Modelling analysis of Australian international education market for mainland Chinese students

There has been a worldwide trend towards international study. The dominant stream of international students is from developing countries to Western developed countries. China is among the largest sources for international students, and this trend will become more significant in the near future (Liu et al. 2007). The top four destination countries for Chinese students are America, Great Britain, Australia and Canada. The Australian international education sector has undergone changes in recent years. After continuous growth of international students’ enrolments in Australia for several years, enrolments started to decrease from 2010. As China is the largest international student market for Australia, therefore, it is necessary to conduct deep research to find the reasons for the decline of mainland Chinese students choosing Australia as their study abroad destination since 2010. Few studies have clearly explained the reasons why there is a trend for the decline of mainland Chinese students study in Australia after the growth of many years. The existing literature studied some variables that can affect mainland Chinese students’ decision to study in Australia. However, these factors are not comprehensive and systematic. They cannot help us to find the answers for the enrolment decline of mainland Chinese students in Australia and why Chinese students choose different countries as their study abroad destinations. The research problem addressed in this thesis is this: No consensus has been reached as to which variables play decisive roles in making mainland Chinese students choose Australia as their destination of foreign education. How do these variables influence those students’ choice? To provide an answer to this research problem, the researcher reviewed the literature regarding international students’ decision making process to study abroad and considered findings relating to which push and pull factors influenced international students’ choice. College choice model, push pull framework, utility theory and theory of reasoned action relevant to this research were discussed. A number of influential demographic, psychographic and influencing variables relevant to these theories were identified and used to develop primary hypotheses depicting the influence of these factors on Chinese students’ intentions to choose their study abroad destination. Next, the methodology which applied in this research was presented and justified. The discussion began with the research paradigms and then justified the selection of the mixed research method. The research design was discussed and the convergent research design was selected for this research. Methodology of individual interviews and the reported findings of the interviews were discussed to gain a good general picture regarding Chinese students’ decision to choose their study abroad destination. Methodology of the survey research was discussed to find different variables influencing Chinese students to choose the study abroad destination. The advantage of mixed research method over the other research methods is that the mixed research method can enhance the understanding of the research questions, to mitigate the weakness of the other methods to be used in this study, to obtain a comprehensive understanding for research questions, to help us to answer different research questions, to explain the findings from each method by another method, to help us to better understand the unexpected results and to increase the credibility of this research. In summary, the findings of this research have satisfied the research problem proposed by firstly identifying key push pull factors that could have an impact on Chinese students’ intention to study abroad and secondly determining how these factors influence Chinese students to choose a particular English-speaking country as their study abroad hosts country. In general, demographics tended not to have a relationship with psychographics and influencing factors. In addition, none of the demographics were considered to influence Chinese students’ intention to study abroad and choose their destination country. The main contribution of this research is that this research will integrate quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyse factors influencing mainland Chinese students’ choice of Australia as their overseas study destination rather than other main English-speaking countries, for instance, America, Great Britain and Canada. It will help Australian education to find the key points to win the competition of enrolling Chinese international students. Another contribution of this research is to combine overseas-based and China-based research to further identify and analyse the process of Chinese students study abroad. Previous researchers have identified some push and pull factors that influence Chinese students’ overseas study destination choice. Nevertheless, scholars hold different viewpoints on those factors. Those findings may be limited because most research work published in the English literature was carried out by overseas researchers rather than Chinese domestic researchers who may have deeper insights into Chinese students’ needs and wants. Due to the language barrier and cultural differences, those overseas-based researchers may not be able to fully understand the Chinese changing cultural, social and economic environments’ impact on potential Chinese students’ motivation to pursue higher degree studies overseas, because they do not have access to much of the Chinese research literature which is more relevant to Chinese students’ realities. Most Chinese researchers have not had overseas experience and due to the language barrier cannot fully analyse the variables. The results of this research also provide practical contribution to destination countries: • To be successful in implementing an attractive marketing policy, the potential host country and its education department should be able to identify Chinese students real needs and wants and in turn, to develop appropriate marketing policy to persuade Chinese students to choose that country as their study abroad destination. • This research has provided information specifically about push pull factors that could influence Chinese students’ intention to choose their study abroad destination through attractive marketing policy. The different English-speaking country tends to address the different points. The different elements have been identified to be influential in explaining Chinese students’ intention to study in Australia, America, Canada and Great Britain. This research also suggests future research to extend the knowledge relevant to this research area: • Future research could study the other key factors. • To determine whether the findings of this research can be generalized, additional research may be conducted to investigate if similar patterns can be repeated in other research context. • Future studies may repeat this research project with the use of other probability sampling techniques. • Future studies also can refine the measurement scales used in this research by using multi-items (at least 4 items) for each construct. • Future research can use a more complex data analysis technique to examine the relationship between push pull variables and the dependent variables of Chinese students’ intention to study abroad

Future groundwater extraction scenarios based on COMSOL multiphysics for the confined aquifer at Linfen basin, Shanxi Province, China

As one of the six largest river basins in Shanxi Province, China, Linfen basin has been in severe groundwater level declining status caused by over-extraction of groundwater since 1976, along with dense distribution of land subsidence and ground fissures. Future Groundwater drawdown analysis due to over-extraction is a major concern for not only water resource management, but also preventive and controlling measures of land subsidence and ground fissures. Consequently, in this paper groundwater extraction dynamic process for the confined aquifer at Linfen basin was simulated based on COMSOL Multiphysics. Then future groundwater extraction scenarios, namely, groundwater drawdown values within a period of consecutive 20 years and their consequent impacts on confined aquifer discharge amount to the Yellow River were predicted. The results demonstrated that the groundwater drawdown value and lateral discharge to the Yellow River would reach 7.07 m/a and 0.56 × 108 m3/a respectively in 10 years, while these two numbers drop to 3.44 m/a and 0.25 × 108 m3/a in 20 years. In order to provide valuable information for local government and policy makers, the paper would finally quantify a sustainable groundwater extraction value—20% of current groundwater extraction amount

Parthenolide attenuates LPS-induced activation of NF-κB in a time-dependent manner in rat myocardium.

Parthenolide (PTN), a selective nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) inhibitor, has been used extensively to inhibit NF-κB activation. The duration of the inhibitory effect of PTN on NF-κB in vivo remains unclear. This study was to determine whether a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge 6, 12 and 24 h after the administration of PTN could activate NF-κB. Rats were devided into five groups. The rats in the PTN, PTN+LPS and DMSO groups were injected intraperitoneally with PTN or DMSO. After 6, 12 or 24 h, LPS was administered in LPS and PTN+LPS groups. The expressions of NF-κB p50, IκBα and p-IκBα were inhibited in both PTN and PTN+LPS group at end of 6 and 12 h and no effects at 24 h. In summary, myocardial NF-κB expression occurs 1 h after the administration of LPS. PTN blocks this effect given at 6 h and no inhibitory effect 24 h after administration in vivo

A Comparative Study on the Consciousness of the Chinese Nation Community of College Students in the New Era of National Traditional Sports

It is the fundamental intention of ethnic work in the new era to forge the consciousness of the Chinese nation community, and it is the main line of work to maintain the unity and stability of the motherland. The national traditional sports are the “living” soul with national cultural characteristics and national historical factors formed by the ancestors of ethnic minorities in the long history. It has a natural advantage for casting the consciousness of the Chinese nation community of college students. In the development and teaching of traditional ethnic sports in colleges and universities, not only can minority college students enhance the historical identity, spiritual identity and cultural identity of the Chinese nation community consciousness, but also non-minority college students can cultivate the Chinese nation community consciousness and consciously practice its purpose and requirements. In the new era, colleges and universities must give full play to the leading role of colleges and universities, the main role of college students and the guarantee role of the state and society through national traditional sports to strengthen the consciousness of the Chinese national community of college students, so as to inject inexhaustible power into the cause of national unity

Valuing Tradable CO2 Permits for OECD Countries

We estimate a structural model of OECD countries in which GDP and CO2 emissions are endogenous. We use the estimated model to simulate the price of tradable CO2 permits and the efficiency gains from trade. Our estimated prices are high, relative to previous estimates, and the efficiency gains are substantial. We also find, contrary to previous literature, that higher income is associated with reduced emissions.Tradable permits, Greenhouse gases, Carbon reductions, Environmental Kuznets curve

Study on “Chinese Cultural Aphasia” of Non-English Majors

Learning language is, as a matter of fact, a process of learning its culture.  However, current college English language teaching focusses on Western culture, while Chinese culture is being neglected. Therefore, many college students cannot accurately express words or sentences about Chinese culture in English. The study found that more than half of the non-English majors have difficulty in expressing some words or sentences which connect with Chinese culture in English. The author presents some of the causes of this phenomenon and puts forward some relevant strategies to solve the “Chinese Cultural Aphasia”

CAS9 is a genome mutator by directly disrupting DNA-PK dependent DNA repair pathway.

With its high efficiency for site-specific genome editing and easy manipulation, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/ CRISPR associated protein 9 (CAS9) system has become the most widely used gene editing technology in biomedical research. In addition, significant progress has been made for the clinical development of CRISPR/CAS9 based gene therapies of human diseases, several of which are entering clinical trials. Here we report that CAS9 protein can function as a genome mutator independent of any exogenous guide RNA (gRNA) in human cells, promoting genomic DNA double-stranded break (DSB) damage and genomic instability. CAS9 interacts with the KU86 subunit of the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) complex and disrupts the interaction between KU86 and its kinase subunit, leading to defective DNA-PK-dependent repair of DNA DSB damage via non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway. XCAS9 is a CAS9 variant with potentially higher fidelity and broader compatibility, and dCAS9 is a CAS9 variant without nuclease activity. We show that XCAS9 and dCAS9 also interact with KU86 and disrupt DNA DSB repair. Considering the critical roles of DNA-PK in maintaining genomic stability and the pleiotropic impact of DNA DSB damage responses on cellular proliferation and survival, our findings caution the interpretation of data involving CRISPR/CAS9-based gene editing and raise serious safety concerns of CRISPR/CAS9 system in clinical application

Analysis of Stiffened Penstock External Pressure Stability Based on Immune Algorithm and Neural Network

The critical external pressure stability calculation of stiffened penstock in the hydroelectric power station is very important work for penstock design. At present, different assumptions and boundary simplification are adopted by different calculation methods which sometimes cause huge differences too. In this paper, we present an immune based artificial neural network model via the model and stability theory of elastic ring, we study effects of some factors (such as pipe diameter, pipe wall thickness, sectional size of stiffening ring, and spacing between stiffening rings) on penstock critical external pressure during huge thin-wall procedure of penstock. The results reveal that the variation of diameter and wall thickness can lead to sharp variation of penstock external pressure bearing capacity and then give the change interval of it. This paper presents an optimizing design method to optimize sectional size and spacing of stiffening rings and to determine penstock bearing capacity coordinate with the bearing capacity of stiffening rings and penstock external pressure stability coordinate with its strength safety. As a practical example, the simulation results illustrate that the method presented in this paper is available and can efficiently overcome inherent defects of BP neural network