Essay 2 uses Chinese adult twin data to investigate birth weight effect, the outcomes of which have been changed to long-term achievements. The OLS results suggest that birth weight has significant positive relationship with earnings, adult height, and health conditions. However, within-twin-pair results indicate that birth weight has significant positive influence only on adult height. Essay 2 also systematically interprets the pattern of bias directions of OLS relative to within-twins estimates across empirical studies on long-term outcomes. For health measures, OLS estimates are consistently biased upward relative to within-twins estimates across empirical studies, suggesting an overall positive correlation between omitted factors and birth weight. On the contrary, the bias direction of OLS relative to within-twins estimates fluctuates across empirical studies on ability-related outcomes, including educational attainment and earnings. This suggests that there are two main types of omitted variable (e.g., endowments and post-birth parental inputs) with each type having different correlation with birth weight. / Essay 3 uses data from the 2000 and 2005 censuses of China. It analyzes trends on the marital behavior of Chinese people during 1970-2004, and the impact of the one-child policy in terms of marriage age, marriage rate, and assortative mating on age. First, this essay finds that from 1990 onwards, more people have preferred to marry at and after their mid-twenties. Interestingly, up to the early 2000s, the prevailing marriage rates of men and women over 35 years old maintained at very high levels (over 90%) despite China becoming more prosperous. Moreover, the positive assortative mating on age was more or less the same from 1970 to 2004. In addition, this essay is the first to compare the marriages of Zhuang people relative to other non-Han people (excluding Man people) around 1989 to implement the difference-indifferences (DiD) estimation. Results from DiD estimations indicate that the one-child policy encourages more people to delay marriages. On the one hand, the policy favors more men at 30 years old or above to marry young women in their twenties. On the other hand, interestingly, it also induces more young men to marry older women. / The dissertation consists of three empirical studies on Chinese household behavior. Essay 1 uses Chinese child twin data to examine the effect of birth weight on performances during childhood and adolescent periods. Essay 1 has three main contributions to literature. First, this essay is the first to use twin data of an Asian developing country to study the birth weight impact. Within-twins results suggest that birth weight has significant effect on physical growth, but no significant effect on school performance, health conditions, and personality. Second, this study is the first to apply threshold regression on twin data to examine the non-linearity effect of birth weight. Overall, there is no evidence to support the argument that the effect is nonlinear on medium-term outcomes. Third, this study is the first to test directly whether birth weight effect operates through interaction with post-birth parental inputs. There is no evidence to support that this mechanism works in within-twins results. / Wong, Man Kit. / Adviser: Junsen Zhang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-01, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

黃玉. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-208). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Huang Yu.

彭華民. / 呈交日期: 2005年11月. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2006. / 參考文獻(p. 246-261). / Cheng jiao ri qi: 2005 nian 11 yue. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2006. / Can kao wen xian (p. 246-261). / Peng Huamin.

學校停課在世界各國的流感大流行應對方案中常被列為一項社區緩疫措施，而這項措施亦在2009年H1N1流感大流行中被廣泛地使用。然而，這項緩疫措施經常被質疑是否恰當，原因是因為停課會對教育構成重大的影響，而且過往的流行病學硏究亦表示這項緩疫措施不一定有效。本論文硏究學校停課對2009年H1N1流感大流行在香港首5個月疫情中降低大流行流感傳播的效能。 / 在香港，在該大流行流感病毒於2009年4月在美國被發現後，香港政府實施了控疫措施(containment phase measures)，並開始對該流感大流行進行監測。為了判定大流行是否已在香港內蔓延，衛生防護中心設定了一個報告準則來讓本地醫生報告疑似大流行流感感染個案，並為每個懷疑個案作確診測試及為每個確診個案追溯感染源頭。當大流行流感在6月開始在香港內蔓延時，香港政府實施了緩疫措施(mitigation phase measures)。在緩疫措施底下，帶有流感病症的病人求診於指定流感診所和公共醫院急症室會被測試是否感染大流行流感，而停課措施亦在此時開始實行去減低大流行流感的傳播。停課措施一直維持至7月直至暑假開始，並經修改後於9月開學時繼續實行。在9月，鑑於已不再需要對流感大流行進行監測，對懷疑感染個案進行確診測試的政策止於該月下旬。確診個案中記錄了的病人資料，與及由學校停課和暑假所引起的學期變化，為這課題提供了一個理想硏究的機會。 / 在2009年的5月至9月，一共確診了27,687宗大流行流感個案。在確診個案中，所有個案都記錄了確診者的年歲和確診日期，而88%確診者提供了一個可定位的住宅地址。為了觀察學校停課的緩疫效果，本硏究定義了5個社會經濟年齡級別(socio-economic age classes) (當中包括有小學生和中學生)，並繪製了年齡級別與地域特定的疫情曲線(age-class-and-district-specific epidemic curves)。所有的疫情曲線在大流行流感在6月開始在香港蔓延後均穩步上升，而在屬於小學生和中學生的疫情曲線中能看到一個不尋常的上升出現在9月新學年開始時，意味著中小學生在學校的活動提升了大流行流感在他們之間的傳播。 / 先前，學校停課對減低2009年H1N1流感大流行在香港的傳播已被Wu et. al (2010a)進行了調查。透過使用一個具年齡結構的SIR模型(age-structured SIR model)來分析收集至8月27日的監測數據，該硏究表示流感大流行的傳播在暑假開始時減低了25%。在這研究中，我應用了Wu et. al (2010a)的方法來分析整個監測期間所收集的數據。在發現到該數學模型不能準確地擬合附加的監測數據後，我在該模型添加了兩個傳播特徵(當中包含兒童和成人之間的傳染在學校停課期間增加)去更準確地代表現實中的疫情。我的硏究顯示，學校停課雖然降低了兒童的感染率，但卻增加了成年人的感染率，令整體傳播在暑假開始時只減低了7.6%。這硏究結果表示，在將來的流感大流行中，封閉學校不大可能延遲流感大流行疫情至一個可令疫苗產生作用的程度，而且封閉學校可能會增加成人的感染率，從而有可能導致社會運作出現更混亂的情況。 / School closure is often included in national pandemic influenza response plans as a community mitigation measure and it was widely applied in Pandemic (H1N1) 2009. However, the appropriateness of this intervention is often questioned, as school closure causes major disruption to the education system and past epidemiological studies reveal this intervention is not necessarily effective. The present thesis evaluates the effect of school closure in mitigating transmission of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in Hong Kong in the initial 5 months of the pandemic. / In Hong Kong, following identification of the pandemic virus in US in April 2009, the government implemented containment phase measures and began surveillance on the pandemic. The Centre for Health Protection established a reporting criteria for doctors to report suspected cases of pandemic infection for laboratory confirmation, and the source of infection of confirmed cases was traced to determine if the pandemic was spreading locally. When local transmission of the pandemic began in June, the government began mitigation phase measures, in which patients with influenza-like- illness seeking treatment at designated flu clinics and public hospital emergency departments were tested for pandemic infection, and school closure was implemented for pandemic mitigation. The school closure policy lasted until summer holiday commenced in July, and was revised and continued in September when the new school season started. At the end of September, in view of pandemic surveillance was no longer useful, laboratory testing for suspected pandemic cases was halted. Patient demographic data collected from confirmed pandemic cases, together with temporal changes in school session induced by school closure and summer holiday, provided an ideal opportunity for investigation. / From May through September 2009, a total of 27,687 pandemic cases were confirmed, in which the age and confirmation date were recorded in all cases, and 88% provided a locatable residential address. To visualise the mitigative effect of school closure, 5 socio-economic age classes (which include primary and secondary school-aged children) were defined, and age-class-and-district-specific epidemic curves were constructed. All epidemic curves rose steadily after local transmission began in June, and an unusual upsurge in the epidemic curve of primary and secondary school-aged children is observed when schools resumed session in September, suggesting school session facilitated transmission amongst them. / Previously, the effect of school closure in mitigating Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 transmission in Hong Kong was investigated in Wu et al. (2010a). By analysing surveillance data collected as of 27 August with an age-structured susceptible- infectious-recovered (SIR) model, the study reported transmission was reduced by 25% when summer holiday commenced. In this study, I adapted the methodology in Wu et al. (2010a) to analyse data collected in the entire surveillance period. Upon observing the model fitted poorly to the additional data, I added 2 transmission features to the model (which include increased transmission between children and adults during school closure) to better represent the epidemic in reality. My analysis revealed that while school closure reduced incidence in children, it increased incidence in adults, leading to a reduction in overall transmission by only 7.6% when summer holiday started. The findings of this study suggest that school closure in a future influenza pandemic is unlikely to be able to delay the pandemic for vaccine to arrive in time, and that implementing this intervention may increase incidence in adults, which may lead to causing more disruption on the functioning of society. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Chau, Kwan Long. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-154). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Influenza --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Public health response to pandemic influenza & School closure --- p.8 / Chapter 1.3 --- Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 --- p.13 / Chapter 1.4 --- Hong Kongs response to Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 --- p.17 / Chapter 1.5 --- Data and Research Objective --- p.24 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Descriptive and Exploratory Analysis of Surveillance Data --- p.31 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.31 / Chapter 2.2 --- Methodology --- p.36 / Chapter 2.3 --- Results --- p.40 / Chapter 2.4 --- Discussion --- p.57 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Evaluating the effect of School Closure by Modelling --- p.62 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.62 / Chapter 3.2 --- Methodology --- p.90 / Chapter 3.3 --- Results --- p.98 / Chapter 3.4 --- Discussion --- p.105 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Discussion --- p.108 / Chapter 4.1 --- Study Findings --- p.108 / Chapter 4.2 --- Study Limitations --- p.109 / Chapter 4.3 --- Comments on using school closure in future influenza pandemics --- p.111 / Appendices --- p.116 / Bibliography --- p.148

Yao, Wang. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-39). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.ii / Contents --- p.iii / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- A Case Study of the Land Market in Hong Kong --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Background --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Institutions related to the land market --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Land Disposals --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Public Housing --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3 --- Recent Land and Housing Market History --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Land Supply and Land Prices --- p.11 / Chapter 3 --- A Theory of Political Economy of Land Supply --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1 --- Model Setup --- p.16 / Chapter 3.2 --- Definition of Equilibrium --- p.19 / Chapter 3.3 --- Equilibrium Characterization --- p.20 / Chapter 3.4 --- Comparative Statics --- p.28 / Chapter 4 --- Conclusion --- p.31 / Appendix --- p.33 / Reference --- p.38

羅杜芳. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-215) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Luo Dufang.

This thesis analyses the food crisis in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, identifies roots of the problem, and proposes strategies of sustainable development based on self-sufficiency in food production for domestic needs. The main goal of this research has been to devise development strategies centered on development of the food production sector. The thesis strongly suggests that countries of the region should consider developing the food production sector to experience any meaningful development, and to escape a dark future of food shortages and food dependency on developed economies. Investigation into Development Economics, Dependency, Underdevelopment, and Modernization theories has provided a basis to justify that improvement of the food production sector is an urgent necessity for sub-Saharan African countries. The thesis uses a comparative analytical methodology based on a historical study of Kenya from the colonial period to the 1990s. The food crisis is identified as a common problem for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and its general causes are investigated: ( 1) low output productivity of traditional methods and technology, (2) harsh ecological environment with frequent droughts and soil erosion, (3) neglect of food production in the policies and priorities of governments, ( 4) poor marketing and distribution of foodstuffs, (5) fast population growth. Kenya is then used as a model to confirm the hypothesis that roots of the crisis are strongly linked to the colonial setting of these economies as cash crop and raw material producers. Also, neglect of the food production sector in government policy is matched in the Kenyan case. Kenya's food crisis can be explained by two sets of factors. On the input side of the food production sector, reasons found were ( 1) government emphasis on cash crops to the neglect of food production, and (2) underdeveloped technology and agricultural methods used in food production. On the output side, food shortages are due to ( 1) an inefficient marketing and distribution system, (2) inefficient pricing policies, and (3) fast population growth. A model of five solutions is presented which puts emphasis, on the input side, on (1) a shift of policies from cash crop production to accommodate food crop production as a viable economic development policy, (2) curbing food imports, and (3) boosting domestic food production by empowering women, attracting men to the food production activity, reorganizing production, and improving agricultural technology and methods. On the output side the solutions call for ( 4) reorganizing and improving the distribution, and marketing, and pricing of foodstuffs, and (5) developing rural economies around the food production sector and the agribusiness industry.

The public focus on domestic violence has been one of the most successful campaigns of the modern women's movement. This success was achieved in part through the creation of strategic alliances among agencies and organizations responding to partner violence. One of the most contested of these alliances involved partnering with the criminal justice system. While representing an advance in holding police accountable in protecting all citizens (Coker, 2006), this alliance has had problematic consequences, particularly as it has extended state power into the lives of women of color (e.g. Richie, 2005). This problem is exacerbated by new collaborations between law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Federal mandates like the Secure Communities program bring together local law enforcement and ICE throughout the United States, to increase deportation rates (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2009). As a result, many recommendations by domestic violence advocates to survivors now potentially include the presence of ICE in that referral. This dissertation explores how domestic violence advocates within the tri-county area of Portland, Oregon are responding to law enforcement-ICE partnerships. Advocates remain understudied in the domestic violence literature, in spite of the complexity of their roles. This dissertation fills this research gap in examining the processes advocates employ in responding to dilemmas faced by marginalized survivors. A total of twenty-five advocates from three separate agencies participated in the study, which centered on focus groups carried out in the agency settings. The dissertation pursues three research questions: 1) How do advocates work through a key dilemma that has emerged in their practice? 2) What are the discursive strategies enlisted by advocates in addressing a dilemma at the border of domestic violence and immigration politics? 3) What is the relationship between each group's proximity to working with undocumented survivors and their decision-making process? A case study methodology was used to evaluate proximity to work with undocumented survivors and the organizations' general orientation to domestic violence work. Transcripts of the focus groups were analyzed using a discursive method centered on identifying how the groups worked through a set of dilemmas presented in the focus groups, which involved a crisis call scenario involving an undocumented woman and an agency practice common to many domestic violence service providers. In the analysis of discursive strategies of the groups, a key finding centered on the groups' use of a decision-tree heuristic to work through dilemmas of practice presented in the two scenarios. This discursive strategy facilitated the process of group decision-making at points where the actions required were clear and concrete. However, as more complexity, ambiguity or ambivalence were introduced, the limitations of the decision-tree strategy become more apparent. Findings related to the agency's proximity to undocumented workers suggest that this affinity was less important than was the agency's working relationship to the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Closeness to the CJS was associated with reliance on a discourse that places the police at the center of services for all survivors of domestic violence, regardless of documentation status, and a heightened focus on the risk of lethality to rationalize the risks associated with referrals involving law enforcement-ICE collaborations.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration