Financial media, globalisation, and China’s economic integration: comparing narrative construction of the Economist and Caijing

In June 2015, legal frameworks of the Asian Infrastructural Investment Bank were signed by its 57 founding members. Proposed and initiated by China, this multilateral development bank is considered to be an Asian counterpart to break the monopoly of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In October 2015, China’s Central Bank announced a benchmark interest rate cut to combat the economic slowdown. The easing policy coincides with the European Central Bank’s announcement of doubts over US Fed’s commitment to raise interest rates. Global stock markets responded positively to China’s move, with the exception of the indexes from Wall Street (Bland, 2015; Elliott, 2015). In the meantime, China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ (or New Silk Road Economic Belt) became atopic of discourse in relation to its growing global economy, as China pledged $40 billion to trade and infrastructure projects (Bermingham, 2015). The foreign policy aims to reinforce the economic belt from western China through Central Asia towards Europe, as well as to construct maritime trading routes from coastal China through the South China Sea (Summers, 2015). In 2012, The Economist launched a new China section, to reveal the complexity of the‘meteoric rise’ of China. John Micklethwait, who was then the chief editor of the magazine, said that China’s emergence as a global power justified giving it a section of its own(Roush, 2012). In July 2015, Hu Shuli, the former chief editor of Caijing, announced the launch of a think tank and financial data service division called Caixin Insight Group, which encompasses the new Caixin China Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). Incooperation with with Markit Group, a principal global provider of PMI, the index soon became a widely cited economic indicator. One anecdote from November’s Caixin shows how much has changed: in a high-profile dialogue between Hu Shuli and Kevin Rudd, Hu insisted on asking questions in English; interestingly, the former Prime Minister of Australia insisted on replying in Chinese. These recent developments point to one thing: the economic ascent of China and its increasing influence on the power play between economics and politics in world markets. China has begun to take a more active role in rule making and enforcement under neoliberal frameworks. However, due to the country’s size and the scale of its economy in comparison to other countries, China’s version of globalisation has unique characteristics. The ‘Capitalist-socialist’ paradox is vital to China’s market-oriented transformation. In order to comprehend how such unique features are articulated and understood, there are several questions worth investigating in the realms of media and communication studies,such as how China’s neoliberal restructuring is portrayed and perceived by different types of interested parties, and how these portrayals are de-contextualised and re-contextualised in global or Anglo-American narratives. Therefore, based on a combination of the themes of globalisation, financial media and China’s economic integration, this thesis attempts to explore how financial media construct the narratives of China’s economic globalisation through the deployment of comparative and multi-disciplinary approaches. Two outstanding elite financial magazines, Britain’s The Economist, which has a global readership and influence, and Caijing, China’s leading financial magazine, are chosen as case studies to exemplify differing media discourses, representing, respectively, Anglo-American and Chinese socio-economic and political backgrounds, as well as their own journalistic cultures. This thesis tries to answer the questions of how and why China’s neoliberal restructuring is constructed from a globally-oriented perspective. The construction primarily involves people who are influential in business and policymaking. Hence, the analysis falls into the paradigm of elite-elite communication, which is an important but relatively less developed perspective in studying China and its globalisation. The comparing of characteristics of narrative construction are the result of the textual analysis of articles published over a ten-year period (mid-1998 to mid-2008). The corpus of samples come from the two media outlets’ coverage of three selected events:China becoming a member of the World Trade Organization, its outward direct investment, and the listing of stocks of Chinese companies in overseas exchanges, which are mutually exclusive in sample collection and collectively exhaustive in the inclusion of articles regarding China’s economic globalisation. The findings help to understand that, despite language, socio-economic and political differences, elite financial media with globally-oriented readerships share similar methods of and approaches to agenda setting, the evaluation of news prominence, the selection of frame, and the advocacy of deeply rooted neoliberal ideas. The comparison of their distinctive features reflects the different phases of building up the sense of identity in their readers as global elites, as well as the different economic interests that are aligned with the corresponding readerships. However, textual analysis is only relevant in terms of exploring how the narratives are constructed and the elements they include; textual analysis alone prevents us from seeing the obstacles and the constrains of the journalistic practices of construction. Therefore, this thesis provides a brief discussion of interviews with practitioners from the two media, in order to understand how similar or different narratives are manifested and perceived, how the concept of neoliberalism deviates from and is justified in the Chinese context, and how and for what purpose deviations arise from Western to Chinese contexts. The thesis also contributes to defining financial media in the domain of elite communication. The relevant and closely interlocking concepts of globalisation, elitism and neoliberalism are discussed, and are used as a theoretical bedrock in the analysis of texts and contexts. It is important to address the agenda-setting and ideological role of elite financial media, because of its narrative formula of infusing business facts with opinions,which is important in constructing the global elite identity as well as influencing neoliberal policy-making. On the other hand, ‘journalistic professionalism’ has been redefined, in that the elite identity is shared by the content producer, reader and the actors in the news stories emerging from the much-compressed news cycle. The professionalism of elite financial media requires a dual definition, that of being professional in the understanding of business facts and statistics, and that of being professional in the making sense of stories by deploying economic logic.

The European Union Foreign Policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia: The Limitations of the Opening towards the East

This article intends to study the evolution of the European Union foreign policy in the Southern Caucasus and Central Area throughout the Post-Cold War era. The aim is to analyze Brussels’ fundamental interests and limitations in the area, the strategies it has implemented in the last few years, and the extent to which the EU has been able to undermine the regional hegemons’ traditional supremacy. As will be highlighted, the Community’s chronic weaknesses, the local determination to preserve sovereignty and an increasing international geopolitical competition undermine any European aspiration to become a pre-eminent actor at the heart of the Eurasian continent in the near future.

Latina Super-heroines: Hot Tamales in Tights vs. Women Warriors, Wrestlers and Guerrilla Fighters of La Raza

The year 1977 saw the making of the first Latino superhero by a Latino artist. From the 1980s onwards it is also possible to find Latina super-heroines, whose number and complexity has kept increasing ever since. Yet, the representations of spandexed Latinas are still few. For that reason, the goal of this paper is, firstly, to gather a great number of Latina super-heroines and, secondly, to analyze the role that they have played in the history of American literature and art. More specifically, it aims at comparing the spandexed Latinas created by non-Latino/a artists and mainstream comic enterprises with the Latina super-heroines devised by Latino/a artists. The conclusion is that whereas the former tend to conceive heroines within the constraints of the logic of Girl Power, the latter choose to imbue their works with a more daring political content and to align their heroines with the ideologies of Feminism and Postcolonialism.

Thermobonded Fabrics

In 2009 Avella created a series of innovative fabrics for the Yves St Laurent (YSL) collection, deploying techniques from vehicle engineering to generate new materials for a range of garments. Studying the bonding of layers of material in ceramic plate thermobonding technology, Avella conducted a series of experiments with textiles such as flannel, silk and synthetics, and material such as leather, layered with polyamide foam and textile substrate to create new, textured and insulating fabrics with beautiful surfaces and interesting forms. The lightweight properties of the foam enabled the maximum insulation/weight ratio, and the panel moulding technology brought new forms of draping prêt-a-porter fashion design. Exclusive to YSL, this technique was patented and then shown at the Premiere Vision textiles trade fair in 2010. Much documented in specialist journals this innovation also breached the trade-culture barrier and was reported and documented in mainstream newspapers (New York Herald Tribune). Avella’s background in textile workshop studio experimentation at the RCA brought to YSL textiles research for manufacture, the innovative collaboration between fashion couture and engineering laboratory experiments from vehicle design.

Tooth Mobility, Periodontal Ligament Space, and the Alveolus During Periodontal Health, Disease, and Disuse

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-07

A internacionalização do Ensino Superior em Moçambique

International Conference Of Silk, Sugar and Spices: new directions in East-West Cooperation ISCAP 11-12-12 november 2015

Creative industries in Macau innovation and tradition at USJ

International Conference Of Silk, Sugar and Spices: new directions in East-West CooperationISCAP 11-12-13 November 2015

Primer registro de Helcystogramma sp.(Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) en Cuba.

Helcystogramma sp., es una nueva especie de microlepidóptero que afecta desde la siembra hasta la cosecha del boniato o camote (Ipomoea batatas L. Lam.) en Cuba. Debido a la falta de conocimientos y a la escasa bibliografía relacionada con las especies del género Helcystogramma en nuestro país, nos propusimos como objetivo conocer aspectos bio-ecológicos de este microlepidóptero, con la finalidad de proporcionar nuevos conocimientos para un futuro manejo de esta plaga. El trabajo se realizó desde septiembre 2013 a septiembre de 2014, en el Instituto de Investigaciones de Viandas Tropicales (INIVIT), Santo Domingo, Villa Clara, Cuba. Los insectos se estudiaron por observación directa en campos de I. batatas. La larva de este microlepidóptero es muy ágil, dobla la hoja, la cual pega con hilos de seda, creando una protección para su desarrollo hasta el estado de pupa, se alimenta dentro de esta cavidad a partir de la misma hoja, sin afectar la epidermis inferior. Sus poblaciones han aumentado considerablemente, llegando a 20 larvas/m2 en verano. La especies Helcystogramma sp., se cita por primera vez para Cuba y además se registra como una nueva especie de insecto que se alimenta del boniato. ABSTRACT. Primer registro de Helcystogramma sp. (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) en Cuba. Helcystogramma sp. is a new species of microlepidoptera affecting from planting to sweet potato (I. batatas L. Lam.) harvest crop in Cuba. Due to the lack of knowledgze and limited literature relate with the Helcystogramma genus in our country, the goal of this study was to know the bioecological aspects of such microlepidoptera, in order to provide new insights for future management of this pest. The study was conducted from September 2013 to September 2014 at the Research Institute of Tropical Root and Tuber Crops, Bananas and Plantains (INIVIT), Santo Domingo, Villa Clara, Cuba. Insects were studied by direct observation in sweet potato (I. batatas) fields. The microlepidoptera larvae is very agile, folds the sheet which sticks with silk threads, creating a protection for its development to the pupal stage. The larvae will feed in the cavity from the same leaf without affecting the lower epidermis. Their populations have increased significantly, reaching 20 larvae / m2 in summer. The species Helcystogramma sp., is cited for the first time in Cuba and it is reported as a new species of insect that feeds on sweet potato leaves.

Larval development of Notolopas brasiliensis Miers, 1886 (Brachyura: Majoidea: Pisidae) described from laboratory reared material and a reappraisal of the characters of Pisidae

O completo desenvolvimento larval de Notolopas brasiliensis é descrito, a partir de material criado em laboratório, com ênfase na morfologia externa de Majoidea e comparado aos demais gêneros de Pisidae. O desenvolvimento larval de N. brasiliensis consiste em dois estágios de zoea e um de megalopa. A duração media de cada estágio foi de 4.2 ± 1.0 dias para a Zoea I e 3.8 ± 0.7 dias para a Zoea II, a megalopa aparece entre 8.1 ± 0.4 dias após a eclosão. Os caracteres previamente utilizados para definir as formas larvais de Pisidae ou são simplesiomórficos ou altamente homoplásticos. Foi observado que não existe um conjunto de caracteres capazes de definir Pisidae até o presente.Contudo foi mostrado que uma combinação de caracteres pode ser utilizada para diferenciar Notolopas dos demais gêneros da família.

Si hay moreras hay cristianos nuevos: Los Duques de Pastrana y la industria de la seda en la formación de un espacio de conflicto (Pastrana, c. 1569- c. 1609)

Durante las últimas décadas del siglo XVI los moriscos, amparados por el poder ducal, acapararon la producción y comercio de la seda de la villa de Pastrana, así como adquirieron cada vez mayores cotas de poder municipal. En este artículo se analiza la constitución en la villa ducal de Pastrana de un espacio de odio a causa de la competencia social entre cristianos viejos y moriscos. Este odio se tradujo en una caracterización de los moriscos, sobre todo a partir de 1572, como cristianos nuevos sospechosos. Esta experiencia estigmatizadora sería un precedente de lo que ocurriría en las primeras decadas del siglo XVII con los mercaderes portugueses que sustituyeron en el negocio de la seda a los moriscos tras su expulsión. Entonces se contruiría la imagen del portugués critptojudío.

A field study to describe diel, tidal and semilunar rhythms of larval release in an assemblage of tropical rocky shore crabs

Available information on the larval release rhythms of brachyurans is biased to temperate estuarine species and outcomes resulting from some sort of artificial manipulation of ovigerous females. In this study we applied field methods to describe the larval release rhythms of an assemblage of tropical rocky shore crabs. Sampling the broods of ovigerous females of Pachygrapsus transversus at two different shores indicated a spatially consistent semilunar pattern, with larval release maxima around the full and new moon. Yet, synchronism between populations varied considerably, with the pattern obtained at the site exposed to a lower wave action far more apparent. Breeding cohorts at one of the sampled shores apparently belonged to actual age groups composing the ovigerous population. The data suggest that these breeding groups release their larvae in alternate syzygy periods, responding to a lunar cycle instead of the semilunar pattern observed for the whole population. For the description of shorter-term rhythms, temporal series at hour intervals were obtained by sampling the plankton and confinement boxes where ovigerous females were held. Unexpectedly, diurnal release activity prevailed over nocturnal hatching. Yet, only grapsids living higher on the shore exhibited strong preferences over the diel cycle, with P. transversus releasing their larvae during the day and Geograpsus lividus during the night. The pea crab Dissodactylus crinitichelis, the spider crab Epialtus brasiliensis and a suite of xanthoids undertook considerable releasing activity in both periods. Apart from the commensal pea crab D. crinitichelis, all other taxa revealed tide-related rhythms of larval release, with average estimates of the time of maximum hatching always around the time of high tides; usually during the flooding and slack, rather than the ebbing tide. Data obtained for P. transversus females held in confinement boxes indicated that early larval release is mostly due to nocturnal hatching, while zoeal release in diurnal groups took place at the time of high tide. Since nocturnal high tides at the study area occurred late, sometimes close to dusk, early release would allow more time for offshore transport of larvae when the action of potential predators is reduced.

El diseño de preguntas clínicas en la práctica basada en la evidencia: modelos de formulación

Objetivo: Identificar estructuras estandarizadas para la formulación de preguntas clínicas en el marco de la práctica basada en la evidencia. Método: Se realizó una revisión de la literatura. La búsqueda bibliográfica se efectuó en las bases de datos MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE y LILACS, y en el buscador académico Google Scholar. Se efectuaron estrategias de búsqueda sensibles y acordes a cada base de datos. Límites de búsqueda: intervalo de tiempo (enero de 1995 a abril de 2015), idioma (artículos en inglés). Se usaron palabras clave libres y descriptores del Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) pertinentes: evidence based practice, question, formulation, well-built question, framework. Resultados: Se encontraron 10 manuscritos que aportaron el diseño original de estructuras para la formulación de preguntas clínicas en el ámbito de la práctica basada en la evidencia. El modelo PICO es la estructura más conocida y comúnmente utilizada en investigación cuantitativa y de él derivan los modelos PICOT, PICOTT, PICOS, PIPOH, PECORD, PESICO. En el campo de la gestión sanitaria la estructura ECLIPSE se erige para formulación de preguntas relacionadas con la gestión. Por último, para la búsqueda de evidencias cualitativas se han configurado los modelos SPICE y SPIDER adecuando sus componentes al fenómeno cualitativo. Conclusiones: Estos modelos estandarizadas se comportan como un instrumento idóneo para guiar la estrategia de búsqueda y delimitar el área de interés. Dada la gran variedad de piezas que integran las estructuras, su conocimiento exhaustivo acrecienta sus usos potenciales. Estas estructuras no deben ser consideradas como una guía rígida a la que ceñirse ineludiblemente.

Source populations in coastal crabs: parameters affecting egg production

Benthic marine invertebrates may form metapopulations connected via propagule dispersal. Conservation efforts often target potential source coastlines to indirectly benefit areas depending on allochthonous offspring production. Besides population density, adult size structure, sex ratio, brooding frequency and the proportion of breeding individuals may significantly influence the reproductive output of benthic populations, but these effects have seldom been tested. We used rocky shore crabs to assess the spatial variability of such parameters at relevant scales for conservation purposes and to test their consistency over 2 consecutive years; we then used the data to address whether bottom-up processes or biological interactions might explain the patterns observed. We decomposed egg production rates into their components for the 2 most abundant brachyuran species inhabiting the intertidal rocky habitat. Adult density and brooding frequency varied consistently among shores for both species and largely explained the overall spatial trends of egg production. Temporally consistent patterns also included among-shore differences in the size of ovigerous females of the grapsid Pachygrapsus transversus and between-bay differences in the fecundity of the spider crab Epialtus brasiliensis. Sex ratio was remarkably constant in both. We found no positive or negative correlations between adult density and brooding frequency to support either the existence of a component Allee effect (lack of mate encounters) or an effect of intra-specific competition. Likewise, shore-specific potential growth in P. transversus does not negatively correlate with frequency of ovigerous individuals, as would be expected under a critical balance between these 2 processes. The patterns observed suggest that bottom-up drivers may best explain spatial trends in the reproductive output of these species.

Mixed Spatial and Nonspatial Problems in Location Based Services

With hundreds of millions of users reporting locations and embracing mobile technologies, Location Based Services (LBSs) are raising new challenges. In this dissertation, we address three emerging problems in location services, where geolocation data plays a central role. First, to handle the unprecedented growth of generated geolocation data, existing location services rely on geospatial database systems. However, their inability to leverage combined geographical and textual information in analytical queries (e.g. spatial similarity joins) remains an open problem. To address this, we introduce SpsJoin, a framework for computing spatial set-similarity joins. SpsJoin handles combined similarity queries that involve textual and spatial constraints simultaneously. LBSs use this system to tackle different types of problems, such as deduplication, geolocation enhancement and record linkage. We define the spatial set-similarity join problem in a general case and propose an algorithm for its efficient computation. Our solution utilizes parallel computing with MapReduce to handle scalability issues in large geospatial databases. Second, applications that use geolocation data are seldom concerned with ensuring the privacy of participating users. To motivate participation and address privacy concerns, we propose iSafe, a privacy preserving algorithm for computing safety snapshots of co-located mobile devices as well as geosocial network users. iSafe combines geolocation data extracted from crime datasets and geosocial networks such as Yelp. In order to enhance iSafe's ability to compute safety recommendations, even when crime information is incomplete or sparse, we need to identify relationships between Yelp venues and crime indices at their locations. To achieve this, we use SpsJoin on two datasets (Yelp venues and geolocated businesses) to find venues that have not been reviewed and to further compute the crime indices of their locations. Our results show a statistically significant dependence between location crime indices and Yelp features. Third, review centered LBSs (e.g., Yelp) are increasingly becoming targets of malicious campaigns that aim to bias the public image of represented businesses. Although Yelp actively attempts to detect and filter fraudulent reviews, our experiments showed that Yelp is still vulnerable. Fraudulent LBS information also impacts the ability of iSafe to provide correct safety values. We take steps toward addressing this problem by proposing SpiDeR, an algorithm that takes advantage of the richness of information available in Yelp to detect abnormal review patterns. We propose a fake venue detection solution that applies SpsJoin on Yelp and U.S. housing datasets. We validate the proposed solutions using ground truth data extracted by our experiments and reviews filtered by Yelp.

Management of industrialization projects

Short time-to-market is a key success factor in the todays’ dynamic business environment and many companies are trying to improve their product development processes. A challenge is to develop products according to the time plan and at the same time keeping the cost low and the quality high. This study focuses on the project management within the product development process in an automotive industry. The background of this study started as a request from the research and development department at the automotive company, which led to the following questions; 1) what are the most crucial factors for project success? 2) How can these factors contribute to a more successful outcome? 3) How can project management decrease product development lead time by sharing knowledge? The research approach is a case study and the data collection consist of interviews and questioners at two companies connected to project management in product development projects. Spider charts are created from the collected data containing eleven dimensions to show similarities and differences between the project managers working within the research and development department as well as between the two companies. The main conclusions are that there is a need to allow a certain level of flexibility when managing projects, in order to more easily handle late changes. Being involved in a project from the concept phase could facilitate the product development activities later on, due to a deeper understanding regarding previous decisions. Further, knowledge sharing methods, such as databases, has to be designed to be suitable for a specific organization and user friendly which enables the users to more easily search for specific types of knowledge. Lastly, a low level on the detailed focus is shown to be another success factor, however, in some cases there is still a need of this detailed focus to solve specific problems but the details may never become a higher focus than the holistic view.