• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.99-113
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• 2017

The effects of different lightweight functional fillers on the properties of cement-based composites are investigated in this study. The fillers include fly ash cenospheres (FACs) and glass micro-spheres (GMS15 and GMS38) in various proportions. The developed composites were tested for compressive, flexural and tensile strengths at 10 and 28-day ages. The results indicated that both FACs and GMS38 are excellent candidates for producing strong lightweight composites. However, incorporation of GMS15 resulted in much lower specific strength values (only up to $13.64kPa/kg\;m^3$) due to its thinner shell thickness and lower isostatic crushing strength value (2.07 MPa). Microstructural analyses further revealed that GMS38 and GMS15 were better suited for thermal insulating applications. However, higher weight fraction of the fillers in composites leads to increased porosity which might be detrimental to their strength development.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.433-449
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• 2010

Wind tunnel model tests were conducted for a residential apartment block located within the complex terrain of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). The test building is typical of medium-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong. The model study was conducted using modelling techniques and assumptions that are commonly used to predict design wind loads and pressures for buildings sited in regions of significant topography. Results for the building model with and without the surrounding topography were compared to investigate the effects of far-field and near-field topography on wind characteristics at the test building site and wind-induced external pressure coefficients at key locations on the building facade. The study also compared the wind tunnel test results to topographic multipliers and external pressure coefficients determined from nine international design standards. Differences between the external pressure coefficients stipulated in the various standards will be exacerbated when they are combined with the respective topographic multipliers.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.193-198
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• 2007

A marine bacterium was isolated from Mai Po Nature Reserve of Hong Kong and identified as Vibrio cholerae MP-1. It contains a small plasmid designated as pVC of 3.8 kb. Four open reading frames (ORFs) are identified on the plasmid, but none of them shows homology to any known protein. Database search indicated that a 440 bp fragment is 96% identical to a fragment found in a small plasmid of another V. cholerae. Further experiments demonstrated that a 2.3 kb EcoRI fragment containing the complete ORF1, partial ORF4 and their intergenic region could self-replicate. Additional analyses revealed that sequence upstream of ORF1 showed the features characteristic of theta type replicons. Protein encoded by ORF1 has two characteristic motifs existed in most replication initiator proteins (Rep): the leucine zipper (LZ) motif located at the N-terminal region and the alpha helix-turn-alpha helix motif (HTH) located at the C-terminal end. The results suggest that pVC replicates via the theta type mechanism and is likely a novel type of theta replicon.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.361-380
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• 2010

Some 400 Secondary One (i.e. seventh-grade) students from 10 schools were provided with non-routine mathematical problems in their normal mathematics classes as exercises for one academic year. Their attitudes toward mathematics, their conceptions of mathematics and their problem-solving performance were measured both in the beginning and at the end of the year. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the introduction of an appropriate dose of non-routine problems would generate some effects on the students' conceptions of mathematics. A medium dose of non-routine problems (as reported by the teachers) would result in a change of the students' conception of mathematics to perceiving mathematics as less of "a subject of calculables." On the other hand, a high dose would lead students to perceive mathematics as more useful and more as a discipline involving thinking. However, with a low dose of non-routine problems, students found mathematics more "friendly" (free from fear). It is therefore proposed that the use of non-routine mathematical problems to an appropriate extent can induce changes in students' "lived space" of mathematics learning and broaden their conceptions of mathematics and mathematics learning.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.625-642
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• 2015

Prestressed concrete bridges with corrugated steel webs have emerged as one of the promising bridge forms. This structural form provides excellent structural efficiency with the concrete flanges primarily taking bending and the corrugated steel webs primarily taking shear. In the design of this type of bridges, the flexural ductility and deformability as well as strength need to be carefully examined. Evaluation of these safety-related attributes requires the estimation of full-range behaviour. In this study, the full-range behaviour of beam sections with corrugated steel webs is evaluated by means of a nonlinear analytical method which uses the actual stress-strain curves of the materials and considers the path-dependence of materials. In view of the different behaviour of components and the large shear deformation of corrugated steel webs with negligible longitudinal stiffness, the assumption that plane sections remain plane may no longer be valid. The interaction between shear deformation and local bending of flanges may cause additional stress in flanges, which is considered in this study. The numerical results obtained are compared with experimental results for verification. A parametric study is undertaken to clarify the effects of various parameters on ductility, deformability and strength.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.113-119
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• 2021

With the increasing pressure of international competition, urban agglomeration cooperation and innovation had become an important means of regional economic development. This study analyzed the spatial characteristics of the Urban Cooperative Innovation Network in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, found out the dynamic evolution law of innovation, provided suggestions for policy management departments, and effectively planned the industrial layout. According to the data of the State Intellectual Property Office of China, this study researched invention patents from 2005 to 2019. This paper constructed the urban cooperative innovation network, and took 11 cities in the bay area as the research objects, and used social network analysis to study the spatial structure and dynamic evolution of the urban innovation network. Every indicator reflected the urban cooperative innovation, but they all showed a certain decline in 2008-2010. And it is inferred that the innovation network space of each city will be "obvious fist advantages, significant spillover effect and weakening role of Hong Kong and Macao". This paper divided urban cooperative innovation of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into three stages. Summing up the characteristics of each stage is helpful to recognize the changes of urban cooperative innovation and to do a good job in industrial layout planning.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.747-753
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• 2009

Planning the construction for a system of bored piles in building foundation engineering is (1) to predict the time duration required to complete all the bored piles with due consideration of relevant engineering factors and site constraints; then (2) to predict the total project time generally by aggregating the predicted working duration for construction of each bored pile. The duration for construction of an individual bored pile results from analyzing various working sequences and different activity duration (such as predrilling, excavation, steelfixing, air-lifting, and concreting, etc.), which is informed by experiences and site records of previous projects. However, determining the project duration for constructing many bored piles on one site is much more complicated than adding up the time duration for individual piles. In practice, project schedules are often found to be unrealistic and incorrect during the construction stage. This is because construction planning is not based on a exhaustive and comprehensive evaluation of site factors, such as site layout plan, site constraints, quality control, environmental control, safety control and logical relationships between different trades. In this paper, we identify those factors based on a foundation engineering site in Hong Kong with ninety-seven bored piles and address their effects on uncertainties in activity time and project time.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.63.2-64
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• 2003

Epitaxial yttrium-stabilized HfO$_2$ thin films were deposited on p-type (100) Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition at a relatively lower substrate temperature of 550. Transmission electron microscopy observation revealed a fixed orientation relationship between the epitaxial film and Si; that is, (100)Si.(100)HfO$_2$ and [001]Si/[001]HfO$_2$. The film/Si interface is not atomically flat, suggesting possible interfacial reaction and diffusion, X-ray photoelectron spectrum analysis also revealed the interfacial reaction and diffusion evidenced by Hf silicate and Hf-Si bond formation at the interface. The epitaxial growth of the yttrium stabilized HfO$_2$ thin film on bare Si is via a direct growth mechanism without involoving the reaction between Hf atoms and SiO$_2$ layer. High-frequency capacitance-voltage measurement on an as-grown 40-A yttrium-stabilized HfO$_2$ epitaxial film yielded an dielectric constant of about 14 and equivalent oxide thickness to SiO$_2$ of 12 A. The leakage current density is 7.0${\times}$ 10e-2 A/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 1V gate bias voltage.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.10a
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• pp.478-481
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• 2021

With the transition to non-face-to-face classes due to the outbreak of COVID-19, education at school sites is moving in a different direction from traditional lecture-style classes. Accordingly, several online platforms have emerged, and our education is in a transitional period of class change. As a result, after a survey of the currently used online platform, where various contrasts clearly exist, compared with the report before the outbreak of COVID-19, students' perception of ICT usage ability in terms of affective, psychic, and value perception changes want to check

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.587-602
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• 2022

In this study, the classical J₂ flow theory is explicitly proved to be inappropriate to describe the plastic behaviour of structural steels under different stress states according to the reported test results. A numerical framework of the characterization of the strain hardening and ductile fracture initiation involving the effect of stress states, i.e., stress triaxiality and Lode angle parameter, is proposed based on the mechanical response of structural steels under monotonic loading. Both effects on strain hardening are determined by correction functions, which are implemented as different modules in the numerical framework. Thus, other users can easily modify them according to their test results. Besides, the ductile fracture initiation is determined by a fracture locus in the space of stress triaxiality, Lode angle parameter, and fracture strain. The numerical implementation of the proposed model and the corresponding code are provided in this paper, which are also available on GitHub. The validity of the numerical procedure is examined through single element tests and the accuracy of the proposed model is verified by existing test results.