Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1997

Research News Ou t s t and i ng Research Per f ormance The Research Grants Council (RGC) recently completed its assessment of another batch of research projects conducted by local tertiary institutions and financed by the Council's earmarked grants. Of the five projects rated 'excellent', three were CUHK projects. This brings the cumulative total of the University's 'excellent' projects to 15 — almost half of the territory-wide cumulative total of 32 since the introduction of the assessment exercise in 1993 一 thus making it the institution with the most number of research projects so rated by the RGC. The three 'excellent' projects are : • Molecular Mechanisms in the Transduction Process in Mammalian Merkel Cell Mechano-receptors in the Skin CUHK Investigator: Prof. Klaus Baumann* • Development of an Intelligent Spatial Decision Support System CUHK Investigators: Prof. Y Leung, Prof. K. S. Leung • Effect of Hyperthermia on Tumour Cells CUHK Investigators: Prof. C. Y. Lee, Prof K. P. Fung * No longer a CUHK employee A Research Cent re t o Study Rel igion and Ch i nese Soc i e ty The Centre for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society, the first of its kind in the territory, was established at Chung Chi College last November to boost efforts in the University as well as in Hong Kong and other Chinese societies to study religions. It also aims to enhance research collaboration among different academic disciplines in the process. The centre will focus on interdisciplinary areas o f study, such as Chinese culture and Christianity, Taoism and folk religions, Chinese culture and Buddhism, Chinese literature and religion, and women and religion. Emphasis will be placed on the study of religions as an academic discipline, and theology in the Hong Kong and Chinese contexts. UK/HK Jo i n t Research Nine research projects involving staff members of the University have been selected for funding under the U K / H K Joint Research Scheme 1996-97. The scheme was established in 1991 by the British Council and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong to promote cooperation in research between institutions of higher education in the UK and Hong Kong. The nine projects are: • Articulatory Controlled Speech Synthesis Using Neural Networks (HK$65,000) CUHK investigator: Prof. P. C. Ching (Electronic Engineering) Partner institution: University of Liverpool • Neural-network-based Multipl e Models for Adaptive Control Applications (HK$70,195) CUHK investigator ： Prof. K. P. Lam (Systems Engineering &； Engineering Management) Partner institution: Oxford University • Cooperative Constraint Satisfaction among Intelligent Agents (HK$77,700) CUHK investigators: Profs. H. F. Leung & H. M. Lee (Computer Science & Engineering) Partner institution: Imperial College • A Comparison of Acinetobacter sp p Distribution in Human and i n Raw Vegetables i n H o ng K o ng and L o n d on (HK$70,000) CUHK investigator: Prof. Elizabeth Houang (Microbiology) Partner institution: Laboratory of Hospital Infection, Centra l Public Health Laboratory • Intrapartum Monitoring Using the Fetal Electrocardiogram (HK$46,200) CUHK investigator: Prof. Daljit Singh Sahota (Obstetrics & Gynaecology) Partner institution: University of Nottingham • Asymmetric Metal-Catalysed Polymerization (HK$50,000) CUHK investigator: Prof. K. S. Chan (Chemistry) Partner institution: University of Cambridge • Sequence Analysis of Natural and Modified Oligonucleotides, Using Ultra-high Resolution Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (HK$60,000) CUHK investigator ： Prof. Dominic T. W. Chan (Chemistry) Partner institution: Warwick University • Lexical Semantic Representation and Processing (HK$50,000) CUHK investigator: Prof. Hsuan-chih Chen (Psychology) Partner institution: University of London • The Roles of Welfare Systems in Promoting Productio n and Family Support (HK$50,000) CUHK investigator: Prof. Wong Chack-kie (Social Work ) Partner institution: University of Sheffield