Search

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

Much attention has been paid to using English movies in senior high school English teaching in China since the release of 2017 edition of Senior High School English Curriculum Standards that lists English Movie Appreciation as an optional compulsory course. Senior high school teachers have conducted substantial research over the past three years regarding the practical application of English movies in their teaching, yet there has been a lack of thorough and systematic of analysis of the large number of relevant papers published, which, more or less, limits the understanding and further advancements of this study area. This paper attempts, in light of the emerging systematic review methodology, to present an overview of the research papers spanning the period 2019 to 2022 on the use of English movies in Chinese senior high school from the four perspectives: language ability, cultural awareness, thinking quality, and learning ability based on the concept of core literacy of English as an academic discipline in the new curriculum standard. With focus on the discussion of the common problems and corresponding countermeasures that have been sorted out from the works of front-line teachers, the paper also puts forward suggestions and prospects for further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs the money demand function including the variable of electronic payments while adopting the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to investigate the relationship between electronic payments and money demand in China. The empirical results show that there is the cointegration among the variables in the constructed function with stability, and the e-payment variable is negatively correlated with the demand for money. According to the findings of this paper, in the long run, for every 1 percent increase in the e-payment variable, the demand for M1 will decrease by approximately 0.01 percent. In addition, the money demand function that contains the e-payment variable performs better than the one that does not in the forecast evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A closed-loop material flow analysis model is established for China's pulp and paper industry (CPPI), followed by a comprehensive quantitative analysis from both retrospective and prospective perspectives. • By implementing sound plans and stricter regulations and standards, China has improved recycling and material use efficiency, reduced the organic material with wastewater, and shifted towards recovered paper as a raw material over non-wood fiber. • Lowering the waste paper recycling rate to increase carbon storage is not suitable for China, due to the limited virgin fiber and growing demand. • The growing paper demand requires efforts from both ends of virgin fiber supply and waste paper management towards the sustainable development of CPPI. As the largest global producer and consumer of pulp and paper, China faces significant sustainability challenges in fiber supply and waste paper management. A comprehensive material flow analysis of China's pulp and paper industry (CPPI) is needed to understand the interaction between raw material supply and waste paper management. Here, we construct a closed-loop material flow analysis model for CPPI, examine the evolution patterns of material metabolism from 1990 to 2019, and explore the demand for paper production, waste paper recycling, and virgin fiber supply in 2030 and 2050 under multiple scenarios considering critical factors. Results show that the industry has undergone rapid expansion, increased material use efficiency, and a shift towards recycled pulp from 1990 to 2019. China's paper demand will grow to 186 Mt in the next 30 years, resulting in a significant increase in both demand for fibers (173 Mt) and the generation of waste paper (138 Mt). To ensure a sustainable fiber supply for CPPI, domestic waste paper recycling needs to be prioritized. However, attention should also be paid to the availability of virgin pulp supply and proper disposal of organic solid waste. Proper management of these factors is crucial for achieving a circular economy in the industry and reducing its environmental impact. The findings highlight the importance of addressing both raw material supply and waste paper management for CPPI's sustainable development. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In July 2015, China's national legislature brought in prosecutor-led civil environmental public interest litigation ("EPIL") for thirteen selected provincial areas of the country. After a two-year legal experiment, this prosecutor-led civil EPIL system was then established nationwide in July 2017. Yet, can it be said that prosecutorial regulators in China are in fact a paper tiger? Drawing upon content analysis of the 655 prosecutor-led civil EPILs and in-depth interviews with twelve frontline prosecutors and judges, this article examines the dynamics of regulatory practice and the motivation of the Chinese prosecutorial organs to engage in environmental regulation through litigation. Based upon the above two legislative landmarks in the law reform of this area, the regulatory practice of prosecutorial organs can be viewed as having occurred in three stages, with each stage featuring a distinct regulatory model: ad hoc regulation through local innovation before July 2015, forced regulation during the legal experiment from July 2015 to July 2017, and perfunctory regulation after the nationwide establishment of the prosecutor-led civil EPIL system in July 2017. The data shows that the Chinese prosecutorial organs have engaged in a larger number of such lawsuits since the second stage, but they have shown a strong preference for cases with less complicated facts, weak and small defendants, and minor environmental violations. Three factors that influence regulatory motivation are employed to analyse the change in regulatory models: the ambiguity of the law, the top-down political pressure for regulation, and the cost of regulation. This study highlights the very limited effectiveness of vertical political pressure in boosting prosecutorial regulation and the strong impacts of the cost of regulation and the ambiguity of the law. In particular, the high cost of regulation that takes weak regulatory capacity, lack of regulatory autonomy, and the winning rate-oriented performance appraisal system into account have significantly weakened the motivation of prosecutorial organs to pursue civil EPIL. The findings of this study echo the conditions present in the successful prosecutorial regulations in Brazil and contribute to the scholarship about prosecutorial regulations in the field of environmental protection in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating science learning with game experience and physical manipulatives not only overcomes the rigidity of traditional teaching, but also makes the learning experience pleasant for students and improves their science inquiry ability. Today, with the popularization of mobile devices and technology, both the value and feasibility of gamified science learning have increased significantly. However, several studies showed that students might get lost or feel bored during science inquiry. To let students enjoy the science inquiry process and improve their science process skills, the researchers combined mobile technology, game design elements, and science inquiry and designed the gamified science inquiry activity "we are aircraft designers". Here, students designed and manipulated a smartphone-controlled paper airplane by mobile devices connected via Bluetooth. To investigate the effects of the gamified science inquiry activity, the flow state and science process skills of 71 students of a junior high school in China were explored. The proposed gamified science inquiry activity enhanced flow and science process skills of students with high and middle level flow. No differences were found on flow and science process skills between males and females. Based on these results, the guidelines for the design of a gamified science inquiry activity are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The pulp and paper industry is the most important industrial sector for water pollution control in China. The current paper develops a technology-based model to assess alternative water pollution reduction policies in the pulp and paper industry up to 2020. Five policy scenarios are established to represent measures of raw material substitution, eliminating backward small-sized capacities, promoting cleaner technologies, advancing end-of-pipe treatment technologies and the integration of all these policies. Emission amounts of wastewater, chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and absorbable organic halides (AOX) under different scenarios and corresponding economic costs are calculated. Among all individual policy measures, production capacity replacement has the best pollution reduction effect and the largest capital investment demand. Promoting cleaner technology can bring more economic benefits with less investment because of its by-effects of material and energy saving. Although raw material substitution is a basic strategy in China''s paper industry, it does not show very significant pollution reduction effect on its own. Joint implementation of different policies is necessary in order to decrease gross emission amounts when total output keeps growing. The water pollution emission reduction target proposed in the development plan of China''s paper industry, i.e. 10–12% reduction of COD and NH4-N in 2015 based on 2010 level, can be fulfilled through integrated policy measures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Papermaking enterprises are major polluters that cause water pollution and air pollution. This paper aims to provide analysis of the energy saving and emission reduction in papermaking enterprises.It is the inevitable choice of establishment industrial ecology park as the leading of the papermaking industry by the implementation of cleaner production and circulation economy. Shandong Haiyun efficient ecological park is taken for example.Researches of the developing strategies and policy support of energy saving and emission reduction is discussed. The paper is divided into five parts, the first part is the preface, the second part introduces the general of Haiyun efficient industrial park, the third part puts forward the scheme of clean production of Haiyun efficient ecological industrial park, the fourth part puts forward ecological industry pattern of Haiyun efficient ecological industrial park, the fifth part puts forward policy guarantee measures, and the sixth part makes the summary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recent years have seen increasing demand for wider application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA), especially SEA of major policies, as a powerful instrument to safeguard the environment during the rapid industrialization and urbanization in China. Debates on SEA are concentrated on its feasibility and effective implementation in practice. This study applies Emergy analysis within the framework of social–economic–natural complex eco-system theory to overcome the limitations of methods used for assessing regional sustainability so far. This established model is tested in the case of Chinese paper industry to assess the sustainability of 5 policy scenarios. The results show that Emergy-based Indices (EbI) are more effective to measure the sustainability of industry complex ecosystem, thus EbI approach is very useful in SEAs on policy scenarios of a given complex ecosystem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using a monthly data between 2008 and 2019, this study investigated how the development of the Internet technologies has shaped the consumer consumption pattern of different types of paper products in China during this period. In detail, this study covers four major types of paper products in the Chinese market: newsprint, printing paper, household paper, and packaging paper. The developments of Internet technologies were decomposed into two aspects: the communication technology (CT) and the software platform technology (PT). Granger causality analysis was employed to determine whether the consumption pattern of paper products was affected by the development of the Internet. Furthermore, impulse-response analyses were utilized to measure how the consumption pattern of each paper product was shaped by the development of each aspect of Internet technologies, i.e., CT or PT. The empirical results suggested that the Internet developments are causing the consumption patterns shifts of all four paper products. Specifically, the consumptions of newsprint and printing paper were driven by both CT and PT. However, the consumptions of packaging paper and household paper were driven by the PT only. Compared to the development of CT, we found that the quick evolution of PT plays a more significant role in shifting people's consumption of paper products in China. The empirical results revealed by this study could provide valuable economics and policy implications to both academia and relevant industries. • Internet development has shifted the paper products consumption pattern in China. • Development of internet boosted the demand for printing paper and household paper. • Development of internet suppressed the demand for newsprint. • The effects of internet technological development are separated into two aspects. • Emerging Internet platforms shifted the consumption of paper products efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on China's document trends and causal factors from 1995 to 2005 with regards to paper and pulp products imports and exports through gravity model. A table is presented that depicts the boost of pulp and paper which coincides with bilateral negotiations of an entry to the World Trade Organization(WTO) with the European Union and the United States. The leading importers which accounted of about 62% of China's annual exporting were Hong Kong, United States, and Japan while Great Britain. South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia accounted of about 2% each. Also presented are the result of the study as with the use of gravity model..

There are a great number of DEA models proposed to deal with ecological efficiency problems with undesirable outputs. However, which model should be used in a specific scenario or how about the discriminability of a given DEA model is hard to decide in practice. This paper uses the ecological Shannon DEA procedure based upon the existing study to obtain an ecological comprehensive efficiency score for each decision units. The procedure is used to appraise the ecological evaluation to 32 paper mills along the Huai River in China. The results seem reasonable since they integrate the results of existing relevant DEA models, and calculate the importance degree of each model. The procedure can also be used to determine the pollutant emission quotas for those paper mills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Through sampling reed in Shuangtai estuary wetland in April, 2009 and simulation test in Shenyang Agricultural University, we analyze the removal efficiency of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd during different growth period of reed and distribution of them in various parts of reed. The results show that the removal efficiency is best in jointing stage, the removal of Pb largest with 21% increase and 30% in sprout and exhibition leaf period, the removal of Zn largest with 53% and 29% increase in jointing stage and the maturity period, the removal of Cd largest with 40% increase in the different growing season. The absorption amount of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in roots of reed reaches maximum during the growth, followed by in stems and in leaves. Absorptive capacity in the whole plant for Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd exists extremely significant difference (p <0.01). The order is Pb>Zn>Cu>Cd. The absorption in root is higher than in stems and in leaves (p <0.05), but Zn and Cd absorption amount has no significant differences in stems and leaves (p >0.05). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Paper has always been a cheap and convenient substitute for more expensive materials or clumsy objects which are useful for other purposes and it is sometimes suitable for uses in which no better materials will serve. Today, paper and paper products have hundreds of uses in communication, business, industry, and household operations, as they are found everywhere in daffy life. Many of these uses can be traced back to centuries ago when paper was used as extensively and variously in China as it is elsewhere in the world during the modern times. Generally speaking, paper was used for wrapping and padding not long after its invention in the Western Han; for writing from the Later Hart; for cutting into designs, making stationery, fans, and umbrellas from the third or fourth century; for clothing, furnishing, visiting cards, kites, lanterns, napkins, and toilet purposes no later than the fifth or sixth century; for family ceremonies in the seventh; for state sacrifices and making replicas of real objects from the eighth; and for playing cards, for wearing as protective arms, and in lieu of cash as a medium of exchange from the ninth century. In other words, all these uses for graphic and decorative arts, for commercial and ceremonial occasions, and for household and recreational purposes existed in China before paper was introduced to the West in the ninth century. While the use of paper in writing, printing, stationery and decoration is discussed in a separate article, this study traces the origin and development of the popular and household use of paper and paper products as recorded in literature or found in recent discoveries of early specimens and artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papermaking is one of the four great inventions in ancient China; the most influential genre of Chinese literature is poetry; and paper and poetry are therefore both our "national quintessence" of which the Chinese people are proud. The period people use the tablets of bamboo or pieces of silk had lasted several thousand years before paper was created, when the instantaneous exchange of emotion had to be oral, and that is why the way of verbal expression used to be oral songs, but not textual poetry; meanwhile, owing to the heaviness and inconvenience of the media, the written texts were only used for conveying the diachronic tradition, not suitable for special circulation. The invention of paper and its wide usage made the Chinese culture step into the Middle Ancient Time and hence led to the boom of textual literature in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Thereafter, poetry changed its form from oral to written texts, which in turn led to the changes in the importance of the literary nature and the poetic ambience of poetry. The revolution of poetry relevant to the aesthetic nature and the formal rhyme was hence the result by using the material media of paper, demonstrating the influence of the material upon the spirit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on data illustrating the population increase and expansion the Red-flanked Bluetail breeding in Finland over the past 40 years. The first Red-flanked Bluetail was recorded in the country on July 4, 1949. The population began to increase by 1987. It has been assumed that in winter the bird migrate mainly to southeast China, Korea and Taiwan.

• Dentification of the water intensive industry—pulp and paper industry (PPI) at the firm level. • The partial static equilibrium model was applied to explore the economic effects. • Environmental regulation shows positive impacts on multiple indicators. Whether environmental regulation has negative impact on the economic performances of manufacturers in the real world cannot be concluded without reliable policy evaluations. The regional policy experimentation on raising the wastewater discharge standard in the pulp and paper industry in Shandong Province, China in the early 2000′s has been considered a success and has provided lessons for the crafting and strengthening of water pollution regulation for the whole country at a later stage. There has been, however, long lack of rigorous study that comprehensively evaluates the environmental and economic consequences of the policy experiment. The question about whether cleaner water came at a substantial economic cost remained unanswered. This may hinder cumulative policy learning and development. In this article, we adopt plant-level economic and environmental statistics and a difference-in-differences design to examine the economic effect of the Shandong wastewater policy in the 2000′s. Our results revealed that on average the environmental regulation enhanced the economic performances of pulp and paper plants. The regulation had positive effects on total output, total assets, and total profit, and it did not cause a statistically significant decline in employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, network communication research became gradually popular along with the upsurge of new media. It has since turned into a new focus in the communication field. By studying network communication papers from 1995 to 2006, this paper makes a relatively objective quantitative analysis of present research and the latest explorations of network communication in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Textile Leader is the property of China Textile Information Center 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 paper aims to investigate the peer effects in financial investment of board-interlocked firms from the information sharing perspective. Based on board interlock and financial information of A-share listed nonfinancial firms in China, we construct board interlocking networks where firms share at least one board member in common and conduct an empirical investigation into peer effects in financial investment of board interlocking firms. The results demonstrate that peer effects are noticeably found in nonfinancial firms even after ruling out endogenous concerns by applying peers' peers' characteristics as instrumental variables, and carrying out robustness tests and placebo tests. In addition, the main manifestation of these peer effects is that firms with inferior quality information, i.e., poor financial conditions, low market capitalization, and higher stock idiosyncratic volatility, tend to follow companies that are perceived as having superior quality information in the above-mentioned areas. Firms located in the core position of board interlocking network or with more assets are more likely to be influenced by peers, because they can obtain more high-quality information. Different from existing studies, this paper provides a board interlocking perspective to the study of peer effects, which offers a new explanation for the expansion of financial activities of firms in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research focuses on four issues. First, researches on China's image becomes the hotspot again. The China's image in the eyes of westerners and westerner medias becomes multinational. With the development of new media technology, the construction of China's national image has raised new questions. Second, Many scholars think 2013 as the "big data year". The rapid development of big data is bringing this concept from the theoretical level to ordinary life. Third since the frequent sudden public crisis, the government image encountered an unprecedented crisis. The traditional media, new media and the news spokesman system combination interaction can shape the government image effectively. At last, Combined with the research about the concept of "citizen journalists", the research focuses the debate on this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the papers by Professors Kosoto and End&#x014D on the development of a number of important schools in Japanese "Kanp&#x014D" which is traditional Japanese medicine from ancient China. It describes relationship between different schools of medicine in Japan and between eastern and western medical arts on their development point to a common Japanese thinking. The importance of obtaining necessary foundation for understanding the papers is also included.

This article details an investigation into the onscreen marking (OSM) of Liberal Studies (LS) in Hong Kong-where paper-based marking (PBM) of public examinations is being phased out and wholly superseded by OSM. The study involved 14 markers who had previously rated Liberal Studies scripts on screen in the 2009 Hong Kong Advanced Level examination. In the study, the 14 markers re-marked, on paper, a number of the scripts they had marked on screen in the 2009 examination. Using multi-faceted Rasch analysis, a five-faceted design was employed, modeling markers, test takers, input questions, rating scales, and the marking medium. Results showed that all factors generally exhibited good data fit. With the major facet for investigation being the method of marking, logit values centred at zero emerged. The hypothesis that the method of marking does not intrude on scores awarded to test takers when scripts are marked on screen or on paper was therefore accepted. Since all public examinations in Hong Kong will be marked solely on screen in 2012, it is vital for professional and public confidence that the scores returned from the OSM marking system can be considered as reliable as those obtained from paper-based marking. Results from the current study suggest that this is so. Given that many countries and jurisdictions globally are considering the implementation of OSM technology-albeit not in the all-embracing manner of Hong Kong-the current study provides further validation for the worldwide adoption of such technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The science citation index (SCI) cited papers have been used as one of the evaluation items for both educational and academical levels, furthermore, both clinical and basic researchers have made great efforts on publishing more SCI cited papers, because the SCI cited papers can enhance their career, reputation, and ego. This paper discussed the proceeding steps during preparing and writing SCI cited papers, especially on the aspects of language basis, design, preparation, writing, submission, revision, based on the author's experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes some hot communication topics in the first half year in 2013 by combining academic views of some scholars. These topics include the reasons of network colony event, media mass try to adapt in network times, how journalists use SNS, the female gender of the mass media, analyze the report of national influence published by BBC, the situation of foreign investment in Chinese media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes some hot communication topics from January to February in 2013 by combining academic views of some scholars. These topics include the reasons for the failure of The Daily, big data and data mining, the transformation of newspapers and the two media markets in mainland China. The development of new media and the transformation of traditional media are always the topics that can draw lots of attention. The competition and cooperation between them can not only show the development of new techniques, but also play an important role in charging the habits of audiences, the mode of reporting news and some communication theories. More and more participation of pubic will bring much more challenges for the model of the guidance of public opinion in China. In order to adapt to the new broadcasting environment, the media needs more attempt and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that the first topology paper in China was published by Kiang Tsai-hai in 1931.

Abstract: With the progressive acceleration of globalization in the world, the study of intercultural communication is accordingly flourishing day by day on both domestic and international levels. In order to discern the current trends of intercultural communication research in China and abroad and furthermore provide suggestions for future research, the present study has made an analysis of 368 intercultural communication articles published between 2001 and 2005 in 11 major international and domestic academic journals, among which 203 articles are from 10 major domestic academic journals and 165 ones from the American journal entitled International Journal of Intercultural Relations. Each article is analyzed from two perspectives: the research contents and research methods. The results indicate that intercultural communication research in China is sharply different from research abroad with regards to research contents and methods. The main concern of researchers abroad is intercultural adaptation and intercultural training while the Chinese researchers are mainly concerned with cross-cultural pragmatics. As far as research methods are concerned, most studies abroad are conducted using empirical research methods, the majority of which adopt the quantitative research method. On the contrary, most studies in China are non-empirical research. Of the small number of empirical studies, considerable attention is paid to the mixed use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. At the end of the paper, constructive suggestions are made for future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents the paper "China's Political Party System," published by China's State Council Information Office in 2007. The document examines the political party system adopted by China, focusing on the role that multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party plays in China's social and political life. The author looks at China's basic political system as well as manifestations of socialist democracy. A brief introduction to the democratic parties of China is also presented.

The article focuses on the limited procedural power of arbitrators under Chinese law. Topics include the arbitration rules under the lex loci arbitri, jurisdictional power, and choice-of-law power. Information is provided on the dual track arbitration system, the issuing of interim powers, and the centralization of procedural power in China.

This paper critically reviews the lessons learnt from the testing of China's digital currency, the e-CNY. Using a theory-based case study, it looks at the e-CNY testing through the lens of the academic literature on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The controlled field experiments by the Peoples Bank of China tested the technology, consumer usage and transaction robustness of the e-CNY. The results of this testing are collated, and the paper compares the transactions per second with other digital money offerings. It also investigates the results in the context of privacy and monetary policy. It is observed that several lessons can be learnt. These are that (1) CBDC testing needs to be phased and incorporate techniques, approaches, tools, and frameworks; (2) retail CBDCs compete with private forms of digital money for share of wallet; (3) the hybrid co-development model allows for a robust CBDC offering: and (4) privacy concerns and digital literacy impact user uptake. It is concluded that there is a role for retail CBDCs and that those central banks that are exploring the possibility should develop a testing regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Order distribution and routing optimization of takeout delivery is a challenging research topic in the field of e-commerce. In this paper, we propose a drone–rider joint delivery mode with multi-distribution center collaboration for the problems of limited-service range, unreasonable distribution, high delivery cost, and tight time windows in the takeout delivery process. The model is constructed with the minimum delivery cost and the overall maximum customer satisfaction as the objective function, and a two-stage heuristic algorithm is designed to solve the model. In the first stage, Euclidean distance is used to classify customers into the regions belonging to different distribution centers, and the affinity propagation (AP) clustering algorithm is applied to allocate orders from different distribution centers. The second stage uses an improved tabu search algorithm for route optimization based on specifying the number of rider and drone calls. This paper takes China's Ele.me and Meituan takeout as the reference object and uses the Solomon data set for research. The experimental results show that compared with the traditional rider delivery mode, the drone–rider joint delivery mode with multiple distribution center collaboration can effectively reduce the number of riders used, lower the delivery cost, and improve the overall customer satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Designed a micro-governance framework of multi-government environmental regulation (ER) synergy. • Developed a synergistic-based measure to quantify the degree of heterogeneous multi-government ER synergy. • Heterogeneous multi-government ER synergy has dissimilar impacts on corporate environmental responsibility (CER). • Financing constraints and executives' attention to CER play mediating roles in the mechanism. • The impact of multi-government ER synergy is heterogeneous among different types of firms. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) calls for enhanced global efforts to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals by 2030, highlighting the crucial role of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) in advancing global sustainability. As a significant participant, China is leveraging its government-led environmental regulation (ER) system, which has a multi-level and multi-sectoral structure, to effectively combat climate change. However, the effect of this ER system, especially collaborative efforts among multiple government subjects, on CER remains unknown. Thus, this paper is the first attempt to investigate the effect and underlying mechanisms of multi-government ER synergy on CER from the perspective of government subject synergy. Using a dataset of Chinese A-share listed manufacturing firms from 2010 to 2021, this study finds the following. First, multi-government ER synergy boosts CER. Direct ER synergy, stemming from joint policy-making across departments, encourages CER in end-of-pipe governance. Indirect ER synergy, arising from administrative hierarchy constraints among multi-level governments, fosters CER in front-end governance. Second, financing constraints and executives' attention to CER are two key channels through which multi-government ER synergy influences CER. Third, firms with political connections, those in heavily polluting industries, or those located in central and western regions adopt more proactive CER strategies under multi-government ER synergy. This paper expands research on government collaborative governance from the regional macro-perspective to the micro-firm level, providing valuable insights for countries worldwide, particularly emerging economies that share similar characteristics with China, to contain rapidly growing environmental challenges and advance global sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the impact of justice reform on entrepreneurship in China, utilizing a staggered difference-in-differences model. The research reveals that the implementation of justice reform has a sizable positive effect on entrepreneurship, both statistically and economically significant. The influence is more pronounced in areas with higher trust, lower legal environment, and in rural areas. Government quality and innovation are two possible mechanisms. This paper emphasizes the significant role of the justice environment in fostering business innovation and entrepreneurship, and highlights the economic significance of government quality, providing a new perspective for encouraging entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the second populous country in the world, China is confronted with the significant and rapid challenge of population ageing. The household savings rate is inevitably impacted by population ageing. Most existing research has been conducted using macro data from 31 provinces in China. However, most of them lacks consideration of urban-rural differences. Furthermore, there are concerns regarding the applicability of using macro data to study household-level microeconomic issues. Against this backdrop, the objectives of this paper are twofold: first, to investigate the effect of population ageing on the savings rates of urban and rural households in China. Second, this work examines whether urban–rural heterogeneity is evident in the impact of population ageing on household savings in China. This paper conducts a regression analysis on pseudo-panel data from 2010 to 2018 in China using micro-level household data from China Family Panel Studies and employing a Feasible Generalized Least Squares model. The key contribution of this paper is converting cross-sectional microdata into pseudo-panel data, enabling regression analysis within a logical and rigorous theoretical framework. It addresses limitations on existing literature, which predominantly relies on macro data. Additionally, the study takes into account heterogeneity, individual differences, and multicollinearity in regression model selection, thereby remedying the shortcomings of model selection in the majority of the existing literature based on pseudo-panel data. The findings reveal the heterogeneity of household savings rates in urban and rural China, as well as the heterogeneity of the impact of population ageing on the savings rates of urban and rural households in China. Specifically, population ageing significantly reduces household savings rates in both China and rural areas, but significantly increases the savings rates of urban households. Moreover, in the context of population ageing, urban household savings rates are significantly lower than those in rural areas. Policymakers should strengthen urbanization efforts to reduce the urban-rural disparity. In addition, to mitigate the impact of population ageing on savings rates, policymakers should encourage fertility in order to improve household demographics. They should also strengthen investment in education to reduce the burden of household expenditure on education. In addition, policymakers should promote entrepreneurship, provide job training in order to increase household incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an emerging industry in the convergence of finance and technology, Digital Inclusive Finance (DIF) has gradually become a fundamental driving factor in increasing Common Prosperity (COPRO). However, the potential influence of DIF on COPRO across counties has yet to be clarified. As a result, we explore the impact, heterogeneous characteristics, and pathways of DIF on COPRO using Chinese county-level panel data from 2014 to 2021. The key findings of this paper are as follows: (1) The COPRO in China's counties has shown a steady upward trend, but there are significant differences in regional development levels. (2) DIF can significantly boost the counties' COPRO, and the above conclusion still holds after multiple robustness tests. (3) The coverage and digitalization of DIF contribute more to COPRO than usage. Furthermore, DIF can contribute to COPRO in central and western, highly urbanized, and internet-enabled counties. (4) DIF can encourage COPRO by easing financial constraints and promoting enterprise cultivation. Drawing from the findings above, this paper offers feasible financial solutions and paths for China and developing countries to promote COPRO. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is posited that solving the problem of relative poverty (RP) first requires the identification of its cause. We use data from China Family Panel Studies to examine the impact of risk preference on RP of urban and rural families in China and the underlying mechanism. This paper contributes to the existing body of evidence on the determinants of RP. The results show that a high degree of risk preference is conducive to alleviating families' RP. The effect is still significant after dealing with potential endogeneity through instrumental variables. Furthermore, the effect is more obvious among health insurance participation families, endowment insurance participation families, families with low life satisfaction, non-poor families, especially middle-income families, urban families, male-headed families and families in the West in China. Further analysis suggests that risk preference affects RP by promoting entrepreneurship and credit in urban and rural families. Families with a higher risk preference are more likely to engage in entrepreneurship and utilize credit, which in turn helps alleviate their RP. Overall, this paper provides new empirical evidence for understanding the mechanism of risk preference influencing RP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has seriously impacted China's real economy and directly threatened the survival and healthy development of enterprises. Based on the data of Chinese A-share listed enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2017 to 2021, this paper empirically examines the impact and mechanism of COVID-19 on enterprises financial distress. The findings are as follows: (1) The impact of COVID-19 significantly increases the risk of enterprises financial distress. (2) There are differences in the effect of COVID-19 on the financial situation of enterprises with different characteristics, with significant negative impacts on enterprises in industries such as mining and manufacturing, as well as smaller enterprises and those located in the central and western regions. (3) Digital transformation and government subsidies can alleviate the negative effects of COVID-19 on enterprises financial distress. The paper provides a basis for enterprises to recover from financial difficulties as soon as possible, enhance competitiveness, and realize sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]