Climate change and urbanization are two major challenges when planning for sustainable energy transition in cities. The common approach for energy demand estimation is using only typical meso-scale weather data in building energy models (BEMs), which underestimates the impacts of extreme climate and microclimate variations. To quantify the impacts of such underestimation on assessing the future en

As the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic begins, it remains clear that a massive increase in the ability to test for SARS-CoV-2 infections in a myriad of settings is critical to controlling the pandemic and to preparing for future outbreaks. The current gold standard for molecular diagnostics is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), but the extraordinary and unmet demand for testing in a variety

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a complex disease that leads to motor neuron death. Despite heritability estimates of 52%, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have discovered relatively few loci. We developed a machine learning approach called RefMap, which integrates functional genomics with GWAS summary statistics for gene discovery. With transcriptomic and epigenetic profiling of mot

Spina bifida (SB) is a debilitating birth defect caused by multiple gene and environment interactions. Though SB shows non-Mendelian inheritance, genetic factors contribute to an estimated 70% of cases. Nevertheless, identifying human mutations conferring SB risk is challenging due to its relative rarity, genetic heterogeneity, incomplete penetrance, and environmental influences that hamper genome

Background: Work and other everyday activities are beneficial for well-being among people with mental illness, but poor circumstances can create detrimental effects, possibly aggravated by additional vulnerabilities linked with their mental illness. This study aimed to investigate how activity factors were related to well-being and functioning among three vulnerable groups using outpatient mental

Civil rights activist Hu Jia was held under house arrest from 2004 to 2008 in the upscale eastern suburbs of Beijing. One day Hu picked up a video camera and began to document things outside the window: his watchers, shepherds tending their flocks, spiders in the rain, and his fellow activist and wife, Zeng Jinyan, going to and from work under the unnervingly close watch of plainclothes police.

Made on International Women's Day 2015 in collaboration with Zeng Jinyan (writer, Hong Kong) and Liao Yiwu (Composer/Performer,Berlin) for Chinese Artist Liu Xia, wife of Liu Xiaobo, under house arrest in Beijing without charge since her husband, poet Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2010, This video was made to remind her that her art may be forbidden in China but she is not is not

Shot over a six-year period (2009-15) mainly in the industrial heartland of south China, a major hub in the global supply chain, this film follows labor activists as they find common grounds with workers, helping them to negotiate with local officials and factory owners over wages and working conditions. Threats, attacks, detention and boredom become part of their daily lives as they struggle to s

Shot over an eight-year period, Outcry and Whisper presents itself as a political manifesto for the resistance of women, be they workers, artists, intellectuals or militants, in Chinese and Hong Kong society. Their accounts shine a light on a ferocious battle for independence.