title: A low-toxicity method for the separation of lanosterol and dihydrolanosterol from commercial mixtures

authors: Kavtaradze, Levan K.

subjects: lanosterol

abstract: We describe an inexpensive, low-toxicity and high-yielding method for the production of pure lanosterol and dihydrolanosterol from the commercially available mixture. Optimum conditions are presented for the one-pot production of the intermediate 24,25 vicinal diol of lanosterol acetate (via either epoxidation or hydroxyhalogenation) which is readily separated from the unreacted dihydrolanosterol acetate. The lanosterol diol can then be converted to pure (>97%) lanosterol. Hypophosphorous acid was used for both the conversion of the epoxide to the diol, and as a catalyst for the hydroxyhalogenation by N-halosuccinimides of the olefinic bond.

text: A low-toxicity method for the separation of lanosterol and dihydrolanosterol from commercial mixtures We describe an inexpensive, low-toxicity and high-yielding method for the production of pure lanosterol and dihydrolanosterol from the commercially available mixture. Optimum conditions are presented for the one-pot production of the intermediate 24,25 vicinal diol of lanosterol acetate (via either epoxidation or hydroxyhalogenation) which is readily separated from the unreacted dihydrolanosterol acetate. The lanosterol diol can then be converted to pure (>97%) lanosterol. Hypophosphorous acid was used for both the conversion of the epoxide to the diol, and as a catalyst for the hydroxyhalogenation by N-halosuccinimides of the olefinic bond.

year: 2004-09-01

title: Testing for bubbles in time series data using long historical series

authors: Hu, Yang

subjects: thesis with publication

abstract: The concept of asset price bubble has drawn a large amount of academic attention. A bubble is commonly defined as where the asset price is not justified by expectations of the fundamentals. The empirical characteristics of a bubble are widely regarded as a dramatic rise in asset prices in the early periods along with a sudden collapse, which have been observed in a wide range of financial markets including commodity, real estate and stock.
This thesis attempts to examine several well-noticed bubble episodes in history, for example, the Mississippi Bubble in 1719, the South Sea Bubble in 1719-20, Japan’s asset price bubble during the 1980s and the more recent US real estate bubble in the early 2000s. One of the greatest contribution of this thesis is that it has provided econometric-based evidence to support the existence of these famous episodes for the first time using recently developed econometric tests. The origination and collapse dates for these identified episodes are coincided with the traditional view of famous bubbles.
This thesis not only tests for the existence of bubbles but also seeks to provide some empirical evidence to support the existence of bubble spillovers/contagion using the most-documented bubble episodes. The first example considered in this thesis is whether financial bubbles/crises spill-over to housing markets in Amsterdam, Norway and France. The second example is considered for a number of British financial organisations during the South Sea episode in 1719-20 (e.g., the South Sea Company, the Bank of England, East India Company, London Assurance, Million Bank, the Royal African Company and the Royal Exchange Assurance). The South Sea Bubble seems to migrate to other organisations as the British share market was speculative for that period. The timings of some identified episodes can be viewed as possible evidence of spillovers or contagion for this important period in England. The third example looks at the Japan’s real estate and stock markets during the 1980-90s. Based on econometric tools, the findings indicate signs of bubble migration from Japan’s stock market to its real estate market for the first time. Even if this phenomenon has been observed in the literature, none of existing studies provide any solid evidences to support this claim.
This thesis investigates the long-run equilibrium relationship between house prices and economic fundamentals in the US based on quantile cointegration approaches for the first time. The presence of cointegration between house prices and fundamentals would imply convergence to a stable equilibrium relationship, suggesting a temporary run-up or drop in house prices would eventually come back to the equilibrium. By making use of quantile autoregressive distributed lag model (QARDL), this research explores the cointegration relationship across the whole
conditional distribution.

text: Testing for bubbles in time series data using long historical series The concept of asset price bubble has drawn a large amount of academic attention. A bubble is commonly defined as where the asset price is not justified by expectations of the fundamentals. The empirical characteristics of a bubble are widely regarded as a dramatic rise in asset prices in the early periods along with a sudden collapse, which have been observed in a wide range of financial markets including commodity, real estate and stock.
This thesis attempts to examine several well-noticed bubble episodes in history, for example, the Mississippi Bubble in 1719, the South Sea Bubble in 1719-20, Japan’s asset price bubble during the 1980s and the more recent US real estate bubble in the early 2000s. One of the greatest contribution of this thesis is that it has provided econometric-based evidence to support the existence of these famous episodes for the first time using recently developed econometric tests. The origination and collapse dates for these identified episodes are coincided with the traditional view of famous bubbles.
This thesis not only tests for the existence of bubbles but also seeks to provide some empirical evidence to support the existence of bubble spillovers/contagion using the most-documented bubble episodes. The first example considered in this thesis is whether financial bubbles/crises spill-over to housing markets in Amsterdam, Norway and France. The second example is considered for a number of British financial organisations during the South Sea episode in 1719-20 (e.g., the South Sea Company, the Bank of England, East India Company, London Assurance, Million Bank, the Royal African Company and the Royal Exchange Assurance). The South Sea Bubble seems to migrate to other organisations as the British share market was speculative for that period. The timings of some identified episodes can be viewed as possible evidence of spillovers or contagion for this important period in England. The third example looks at the Japan’s real estate and stock markets during the 1980-90s. Based on econometric tools, the findings indicate signs of bubble migration from Japan’s stock market to its real estate market for the first time. Even if this phenomenon has been observed in the literature, none of existing studies provide any solid evidences to support this claim.
This thesis investigates the long-run equilibrium relationship between house prices and economic fundamentals in the US based on quantile cointegration approaches for the first time. The presence of cointegration between house prices and fundamentals would imply convergence to a stable equilibrium relationship, suggesting a temporary run-up or drop in house prices would eventually come back to the equilibrium. By making use of quantile autoregressive distributed lag model (QARDL), this research explores the cointegration relationship across the whole
conditional distribution.

year: 2019

title: Cultural diversity and identity discourses in the design and implementation of the New Zealand curriculum key competencies: a Bernsteinian analysis

authors: Glogowski, Sonia Theresa

subjects: Culture

abstract: The key competencies as a curriculum construct have appeared in several national curricula from the early 2000s. Many have their origins in the Definition and Selection of Key Competencies Project (DeSeCo), commissioned by the supra-national Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A number of international critiques have highlighted tensions between neoliberal ideologies that underpin the key competencies, and broader socio-cultural and social justice issues within their respective countries (e.g., Crick, 2008; Sjøberg, 2016; Takayama, 2013).
This research investigated who and what influenced the design and implementation of the key competencies in the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum, and how students’ cultural diversity and identities were considered as part of this. Data for this case study were collected from three sources: interviews with key policy officials and academic consultants six years after the launch of the official curriculum; analysis of policy documents and discussion papers from government archives, and focus group interviews with teachers from two schools seven years into implementation. Bernstein’s (2000) theory of the pedagogical device, was used to focus analysis on the agents, influences, debates and events that impacted on the design and implementation of the curriculum. Fraser’s (1989) needs’ discourse theory was used to examine interpretations of cultural diversity and identity, and the implications of implicit valued attitudes and behaviours of the key competencies.
Findings indicated that in the New Zealand educational policy context, the roles and interactions between agents and processes in the fields of production and reproduction were more ‘fluid’ and consultative than Bernstein’s (2000) structuralist model would suggest. This may be reflective of New Zealand’s small population and more informal collaboration between agents in different fields. The development of this curriculum prioritised the ‘process’ of understanding curriculum through consultation and feedback, compared to previous curricula which were more focussed on curriculum as a ‘product’.
New Zealand’s socio-political climate, and its bicultural Treaty of Waitangi, appeared to impact on how the key competencies were conceived, and how student diversity and identity were interpreted at different points in the curriculum design and implementation process. Interviews with key policy officials and academic consultants revealed that cultural diversity was largely associated with ethnicity, and in particular, differences between indigenous Māori and Pākehā (New Zealand European). Less attention was given to the concept of multiple identities and intersections between ethnicity, socio economic class, gender and so on, and how these might influence interpretations of the key competencies. This was despite evidence of early discussion papers highlighting these complexities.
At the curriculum implementation level, Bernstein (2000) argues that schools and teachers can often ‘reproduce’ middle class values and expected behaviours through ‘invisible’ pedagogical practices, with little awareness of potential disjuncts for disadvantaged groups. Yet he also states that this is not necessarily deterministic, and the finding for the two school focus groups demonstrated this. Despite no evidence that student diversity was a specific aspect of their professional development on key competencies, the teachers discussed some complexities of student diversity in their schools and how the key competencies might be interpreted in different ways. However, given the case study schools were considered to be particularly ‘diverse’, this type of discussion and consideration may not be typical of other New Zealand schools.
The findings support the notion that the New Zealand curriculum key competencies were ‘weakly classified’ and ‘strongly framed’ (Bernstein, 2000). This means a high level of interpretation was located with school leaders and teachers, within the context of a permissive curriculum and thus presents both opportunities and risks.
This case study highlights the importance of agents in every field understanding the complexities and implications of diversity in education. In addition, if the key competencies genuinely seek to enhance both vocational and social justice outcomes for a more cohesive and equitable society, then education for diversity would seem to be important.
This research contributes new knowledge in relation to the process of curriculum design, highlighting the impact of a unique socio-political context on the interpretation of a curriculum construct, and the implications of ‘valued’ attitudes and behaviours of the key competencies on diverse students. It provides an example of how Bernstein’s (2000) theory of the pedagogical device can be used to identify important influences and processes that impact on the different stages of a curriculum design and implementation process. It also illustrates how the device can be usefully complemented by another theory, in this case Fraser’s (1989) needs discourse theory, to examine more closely the discourse that relates to a particular lens of the research.

text: Cultural diversity and identity discourses in the design and implementation of the New Zealand curriculum key competencies: a Bernsteinian analysis The key competencies as a curriculum construct have appeared in several national curricula from the early 2000s. Many have their origins in the Definition and Selection of Key Competencies Project (DeSeCo), commissioned by the supra-national Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A number of international critiques have highlighted tensions between neoliberal ideologies that underpin the key competencies, and broader socio-cultural and social justice issues within their respective countries (e.g., Crick, 2008; Sjøberg, 2016; Takayama, 2013).
This research investigated who and what influenced the design and implementation of the key competencies in the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum, and how students’ cultural diversity and identities were considered as part of this. Data for this case study were collected from three sources: interviews with key policy officials and academic consultants six years after the launch of the official curriculum; analysis of policy documents and discussion papers from government archives, and focus group interviews with teachers from two schools seven years into implementation. Bernstein’s (2000) theory of the pedagogical device, was used to focus analysis on the agents, influences, debates and events that impacted on the design and implementation of the curriculum. Fraser’s (1989) needs’ discourse theory was used to examine interpretations of cultural diversity and identity, and the implications of implicit valued attitudes and behaviours of the key competencies.
Findings indicated that in the New Zealand educational policy context, the roles and interactions between agents and processes in the fields of production and reproduction were more ‘fluid’ and consultative than Bernstein’s (2000) structuralist model would suggest. This may be reflective of New Zealand’s small population and more informal collaboration between agents in different fields. The development of this curriculum prioritised the ‘process’ of understanding curriculum through consultation and feedback, compared to previous curricula which were more focussed on curriculum as a ‘product’.
New Zealand’s socio-political climate, and its bicultural Treaty of Waitangi, appeared to impact on how the key competencies were conceived, and how student diversity and identity were interpreted at different points in the curriculum design and implementation process. Interviews with key policy officials and academic consultants revealed that cultural diversity was largely associated with ethnicity, and in particular, differences between indigenous Māori and Pākehā (New Zealand European). Less attention was given to the concept of multiple identities and intersections between ethnicity, socio economic class, gender and so on, and how these might influence interpretations of the key competencies. This was despite evidence of early discussion papers highlighting these complexities.
At the curriculum implementation level, Bernstein (2000) argues that schools and teachers can often ‘reproduce’ middle class values and expected behaviours through ‘invisible’ pedagogical practices, with little awareness of potential disjuncts for disadvantaged groups. Yet he also states that this is not necessarily deterministic, and the finding for the two school focus groups demonstrated this. Despite no evidence that student diversity was a specific aspect of their professional development on key competencies, the teachers discussed some complexities of student diversity in their schools and how the key competencies might be interpreted in different ways. However, given the case study schools were considered to be particularly ‘diverse’, this type of discussion and consideration may not be typical of other New Zealand schools.
The findings support the notion that the New Zealand curriculum key competencies were ‘weakly classified’ and ‘strongly framed’ (Bernstein, 2000). This means a high level of interpretation was located with school leaders and teachers, within the context of a permissive curriculum and thus presents both opportunities and risks.
This case study highlights the importance of agents in every field understanding the complexities and implications of diversity in education. In addition, if the key competencies genuinely seek to enhance both vocational and social justice outcomes for a more cohesive and equitable society, then education for diversity would seem to be important.
This research contributes new knowledge in relation to the process of curriculum design, highlighting the impact of a unique socio-political context on the interpretation of a curriculum construct, and the implications of ‘valued’ attitudes and behaviours of the key competencies on diverse students. It provides an example of how Bernstein’s (2000) theory of the pedagogical device can be used to identify important influences and processes that impact on the different stages of a curriculum design and implementation process. It also illustrates how the device can be usefully complemented by another theory, in this case Fraser’s (1989) needs discourse theory, to examine more closely the discourse that relates to a particular lens of the research.

year: 2020