A detailed rock density model of the Hong Kong territories

We used the geological map and published rock density measurements to compile the digital rock density model for the Hong Kong territories.We then estimated the average density for the whole territory.According to our result,the rock density values in Hong Kong vary from 2101 to 2681 kg·m^(-3).These density values are typically smaller than the average density of 2670 kg·m^(-3),often adopted to represent the average density of the upper continental crust in physical geodesy and gravimetric geophysics applications.This finding reflects that the geological configuration in Hong Kong is mainly formed by light volcanic formations and lava flows with overlying sedimentary deposits at many locations,while the percentage of heavier metamorphic rocks is very low(less than 1%).This product will improve the accuracy of a detailed geoid model and orthometric heights.

A Comparative Study of the L2 Pragmatic Competence of University Students in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland:The Contributions of Sociocultural Context and Linguistic Proficiency

This study investigates the differences in pragmatic competence between Hong Kong and Chinese mainland university students.Participants included 19 native speakers of English,115 Chinese mainland students,divided into those who had spent time abroad in an English-speaking country(CM A)and those who had not(CM NA),and 97 Hong Kong students,divided into those from an English-medium secondary school(Hong Kong EMI)and those from a Chinese-medium school(Hong Kong CMI).Linguistic proficiency was measured by a C-test,and pragmatic competence by a Metapragmatic Knowledge Test,an Irony Test and a Monologic Role Play.Group scores were compared using ANCOVAs to control for differences in proficiency.The results point to a continuum of pragmatic competence—EMI>CMI>CM A>CM NA—reflecting the groups’access to English in real-life contexts.The differences between the Hong Kong groups and the Chinese mainland groups were clearest in those tests measuring processing capacity(i.e.,Irony Response Time and the Monologic Role Play).CM A,but not CM NA,performed as well as the Hong Kong groups on measures of metapragmatic awareness.The results are discussed in terms of Bialystok’s(1993)distinction between analyzed representation and control of processing.

Using Five Music Instructional Methods to Illustrate the Social Constructive Music Teaching Framework in Hong Kong Primary Level Music Education

Music education under the frame name of arts education has been integrated into the primary and secondary education curriculums in Hong Kong for more than 20 years,starting from 2001,the year of launching the Learning to Learn curriculum for the reconstruction of the education system for the younger generation.Music education,embedded into the arts education,was therefore regarded as one of the key subjects to cultivate and uplift student holistic development,focusing on aesthetic skill training and moral growth development.This research was an exploration study of music teaching practices from two private international and two general public school music teachers at the primary school level.The value of this study rested on borrowing the idea of Shulman’s pedagogical content knowledge(PCK)principle to create a social constructivist music teaching framework from five commonly-used instructional methods,namely,Orff,Kodaly,Dalcrozes,Suzuki,and Gordon’s approaches.Based on the evaluations of these four case studies,hypotheses on the differences in the PCK were tested with the types of schools and found to be no difference.The preliminary results suggested that music teachers in private international schools had similar pedagogical approaches to music instruction to teachers in aided-public schools.Additionally,the modeling,guiding,and training approach was identified as a grounded teaching method for music education at the primary school level regardless of different types of schools.Other implications like the further development of the framework were discussed.

Predicting Carpark Prices Indices in Hong Kong Using AutoML

The aims of this study were threefold:1)study the research gap in carpark and price index via big data and natural language processing,2)examine the research gap of carpark indices,and 3)construct carpark price indices via repeat sales methods and predict carpark indices via the AutoML.By researching the keyword“carpark”in Google Scholar,the largest electronic academic database that coversWeb of Science and Scopus indexed articles,this study obtained 999 articles and book chapters from 1910 to 2019.It confirmed that most carpark research threw light on multi-storey carparks,management and ventilation systems,and reinforced concrete carparks.The most common research method was case studies.Regarding price index research,many previous studies focused on consumer,stock,press and futures,with many keywords being related to finance and economics.These indicated that there is no research predicting carpark price indices based on an AutoML approach.This study constructed repeat sales indices for 18 districts in Hong Kong by using 34,562 carpark transaction records from December 2009 to June 2019.Wanchai’s carpark price was about four times that of Yuen Long’s carpark price,indicating the considerable carpark price differences inHong Kong.This research evidenced the features that affected the carpark price indices models most:gold price ranked the first in all 19 models;oil price or Link stock price ranked second depending on the district,and carpark affordability ranked third.

Investigation on the Integration of “Gao” in Hong Kong Chinese and Mainland Mandarin

From the diachronic dimension,this paper makes a two-way interactive investigation on the integration of Hong Kong Chinese and Mainland Mandarin.“Gao”is a delexical verb in contemporary Chinese.In different words and expressions related to“gao”character,there are mutual absorptions between Chinese mainland and Hong Kong,which is characterized by starting from nothing to something and from less to more.

mergy evaluation of the environment and economy of Hong Kong

An environment-economy systems analysis of Hong Kong has been carried out using a newmeasure emergy for evaluating its environmental resource basis and economy as well as its international e-conomic relations for recommending a sustainable development. Emergy is the total energy uf one kind re-quired directly and indirectly to form a resource, product or service. It provides a common basis for mea-surement of the value of environment and economy.A preliminary analysis of emergy contributions supporting the system of Hong Kong is presented inthis paper.

Evaluation of ENVISAT ASAR data for sea surface wind retrieval in Hong Kong coastal waters of China

The C-band wind speed retrieval models, CMOD4, CMOD - IFR2, and CMOD5 were applied to retrieval of sea surface wind speeds from ENVISAT （European environmental satellite） ASAR （advanced synthetic aperture radar） data in the coastal waters near Hong Kong during a period from October 2005 to July 2007. The retrieved wind speeds are evaluated by comparing with buoy measurements and the QuikSCAT （quick scatterometer） wind products. The results show that the CMOD4 model gives the best performance at wind speeds lower than 15 m/s. The correlation coefficients with buoy and QuikSCAT winds are 0.781 and 0.896, respectively. The root mean square errors are the same 1.74 m/s. Namely, the CMOD4 model is the best one for sea surface wind speed retrieval from ASAR data in the coastal waters near Hong Kong.

Features of Ciguatera Fish Poisoning Cases in Hong Kong 2004-2007

Ohjective To review the clinical features and laboratory investigations of ciguatera patients in Hong Kong between 2004 and 2007 in order to show the timely sampling of implicated fish from ciguatera victims and application of validated mouse bioassay for confirming suspected clinical cases of ciguatera. Methods Diagnosis of the ciguatera victims was based on history of coral fish consumption and clinical presentations stated in official guidelines for clinical diagnosis of ciguatera fish poisoning in Hong Kong. Food remnants of coral fish samples were collected swiftly from ciguatera victims between 2004 and 2007 for ciguatoxins （CTXs） analysis. Results Major clinical symptoms in ciguatera patients included gastrointestinal and neurological effects including limb numbness and diarrhoea, which developed at 0.5 to 15 hours after consumption of fish. In most cases, neurological symptoms were more common than gastrointestinal symptoms. A broad range of attack rate （10%-100%） was observed in each ciguatera outbreak. Validated mouse bioassay on ether extracts of the food remnant samples confirmed that all were CTXs-positive （〈0.5 - 4.3 MU/20 mg ether extract） and directly linked to the corresponding ciguatera cases. Conclusion Consistency between clinical and laboratory analysis for ciguatera poisoning illustrates the application of laboratory mouse bioassay in a timely fashion for confirming ciguatera poisoning cases and implementing effective public health measures. With further improvement in laboratory techniques, features of ciguatera fish poisoning cases can be better defined, Further studies are needed to determine the risk of each class of CTXs （Pacific-, Indian- and Caribbean-CTXs） in Hong Kong.

Long-Term Trends in Extreme Temperatures in Hong Kong and Southern China

The observed long-term trends in extreme temperatures in Hong Kong were studied based on the meteorological data recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory Headquarters from 1885-2008. Results show that, over the past 124 years, the extreme daily minimum and maximum temperatures, as well as the length of the warm spell in Hong Kong, exhibit statistically significant long-term rising trends, while the length of the cold spell shows a statistically significant decreasing trend. The time-dependent return period analysis also indicated that the return period for daily minimum temperature at 4°C or lower lengthened considerably from 6 years in 1900 to over 150 years in 2000, while the return periods for daily maximum temperature reaching 35°C or above shortened drastically from 32 years in 1900 to 4.5 years in 2000. Past trends in extreme temperatures from selected weather stations in southern China from 1951-2004 were also assessed. Over 70% of the stations studied yielded a statistically significant rising trend in extreme daily minimum temperature, while the trend for extreme maximum temperatures was found to vary, with no significant trend established for the majority of stations.

Hepatocellular carcinoma staging systems: Hong Kong liver cancer vs Barcelona clinic liver cancer in a Western population

BACKGROUND Despite being the world’s most widely used system for staging and therapeutic guidance in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)treatment,the Barcelona clinic liver cancer(BCLC)system has limitations,especially regarding intermediate-grade(BCLC-B)tumors.The recently proposed Hong Kong liver cancer(HKLC)staging system appears useful but requires validation in Western populations.AIM To evaluate the agreement between BCLC and HKLC staging on the management of HCC in a Western population,estimating the overall patient survival.METHODS This was a retrospective study of HCC patients treated at a university hospital in southern Brazil between 2011 and 2016.Demographic,clinical,and laboratory data were collected.HCC staging was carried out according to the HKLC and BCLC systems to assess treatment agreement.Overall survival was estimated based on the treatment proposed in each system.RESULTS A total of 519 HCC patients were assessed.Of these,178(34.3%)were HKLC-I;95(18.3%)HKLC-IIA;47(9.1%)HKLC-IIB;29(5.6%)HKLC-IIIA;30(5.8%)HKLCIIIB;75(14.4%)HKLC-IV;and 65(12.5%)HKLC-V.According to the BCLC,25(4.9%)were BCLC-0;246(47.4%)BCLC-A;107(20.6%)BCLC-B;76(14.6%)BCLCC;and 65(12.5%)BCLC-D.The general agreement between the two systems was 80.0%-BCLC-0 and HKLC-I(100%);BCLC-A and HKLC-I/HKLC-II(96.7%);BCLC-B and HKLC-III(46.7%);BCLC-C and HKLC-IV(98.7%);BCLC-D and HKLC-V(41.5%).When sub-classifying BCLC-A,HKLC-IIB,HKLC-IIIA and HKLC-IIIB stages according to the up-to-7 in/out criterion,13.4,66.0,100 and 36.7%,respectively,of the cases were classified as up-to-7 out.CONCLUSION In a Western population,the general agreement between the two systems was 80.0%,although in BCLC-B cases the agreement was low,suggesting that some individuals could be candidates for the curative treatment recommended by the HKLC.The authors suggest that the BCLC system should be routinely employed,although for BCLC-B cases it should be associated with the HKLC system.

Application of Ecological Restoration and Sustainable Design Concept in Hong Kong Wetland Park

Wetland park has become an important content of urban landscape design in China, and it is urgent to explore the ways of ensuring scientifi c planning and design and successful implementation of the planning and design in the preparatory stage and the late habitat management and monitoring stage. Taking Hong Kong Wetland Park for example, this paper reviewed the successful design concepts and scientifi c management practices on the basis of sorting out its planning, construction, management and monitoring experience, to provide useful references for the planning, design and management of wetland park in other regions.

Occurrence and distribution of vibrios in fishes and shellfishes in coastal waters of Hong Kong

The summer occurrence and distribution of vibrios in the fishes and shellfishes in the coasal waters of Hong Kong were investigaed. A total of 69 strains of vibrios were isolated from all samples examined. The strains, along with 10 reference strains were classified with the technique of numerical taxonomy bared on 54 characters and 62 of the 69 strains fell into 5 major phena, identified as V. paraheamolyticus (30 strains), V. alginoloticus (23 strains), V. choloerae (3 strains), V. harveyi (2 strains) and V. fluinalis (4 strains). Among them, V.paraheamolyticus and V. alginolyticus were the predominant species in the fishes, shellfishes and the coastal waters of Hong Kong and comprised 43. 5 % and 33. 3 % of the total Vibrio spp. isolates respectively. Meanwhile, 3 strains of non-Ol V. cholerae were isolated from oyster and it was the first time to record V. cholerae non-Ol in seawater or from shellfishes in Hong Kong. These results highlighted the potential risks of food poisoning associated with raw or undercooked seafood.

Mesoscale meteorological modelling for Hong Kong-application of the MC2 model

This paper describes the set up and application of a non hydrostatic Canadian meteorological numerical model (MC2) for mesoscale simulations of wind field and other meteorological parameters over the complex terrain of Hong Kong. Results of the simulations of one case are presented and compared with the results of radiosonde and aircraft measurements. The model is proved capable of predicting high resolution, three dimensional fields of wind and other meteorological parameters within the Hong Kong territory, using reasonable computer time and memory resources.

Purchasing Behaviour of University Students towards Cyber Shopping in Hong Kong

The developments of Internet and e-commerce provide a new market place to businessman to sell their products and allow people to buy products via Internet as well as to create a new shopping media to consumers. The study aims to investigate the factors affecting consumers' purchase decision via Internet and how product characteristics affect cyber shopping in Hong Kong. The study has revealed that the security of personal data,delivery time, product brand and price were the major concerns for developing cyber market. For marketing apparel products, brand loyalty becomes very important since consumers' judging confidence on the products can be increased in terms of fitting standards and quality aspects.

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous volcanism of Hong Kong: Insights from the Ping Chau Formation

The vast expanse of Mesozoic igneous rocks in Hong Kong contain important geological records of late Mesozoic magmatic events and tectonic processes from the coastal region of Southeast China. Of these,the Ping Chau Formation in the northwestern New Territories is the youngest known stratum. We perform a detailed study of the volcanic rocks of the Ping Chau Formation utilizing zircon U-Pb dating,with major and trace elements geochemistry. LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb data reveal Early Cretaceous age from two volcanic rock samples, with zircon crystallization from magmas at 140.3 ± 0.8 Ma and 139.3 ± 0.9 Ma,respectively. These rocks have high contents of total alkalis(Na_2O + K_2O = 5.58-9.45 wt.%), high-field-strength elements and light rare earth elements, conspicuous negative Eu anomalies, and depletions in Nb, Ta, Ti, Sr, Ba and P. Using this data, in combination with previous studies on the late Mesozoic volcanic belt in Southeast China, we propose that the volcanic rocks of the Ping Chau Formation probably originated from deep melting of the crust in a back-arc extensional setting induced by the subduction of the paleo-Pacific Plate. This formation represents the final stages of Early Cretaceous volcanic activity in Hong Kong, as associated with large-scale lithospheric extension, thinning and magmatism. Our results provide new information that can be used in evaluating the significance of Early Cretaceous volcanism and tectonics in Southeast China.

Lead Concentration in Hong Kong Roadside Dust after Reduction of Lead Level in Petrol

Samples of roadside dust were collected from 30 sites in Hong Kong.The total concentrations of 10 metals in the samples were analyzed,and the correlation coefficients among the metal contents and the annual average daily traffic(AADT)in 1986 were determined.Pb was found to have a significant correlation(P<0.01)with AADT.No correlation was found between Al, Ba,Cd,Cr,Cu,Fe,Mn,Ni,and Zn with respect to AADT.A general decrease in the level of Pb in roadside dust in the past few years has been observed since the reduction in the level of lead in petrol.1989 Academic Press,Inc.

Particle Swarm-Based Translation Control for Immersed Tunnel Element in the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge Project

Immersed tunnel is an important part of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge(HZMB) project. In immersed tunnel floating, translation which includes straight and transverse movements is the main working mode. To decide the magnitude and direction of the towing force for each tug, a particle swarm-based translation control method is presented for non-power immersed tunnel element. A sort of linear weighted logarithmic function is exploited to avoid weak subgoals. In simulation, the particle swarm-based control method is evaluated and compared with traditional empirical method in the case of the HZMB project. Simulation results show that the presented method delivers performance improvement in terms of the enhanced surplus towing force.

Particulate problems of different occupational environments in Hong Kong

This paper studied the air pollution problems that occurred in various working environments in Hong Kong through questionnaire survey and field measurements. Results of the survey showed that more than half of the respondents, who were affected by different kinds of air pollution, were suffering from either eye and nasal allergies, or throat irritation. Many of them recognized dust particulate to be the most serious air pollutant in their working environments. A portable laser dust monitor was employed to measure the levels of dust particulate that would be inhaled by people of different occupations and subject to different environments. The measurement results revealed that only some occupations were exposed to unacceptably high particulate levels. Generally, the particulate levels of most of the studied working environments, catering premises and entertainment places were much lower than the ambient levels and unlikely to pose any occupational hygiene problems.

Geochemistry and zircon U-Pb geochronology of the rhyolitic tuff on Port Island, Hong Kong： Implications for early Cretaceous tectonic setting

Early Cretaceous rhyolitic tuffs, widely distributed on Port Island, provide insights into the volcanism and tectonic setting of Hong Kong. In this paper we present petrological, geochronological and geochemical data of the rhyolitic tuff to constrain the diagenesis age and petrogenesis of the rocks, tectonic setting and early Cretaceous volcanism of Hong Kong. The first geochronological data show that the zircons in the volcanic rocks have U-Pb age of 141.1-139.5 Ma, which reveals that the rhyolitic tuff on Port Island was formed in the early Cretaceous （K1）. Geochemically, these acid rocks, which are enriched in large ion lithophile elements （LILEs） and light rare earth elements （LREEs）, and depleted in high field strength elements （HFSEs）, belong to the high K calc-alkaline to shoshonite series with strongly-peraluminous characteristic. The geochemical analyses suggest that the volcanic rocks were derived from deep melting in the continental crust caused by basaltic magma underplating. Based on the geochemical analysis and previous studies, we concluded that the rhyolitic tufts on Port Island were formed in a back- arc extension setting in response to the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate.

Variability and Risk Analysis of Hong Kong Air Quality Based on Monsoon and El Nino Conditions

This study presents an exploratory analysis aimed at improving understanding of the variability of Hong Kong air quality associated with different climate conditions. Significantly negative correlations were found when Nifio 3 led particulate matter 〈10 p.m PM10） and NO2 by 2 3 months over the Hong Kong territory, while the other pollutants （e.g., Oa, SO2） showed modest correlations. A significant decreasing trend in visibility was observed during the autumn and winter, which has potential implications for the air-quality degradation and the endangerment of human health in Hong Kong. In an E1 Nifio summer, the visibility was relatively better, while visibility in other seasons was diminished. On the other hand, in La Nifia events, significant changes occurred in visibility in winter and autumn. Air pollution indices were less sensitive to the South China Summer Monsoon （SCSM）, but a relatively high correlation existed between the East Asian Winter Monsoon （EAWM） and air pollutants. Rainfall was lower during most of the strong EAWM years compared to the weak years. This result suggests that the pollutants that accumulate in Hong Kong are not easy to wash out, so concentrations remain at a higher level. Finally, based on the conditional Air Pollution Index （API） risk assessment, site-specific vulnerabilities were analyzed to facilitate the development of the air-quality warning systems in Hong Kong.