Managing stormwater with low impact development in highly urbanized areas

2014 is the 25th Anniverssary of the Drainage Services Department (DSD) of the HKSAR GovernmentPaper A2-2Low impact development (LID) implements small-scale hydrologic controls throughout a catchment to replicate the pre-development hydrologic regimes or in other terms control stormwater as close to the source as possible. Examples of such controls include green roofs, bioretention swales, rain gardens, porous pavements. This project evaluates the effectiveness of large-scale LID implementation in Singapore and Hong Kong. We examine the hydrologic impacts, namely peak discharge mitigation and baseflow restoration, under different land uses, rainfall conditions and LID strategies. For further comparison, we adopt an integrated distributed hydrological model for Singapore and a lumped hydraulic model for Hong Kong. Studies of both Singapore and Hong Kong suggest that LID is effective if there is substantial level of infrastructures (e.g., covering 5 to 10% of catchment area). LID is more efficient in reducing/delaying peak discharge and restoring baseflow on an average long term basis. However, its performance, particularly in peak discharge mitigation, diminishes during design storms (e.g., ARI of 5 years). In terms of modeling techniques, integrated distributed hydrologic models require extensive parameterization but can accurately simulate some important processes (e.g., increase of infiltration and restoration of baseflow) that are simplified in lumped hydraulic models. Overall, large-scale LID potentially provides more sustainable stormwater management but its success depends on factors such as design objectives, existing land uses and drainage networks. We should therefore further research to increase the feasibility of large-scale LID in highly urbanized areas such as Singapore and Hong Kong.postprin

p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression in gestational trophoblastic disease: correlation with clinicopathological parameters, and Ki67 and p53 gene expression

Background--The p21(WAF1/CIP1) gene mediates growth arrest by inhibiting G 1 cyclin dependent kinases and has been considered as a downstream effector of the tumour suppressor gene p53. Aim--To analyse the role of p21(WAF1/CIP1) in gestational trophoblastic disease. Methods--The immunohistochemical expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1) gene was measured in 33 placentas, 28 partial hydatidiform moles, 54 complete hydatidiform moles, and 13 choriocarcinomas in paraffin wax embedded tissue. The results were correlated with p53 (DO7) and Ki67 (MIB1) immunoreactivity as well as clinical progress. Results--p21(WAF1/CIP1) immunoreactivity was found predominantly in the nuclei of the syncytiotrophoblasts. p21(WAF1/CIP1) protein expression correlated with gestational age in normal placentas (p = 0.0001) but not in hydatidiform moles (p = 0.89). Complete hydatidiform moles and choriocarcinomas had a significantly higher p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression compared with normal placentas and partial hydatiform moles (p 0.05) in p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression between the 17 patients who developed persistent gestational trophoblastic disease and those who did not. Conclusions--This study suggests that p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression in trophoblastic disease may be induced by a p53 independent pathway. The proliferative activity of gestational trophoblastic diseases might not be determined solely by the control of the cell cycle operated by p21(WAF1/CIP1). p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression is not an accurate prognostic indicator of gestational trophoblastic disease.published_or_final_versio

The differential effects of intimate terrorism and situational couple violence on mental health outcomes among abused Chinese women: a mixed-method study

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Telomerase activity in gestational trophoblastic disease

Aims - To investigate the pattern of telomerase activity in hydatidiform mole as compared with normal placenta and choriocarcinoma, and to determine the prognostic significance of telomerase activity in hydatidiform mole. Methods - Telomerase activity in 35 cases of hydatidiform mole, 35 normal placentas, one choriocarcinoma sample, and two choriocarcinoma cell lines (JAR, JEG3) was determined using the sensitive polymerase chain reaction based telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay. Two cases of breast carcinoma and two cases of ovarian carcinoma were also included as positive controls in the telomerase assay. Results - Telomerase activity was detected in 11 of 30 early placentas (36.7%), one of five term placentas (20%), five of 27 hydatidiform moles which regressed spontaneously (18.5%), and six of eight hydatidiform moles which developed persistent trophoblastic disease (75%) (including three which developed metastases). Hydatidiform moles which subsequently developed persistent disease, especially those which metastasised, were more likely to express telomerase activity (p < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference in the frequency of telomerase activity between early placentas and hydatidiform mole. Strong telomerase activity was observed in choriocarcinoma tissue, choriocarcinoma cell lines, and ovarian and breast carcinomas. Conclusions - Telomerase activation occurs in hydatidiform mole with a similar incidence to early normal placentas. This supports the concept that hydatidiform mole is essentially an abnormal conceptus. There is an association between telomerase activation and the development of persistent trophoblastic disease. Further study is warrant to confirm the prognostic significance of telomerase activity in hydatidiform mole.published_or_final_versio

Reversal of compromised bonding to oxidized etched dentin

The mechanism responsible for hydrogenperoxide- or sodium-hypochlorite-induced reductions in dentin bond strength is unknown. This in vitro study tested the hypothesis that these oxidizing agents were responsible by attempting to reverse the effect with sodium ascorbate, a reducing agent. Human dentin was treated with these oxidants before or after being acid-etched and with or without post-treatment with sodium ascorbate. They were bonded with either Single Bond or Excite. Hydrogen peroxide reduced the bond strengths of both adhesives, while sodium hypochlorite produced reduction in adhesion of only Single Bond (p < 0.05). Following treatment with sodium ascorbate, reductions in bond strength were reversed. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy showed partial removal of the demineralized collagen matrix only by sodium hypochlorite. The observed compromised bond strengths cannot be attributed to incomplete deproteinization and may be related to changes in the redox potential of the bonding substrates.published_or_final_versio

Reversal of compromised bonding in NaOCI or H2O2 treated etched dentin

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Reversal of compromised bonding in bleached enamel

Oxygen inhibits polymerization of resin-based materials. We hypothesized that compromised bonding to bleached enamel can be reversed with sodium ascorbate, an anti-oxidant. Sandblasted human enamel specimens were treated with distilled water (control) and 10% carbamide peroxide gel with or without further treatment with 10% sodium ascorbate. They were bonded with Single Bond (3M-ESPE) or Prime&Bond NT (Dentsply DeTrey) and restored with a composite. Specimens were prepared for microtensile bond testing and transmission electron microscopy after immersion in ammoniacal silver nitrate for nanoleakage evaluation. Bond strengths of both adhesives were reduced after bleaching but were reversed following sodium ascorbate treatment (P < 0.001). Resin-enamel interfaces in bleached enamel exhibited more extensive nanoleakage in the form of isolated silver grains and bubble-like silver deposits. Reduction of resin-enamel bond strength in bleached etched enamel is likely to be caused by a delayed release of oxygen that affects the polymerization of resin components.published_or_final_versio

Multiplexed, High Density Electrophysiology with Nanofabricated Neural Probes

Extracellular electrode arrays can reveal the neuronal network correlates of behavior with single-cell, single-spike, and sub-millisecond resolution. However, implantable electrodes are inherently invasive, and efforts to scale up the number and density of recording sites must compromise on device size in order to connect the electrodes. Here, we report on silicon-based neural probes employing nanofabricated, high-density electrical leads. Furthermore, we address the challenge of reading out multichannel data with an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) performing signal amplification, band-pass filtering, and multiplexing functions. We demonstrate high spatial resolution extracellular measurements with a fully integrated, low noise 64-channel system weighing just 330 mg. The on-chip multiplexers make possible recordings with substantially fewer external wires than the number of input channels. By combining nanofabricated probes with ASICs we have implemented a system for performing large-scale, high-density electrophysiology in small, freely behaving animals that is both minimally invasive and highly scalable

The Effective Field Theory of Multifield Inflation

We generalize the Effective Field Theory of Inflation to include additional light scalar degrees of freedom that are in their vacuum at the time the modes of interest are crossing the horizon. In order to make the scalars light in a natural way we consider the case where they are the Goldstone bosons of a global symmetry group or are partially protected by an approximate supersymmetry. We write the most general Lagrangian that couples the scalar mode associated to the breaking of time translation during inflation to the additional light scalar fields. This Lagrangian is constrained by diffeomorphism invariance and the additional symmetries that keep the new scalars light. This Lagrangian describes the fluctuations around the time of horizon crossing and it is supplemented with a general parameterization describing how the additional fluctuating fields can affect cosmological perturbations. We find that multifield inflation can reproduce the non-Gaussianities that can be generated in single field inflation but can also give rise to new kinds of non-Gaussianities. We find several new three-point function shapes. We show that in multifield inflation it is possible to naturally suppress the three-point function making the four-point function the leading source of detectable non-Gaussianities. We find that under certain circumstances, i.e. if specific shapes of non-Gaussianities are detected in the data, one could distinguish between single and multifield inflation and sometimes even among the various mechanisms that kept the additional fields light.Comment: 62 pages, 1 figure; v2: JHEP published version, minor corrections, comments and references adde

High frequency diffraction of an electromagnetic plane wave by an imperfectly conducting rectangular cylinder

Copyright @ 2011 IEEEWe shall consider the the problem of determining the scattered far wave field produced when a plane E-polarized wave is incident on an imperfectly conducting rectangular cylinder. By using the the uniform asymptotic solution for the problem of the diffraction of a plane wave by a right-angled impedance wedge, in conjunction with Keller's method, the a high frequency far field solution to the problem is given