Revelationary art of Joyce Lorraine Sullivan : an artist's experience of her inner dimensions, an inner journey of discovery

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East Timor : the price of liberty

This book is based on extensive research and regaulr visits to East Timor since 1995. It considers the trials that the people of East Timor have undergone in their long struggle for independence, and issues that have arisen out of independence. This account places East Timor within the context of other post-colonial states, noting the problems that most of them have faced in coming to grips with their new-found freedoms, and how they have managed, or mismanaged, such freedoms. It also traces the themes and issues within the independence movement, noting how these have contibuted to post-independence outcomes, in particular the poltiical tensions that almost saw East Timor collapse as a viable state in 2006. The books concludes with an assessment of the 2007 elections which, depsite some post-election violence, saw the consolidation of democratic processes in East Timor, and which marked it as having a brighter future in this one critical respect.

The temporal price relationship between the stock index futures and the underlying stock index : evidence from Malaysia

The stock index futures was introduced in Malaysia in December 1995 with the launching of the futures contract on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index. Due to its recentness in the country, many issues pertaining to this equity derivatives instrument have not been explored. Thus, the development of stock index futures opens many opportunities for research in this area. This study examines the temporal relationship between the price of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index futures contract (FKLI) and its underlying stock index, the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index (KLSE CI). The five-year period under study is split into three subperiods to observe the price co-movement pattern under different volatility levels. The study finds that futures market tends to lead the spot market by one day during the periods of stable market, and there is a mixed lead-lag relationship between the two markets during the period of highly volatile market.

Valuing creativity in the higher education sector : what price the creative knowledge economy?

Contemporary economic and social contexts including the creative knowledge economy provide competing perspectives on ‘the future’ of higher education and the role of the academic within these contexts. Increasingly educators and educationa leaders are expected to act in ‘futures’ oriented ways whilst remaining true to the professional standards of their present environments. Working in the creative industries or as part of the creative knowledge economy increasingly contributes to Australia’s strategic directions for the future but also has an influence on what is valued in the higher education sector.
This paper explores the impact of the creative knowledge economy on the higher education sector and its response to the changing educational landscapes. An exploration is undertaken of the shift towards creative industries where the value of creativity and the arts is linked to economic value. It is argued that this shift requires researchers to alter their identities from that of having ‘academic’ value to engaging with the commodification of knowledge. The paper concludes with a suggested way forward for both the creative industries and the higher education sector using Giri’s (2002) model for transdisciplinarity.

Estimating income and price elasticities of imports for Fiji in a cointegration framework

This paper estimates an import demand model for Fiji using the recently developed bounds testing approach to cointegration for the period 1972 to 1999. To estimate the long-run elasticities, we use three approaches: the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) approach and the fully modified ordinary least squares technique. Our results indicate a long-run cointegration relationship among the variables when import volume is the dependent variable. We find that the coefficient on income is elastic while the coefficient on relative prices (import price relative to domestic price) is unitary elastic in the long run. The error correction mechanism reveals that after any shock(s) to the determinants of import demand equilibrium is attained after 2 1/2 years.

Knowledge discovery in multi-databases by analyzing local instances

Multi-databases mining is an urgent task. This thesis solves 4 key problems in multi-databases mining: Application-independent database classification - Local instance analysis model - Useful pattern discovery - Pattern synthesis.

Novel gene discovery in the muscle of obese-diabetic Psammomys obesus

Metabolism in Psammomys obesis, a polygenic animal model of obesity and type 2 diabetes is associated with dysregulated nocturnal fat oxidation in diabetic animals. Furthermore, a new gene called AGT-203 has been identified. Evidence indicates that AGT-203 is involved in abnormal glucose metabolism leading to the proposition that AGT-203 is a new candidate gene for type 2 diabetes.

Encoding, ensemble and accelerating strategies for linear causal model discovery

This thesis made outstanding contribution in automating the discovery of linear causal models. It introduced a highly efficient discovery algorithm, which implements new encoding, ensemble and accelerating strategies. Theoretic research and experimental work showed that this new discovery algorithm outperforms the previous system in both accuracy and efficiency.

The ripple effect in house price fluctuations in Australia

The differences in economy, society, demography and geography in different regions are main reasons which cause disparities in regional house prices. Three theories, namely ripple effect hypothesis, convergence and efficient market hypothesis, are used to examine price fluctuations in spatial dimension amongst eight housing markets in Australian state capital cities.

Empirical applications of economic principles in producer price index analysis

The research analyses economic linkages of producer price indices of the construction industry in Australia and relationships between construction and house prices. A range of econometric techniques are applied to analyse construction and house prices. The economic equilibrium and dynamic relationships among regional markets are investigated based on producer price index analysis.

Portfolio diversification and share price behavior : some evidence from the Taiwan Stock Exchange

This dissertation consists of four separate but closely related studies which investigate different aspects of share price behavior on the Taiwan Stock Exchange over the period 1980-89: 1.The benefits of diversification available to investors using the Markowitz model and the Single Model Index. 2. The applicability of the CAPM to the TSE over the decade. 3. Regularities in proce sequences. 4. Market reaction to the announcements of stock dividends, right issues and combinations of both.