Hong Kong parents' perceptions of the transference of food preparation skills

Food preparation skills among young adults are associated with healthy food choices, better diets and a greater likelihood of an independent, healthy adult life. This study conducted in Hong Kong aimed to investigate parents' perceptions of cooking skills; to explore the transference of cooking skills in the home setting; to identify parents' expectations regarding the transference of cooking skills; and to inform the development of educational initiatives for developing healthy eating habits. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect information of the subjects' cooking experience, attitudes about cooking skills, cooking habits at home, family meal habits, transference of cooking culture in the family and the factors influencing the choice of ingredients and cooking. It was administered to 1009 Hong Kong parents (of students aged between 11 and 18, studying in 15 secondary schools). The collected data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 12.0, SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and cross‐tabulation analyses were used to compare the responses of the parents by gender, employment status and income. The results show that parents valued cooking as important life skills for both boys and girls. Parents generally perceived their cooking skills either good (41.9%) or mediocre (54.5%), yet children are rarely taught these skills in the home. Family meals prepared primarily with fresh ingredients are still an important part of the daily routine, and mothers are dominating the roles in food choice decision, cooking and buying the ingredients for family meals. Mothers and schools are expected to be the major channel to teach children cooking skills. Findings suggest that parents are well‐disposed towards providing food and nutrition education at home, but need more support (50% reported that home should be a primary support for learning cooking skills; 36% indicated that the school should have a responsibility to teach children to cook starting in elementary school). Schools may do well to collaborate with families in food literacy education initiatives. Developing individuals' cooking skills paves the way for long‐term health benefits and the well‐being of the local population.     

日本天基测控通信网数据中继与跟踪卫星系统的体系结构及特性

外资并购是我国国有经济进行战略性调整的重要途径,而当前我国资本市场不完全,制约了外资并购的步伐。资本市场的适度国际化是推进外资并购的重要条件。     

高动态临近空间飞行器海上组网测控方案设计

为解决高动态临近空间飞行器海上测控对测量船数量需求较多、现有船队规模无法满足的难题,在分析测控需求特点的基础上,提出了一种基于测量船与临近空间飞艇组网测控的新模式。结合近中程、远程飞行试验分别进行了测控总体方案设计,并讨论了海上组网测控需要研究的关键技术。相关研究对我国后续开展高动态临近空间飞行器海上测控系统建设具有一定的参考价值。     

网络导向与新创企业绩效关系:一个综合模型

基于合法性视角,探讨网络导向与新创绩效之间的关系,提出网络导向在内、外部合法性的中介效应下对新创企业绩效具有积极作用。此外,在现有研究基础上构建网络导向、合法性与新创企业绩效研究模型,为后续实证研究提供参考。     

Fan-centric social media: The Xiaomi phenomenon in China

In this highly competitive century, social media offers both opportunities and challenges. The concept of social media is top of mind for many entrepreneurs today. Fans are assuming an increasingly active role in co-creating marketing content with companies and their respective brands. Based on the Xiaomi success story in China, we provide a framework for building the power of the fan base and propose a new fan-centric social media business model. We examine the best practice case study of an emerging company's successful efforts to leverage social media in order to reach an important audience of young consumers. Thereafter, we conclude with several lessons related to the integration of social media into a new firm's operation strategy. We strongly recommend that businesses, and especially startups, make good use of powerful social media to develop a business model with fan demand as the core. This is what we call the ‘fan-centric’ social media business model.     

Using social and economic incentives to discourage Chinese suppliers from product adulteration

The American public raised serious concerns about product safety in 2007, when the number of product recalls broke a new record. Following a temporary drop in 2008, both the number and retail value of recalled units have been increasing, despite various efforts exerted by government agencies and private companies to combat this trend. Currently, many countries—including China itself—are expressing serious concern over adulterated or unsafe food made or sold in China. What are the underlying reasons for some Chinese suppliers to adulterate product? When law enforcement is still weak in China, what can western manufacturers do to reduce the risk of product adulteration? To develop effective deterrence mechanisms, we first identify four underlying factors that create incentives for some Chinese suppliers to produce unsafe products. Then we propose ideas to discourage Chinese suppliers from producing adulterated products based on two underlying strategies: (1) creating economic incentives through contingent payments, and (2) creating a social incentive by threatening public exposure through the power of the Internet and social networking sites.     

弹群组网应用与关键技术

随着弹药技术及网络技术的快速发展,弹群组网作战系统作为未来作战体系中的重要角色受到了世界各国的高度关注。简要概述了国外弹群组网作战系统的发展趋势,并对弹群组网作战能力进行了定性分析;在此基础上,建立了基于多层面、多子网、同构与异构并存、有中心与无中心网络的弹群组网混合体系架构,并对其功能及特点进行了详细分析;对弹群组网作战系统亟待解决的关键技术进行了梳理,为其工程应用提供了理论参考。     

Towards an understanding of excel functional skills needed for a career in public accounting: Perceptions from public accountants and accounting students

Public accounting firms (e.g., Grant Thornton, 2012) are stressing an interest in recruiting accounting students with a proficiency in Excel. The purpose of this study is to investigate which Excel functions are perceived to be important and useful for new hires to understand prior to starting a job in public accounting. We collect survey data from four large public accounting firms as well as undergraduate and graduate accounting students (i.e., potential new hires) to gauge perceptions of Excel importance, knowledge, and usage in public accounting. We find that employees at the firms believe the most important Excel functions are: basic formula, filter and sort data, vertical (horizontal) lookup, formatting of documents, and If/Then statements. In a comparison of new hires at public accounting firms with accounting students, results suggest that accounting students underestimate the importance and usage of some of these Excel functions. In addition, results suggest that new hires’ perceived knowledge on how to use specific Excel functions in their accounting job is statistically different than students’ perceived knowledge on how to use some of the same Excel functions. Our research contributes to educational accounting literature by documenting which Excel functions employers in public accounting want new hires to know prior to starting a job in public accounting. Also, this research informs accounting educators that students’ perceptions are not the same as public accounting employers’ expectations with respect to analytical skills using Excel technology.     

高职院校素质教育存在的问题与对策研究

高职院校作为以培养技能型人才为主的高等院校,在国家人才培养体系中占有重要地位。高职院校在发展中还普遍存在重职业教育而轻素质教育的现象,在对素质教育的重要性认识、素质教育的环境建设、素质教育的方式方法、素质教育的职业性特点等方面还有诸多问题。因此,要从人才培养模式、课程体系设置、考核方法改进、管理队伍建设等多方面入手,将素质教育与职业教育有机融合,培养高素质技能型人才。     

Conceptualizing and validating organizational networking as a second-order formative construct

Based on an existing conceptualization in the literature, this study operationalizes the construct of organizational networking, through a rigorous two-stage scale construction and validation process. Organizational networking refers to firm behaviors, i.e. the activities/routines/practices, which enable an organization to make sense of and capitalize on their networks of direct and indirect business relationships. We conceptualize the measurement model as a second-order formative construct with four first-order reflective constructs based on a four-dimensional view of organizational networking comprising information acquisition, opportunity enabling, strong-tie resource mobilization and weak-tie resource mobilization. The scale validation was undertaken at the first- and second-order levels. The result confirms the four distinct first-order measurement models. At the second-order level, a MIMIC (multiple indicators and multiple causes) model was employed to assess the validity of the formative measurement model. The results suggest that all four components significantly contribute to the overarching construct of organizational networking, with strong-tie resource mobilization being the most important contributor. Thus, our operationalization confirms the uniqueness of the different dimensions of organizational networking that should be configured as a strategy of sensing and seizing opportunities in the network. The organizational networking scale will provide future research with a basis to explore different strategic patterns of networking behaviors in varying contexts, and its role in relation to other organizational behaviors and outcome variables, such as firm performance.