The Impact of the GST on Mortgage Yield Spreads of Australian Building Societies

Australia has experienced significant rises in mortgage costs and sharp declines in housing affordability in the last few decades, particularly since it implemented a new tax system of Goods and Services Tax （GST） in July 2000. Prior research has attempted to examine the influence of the GST on general price levels, but little research effort has been directed to investigate the impact of the GST on mortgage costs. Using proprietary data of major building societies in Australia for 36 months, this paper examines the changes of mortgage yield spreads in the pre-and post-GST periods for building societies. Results suggest that the lenders significantly increased their mortgage charges in the post-GST periods, For example, the increase is found to be, on average, 59.0 basis points which are much higher than that of banks.

Monthly Seasonality in the Top 50 Australian Stocks

We studied monthly seasonality in the top 50 Australian stocks across different industry sectors. Unlike other Australian studies, we examined monthly seasonality using stock return data of individual companies for the period of January 1980 through to August 2010. We found that stock returns of over half of the 50 companies are significantly positive in April and December, and most companies have low stock returns in October. Seven companies have higher returns in April than in other months of the year, most of which are banking and financial services companies, while six companies have lower returns in February than in other months. Although Australia has a July-June taxation cycle, we found that only three stocks have a July anomaly. The findings are inconsistent with the tax-loss selling hypothesis and other studies on the Australian equity markets （e.g., Brown, Keim, Kleidon, ＆ Marsh, 1983; Brailsford ＆ Easton, 1991）. However, our findings are generally consistent with Bonin and Moses （1974） on individual stock seasonality

医务人员呼吸防护用品适合性检验和密合性检查有效性的系统综述

目的呼吸防护在医疗卫生工作中至关重要,应使用适当的颗粒过滤呼吸器和等效的呼吸防护用品,以确保良好的佩戴气密性,最大限度地降低医务人员的空气传播感染风险。该文旨在对呼吸防护用品适合性检验和密合性检查有效性研究进行综述和分析。方法系统检索了2003年1月至2022年4月发表的文献,检索范围包括CINAHL、Cochrane图书馆、EMBASE、PubMed、Ovid数据库Medline子库和灰色文献。研究方案已在PROSPERO注册(CRD42020213968)。结果共检索出561篇文献,25篇被纳入该综述,包括22项量性研究和3篇指南文献。在评估呼吸防护用品的有效性方面,适合性检验是更有效且被广泛采用的可靠方法,但呼吸防护程序应该同时包括适合性检验和密合性检查,以最大限度地提高呼吸防护用品的有效性。新型冠状病毒疫情凸显了医务人员相关知识的缺乏,相关教育培训可有效提高呼吸防护用品使用的有效性。结论为确保医务工作者的安全,适合性测试和密合性检查均应采用。建议由专业人员实施全面的呼吸防护项目,包括教育培训、适合性测试和密合性检查,还需要探索适用于实际使用环境的适合性检验方法。

公共卫生决策与风险沟通

公共卫生决策是公共卫生管理的核心,风险沟通是保证决策制定及实施的重要条件,在公共卫生管理工作中发挥着重要的作用。本文探讨公共卫生决策与风险沟通及其影响因素,主要包括信息准确充分、沟通全面及时及合作与协调等,为今后公共卫生决策与管理工作提供信息参考。

外国直接投资与旅游业:来自中国的证据

本文将Zaptata和Rambaldi(1997)提出的方法应用于中国的季度数据,以便检验中国的外国直接投资(FDI)和旅游业之间的因果关系。实证结果表明,由FDI到旅游存在着单向因果关系。这一发现有助于解释过去的十几年中中国旅游市场的快速发展。

The Current Status of Physical Therapy in China

The current health system in China has evolved by embracing both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. China is the only country in the world where the number of doctors is larger than the number of nurses but education programmes for other health professions like physical therapy have been slow to develop. In the case of physical therapy it was not until China won the bid for the Olympic Games that permission to establish the first physical therapy programme was granted. Since then China has undergone a period of rapid economic growth enabling many people to have a higher standard of living and improved health, but at the same time the country is faced with massive urbanization, industrialization, increasing environmental health threats, increased health disparities and an aging population. With the support of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, an increased investment by the Government in public health and rehabilitation and engagement of international education experts, entry-level education programmes for physical therapy have started to develop and there are now nine which are modeled, at least to some extent, on the World Confederation for Physical Therapy's international guidelines. The paper explores the development of physical therapy education in China and discusses possible options for the way forward so that as the demand for physical therapy to service 1.4 billion people grows, the profession is prepared and the standards expected of the entrylevel physical therapist will not be compromised.

工作场所健康管理的概念与方法及成功实例

绝大多数的成年人花费最多的时间是在工作上,工作场所是影响职工身体、心理、社会适应的一个重要场所.健康的员工才是有生产力的员工,为工人提供一个促进健康的工作环境十分重要.

Daily Patterns in Stock Returns： Evidence From the New Zealand Stock Market

In this paper, we study day-of-the-week effects in stock retums across different industry sectors in the New Zealand market. Unlike other studies on this market, we examine weekday seasonality using daily stock return data of four market indexes and 16 industry sectors for the period from October 1, 1997 to April 16, 2009. We do not find significant Monday anomalies of the market index, large capitalization stock index and all industry sectors except for the property sector. Our finding is inconsistent with the literature on the New Zealand stock market. However, we find that the mid and small capitalization stocks have significant negative returns on Mondays than on other weekdays, which is consistent with the previous studies in some other markets.

RFID Adaption in Healthcare Organizations:An Integrative Framework

Radio frequency identification(RFID),also known as electronic label technology,is a non-contact automated identification technology that recognizes the target object and extracts relevant data and critical characteristics using radio frequency signals.Medical equipment information management is an important part of the construction of a modern hospital,as it is linked to the degree of diagnosis and care,as well as the hospital’s benefits and growth.The aim of this study is to create an integrated view of a theoretical framework to identify factors that influence RFID adoption in healthcare,as well as to conduct an empirical review of the impact of organizational,environmental,and individual factors on RFID adoption in the healthcare industry.In contrast to previous research,the current study focuses on individual factors as well as organizational and technological factors in order to better understand the phenomenon of RFID adoption in healthcare,which is characterized as a dynamic and challenging work environment.This research fills a gap in the current literature by describing how user factors can influence RFID adoption in healthcare and how such factors can lead to a deeper understanding of the advantages,uses,and impacts of RFID in healthcare.The proposed study has superior performance and effective results.

IMPROVED MEASURES OF WIND EROSION RATE USING METEOROLOGICAL RECORDS OF DUST STORMS

Meteorological records of dust storm frequencies have recently been used to describebroadscale wind erosion in several regions of the world (West Africa-Middleton 1985, Mid-dle East-Middeton 1986, USA-Nicking & Brazel 1984) and in Australia significant recentprogress has been made (Middleton 1984, McTainsh and Pitblado 1987, Burgess etal, 1988, Mctainsh et al, 1989, 1990). These studies demonstrate the utility of thismethodology for measuring wind erosion on a broadscale. There remains significant

Studies on TOP executive performance evaluation system of Chinese listed companies

According to the development status of Chinese listed companies, it is important to implement a stock option incentive plan for the top executives (TE) of the companies. It is necessary to establish a set of indices to evaluate a top executive’s performance and award performance-based stock options to them scientifically and reasonably. This thesis sets indices from the perspective of the top executive’s behaviour and results, which differs from the traditional methods performance evaluation.

The "five senses of success" in nursing students: Assessing first-year support engagement

Objectives: This study aimed to identify School and University support services available and accessed by nursing students transitioning into a university environment as many struggle to adjust to competing demands of personal commitments and expectations at university.Methods: A mixed methods design was used,based on activity theory and Lizzio's Five Senses of Success frameworks as exploratory guides.This study was conducted amongst the first year cohort at one campus of the Bachelor of Nursing (BN) program in Queensland,Australia.An initial baseline assessment of what University and School-based support services were on offer for students,and how the students interacted with the support services was conducted.This was followed by a survey to identify awareness and access to support services.Focus groups were then conducted to clarify the previous results and to determine engagement with these support services.Results: A randomly selected number of students (n =150) in the first-year 2014 cohort of the BN program (n =300) were included in this study.The survey was completed by 54 students and three semistructured focus groups were conducted.The analysis indicated that the support services in place were successful in reaching the majority of students and contributed to their sense of success at university,Specifically students identified that a whole cohort approach to support enhanced their transition to university.Conclusion: Identifying lesser known services early in the first year will ensure that students are supported and encouraged to use all services,contributing to their sense of success at university.

Concept Paper： Developing Pavement Structural Deterioration Curves

A SN （structural number） can be calculated for a road pavement from the properties and thicknesses of the surface, basecourse, sub-base and subgrade. Historically, the cost of collecting structural data has been very high. Data was initially collected using Benkelman Beams and now by FWD （falling weight deflectometer）. The structural strength of pavements weakens over time due to environmental and traffic loading factors but due to a lack of data, no structural deterioration curve for pavements has been implemented in a PMS （pavement management system）. IRI （international roughness index） is a measure of the road longitudinal profile and has been used as a proxy for a pavement’s structural integrity. This paper offers two conceptual methods to develop PSDC （pavement structural deterioration curves）. Firstly, structural data are grouped in sets by design ESA （equivalent standard axles）. An ISN （“initial” SN）, SNI （intermediate SN） and a TSN （terminal SN）, are used to develop the curves. Using FWD data, the ISN is the SN after the pavement is rehabilitated （Financial Accounting “Modern Equivalent”）. Intermediate SNIs, are SNs other than the ISN and TSN. The TSN was defined as the SN of the pavement when it was approved for pavement rehabilitation. The second method is to use TSD （traffic speed deflectometer） data. The road network already divided into road blocks, is grouped by traffic loading. For each traffic loading group, road blocks that have had a recent pavement rehabilitation, are used to calculate the ISN and those planned for pavement rehabilitation to calculate the TSN. The remaining SNs are used to complete the age-based or if available, historical traffic loading-based SNIs.

Global Financial Planning Education Standards

Financial planning may not meet all the accepted criteria of traditional professions such as divinity and law, it does, however, fit the post-modernist view of professions characterized by the role played by professional associations. The hallmark of a profession is the presence of a common body of knowledge and it can be claimed that a theoretical body of knowledge for the ＂financial planning profession＂ has always existed, although it has only been in recent times that agreement has been reached on a common understanding of the theoretical basis of the financial planning profession. This common body of knowledge is the basis upon which the Financial Planning Standards Board [FPSB] is attempting to develop a global curriculum as part of the certification process for financial planners. The FPSB has developed a curriculum framework to be applied by its affiliate members to ensure consistency in global education standards. A review of Certified Financial Planner （CFP） certification in Australia, China, India and the United States exposes differences in how this is approached. The Intemational Organization for Standardization [ISO] has also emerged as another forum in which global financial planning education standards have been set. Although the FPSB＇s global financial planning education standards has a high degree of compatibility with the ISO standard, the ISO standard has largely remained as a shelf reference.

Causes and Ramifications of the Xinjiang july 2009 Disturbances

In July 2009, serious ethnic disturbances took place in 0r^imqi, the capital of Xinjiang, in China＇s north-west. Although open to diverse interpretations, they embodied serious conflicts between the Oighurs--the most populous ethnic group of Xinjiang--and China＇s dominant Han nationality. This article seeks to identify the causes of the disturbances, including both those internal to China and those external to it, both short-term and long-term. The issue is important, because Chinese official sources largely blamed outside terrorist and extremist forces, especially those associated with the main Uighur diaspora organizations, while the Uighur diaspora itself, largely supported by Western journalists and scholars, put the responsibility on the Chinese state, charging it with injustices against the Uighurs. This article contributes to the literature by finding both internal and external contributing factors. It also looks at the ramifications of the disturbances, including both the aftermath of the incidents and prospects for the future, and adopts a fairly pessimistic stance concerning short-term ethnic relations. The methodology is textual analysis and personal experience.

Cultural and Economic Maps Within the Italian Agricultural Landscape

The paper situates itself within a Ph.D. research investigating the relationship between food cultural habits and the built environment, aiming to understand how thinking on sustainable food production and distribution can help deal in a new way with urban sustainability by considering the cultural principles connected to the Slow Food philosophy. The paper investigates the activities of a small group of Italian wine producers and farmers within the agricultural landscape around Piacenza, and the way they influence the transformation of local urban and rural environments through either the application of the principles promoted by the Slow Food organization, or the creation of alternative “unofficial” strategies. Through the analysis of documents relating to the past and present history of the agricultural territory around Piacenza and its material culture, the presented study aims to understand how historically consolidated contexts are physically transformed through food culture. Considering historical and economic works on the Italian agricultural landscape, the paper stresses the dichotomy between consolidated cultural practices acting on a historically traditional landscape, and the innovation coming from the subversion of those practices, by visualizing them through a qualitative-quantitative gastronomic map of the local territory.

Factors associated with changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviour during one year among university-based young adults

The purpose of this study was to identify correlates of changes in physical activity(PA)and sedentary behaviour(SB)among university-based young adults in Bangladesh.Data were from a 1-year prospective study with 2 assessment points(baseline n=573,20.7±1.35 years,45%female;retention rate 69%,analytical sample=395).Participants completed a self-administered written survey on PA,SB,health and lifestyle be-haviours,and sociodemographics.Changes in PA were categorised as:negligible(±<60 min/week),>60 min/week decrease,or>60 min/week increase.Changes in SB were categorised as negligible(±<120 min/week),>120 min/week decrease,and>120 min/week increase.Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify the correlates.About quarters(72%)of participants had insufficient PA at both assessment points.Of those who were sufficiently active at Wave 1,5%became insufficiently active at Wave 2.One quarter of par-ticipants(23%)had high SB at Wave 1 and Wave 2.Of those who had low SB at Wave 1,16%had high SB at Wave 2.Being male[OR=2.04(95%CI:1.06–3.93)],baseline phone time of>2 h/day[OR=3.14(95%CI:1.04–7.04)]and not participating in organised sports at baseline[OR=2.56(95%CI:1.24–5.29)]were associated with a decrease in PA by>60 min/week.Participants who frequently experienced stress at baseline had higher odds of increasing SB by>120 min/day[OR=1.83(95%CI:1.04–3.23)].SB is more variable than PA over 1 year in university-based young adults in Bangladesh.Males,those with high phone time,those not engaging with organised sports,and those with frequent stress may change to a more inactive lifestyle.

West meets east: Understanding managerial incentives in Chinese SOEs

State-owned enterprises(SOE) are essentially extensions of the government and are therefore responsible for multi-task objectives. The incentive system for SOE managers consists of both monetary compensation and promotion within the bureaucratic system. Political promotion is key to understanding the incentives of SOE managers. In the reform and opening up era, SOEs have been reformed and exposed to political and market forces. The design of incentive systems for SOE managers has thus become complicated and challenging.Our study provides important implications for this key issue of SOE reform.

Does China's Huge External Surplus Imply an Undervalued Renminbi?

A pegged exchange rate regime has been pivotal to China＇s export-led development strategy. However, its huge trade surpluses and massive build up of international reserves have been matched by large deficits for major trading partners, creating acute policy concerns abroad, especially in the USA. This paper provides a straighOeorward conceptual framework for interpreting the effect of China＇s exchange rate policy on its own trade balance and that of trading partners in the context of discrepant economic growth rates. It shows how pegging the exchange rate when output is outstripping expenditure induces China＇ s trade surpluses and counterpart deficits for its trading partners. An important corollary is that given its strictly regulated capital account, China＇s persistently large surpluses imply a significantly undervalued renminbi, which should gradually become more flexible.

Western Images of Post-1976 China

西方人如何看待当前中国和中国发生的事情,值得站在对外交往前沿的外语界师生关注。Colin Mackerras 教授综述了近二十年来西方世界对中国的各种态度及其变化。分五点叙述:1.文革中的十年,谴责和同情中国的两种不同态度;2.文革后的十年,西方国家人民对中国的喜爱与年俱增;3.有些评论家认为:中国的传统思想和习惯仍有很大影响;4.西方对于中国近几年的经济情况和对外开放政策的看法。最后对中国总的情况和发展趋向做了述评。作者在六十年代和八十年代中期两度在北京高等学校教过书。