Showing papers by "City University of Hong Kong published in 1994"

Cultural Differences in Conducting Intra- and Inter-Cultural Negotiations: A Sino-Canadian Comparison

Abstract: A study on conflict resolution strategies of Canadian and Chinese (Peoples Republic of China) executives was conducted. Responses to two types of joint project conflicts—task-related and person-related with potential partners from their own culture or from the other culture—were examined. Neither group of executives altered its strategy when negotiating across cultures. Chinese executives were more likely to avoid conflicts but recommended more negative strategies (discontinue negotiation; withdraw negotiation) when conflict emerged. Person-related conflicts were found to generate more negative responses than task-related conflicts, especially for Chinese executives. Both Canadian and Chinese executives preferred to negotiate with Canadians than with Chinese.

Good news, bad news and international spillovers of stock return volatility between Japan and the U.S.

Abstract: We study the joint dynamics of overnight and daytime return volatility for the Nikkei Stock Average in Tokyo and the Standard and Poor's 500 Stock Index in New York over the recent 1988–92 period. We extend the GARCH framework of Engle (1982) and Bollerslev (1986) to allow for asymmetric effects of negative (“bad news”) and positive (“good news”) foreign market returns shocks for volatility. Our evidence demonstrates that the magnitude and persistence of shocks originating in New York or Tokyo that transmit to the other market are significantly understated if this asymmetric effect is ignored. Implications for pricing of securities within those markets, for hedging and other global trading strategies and for regulatory policies within these financial markets are also discussed.

Hot-carrier effects in thin-film fully depleted SOI MOSFET's

Abstract: Previous conflicting reports concerning fully depleted SOI device hot electron reliability may result from overestimation of channel electric field (E/sub m/). Experimental results using SOI MOSFET's with body contacts indicate that E/sub m/ is just a weak function of thin-film SOI thickness (T/sub si/ and that E/sub m/ can be significantly lower than in a bulk device with drain junction depth (X/sub j/) comparable to SOI's T/sub si/. The theoretical correlation between SOI MOSFET's gate current and substrate current are experimentally confirmed. This provides a means (I/sub G/) of studying E/sub m/ in SOI device without body contacts. Thin-film SOI MOSFET's have better prospects for meeting breakdown voltage and hot-electron reliability requirements than previously thought. >

Seasonal pattern in volatility in Asian stock markets

Abstract: Using the Levene test, it is found that there exist day-of-the-week variations in volatility in most of the emerging Asian stock markets. Monday returns, in general, have the lowest volatility for all the emerging Asian markets except Korea. Three of the five markets that have significant day-of-the-week effect in volatility have the lowest volatility on the last trading day of the week. It is also found that the close-market effect is not a good explanation of the volatility pattern across day-of-the-week.

Nondestructive detection of defects in miniaturized multilayer ceramic capacitors using digital speckle correlation techniques

Abstract: The novel application of a digital speckle correlation method (DSCM) was demonstrated for the in situ and nondestructive detection of cracks in small objects such as multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLC's) in surface mount printed circuit assemblies. A combined DSCM and double lens optical arrangement was employed for the measurement of minute surface deformations in MLC's. An improved cross algorithm instead of the original full-field search method was developed based on the unimodal character of the DSCM and reduced the operation time by an order of magnitude without sacrificing the measuring accuracy. The internal cracks in MLC's that contributed to the thermal displacements on the MLC surface after the electrical loading could be uniquely identified using this improved DSCM. This technique was found to be extremely sensitive to the presence of internal cracks in MLC's of different sizes ("1206", "0805", "0603", and "0402") created by thermal shock and has been shown to be more reliable and user-friendly than other conventional nondestructive techniques. A resolution of better than 20 nanometers in surface deformation measurements is achieved within 0.01 pixel resolution. The location and the size of defects, as obtained from the DSCM, correlate well with destructive physical analyses and surface temperature variation analyses performed on the respective samples. >

Dependency Grammar and the Parsing of Chinese Sentences

Abstract: Dependency Grammar has been used by linguists as the basis of the syntactic components of their grammar formalisms. It has also been used in natural language parsing. In China, attempts have been made to use this grammar formalism to parse Chinese sentences using corpus-based techniques. This paper reviews the properties of Dependency Grammar as embodied in four axioms for the well-formedness conditions for dependency structures. It is shown that allowing multiple governors as done by some followers of this formalism is unnecessary. The practice of augmenting Dependency Grammar with functional labels is also discussed in the light of building functional structures when the sentence is parsed. This will also facilitate semantic interpretation.

The Aftermarket Performance of Initial Public Offerings in Korea

Abstract: In this paper, we empirically investigate Korean initial public offerings (IPOs) to provide one case of the international evidence on the long-run performance of IPOs. Our sample consists of 169 firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange during the period 1985–1989. Unlike previous international evidence, our results reveal that the Korean IPOs outperform seasoned firms with similar characteristics. Much of the overperformance, however, takes place during the first month of seasoning and the long-run performance of Korean IPOs exclusive the first month of seasoning is not statistically different from that of seasoned firms. Our results also suggest that the existing theories on the long-run performance (Miller (1977) and Shiller (1990)) do not apply to the case of Korean IPOs. Finally, we find that the deregulation of June 1988 had a mixed impact on the aftermarket performance of Korean IPOs. It reduced the degree of initial underpricing but had no impact on IPOs' long-run performance.

Return and Risk Premium Seasonalities in three Emerging Asian Markets: Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan*

Abstract: In this study, we find that seasonal return patterns differ from that implied by risk premiums in three emerging Asian markets; namely, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. Positive January seasonal returns are found in the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets, while positive February seasonal returns are also found in Taiwan. These findings suggest that investors should place their money in these markets during January but not for the months of June and December in Korea, and for the months of May and November in Taiwan. Corporate managers should also be aware of the need to adjust for such seasonal variations when they use market data to evaluate the risk premium or required rate of return for projects in these markets. The results also show that the size effect may also be priced in some of these markets.

A framework of decision support systems (DSS) for agile enterprises

Abstract: Meeting agreed customer requirements is a prime objective in this highly competitive business world. Therefore, companies have been trying different ways to eliminate redundant tasks so as to make their operations "lean" and "agile". In an agile enterprise, the correct interpretation of and the prompt response to the "voice of customers" would require an effective decision making mechanism. This paper explains the design and modelling of a decision support framework which employs a hybrid approach to tackle various operating problems in the manufacturing industry. A case study describing how such a model could be used to handle customer enquiries is quoted to illustrate the concept and characteristics of the proposed system. >

Effective mass of omega meson and NNω interaction at finite temperature and density

Abstract: By means of the thermofield dynamical theory, the effective mass of omega meson is calculated by summing the bubble diagrams. It is found that the formula for the effective mass of the [rho] meson can also be used to describe the [omega] meson in the low density region, but the parameter [ital n] and the critical temperature [ital T][sub [ital c]] depend on the density. The temperature and density dependence of one omega exchage potential of nucleon-nucleon interaction are given. The conjecture of Brown and Rho about the effective masses of mesons is discussed.

The Impact of Audit Committee and Client Financial Condition on Bankers' Loan Decisions

Abstract: This study investigated the effects of audit committee and client financial condition on bankers' loan decision-making. Using 44 bankers as subjects, the results suggest that the existence of an audit committee increased the likelihood of bankers' approving a loan. Partial analyses of the sub-groups suggest that when the client was in poor financial condition, there was a marginally significant relationship between loan approval and the existence of an audit committee. The paper also suggests that loanable funds of a bank are most importantly rationed not by interest rate as a price but by the creditworthiness of the loan applicant. As such, frequencies of loan approvals is a more powerful measure of the bankers' loan decisions than interest rate premium.

The Role of External Technology Acquisition in Product Development: Attitude‐Behaviour Inconsistency Among Small Firms

Abstract: For many small firms, buying technology through licensing has long been regarded as a major route to successful new product development. However, little research aimed at comparing the attitudes of small firms towards buying technology through licensing has been conducted. Using both univariate and multivariate analysis, this article reports an empirical study comparing the characteristics and perceptions of 81 Australian licensee and 107 nonlicensee small firms towards buying technology from international nonaffliated firms. Surprisingly, small nonlicensee firms are found to scan international technology developments more than their licensee counterparts. In addition, whereas nonlicensee firms have higher perceptions of the costs of technology licensing than licensees, paradoxically they also appear to have higher perceived benefits than licensees. Based of this inconsistency between attitude and behavior four types of firms are proposed — active/satisfied licensees, passive/dissatisfied licensees, potential licensees and nonlicensee firms. Theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed.

The Role of Financial Variables in the Pricing of Korean Initial Public Offerings

Abstract: Using a sample of 260 initial public offerings (IPOs) listed on the Korea Stock Exchange during the January 1985 – March 1990 period, this paper investigates the role of information disclosed through the prospectus in the new issues market. The evidence indicates that the market price is significantly affected by financial variables, such as earnings per share, offer size, industry-wide prospects, and offer type. The inclusion of potential signalling variables does not increase the explanatory power and predictive ability of the model. We also find that the market price is more closely associated with these financial variables after the 1988 liberalization of Korean IPO pricing than it was before. This study, therefore, highlights the importance of financial variables contained in the offering prospectus for the pricing of IPOs in the new issues market where information is scarce.

Endogeneity bias in beta estimation: Thailand and Hong Kong

Abstract: This paper shows that the OLS estimates for beta in a small stock market are likely to be biased upward because of endogenous market returns. Applying the Hausman test to the monthly stock return data for Thailand and Hong Kong, we find the OLS estimates inconsistent. The OLS estimates are larger than the consistent estimates obtained by the instrumental method. This confirms our expectation that the OLS estimates are biased upward.

Training software engineering professionals in Hong Kong, and the approach of 1997

Abstract: This reviews the steps being taken in Hong Kong to make the recognition of engineers independent of Britain before the return of sovereignty to China in 1997. It outlines the process needed to achieve recognition at a standard which is acceptable to the leading international bodies in the English speaking world and predicts that local independence in applying this will be achieved during 1995. Software Engineering is discussed in the same light as any other discipline within the general framework of engineering. It shows that, despite being a relative new-comer to the processes of granting professional recognition, and not having developed an extended experience of accrediting software engineering courses or post-graduate training facilities, it may take a lead in the process of gaining international recognition. >

A Neural Network Model for Cost Estimation and Evaluation in Manufacturing

Abstract: In an enterprise, operating costs have always been regarded as a crucial factor governing its survival and prosperity. Costs can be considered as a common denominator of all business functions with which the effectiveness of a given operational unit can be measured. From a materials management viewpoint, being able to accurately estimate and evaluate a reasonable price for purchased or manufactured items would be a distinct advantage in this dynamic and competitive business world. This paper discusses the principles of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and its applications in manufacturing decision making. Details of the development, training and verification of a working Neural Network Model based on the authors' recent collaboration with an electronic products manufacturer in estimating and evaluating the purchase prices for electronic components are dealt with in depth. Different network architectures and configurations were experimented with due considerations of the rate at which the output errors converged and the actual elapsed time taken to reach a specified level of accuracy. The effects of altering the network parameters and other run time variables were analysed at different stages of training, and as a result, appropriate adjustments and fine tunings were made to the system accordingly. The ultimate model configuration has been proved capable of estimating and evaluating the prices of the chosen series of electronic components with over 80% accuracy.

Product Liability in the United Kingdom

Abstract: The author has mixed views on product liability, which whilst giving justice to some consumers depends of the forensic lottery and the ‘good fortune’ of being injured by the product of a solvent producer. Yet he argues that the EC directive and its UK implementation are far from perfect and are in need of reassessment in 1995.

A Linguistic Investigation of Aphasic Chinese Speech

Abstract: This book represents one of the first detailed studies of speech output of Mandarin Chinese aphasics following brain damage. It deserves much attention from neuropsychologists and linguists alike, given the fact that theories in aphasiology have been developed largely based on languages spoken in western Europe, and the increasing acceptance of the view that data from the aphasic population can provide valuable information to formal linguistic analyses. In this review, I will first summarize each chapter in the book, and then comment on the main theses of this work. In Chapter 1, Packard lays down the objectives of the investigation, all motivated by the structural differences between Chinese and languages to which previous aphasic research has been restricted. Among these differences, the most significant is the contrast in morphological processes. Chinese, compared to western European languages, has little in the way of inflectional morphology. An interesting question arises concerning how Broca’s aphasia and agrammatism are manifest in Chinese, given that an inflectional deficit is a defining characteristic of non-fluent aphasias. Furthermore, Chinese is a tone and topic prominent language; thus, findings from this investigation are bound to provide a new and broader perspective on aphasic disorders, and constitute grounds for a proposal of aphasia syndrome diagnostics for Chinese. In addition to its potential contribution to aphasia, this study, Packard believes, will shed light on issues in Chinese grammatical structure. The chapter ends with the author stating the theoretical assumption underlying this research that the language system is composed of a set of functionally independent components (e.g., phonological, lexical, syntactic), namely, the modularity hypothesis. Chapter 2 provides a brief but adequate description of Mandarin grammar. It is largely descriptive in nature except for the author’s view on the morphological processes in the language. Drawing on the theory of Lexical Phonology and Morphology (LPM), Packard proposes that the lexicon can be stratified into four levels, with level I being the “deepest”. The assignment of word formation rules to these levels is based on the criterion of productivity including word formation productivity and the propensity to accept affixation (Packard, 1990). Words with no discernable internal structure, exocentric complex words, and non-productive resultatives belong to lexical level I. Level I1 contains regular nominal and resultative verb compounding, the resultative verb interfixation process, and the affixation of nominal suffixes such as -zi, -I’ and -toil. Level 111 contains all regular and stative verb compounding processes, as well as the