Search results for: Jeffrey Chiu

Authors: Lee Tasker, Ali Karrech, Jeffrey Shragge, Matthew Josh

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Monitoring for the deterioration of concrete infrastructure is an important assessment tool for an engineer and difficulties can be experienced with monitoring for deterioration within an infrastructure. If a failure crack, or fluid seepage through such a crack, is observed from the surface often the source location of the deterioration is not known. Geophysical methods are used to assist engineers with assessing the subsurface conditions of materials. Techniques such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) provide information on the location of buried infrastructure such as pipes and conduits, positions of reinforcements within concrete blocks, and regions of voids/cavities behind tunnel lining. This experiment underlines the application of GPR as an infrastructure-monitoring tool to highlight and monitor regions of possible deterioration within a concrete test wall due to an increase in the generation of fractures; in particular, during a time period of applied load to a concrete wall up to and including structural failure. A three-point load was applied to a concrete test wall of dimensions 1700 x 600 x 300 mm³ in increments of 10 kN, until the wall structurally failed at 107.6 kN. At each increment of applied load, the load was kept constant and the wall was scanned using GPR along profile lines across the wall surface. The measured radar amplitude responses of the GPR profiles, at each applied load interval, were reconstructed into depth-slice grids and presented at fixed depth-slice intervals. The corresponding depth-slices were subtracted from each data set to compare the radar amplitude response between datasets and monitor for changes in the radar amplitude response. At lower values of applied load (i.e., 0-60 kN), few changes were observed in the difference of radar amplitude responses between data sets. At higher values of applied load (i.e., 100 kN), closer to structural failure, larger differences in radar amplitude response between data sets were highlighted in the GPR data; up to 300% increase in radar amplitude response at some locations between the 0 kN and 100 kN radar datasets. Distinct regions were observed in the 100 kN difference dataset (i.e., 100 kN-0 kN) close to the location of the final failure crack. The key regions observed were a conical feature located between approximately 3.0-12.0 cm depth from surface and a vertical linear feature located approximately 12.1-21.0 cm depth from surface. These key regions have been interpreted as locations exhibiting an increased change in pore-space due to increased mechanical loading, or locations displaying an increase in volume of micro-cracks, or locations showing the development of a larger macro-crack. The experiment showed that GPR is a useful geophysical monitoring tool to assist engineers with highlighting and monitoring regions of large changes of radar amplitude response that may be associated with locations of significant internal structural change (e.g. crack development). GPR is a non-destructive technique that is fast to deploy in a production setting. GPR can assist with reducing risk and costs in future infrastructure maintenance programs by highlighting and monitoring locations within the structure exhibiting large changes in radar amplitude over calendar-time.

Keywords: 4D GPR, engineering geophysics, ground penetrating radar, infrastructure monitoring

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Authors: Mary Farrell, Maria Soubra, Sandra Vega, Dorothy Kakraba, Joanne Fontanilla, Moira Kendra, Danielle Tonzola, Stephanie Chiu

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Pneumonia is the most common infectious cause of hospitalizations in the United States, with more than one million admissions annually and costs of $10 billion every year, making it the 8th leading cause of death. Aspiration pneumonia is an aggressive type of pneumonia that results from inhalation of oropharyngeal secretions and/or gastric contents and is preventable. The authors hypothesized that an evidence-based aspiration pneumonia clinical care pathway could reduce 30-day hospital readmissions and mortality rates, while improving the overall care of patients. We conducted a retrospective chart review on 979 patients discharged with aspiration pneumonia from January 2021 to December 2022 at Overlook Medical Center. The authors identified patients who were coded with aspiration pneumonia and/or stable sepsis. Secondarily, we identified 30-day readmission rates for aspiration pneumonia from a SNF. The Aspiration Pneumonia Clinical Care Pathway starts in the emergency department (ED) with the initiation of antimicrobials within 4 hours of admission and early recognition of aspiration. Once this is identified, a swallow test is initiated by the bedside nurse, and if the patient demonstrates dysphagia, they are maintained on strict nothing by mouth (NPO) followed by a speech and language pathologist (SLP) referral for an appropriate modified diet recommendation. Aspiration prevention techniques included the avoidance of straws, 45-degree positioning, no talking during meals, taking small bites, placement of the aspiration wrist band, and consuming meals out of the bed in a chair. Nursing education was conducted with a newly created online learning module about aspiration pneumonia. The authors identified 979 patients, with an average age of 73.5 years old, who were diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia on the index hospitalization. These patients were reviewed for a 30-day readmission for aspiration pneumonia or stable sepsis, and mortality rates from January 2021 to December 2022 at Overlook Medical Center (OMC). The 30-day readmission rates were significantly lower in the cohort that received the clinical care pathway (35.0% vs. 27.5%, p = 0.011). When evaluating the mortality rates in the pre and post intervention cohort the authors discovered the mortality rates were lower in the post intervention cohort (23.7% vs 22.4%, p = 0.61) Mortality among non-white (self-reported as non-white) patients were lower in the post intervention cohort (34.4% vs. 21.0% , p = 0.05). Patients who reported as a current smoker/vaper in the pre and post cohorts had increased mortality rates (5.9% vs 22%). There was a decrease in mortality for the male population but an increase in mortality for women in the pre and post cohorts (19% vs. 25%). The authors attributed this increase in mortality in the post intervention cohort to more active smokers, more former smokers, and more being admitted from a SNF. This research identified that implementation of an Aspiration Pneumonia Clinical Care Pathway showed a statistically significant decrease in readmission rates and mortality rates in non-whites. The 30-day readmission rates were lower in the cohort that received the clinical care pathway (35.0% vs. 27.5%, p = 0.011).

Keywords: aspiration pneumonia, mortality, quality improvement, 30-day pneumonia readmissions

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Authors: Ren-Jy Ben, Jo-Chi Jao, Chiu-Ya Liao, Ya-Ru Tsai, Lain-Chyr Hwang, Po-Chou Chen

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Cancer is still one of the serious diseases threatening the lives of human beings. How to have an early diagnosis and effective treatment for tumors is a very important issue. The animal carcinoma model can provide a simulation tool for the study of pathogenesis, biological characteristics and therapeutic effects. Recently, drug delivery systems have been rapidly developed to effectively improve the therapeutic effects. Liposome plays an increasingly important role in clinical diagnosis and therapy for delivering a pharmaceutic or contrast agent to the targeted sites. Liposome can be absorbed and excreted by the human body, and is well known that no harm to the human body. This study aimed to compare the therapeutic effects between encapsulated (doxorubicin liposomal, LipoDox) and un-encapsulated (doxorubicin, Dox) anti-tumor drugs using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Twenty-four New Zealand rabbits implanted with VX2 carcinoma at left thigh were classified into three groups: control group (untreated), Dox-treated group and LipoDox-treated group, 8 rabbits for each group. MRI scans were performed three days after tumor implantation. A 1.5T GE Signa HDxt whole body MRI scanner with a high resolution knee coil was used in this study. After a 3-plane localizer scan was performed, Three-Dimensional (3D) Fast Spin Echo (FSE) T2-Weighted Images (T2WI) was used for tumor volumetric quantification. And Two-Dimensional (2D) spoiled gradient recalled echo (SPGR) dynamic Contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI was used for tumor perfusion evaluation. DCE-MRI was designed to acquire four baseline images, followed by contrast agent Gd-DOTA injection through the ear vein of rabbits. Afterwards, a series of 32 images were acquired to observe the signals change over time in the tumor and muscle. The MRI scanning was scheduled on a weekly basis for a period of four weeks to observe the tumor progression longitudinally. The Dox and LipoDox treatments were prescribed 3 times in the first week immediately after VX2 tumor implantation. ImageJ was used to quantitate tumor volume and time course signal enhancement on DCE images. The changes of tumor size showed that the growth of VX2 tumors was effectively inhibited for both LipoDox-treated and Dox-treated groups. Furthermore, the tumor volume of LipoDox-treated group was significantly lower than that of Dox-treated group, which implies that LipoDox has better therapeutic effect than Dox. The signal intensity of LipoDox-treated group is significantly lower than that of the other two groups, which implies that targeted therapeutic drug remained in the tumor tissue. This study provides a radiation-free and non-invasive MRI method for therapeutic monitoring of targeted liposome on an animal tumor model.

Keywords: doxorubicin, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, lipodox, magnetic resonance imaging, VX2 tumor model

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Authors: Chiun-C. R. Wang, I-Yu Chiu

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Drying is the most difficult and critical step to control in the dried salted noodles production. Microwave drying has the specific advantage of rapid and uniform heating due to the penetration of microwaves into the body of the product. Microwave-assisted facility offers a quick and energy saving method during food dehydration as compares to the conventional air-dried method for the noodle preparation. Recently, numerous studies in the rheological characteristics of pasta or spaghetti were carried out with microwave–assisted and conventional air driers and many agricultural products were dried successfully. There is very few research associated with the evaluation of physicochemical characteristics and cooking quality of microwave-assisted air dried salted noodles. The purposes of this study were to compare the difference between conventional air and microwave-assisted air drying method on the physicochemical properties and eating quality of rice bran noodles. Three different microwave power including 0.5 KW, 0.75 KW and 1.0 KW installing with 50℃ hot air were applied for dehydration of rice bran noodles in this study. Three proportion of rice bran ranging in 0-20% were incorporated into salted noodles processing. The appearance, optimum cooking time, cooking yield and losses, textural profiles analysis, and sensory evaluation of rice bran noodles were measured in this study. The results indicated that high power (1.0 KW) microwave facility caused partially burnt and porous on the surface of rice bran noodles. However, no significant difference of noodle was appeared on the surface of noodles between low power (0.5 KW) microwave-assisted salted noodles and control set. The optimum cooking time of noodles was decreased as higher power microwave was applied or higher proportion of rice bran was incorporated in the preparation of salted noodles. The higher proportion of rice bran (20%) or higher power of microwave-assisted dried noodles obtained the higher color intensity and the higher cooking losses as compared with conventional air dried noodles. Meanwhile, the higher power of microwave-assisted air dried noodles indicated the larger air cell inside the noodles and appeared little burnt stripe on the surface of noodles. The firmness of cooked rice bran noodles slightly decreased in the cooked noodles which were dried by high power microwave-assisted method. The shearing force, tensile strength, elasticity and texture profiles of cooked rice noodles decreased with the progress of the proportion of rice bran. The results of sensory evaluation indicated conventional dried noodles obtained the higher springiness, cohesiveness and overall acceptability of cooked noodles than high power (1.0 KW) microwave-assisted dried noodles. However, low power (0.5 KW) microwave-assisted dried noodles showed the comparable sensory attributes and acceptability with conventional dried noodles. Moreover, the sensory attributes including firmness, springiness, cohesiveness decreased, but stickiness increased with the increases of rice bran proportion in the salted noodles. These results inferred that incorporation of lower proportion of rice bran and lower power microwave-assisted dried noodles processing could produce faster cooking time and more acceptable quality of cooked noodles as compared to conventional dried noodles.

Keywords: white salted noodles, microwave-assisted air drying processing, cooking yield, appearance, texture profiles, scanning electrical microscopy, sensory evaluation

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Authors: A. Bortkiewcz, A. Dudarewicz, P. Małecki, M. Kłaczyński, T. Wszołek, Małgorzata Pawlaczyk-Łuszczyńska

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Low-frequency noise (LFN) has been recognized as a special environmental pollutant. It is usually considered a broadband noise with the dominant content of low frequencies from 10 Hz to 250 Hz. A growing body of data shows that LFN differs in nature from other environmental noises, which are at comparable levels but not dominated by low-frequency components. The primary and most frequent adverse effect of LFN exposure is annoyance. Moreover, some recent investigations showed that LFN at relatively low A-weighted sound pressure levels (40−45 dB) occurring in office-like areas could adversely affect the mental performance, especially of high-sensitive subjects. It is well documented that high-frequency noise disturbs various types of human functions; however, there is very little data on the impact of LFN on well-being and health, including the cardiovascular system. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a sensitive marker of autonomic regulation of the circulatory system. Walker and co-workers found that LFN has a significantly more negative impact on cardiovascular response than exposure to high-frequency noise and that changes in HRV parameters resulting from LFN exposure tend to persist over time. The negative reactions of the cardiovascular system in response to LFN generated by wind turbines (20-200 Hz) were confirmed by Chiu. The scientific aim of the study is to assess the relationship between the spectral-temporal characteristics of LFN and the activity of the autonomic nervous system, considering the subjective assessment of annoyance, sensitivity to this type of noise, and cognitive and general health status. The study will be conducted in 20 male students in a special, acoustically prepared, constantly supervised room. Each person will be tested 4 times (4 sessions), under conditions of non-exposure (sham) and exposure to noise of wind turbines recorded at a distance of 250 meters from the turbine with different frequencies and frequency ranges: acoustic band 20 Hz-20 kHz, infrasound band 5-20 Hz, acoustic band + infrasound band. The order of sessions of the experiment will be randomly selected. Each session will last 1 h. There will be a 2-3 days break between sessions to exclude the possibility of the earlier session influencing the results of the next one. Before the first exposure, a questionnaire will be conducted on noise sensitivity, general health status using the GHQ questionnaire, hearing organ status and sociodemographic data. Before each of the 4 exposures, subjects will complete a brief questionnaire on their mood and sleep quality the night before the test. After the test, the subjects will be asked about any discomfort and subjective symptoms during the exposure. Before the test begins, Holter ECG monitoring equipment will be installed. HRV will be analyzed from the ECG recordings, including time and frequency domain parameters. The tests will always be performed in the morning (9-12) to avoid the influence of diurnal rhythm on HRV results. Students will perform psychological tests 15 minutes before the end of the test (Vienna Test System).

Keywords: neurovegetative control, heart rate variability (HRV), cognitive processes, low frequency noise

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Authors: Alon Cohen, Jeffrey Kantor, Shalom Levy

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The use of the audit risk model in auditing has faced limitations and difficulties, leading auditors to rely on a conceptual level of its application. The qualitative approach to assessing risks has resulted in different risk assessments, affecting the quality of audits and decision-making on the adoption of CAATTs. This study aims to investigate risk factors impacting the implementation of the audit risk model and propose a complementary risk-based instrument (KRIs) to form substance risk judgments and mitigate against heightened risk of material misstatement (RMM). The study addresses the question of how risk factors impact the implementation of the audit risk model, improve risk judgments, and aid in the adoption of CAATTs. The study uses a three-stage scale development procedure involving a pretest and subsequent study with two independent samples. The pretest involves an exploratory factor analysis, while the subsequent study employs confirmatory factor analysis for construct validation. Additionally, the authors test the ability of the KRIs to predict audit efforts needed to mitigate against heightened RMM. Data was collected through two independent samples involving 767 participants. The collected data was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to assess scale validity and construct validation. The suggested KRIs, comprising two risk components and seventeen risk items, are found to have high predictive power in determining audit efforts needed to reduce RMM. The study validates the suggested KRIs as an effective instrument for risk assessment and decision-making on the adoption of CAATTs. This study contributes to the existing literature by implementing a holistic approach to risk assessment and providing a quantitative expression of assessed risks. It bridges the gap between intuitive risk evaluation and the theoretical domain, clarifying the mechanism of risk assessments. It also helps improve the uniformity and quality of risk assessments, aiding audit standard-setters in issuing updated guidelines on CAATT adoption. A few limitations and recommendations for future research should be mentioned. First, the process of developing the scale was conducted in the Israeli auditing market, which follows the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs). Although ISAs are adopted in European countries, for greater generalization, future studies could focus on other countries that adopt additional or local auditing standards. Second, this study revealed risk factors that have a material impact on the assessed risk. However, there could be additional risk factors that influence the assessment of the RMM. Therefore, future research could investigate other risk segments, such as operational and financial risks, to bring a broader generalizability to our results. Third, although the sample size in this study fits acceptable scale development procedures and enables drawing conclusions from the body of research, future research may develop standardized measures based on larger samples to reduce the generation of equivocal results and suggest an extended risk model.

Keywords: audit risk model, audit efforts, CAATTs adoption, key risk indicators, sustainability

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Authors: Joy Chiu, Colin Hemez, Emma Ryan, Jia Sun, Robert Dubrow, Michael Pascucilla

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The popularity of recreational boating is on the rise in the United States, which raises numerous national-level challenges in the management of air and water pollution, aquatic habitat destruction, and waterway access. The need to control sewage discharge from recreational vessels underlies all of these challenges. The release of raw human waste into aquatic environments can lead to eutrophication and algal blooms; can increase human exposure to pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and parasites; can financially impact commercial shellfish harvest/fisheries and marine bathing areas; and can negatively affect access to recreational and/or commercial waterways to the detriment of local economies. Because of the damage that unregulated sewage discharge can do to environments and human health/marine life, recreational vessels in the United States are required by law to 'pump-out' sewage from their holding tanks into sewage treatment systems in all designated 'no discharge areas'. Many pump-out boats, which transfer waste out of recreational vessels, are operated and maintained using funds allocated through the Federal Clean Vessel Act (CVA). The East Shore District Health Department of Branford, Connecticut is protecting this estuary by pioneering the design and construction of the first-in-the-nation zero-emissions, the solar-electric pump-out boat of its size to replace one of its older traditional gasoline-powered models through a Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection CVA Grant. This study, conducted in collaboration with the East Shore District Health Department, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, States Organization for Boating Access and Connecticut’s CVA program coordinators, had two aims: (1) To perform a national assessment of pump-out boat programs, supplemented by a limited international assessment, to establish best pump-out boat practices (regardless of how the boat is powered); and (2) to estimate the cost, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental and public health impacts of solar-electric versus traditional gasoline-powered pump-out boats. A national survey was conducted of all CVA-funded pump-out program managers and selected pump-out boat operators to gauge best practices; costs associated with gasoline-powered pump-out boat operation and management; and the regional, cultural, and policy-related issues that might arise from the adoption of solar-electric pump-out boat technology. We also conducted life-cycle analyses of gasoline-powered and solar-electric pump-out boats to compare their greenhouse gas emissions; production of air, soil and water pollution; and impacts on human health. This work comprises the most comprehensive study into pump-out boating practices in the United States to date, in which information obtained at local, state, national, and international levels is synthesized. This study aims to enable CVA programs to make informed recommendations for sustainable pump-out boating practices and identifies the challenges and opportunities that remain for the wide adoption of solar-electric pump-out boat technology.

Keywords: pump-out boat, marine water, solar-electric, zero emissions

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Authors: Hsin-Yu Lee, Ming-Zhong Li, Wen-Hsi Chiu, Su-Fen Cheng, Shwu-Wen Lin

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Background: The use of medical terminology is essential to professional nurses on clinical practice. However, most nursing students consider traditional lecture-based teaching of medical terminology as boring and overly conceptual and lack motivation to learn. It is thus an issue to be discussed on how to enhance nursing students’ self-directed learning and improve learning outcomes of medical terminology. Digital game-based learning is a learner-centered way of learning. Past literature showed that the most common game-based learning for language education has been immersive games and teaching games. Thus, this study selected role-playing games (RPG) and digital puzzle games for observation and comparison. It is interesting to explore whether digital game-based learning has positive impact on nursing students’ learning of medical terminology and whether students can adapt well on this type of learning. Results can be used to provide references for institutes and teachers on teaching medical terminology. These instructions give you guidelines for preparing papers for the conference. Use this document as a template if you are using Microsoft Word. Otherwise, use this document as an instruction set. The electronic file of your paper will be formatted further at WASET. Define all symbols used in the abstract. Do not cite references in the abstract. Do not delete the blank line immediately above the abstract; it sets the footnote at the bottom of this column. Page margins are 1,78 cm top and down; 1,65 cm left and right. Each column width is 8,89 cm and the separation between the columns is 0,51 cm. Objective: The purpose of this research is to explore respectively the impact of RPG and puzzle game on nursing students’ self-directed learning and technology acceptance. The study further discusses whether different game types bring about different influences on students’ self-directed learning and technology acceptance. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was adopted in this study so that repeated measures between two groups could be conveniently conducted. 103 nursing students from a nursing college in Northern Taiwan participated in the study. For three weeks of experiment, the experiment group (n=52) received “traditional teaching + RPG” while the control group (n=51) received “traditional teaching + puzzle games”. Results: 1. On self-directed learning: For each game type, there were significant differences for the delayed tests of both groups as compared to the pre and post-tests of each group. However, there were no significant differences between the two game types. 2. On technology acceptance: For the experiment group, after the intervention of RPG, there were no significant differences concerning technology acceptance. For the control group, after the intervention of puzzle games, there were significant differences regarding technology acceptance. Pearson-correlation coefficient and path analysis conducted on the results of the two groups revealed that the dimension were highly correlated and reached statistical significance. Yet, the comparison of technology acceptance between the two game types did not reach statistical significance. Conclusion and Recommend: This study found that through using different digital games on learning, nursing students have effectively improved their self-directed learning. Students’ technology acceptances were also high for the two different digital game types and each dimension was significantly correlated. The results of the experimental group showed that through the scenarios of RPG, students had a deeper understanding of medical terminology, which reached the ‘Understand’ dimension of Bloom’s taxonomy. The results of the control group indicated that digital puzzle games could help students memorize and review medical terminology, which reached the ‘Remember’ dimension of Bloom’s taxonomy. The findings suggest that teachers of medical terminology could use digital games to assist their teaching according to their goals on cognitive learning. Adequate use of those games could help improve students’ self-directed learning and further enhance their learning outcome on medical terminology.

Keywords: digital game-based learning, medical terminology, nursing education, self-directed learning, technology acceptance model

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Authors: Shari S. C. Shang, Lynn S. L. Chiu

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In the digital payment market, some consumers use only one payment wallet while many others play multi-homing with a variety of payment services. With the diffusion of new payment systems, we examined the determinants of the adoption of multi-homing behavior. This study aims to understand how a digital payment provider dynamically expands business touch points with cross-business strategies to enrich the digital ecosystem and avoid the trap of multi-homing in customers. By synthesizing platform ecosystem literature, we constructed a two-dimensional research framework with one determinant of user digital behavior from offline to online intentions and the other determinant of digital payment touch points from convenient accessibility to cross-business platforms. To explore on a broader scale, we selected 12 digital payments from 5 countries of UK, US, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. With the interplays of user digital behaviors and payment touch points, we group the study cases into four types: (1) Channel Initiated: users originated from retailers with high access to in-store shopping with face-to-face guidance for payment adoption. Providers offer rewards for customer loyalty and secure the retailer’s efficient cash flow management. (2) Social Media Dependent: users usually are digital natives with high access to social media or the internet who shop and pay digitally. Providers might not own physical or online shops but are licensed to aggregate money flows through virtual ecosystems. (3) Early Life Engagement: digital banks race to capture the next generation from popularity to profitability. This type of payment aimed to give children a taste of financial freedom while letting parents track their spending. Providers are to capitalize on the digital payment and e-commerce boom and hold on to new customers into adulthood. (4) Traditional Banking: plastic credit cards are purposely designed as a control group to track the evolvement of business strategies in digital payments. Traditional credit card users may follow the bank’s digital strategy to land on different types of digital wallets or mostly keep using plastic credit cards. This research analyzed business growth models and inter-firms’ coopetition strategies of the selected cases. Results of the multiple case analysis reveal that channel initiated payments bundled rewards with retailer’s business discount for recurring purchases. They also extended other financial services, such as insurance, to fulfill customers’ new demands. Contrastively, social media dependent payments developed new usages and new value creation, such as P2P money transfer through network effects among the virtual social ties, while early life engagements offer virtual banking products to children who are digital natives but overlooked by incumbents. It has disrupted the banking business domains in preparation for the metaverse economy. Lastly, the control group of traditional plastic credit cards has gradually converted to a BaaS (banking as a service) model depending on customers’ preferences. The multi-homing behavior is not avoidable in digital payment competitions. Payment providers may encounter multiple waves of a multi-homing threat after a short period of success. A dynamic cross-business collaboration strategy should be explored to continuously evolve the digital ecosystems and allow users for a broader shopping experience and continual usage.

Keywords: digital payment, digital ecosystems, multihoming users, cross business strategy, user digital behavior intentions

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Authors: Chiu-Yin Leung

Abstract:

This research investigates a complex assemblage among indigenous identities, socio-political organization and national apparatus in the border landscape of post-colonial Hong Kong. This former British colony had designated a transient mode of governance in its New Territories and particularly the northernmost borderland in 1951-2012. With a discriminated system of land provisions for the indigenous villagers, the place has been inherited with distinctive village-based culture, historic monuments and agrarian practices until its sovereignty return into the People’s Republic of China. In its latest development imperatives by the national strategic planning, the frontier area of Hong Kong has been identified as a strategy site for regional economic integration in South China, with cross-border projects of innovation and technology zones, mega-transport infrastructure and inter-jurisdictional arrangement. Contemporary literature theorizes borders as the material and discursive production of territoriality, which manifest in state apparatus and the daily lives of its citizens and condense in the contested articulations of power, security and citizenship. Drawing on the concept of assemblage, this paper attempts to tract how the border regime and infrastructure in Hong Kong as a city are deeply ingrained in the everyday lived spaces of the local communities but also the changing urban and regional strategies across different longitudinal moments. Through an intensive ethnographic fieldwork among the borderland villages since 2008 and the extensive analysis of colonial archives, new development plans and spatial planning frameworks, the author navigates the genealogy of the border landscape in Ta Kwu Ling frontier area and its implications as the milieu for new state space, covering heterogeneous fields particularly in indigenous rights, heritage preservation, rural sustainability and regional economy. Empirical evidence suggests an apparent bias towards indigenous power and colonial representation in classifying landscape values and conserving historical monuments. Squatter and farm tenants are often deprived of property rights, statutory participation and livelihood option in the planning process. The postcolonial bureaucracies have great difficulties in mobilizing resources to catch up with the swift, political-first approach of the mainland counterparts. Meanwhile, the cultural heritage, lineage network and memory landscape are not protected altogether with any holistic view or collaborative effort across the border. The enactment of land resumption and compensation scheme is furthermore disturbed by lineage-based customary law, technocratic bureaucracy, intra-community conflicts and multi-scalar political mobilization. As many traces of colonial misfortune and tyranny have been whitewashed without proper management, the author argues that postcolonial justice is yet reconciled in this fragmented border landscape. The assemblage of border in mainstream representation has tended to oversimplify local struggles as a collective mist and setup a wider production of schizophrenia experiences in the discussion of further economic integration among Hong Kong and other mainland cities in the Pearl River Delta Region. The research is expected to shed new light on the theorizing of border regions and postcolonialism beyond Eurocentric perspectives. In reassembling the borderland experiences with other arrays in state governance, village organization and indigenous identities, the author also suggests an alternative epistemology in reconciling socio-spatial differences and opening up imaginaries for positive interventions.

Keywords: heritage conservation, indigenous communities, post-colonial borderland, regional development, rural sustainability

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