Causeway Bay Research Articles

Art and Social Psychology: An Example from the Animation "All for Love

Magazine style shots, warm and cold shots. What is love?" against a gorgeous, colorful backdrop. The most powerful label for the animated film "All for Love" is that it is worth watching. The man smoking in the cafe stares at the people outside the camera and asks "What is love?" This is a thought-provoking question. The internet meeting, the phone booth, the tinkling car in Causeway Bay and the homeless man on the street corner are all extremely common images in social life. The artists use art to reflect the psychology of people in the current environment. The artists use their artworks to reflect the psychological problems of society under the influence of different social environments. This paper attempts a new analysis of animation in terms of Marxian literary theory, art and social psychology.

Pedestrianisation Zoning and Air Quality in Hong Kong

Air quality assessment in the vicinity of the Causeway Bay Pedestrianisation Scheme is conducted. The study analyses the concentration of respiratory suspended particulates, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxides and shows that reductions for the three pollutants could be achieved at Hennessy Road and Great George Street. However, this would transfer the air pollution to nearby roads due to traffic diversion. The justifications of shifting air pollution from one place to another are that the targeted areas are more prone to pollutant buildup and the shift would maximise the number of benefactors.

Cytokine Storm in Head Injury Patients and its Management in COVID-19 Era

Sunny Chi Lik Au is currently working as a Medical Doctor in Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, 9/F, MO office, Lo Ka Chow Memorial Ophthalmic Centre, 19 Eastern Hospital Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Impacts of Tourism Demand on Retail Property Prices in a Shopping Destination

Understanding the relationship between tourism demand and retail property prices is of great significance to tourist destinations, especially shopping destinations. The increase in tourism demand may alter the implicit prices of certain retail property characteristics (e.g., age and accessibility to transit). This study examines how tourism demand (measured by tourist volume) affects retail property prices in the tourist precinct of a shopping destination, namely Hong Kong. The implementation of the policy Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in 2003 in Hong Kong has substantially increased tourist shoppers from Mainland China, and it is used as a quasi-natural experiment of the increased tourist volume. Spatial and non-spatial hedonic pricing models are developed based on the ground-floor retail property transaction data of Causeway Bay, Hong Kong before and after the IVS (1993–2011). The findings of this study are as follows. (1) Accessibility to transit has a larger positive price effect after the implementation of the IVS. (2) The implicit price of accessibility to accommodation facilities is not significantly altered by the implementation of the IVS. (3) Age has a larger negative price effect after the implementation of the IVS. The first two outcomes are related to the economic concerns of tourist shoppers, while the last can be explained by their hometown experience. Finally, practical implications are discussed.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Sensitive Skin Syndrome in Hong Kong Using the Validated Sensitive Scale-10 (SS-10) Questionnaire: A Community Epidemiological Survey

Background: This community-based epidemiological study aimed to estimate the prevalence and risk factors of sensitive skin syndrome (SSS) using the validated Sensitive Scale-10 (SS-10) questionnaire in Hong Kong. Methods: In January 2018, 500 subjects were recruited (quota sampling method) across five Hong Kong districts from high to lower level of pollutions (Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay, Tsuen Wan, and Shatin; n=100 each). Face-to-face interviews were conducted by volunteers without prior knowledge on sensitive skin definition. Each participant filled out a questionnaire containing information on demography, concomitant skin diseases, and SS-10. Prevalence estimation was based on the cutoff value developed on clinical data in Hong Kong. Risk factors of sensitive skin were analysed using multiple linear regression modelling with total score of SS-10 as the outcome variable. Results: Our study reported a prevalence of 11.4% of sensitive skin in the local community sample, with skin conditions and districts as significant predictors. The model accounted for 67.6% variance of the total SS-10 score and significantly differed from the null model: F (10, 489)=101.95, p<0.001 with an effect size of 2.09. Significant predictors of sensitive skin included eczema (β=17.02, p<.001), urticaria (β=15.48, p<0.001), psoriasis (β=19.86, p<0.001), food allergy-induced skin sensitivity (β=7.00, p<0.001), and cosmetics-induced skin sensitivity (β=14.84, p<0.001). Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) predicted skin sensitivity significantly (β=6.46, p<0.001) with reference to Shatin. Conclusion: Our study reported a lower prevalence of SSS in Hong Kong. Suggested predictors were skin conditions, crowded and polluted districts, food allergies, and cosmetics.

Traffic control oriented impact on the persistence of urban air pollutants: A causeway bay revelation during emergency period

The continuous traffic flow is always considered to take a great extent responsibility for the air quality deterioration in urban areas. Meanwhile, traffic control is assumed to be one of the most effective ways to mitigate the high concentration situation as this may cut off the emission directly and satisfy the air quality objectives. Unfortunately, the overdevelopment of central business district area in megacities not only complicates the control plan, but also troubles the process of plan assessment. Because of the road blockages caused by the radical behavior during the Hong Kong protest in 2014, it offers an unexpected chance to evaluate the influence of traffic control oriented plan on urban (i.e., Causeway Bay) air pollution. Hence, we here investigated the six air pollutants concentrations that measured in the time series before, during and after the Hong Kong Protest period. The impact of traffic flow restriction on pollutants’ persistence has been quantified both qualitatively and quantitatively in this study. The results showed that the persistence of pollutants was a general property in Causeway Bay which dominated by the traffic flow pattern. The road blockages, considered as one kind of extreme traffic control plan, would strengthen the persistence of most pollutants (except ozone). Moreover, it also indicated that comprehensive consideration and further balance among different pollutants were necessary when try to reduce pollution in urban area by traffic control.

The Lucky Dragon幸运的龙– Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, China

The Lucky Dragon is a vitamin, Chinese medicine and nutraceutical company located in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. Although the company was ran for 50 years by the Ng family, after the patriarch Mr. Ng Shu Chorn passed away, his children decided to sell it, as none of the three children were interested in managing the store or sourcing products and selling them to other shops. Increasingly, competition from mainland China had been eroding profit margins of similar businesses in Hong Kong, and each of the siblings had respectable jobs, so cashing in was the best course of action. Anderson Products LLC, a health and wellness company headquartered in Provo, Utah, had hoped to expand to the seemingly lucrative Chinese market, but they were inexperienced with international business and afraid of mainland China regulations. They saw the advertisement for the sale of The Lucky Dragon as a great opportunity to get their feet in the door, under the more auspicious regulations that Hong Kong could offer.

The impact of environmental and human factors on urban heat and microclimate variability

Urbanization is known to cause noticeable changes in the properties of local climate. Studies have shown that urban areas, compared to rural areas with less artificial surfaces, register higher local temperatures as a result of Urban Heat Islands (UHIs). Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and a high proportion of its population residing in densely built high-rise buildings are experiencing some degrees of thermal discomfort. This study selected Mong Kok and Causeway Bay, two typical urban communities in Hong Kong, to gather evidence of microclimate variation and sources of thermal discomfort. UHIs were estimated from 58 logging sensors placed at strategic locations to take temperature and humidity measurements over 17 consecutive days each in the summer/hot and winter/cool periods. By employing geographic information and global positioning systems, these measurements were geocoded and plotted over the built landscape to convey microclimate variation. The empirical data were further aligned with distinct environmental settings to associate possible factors contributing to UHIs. This study established the existence and extent of microclimate variation of UHI within urban communities of different environmental configuration and functional uses. The findings provided essential groundwork for further studies of UHI effects to inform sources of local thermal discomfort and better planning design to safeguard environmental health in public areas.

Aggregated Metro Trip Patterns in Urban Areas of Hong Kong: Evidence from Automatic Fare Collection Records

AbstractThe automatic fare collection (AFC) system incorporating smart card technology is widely used in transportation systems for revenue management, but the data from this could be mined for wide-ranging applications. This paper used AFC data of eight metro stations in the central area of Hong Kong to analyze metro trip patterns at an aggregate level. Based on the ridership differences between days, time periods, and directed flows, empirical data were categorized into three groups to better understand the station area characteristics. Compared to previous studies, it was found that factors may play varied roles in determining trip quantities for divergent station areas. Shopping and recreational factors demonstrated a statistically significant relationship with metro trips during the afternoon peak at exit flow and the evening peak at entry flow in the commercial districts of Hong Kong, such as Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, and Mong Kok. This suggests that the distinctive context characteristics of the...

Fighting For Control Power Of GOME Inc.: A Case Study

At 2:30pm, September 28, 2010, a special shareholder meeting for GOME is called by the largest shareholder of GOME, Guangyu Huang, to be held on the first floor of Regal Hotels, 88 Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. GOME Electrical Appliances is one of the largest electrical appliance retailers in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Huang Guangyu, the founder and largest shareholder of GOME, is currently in jail. The purpose of this meeting is to vote on the eight items on the agenda, including deposing the professional manager, Xiao Chen, from the CEO position of GOME. Should the investors support the largest shareholder or the professional manager? It may be the toughest problem GOME has faced in its history. It seems that no matter who wins, the result may not be good news to GOME and its investors. This case is about corporate governance and agency problems and is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate courses in Investment, Corporate Finance and Financial Markets.

Seven-year retrospective analysis of the myopic control effect of orthokeratology in children: a pilot study

Correspondence: Alan Kwok-hei Mok eye’ni G/F 63 Lee Garden road, Causeway Bay, hong Kong, People’s republic of China Fax +852 2882 2959 email mokkwokhei@gmail.com Objectives: To investigate retrospectively the difference in myopia progression, over about 7 years, between two groups of Hong Kong Chinese myopic children who wore overnight orthokeratology lenses or single-vision spectacles. Methods: A total of 238 records of children wearing overnight orthokeratology lenses or single-vision spectacles from Eye’ni optical shop (Hong Kong) between January 1999 and December 2009 were reviewed. Refractive and central corneal curvature data with 6-year or a longer follow-up period of 70 patients were retrieved: 34 children (15 boys and 19 girls, aged 9.2 ± 1.8 years) wore orthokeratology lenses and 36 (20 boys and 16 girls, aged 10.2 ± 2.0 years) wore spectacles. Myopic progression was determined as the change of myopia from the baseline to the final visit. Results: No statistically significant differences (P . 0.05) in age, central flat corneal curvatures, baseline refractive error, or follow-up period were observed between the two groups. Average myopic progression of the overnight orthokeratology contact lens cohort (−0.37 ± 0.49 D) was significantly less (P , 0.001) than of the single-vision spectacle group (−2.06 ± 0.81 D) over about 7 years. Conclusion: Our preliminary 7-year data support the claim that overnight orthokeratology contact lenses may be a feasible clinical method for myopic progression control. Prospective and randomized investigations are warranted to overcome the limitations of this retrospective study.

Service quality in Hong Kong: wet markets vs supermarkets

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine consumer perceptions of service quality in wet markets and supermarkets in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was developed and distributed via a convenience sample to consumers in shopping malls in Causeway Bay, Mong Kok and Tsuen Wan.FindingsThe study finds that supermarkets outperformed wet markets across all aspects of service quality as measured by SERVQUAL‐P.Research limitations/implicationsImplications suggest that wet market vendors are not providing the level of service quality demanded by their customers. In particular, findings suggest that wet market vendors need to improve the visual attractiveness of their stalls, work on making them look more professional and start using more modern equipment.Practical implicationsWet market vendors in conjunction with government representatives need to develop standards of service quality for wet markets across Hong Kong. This is imperative if the wet market model is to survive in what is a highly competitive food retailing industry. Without action, it appears that the supermarketization of the Hong Kong food retailing industry will continue unabated.Originality/valueThis paper adds to a small but growing research stream examining service quality in the food retailing industry in Hong Kong. It provides empirical results that guide suggested actions for change.

Achieving 'excellent' indoor air quality in commercial offices equipped with air-handling unit - respirable suspended particulate

A study was carried out to investigate the feasibility of achieving ultra low respirable suspended particulates (RSP) in commercial offices without major modification of existing ventilation systems by enhancing the particulates removal efficiency of existing central ventilation systems. Four types of filters which include pre-filters, cartridge filters, bag filters and high efficiency particulates air (HEPA) filters were tested in a commercial building in Causeway Bay. The results show that an RSP objective of <20 microg/m3 could be met by removing RSP from both the return air and outdoor air supply simultaneously. This level of performance is classed as 'excellent' by the Hong Kong Government, Environmental Protection Department. Filters with efficiency that exceed 80% placed both in the return air and outdoor air were sufficient to meet the objective. It is not necessary to install HEPA filters to achieve the 'excellent' class. The outdoor air filter has great influence on the steady state indoor RSP concentration while the effective cleaning rate is governed by the return air filter. Higher efficiency filters increased the static drop but the volume flow of the air fan was not affected significantly. The additional cost incurred was <5% of the existing operation cost. This paper reports a field study of RSP control for an indoor office environment. The results are directly applicable to building service engineering in the design of ventilation systems using air-handling units. Field observations indicated that indoor RSP in an office environment could be suppressed below 20 microg/m3 within 1 h by the simultaneous filtration of outdoor air and return air. Outdoor air filtration has a great influence on the steady state indoor concentration and return air filtration governs the cleaning rate. It is believed that the results of this study could be extended to the cleaning of other indoor pollutants such as volatile organic compounds.

Seasonal variation of air pollution index: Hong Kong case study

Air pollution is an important and popular topic in Hong Kong as concerns have been raised about the health impacts caused by vehicle exhausts in recent years. In Hong Kong, sulphur dioxide SO 2, nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), and respirable suspended particulates (RSP) are major air pollutants caused by the dominant usage of diesel fuel by goods vehicles and buses. These major pollutants and the related secondary pollutant, e.g., ozone (O 3), become and impose harmful impact on human health in Hong Kong area after the northern shifting of major industries to Mainland China. The air pollution index (API), a referential parameter describing air pollution levels, provides information to enhance the public awareness of air pollutions in time series since 1995. In this study, the varying trends of API and the levels of related air pollutants are analyzed based on the database monitored at a selected roadside air quality monitoring station, i.e., Causeway Bay, during 1999–2003. Firstly, the original measured pollutant data and the resultant APIs are analyzed statistically in different time series including daily, monthly, seasonal patterns. It is found that the daily mean APIs in seasonal period can be regarded as stationary time series. Secondly, the auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) method, implemented by Box–Jenkins model, is used to forecast the API time series in different seasonal specifications. The performance evaluations of the adopted models are also carried out and discussed according to Bayesian information criteria (BIC) and root mean square error (RMSE). The results indicate that the ARMA model can provide reliable, satisfactory predictions for the problem interested and is expecting to be an alternative tool for practical assessment and justification.

Study of air pollutants in Hong Kong using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence

Airborne particulate samples were collected from various reference sites in Hong Kong and the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) intensities for 19 chemical elements were recorded. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed so that the variances of these 19 original variables were captured by a few new indices called principal components or PCs. Data points for similar sources were automatically grouped together in a plot of the first three PCs (PC plot). Data for the monitoring site Mong Kok were located within the area defined by vehicular emissions. As such, the main air pollutant at this site was concluded to originate from vehicular emissions. A fraction of data for the Causeway Bay monitoring site also fell into this same identified area, so the main air pollutant could also be vehicular emissions. Some of the data located either on or outside the border can be explained in terms of meteorology.

Prediction of Pollutant Levels in Causeway Bay Area of Hong Kong Using an Improved Neural Network Model

The prediction of air quality parameters is of great interest in environmental studies today due to the health impact caused by airborne pollutants [e.g., sulfur dioxide (SO2); nitrogen oxide (NOx); nitric oxide (NO); nitrogen dioxide (NO2); carbon monoxide (CO); respirable suspended particulates (RSPs), etc.] in urban areas. Artificial neural networks are regarded as a reliable and cost-effective method for prediction tasks. The work reported here develops an improved neural network model which combines both the principal component analysis (PCA) technique and the radial basis function (RBF) network to analyze and predict the pollutant data recorded. In the study, PCA is used to reduce and orthogonalize the original variables. The variables treated are then used as input vectors in a RBF neural network model to forecast the pollutant levels, e.g., the RSP level in the downtown area of Hong Kong. This improved method is evaluated based on hourly time series RSP concentrations collected at the Causeway Bay roadside gaseous monitoring station in Hong Kong during 1999. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the model. For high-dimensional input vectors including simpler network architecture and faster learning speed without compromising the generalization capability of the network, the proposed algorithm has advantages over traditional RBF network learning.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urban atmosphere of Hong Kong

The assessment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has become a major issue of air quality network monitoring in Hong Kong. This study is aimed to identify, quantify and characterize volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in different urban areas in Hong Kong. The spatial distribution, temporal variation as well as correlations of VOCs at five roadside sampling sites were discussed. Twelve VOCs were routinely detected in urban areas (Mong Kok, Kwai Chung, Yuen Long and Causeway Bay). The concentrations of VOCs ranged from undetectable to 1396 μg/m 3. Among all of the VOC species, toluene has the highest concentration. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) were the major constituents (more than 60% in composition of total VOC detected), mainly contributed from mobile sources. Similar to other Asian cities, the VOC levels measured in urban areas in Hong Kong were affected both by automobile exhaust and industrial emissions. High toluene to benzene ratios (average T/B ratio=5) was also found in Hong Kong as in other Asian cities. In general, VOC concentrations in the winter were higher than those measured in the summer (winter to summer ratio>1). As toluene and benzene were the major pollutants from vehicle exhausts, there is a necessity to tighten automobile emission standards in Hong Kong.

Toxicological assessment of coastal sediments in Hong Kong using a flagellate, Dunaliella tertiolecta

Samples of coastal sediment were collected from the southern (Victoria Harbour) and the western side (Deep Bay) of Hong Kong to determine the existing or potential impacts of sediment-associated contaminants on the environment. The samples were analyzed for the total concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn, ammonia-N, pH, and simultaneously extracted and soluble metals. Elutriate sediment toxicity tests (ESTT) were also conducted, using a microalgal flagellate, Dunaliella tertiolecta. In the first experiment, a total of six sediment samples were collected from the inner and outer areas of Deep Bay, inside Tuen Mun typhoon shelter, Rambler Channel, Tsuen Wan and the New Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter. All the sediment elutriates had inhibitory effects on the growth of the microalgae. The lowest 48-h LC 50 was obtained in Tsuen Wan elutriate (42.6%). The results indicated that the percentage response of the microalgae was not directly correlated to heavy metal contents, but showed a positive correlation to the ammonia concentration. The calculated 48-h LC 50 of ammonia toxicity was 18.67±1.4 mg/l. In the second experiment, the toxicity of ammonia-N from a total of seven sediment samples (Kowloon Bay, Rambler Channel, Chai Wan, Sam Ka Tsuen, Causeway Bay, Aldrich Bay, Old Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter) was determined. Air-stripped sediment elutriates reduced the total ammonia contents from 14.41–37.39 to 8.47–22.08 mg/l which significantly reduced the toxic effect on the microalgae when compared with the non-air-stripped samples, suggesting that ammonia-N was one of the major toxicants in the elutriates. The 48-h LC 50 (NH 3) was calculated at 36.67±2.47 mg/l. These results suggested that a significant component of sediment toxicity was a result of elevated ammonia, although there were elevated concentrations of potentially toxic heavy metals.

POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN HONG KONG: A DENSITY FUNCTION APPROACH

We examine the spatial distribution of population and employment in Hong Kong by specifying and estimating monocentric and polycentric population and employment density functions. Our empirical results indicate that population concentrations in Hong Kong are best characterized as monocentric, with the single center located in West Kowloon. We also find that employment concentrations are consistent with the polycentric model with four centers located in West Kowloon, Central, Causeway Bay and Tsuen Wan. We discuss the urban structure of Hong Kong in relation to the government's urban planning policies.

The effectiveness of differential pricing on route choice

The use of differential pricing as a means of traffic management has been advocated by specialists in the field of transport for quite some time. Because of technical and political reasons, a full-scale pricing scheme for the use of road space has yet to be introduced. Applying the principle to a highly automatic rail system, however, is technologically much more feasible. The Mass Transit Railway Corporation of Hong Kong has implemented a so-called “revenue neutral peal pricing policy” after the completion of a second cross-harbour route- the East Harbour Crossing — in May, 1990. Passengers travelling from Kowloon to the central business district (including Jordon and Tsim Sha Tsui on the Kowloon side and stations from Sheung Wan to Causeway Bay on the Island side) during the morning peak hour are confronted with the following choice: either (i) make use of the Nathan Road Corridor and pay 80 cents on top of normal face; or (ii) take the less congested but in general longer route via the East Harbour Crossing and get a 80 cents discount. The present paper attempts to analyse the effectiveness of this differential pricing policy in diverting passengers from the overcrowded section to the less heavily utilized route. A personal interview survey comprising a total of 1094 successful cases was conducted for this purpose. The logit regression model was employed to analyse the route choice. It is found that income, habit and journey time are the most important variables determining the route choice. The effect of cost or fare difference, although large in terms of magnitude, is only marginally significant in the statistical sense. It is suggested that efforts to change the passengers' habit and measures to shorten the train transfer time at the Quarry Bay Station for the East harbour Crossing users would be more effective in achieving this end. This is especially the case given the current political development in Hong King which renders further enlargement of the price difference a highly difficult proposition.