Kang Ernest Liu

Consumer Knowledge and Risk Perceptions of Avian Influenza

This study examined consumer risk perceptions and knowledge of avian influenza and its linkage to behavioral changes in chicken consumption. A consumer survey was administered in 3 metropolitan areas in Taiwan in 2007. Multivariate analyses were utilized in this study to analyze data. Findings in this study indicated that respondents who were more knowledgeable of avian influenza with relatively high levels of risk perceptions would be likely to stay away from birds and the crowd. Respondents with relatively low levels of avian influenza knowledge were likely to prefer not eating chicken at all under a possible threat of avian influenza outbreaks. Respondents with low risk perception levels would be more likely to maintain usual chicken consumption than those with high risk perception levels if outbreaks of avian influenza occurred. Contributions of this study are to provide new insights into knowledge and risk perceptions of avian influenza and to reveal behavioral changes in chicken consumption in an area that a pandemic situation like avian influenza has not occurred but under a possible threat. Findings in this study would be beneficial to government administration and industry managers in designing effective information communication for educational purposes to ease possible effect on the industry as well as the consumer market if outbreaks had occurred in Taiwan.

Predicting Factors and Risk Stratification for Return Visits to the Emergency Department Within 72 Hours in Pediatric Patients.

Objectives A return visit (RV) to the emergency department (ED) is usually used as a quality indicator for EDs. A thorough comprehension of factors affecting RVs is beneficial to enhancing the quality of emergency care. We performed this study to identify pediatric patients at high risk of RVs using readily available characteristics during an ED visit. Methods We retrospectively collected data of pediatric patients visiting 6 branches of an urban hospital during 2007. Potential variables were analyzed using a multivariable logistic regression analysis to determine factors associated with RVs and a classification and regression tree technique to identify high-risk groups. Results Of the 35,435 visits from which patients were discharged home, 2291 (6.47%) visits incurred an RV within 72 hours. On multivariable analysis, younger age, weekday visits, diagnoses belonging to the category of symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions, and being seen by a female physician were associated with a higher probability of RVs. Children younger than 6.5 years who visited on weekdays or between midnight and 8:00 AM on weekends or holidays had the highest probability of returning to the ED within 72 hours. Conclusions Our study reexamined several important factors that could affect RVs of pediatric patients to the ED and identified high-risk groups of RVs. Further intervention studies or qualitative research could be targeted on these at-risk groups.

Examining changes in fresh fruit and vegetable consumption over time and across regions in urban China

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to fill a knowledge gap by examining the changes in fruit and vegetable consumption of Chinese households. Design/methodology/approach - Using 1993 and 2001 household survey data from three selected provinces in China, the authors estimated a quantile regression (QR) model to demonstrate how changes of fresh fruit and vegetable consumption over time may differ across regions, and additionally, how these changes may differ over the entire distribution. Findings - Results show significant increases in fresh fruit consumption for all provinces; in addition, the pattern of changes over time differs across the entire distribution. In contrast, significant decreases of fresh vegetable consumption are evident, and results are robust across regions; however, the disparities of fresh vegetable consumption across regions are not significant. Research limitations/implications - The results may shed some light on the national food policy. First, any food policy that may affect prices of fresh fruits and vegetables will likely affect households in lower percentiles more than those in upper percentiles. In addition, based on the findings, households in Guangdong may have a higher risk of inadequate fruit consumption. Lower level consumption of fruits in Guangdong may be caused by its relatively high prices of fruits and perhaps the shifting consumption pattern to a more meat-based diet as income increases. Originality/value - There has been considerable interest in estimating food demand structure in China due to its huge market for food products. However, little is known about the fruits and vegetables products. In addition, most of the previous studies used the linear regression-type model for analysis, which fails to capture the effects of the exogenous factors on the entire distribution. To fill the knowledge gap, this paper uses a QR model with the different-in-difference method to examine the changes in fruit and vegetable consumption of Chinese households.

A globally flexible, quadratic almost ideal demand system: an application to demand for meats and fish in Taiwan.

A new demand system, called a globally flexible, quadratic almost ideal demand system (GF–QUAIDS), integrates both the quadratic Engel curve and the Fourier series. This novel GF–QUAIDS model is applied to study the demand for meats and fish in Taiwan. Empirical results show that the GF–QUAIDS fits the data well and that, by using the likelihood ratio test, its nested models are rejected, including the locally flexible functional form and the linear Engel curve. Nevertheless, other empirical model-selection measures indicate that the GF–QUAIDS can be as good as its famous nested models such as the AIDS, QUAIDS and GF–AIDS.