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1 – 10 of 135Jian Tian, Jiangan Xie, Zhonghua He, Qianfeng Ma and Xiuxin Wang
Wrist-cuff oscillometric blood pressure monitors are very popular in the portable medical device market. However, its accuracy has always been controversial. In addition to the…
Abstract
Purpose
Wrist-cuff oscillometric blood pressure monitors are very popular in the portable medical device market. However, its accuracy has always been controversial. In addition to the oscillatory pressure pulse wave, the finger photoplethysmography (PPG) can provide information on blood pressure changes. A blood pressure measurement system integrating the information of pressure pulse wave and the finger PPG may improve measurement accuracy. Additionally, a neural network can synthesize the information of different types of signals and approximate the complex nonlinear relationship between inputs and outputs. The purpose of this study is to verify the hypothesis that a wrist-cuff device using a neural network for blood pressure estimation from both the oscillatory pressure pulse wave and PPG signal may improve the accuracy.
Design/methodology/approach
A PPG sensor was integrated into a wrist blood pressure monitor, so the finger PPG and the oscillatory pressure wave could be detected at the same time during the measurement. After the peak detection, curves were fitted to the data of pressure pulse amplitude and PPG pulse amplitude versus time. A genetic algorithm-back propagation neural network was constructed. Parameters of the curves were inputted into the neural network, the outputs of which were the measurement values of blood pressure. Blood pressure measurements of 145 subjects were obtained using a mercury sphygmomanometer, the developed device with the neural network algorithm and an Omron HEM-6111 blood pressure monitor for comparison.
Findings
For the systolic blood pressure (SBP), the difference between the proposed device and the mercury sphygmomanometer is 0.0062 ± 2.55 mmHg (mean ± SD) and the difference between the Omron device and the mercury sphygmomanometer is 1.13 ± 9.48 mmHg. The difference in diastolic blood pressure between the mercury sphygmomanometer and the proposed device was 0.28 ± 2.99 mmHg. The difference in diastolic blood pressure between the mercury sphygmomanometer and Omron HEM-6111 was −3.37 ± 7.53 mmHg.
Originality/value
Although the difference in the SBP error between the proposed device and Omron HEM-6111 was not remarkable, there was a significant difference between the proposed device and Omron HEM-6111 in the diastolic blood pressure error. The developed device showed an improved performance. This study was an attempt to enhance the accuracy of wrist-cuff oscillometric blood pressure monitors by using the finger PPG and the neural network. The hardware framework constructed in this study can improve the conventional wrist oscillometric sphygmomanometer and may be used for continuous measurement of blood pressure.
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Qingqing ZONG, Yi ZHANG and Yuyu CHEN
This paper theoretically and empirically analyzes the effects of the elderly’s physical health status on their need for care and the choice of care models in China.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper theoretically and empirically analyzes the effects of the elderly’s physical health status on their need for care and the choice of care models in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirically, the estimation results of a large-sample randomized intervention trial with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients through the difference-in-difference method indicated the following: (1) After the COPD intervention trial, the physical health status of the elderly in the treatment group improved significantly, the need for care was substantially reduced and the health improvement led to a 35.5% reduction in the probability of using elderly care. (2) The reduction in the need for care regarding the treatment group occurred mainly in social care. The probability of using social care decreased by 67.8% due to the elderly’s health improvement, while that of home care remained unchanged generally. (3) Further heterogeneity tests suggested that families with fewer potential internal resources for caregiving had a more pronounced decline in the need for social care.
Findings
Theoretically, these empirical results support the existence of the “pecking order” theory in the family’s choice of elderly care model, that is, families tend to employ all internal resources for caregiving before resorting to social care, resulting in a higher sensitivity of social care to health.
Originality/value
The main policy implication of this paper is that ex ante preventive health intervention policies can significantly alleviate the burden of care, especially social care, on families. And preventive health intervention policies are particularly effective in reducing the burden of the families with relatively few resources for informal internal care.
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The purpose of this paper is to give a critical review of the City-State Theory by Wan Chin of Hong Kong. Chin is referred to as the “Father of Hong Kong Independence,” and his…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to give a critical review of the City-State Theory by Wan Chin of Hong Kong. Chin is referred to as the “Father of Hong Kong Independence,” and his two books about the City-State Theory of Hong Kong are popular among the netizens in Hong Kong as a new model of Hong Kong-China (People’s Republic of China (PRC)), in which Hong Kong is considered a city-state and should be fully segregated from the PRC other than in seeking its help in military and diplomatic functions. This paper will aim to review his works with the view of nationalism and nativism theories.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses nationalism theories with particular focus on Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities and theories on American nativism. Then an effort is made to compare these theories against Chin’s arguments on his City-State Theory. This paper also compares his theories against China’s state-nationalism raised by Professors He and Guo.
Findings
This paper concludes that Chin advocates a “Hong Kong Nationalism,” a blend of traditional Chinese culture and moral values (he used the term Huaxia), but with a Western influence, into a typical Hong Kong culture. His theory fits into Anderson’s arguments of allowing Hong Kong citizens to imagine Hong Kong as a nation, through the “ramparts” of the city-state. His nativist advocacies also have shown strong nationalistic sentiments. He argues that China should be built in the Hong Kong model before the PRC intervention.
Originality/value
Despite his fame, this paper is the first comprehensive academic paper to review Chin’s theories. This paper introduced the notion of “ramparts” and how this has become the backbone of Chin’s nationalism advocacies.
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This paper aims to analyse how both Lin’s birthplace identity and his Christian identity contributed to his fruitful public career and to ascertain which identity became the most…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse how both Lin’s birthplace identity and his Christian identity contributed to his fruitful public career and to ascertain which identity became the most significant.
Design/methodology/approach
Archival research is the main method used in this paper. The most important archives drawn from are the Daniel Tse Collection in the Special Collection and Archives of the Hong Kong Baptist University Library. Oral history has also been used in this paper to uncover more material that has not yet been discussed in existing scholarly works.
Findings
This paper argues that although Lin’s birthplace identity and social networks helped him to start his business career in Nam Pak Hong and develop into a leader in the local Chaozhou communities, these factors were insufficient to his becoming a respectable member of the Chinese elite in post-war Hong Kong. He became well known not because of his leading position in local Chaozhou communities or any great achievement he had obtained in business but because of his contribution to the development of Christian education. These achievements earned him a reputation as a “Christian educator”. Thus Lin’s Christian identity became more important than his birthplace identity in contributing to his successful public career.
Originality/value
This paper has value in showing how Christian influences interacted with various cultural factors in early Hong Kong. It also offers insights into Lin’s life and motivations as well as the history of the institutions he contributed to/founded. It not only furthers our understanding of the Chinese Christian business elite in early Hong Kong but also provides us with insights when further studying this group of people in other British colonies in Asia.
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Xiaohuan Xie, Shiyu Qin, Zhonghua Gou and Ming Yi
Aiming to find out how to incorporate green building into the architectural curriculum, this study aims to explore the psychological path for cultivating architectural students’…
Abstract
Purpose
Aiming to find out how to incorporate green building into the architectural curriculum, this study aims to explore the psychological path for cultivating architectural students’ awareness and motivation to learn the green design concepts and related technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a global review of relevant architectural courses in universities, a set of green building learning behaviors was proposed and a survey was conducted in architectural schools in South China to verify the “value-belief-norm” theory through the lens of green building learning behaviors. The psychological path that affects students’ green building learning behaviors was analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results showed that biospheric and altruistic values could directly affect students’ motivation to learn green building, while personal norms served as the mediating condition for personal values and beliefs, and ultimately improved motivation.
Practical implications
The study suggests that the cultivation of environmental awareness and a sense of the ecological crisis should be developed through foundation courses, by establishing an ecological architecture curriculum, to more effectively guide students to learn and practice green building.
Originality/value
This study, for the first time, applied the “value-belief-norm” theory, which was developed to explain the psychological path for pro-environmental behaviors, to green building learning behaviors of architectural students.
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Chen Zhao, Zhonghua Gao and Yonghong Liu
The purpose of this paper is to examine how relative abusive supervision (i.e. team member’s perceived abusive supervision as compared with the team mean) influences team member’s…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how relative abusive supervision (i.e. team member’s perceived abusive supervision as compared with the team mean) influences team member’s job attitudes through the mediating role of relative leader–member exchange. This study also explores the cross-level moderating roles of team-level abusive supervision and team-level leader–member exchange (LMX) in the process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used two-wave data from 1,479 employees in 145 work teams, and tested a cross-level moderated mediation model using multilevel structural equation modeling.
Findings
Results demonstrate that the negative indirect effects of relative abusive supervision on job satisfaction and team affective commitment through relative LMX are stronger when team-level abusive supervision is low rather than high.
Originality/value
Integrating LMX theory with a relative deprivation perspective, this study conceptualizes and operationalizes relative abusive supervision, develops an individual-within-group model of abusive supervision’s consequences in teams and demonstrates a cross-level moderating effect of team-level abusive supervision in buffering relative abusive supervision’s negative consequences.
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Jinglong Liu, Zhonghua Wu, Xiaowen Xing and Qizhi He
The purpose of this paper is to find an omnidirectional robust gust response stabilization (GRS) scheme with anti-disturbance and state-limited features.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find an omnidirectional robust gust response stabilization (GRS) scheme with anti-disturbance and state-limited features.
Design/methodology/approach
Disturbance observer and barrier Lyapunov techniques, which can, respectively, estimate the lumped disturbances of the dynamic system in real-time and ensure the middle states within some prescribed ranges according to some flight safety indexes.
Findings
In the existing literature, almost all of the GRS controllers are either only for the longitudinal dynamics or only for the latitudinal dynamics. Few studies have considered the gust response alleviation problem with omnidirectional wind disturbance and full aircraft model.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a fresh scheme to deal with a more holistic GRS problem; the disturbance observer based (DOB) barrier Lyapunov backstepping longitudinal controller has been put forward; DOB nonlinear dynamic inversion to handle the multi-input-multi-output lateral dynamics; and to closely connect the two loops of the latitudinal dynamics, a manipulating variable conversion method is proposed.
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Xiufeng Cheng, Ziming Zhang, Yue Yang and Zhonghua Yan
Social coding platforms (SCPs) have been adopted by scores of developers in building, testing and managing their codes collaboratively. Accordingly, this type of platform (site…
Abstract
Purpose
Social coding platforms (SCPs) have been adopted by scores of developers in building, testing and managing their codes collaboratively. Accordingly, this type of platform (site) enables collaboration between enterprises and universities (c-EU) at a lower cost in the form of online team-building projects (repositories). This paper investigates the open collaboration patterns between these two parties on GitHub by measuring their online behaviours. The purpose of this investigation is to identify the most attractive collaboration features that enterprises can offer to increase university students' participation intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The research process is divided into four steps. First, the authors crawled for numerical data for each interactive repository feature created by employees of Alibaba on GitHub and identified the student accounts associated with these repositories. Second, a categorisation schema of feature classification was proposed on a behavioural basis. Third, the authors clustered the aforementioned repositories based on feature data and recognised four types of repositories (popular, formal, normal and obsolete) to represent four open collaboration patterns. The effects of the four repository types on university students' collaboration behaviour were measured using a multiple linear regression model. An ANOVA test was implemented to examine the robustness of research results. Finally, the authors proposed some practical suggestions to enhance collaboration between both sides of SCPs.
Findings
Several counterintuitive but reasonable findings were revealed, for example, those based on the “star” repository feature. The actual coding contribution of the repositories had a negative correlation with student attention. This result indicates that students were inclined to imitate rather than innovate.
Originality/value
This research explores the open collaboration patterns between enterprises and universities on GitHub and their impact on student coding behaviour. According to the research analysis, both parties benefit from open collaboration on SCPs, and the allocation or customisation of online repository features may affect students' participation in coding. This research brings a new perspective to the measurement of users' collaboration behaviour with output rates on SCPs.
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Zeqi Liu, Zefeng Tong and Zhonghua Zhang
This study examines the differences in the economic stimulus effects, transmission mechanisms, and output multipliers of government consumption, government traditional investment…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the differences in the economic stimulus effects, transmission mechanisms, and output multipliers of government consumption, government traditional investment, and government science and technology investment.
Design/methodology/approach
This study constructs and estimates a New Keynesian model of endogenous technological progress embedded in the research and development (R&D) and technology transfer sectors. Using Chinese macroeconomic time series data from 1996 to 2019, this study calibrates and estimates the model and analyzes the impulse response function and a counterfactual simulation of expenditure structure adjustment.
Findings
The results show that compared with the traditional dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model, the endogenous process of technological progress amplifies the impact of government consumption shock and traditional government investment shock on the macroeconomy, leading to greater economic cycle fluctuations. As government investment in science and technology has positive external spillover effects on firm R&D activities and the application of innovation achievements, it can promote more sustainable economic growth than government consumption and traditional investment in the long run.
Originality/value
This study constructs an extended New Keynesian model with different types of government spending, which includes endogenous technological progress within the R&D and technology transfer sectors, thereby linking fiscal policy, business cycle fluctuations and long-term economic growth. This model can study the macroeconomic impact of fiscal expenditure structure adjustment when fiscal expansion is limited. In the Bayesian estimation of model parameters, this study not only uses macroeconomic variables but also adds a sequence of private R&D investment.
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Asheq Rahman, Hector Perera and Frances Chua
International business, Accounting and Finance.
Abstract
Subject area
International business, Accounting and Finance.
Study level/applicability
Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels (advanced financial accounting, international accounting, other accounting and business courses with an international setting.
Case overview
The case uses the Asia Pulp & Paper Company’s (APP) entry into the international debt market to highlight the consequences of different business practices between the East (in this case, Indonesia) and the West. On the one hand, it shows that APP was set up as the “front” to access international debt capital; on the other, it reveals the naïvety of Western lenders who parted with their funds without conducting a thorough background research on the financial viability of the company they invested in. The APP debacle is a poignant reminder for market participants and business/accounting students that the divergence of the business settings across countries can make business contractual arrangements tenuous and corporate financial information irrelevant to its users. It also exposes the unique ways of how some Asian countries conduct their business affairs.
Expected learning outcomes
The following are the expected learning outcomes: comprehend the impact of differences in culture and ethnic origin on business practices; evaluate the impact of cultural nuances on the legality of contracts in the international business setting; understand the impact of currency fluctuation on the financial position of multinational firms; and be more cautious in conducting business and entering into contracts with foreign firms.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CCS 1: Accounting and Finance.
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