Hong Kong as a financial centre of greater China

During the past three decades, Hong Kong has emerged as one of the leading international financial centres (IFCs) of the world. Since China began its economic reform and open-door policies in 1979, and since cross-strait economic contacts began to improve in the mid-1980s, Hong Kong\u27s role has also become more varied and multi-faceted. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Hong Kong as an IFC of Greater China (which comprises Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau). The territory\u27s prospects as an IFC after its retrocession to China on July 1, 1997 will also be discussed

The Solar Neighborhood XXVII: Discovery of New Proper Motion Stars with mu > 0.18 "/yr in the Southern Sky with 16.5 > R_59F > 18.0

Here we present 1584 new southern proper motion systems with mu > 0.18 "/yr and 16.5 > R_59F > 18.0. This search complements the six previous SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) proper motion searches of the southern sky for stars within the same proper motion range, but with R_59F < 16.5. As in previous papers, we present distance estimates for these systems and find that three systems are estimated to be within 25 pc, including one, SCR 1546-5534, possibly within the RECONS 10 pc horizon at 6.7 pc, making it the second nearest discovery of the searches. We find 97 white dwarf candidates with distance estimates between 10 and 120 pc, as well as 557 cool subdwarf candidates. The subdwarfs found in this paper make up nearly half of the subdwarf systems reported from our SCR searches, and are significantly redder than those discovered thus far. The SCR searches have now found 155 red dwarfs estimated to be within 25 pc, including 10 within 10 pc. In addition, 143 white dwarf candidates and 1155 cool subdwarf candidates have been discovered. The 1584 systems reported here augment the sample of 4724 systems previously discovered in our SCR searches, and imply that additional systems fainter than R_59F = 18.0 are yet to be discovered.Comment: 11 pages of text, seven figure

The Solar Neighborhood VIII: Discovery of New High Proper Motion Nearby Stars Using the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey

Five new objects with proper motions between 1.0 arcsec/yr and 2.6 arcsec/yr have been discovered via a new RECONS search for high proper motion stars utilizing the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey. The first portion of the search, discussed here, is centered on the south celestial pole and covers declinations -90 degrees to -57.5 degrees. Photographic photometry from SuperCOSMOS and JHKs near-infrared photometry from 2MASS for stars nearer than 10 pc are combined to provide a suite of new M_Ks-color relations useful for estimating distances to main sequence stars. These relations are then used to derive distances to the new proper motion objects as well as previously known stars with mu >= 1.0 arcsec/yr (many of which have no trigonometric parallaxes) recovered during this phase of the survey. Four of the five new stars have red dwarf colors, while one is a nearby white dwarf. Two of the red dwarfs are likely to be within the RECONS 10 pc sample, and the white dwarf probably lies between 15 and 25 pc. Among the 23 known stars recovered during the search, there are three additional candidates for the RECONS sample that have no trigonometric parallaxes.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy Journa

The Solar Neighborhood XXV: Discovery of New Proper Motion Stars with 0.40 "/yr > mu > 0.18 "/yr between Declinations -47 degrees and 00 degrees

We present 2817 new southern proper motion systems with 0.40 "/yr > mu > 0.18 "/yr and declination between -47 degrees and 00 degrees. This is a continuation of the SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) proper motion searches of the southern sky. We use the same photometric relations as previous searches to provide distance estimates based on the assumption that the objects are single main sequence stars. We find 79 new red dwarf systems predicted to be within 25 pc, including a few new components of previously known systems. Two systems - SCR 1731-2452 at 9.5 pc and SCR 1746-3214 at 9.9 pc - are anticipated to be within 10 pc. We also find 23 new white dwarf candidates with distance estimates of 15-66 pc, as well as 360 new red subdwarf candidates. With this search, we complete the SCR sweep of the southern sky for stars with mu > 0.18 "/yr and R_59F < 16.5, resulting in a total of 5042 objects in 4724 previously unreported proper motion systems. Here we provide selected comprehensive lists from our SCR proper motion search to date, including 152 red dwarf systems estimated to be within 25 pc (nine within 10 pc), 46 white dwarfs (ten within 25 pc), and 598 subdwarf candidates. The results of this search suggest that there are more nearby systems to be found at fainter magnitudes and lower proper motion limits than those probed so far.Comment: 47 pages, 16 of text. 7 figure

What Does it Take to Deliver an Active Hands-on Course?

Distance Education has been implemented widely in different curricula at many institutions; different means have been used to ensure the delivery. This article introduces unique combination of different mechanisms in implementing the active/synchronous distance delivery of hands-on course(s) that is compatible and similar to the face-to-face on-campus course(s).There are three major developmental stages of these online courses - curriculum design, methodologies, and assessment to ensure the effectiveness of distance delivery of technical courses in engineering technology. The processes of curriculum design for the Embedded System Designs are discussed: (a) The development of course and labs modules for hands-on technical courses. (b) The methodologies used in the delivery processes that include unique combinations of different teaching strategies when implementing these online courses. The web portal is used as a means to deliver general rules and course information and content, and the implementations of Learning Management Systems (LMS) for course module organizations. In addition, the limitations and problems encountered during the delivery processes, and the solution of the problems will be addressed. (c) The assessment of the distance course(s) on data gathered in a preliminary study and the comparison of methodologies used in this distance course will be presented to set as a proof of concept of these effective distance delivery practices. Engineering technology focuses on both hands-on and mind-on design work. This article discussed the integration of existing technology products into real world applications. Through the implementation of the distance delivery or cyber-enabled learning environment, the effectiveness of the delivery is compatible to traditional face-to-face on-campus courses. This does not only benefit the interested faculty/teachers in better teaching technical courses online, but it also supports the students who are interested in learning more advanced technical concepts that are needed in the work environment requiring higher technical literacy for today and in the future. Highlights of the presentation will address the following: (1) Research and development of the virtual classrooms and open source service server. (2) Curriculum design and development of the supported material. (3) Implementation of teaching strategies and methodologies for the real-time distance hands-on approach. (4) Preliminary assessment of the teaching and learning. (5) Recommendations of potential adoption of the development. (6) Continuous improvement of teaching and learning in academic community

A Socio-Technical System Perspective Of Psychological Ownership Toward Sharing IoT Data In Supply Chains

Internet of Things can expedite information-sharing between supply chain partners. However, efficient operations within the supply chain may undermine partners’ psychological ownership of shared data. The behavior driven by the feel of ownership may be constrained by social, technical, and environmental factors. This study investigates whether ownership of data may affect willingness to share from the perspective of a socio-technical system. We look into (1) whether the efficiency and adaptability of a supply chain is affected by the possession of data when organizations share IoT data, and (2) whether social and technical systems impact psychological ownership. 302 questionnaires from senior managers of manufactures were collected for analysis. The results show that psychological ownership is positively associated with the efficiency and adaptability of a supply chain and that both social and technical factors enforce it. We also find that social preference can improve the association between a social system and psychological ownership but that technical preference decreases the association between technical system and psychological ownership

'Parasitic invasions' or sources of good governance: constraining foreign competition in Hong Kong banking, 1956-81

This paper investigates the operation and impact of the moratorium on new banking licences imposed in Hong Kong in 1965 and the claims that foreign banks destabilised the banking system and drained resources from the colony. First it examines foreign banks' attempts to circumvent the moratorium through claims of special circumstances and buying interests in local banks, and secondly it examines the efforts of incumbents to extend barriers to non-bank financial institutions and to branches of foreign banks. The general conclusions are that while the moratorium was aimed at increasing the stability of the banking system, it had the effect of decreasing the regulatory breadth of the government, and reducing incentives for mergers and acquisitions that might have improved governance

The Trigonometric Parallax of the Brown Dwarf Planetary System 2MASSW J1207334-393254

We have measured a trigonometric parallax to the young brown dwarf 2MASSW J1207334-393254. The distance [54.0 (+3.2,-2.8) pc] and space motion confirm membership in the TW Hydrae Association. The primary is a ~25 M_jup brown dwarf. We discuss the "planetary mass" secondary, which is certainly below the deuterium-burning limit but whose colors and absolute magnitudes pose challenges to our current understanding of planetary-mass objects.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Two Suns in The Sky: Stellar Multiplicity in Exoplanet Systems

We present results of a reconnaissance for stellar companions to all 131 radial-velocity-detected candidate extrasolar planetary systems known as of July 1, 2005. CPM companions were investigated using the multi-epoch DSS images, and confirmed by matching the trigonometric parallax distances of the primaries to companion distances estimated photometrically. We also attempt to confirm or refute companions listed in the Washington Double Star Catalog, the Catalogs of Nearby Stars, in Hipparcos results, and in Duquennoy & Mayor (1991). Our findings indicate that a lower limit of 30 (23%) of the 131 exoplanet systems have stellar companions. We report new stellar companions to HD 38529 and HD 188015, and a new candidate companion to HD 169830. We confirm many previously reported stellar companions, including six stars in five systems that are recognized for the first time as companions to exoplanet hosts. We have found evidence that 20 entries in the Washington Double Star Catalog are not gravitationally bound companions. At least three, and possibly five, of the exoplanet systems reside in triple star systems. Three exoplanet systems have potentially close-in stellar companions ~ 20 AU away from the primary. Finally, two of the exoplanet systems contain white dwarf companions. This comprehensive assessment of exoplanet systems indicates that solar systems are found in a variety of stellar multiplicity environments - singles, binaries, and triples; and that planets survive the post-main-sequence evolution of companion stars.Comment: 52 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap