The aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse in Hong Kong : the saga, regulatory deficiencies and government responses

The paper examines the fallout of the Lehman Brothers collapse in Hong Kong. As an international financial hub in Asia, Hong Kong was profoundly affected by the collapse of this company. As a result, it impacted negatively on the public’s confidence in the Hong Kong’s banking sector. Furthermore, this event has exposed a number of regulatory deficiencies in Hong Kong. In response to this financial crisis, the Hong Kong government had made an unprecedented move to negotiate with local banks to refund the investors. In addition, the government has also sought public consultation on proposal to enhance the regulation of the sale of financial products. This paper argues that there needs to be amendments to the prevailing laws and the inclusions of legal rules to back up those proposed measures so that the disclosed information from the financial institution will not mislead the investors or misrepresent the products offered.

YouTube and the formalisation of amateur media

This chapter describes how, as YouTube has scaled up both as a platform and as a company, its business model and the consequences for its copyright regulation strategies have co-evolved, and so too the boundaries between amateur and professional media have shifted and blurred in particular ways. As YouTube, Inc moves to more profitably arrange and stabilise the historically contentious relations among rights-holders, uploaders, advertisers and audiences, some forms of amateur video production have become institutionalised and professionalised, while others have been further marginalised and driven underground or to other, more forgiving, platforms.

Loss and grief at the heart of text messages [REVIEW]

WHAT if you lost someone you loved? What if you had to let go for the sake of your own sanity? Lachlan Philpott's Colder and Dennis Kelly's Orphans, playing as part of La Boite's and Queensland Theatre Company's independents programs, are emotionally and textually dense theatrical works...

Compass points : the locations, landscapes and coordinates of identities in contemporary performance making : proceedings of the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama & Performance Studies (ADSA) Conference 2012

Compass Points: The Locations, Landscapes and Coordinates of Identities' the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (ADSA) Conference 2012 was held at Queensland University of Technology, July 3-6 2012. The Conference was sponsored by the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (ADSA), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Ian Potter Foundation, Arts Queensland, La Boite Theatre Company and Queensland Theatre Company. The papers selected for this collection represent a small sample of the scope, depth and diversity of scholarship presented at the conference - they cover a range of genres, cultures and contexts in contemporary performance making from autobiography, to playwrighting, to public space performance and beyond. The papers collected have been peer-reviewed to Australia’s Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) standards - each has been subject to two blind reviews, followed by acceptance, rejection or revision, and editing of accepted papers - by colleagues from Australasia and overseas. The review process for the conference publication was separate from the review process for acceptance of abstracts for the actual conference presentations. The conference convenors, Bree Hadley and Caroline Heim, edited the collection, and would like to thank all those who gave their time to advise on the peer review process and act as reviewers - Tom Burvill, Christine Comans, Sean Edgecomb, Angela Campbell, Natalie Lazaroo, Jo Loth, Meg Mumford, Ulrike Garde, Laura Ginters, Andre Bastian, Sam Trubridge, Delyse Ryan, Georgia Seffrin, Gillian Arrighi, Rand Hazou, Rob Pensalfini, Sue Fenty-Studham, Mark Radvan, Rob Conkie, Kris Plummer, Lisa Warrington, Kate Flaherty, Bryoni Tresize, Janys Hayes, Lisa Warrington, Teresa Izzard, Kim Durban, Veronica Kelly, Adrian Keirnander, James Davenport, Julie Robson and others. We, and the authors, appreciate the rigour and care with which peers have approached the scholarship presented here. This collection was published in final form on July 3rd 2012, the first day of the ADSA Conference 2012.

First-principle studies of the formation and diffusion of hydrogen vacancies in magnesium hydride

Ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed to study the formation and diffusion of hydrogen vacancies on MgH2(110) surface and in bulk. We find that the formation energies for a single H-vacancy increase slightly from the surface to deep layers. The energies for creating adjacent surface divancacies at two inplane sites and at an inplane and a bridge site are even smaller than that for the formation of a single H-vacancy, a fact that is attributed to the strong vacancy−vacancy interactions. The diffusion of an H-vacancy from an in-plane site to a bridge site on the surface has the smallest activation barrier calculated at 0.15 eV and should be fast at room temperature. The activation barriers computed for H-vacancy diffusion from the surface into sublayers are all less than 0.70 eV, which is much smaller than the activation energy for desorption of hydrogen on the MgH2(110) surface (1.78−2.80 eV/H2). This suggests that surface desorption is more likely than vacancy diffusion to be rate determining, such that finding effective catalyst on the MgH2 surface to facilitate desorption will be very important for improving overall dehydrogenation performance.

Genentech and the stolen gene: Patent law and pioneer inventions

This paper evaluates the litigation over the biotechnology patent dispute between the University of California and Genentech. First it outlines the scientific work behind the cloning of the human growth hormone, and looks at the patent office, and its treatment of biotechnological inventions. Second, it considers the court room dispute, and the legal case of the University of California and the biotechnology company in this dispute. Finally, it considers the implications of this dispute for policy reform in respect of patent law and biotechnology.

Canon and Beyond : Edvard Fazer and the Imperial Russian Ballet 1908 - 1910

The study explores the first appearances of Russian ballet dancers on the stages of northern Europe in 1908 1910, particularly the performances organized by a Finnish impresario, Edvard Fazer, in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Berlin. The company, which consisted of dancers from the Imperial Theatres of St. Petersburg, travelled under the name The Imperial Russian Ballet of St. Petersburg. The Imperial Russian Ballet gave more than seventy performances altogether during its tours of Finland, Sweden, Denmark and central Europe. The synchronic approach of the study covers the various cities as well as genres and thus stretches the rather rigid geographical and genre boundaries of dance historiography. The study also explores the role of the canon in dance history, revealing some of the diversity which underlies the standard canonical interpretation of early twentieth-century Russian ballet by bringing in source material from the archives of northern Europe. Issues like the central position of written documentation, the importance of geographical centres, the emphasis on novelty and reformers and the short and narrow scholarly tradition have affected the formation of the dance history canon in the west, often imposing limits on the historians and narrowing the scope of research. The analysis of the tours concentrates on four themes: virtuosity, character dancing, the idea of the expressive body, and the controversy over ballet and new dance. The debate concerning the old and new within ballet is also touched upon. These issues are discussed in connection with each city, but are stressed differently depending on the local art scene. In Copenhagen, the strong local canon based on August Bournonville s works influenced the Danish criticism of Russian ballet. In Helsinki, Stockholm and Berlin, the lack of a solid local canon made critics and audiences more open to new influences, and ballet was discussed in a much broader cultural context than that provided by the local ballet tradition. The contemporary interest in the more natural, expressive human body, emerging both in theatre and dance, was an international trend that also influenced the way ballet was discussed. Character dancing, now at low ebb, played a central role in the success of the Imperial Russian Ballet, not only because of its exoticism but also because it was considered to echo the kind of performing body represented by new dance forms. By exploring this genre and its dancers, the thesis brings to light artists who are less known in the current dance history canon, but who made considerable careers in their own time.

Fracture and R-curves in high volume fraction Al2O3/Al composites

Fracture toughness and fracture mechanisms in Al2O3/Al composites are described. The unique flexibility offered by pressureless infiltration of molten Al alloys into porous alumina preforms was utilized to investigate the effect of microstructural scale and matrix properties on the fracture toughness and the shape of the crack resistance curves (R-curves). The results indicate that the observed increment in toughness is due to crack bridging by intact matrix ligaments behind the crack tip. The deformation behavior of the matrix, which is shown to be dependent on the microstructural constraints, is the key parameter that influences both the steady-state toughness and the shape of the R-curves. Previously proposed models based on crack bridging by intact ductile particles in a ceramic matrix have been modified by the inclusion of an experimentally determined plastic constraint factor (P) that determines the deformation of the ductile phase and are shown to be adequate in predicting the toughness increment in the composites. Micromechanical models to predict the crack tip profile and the bridge lengths (L) correlate well with the observed behavior and indicate that the composites can be classified as (i) short-range toughened and (ii) long-range toughened on the basis of their microstructural characteristics.

Knowledge Exchange study: How Research Tools are of Value to Research: Use Cases and Recommendations

Research tools that are freely available and accessible via the Internet cover an emergent field in the worldwide research infrastructure. Clearly, research tools have increasing value for researchers in their research activities. Knowledge Exchange recently commissioned a project to explore use case studies to show research tools’ potential and relevance for the present research landscape. Makers of successful research tools have been asked questions such as: How are these research tools developed? What are their possibilities? How many researchers use them? What does this new phenomenon mean for the research infrastructure? Additional to the Use Cases, the authors offer observations and recommendations to contribute to effective development of a research infrastructure that can optimally benefit from research tools. the Use Cases are: •Averroes Goes Digital: Transformation, Translation, Transmission and Edition •BRIDGE: Tools for Media Studies Researchers •Multiple Researchers, Single Platform: A Virtual Tool for the 21st Century •The Fabric of Life •Games with A Purpose: How Games Are Turning Image Tagging into Child’s Play •Elmer: Modelling a Future •Molecular Modelling With SOMA2 •An Online Renaissance for Music: Making Early Modern Music Readable •Radio Recordings for Research: How A Million Hours of Danish Broadcasts Were Made Accessible •Salt Rot: A Central Space for Essential Research •Cosmos: Opening Up Social Media for Social Science A brief analysis by the authors can be found: •Some Observations Based on the Case Studies of Research Tools

Learning and management skills: the internationalization of Grupo Arcor. Analysis from a process-based approach

This paper analyzes the path of the international expansion of Grupo Arcor, an Argentine multinational company specializing in confectionery. The objective is to entify corporate strategies and business learning that led this Latin American firm to establish itself as one of the leading manufacturers in confectionery industry ,particularly in the 21st Century. The analysis is primarily qualitative in order to identify the economic dimension as a determinant in the internationalization process; a processbased approach from the Uppsala Model is used for this. However, the study is also complemented with a regression analysis to test if the firm was driven to expand internationally by the expectations on the degree of globalization of the industry and the accumulation of experience in foreign markets, and if the company was influenced by psychic distance in choosing the location of its investment; given the influence of these variables in Grupo Arcor business strategies. Our findings suggest that Grupo Arcor, was able to become global due to strategies such as vertical integration, diversification of products and geographical markets (based on psychic distance) and indeed some strategies were consequence of the globalization of the sector and the accumulation of experience in foreign markets.

Progress report on fish counting on the Rivers Itchen and Test

This progress report summarises work on NSHEB Mark 10 fish counters which are installed at Woodmill on the River Itchen and Nurseling Mill and Connegar Bridge on the River Test. Counters are evaluated and salmon behaviour regarding the counters examined. The report includes a a list of equipment needed for the efficient running of the project in the future.

Biological survey of the River Teign and tributaries, with reference to the effect of ball clay discharges

This is the Biological survey of the River Teign and tributaries, with reference to the effect of ball clay discharges report produced by South West Water Authority in 1979. A survey of the macroinvertebrate riffle fauna in the Ball Clay mining area of the Bovey Basin, following a period of low rainfall, indicated that the River Bovey and the River Teign between Chudleigh and Teign Bridge, Newton Abbot were of good quality. Further downstream, the R. Teign and the lower reaches of the Ugbrooke Stream were identified as being of doubtful quality with the discharge from ECC Broadway continuing to give cause for concern.

The crystal structure and drawing-induced polymorphism in poly(aryl ether ketone)s .1. Poly(oxybiphenyl-4-4'-diyloxy-1,4-phenylenecarbonyl-1,3-phenylenecarbonyl-1,4-phenylene)

Crystal structure and polymorphism induced by uniaxial drawing of a poly(aryl ether ketone) [PEDEKmK] prepared from 1,3-bis(4-fluorobenzoyl)benzene and biphenyl-4,4'-diol have been investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction (ED), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The melting and recrystallization process in the temperature range of 250-260 degrees C, far below the next melting temperature (306 degrees C), was identified and found to be responsible for the remarkable changes in lamellar morphology. Based on WAXD and ED patterns, it was found that crystal structure of isotropic-crystalline PEDEKmK obtained under different crystallization conditions (melt-crystallization, cold-crystallization, solvent-induced crystallization, melting-recrystallization, and crystallization from solution) keeps the same mode of packing, i.e., a two-chain orthorhombic unit cell with the dimensions a = 0.784 nm, b = 0.600 nm, and c = 4.745 nm (form I). A second crystal modification (form II) can be induced by uniaxial drawing above the glass transition temperature, and always coexists with form I. This form also possesses an orthorhombic unit cell but with different dimensions, i.e., a = 0.470 nm, b = 1.054 nm, c = 5.064 nm. The 0.32 nm longer c-axis of form II as compared with form I is attributed to an overextended chain conformation due to the expansion of ether and ketone bridge bond angles during uniaxial drawing. The temperature dependence of WAXD patterns for the drawn PEDEKmK suggests that form II can be transformed into the more stable form I by relaxation of overextended chains and relief of internal stress at elevated temperature in absence of external tension.

Serviceability of bridge deck slabs with arching action

The deterioration of infrastructure, such as bridges, has been one of the major challenges facing both the designers and the owners of such utilities. Sustainable development and a climate of increasing commercialism has led to a requirement for more accurate means of structural analysis. Bridge assessment is one area where this is particularly relevant. It has been known for some time that bridge deck slabs have inherent enhanced strength due to the presence of arching or compressive membrane action (CMA) but only in recent years has there been some acceptance of a rational treatment of this phenomenon for design and assessment purposes. To use the benefits of arching action, this paper presents the results of tests carried out on a reinforced-concrete beam and slab bridge in Northern Ireland that incorporated novel reinforcement type and position. The research was aimed at extending previous laboratory tests on 1/3scale bridge deck edge panels. The measured crack widths and deflections have been compared with the current code requirements.

Learning and organization in the knowledge-based information economy: Initial findings from a participatory action research case study

This paper reports on an ongoing, multiphase, project-based action learning and research project. In particular, it summarizes some aspects of the learning climate and outcomes for a case study company In the software industry, Using a participatory action research approach, the learning company framework developed by Pedler et al, (1997) is used to initiate critical reflection in the company at three levels: managing director, senior management team and technical and professional staff. As such, this is one of the first systematic attempts to apply this framework to the entire organization and to a company in the knowledge-based learning economy. Two sets of issues are of general concern to the company: internal issues surrounding the company's reward and recognition policies and practices and the provision of accounting and control information in a business relevant way to all levels of staff; and external issues concerning the extent to which the company and its members actively learn from other companies and effectively capture, disseminate and use information accessed by staff in boundary-spanning roles. The paper concludes with some illustrations of changes being introduced by the company as a result of the feedback on and discussion of these issues.