The existing literature on current account¡¦s analysis of influencing factors-related issues had had extensive research achievements, but they mostly stressed the discussion of influencing factors from outside the economic body. To better understand and improve government¡¦s ability of controlling variations in current account balance in order to suit the macro economic situation through the use of nimble interest and exchange rate policies, we employ the analytical tool to examine factors that influence Taiwan's excess saving during the period from 1987Q3 to 2009Q1. We modify the current account share of GDP regression by including interest rate, exchange rate and quarterly rate of inflation to reflect the effect of current account dynamics. Empirical evidences indicate that the coefficients of the long-run relationship are significantly crucial. We apply both the linear error-correction model (ECM) and nonlinear smooth transition regression model to investigate the dynamics of current account vis-a-vis interest rate, exchange rate and the quarterly rate of inflation. and find supportings to the appropriateness of nonlinear smooth transition regression model. Furthermore, exchange rate was found having positive impact on current account balances. That is, a depreciation in the exchange rate would improve the current account and an appreciation, on the other hand, will worsen the current account. But the quarterly rate of inflation has a significantly negative effect, with an increase in the quarterly rate of inflation leading to a decrease in current account balances. Finally, from the long run cointegrating relationship, current account balances raises while the interest rate is decreasing, indicating there might exist income effect when interest rates fall. Because a fall in income reduces consumption, and increases saving, in turn, causes current account balances to rise, and vice versa. The empirical results shows all coefficients¡¦ sign can not only explain and interpret real economic phenomena, but also are consistent with theoretical expectations.

The methodology is based on an application of nonlinear ESTR ECM by Kapetanios et al. (2006) to analyze the short-run dynamic adjustment to long-run equilibrium in Taiwan money demand function. We take consideration of Taiwan as a small open economy system, the exchange rate could be included in money demand function. The result indicate that using ESTR ECM to analyze the adjustment behavior of money demand function in Taiwan is better than linear ECM. Our findings point out that the public adjusts at any time for holding money and the speed of adjustment for real balances depends on the size of deviation.

Commercial recordings - CDs, LPs - are familiar objects. However, discussion about them has often attempted to conceal the fact that, as communicating objects, recordings pose special problems due to the fact that they unite text, image, and sound in a material commodity. This thesis examines the role of the visual in the production, circulation and use of recordings. The album cover is the primary category of study, with an emphasis on its functioning in relation to the recording as a sonic and material commodity. The label ECM, a German company which has been producing recordings since 1969, provides the main focus in this analysis. The basis of this investigation lies in the questioning of the assumptions and categories that have historically guided the activity of cover design and the discourse about it. Traditionally, recordings have been understandably seen primarily as sound-carriers; their visual aspects, even when celebrated, are most often relegated to a peripheral status, despite the fact that in certain contexts the importance of the visual can overwhelm that of sound. The usual hierarchical opposition between these elements is here questioned through an examination of both the marketing of recordings and their circulation and use. ECM provides a pertinent case through which such questions can be elaborated. Its visual marketing strategies can be characterised in terms of a desire for difference. ECM's attempt to set itself apart has resulted in a "look" which rejects many conventions. It has also resulted in a complex, conceptual group of visual strategies. In its particular use of landscape photography, blank space, and gestural markings, ECM constructs ideas of space which relate to the potential for performativity and creativity. Through the combination of these strategies, the label deemphasises creative personality of the musical performer and emphasises the space occupied by the looker/listener. In doing this, it also questions the traditional boundaries between music and the visual. ECM's covers cause these categories to become indistinct and allow new conceptions of the recording as a material commodity to emerge. One effect of this is a construction of the apprehender's subjectivity that fails to fit within the marketplace's traditional categories. The thesis considers how the visual has been implicated in more concrete processes such as the negotiation of taste and practices of consumption and use. The niche that ECM attempts to carve out for itself is considered in relation to the tension in the marketplace between the desire for distinction and the recording as a massproduced commodity.

It would be a great advantage in reconstructive surgery to have an off-the-shelf biomaterial to promote regeneration and volume augmentation following soft tissue damage. With this long-term objective, human adipose tissue (fat) is an abundant and accessible source of extracellular matrix (ECM) for bioscaffold fabrication. The main goal of the current research project was to optimize the established 5-day detergent-free decellularization protocol developed by the Flynn group, by shortening it to a maximum of 3 days, while achieving comparable results in terms of cell and lipid extraction with preservation of the ECM. The effectiveness of the optimized protocol was assessed by examination of the decellularized adipose tissue (DAT) and its characteristic biological properties, including in vitro bioactivity assays with human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) to measure adipogenic potential, as well as in vivo testing of scaffold biocompatibility. In the optimized approach, the addition of mechanical processing steps including repeated pressing and centrifugation were shown to enhance cell extraction. Fibrous ultrastructure was observed under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for the original and optimized protocols. The preservation of collagen fibres was assessed with picro-sirius red staining and confirmed by high hydroxyproline content. Enhanced preservation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) was determined for the optimized protocol. Residual DNA content was higher in the DAT scaffolds processed with the optimized protocol, including larger DNA fragments that were not typically observed in the samples treated with the original protocol, which incorporated additional enzymatic treatment stages with DNase, RNase and lipase. However, no residual nuclei were visualized through DAPI staining for both protocols. Enhanced removal of DNA was achieved with electron beam (e-beam) sterilization. E-beam sterilization caused some changes in the fine fibrous structure of the ECM, but did not negatively affect the adipo-conductive potential in vitro. In comparison to the original protocol, DAT produced via the optimized protocol exhibited similar adipo-conductive properties in vitro. The in vivo biocompatibility study over a 16 week period using an immunocompetent Wistar rat model showed promising results. DAT implants produced with the original and optimized protocols promoted adipogenesis and angiogenesis, gradually being remodelled to resemble mature adipose tissue. / Thesis (Master, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-01-30 12:25:22.044

PHOSPHO1 is a skeletal specific phosphatase whose activity towards the lipid metabolites, phosphocholine (PCho) and phosphoethanolamine (PEth), results in the generation of inorganic phosphate (Pi) within matrix vesicles (MV). PHOSPHO1 activity is essential for the initiation of biomineralisation. The genetic ablation of Phospho1 results in severe hypomineralisation of the skeleton and dentition. Neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2, encoded by the Smpd3 gene) catalyses the breakdown of the membrane lipid sphingomyelin to generate ceramide and PCho. Similar hypomineralisation of the skeleton is noted in the Smpd3-/- mouse. This observation led to the hypothesis that nSMase2 and PHOSPHO1 work in tandem for the generation of Pi within MV. Despite knowledge of the phenotype associated with the absence of Phospho1 or Smpd3, little is known about the expression profiles of these genes during the initiation of extracellular matrix (ECM) mineralisation, or the regulation of these genes. This thesis characterised the expression of Phospho1, Smpd3 and other key genes associated with ECM mineralisation in in vitro models of mineralisation under exogenous phosphatase substrate-free conditions. Additionally, building on preliminary work in osteocytes, the regulation of Phospho1 and Smpd3 by parathyroid hormone (PTH) was investigated both in vitro and in vivo. Characterisation of MC3T3 osteoblast-like cell cultures, primary calvarial osteoblast and embryonic metatarsal organ cultures similarly revealed simultaneous and striking increases in the expression of PHOSPHO1 and nSMase2 prior to the onset of ECM mineralisation. In Phospho1-/- cell and organ cultures, ECM mineralisation was markedly diminished, and nSMase2 expression was notably reduced. The parathyroid hormone (PTH) regulation of Phospho1 and Smpd3 in osteocytes was confirmed in MC3T3 osteoblast-like cell cultures. Phospho1 and Smpd3 mRNA expression was strongly and rapidly (within 15 minutes) inhibited by PTH. Experiments with cycloheximide revealed that this was a direct effect not requiring protein synthesis. Further experimentation utilising the adenylyl cylase agonist, Forskolin and the PKA inhibitor, PKI (5-24), identified the cAMP-PKA signalling pathway as the mediator of the effects of PTH on Phospho1 and Smpd3 expression. In contrast, however, primary calvarial osteoblasts, human subchondral bone osteoblasts and murine embryonic metatarsal cultures all displayed an upregulation of Phospho1 expression in response to a 24 h exposure to PTH. Although informative, these findings highlighted the need to investigate the PTH regulation of Phospho1 in vivo. The administration of PTH (80 μg/kg) enhanced the expression of Phospho1 and Smpd3 within 6 h and after 14 and 28-day intermittent exposure in the distal femur of male wild-type mice. The expression of the transcription factors, Runx2 and Trps1, which have been implicated in the regulation Phospho1 were similarly upregulated by these PTH exposures. I hypothesised that the upregulation of Phospho1 could provide a novel mechanism explaining the osteoanabolic effects of intermittent PTH (iPTH). Bone microarchitecture in response to iPTH was assessed in the tibiae of WT and Phospho1-/- mice by micro computed tomography. The absence of Phospho1 limited the anabolic effects of PTH in cortical bone but not in the metaphyseal trabecular bone. The work described within this thesis provides further evidence of the cooperative functions of nSMase2 and PHOSPHO1 in the initiation of skeletal mineralisation. The potent regulation of these enzymes in vivo by PTH offers an additional explanation of the anabolic effects of iPTH and forms part of an emerging body of evidence seeking to understand the regulation of these enzymes.

Commercial recordings - CDs, LPs - are familiar objects. However, discussion about them has often attempted to conceal the fact that, as communicating objects, recordings pose special problems due to the fact that they unite text, image, and sound in a material commodity. This thesis examines the role of the visual in the production, circulation and use of recordings. The album cover is the primary category of study, with an emphasis on its functioning in relation to the recording as a sonic and material commodity. The label ECM, a German company which has been producing recordings since 1969, provides the main focus in this analysis. The basis of this investigation lies in the questioning of the assumptions and categories that have historically guided the activity of cover design and the discourse about it. Traditionally, recordings have been understandably seen primarily as sound-carriers; their visual aspects, even when celebrated, are most often relegated to a peripheral status, despite the fact that in certain contexts the importance of the visual can overwhelm that of sound. The usual hierarchical opposition between these elements is here questioned through an examination of both the marketing of recordings and their circulation and use. ECM provides a pertinent case through which such questions can be elaborated. Its visual marketing strategies can be characterised in terms of a desire for difference. ECM's attempt to set itself apart has resulted in a "look" which rejects many conventions. It has also resulted in a complex, conceptual group of visual strategies. In its particular use of landscape photography, blank space, and gestural markings, ECM constructs ideas of space which relate to the potential for performativity and creativity. Through the combination of these strategies, the label deemphasises creative personality of the musical performer and emphasises the space occupied by the looker/listener. In doing this, it also questions the traditional boundaries between music and the visual. ECM's covers cause these categories to become indistinct and allow new conceptions of the recording as a material commodity to emerge. One effect of this is a construction of the apprehender's subjectivity that fails to fit within the marketplace's traditional categories. The thesis considers how the visual has been implicated in more concrete processes such as the negotiation of taste and practices of consumption and use. The niche that ECM attempts to carve out for itself is considered in relation to the tension in the marketplace between the desire for distinction and the recording as a massproduced commodity. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

The rapid soaring housing prices in Chinese residential property market have attracted increasing worldwide attention in recent years. Facing the rising concerns about both the stability and sustainability of Chinese housing market prices dynamics, this study aims at investigating the impacts of changes in housing wealth on consumption in China. Previous studies on this subject usually use country level data with relatively shorter sample period, or individual time series for a single or a few cities. Recent development in literatures suggests that panel data have the more heightened capacity for modeling the complexity of human behavior than a single cross-section or time series data can possibly allow. In this study, in order to identify both long-term and short-term elasticity of consumption with respect to housing wealth, panel framework of ECM is constructed, with quarterly data from 23 cities throughout China, covering the period of 2005Q1-2010Q4. The estimation results confirm large and highly significant positive housing wealth effect on consumption in both long-run and short-run for China. Furthermore, due to the potential endogeneity problem driven by the fact that housing prices are highly correlated with income, instrumental variable estimations are also implemented. The resulting empirical findings confirm that changes in housing values can exert large and positive impacts on household consumption, even after this potential endogeneity bias is controlled for.

While state-owned enterprises play an instrumental role in economic development, they are a significant fiscal risk to the state. This occurs through state-guaranteed loans that have more lax credit monitoring, and soft budget constraints, where stateowned enterprises can increase their debt levels without fear of liquidation or bankruptcy. This study empirically investigated the relationship between Eskom’s financial performance and its own debt and government debt, using the utility’s financial statements and government debt data from 1985 to 2017. The study used two models, namely, the Vector Autoregression (VAR) Model and the Error Correction Model (ECM) to analyse the data. In terms of the VAR, according to the impulse response functions, a one standard deviation shock to the debt-to-GDP ratio has a minimal impact on the electricity price, Eskom’s revenue and Eskom debt. Therefore, an innovation to the debt-toGDP ratio explains a large proportion of itself, as one standard deviation shock to the electricity price has a positive response from Eskom’s revenue and its debt. Similarly, a one standard deviation shock to Eskom’s revenue has a positive response from the electricity price and Eskom’s debt, and a one standard deviation shock to Eskom’s debt has a positive response from the electricity price and Eskom’s revenue. The forecast error variance decomposition analysis shows that up to 9,17% of the forecast error variance of the debt-to-GDP ratio is explained by the electricity price. Government debt relative to GDP explains 32,9% of the forecast error variance in the electricity price. The electricity price explains 29,51% of the forecast error variance in Eskom’s revenue. The forecast error variance for Eskom debt is explained by government debt/GDP which is up to 30,34%. The ECM shows that a long run relationship exists between Eskom’s debt relative to government debt, Eskom’s revenue relative to the electricity price and Eskom’s staff numbers. The study shows that Eskom’s increase in revenue is largely attributed to tariff hikes, stateguaranteed loans and equity injections, rather than increases in sales. A large proportion of government debt is comprised of Eskom debt. The proposed avenue as a way forward is partial privatisation or fiscal consolidation. / Economics

Denna studie undersöker fyra av NTA- lådans lärarhandledningar inom naturvetenskap och teknik, med störst fokus på teknik, för årskurserna F-6.Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur NTA- lådans lärarhandledningarkan stödja läraren i teknikundervisningen tillika individanpassningen. Det teoretiska ramverk som används vid analyseringen av lärarhandledningar ärEducational Curriculum Materials (ECM). Analysen av lärarhandledningarna utgår från de fyra principerna Anpassad undervisning, Förankring i lärarpraktiken, Utökade ämneskunskaper och Didaktisk undervisning. Resultatet visar att NTAs lärarhandledningar har stor potential och är ett bra stöd för lärarens undervisning. Emellertid krävs det att läraren har ämneskunskaper och goda relationer till sina elever, för att kunna individanpassa teknikundervisningen.

No description available.