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From the arrival of Portuguese colonialism to its present incarnation as the world's biggest gambling center, Macau has long made the most of its liminal position at China's edge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This study aims to suggest a three-phased methodological framework based on the operational approach of quality function deployment (QFD) to improve the service quality and passenger satisfaction with China's high-speed rail (HSR) by identifying the key passenger needs with regard the HSR seats. For the first phase, the collection of the voice of the customers/passengers (VOC), the processing of the collected VOC into need items and further into passenger needs of QFD would be explained in terms of knowledge management. For the second phase, a reference comparison-based fuzzy best–worst method is developed for determining the relative importance of passenger needs, with a particular purpose of coping with the uncertainty and ambiguity associated with qualitative assessment of respondents. For the third phase, the importance-performance analysis is performed to determine the improvement priorities for meeting passenger needs. Findings showed that Body-friendly seat structure and Reasonable layout of the seat are the two most important needs demanded by the passengers of second-class cabins, with the former being the top priority. The current study provides useful references for service operators of HSR to formulate development strategies for improving the seat comfortability, which subsequently contributes to improving HSR's service quality and passenger satisfaction. Moreover, the proposed methodological framework for identifying the important passenger needs can be appropriately adjusted and expanded to similar transportation infrastructures and facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Developing culturally appropriate diabetes nutrition interventions for immigrants could be facilitated knowing what is successful in the home country and other relevant countries. The primary purpose of this scoping review was to identify the design and delivery methods of nutrition interventions for Chinese populations with type 2 diabetes, in their home countries and as immigrants to western countries. A total of 14 articles was retrieved and included. Overall, the approaches used in China often were modelled on intensive lifestyle programs although alternative strategies were also identified. Most interventions were not focussed solely on nutrition, and only a few were conducted in community settings. Most of the interventions were delivered in a group format, while those conducted in China also included individual counselling, particularly for nutrition. In addition, the diabetes and nutrition-related outcomes, cultural relevance and acceptability, and other factors that influenced protocol compliance were considered. Improvements in blood glucose control were observed in participants in all interventions where it was measured. Participants reported increased nutritional knowledge but nutritional behaviour was generally not well documented. Trials conducted in the United States emphasized the importance of cultural adaptation of intervention programs, particularly with respect to dietary patterns and specific foods. Practice-transferable characteristics are highlighted. Research gaps included trials conducted in community settings with pragmatic implementation and evaluation, comparative trials of interventions to gauge relative effectiveness, and measuring and reporting dietary outcomes for better understanding of the impact on dietary behaviours and their relationship to health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Bruce Lee is the epitome of internationalization. In the seventies when his movies broke into the global cinema, a kung fu wave swept across countries, and overnight Bruce Lee became a household name. Leaving behind only four major works and an iconic status, Bruce Lee's sudden death left a vacuum for open interpretation, allowing the martial artist to be remolded according to ever-changing contemporary desires. Through an examination of texts, images and social interaction concerning the repackaging of Bruce Lee as a diplomatic ambassador, this study sheds light first on the general image that China and Hong Kong separately intend to convey to the outside world. In addition, the collective identities and social values imagined and maintained by the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong people are further exposed in the process of making their very own Bruce Lee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Today we are witnessing a slow paradigmatic shift in Hong Kong's mental health services to becoming more recovery oriented, the context, meaning and process of which, however, is highly individualised as well as culturally sensitive. Therefore, it is imperative to gather the voices of service users. This paper serves to capture the views of a group of service users on the changes they have seen and the ongoing challenges in mental health services in Hong Kong; and to compare the Hong Kong experience with international experience with a view to reflecting on the directions for future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article reflects on a study which investigates the reliability and validity of selfadministered Chinese Shortness of Breath Questionnaire (SOBQ) with pictorial enhancement(C-SOBQ), an instrument for assessing the impact of dyspnoea on daily activities of patients with different lung diseases. The study focuses on the patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to check the reliability of the instrument to enhance the clinical application of the instrument. more...

Highlights • This study adds one more case of QFD application to HSR transportation service. • A systematic approach was proposed to improve HSR transportation service quality. • A I-AHP method considered fuzziness was proposed for prioritizing passengers' needs. • This study provides practical suggestion on improving passenger satisfaction of HSR. Abstract This study aims to propose a methodology for understanding the needs of passengers of the second-class cabins of high-speed rails (HSRs) in China. Addressing these needs is important to improve service quality and passenger satisfaction. We initially utilize the most important and also the first step of quality function deployment (QFD) to collect and organize data. Multiple methods, including scene deployment/ gemba , social media analysis, and critical incident approach, are used to collect the voice of the customer (VOC). With aid of the VOC table (VOCT), the collected VOC is interpreted from passengers' perspective and deployed as need items, which are grouped into passenger needs using the technique of affinity diagramming. To determine which of the passenger needs are important, we present the need items in a questionnaire in the form of pairwise comparison to obtain the opinion of frequent passengers. The collected responses are processed with the interval-valued analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to obtain the relative importance of the needs. Comfortable seat , sensory comfort , and proper luggage storage are identified as the major concerns of passengers. The obtained results should serve as valuable reference for planning and improving the design of cabin interiors and the quality of passenger service of HSRs in China. The study also provides a method for understanding customers' needs related to the infrastructure and facilities of rails and those of other modes of public transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Background: The Manchester Respiratory Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire (MRADLQ) is a valid and reliable tool measuring the functional level of patients with COPD in multidimensional aspects. However, a local validation of the questionnaire is lacking in Hong Kong., Objective: To develop a Chinese version of MRADLQ with pictorial enhancement (C-MRADLQ) and study its reliability and validity., Patients and Methods: A total of 238 patients suffering from COPD were recruited from nine public hospitals and five Nurse and Allied Health Respiratory Clinics by convenient sampling. A total of 64 patients with normal spirometry results and no previous clinical diagnosis of COPD were invited to complete the C-MRADLQ for comparison and examination of its validity. Ten out of 302 patients were re-assessed with the C-MRADLQ after one week by the same rater for test-retest reliability. The C-MRADLQ was correlated with spirometry result, COPD classifications and groups by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), the modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (mMRC Dyspnea Scale), COPD Assessment Test (CAT), Chinese Version of the Shortness of Breath Questionnaire (C-SOBQ), number of admission and the ADO index., Results: The C-MRADLQ shows good test-retest reliability as indicated by an intra-class correlation coefficient value of 0.975. It is significantly correlated with COPD stage, COPD group, SOBQ score, CAT score, mMRC, ADO index, spirometry results, and number of admissions. The SOBQ score, number of admissions, FEV1/FVC, and COPD group could significantly predict the total C-MRADLQ score. A total of 67.9% of participants' mMRC levels were correctly classified by using the C-MRADLQ total score. The agreement of the original and new versions of questions 20 and 21 of C-MRADLQ was 97.3% and 90.1%, respectively., Conclusion: The pictorial version of the C-MRADLQ is a validated and reliable functional assessment tool to measure functional status among patients with COPD in the Chinese population., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2021 Siu et al.) more...