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A novel approach in predicting virtual garment fitting sizes with psychographic characteristics and 3D body measurements using artificial neural network and visualizing fitted bodies using generative adversarial network
Get PDFAdvances in technology have brought accessibility to garment product fitting procedures with a virtual fitting environment and, in due course, improved the supply chain socially, economically, and environmentally. 3D body measurements, garment sizes, and ease allowance are the necessary factors to ensure end-user satisfaction in the apparel industry. However, designers find it challenging to recognize customers’ motivations and emotions towards their preferred fit and define ease allowances in the virtual environment. This study investigates the variations of ease preferences for apparel sizes with body dimensions and psychological orientations by developing a virtual garment fitting prediction model. An artificial neural network (ANN) was employed to develop the model. The ANN model was proved to be effective in predicting ease preferences from two major components. A non-linear relationship was modeled among pattern parameters, body dimensions, and psychographic characteristics. Also, to visualize the fitted bodies, a generative adversarial network (GAN) was applied to generate 3D samples with the predicted pattern parameters from the ANN model. This project promotes mass customization using psychographic orientations and provides the perfect fit to the end users. New size-fitting data is generated for improved ease preference charts, and it enhances end-user satisfaction with garment fit
Characterization of the Gut Microbiome in Healthy Dogs and Dogs with Diabetes Mellitus
Get PDFWith a close pathogenetic resemblance to human diabetes, canine Diabetes Mellitus, a chronic metabolic disease featuring abnormally high blood sugar levels, is increasing in prevalence worldwide. Unlike humans, canine glycemic control requires life-long insulin injections and dietary control in most cases, thereby jeopardizing diabetic dogs’ quality of life and increasing the difficulty of disease control. While many research studies have focused on elucidating the relationship between the canine gut microbiome and diseases, there is currently no research on the subject of diabetes mellitus in dogs. We hypothesized that the gut microbiome of canines with diabetes mellitus is different from that of healthy controls. Thus, we performed targeted 16S rRNA sequencing and comprehensive bioinformatic analysis to compare the gut microbiome profiles of 16 diabetic dogs with those of 32 healthy dogs. Clostridioides difficile, Phocaeicola plebeius, Lacrimispora indolis, and Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum were found to be enriched in diabetic dogs. A distinct shift towards carbohydrate degradation metabolic pathways was found to be differentially abundant in the diabetic subjects. Alteration of the co-occurrence network was also evident in the diabetic group. In conclusion, our study suggests that the gut microbial landscape differs in diabetic canines at the genera, species, functional, and network levels. These findings have significant implications for disease management, and thus warrant further research
Tourism vocational education: Relations of input and output
Get PDFThis study examines the contribution of vocational education (VE) inputs of career-related interest and self-attributes of attitude, skills, and knowledge (ASK) to career-related decision outputs using the lens of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). Data from 407 tourism students were analysed by structural equation modelling. Positive attitude is related significantly to resilience. Self-efficacy of relevant skills is related significantly to lifelong career choice. Students’ interest in tourism is the strongest predictor of lifelong career choice amidst the unfavourite industry environment of Covid-19. Vocational education institutions should differentiate provisions of specific educational inputs for specific outputs to fulfil societal demands
A mini-review of traditional Chinese medicines on liver diseases
No full textIntroduction: Currently, around 2 million deaths per year are attributed to liver disorders worldwide. There are many traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) and natural products used for preventing and combating liver disorders in China, such as “Celastrol ”, “Astragalus ”, and “Curcumin ”. This mini-review aims to discuss the (i) TCM theory, (ii) pharmacology mechanisms, and (iii) toxicology of the commonly used TCMs, such as “Celas- trol ”, “Astragalus ”, “Curcumin ”in the treatment of liver diseases, and further (iv) describe the help of modern “Nanotechnology ”with these TCMs in future development for curing liver diseases. Methods: Nine electronic databases were searched between 2012 and 2022, including WanFang Data, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, Springer Link, SciFinder, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), without regard to language constraints. The searched keywords include “Celastrol + liver diseases ”, “Astragalus + liver disease ” Curcumin + liver diseases , etc. All eligible studies are analyzed and summarized in this review. Results: Celastrol, Astragalus, and Curcumin were reported to be effective Chinese herbals for the prevention and treatment of liver diseases through cyclic adenylate monophosphate (cAMP)–protein kinase A (PKA)–nuclear factor kappa-B (NF- B), miR-712-PPAR- -PI3K/AKT-GLUT4, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of the rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathways. Nanoformulations could im- prove physiochemical features and enhance the efficacy of Chinese herbs. Conclusion: Celastrol, Astragalus, and Curcumin as commonly used TCMs for the treatment of liver diseases possess a wide extent of pharmacological functions, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-cancer properties. Nanoformulations of Chinese herbs show great promise in the development of traditional Chinese medicines for treating liver diseases
Person-Environment Fit: Implications for Vocational Students’ Career in the Era of Crisis
Get PDFPerson-environment fit theory (PE-fit) theory emphasises a match between a person’s attribute (P) and the workplace environment (E). However, a differential predictions hypothesis emphasises the different contributions of personal and envi-ronmental inputs to outcomes. Higher education students in Hong Kong (N = 380) completed a survey on their personal interest (P) and the contemporary threatening environment (E) (fear of pandemic, social unrest, international disputes) related to tourism-related outcomes (intent to join tourism, lifelong commitment, leadership, and anxiety) during COVID-19. Structural equation modelling found that P strongly predicted Intent, Lifelong, and Leadership, whereas E strongly predicted Anxiety, supporting the differential predictions hypothesis. PE-fit (P × positive E) predicted Intent in addition to the prediction of P, supporting the PE-fit hypothesis. The find-ings imply the different merits of PE-fit and differential predictions hypotheses for various vocational outcomes, and the importance of reinforcing students’ interest to launch their career in challenging times
Sustainable Textile Raw Materials: Review on Bioprocessing of TextileWaste via Electrospinning
Get PDFThe fashion and textile industry in its current fast-rising business model has generated a huge amount of textile waste during and after the production process. The environmental impact of this waste is well documented as it poses serious threats to lives on earth. To confront the menace of this huge pollution problem, a number of research works were carried out to examine the possible reutilization of these waste materials without further damaging the environment; for instance, reusing, generating valuable products, or regenerating fibrous materials to form a closed loop in the cotton textile waste lifecycle. This review covers different methodologies to transform cellulosic textile materials into various products with added value, such as cellulosic glucose, cellulase, etc., and finally, to regenerate the fibrous materials for re-application in textiles and fashion. This article presents an overall picture to researchers outlining the possible value addition of textile waste materials. Furthermore, the regeneration of cellulosic fibrous materials from textile waste will be brought into the limelight
Development of a Cost-Effective Vertical Remote Sensing System for Detecting Emissions from Diesel Medium Good Vehicles
Get PDFInvestigation on Performance of a Converted Remote Sensing System for Diesel Tailpope Emissions Monitoring
Get PDFRoadside remote sensing (RS) has been adopted by the environmental protection department of Hong Kong as a tool for controlling urban air quality issues induced by on-road vehicles. The technology provides the unique advantage of being able to scan a large number of vehicles without interfering the traffic. The horizontal or cross-road RS (HRS) devices in used today are mostly tailored for single-lane applications. where the path of the RS light beam is parallel to the road surface, and emission scanning are limited to some segments of the roadway network. Vertical remote sensing (VRS) that scans an exhaust plume with a light beam perpendicular to the road surface has been proposed for multiple-lane applications but published results are scarce. VRS offers the advantage of being able to distinguish the plumes of different vehicles [1] but comes with some snags associated with installation, protection, and maintenance of the ground unit. A diagonal remote sensing (DRS) system is a modified version of the conventional RS with the light source and the detector unit (the main unit) lifted and tilted to scan the exhaust plume of a passing car diagonally and the ground unit titled to deflect the light back to the main unit. Such setup could prevent the ground unit being drove over and, therefore, reduce the needs to protect and maintain the ground unit. Plume dispersion models of box trailer trucks revealed that an area of recirculation appear at the close vicinity of the back of the trucks [2, 3]. The tilt angle of the DRS could be adjusted to scan the recirculation pockets of different types of vehicle. This study aims at evaluating the performance of a DRS prototype system that was converted from conventional RS devices in detecting exhaust emissions from a diesel truck, comparing the performance of DRS to those of HRS and VRS, and determining the feasibility of deploying DRS in single-lane applications. The RS systems measured the tailpipe emissions from a designated diesel vehicle equipped with portable emission measurement systems (PEMS) under a range of loading and driving conditions (i.e., 0 — 50% load and 10 — 30 km/h). The average NOx to CO2 ratio recorded by the HRS, VRS, and DRS systems were 44% (+ 6%), 32% (+ 4.5%), and 36% (+ 5.7%) of the PEMS equivalent measurements, respectively. The linear regression analyses of the HRS-PEMS pair, VRS-PEMS pair, and DRS-PEMS pair in terms of NOx/CO2 revealed that the correlation between HRS-PEMS is the most significant followed by VRS and DRS. The average NOx signal magnitude of the HRS, VRS, and DRS systems were 0.52, 0.61, and 0.21, respectively. It is concluded that the performance of the proposed DRS system is comparable to the performances of the HRS and VRS systems and DRS could be an opportunity to expand the role of RS in urban air quality control. ‘The work described in this study was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. UGC/IDS(c)25/E02/19)
Engineering Education in Hong Kong Secondary Schools - The Applied Learning Course Approach
Get PDFIn Hong Kong, the efficacy of engineering education in secondary schools is always difficult to measure. This is mainly because there are limited engineering-oriented subjects and few teachers with backgrounds in engineering. Engineering education is often infused into the curriculum of secondary schools through science, technology and mathematics (STM) subjects. Students’ involvement in engineering related school-based and extracurricular activities are limited. Only a few technical schools in Hong Kong are offering engineering-oriented subjects such as Electronics & Electricity and Technology Fundamentals.
Some previous studies have identified that the lack of engineering education in secondary schools may affect the students’ aspiration to become engineers, while some studies have investigated the gap of engineering education at the secondary-tertiary interface. Likewise, many post-industrial societies are facing the same challenges as Hong Kong, which have strong demand for engineers but struggled with the low intake of engineering programmes in higher education and subsequent careers.
This paper responds to the addressed issues of engineering education in Hong Kong secondary schools and performs a practical study of the effectiveness of Applied Learning Courses (ApL), which are introduced to diversify the curriculum of senior secondary students by the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR government. The design of ApL emphasizes the development of fundamental skill set, career-related competencies and generic skills of students, and explore their career aspirations and orientation for lifelong learning.
The overall curriculum design and pedagogy of two selected ApL courses of engineering (electrical & energy engineering and digital construction) will be studied to investigate how the courses can instil engineering knowledge, provide practical ‘hands-on’ experiences and enhance engineering aspirations among secondary school students.
The study also provides recommendations on improving the design and structure of ApL courses as an approach of effective engineering education in secondary schools