‐reaching implications of these results for globalizing firms are discussed at length.
Details
Keywords
Discusses how resources are allocated in capitalist and socialist economies comparing the concept of interest (e.g. for present value calculations) with the use of capital charges…
Abstract
Discusses how resources are allocated in capitalist and socialist economies comparing the concept of interest (e.g. for present value calculations) with the use of capital charges (e.g. for calculating opportunity cost). Contrasts the Islamic economic system, which rejects interest but considers moral factors and the will of Allah when measuring welfare. Explains how these ideas can be expressed in the accounting price of capital (for objective factors) and by Islamic welfare criteria; and how they differ from the Pareto Criterion and capitalist concepts of utility. Lists four principles and 12 welfare criteria for an Islamic allocation of resources; and some hints on their practical application before summarizing the conclusions.
Details
Keywords
Y.P. Tsang, K.L. Choy, P.S. Koo, G.T.S. Ho, C.H. Wu, H.Y. Lam and Valerie Tang
This paper aims to improve operational efficiency and minimize accident frequency in cold storage facilities through adopting an effective occupational safety and health program…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to improve operational efficiency and minimize accident frequency in cold storage facilities through adopting an effective occupational safety and health program. The hidden knowledge can be extracted from the warehousing operations to create the comfortable and safe workplace environment.
Design/methodology/approach
A fuzzy association rule-based knowledge management system is developed by integrating fuzzy association rule mining (FARM) and rule-based expert system (RES). FARM is used to extract hidden knowledge from real operations to establish the relationship between safety measurement, personal constitution and key performance index measurement. The extracted knowledge is then stored and adopted in the RES to establish an effective occupational and safety program. Afterwards, a case study is conducted to validate the performance of the proposed system.
Findings
The results indicate that the aforementioned relationship can be built in the form of IF-THEN rules. An appropriate safety and health program can be developed and applied to all workers, so that they can follow instructions to prevent cold induced injuries and also improve the productivity.
Practical implications
Because of the increasing public consciousness of occupational safety and health, it is important for the workers in cold storage facilities where the ambient temperature is at/below 10°C. The proposed system can address the social problem and promote the importance of occupational safety and health in the society.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the knowledge management system for improving the occupational safety and operational efficiency in the cold storage facilities.
Details
Keywords
Y.P. Tsang, K.L. Choy, C.H. Wu, G.T.S. Ho, Cathy H.Y. Lam and P.S. Koo
Since the handling of environmentally sensitive products requires close monitoring under prescribed conditions throughout the supply chain, it is essential to manage specific…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the handling of environmentally sensitive products requires close monitoring under prescribed conditions throughout the supply chain, it is essential to manage specific supply chain risks, i.e. maintaining good environmental conditions, and ensuring occupational safety in the cold environment. The purpose of this paper is to propose an Internet of Things (IoT)-based risk monitoring system (IoTRMS) for controlling product quality and occupational safety risks in cold chains. Real-time product monitoring and risk assessment in personal occupational safety can be then effectively established throughout the entire cold chain.
Design/methodology/approach
In the design of IoTRMS, there are three major components for risk monitoring in cold chains, namely: wireless sensor network; cloud database services; and fuzzy logic approach. The wireless sensor network is deployed to collect ambient environmental conditions automatically, and the collected information is then managed and applied to a product quality degradation model in the cloud database. The fuzzy logic approach is applied in evaluating the cold-associated occupational safety risk of the different cold chain parties considering specific personal health status. To examine the performance of the proposed system, a cold chain service provider is selected for conducting a comparative analysis before and after applying the IoTRMS.
Findings
The real-time environmental monitoring ensures that the products handled within the desired conditions, namely temperature, humidity and lighting intensity so that any violation of the handling requirements is visible among all cold chain parties. In addition, for cold warehouses and rooms in different cold chain facilities, the personal occupational safety risk assessment is established by considering the surrounding environment and the operators’ personal health status. The frequency of occupational safety risks occurring, including cold-related accidents and injuries, can be greatly reduced. In addition, worker satisfaction and operational efficiency are improved. Therefore, it provides a solid foundation for assessing and identifying product quality and occupational safety risks in cold chain activities.
Originality/value
The cold chain is developed for managing environmentally sensitive products in the right conditions. Most studies found that the risks in cold chain are related to the fluctuation of environmental conditions, resulting in poor product quality and negative influences on consumer health. In addition, there is a lack of occupational safety risk consideration for those who work in cold environments. Therefore, this paper proposes IoTRMS to contribute the area of risk monitoring by means of the IoT application and artificial intelligence techniques. The risk assessment and identification can be effectively established, resulting in secure product quality and appropriate occupational safety management.
Details
Keywords
Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American…
Abstract
Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.
Details
Keywords
King Lun Tommy Choy, Kai Yuet Paul Siu, To Sum George Ho, C.H. Wu, Hoi Yan Lam, Valerie Tang and Yung Po Tsang
This paper aims to maintain the high service quality of the long-term care service providers by establishing a knowledge-based system so as to enhance the service quality of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to maintain the high service quality of the long-term care service providers by establishing a knowledge-based system so as to enhance the service quality of nursing homes and the performance of its nursing staff continually.
Design/methodology/approach
An intelligent case-based knowledge management system (ICKMS) is developed with the integration of two artificial intelligence techniques, i.e. fuzzy logic and case-based reasoning (CBR). In the system, fuzzy logic is adopted to assess the performance through the analysis of the long-term care services provided, nurse performance and elderly satisfaction, whereas CBR is used to formulate a customized re-training program for quality improvement. A case study is conducted to validate the feasibility of the proposed system.
Findings
The empirical findings indicate that the ICKMS helps in identification of those nursing staff who cannot meet the essential service standard. Through the customized re-training program, the performance of the nursing staff can be greatly enhanced, whereas the medical errors and complaints can be considerably reduced. Furthermore, the proposed methodology provides a cost-saving approach in the administrative work.
Practical implications
The findings and results of the study facilitate decision-making using the ICKMS for the long-term service providers to improve their performance and service quality by providing a customized re-training program to the nursing staff.
Originality/value
This study contributes to establishing a knowledge-based system for the long-term service providers for maintaining the high service quality in the health-care industry.
Details
Keywords
Persistent concern for equal opportunities in higher education and the significant decline of Universities' enrolment across Canada in the late 1970's increasingly prompted…
Abstract
Persistent concern for equal opportunities in higher education and the significant decline of Universities' enrolment across Canada in the late 1970's increasingly prompted researchers to focus upon a growing group of high school students who were undecided whether they should proceed with further studies or whether they should join the labour market. Data for the present study were obtained from 374 males and 423 female high school students close to graduation. Crucial socio‐economic factors, school factors and intra‐personal variables affecting their perceived probability for further education in future were identified and their conceptual causal linkages were empirically examined in two separate path analyses. Some striking similarities were located between male and female students indicating that socio‐economic factors play dominant roles accountng for the types of school activities they engaged in. These in turn exerted considerable influence upon their educational plans and aspirations. Extreme pragmatic outlooks, new lifestyles characteristic of students' subculture, and inaccurate assessment of the educational level required for the professions to which they aspired were important deterring factors to further studies for both groups of students. On the other hand, family size, maturity and school achievement had varying degrees of impact on the two groups. Strategies aiming at more effective guidance of students' choice were entertained.