Studies on the respiratory health of primary school children in urban communities of Hong Kong

The first stage of a 2-year survey of respiratory morbidity in primary school children was conducted in two districts of Hong Kong in April/May 1989. One group (2009) of children was from Kwai Tsing District, which had high levels of exhaust emission from factories. The other group (1837) was from Southern District where atmospheric pollution was considered to be relatively low. After adjustment for gender, age, socioeconomic factors, child smoking and exposure to parental smoking, the prevalence ratios of sore throat, evening cough, cough for more than 3 months, morning phlegm and wheezing were found to be significantly higher in Kwai Tsing. The difference between the districts is likely to be related to the environmental air quality. The study, which is continuing, will provide the basis for an evaluation of the impact of new low sulphur fuel regulations introduced in July 1990.     

Evaluations of existing waste recycling methods: A Hong Kong study

Environmental problems have been considered as a serious situation in Hong Kong construction. Waste management is pressing harder with the alarming signal warning the industry. Reuse, recycling and reducing the wastes are considered as the only methods to recover the wastes generated; however, the implementations still have much room for improvement. In order to ameliorate the existing situations, evaluations of the existing waste recycling methods are studied in this research. A telephone interviewing to the recyclers, site visits to the construction and demolition sites (including the Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate Phase 1) and the centralized recycling plant in Tuen Mun Area 38 are under investigation. Difficulties encountered for various recycling parties are investigated. Rather than the poor quality found from the recyclable materials, they found the high investment cost, lengthy demolition period and limited space caused the major barriers for them. Therefore, some recommendations are suggested: (i) proposing a higher landfill charging scheme; (ii) setting up a centralized centre for recycling the materials; (iii) examining the Hong Kong government should be supported in the provision of land for recycling plants; (iv) implementing innovative demolition methods; (v) allowing some locations in town for residents’ easy access to drop-off recyclable materials; (vi) allowing flexible demolition periods; (vii) setting up recycling plant in town or in the form of mobile installations; (viii) reusing the reusable components as donations to the charity organization; (ix) providing higher flexibility in receiving concrete waste in Tuen Mun Area 38 recycling plant; and (x) balancing the supply and demand of recycled materials through legislations or incentive schemes.     

Highly sensitive electrochemical sensor based on zirconium oxide-decorated gold nanoflakes nanocomposite 2,4-dichlorophenol detection

Journal of Applied Electrochemistry - In this study, a sensitive and selective electrochemical sensor based on a zirconia oxide-decorated gold nanoflake nanocomposite-modified glassy carbon...     

Modeling heterogeneous bacterial populations exposed to antibiotics: The logistic‐dynamics case

In typical in vitro tests for clinical use or development of antibiotics, samples from a bacterial population are exposed to an antibiotic at various concentrations. The resulting data can then be used to build a mathematical model suitable for dosing regimen design or for further development. For bacterial populations that include resistant subpopulations—an issue that has reached alarming proportions—building such a model is challenging. In prior work, we developed a related modeling framework for such heterogeneous bacterial populations following linear dynamics when exposed to an antibiotic. We extend this framework to the case of logistic dynamics, common among strongly resistant bacterial strains. Explicit formulas are developed that can be easily used in parameter estimation and subsequent dosing regimen design under realistic pharmacokinetic conditions. A case study using experimental data from the effect of an antibiotic on a gram‐negative bacterial population exemplifies the usefulness of the proposed approach. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 2385–2393, 2015     

Deformation and Fracture of β‐Silicon Nitride Micropillars

Room‐temperature deformation and fracture behaviors under microcompression of single crystal β‐silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) micropillars were investigated. Pillars were fabricated by focused ion beam (FIB) in large Si₃N₄ grains, located close to the basal and prismatic orientations, selected by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The micromechanical test and the damage characterization were performed by nanoindentation and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The elastic, plastic, and fracture properties, such as Young's modulus, yield stress, and rupture stress are considerably influenced by the pillar orientation. The activation of the type slip system was identified in case of basal oriented micropillars.     

Influence of Substrate Properties on the Formation of Suspension Plasma Sprayed Coatings

In this study, YSZ coatings were deposited on different substrate materials (stainless steel and aluminum) using suspension plasma spray technique. The effects of substrate properties (material, surface topology, temperature, and thickness) on the formation of coatings were investigated. The results showed that, with the identical spray parameters, the porosity is higher for the coatings deposited on aluminum than that on stainless steel due to the high thermal transfer ability of the former substrate material. The SEM results revealed that the microstructure of as-prepared coatings could be tailored from the vertical cracked structure to the columnar structure by increasing the substrate surface roughness and their formation mechanisms were discussed. The substrate preheating temperature has an influence on the microstructure of the coatings, especially in the interfacial region. Increasing the substrate temperature is an effective means for reducing the interface defects and for improving the adhesion of the coatings. With the increase in the substrate thickness, the quantity of the vertical cracks in the coatings is reduced and their width becomes narrower.     

Sensors and Machine Learning Models to Prevent Cooktop Ignition and Ignore Normal Cooking

Fire Technology - Cooking equipment is involved in nearly half of home fires in the United States, with cooktop fires the leading cause of deaths and injuries in cooking-related fires. In this...     

DPP-4 Cleaves α/β-Peptide Bonds: Substrate Specificity and Half-Lives

The incorporation of β-amino acids into a peptide sequence has gained particular attention as β- and α/β-peptides have shown remarkable proteolytic stability, even after a single homologation at the scissile bond. Several peptidases have been shown to cleave such bonds with high specificity but at a much slower rate compared to α-peptide bonds. In this study, a series of analogs of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) substrate inhibitors were synthesized in order to investigate whether β-amino acid homologation at the scissile bond could be a valid approach to improving peptide stability towards DPP-4 degradation. DPP-4 cleaved the α/β-peptide bond after the N-terminal penultimate Pro with a broad specificity and retained full activity regardless of the β³-amino acid side chain and peptide length. Significantly improved half-lives were observed for β³Ile-containing peptides. Replacing the penultimate Pro with a conformationally constrained Pro mimetic led to proteolytic resistance. DPP-4 cleavage of α/β-peptide bonds with a broad promiscuity represents a new insight into the stability of peptide analogs containing β-amino acids as such analogs were thought to be stable towards enzymatic degradation.