139 research outputs found
NLINLS: a Differential Evolution based nonlinear least squares Fortran 77 program
No full textThis paper provides the list of Fortran 77 codes of nonlinear least squares using Differential Evolution as the minimizer algorithm. It has been tested on a number of difficult nonlinear least squares problems (taken from NIST, USA including CPC-X Software challenge problems). Help on how to use the program also is provided.Nonlinear least squares; Differential Evolution; Fortran 77
The influence of glacier change on sediment yield, Peyto Basin, Alberta, Canada.
No full textThe relation between sediment yield and glacier fluctuations at timescales less than a century remains uncertain. The primary goal of this study was to assess the influence of glacier activity on sediment yield within the Peyto Lake watershed. The research focused on a small alpine watershed in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta containing Peyto Glacier and the proglacial Peyto Lake. Using photogrammetric methods I determined changes in length, area, and volume of Peyto Glacier from a topographic survey map (1917) and 18 sets of aerial photographs (1947-2005). I also collected 18 sediment cores from Peyto Lake that consists of laminated, silt-clay couplets which can be shown through ¹³⁷Cs activity to be clastic varves. Varve thickness and sediment properties were combined to produce an annual record (1917-2010) of specific sediment yield (SSY) for the watershed. I then compared the SSY record to dimensional changes of Peyto Glacier as well as available mass balance records, hydrometric records, and climate records over the study period (1917-2010). Over the period 1917-2005, Peyto Glacier retreated 2198 ± 18 m, shrank 4.0 ± 0.9 km², thinned 44 ± 31 m, and lost 581 ± 404 x 10⁶ m³ water equivalent (w.e.). I measured an additional 85 ± 4 x 10⁶ m³ w.e. of ice loss from thinning ice-cored moraines adjacent to the glacier. Over the period 1917-2005 SSY averaged 446 ± 176 Mg km²yr⁻¹, which is among the highest measured yields in the Canadian Cordillera; however, this value is relatively low for glaciated basins worldwide. The SSY record has a poor relation to short-term dimensional changes of Peyto Glacier, likely due to the complexity of sediment transfers in proglacial environments. Long-term trends in SSY are hypothesized to arise from increasing (1870-1940) and decreasing (1970-2010) glacier contribution to streamflow over the past century.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b189095
Strain field data of Tonga volcano eruption
No full textThese data only used for strain field calculation and statistics; other purposes must contact the original author. The data bag includes SSY stretching data and DSQ/VP tilting data
Environmental strategies for enhancing the quality of elderly care facilities in an aging society : post-occupancy evaluation on care and attention homes for the elderly in Hong Kong
No full textThe physical environment has a huge influence on both the satisfaction and the health-related quality of life of older adults. This study was conducted in nine care and attention (C&A) homes in Hong Kong in July 2015 (summer) and January 2016 (winter). The author explored the outdoor-environment attributes, indoor-environment attributes, and architecture-related design strategies that may affect the satisfaction and health-related quality of life of residents of typical podium-type C&A homes in Hong Kong.
The chosen method was post-occupancy evaluation, comprising environmental measurements (air temperature, relative humidity, air velocity, Predicted Mean Vote, Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied, lighting, noise level, etc.) and questionnaire surveys (occupants’ satisfaction votes and a self-evaluated health questionnaire, SF-12). Correlation analysis and logistic regression were performed using the software package IBM SPSS 20.0 to carry out the data analysis.
The results of the study indicated that attributes of both the outdoor environment (public open / green space, transport space, and service space) and the indoor environment (air temperature, relative humidity, air velocity, lighting, and noise level) affected the physical and / or the mental health of the C&A residents. In addition, architecture-related design strategies such as bedroom privacy and floor-plan legibility were found to influence the satisfaction as well as the health-related quality of life of the C&A residents.
In light of these findings, interventive design strategies for enhancing the quality of C&A homes in Hong Kong were developed. Such strategies included recommendations for suitable outdoor-environment attributes around C&A homes; the specification of desirable ranges for indoor-environment parameters capable of enhancing residents’ satisfaction and health-related quality of life; and architecture-related design strategies with the potential to solve related problems experienced by the older adults on a daily basis. Finally, the author concluded that the future post-occupancy evaluation of C&A homes in Hong Kong should focus not only on management but also on environmental attributes that significantly affect the health-related quality of life of C&A residents.published_or_final_versionReal Estate and ConstructionDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph
Phylodynamic analyses reveal rapid evolution of rubella virus
No full textRubella is an infection caused by rubella virus. Rubella virus belongs to the Togaviridae family and is a single stranded positive sense RNA virus of about 9,762 nucleotides. Rubella, once known as German Measles, causes an iconic red rash all over the body and the teratogenic congenital rubella syndrome in pregnant women. Due to Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccination rates falling throughout the developed world and measles and mumps becoming resurgent, the evolution of rubella virus is important to study prior to its potential resurgence. The E1 gene of the rubella virus is responsible for interaction with the human immune system, and it is the antigen to which antibodies are formed. The evolutionary rate of E1 along with the full rubella genome was determined using phylodynamic analysis. Both the whole genome and the E1 gene were evolving in a clocklike manner, and the evolution of both were successfully analyzed with BEAST2 software. A difference between the best-fitting priors between the two datasets was the kind of molecular clock preferred: the whole genome was best fit by a relaxed molecular clock, while the E1 gene preferred the strict molecular clock. This difference had some impact on the results, with the estimated evolutionary rate for the E1 gene from the strict clock being lower than the whole genome, but still within the 95% highest posterior density range at 1.08 x 10-3 substitutions per site per year (ssy) while the whole genome had an evolutionary rate of 1.60 x 10-3 ssy with a 95% Highest Posterior Density (HPD) of 1.06 x 10-3 to 2.18 x 10-3 ssy. Reconducting the E1 analysis with a relaxed molecular clock resulted in a similar evolutionary rate as the whole genome of 1.51 x 10-3 ssy with a 95% HPD of 1.23 x 10-3 to 1.80 x 10-3 ssy. This is one of the first cases where there was a statistically significant difference in substitution rate (non-overlapping HPDs) between analyses of the same dataset calculated with different clock priors. The relaxed clock estimates of nucleotide substitution rate are higher than has been estimated for rubella virus in the past and agrees with the more rapid rate of evolution seen in a single decade in China. These results suggest that rubella evolves faster than expected, though it is not undergoing substantial positive selection, and that choice of clock model is a more significant determinant of substitution rate than previously considered.M.S.Includes bibliographical reference
EVIDENCE AND CAUSES OF SPATIOTEMPORAL CHANGES IN RUNOFF AND SEDIMENT YIELD ON THE CHINESE LOESS PLATEAU
No full textClimate change and human activities are strongly influencing the eco-hydrological processes of the Chinese Loess Plateau. It is challenging to investigate the spatiotemporal changes of water and sediment yields and identify their potential causes. In this study, we used the annual runoff index (WI) and specific sediment yield (SSY) derived from 58 hydrological stations to quantify the changes and attempted to explain their potential causes. The WI exhibited significant (P<0.05) decrease ranging from -0.1 to -2.6 mm yr(-1) during 1957-2012 in 44 sub-catchments. Similarly, the SSY in 52 sub-catchments reduced in a range between -2.86 and -636 M g km(-2) yr(-1). The region of Toudaoguai-Longmen has extremely high SSY ranging from 8000 to 41000 M g km(-2) yr(-1) during 1957-1969. Budget analysis suggested that the area of Lanzhou-Toudaoguai contributed limited sediment but extracted large amount of water. The areas with negative SSY were increasing and mainly distributed along the mainstream of the Yellow River. The Loess plateau was becoming drier and warmer since the 1950s, whereas the intensive human activities including water withdrawal, soil and water conservation projects and the operation of dams and reservoirs are the dominant factors for the decline in WI and SSY on the Loess Plateau. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Review of Contemporary Adaptive Reuse Movement for industrial sites in China
No full textWithin a relatively brief span of time, adaptive reuse emerges as a fashionable architectural and urban renewal activity for many of those economically vibrant cities of China. The author and his team are astonished by the level of proliferation and sophistication that some of these projects exhibit, regardless of the geographical location or characteristics of society concerned (as ‘adaptive reuse’ entails cross-disciplinary interactions such as social, economic and physical challenges). One thing that is a common sight in almost all of these urban rehabilitation projects is that for the present time there is an over-indulgence on creative arts as an universal norm to rejuvenating deserted or dilapidated buildings, turning them just like that into galleries for artists, photographers; or studios for fashion, graphic designers and architects. This unquestioned attitude towards creative arts as the best recipe to rejuvenate industrial or residential buildings challenges the author’s attempt to examine the conceiving idea, market perception towards the roles of historic buildings notably industrial buildings, the interpretation of sustainability from a broad perspective – social, economics and environment. Though the study is primarily based on field study instead of literature research, it is feasible to observe that the deployment of creative arts as an economic driver presents itself as an imbalanced approach for sustainability sake. Such observation grants us a chance to recuperate the meaning of sustainability for sustainable urban development. The author refers to a number of selected case studies from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in order to unfold and discuss those sustainability strategies adopted by developers so as to generate an agenda for further research.published_or_final_versio
Liveable Landscapein High-Rise and High-Density Built Environment for Health Promotion in Singapore
No full textIn recent years, liveable landscape design for high-rise has been introduced as an antidote to elevate the significance and value of living environment in high-density urban developments. Liveable landscape could be designed together with buildings because architecture as an applied ecology (Yeang, 1999) challenges urban constructions to integrate with natural systems in a sustainable way.
New theories, such as green urbanism is proposed as an anchor which defines interdisciplinary design pedagogy to shape sustainable places, communities and lifestyles (Beatley, 2000). Furthermore, the feature of liveable landscape looks beyond the physiological parameters of health and comfort and includes the psychological well-being of people and communities as well.
In this paper, the author uses Singapore as an example to explore three main aspects of liveable landscape as a healing place for people who live in the “concrete jungle”, victims of green space scarcity; and discusses the potential of liveable landscape implement for other ultra-density urbanism such as Hong Kong’s
Gender differences and effects of acute and chronic oxytocin on social interaction in mice
No full textBACKGROUND: Understanding emotion from others is an essential ability for the healthy development of all mammals. Anomalies in emotion processing are associated with developmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. Oxytocin is a nine amino-acid peptide (nonapeptide) hormone. It is well-known for its role in lactation and parturition, but it also has a key role in social recognition. Oxytocin has been suggested as a potential therapy in neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum, however direct experimental investigation of the action of oxytocin is still limited. The aim of the present study was to explore acute and chronic dose-related effects of oxytocin on social interaction activity in male and female mice. METHODS: 8 week old adult C57BL/6N mice were obtained from the Laboratory Animal Unit at The University of Hong Kong. The experimental protocol was approved by the Committee on the Use of Live Animals for teaching and Research, University of Hong Kong (CULATR case NO: 2152-10). In the chronic administration group, a single injection of 10ug/kg, 100ug/kg, or 1000ug/kg oxytocin (Sigam-Aldrich) was given subcutaneously once a week for two weeks as part of a larger study on chronic effects of oxytocin. Social interaction test was conducted one week after the last oxytocin exposure. Mice received oxytocin injection 30min before test. In the acute administration group, another batch of mice was tested in the same way without previous exposure to oxytocin. Additional untreated mice received saline injection 30min before the social interaction test and were included as controls. The social interaction test conducted followed standard protocols in our lab. An experimental mouse paired with a “neutral” stimulus mouse from the same gender are tested together and scored as a single unit. The mice are put in opposite corners of the arena facing away from each other before the start of the 10-min social interaction test. Mice social interaction times were scored manually. RESULTS: In the control group, the male mice had longer social interaction time with strangers than female mice (P<0.05). In the oxytocin acute administration group, the social interaction time was increased with the increasing oxytocin doses in the female mice (P<0.05). There was a significant linear relationship between social interaction time and oxytocin doses. However, the oxytocin dose-effect curve showed an inverted U shape in the male mice. Both 100ug/kg and 1000ug/kg oxytocin increased social interaction activity in the male mice, but the maximal effect was obtained at 100ug/kg of oxytocin administration. In the oxytocin chronic administration, previous oxytocin exposures increased social interaction time in the female mice for all doses of oxytocin (P<0.05). The oxytocin dose-effect curve for the male mice in the chronic administration group had a similar inverted U shape as the acute administration, with the peak effect at 100ug/kg oxytocin administration (P<0.05). DISCUSSION: The social interaction measure in C57BL/6N mice is gender dependent. Male and female mice also have different responses to acute and chronic administration of oxytocin. Therefore, gender differences need to be carefully considered for further investigations into the utility of oxytocin.The 3rd Biennial Conference of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS), Florence, Italy, 14-18 April 2012. In Schizophrenia Research, 2012, p. S361, poster no. 22
A preliminary study on environmental performances of pocket parks in high-rise and high-density urban context in Hong Kong.
No full textThis article reports the results of an empirical study on summertime environmental performances of a pocket park in Hong Kong. The results suggest that (i) wind condition has a critical impact on outdoor air temperature (Ta), especially in a tropical area like Hong Kong and (ii) building geometry is significantly related to outdoor Ta in Hong Kong. The shading effect from buildings may be more important than shading and evapotranspiration effect of greenery in the unique urban context of Hong Kong. © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.link_to_OA_fulltextThe 2nd International Symposium on Low Carbon Buildings (ISLCB), University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China, 29-30 October 2011. In International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, 2012, v. 7 n. 3, p. 215-22
- …
