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Xuan paper is one of the most famous handmade papers in China and is an important paper for conservation. However, the evenness of Xuan paper has not yet received much attention. In this study, the distribution of the in-plane grammage and mechanical properties of Xuan paper are measured. It is found that the distribution of the in-plane grammage and mechanical properties of Xuan paper is uneven. In the handmade direction, the grammage and mechanical properties of Xuan paper are overall largest in the lower area, followed by the upper and middle areas. The sheet forming process of Xuan paper has an important effect on the distribution of in-plane grammage, mechanical properties, and fiber orientation of Xuan paper. The folded state has a negative effect on the mechanical properties of the folded area of Xuan paper. This study will help raise awareness of the unevenness in physical properties of Xuan paper, which is important in both conservation and research applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between environmental regulation and firm productivity has been widely debated but inconsistencies in findings across different studies. Using detailed firm-level micro-data from 2000 to 2007, this paper employs difference-in-difference combined with matching based on entropy balancing method to explore the effect of environmental regulation on firm total factor productivity (TFP) in pulp and paper industry in China. Our main findings are as following: Firstly, stricter environmental regulation, as represented by the Wastewater Discharge Standards for Pulp and Paper Industry in Shandong province, increases firm TFP significantly. Moreover, the coefficients of interest are robust to multiple robustness checks. Secondly, dynamic effects estimates reveal that when faced with this phase-in environmental regulation, firms take the foreseeably increasing strictness into account from the very beginning and prefer to take one-step adjustment to reach full compliance. Thirdly, potential mechanism analysis finds that the positive effect mainly comes from the improvement of resource allocation efficiency within firms. Fourthly, the heterogeneity test indicates that the effect of environmental regulation on firm TFP is heterogeneous across firms with different sizes, ages, ownerships, capital intensity, and export status. Finally, this paper provides convincing and insightful evidence that environmental regulation has the potential to achieve the dual goals of environmental sustainability and economic growth and is thus of broader significance for understanding the enforcement of environmental regulation in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research calculated the waste paper recovery rate, and analyzed the main factors influencing waste paper recovery rate in China with time series data from 1970 to 2012. The consequent recovery rate and utilization rate of waste paper show that the recovery of paper products has been experiencing a rapid growth in China, but it cannot meet the domestic need. The empirical analysis proves that demand is the main driver to stimulate the increase of waste paper recovery rate in China; the increased average GDP per capita and proportion of waste paper pulp are two other important factors; the increased urbanization rate does not exert significant influence. In the circumstance of insufficient timber supply, the policy of eliminating straw pulp capacities for paper-making indusrty improves the recovery rate of waste paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is the largest importer of waste paper in the world and is highly dependent on the international market. Thus, the relationship between Chinese and international waste paper markets affects the supply of fiber materials in China's paper industry. This study examined the dynamic relationship between the two markets and the impact of newly implemented policies on both markets. We used unit root tests, cointegration test, vector error correction model (VECM) and frequency-domain Granger causality test to investigate the integration between Chinese and international waste paper markets and identify which of the two markets is the price leader. The results revealed that the two markets were integrated after controlling for structural breaks, and the Chinese market acted as the price leader. Since the supply of waste paper and wood pulp is insufficient in China to meet the fiber demand of the paper industry, waste paper import restrictions have significantly affected the supply of fiber materials in China's paper industry. Therefore, the Chinese government should fully consider the benefit of market integration and make full use of international waste paper resources to satisfy the large domestic demand for paper products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The not-so-bygone worlds of music and colonialism in the twentieth century have yielded a wealth of scholarly 'paper knowledge' in the twenty-first of which to build off new archival-musicological work. This article takes a particular archiving direction by turning to paper itself – and pivots the postcolonial pen around the texts and textures of re-engaging colonial history in postcolonial music scholarship. I explore these writing stakes through my adopted narrative of 'the post/colonial music archive', as shaped by paper and paper's sounding elements of tone and voice. Crisscrossing between the colonial moment and the postcolonial pen, I straddle this developing narrative of the archive, and the registers and inflections of extant source narration for what they can jointly vocalize about the music making of the Municipal Brass Band in 1930s treaty port Shanghai, and the Sino-British Club in postwar colonial Hong Kong – two ostensible musical worlds of 'Britain in China' in the twentieth century, here thrown into disarray by the post/colonial archive's own inchoate, counter-tales. Ultimately, in this process, postcolonial music scholarship gains further traction and meaning as a multi-articulating inquiry – and a turn of mind that does not let colonial history and its persistent challenges for writing go askew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Publications in Renal Failure in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) between 1992 and 2021 were analyzed. Six publication indicators: total, independent, collaborative, first author, corresponding author, and single author publications as well as their related citation indicators, were used to compare performances of countries, institutes, and authors. Comparison of the highly cited papers and journal's impact factor (IF) contributors was discussed. In addition, the main research topics in the journal were presented. Results show that China published the most total articles and reviews, as well as the first-author papers and corresponding-author papers in the journal. The Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan ranked the top in five publication indicators: total, single-institution, inter-institutionally collaborative, first author, and corresponding-author papers. A low percentage of productive authors emerged as a journal IF contributor. Similarly, only a limited relationship between highly cited papers and IF contributing papers was found. Publications related to hemodialysis, chronic kidney disease, and acute kidney injury were the most popular topic, while meta-analysis was new focus in the last decade in the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the digitalization of traditional funeral joss paper into digital commodities through the case study of the Chinese online cemetery 00tang.com. Joss paper are paper replicas of everyday items such as money and objects that are ritually burned as a form of symbolic offering to the deceased in accordance with traditional Chinese practices of ancestor worship. Using both ethnographic interviews and discursive interface analysis, I look at how the remediation of spiritual joss paper into digital objects complicates perceived dichotomy between the gift and commodity that requires new ways of thinking about the acts of social reciprocity, indebtedness, and obligation. Drawing on established literature relating to gift and digital economies, I argue 00tang's digitization of joss paper on internet cemeteries is reflexive of the biopolitical means by which the state and market forces work to subsume traditional ancestor worship into controllable and commodifiable labor of mourning. Here, the subversive wastefulness of the gift is replaced by its accumulation and preservation online. Digitization in this regard highlights the process by which objects take on different materiality, values, aesthetics, and productive labor practices, all of which fundamentally alters the symbolic regimes of death and the ritual gift economy in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the art of paper tearing by Hong Kong-based paper-tearing artist Sing Man Lee in his aim to create a bridge between contemporary life and traditional Chinese cultures. Other topics include how Lee made his first paper-tearing artwork, how the art can improve a person's confidence, and an exploration of Lee's artwork through the National Visual Arts Standards.

In China, master's students in humanities and social sciences (HSS) are becoming the main target of Chinese-language predatory journals. Existing research has not paid enough attention to why these students publish papers in Chinese-language predatory journals. This research interviewed 30 HSS master's students with different majors using semi-structured interviews and Grounded Theory to analyze the data; it found that research discrimination, research context, self-awareness, and individual demand are the main reasons why students publish papers in Chinese-language predatory journals. This study provides the following suggestions in an effort to solve the problem of Chinese-language predatory journals. First, the Chinese government should draw up a blacklist of Chinese-language predatory journals. Second, the research evaluation departments of Chinese universities and research institutions should evaluate the research results of HSS master's students based on this list. Third, Chinese universities or scientific research institutions should strengthen the training of HSS master tutors and increase their awareness of Chinese-language predatory journals. And finally, Chinese HSS master's students should be taught about the hazards of Chinese-language predatory journals in research integrity and ethics courses, and refuse to publish papers in Chinese-language predatory journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the occurrence of mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) in food contact papers in China, and to investigate the potential sources of MOH contamination, a total of 159 food contact papers and raw materials were analysed by off-line solid-phase extraction-gas chromatography flame ionisation detection (SPE-GC-FID) and a GC-MS method. The migration of MOH from food contact papers into Tenax, olive oil or 50% ethanol under the worst foreseeable conditions of use was determined. The results indicated that the occurrence of MOH in China is of a potential health risk concerning the migration of mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) and mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) which were detected in 82.6% and 50.4% of samples, respectively. Migration of MOSH from 47.9% of samples was higher than 2 mg/kg and migration of MOAH from 32.2% samples exceeded 0.5 mg/kg in case of the worst foreseeable condition of use. The highest mean migration of MOSH and MOAH were found in packaging papers for long-term storage (more than 6 months), with mean migration of 91.2 mg/kg and 1.4 mg/kg, respectively. Migration of MOH from printed paper was considerably higher than that of unprinted paper, validating previous findings that the printing ink is the predominant source of MOH contamination in food contact papers. Migration of MOH from paper bowls used for packing instant noodles was relatively low, suggesting the internal hollow layer may be acting as a functional barrier that could block the transfer of MOH (up to C28) through the gas phrase, even though the outer layer was made from recycled paper. High concentrations of MOSH and MOAH were also detected in de-foamers, adhesives and rosin sizing agents, indicating that the MOH contamination caused by the use of raw materials and additives should also be taken into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to clarify which types of research is more conducive to improving innovation performance, we use the panel data of key universities in China from 2009 to 2017 for empirical research. The results show that basic research intensity is significantly positive correlated with innovation performance, while paper influence, patent novelty plus the interaction between paper influence and patent novelty are all playing a mediating role between basic research intensity and innovation performance. Furthermore, we use applied research intensity, experimental development intensity and provincial panel data for variables substitution and sample subdivision to carry out robustness test, clarifying the functional mechanism and the heterogeneity of boundary conditions between different types of research intensity and innovation performance. Relevant conclusions are of great theoretical and practical value for optimising the allocation of S&T resources and enriching the theoretical system of innovation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article collected papers published by Chinese archaeologists in Chinese and World core journals (CCJs and WCJs for short) in the past century. Based on bibliometric analysis, the general characteristics and trends of Chinese archaeology were summarized. In a macroscopic perspective, historiography-rooted archaeology focusing on historical periods and central areas of China and preferring traditional archaeological methods (mainly a culture-historical paradigm) will continue to occupy a leading position in China. Simultaneously, interdisciplinary research and internationalisation will likely continue to develop and diversify Chinese archaeology, though the speed is unknown due to the impact of the pandemic. In comparison, more attention needs to be paid to theoretical research and to publishing more results of historical archaeology in WCJs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is aimed toward examining the attention received by research papers through social and electronic media in business research. In recent years, altmetrics has emerged as a complementary measure of the impact of research works besides citation analysis and bibliometrics. Using the altmetric attention score (AAS) the paper is the first research of its kind to shed light on the characteristics of 100 papers receiving the highest online attention. Various predictors of online engagement with articles in business research journals having an impact factor greater than 6 are discussed. Data was collected from the Dimensions.ai database and analyzed using R statistical software. It is found that the Journal of Business Ethics contributed maximum papers with the highest AAS followed by the Journal of Business Research. Using the Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum test it was determined that AAS in business research is dependent upon article type, topics, and journal of publication. Most of the papers in high impact factor business journals have been contributed by the authors of USA, UK and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is the largest paper producer and consumer in the world. However, China's paper industry is inefficient in its consumption of natural resources. Whereas the proportion of wood pulp used by the paper industry in developed countries is up to 63%, the corresponding figure for China is only 23%, leading to high energy and water consumption and severe environmental pollution. This article presents a systematic risk analysis using life cycle assessment and carbon footprint calculation associated with China's straw-pulp and wood-pulp paper industries. Risk prevention measures are proposed based on the results of this analysis. The study has important ramifications for the sustainable development of China's paper industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The existence of structural change features can lead to the failure of traditional econometric methods. This research uses the Bai-Perron test to diagnose the structural change point of the price series in China's pilot carbon market. It uses an impulse response function to analyze the interaction between carbon prices and energy prices, stock price indices, power industry index, and similar asset prices. The results show structural change points in all five carbon markets during the operation period, and the timing of these structural change points relates to an economic situation and compliance period. In addition, the impact mechanisms of the stock price index, similar asset price, and power industry index on the price of China's pilot carbon market change significantly before and after the structural change points, but the impact of energy price does not change except for the Hubei carbon market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the newly published autobiography of Yang Yi, a renowned English-to-Chinese translator in modern China. The autobiography provides insights into social life in China and presents a left-elite historical narrative of the Republic of China. Yang's autobiography covers her family background, education, interactions with famous writers, and her experiences during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The article highlights the importance of Yang's autobiography as a primary source for understanding the history of modern China, particularly in relation to the elite society and the history of sexuality. [Extracted from the article]

Technological advances in tea production are critical to meet global demands for tea consumption. To illuminate differences in the scientific and commercial relevance of research programs between major tea-related research organizations around the world, we conducted a bibliometric analysis comparing the scientific outputs, including peer-reviewed publications and patents, of six major research organizations published between January 01, 2008 and July 11, 2020. For this competitive ranking analysis, we examined a number of papers, research topics, academic influence, capacity for development, capacity for collaboration, and capacity for technological innovation. Among the six research organizations, Anhui Agricultural University (in China) had the most publications, while the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tea Research Institute showed a higher capacity for development. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (in India) and the University of Shizuoka (Japan) both showed high academic influence, while the University of Shizuoka, Tea Research Association Tocklai and National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (Japan) showed a high capacity for collaboration. The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tea Research Institute applied for the most patents, while the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research applied for the most international patents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academics are expected to publish their research work. Hence, during the past few years, the scientific community has witnessed an ever-increasing growth and output in scientific papers. However, a large number of authors have violated ethical norms of research leading to retractions of their research works as well. The article focuses on the scientific fraud emanating from China and India in Health Sciences for a period of three years i.e. 2015 to 2018. The present data were extracted from a search filter term "Research Articles OR Articles in Press" on the subject category of Health Sciences (HSC). A total of 318 retracted papers were retrieved and the result of the study indicated that majority (268 items) of the retracted papers in Health Science originated from China, whereas just 50 retracted papers originated from India as on 21-02-2019. While analyzing the data, 26 redundant articles from China have been removed that received retraction notices. Further, the results of the study suggest that there are several factors associated with retraction of scientific papers, which include unreliable results, duplication of results, plagiarism, forged authorship, error in the text, error in data and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermo-sensitive printers and thermo-sensitive facsimile machines are used extensively throughout China. Document examiners are often requested to confirm the authenticity of thermal paper documents. Identification of the type of thermal paper and estimation of the age of thermal paper documents could be effective methods to aid in confirming the authenticity of documents. In this paper, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometry was successfully employed to differentiate between the 30 types of thermal paper. The relative age of the thermal paper documents was estimated by measuring changes in the gray value of printed strokes. The method employed resulted in curves, which indicate the relationship between the gray value of the strokes and the age of the thermal paper documents, and which are applicable for estimating the relative age of thermal paper documents in some cases. It was determined that the brand of thermal paper and thickness of strokes on the paper affected the accuracy of estimating the dates of strokes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recycling of municipal household solid waste (MHSW) is important for the environmental preservation and wellbeing of the society. In recent decades, continuous efforts in research, policy-making and municipal administration have led to improvements toward more sustainable MHSW recycling. However, MHSW recycling remains a major challenge for China. This paper analyzes the current value and potential value of MHSW recycling in order to guide residents to recycle MHSW effectively and to reduce the amount of recycle-worthy materials missing recycling. A multivariate probit model is developed to ascertain the current value and potential value of MHSW recycling. Results from a case study of Shanghai reveal that waste glass has low current value and low potential value, and waste plastics has low current value but high potential value. The results also indicate that the waste metal has high current value and high potential value, whereas waste paper has high current value but low potential value. These findings provide policymakers with useful information and rationale for directing efforts to achieve a better or optimal MHSW recycling practice. Implications: Be a multivariate probit model is developed to calculate the current value and potential value of MHSW recycling in order to guide residents to recycle MHSW and reduce an amount of miss-recycling materials. Our results have shown that waste glass has a low current value and a low potential value, waste plastics have a low current value and a high potential value. Regarding the waste metal, they have a high current value and a high potential value. For waste papers, the result indicates that it has a high current value and a low potential value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the literature on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has the factors that directly influence the transport and logistics. The relevant literature has been collected systematically since the BRI was initiated in 2013. We adopt a content analysis methodology involving a four-step process. It can be found that firstly, more and more papers on the BRI have been published these years and the influence of BRI on transport and logistics can be summarized into three main perspectives, namely, the changes of the politics & policy, the changes of the environmental dimensions, the direct influence on transport and logistics; secondly, the topics and adopted methodology have been summarized, and it can be found that the percentage papers using quantitative analysis increases over the years; thirdly, percentage of papers with optimistic attitude on the BRI has been increasing since 2013 and compared with authors with affiliations in China, authors with non-Chinese affiliations are more likely to show pessimistic attitudes; fourthly, the research gaps have been summarized, which illustrates future research direction or topics and can promote the studies on transport and logistics considering the influence of the BRI and provides theoretical basis for BRI's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the results of published research into China's urban planning history since 2011. A total of 1,057 articles were selected, including 198 theses, 465 journal papers, and 394 conference papers. It provides quantitative statistics and analysis of the literature, using CiteSpace to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the data. Based on quantitative analysis and supported by the literature, this paper qualitatively concludes and summarizes the research hotspots and evolution of Chinese urban planning history from five dimensions: planning practice, system construction, thought and theory, figures, and discipline. The achievements delve into the exploration of motivations and mechanisms, planning ideology, methodology, practice subjects, and preparation process based on a staged review of the historical process of practice and a summary of its characteristics, which shows a process from partial to holistic and fragmented to systematic in general terms, contributing to the formation of a complete planning history research system. A comprehensive analysis of quantitative statistics, knowledge mapping of literature, and important research content reveals the characteristics of research into the history of Chinese urban planning over the past decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its inception in 2013, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a focal issue in international transportation and global logistics because infrastructure development and economic and transport corridors have been influencing connectivity among countries along the Belt and Road. This paper aims to conduct a literature review on logistics, supply chains, and transport (LST) field in the context of the BRI since 2013. The papers for the literature review were collected from SCI/SSCI/SCIE and Chinese SSCI journals. This paper applies Text Mining to draw key research topics and research networks of the literature and then makes a comparative study between selected 190 English and 198 Chinese papers published in 2013–2020. This paper also investigates and compares the methods applied to those papers. The findings help researchers understand research trends in the LST field and contribute to highlighting research insights for further studies in the LST field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Publishing English papers in journals listed in Science Citation Index (SCI) has become a requirement for degree conferment for doctoral science students at many universities in China. The publication requirement engenders high pressure for doctoral students and their supervisors and shapes the politics of the relationship between the two parties. This is illustrated in the present paper which reports a study conducted at a prestigious university in east China. Focusing on the case of a research group in biochemistry led by an expert writer (the supervisor), the study aimed to find out, from the supervisor's perspective, what revising papers for the students means to him, and what the students learn as a result of their papers being revised. It is shown that the students depend on the supervisor to meet the publication requirement, and the supervisor believes an average student cannot write a publishable paper. The paper discusses the disempowering effect of the publication requirement, and concludes that there is a role for a course on academic English writing, and that the focus on “publishing SCI papers or no degree” should be shifted at the policy level and long-term planning should go into the training of EAP-qualified language professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xu Lanjun's book, "Ertong yu zhanzheng: Guozu, Jiaoyu ji dazhong wenhua" (Chinese Children and War: Nation, Education and Mass Culture), explores the reinvention of childhood in modern Chinese literature and culture during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The book examines how war propaganda and political ideologies shaped the conceptualization of childhood and the integration of children into the war experience. Xu analyzes various child-oriented literature and media, highlighting the blurred boundaries between children and adults and the role of children in nation-building. The book also discusses the connection between Chinese children's culture and war discourses during the Cold War and in Sinophone society. While the book could benefit from further exploration of age awareness, it offers valuable insights into the cultural construction of childhood in wartime China. [Extracted from the article]

China's defense white papers have long been dismissed as lacking substance and offering little useful information on China's real strategic intentions and military capabilities. Nevertheless, since 1998 Beijing has continued to issue defense white papers on a regular two-year frequency. Indeed, in recent years it has accorded greater importance to these documents. This paper argues that China's defense white papers warrant more attention than they have received so far. An examination of the making of the white papers, the functions designated for these documents and their evolving content and structure reveals not only the different nature and purpose of the Chinese white papers compared with their counterparts in Western countries, but also important changes and continuities in China's strategic outlook and its evolving perceptions of the role of the use of force in the context of the country's re-emergence as a major player in international affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the work plan for the registration and assessment of scores from the written examination conducted for the promotion and selection of deputy of the department level cadres in Henan, China. Topics mentioned include the importance of formulating the work plan to ensure the fair assessment of the results, the processes involved in the work plan and the relevance of keeping the confidentiality of the examination paper assessments and registrations of the results.

The coronavirus pandemic is challenging the existing global economic order and the risk of infection is reordering the way people interact. Communication technologies have provided new ways of managing social activities and maintaining social order. The digital health code is a technology developed to digitize health and mobility via mobile devices; its objective is to restore the flow and control of the physical body in a post-pandemic society. This paper examines the digital health code in post-pandemic China. Through analysis of its technical structure, government policies and the use of the digital health code, the paper explores how this social biotechnology reconstructs the notion of health, how it restores mobility and in doing so how it strikes a balance between biosecurity and capital accumulation in post-pandemic societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Institute of Conservation is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

China is highly concerned about its global image and is thus increasingly active in promoting itself globally. The most prominent and most controversial tool of China’s global image management is the Confucius Institute (CI). Launched in 2004 to introduce Chinese language and culture globally, CIs are normally joint ventures between Chinese and international universities, and are partially funded by the Chinese government. These close links with official China have raised concerns about their aims and have triggered heated debates about their intentions. While proponents describe CIs as a benign instrument of cultural exchange, critics define them as the propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party. This paper provides empirical evidence related to these debates as it critically engages with the actual content CIs present to their audiences by analysing internal work reports from 50 CIs in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. The paper outlines the specific narratives CIs present to global audiences and finds a clear agenda to present an apolitical version of China by emphasising elements of traditional Chinese culture and mostly avoiding controversial political topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Economic globalization and green development have become the consensus of all countries in the world. The importance of FDI, carbon emissions and green total factor productivity is self-evident. This study analyses the impact of FDI inflows on green TFP and the role of carbon emissions in FDI inflows and green TFP. The empirical analysis employed kernel density estimation, OLS, mediation effect model, and panel quantile regression methods using China's provincial panel data spanning over 2001–2019. The facts show that China's carbon emissions have been reduced because of environmental regulations and green TFP is still rising in fluctuation. The results from OLS and mediation effect model indicate that the impact of FDI inflows on green TFP present an asymmetric inverted U-shape and FDI influences green TFP by changing carbon emissions. The panel quantile regression results also show that FDI has a stronger impact on green TFP in less developed regions. This paper believes that the introduction of FDI should be appropriate and should be accompanied by corresponding environmental regulations, in order to promote green TFP in countries around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technology has a significant impact on most industries in the 21st century. The publishing industry is also facing digital transformation, and the traditional paper business is considered polluted and wasteful as it generates carbon emissions. To compare the influence of digital paperless business with the traditional one on environmental performance in publishing, this paper adopts a refined weak disposability model initially introduced by Kuosmanen (2005). The main novelty of the paper is to include two types of desirable outputs in production technology: one is linked to generating undesirable outputs while another is not. Two additional economic assumptions can be imposed on environmental production technology, namely, weak disposability and null-jointness, respectively. We apply the refined model to assess the economic and environmental performance of the publishing industry in China. The paper business generates carbon emissions while the digital outputs (paperless business) may not produce pollution. The empirical results indicate that a vast potential improvement is detected for the digital outputs while limited progress is allowed for traditional outputs. Furthermore, we use the entropy method to obtain a comprehensive digital technology indicator and further explore its influence on performance in the publishing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty has always been a global concern that has restricted human development. The first goal (SDG 1) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to eliminate all forms of poverty all over the world. The establishment of a scientific and effective localized SDG 1 evaluation and monitoring method is the key to achieving SDG 1. This paper proposes SDG 1 China district and county-level localization evaluation method based on multi-source remote sensing data for the United Nations Sustainable Development Framework. The temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of China's poverty areas and their SDG 1 evaluation values in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 have been analyzed. Based on the SDGs global indicator framework, this paper first constructed SDG 1 China's district and county localization indicator system and then extracted multidimensional feature factors from nighttime light images, land cover data, and digital elevation model data. Secondly, we establish SDG 1 China's localized partial least squares estimation model and SDG 1 China's localized machine learning estimation model. Finally, we analyze and verify the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of China's poverty areas and counties and their SDG 1 evaluation values. The results show that SDG 1 China's district and county localization indicator system proposed in this study and SDG 1 China's localized partial least squares estimation model can better reflect the poverty level of China's districts and counties. The estimated model R2 is 0.65, which can identify 72.77% of China's national poverty counties. From 2012 to 2018, the spatial distribution pattern of SDG evaluation values in China's districts and counties is that the SDG evaluation values gradually increase from western China to eastern China. In addition, the average SDG 1 evaluation value of China's districts and counties increased by 23% from 2012 to 2018. This paper is oriented to the United Nations SDGs framework, explores the SDG 1 localized evaluation method of China's districts and counties based on multisource remote sensing data, and provides a scientific and rapid regional poverty monitoring and evaluation program for the implementation of the 2030 agenda poverty alleviation goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article invites submissions of papers on tourism relating to China and the Chinese.

We examine the effects of computer-based versus paper-based assessment of critical thinking skills, adapted from English (in the U.S.) to Chinese. Using data collected based on a random assignment between the two modes in multiple Chinese colleges, we investigate mode effects from multiple perspectives: mean scores, measurement precision, item functioning (i.e. item difficulty and discrimination), response behavior (i.e. test completion and item omission), and user perceptions. Our findings shed light on assessment and item properties that could be the sources of mode effects. At the test level, we find that the computer-based test is more difficult and more speeded than the paper-based test. We speculate that these differences are attributable to the test's structure, its high demands on reading, and test-taking flexibility afforded under the paper testing mode. Item-level evaluation allows us to identify item characteristics that are prone to mode effects, including targeted cognitive skill, response type, and the amount of adaptation between modes. Implications for test design are discussed, and actionable design suggestions are offered with the goal of minimizing mode effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays agile and practical methods for lean manufacturing and production process reengineering are in urgent need for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). However, due to the limitations in obtaining accurate performance evaluations of the production line, traditional value stream mapping (VSM) methods are insufficient or unpractical in undertaking production process reengineering tasks. By integrating the internet of things (IoT) technology and Efficiency Validate Analysis (EVA) simulation framework, this paper proposed a digital twin-enabled VSM approach for SMEs. This easy to adopt and accurate method helps manufacturing SMEs in redesigning and reengineering production processes. This study contributes to research on digital twin modeling, by proposing a theoretical framework which combines IoT data-driven production process planning and simulation methods. The novelty of this study also exists in proposing a comprehensive and practical solution for production process reengineering, which integrating the cutting-edge technologies including digital twin and IoT. The feasibility and validity of the proposed approach is proved by applying to a musical instrument factory in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fractional-order derivative is attracting more and more attention of researchers in image processing because of its better property in restoring more texture than the total variation. To improve the performance of fractional-order variation model in image restoration, a truncated fractional-order variation model was proposed in Chan and Liang [Truncated fractional-order variation model for image restoration, J. Oper. Res. Soc. China]. In this paper, we propose a dual approach to solve this truncated fractional-order variation model on noise removal. The proposed algorithm is based on the dual approach proposed by Chambolle [An algorithm for total variation minimisation and applications, J. Math Imaging Vis. 20 (2004), pp. 89–97]. Conversely, the Chambolle's dual approach can be treated as a special case of the proposed algorithm with fractional order α = 1. The work of this paper modifies the result in Zhang et al. [Adaptive fractional-order multi-scale method for image denoising, J. Math. Imaging Vis. 43(1) (2012), pp. 39–49. Springer Netherlands 0924–9907, Computer Science, pp. 1–11, 2011], where the convergence is not analysed. Based on the truncation, the convergence of the proposed dual method can be analysed and the convergence criteria can be provided. In addition, the accuracy of the reconstruction is improved after the truncation is taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Australia's approach towards world as revealed in Defence White Paper (DWP) 2013, released by Australia's former Prime Minister Julia Gillard on May 3, 2013. DWP mentions that Australia has approved several proposals for defence procurement including the unveiling of new aircrafts and has also signed strategic partnership agreement with China in an effort to strengthen its military system. Also discussed are Australia's good relationship with India and the U.S.

This research note discusses the 2009 Defence White Paper, particularly its focus on the potential threat the Chinese military might pose to the security of the Asia-Pacific in the foreseeable future. It also examines Chinese responses to the White Paper's main theses. It concludes that the White Paper marked a departure from the Howard government's policy of de-emphasising differences in Canberra's dialogue with Beijing and, by re-affirming commitment to the alliance with the United States (US), delineated the limits of Australia's partnership with China. However, its poorly substantiated predictions regarding the rise of China's power, the US economic and military decline and Beijing's geostrategic objectives raise doubts about the Rudd government's capacity to formulate a coherent vision for the future of Australia's relations with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the application of force majeure, the principle of change of circumstances, and the doctrine of frustration in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand and China. The paper will first outline the general legal test and legal consequences of the three doctrines. Secondly, the paper will discuss the legal tests and legal consequences of the three doctrines specifically in New Zealand and China and in the context of COVID-19. Thirdly, the paper will discuss the similarities and differences between the three doctrines. In the second part of this paper, the paper will discuss how the three doctrines apply to commercial lease cases in the context of COVID-19. The paper will select two commercial lease cases in New Zealand and China to analyse the robustness of all three legal doctrines in providing practical workable solutions for tenants and landlords during government-imposed lockdowns and enforced closures of leased premises. The paper illustrates how the differences in the legal tests, legal consequences and underlying rationales of the doctrines result in different outcomes of a case. The paper concludes that the doctrines each have their strengths and weaknesses and other civil and common law countries can learn from the experiences of China and New Zealand. Furthermore, the paper suggests that courts should carefully consider the relevant facts and circumstances of a case when applying legal doctrines. Moreover, courts need to strike the right balance between doing the victims of unforeseen circumstances and upholding the principle of the sanctity of contract. The analysis of the three doctrines is particularly useful in this day and age where there is a high likelihood of the occurrence of another pandemic-level event and causing unprecedented disruptions to the commercial world. Moreover, the research has provided tenants and landlords with a good starting point as to how to protect themselves in the event of an unforeseen event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 21st century has witnessed increasing fluctuations in both the real economy and financial markets around the world. How to maintain the stability of the capital market has attracted more serious attention. This paper examines the impact of executive mobility on the stock price crash risk at the company level. Based on the data of A-share listed companies during 2010–2019, our empirical results show that executive mobility can effectively reduce the stock price crash risk. Furthermore, our research confirms that employee salaries play an intermediary role in the impact of executive mobility on the stock price crash risk. This paper has important implications for companies in emerging markets to optimise the structure of their executive teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to assess the non-linearities between the ESG activities and firm performance in case of an emerging market. China is identified as a case study for the present examination. Even though this research objective has been explored by past researcher, the evidence presented in literature is not conclusive. The paper hypothesizes that such conflicting or inconclusive results can potentially be attributed to wrong modeling, datasets that include both developing and the developed markets, and the prevalent endogeneity issue in corporate governance literature. For the purpose of this paper, the author uses the dynamic panel approach of First difference and the System Generalized Method of Moments. The findings from the analysis of 232 Chinese listed firm show a positive association between ESG activities and the firm performance. However, the relationship is nonlinear. In other words, the relationship between ESG activities and the firm performance is inverted U-shaped. This indicates the relationship is positive up to a certain threshold and once the ESG activities cross that threshold it start to have negative effect. The key insight from this research is that the firm has to find their threshold of ESG activities to gain maximum benefits from such activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of Internet infrastructure construction on enterprise transformation and upgrading and the underlying mechanisms using a progressive double difference model based on a quasi-natural experiment of the Chinese government's "broadband China" policy by matching A-share listed companies and city panel data from 2008–2019 in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The conclusions show that the "broadband China" policy can significantly promote the transformation and upgrading of enterprises in pilot cities. However, its effect shows a diminishing marginal contribution, and the policy is more effective for traditional manufacturing industries during the implementation period. Enhancing human capital and reducing internal transaction costs are two important channels for Internet infrastructure construction to help enterprises transform and upgrade. Combined with the life cycle theory, we find that the "broadband China" policy has the most significant impact on changing and upgrading enterprises in the growth and maturity stages, especially those in the manufacturing industry, but not those in the maturity and decline stages of the service industry. Finally, a series of robustness tests using Monte Carlo simulation, entropy balance method, and instrumental variables method, excluding other factors, show that the findings are still robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 285 cities in China from 2000 to 2019, this paper searches the number of patent applications related to urban artificial intelligence from five dimensions: algorithm, data, computing power, application scenario and related technology. Combining the two perspectives of industrial upgrading and rationalization, we analyze the internal influence theory of the research topic from the theoretical and empirical perspectives. The results show that artificial intelligence is not only conducive to industrial upgrading, but also significantly inhibit the deviation of industrial structure from equilibrium, which is conducive to industrial rationalization. In addition, the conclusion of this paper is still valid after a series of robustness tests, such as eliminating the samples of central cities, winsorize treatment and instrumental variables method. Through the heterogeneity test, it is found that the promoting effect of artificial intelligence on industrial upgrading is more obvious in big cities and cities with high level of industrial upgrading. The internal mechanism test results show that artificial intelligence promotes industrial upgrading by promoting technological innovation. In cities with a high degree of marketization and Internet development, the role of artificial intelligence in promoting industrial upgrading can be strengthened. The research conclusions of this paper will be conducive to accelerating the development of artificial intelligence to promote industrial upgrading, and provide a useful reference for realizing high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the underlying meaning of Chinese political ideas as represented in the Belt and Road discourse. It aims to contribute to overcoming the bias towards democratic systems in security studies. It challenges the argument that China's peaceful words can be taken at face value and compared with the ideas of democratic regimes. It delivers insights on new perspectives in the 'political threat versus desecuritization' discussion. This paper applies a qualitative discourse analysis with primary data collection of Chinese governmental and state institutional documents, Chinese think tank papers, and joint statements of EU-Chinese governmental officials. The data was analysed with NVivo Software. The empirical analysis shows that Chinese actors have built up a threat narrative idea which is hidden behind words such as 'trust, harmony, pluralism, community of a shared destiny'. Theoretically, this paper shows that the organizing principle, to apply Buzan's words, needs to be acknowledged when interpreting the way Chinese actors frame ideas in the BRI discourse. It challenges the argument of China as a desecuritization actor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature has problematized the limits of deeply held assumptions about linear, unidirectional upgrading trajectories in global value chains (GVCs). As firm and chain trajectories and sources of upgrading have changed in recent years, GVC analysis has adjusted to focus on new emerging actors and new distributions of power within value chains. After a discussion of some limits to the treatment of upgrading in the GVC literature, the paper develops a simple extension of the classical model of upgrading in ways that do not presuppose particular valuations of functional, product, and processes upgrading, and that do not fetishize upgrading as such. The paper works with case studies of four Chinese firms located in Ningbo, China. Each 'wears multiple hats' and together they provide illustrative examples of the limits of linear, unidirectional approaches of upgrading. This simple model has the singular advantage of ensuring that trajectories of business upgrading and downgrading in GVCs can be understood as always open, often operating in diverse and contradictory ways. In this sense, the confusion of upgrading with firm strategy with their regional impacts can be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using CiteSpace to draw a keyword co-occurrence knowledge map for 1,048 research papers on the quality of higher education from 2000 to 2014 in the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index database, we found that over the past 15 years, research on the quality of Chinese higher education was clearly oriented toward policies, and a good interactive relationship formed between research and policy. Looking at research topics, apart from macrodiscussions of the spirit of several educational reforms, the relevant topics are mainly focused on higher education quality issues in the massification stage, issues of higher education academic management, issues of student cultivation, and issues of ensuring and evaluating higher education quality. Of these, issues of ensuring and evaluating higher education quality have continually been the mainstream of research on Chinese higher education quality, and there has been an increasing trend of emphasizing ensuring internal quality within schools, emphasizing student participation, and evaluating the effectiveness of student learning. Scholars had a renewed focus on the topics of higher education academic management and student cultivation after 2010, and truly improving the quality of higher education will become a future hot topic of study, however there is an urgent need for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although China has a long history of cartography and map collections, the condition of China's map collections and accessibility to geographic and digital data is still unknown to world counterparts. This paper discusses the paper and digital map collections situation in China from the perspective of multiple collections and from sharing services. Paper map collections are introduced through a survey and analysis of the National Library of China, Peking University Library, and Beijing Normal University Library. Dynamic map service Web sites and the related Web infrastructure are introduced as being representative of digital map collections in China. The Data Sharing Platform of Earth System Science (DSPESS) of the National Science and Technology Infrastructure of China, which has operated for more than ten years, is used as a case study to analyze digital map data sets sharing and services. Digital map data collection characteristics, the data sharing policy, user distribution, and the stewardship staff of DSPESS are analyzed. We also present challenges and potential demands facing China's map data collection and sharing services from the perspectives of a sharing mechanism, financial support, technical challenges, and allocation of professional staff resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a study comparing paper-based marking (PBM) and onscreen marking (OSM) in Hong Kong utilising English language essay scripts drawn from the live 2007 Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) Year 11 English Language Writing Paper. In the study, 30 raters from the 2007 HKCEE Writing Paper marked on paper 100 scripts that they had marked on screen 9 months previously. Subsequent to the rating, they completed a questionnaire, from which it was concluded that, technologically, raters had no problems with OSM. Statistical results indicated no bias favouring either form of rating. Attitudinal differences surfaced, however, between new raters who had solely rated on screen as against veteran raters, whose previous rating experiences had only been with paper-based rating. The paper concludes with the prediction that as OSM becomes more prevalent, it will be accepted as the norm, with prejudice about fairness or convenience gradually fading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]