Wenlong Xue 4201725 Dissertation

Shadow banking acts a central role in the formation and evolution process of recent financial crisis, arouses widespread concerns across the world. In recent years, China has participated in its own shadow banking system and growing quickly, such as commercial bank’s financial product portfolios, trust business, securities assets management and private financing, to name a few. In this context, whether China’s shadow banking system will trigger systematic financial risk gradually becoming a subject of debate in economic and financial circles. Currently, the risks inherent in shadow banking are mainly concentrated on transforming of liquidity assets. With a view to obtain a comprehensive understanding of shadow banking system and its liquidity risk, this empirical study examines the determinants of shadow banks’ liquidity, which are measured by bank-specific factors (banks’ profitability ratios and internal liquidity and liabilities ratios) and macroeconomic factors. The liquidity ratio (LR) is used to representative liquidity risk of shadow banks, and 22 Chinese shadow banks have been chosen which operated continuously over the period from 2007 to 2012. This research applies the generalized method of moment (GMM) estimator to address the unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity issues. The results showing several explanatory variables have statistically significant impact on shadow banks’ liquidity, in terms of logarithm of total asset (Size), return on average total assets (ROAA), debt to equity ratio (DER), equity multiplier (EM), debt to assets ratio (DAR) and current assets turnover (CAT)

A novel nonzero functional method to extended dissipativity analysis for neural networks with Markovian jumps

This paper explored the topic of extended dissipativity analysis for Markovian jump neural networks (MJNNs) that were influenced by time-varying delays. A distinctive Lyapunov functional, distinguished by a non-zero delay-product types, was presented. This was achieved by combining a Wirtinger-based double integral inequality with a flexible matrix set. This novel methodology addressed the limitations of the slack matrices found in earlier research. As a result, a fresh condition for extended dissipativity in MJNNs was formulated, utilizing an exponential type reciprocally convex inequality in conjunction with the newly introduced nonzero delay-product types. A numerical example was included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology

Economic viability of dynamic wireless charging technology for private EVs

Dynamic wireless charging (DWC), which enables charging while EVs are in motion, is an attractive charging way. However, additional installed power tracks underneath the lane bring a significant concern on its economic viability. This paper proposes a comprehensive framework to evaluate the economic viability of the DWC lane for private EVs. The investment of local power support with renewable energy integration and energy storage is also considered in the DWC system. Charging choices of private EVs among multiple charging providers are modelled to estimate the electricity demand of the DWC system. The grid impact of the DWC system is studied via a multi-bus AC network. Moreover, an optimization policy is proposed to maximize the DWC provider’s profit and minimize the grid impact by adjusting the charging price and electricity procurement at each horizon. It is found that the payback period of the DWC system with the proposed optimization policy is shortened by 25% compared with the fixed charging price strategy. Even with a tight grid impact limit, the payback period will not be significantly longer under the proposed optimization policy. When the efficiency of the DWC lane increases to 90% and the cost reduces to 50%, the payback period is shortened by 19% and 22%, respectively

Effectiveness of post-COVID-19 primary care attendance in improving survival in very old patients with multimorbidity: A territory-wide target trial emulation

Objectives:  Older individuals with multimorbidity are at an elevated risk of infection and complications from COVID-19. Effectiveness of post-COVID-19 interventions or care models in reducing subsequent adverse outcomes in these individuals have rarely been examined. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of attending general outpatient within 30 days after discharge from COVID-19 on 1-year survival among older adults aged 85 years or above with multimorbidity.  Design: Retrospective cohort study emulating a randomised target trial using electronic health records. Setting We used data from the Hospital Authority and the Department of Health in Hong Kong, which provided comprehensive electronic health records, COVID-19 confirmed case data, population-based vaccination records and other individual characteristics for the study.  Participants: Adults aged 85 years or above with multimorbidity who were discharged after hospitalisation for COVID-19 between January 2020 and August 2022. Interventions Attending a general outpatient within 30 days of last COVID-19 discharge defined the exposure, compared to no outpatient visit. Main outcome measures Primary outcome was all-cause mortality within one year. Secondary outcomes included mortality from respiratory, cardiovascular and cancer causes.  Results: A total of 6183 eligible COVID-19 survivors were included in the analysis. The all-cause mortality rate following COVID-19 hospitalisation was lower in the general outpatient visit group (17.1 deaths per 100 person-year) compared with non-visit group (42.8 deaths per 100 person-year). After adjustment, primary care consultations within 30 days after discharge were associated with a significantly greater 1-year survival (difference in 1-year survival: 11.2%, 95% CI 8.1% to 14.4%). We also observed significantly better survival from respiratory diseases in the general outpatient visit group (difference in 1-year survival: 6.3%, 95% CI 3.5% to 8.9%). In a sensitivity analysis for different grace period lengths, we found that the earlier participants had a general outpatient visit after COVID-19 discharge, the better the survival.  Conclusions: Timely primary care consultations after COVID-19 hospitalisation may improve survival following COVID-19 hospitalisation among older adults aged 85 or above with multimorbidity. Expanding primary care services and implementing follow-up mechanisms are crucial to support this vulnerable population's recovery and well-being