Showing papers by "City University of Hong Kong published in 1997"
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04 Feb 1997TL;DR: This comprehensive guide, which covers all major issues in the field, presents cross-cultural methodology in a practical light and discusses the design and analysis of quasi-experiments - the dominant framework for cross- cultural research.
Abstract: This book gives an up-to-date overview of methodological and data-analytical issues of cross-cultural studies. Written by leading experts in the field, it presents the most important tools for doing cross-cultural research and outlines design considerations, methods, and analytical techniques that can improve ecological validity and help researchers to avoid pitfalls in cross-cultural psychology. By focusing on the relevant research questions that can be tackled with particular methods, it provides practical guidance on how to translate conceptual questions into decisions on study design and statistical techniques. Featuring examples from cognitive and educational assessment, personality, health, and intercultural communication and management, and illustrating key techniques in feature boxes, this concise and accessible guide is essential reading for researchers, graduate students, and professionals who work with culture-comparative data.
2,172 citations
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30 Oct 1997TL;DR: This chapter discusses decision problems and Complexity over a Ring and the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra: Complexity Aspects.
Abstract: 1 Introduction.- 2 Definitions and First Properties of Computation.- 3 Computation over a Ring.- 4 Decision Problems and Complexity over a Ring.- 5 The Class NP and NP-Complete Problems.- 6 Integer Machines.- 7 Algebraic Settings for the Problem "P ? NP?".- 8 Newton's Method.- 9 Fundamental Theorem of Algebra: Complexity Aspects.- 10 Bezout's Theorem.- 11 Condition Numbers and the Loss of Precision of Linear Equations.- 12 The Condition Number for Nonlinear Problems.- 13 The Condition Number in ?(H(d).- 14 Complexity and the Condition Number.- 15 Linear Programming.- 16 Deterministic Lower Bounds.- 17 Probabilistic Machines.- 18 Parallel Computations.- 19 Some Separations of Complexity Classes.- 20 Weak Machines.- 21 Additive Machines.- 22 Nonuniform Complexity Classes.- 23 Descriptive Complexity.- References.
1,594 citations
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TL;DR: This article will argue that speakers of Chinese learning second language English establish mental representations for English which involve pronominal binding rather than operator movement, suggesting that this divergence from native-speaker representations is an effect of the inaccessibility of features of functional categories in second language acquisition.
Abstract: A number of studies in the research literature have proposed that Universal Grammar (UG) is partially available to adult second language learners. Attempts to provide a syntactic characterization of that partial availability have only recently begun to appear, however. In this article we will argue that speakers of Chinese (a language without wh-operator movement in overt syntax) learning second language English (a language with wh-operator movement in overt syntax) establish mental representations for English which involve pronominal binding rather than operator movement. It will be suggested that this divergence from native-speaker representations is an effect of the inaccessibility of features of functional categories in second language acquisition, what we will refer to as the ‘failed functional features hypothesis’. Implications are drawn from the findings for the syntactic characterization of accessibility to UG more generally in second language acquisition.
676 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe a classroom research project to investigate whether authentic materials increase the classroom motivation of learners, a claim often made but rarely, if ever, tested, and a definition of motivation relevant to teachers was adopted-learner interest, persistence, attention, action and enjoyment.
Abstract: This article describes a classroom research project to investigate whether authentic materials increase the classroom motivation of learners, a claim often made but rarely, if ever, tested. A definition of motivation relevant to teachers was adopted-learner interest, persistence, attention, action, and enjoyment. Two beginner-level EFL classes participated, and both used authentic and artificial materials alternately. Results from two observation sheets and a self-report questionnaire indicate that while on-task behaviour and observed motivation increased significantly when authentic materials were used, self-reported motivation only increased over the last 12 of the 20 days of the study. However, learners also reported authentic materials to be significantly less interesting than artificial materials.
446 citations
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01 Oct 1997TL;DR: In this paper, the U-slot patch on a foam substrate of about 0.08/spl lambda/thick was designed to attain 20-30% impedance as well as gain bandwidth.
Abstract: Experimental and simulation results are presented on the coaxially fed rectangular patch antenna with a U-shaped slot. Experimental results include impedance bandwidth, copolar- and crosspolar-pattern characteristics and gain measurements. Simulation results are obtained mainly through the development of a FDTD code. It is found that the U-slot patch on a foam substrate of about 0.08/spl lambda/ thick can be designed to attain 20-30% impedance as well as gain bandwidths without the need of parasitic patches on another layer or on the same layer. The far-field patterns have good copolar and crosspolar characteristics. By altering the patch width or feed position, the wideband characteristic can be changed into a dual-frequency characteristic. Simulation results are in good agreement with measurements.
413 citations
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TL;DR: This paper identified job self-efficacy as a moderating variable that may determine whether job control contributes positively or negatively to coping with work stressors, and suggested that efforts to improve job selfefficacy may be as important to reducing the cardiovascular consequences of job stress as efforts to enhance control.
Abstract: This study identifies job self-efficacy as a moderating variable that may determine whether job control contributes positively or negative to coping with work stressors. Data from two samples (health professionals and an occupationally diverse group) demonstrated similar interactions between demands, control, and self-efficacy predicting blood pressure. These results may reconcile the previous inconsistent and largely method-bound support for Karasek's job demands-control model and suggest that efforts to improve job self-efficacy may be as important to reducing the cardiovascular consequences of job stress as efforts to enhance control.
400 citations
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TL;DR: The authors compared the expression of doubt and certainty in the examination scripts of 900 Cantonese speaking school leavers writing in English with those of 770 British learners of similar age and educational level, and found that these L2 writers differ significantly from the NSs in relying on a more limited range of items, offering stronger commitments, and exhibiting greater problems in conveying a precise degree of certainty.
398 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine two dimensions of firms' foreign market entry strategy: mode of entry and formation of alliances, and propose a model that describes how host country-, home country, and industry-specific factors affect foreign firms' decisions on how they enter the market and whether they will enter with a partner firm or not.
Abstract: This study examine two dimensions of firms' foreign market entry strategy: mode of entry and formation of alliances. Based on the existing literature, we propose a model that describes how host country-, home country- and industry-specific factors affect foreign firms' decisions on how they enter the market and whether they will enter with a partner firm or not. The model also describes how operation-related factors, i.e., the location and the level of local government, affect these decisions. Seven major hypotheses were tested using a longitudinal sample of 2,998 foreign business activities in China between 1979 and 1993. Our sample consists of foreign investing firms from the U.S., Europe, Japan, and other Asian countries. By choosing China as a host country, the study offers insights into how firms of different regional groups adapted their strategies to a changing host environment.
326 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the association between free cash flow (FCF) and audit fees and found that the positive FCF/audit fees association is weaker for low growth firms with high debt than for similar firms with low debt.
307 citations
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TL;DR: A base-level hypothesis for learning from concordances is proposed, that a computer concordance might simulate and potentially rationalize off-line vocabulary acquisition by presenting new words in several contexts.
263 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the microstructural changes of nano-SnO2 have been systematically studied using x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, and two major Raman peaks N-1 and N-2 in accordance with Matossi's force constant model have been found.
Abstract: The microstructural changes of nano-SnO2 have been systematically studied using x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The nano-SnO2 grain assemblage possesses some features of the rutile structure, but has a large amount of defects: vacancies of oxygen, vacancy clusters, and local lattice disorder at the interface and interior surface, which lead to a significant lattice distortion and an evident space-symmetry reduction of D-4h(14) and the appearance of a group of new Raman peaks. Two major Raman peaks N-1 and N-2 in accordance with Matossi's force constant model have been found. When the annealing temperature is close to 673 K, the density of vacant lattice sires and local lattice disorders decreased rapidly in the grains, and the lattice distortion and Raman peaks N-1 and N-2 almost disappeared at the same time. It suggests that N-1 and N-2 are closely related to the microstructural change of the nanocluster grains, or in other words, N-1 and N-2 peaks mark an additional characteristic of space symmetry of the grain assemblage of nano-SnO2. The Raman peak N-3 may be related to local SnO2 clusters and vacancy clusters.
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TL;DR: This work suggests that checkers should be allowed to use stored randomness, and argues that such checkers could profitably be incorporated in software as an aid to efficient debugging and enhanced reliability.
Abstract: We review the field of result-checking, discussing simple checkers and self-correctors. We argue that such checkers could profitably be incorporated in software as an aid to efficient debugging and enhanced reliability. We consider how to modify traditional checking methodologies to make them more appropriate for use in real-time, real-number computer systems. In particular, we suggest that checkers should be allowed to use stored randomness: that is, that they should be allowed to generate, preprocess, and store random bits prior to run-time, and then to use this information repeatedly in a series of run-time checks. In a case study of checking a general real-number linear transformation (e.g., a Fourier Transform), we present a simple checker which uses stored randomness, and a self-corrector which is particularly efficient if stored randomness is employed.
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TL;DR: In this article, a miniature aperture-coupled microstrip antenna of very high permittivity designed at 1.66 GHz is described, where superstrates of appropriate thickness are added on the substrate for gain enhancement.
Abstract: A miniature aperture-coupled microstrip antenna of very high permittivity designed at 1.66 GHz is described. Superstrates of appropriate thickness are added on the substrate for gain enhancement. Its size is dramatically reduced and the electrical performance remains almost the same as compared with the conventional microstrip antenna of low dielectric constant. Experimental data for the return loss, radiation pattern and measured antenna gain are presented to validate the design.
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TL;DR: In this paper, an empirical study was carried out to ascertain the role of demographics in determining ecological purchase commitment and the moderating role of consumer demographic characteristics and product involvement on the value-attitude-behaviour relationship in the context of health food consumption.
Abstract: Despite previous research efforts on mapping the demographic profile of a general conserving consumer, a review on the ecological concern literature shows that previous studies had limited success in explaining the social basis of ecological behaviour. An empirical study was carried out to ascertain the role of demographics in determining ecological purchase commitment. It examines the moderating role of consumer demographic characteristics and product involvement on the value-attitude-behaviour relationship in the context of health food consumption. The general pattern of findings supports the primary thesis of the research that the effect of collectivist orientation and ecological attitude on ecological commitment depends on the nature of the targeted consumer group. Essentially, people who are male, those who earn high income, and people who have high involvement in the health food category, engage in more extensive green-product-related information search, and purchase green products more fre...
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied long-run stock returns and the operating performance of 180 initial public offerings (IPOs) listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange during the 1971-1992 period.
Abstract: This paper studies long-run stock returns and the operating performance of 180 initial public offerings (IPOs) listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange during the 1971–1992 period. The aftermarket downward drift is not only confirmed but also found to be large in magnitude relative to a number of benchmarks. In contrast to evidence from the US, the post-issue deterioration in operating performance cannot be attributed to the reduced managerial ownership. This provides strong support for the ‘windows of opportunity’ explanation for the new issue puzzle by Loughran and Ritter (1995, 1996).
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TL;DR: In this article, the effect of international activities on capital structure as measured by a debt ratio was investigated using a sample of 18,495 observations from the Compustat Tape, and they found that the debt-equity ratio is negatively related to both bankruptcy costs and growth options.
Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of international activities on capital structure as measured by a debt ratio. Prior studies have examined factors that affect the debt ratio for both multinational corporations (MNCs) and domestic corporations (DCs); however, the incremental explanatory power and the direct effect of the extent of international activities on capital structure have not been tested. This paper uses multiple regression analyses to add measures of international activities after controlling for measures pertinent to both MNCs and DCs. Using a sample of 18,495 observations from the Compustat Tape, we find 1) consistent with results reported by prior studies, the debt-equity ratio is negatively related to both bankruptcy costs and growth options; 2) after controlling for bankruptcy costs and growth options, MNCs have lower debt-equity ratios than DCs; 3) within the MNCs, the debt-equity ratio is positively related to the degree of internationalization, and this calls for further investigation.
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TL;DR: Complexity theory of numerical analysis is the study of the number of arithmetic operations required to pass from the input to the output of a numerical problem.
Abstract: Complexity theory of numerical analysis is the study of the number of arithmetic operations required to pass from the input to the output of a numerical problem.
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TL;DR: The synthesis and surface immobilization of oligonucleotides are described together with an evaluation of electrochemical, optical and acoustic wave structures that have been employed in genosensor development.
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15 Jan 1997TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a comprehensive coverage of the techniques involved, describing the characteristics, advantages and constraints of GA, as well as discussing genetic operations such as crossover, mutation and reinsertion.
Abstract: The practical application of genetic algorithms (GA) to the solution of engineering problems is a rapidly emerging approach in the field of control engineering and signal processing. This tutorial provides a comprehensive coverage of the techniques involved, describing the characteristics, advantages and constraints of GA, as well as discussing genetic operations such as crossover, mutation and reinsertion. The intrinsic characteristics in term parallelism, multiobjective, and multimodal etc. are outlined. The features of this approach are illustrated by real-world applications. Also described is a newly proposed and unique hierarchical genetic algorithm designed to address the problem in determining system topology.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors test empirically the linkages between control, conflict, and performance using a sample of U.S.-Chinese joint ventures established in China during the period of 1979-1989.
Abstract: This study was designed to test empirically the linkages between control, conflict, and performance using a sample of U.S.-Chinese joint ventures established in China during the period of 1979–1989...
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TL;DR: Amorphous and crystalline nano-Al 2 O 3 powders were prepared by direct oxidation and hydrolysis of pure aluminum, respectively The results by XRD and DTA measurements revealed that after annealing at 1370 K, the evolution in the amorphous nano-A 2 o 3 powder involved a low temperature relaxation followed by a simple γ- to α-Al O 3 transition.
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TL;DR: The algorithm proposed provides a basis for exploring the integration of the simulated annealing technique with artificial intelligence, and interval algebra, and the possibility of placing different sizes of small rectangles or boxes on a larger rectangle (pallet) or container.
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TL;DR: In this article, the effect of the thickness of intermetallic compounds (IMC) on the fatigue failure of solder joints during thermal cycling has been studied and the results indicate that the fatigue lifetime of the solder joints depends on the thickness between IMC and bulk solder, and the relation of the lifetime to the thickness can be described as a monotonically decreasing curve.
Abstract: The effect of Cu-Sn intermetallic compounds (IMC) on the fatigue failure of solder joints during thermal cycling has been studied. The samples consist of components [leadless ceramic chip carrier (LCCC)] soldered onto FR-4 printed circuit board (PCB), and are prepared by conventional reflow soldering using a 63Sn-37Pb solder paste. The specimens are subjected to thermal cycling between -35/spl deg/C and 125/spl deg/C with a frequency of two cycles per hour until failure. The results indicate that the fatigue lifetime of the solder joints depends on the thickness of IMC's layer between Cu-pad and bulk solder, and the relation of the lifetime to the thickness can be described as a monotonically decreasing curve. The lifetime is very sensitive to the thickness of the IMC when the thickness is less than 1.4 /spl mu/m. During thermal cycling the thickness of the IMC layer increases and then the interface between IMC and solder becomes gradually flatter. The results of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis show that cracks propagate along the interface between the IMC layer and the solder joint. The Cu/sub 3/Sn (/spl epsiv/-phase) is also found to form between the Cu-pad and /spl eta/-phase during thermal cycling. On the basis of the above results, the thick and flattened IMC layer is shown to responsible for the fatigue failure of solder joint during thermal cycling. The results of this paper can be used to optimize the reflow soldering process for the fabrication of robust solder joints.
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TL;DR: This paper reviewed recent research into the acquisition of second language phonology and examined if and how these research findings are reflected in currently used pronunciation teaching materials, and made suggestions for the future production of materials that incorporate activities more fully addressing the communicative, psychological and sociological dimensions of pronunciation.
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TL;DR: This paper analyzed the performance of Japanese open-type stock mutual funds for the 1981-1992 period and found that most of the Japanese mutual funds underperform the benchmarks by between 3.6% and 10.8% per annum.
Abstract: We analyze the performance of Japanese opentype stock mutual funds for the 1981-1992 period. The results show that, regardless of the performance measures and benchmarks employed, most of the Japanese mutual funds underperform the benchmarks by between 3.6% and 10.8% per annum. These funds tend to invest more in large stocks with low book-to-market ratios. But this feature does not explain the underperformance. A potential explanation is the dilution effect caused by inflows offends. In Japan, a new investor of an open-type fund only pays in the after-tax value of the net asset value. We conduct a bootstrap experiment to assess the magnitude of this dilution effect. Article published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Financial Studies in its journal, The Review of Financial Studies.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the optimal pricing in a model where concession and aeronautical operations of an airport are considered together with an overall break-even constraint is examined. And the authors find that the optimum solution may require a subsidy from concession to aeronarial operations.
Abstract: In recent years airports have been under growing pressure to become financially self-sufficient and to pursue profit maximization in their non-aeronautical or concession operations. In this paper we examine the optimal pricing in a model where concession and aeronautical operations of an airport are considered together with an overall break-even constraint. We find that the optimum solution may require a subsidy from concession to aeronautical operations. However, such a cross-subsidy may or may not restore marginal-cost pricing on aeronautical operations. On the other hand, social welfare can be higher when an airport is allowed to make profits in concession operations than when marginal-cost pricing is imposed on concession operations.
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TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that the regular solutions of compressible Euler equations in R 3 with damping will not be global if the initial density function has compact support, which implies that c 2 cannot be smooth across the boundary Γ separating the gas and the vacuum after a finite time.
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TL;DR: A general model for constructing minimal length checking sequences employing a distinguishing sequence based on characteristics of checking sequences and a set of state recognition sequences is proposed.
Abstract: A general model for constructing minimal length checking sequences employing a distinguishing sequence is proposed. The model is based on characteristics of checking sequences and a set of state recognition sequences. Some existing methods are shown to be special cases of the proposed model and are proven to construct checking sequences. The minimality of the resulting checking sequences is discussed and a heuristic algorithm for the construction of minimal length checking sequences is given.
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TL;DR: A computational algorithm based on the multiquadric method has been devised to solve the biphasic mixture model as mentioned in this paper, which includes constitutive equations for the fluid flows through the solid phase; a set of momentum equations for stress-strain equilibrium and a continuity equation for the solid and fluid phases.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the current status of and the government policy towards airline alliances, discuss the effects of intercontinental alliances, and make some predictions on the future direction of alliance network formation.