Introduction: Public health practice must ensure efficient access to effective and safe pharmaceuticals, while protecting the population from health risks related to the inappropriate use of pharmaceuticals. Background: About half of all packs sold in German pharmacies are over-the counter (OTC) drugs; their use and regulation is thus a subject of high relevance to public health. At the same time, OTC drugs receive rather limited attention in the drug regulatory and pharmacological literature, and little empirical evidence is available about OTC drug consumption and risk perceptions. Scope: The present thesis is based on four individual research papers that cover perceptions of and behaviours regarding OTC drugs among German adults, reasons for unsuccessful applications for changes to drug trade statuses, pharmacological perspectives on prescription-only (Rx)-to-OTC switches and the prevalence and predictors of OTC drugs use. Methods: This research draws on mixed methods, including an online survey, qualitative content analysis of policy and legislative documents and epidemiological analysis of data from the first phase of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults. Results: Among the adult population living in Germany, a seven-day OTC drug use prevalence of 40.2% was found. Female gender, older age, self-reported reduced health status and multimorbidity were significant predictors of OTC drug use. There were seven Rx-to-OTC switches between 2006 and 2015, but not all of these decisions were fully in line with the recommendations of the EU guideline on changing drug trade statuses. Further, unsuccessful applications for Rx-to-OTC switches, OTC-to-Rx switches and other changes trade Status were not infrequent. At the expert level, the most important reasons for rejected applications were drug safety concerns and insufficient data. At the policy level, negative decisions were mainly made because of legal restrictions. It was also found that risk perception of OTC drugs greatly depends on the route of administration and whether the product is plant-based or not. Moreover, consumers do not always read all details in the package leaflet. Conclusions: This thesis constitutes the first measure of OTC drug use in a representative sample of the adult population living in Germany. With a seven-day prevalence of 40.2%, OTC drug use is significant. While applications for changes in drug trade status and their fate are transparent, the reasons for negative recommendations are far less traceable. The findings of this thesis have led to the identification of several opportunities to improve OTC drug regulation. Detailed justifications for negative decisions on applications to changing drug trade statuses should be provided. Data that are already available a for instance, from large epidemiological studies a could be used to inform decision-making on potential changes to drug trade statuses. Such studies should make a distinction between self-medication and OTC drug use; they should also collect information on the doses and durations of OTC drug use. In addition, past changes to trade statuses should be evaluated so that lessons learned can inform future decision-making. Elaboration of a set of criteria concerning the risks and benefits of OTC availability is also recommended to increase evidence-based OTC drug regulation.
Huge controversy has arisen since the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 of Hong Kong, dubbed "Internet Article 23" by netizens, appeared in public view again, which was not adopted in the end. One of the concerns commonly raised by end users was whether uploading cover version (which refers to "online posting of earnest performance of copyright works" according to the Government's definition) would attract legal liability under the Bill. This article intends to first give an overview of the legal framework concerning cover version issue under Hong Kong copyright law. It then considers why such issue has provoked intense discussion in a political context. The article argues in conclusion that both the Government and public institutions can further their role in supporting creative and social innovation in music industry in the digital environment. ; Revised Version
The thesis consists of three essays in development and political economics. Political Connection, Government Patronage and Firm Performance: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms The paper tests whether politically connected firms receive preferential favor from the government, as measured by state capital investment from the central government and subsidies. My results suggest that firms connected with one more top leader from the State Council receive 9.4 percent more subsidies, firms connected with one more leader who holds positions on both the Central Committee and the State Council obtain 23 percent more state capital and then have a 2 percentage point higher product markup. When there is extra state capital due to political connections, other domestic capital is crowded out. The heterogeneous effects find that firms with more employees, but lower sales and less profit tend to receive more state capital if equally connected, while firms with higher sales tend to obtain more subsidies. This additional state capital and these subsidies do not seem to improve the firm's performance. The Determinants of Media Bias in China We measure and investigate the determinants of political control of newspapers in China. We find that more strictly politically controlled newspapers cover disasters and corruption more than their commercial competitors, most likely in order to monitor lower level officials. We also find that they cover leaders and the official news agency Xinhua to a larger extent. We find that in the cross section, the political control correlates negatively with GDP per capita and population size, but there is no time trend in the political control of Chinese newspapers in the 2000s. Finally, we analyze the effect of a reform to close down all county papers in 2003. The reduced competition significantly affected the degree of political control of the remaining papers. Chinese Microblogs and Drug Quality This paper examines the impact of the introduction of Sina Weibo, the most popular microblog in China, on the quality of drugs on the market. I find that the number of bad drugs is decreasing in Sina Weibo use: if the Sina Weibo use is doubled, the number of bad drugs found will be reduced by 21 percent. I show that the reduction of bad drugs is driven by two mechanisms: Sina Weibo induces more effort from the Drug Administration and it deters the production of bad drugs. The results suggest that microblogs can play an important role in monitoring both the public and the private sectors, especially in a context with media censorship.
This thesis provides a range of analyses to examine the current Chinese pension reform in both provincial and national contexts, with special emphasis on coverage increase and its long term financial implications. Quantitative assessment includes econometric analysis of survey data initiated and organized by the author and her colleagues. Special models are designed to reflect the transitional characteristics of the current Chinese pension system. The results confirm that the coverage increase delays the system-aging process, through labor migration and urbanization, by about 20 years. But a funding crisis is inevitable if no parametric reforms could be made in the current system and if the system is not well managed. Policy suggestions are made in line with the empirical analysis and model results. In addition, some structural pension reform options are discussed. Two Notional Defined Contribution (NDC) applications are presented and simulations indicate that an NDC system may be effective in smoothing the financial pressure for government while maintaining adequate levels of individual retirement benefit. In the final part of the thesis, a hypothetical safety net is assessed in the context of the current policy framework, and its cost is examined. The thesis introduces new data and first hand information about Chinese pension reform in a provincial context to reflect the features of the national system.
Problem: The Smart Open Services for European Patients (epSOS) piloted the exchange of electronic Patient Summaries and ePrescriptions between selected member states of the European Union (EU). This project basically solved the 'communication' or message transfer problem. However, it encountered a serious 'delivery' problem: the safe dispensation of a medicinal product noted in a prescription from a given country by a retail pharmacist in another country. The reason for this was that the specified medicine could in many instances not univocally be identified - the same name may identify a product with a different active ingredient, or the product with identical composition may carry a different name in the other country. If the prescribed medicine had not been authorised for marketing in the other country, information on its attributes may not be available. This rendered dispensation by the pharmacist impossible, even where substitution would, in principle, be allowed and possible.Objectives: This paper reports on the goal, activities and achievements of the openMedicine project towards development of a digital solution and its implementation to meet this identification and the resulting delivery challenge. European-wide and cross-Atlantic endeavours to enhance pharmacovigilance by being able to match adverse event reports filed under different drug names which provide, however, for the same active ingredient(s) were developed upon. And the need for and benefits of being able to trace for clinical purposes, e.g. the longer-term treatment with the same active ingredient, even when the name of the prescribed medicine changed several times, were explored.Methodological approach: The openMedicine project was funded by the European Commission (EC) on behalf of member states to analyse this European-wide problem. Work benefitted from the epSOS project and work by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the USA Federal Drug Agency (FDA), and standard development organisations (SDOs). Reviews of white and grey literature, ...
This paper proposes a simple framework to better understand an opposition group's choice between peace, terrorism, and open civil conflict against the government. Our model implies that terrorism emerges if constraints on the ruling executive group are intermediate and rents are sizeable, whereas conflict looms under poor executive constraints. Analyzing annual data for up to 158 countries in a panel setting provides evidence consistent with these hypotheses. The results emerge both when considering the incidence and onset of terrorism and conflict. The corresponding magnitudes are economically sizeable. Overall, these findings can help us understand and anticipate the choices of opposition groups.
Abstract To implement the ideological and political teaching concept of curriculum is a key measure to establish morality and cultivate talents in the new era, and also a basic requirement of colleges and universities' original mission of "educating talents for the Party and the country". University mathematics, as a basic subject universally offered in colleges and universities, has advantages in the course of ideological and political teaching, but also has obvious shortcomings. Linear algebra is a compulsory basic course for science and engineering majors, aiming at cultivating students' logical training and abstract thinking ability. This article mainly to the "Linear Algebra" teaching as an example, the first to study the Linear Algebra course ideological education and the advantages of the ideological education into the difficulty in the course, and put forward the linear algebra course ideological education the implementation of the specific methods: update teaching ideas, strengthen the teacher training, teaching methods and build a rich curriculum ideological system of the implementation of the path
The transformation and upgrading of rural hydropower rely on the property right trading market, and the professional property right trading market serves as the foundation to truly transform lucid waters and lush mountains into mountains of gold and silver. The study believes that by using two means, namely, government regulation and market incentive, water resources can be turned into ecological hydropower resources to finally realize the economic value of green energy through the ecological value transforming mechanism. The transforming mechanism, impelled by green hydropower certification and evaluation and professional property right trading market, has realized the ecological values, which not only promotes the green development of the local economy, but also realizes the transformation and upgrading of the rural hydropower industry. With the hydropower property right trading center, the development of the hydropower industry has encountered historic opportunities. At present, it is necessary to strive to improve the corresponding system, mechanism and cultural environment of the trading center to achieve the predetermined goal, and further standardize and improve the transaction activities. There are in all three figures and three tables.
This paper examines whether and how market competition affected the political bias of government-owned newspapers in China from 1981 to 2011. We measure media bias based on coverage of government mouthpiece content (propaganda) relative to commercial content. We first find that a reform that forced newspaper exits (reduced competition) affected media bias by increasing product specialization, with some papers focusing on propaganda and others on commercial content. Second, lower-level governments produce less-biased content and launch commercial newspapers earlier, eroding higher-level governments' political goals. Third, bottom-up competition intensifies the politico-economic tradeoff, leading to product proliferation and less audience exposure to propaganda. ; MEDIACHINA
In Germany, as in almost all industrial countries, active pharmaceutical substances can now be found in virtually all water bodies and occasionally also in drinking water. Even though the concentrations in question tend to be very low, there are initial signs of their impact on aquatic life. There is no evidence as yet of any acute consequences for human health. It is, however, impossible to rule out long-term consequences from these minimal concentrations or unexpected effects from the interaction between various active ingredients (cocktail effect). At special risk here are sensitive segments of the population such as children and the chronically ill. There is thus a need for action on precautionary grounds. The main actors in the health system are largely unaware of the problem posed by drug residues in water. Although knowledge cannot be equated with awareness – given the existence of the 'not wanting to know' phenomenon – the first step is to generate a consolidated knowledge base. Only by creating awareness of the problem can further strategies be implemented to ultimately enlighten and bring about behavioural change. At stake here is the overall everyday handling of medications, including prescription, compliance, and drug-free disease prevention down to the doctor-patient relationship. The latter, namely, is often characterised by misunderstandings and a lack of communication about the – supposed – need to prescribe drugs. The first part of the strategy for the general public involves using various channels and media to address three different target groups. These were identified by ISOE in an empirical survey as reacting differently to the problem under review: · 'The Deniers/Relativists' · 'The Truth-Seekers' · 'The Hypersensitives' The intention is to address each target group in the right tone and using the most suitable line of reasoning via specific media and with the proper degree of differentiation. The 'Truth-Seekers' play an opinion-leading role here. They can be provided with highly differentiated information through sophisticated media which they then pass on to their dialogue partners in an appropriate form. The second part of the strategy for the general public relates to the communication of proper disposal routes for expired drugs. The goal is to confine disposal to pharmacies so that on no account are they flushed down the sink or toilet. Based on an analysis of typical errors in existing communications media on this topic, ISOE prepared recommendations for drafting proper information materials. In addressing pharmacists, the first priority is to convey hard facts: to this end we propose a PR campaign to place articles in the main specialist media. At the same time, the subject should feature in training and continuing education programmes. Another aim is to strengthen the advisory function of the pharmacies. The environmentally sensitive target group would indeed react positively to having their attention drawn to the issue of drug residues in water. For all other customers, the pharmacists can and should act as consultants: they emphasise how important it is to take medication as instructed (compliance) and use suitable pack sizes, and warn older customers in particular about the potential hazards of improper drug intake. The first stage of the communications strategy for doctors likewise revolves around knowledge. Here, however, it is important to take into account their self-image as scientists while in fact having little grasp of this specific area. The line to take is that of 'discursive selfenlightenment'. This means that the issue of drug residues in water cannot be conveyed to doctors by laymen but must be taken up and imparted via the major media of the medical profession and by medical association officials (top-down). The second stage, namely that of raising doctors' awareness of the problem, is likely to encounter strong resistance from some of the medical profession. They may fear a threat of interference in treatment plans from an environmental perspective and feel the need to emphasise that doctors are not responsible for environmental issues. As shown in empirical surveys by ISOE, such a defensive reaction is ultimately down to an underlying taboo: people are loath to discuss the over-prescription taking place in countless doctors' surgeries. And it is a fact that this problem cannot be tackled from the environmental perspective, although the goals of water protection are indeed consistent with the economic objectives of restraint in the deployment of drugs. Any communications measure for this target group has to bear in mind that doctors feel restricted by what they see as a 'perpetual health reform' no matter which government is in power. On no account are they prepared to tolerate any new form of regulation, in this case for environmental reasons. An entirely different view of the problem is taken by 'critical doctors' such as specialists in environmental health and those with a naturopathic focus. They are interested in the problem because they see a connection between the quality of our environment and our health. What is more, they have patients keen to be prescribed as few drugs as possible and who are instead interested in 'talking medicine'. So, any communication strategy intent on tackling the difficult problem of oversubscribing drugs needs to look carefully at the experiences of these medical professionals and also at a 'bottom-up strategy'. Implementation of strategic communications should be entrusted to an agency with experience in 'issue management'. Knowledge of social marketing and the influencing of behaviour are further prerequisites. All important decisions should be taken by a consensus committee ('MeriWa'1 round table), in which the medical profession, pharmacists and consumers are represented. ; In Deutschland und in fast allen Industrieländern finden sich mittlerweile Medikamentenwirkstoffe in nahezu allen Gewässern und vereinzelt auch im Trinkwasser. Auch wenn die Konzentrationen in der Regel sehr gering sind, lassen sich erste Anzeichen für Auswirkungen auf Wasserlebewesen nachweisen. Akute Folgen für die menschliche Gesundheit sind bisher nicht erwiesen. Es kann allerdings nicht ausgeschlossen werden, dass sich Langzeitfolgen dieser Niedrigstkonzentrationen entwickeln und unerwartete Effekte durch die Wechselwirkung zwischen verschiedenen Wirkstoffen (Cocktaileffekt) entstehen. Besonders gefährdet sind dabei sensible Bevölkerungsgruppen wie Kinder und chronisch Kranke. Es besteht daher nicht zuletzt aus Vorsorgegründen Handlungsbedarf. Das Problem der Medikamentenreste im Wasser ist bei den wichtigsten Akteuren des Gesundheitssystems weitgehend unbekannt. Auch wenn Wissen nicht mit Bewusstsein gleichgesetzt werden kann – denn es gibt auch das Phänomen des Nicht-Wissen-Wollens – geht es in einem ersten Schritt darum, fundiertes Wissen zu erzeugen. Nur auf Basis dieser Sensibilisierung können weitere Strategien umgesetzt und letztendlich Aufklärung und Verhaltensänderungen erreicht werden. Dabei geht es um die gesamte Alltagspraxis im Umgang mit Medikamenten. Diese umfasst Fragen der Verschreibung, der Compliance, der nichtmedikamentösen Krankheitsvorsorge bis hin zum Arzt-Patienten-Verhältnis. Das ist nämlich häufig von Missverständnissen und mangelnder Kommunikation über – vermeintliche – Verschreibungsnotwendigkeiten geprägt. Der erste Teil der Strategie für die Bevölkerung soll über unterschiedliche Kanäle und Medien drei unterschiedliche Zielgruppen ansprechen, die in einer empirischen Untersuchung vom ISOE identifiziert wurden und auf das angesprochene Problem ganz unterschiedlich reagieren: · 'Die Verleugner/Relativierer' · 'Die Aufklärungsinteressierten' · 'Die Hypersensiblen' Jede Zielgruppe soll in der passenden sprachlichen und argumentativen Art und Weise durch spezifische Medien und mit dem richtigen Grad der Differenziertheit angesprochen werden. Dabei spielen "die Aufklärungsinteressierten" eine Opinionleader-Rolle. Sie können über anspruchsvolle Medien mit sehr differenzierten Informationen versorgt werden und geben dieses Wissen dann in angemessener Form an ihre Gesprächspartner weiter. Der zweite Teil der Strategie für die Bevölkerung bezieht sich auf die Kommunikation richtiger Entsorgungswege für Altmedikamente. Ziel ist es, dass Medikamentenreste nur noch in der Apotheke, keinesfalls aber in der Spüle oder in der Toilette entsorgt werden. Auf Grundlage einer Analyse typischer Fehler in bereits bestehenden Kommunikationsmedien zu diesem Thema hat das ISOE Empfehlungen zur richtigen Konzeption von Infomaterialien erarbeitet. Bei der Ansprache der Apotheker geht es in einem ersten Schritt um die Vermittlung von Faktenwissen: Wir schlagen dazu eine PR-Kampagne vor, die Artikel in den wichtigsten Fachmedien platziert. Gleichzeitig soll das Thema auch Teil der Aus- und Fortbildung werden. Zusätzlich soll die Beraterfunktion der Apotheken gestärkt werden. Die spezielle Zielgruppe der umweltsensiblen Kunden würde durchaus positiv darauf reagieren, wenn sie auf die Problematik der Medikamentenreste im Wasser hingewiesen würde. Bei allen anderen Kunden können und sollen die Apotheker ihre Rolle als Berater wahrnehmen: Sie betonen, wie wichtig die korrekte Einnahme (Compliance) und adäquate Packungsgrößen sind und warnen ihre Kunden, insbesondere die älteren, auch vor potenziellen Fehleinnahmen. Bei der Kommunikationsstrategie für Ärzte geht es im ersten Schritt ebenfalls um Wissen. Dabei muss aber deren Selbstverständnis als Wissenschaftler bei gleichzeitig niedrigem Wissensstand in diesem speziellen Feld berücksichtigt werden. Hier muss der Weg einer 'diskursiven Selbstaufklärung' beschritten werden. Das Thema Medikamentenreste im Wasser kann somit nicht von Laien von außen an die Ärzte herangetragen werden, sondern muss in wichtigen Medien der Ärzteschaft und durch Verbandsfunktionäre angenommen und kommuniziert werden (top-down). Wenn es im zweiten Schritt um eine Problemsensibilisierung geht, muss mit starkem Widerstand eines Teils der Ärzteschaft gerechnet werden. Sie könnten fürchten, dass eine Einmischung in Heilungspläne aus Umweltsicht droht und betonen, dass Ärzte nicht für Umweltfragen zuständig seien. Letztlich steht – das haben empirische Untersuchungen des ISOE gezeigt – hinter dieser Problemabwehr ein Tabu: Es soll nicht darüber gesprochen werden, dass in zahlreichen Praxen zu viel verschrieben wird. Diese Problematik kann tatsächlich nicht aus der Umweltperspektive angegangen werden. Doch decken sich hier die Ziele des Gewässerschutzes mit den ökonomischen Zielen eines sparsamen Umgangs mit Arzneimitteln. Bei jeder Kommunikationsmaßnahme für diese Zielgruppe muss berücksichtigt werden, dass sich die Ärzte von dem, was sie als 'Dauergesundheitsreform' aller Regierungen wahrnehmen, gegängelt fühlen. Sie sind keinesfalls bereit, eine neue Form der Regulierung, diesmal aus Umweltgründen, hinzunehmen. Ganz anders wird das Problem von 'kritischen Ärzten' wie Umweltmedizinern und von Ärzten mit Naturheilschwerpunkt gesehen. Sie interessieren sich für die Problematik, weil sie einen Zusammenhang zwischen Umweltqualität und Gesundheit sehen. Außerdem haben sie Patienten, die an möglichst wenig Medikamentenverschreibungen, dafür aber an einer 'sprechenden Medizin' interessiert sind. Wenn eine Kommunikationsstrategie also auch das schwierige Problem der übermäßigen Verschreibungen angehen will, empfiehlt es sich, die Erfahrungen dieser Mediziner einzubeziehen und zusätzlich auf eine 'Bottom-up-Strategie' abzuzielen. Mit der Umsetzung der strategischen Kommunikation sollte eine Agentur beauftragt werden, die Erfahrungen im 'Issue Management' vorweisen kann. Weiterhin sollte die Agentur Kenntnisse im Social Marketing und der Beeinflussung von Verhalten haben. Alle wichtigen Entscheidungen sollten von einem Konsens-Gremium (Runder Tisch 'MeriWa'1) verabschiedet werden, in dem die Ärzteschaft, die Apotheker sowie die Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher angemessen repräsentiert sind.
Leniency policies and asymmetric punishment are regarded as potentially powerful anticorruption tools, also in the light of their success in busting price-fixing cartels. It has been argued, however, that the introduction of these policies in China in 1997 has not helped fighting corruption. Following up on this view, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party passed, in November 2015, a reform introducing heavier penalties, but also restrictions to leniency. Properly designing and correctly evaluating these policies is difficult. Corruption is only observed if detected, and an increase in convictions is consistent with both reduced deterrence or improved detection. We map the evolution of the Chinese anti-corruption legislation, collect data on corruption cases for the period 1986-2010, and apply a new method to identify deterrence effects from changes in detected cases developed for cartels by Miller (2009). We document a large and stable fall in corruption cases starting immediately after the 1997 reform, consistent with a negative effect of the reform on corruption detection, but under specific assumptions also with increased deterrence. To resolve this ambiguity, we collect and analyze a random sample of case files from corruption trials. Results point to a negative effect of the 1997 reform, linked to the increased leniency also for bribe-takers cooperating after being denounced. This likely enhanced their ability to retaliate against reporting bribe-givers – chilling detection through whistleblowing – as predicted by theories on how these programs should (not) be designed.
In ancient China, where was frequently troubled by invaders, the government set up many beacon towers for alerting and transmitting military information along the border and the coast. Many beacon sites still exist in some areas, which are generally located in dangerous places with high mountains and rough terrain, bringing great difficulties to archaeological discovery. Therefore, it is particularly important to develop a predictive model applicable to the distribution of mountain beacon sites. Taking 68 beacon sites found in Wenzhou as research samples, this study used the superimposed method of logistic regression and viewshed analysis, forming a high-precision, scientific and operational predictive model for the distribution of beacon sites, which was verified by the cross-validation method. The results showed that the beacon site predictive model simulated in this study could reduce the probability scope of site location by 90% compared with the common logistic regression predictive model, which greatly improved the accuracy and ability of site prediction. At the same time, it could also be used to understand the relationship between the known sites and their surroundings to assist in decision-making about conservation and management.
BACKGROUND: Within the field of behavioral health research, one of the most understudied populations is the U.S. Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) population – a diverse group of individuals with hearing loss that have varied language and communication preferences, community affiliations, and sociocultural norms. Recent research identified concerning behavioral health disparities experienced by the D/HH population; yet, little research has been conducted to extend these findings to the topic of substance use disorder. METHODS: To begin to fill this gap, we conducted a secondary analysis of data from the 2013–2014 administration of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, comparing alcohol and drug use between participants based on their reported hearing status, i.e., D/HH or hearing. RESULTS: Findings suggest that the overall lifetime prevalence of alcohol and drug use does not differ based on hearing status, and that D/HH and hearing adolescents begin using cannabis on a similar timeline. However, findings also revealed that D/HH respondents were more likely to have been regular cannabis users and heavy alcohol users than hearing respondents. In other words, when D/HH individuals use substances, they tend to be heavy users. CONCLUSIONS: These findings stress the importance of directing resources to the prevention and treatment of heavy alcohol use in the D/HH population, given that binge drinking is associated with a number of health problems and social consequences. Additionally, the continuation of this empirical work is rather urgent given recent legislative changes regarding cannabis use. D/HH individuals possess a number of risk factors for substance use disorder and, as such, may be more greatly impacted by these legislative changes than individuals from the general U.S. population. It is imperative that this impact be captured by future research efforts in order to inform the development of prevention and intervention efforts for the traditionally-underserved D/HH population.
This thesis argues that one of the main characteristics of contemporary Chinese Australian literature in English language is its heavy focus on memory and identity. In order to prove this claim, the thesis analyses five English-language novels written by Chinese Australian writers from the period 1990-2010. These works are Lillian Ng's Silver Sister, Brian Castro's Shanghai Dancing, Ouyang Yu's The English Class, Lau Siew Mei's Playing Madame Mao and Hsu-Ming Teo's Behind the Moon. All of the five novels engage with notions of memory and identity in terms of textual structure, characterization, generic features and central themes. This thesis analyses how the selected texts view identity formation as a contested progress influenced by the modes through which fictionalized memory works. In each text, the categories of memory modes are identified and discussed, along with the textual representations. These travelling modes of memory demonstrate that identity can transcend collective belonging, ethnic differences, national borders, political frameworks and generational space. Such modes include 'cosmopolitan memory', which refers to the phenomena that collective memories transcend national and ethnical boundaries. A character who observes his or her past as a cosmopolitan experience acquires a cosmopolitan way of living, thus he or she does not need to be identified with any ethnic group or nationality. Cultural memory is also strongly attached to different languages in diaspora and, when memory is translated from one language to another, cultural translation plays a role in judging whether the past is correctly transferred and previous identities are sustained in a new environment. 'Political memory' refers to memory embedded in political incidents, usually traumatic and contested, through which individual identity is in a dynamic relation with national identity. 'Transgenerational memory' refers to memory that is difficult to be passed on across generations. In all of these modes, identity as a notion is contested and deconstructed. These literary works not only challenge essentialist formations of identity, but also experiment with new ways of establishing it by building new modes of memory. The thesis, in this way, examines the creation of new memory modes that allow new formation of identities in Chinese Australian literary contexts.
Hui Gao,1–3,* Bei Li,1,2,* Lingzhou Zhao,4 Yan Jin1,21State Key Laboratory of Military Stomatology, Center for Tissue Engineering, School of Stomatology, The Fourth Military Medical University, 2Research and Development Center for Tissue Engineering, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 3Department of Stomatology, PLA 309th Hospital, Beijing, 4State Key Laboratory of Military Stomatology, Department of Periodontology, School of Stomatology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workAbstract: Periodontal regeneration is an important part of regenerative medicine, with great clinical significance; however, the effects of nanotopography on the functions of periodontal ligament (PDL) stem cells (PDLSCs) and on PDLSC sheet based periodontal regeneration have never been explored. Titania nanotubes (NTs) layered on titanium (Ti) provide a good platform to study this. In the current study, the influence of NTs of different tube size on the functions of PDLSCs was observed. Afterward, an ectopic implantation model using a Ti/cell sheets/hydroxyapatite (HA) complex was applied to study the effect of the NTs on cell sheet based periodontal regeneration. The NTs were able to enhance the initial PDLSC adhesion and spread, as well as collagen secretion. With the Ti/cell sheets/HA complex model, it was demonstrated that the PDLSC sheets were capable of regenerating the PDL tissue, when combined with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSC) sheets and HA, without the need for extra soluble chemical cues. Simultaneously, the NTs improved the periodontal regeneration result of the ectopically implanted Ti/cell sheets/HA complex, giving rise to functionally aligned collagen fiber bundles. Specifically, much denser collagen fibers, with abundant blood vessels as well as cementum-like tissue on the Ti surface, which well-resembled the structure of natural PDL, were observed in the NT5 and NT10 sample groups. Our study provides the first evidence that the nanotopographical cues obviously influence the functions of PDLSCs and improve the PDLSC sheet based periodontal regeneration size dependently, which provides new insight to the periodontal regeneration. The Ti/cell sheets/HA complex may constitute a good model to predict the effect of biomaterials on periodontal regeneration.Keywords: titanium implant, titania nanotubes, periodontal ligament stem cells, periodontal regeneration, cell sheets
