Police stress in Hong Hong : officers of the Emergency Unit, gender analysis and the needs for the development of stress management

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.Stress in policing affects not only serving officers, but also the community they serve. In particular, officers in the Emergency Units may be expected to experience high levels of stress. While there has been a growing body of research on stress and policing among developed countries, there is a lack of comparable research in the Hong Kong context. In response to environmental changes, female officers were admitted to the Emergency Unit since 1997, and now they perform the same duties as their male counterparts. What are the causes and levels of stress of such officers in EU? What are their ways of coping with stress and are such ways effective? Are there any gender differences in police stress? This study investigates these pressing questions with a view to developing understandings and strategies to improve the situation for serving officers and for the Hong Kong Force. The research design consists of an historical overview of stress in Hong Kong policing, together with a combination of quantitative and qualitative investigative approaches, replicating a validated international study by McCreary & Thompson (2006) in order to generate comparable results with other countries. Interviews and focus group discussion provided a more fine-grained analysis of sources of stress and strategies for managing stress, and identified strategies for stress management. Results of the study identify, in general, that organizational stressors are significantly greater than operational stressors. Further, significant differences were found between male and female officers in relation to sources and levels of stress. Implications of these results include an argument for more organizational efforts to address related issues, and further comparative research in other police units. In particular, the thesis argues the need for continuous development of stress management within the Hong Kong situation, and contributes an international comparative reference

Dead in the water: The fate of copepod carcasses in the York River estuary, Virginia

Using laboratory and field experiments we investigated three fates of copepod carcass organic matter in the York River estuary, Virginia: ingestion by planktivores (necrophagy), microbial decomposition, and removal by gravitational settling in the presence of turbulence (sinking). The ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi ingested live copepods and carcasses indiscriminately in feeding experiments. Microbial decomposition led to ca. 50% of carcass dry weight loss within 8 h after death. Carcass settling velocities in still water were ca. 0.1 cm s(-1), implying short residence time (hours) in the shallow estuary. However, turbulent mixing kept carcasses in suspension much of the time, reducing sinking losses. Rates of carcass organic matter removal were combined in a simple mathematical model predicting the fate of estuarine copepod carcasses. When sinking was considered, it removed a large fraction of carcass organic matter (\u3e= 58% for copepodites, \u3e= 35% for nauplii), with most of the remainder being removed by microbial decomposition. In the absence of sinking losses, necrophagy became proportionally more important in removing carcass organic matter (\u3e= 49%, except in summer)

Two-dimensional model of low Mach number vortex sound generation in a lined duct

Author name used in this publication: S. K. Tang2009-2010 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

The chemotherapeutic agent DMXAA as a unique IRF3-dependent type-2 vaccine adjuvant

5,6-Dimethylxanthenone-4-acetic acid (DMXAA), a potent type I interferon (IFN) inducer, was evaluated as a chemotherapeutic agent in mouse cancer models and proved to be well tolerated in human cancer clinical trials. Despite its multiple biological functions, DMXAA has not been fully characterized for the potential application as a vaccine adjuvant. In this report, we show that DMXAA does act as an adjuvant due to its unique property as a soluble innate immune activator. Using OVA as a model antigen, DMXAA was demonstrated to improve on the antigen specific immune responses and induce a preferential Th2 (Type-2) response. The adjuvant effect was directly dependent on the IRF3-mediated production of type-I-interferon, but not IL-33. DMXAA could also enhance the immunogenicity of influenza split vaccine which led to significant increase in protective responses against live influenza virus challenge in mice compared to split vaccine alone. We propose that DMXAA can be used as an adjuvant that targets a specific innate immune signaling pathway via IRF3 for potential applications including vaccines against influenza which requires a high safety profile

Protocol-directed Weaning in a Neurosurgical intensive Care Unit – a Pilot Study

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Economic dispatch savings in the coal-fired power sector: an empirical study of China

© 2018 The current equal share dispatch approach has often been criticized for its negative influence on the electricity system operation in China, which worsens the energy security, environmental sustainability and affordability problems. To provide references for the on-going electricity market reform, this study employs an optimization model to quantify the economic dispatch savings in the coal-fired power sector. Key findings are summarized as follows: (1) The heat rates of 2803 coal generators in China range from 273.91 gce/kWh to 348.38 gce/kWh units in 2014, and the great differences among these generators at different geographical areas exhibit the necessity for economic dispatch. (2) 5.67% of the coal used for power generation could be saved from economic dispatch in a provincial level, the monetary value of which can reduce the average electricity price by 0.0058 yuan/kWh in 2014. (3) Three major political and economic challenges hinder the transition from the current dispatch mode to economic dispatch, namely the insufficient running hours for cost recovery, limited cross-border trading due to electricity over-supply and local protectionism, and the political economy problems from generators of different ownership types.This work was supported by China's National Key R&D Program (2016YFA0602603), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 71521002, 71273031 and 71573013) and China Scholarship Council (CSC) (201501310015)

Molecular Identification of Spirometra erinaceieuropaei Tapeworm in Cases of Human Sparganosis, Hong Kong

Human sparganosis is a foodborne zoonosis endemic in Asia. We report a series of 9 histologically confirmed human sparganosis cases in Hong Kong, China. All parasites were retrospectively identified as Spirometra erinaceieuropaei. Skin and soft tissue swelling was the most common symptom, followed by central nervous system lesions.published_or_final_versio