Spatial study of financial region and sub-centers of the International Financial Centers and its implications to Hong Kong

Conference Theme: The Right to Inhabit; the Asian ChallengesSession: Geopolitics - Geopolitical Economy in East Asia (China, Taiwan and Hong Kong): S3-AB1We have conducted a spatial study of financial regions and sub-centers of New York and London’s International Financial Center (IFC) and its implication for Hong Kong. The key findings suggest that …published_or_final_versio

全球化下的中国热点城市与区域

自从中国2001年底加入世贸组织以来，跨国公司加大了对华投资的种类和规模。据资料显示，我国外商直接投资2002，2003，2004 年连续三年创历史新高，2004年更首次突破600亿美元，超越美国，位列全球第一。全球化的观念和理念已经深入到中国的角角落落，谁如果忽视了这个力量，谁就会在国际竞争中处于被动地位。对企业而言如此，对地区发展而言更是如此。本文以学术视角总结外商直接投资路径与地区增长模式，并在此框架下点评全球化下的中国热点城市区域，预测中国区域经济下一轮走向。Since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, foreign direct investment (FDI) in China had been consecutively broken record in 2002, 2003, and 2004. In 2004, China’s FDI had reached US$60 billion for the first time, surpassing that of the US and becoming World No. 1. The concepts and forces of globalization have substantially influenced China’s development. Based on the studies on the “Investment Path of FDI” and the mode of regional growth, this paper predicts the growth tendency of China’s most dynamic global city-regions in the 11th Five-year Plan period and in the next ten to twenty years.postprin

What Role Can an International Financial Centre's Law Play in the Development of a Sunrise Industry? The Case of Hong Kong and Solar Powered Investments

How can international financial centres like Hong Kong increase assets under management – and thus their size and ranking? Most policymakers and their advisors wrongly answer this question by focusing on financial institutions, and the law that governs them. Instead, policymakers need to start by looking at actual markets. What new tastes and technologies need funding? How can such funding fit into already existing geographies of production, distribution and finance? In this paper, we show how a focus on funding sunrise industries can help increase assets under management for the financial institutions operating in an international financial centre like Hong Kong. We show – using the specific example the photovoltaic (solar power) sector – how changes in financial law need to be contingent on market needs. We specifically show how legal changes which promote the securitisation of solar assets (and the sale of these securities) can help increase Hong Kong’s financial institutions’ assets under management. By using this specific case, we hope to provide insight into the broader question of how technological change, geography, and financial law interact.preprin

Where is the Global Transaction Centre of RMB: Shanghai, Hong Kong or perhaps London?

Session OSS1: Geographies of Finance and FinancialisationConference Theme: Sustaining Regional FuturesThis paper presents preliminary results of a study on the world major foreign exchange markets and FOREX trading centres. This research focuses on the recent trends of transactions of the world major foreign currencies, their geographical locations and the driving forces behind them. It also touches upon the relation of “on-shore” and “off-shore” characteristics, which helps to distinguish the importance and prominence of FOREX trading centres. The findings could shed light on the potential location and emergence of a global RMB transaction centre-the so-called RMB off-shore centre that Shanghai and Hong Kong are currently competing for, which is a battle that London and Singapore would also like to join.postprin

What Determines M&A Legal and Financial Advisors’ Competitiveness in an International Financial Centre: Using China's Going Out Policy as a Natural Experiment

Roughly 60% of all publically announced advisors to China’s 'Going Out' M&A transactions from 2000 to 2014 were from international financial centres (representing over 70% of deal value). Why did advisors, located so far away from both acquirer and target, manage to dominate the M&A advisory market in the early stages of the 'Going Out' policy? What can we learn from the smaller advisors located outside of these financial centres who managed to capture a growing share of this business in 'Going Out’s' more recent stages? In this paper, we hypothesize the existence of a 'legal complexity externality' that had the effect of increasing a financial centre’s ability to attract international business. We look at the way Going Out advisors have responded to advisory opportunities using what management theorists call 'blue ocean strategy.' We show that relationships across geography changed, as large global advisors lost their share of advisory business to advisors outside of international financial centres due to the interplay of these legal complexity externalities and blue ocean strategies. As cities helps foster changes in the law governing Going Out transactions – and as financial and legal advisors adapted their strategies to compete – cities gained or lost Going Out business. We provide 5 recommendations to existing and aspiring international financial centres looking to capture a larger share of global M&A and other investment advisory business.postprin

Chemical characterization of PM2.5 from a southern coastal city of China:applications of modeling and chemical tracers in demonstrationof regional transport

An intensive sampling campaign of airborne fine particles (PM2.5) was conducted at Sanya, a coastal city in Southern China, from January to February 2012. Chemical analyses and mass reconstruction were used identify potential pollution sources and investigate atmospheric reaction mechanisms. A thermodynamic model indicated that low ammonia and high relative humidity caused the aerosols be acidic and that drove heterogeneous reactions which led to the formation of secondary inorganic aerosol. Relationships among neutralization ratios, free acidity, and air-mass trajectories suggest that the atmosphere at Sanya was impacted by both local and regional emissions. Three major transport pathways were identified, and flow from the northeast (from South China) typically brought the most polluted air to Sanya. A case study confirmed strong impact from South China (e.g., Pearl River Delta region) (contributed 76.8% to EC, and then this result can be extended to primary pollutants) when the northeast winds were dominant. The Weather Research Forecasting Black carbon model and trace organic markers were used to apportion local pollution versus regional contributions. Results of the study offer new insights into the atmospheric conditions and air pollution at this coastal city

The association of pulmonary function with carotid atherosclerosis in older Chinese: Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study-CVD Subcohort

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Light Cigarette Smoking Increases Risk of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: Findings from the NHIS Cohort Study

Very few studies have examined the association between light cigarette smoking (i.e., = 18 years in the United States were included. Deaths were from all cause, cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and respiratory disease and were confirmed by death certification. During a median follow-up of 8.2 years, 34,862 participants died, of which 8415 were from cancer, 9031 from CVD, and 2040 from respiratory disease. Compared with never-smokers, participants who smoked 1-2 (hazard ratios (HR) = 1.94, 95%CI = 1.73-2.16) and 3-5 cigarettes (HR = 1.99, 1.83-2.17) per day were at higher risk of all-cause mortality after adjustment for demographic variables, lifestyle factors and physician-diagnosis of chronic disease. The associations were stronger for respiratory disease-specific mortality, followed by cancer-specific mortality and CVD-specific mortality. For example, the HRs (95% CIs) of smoking 1-2 cigarettes per day were 9.75 (6.15-15.46), 2.28 (1.84-2.84) and 1.93 (1.58-2.36), respectively, for these three cause-specific mortalities. This study indicates that light cigarette smoking increases risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in US adults

Meta-Regression on the Heterogenous Factors Contributing to the Prevalence of Mental Health Symptoms During the COVID-19 Crisis Among Healthcare Workers.

Objective: This paper used meta-regression to analyze the heterogenous factors contributing to the prevalence rate of mental health symptoms of the general and frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) in China under the COVID-19 crisis. Method: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Medrxiv and pooled data using random-effects meta-analyses to estimate the prevalence rates, and ran meta-regression to tease out the key sources of the heterogeneity. Results: The meta-regression results uncovered several predictors of the heterogeneity in prevalence rates among published studies, including severity (e.g., above severe vs. above moderate, p < 0.01; above moderate vs. above mild, p < 0.01), type of mental symptoms (PTSD vs. anxiety, p = 0.04), population (frontline vs. general HCWs, p < 0.01), sampling location (Wuhan vs. Non-Wuhan, p = 0.04), and study quality (p = 0.04). Conclusion: The meta-regression findings provide evidence on the factors contributing to the prevalence rate of mental health symptoms of the general and frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) to guide future research and evidence-based medicine in several specific directions. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=220592, identifier: CRD42020220592

An ultrathin rechargeable solid-state zinc ion fiber battery for electronic textiles.

Electronic textiles (e-textiles), having the capability of interacting with the human body and surroundings, are changing our everyday life in fundamental and meaningful ways. Yet, the expansion of the field of e-textiles is still limited by the lack of stable and biocompatible power sources with aesthetic designs. Here, we report a rechargeable solid-state Zn/MnO2 fiber battery with stable cyclic performance exceeding 500 hours while maintaining 98.0% capacity after more than 1000 charging/recharging cycles. The mechanism of the high electrical and mechanical performance due to the graphene oxide–embedded polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel electrolytes was rationalized by Monte Carlo simulation and finite element analysis. With a collection of key features including thin, light weight, economic, and biocompatible as well as high energy density, the Zn/MnO2 fiber battery could seamlessly be integrated into a multifunctional on-body e-textile, which provides a stable power unit for continuous and simultaneous heart rate, temperature, humidity, and altitude monitoring