CityU Spring Research Conference on Systems Engineering and Management Science 2014

The 2nd Spring Research Conference on Systems Engineering and Management Science 2014 (SRC-SEMS'14) organized by Department of System Engineering and Engineering Management (SEEM) and Department of Management Science, City University of Hong Kong from 16 - 17 May 2014 in City University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Research Institute (CityUSRI), Shenzhen Hi-tech Industrial Park, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, China. The conference aimed to provide a research platform for academics and researchers, particularly young faculty and graduate students, in Greater China region and neighboring areas to share and exchange experience and research findings in various disciplines of Systems Engineering and Management Science

HKSQ members supported the activities.
(Right: Dr. Zoie Wong, Dr. KS Chin and I)

My two students who had studied “Quality Management for Laboratory Operation” were presented their final year projects in the conference. Dr. Ken Yau was their supervisor and He is HKSQ exco member.
(Left: Ms. P. Sathanmuang, Dr. Ken Yau, I and Ms. K.P. Chun)

In the beginning, Prof. Kwok Tsui (Head and Chair Professor, SEEM Dept., CityU) gave a welcome speech and presented a hot topic “Big Data Analytics”.

Prof. Tsui introduced the evolution of Big Data in Statistic and Computing Science from Data Analysis to Massive Data Sets to Data Mining and eventually Big Data. In 2004, MIT’s Technology Review predicted “Data mining is one of top ten emerging technology!” Data mining is extraction of meaningful/useful/interesting patterns form a large volum of data sources (signal, image, time series, image, transaction, text, web, etc.) Now, it is even bigger and named “Big Data”.

Finally, Prof. Tsui briefed some Big Data Project in US and in Hong Kong. In CityU, Center for Systems Informatics Engineering (CSIE) established and the following topics were under research included “Prognostics & Systems Health Management (PHM)”, “Public Health Informatics and Infectious Disease” and “Healthcare Big Data Analytics”.

Prof. Sung Hyun Park (President, Korean Academy of Science and Technology, and Chair Professor of Department of Management of Technology, Konkuk University) was the first keynote speaker and his topic entitled “Total Quality Management in Higher Education: A Case Study and Strategic Guidelines”.

Firstly, Prof. Park mentioned how Samsung achieved a miracle. It was because they emphasized three things included “Quality First”, “Change (Innovation) for Survival” and “Boundless Research”. Then he discussed the Samsung quality management evolution and those experiences could apply to university.

Then Prof. Park explained quality in university that should be evaluation using four outcomes of students and research results factors below.
- Useful: “Fitness for its intended purpose”, “attractive quality “ and “perform its designed job?”
- Responsive: “Adapt to desires of industry and society?”
- Available: “Accessible to demand”
- Reliable: “Outcome operate consistently”
The following diagram showed the competitive advantage factor on student value.

After that Prof. Park raised Innovative University Management that included five elements.
1. Seeking customer value
2. The best use of modern technology
3. Responding to changes
4. Intellectual resource management (People, Technology & Knowledge)
5. Social existence
He also mentioned Malcolm Baldridge Education Criteria (2013-2014) and TQM implementation in Higher Education in Korea in which a case study of Sogang University in Korea was discussed.

Before the end of speech, Prof. Park told us “The Story of The Eagle” to explain how painful of change. He said “Many time, in order to survive we have to start a change process. We sometimes need to get rid of old memories, habits and other past traditions. Only freed from past burdens, we can take advantage of the present.”

Donation Ceremony - “5 Sets of 55” Quad Full High Definition Display Module” from Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.

The second keynote speaker was Prof. Shouyang Wang (Chair Professor of Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences) and his presentation topic named “TEI@I Methodology and Applications in Economic Forecasting and Analysis”.

Prof. Wang mentioned how importance of oil price forecasting and briefed TET@I advantage. The name “TEI@I” is based on “Text/event mining” + “Econometric/mathematical modeling” + “Intelligence (Intelligent algorithms)” @ “Integration” where using @ to replace “+” aimed to emphasize the functional of integrations.

Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) was able to reduce any data from non-stationary and nonlinear process into simple independent intrinsic mode functions. The proposed framework from oil price tiem series data employed EMD transformation of data to Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) and Residue and then using difference models for prediction.

Finally, Prof. Wang concluded that this methodology had been successfully applied to solve some other hard decision problems, such as financial risk management, monitoring of national economy, regional economic planning, etc.

The last keynote speaker was Prof. Alain Bensoussan (Chair Professor of Risk and Decision Analysis, SEEM Dept., CityU) and his presentation title was “Risk Management: An Overview”. Prof. Bensoussan discussed the Fukushima case and reviewed some of the key principles of risk management.

Prof. Bensoussan said risk management did not appear in TEPCO organization chart from the National Diet of Japan Independent Investigation Commission. The remarks about this official report showed a complete lack of competency in terms of Risk Management.

Finally, three pillars of risk management were proposed. They were “Quantitative Techniques”, “Organizational Aspects” and “Behavioral Aspects”.

We had lunch in the hall.

I took a photo with Dr. Yang Liu (University Lecturer, D.Sc. (Tech.) Industrial Management, University of VAASA (Finland)) for memory.

My presentation was in Day 2 morning section and the topic named “Preliminary study the Organization Innovation and TRIZ Implementation Model”. I briefed five success factors of Organization Innovation included System Innovation, Operational Innovation, Service Innovation, Product Innovation and Process Innovation. Then I mentioned the Interactive Knowledge Improvement Circle. Lastly, I discussed TRIZ implementation roadmap in Technology Support Centre of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation.

After presentation, I received the certificate from Dr. Richard Fung.

Dr. KS Chin’s student presentations were showed as follows.

In Healthcare session, Ms. Meiyan Lin who was PhD student under Dr. KS Chin and her presentation topic named "Operations Improvement in Home Health Care: The Patient Assignment Problem”.

Ms. P. Sathanmuang presentation topic named “Evaluation of Total Quality Management in Hong Kong Home Care Services”.

Ms. K.P. Chun presentation entitled “Study of the User Requirement of DayCare Service”.

Reference:
HKSQ - http://www.hksq.org/index.asp
SEEM, CityU - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/seem/
SRC-SEMS'14 - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/seem/srcsems2014/
SRC-SEMS’13 summary - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2013/05/cityu-spring-research-conference-on.html

CityU 3rd Distinguished Alumni Award Reception cum SEEM Industrial Forum

The CityU 3rd Distinguished Alumni Award Reception cum SEEM Industrial Forum was organized by Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management (SEEM), City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 12 May 2014. In 2009 when CityU celebrated its Silver Jubilee, the Distinguished Alumni Award (the Award) was launched to recognise and publicly honour outstanding alumni who had demonstrated remarkable personal achievements and significant contributions to their profession/career, the University and the community. The Award is held biennially and the 3rd Award is scheduled for 2013.

In the beginning, Prof. Robert LI (Associate Dean, College of Science and Engineering) gave a welcoming speech and appreciated the awardees contribution to CityU. (Prof. Li taught me in Polymer Science when I studied in Applied Physic in 1992.)

Prof. TSUI Kwok Leung (Head, SEEM Dept., CityU) gave an opening speech and he also appreciated awardees’ contribution and collaboration between industry and university.

Then Dr. CHIN KS (Assistant Head, SEEM Dept., CityU) introduced the profile of Dr. Peter Ho Ka-nam the 3rd Distinguished Alumni Awardee in CityU. Dr. Peter Ho is Managing Director, Techworld Industries Ltd. He received MSc Engineering Management and EngD (Engineering Management) in 2007 and 2012, respectively. He serves as Founding Chairman of CityU Eminence Society, Director of CityU Research Limtied, Patron of CityU Business and Industrial Club (CUBIC). In order to recognize Dr. Ho’s staunch support to CityU, Lecture Theatre Ten and Twelve of CityU were named after him and his parents to “Peter Ho Lecture Theatre” and “Mr & Mrs Ho Chun Hung Lecture Theatre” respectively. (The 2nd Distinguished Alumni Awardee in SEEM Dept was Dr. Raymond Leung Siu-hong that Dr. CHIN KS had also mentioned but he was not free to attend the event tonight.) (Details in reference)

Then Dr. Peter HO (CityU Distinguished Alumni) gave a speech to us. Dr. Ho briefed his business since 1960 and he said the venue was very good because the background was Lion Rock. (It implied the Hong Kong Lion Rock spirit.) Then Dr. Ho shared that New Innovation Product was key success of company. The company failed because of lacking qualified engineer. He observed many students focused on Finance but not Engineering course. He added the new product development required talents who had knowledge mixture of mechanical design, electronic, software, and outlook design, etc.

It was honor that Dr. LO Wai Kwok (Chairman, SEEM Departmental Advisory Committee) to be our guest for Industrial Sharing on the topic entitled “How Do Universities, Private Industry and Government Work Together to Promote Hong Kong’s Competitive Edge?”.

In the beginning, Dr. Lo asked “what is Hong Kong’s competitive edge?” “5I’s” are Competitive Advantages included “Integration”, “Information”, “Integrity”, “International” and “Innovation”. Then he mentioned Financial Secretary announced the Budget 2014-15 with competitiveness as its main theme. The solution was to diversify Hong Kong economic development. He quoted the working group on Long-Term Fiscal Planning and analyzed the economic growth which expected to settle at a slower pace to 2.5% after 2025. Moreover, labour force would decline after 2018 (Peak Labour Force up to 3713k) and stabilized in the 2030s (Labour Force down to 3522k).

In order to have health economic, three elements should be in balance and they were “Economic Growth”, “Revenue” and “Expenditure”. That is to “Keep the expenditure within the limits of revenue…strive to achieve a fiscal balance, avoid deficits and keep the budget commensurate with the growth rate of its gross domestic product”. The following diagram showed economic growth bound to go lower as the economy became more mature except Singapore. It might because Singapore invested capital for stimulating economic growth and importing labors.

The CE announced the re-initiation of the ITB in 2014 Policy Address that “Innovation and Technology are drivers for economic growth and the key to enhance competitiveness of our industries.” Dr. Lo stated the proportion of local R&D investment only about 0.7% of the GDP which much lower than 3.7% in Korea and 2.3% in Singapore. Several suggestions were raised by Dr. Lo to the Government which was shown in the following diagram.

Finally, Dr. Lo hoped an encouragement for cooperation among the Government, industry, academia and research sectors included:
- Consolidate the pillar industries
- Foster the emerging industries
- Reinvigorate traditional industries
- Our economy can develop in the direction of diversification and high value-added
Before the end, Dr. Lo answered who was the winner of the 21st Century. They were Engineer with Business Sense and Businessmen with Engineering Sense.

The second speaker for Industrial Sharing was Prof. Alain BENSOUSSAN (Chair Professor, SEEM Dept., CityU). He explained Innovation which was doing things different rather than only doing things better. Then he compared Hong Kong and Switzerland. Both had similar population, similar economy in financial and tourism industry, connected with mainland China or Europe, etc. At the end, Prof. Bensoussan said “Innovation is anywhere”.

Presentation of Souvenirs
Dr. Lo presented a souvenir to Dr. Peter Ho.

Dr. Lo presented a souvenir to Dr. Raymond Leung (Since Dr. Leung is not available, his colleagues Dr. CY Chau for him received the souvenir.)

Dr. Tsui presented a souvenir to our guest speaker Dr. Lo.

Group photo of awardee and speakers

Group photo of all participants

Before SEEM Industrial Forum, we had visited the new laboratory in SEEM in Academic Building 3. The following photos were shown different laboratories.
Active Infrared Thermography for Detecting Sub-Surface Cracks

Health System Engineering and Health Informatics

Tracking and Discrete Dual Task Performance with Different Auditory Spatial Stimulus-Response Mappings

Reference:
SEEM Dept., CityU - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/seem/
CityU Eminence Society - http://www.cityues.org/
CityU EngD Society - http://www.engd.org/home.aspx
Dr. Peter Ho Ka-nam profile - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/aro/daa/profile_peter.pdf
Dr. Raymond Leung Siu-hong profile - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/aro/2011daa/profile3.jpg

Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition 2014

The Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition (HKSSPC) was jointly organized by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Group, the Education Bureau and the Hong Kong Science Museum, under the major sponsorship of the Innovation and Technology Commission. The event was held at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks on 10 May 2014. The theme 2014 is "From Theory to Practice‧Develop Science Potential". It aims to encourage students to apply their science knowledge and creativity to build up teamwork skills through the research process for this exhibition.

The Competition consists of 4 Divisions. Age limit of each Division is as following:
1. Scientific Wallchart Division (NEW!): Students from F.1 to F.6 aged 19 or below (born on or after 30 April 1995)
2. Junior Division: Students from F.1 to F.3 aged 17 or below (born on or after 30 April 1997)
3. Senior Division: Students from F.4 to F.6 aged 19 or below (born on or after 30 April 1995)
4. Open Division: All students who completed secondary school and aged 18 to 25 (born on 30 April 1989 to 30 April 1996)

My niece (Left in photo) was one of participants (Leung Shek Chee College) and their project entitled “The Disappearance of Vitamin C”. The project aims to observe if the amount of Vitamin C in Orange Junice would decrease against time. They found that a significant drop (upto about 30%) of Vitamin C after 3 days exposure in Air.

Then we took a family photo for memory.

One of topics is about disinfection efficiency of different agents included alcohol, Bleach and Dettol.

Another topic is interested which named “Easy Check, Easy Go, Blood Glucose!” and it detects diabetic patients’ breathing which contained Diabetes Ketoacidosis (DKA).

Minda’s cousin school also joined the competition and one of teams project was to study the soil composition in Hong Kong.

Reference:
HKFYG – HKSSPC - http://hksspc.hkfyg.org.hk/page.aspx?corpname=hksspc&i=2951

Dinner with Dr. Ronald Sequeira and Dr. Cathy Lee

I am pleasure to meet my MPhil supervisor Dr. Ronald Sequeira and his wife, as well as my junior sister apprentice Dr. Cathy Lee tonight. We took a photo inside the Hotel for memory.

Then we had dinner in “Red House” in Hong Kong Science and Technology Park. It serves mainly Beijing, Sichuan and Shanghai cuisines.

After dinner, I led them to visit our Wireless Communication Test Laboratory and Reliability Laboratory. We took a photo in front of our new equipment – 3D printer!

I took a photo with my junior sister apprentice Dr. Cathy Lee tonight (9 May 2014) and compared the photo we took in 1997. How time flies! Cathy does not change, even though she has a 3 years old daughter.

The last time I met Dr. Ronald Seqqueira is in 2010 and we had lunch in CityU. (http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2010/10/lunch-with-dr-ronald-sequeira.html)

Reference:
One of Dr. Ronald Sequeira famous papers was “Monsoonal deposition of sea salt and air pollutants over Bombay“ in 1976.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1976.tb00676.x/abstract

Our papers with Dr. Ronald Sequeira:
- Lee, Y.L. and Sequeira, R. (2002). Water-soluble Aerosol and Visibility Degradation in Hong Kong during Autumn and Early Winter, 1998. Environ. Pollut. 116: 225–233. (http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/elsevier/water-soluble-aerosol-and-visibility-degradation-in-hong-kong-during-y4pQVqIO6m)
- Lee, Y.L., and Sequeira, R., (2001) Visibility degradation across Hong Kong: its components, and their relative contribution, Atmospheric Environmental 35, Atmospheric Environment, 35, 5861-5872. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231001003958)
- R. Sequeira and K.H. Lai (1998) “The effect of meteorological parameters and aerosol constituents on visibility in urban Hong Kong” Atmospheric Environment, 32, No.16, pp2865-2871. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231097004949)
- R. Sequeira, M.R. Peart and K.H. Lai (1996) “A Comparison between Filtered and Unfiltered Atmospheric Depositions from a rural area in Hong Kong” Atmospheric Environment, 30, pp3221-3224. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/1352231096000271)

Enterprise Management Gurus Seminar

The Enterprise Management Gurus Seminar (企業管理大師講座) was co-organized by Hong Kong Productivity Council and Elite Entrepreneur Association on 3rd May 2014. The topic named “Tipping point - increasing your business productivity within 120 minutes”(引爆點 120分鐘為您企業提昇生產力). I would like to summarize some key points for sharing below.

The first speaker was Dr. Terence Wong (黃桂林 -著名口才培訓專家) and his topic entitled “Management Communication Winners’ Fatal Blow” (管理溝通贏家必殺技). (I had attended one of his talks in 2012. See reference)
Dr. Wong said “Fatal Blow Rule Number 1 is telling the True and in suitable environment. Rule Number 2 is LIFE indicating Learn It From Experience. Rule Number 3 is understood your Role and Responsibility.” Eloquence (口才) needs to practice using LIFE and then enhanced self-confidence for communication.

One of his jokes was talking about how to reply your wife if she asked a dilemma question. For example, you would save who first if both your wife and mother fell into the sea. His answer was “wife” because his mother also loved her so much and he respected to his mother.

The second speaker was Dr. Raymond Choy (蔡漢成 – Qee玩具品牌持有人) and his presentation was “Development your Business and Personal Network through Business Associations” (透過商會發展事業人脈網絡).

Dr. Choy was a toys designer and established his shop. Before 2007, he thought Business Associations were no use in his business. Building his toys brand (Qee), he found that Business Associations were very important. The person network was not only your field but also others field people (even government senior officers). One of successful product was QEE DIY that he created design as a platform. Recently, Qee cooperated with Lion Club to promote this brand to members.

The third speaker was Dr. Toby Chan (陳立邁 – 麥兜麥嘜專利授權品牌商) (Founding Chairman, Asian Licensing Association) and his presentation title named “How to evolve the creation into licensed product” (麥兜●麥嘜和朋友: 如何將創作演化成授權產品).

Firstly, Dr. Chan briefed the development history of Mcmug Comics. He said Brand’s definition was different in different people. However, Branding to be succeed was not only the problem of market but also the problem of legal. Only advertisement could not make a brand. Brand should be value creation and need to insist. Sometime, it needed star for help (e.g. Dr. Chan had successfully invited Bill Gate for interview in his children magazine). One of success factors of Mcmug is localization in which many Hong Kong daily stories were collected. Finally, Dr. Chan showed many different cross-over and licensing sample such as Samsung to us.

Dr. David Cheung (張錫豪 – 人類工程師培訓專家) was the fourth speaker and his topic entitled “Training to enhance the Enterprise Development” (以培訓助長企業發育). Dr. Cheung said talent was the most important asset in the company. Training must be implemented through right method to induce people’s potential. He quoted Jack Ma (馬雲) that it is the world focused on resource integration and talent competition. Lastly, he told us a joke. The boss asked “What if we trained our staff and then they left?” Dr. Cheung replied “What if you didn’t train your staff but they stayed?”

Mr Patrick Yuen (袁景森 – EEA聚賢匯社副會長) was the last speaker and his presentation entitled “Enterprise toward Success Way” (讓企業踏上成功青雲路). Beginning, He introduced NLP that implied your behavior secret. He also said your conscious mind covered 10% but subconscious mind covered the reminding 90% of your behavior.

Then Mr. Yuen mentioned BVR stated for Beliefs, Values and Rules. He explained how belief formed below.
i) Personal experience
ii) Observation others experience
iii) Acceptance of trust people’s idea
iv) Concluded from self-thinking and analysis

For enterprise objective, it was separated into three levels that were Corporation business objective, Departmental mission objective and Personal working objective. If three level’s objectives are aligned, the big value will be created.

Reference:
Dr. Terence Wong (2012) - Rules for Quality Management: How to Motivate Your Team to Pursue Excellence - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2012/07/rules-for-quality-management-how-to.html
Elite Entrepreneur Association (聚賢匯社) – http://www.eea.com.hk