69 research outputs found
Rapid mobile inspection equipment for metro tunnels based on multi-sensor integration
No full textAbstract The acquisition of tunnel inspection data is fundamental to tunnel operation and maintenance. Existing inspection equipment is either based on laser scanning or CCD cameras. Laser scanning-based devices often struggle to detect cracks, while equipment based on CCD cameras is unable to acquire point cloud to assess tunnel deformations. In order to obtain high-quality, comprehensive data, this paper develops a mobile three-dimensional inspection device CKY-200, integrated with multiple sensors. The CKY-200 addresses the temporal and spatial synchronization issues of CCD cameras and laser scanners. Considering the convenience of inspection, the device progresses on the track powered by electricity. Moreover. This article proposes a tunnel deformation detection algorithm and a crack width measurement method, and verifies the accuracy of the data collected by the equipment. Through on-site experiments and comparison, the CKY-200 provides the advantages of more comprehensive data acquisition while ensuring high precision and speed
A tough pill to swallow? : the impact of voluntary occupational health and safety management system on firms' financial performance in fashion and textiles industries
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of voluntary Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) certification (i.e. OHSAS 18001) on fashion and textiles-related companies' financial performance. Design/methodology/approach: From all US-listed fashion and textiles-related companies, 44 companies that obtained OHSAS 18001 certification were used as samples. A long-horizon event study was conducted to estimate the sample companies' abnormal changes of sales and return-on-assets (ROA) over non-OHSAS 18001 adopters in the same industry. Findings: The authors found that OHSAS 18001 adoption has a positive impact on fashion and textiles-related company's sales performance. Nevertheless, the OHSAS 18001 adoption has a negative impact on the company's ROA performance. Originality/value: Because of the increasing fashion customers' attention on the occupational health and safety (OHS) issues on personal goods, such as fashion, apparel and beauty products, major fashion brands and retailers often require their suppliers to implement a voluntary OHSMS, in order to avoid any OHS scandal, such as sweatshops and child labour. However, the impacts of OHSMS on fashion and textiles-related manufacturers have never been examined empirically. The paper provides the first empirical evidence of impacts of OHSAS 18001 on fashion and textiles-related companies' financial performances.Institute of Textiles and Clothin
Identifying and understanding the graduate attributes learning outcomes in a case study of community service experiential learning project
No full textExperiential learning has been increasingly adopted by universities worldwide as the means to develop students' graduate attributes. In this paper, the author investigated the learning outcomes that the type of graduate attributes can deliver in the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Sichuan reconstruction project. This project encompassed an experiential learning experience enabling students to serve the post-quake Sichuan community by applying their knowledge and skills. The author will explore how this community service type of experiential learning in the engineering discipline allowed students to experience deep learning and develop their graduate attributes. It is shown that most students dealt with authentic and unfamiliar challenges through group cooperation, and were able to reflect from the experience and act accordingly. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Exploring an experiential learning project through Kolb's Learning Theory using a qualitative research method
No full textExperiential learning pedagogy is taking a lead in the development of graduate attributes and educational aims as these are of prime importance for society. This paper shows a community service experiential project conducted in China. The project enabled students to serve the affected community in a post-earthquake area by applying their knowledge and skills. This paper documented the students' learning process from their project goals, pre-trip preparations, work progress, obstacles encountered to the final results and reflections. Using the data gathered from a focus group interview approach, the four components of Kolb's learning cycle, the concrete experience, reflection observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation, have been shown to transform and internalise student's learning experience, achieving a variety of learning outcomes. The author will also explore how this community service type of experiential learning in the engineering discipline allowed students to experience deep learning and develop their graduate attributes. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.link_to_subscribed_fulltex
Professional Development and Quality Assurance in Teaching and Learning for Hong Kong Higher Education
No full textThis chapter gives a detailed summary of how teaching and learning is supported and enhanced in Hong Kong universities. It begins by providing a history of professional development and the challenges in higher education around the world and how Hong Kong institutions adapted to these changes and reforms in higher education. The government of Hong Kong plays a major role in the quality assurance and enhancement of teaching and learning in higher education as the eight-major universities are publicly funded by the government. The functions and structure of how the universities in Hong Kong support teaching and learning are explained and the author provides an account of the current situation in some of the universities in Hong Kong
Sustainability risk in supply bases : the role of complexity and coupling
Get PDF202208 bcfcAccepted ManuscriptOthersThis research was supported by the Specialized Subsidy Scheme for Macao Higher Education Institutions in the Area of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences of the Higher Education Fund, Macau SAR. This research was partly supported by Monash University. The project was supported by the funding by the Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityPublishedGreen (AAM
The impact of culture, discipline and unguided instruction in problem-based learning approach
No full textProblem-based learning (PBL) is a learning process driven by challenging, authentic open-ended problems that encourages cooperative and student centred learning. In the past few decades, educational researchers (Alavi, 1995; LLoyd, 1999; Barrows et al, 1980; Boud and Feletti, 1991; Hmelo-Silver et al, 2007) have established PBL as “the” pedagogical instructional strategy for professional disciplines such as Medicine, Dentistry and Engineering. They believe that PBL is the answer to deep motivated learning and at the same time, provides students the opportunity to broadening skills such as critical thinking, creativity, life long learning, leadership, collaborative skills and others. Given that soft skills are now considered to be the ‘x-factors’ by employers (Chan, 2008), even beyond having excellent academic discipline knowledge, educators are now trying to identify appropriate teaching approaches which can align the learning outcomes of both discipline knowledge and soft skills. And PBL seems to be a welcoming tool. However, the effectiveness of PBL from educational researchers has generated two puzzling and debatable questions. If this small group, self-directed PBL is so great for learning, why isn't every educational practitioner doing it (Kirschner, 2006; Fenwick and Parsons, 1998)? But consequently there must be something compellingly effective about problem-based learning, given the level of faculty interest in it all through higher education (Margetson, 1991; Schmidt et al, 2007; Hmelo-Silver et al, 2007). In this study, we provide ten case evidences on problem-based learning in various professional disciplines namely Medicine, Engineering, Dentistry and Science from educational researchers and educational practitioners in Ireland and in Hong Kong. These evidences will demonstrate if culture, discipline and unguided instruction approach experience of educational practitioners actually affect the effectiveness of PBL. The paper discusses the pre-college learning culture in Ireland and in Hong Kong in order to fully understand these evidences. The evidences were generated by qualitative in-depth interviews with educational practitioners in both countries. And the data were analysed case by case to determine the effectiveness of the PBL in terms of the three elements - culture, discipline and unguided instruction approach experience. The perception and reflection of individual practitioners were also analysed as it was important to find out the practitioners’ beliefs, knowledge and experience on PBL. Out of the ten educational practitioners interviewed, four of them were also educational researchers who have received formal training on learning and teaching in Higher Education as well as the respective professional disciplines. Thus the results were rather compelling. Finally, the author correlates the learning theories of problem-based learning to the theories of cognitive load (Sweller, 1998) and expert competence (Bransford et al, 2000; Mayer, 2003; Weiman et al, 2005) with evidences from literature reviews in order to further explore the effectiveness of problem-based learning as a deep learning approach
Informal Instructional Design to Engage and Retain Students in Engineering
No full textUniversities in US, Australia and Europe have been working explicitly and in focused ways to arrive at an understanding of issues relating to student underperformance, student retention and academic success in engineering and science disciplines. More importantly, they have been introducing interventions in the curriculum and instructional design that attempted to provide more support for students based on these issues. However, despite these efforts and extensive researches on the topic, student withdrawal rates are still on the rise and for some programme disciplines, the retention rate is at a point where the programmes are in danger of closure. In this paper, the author will present ideas for a retention strategy model to engage students in the curriculum by investigating students who withdrew in a five-year period. It will also present some informal instructional approaches. The model takes into account the root of the problem at any one time which is essential for designing successful approaches to student retention and engagement. Evidences will be cross-examined through literature reviews, data from students who have withdrew and interviews with academic tutors
"A Symbol of the New African": Drum magazine, popular culture and the formation of black urban subjectivity in 1950s South Africa.
No full textPhDThis thesis examines the emergence of black urban subjectivity in South Africa
during the 1950s, focussing on the ways in which popular American genres were
utilised in the construction of black urban identities that served as a means of
resistance to apartheid. At the centre of this process was Drum magazine:
founded in South Africa in 1951 , it became the largest selling magazine on the
African continent in 1956. Drum's success was due to the way in which it
enabled the relocation of black identity from the "traditional" towards the
"modern'. The 1940s gave rise to widespread migration of black South Africans
from rural to urban areas and this newly urbanised community was seeking
models of black urban identity. Yet the Nationalist government was attempting
to curtail the emergence of a black urban proletariat, which posed a threat to
white political supremacy. Through apartheid legislation black identity was
constructed as essentially tribal and rural. As a means of resisting this, urbanised
black South Africans turned to, and appropriated, readily available forms of
American culture. Drum published Americanised images and stories: gangsters,
black detectives, black comic heroes, and pulp romances. This popular material
appeared alongside some of the finest investigative journalism ever published.
While Drum magazine is widely acknowledged as having provided a platform
for the emergence of black South African writing in English, its popular content
has been dismissed by critics as apolitical escapism, imitation and capitulation to
American culture. This thesis challenges the dismissal of the popular that has
dominated analyses of Drum since the 1960s, arguing that such a position denies
the agency of local writers and audiences. My analysis reveals that American
forms were adopted in critically discerning ways and chosen for their ability to
convey local meaning and create positions from which to resist aparthei
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