Search

Purpose. This paper investigates the effect of cross-reporting quality transfer: the association between the merits of the financial auditor and the quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. Specifically, we examine whether the effect of Big Four financial audits on the CSR reporting quality of Chinese listed firms differs from that of non-Big Four firms. Design/methodology/approach. This paper uses archival data and regression analysis from a sample (5257 firm-year observations) of A-share listed firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2009 to 2018. Findings. The analysis shows that when a company's financial auditor is a Big Four firm, the quality of CSR reports is higher than when it is audited by non-Big Four auditor, which in turn can be explained by differences in cross-reporting quality transfer between Big Four and non-Big Four firms. Moreover, this effect is more pronounced in non-stateowned enterprises (NSOEs) than in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and among firms residing in high-pressure legal environments as opposed to low-pressure regions. Originality. This study extends the literature on the quality of CSR reporting based on the type of financial reporting audit provider, thus bridging the gap between financial audit and sustainability reporting practice and elucidating the cross-reporting quality transfer effect. Practical implications. The paper's findings shed light on the impact that Big Four firms have on the quality of CSR reports through financial audits, thus confirming the cross-reporting quality transfer effect in China. These findings might appeal to political decision-makers, authorities and companies given the notable contribution of CSR disclosure to the decision-making processes of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tropical cyclone (TC) is an extremely hazardous weather event. These events include heavy rain as an important hazard factor, which poses a serious threat to the public safety of coastal cities. Presently, numerical weather prediction (NWP) is an important and commonly used method to support the forecasting of the impact of TCs. However, relatively high uncertainty still remains in quantitative precipitation predictions provided by NWP, which makes it difficult to meet the demands of public safety management in regions affected by TCs. To remediate this deficiency, the study combines machine learning (ML) techniques with NWP and proposes a new analogue identification method for TC precipitation estimation. The method consists of three parts. First, the output data of historical NWPs, including wind, temperature, humidity of 850 hPa and sea-level pressure field, are deposited into a massive sample library. Second, the dimensionality of the sample library is reduced by using the locally linear embedding (LLE) method, and a characteristic subspace containing the features of the original sample library is formed. Finally, when a new NWP prediction appears, it can be projected into the characteristic subspace, and the historical NWP sample having the greatest similarity with the current NWP prediction can be identified. The observational precipitation corresponding to the most similar historical NWP sample can then be used to estimate the potential impact of current TCs. This method is verified using observation results from the coastal city of Shenzhen, China. The results show that the prediction of the method proposed in the current study exhibited significant improvement compared with prediction results provided by both the NWP's direct output and a traditional method used in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past several years, Shenzhen's air quality has significantly improved despite increased ground-level ozone (O3) and the challenges in reducing fine particulate matter (PM2.5). We investigated concentration trends, concurrent pollution features, and long-term exposure health risks to enhance our understanding of the characteristics of O3 and PM2.5 pollution. From 2016 to 2022, there was a decrease in PM2.5 levels, but an increase in O3. Additionally, the premature mortality attributed to long-term air pollution exposure decreased by 20.1%. High-O3-and-PM2.5 days were defined as those when the MDA8 O3 ≥ 160 μg m–3 and PM2.5 ≥ 35 μg m–3. Significantly higher levels of O3, PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), OX (OX = O3 + NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) were observed on high-O3-and-PM2.5 days. Vehicle emissions were identified as the primary anthropogenic sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), contributing the most to VOCs (58.4 ± 1.3%), O3 formation (45.3 ± 0.6%), and PM2.5 formation (46.6 ± 0.4%). Cities in Guangdong Province around Shenzhen were identified as major potential source regions of O3 and PM2.5 during high-O3-and-PM2.5 days. These findings will be valuable in developing simultaneous pollution control strategies for PM2.5 and O3 in Shenzhen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) seriously affects the quality of human health and the prognosis of the patient, but the epidemiological characteristics of TBI can vary among populations. Numerous changes have occurred in the epidemiological characteristics of individuals with TBI in the fast-paced city of Shenzhen, China. However, little is known about these characteristics. This study aimed to investigate the changes in TBI epidemiology, help clinicians improve medical treatment. Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional analysis, we collected the data of 4,229 patients with TBI admitted to 20 hospitals in Shenzhen in 2017. We collected data on age, gender, cause and severity of the injury, eventual diagnosis, time from injury to admission in a neurosurgery department, and patient outcomes. Two neurosurgeons simultaneously collected the data. We compared these results with a similar study conducted in Shenzhen during the period from 1994 to 2003 to clarify and explain the changes in the epidemiological characteristics of TBI. Results: The majority of respondents were men [2,830 (66.9%)]. The mean age was 32.5  ±  21.4  years. The youngest patient was less than 1  year old, and the oldest patient was 101  years old. A total of 3,947 (93.3%) patients had a favorable outcome, 219 (5.2%) had an unfavorable outcome, and 63 (1.5%) died. The predominant external cause was falls (1,779 [42.1%]); this was the most common cause of TBI in children and older adults. Riders of electric bicycles (423 [29.0%]) were the most vulnerable to traffic accident-related injuries. Time greater than 50  h from injury to admission to a neurosurgical department had a significant effect on prognosis (p  <  0.001). Conclusion: The epidemiological characteristics of TBI have changed significantly over the past 20  years. Falls, rather than traffic accidents, were the most common cause of TBI. Further research is needed to devise solutions to decrease the incidence of falls and improve the outcomes of TBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to shed light on the effect of star CEOs on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of Chinese firms. Relying on the theoretical perspective of role identity and role constraints, we analyze data from 1222 Chinese firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2006 to 2019. The results analyzed using the ordinary least squares estimate method reveal a positive effect of star CEOs' extreme confidence and legitimacy pressure mechanisms on ESG performance. We also find that this positive relationship is negatively moderated by higher organizational slack but strengthened by a lower level of regional marketization, as the degree of firms' dependence on external stakeholders' resources differs significantly. Additionally, this study finds that ESG activities are less likely to be associated with firm performance if star CEOs pursue them to satisfy their need for star status. These findings supplement the early tests of the influence mechanism of star CEOs on organization‐level results and expand the context discussion of role identity and role constraints theory in the Chinese institutional environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies generally assume that all female directors have the same level of social orientation and equal impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, we argue that they may differ in social orientation due to their past experience. As political experience is predicted to strengthen social orientation, we differentiate female directors into those who are politically connected and those who are politically disconnected. On this basis, we tested the differential impact of these two types of female directors on CSR. Drawing upon upper echelons theory, we argue that politically connected female directors are more socially oriented than politically disconnected female directors and consequently have a stronger positive effect on CSR. Using a sample of Chinese publicly listed firms on the Shanghai or Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2007 to 2015, we find that the results support our proposition. Further, we find that state ownership moderates the relationship between politically connected female directors and CSR such that the relationship is weaker in organizations with higher state ownership. These findings add to the current research by offering a nuanced understanding of the effect of politically connected female directors on CSR and addressing the limitation in this line of research that assumes all female directors are homogeneous in their impact on CSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, the number of highly skilled domestic migrants has been growing significantly. Many highly skilled personnel have migrated to megacities located in eastern China. Through semistructured interviews with 54 highly skilled migrants in the city of Shenzhen, we find that economic incentives, urban amenities, preferential policies and social networks act as drivers for their migration. Because the role of social networks has been overlooked in the existing literature, we focus on this particular driver of migration. The desire to be physically embedded in social networks has driven migrants to move to Shenzhen: they cite proximity to parents, partners and former schoolmates as motivating factors. Such embeddedness provides them with a sense of 'social affiliation'. While previous research has highlighted the role of migrants' social capital, we suggest that highly skilled migrants do not necessarily rely on this resource. Instead, we focus on what we call 'migration for social affiliation', and offer a novel angle on the precise role of migrants' social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, as the major metropolitan areas in China, offer good opportunities for economic and social mobility for in‐migrants. As such, these four locations have become the primary employment destinations for recent college graduates. Meanwhile, these cities have the most stringent hukou policies nationwide, which play a key role in the urban labour market segmentation between local residents and in‐migrants. Using three waves of data from a nationally representative survey, the China College Student Survey (2010, 2013, and 2015), this paper, for the first time, examined whether Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen have emerged as an 'upward social class escalator region' for young adults in China. After accounting for observed demographic and human capital characteristics and migrant selectivity, migrating into Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen has been found to be positively associated with earnings attainment, and the economic benefit from relocation is greater than that experienced by migrants elsewhere in the system. However, in‐migrants to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen have fewer opportunities to enter government organisations and public enterprises. These results cast doubt on the potential for Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to act as escalators for individuals wishing to achieve all‐around upwards social mobility in China's urban labour market. The local hukou barrier may still be a salient factor in shaping migrants' labour market outcomes in China. This study contributes to existing knowledge on escalator theory by providing empirical evidence from an emerging market country, China. More importantly, it shed light on the role of location (such as large urban centres) in the complicated relationship between social mobility and migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The undertaking of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a topic of widespread concern in society. Utilising a sample of 9872 private‐holding companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen securities markets from 2009 to 2019, this study examines the impact of state‐owned capital on CSR activities. We find that CSR is enhanced when the proportion of state‐owned capital in a private‐holding listed company exceeds 5 percent. The appointment of directors, supervisors, and senior management by state‐owned shareholders, and the participation of state‐owned investment in company operation further promote the fulfilment of CSR in private‐holding listed companies. This research not only enriches the literature on the economic consequences of state‐owned equity holdings in private companies, but also provides empirical evidence regarding the outcomes of improvement of corporate governance mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Transformations in Business & Economics is the property of Vilnius University 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.)

Identifying the patterns of rainstorms is essential for improving the precision and accuracy of flood forecasts and constructing flood disaster prevention systems. In this study, we used a manifold learning algorithm method of machine learning to analyze rainstorm patterns. We analyzed the spatial–temporal characteristics of heavy rain in Beijing and Shenzhen. The results showed a strong correlation between the spatial–temporal pattern of rainstorms and underlying topography in Beijing. However, in Shenzhen, the spatial–temporal distribution characteristics of rainstorms were more closely related to the source of water vapor causing the rainfall, and the variation in characteristics was more complex and diverse. This method may be used to quantitatively describe the development and dynamic spatial–temporal patterns of rainfall. In this study, we found that spatial–temporal rainfall distribution characteristics, extracted by machine learning technology could be explained by physical mechanisms consistent with the climatic characteristics and topographic conditions of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adopts a family life course perspective to explore the health implications of intrafamilial transmission of COVID-19, asking whether the positive diagnosis of specific core family members (i.e., spouse, parents, children) exacerbates COVID-19 patients' illness severity and whether this impact varies by patients' age or life-course stage. We draw on patient-level administrative data from the cities of Jinan and Shenzhen in China, where all COVID-19 patients were immediately hospitalized upon diagnosis. Using survival modeling, we found that having a spouse who is also infected with COVID-19 is predictive of significantly extended hospital stay, an effect that is stronger for older patients than for younger ones. Additionally, having an infected parent—although not child—is also associated with lengthened hospital stay, and younger patients experience significantly worse outcomes from parental-child tie infection. These results are congruent with the existing literature that expects negative consequences of family members' illness on one's own health. They also call for more theorizing on the evolving relationship between various forms of family connectedness and health over life-course processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on data workers in Shenzhen, who, since 2013, have been recruited to fill positions in the city's Weaving the Net program (zhiwang gongcheng, 織網工程). The program, furthering both the expansion of city gridding management techniques and local experiments with China's Social Credit system, is designed to generate a daily set of data to inform the city's "Smart Brain", and is a core way of managing the city's "floating population". In this article, we approach the grid management of Shenzhen and its connection with histories of Chinese social control through data workers themselves. We argue that data workers expand our understanding both the integration of human-technological assemblages into smart city initiatives and the labor of data generation for programs of state social control. Extending STS approaches to smart city infrastructure, we use the figure of the data worker to the present both familiar and distinctive characteristics of Chinese Smart City initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest in global multi‐tier sustainable supply chains is growing proportionally to its increase in developing countries. Developing countries are considered the new fertile territory for developing global chains for multinational enterprises (MNEs). Despite the positive outcomes derived from this global development, it also induces negative impacts in the domain of domestic firms' competition, education, welfare and infrastructure system. A way to overcome this pessimistic view has been found in corporate social responsibility (CSR) best practices. MNEs seek to involve local stakeholders in their social activities to show their commitment and generate innovations. It calls for a multi‐tier domestic involvement integrated into a global supply chain to create value. This study builds its empirical analysis exploring a range of 1547 Chinese manufacturing multinational enterprises listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges between 2010 and 2018. The findings revealed that multi‐tier supply chain integration (SCI) practices positively moderate the relationship between CSR and MNE performance. In turn, it implies benefits for developing sustainable development goals, generating new job opportunities mostly in the developing countries guaranteeing wealth employment conditions. The sense of involvement and engagement towards their employees requires more development of CSR practices, which can be moderated by multi‐tier SCI, as shown in the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex geological condition encountered during excavation is the key challenge for tunneling projects. Therefore, tunnel design and construction require a comprehensive understanding of the subsurface geology. This study aims to reveal the effect of geological uncertainty on tunnel longitudinal deformation based on a reconstruction geological model using the improved coupled Markov chain method. The improved coupled Markov chain method makes the predicted results more suitable for the possible stratigraphic distribution by optimizing the transition probability matrix, and breaks through the limitations of non-coaxial predicted cell updating in traditional methods. A mapping method was proposed to establish a matching relationship between the irregular grids of the geological model and the numerical tunnel model. Then, a long tunnel in Shenzhen was selected as a case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework. The correlation coefficient was used to verify the relationship between tunnel deformation and the surrounding stratum with different tunnel cover depths. The geological uncertainty of various strata was quantitatively measured based on the proposed geological uncertainty index. The three-dimensional strata surrounding the tunnel were reconstructed based on exceedance probabilities for adverse geological conditions. Quantitative analysis was conducted on the tunnel vertical convergence during the excavation process. • A computational framework for 3D tunnel excavation had been designed by taking into account geological uncertainty. • The relationship was revealed between the weighted elastic modulus of strata and tunnel deformation. • The GUI and exceedance probability were defined to quantify the geological uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The planning techniques and strategies for optimizing the urban wind and heat environment are important means for cities to adapt to climate change at the source. This study used Shenzhen, a sub-tropical megacity in southern China, as an example for evaluating the climate environment, heat island intensity, and urban form, and then for analyzing the relationships between them. The results revealed a high-quality climate area located southeast of Shenzhen that can provide a high wind speed and low temperature. Low-quality climate areas were located in the central and western regions and were less comfortable. The relationship between surface ventilation potential and urban form was analyzed using linear regression and the Pearson correlation coefficient, showing that there was a significant correlation between a surface urban heat island (SUHI) and building density (BD) as well as the sky view factor (SVF), and that there was also a correlation between the ventilation potential coefficient (VPC) and other factors, such as the surface's roughness length (RL) and building height (BH). The results showed that ventilation capacity deteriorated as BH and RL increased. An environmentally sensitive thermal area was identified from the surface urban heat island intensity, which was always in a strong heat island (SHI) or sub-strong heat island (SSHI) year-round. It was recommended that seven level one corridors and nine level two corridors be formed. Additionally, thermal and wind environment optimization strategies and protective suggestions were proposed for the city's overall development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the meteorological, ozone (O3), and vertical observation data of 2020, this study sought to evaluate the daily variation in O3, particularly the characteristics of nocturnal ozone pollution. We also discuss the effect of local and mesoscale horizontal transport and vertical mixing on the formation of nocturnal O3 pollution. Distinct seasonal characteristics of the daily O3 variation in Shenzhen were identified. In particular, significant nocturnal peaks were found to regularly occur in the winter and spring (November–December and January–April). The monthly average of daily variation had a clear bimodal distribution. During the period, O3 pollution frequently occurred at night, with the maximum hourly O3 concentration reaching 203.5 μg/m3. Nocturnal O3 pollution was closely associated with horizontal transport and vertical mixing. During the study period, the O3 maximum values were recorded on 68 nights, primarily between 23:00 and 03:00, with occasional observation of two peaks. The impact of horizontal transport and vertical mixing on the nocturnal secondary O3 maximum values was elaborated in two case studies, where vertical mixing was mainly associated with low-level jets, with strong wind shear enhancing turbulent mixing and transporting O3 from the upper layers to the surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A new species of the genus Ficophagus was recovered from the syconia of Ficus variegata from Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. It is described herein as Ficophagus giblindavisi n. sp. and is characterised by possessing the longest stylet in males (35.1-45.8 μ m) and most lateral incisures (5) of all currently described species in the genus, a short PUS (8.4-11.4 μ m or 0.3 VBD long), excretory pore situated at or posterior to the nerve ring, amoeboid sperm, three pairs of subventral papillae on the male tail, rounded male tail tip with a mucron, absence of gubernaculum and sickle-shaped spicules with a terminal cucullus. Ficophagus giblindavisi n. sp. was differentiated from other sequenced species by the partial small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene and D2-D3 expansion segments of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene. Phylogenetic analysis with the LSU D2-D3 expansion segment sequence suggested that F. giblindavisi n. sp. is clustered in the same highly supported monophyletic clade with F. auriculatae and F. fleckeri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the capacity to represent irregular geographical entities precisely, vector‐based cellular automata (VCA) have been extensively employed in urban land change simulation at the land parcel level. However, while more driving factors are considered, modeling the complicated nonlinear relationship between land parcel attributes and multiple land‐use changes is increasingly difficult. Moreover, in VCA, the driving factors are unstructured and cannot be directly modeled by traditional deep learning methods, which can only be applied to structured data processing. In order to address these problems, a new VCA model DF‐VCA that adopts the deep forest (DF) algorithm for mining CA transition rules was proposed to simulate urban land‐use change at the parcel level. The DF algorithm is a new deep learning method that can directly mine high‐level features from unstructured data and obtain accurate land‐use transition rules. The proposed DF‐VCA model was applied to simulate the urban land change in Shenzhen, China. Compared with several traditional VCA models, the DF‐VCA model achieved the best simulation performance at parcel‐level (Figure of Merit = 39.88%), pattern‐level (similarity = 96.47%), and community‐level (correlation coefficient = 0.9269). The results show that the DF‐VCA model with strong representative learning ability could simulate urban land change at fine scales precisely. Furthermore, the proposed DF‐VCA model was applied in Shenzhen's future land change simulations to guide sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the relationship between travel destinations and urban built environments can help to conduct reasonable measurements in urban transportation planning. Destination distribution is affected by various factors, and quantitative description of the spatial effects is a challenge in factor correlation analysis. In this study, inhomogeneous Poisson point processes are proposed to model the correlation between destination distribution and related categories of variables, including land use, trip origin distribution, demographic information, and transport networks. First, five models based on inhomogeneous Poisson point processes are constructed, considering different combinations of variables. Second, diagnostic methods, including the G‐function, smoothed residuals, and parameter influence function, are applied to evaluate the models' performance. Finally, in experiments, the taxi GPS trajectory data collected in Shenzhen City, China, are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Moreover, in the discussion, the variations of variable coefficients in different time periods (workdays, weekends, and holidays) are analyzed and explained. The results of this study may enhance understanding of the correlation between travel patterns and urban structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the variant climate conditions in the transitional regions between tropics and subtropics, the impacts of climate factors on influenza subtypes have rarely been evaluated. With the available influenza A (Flu-A) and influenza B (Flu-B) outbreak data in Shenzhen, China, which is an excellent example of a transitional marine climate, the associations of multiple climate variables with these outbreaks were explored in this study. Daily laboratory-confirmed influenza virus and climate data were collected from 2009 to 2015. Potential impacts of daily mean/maximum/minimum temperatures (T/Tmax/Tmin), relative humidity (RH), wind velocity (V), and diurnal temperature range (DTR) were analyzed using the distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) and generalized additive model (GAM). Under its local climate partitions, Flu-A mainly prevailed in summer months (May to June), and a second peak appeared in early winter (December to January). Flu-B outbreaks usually occurred in transitional seasons, especially in autumn. Although low temperature caused an instant increase in both Flu-A and Flu-B risks, its effect could persist for up to 10 days for Flu-B and peak at 17 C (relative risk (RR) = 14.16, 95% CI: 7.46–26.88). For both subtypes, moderate–high temperature (28 C) had a significant but delayed effect on influenza, especially for Flu-A (RR = 26.20, 95% CI: 13.22–51.20). The Flu-A virus was sensitive to RH higher than 76%, while higher Flu-B risks were observed at both low (< 65%) and high (> 83%) humidity. Flu-A was active for a short term after exposure to large DTR (e.g., DTR = 10 C, RR = 12.45, 95% CI: 6.50–23.87), whereas Flu-B mainly circulated under stable temperatures. Although the overall wind speed in Shenzhen was low, moderate wind (2–3 m/s) was found to favor the outbreaks of both subtypes. This study revealed the thresholds of various climatic variables promoting influenza outbreaks, as well as the distinctions between the flu subtypes. These data can be helpful in predicting seasonal influenza outbreaks and minimizing the impacts, based on integrated forecast systems coupled with short-term climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on life-history interviews conducted with Chinese intranational migrant gay men in Shenzhen, a rising migrant metropolis in South China, this article examines the pathways of Chinese intranational sexual migration, with a special focus on the state's complicated role. I identify three patterns of migration pathway—circular, transitory, and permanent migration—to capture the tempo-spatial complexity in the Chinese gay men's migratory trajectories. These categories suggest the important role played by migrants' sexuality and class in shaping their migration pathways. They also allow me to observe how China's state-sponsored rural-urban divide entangles with Shenzhen's population governance policies in shaping the Chinese migrant gay men's lived experiences and migration pathways in tempo-spatial terms. By emphasizing the state's complicated role, this article opens up possibilities to theorize sexual migration from a Southern perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Syphilis is a common infectious disease worldwide. Serological monitoring is important for syphilis management. We currently know little about the characteristics of this seronegative response. The aim of this study was to explore the factors associated with serological cure after treatment of early syphilis. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted and the data of patients with early syphilis in a clinic in Shenzhen from 2011 to 2019 were retrieved. Univariable and multiple Cox proportional hazard regression models were utilized to identify factors associated with a serological cure state among syphilis patients with early syphilis two years after treatment. Results: A total of 346 (85.9%) syphilis patients achieved serological cure. The multivariate analysis results revealed that having a baseline TRUST titer >1:8 was associated with an increased probability of serological cure, compared with having a baseline TRUST titer ≤1:8 (HR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.10–1.85, P<0.01); primary syphilis was positively associated with serological cure, compared with participants with latent early syphilis (HR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.27–2.33, P<0.001). Conclusions: Two years after treatment, a higher percentage of early syphilis patients achieved serological cure. The study indicated that the syphilis stage and baseline serum titer were crucial factors associated with serological cure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the haunting of a factory in Shenzhen, China. The haunting coincided with the 2008 global financial crisis that resulted in a decline in factory orders, leaving the workers, mostly migrants from the countryside, idle. With the appearance of ghosts, the workers found a cultural language that indirectly expressed their anxiety about future undisclosed measures to restructure the factory. In the end, the factory owner was forced to come forward to deal with the ghosts by performing a customary folk ritual. Starting from this scenario, it will be shown how claiming to see ghosts constitutes a political act and reveals practices within a modern factory that engage in a "moral economy" mutuality between management and workers. Through this, people in the factory gained bargaining power built upon reciprocity and social debts and were able to articulate their concerns using a supernatural system of meaning. By way of the ghost panic, they created room for corrective action even in a difficult situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, genetic diversity and genetic structure were assessed in the four major cultured populations of P. fucata martensii from Shenzhen (SZ), Hainan (HN), Zhanjiang (ZJ), and hybrid (HY), based on morphological multivariate analysis and 25 single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. The morphological characteristics of HN and HY populations were similar, and the average discriminant accuracy was 75.6%. All SNP loci comprised two alleles, and the average observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity of HY, SZ, HN, and ZJ populations were 0.2236–0.2734 and 0.2374–0.2870, respectively. The average polymorphism information content values of HY, SZ, HN, and ZJ populations were 0.1923–0.2272. Gene flow between HY and HN populations was frequent, with an Nm value of 6.0928, while that between SZ and the other three populations was less frequent. The combined cluster, genetic distance, and gene flow analyses indicate that the genetic background of HY and HN populations is similar, and they can be regarded as a single population. The ZJ population might originate from the HY population, while the SZ population should be independent. These results could assist the management of germplasm resources and selective breeding of pearl oysters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated the epidemiology and molecular characteristics of enteroviruses associated with severe hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Shenzhen, China, during 2014-2018. A total of 137 fecal specimens from patients with severe HFMD were collected. Enterovirus (EV) types were determined using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), RT nested PCR, and sequencing. Sequences were analyzed using bioinformatics programs. Of 137 specimens tested, 97 (70.8%), 12 (8.8%), and 10 (7.3%) were positive for EV-A71, coxsackievirus A6 (CVA6), and CVA16, respectively. Other pathogens detected included CVA2 (2.9%, 4/137), CVA10 (2.9%, 4/137), CVA5 (0.7%, 1/137), echovirus 6 (E6) (0.7%, 1/137) and E18 (0.7%, 1/137). The most frequent complication in patients with proven EV infections was myoclonic jerk, followed by aseptic encephalitis, tachypnea, and vomiting. The frequencies of vomiting and abnormal eye movements were higher in EV-A71-infected patients than that in CVA6-infected or CVA16-infected patients. Molecular phylogeny based on the complete VP1 gene revealed no association between the subgenotype of the virus and disease severity. Nevertheless, 12 significant mutations that were likely to be associated with virulence or the clinical phenotype were observed in the 5'UTR, 2Apro, 2C, 3A, 3Dpol and 3'UTR of CVA6. Eight significant mutations were observed in the 5'UTR, 2B, 3A, 3Dpol and 3'UTR of CVA16, and 10 significant mutations were observed in the 5'UTR, VP1, 3A and 3Cpro of CVA10. In conclusion, EV-A71 is still the main pathogen causing severe HFMD, although other EV types can also cause severe complications. Potential virulence or phenotype-associated sites were identified in the genomes of CVA6, CVA16, and CVA10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary urban studies in China tends to acquiesce to the rural-urban divide codified in the hukou system without critically reflecting on what "urban" means beyond a legal category. Inspired by the Chicago School, I call for a return to understanding "urbanism" as "a way of life" to investigate Chinese cities. Under this paradigm, the city is not defined by any legal or geographical boundaries but is a unique social milieu that urbanizes its residents into adopting certain ways of life. My ethnographic work in Baishizhou, an informal settlement in Shenzhen, uses parenting as a lens to unravel both Chinese urbanism itself and the mechanisms through which residents become urbanized. Sending their children to the same school as hukou-holding parents, migrant parents in Baishizhou are socialized via between- group contact into the same Bourdieusian field of parenting as their hukou-holding counterparts. In this parenting field, the suzhi narrative fundamentally configures how migrant families devise and justify their parenting strategies. Roughly translated as civility, suzhi is at the center of discourses that legitimizes China's rural-urban inequality by equating "the rural" to "the uncivil". While better-off migrant families can engage with symbolic struggles to construct themselves as citizens with good suzhi, families with little means can only succumb to the symbolic power of such narratives and become self-critical of their deficiency of suzhi. The contrasting responses attest to the same observation--that in the field of parenting, the desired goods for migrant parents are not just children's success but also the attainment of an urban status, which is not so much associated with urban hukou as with a set of practices and subjectivities that culturally distinguishes itself from the stereotypical "rural." Based on these observations, I conclude that (1) frequent between-group contact in the city is a primary mechanism through which urban residents are influenced by the social forces of the larger urban milieu; (2) instead of a legally codified category, "urban-ness" in China is a sociocultural variable that can be learned, performed, and contested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the reform era, China appears to be caught in a contradictory dual process – the entrenchment of secular values and simultaneously, the notable revival of all forms of religion. However, the existing literature has achieved limited success theorizing how the thriving of faiths constitutes, and co-evolves with, secular modernity and capitalism. This article contributes to this re-theorization by bringing migration, labour and industrial capitalism to bear on faith and religious practices. Our empirical study in Shenzhen focuses on the formation of rural-to-urban migrant workers' Christian faith. We examine the ways in which migrant workers manoeuvre religion as a cultural, symbolic and discursive resource to come to terms with, but also sometimes to question and counteract, the double exploitation enforced by state regulation and labour relations. In the meantime, however, this article also argues that migrants' efforts in self-transformation through the discourses of benfen and suzhi, and their theologically mediated interpretation of alienation, labour exploitation and social inequality, overlap with, and reinforce, the agenda of producing docile, productive bodies of migrants, an agenda endorsed by the state–capital coalition. This research opens new opportunities for theorizing how capitalist secularity and religious orientation implicate one another in the current Chinese society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Transformations in Business & Economics is the property of Vilnius University 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.)

This study was aimed to estimate the prevalences of chlamydia (CT) and gonococcal (NG) infections and explore risk factors associated with the CT infection among women in Shenzhen, China. We collected socio-demographic and clinical data from women (aged 20–60) and determined positivity of CT or NG by nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) with self-collected urine specimens. We estimated prevalence of CT and NG and determined risk factors associated with CT infection. Among 9,207 participants, 4.12% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.71%-4.53%) tested positive for CT and 0.17% (95% CIs, 0.09%-0.25%) for NG. Factors significantly associated with CT infection included being an ethnic minority (ethnicity other than Han China) (Adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2–3.0), using methods other than condom for contraception (AOR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2–1.8), having a history of adverse pregnancy outcomes (AOR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.1–1.8), and experiencing reproductive tract symptoms in the past three months (AOR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0–1.7). we found that CT infection is prevalent among women in Shenzhen, China and associated with both demographic and behavioral factors. A comprehensive CT screening, surveillance and treatment programme targeting this population is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mobilities 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.)

Ping An Finance Center with a height of 600 m and 118 storeys, located in Shenzhen, is currently the second tallest building in China. This paper presents a comprehensive study of wind effects on the supertall building through wind tunnel testing and field measurement. The wind-induced loads and pressures on the skyscraper were measured by high-frequency force balance technique and synchronous multipressure sensing system, respectively. In the wind tunnel study, a whole range of characteristic properties, including mean and r.m.s force coefficients, power spectral densities, coherences, correlations, and phase-plane trajectories, wind-induced displacement, and acceleration responses were presented and discussed. In addition, a field measurement study of the dynamic responses of Ping An Finance Center was conducted during a tropical cyclone, which aimed to verify the design assumptions and further the understanding of the dynamic properties and performance of the 600-m-high supertall building, including natural frequencies, damping ratios, and wind-induced structural responses. Then, the serviceability of the skyscraper is assessed on the basis of the experimental results and field measurements. The outcomes of this combined model test and field measurement study are expected to be useful for the wind-resistant design of future supertall buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of high-speed rail on travellers’ behaviour in China through the study of travellers’ characteristics and their satisfaction with the railway. A sample of 328 passengers from the Shenzhen-Xiamen Railway (XSR) is surveyed by questionnaires. The results confirm that the XSR development has partly changed the respondents’ decision to take the railway or choose its tourism-related products. Socio-demographic characteristics including age, occupation, monthly personal income, and annual travel expenditure show a significant influence on the changed travel behaviour though the tendency of such influence is not very apparent. Convenience and comfort lead to travellers’ satisfaction and these two aspects shorten the duration of stay of travellers and provide more short-haul rail-connected destination options. However, railway satisfaction is not highly associated with XSR-related product and service provision, but is related to the condition and the quality of the railway itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how global value chains (GVCs) have shaped a world factory regime, based on the case study of the Foxconn group in Shenzhen, China. We identify three features that characterize a world factory regime: the GVCs’ impacts, the fragmented structure of corporate governance, and workplace despotism, and propose a concept of “global fragmented despotism” to explain changing labor conditions, workers’ suicides and resistance uncovered in Foxconn since 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How have Chinese migrant workers' patterns of everyday life changed over the past two decades, and what has not changed? Have their personal and career aspirations shifted over time? What changes have occurred in how they maintain social relationships within and across factories? What are the implications for migrant workers, local governance and factory managements? Based on workers' letters and ethnographic research in Shenzhen, this article argues that migrant workers encounter very different circumstances today in their housing, food, time scheduling, aspirations and ways of maintaining social relationships. yet young migrant workers still invoke social relationships steeped in links to family and village to cope with daily difficulties. I examine the workers' greater control over their time, local governments' growing need to accommodate migrant workers' requirements in order to maintain social stability, and the increasing pressure on factory managements to consider workers' work/leisure arrangements, especially during peak industrial seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leveraging the commercial CFD software FLUENT, the fine-scale three-dimensional wind structure over the Paiya Mountains on the Dapeng Peninsula near Shenzhen, a city on the seashore of South China Sea, during the landfall of Typhoon Molave has been simulated and analyzed. Through the study, a conceptual wind structure model for mountainous areas under strong wind condition is established and the following conclusions are obtained as follows: (1) FLUENT can reasonably simulate a three-dimensional wind structure over mountainous areas under strong wind conditions; (2) the kinetic effect of a mountain can intensify wind speed in the windward side of the mountain and the area over the mountain peak; and (3) in the leeward side of the mountain, wind speed is relatively lower with relatively stronger wind shear and turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hong Kong government was less active in regional integration before 2003. This study explores what conditions have contributed to the shifting of the Hong Kong government's stance on Hong Kong–Shenzhen integration from protectionism to cooperation since 2003. In addition to secondary data, a questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted in this study. Various external and internal economic, political and social factors that have contributed to the emergence of government-led strategy for regional integration in Hong Kong are analyzed. It is found that regional integration is facilitated by consensus building among the government, political parties, other interest groups and residents within Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Shenzhen, a city located on the border between Mainland China and Hong Kong, is populated primarily by internal Chinese migrants. After the 2003 SARS epidemic, the pressure in Shenzhen to contain infectious disease has been considerable. By engaging with issues of global biosecurity, migration and citizenship, and intersubjectivity in medicine, I argue that in their attempts to prevent another SARS and protect their own subject positions as modern, urban citizens, Shenzhen's public health professionals worked to maintain precarious boundaries between themselves and their city's majority migrant population. However, by establishing the migrants as dangerous, biological noncitizens, by denying connections between the migrants’ experiences and their own experiences of migration, by failing to engage with the migrants as subjects, and by defending structures that institutionalized these exclusions, they undermined both the health of the migrants and the stability of the city they were trying to protect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the ongoing process of postsocialist transformation at the intersection of cultural and economic forces in an urban environment through the example of the so-called “urban villages” in Shenzhen, China, a booming southern Chinese city and former Special Economic Zone next to Hong Kong. This essay ethnographically examines the role of former rural collectives encircled by a city that has exploded from farmland to an export-driven city of over 14 million people in little over one generation. These villages form an internal other that is both the antithesis and the condition of possibility for Shenzhen city. By co-opting the market economy in ways that weave them into the fabric of the contemporary global city, the villages become as much an experiment as the Special Economic Zone itself. This essay analyzes the urban–rural divide as complicit in each other's continued production and effacement and explores how village and city exploit the ambiguities of their juxtaposition in the making of Shenzhen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]