Properties of a hand-printed Chinese character recognizer based on contexted vector quantization

A hand-printed Chinese character recognizer based on Contextual Vector Quantization (CVQ) has been built previously. In this paper, several properties of the recognizer will be discussed and the recognizer of 4516 Chinese characters has a successful rate of 91.0%. Then the output of the recognizer is passed to a language model which when applied to recognize a passage of about 1200 characters raises the rate from 91.5% to 97.5%.published_or_final_versio

Relativistic scattering of a fast spinning neutron star by a massive black hole

The orbital dynamics of fast spinning neutron stars encountering a massive bh with unbounded orbits are investigated using the quadratic-in-spin mpd formulation. We consider the motion of the spinning neutron stars with astrophysically relevant speed in the gravity field of the BH. For such slow-speed scattering, the hyperbolic orbits followed by these neutron stars all have near the e = 1 eccentricity, and have distinct properties compared with those of e ≫ 1. We have found that compared with geodesic motion, the spin-orbit and spin-spin coupling will lead to a variation of scattering angles at spatial infinity, and this variation is more prominent for slow-speed scattering than fast-speed scattering. Such a variation leads to an observable difference in pulse-arrival-time within a few hours of observation, and up to a few days or months for larger BH masses or longer spinning periods. Such a relativistic pulsar-BH system also emits a burst of gravitational waves (GWs) in the sensitivity band of LISA, and for optimal settings, can be seen up to 100 Mpc away. A radio follow up of such a GW burst with SKA or FAST will allow for measuring the orbital parameters with high accuracy and testing the predictions of gr

Review article: Venous thromboembolism after total joint replacement

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Dysmenorrhoea among Hong Kong university students: prevalence, impact, and management

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Case series of Jehovah's witnesses having Total Knee Arthroplasty in Hong Kong

Electronic Poster Presentations: P48INTRODUCTION: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is challenging in Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW), as they do not accept transfusions. We report our experiences with a series of TKAs in JW in our ...postprin

Engineered magnesium-based resorbable porous scaffold for bone tissue engineering

INTRODUCTION: Bone tissue engineering offers an alternative solution to the traditional methods of bone replacement including allografts and autografts [1]. Although these biological materials possess good osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties, both of them have limitations in terms of the availability, donor site morbidity and the risk of disease transmission with the use of allografts [2]. Therefore, the use of synthetic scaffold is the most common technique and good approach to regenerate diseased or damaged bone tissue. An ideal bone substitute should possess certain properties including ...postprin

Motivating smokers at outdoor public smoking hotspots to have a quit attempt with a nicotine replacement therapy sample: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

© 2016 Cheung et al.Background: About half of the daily smokers in Hong Kong have never tried and have no intention to quit smoking. More than one-third (37.9 %) of daily smokers have attempted to quit but failed. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a safe and effective pharmacotherapy to increase abstinence by reducing withdrawal symptoms during the early stage of smoking abstinence. However, the prevalence of NRT use in Hong Kong is lower than in most developed countries. The proposed study aims to assess the effectiveness of providing free NRT samples to smokers on increasing quit attempts and the quit rate. Methods: Trained university undergraduate students as ambassadors will invite smokers at outdoor public smoking hotspots to participate in the randomized controlled trial, in which eligible smokers will be randomized to receive a 1-week free NRT sample and medication counselling (intervention) or advice to purchase NRT on their own (control). The primary outcome is self-reported quit attempts (no smoking for at least 24 hours) in the past 30 days at 1-month and 3-month telephone follow-up. Discussion: The findings will inform the effectiveness of delivering free NRT samples at outdoor public smoking hotspots to increase quit attempts and abstinence. The study will also provide information on smokers' adherence to the NRT sample, side effects and safety issues related to the usage. This will improve the design of a large trial to test the effect of the NRT sample. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02491086. Registered on 7 July 2015.published_or_final_versio

Low modulus novel bone substitutes for osteoporotic vertebral fracture management

Oral presentationpublished_or_final_versioneCM XIII - Bone Fixation, Repair & Regeneration, Davos Platz, Switzerland, 24-26 June 2012. In European Cells & Materials, 2012, v. 24 n. Suppl. 1, p. 1

Magnesium plasma modified bone allograft for Large Bone Defect Treatment

Invited TalkBone allograft is the most widely accepted approach in treating patients suffering from large segmental bone defect regardless of the advancement of synthetic bone substitutes[ I, 2]. However, the long-term complications of allograft application in term of delayed union or even nonunion were reported due to the stringent sterilization process prior to clinical implantation[3, 4]. Our previous studies demonstrated that the incorporation of magnesium ions (Mg2+) into biomaterials could …postprin

Hong Kong domestic health spending: financial years 1989/90 to 2005/06

This report presents the latest estimates of Hong Kong domestic health spending between fiscal years 1989/90 and 2005/06, cross-stratified and categorised by financing source, provider, and function on an annual basis. In fiscal year 2005/06, total health expenditure was HK$71 557 million. In real terms, it grew 6.5$71 557 million total health expenditure in 2005/06, HK$68 810 million (96.2$2746 million (3.8%) on capital expenses (ie investment in medical facilities). Services of curative care accounted for the largest share (67.3%) and were made up of ambulatory services (35.7%), in-patient services (27.7%), day patient hospital services (3.4%), and home care (0.6%). The second largest share was spending on medical goods outside the patient care setting (10.8%). In terms of health care providers, hospitals (44.0%) accounted for the largest share of total health expenditure in 2005/06, followed by providers of ambulatory health care (31.4%). We observed a system-wide trend towards service consolidation at institutions (as opposed to free-standing ambulatory clinics, most of which are staffed by solo practitioners). Not taking capital expenses (ie investment in medical facilities) into account, public current expenditure on health amounted to HK$34 849 million (50.6$33 961 million) was mostly incurred at providers of ambulatory health care (55.8%). This reflects the mixed health care economy of Hong Kong, where public hospitals generally account for about 90% of total bed-days and private doctors (including western and Chinese medicine practitioners) provide about 70% of out-patient care. Although both public and private spending were mostly expended on personal health care services and goods (93.0%), the patterns of distribution among functional categories differed. Public expenditure was targeted at in-patient care (53.7%) and substantially less on out-patient care (24.6%), especially low-intensity first-contact care. In comparison, private spending was concentrated on out-patient care (49.9%), followed by medical goods outside the patient care setting (22.0%) and in-patient care (19.0%). Compared to countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Hong Kong has devoted a relatively low percentage of gross domestic product on health services in the last decade. As a share of total spending, public funding (either general government revenue or social security funds) was also lower than in most comparably developed economies, although commensurate with its public revenue collection base.published_or_final_versio