Saving decisions under uncertainty

Uncertainty is unavoidable when making financial decisions. Every day, consumers are expected to make consequential financial choices without necessarily knowing how much income they will earn in the next year, how much they should set aside for expenses, or how well potential investments will perform. The objective for this thesis was to examine how these uncertainties influence consumers’ decision making—with a focus on saving decisions. Chapter 1 introduces two relevant perspectives from the existing literature. It discusses the prevailing view from economics that uncertainty should motivate greater saving behaviour and contrasts this against psychological research on decision making under uncertainty that may suggest otherwise. Chapters 2 and 3 present two sets of experimental studies which manipulated uncertainty within a novel financial decision making task and observed how it influenced participants’ saving behaviour. Specifically, they examined goal uncertainty (uncertainty about how much needs to be saved for a future goal) and income uncertainty (uncertainty about how much will be earned in the future). Chapter 4 presents an observational study using bank data, which investigated how consumers responded when the Australian government permitted early withdrawal of money from retirement savings. This policy was of particular interest as it was introduced during a time of unprecedented uncertainty—the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the three studies, a consistent theme emerges: that uncertainty can either increase or decrease saving motives depending on the consumer’s actual or perceived financial situation. From a theoretical standpoint, this suggests that both the economic and psychological views on uncertainty hold merit. From a practical standpoint, this suggests that uncertainty could be leveraged to promote both spending and saving behaviour depending on which is desired

Exposure to hazardous volatile organic compounds, PM 10 and CO while walking along streets in urban Guangzhou, China

Toxic air pollutants in street canyons are important issues concerning public health especially in some large Asian cities like Guangzhou. In 1998 <18% of Guangzhou citizens used public transportation modes, with a majority commuting on foot (42%) or by bicycle (22%). Of the pedestrians, 57% were either senior citizens or students. In the present study, we measured toxic air pollutants while walking along urban streets in Guangzhou to evaluate pedestrian exposure. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were collected with sorbent tubes, and PM 10 and CO were measured simultaneously with portable analyzers. Our results showed that pedestrian exposure to PM 10 (with an average of 303 μg m -3 for all samples) and some toxic VOCs (for example, benzene) was relatively high. Monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were found to be the most abundant VOCs, and 71% of the samples had benzene levels higher than 30 μg m -3. Benzene, PM 10 and CO in walk-only streets were significantly lower (p<0.05) than in traffic streets, and the differences in exposure levels between new urban streets and old urban streets were highly significant (p<0.01). Pedestrian exposure to toxic VOCs and PM 10 was higher than those reported in other public transportation modes (bus and subway). The good correlations between BTEX, PM 10 and CO in the streets indicated that automotive emission might be their major source. Our study also showed that the risk to pedestrians due to air pollution was misinterpreted by the reported air quality index based on measurement of SO 2, NO x and PM 10 in the government monitoring stations. An urban roadside monitoring station might be needed by air quality monitoring networks in large Asian cities like Guangzhou, in order to survey exposure to air toxics in urban roadside microenvironments. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

High-Resolution Structure of the N-Terminal Endonuclease Domain of the Lassa Virus L Polymerase in Complex with Magnesium Ions

Lassa virus (LASV) causes deadly hemorrhagic fever disease for which there are no vaccines and limited treatments. LASV-encoded L polymerase is required for viral RNA replication and transcription. The functional domains of L–a large protein of 2218 amino acid residues–are largely undefined, except for the centrally located RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) motif. Recent structural and functional analyses of the N-terminal region of the L protein from lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), which is in the same Arenaviridae family as LASV, have identified an endonuclease domain that presumably cleaves the cap structures of host mRNAs in order to initiate viral transcription. Here we present a high-resolution crystal structure of the N-terminal 173-aa region of the LASV L protein (LASV L173) in complex with magnesium ions at 1.72 Å. The structure is highly homologous to other known viral endonucleases of arena- (LCMV NL1), orthomyxo- (influenza virus PA), and bunyaviruses (La Crosse virus NL1). Although the catalytic residues (D89, E102 and K122) are highly conserved among the known viral endonucleases, LASV L endonuclease structure shows some notable differences. Our data collected from in vitro endonuclease assays and a reporter-based LASV minigenome transcriptional assay in mammalian cells confirm structural prediction of LASV L173 as an active endonuclease. The high-resolution structure of the LASV L endonuclease domain in complex with magnesium ions should aid the development of antivirals against lethal Lassa hemorrhagic fever

Effect of a point impurity on the vortex bound states in an s-wave superconductor: A self-consistent analysis

On the basis of self-consistent numerical solution of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations on a finite-size lattice, we study the variation of the vortex bound state when an impurity potential is added to the core of an isolated vortex line in an s-wave superconductor. The local density of states is investigated at both the core and its neighbor site. By analyzing the impurity-induced increase of the pair potential near the vortex core, we elucidate the mechanism of the vortex pinning in detail.published_or_final_versio

Characteristics of nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in industrial, industrial-urban, and industrial-suburban atmospheres of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of south China

In a study conducted in late summer 2000, a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured throughout five target cities in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of south China. Twenty-eight nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs; 13 saturated, 9 unsaturated, and 6 aromatic) are discussed. The effect of rapid industrialization was studied for three categories of landuse in the PRD: Industrial, industrial-urban, and industrial-suburban. The highest VOC mixing ratios were observed in industrial areas. Despite its relatively short atmospheric lifetime (2-3 days), toluene, which is largely emitted from industrial solvent use and vehicular emissions, was the most abundant NMHC quantified. Ethane, ethene, ethyne, propane, n-butane, i-pentane, benzene, and m-xylene were the next most abundant VOCs. Direct emissions from industrial activities were found to greatly impact the air quality in nearby neighborhoods. These emissions lead to large concentration variations for many VOCs in the five PRD study cities. Good correlations between isoprene and several short-lived combustion products were found in industrial areas, suggesting that in addition to biogenic sources, anthropogenic emissions may contribute to urban isoprene levels. This study provides a snapshot of industrial, industrial-urban, and industrial-suburban NMHCs in the five most industrially developed cities of the PRD. Increased impact of industrial activities on PRD air quality due to the rapid spread of industry from urban to suburban and rural areas, and the decrease of farmland, is expected to continue until effective emission standards are implemented. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union

Electronic structure of the vortex lattice of d-, d+is-, and dx2-y2+idxy-wave superconductors

On the basis of the self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations and a tight-binding lattice model, we investigate the quasiparticle spectrum of vortex-lattice state in pure d-, mixed d+is, and dx2-y2+idxy-wave superconductors. For a d-wave case, the local density of states (LDOS) at the vortex core shows a multipeak structure, and the positions of peaks as well as the width of splitting between peaks are sensitively dependent on both the magnetic-field strength and the orientation of the vortex lattice. For the mixed d+is- and dx2-y2+idxy-wave pairing states, we observe a double-peak structure of the local density of states at vortex center, where the two peaks are asymmetrically situated around the Fermi energy. By taking into account the matrix-element effect, the local density of states appears to be qualitatively consistent with the scanning-tunneling-microscopy experimental data.published_or_final_versio

Ambient halocarbon mixing ratios in 45 Chinese cities

During this study 158 whole air samples were collected in 45 Chinese cities in January and February 2001. The spatial distribution of different classes of halocarbons in the Chinese urban atmosphere, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Halon-1211, and other chlorinated compounds is presented and discussed. Most of these compounds were enhanced compared to background levels. However, the mean enhancement of CFCs was relatively small, with CFC-12 and CFC-11 increases of 6% (range 1-31%) and 10% (range 2-89%), respectively, with respect to the global background. On the contrary, strongly enhanced levels of CFC replacement compounds and halogenated compounds used as solvents were measured. The average Halon-1211 concentration exceeded the background of 4.3 pptv by 75% and was higher than 10 pptv in several cities. Methyl chloride mixing ratios were also strongly elevated (78% higher than background levels), which is likely related to the widespread use of coal and biofuel in China. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Analysis on the critical factors of over-time and over-pay problems for government engineering project construction

2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Temperature and strain characterization of regenerated gratings

Both temperature and strain characterization of seed and regenerated gratings with and without post annealing is reported. The high temperature regeneration has significant impact on thermal characterization and mechanical strength of gratings while the post annealing has little effect. The observed difference is evidence of viscoelastic changes in glass structure. © 2013 Optical Society of America