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Abstract Entrepreneurship education (EE) has rapidly evolved within higher education and has emerged as a pivotal mechanism for cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial talent. In China, while EE has made positive strides, it still faces a series of practical challenges. These issues cannot be effectively addressed solely through the efforts of universities. Based on the triple helix (TH) theory, this study delves into the unified objectives and practical content of EE in Chinese higher education. Through a comprehensive literature review on EE, coupled with educational objectives, planned behavior, and entrepreneurship process theories, this study introduces the 4H objective model of EE. 4H stands for Head (mindset), Hand (skill), Heart (attitude), and Help (support). Additionally, the research extends to a corresponding content model that encompasses entrepreneurial learning, entrepreneurial practice, startup services, and the entrepreneurial climate as tools for achieving the objectives. Based on a single-case approach, this study empirically explores the application of the content model at T-University. Furthermore, this paper elucidates how the university plays a role through the comprehensive development of entrepreneurial learning, practices, services, and climate in nurturing numerous entrepreneurs and facilitating the flourishing of the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. This paper provides important contributions in its application of TH theory to develop EE within the Chinese context, and it provides clear guidance by elucidating the core objectives and practical content of EE. The proposed conceptual framework serves not only as a guiding tool but also as a crucial conduit for fostering the collaborative development of the EE ecosystem. To enhance the robustness of the framework, this study advocates strengthening empirical research on TH theory through multiple and comparative case studies.

Abstract This paper examines the application and evolution of philosophical practice in China, which employs philosophical principles and methods to facilitate insights and address life’s complexities. We aim to bridge the knowledge gap regarding the trajectory and contemporary landscape of China’s philosophical practice and its impact on individual and societal flourishing. Guided by the research question, “How has philosophical practice evolved in China, and what are its challenges and future prospects?” this study adopts a qualitative research methodology, including a literature review, historical analysis, and case studies from Chinese philosophical communities. Findings indicate a burgeoning growth of philosophical practice in China, with traditional Chinese philosophies being adapted to provide practical guidance for contemporary issues. The spread of philosophical practice communities across China reflects a growing embrace of these practices. This paper outlines the hurdles and prospects for philosophical practice, pinpointing opportunities for further research and cross-cultural engagement. The insights furnished by this study offer a framework for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to enhance philosophical practice’s role in personal growth and societal well-being, both within China and internationally.

Abstract This study explores the necessity and direction of safety regulations for Artificial Intelligence (AI), drawing parallels from the regulatory practices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for nuclear safety. The rapid advancement and global proliferation of AI technologies necessitate the establishment of standardized safety norms to minimize discrepancies between national regulations and enhance the consistency and effectiveness of these rules. The study emphasizes the importance of international collaboration and the engagement of various stakeholders to strengthen the appropriateness of regulations and ensure their continuous updating in response to the evolving risks associated with technological advancements. The paper highlights the critical role of subgoal setting mechanisms in AI’s decision-making processes, underscoring their significance in ensuring the technology’s stability and social acceptability. Improperly tuned subgoal setting mechanisms may lead to outcomes that conflict with human intentions, posing risks to users and society at large. The study draws attention to the hidden risks often embedded within AI’s core decision-making mechanisms and advocates for regulatory approaches to guarantee safe and predictable AI operations. Furthermore, the study acknowledges the limitations of directly applying IAEA’s nuclear safety cases to AI due to the distinct characteristics and risks of the two fields. The paper calls for future research to delve deeper into the need for an independent regulatory framework tailored to AI’s unique features. Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of accelerating international consensus, developing flexible regulatory models that reflect the situation in each country, exploring harmonization with existing regulations, and researching timely regulatory responses to the fast-paced development of AI technology.

Abstract Multinational investment has attracted mixed reactions from scholars and policymakers concerning their role and impact on job creation in host countries, particularly in developing economies. Using Ghana as a case study, this paper examines the impact of Greenfield investment on job creation. Proponents of multinational corporations (MNCs) argue that foreign direct investment (FDI) leads to economic growth, creates technological spillover, increases exports, and creates jobs, among other benefits. This has encouraged developing economies to adopt developmental strategies around MNC activities. Although most researchers have analyzed the impact of FDI on job creation, the unanswered question is: Does greenfield investment in Ghana lead to significant job creation in the formal sector? Extant literature considers FDI monolithic, without adequately differentiating between Green and Brownfield investments. Using granular data from the FDI Markets, this research paper fills this gap by empirically analyzing the Greenfield investment by 386 multinational companies in Ghana from 2003 to September 2020. Over the specified year range, these companies engaged in 500 projects across Ghana. Adopting the ordinary least square analysis (OLS), the study demonstrates that Greenfield investment has a statistically significant and positive impact on job creation in Ghana. Out of the 31 sectors, only the following sectors contribute significantly to job creation through Greenfield investment in Ghana: Consumer Products, Food & Beverage, Industrial Equipment, and Non-automotive transport OEM. This paper contributes to a better understanding of how government investment in fixed assets (GCF) such as roads, railways, and industrial buildings in the local economy should be managed efficiently so as not to spur inflation, which correlates negatively with jobs. Finally, this paper analyzes Chinese investments in Ghana, comparing them with U.S. investments, and examining their broader geopolitical implications, which highlights the importance of aligning foreign investments with national development strategies and adhering to international norms and standards.

Abstract Industrial designers have a need to acquire knowledge related to physical materials and undertake activities such as materials selection and materials-driven creative design. Chinese indigenous materials (CIMs) and relevant crafts are identified as a significant but currently untapped resource for designers. Existing research lacks systematic organization and classification for this rich resource making it difficult to develop an online materials database for creative design. To enable industrial designers to develop an understanding of CIMs, obtain design inspiration and stimulate creative design activity, this paper reports on the development of a framework for a taxonomy of CIMs. Through literature review and analysis of existing design tools, the purpose, ending conditions, basic methods and framework of a taxonomy were identified. Taking Xuan Paper as an example, a case study was undertaken to establish methods and processes. When combined with expert interviews and user questionnaires, the usefulness, efficiency and acceptability of the research framework were evaluated, optimized and validated. The findings indicate that a CIM taxonomy can support designers to systematically acquire materials and processing information, facilitate materials-driven creative design, material comparison/selection and provide a framework for the construction of CIM-related databases.

Abstract The social distancing imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the digitalisation of societies, which also influenced habits related to the consumption and dissemination of news. In this context, older individuals are often blamed for contributing to disinformation, which is associated with the echo chambers fostered by social media. Mass media, social media and personal communication tools act as mass, social or personal intermediaries when it comes to keeping up to date with the news. This paper analyses the preferred intermediaries of older online adults (aged 60 and over) for following the news and how they change over time. We analysed two waves of an online survey-based longitudinal study conducted in Canada and Spain, before Covid-19 pandemic (2016/17), and during Covid-19 (in 2020). We found that most participants exclusively use mass intermediaries or combine mass with social and personal intermediaries to keep abreast of the news. However, only 28% of respondents inform themselves exclusively through the alleged echo chambers of social and personal intermediaries. Results also show that media ecologies evolve in different directions, and, despite the forced digitalisation driven by the pandemic, digital media usage did not always increase or evolve towards newer technologies. This paper contributes to understanding the diverse intermediaries used by older adults to obtain news and how such media ecologies can contribute to contrasting different sources of information beyond the alleged echo chambers of social media.

Abstract Research on issues such as adapting to rapid environmental change should include indigenous and local people in developing more robust and inclusive diagnoses and responses. Various studies indicate that such projects may face challenges. Researchers touch on these in papers where they reflect on their own work, but to a lesser extent in their empirical papers. Based on interviews with, and articles by, a varied sample of 15 researchers who work with local or indigenous peoples around the globe, I identified the challenges they face and how they deal with them. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed eight themes: (1) external pressure, (2) engaging local people, (3) relevance of projects, (4) prior negative experiences, (5) cultural, historical, and geographical differences, (6) language challenges, (7) payment for participation, and (8) diverging epistemic cultures. Respondents’ statements in all themes contain reflections displaying care, consideration, or responsibility for the projects and the local people they involve. This links the challenges with everyday ethics. Analysis of scientific papers written by the respondents showed that they hardly write about the challenges they face, whereby neither local participants nor other readers of these texts are actively informed by and engaged in critical-reflective discussions about the challenges arising during the research and the strategies used to deal with them. The research community has a responsibility to remedy this shortcoming: in their papers, authors should discuss the main challenges faced and develop, describe, and promulgate strategies for dealing with them.

Abstract Relevant data on sensitive and politicised political processes might be difficult to obtain and is sometimes even purposely hidden from the public domain. Policy elite interviews constitute crucial sources of information in policy research. However, there are significant challenges associated with ‘researching up’ which sets elite interviews apart from other interview methods. Although there is a great deal of literature concerning interviews conducted via phone or audio-visual computer programs, the implications of conducting policy elite interviews online have received surprisingly little attention. This paper discusses how going online can mediate the main challenges associated with policy elite interviews. These challenges include barriers to gaining access, dealing with biased information, and problems concerning positionality. Based on a least likely case to access relevant data, this paper reflects on personal experience from 20 online interviews with European Commission representatives on policy responses to the 2015 migration crisis. The paper concludes that the online format facilitated unique insights into a highly controversial issue area.

Abstract Big digital companies have become key elements in economy, communication, education, and politics in 21st century societies. The neutral ideology in their digital platforms, applications, and services, as well as the exponential growth in their activities can be used by world superpowers —especially the United States and China— to implement geostrategical operations, massive social manipulation or influence democratic processes with the objective of increasing their power and dominance over other nations. The aim of this paper is to state the different strategies of digital expansionism performed by the United States and China, and, additionally, to showcase the negative consequences of these strategies on the population and democracies of the European Union. The first section of this paper will define the concepts of digital sovereignty and digital expansionism as well as their importance in 21st century geopolitics. Next, the important role that big digital companies have on digital expansionism will be analysed, and the usage of digital authoritarianism and digital instrumentarianism performed by the United States and China will be further examined. Finally, the negative consequences of the implementation of these methods in the democratic systems of the European Union will be analysed, as well as what possible solutions there might be for said consequences.

Abstract In recent years, the state government of China has vigorously supported the export of cultural projects. As the carrier of cultural output, television dramas carry important missions of cultural communication. In the age of convergence when the practice of watching television involves more viewer engagement, audience reception investigates how audiences may engage in a broad range of interactive experiences and activities. This paper focuses on the reception of Chinese television dramas streamed overseas on two prominent video streaming sites, YouTube and Rakuten Viki. Adopting a corpus-based approach, it first identifies the top ten most popular Chinese television dramas on the two sites. Subsequently, user-generated reviews and comments for the selected dramas are collected, and a corpus analysis is conducted on the data derived from the two platforms. The findings reveal that a) viewers exhibit a notable preference for Chinese contemporary dramas, and in particular, modern romance dramas; b) the predominant concerns underlying the reception of Chinese television dramas revolve around storylines, actors/characters and subtitles; c) reviews and comments related to subtitling can be categorized into distinct themes, which reveal the major concerns of international viewership. Through the investigation, this paper attempts to promote the translation and reception of Chinese television dramas and expand the export market of Chinese productions.

Abstract This paper empirically examines the efficacy of corporate digital transformation on a firm’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) decoupling. Adopting the text analysis method and using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2019, this paper finds that digital transformation can significantly alleviate ESG decoupling, and this relationship persists after robustness tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that digital transformation reduces ESG decoupling by improving information processing ability and relieving information asymmetry. The relationship between corporate digital transformation and ESG decoupling is stronger among companies in eastern China and firms that do not follow GRI guidance. The economic consequence analysis suggests that corporate digital transformation promotes firms’ high-quality development by reducing ESG decoupling. This study helps reveal corporate digital transformation’s empowering role and governance role in ESG decoupling and contributes to the growing literature on ESG decoupling and corporate digital transformation.

Abstract Building upon the concept of mainstreaming social sciences within conservation, we consider their mainstreaming, and so integration, within UK environment policy and practice (EPP) organisations. The paper responds to increasing calls to recognise the essential role of social sciences in addressing global environmental crises across policy, practice and research. An actor-oriented approach was deployed, producing empirical information from a multi-stage, co-designed, collaborative study involving 19 social scientists from a range of EPP organisations, to understand how they experience the mainstreaming of social sciences. The findings contribute to debates about the politics of knowledge in organisational domains other than those focused on research, specifically EPP organisations. Evidence was found of recent positive changes in how social sciences are perceived, resourced and utilised within EPP, as well as examples of positive impact. However, although EPP organisations are recognising the opportunities that social sciences expertise brings, in practice social sciences still face barriers to effective integration. Many of the challenges faced by the social sciences within academic multi-discipline research (e.g., late, narrow, or selective enrolment) were also experienced in EPP organisations, along with some unique challenges. Informed by the findings, the paper proposes a set of integration indicators designed to assess organisational progress toward addressing the observed challenges. It is recommended that these indicators are employed at a strategic level by EPP organisations seeking to better integrate social sciences expertise into their work.

Abstract Carbon emission reduction is an important means of achieving climate policy goals. However, the literature has neglected consideration of the carbon emission reduction mechanism from the perspective of technology risk spillovers in international trade. To explore this mechanism, this paper expands the classical linear model of foreign trade technology risk spillovers into a nonlinear spatial Durbin model. We construct a novel technology risk spillover index to forecast the magnitude of carbon emissions in agricultural trade across different regions. To validate our model, we consider the dual connotation of the spatial diffusion of disembodied technology communication (DTC) to map the relationships between different geographic and economic regions that are adjacent. The results suggest that disembodied technology risk spillover could promote carbon emission reductions. Specifically, technology risk spillovers from agricultural trade reduce agricultural carbon emissions by 0.79–1.16% in the local region. Disembodied technology risk spillovers also reduce agricultural carbon emissions by 2.85–11.57% in geographically adjacent regions and 4.9% in economically adjacent regions. Based on these conclusions, this paper proposes improving the closed and backward situation of rural areas in China’s central and western regions, promoting the transition toward the high end of the global agricultural industry chain and developing productive agricultural services and the rural cultural tourism industry to expand rural employment channels and stabilize farmers’ income.

Abstract Questions abound over how universities should teach and prepare the next generation of researchers to confront current and future wicked problems. With so much focus on curriculum and training, it is crucial that we step back and reflect on higher education’s capabilities to foster solution-oriented, collaborative research. What do the institutional incentive structures in higher education support, in terms of practices and outputs related to scholarship? And are those structures felt evenly across the academy? Those doing research in these spaces—in terms of title, autonomy, power, privilege, and status—vary widely by their institutional locations as well as in terms of their ties to broader disciplinary norms. To assess whether these dynamic, contested institutional landscapes afford so-called wicked problem scholarship, this paper draws from survey and interview data collected from 44 researchers working at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems at Carnegie Research 1 universities in the United States. Findings point to an uneven institutional landscape, which is shown to shape in different ways the type of solutions-oriented, collaborative scholarship fostered across the five positions examined. The paper concludes by reflecting on the paper’s findings, particularly in terms of what the data tell us about higher education as a place that fosters wicked problems scholarship, while also highlighting the study’s limitations.

Abstract In the realm of emergency response, the swift and efficient deployment of mobile units is of paramount importance. This research introduces a strategy centered around the “proximity response” principle, aiming to strategically position emergency services nearer to areas of higher demand. This approach is designed to enhance response times while optimizing resource allocation. Through the integration of practical planning with user-friendly computational methodologies, this paper presents a novel framework for improving the allocation and reach of emergency facilities. This includes extending critical care to broader areas and minimizing operational costs. The simulations conducted demonstrate that this strategy markedly enhances crisis management effectiveness. The paper also includes a statistical analysis that provides substantial evidence of the practicality and efficiency of this approach in real-world emergency scenarios. This study contributes to the field by offering a new perspective on resource distribution and emergency response planning, potentially impacting the way these critical services are organized and deployed.

Abstract The complexity of emotions has thus far limited our understanding of them. To obtain a clear understanding of the nature of emotion, this paper proposes a novel emotion theory and establishes a universal model of the conscious world in the human brain, the substanguage and interaction model (SIM). Based on an analysis of the possibilities of the interaction process in the SIM, two basic emotions that are indecomposable factors within all emotions—hope and fear—are identified. A questionnaire survey reveals that this basic emotion exhibits high acceptability. Based on emotion theory, this paper reasonably explains the phenomena of facial attraction and infantile facial preference and discusses the psychological reasons for phonocentrism, the phenomenon of preferring the spoken word over the written word. In addition, this paper explores the possibility of artificial intelligence possessing self-emotions. Emotions are relevant to many areas of human knowledge, as well as to everyone’s daily lives, and the simple, clear way to understand emotions provided in this paper may be instructive for everyone.

Abstract The interest rate derivatives market is an important force in promoting the development of the bond market and is an effective tool to manage interest rate risk. The research on price discovery and volatility spillover of the market can help provide valuable reference information for investors. Based on treasury bond futures and interest rate swaps, the paper aims to discuss the price discovery function and spillover structure of the interest rate derivatives market. The paper establishes the information share model and spillover index model for empirical analysis. The results show that: First, the calculation results of the information share model show that the price discovery of treasury bond futures and interest rate swap markets is stronger than that of the spot market. Second, based on structural break analysis, treasury bond futures and interest rate swaps do not have breakpoints, while the treasury bond spot has three breakpoints. The paper divides the entire sample into four stages based on structural breakpoints and finds that the price discovery ability of the interest rate derivative market dynamically changed. Third, as a net spillover in the market, treasury bond futures have developed relatively stable. Both treasury bond futures and interest rate swaps have spillover effects on the spot market, indicating that China’s interest rate derivatives market can impact the treasury bond spot market.

Abstract The complexity of cruise tourism is high, and various factors determine the product value. Value for money has an important effect on cruisers’ choices. This paper comprehensively discusses the effect of ship attributes and onboard and onshore experience on cruise passengers’ perception of value for money. This discussion is helpful for cruise companies to identify key attributes and subsequently implement improvement strategies. Taking nearly 100,000 items of tourist review data as samples, this paper primarily discusses the effect of cruisers’ nine-dimensional experience on the perception of value for money and the differences under different market positioning gleaned from content analysis, regression analysis and multi-group comparison. Results show that embarkation, cabin, dining, entertainment, service, fitness, activities, public room and shore excursion experiences have a significant effect on tourists’ perceptions of value for money. From the perspective of brand positioning, the situation of a luxury cruise is quite different from that of a standard and premium cruise, whereas the standard and premium cruise are similar. Furthermore, unlike standard and premium cruises, the physical attributes of luxury cruises such as ship size and launch year have no significant effect on tourists’ perceptions of value for money. Research results will help cruise companies improve tourist satisfaction and value for money based on market positioning and key attributes.

Abstract Stance-taking in academic writing plays a crucial role in enabling tertiary academic writers to express their positions about their topics and other voices. Based on a corpus linguistic analysis of academic reports by civil and environmental engineering (CEE) undergraduate students and student papers in the Michigan Corpus of Upper-Level Student Papers (MICUSP), this article investigates the use of stance markers in the genres of persuasive and argumentative writing as well as analytical explanatory writing. This study compares the stance markers used by L2 engineering students (Hong Kong University) and native engineering students (U.S. University) to investigate the genre-specific lexical stance patterns used by academic writers. This study found that stance within the CEE reports and MICUSP was expressed through approximative hedges and boosters, code glosses, and adversative and contrast connections, pointing to a specific developmental trajectory as academic writers. Non-native engineering students were found to use a significantly smaller number of approximative, self-mention, and evidential verb hedges. In addition, they tend to use a more significant number of modal hedges compared to native English speakers. The CEE students’ reports also tended to be characterized by the underuse of boosters, contrastive connectors, emphasis, and counter-expectancy markers. However, the study found no significant difference in the use of exemplification markers between the CEE and MICUSP. The findings of this study support the construction of the academic stance as a process of delimiting one’s perspective. This is achieved by deploying selected stance features to account for other scholarly perspectives.

Abstract In the era of digital economy, digital green value co-creation behavior (DGVCB) has replaced the previous value creation. DGVCB has become a tool for business ecosystems to gain sustainable ecological advantages in today’s increasingly complex market. At present, there are few researches on the influence of DGVCB and digital green network embedding(DGNE) on digital green innovation performance(DGIP). This paper faces the institutional logic of DGVCB, analyzes the mechanism of DGNE and digital green network fragmentation (DGNF) in the context of business ecosystem competition, and then constructs the causal relationship between DGVCB and DGIP. Based on 326 valid questionnaires and sample data, this paper empirically studies the effects of digital green value co-creation and DGNE on DGIP by using regression analysis method, and verifies and discusses the proposed theoretical hypotheses. The results show that DGVCB and DGNE have significant positive effects on the improvement of DGIP. DGNE plays an intermediary role between DGVCB and DGIP. DGNF plays a positive moderating role between DGVCB and DGIP. This study provides theoretical guidance for the governance of business ecosystem and the formulation of cooperation strategies for enterprises.

Abstract There are already a number of autonomous robots that play a significant role in improving the quality of healthcare in different areas ranging from basic health diagnosis to complex surgeries. However, using robots and machine learning applications in the healthcare context poses concerns over liability for patient injury. This paper will thus attempt to investigate the potential legal problems that might arise if AI technology evolves or is commonly used in clinical practice. It also examines whether the traditional doctrines of liability can adequately address the liability for the injuries stemming from acts of autonomous robots. As such, this paper adopted both descriptive and analytical methodologies to explore the main focus of the study. while the descriptive methodology was used to spot light on various theories of liability, the analytical methodology was used to critically examine the main theories that have been advanced to deal with autonomous robots and predict the necessity of legal reform. Throughout this paper, the authors insist on the importance of distinguishing between robots in light of their degree of autonomy and then drafting liability rules depending on whether the action was done autonomously by an unattended robot or whether it was done automatically by an attended robot. Finally, the paper concludes with the proposal of a series of factors to be considered for the future regulation of AI Robots in the healthcare context.

Abstract Wasta is a concept that is widespread across the Middle East, and practiced as a common and acceptable culture in most Middle East based business organizations. While the wasta practice is common and is followed as part of the usual organizational culture in the Middle East, yet, its implications are not all positive for the overall employee and organizational performance, which will be highlighted in the current paper in detail. It encourages interpersonal connections and networking of individuals to be used in order to obtain jobs, based on personnel connection rather than merit, which has huge negative impacts on the business. This paper, therefore, presents a detailed discussion on wasta and its implications considering business organizations across the Middle East. The tourism sector will be the area of the focus for the present work. The impacts of such activities on the tourism sector are significant on recruitment, teamwork, training, reward system, and overall HRM practices, which raise questions on whether this concept should indeed be as common in practice as it is currently. This paper studied the phenomena of wasta in the Middle East in details and proposed framework for Wasta-free Management. Also, recommendation for practice for tourism sector in the middle East along with suggestions for further research are presented.

Abstract In Thailand, predators use online and offline methods to exploit migrant children as forced labourers in various industries, including shrimp and seafood processing, construction and agriculture. This study examines the current status of online child trafficking and considers how the communication for development (C4D) approach can be utilised to prevent these crimes. This study reviews papers and reports published in Thailand and abroad on online child and human trafficking, prevention methods and C4D. Moreover, the study used purposive sampling and interviewed Thai government officials and representatives from non-government organisations (NGOs) with expertise in migration issues. The findings reveal that human traffickers deceive migrant children into online child labour and trafficking through unregulated online channels. However, the Thai government has collaborated with local and international NGOs to apply C4D to reach out to children seeking employment in safe online spaces to prevent child trafficking. This paper argues that C4D is helpful for raising public awareness of the threats posed by human trafficking. Simultaneously, specific labour groups employ C4D Plus, which may be applicable in the prevention of online child trafficking.

Abstract Complex systems pose risks characterized by factors such as uncertainty, nonlinearity, and diversity, making traditional risk measurement methods based on a probabilistic framework inadequate. Supernetworks can effectively model complex systems, and temporal supernetworks can capture the dynamic evolution of these systems. From the perspective of network stability, supernetworks can aid in risk identification for complex systems. In this paper, an IO-SuperPageRank algorithm is proposed based on the supernetwork topological structure. This algorithm reveals network instability by calculating changes in node importance, thereby helping to identify risks in complex systems. To validate the effectiveness of this algorithm, a four-layer supernetwork composed of scale-free networks is constructed. Simulated experiments are conducted to assess the impact of changes in intralayer edge numbers, intralayer node numbers, and interlayer superedge numbers on the risk indicator IO value. Linear regression and multiple tests were used to validate these relationships. The experiments show that changes in the three network topological indicators all bring about risks, with changes in intralayer node numbers having the most significant correlation with the risk indicator IO value. Compared to traditional measures of network node centrality and connectivity, this algorithm can more accurately predict the impact of node updates on network stability. Additionally, this paper collected trade data for crude oil, chemical light oil, man-made filaments and man-made staple fibers from the UN Comtrade Database. We constructed a man-made filaments and fibers supply chain temporal supernetwork, utilizing the algorithm to identify supply chain risks from December 2020 to October 2023. The study revealed that the algorithm effectively identified risks brought about by changes in international situations such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Israel–Hamas conflict, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This demonstrated the algorithm’s effectiveness in empirical analysis. In the future, we plan to further expand its application based on different scenarios, assess risks by analyzing changes in specific system elements, and implement effective risk intervention measures.

Abstract Despite renewed regulatory attention, shadow banking across the globe is still a nonnegligible part of economic life. This paper researches China’s shadow banking during 2020–2022, a stage marked by COVID-19 and strengthened global regulation on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation (NBFI). Its business model surprisingly resembles its Western peers, funding underserved sectors and having similar exposure to balance sheet mismatch. Uninsured interbank funds and wealth management products support massive holding of bond investment (36.6% of the total assets), making risk contagion easier. This paper re-summarizes growth dynamics in a “Pull-Push” framework and proposes the concept of reintermediation corresponding to disintermediation. Consecutive regulation on NBFI and the real estate sector kept dragging on growth, rendering it in liquidity surplus. We provide empirical evidence on the relationship of China’s shadow banking with macro-finance and note several breakdowns of pre-pandemic relations among economic and financial indicators. The most remarkable breakdown is the weakened functionality of the monetary policy transmission channel. Besides, it continued to twist financial regulatory indicators to a lesser extent.

Abstract This is a conceptual and methodological paper about improving our notion of human values. While it is recognized that talk of values has become increasingly popular in many walks of life, it is claimed that this is not underpinned by solid scientific contributions or a robust theory of values. Two initial claims set the scene for the paper: (1) there is no generally accepted theory of values, and (2) values are notoriously elusive. However, the paper acknowledges the problem that a better grasp on people’s values is needed for addressing the complex issues of our present-day life. An attempt is made to present an outline for an empirical axiology. After a brief historical overview of value discussions in social theory and philosophy, it is claimed that the empirical study of values needs to get around several hurdles: values-as-truisms, belief in articulated values, belief in deep and hidden values. However, combining several research methods may give first indications of what here is called value landscapes. A conceptual model of values in these landscapes would need to be multi-dimensional, with the tentative characteristics of proximity, intensity, contextuality, and malleability. The paper calls for transdisciplinary research designs to probe these conceptual insights.

Abstract This paper explores the ascent of English as a global lingua franca within the context of linguistic hegemony, following Phillipson’s 1992 framework. It scrutinizes English’s role in the rapidly globalizing world, emphasizing its dominance across economic, governance, and scientific sectors and its impact on non-native English-speaking countries. Utilizing a sociolinguistic approach, combined with historical and interdisciplinary analysis, the study evaluates the influence of English hegemony in cultural, educational, and technological domains, with a focus on post-colonial and expanding circle nations. Additionally, the paper provides critical insights for developing language policies in these areas, considering the intricate role of English in the global linguistic landscape. It concludes by considering the prospects of English language hegemony.

Abstract This article explores a subgenre of naked-eye virtual reality (VR) video that features two-dimensional paintings in a three-dimensional space and is circulated on the Chinese video streaming website Bilibili. In contrast to traditional VR, which requires the spectator to wear a head-mounted display, naked-eye VR offers a stereoscopic view on the screen, eliminating the need for VR glasses. The apparent incongruity between the screen’s physical flatness and the volumetric depth of the painting becomes even more pronounced when the naked-eye VR image emphasises the painting’s inherent two-dimensionality. Employing an interdisciplinary humanities’ method that connects media archaeology, film studies, art history, and the field of science, technology, and society, this paper delves into this distinctive juxtaposition between the painting’s flatness and the volumetric depth characteristic of naked-eye VR, a subgenre that remains mostly uncharted in the field of film and media studies. Taking a media archaeological perspective, this paper introduces a parallax media history, suggesting that the aesthetics of VR can be traced not only to the stereoscope but also to scroll paintings, which are paradoxically defined by their flat compositions. In addition, naked-eye VR references pictorial traditions by generating a spatial illusion that leads spectators to feel as if they are delving beneath the surface of a painting, transitioning from spatial extensivity on the x-y axis to perceived depth along the z-axis. This oscillation between surface and depth is engendered by the horizontal parallax rooted in binocular disparity, thereby positioning naked-eye VR as a “parallax media.” In analysing the illusion created by naked-eye VR, this paper proposes a paradigmatic shift in the framework of media study from conceiving of an image as a mirror to experiencing it as a door, representing the oscillation between volumetric depth and two-dimensional surface.

Abstract Highly interconnected production network exists in one economy, and it is crucial to investigate how and why supply-side shocks spread across industries via the production network and cause systemic risks in the real sector. Based on input-output framework, this paper designed a model to simulate the propagation of risk spillovers along the production network given supply-side shocks. This paper defined the systemically important industries (SIIs) and systemically vulnerable industries (SVIs) according to the degree and direction of risk spillovers. Simulation results show that risk spillovers spread among industries via the production network, leading to systemic risk in the real sector. This paper also classified the important risk spillover paths “SVIs → SIIs → SVIs” in the model for risk regulation and prevention and identified 75 risk spillover paths and 9 closed-loop paths in 2018. Furthermore, key factors of systemic importance (vulnerability) included input-output relationships and production network centrality. This paper provides a scientific basis to strengthen the risk supervision of the real sector based on the supply chain.

Abstract Random grids are a method for visual secret sharing, whereby a secret image is encoded into a number of shares, each of which is maximally entropic. There has been growing interest in hiding multiple images in a scheme, such that additional images are revealed by stacking the shares in different ways. This paper proposes a metaheuristic method for generating schemes that allow for a wide range of transformations, or even combinations thereof, to reveal an arbitrary number of secret images. Up to 10 multi-secrets are shown in this paper, as well as hiding multiple secrets in a general access structure. To remove noise from these schemes an algorithm is proposed to extract the information from the noise, and in all cases, relative contrasts are given. In one example, six images are hidden in two shares, such that the mean relative contrast under OR-stacking is 0.152, under XOR-stacking 0.278, and with noise removed, it is 0.74. In an example hiding 10 images in two shares, the values are respectively 0.136, 0.206 and 0.679, respectively.

Abstract As development progresses over time and changes in the environment take place, carbon finance development has become a very interesting research topic for many scholars worldwide. This paper proposes a hybrid MCDM method that combines the distance solutions of the TOPSIS and VIKOR methods. The contribution of this paper combines TOPSIS and VIKOR, incorporating AISM models to obtain the development ranking of Chinese carbon finance pilot cities as related to the Chinese carbon finance development pilot provinces and cities. The conclusion notes that Guangdong and Beijing are the most preferred investment locations for carbon investors. In addition, technological innovation, financial sector development, and an active ETS market can effectively drive the level of local carbon finance. Additionally, the MCDM methodology in this paper provides new ideas in environmental and economic development assessment.

Abstract In this paper, we situate our computational approach to philosophy relative to other digital humanities and computational social science practices, based on reflections stemming from our research on the PolyGraphs project in social epistemology. We begin by describing PolyGraphs. An interdisciplinary project funded by the Academies (BA, RS, and RAEng) and the Leverhulme Trust, it uses philosophical simulations (Mayo-Wilson and Zollman, 2021) to study how ignorance prevails in networks of inquiring rational agents. We deploy models developed in economics (Bala and Goyal, 1998), and refined in philosophy (O’Connor and Weatherall, 2018; Zollman, 2007), to simulate communities of agents engaged in inquiry, who generate evidence relevant to the topic of their investigation and share it with their neighbors, updating their beliefs on the evidence available to them. We report some novel results surrounding the prevalence of ignorance in such networks. In the second part of the paper, we compare our own to other related academic practices. We begin by noting that, in digital humanities projects of certain types, the computational component does not appear to directly support the humanities research itself; rather, the digital and the humanities are simply grafted together, not fully intertwined and integrated. PolyGraphs is notably different: the computational work directly supports the investigation of the primary research questions, which themselves belong decidedly within the humanities in general, and philosophy in particular. This suggests an affinity with certain projects in the computational social sciences. But despite these real similarities, there are differences once again: the computational philosophy we practice aims not so much at description and prediction as at answering the normative and interpretive questions that are distinctive of humanities research.

Abstract Industry 4.0 profoundly impacts the insurance sector, as evidenced by the significant growth of insurtech. One of these technologies is chatbots, which enable policyholders to seamlessly manage their active insurance policies. This paper analyses policyholders’ attitude toward conversational bots in this context. To achieve this objective, we employed a structured survey involving policyholders. The survey aimed to determine the average degree of acceptance of chatbots for contacting the insurer to take action such as claim reporting. We also assessed the role of variables of the technology acceptance model, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use, as well as trust, in explaining attitude and behavioral intention. We have observed a low acceptance of insureds to implement insurance procedures with the assistance of a chatbot. The theoretical model proposed to explain chatbot acceptance provides good adjustment and prediction capability. Even though the three assessed factors are relevant for explaining attitude toward interactions with conversational robots and behavioral intention to use them, the variable trust exhibited the greatest impact. The findings of this paper have fair potential theoretical and practical implications. They outline the special relevance of trust in explaining customers’ acceptance of chatbots since this construct impacts directly on attitude but also perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Likewise, improvements in the utility and ease of use of robots are also needed to prevent customers’ reluctance toward their services.

Abstract Utilizing a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, this paper critically assesses the potential distortions and efficacy of various revenue-neutral carbon emission trading schemes (ETSs) in China, through government subsidies and value-added tax (VAT) relief strategies aimed at achieving peak carbon emissions before 2030. The analysis reveals that reallocating market revenues to the production sector, either through government subsidies or VAT reductions, can feasibly attain carbon peaking before 2030, with minimal impact on GDP. Notably, both government subsidies and VAT cuts foster output growth in the oil, gas, and ETS-covered sectors. Moreover, directing carbon market revenue toward ETS-covered industries via VAT relief emerges as the most effective approach to reducing income disparities. In contrast, redistributing carbon market revenue to non-ETS-covered industries via VAT relief is found to be the least effective in promoting social equity. The study emphasizes that the reallocation of carbon market revenues to ETS-covered sectors is paramount. This strategy not only regulates the overall energy consumption effectively but also steers the nation towards a more sustainable and optimized energy consumption pattern. In light of these findings, this paper offers detailed insights and tailored policy recommendations, aiming to assist policymakers in striking a balance between environmental goals and economic and social imperatives.

Abstract This paper examines how neoliberal, gendered discourses of globalization position marginalized communities of women in popular culture, focusing on the ways in which the media of the global North produces the specific visuality of women of the global South. The representations of women of the global South, such as factory workers, mail/online-order brides, and domestic workers, point to the globalized mode of feminization of labor and the power asymmetry inherent in globalization. By analyzing the ways in which the female body of the global South embodies commodification, sexualization, and abjection, the paper points out that women’s experiences are marginalized or erased in the neoliberal narrative of globalization. The (re)imagination of women of the global South in the media of the global North testifies to the historical legacy and discursive traditions of the colonial/imperial past and points to the reproduction and dissemination of sexualized and racialized imagery of otherness.

Abstract Interdisciplinary research is of significance for creating breakthroughs and facilitating innovations and may achieve higher citation impact, although contrary results still exist. The current study looks into the relationship between interdisciplinarity and citation impact from a brand-new perspective—the process of citation accumulation—by exploring how interdisciplinarity, as measured by Rao-Stirling and DIV, affects the accumulating process of citations, based on scientific papers published by Chinese or US authors in 2009–2011 in Chemistry. Two metrics are used to measure how long it takes for a paper to reach its citation peak (PEAK_YEAR) and how sustainable the citation impact remains after the peak (SUS). The results show that compared with Rao-Stirling, DIV is more sensitive to the length of the citation window and more closely aligned with the nature of interdisciplinarity. In Chemistry, higher interdisciplinarity is more likely to encounter delayed recognition and greater citation sustainability, which may explain the inconsistency in the relationship between interdisciplinarity and citation impact. In conclusion, it is necessary to consider the length of the citation window when explaining the relationship between interdisciplinarity and citation impact. A longer citation window may be a better solution, as an alternative or supplement, in assessing the academic performance of interdisciplinary research.

Abstract This paper is aimed at balancing the interests of business and society in the digital economy, to reduce the social risks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The goal of this paper is to study the experience and prospects of the humanisation of AI through the improvement of the practice of corporate social responsibility in Russia. By the example of the experience of Russian regions in 2021, we use econometric modelling to prove that the digital regional economy has a large potential in the sphere of humanisation of AI. The potential for the humanisation of AI in the digital economy of Russian regions is determined by responsible innovations, responsible production and logistics, as well as responsible marketing and sales, which contribute to the implementation of SDGs 9–12. The theoretical significance of the paper lies in its presenting smart region as a socio-economic environment for the humanisation of AI. The scientific novelty of the paper lies in its offering a new—meso-level—view of the humanisation of AI. The advantages of the new view include, first, consideration of socio-economic conditions for the humanisation of AI in a region; second, the most precise identification and correct measuring of the consequences of humanisation of AI for the quality of life in a region. The practical significance of the research results consists in the fact that the new proposed approach to the humanisation of AI, which implies public administration of this process at the level of a region, allows accelerating the considered process.

Abstract Central Asia’s interactions with regions outside the Soviet borders during the Cold War have been largely ignored, despite evidence of the vital role it played in Soviet engagement with decolonising nations in Asia, as a model for a developed, decolonized, socialist nation. Central Asia was essential to Soviet cultural diplomacy, as Moscow sought to establish an anti-imperialist alliance with decolonizing countries in Asia and Africa. This paper begins its discussion with the Soviet participation in the 1947 Asian Relations Conference held in Delhi, which marked the first post-WWII occasion in which the socialist republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus represented the Soviet Union abroad. The paper explores the implications of this encounter on the Soviet interpretation of post-WWII Asia and the role of Central Asia in promoting anti-imperialist solidarity domestically and internationally. It also focuses on travel accounts of Tursun-zade and Oybek (Musa Toshmuhammad oʻgʻli), two prominent Central Asian writers who visited India and Pakistan as a part of the Soviet cultural delegates abroad. The writers utilized historical, cultural, and religious symbolism that resonated with the Central Asian population to foster connections between Moscow and Asia, localizing Soviet internationalism and creating a unique identity for Central Asia as the mediator between the Soviet centre (Moscow) and (South) Asia beyond the Soviet borders. By examining how Asia beyond the borders were depicted and how post-WWII Soviet internationalism discourse were integrated into the late-Stalinist republican literature, this paper offers a deeper understanding of the roles Central Asian cultural and intellectual figures played in shaping post-war cultural and international relations.

Abstract In recent years, the issue of sustainable development has become increasingly important in the port industry. As port policies are altered under decentralization and governance models, the application of corporate responsibility (CR) is expanding. It is now expected that ports take on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) responsibilities. This paper focuses on the application of an ESG framework to the port industry in China, with a specific emphasis on social responsibilities. By focusing on ESG-focal issues in the port industry, we establish a model for evaluating the sustainability of ports that takes into account the three dimensions of environment, society, and governance. An empirical analysis of Shanghai Port in China is presented to illustrate the application of the framework. The paper highlights the main contribution of the ESG framework to support sustainable port development and provides recommendations for promoting the implementation of ESG and sustainable development in the industry.

Abstract In the wake of rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and sensor technologies, a new horizon of possibilities has emerged across diverse sectors. Livestock farming, a domain often sidelined in conventional AI discussions, stands at the cusp of this transformative wave. This paper delves into the profound potential of AI and sensor innovations in reshaping animal welfare in livestock farming, with a pronounced emphasis on a human-centric paradigm. Central to our discourse is the symbiotic interplay between cutting-edge technology and human expertise. While AI and sensor mechanisms offer real-time, comprehensive, and objective insights into animal welfare, it’s the farmer’s intrinsic knowledge of their livestock and environment that should steer these technological strides. We champion the notion of technology as an enhancer of farmers’ innate capabilities, not a substitute. Our manuscript sheds light on: Objective Animal Welfare Indicators: An exhaustive exploration of health, behavioral, and physiological metrics, underscoring AI’s prowess in delivering precise, timely, and objective evaluations. Farmer-Centric Approach: A focus on the pivotal role of farmers in the adept adoption and judicious utilization of AI and sensor technologies, coupled with discussions on crafting intuitive, pragmatic, and cost-effective solutions tailored to farmers' distinct needs. Ethical and Social Implications: A discerning scrutiny of the digital metamorphosis in farming, encompassing facets like animal privacy, data safeguarding, responsible AI deployment, and potential technological access disparities. Future Pathways: Advocacy for principled technology design, unambiguous responsible use guidelines, and fair technology access, all echoing the fundamental principles of human-centric computing and analytics. In essence, our paper furnishes pioneering insights at the crossroads of farming, animal welfare, technology, and ethics. It presents a rejuvenated perspective, bridging the chasm between technological advancements and their human beneficiaries, resonating seamlessly with the ethos of the Human-Centric Intelligent Systems journal. This comprehensive analysis thus marks a significant stride in the burgeoning domain of human-centric intelligent systems, especially within the digital livestock farming landscape, fostering a harmonious coexistence of technology, animals, and humans.

Abstract The Czech Republic has been a promising destination for foreign investors due to its locational advantages and tax-incentive policy. However, the profit-repatriation rate in the country is extremely high, which results in less capital being available for development. This paper studies the differences in profit-repatriation rates among FDI (foreign direct investment) firms in the Czech Republic after the appearance of tax-holiday incentives from 2008 to 2019. The precondition is to find the determinants of the repatriation rate of FDI firms, and the results show that the profit repatriation rate of FDI firms is positively affected by firm size and the liquidity of firms and negatively affected by investment opportunities and leverage. The paper divides FDI firms into several groups and examines the differences in repatriation rates between them before revealing the determinants of these differences. Firstly, there is no difference in profit repatriation between FDI firms with tax incentives and those without tax incentives. Next, we divide the FDI firms with tax incentives into two groups: those who still enjoy the tax incentives and those who no longer enjoy the tax incentives. The FDI firms with tax incentives that are in the tax-incentive period repatriate less than FDI firms with tax incentives that are not in the tax period any longer. The difference stems from the endowment effect, and three determinants that can reduce the repatriation rate of FDI firms that are no longer in the tax period are investment opportunities, leverage, and firm size.

Abstract Achieving sustainability within planetary boundaries requires radical changes to production and consumption beyond technology- and efficiency-oriented solutions, especially in affluent countries. The literature on degrowth offers visions and policy paths with the explicit aim of ensuring human wellbeing within an economy with a lower resource metabolism. This paper reviews and discusses the academic literature on degrowth with the aim of deriving the main inherent challenges where further research is needed. Proponents of degrowth envisage radical redistribution and decommodification with ‘floors’ and ‘ceilings’ for income and wealth, as well as extensive public service provision. This paper outlines how results from other research support such a policy direction. However, the paper discusses three inherent challenges for such a future with respect to the feasibility and desirability of degrowth policies, as well as their legitimate underpinning in public support. This includes the internal growth dependencies of established social policies, which require changes to financing, output-based management and perhaps even curtailing input (service demand). Secondly, it concerns the role of public welfare provision when degrowth advocates also envisage the proliferation of alternative and informal economies. The paper emphasises that these two challenges invite more work on where public service provision should play a lesser role. Thirdly, the paper covers popular legitimacy. In affluent democracies, popular support needs to expand further beyond the ‘new left’ or the ‘green left’, even if larger shares of the population exhibit some potential for growth-critical stances. At the heart of these challenges is the need for new norms and values with respect to wellbeing, which is envisaged in the literature as a shift from materialist and hedonic towards needs-oriented and eudaimonic conceptions of wellbeing and happiness.

Abstract Psychological aspects of human nature cause behavioural biases and can lead to decisions that differ from what is expected based solely on rational analysis. The effects of behavioural biases on financial markets like stocks and mutual funds have been studied previously, but real estate has yet to receive much attention. The existing works in the real estate domain have focused on different biases, but no study has examined the works already done to provide concise documentation of these past works. Thus, this article is an earnest attempt to fill that gap. This paper reviews the articles which were sourced from Scopus and the Web of Science database, published between 1980 and 2022. The PRISMA model led to the inclusion of 86 articles for the review. Analysis revealed that anchoring bias, loss aversion, and herding bias have been studied extensively. On the other hand, biases like gambler’s fallacy, familiarity bias, framing bias, home bias, confirmation bias and mental accounting have been less explored. The paper identifies the substantial gaps in the existing studies, giving avenues for future exploration. The key ones are, firstly only a few biases have been studied extensively and many biases are less explored, particularly using primary data. This provides a vast available space for future work. Secondly, studies in developing countries are fewer, which needs to be addressed. Lastly, studies need to explore the interplay of different biases to create a more robust model that can explain the effect of these biases. The paper gives a conceptual understanding of different biases and what factors affect them. Also, it will help policymakers strategize their business and mitigate the negative effects of biases.

Abstract Interest rate market risk faced by China’s commercial banks is increasing after the announcement that the interest rate marketisation is completed. This paper examines the Value-at-Risk, and statistical properties in the daily price return of Shanghai banks’ overnight offered rate. The study applies two-stage approaches, combining GARCH-type models with extreme value theory. Firstly, the Markov regime switching model is used to test the regime states of the series. Secondly, the performance of different VaR models are examined. Results show that the extreme value approach estimates better at the 99% confidence level. The EGARCH-GED model is the most suitable of the employed GARCH-type models. The back-testing results support the idea that the approach used in this study is appropriate for improving commercial banks’ daily risk management. This paper applies the GARCH-EVT method for interest rate measurement after China’s interest rate marketisation and added regime analysis of interest rate. Suggested policy implications will help formulate policies that guide the activities of commercial banks in China.

Abstract This paper aims to answer the pertinent question: What are the implications of ideology on school buildings and the culturally pluralistic context of Gazimağusa in Northern Cyprus? It traces the social and communication qualities of architecture to restructure the architectural identity of schools and the cultural patterns of this city during the British Period (1878–1960). The colonialists relied on education as an ideological tool for perceiving social and economic stability through training a new, educated middle class to replace the existing traditional authorities: Ottoman leaders and Church structures. Their failure to recognize the diverse cultural layers of the context led to unsustainable outcomes. An interpretative case research approach that involved descriptive and historical techniques was utilized to investigate this situation. Ideology had two separate but related consequences in the context chosen at both urban and architectural scales. Resulting in a cultural shift from intrinsic to extrinsic living that contradicts previous cultural alignments of the place. The urban syntax for communal life shifted to exclusivity, and cultural coexistence was divided between Turkish and Greek Cypriots on the one side; on the other, schools copied a globalized character of transformation. Based on contextual perceptions, the study advocates for a creative cultural mix of local and global concepts. The island went through modernization, hosting the two communities under British Colonial Rule who were both struggling with the colonizers on one hand and experiencing ethnic and political clashes on the other; they formed the conditions for a wide variety of school buildings. Within this context, the paper highlights school buildings as an ideological space, symbol, and tool of nationalism and colonization/decolonization.

Abstract This paper examines the British press coverage of international sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia. The study provides an analytic perspective by employing the model of the country concept and the covered by the British press of the international sports events in Saudi Arabia. This study fills the gap in the literature on the British press coverage of sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia in light of the country concept model. For this research, the study employed content analysis to collect data from the two British newspapers, The Sun and the Daily Mail coverage. The paper has several contributions to knowledge. Firstly, it brings an understanding of the role of the country concept model in explaining the reputation and image of a country. Using Fullerton’s model, the paper has found that by employing a soft power package that includes hosting international sports events, Saudi Arabia’s country image has changed. Secondly, the research found that the most coverage of events in Saudi Arabia was still negative. However, this negative coverage has decreased over the past few years, while neutral and positive coverage has increased. Finally, the research has contributed to the literature by finding out that the coverage of Saudi Arabia was characterised by a large number of negative articles, as opposed to more neutral or positive reporting. This finding confirms the country concept model, which states that some elements, like foreign and social media, cannot be controlled.

Abstract This paper aims to analyse the institutional communication of universities on social media by conducting a content analysis of the communication strategy of 70 higher education institutions (in the United States, Europe and Latin America). The study focuses on three social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) and the analysis three dimensions of social media institutional communication: posting, interactivity and content. Findings reveal that while most universities demonstrate a passive centripetal performance to posting, there is a significant divergence in relation to the level of activity. The study highlights that interactivity focus is predominantly characterised by monologues, despite institutions increasingly integrating various communication resources to foster stakeholder interaction. The majority of universities tend to prioritize exclusive or dominant content combination, with organizational content exhibiting a significantly greater presence. By an integrated analysis of these three key dimensions on social media, this paper this paper offers valuable insights for both academics and practitioners. It contributes to the scholars by facilitating further academic research on social media institutional communication and provides professionals with a practical guide for strategically managing communication on social media.

Abstract Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are popular in various fields such as health resources, marketing, transport, economics, and many others for identifying the factors that influence an individual’s choice behaviour. Selecting the DCE design is crucial in determining the observable effects. In this paper, the optimal form of the information matrix is introduced for attributes at two levels, main effect models, and equal choice probabilities for paired choice experiments. Additionally, the construction of D-optimal designs is modified to obtain DCEs when the number of attributes equals the number of runs, including designs with choice sets of sizes that are not necessarily multiples of 4, i.e. N ≢ 0m o d4. The designs suggested in this paper have the same or higher D-efficiencies than existing efficient designs for the same number of choice sets. Moreover, the proposed design techniques can be extended to be applied to situations where the attributes of DCEs have a higher number of levels (ℓ > 2), resulting in designs with the same improved D-efficiencies and sufficiently small sample sizes. The designs proposed in this paper offer a notable advantage by allowing a reduction of 33% in the number of choice pairs with only a marginal loss of 11% in D-efficiency when compared to an optimal design. In comparison, the design suggested by other researchers incurs a higher loss in D-efficiency.

Abstract Slow violence is an analytical concept that reveals the unseen and unrecognised forms of violence that accumulate over time and space, leading to devastating environmental and social consequences. This paper argues that slow violence involves discursive practices that render violence-producing mechanisms and processes invisible, concealed, and misrecognised and ensure the continuance of violent systems by hindering cognitive and emotional awareness of the links between different forms of violence and social harms, and thus, any potential resistance against them. These discursive practices are identified as fatalistic normalisation, daunted managerialism, and afflictive condemnation, all of which operate in tandem to veil the links between different forms of violence and social harm. The paper provides an operational framework of slow violence to help unveil these links and pave the way towards cognitive and emotional awareness for radical social transformation.

Abstract Incineration is a crucial option for municipal solid waste (MSW) management. How to deal with the “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) movement in the construction of incineration stations has become a global public policy issue. This paper explores the impact of local authorities on MSW management when incineration is adopted to process municipal waste. The study uses four open cases from news reporting as the research data and applies the social network analysis (SNA) method for empirical analysis. Our results suggest that intervention by local authorities significantly improves the level of MSW management. The paper shows the following promotion mechanism: local authorities reconstructed the selected incentives of the residents who participated in the NIMBY movements based on their interests rather than on oppression. This is fundamentally different from the literature on how centralized regimes deal with protests. This paper addresses the need to research incineration stations’ impact on MSW management. It provides a specific reference for formulating policy recommendations that are relevant to green finance for MSW management.