The Background to the Research: Cultural, Theoretical and Methodological Issues

The disastrous earthquake of 12 May, 2008 had its greatest impact on the Qiang people, an ethnic minority living in the mountainous regions of Sichuan at the earthquake’s epicentre. Over 80,000 people died, over a million were injured or missing, most buildings collapsed and most homes were demolished under the avalanches. Thousands of children were evacuated to safety, some moved to far distant locations. The research team from the University of Newcastle responded to the plea of the Qiang leaders to help the children. In cooperation with the China-Australia Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, a three stage psycho-cultural research program was devised, comprising a survey of children’s current caregivers, interviews with the children, and development of a culturally appropriate rehabilitation scheme. Shuguang Wang was appointed to coordinate the project. This paper discusses the research issues involved. Of paramount importance was the collectivist nature of the Qiang culture and the traditional ways of dealing with disasters. Theoretical issues related to the relevance of western individualistic psychological and psychiatric approaches to therapy in the Qiang collectivist environment. Methodological problems related to developing appropriate measuring instruments, and preparing guidelines and training programs for local Qiang interviewers and volunteers

Three essays on bailout banks during 2007-2009 financial crisis

In the wake of this financial crisis 2007-2009, the government injected approximately $604 billion into financial sector to increase liquidity and improve capital base for the bailout banks, which in order to restore market confidence and to prevent bank runs and possible contagion effects. The main purpose of this dissertation is to assess the appropriateness and effects of the bailout program between 2008 and 2009. Chapter 1 introduces the causes and the effects of the recent financial crisis. Chapter 2 explains the bailout program-Capital Purchase Program (CPP) in details and discusses the sample section method used in this dissertation. There is limited empirical research focus on the bailout effects by the government as a lender of last resort. How effective the government intervention is on the banking industry becomes an ongoing open question which needs to be answered. In Chapter 3, I find that the increased liquidity injected by the government bailout to the banking industry has reduced firm\u27s cost of equity. I also document the moderating effect of institutional ownership on the impact of government bailout on banks\u27 cost of equity; the reduction in cost of equity brought about with the government bailout is larger in magnitude among banks with higher institutional investor shareholding, especially for banks dominated by domestic and grey institutional investors. In Chapter 4, I revisit the idiosyncratic volatility (IVOL)-return puzzle using alternative measures of idiosyncratic volatility and investigate the determinants of the change in IVOL using a unique group of bailout banks in the recent financial crisis during 2007-2009. Return is positively related to the lagged realized IVOL. The findings show that the financial bailout does not deter the risk-taking behavior among banks to the fullest, especially for the banks with highest IVOL. Furthermore, I document the important role of corporate governance and information asymmetry on banks\u27 IVOL. In Chapter 5, I investigate how institutional ownership stability and aggregate shareholding affect bailout banks\u27 decision on CPP bailout exit. I document that firms with better institutional ownership stability and high institutional ownership shareholding tend to pay back bailout funds in a shorter timeframe. The results are robust with control of size, non-performing loan, efficiency, profitability and capital ratio. On the other hand, firms with lower institutional ownership shareholding and less stable institutional ownership take longer time to repay CPP funds

Building a Culturally Appropriate Intervention Program to Assist Children’s Rehabilitation after the Sichuan Earthquake of 12 May, 2008

Based on the findings of the survey and the interviews, the work in this stage of the research was to build a culturally acceptable program to aid the children’s recovery. The study was conducted in three project sites of a village, a large school and a hospital, all in the same locations as the baseline research. A group-based participatory approach is being employed to develop a variety of activities, in progressive steps dealing with children’s themes of rehabilitation in their own contexts. The total program includes a range of activities differing according to age, category, and site. To ensure comparability, a core of three activity types (drama; story-telling and writing; singing and music in Qiang style) is taken by all age and category groups. The aim is to encourage healthy personal and social development, self efficacy and cultural identity. Cultural leader-based advocacy and cultural events promoting health have been designed to support the children’s activities. Volunteer Leaders and Activity Leaders conduct the activities, and monitor progress using Observation Check Lists to record children’s perceived general activity and group involvement

What Constitutes an Effective Instructional Video When Incorporated in Simulation Software Packages

Many studies have shown that instructional videos can be a highly effective educational tool (e.g., Kay, 2012; Lloyd and Robertson, 2012; Rackaway, 2012; Hsin and Cigas, 2013). In particular, Hsin and Cigas, (2013) describes the outcome derived from using video mini-lectures in an introductory course in computer science/mathematics. Student withdrawal, the failure rate, time-intensive interactive chats and written communication by the instructor was reduced after adding the videos to the class. Students were more satisfied with the course and average grades in the course increased slightly. This study expands the use of video mini-lectures to using a simulation software package that includes observing a video, practice the steps in the video and apply skills in simulated environments. It will define and measure the elements and use of video demonstrations included in a commercial simulation software package

On (d,1)-total numbers of graphs

AbstractA (d,1)-total labelling of a graph G assigns integers to the vertices and edges of G such that adjacent vertices receive distinct labels, adjacent edges receive distinct labels, and a vertex and its incident edges receive labels that differ in absolute value by at least d. The span of a (d,1)-total labelling is the maximum difference between two labels. The (d,1)-total number, denoted λdT(G), is defined to be the least span among all (d,1)-total labellings of G. We prove new upper bounds for λdT(G), compute some λdT(Km,n) for complete bipartite graphs Km,n, and completely determine all λdT(Km,n) for d=1,2,3. We also propose a conjecture on an upper bound for λdT(G) in terms of the chromatic number and the chromatic index of G

Situational Analysis from Two Studies Facilitating the Development of a Psycho- Cultural Rehabilitation Program for Children Affected by the 12 May 2008 Earthquake in Sichuan, China

The data presented are from two field studies: (1) a survey of 2234 current children’s caregivers; and (2) interviews with 1200 children, evaluating the children’s social, psychological and behavioural situation after the devastating Sichuan earthquake in the hard-hit Qiang ethnic community. Insights from the findings will be used to develop an evidence-based, culturally appropriate approach on the best use of cultural resources to facilitate the children’s post-disaster rehabilitation. Evidence from the first study indicated that the disaster had a significant impact on the ethnic Qiang children and their families in regard to personal loss, physical injury, social relationships and psychological well-being. Evidence from the second study further indicated: (1) the need for a sustained response to the increasing vulnerability of these children; (2) a very limited effect from outside community visitors, whose one-off inconsistent, non-indigenous approaches and psychological counselling, drawing on the western, individualistic, approach to counseling and psychological/ psychiatric therapies and non-Qiang approaches do not carry over into the children’s everyday life in their own contexts; (3) that little is known about psycho-cultural factors as key resources for supporting an effective response to disaster for ethnic Qiang children; (4) the greatest need for a sustainable effect is therefore to build a culturally appropriate approach through making best use of cultural resources drawing on contributions of both volunteers and official workers from various disciplines and using the Qiang traditional ways to promote the children’s psycho-cultural rehabilitation

Predicting protective gene biomarker of acute coronary syndrome by the circRNA-associated competitive endogenous RNA regulatory network

Background: The mortality and disability rates of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are quite high. Circular RNA (circRNA) is a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) that plays an important role in the pathophysiology of ACS. Our goal is to screen circRNA-associated ceRNA networks for biomarker genes that are conducive to the diagnosis or exclusion of ACS, and better understand the pathology of the disease through the analysis of immune cells. Materials and methods: RNA expression profiles for circRNAs (GSE197137), miRNAs (GSE31568), and mRNAs (GSE95368) were obtained from the GEO database, and differentially expressed RNAs (DEcircRNAs, DEmiRNAs, and DEmRNAs) were identified. The circRNA-miRNA and miRNA-mRNA regulatory links were retrieved from the CircInteractome database and TargetScan databases, respectively. As a final step, a regulatory network has been designed for ceRNA. On the basis of the ceRNA network, hub mRNAs were verified by quantitative RT-PCR. Hub genes were validated using a third independent mRNA database GSE60993, and ROC curves were used to evaluate their diagnostic values. The correlation between hub genes and immune cells associated with ACS was then analyzed using single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA). Results: A total of 17 DEcircRNAs, 229 DEmiRNAs, and 27 DEmRNAs were found, as well as 52 circRNA-miRNA pairings and 10 miRNA-mRNA pairings predicted. The ceRNA regulatory network (circRNA-miRNA-mRNA) was constructed, which included 2 circRNA (hsa_circ_0082319 and hsa_circ_0005654), 4 miRNA (hsa-miR-583, hsa-miR-661, hsa-miR-671-5p, hsa-miR-578), and 5 mRNA (XPNPEP1, UCHL1, DBNL, GPC6, and RAD51). The qRT-PCR analysis result showed that the XPNPEP1, UCHL1, GPC6 and RAD51 genes had a significantly decreased expression in ACS patients. Based on ROC curve analysis, we found that XPNPEP1 has important significance in preventing ACS occurrence and excluding ACS diagnosis. ACS immune infiltration analysis revealed significant correlations between the other 3 hub genes (UCHL1, GPC6, RAD51) and the immune cells (Eosinophils, T folliculars, Type 2 T helper cells, and Imumature dendritic cells). Conclusion: Our study constructed a circRNA-related ceRNA network in ACS. The XPNPEP1 gene could be a protective gene biomarker for ACS. The UCHL1, GPC6 and RAD51 genes were significantly correlated with immune cells in ACS

Strangeness Production at RHIC in the Perturbative Regim

We investigate strange quark production in Au-Au collisions at RHIC in the framework of the Parton Cascade Model(PCM). The yields of (anti-) strange quarks for three production scenarios -- primary-primary scattering, full scattering, and full production -- are compared to a proton-proton baseline. Enhancement of strange quark yields in central Au-Au collisions compared to scaled p-p collisions increases with the number of secondary interactions. The centrality dependence of strangeness production for the three production scenarios is studied as well. For all production mechanisms, the strangeness yield increases with $(N_{\rm part})^{4/3}$. The perturbative QCD regime described by the PCM is able to account for up to 50% of the observed strangeness at RHIC.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, IOP forma

InSite: a computational method for identifying protein-protein interaction binding sites on a proteome-wide scale

InSite is a computational method that integrates high-throughput protein and sequence data to infer the specific binding regions of interacting protein pairs