published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

This dissertation sheds light on the cultural significance of Yan Yuen Shek, a non man-made feature, and its relationship with the folk worship culture. Under the influence of prevailing legends probably fabricated after war, Yan Yuen Shek is often misunderstood as a contemporary cultural highlight. Actually, its cultural history could be traced back to the early colonial period as possible. Like other temples in the neighborhood, it had passed through different stages of temple development before it is incorporated into the present Lover’s Stone Garden. Based on the above, the author has some observations. First, folk worship could be manifested in various forms under different circumstances. The evolution from primitive, simple forms to extensive, elaborated forms would not be a linear path but with drawbacks at intervals. Conservationists should look beyond temples and pay equal attention to other less apparent objects. Second, the Lover’s Stone Garden is quite successful to upkeep the setting of Yan Yuen Shek as it was in 1970s but the regulations and planning intention behind the garden is not beneficial to sustain the intangible elements of Yan Yuen Shek, setting some possible constraints to its further enhancement. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

Ever since the 1841 arrival of British troops in Hong Kong have people decided staying in the city with rugged contours been finding solutions to face the geographical reality of the scarcity of land, whether are they European merchants or Chinese settlers. Public spaces that serve as a buffer and an extension to the private domain are of fundamental importance to the well-being of the people and the city. However in recent decades there is a prevailing trend to worship Western concept of public spaces such as squares and piazzas that were tailor-made to suit the habitual behavior of Europeans who and whose ancestors possess a strong culture of public living. The Western public spaces do not suit the mode of living of Chinese who are not used to exhibit themselves publicly and would prefer to stay close to their dwellings. The key issue addressed by this dissertation is that public spaces suiting the needs of Hong Kong people should learn from traditional urban public spaces for Chinese settlers who share if not identical, similar cultural background to us. Hong Kong Terraces that were formed by the British government to practically address the difficult circumstances of geographical, political and social factors are a valid example that has helped to solve the overcrowding problem and contributed to the history of the city. In other words, these are Hong Kong’s heritage public spaces that shall be treasured and learnt from. Given this, it is urgent to begin researching such spaces before they are erased from our sight. The dissertation will acknowledge Hong Kong Terraces as successful public spaces in Hong Kong, investigate the causes of formation, and identify their qualities with the illustration of several surviving cases. The research will provide alternative solutions and notes to the design of valid public spaces that shall help to improve Hong Kong urban life. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

Background Obesity is a global public health crisis. Obesity in adolescents tends to track into adulthood. Home dining is one of the preventive measures which can achieve some of the recommended factors that might protect against weight gain and obesity. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the correlates of home dinner, and the association between home dinner and weight status in Hong Kong adolescent. Methods All data used in this study was adopted from a local study done by the Hong Kong Student Obesity Surveillance (HKSOS) project 2006-2007. For the association between family meal frequency and weight status, multi-nominal logistic regression was used for analysis. For further analysis, significant (p<0.05) correlates and frequency of dining at home were set as independent and dependent variables, respectively. All correlates were adopted in multivariate logistic regression, resulting in crude and mutually adjusted odds ratios for frequency of dining at home. Results In total, 65.7% of subjects had dinner at home at least 4 times per week. More frequent dining at home ( 4 - 7 vs. 0 - 3 times per week ) was correlated with female sex, lower socioeconomic status, smoking, intact family structure, no full time job mothers and her parenting styles. Subjects who had dinner at home more frequently had higher consumption of cereals, vegetables, high fat food, and snack and soft drink. They also reported watching more TV during meals and a greater feeling of fullness after meals. Adolescents with more frequent home dining were 14% ( 95% CI: 0.06 to 0.20 ) less likely to be obese. Conclusions Statistically significant correlations of frequent home dinners with adolescents’ background characteristics and dietary habits were found. Adolescents who had more dinners at home were less likely to be obese. These findings need to be confirmed by prospective studies and interventional studies. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Urban decay is among the most urgent problems in Hong Kong today. There are more than 3,000 blocks of building are considered sub-standard and 110,000 families are living in these homes. Despite the Government's immense effort in undertaking its own renewal projects for many years, Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) was the earlier urban renewal agent whom was invited by the Government to undertake redevelopment in the urban areas. In light of the rapid ageing of Hong Kong' building stock during the last two decades, HKHS has further assisted the Government with its own resources and expertise by implementing a 10-year maintenance incentive named "Building Management and Maintenance Scheme" (BMMS) since 2005. The BMMS aims at encouraging property owners to improve safety and hygiene of their living environment, it is administrated by HKHS with the provision of professional advice and financial assistance for publicizing proper building management and timely maintenance. HKHS has exerted all its strength to promote the BMMS for seven years, the research is to gauge the effectiveness of HKHS for the achievement and shortcomings in the aspect of offering building maintenance incentives, particular in the launch of BMMS. The evaluation will focus on the three aspects, including the scheme performance, scheme design process and implementation process. An opinion survey was conducted in June 2012 for the data collection purpose and survey results correlates with the goals and objectives of the study are comprehensively discussed in Analysis I & II. The findings show the effectiveness of HKHS in offering building maintenance incentives much depends on what stage does the scheme undergo, whilst the BMMS in general is operated effectively to address the problem of urban decay, with the exception of running it at the outset of the scheme design stage. In the course of time, the recommendations pursuant to the weakness of the BMMS and the highlights in survey findings are drawn up at the end of the study, in order to make the building maintenance incentives more effectively in solving the urban decay problem. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

This research explores the current situation of the Sanitary Provision in medium to large shopping malls. It outlines the develop process on the Sanitary Provision Ratio in Hong Kong, the History, Development and the Current Situation. This research also studies how the relationships between sanitary provisions and the operation / performance of shopping malls. The research involves a review of relationship between the revenue or the customer satisfying rate and the sanitary provision. The researcher tries to make suggestions for sanitary provision in future shopping mall and compare the benefit with the falter reasons. The benefit is quantified to the revenue & customer service in particular shopping mall while comparing to the expense on offering a better sanitary provision facility. After the comparison, suggestions would be drawn on the form of sanitary provision in the future shopping mall in order to achieve a balance between Cost (extra installation on the sanitary provision) and Benefit (Good impression from the customer and Shopping Mall Revenue). / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Privatization refers to the shift of ownership of a property or service from the public sector to the private sector. It has often been used as a technique to increase the efficiency, release the costs of operations and generate income from selling off the assets. Privatizing the public properties will affect the society in different ways, both positively and negatively. There are many examples of privatization of public properties around the globe and in Hong Kong. For people in Hong Kong, privatizing the commercial properties of Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) by The Link Real Estate Investment Trust (The Link REIT) in November 2005 would be the latest and most well-known example of privatization of public properties and the case will be further studied in this research in order to find out the effects on the society which are caused by the privatization of public properties. The properties which are now owned by The Link REIT are divided into three groups according to their size, and one shopping centres will be picked randomly from each group. The nearest HKHA shopping centres to the three selected The Link REIT shopping centres will be picked as comparisons. Questionnaire, interviews and goods prices comparisons will take places in those shopping centres. Findings from the research have proved that there are different impacts on the shoppers and tenants of the privatized shopping centres when comparing to those shopping centres still owned by HKHA. Some of the differences are positive while some are negative. These differences mainly occur on the environment, property management, rent level and prices level. As expected, the management of The Link REIT shopping centres has better comment but the shoppers and tenants are not pleased with the prices level and rent level. On the other hand, the financial status of HKHA before and after The Link REIT's privatization has also been studied in this research and it proves that selling off the commercial properties to The Link REIT did help HK.HA to overcome the financial difficulty. It is believed that the negative impacts are the "side effect" of privatization which could not be really eliminated, but should be able to mitigate. Hence, several recommendations have been made which are mainly about improving the public relations between The Link REIT and the public as well as the way the company adjusts the rent level. ii / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Traditional Chinese architecture is one of the major historic building types in Hong Kong. Though the documentation on traditional Chinese building structure and form is extensive, the study on the decorative components is not as abundant. The deficiency is recognized particularly in timber components due to their high vulnerability to weather and fast deterioration under natural condition. Such situation is also observed in the design of traditional Chinese timber lattices in the partition doors and windows, which are regarded as unique artistic components in the traditional Chinese architecture. The objectives of the study are set to re-discover on the design, expression and associated cultural meanings of the traditional Chinese lattices in Hong Kong and its identity in the Lingnan context. Apart from being an artistic expression with high aesthetic value, the design of the lattice patterns and features are also recognized as symbolic means for the manifestation of collective and individual aspirations and beliefs of the people. They carry the hope for fortune, peace and longevity; and the influence of traditional Chinese thinking from Confucian and Taoist can also be traced. In the traditional Lingnan architecture, Hong Kong is closely related to its context, Guangzhou style. However variations in character of the local lattice design can still be found and the identity of Hong Kong is also to be sought. A field survey on the lattice design in the graded historic Chinese architecture in Hong Kong was carried out. As there is little research reference and the sampling is limited, the objective is set to establish a procedure for the collection of data for comparative analysis. By recording the results, finding out the characters and symbolic meanings, the associated intangible cultural significance can be established. The understanding of such intangible substances will be the essence for future conservation and the conserving of authenticity will rest on the inheritance of the intangible rather than the tangible form and material. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

Introduction: Influenza illness is considered to be associated with high mortality, morbidity and economic loss. Numerous studies and mathematical simulations are conducted to understand the disease pattern, transmission dynamics, and psychosocial response of the population; however, little is known about the health seeking behavior of patients after the onset of respiratory infection symptoms. Respiratory infections exert substantial burden on the health care system of Hong Kong, therefore in addition to detecting the disease early, it is necessary to understand health care utilization behavior of the population. This information will not only benefit to formulate public health policies, it will also improve the preparedness plan to deal with future pandemics. Objective: To examine the influence of factors such as gender, age, education and occupation on the health seeking behavior of Hong Kong citizens and to understand the magnitude of health care utilization by the patients with respiratory infections. Method: This study is based on the data from a large randomized controlled trial of 703 households comprising of 2,586 individuals. Bi-weekly telephone contact was established with these households to assess the health seeking behavioral response of the individuals with respiratory infection episodes separately for laboratory confirmed influenza, and two other clinically defined infection episodes that are influenza like illness (ILI) and acute respiratory infection (ARI) episodes. Descriptive analyses were performed to assess the health care utilization within various health care delivery institutions. Multivariable logistic regression models were applied to determine the association of demographic factors with the health seeking behavior of individuals with respiratory infection episodes. Fischer exact test was used to analyze the association of promptness of health care contact with ARI and ILI episodes. Multivariable logistic regression model was used to analyze the association of demographic factors of ILI patients with early health care contact. Results: The results showed that seeking health care varied by the severity of illness and characteristics of the patients/ parents. As compared with the patients of ARI (non-ILI) episodes, higher proportion of ILI patients sought medical care and among all the health care delivery systems, private health care delivery system was attended by majority of the patients. Individuals with ILI episodes more likely to seek health care were male patients by 66% (Crude OR 1.66; 95% CI 1.01-2.77), and children below 10 years by 219% (Crude OR 3.19; 95% CI 1.30-7.79). Within the group of laboratory confirmed influenza patients, adjusted odds ratio showed male patients 243% more likely to seek health care (Adjusted OR 3.43; 95% CI 1.01-11.63). Unemployed ILI adult patients were less likely to seek medical care (Crude OR 0.39; 95% CI 0.15-0.98), and employed ARI (non-ILI) patients were 52% more likely to attend medical care (Crude OR 1.52; 95% CI 1.10-2.08). Health care contact within 24 hours of onset of symptoms was significantly associated with ILI patients (OR 1.85; 95% CI 1.33-2.59; p-value 0.0003) showing that patients with febrile ARI were more likely to seek early health care rather than patients with afebrile ARI. Conclusion: The differences in the health seeking behavior demonstrated in this study indicate inequalities in the health care services utilization. Higher and earlier utilization of health care services by patients with ILI episodes during low influenza activity period might result in the overburdening of the health care system. In order to address these issues, policy makers should have a clear understanding of populations’ preventive and enabling factors to seek health care, perceptions of the risk of disease, self-care behaviors and health education levels. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Background: Weight misperceptions are common in adolescents and doctors’ advice may help clarify these misperceptions. Few studies have examined how common physicians assess various weight-related factors, including physical measurements, lifestyle factors, and obesity-related medical risks, based on adolescents’ reports and patient characteristics that predict such assessments. Physicians’ weight comments were associated with weight perception in overweight patients, however, such association was unclear in non-overweight adolescents. Objectives: The present study aimed to 1) examine how common adolescents received weight-related factors from private practitioners; 2) identify factors associated with these assessments; 3) assess how common adolescents received weight comments from private practitioners; 4) examine the association of body weight comments by private practitioners with weight perception in adolescents, intention to do more non-exercise physical activity (NEPA), and perceived risk of chronic disease for being overweight. Methods: In the Hong Kong Student Obesity Surveillance (HKSOS) project, 33692 students (44.9% boys; mean age 14.8, SD 1.9 years) from 42 randomly selected schools completed an anonymous questionnaire. The students were asked whether in the past 12 months any private practitioner (or their nurses) had assessed their height, weight, waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), diet, and physical activity. Students were also asked to report any weight status comments received from private practitioners. Perceived risk of chronic disease for being overweight and intention to do more NEPA were also reported. Weight status was based on self-reported weight and height. Multiple imputation was used to replace missing values. Logistic (or ordinal logistic) regression was used to assess the association between student characteristics and assessment of each weight-related factor, and the association of weight comments with adolescent weight perception, perceived risk of chronic disease, and intention to do more NEPA. Results: Among 13283 students who had doctor consultations in the past 12 months, 37.9% received physical measurements or lifestyle enquiries, with weight (20.8%), height (16.8%) and blood pressure (11.5%) being the most common, followed by diet (8.1%), BMI (6.3%), WC (4.6%), and physical activity (4.6%). In general, adolescents who were female, older, underweight or overweight/obese, had parents with higher education level, and had actively asked private practitioners for advice about weight were more likely to receive assessments of weight-related factors. Less than one-fifth (16.8%) of adolescents received height and weight or BMI assessments. Nearly 3 in 10 (28.7%) adolescents reported receiving weight status comments from private practitioners, of which 59.8% were correct. Correct weight status comments were associated with correct weight perceptions among adolescents regardless of weight status. Being told by a private practitioner that one is too fat was positively associated with perceiving higher risk of chronic disease for being overweight in normal weight and overweight adolescents, and more intention to do NEPA in all adolescents. Conclusions: Weight-related factors in adolescents were infrequently assessed by private practitioners in Hong Kong. Generally, unhealthy weight, higher parental education and advice-seeking by adolescents predicted these assessments. Receiving correct weight comments predicted correct adolescent weight perceptions. Practitioners should routinely assess and advise adolescents on weight status. / published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Philosophy