bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
China’s Industrial TFPs at the Prefectural Level and the Law of Their Spatial–Temporal Evolution
Authors: Wei Wei , Fan Qiao , Guo Aijun
Published: December 2022

Calculating China’s industrial total factor productivity (TFP) at the prefectural level comprehensively and accurately is not only an inevitable requirement for China’s industrialization to enter the new development stage of “improving quality and efficiency”, but also a practical need for TFP improvement at the industrial level. Based on the improved Solow residual method with the general nesting spatial model embedded, this paper comprehensively calculated the industrial TFPs of 280 prefectural cities in China from 2003 to 2019, and undertook a detailed analysis of the spatiotemporal evolution law of the calculation results through Dagum’s Gini coefficient and kernel density estimation. Three main conclusions have been drawn in this paper. First, there is an apparent spatial difference among the industrial TFPs of the prefectural cities in China. It is the poorest and has an evident declining trend in northeast China, and best in eastern China, while the development of central and western China is between east and northeast China. Second, the spatial difference level of industrial TFPs of the prefectural cities in China shows a general development trend of firstly falling and then rising. Comparatively speaking, the contribution of intra-group differences is low, while the contribution of inter-group and the intensity of trans-variation are high. Third, the spatiotemporal evolution of China’s industrial TFPs at the prefectural level has the following characteristics: the overall distribution curve moves firstly towards the right and then left, the kernel density at the peak point continuously declines, the distribution ranges are firstly widening and then narrowing, and the tails of the distribution curve are constantly extending. Meanwhile, the distribution figures of the kernel density estimation in different regions show apparent heterogeneity.
Small-Town Citizens’ Technology Acceptance of Smart and Sustainable City Development
Authors: Baldi Giovanni , Megaro Antonietta , Carrubbo Luca
Published: December 2022

Citizens are an essential part of the process of smartification and sustainable development of cities as they must adopt, understand and interact with the enabling technologies of digital transformation of societies, cities, and public administration. Therefore, technology acceptance is crucial to creating smart and citizen-centered cities. This is even more challenging in small towns that suffer from an aging population, desertification, lack of infrastructure, and especially the digital divide. The purpose of this research is to investigate the adoption of an Urban Services Technology (UST) in tourism management within a tourism-oriented small town in Southern Italy. A questionnaire was then constructed according to the 12-variable Urban Service Technology Acceptance Model (USTAM), and 216 responses were obtained from a defined group of 1076 subjects. Analyzing the data with a quantitative approach by conducting Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the assumptions of the initial model were all rejected and new five factors emerged. The path diagram shows that only the factors Sustainability, Ease and Value have a positive correlation with technology adoption. Future research might investigate the mediating role of socio-demographic variables on technology acceptance by considering geographical and cultural diversity among small towns.
A Quest for a Sustainable Social Enterprise Model: The Case of Amphawa Chaipattananurak, the Kingdom of Thailand
Authors: Petison Phallapa , Kantabutra Sooksan
Published: December 2022

The social enterprise concept, a business with specific social objectives, has been questioned by scholars and practitioners for its sustainability. More importantly, a paucity of research exists on how a social enterprise can be sustainable, indicating the necessity of developing a sustainable model of social enterprise, particularly in the Asian context. Filling in the gap in the literature, the present study’s prime objective is to explore a sustainable social enterprise model. The bodies of knowledge on social enterprise and sustainable enterprise are reviewed, followed by identifying a sustainable social enterprise model for exploration. The identified model is among the few sustainable social enterprise models available, thus making it appropriate for the exploration. To explore the model, the phenomenological paradigm is adopted. The study uses the case study approach with open-ended, semi-structured interview methods as well as documentation to explore a case enterprise called Amphawa Chaipattananurak (ACCP) in Thailand. To ensure data validity, the data, method, investigator, and theory triangulation methods are adopted. Ninety-five stakeholder informants were interviewed, ranging from the management team, staff, community people, and visitors to customers. In terms of analysis, the working analytical framework is adopted to analyze the collected data. Findings indicate that the ACCP practices and outcomes are consistent with those of the sustainable social enterprise model, indicating the model’s applicability. Based on the findings, a refined sustainable social enterprise model is derived. Limitations, future research directions, theoretical contributions and implications, and managerial implications are also discussed.
Marine Accidents in the Brazilian Amazon: The Problems and Challenges in the Initiatives for Their Prevention Focused on Passenger Ships
Authors: Fontes Jassiel V. H. , de Almeida Paulo R. R. , Maia Harlysson W. S. , Hernández Irving D. , Rodríguez Claudio A. , Silva Rodolfo , Mendoza Edgar , Esperança Paulo T. T. , Sanches Ricardo Almeida , Mounsif Said
Published: December 2022

The Brazilian Amazon is part of one of the largest river systems in the world, in which the transport of cargo and passengers is commonplace. However, several accidents still occur to passenger ships, causing fatalities. Transportation occurs commonly in remote regions, where there are transport inequalities, and emergency assistance is hard to find. This can affect sustainability in communities with considerable levels of economic and social vulnerability. More information is needed about accidents involving inland transport in the Amazon, to identify the threats to ships and propose strategies for accident prevention. This paper addresses the main problems that long-distance passenger ships face in the Brazilian Amazon, presenting an integrated framework towards accident prevention. First, the present situation is characterized in terms of ship description, spatial distribution, and regulations that are applicable. Next, possible causes of passenger ship accidents are discussed, including topics of concern that should be considered in the Amazon waterways. Finally, measures to help minimize passenger ship accidents are proposed, and the social relevance is discussed. It was found that accidents in the Amazon are due to a combination of human and environmental factors. Stakeholders should strengthen the technical and legal training of ship operators. The use of new technologies for navigational aid and necessary maintenance of ships is suggested. Marine accident prevention initiatives should consider local conditions, such as environmental preservation, cultural respect, and difficulties related to navigation through the complex riverine system of the Amazon region.
Characteristics of Spatial–Temporal Variations in Coupling Coordination between Industrial Water Use and Industrial Green Development Systems in China
Authors: Pang Qinghua , Huang Hailiang , Zhang Lina
Published: December 2022

The coupling coordination between industrial water use (IWU) and industrial green development (IGD) systems is crucial for achieving sustainable development goals. This paper measures the coupling coordination degree between IWU and IGD systems, and the spatial–temporal evolution characteristics of the degree are discussed. Here, the IWU system is assessed by adopting a dynamic slacks-based measure model, and the IGD system’s performance is evaluated using an entropy-weighted TOPSIS model. The results showed that: (1) The provincial IWU efficiency showed a rising trend from 2009 to 2018 in general, while its spatial dimension showed a distribution of high in the eastern region and low in the western region. (2) The IGD performance in the eastern region was better than that in the central and western regions; the gap in industrial innovation and industrial resources was the main factor. (3) The spatial structure of the coupling coordination degree between IWU and IGD systems was gradually stable. It also had a strong spatial dependence and its evolution volatility has been enhanced. (4) The coupling coordination was improving but exhibited a dynamic local spatial dependence and volatile process, and its spatial agglomeration had a relatively higher path dependence and locked spatial features.
Growth Suitability Evaluation of Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr Based on Potential NPP under Different Climate Scenarios
Authors: Cheng Ruiming , Zhang Jing , Wang Xinyue , Zhang Zhidong
Published: December 2022

Larch (Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr) is a major coniferous tree species in northern China, and climate change has serious impacts on larch growth. However, the impact of future climate change on net primary productivity (NPP) and the growth suitability of larch is unclear. Based on forest inventory data, spatially continuous environmental factor data (climate, topography, soil), and NPP from the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach (CASA) model in the study area, the random forest (RF) model was used to simulate the potential NPP and growth suitability of larch under different shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, SSP5-8.5) for current and future (2041–2060, 2080–2100). The correlation between potential NPP and determinants under different climate scenarios was analyzed at the pixel scale. The results showed that: (1) RF showed excellent performance in predicting the potential NPP of the region (R2 = 0.80, MAE = 15.61 gC·m−2·a−1, RMSE = 29.68 gC·m−2·a−1). (2) Under current climatic conditions, the mean potential NPP of larch was 324.9 gC·m−2·a−1. Low growth suitability of larch occurred in most parts of the study area, and high growth suitability only existed in the Bashang area and the high-elevation mountains. (3) The total area of high and medium growth suitable areas were projected to be 76.0%, 66.7%, 78.2%, and 80.8% by the end of this century under the SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5 climate scenarios, respectively. (4) Under the SSP1-2.6 and SSP2-4.5 climate scenarios, the temperature had a significant contribution to the accumulation of the larch’s NPP, whereas precipitation had less effect on the larch’s growth. The results provided a theoretical basis for the adaptive management of larch forests under global climate change.
Optimal Power Flow with Stochastic Renewable Energy Using Three Mixture Component Distribution Functions
Authors: Khamees Amr Khaled , Abdelaziz Almoataz Y. , Eskaros Makram R. , Attia Mahmoud A. , Sameh Mariam A.
Published: December 2022

The growing usage of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy, has increased the electrical system’s unpredictability. The stochastic behavior of these sources must be considered to obtain significantly more accurate conclusions in the analysis of power systems. To depict renewable energy systems, the three-component mixture distribution (TCMD) is introduced in this study. The mixture distribution (MD) is created by combining the Weibull and Gamma distributions. The results show that TCMD is better than original distributions in simulating wind speed and solar irradiance by reducing the error between real data and the distribution curve. Additionally, this study examines the optimal power flow (OPF) in electrical networks using the two stochastic models of solar and wind energy. The parameters of the probability distribution function (PDF) are optimized using the Mayfly algorithm (MA), which also solves single- and multi-objective OPF issues. Then, to prove the accuracy of the MA method in solving the OPF problem, single- and multi-objective OPF is applied on a standard IEEE-30 bus system to minimize fuel cost, power loss, thermal unit emissions, and voltage security index (VSI), and results are compared with other metaheuristic methods. The outcomes show that the MA technique is dependable and effective in overseeing this challenging problem. Additionally, the suggested OPF MA-based is studied in the OPF problem while accounting for the uncertainty in the models of the wind and solar systems and taking the emissions, VSI, power loss, and fuel cost into consideration in the objective function. The significance of the work lies in the application of a unique optimization technique to a hybrid electrical system using TCMD stochastic model using actual wind and solar data. The proposed MA method could be valuable to system operators as a decision-making aid when dealing with hybrid power systems.
Academic Entrepreneurial Engagement among Academics in Canada and China: The Impact of Research Orientation and University Expectations
Authors: Yu Li , Guo Hui , Bégin-Caouette Olivier , Nakano Koga Silvia Mirlene , Stephenson Grace Karram
Published: December 2022

Despite a growing awareness of academic entrepreneurship undertaken by professors around the globe, there remain unanswered questions regarding how individual and organizational characteristics shape academics’ decision to engage in entrepreneurial activities. Drawing on data from the 2017–18 Academic Profession in the Knowledge-based Society (APIKS) survey, this study examines research-based and teaching-based academic entrepreneurship engagement in two countries, namely Canada and China, and examines through logistic regressions how academics’ individual research orientation and perceptions of their university’s expectations affect their likelihood of engaging in entrepreneurial activities. The results show that a majority of faculty members in the two countries are involved in entrepreneurial activities, including research-based activities (such as contract research, joint research and publications, and consultancy) and teaching-based activities (such as supervising student internships, volunteer-based work, and public lectures). Regression results suggest that academics who emphasize a theoretical research orientation are less likely to demonstrate entrepreneurial involvement, while academics who report a practical, commercial, or social research orientation are more likely to demonstrate entrepreneurial involvement. Academics who perceive that their university expects them to engage in entrepreneurial activities are also more likely to do so. These findings shed light on ways to reinforce academics’ social involvements and contributions in both countries.
Mobile Payment Application and Rural Household Consumption—Evidence from China Household Finance Survey
Authors: Yang Wei , Yang Peng , Shi Huaiwang , Sun Weizeng
Published: December 2022

How to release rural consumption potential is currently of great significance for the sustainable economic growth of the developing world. Using representative survey data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), this paper studied the impacts of mobile payments on rural household consumption and its mechanisms. This study constructed instrumental variables from the perspective of induced demand for mobile payments to overcome the endogeneity problem and found that the application of mobile payments significantly promoted rural household consumption by 29.8–52.3%. Mechanism analysis indicated that mobile payments could ease liquidity constraints, enrich consumption choice, and improve payment convenience for rural households, which are the main channels behind the above finding. Heterogeneous analysis showed that the impact of mobile payments on household consumption of the elderly and less educated was relatively higher. Moreover, this study found that mobile payments are conducive to promoting the consumption upgrading of rural households by significantly improving their enjoyment consumption. In addition, although it encourages rural households to consume more online and mobile payment methods, it does not crowd out the effect of rural households’ offline consumption. The findings of this paper provide new insight into the role of technical progress in promoting total consumption and consumption upgrading in rural areas.
Join the Club: Club Goods, Residential Development, and Transportation
Authors: Hananel Ravit , Berechman Joseph , Azary-Viesel Sagit
Published: December 2022

A good and sustainable city requires compatibility between the various functions and services that it provides its residents. This study examined the relations between the development of new residential neighborhoods and transportation infrastructure by applying Tiebout’s model of club goods. Thus, we introduced the spatial dimension into the theory of club goods by referring to neighborhoods as clubs and their residents as the club’s members, who make location decisions. Specifically, we explored how residents behave spatially in response to the problematic transportation infrastructure of the neighborhoods. That is, to consider the socioeconomic implications of inadequate transportation infrastructure, we used data from newly developed neighborhoods in Israel to examine the extent to which an increase in traffic congestion can reduce a neighborhood’s size. Our findings show a negative correlation between increases in travel time and the number of housing transactions undertaken in a given neighborhood, thus confirming Tiebout’s assumption that people vote with their feet: When traffic congestion increases, residents prefer to leave the neighborhood and move, in all likelihood, to a place with less congestion. The paper also discusses the results with respect to the social consequences of these trends and warns against the expected socioeconomic consequences, namely that those who can afford to do so will leave in favor of a club with better conditions. The key lessons derived from this study of the Israeli experience are considered relevant to many other countries experiencing similar situations.
Analysis and Estimation of Short Term Residual Household Waste Production: Case Study Reunion Island
Authors: Fontaine Ludovic , Morau Dominique , Praene Jean-Philippe
Published: December 2022

The objective of this approach is to evaluate the formation of waste production at the communal level in a small island state. The question of waste management is an important issue for all local authorities, but it is even more so in an island context. The small island areas are all the more confronted with this problem insofar as they must combine their own specific characteristics, which can be very restrictive: isolation and remoteness, centralized economy, non-competitive domestic market, geographical and climatic conditions, growing demography, social structure and economic and energy dependence. The list is certainly not exhaustive, but it is sufficient to establish a framework for reflection, where these different specificities interact strongly with the development of these territories. Although they reveal above all remarkable and fragile ecosystems, a bad waste management policy can cause irremediable damage environmentally, economically, and socially. It is therefore important to understand the implications of waste management on the island. This approach introduces an analysis, in order to express the communal specificities of the production of residual household waste, in order to bring contextualized elements of answers to the waste management strategy of Reunion Island. Indeed, dysfunctions have been noted in the collection and transfer process and more particularly, in waste disposal.
Reciprocal and Symbiotic: Family Farms’ Operational Performance and Long-Term Cooperation of Entities in the Agricultural Industrial Chain—From the Evidence of Xinjiang in China
Authors: Huang Zhiping , Wang Tianran , Li Na
Published: December 2022

The family farm is an important entity in the modern agricultural industrial chain. It is of great significance to empirically study its operational performance improvement and sustainable development. This paper introduces symbiosis theory to establish a symbiosis system framework of the family farm industrial chain and analyzes family farms’ operational performance from the view of industrial symbiosis cooperation. We selected 552 agricultural planting family farms in China’s Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps as samples to measure the operational environment and performance of family farms using factor analysis and examining the effects of long-term cooperation among the industrial chain entities on family farms’ operational performance using the ordered probit model. The results show that the long-term cooperation of the family farms with other entities has a significant positive impact on the family farms’ operational performance, which can be enhanced by the improvement of cooperation and moderated by the external environment. Therefore, it is suggested to promote the long-term cooperation between family farms and other industrial chain entities, as well as the industrial environment optimization, to accelerate the healthy and sustainable development of family farms with a continuous, symmetrical, and reciprocal symbiotic model.
Promoting Sustainable and Resilient Constructive Patterns in Vulnerable Communities: Habitat for Humanity’s Sustainable Housing Prototypes in El Salvador
Authors: Jiménez-Expósito Rosa Ana , Serrano-Jiménez Antonio , Fernández-Ans Pablo , Stasi Gianluca , Díaz-López Carmen , Barrios-Padura Ángela
Published: December 2022

The global challenges regarding sustainability and the guarantee of minimum habitability requirements have led to the transformation of construction practices, where research has failed to achieve sufficient dissemination and findings. The purpose of this research is to promote sustainable and resilient patterns in construction in vulnerable neighbourhoods in emerging countries by disseminating techniques and mechanisms through in situ transfer workshops and by raising awareness of the environmental importance of construction. Regarding materials and methods, this paper contributes innovative insights by combining training workshops and awareness-raising sessions to promote both environmental education and sustainable and optimised habits in construction. These methods are applied and tested in a real case study in El Salvador. Subsequent to carrying out a multi-disciplinary assessment analysis, the outcomes and results have led to the design of prototypes that have obtained a global EDGE certificate on sustainable construction and efficient use of resources once the users’ testimonies, weaknesses, and strengths have been addressed. The conclusions indicate that families, volunteers, and technical workers need to be trained by promoting environmental awareness in social housing and establishing a plan for dissemination to communicate across universities and public and private institutions in order to replicate guidelines across American dry-corridor countries.
Numerical Investigation and Prediction of Side-By-Side Tunneling Effects on Buried Pipelines
Authors: Wang Jinquan , An Juntong , Zhang Shenyi , Ge Ruoyu , Xie Qiwu , Chen Qingshu , Zheng Sizhuo , Ye Mingge
Published: December 2022

With the fast development of underground space engineering, it is inevitable for buried pipelines to be crossed by twin tunnels. Previous studies mainly focused on the single-tunneling effects on pipelines. To emphasize the twin-tunneling effects on buried pipelines, we first examined the effectiveness of the ground settlement prediction method under twin-tunneling conditions. Then, the estimated ground settlement boundary condition was applied to the beam-on-spring finite element model. The numerical results show that with the decrease in tunnel depth and twin tunnel space, the values and positions of the maximum ground settlement and longitudinal pipe bending behavior both changed significantly. The biased distance of the maximum settlement position and the distance to the inflection point of the final ground settlement curve can be obtained by curve fitting. Based on that, a semi-empirical prediction method for the longitudinal pipe bending strain was proposed. The predicted values matched quite well with the numerical results, which can thus provide a quick and effective structural safety and integrity assessment approach for buried pipelines subjected to twin-tunneling conditions.
A Novel Deformation Extraction Approach for Sub-Band InSAR and Its Application in Large-Scale Surface Mining Subsidence Monitoring
Authors: Diao Xinpeng , Sun Quanshuai , Yang Jing , Wu Kan , Lu Xin
Published: December 2022

Differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) is widely used to monitor ground surface deformation due to its wide coverage and high accuracy. However, the large-scale and rapid deformation that occurs in mining areas often leads to densely spaced interference fringes, thus, severely limiting the applicability of D-InSAR in mining subsidence monitoring. Sub-band InSAR can reduce phase gradients in interferograms by increasing the simulated wavelength, thereby characterising large-scale surface deformations. Nonetheless, accurate registration between non-overlapping sub-band images with conventional sub-band InSAR is challenging. Therefore, our study proposed a new sub-band InSAR deformation extraction method, based on raw full-bandwidth single-look complex image pair registration data to facilitate sub-band interferometric processing. Simulations under noiseless conditions demonstrated that the maximum difference between the sub-band InSAR-monitored results and real surface deformations was 26 mm (1.86% of maximum vertical deformation), which theoretically meets the requirements for mining subsidence monitoring. However, when modelling dynamic deformation with noise, the sub-band InSAR-simulated wavelength could not be optimised for surface deformation due to the limitation in current SAR satellite bandwidths, which resulted in significantly noisy and undistinguishable interference fringes. Nonetheless, this method could still be advantageous in high-coherence regions where surface deformation exceeds 1/5th of the simulated wavelength.
Stock Assessment of Chub Mackerel (Scomber japonicus) in the Northwest Pacific Ocean Based on Catch and Resilience Data
Authors: Hong Jae-Beum , Kim Dae-Young , Kim Do-Hoon
Published: December 2022

This study aimed to evaluate the stock status of chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Chub mackerel is a commercially important fish species in South Korea. The fishing grounds of chub mackerel are in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, off South Korea and the neighboring countries of China and Japan. Previous chub mackerel stock assessments have mostly been based on catch data from a single country. However, in this study we used the total catch data on chub mackerel in the Northwest Pacific Ocean to assess the stock status, owing to their migrations and occurrence in the waters of several different countries. We used a catch and maximum sustainable yield model, which is based on catch and resilience data, using the Monte Carlo method. Moreover, sensitivity analysis was conducted according to the availability of catch data by sea area and country. The results showed that the current level of chub mackerel biomass is lower than the biomass required to achieve a maximum sustainable yield based on median values. Furthermore, analysis of all scenarios showed the same results, while the current biomass showed a decreasing trend. These results indicate that improved cooperative resource management is required to prevent further stock status decline.
Risk Dominance Analysis of R&D Investment Cooperation in Dynamic Option Game
Authors: He Qing , Liu Yaqin , Yu Qian , Wei Chao
Published: December 2022

Research and development (R&D) investment is very important for firms to gain competitive advantages and sustainable development. Due to the uncertainty of the market and competitors, R&D investment is usually costly and high risk. In such circumstances, firms not only have to figure out the optimal investment timing, but also consider whether to cooperate with competitors to share the risks and costs. In this paper, a two-stage dynamic exchange option game model is proposed for two symmetric competing firms to analyze their R&D investment decision and cooperation. The results show that under uncertainty, the R&D investment timing and cooperation strategy of the two firms depend on the market fluctuation, R&D cost, opportunity benefit of free riding, and the externality of cooperation. If the opportunity benefit of free riding is less than or equal to half of the cooperative research cost, the two firms will invest as early as possible and cooperate. The technology spillover and profits of new products will positively affect the willingness of the competing firms to invest and cooperate in R&D. Moreover, we also calculate the market value thresholds of the investment strategies for the two firms. When the market value is small, the two firms wait for the R&D investment; when the value increases, the firm with a high successful R&D probability will lead the investment, and the other firm follows the investment; when the value is large enough, the two firms will invest at the beginning of the period.
Big Data Analytics Capability Ecosystem Model for SMEs
Authors: Falahat Mohammad , Cheah Phaik Kin , Jayabalan Jayamalathi , Lee Corrinne Mei Jyin , Kai Sia Bik
Published: December 2022

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, together with globalization and advanced technologies, has drastically changed the business environment and forced companies to become more innovative and agile in the way they run their business and respond to the needs and wants of customers. Survival highly depends on the adaptability of SMEs to this ever-changing complex dynamic environment by taking steps in implementing Big Data Analytics as the next frontier for innovation, competition, productivity, and value creation. Based on the grounded theory, this study employed a qualitative method via focus group discussion. Focus groups were conducted with 14 government agencies, SMEs associations, business owners, Chief Operating Officers (CEOs), academic and industrial experts and directors of SMEs in Malaysia. The study revealed the challenges of Malaysian SMEs in adopting Big Data Analytics Capability, presents the criticality of Big Data Analytics Capability to overcome the identified challenges, and develops a BDA Capability Ecosystem Model that integrates the internal enablers, external barriers and support to explain the adoption of BDA Capability for value creation and support the decision-making process. This paper is followed by some policy suggestions for companies’ owners, policymakers, government agencies, universities, and SMEs. This study directly impacts Malaysia’s economy as a whole by addressing Malaysia’s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030. This research contributes to industries that are still in the low value added category with low adoption of technology. Furthermore, it will ultimately lead to the realization of SMEs as ‘game changers’ to transition the economy to a high-income nation. This study proposes a model that could help SMEs improve their value creation performance, directly influencing the country’s GDP and employability.
A Novel Hybrid Methodology to Study the Risk Management of Prefabricated Building Supply Chains: An Outlook for Sustainability
Authors: Zhu Tian , Liu Guangchen
Published: December 2022

The management of the prefabricated building supply chain involves the entire process of prefabricated buildings. There are many uncertain factors, and the risk factors in any link will affect the overall operation of the supply chain. In order to achieve the “dual carbon” goal as soon as possible and promote the sustainable development of the building supply chain, it is very important to study the risk management of the assembly building supply chain. The risk management of the prefabricated building supply chain involves risk recognition, risk prediction, risk assessment, and risk response. In this study, on the basis of literature research, the WBS-RBS (Work Breakdown Structure–Risk Breakdown Structure) method comprehensively uses the working link and risk type of the prefabricated building supply chain to establish an indicator system for risk factors in the prefabricated building supply chain. Then, the risk prediction and evaluation model of the neural network of BP (Back Propagation) through Python software is established to predict the risk of prefabricated building supply chains. After verification, it was found that the accuracy of the training set and test set reached 100% and 96.6667%. The results showed that the BP neural network had good effects on the risk forecast of the prefabricated building supply chain, which provided certain risk predictions for the risk prediction of the prefabricated building supply chain. For reference, on the basis of risk prediction, in order to explore the importance of risk factors to the results of BP neural network prediction results, the characteristic importance algorithm of machine learning replacement features further analyzes the risk factors of the prefabricated building supply chain. Finally, based on the prefabricated construction project of enterprise A, risk prediction and evaluation of its supply chain management were carried out, countermeasures for targeted risks were proposed, and we provided new research on the sustainable development of the assembled building supply chain to provide new research ideas.
Exploring University Teacher Construction for Higher Education Sustainability in China: Perspective from Policy Instruments
Authors: Ma Guang , Shi Wanbing , Hou Peng
Published: December 2022

Teacher construction is a long-standing focus of global teacher governance. The construction of a highly qualified and professional higher education teaching force is a source of impetus for the sustainable development of higher education. In-depth systematic analysis of representative macro policies for Chinese university teachers is currently limited. Thus, this study employs the perspective of policy instruments and establishes a two-dimensional analytical framework to examine a key Chinese official teacher policy document to reveal the Chinese government’s policy intentions and instrument use preferences for current higher education teacher development. The aim is to explore the improvement of policy instruments for higher education teacher construction to promote sustainable development in China’s higher education institutions and to contribute Chinese experience to global teacher governance. The results indicate that the ratio of policy instrument use has structural disparities and insufficient appropriateness to the elements of the teacher management process. Environment-oriented policy instruments have been a critical thrust of the current Chinese government’s reform of university teacher development. It is recommended to pay attention to the systemic character of teacher growth and the optimal coordination of content elements and policy instruments to form a governance synergy for the high-quality and sustainable development of higher education.
The Impact of Part-Time Employment on the Grain-Growing Decisions of Smallholder Farmers in the Main Grain-Producing Areas of China Based on the Mediating Effect of Agricultural Production Services
Authors: He Yaping , Zang Liangzhen , Luo Erga , Wang Xiudong
Published: December 2022

Part-time farming is a common characteristic of smallholder farmers in China at present, which is expected to persist in the long term. If China is to promote sustainable agricultural development, it is important to consider the impact of part-time employment characteristics on the grain-growing decisions of smallholder farmers. To analyze the impact mechanisms of smallholder farmers’ part-time employment on their grain-growing decisions, we used data consisting of 14,539 samples collected by a survey of the former Chinese Ministry of Agriculture National Rural Fixed Observation Point from 2009 to 2015 to empirically analyze the effect of the extent of smallholder farmers’ part-time employment on their grain-growing decisions using a dynamic panel regression model. Then, we constructed a mediating effect test model using the dynamic panel regression model as the benchmark model in order to empirically test the mediating effect of the adoption of agricultural production services. The results are as follows: as the extent of smallholder farmers’ part-time employment grows, smallholder farmers significantly reduce the sown areas of wheat and corn; furthermore, the adoption of agricultural production services is an important mediating variable to curb the negative effects of the extent of smallholder farmers’ part-time employment on their grain-sowing areas, and the “Extent of Smallholder Part-time Employment (EPE)→Adoption of Agricultural Production Services→Grain-Planting Decisions” is an important path by which the extent of smallholder farmers’ part-time employment affects their grain-growing decisions. Notably, all of the findings passed the influence mechanism test and, after a robustness test, remained valid. Based on the research findings, we propose policy recommendations, suggesting that the construction of agricultural production service systems should be improved with the orientation of high-quality agricultural development; the minimum purchase prices of wheat and corn should be appropriately increased in order to ensure that smallholder farmers receive reasonable economic returns from growing grain; and the attractiveness of growing grain to smallholder farmers should be improved.
Fairness Evaluation of Landscape Justice in Urban Park Green Space: A Case Study of the Daxing Part of Yizhuang New Town, Beijing
Authors: Wang Zihe , Yan Gege , Wang Siyuan
Published: December 2022

Equitable distribution of urban park green space benefits public health and improves quality of life. From the perspective of landscape justice, this study establishes a subjective and objective comprehensive fairness evaluation method and analyzes the fairness of the spatial distribution of park green space in the Daxing part of Yizhuang New Town, Beijing and its relationship with the economic level of residents. The results show that: (1) the green space in the Daxing part of Yizhuang New Town is concentrated in the town center and distributed more sparsely in surrounding areas; (2) urban park green space is not equitable in quantity, area, disaster prevention and avoidance, or accessibility; (3) high-grade apartment complexes have higher quality of services than low-grade apartment complexes, and the number of parks, per capita park area, disaster prevention and avoidance, and park accessibility are all higher for high-grade than for low-grade apartment complexes. Medium-grade apartment complexes have a high level of green space services, and the number of parks, total area, and accessibility are 1.06, 2.58, and 1.13 times higher than those of high-grade apartment complexes, respectively. Conversely, disaster prevention and avoidance and park area per capita of medium-grade apartment complexes are lower than in high-grade apartment complexes, at 0.81 and 0.12 times, respectively. This study provides a new perspective for exploring society and landscape equity and concludes with suggestions for improving park green space public services.
Heat Transfer Studies on Solar Parabolic trough Collector Using Corrugated Tube Receiver with Conical Strip Inserts
Authors: Venkatesaperumal Ramalingam , Syed Jafar Kutbudeen , Elumalai Perumal Venkatesan , Abbas Mohamed , Cuce Erdem , Shaik Saboor , Saleel Chanduveetil Ahamed
Published: December 2022

The heat transfer characteristics of the working fluid passing through the absorber of a solar parabolic trough collector (SPTC) can be enhanced by the creation of a turbulence effect. Therefore, a novel idea was implemented by introducing a corrugated tube (CT) absorber instead of a plain tube absorber in a solar parabolic trough collector. The heat transfer enhancement was improved further through the use of conical strip inserts inside the corrugated tube absorber of the SPTC. A corrugated tube (CT) receiver with a pitch of 8 mm and corrugation height of 2 mm was used with three different pitches of conical strip inserts (pitch pi = 20 mm, 30 mm and 50 mm) for the analysis of the thermal performance of the SPTC. Initially, experiments were conducted in a plain tube and corrugated tube receiver at different mass flow rates. The convective heat transfer rate was increased for all the configurations of the conical strip inserts. The SPTC performance was good for the combination of the corrugated tube (pc = 8 mm and hc = 2 mm) and the conical strip insert I3 (pi= 20 mm). The experimental results showed that the maximum achieved Nu value, friction factor, instantaneous efficiency and thermal efficiency of the CT-I3 were 177%, 38%, 26.92% and 9% compared to the plain tube under the same working conditions.
Does Farmland Transfer Lead to Non-Grain Production in Agriculture?—An Empirical Analysis Based on the Differentiation of Farmland Renting-In Objects
Authors: Liu Guangsheng , Zhao Lesong , Chen Huiying , Zhou Yuting , Lin Hanbing , Wang Cunyue , Huang Haojuan , Li Xiting , Yuan Zhongyou
Published: December 2022

The study aims to estimate different land leasing entities’ intentions and drivers to grow non-grain crops. In 2021, following a multistage sampling technique based on non-grain farmland, 264 farmers from the Zengcheng District of China were interviewed using a well-structured questionnaire based on the theory of planned behavior and transaction cost. The structural equation model was used to quantitatively reveal the influence mechanism of the non-grain use of the transferred farmland. The difference in the non-grain use of the transferred farmland was analyzed from the perspective of the differentiation of the renting entities. The results showed that the profit margin of non-grain and food crops, and the follow-up behavior of business entities, all promote the non-grain utilization of transferred farmland; however, the transaction costs of non-grain utilization and the endowment constraints of agricultural businesses inhibit the non-grain utilization of farmland. The non-grain crops in the suburbs are more profitable, and the transaction costs of the farmland leasing entities are low, so they tend to be grain-free; the rents of the farmland in the outer suburbs are low and can be operated on a large scale, and the leasing entities tend to be grain-oriented. Large-scale leasing entities tend to grow grain, while small-scale leasing entities tend to grow non-grain crops. In general, large-scale leasing entities in the outer suburbs have high transaction costs and low land rents and tend to be grain-oriented. The small-scale leasing entities in the suburbs are close to the market, the transaction costs are low, the rental price of farmland is high, and they are more inclined to grow non-grain crops. The non-grain utilization of the leased farmland should be treated separately, the supervision of the grain production capacity of the leased farmland should be carried out, and the rotation of grain and non-grain crops should be encouraged; the moderate scale operation in outer suburbs should be encouraged, and the construction of high-standard basic farmland for grain-growing farmland should be promoted.
Application of Regression Analysis Using Broad Learning System for Time-Series Forecast of Ship Fuel Consumption
Authors: Li Xinyu , Zuo Yi , Jiang Junhao
Published: December 2022

Accurately forecasting the fuel consumption of ships is critical for improving their energy efficiency. However, the environmental factors that affect ship fuel consumption have not been researched comprehensively, and most of the relevant studies continue to present efficiency and accuracy issues. In view of such problems, a time-series forecasting model of ship fuel consumption based on a novel regression analysis using broad learning system (BLS) was developed in this study. The BLS was compared to a diverse set of fuel consumption forecasting models based on time-series analyses and machine learning techniques, including autoregressive integrated moving average model with exogenous inputs (ARIMAX), support vector regression (SVR), recurrent neural network (RNN), long short-term memory network (LSTM), and extreme learning machines (ELM). In the experiment, two types of passenger roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) ship and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrierwere used as research objects to verify the proposed method’s generalizability, with data divided among two groups (RM, RB). The experimental results showed that the BLS model is the best choice to forecast fuel consumption in actual navigation, with mean absolute error (MAE) values of 0.0140 and 0.0115 on RM and RB, respectively. For the LPG carrier, it has also been proven that the forecast effect is improved when factoring the sea condition, with MAE reaching 0.0108 and 0.0142 under ballast and laden conditions, respectively. Furthermore, the BLS features the advantages of low computing complexity and short forecast time, making it more suitable for real-world applications. The results of this study can therefore effectively improve the energy efficiency of ships by reducing operating costs and emissions.
Sensitivity Analysis of Factors Affecting the Stability of Deep Buried Tunnel
Authors: Jiang Yue , Zou Wendong
Published: December 2022

The excavation of deep tunnels has significant spatial and temporal effects on the stress distribution of the surrounding rock. Accurately describing the distribution characteristics of the surrounding rock stress state is a key issue in analyzing the failure mechanism of the surrounding rock. Based on the numerical analysis, a study on the influencing factors of the surrounding rock stress state during the excavation of deep tunnels was conducted. The results show that (i) the surrounding rock was divided into stress mutation, disturbed, and stables zones using the quantitative index: the peak and stable value of the stress triaxiality, which can reflect the influence of the principal stress orientation; (ii) the evolution law of the stress path of the surrounding rocks in different areas was obtained, and the detailed loading method of laboratory test is proposed, which could consider the influence of the principal stress magnitude and orientation during tunnel excavation; and (iii) five variable indices were used to conduct sensitivity analysis on the influencing factors of the surrounding rock stress state. Specifically, the direction of in situ stress and lateral pressure coefficient considerably influences the disturbance range, and the depth the tunnel is buried affects the deformation and failure characteristics of the surrounding rock. This paper provides a modified and quantified test method for tunnel stability analysis.