RESEARCH
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has continued survey work designed to assess the various factors, of which the Pearl River is the most significant, affecting the fishing grounds within the range of the Hong Kong fishing fleet.
New discoveries made in the Department of Chemistry in the fields of synthetic organic compounds, products from Hong Kong plants, and the mechanisms of chemical reactions are continuing to attract attention in many parts of the world. In the Department of Physics research work is being carried out on the properties of super-cooled liquids.
In the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology results of the radiological investigation of the morphology of the Chinese female pelvis await publication and work is continu- ing on problems relating to toxaemias of pregnancy and accidental haemorrhage.
Research in the Department of Physiology has been carried out along three lines: a study of complexes between plasma proteins and haemoglobins of various animals, metabolic effects produced by alphatocopheryl (vitamin E), and meta- bolic responses to cold.
In the Department of Civil Engineering the research pro- gramme is being continued on the solution of field problems by electrical analogy and using the electrolytic tank designed and built by the staff in 1956. Results of research on fields near bundle conductors, seepage of water in soils and torsion of rectangular beams have been published. Experimental research is being conducted on the behaviour of encased steel frames in the plastic range of stress and on the load-carrying capacity of pre-stressed concrete frames. Large scale frames are being manufactured in the Department and tested to destruction. During testing operations accurate strain and deflexion measurements are being recorded, and it is hoped that the results of these tests can be applied to the economic design of multi-storey building frames in Hong Kong.
For Meteorological research, see under Royal Observatory,
page 279.
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