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The persistence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in water has been a cause for concern for several years. Many studies have successfully used TiO2/UV photocatalysis to remove these compounds from water. In order to optimize these systems for large-scale water treatment, the effects of the reaction matrix, methods to improve energy efficiency, and methods for easy catalyst separation must be considered. The following study examines the photocatalytic degradation of a cocktail of 18 PPCPs using a porous titanium–titanium dioxide membrane and the effect of solution pH on kinetic rate constants. The addition of methanol to the reaction—commonly used as a carrier solvent—had a significant effect on kinetic rate constants even at low concentrations. Solution pH was also found to influence kinetic rate constants. Compounds had higher kinetic rate constants when they were oppositely charged to the membrane at experimental pH as opposed to similarly charged, suggesting that electrostatic forces have a significant effect. The controlled periodic illumination of UV–LEDs was also investigated to increase photonic efficiency. The dual-frequency light cycle used did not cause a decrease in degradation for many compounds, successfully increasing the photonic efficiency without sacrificing performance.

Although work-related stress among police officers during the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has been examined in recent studies, empirical studies of the impacts of multiple stressors on police officers’ work engagement and performance during this difficult time have been scarce. Using data collected from a sample of 335 police officers in Hong Kong, this study investigated the effects of supervisor support and different occupational stressors on police officers’ work engagement and performance during the pandemic. The regression results indicated that the impact of supervisor support was significantly and positively associated with both work outcomes. Operational stressors had a significant negative impact on the two work outcomes, and supervisor support had no moderating effect on the relationships between the various stressors and the two work outcomes. Practical suggestions on how to increase supervisor support for police officers and mitigate operational stressors are discussed.

Although work stress, turnover intention, and work–family conflicts among police officers have been extensively investigated, no studies have explored these issues simultaneously under the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Clearly, both work and family domains have been drastically affected by this global health crisis, and it is likely that each domain has a distinctive impact on work outcomes. Using survey data based on a representative random sample of 335 police officers in Hong Kong, this study examines the impacts of resource losses and gains across family and work domains on occupational stress and turnover intention amid the pandemic. A multiple regression indicates that both family-to-work and work-to-family conflicts lead to work stress and turnover intention among police officers. Among officers, supervisory support is negatively associated with turnover intention and moderates the impact of work-to-family conflicts on turnover intention. Finally, measures to mitigate work stress during public health disasters are discussed.

While the work-family interference in employees’ work experiences and turnover intention has been empirically supported in the previous literature, it remains unexplored in the social work domain i...

Aims There is an increasing concern of osteoporotic fractures in the ageing population. Low-magnitude high-frequency vibration (LMHFV) was shown to significantly enhance osteoporotic fracture healing through alteration of osteocyte lacuno-canalicular network (LCN). Dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) in osteocytes is known to be responsible for maintaining the LCN and mineralization. This study aimed to investigate the role of osteocyte-specific DMP1 during osteoporotic fracture healing augmented by LMHFV. Methods A metaphyseal fracture was created in the distal femur of ovariectomy-induced osteoporotic Sprague Dawley rats. Rats were randomized to five different groups: 1) DMP1 knockdown (KD), 2) DMP1 KD + vibration (VT), 3) Scramble + VT, 4) VT, and 5) control (CT), where KD was performed by injection of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) into marrow cavity; vibration treatment was conducted at 35 Hz, 0.3 g; 20 minutes/day, five days/week). Assessments included radiography, micro-CT, dynamic histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry on DMP1, sclerostin, E11, and fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23). In vitro, murine long bone osteocyte-Y4 (MLO-Y4) osteocyte-like cells were randomized as in vivo groupings. DMP1 KD was performed by transfecting cells with shRNA plasmid. Assessments included immunocytochemistry on osteocyte-specific markers as above, and mineralized nodule staining. Results Healing capacities in DMP1 KD groups were impaired. Results showed that DMP1 KD significantly abolished vibration-enhanced fracture healing at week 6. DMP1 KD significantly altered the expression of osteocyte-specific markers. The lower mineralization rate in DMP1 KD groups indicated that DMP1 knockdown was associated with poor fracture healing process. Conclusion The blockage of DMP1 would impair healing outcomes and negate LMHFV-induced enhancement on fracture healing. These findings reveal the importance of DMP1 in response to the mechanical signal during osteoporotic fracture healing. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2022;11(7):465–476.

Background The adaptive immune responses of COVID-19 patients contributes to virus clearance, restoration of health and protection from re-infection. The patterns of and the associated characteristics with longitudinal neutralising antibody (NAb) response following SARS-CoV-2 infection are important in their potential association with the population risks of re-infection. Methods This is a longitudinal study with blood samples and clinical data collected in adults aged 18 or above following diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. NAb levels were measured by the SARS-CoV-2 surrogate virus neutralisation test (sVNT). Anonymous clinical and laboratory data were matched with surveillance data for each subject for enabling analyses and applying latent class mixed models for trajectory delineation. Logistic regression models were performed to compare the characteristics between the identified classes. Results In 2020–2021, 368 convalescent patients in Hong Kong are tested for NAb. Their seroconversion occur within 3 months in 97% symptomatic patients, the level of which are maintained at 97% after 9 months. The NAb trajectories of 200 symptomatic patients are classified by the initial response and subsequent trend into high-persistent and waning classes in latent class mixed models. High-persistent (15.5%) class patients are older and most have chronic illnesses. Waning class patients (84.5%) are largely young adults who are mildly symptomatic including 2 who serorevert after 10 months. Conclusions Characteristic sub-class variabilities in clinical pattern are noted especially among patients with waning NAb. The heterogeneity of the NAb trajectory patterns and their clinical association can be important for informing vaccination strategy to prevent re-infection.

Gut dysbiosis is associated with immune dysfunction and severity of COVID-19. Whether targeting dysbiosis will improve outcomes of COVID-19 is unknown. This study aimed to assess the effects of a novel gut microbiota-derived synbiotic formula (SIM01) as an adjuvant therapy on immunological responses and changes in gut microbiota of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.This was an open-label, proof-of-concept study. Consecutive COVID-19 patients admitted to an infectious disease referral center in Hong Kong were given a novel formula of Bifidobacteria strains, galactooligosaccharides, xylooligosaccharide, and resistant dextrin (SIM01). The latter was derived from metagenomic databases of COVID-19 patients and healthy population. COVID-19 patients who were admitted under another independent infectious disease team during the same period without receiving SIM01 acted as controls. All patients received standard treatments for COVID-19 according to the hospital protocol. We assessed antibody response, plasma proinflammatory markers, nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load, and fecal microbiota profile from admission up to week 5.Twenty-five consecutive COVID-19 patients received SIM01 for 28 days; 30 patients who did not receive the formula acted as controls. Significantly more patients receiving SIM01 than controls developed SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody (88% vs 63.3%; P = 0.037) by Day 16. One (4%) and 8 patients (26.7%) in the SIM01 and control group, respectively, failed to develop positive IgG antibody upon discharge. At week 5, plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and IL-1RA reduced significantly in the SIM01 but not in the control group. There was a significant negative correlation of nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load and SIM01 intervention. Metagenomic analysis showed that bacterial species in SIM01 formula were found in greater abundance leading to enrichment of commensal bacteria and suppression of opportunistic pathogens in COVID-19 patients by week 4 and week 5.This proof-of-concept study suggested that the use of a novel gut microbiota-derived synbiotic formula, SIM01, hastened antibody formation against SARS-CoV-2, reduced nasopharyngeal viral load, reduced pro-inflammatory immune markers, and restored gut dysbiosis in hospitalised COVID-19 patients.

Congenital abnormalities of the biliary system are a consideration in children with biliary symptomatology. The preoperative diagnosis rate is still not satisfactory, despite progresses made in imaging technology, with the potential of biliary tract injury if surgery is indicated. The double gallbladder is a rare developmental abnormality of the biliary tract with several anatomical variations. This abnormality was accurately delineated in a 7-year-old child by MRI/MRCP, allowing the ductal anatomy to be accurately identified and safe laparoscopic cholecystectomies to be performed.

While the majority of studies on the fear of crime focus on the impact of violent and property crimes at the population level, financial fraud against senior citizens is often under-investigated. This study uses data collected from 1061 older citizens in the community through a cross-sectional survey in Hong Kong to examine the levels of fear and perceived risk among Chinese senior citizens toward financial fraud and the factors behind them. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the explanatory power of four theoretical perspectives (vulnerability, victimization, social integration, and satisfaction with police) on fear and perceived risk of fraud victimization. The results indicate significant predictive effects of victimization experience and satisfaction with police fairness and integrity on both the fear and the perceived risk of fraud among respondents. The findings not only confirm the differential impact of theoretical explanations on these constructs but can also contribute to crime prevention policy and practice in an aging society.

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a devastating impact on a global scale. Its impact has been not only on the health of citizens but also on different aspects of our living. In Hong Kong, we could ...

In this LBT practicum, psychologist Arthur Li helps his psychoanalyst client to discover the synergy between LBT and psychoanalysis in exploring her relationship withher mother.

Merging is an important operation for the generalization of land-cover data. However, current research often entails merging on a global perspective, which is not conducive to capturing the spatial characteristics of geographic objects with significant spatial structures, i.e., structured geographic objects. As such, this paper proposes an area merging method that can maintain the boundary characteristics of the structured geographic objects. First, we identify the structured geographic objects based on the description parameters of the spatial structure. Second, a Miter-type buffer transformation is introduced to extract the boundary of each structured geographic object, and area elements inside the boundary are processed with corresponding merging operations. Finally, the boundary of the structured geographic objects and the merging result of the area elements are inserted back into the aggregated result of the original land-cover data using the NOT operation. The proposed approach is experimentally validated using geographical condition census data for a city in southern China. The experimental validation indicates that the proposed approach not only reasonably identify the typical characteristics of structured geographic objects but also effectively maintains the boundary characteristics of these objects.

Smart City is a new concept that uses Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to promote the smartification of urban construction, planning and services. Currently, a number of countries and cities have conducted studies on Smart City, but they mostly focused on the conceptual connotations analysis and applications in specific domains, lacking a common, shareable and integrated framework understanding, which led to significant barriers among individual Smart City projects. By analyzing the framework connotations and application domains of Smart City, this paper proposed a common, shareable and integrated conceptual framework for smart city. Then based on this framework, a unified portal platform that is suitable for multiple domains, including the government, citizen and business, as well as common, custom and other application modes, is further proposed. Finally, Smart Weifang was implemented based on this platform. The application outcomes indicate that this common and shareable platform can effectively eliminate the data and technological barriers between different smart city systems, while also avoiding redundant financial investments. The investigation of the proposed framework and platform is of key significance to the unified construction of Smart City and the intensification of the hardware environment, thus representing a true achievement in the transition from “information island” to “information sharing and interconnection” for urban informatization.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of demands from three life domains: society, workplace and family and different resources at the individual, family and supervisor levels on occupational stress and work engagement among Hong Kong police officers.Design/methodology/approachA survey based on a random sample of 514 male and female police officers was conducted, and multivariate regression was employed to assess the effects of demands and resources on work stress and work engagement.FindingsFamily–work conflicts, organizational and operational factors affected work stress and work engagement among police officers. Constructive coping was found to be positively related to work stress and negatively associated with work engagement.Research limitations/implicationsSurvey data collected from a single Chinese city may not be generalized to officers in other parts of China or Chinese societies with different social and political contexts.Originality/valueThe present study filled the knowledge gap about factors influencing police stress and engagement. This study provides insights into how to establish relevant contextual measures to reduce police work stress. This study represents one of the first attempts to use a random sample of police officers for the investigation of police stress in Hong Kong.

The sexual exploitation (SE) of children and adolescents is a universal concern. Numerous empirical studies have examined the prevalence and consequences of this phenomenon worldwide, but there is little information on the factors that determine the help-seeking intentions of adolescents subject to SE in Tanzania. We drew on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to address this knowledge gap. The study had two main objectives. First, we examined four TPB variables (attitudes toward seeking help, perceived social support, perceived social stigma, and generalized self-efficacy) as determinants of the Tanzanian adolescents’ help-seeking intentions. Second, we explored the moderating effects of social stigma on the relationship between the examined TPB factors and the adolescents’ help-seeking intentions. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from a stratified random sample of 1,116 secondary school adolescents aged 13-17 ( M = 15.66; SD = 1.09). The participants were recruited from two regions in the east and northwest of Tanzania and data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. The results indicate that the TPB variables of attitude toward seeking help, perceived social support, and generalized self-efficacy were positively associated with the help-seeking intentions of adolescents subject to SE, but not social stigma. Through moderation analyses, we found that social stigma significantly weakened the explanatory power of the attitude toward seeking help. The findings of this study in the context of Tanzania were discussed and implications for policy, practice, and future research were suggested.

Asparagus stem blight is a regional disease. In the present study, we compared strains of

To explore the expression pattern and clinical significance of circ_0000515 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as well as the molecular mechanism.Fifty HCC patients were recruited, and their cancer tissues and adjacent normal ones were collected for detecting the differential expression of circ_0000515. The relationship between circ_0000515 and clinical parameters in HCC patients was analyzed. Circ_0000515 knockdown model was generated by lentivirus transfection in Hep3B and MHCC88H cells that were highly expressed with circ_0000515. Regulatory effects of circ_0000515 on phenotypes of Hep3B and MHCC88H cells were examined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell assay. Target gene of circ_0000515 was verified by Dual-Luciferase reporter assay, and its involvement in HCC progression was detected by rescue experiments. In vivo xenograft model was generated in nude mice aiming to elucidate the role of circ_0000515 in regulating HCC growth.Circ_0000515 was highly expressed in HCC tissues and cell lines. High level of circ_0000515 predicted advanced stage, high incidence of lymphatic metastasis, and low disease-free survival and overall survival in HCC. Knockdown of circ_0000515 attenuated proliferative and migratory abilities in Hep3B and MHCC88H cells. MAPK10, as the target gene binding circ_0000515, was negatively regulated by circ_0000515. Rescue experiments and in vivo xenograft model both indicated that circ_0000515 aggravated the malignant progression of HCC by targeting MAPK10.Circ_0000515 is upregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines. It can be used for predicting tumor staging, lymphatic metastasis, and prognosis in HCC. Circ_0000515 aggravates the malignant progression of HCC by downregulating MAPK10.

Although considerable literature conducted in the context of Western societies has concluded that the use of virtual reality (VR) technology can facilitate students’ learning, the applicabi...

BackgroundA range of public health measures have been implemented to delay and reduce local transmission of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, and there have been major changes in behaviours of the general public. We examined the effect of these interventions and behavioral changes on the incidence of COVID-19 as well as on influenza virus infections which may share some aspects of transmission dynamics with COVID-19.MethodsWe reviewed policy interventions and measured changes in population behaviours through two telephone surveys, on January 20-23 and February 11-14. We analysed data on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, influenza surveillance data in outpatients of all ages, and influenza hospitalisations in children. We estimated the daily effective reproduction number (Rt), for COVID-19 and influenza A(H1N1).FindingsCOVID-19 transmissibility has remained at or below 1, indicating successful containment to date. Influenza transmission declined substantially after the implementation of social distancing measures and changes in population behaviours in late January, with a 44% (95% confidence interval, CI: 34% to 53%) reduction in transmissibility in the community, and a 33% (95% CI: 24% to 43%) reduction in transmissibility based on paediatric hospitalization rates. In the two surveys we estimated that 74.5% and 97.5% of the general adult population wore masks when going out, and 61.3% and 90.2% avoided going to crowded places, respectively.ImplicationsContainment measures, social distancing measures and changes in population behaviour have successfully prevented spread of COVID-19. The social distancing measures and behavioural changes led to a substantial reduction in influenza transmission in early February 2020. However, it may be challenging to avoid fatigue and sustain these measures and population behaviours as COVID-19 continues to spread globally.FundingHealth and Medical Research Fund, Hong Kong

A considerable empirical research has been conducted on sexual exploitation of children and adolescents; however, limited information is available in developing countries. This study describes and discusses the prevalence, nature and characteristics of sexual exploitation of adolescents using data collected from 1116 secondary school students in Tanzania. Results indicate that 21 percent of the surveyed adolescent students had had at least one experience of sexual exploitation. Being a female, living in rural areas and being aged above 15 years were associated with high risk of sexual exploitation. This study underscores gender- and locality-specific social work interventional requirements, with emphasis on interdisciplinary collaborative efforts.

Determining the concentration of material enhancing elements is one of the key issues for ensuring the quality and performance of titanium alloy products. Traditional methods used for determining these elements lack the ability of fast and in situ analysis, and have slowed the research and development of these products. In this work, the determination of yttrium in titanium alloys using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy assisted with laser-induced fluorescence (LIBS-LIF) has been investigated. With the selective enhancement of the characteristic lines of yttrium under optimized parameters, analytical performance was overwhelmingly improved with a limit of detection (LoD) of 0.3 ppm, a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.995, and a root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) of 12 ppm. The results demonstrate that LIBS-LIF is an effective method for the quantification of yttrium in titanium alloys, and the procedure itself works as a great complement to LIBS based analytical chemistry.

Dietary patterns may interfere with the efficacy of herbal intervention. Our results demonstrated the protective effects of Salvia miltiorrhiza aqueous extract (SMA) on bone metabolism were influenced by levels of dietary fat and sucrose in ovariectomized (OVX) rats through its actions on attenuating lipid deposition and oxidative stress in rats. Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM), also known as Danshen, has been tested as an osteoporosis treatment in a series of small, short human trials that generally report improvements in bone property. However, dietary patterns may interfere with the effects of herbal intervention. We hypothesized that dietary fat and sucrose levels could influence the effects of SM supplementation on bone in estrogen-deficient animals. Six-month-old Sprague-Dawley sham or OVX rats were fed either a low-saturated fat-sucrose (LFS, a diet that was similar in composition to normal rat chow) or a high-fat-sucrose (HFS) diet and OVX rats were treated (8 rats/group) with SM aqueous extract (SMA, 600 mg/kg/day), 17β-estradiol (1 mg/kg/day), or vehicle for 12 weeks. SMA significantly improved bone properties as revealed by the increase in trabecular bone mineral density and decrease in trabecular separation at proximal metaphysis of the tibia (PT) in HFS-fed OVX rats, but not in LFS-fed OVX rats. SMA greatly reduced lipid deposition and malondialdehyde levels, improved the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase in the livers of HFS-fed OVX rats. SMA could directly improve the proliferation and differentiation in vitro in an H2O2-induced preosteoblast cell model by attenuating cellular reactive oxygen species levels. The protective effects of SMA on bone metabolism were influenced by dietary fat and sucrose levels in OVX rats. The ability of SMA to reduce bone loss in HFS-fed OVX rats was associated with the attenuation of lipid deposition and oxidative stress levels.

This special issue of the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency presents four articles that expand our theoretical and empirical understanding of crime and its prevention in contemporary China. Undertaken mostly by Chinese scholars, these articles are theory-driven inquires that utilize original data to examine critical criminological issues in transitional China. Two of the four papers were initially presented at the 2015 Conference on Crime Geography and Crime Analysis, an annual conference hosted in Guangzhou in early July each year. In addition to introducing these four articles, this paper also provides a summary on progress, challenge, opportunities and future direction of crime research in China.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients and can be used as a cosmological probe. However, the dispersion measure (DM) contributed by intergalactic medium (IGM) is hard to be distinguished from other components. In this paper, we use the IllustrisTNG simulation to realistically estimate the $DM_{\rm IGM}$ up to $z\sim 9$. We find $DM_{\rm IGM} = 892^{+721}_{-270}$ pc cm$^{-3}$ at $z=1$. The probability distribution of $DM_{\rm IGM}$ can be well fitted by a quasi-Gaussian function with a long tail. The tail is caused by the structures along the line of sight in IGM. Subtracting DM contributions from the Milky Way and host galaxy for localized FRBs, the $DM_{\rm IGM}$ value is close to the derived $DM_{\rm IGM}-z$ relation. We also show the capability to constrain the cosmic reionization history with the $DM_{\rm IGM}$ of high-redshift FRBs in the IllustrisTNG universe. The derived $DM_{\rm IGM}-z$ relation at high redshifts can be well fitted by a $tanh$ reionization model with the reionization redshift $z=5.95$, which is compatible with the reionization model used by the IllustrisTNG simulation. The $DM_{\rm IGM}$ of high-redshift FRBs also provides an independent way to measure the optical depth of cosmic microwave background (CMB). Our result can be used to derive the pseudo-redshifts of non-localized FRBs for $DM_{\rm IGM}, 10 pges, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ

A large amount of waste rock is generated during thin seam coal mining operations underground. The waste rock material stacked on surface also adds to the environmental pollution. So it is important to reduce the amount of waste rock by exploring gainful utilization methods. This paper deals with an investigation undertaken to develop an alternate gob filling material in laboratory and evaluating its efficiency numerically as well as in field. A coal–waste rock separation system and a roadway layout system were designed, and a new technique of fully-mechanized goaf-side entry retaining and goaf filling back hydraulic supports was proposed. These methods helped realize the goal of green mining, which was featured by waste rock consumption in nearby region without any need to be elevated to ground surface. This study demonstrated that the two proposed mining methods, namely, caving mining method and mining with filling method, differed in mechanical environments where roadside filling body was located, deformation, and failure scope. The maximum principal stress concentration degree near the roadside filling body for caving mining method was high with a maximum value of 42.5 MPa because of key rock blocks in overburden. As a result, the surrounding rock of roadside filling body was severely deformed with a maximum displacement of 1117 mm. The entire roadside filling body moved toward the inside roadway and experienced plastic failure. After goaf filling, filling bodies in goaf, roof and floor strata, and roadside were combined to form an entire withstanding deformation. The motion space of overburden rock was limited, the adjustment range of surrounding rock stress near the roadside filling body was narrowed, the maximum principal stress decreased to 29.5 MPa, and the main roof did not rupture. Accordingly, the deformation of surrounding rocks of the roadside filling body was small, the maximum displacement of roof and floor was 457 mm, and the roadside filling body did not experience plastic failure. The study results enrich goaf-side entry retaining theory in thin coal seam and mechanized filling technology and provide a theoretical foundation for thin coal seam mining with difficulty in waste rock treatment.

Background School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated students’ loneliness, addictive gaming behaviors, and poor mental health. These mental health issues confronting young people are of public concern. Objective This study aimed to examine the associations between loneliness and gaming addiction behaviors among young people in Hong Kong and to investigate how familial factors, psychological distress, and gender differences moderate these relationships. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in June 2020 when schools reopened after 6 months of school closures. Participants included 2863 children and adolescents in primary (Grades 4 to 6) and secondary (Grades 7 and 8) schools (female participants: 1502/2863, 52.5%). Chi-square tests, one-way analyses of variance, and independent-samples t tests were performed to compare the differences of distribution in gaming addiction behaviors across gender, age, and other sociodemographic characteristics. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors that relate to excessive or pathological gaming behaviors separately, in comparison with leisure gaming. Results A total of 83.0% (2377/2863) of the participants played video games during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence of excessive and pathological game addiction behaviors was 20.9% (597/2863) and 5.3% (153/2863), respectively. More male students had gaming addiction symptoms than female students. The multinomial logistic regressions showed that feeling lonely was associated with more problematic gaming behaviors, and the association was stronger for older female students. Low socioeconomic status, less parental support and less supervision, and poor mental health were risk factors for gaming addiction behaviors, especially among primary school students. Conclusions Loneliness was associated with gaming addiction behaviors; the findings from this study suggested that this association was similar across gender and age groups among young people. Familial support and supervision during school closures can protect young people from developing problematic gaming behaviors. Results of this study have implications for prevention and early intervention on behalf of policy makers and game developers.

Desistance as a process to forgo delinquent habits is an important target for intervention into youth at risk of delinquency. The intervention through social work services, nevertheless, has not clearly demonstrated its effectiveness. For such a demonstration, the present study examines the contribution of social work services with reference to the voluntaristic theory of action. The theory suggests that promoting the youth’s voluntarism underlying desistance, encompassing appreciation, facilitation, observation, and identification concerning desistance is essential. The suggestion leads to the hypothesis that social work services promote the youth’s desistance through the promotion of voluntarism for desistance. This hypothesis gets support from this study of 586 at-risk youths in Hong Kong, with data collected from both the youths and their responsible social workers. The support implies the value of social work services for sustaining the youth’s desistance.

This study examines the public discourse on financial fraud against older citizens in Chinese society using six focus groups with 45 stakeholders comprising social workers, police officers, caregivers, nurses, community representatives, and insurance and banking personnel. This study uses qualitative data to describe the patterns and social features that facilitate this specific type of crime in Hong Kong. The narratives of the community stakeholders reveal several specific social features of Hong Kong that contribute to financial fraud against older persons, such as traditional Chinese values and ideologies, increasing cross-border activities, the Internet and technological advancements, and unfavourable economic situations. The results of this study support the assumptions of the routine activity approach and have a number of theoretical and practical implications.

The Frank-Read model, as a way of generating dislocations in metals and alloys, is widely accepted. In the early 1960s, Li proposed an alternate mechanism. Namely, grain boundary sources for dislocations, with the aim of providing a different model for the Hall-Petch relation without the need of dislocation pile-ups at grain boundaries, or Frank-Read sources inside the grain. This article provides a review of his model, and supporting evidence for grain boundaries or interfacial sources of dislocations, including direct observations using transmission electron microscopy. The Li model has acquired new interest with the recent development of nanomaterial and multilayers. It is now known that nanocrystalline metals/alloys show a behavior different from conventional polycrystalline materials. The role of grain boundary sources in nanomaterials is reviewed briefly.

Rafting is an important phenomenon of the microstructure evolution in nickel-based single crystal superalloys at elevated temperature. Understanding the rafting mechanism and its effect on the microstructure evolution is of great importance in determining the structural stability and applications of the single crystal superalloys. Phase-field method, which is an excellent tool to analyze the microstructure evolution at mesoscale, has been gradually used to investigate the rafting behavior. In this work, we review the crystal plasticity theory and phase-field method and discuss the application of the crystal plasticity theory and phase-field method in the analysis of the creep deformation and microstructure evolution of the single crystal superalloys.

Based on multibody dynamics, some definitions of mechanism are defined. The kinematics bifurcation position is a cold researching spot for many many years. It is common in planar quabody mechanisms but has not been paid enough attention to. The kinematics bifurcation position refers to the mechanism position with a pressure angle of 90° of the follower, including the stuck position (dead point). In this paper, a planar quabody mechanism is studied. In a motion cycle, there are three kinematics bifurcation positions in the mechanism. The third derivative of angle to time, angular velocity, angular acceleration of the connecting rod in kinematics bifurcation positions is obtained by solving the kinematics parameters of kinematics bifurcation positions according to L’Hopital’s rule. If the driving body swings in sinusoidal law, the motion of the mechanism is continuous. The kinematics characteristics of the mechanism are independent of the simulation convergence and response bifurcation of nonlinear dynamics. The length of the rocker is 1 m, the length of the connecting rod is 0.5 m, the distance between the track of the slider and the fixed point of the rocker is 0.5 m, and the rocker swings according to the sine law with a period of 9 seconds. The computer simulation shows that the speed and acceleration are continuous and so there is no impact in the kinematics bifurcation positions.

Spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) provides a high working potential as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries. Yet there is a phase transition from cubic to tetragonal structure in LNMO during the ~3 V charge/discharge region. To suppress the large volume change and capacity fade inherent with bulk-sized LNMO particles when discharged to below 3.0 V, one-dimensional nano-structured LNMO was prepared by an electrospinning method and a subsequent heat treatment. The well-separated nanofiber precursors combat the growth and aggregation of LNMO particles during the heating procedure and lead to improved capacity, better cycling stability, and improved rate capability of the final LMNO nanofibers. The as-prepared LMNO nanofibers have a diameter as thin as 50–100 nm, which is the thinnest of this kind of complex compounds that contain multi-transition metal elements produced through the electrospinning method. In coin cell tests of this material at a current density of 27 mA g−1, the initial discharge capacity was 130 mAh g−1 over a voltage range of 3.5–4.8 V and 300 mAh g−1 over a voltage range of 2.0–4.8 V.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess senior citizens’ satisfaction with police in Hong Kong. It is intended to answer four research questions: are older citizens satisfied with Hong Kong’s police? Do older citizens coming from different communities with variations in income and crime rates differ from other older citizens in their assessments of the police? to what extent can the respondents’ instrumental, expressive, and legitimacy concerns predict their satisfaction with the police? And is there variation in the predictive power of different kinds of concerns (instrumental, expressive, and legitimacy) on respondents’ satisfaction with fairness, integrity, and effectiveness (respectively)? Design/methodology/approach – Findings of the study were based on survey interviews a sample of 1,061 elderly people aged 65 or above in 2013. A multiple-step sampling method was used to collected data from four types of communities according to the household income level of the residents and the community fraud crime rate. Findings – The paper provides empirical insights about how senior citizens rate their level of satisfaction toward the police. Chinese elderly people’s assessment on the police is found connected with their instrumental, expressive, and legitimacy concerns as well as their educational attainment. Research limitations/implications – Several limitations were acknowledged. First, the self-reported data in this study contained bias because of possible distortion in memory. Second, the cross-sectional data used in this study means that causal inferences are difficult to make. Third, the findings from the study have a limited generalizability because data were collected from a small and non-random sample. Practical implications – Since better educated senior citizens are found more critical when rating police effectiveness in fighting crime, police officers may need to think of suitable channels to understand the expectations of the better educated elderly people and to absorb their ideas for improving policing practice. Originality/value – This study is probably the first attempt of assessing the satisfaction with police of a specific target group, i.e. senior citizens in Hong Kong.

1. Mutations in growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) and bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) are significantly associated with reproductive performance in mammals and the objective of the present study was to identify polymorphic sites and elucidate the association between genotypes in BMP15 and GDF9 and egg production. 2. Polymorphisms in BMP15 exon1 and GDF9 exon2 were detected by DNA sequencing and PCR-RFLP. Three SNPs were detected in each of BMP15 (A111G, C231T and C34T) and GDF9 (G593A, T824C and C896T). C34T leads to the substitution of Leu by Phe, which was predicted to affect protein function. 3. Results of the association analysis indicated that C34T had an effect on total egg production at 300 d of age (EN) and age at first laying (AFE). G593A affected EN and both C231T and C896T influenced AFE. The TGC1TGC1 diplotype in BMP15 had the highest EN. 4. In conclusion, EN may be significantly improved by marker-assisted selection of the BMP15 genotypes in maternal lines of Shaobo hens.

The initial reinforcing properties of drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, are largely attributed to their ability to activate the mesolimbic dopamine system. Resulting increases in extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) are traditionally thought to result from cocaine’s ability to block dopamine transporters (DATs). Here we demonstrate that cocaine also interacts with the immunosurveillance receptor complex, Toll-Like Receptor 4 (TLR4), on microglial cells to initiate central innate immune signaling. Disruption of cocaine signaling at TLR4 suppresses cocaine-induced extracellular dopamine in the NAc, as well as cocaine conditioned place preference and cocaine self-administration. These results provide a novel understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying cocaine reward/reinforcement that includes a critical role for central immune signaling, and offer a new target for medication development for cocaine abuse treatment.

Lithium–sulfur coin cells were tested with the aim of mitigating the issue of polysulfide dissolution. Five approaches were investigated: optimization of the amount of sulfur that can be contained in the sulfur/carbon electrodes, introduction of different forms of carbon additives into the sulfur electrodes, impregnation of sulfur into the pores of high-surface-area carbon via a melting process, addition of high-surface-area TiO2 as a polysulfide-adsorbing agent in the sulfur electrodes, and use of lithium nitrate as an additive in the electrolyte. Among all these approaches, the most effective way to inhibit the shuttle phenomenon and improve the coulombic efficiency of the Li–S battery was the addition of LiNO3 into the electrolyte.

Hydrogenation of silicene has been shown to be an efficient way to open the band gap of silicene and manipulate its electronic properties for application in electronic devices. However, the reaction energy barrier of silicene hydrogenation is quite high, which prevents the occurrence of this chemical reaction. Using density functional theory calculations, we propose an alternative approach to reduce the energy barrier, thus facilitating hydrogenation of silicene. Our results demonstrate that biaxial strain and uniaxial tensile strain along the armchair direction can reduce the energy barrier of dissociative H2 adsorption on silicene significantly, and the barrier decreases as the strains increase. However, the biaxial strain has a better effect on the energy barrier reduction. It is found that the barrier reduces from 1.71 to 0.24 eV when the biaxial strain reaches the critical value of about 12%, above which the structure of silicene after hydrogenation would be destroyed. In this way, the reaction time for the hydrogenation of silicene can be reduced significantly from 8.06 × 1016 to 1.68 × 10−8 s. The mechanism of the effect of tensile strains can be understood through analysing the density of states of the system and atomic charge transfer during hydrogenation.

Understanding and controlling the sulfur reduction species (Li2Sx, 1 ≤ x ≤ 8) under realistic battery conditions are essential for the development of advanced practical Li-S cells that can reach their full theoretical capacity. However, it has been a great challenge to probe the sulfur reduction intermediates and products because of the lack of methods. This work employed various ex situ and in situ methods to study the mechanism of the Li-S redox reactions and the properties of Li2Sx and Li2S. Synchrotron high-energy X-ray diffraction analysis used to characterize dry powder deposits from lithium polysulfide solution suggests that the new crystallite phase may be lithium polysulfides. The formation of Li2S crystallites with a polyhedral structure was observed in cells with both the conventional (LiTFSI) electrolyte and polysulfide-based electrolyte. In addition, an in situ transmission electron microscopy experiment observed that the lithium diffusion to sulfur during discharge preferentially occurred at the sulfur surface and formed a solid Li2S crust. This may be the reason for the capacity fade in Li-S cells (as also suggested by EIS experiment in Supporting Information ). The results can be a guide for future studies and control of the sulfur species and meanwhile a baseline for approaching the theoretical capacity of the Li-S battery.