A warmer climate is expected to increase the risks of natural disasters globally. China is one of the hotspots of climate impacts since its infrastructures and industries are often hard hit. Yet little is known about the nature and the extent to which they are affected. This thesis builds novel system-of-systems risk assessment methodologies and data for China, representing infrastructures (energy, transport, waste, water and digital communications) as interdependent networks that support spatially distributed users of infrastructure services. A unique national-scale geo-spatial network database containing 64,834 existing infrastructure assets is assembled. For the first time, flood and drought exposure maps of China's key infrastructures are created, highlighting the locations of key urban areas to understand how its infrastructures and population could be exposed to climate impacts. To deepen the understanding of how climate change will affect the Chinese infrastructure system and hence its economy, economic impact modelling is applied. The research combines a detailed firm-level econometric analysis of 162,830 companies with a macroeconomic input-output model to estimate flood impacts on China's manufacturing sector over the period 2003 - 2010. It is estimated that flooding on average reduces firm output by 3.18% - 3.87% per year and their propagating effects on the Chinese macroeconomic system to be a 1.38% - 1.68% annual loss in total direct and indirect output, which amounts to 17,323 - 21,082 RMB billion. Several infrastructure sectors - electricity, the heat production and supply industry, gas production and supply, the water production and supply industry - are indirectly affected owing to the effects of supply chain disruptions. Taking the above analysis one step further, this thesis explores how climate disaster risks may change over the period 2016 - 2055, using flooding as a case study. A global river routing (CaMa-Flood) model at a spatial resolution of 0.25° x 0.25° is applied and downscaled for China, using the daily runoff of 11 Atmospheric and Oceanic General Circulation Models (AOGCMs). Combining the flood analysis with the infrastructure database, this research demonstrates the changing locations of exposed infrastructures and their dependent customers. We find that by 2055, the number of infrastructure assets exposed to increasing probability of flooding under RCP 4.5 are 41, 268, 115, 53, 739, 1098, 432 for airports, dams, data centres, ports, power plants, rail stations, reservoirs respectively - almost 8% of all assets for each sector. The lengths of line assets exposed to increasing flood hazards are 14,376 km, 32,740 km, 102,877 km and 25,310 km oil pipelines, rail tracks, roads and transmission lines respectively. Under RCP 8.4, the numbers increase to 51, 301, 137, 71, 812, 1066, 424 for point assets. Linear assets increase to 19,938 km, 39,859 km, 122,155 km and 30,861 km. Further, we demonstrate that indirect exposure of customers reliant on those infrastructure assets outside the floodplain could also be high. The average number of customers affected by increasing flood probabilities are 54 million, 114 million and 131 million for airports, power plants and stations respectively. However, within this aggregate increase there is large spatial variation, which has implications for spatial planning of adaptation to flood risk to infrastructure. This is a first substantial study of flood impacts to infrastructure both in terms of direct exposure and their indirect implications. Lastly, to shed some light on the potential vulnerability of China's infrastructure system to climate impacts, this thesis develops a framework that identifies the drivers of infrastructure development in China using evidence from policy documents and a unique geospatial dataset for the years 1900 - 2010. Understanding these drivers will provide a useful foundation for future research in terms of developing infrastructure models that could project the locations of future infrastructure assets and networks in China, thereby quantifying how China's infrastructure exposure and vulnerability will change over time. Overall this research provides an integrated system-of-systems perspective of understanding network and economic vulnerabilities and risks to Chinese energy, transport, water, waste and digital communication infrastructures due to climate change. This is crucial in informing the long-term planning and adaptation in China.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This thesis examines the results of a large-scale sociolinguistic study on the use of English in two universities in China. The aim of the thesis is to determine the sociolinguistic realities of the use of English in higher education in China. The universities were selected on the basis of their unique status in China’s higher education hierarchy. One university was a private institute reliant on student fees for its income, and the other a state-funded university under the supervision of the Chinese Ministry of Education. A sociolinguistic survey was conducted involving some 490 respondents at these universities between early 2012 and mid-2013. It was specifically aimed at describing the use of the English language in the formal education of students. The study reports on the status and functions of English at the universities, as well as the attitudes of various stakeholders towards English (and other languages). It also examines their beliefs about English. English is considered in a number of contexts: first, the context of language contact, of English alongside other languages and language varieties on the two university campuses; second, of English as part of the linguistic worlds of Chinese students who switch between languages in their daily lives, both in their education as well as their private lives; and third, of the spread and use of English in terms of the physical and virtual movement of people across spaces. The findings of the study indicate that the increasing use of English in the formal education at these universities is having an impact on the ways in which Chinese students are learning their course materials, and even more notably in the myriad ways these students are using multiple languages to negotiate their everyday lives. As university students in China become increasingly bilingual, their ability to move across spaces is shown to increase, both in the ‘real’ world, as well as in their Internet and entertainment lives. / Linguistics / D. Lit. et Phil. (Linguistics)

Zhao, Yan. / 500 Thesis submitted in: December 1999. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-89). / Abstracts in English and Chinese, questionnaire in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT (ENGLISH) --- p.i / ABSTRACT (CHINESE) --- p.ii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.vii / Chapter CHAPTER 1. --- INTRODUCTION / Background of the Study --- p.1 / Objective of the Study --- p.2 / Significance of the Study --- p.4 / Chapter CHAPTER 2. --- LITERATURE REVIEW / Expatriate's Adaptation --- p.7 / Impression Management --- p.11 / Performance Evaluation in Leader-Member Exchange --- p.13 / Cognitive Information Processing --- p.17 / Summary --- p.21 / Chapter CHAPTER3. --- MODEL DEVELOPMENT / Research Context --- p.22 / Hypotheses --- p.24 / Chapter CHAPTER 4. --- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY / Overview --- p.29 / Sample --- p.30 / Questionnaire --- p.32 / Measurements --- p.34 / Control Variables --- p.37 / Chapter CHAPTER 5. --- RESULTS / Statistical Method --- p.39 / Hypotheses Testing --- p.40 / Chapter CHAPTER 6. --- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION / Discussion of Findings --- p.45 / Additional Considerations --- p.51 / Theoretical Contributions --- p.53 / Practical Implications --- p.55 / Limitations and Future Research Directions --- p.57 / Conclusion --- p.60 / TABLES --- p.61 / FIGURES --- p.72 / APPENDICES --- p.74 / REFENCES --- p.81

Wong Nga Lai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-104). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter One --- An Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Foreword: Fermat's Last Theorem --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Introduction --- p.3 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Literature Review / Chapter 2.1 --- News Diffusion Theory --- p.7 / Chapter - --- Personal Importance / Chapter - --- Emotional Response and Parasocial Interaction / Chapter 2.2 --- Comparing The First Sources of News Diffusion --- p.14 / Chapter - --- Perceived Salience / Chapter - --- Credibility / Chapter - --- Other Perception Differences / Chapter - --- News Diffusion and the Use of the Internet / Chapter 2.3 --- Possible Internet Uses in News Diffusion --- p.21 / Chapter - --- The Internet As a Personal Medium / Chapter - --- The Internet As an Information Source / Chapter - --- Summary / Chapter Chapter Three --- Methodology / Chapter 3.1 --- Pre-survey Preparations --- p.33 / Chapter 3.2 --- Operationalization and Measurement of Variables --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Results and Discussion / Chapter 4.1 --- Rate of Diffusion --- p.42 / Chapter - --- September 11: A stunning high diffusion rate / Chapter - --- Leung-Fu Engagement: A romance known to 90% of a population / Chapter 4.2 --- Results and Discussion --- p.48 / Chapter H1:- --- September 11: Television was the predominated source / Chapter - --- Leung-Fu Engagement: Newspaper was the predominant source / Chapter H2:- --- September 11: High personal importance evoked interpersonal communication / Chapter - --- Leung-Fu Engagement: Personal importance determined extent of diffusion / Chapter - --- Active early knowers were key players in diffusion / Chapter H3a:- --- September 11: Upset people were more active in telling others / Chapter H3b:- --- Leung-Fu Engagement: No indication of para-social interaction / Chapter H4:- --- September 11: Initial sources differentin perceived credibility / Chapter - --- Leung-Fu Engagement: Different media different in perceived salience / Chapter H5& H6: --- The news diffusion function of the Internet / Chapter 4.3 --- Summary of Results --- p.75 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Conclusion / Chapter 5.1 --- Discussion of Findings --- p.80 / Chapter 5.2 --- Discussion of the Use of the Internet in News --- p.86 / Diffusion / Chapter - --- The Internet as an additional information source / Chapter - --- The Internet as a mediated personal channel / Chapter - --- The Internet as an initial source / Chapter - --- Enhancement of Internet Communication by 3G technologies / Chapter 5.3 --- Final Words --- p.92 / Reference --- p.96 / "Appendix 1 Questionnaire for ""September11""" / "Appendix 2 Questionnaire for ""Leung-Fu Engagement"""

Wenhong Wang. / "December 2003." / Description based on full citation and abstract (viewed May 20, 2006) / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-143). / 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 Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

This thesis examines the results of a large-scale sociolinguistic study on the use of English in two universities in China. The aim of the thesis is to determine the sociolinguistic realities of the use of English in higher education in China. The universities were selected on the basis of their unique status in China’s higher education hierarchy. One university was a private institute reliant on student fees for its income, and the other a state-funded university under the supervision of the Chinese Ministry of Education. A sociolinguistic survey was conducted involving some 490 respondents at these universities between early 2012 and mid-2013. It was specifically aimed at describing the use of the English language in the formal education of students. The study reports on the status and functions of English at the universities, as well as the attitudes of various stakeholders towards English (and other languages). It also examines their beliefs about English. English is considered in a number of contexts: first, the context of language contact, of English alongside other languages and language varieties on the two university campuses; second, of English as part of the linguistic worlds of Chinese students who switch between languages in their daily lives, both in their education as well as their private lives; and third, of the spread and use of English in terms of the physical and virtual movement of people across spaces. The findings of the study indicate that the increasing use of English in the formal education at these universities is having an impact on the ways in which Chinese students are learning their course materials, and even more notably in the myriad ways these students are using multiple languages to negotiate their everyday lives. As university students in China become increasingly bilingual, their ability to move across spaces is shown to increase, both in the ‘real’ world, as well as in their Internet and entertainment lives. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Chinese students are the biggest ethnic group of international students in the United States. Previous studies have identified many unique problems of Chinese students during their acculturation process and a higher level of acculturative stress than international students from other countries. A systematic review of instruments that assess acculturative stress revealed that none of the existing scales apply to Chinese students in the United States, either because of language issues or validity problems. Thus, this study aims to develop a reliable and valid scale to accurately measure the acculturative stress of Chinese students in the United States. A 72-item pool was generated by interviewing eight Chinese students and borrowing items from existing literature and scales. The item pool was sent online to 607 Chinese students and 267 of them completed the survey. Exploratory Factor Analysis was conducted to empirically derive the factor structure of the Acculturative Stress Scale for Chinese Students (ASSCS). The results produced a 32-item scale in five dimensions, which were Language Insufficiency, Social Isolation, Perceived Discrimination, Academic Pressure, and Guilt toward Family. The ASSCS demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.939) and initial validity by predicting depression (Beta = 0.490, p<.001) and life satisfaction (Beta = -0.505, p<.001). It was the first Chinese scale of acculturative stress developed and validated among a Chinese student sample in the United States. Further studies need to be conducted to provide empirical support and confirm the validity for the scale. In the future, the scale can be used as diagnosing tool and self-assessment tool.