Liya Wang

Two case studies are described where partially biodegraded petroleum residues were collected from the marine environment and analysed to investigate the changes in aromatic hydrocarbons with increasing biodegradation.The first of these studies, involved following the weathering of sea-floor residues from drilling discharges from an offshore petroleum exploration and production platform situated off the coast of North Western Australia. During operations, formation cuttings with adhering oil-based drilling muds were discharged into the ocean via a chute into approximately 125n1 of water, forming a substantial mound at the base of the platform. A suite of seabed sediments was collected from 16 sampling sites at various distances from the platform immediately following the cessation of drilling operations. The distribution of hydrocarbons in the sediment directly under tile cuttings chute was consistent with that found in drilling fluids formulated from a kerosene-like fluid. The samples from more remote sites exhibited the successive enhancement of an unresolved complex mixture relative to the n-alkanes, associated with tile presence of residues from petroleum biodegradation processes. In a subsequent sampling some three years later, a 10 cm core was retrieved from the cuttings pile and divided into 1 cm depth intervals. Samples within 6 cm of the surface of the cuttings pile contained biodegraded residues of the drilling mud, where the extent of biodegradation increased with decreasing proximity to the surface, most likely indicative of aerobic biodegradation. Biodegradation was less evident in the underlying sediments, where anaerobic conditions prevailed. / Analysis of the aromatic hydrocarbons in both sets of sediment extracts by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed the successive depletion of alkylnaphthalenes, and due to the subtlety of changes in the extent of biodegradation, provided an excellent opportunity to examine the susceptibility of biodegradation towards the individual alkylnaphthalenes in the marine environment. Conventional GC-MS analysis of these mixtures is performed under chromatographic conditions where complete resolution of the mixture is not achieved and several isomers co-elute. The mass spectra of these co-eluting isomers may be so similar that one is unable to differentiate between them, and their abundance may therefore not be determined. Since each isomer has a unique infrared spectrum, however, the abundance of each individual isomer was determined by comparing the infrared spectrum of the co-eluting compounds with the spectrum of each of the isomers. To this end, techniques were developed for the application of direct-deposition gas chromatography - Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (GCFTIR) to the analysis of the complex mixture of alkylnaphthalenes present in the petroleum. This technique was also extended to discriminate between individual alkylphenanthrene isomers, and to clarify the sorption behaviour of the dimethylphenanthrenes by mordenite molecular sieves. The identification of other compounds of geochemical significance in petroleum is also described. / Analyses of' the aromatic hydrocarbons in the contaminated sea-floor sediments using GC-FTIR enabled the unambiguous identification and quantification of each of the dimethylnaphthalene, trimethylnaphthalene and tetramethylnaphthalene isomers present in the samples, from which the relative extents of depletion of each with increasing extent of biodegradation were determined. It was apparent from the considerable differences in the observed susceptibility to biodegradation that a strong relationship exists between the compound structure and its susceptibility to biodegradation, with 1,6-disubstituted polymethylnaphthalenes being preferentially depleted relative to other isomers that lack this feature. The second case study involved tracking the fate (weathering) of hydrocarbons from an accidental release of condensate from a buried pipeline into intertidal coastal (mangrove) sediments in North Western Australia. Sediment samples were collected on nine occasions over a three-year period. Chemical analysis of the saturated and aromatic hydrocarbon components of the petroleum extracts revealed that both hydrocarbon fractions exhibited an increasingly biodegraded profile with increased residence time in the sediments. In a similar manner to the first case study, detailed analysis of the aromatic hydrocarbons using GC-FTIR techniques was performed to determine the depletion of individual alkylnaphthalene isomers with increasing extent of biodegradation. It was apparent that a relationship similar to that observed for the sea-floor sediments exists between the alkylnaphthalene structure and its susceptibility to biodegradation. / Changes in the distribution of methylphenanthrene and dimethylphenanthrene isomer mixtures were also studied and the susceptibility to biodegradation amongst these determined in a similar manner. These relative susceptibilities to biodegradation of the aromatic hydrocarbons were then related to the established hierarchy of susceptibilities of the saturated hydrocarbons, in effect providing a second parallel system for the assessment of the extent of biodegradation. Finally, a system of ratios calculated from the relative abundances of selected aromatic hydrocarbons was developed and used as indicators to differentiate between several crude oils that have been biodegraded to varying extents. These parameters also offer promise as indicators of multiple accumulation events in oil reservoirs where petroleum fluids biodegraded to differing extents are mixed.

The papers in this portfolio are part of the author's efforts to 'make things better' in education, and are the products of over a decade's thinking and research. While most of the papers are written from within the context of the state school system in NSW, their messages apply equally well to school systems elsewhere. The papers reflect an eclectic mix of research perspectives and methodological paradigms. It is suggested that student learning outcomes may be improved if schools specify goals and objectives, make the necessary resources available and establish accountability mechanisms for monitoring and measuring performance. The analysis and synthesis generates critical knowledge, that is, knowledge which is explanatory and interpretive. The desire to assist schools to achieve a position where they are able to (firstly) assemble their own data systems, and secondly to conduct their own analysis of this data and report this to the school community has been the common theme underpinning all the professional work of the author. The works evolved in this portfolio document an evolving process, and one which is far from concluded. There is much further work that could be done. An analysis of the macro and micro-politics of school improvement processes, for example, would be a useful contribution to the literature. For the present purposes, there is a practical need to limit the scope and number of the works presented. The works included all address, in some way, the common theme of improving school and systemic effectiveness through better information management. Hopefully, they have made some small contribution to better understanding the phenomenon, and will in turn positively impact on the performance of schools and school systems / Doctor of Education

Rapid growth of wealth management industry in Taiwan caused serious business dispute and oversell problem in recent years, and this study shows that wealth management banks only emphasis on how many products they sell and ignore how to help customers to make their financial plans is the key factor according to the analysis of laws and present situation. Besides, this study attributed this kind of phenomenon to over commission-orientation salary structure of financial consultants. After this situation, this study selected balanced scorecard to view the performance indicators of financial consultants work for banks which main business is on wealth management in order to get rid of financial factor only stand. The summary conclusions of this study are as below: 1. Wealth management industry gives priory to commission- orientation salary structure. 2. Banks and financial consultants have different stands in today¡¦s wealth management industry: banks emphasis on financial factor such as fee income and financial consultants pay their attention to customer factor. 3. Financial consultants who more care about their professional abilities have not only more skills to help customers to make financial plan, but have higher motivation to keep customer¡¦s equities. 4. Whether banks close to the customers or not won¡¦t directly affect how financial consultants emphasis on customer factor. 5. Counterproposal: fee income achievement rate, policy selling. 6. Advised performance indicators: AUM, extended AUM, customer asset return rate, moderate CIP

There were five purposes in this study as follows: 1.to develop the Taiwan Creative Education Indicators.(TCEI). 2.to develop the Taiwan Creative Education Indicators Index.(TCEII). 3.to develop the Taiwan Creative Education Implementation Questionnaire. (TCEIQ). 4.to evaluate the practice of creative education in elementary and secondary schools in Taiwan. 5.to bring up some suggestions for elementary and secondary schools in Taiwan. According to Taiwan¡¦s ¡§White paper on Creative Education¡¨(2002), creative educational medium range development program, and documents which concerned about implementing of creative education, this study developed the Taiwan creative education indicators through expert interview, in-field interview, and communicating with the propellants of creative education policy .In order to evaluate the practice of creative education, this study used the survey research method.(surveyed 356 schools and 615 members that actually implemented the Taiwan creative education policy.) This study also constructed AIPO Model to evaluate the practice of creative education, ¡§A¡¨ means the awareness of the teachers and members who actually implemented the creative education policy that established by Bureau of Education. ¡§I¡¨ means the educational input, ¡§P¡¨ means the educational process, ¡¨O¡¨ means the educational output. The educational input (I) includes governmental bounty, human resources, environmental resources. The educational process (P) includes the establishment of the creative communities, the use of creative ideas in academic subjects, the evaluation of creative projects, the evaluation of the use of governmental bounty. The educational output (O) includes creative activities, creative competitions and awards , the development of creative subject matters, students¡¦ creative performances. On the other hand, based on the whole awareness of the creative education, and five action programs as follows: ¡§Professional development for creative teachers¡¨, ¡§Nurturing trips for creative learners¡¨, ¡§Comprehensive management for creative schools¡¨ , ¡§Online learning via a creative intelligence bank¡¨, ¡§Ongoing consolidation of creativity cultivation¡¨ , this study brought up 95 creative education reference indicators. It also developed two evaluation tools- ¡§Taiwan Creative Education Indicators Index.(TCEII)¡¨, and ¡§Taiwan Creative Education Implementation Questionnaire.(TCEIQ)¡¨. The study found the practicing of creative education has great efforts in educational input, educational process and educational output. The average awareness scores of the propellants is 3.76 (1 means helpless, 5 means very helpful). In conclusion, boosting creative education is helpful, and we also know that awareness of teachers, practicing of creative education could enhance creativity of children, problem solving and basic academic ability. For teachers, it can enhance the ability of creativity and transferring courses and professional education knowledge. For school, it can improve participation of community, administrators, teachers and student. In the end, researcher brought up some suggestions for the implementation of creative education, the research targets, the research tools, and the research methods in the further study.

This study selects five public and private universities as subjects of study, using literature review, theoretical analysis, survey questionnaire of Delphi Technique, interviews in depth with experts, and the SWOT analysis to investigate the appropriateness and accuracy of measurement indicators which are used to evaluate the extent of internationalization for universities by the government in order to establish the measurement indicators of internationalization for Taiwan higher education. Based on the established measurement indicators we propose an integrated strategic plan of internationalization for Taiwan higher education. Based on the results of the study we obtained 6 dimensions such as teachers, students, research internationalization, course internationalization, international visibility and internationalization of administration and campus in addition to 74 criteria as the measurement indicators for the internationalization of Taiwan higher education. After analysis, we found that the measurement indicators of the accreditation institutions of Taiwan higher education are still not profound enough with respect to internationalization one. Current indicators lack of the care of international vision of students and international courses and therefore their accuracy and appropriateness are quite disputable. In internationalization strategy, our research results show that the investment of educational resources by the government is insufficient in comparison with the nearby countries. The subjects under study take majority in common internationalization strategies while showing their differences with respect to their own status, backgrounds, resources, academic specialty domains, and future development. In addition, the international visibility has a great impact on raising university competition ability and it seems that there is still much space of efforts to be put by all the subjects under the study. According to the research results, we suggest that government had better invest more resources at long term basis to assist universities to conduct long term academic interactions in teaching and research cooperation; take the good opportunity of more and more attention of the Chinese culture and the leading position of Taiwan in learning culture level to raise the quality of higher education and develop Taiwan into an academic platform and research center of Asia; while the universities can raise international visibility by participating in international organizations and establishing collaboration relations with foreign universities, develop academic fields that have local characteristics, establish differentiation strategies and create competition advantages. The measurement indicators of internationalization of higher education established by this study can provide as a direction or reference for universities and higher education accreditation institutions in promoting or evaluating their internationalization efforts.

Banks in the economy plays a role in funding will be available to those who need funds for expansion of production equipment, or increase the spending power. In the relations between the enterprises, in pursuit of synergy of the whole group can often see the relationship between the companies will consider the bank's diversification into the program, to facilitate the group planning for funds. However, in recent years, a series of financial scandals continue to occur, from Chung-Hsing commercial banks and the Tai Feng Group loans to the most recent scandals of the Chung-Hwa Commercial Bank and the Wan-Tai Commercial Bank show that many of the bank to carry out unlawful acts of the lenders, government agencies only after the incident, call the public have the confidence and clean up the whole mess, to avoid the loss of public confidence in the financial system. In this regard, this study tried to analyze the financial statements of public information of banks, to investigate the bank's asset quality and financial ratios, see the possibility of bank credit to the law and conduct business with the group. Then, further from the point of view of corporate governance, banking organizations and the business management behavior, whether or not to provide space for corrupt operators to commit crime. The study found that when the banks non-performing loan ratio, the storage ratio, the ratio of unsecured loans and short-term (long-term) lending and savings (regular ) the proportion of deposits in the high four figures, such as financial statements, the interested person transactions breakdown of issues and interpretation of abnormal lenders, together with the case of bank corporate governance are not implemented, such as board structure, independent directors, professional managers, information and internal audit system are not good , the banks should have the drawbacks of the existence of credit business. Therefore, this study was to use these projects to establish a set of early warning indicators for the operation. When detection of any signs of impropriety raise, the competent authority can engage in immediate financial checks.

The purpose of this study was to construct the indicators for accrediting institutions for intern teachers in Taiwan. Based on the result of document analysis, literature review, four times of panel discussion, public hearings, expertise validity and questionnaire review separately, the researcher constructs eight domains and thirty-five indicators for research. Samples not only are composed of domains administrative personnel; teachers whom work in affiliated experimental elementary and secondary schools, but consisted of intern teachers. The total number is 563. The research uses descriptive statistics, t-test and one-way ANOVA to analyze the appropriation of these indicators. In terms of the result, the research found out that ¡§the ideas of educational practicum¡¨ and ¡§the plan of educational practicum¡¨ are the best appropriate domains. Moreover, the male participants think the domain of ¡§checking system of educational practicum¡¨ is more appropriate than female. The intern teachers think the domain of ¡§the plan of educational practicum¡¨ and ¡§administrative supports of educational practicum¡¨ are more appropriate than those who had already finished their educational practicum. Except the domain of ¡§the achievement of educational practicum¡¨, there are significant differences in other seven domains between different identities. And the indicators of quality of mentor have significant differences between different school types. Finally, based upon above conclusions, the researcher offers several related suggestions to the education authority, the institutions of intern teachers, the institutions of teacher education and future studies, hoping to improve the educational practicum.

Taiwan business indicators are announced by CEPD(Council For Economic Planning And Development) , and divided into three categories ¡V business monitoring indications, business expectation indicators and industrial business expectation survey. Business expectation indicators are further divided into the Composite Index of Leading Indicators and the Composite Index of Coincident Indicators. Leading indicators, which are expected to forecast business cycles, are widely used to monitor or even predict the fluctuations of economic activities. They are also used to provide early signals of economic trend and, therefore, considered as a tool to adjust the government¡¦s economic policy. CEPD use the compilation of the USA National Bureau of Economic Research as a reference for a long time, and has announced Taiwan¡¦s ex-business indicators since 1977 without making any revision in the past years, so they announced new business indicators in 2007. As we know, it is difficult to find the leading indicator to make the stable variable of predicting the business cycle, which raises doubts of whether the current leading indicators can done the work concisely. CEPD make the indicators a little bit subjective because of considering government¡¦s policy and the meaning of containing widely economic fields and the convenience of static, so this research try to examine the effect of current seven leading indicators. This thesis focuses on leading indicators to investigate how the seven components are related to the general economy. Composite Index of Leading Indicators is made up of seven indicators in order to predict the business cycle. The seven indicators include Index of export orders, Monetary aggregates, M1B, Stock prices index, Index of producer's inventory, Average monthly overtime in industry & services, Building permits, SEMI book ¡Vto¡Vbill ratio. In the purpose of getting more sample data, we take Industrial production index, one of coincident indicators announced by CEPD as the variable of current economy.

Thesis (M. P. A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2009. / "Fall 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-75).