To examine urban open space

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-136).published_or_final_versio

A Novel Queue Length Aware Distributed Link Scheduler for Multi-Transmit Receive Wireless Mesh Networks

Next generation Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) will require a link scheduler that exploits the full advantage of Multi-Transmit-Receive (MTR) commuication. To this end, we design a distributed link scheduler called Voting-ALGO that is aware of queue lengths and uses the celebrated max weight policy to achieve 100% throughput

Effect of the interface geometry on the structural integrity of the ceramic crown-tooth complex

The effect of the interface lute on the structural integrity of the tooth adhesively restored with an all-ceramic crown remains is an unknown parameter especially in relation to the interface geometry (thickness and uniformity). Traditionally, the structural integrity of a restored tooth system (tooth-lute-crown) is tested by laboratory based mechanical testing. However, a more sophisticated FEA computer modelling seems to provide a non-destructive way of understanding the structural integrity of the system, which may complement mechanical testing

MedZIM: Mediation analysis for Zero-Inflated Mediators with applications to microbiome data

The human microbiome can contribute to the pathogenesis of many complex diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease by mediating disease-leading causal pathways. However, standard mediation analysis is not adequate in the context of microbiome data due to the excessive number of zero values in the data. Zero-valued sequencing reads, commonly observed in microbiome studies, arise for technical and/or biological reasons. Mediation analysis approaches for analyzing zero-inflated mediators are still lacking largely because of challenges raised by the zero-inflated data structure: (a) disentangling the mediation effect induced by the point mass at zero; and (b) identifying the observed zero-valued data points that are actually not zero (i.e., false zeros). We develop a novel mediation analysis method under the potential-outcomes framework to fill this gap. We show that the mediation effect of the microbiome can be decomposed into two components that are inherent to the two-part nature of zero-inflated distributions. The first component corresponds to the mediation effect attributable to a unit-change over the positive relative abundance and the second component corresponds to the mediation effect attributable to discrete binary change of the mediator from zero to a non-zero state. With probabilistic models to account for observing zeros, we also address the challenge with false zeros. A comprehensive simulation study and the applications in two real microbiome studies demonstrate that our approach outperforms existing mediation analysis approaches.Comment: Corresponding: Zhigang L

Taxonomy and structure of the Romanian personality lexicon

We identified 1746 personality-relevant trait-adjectives in a Romanian dictionary, of which 412 were classified as descriptors of dispositions by 10 judges. Self-ratings were collected from 515 participants on those 412 adjectives, and the ratings were factored using principal components analysis. Solutions with different numbers of factors were analysed. The two- and three-factor solutions, respectively, confirmed the Big Two and Big Three of personality traits. A five-factor solution reflected the Big Five model with a fifth factor emphasising Rebelliousness versus Conventionality. The five-factor solution was related to the International Personality Item Pool-Big Five scales, and the highest correlations were indeed between the corresponding factors and scales. A six-factor solution was indicative of the six-factor model as expressed in the HEXACO model, yet with a weak Honesty-Humility factor. Additional analysis with self-ratings from 218 participants on marker-scales for the six-factor solution and on the six scales of the HEXACO did not produce a clear one-to-one correspondence between the two sets of scales, confirming indeed that the six-factor model was only partially found

Testing a novel method to identify salt production pottery via release and detection of chloride ions

A recently published analytical technique to detect chloride ions in ceramic vessels that were used to produce salt is replicated (Horiuchi et al. 2011). The method involves releasing bound chloride ions permanently retained by the vessel via a chemical exchange reaction with ammonium fluoride, following the removal of all unbound salt with water. The chloride concentration is measured in solution and used to quantify the amount of salt that was bound to the ceramic matrix. Our data suggest that this method is not a viable way to consistently discriminate salt-making pottery, as the detected chloride may not be derived from salt production activities, but from the ceramic material of the pot itself. We employ experimental vessels in which salt-making was simulated, in addition to analyzing excavated sherds from two Chinese and one North American site known to have been involved in salt production. The method proposed by Horiuchi et al. is not able to distinguish salt-making and non-salt-making vessels from one another.Anthropolog