103 research outputs found
Care for a legend : conservation maintenance plan for Tung Lin Kok Yuen, Hong Kong
No full textUnlike regular modern buildings, heritage buildings contain cultural significance which embodied in the place itself, its fabric, setting, use, associations, meanings, records, related places and related objects. The repairer shall pay attention not to minimize or diminish the character-defining elements (“CDEs”). According to The Burra Charter, the cultural significance means aesthetic, historic, scientific, social or spiritual value for past, present or future generations. The CDEs should be conserved to retain the associated value. However, there are little recognized Government or industrial standard specifically for the maintenance of architectural heritage in Hong Kong. For the Government standard, there are only a General Specification for Building published by Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) for construction of new building and a technical guidebook of heritage conservation in Hong Kong produced by HKICON and ERA Architects Inc.
In this dissertation, Tung Lin Kok Yuen, a declared monument located at Hong Kong’s Happy Valley, is selected as the case-study heritage building to examine the above-mentioned research issue. In this dissertation, the author will study the importance of maintenance plan and highlight the potential maintenance issues to illustrate how this historic monastery could be better maintained and conserved to maintain its high cultural heritage significance. The methodology will be developed to address the following key research questions to formulate the skeleton and framework of this research:
• What are the value and character-defining elements of Tung Lin Kok Yuen?
• Why set up the maintenance plan of Tung Lin Kok Yuen?
• What are the maintenance issues and challenges the building currently facing?
• What policy addressed in the heritage maintenance plan of Tung Lin Kok Yuen? And What guidance included in the heritage maintenance plan?published_or_final_versionConservationMasterMaster of Science in Conservatio
Duo he xin ji duo xin pian xi tong de dian yuan chuan shu wang luo zhi xiang xi dian ya zou xiang fen xi
No full textSiu, Wing Oi.Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2015.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-73).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on 28, October, 2016).Siu, Wing Oi
The evolution of citizenship education in nation-building in Singapore and Hong Kong
No full textCitizenship Education is a highly political agenda for politicians and governments, especially those of the emerging nations studied in transitology. Political circumstances that surround the birth of ล nation are inextricably tied up with the unique economic, social and even globalisation contexts that shape the formation of that particular nation. Citizenship education mirrors the political climate of such circumstances. A ruling government's policies and ideologies are often transmitted to the masses through education in the form of citizenship education in its evolving forms that take after the political orientations of the nation. A historical-comparative study of Singapore and Hong Kong is the focus of the thesis and a combined case in point. This historical-comparative approach presents a chronological and qualitative analysis of Singapore and Hong Kong that links the past to the present, and points to future direction on how citizenship education has transformed in its focus, dimensions, content, message and values. Theories of nationalism, nation-state and national identity provide a basis for the understanding of the political, economic and social factors that impact nation- building and the subsequent evolvement of Civic and Moral Education in Singapore and Hong Kong after independence. In an analysis of the content-domain of citizenship education, Singapore’s curriculum is shown to reflect the ruling party's ideologies infused through National Education, where the Singapore story is sacrosanct and has to be mastered by all students so that the continual survival instinct is preserved at ill times. Hong Kong covers more breadth with a curriculum that includes the history of China that can be taught critically and a Chinese cultural heritage element that is infused into all the Key Learning subjects. The Life Event Approach is also more practical and relevant to the students' appreciation of the more individual-growth values learnt. Singapore is identified as an Objective/Globalised nation-state with a parallel Objective/Globalised National Identity that has a predominantly strong political leadership and economic priority in its nation-building foundation. It recognizes the need to rise up to the global challenges ahead. Hong Kong has a combination of Objective/Subjective/Globalised region-state with a parallel Objective/Subjective/Globalised National Identity with China due to its cultural heritage component inherited from China and also the need to meet global challenges. The thesis demonstrates how education can be used as a channel to serve the ideologies of the politicians who have a direct stake in shaping the focus of the political content in citizenship education in building national identity. It also illustrates how the respective political circumstances, economic reasons, social contexts and globalisation challenges drive the evolvement of the citizenship education in both Singapore and Hong Kong
Exploring the roles of chloroplast envelope proteins in plant acclimation processes
No full textIn vascular plants, the chloroplast not only serves as the cellular site of photosynthesis but also houses the enzymatic machinery essential for numerous interwoven biochemical pathways central to plant metabolism. As the interface between plastid and cytosol, the chloroplast envelopes perform a range of critical functions including the facilitation of ionic and metabolic exchange and acting as a major site for lipid metabolism in plants. Changes in chloroplast metabolism is instrumental in plant acclimation to adverse environmental conditions. Correspondingly, proteins of the chloroplast envelope have been increasingly recognised for their roles in such processes, particularly cold acclimation.
While extensive efforts have illuminated the multifaceted nature of the chloroplast envelope and its potential role in cold acclimation, many of its constituent proteins remain to be characterised on the molecular level. In this work, artificial microRNA-based screens were conducted to probe the chloroplast outer envelope landscape, which led us to investigate the Chloroplast Lipid Remodelling Protein 23 (CLRP23) in more detail. Formerly known in published literature as Outer Envelope Protein 23 (OEP23), CLRP23 was originally identified in the chloroplast envelopes of Pea and assumed to localise to the outer envelope due to the absence of a predicted transit peptide. While subfractionation analysis and protease protection assays suggest an alternative localisation of CLRP23 to the chloroplast inner envelope, characterisation of mutants deficient in CLRP23 reveal significant impairments in photosynthesis and altered galactolipid responses under cold treatment.
This work predominantly explores the alternative function of CLRP23 as component of the chloroplast inner envelope and investigates its role in lipid remodelling processes during cold acclimation. Finally, eight envelope transporter candidates with as yet unknown molecular functions were identified from proteomic analysis of chloroplast envelopes and subjected to preliminary characterisation to provide a basis for future research.In Gefäßpflanzen fungiert der Chloroplast nicht nur als zellulärer Ort der Photosynthese, sondern beherbergt auch die enzymatische Maschinerie, die zahlreiche für den Pflanzenstoffwechsel zentrale biochemische Prozesse ermöglicht. Als Schnittstelle zwischen Plastid und Cytosol übernehmen die Chloroplastenhüllmembranen vielfältige Aufgaben, darunter den Austausch von Ionen und Metaboliten sowie eine zentrale Rolle im Lipidstoffwechsel. Veränderungen im Chloroplastenstoffwechsel sind entscheidend für die Anpassungsfähigkeit von Pflanzen an ungünstige Umweltbedingungen. Entsprechend rückt die Bedeutung der Proteine der Chloroplastenhüllmembran, insbesondere im Kontext der Kälteakklimatisierung, zunehmend in den Fokus der Forschung.
Obwohl die komplexe Beteiligung der Hüllmembranen an der Kälteanpassung bereits Gegenstand früherer Untersuchungen war, sind viele der beteiligten Proteine auf molekularer Ebene noch unzureichend charakterisiert. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurden mikroRNA-basierte Screens eingesetzt, um die Proteinzusammensetzung der äußeren Chloroplastenhülle zu analysieren. Dabei rückte das Chloroplast Lipid Remodelling Protein 23 (CLRP23), früher als OEP23 (Outer Envelope Protein 23) bezeichnet, in den Mittelpunkt. CLRP23 wurde ursprünglich in den Chloroplastenhüllen von Erbsen entdeckt und aufgrund des Fehlens eines Transitpeptids der äußeren Hüllmembran zugeordnet. Subfraktionierungsanalysen und Protease-Assays deuten jedoch auf eine alternative Lokalisation in der inneren Hüllmembran hin. Die Charakterisierung von Mutanten, denen CLRP23 fehlt, zeigt deutliche Beeinträchtigungen der Photosynthese sowie veränderte Galaktolipidreaktionen unter Kälteeinfluss.
Diese Arbeit widmet sich daher vorrangig der Erforschung der alternativen Funktion von CLRP23 als Bestandteil der inneren Chloroplastenhülle und beleuchtet dessen Rolle bei Lipidumwandlungsprozessen während der Kälteakklimatisierung. Darüber hinaus wurden acht weitere Transporter-Kandidaten aus der Hüllmembran, deren molekulare Funktionen bislang unbekannt sind, mittels proteomischer Analysen identifiziert und einer ersten Charakterisierung unterzogen, um eine Grundlage für weiterführende Untersuchungen zu schaffen
Effect of risk orientation on cooperation and decision process in public goods dilemma
No full textThis paper investigates the effects of risk orientation (RO) and social value orientation (SVO) on cooperation and the process of making the decision in a public goods dilemma (PGD). We found in Study 1 that risk-seeking prosocials were more cooperative than risk-averse prosocials in a simultaneous PGD. In Study 2, we found the same effect of RO on cooperation in a real-time PGD. Moreover, we found that risk-seeking prosocials, compared with their risk-averse counterparts, took less time to make decisions and observed fewer preceding cooperation choices before making their decisions. Mediation analysis confirms our model based on the change of K' index in real-time PGD: The number of preceding cooperation choices being observed by a player mediated the effect of RO on cooperation among prosocials that risk-seekers were more cooperative than risk-averse participants. Our studies illustrate that individual differences such as RO and SVO play an important role in decision processes in PGD that subsequently affects cooperation decisions
The role of civic education in developing a sense of national identity: action research in a Hong Kong primary school
No full textThere is a major concern in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region that civic education in schools is not able to prepare committed and active citizens for the national community after her re-unification with the People's Republic of China. To develop practical understanding for informing and improving teachers' practice in this marginalized but increasingly important curriculum area at the primary level, this study investigated how civic education, implemented via a primary school subject, General Studies, could contribute to the development of children's sense of national identity. Through action research into the development and implementation of a school-based General Studies unit, this study examined how the General Studies teachers perceived citizenship and civic education and its impact on children's civic learning. It also investigated the major problems and issues that emerged in adopting a permeation approach to civic education. The participative research involved the head teacher, all the General Studies teachers and in particular four teachers who worked in collaboration with the researcher in developing and implementing the school-based civic education project for 145 Primary 5 pupils in the pilot school. It employed multiple methods to investigate the development of the project, including: surveys, interviews, lesson observations, participant observations in preparatory meetings, analysis of journals and curriculum documents. The findings indicated that the school-based project achieved limited success in fostering children's sense of national identity. Difficulties encountered in the development and implementation of the project were mainly related to teachers’ understanding of the concept of citizenship and civic education and their lack of experience in promoting civic learning in the primary school. But the participative research did lend itself to better understanding of some very important issues related to the teaching and learning of civic education, such as teachers' perceptions of citizenship, civic education and the civic mission of the schools, the adoption of a permeation approach to civic education via the General Studies curriculum, the teaching of civic values through General Studies topics, and the development of a participative culture in the primary schools. These should help to further develop the civic education curriculum in the HKSAR
Review of total quality management in a major Hong Kong aircraft engineering company
No full textpublished_or_final_versionBusiness AdministrationMasterMaster of Business Administratio
Public understanding and media portrayal of voyeurism, upskirt photography and revenge porn
No full textVoyeurism, upskirt photography and revenge porn are all sexual offences. Most research was conducted to understand the perpetration and victimization, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. However, little research was done to investigate how well the public knows the issues. This study presented an overview of public awareness and understanding in Hong Kong regarding sexual offences and the anti-voyeurism law, as well as media reporting of the issues. Data were collected from the mixed method research, where short questions are embedded in the survey. Also, study of media reporting mainly focused on three English press, Hong Kong Free Press, the Standard and South China Morning Post.
The research finding illustrated that the public has a lack of understanding of the issue. Their main source of knowledge is mass media. And there has been a scarcity of news coverage regarding sexual offences, particularly those involving revenge porn. This may lead to limited awareness of the issue among the Hong Kong public.published_or_final_versionCriminologyMasterMaster of Social Science
利用幹細胞改善卵母細胞質素的研究
No full textRescue in vitro maturation (rIVM) aims to produce more MII oocytes for IVF through IVM of immature oocytes collected from stimulated ovaries. It is not popular due to the limited success rate in infertility treatment. Genetic aberrations, cellular stress, and the absence of cumulus cell support in oocytes could account for the failure of rIVM. This study firstly identified the molecular targets and signaling pathways that contribute to the poor IVF success rate in rIVM. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was applied to capture the transcriptomes of human in vivo oocytes (IVO) (n = 10) from 7 donors and rIVM oocytes (n = 10) from 10 donors. The results showed that GATA-1/CREB1/WNT signaling was repressed in rIVM oocytes compared with IVO oocytes and was further downregulated in low-quality rIVM oocytes, providing us the foundation of subsequent follow-up research on rIVM oocyte quality improvement.Next, we considered that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) might be a potential candidate to improve oocyte quality. Surprisingly, it was discovered that MSCs could donate mitochondria as well as autophagosome-related protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3) to oocytes. Then, we evaluated the effects of MSC co-culture on oocyte quality improvement. We demonstrated that MSCs could improve mitochondrial respiratory function and maturation rate of mitochondrial dysfunctional oocytes by 13.3% and 80.4% respectively. Importantly, we showed that the transfer efficiency was not limited by the age of MSCs. Mitochondrial transfer of aged MSCs increased the aged oocyte maturation rate by 59.3% and fertilization rate by 50.0%. To delineate the genomic signatures induced by the transfer procedure, scRNA-seq was performed. RNA transcripts associated with the common deletion region of the mitochondrial genome and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) signaling were enriched after MSC co-culture.To translate the above results to human rIVM oocyte quality improvement, menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) that can be easily isolated non-invasively, is a source of stem cells for clinic use. To select MenSCs of higher performance on oocyte quality improvement and stability with high expressions of TNT formation-related genes, scRNA-seq was used to dissect various sub-populations in MenSCs. A novel marker was identified that allows direct isolation of the MenSC sub-population without the use of common MenSC markers. The cells can be expanded and stored for subsequent TNT-mediated rIVM.To conclude, this study provides a promising avenue that allows increasing the number of usable oocytes in clinical IVF. The findings eventually suggest a potential cell surface maker to select an autologous and homogenous MenSC subpopulation of high performance to improve human oocyte quality through TNT formation.搶救體外成熟技術（rIVM搶救技術）是通過注射「人絨毛膜促性腺激素」刺激卵巢後，收集未成熟的卵子，再透過體外成熟技術去把這些未成熟的卵子轉變為成熟。但由於搶救技術的成功率很低，所以很少被臨床採用。基因異變、細胞在體外所承受的壓力、線粒體功能障礙以及缺乏卵丘細胞的支持可能是搶救技術失敗的原因。這項研究首先確定了導致搶救技術失敗的分子靶標和信號通路。透過單細胞核糖核酸測序（scRNA-seq），我們獲得來自7個捐贈者的體內成熟卵子（IVO）(n = 10) 和來自10個捐贈者的體外成熟卵子 (n = 10) 的轉錄組。結果發現卵子在體外環境和低質素的狀態下中抑制了GATA-1 / CREB1 / WNT的信號傳導，為我們日後卵子質素的研究提供了基礎。然後，我們認為間充質幹細胞（MSC）或能改善卵子質素。令人驚訝的是，我們發現了間充質幹細胞的隧穿納米管（TNT）可向卵子捐贈線粒體以及「自噬體相關蛋白1A / 1B-輕鏈3」（LC3）。我們找出間充質幹細胞共培養如何改善卵子的質素。它們可有效改善患有線粒體功能障礙的卵子質素，令其線粒體呼吸功能提升了13.3％和成熟率高達80.4％。我們發現轉移效率不受小鼠的年齡限制。從老年的小鼠中所提取的間質幹細胞也可提高其卵子的成熟率達59.3％，受精率更提高了50.0％。為了找出共培養如何改變卵子的基因組特徵，我們進行了單細胞核糖核酸測序。與幹細胞共培養後，與環狀腺苷3'，5'-單磷酸（cAMP）信號傳導相關的核糖核酸轉錄本也比沒有共培養的卵子高。為了把以上技術應用於改善卵子搶救技術，可無創且能簡易分離的經血幹細胞（MenSCs）是一種可應用於臨床的幹細胞來源。透過單細胞核糖核酸測序來剖析經血幹細胞中的各種亞群，我們可以選擇最能有效改善卵子質素和穩定性高的經血幹細胞亞群，並且具有相對上較高的納米管形成相關基因表達。我們找出一個新的細胞表面標記。這個標記可直接區分出能有效改善卵子質素的經血幹細胞亞群，因此無需使用多個常用的經血幹細胞表面標記去選出經血幹細胞亞群。被選出的細胞可培養至足夠數量及儲存，日後以隧穿納米管形成去改善卵子的質素。綜上所述，這項研究提供了一個全新的方向去增加成熟並且可用的卵子數量。研究結果最終指出，病人能使用自體的經血幹細胞，以我們發現的新標記去選擇同質且高表現的細胞亞群，通過隧穿納米管形成來改善人類卵子的質素。LEE, Wing Tung.Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2021.Includes bibliographical references (leaves )Abstracts in English and Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on ...
Economic Reforms and Constitutional Transition
No full textThis paper investigates the relationship between economic reforms and constitutional transition, which has been neglected by many transition economists. It is argued that assessment of reform performance might be very misleading if it is not recognized that economic reforms are just a small part of large scale of constitutional transition. Rivalry and competition between states and between political forces within each country are the driving forces for constitutional transition. We use Russia as an example of economic reforms associated with constitutional transition and China as an example of economic reforms in the absence of constitutional transition to examine features and problems in the two patterns of transition. It is concluded that under political monopoly of the ruling party, economic transition will be hijacked by state opportunism. Dual track approach to economic transition may generate very high long-term cost of constitutional transition that might well outweigh its short-term benefit of buying out the vested interests.constitutional transition, economic reform, division of labor, debate of shock therapy vs gradualism, debate of convergence vs institutional innovation
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