Wave-packet treatment of neutrino oscillations and its implications on determining the neutrino mass hierarchy

We derive the neutrino flavor transition probabilities with the neutrino treated as a wave packet. The decoherence and dispersion effects from the wave-packet treatment show up as damping and phase-shifting of the plane-wave neutrino oscillation patterns. If the energy uncertainty in the initial neutrino wave packet is larger than around 0.01 of the neutrino energy, the decoherence and dispersion effects would degrade the sensitivity of reactor neutrino experiments to mass hierarchy measurement to lower than 3 $\sigma$ confidence level

An Exploration of Cross-cultural Adjustment and Job Satisfaction among Primary School Native-speaking English Teachers in Hong Kong

The study aimed to explore Primary School Native-speaking English Teachers’ (NETs’) cross-cultural adjustment and job satisfaction in Hong Kong. The relationship between NETs’ cross-cultural adjustment, stress and job satisfaction was investigated in a sample of 150 NETs by the quantitative analysis of a survey. A self-administered questionnaire comprised a biographical questionnaire and six measuring instruments. The differences in cross-cultural adjustment and job satisfaction between NETs who reported with high job satisfaction and those who reported with low job satisfaction were then examined in a sample of the 10 selected NETs, 5 from the high satisfaction group and 5 from the low satisfaction group, by the qualitative interpretations of the face-to-face semi-structured interviews which were designed on the basis of the survey. A survey of 150 NETs indicated that all factors in the conceptual framework were significantly related to NETs’ cross-cultural adjustment, stress and job satisfaction. Selection mechanism and criteria, neuroticism and role ambiguity were the predictors of work adjustment. Extraversion was positively related to and conscientiousness was negatively related to interaction adjustment. Previous overseas living experience, extraversion and culture novelty were positively related to general adjustment. Neuroticism and culture novelty were the predictors of cultural stress. Previous overseas teaching experience, role ambiguity and role conflict were significantly related to organisational stress. Work adjustment, general adjustment and organisational stress were the key predictors of job satisfaction. The interviews of the NETs confirmed the survey results and revealed that the NETs who were highly satisfied and those who were not satisfied with their jobs experienced considerable difference in terms of job characteristics, job content and work context. This study provided an important reference for all stakeholders to better prepare the NETs and to maximise the effectiveness of the NET Scheme in Hong Kong

Multiscale modelling of mesoscopic behaviour in soft matter systems

Soft matter modelling has a wide range of applications, such as polymer additive manufacturing, organics electronics, and biomolecular engineering. Many physical properties and phenomena of soft matter are determined by interactions and processes at a wide range of length and time scales. Therefore, it is challenging for theoretical models to simulate processes involving features from multiple scales. To reach the mesoscopic scales for soft matter behaviour, coarse-grained models have been developed to accelerate the atomistic models by projecting out the relevant degrees of freedom, allowing coverage of a wider range of scales. However, due to the lack of a formalism to capture the dynamics and anisotropy of the system, conventional coarse-grained model shows significant errors in dynamical properties and inconsistent soft matter behaviour. In this thesis, a generalised systematic formalism for coarse-graining is presented. The Mori-Zwanzig formalism provides a dynamically-guided projection to construct a mesoscopic system directly from the underlying microscopic system. Moreover, the Gay-Berne functional is introduced to describe the anisotropic effect of the pairwise interactions at mesoscopic level. The performance of the model is demonstrated by comparing it to other coarse-grained models using benzene as an example, which shows significant improvement in both static and dynamical properties. For application, crystallization of pentacene is studied by treating pentacene molecule as ellipsoidal particle. Furthermore, a modified atomistic model and a modified continuum model are employed to simulate mesosopic behaviour of polymers in electrospinning and electro-optical poling, demonstrating mesoscopic modelling from the atomistic and continuum limits

Coordenação fiscal regional na área da Grande Baía:uma perspetiva de fluxo de talentos

Dissertação de Mestrado em Administração PúblicaEstudamos o papel da coordenação fiscal regional na promoção do fluxo de trabalhadores talentosos na Área da Grande Baía de Guangdong, Hong Kong e Macau (GBA). Num contexto de crescentes atividades transfronteiriças e maior integração regional, é crucial que os governos descubram até que ponto diferentes sistemas fiscais na Grande Baía impedem a circulação de talentos regionais. Primeiro, comparamos as leis fiscais relevantes para clarificar onde estão as diferenças. De seguida, determinamos o impacto do imposto de duas formas. Em primeiro lugar, para determinar o nível de rendimento líquido de impostos, simulamos a taxa efetiva de imposto usando um perfil do rendimento para trabalhadores talentosos. Depois, reportamos as conclusões de uma entrevista em grupo com profissionais, especialistas e professores, a fim de compreender melhor as nuances das diferenças em termos de tributação regional. Concluímos que as diferenças na tributação dos rendimentos do trabalho causam impactos negativos tanto na mobilidade do fator trabalho como na vontade de trabalhadores talentosos irem trabalhar para a parte continental da GBA. Certas medidas fiscais, com o objetivo de promover a circulação de talentos, provavelmente levarão a efeitos indesejados. No contexto de uma melhor coordenação fiscal regional, salientamos uma série de passos futuros para mitigar os impactos negativos dos impostos no fluxo regional de talento.We study the role of regional tax coordination in promoting the flow of talented workers in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). In a context of increasing crossboundary activities and greater regional integration, it is crucial for governments to determine to what extent different tax systems in the GBA hinder regional talent flow. We first compare the relevant tax laws to clarify where the differences lie. Then we determine the impact of taxes in two ways. First, to determine the after-taxes income level, we simulate the effective tax burden using an income profile of talented workers. Then, we report on a group interview with professionals and experts aimed at better understanding the nuances of differential regional taxation. We conclude that the differences in labour income taxation are deleterious both to labour mobility and to the personal willingness of talented workers to work on the mainland side of the GBA. Certain tax measures, with the purpose of promoting regional talent flow, are likely to lead to certain unintended effects, such as a social justice problem. In the context of better regional tax coordination, we highlight a number of future steps to mitigate the negative impacts of tax on regional talent flow.N/

Campath induction in renal transplantation

Kidney transplantation significantly improves quality of life and survival in patients with advanced renal failure and it has become the treatment of choice. Long-term immunosuppressants following transplantation are associated with an increased risk of infection, malignancy and diabetes. Therefore, transplant physicians endeavour to reduce long-term maintenance of the immunosuppression burden and aim to reduce the risk of developing these complications. This has been made possible in the last decade with the introduction of biological induction agents, namely Campath 1H. Campath (Campath-1H) is a humanised rat monoclonal antibody directed against the CD52 antigen, which is one of the most abundant antigens on human lymphocytes. Activation of CD52 antigen causes profound cell lysis and cytokines release. This was thought to be crucial in the mechanism of developing a partial tolerance in transplant recipients. A great interest has developed in its use in transplantation since the first reported use of Campath-1M in solid organ transplantation in the late 1980s and humanised Campath 1H in 1998. Campath had been used as an induction agent together with varying maintenance regimes with different results. In this thesis, I am going to present a brief history of kidney transplantation and a literature review on the use of Campath in transplantation. I will follow by presenting the results and discussions on clinical studies that I developed during my study: the pilot study of Campath induction with tacrolimus monotherapy; CamTac study - a randomised controlled study; the prospective long-term outcomes study; the retrospective cohort dose-finding study; further studies developed to examine the incidence and risk related to long-term immunosuppression – causes of graft loss, long-term allograft pathology, infection, malignancy, haematological profile; and a detailed study on lymphocyte proliferation and rejection following Campath induction