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The evaluation of the scientific and technological (S&T) innovation efficiency of universities is important for the 'double first-class' construction in China. However, related research often only considers desirable outputs while ignoring undesirable ones, which tends to produce biased evaluation results. For this reason, this study takes the ratio of unemployed graduates as undesirable output, and uses the global Malmquist – Luenberger index method to evaluate the S&T innovation efficiency of 31 relevant universities in China during 2013–2017, then develops a panel Tobit model to analyse its influencing factors. The results reveal that: first, during the sample period, the S&T innovation efficiency of those universities improved overall, and technical progress was the main driver. Second, excluding undesirable output will result in an overestimate of the S&T innovation efficiency of universities. Third, the S&T innovation efficiency of universities features regional distribution, with high efficiency in the west and low efficiency in the east. Moreover, different regions have different drivers for the improvement of S&T innovation efficiency of universities, with technical progress for the east and technical efficiency changes for the central and west. Finally, the 'double first-class' construction proposal in China has significantly promoted the improvement of S&T innovation efficiency in universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data of 31 provinces in China during 2004–2015 and the models of panel threshold regression and panel quantile regression, this paper investigates the impact of China's higher education on regional carbon emissions. The results indicate that there exists threshold effect of both China's higher education scale and quality on regional carbon emissions per capita. Specifically, in terms of higher education scale, its further progress may facilitate the positive effect on carbon emissions per capita when technology is above threshold. As for higher education quality, its further growth may moderate the positive effect on carbon emissions per capita when income exceeds threshold; it also can promote its constrained effect on carbon emissions per capita when exceeding the technology threshold; and the continuous improvement of higher education quality may help to reduce carbon emissions per capita. Besides, the positive impact of higher education scale on carbon emissions per capita appears smaller in regions with more carbon emissions per capita; meanwhile, only in the regions with larger carbon emissions per capita, may higher education quality promote carbon emissions per capita, while the curbing impact of technology level is relatively constant among different regions with various carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PhD enrolment quota allocation proves the key concern for China’s universities to promote institutional reform and improve research level, and it is often characterized by the zero sum game among schools within a university. Therefore, this article develops a new indicator system for PhD enrolment quota allocation and efficiency evaluation in China, and then it reallocates the quotas considering the preferences of decision-makers and the efficiency based on the historical data during 2011-2015 in a research-oriented university in China. The results indicate that, first, the preferences of decision-makers in the university for article publications and research funds may significantly affect the allocation of PhD enrolment quotas among schools. Second, when the linear combination weighting method is used, the overall efficiency for PhD enrolment allocation proves the highest, among various weighting methods concerned. Finally, to improve the overall efficiency of the 19 schools, five social science schools and four engineering schools have to cut their PhD enrolment quotas; among them, three engineering schools should reduce the largest redundant quotas sharply. The methods and results in this article are conducive to the allocation of education resources which have the zero sum feature and are often accompanied with undesirable outputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modernization of central China may highly affect the overall well-off society in China. Meanwhile, higher education plays a prominent role in determining the competitiveness of a country or region. Hence, how to bring the promotional role of higher education in economic growth of central China into play has become a focus for the government and the academia. Under this circumstance, this paper develops a comprehensive index of education and then employs the panel data model to investigate the influence of both higher education scale and quality on economic growth in the six provinces of central China from 2003 to 2014. The empirical results show that the contribution of higher education to comprehensive education level in the six provinces was all <1% within the sample period, and its contribution to economic growth was <5%, far lower than that of basic education to economic growth. Moreover, in general, higher education scale exerts significant positive effect on economic growth in central China while the effect of higher education quality appears insignificant. In addition, technological innovation plays a remarkably positive role in economic growth of all the six provinces in central China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The impact of air pollution on urban innovation capability is tested. • The innovation capability index is reconstructed based on innovation output. • Air pollution inhibits the urban innovation capability significantly. • The "human resource loss effect" and "resource crowding out effect" are justified. • The inhibition of air pollution on innovation capability has urban heterogeneity. Technological innovation may help to reduce air pollution, but existing relevant studies have not clarified whether and how air pollution affects urban innovation capability. Therefore, based on the fixed-effect model, we examine a panel of 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2015, and find that air pollution significantly inhibits the improvement of urban innovation capability on the whole in China. Meanwhile, affected by the "human resource loss effect", air pollution in cities of large scale or eastern China has a significantly greater inhibitory effect on innovation capabilities. Besides, affected by the "resource crowding out effect", the negative impact of air pollution on urban innovation capability in key environmental protection cities is far greater than that in non-key cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Dynamic network data envelopment analysis and Tobit regression are used for study. • The efficiency of production process is higher than the waste treatment process. • Significant regional differences exist in the industrial eco-efficiency in China. • Industrial agglomeration impedes the eco-efficiency of industrial sector. • Industrial structure rationalization promotes the industrial eco-efficiency. The industrial sector is the largest energy consumption sector and major source of environmental pollution in China. Improving the industrial eco-efficiency is significant for China to realize high-quality development. Based on the panel data of industrial sector in China's 30 provinces from 2006 to 2015, this paper first adopts a dynamic network data envelopment analysis to evaluate the eco-efficiency of industrial sector, and then uses panel Tobit regression model to investigate the impacts of industrial policies on the eco-efficiency of industrial sector. The results reveal that, (1) the overall eco-efficiency of China's provincial industrial sector is 0.7581 during 2006–2015, and the average efficiency of the industrial production process is higher than that of the waste treatment process. (2) The eco-efficiency of the industrial sector differs greatly by region, the eastern region is the highest, followed by the western and central regions, and the northeast is the lowest. (3) Industrial agglomeration impedes the improvement of industrial eco-efficiency, while industrial structure rationalization can promote industrial eco-efficiency. (4) The influence of industrial agglomeration and industrial structure rationalization on the efficiency of industrial waste treatment process is larger than that of the industrial production process. The findings of this paper reveal the importance of improving the efficiency of industrial sub-processes, and can also offer lessons for other industrialized nations to improve the industrial eco-efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A flexible and comprehensive assessment framework of ISID is proposed. • Two formulations of ISID – ISID regime and ISIDsdg9 regime are established. • MEA approach and RAM approach are utilized to measure ISID. • Current status and improving potentials of ISID for China's 30 provinces are evaluated. • Policy paths toward mainstreaming ISID for China's 30 provinces are put forward. Inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) is a call for action to promote industrialization by minimizing the environmental footprint and enhancing social inclusion. This study proposes a new framework of an evaluation system to assess the ISID for 30 provinces in China (2011–2016). As there does not exist a generally accepted evaluation system of ISID, this study proposes a dual-formulation of ISID to rationalize the trade-offs among externalities brought by industrialization: (i) ISID represents the aspiration of countries to promote industrialization and consequently sustain economic growth by reducing the adverse environmental and social effects which manifest in the overall economy (ii) ISIDsdg9 considers the same aspects of ISID but limits the externalities within the industrial sector. This study applied two newly developed efficiency evaluation approaches, Multi-Directional Efficiency Analysis (MEA) and Range-Adjusted Measure (RAM), to evaluate and analyze the ISID for China. This study finds that: Among the 30 provinces, (i) Beijing and Tianjin are the benchmark provinces for promoting ISID and ISIDsdg9 regimes, respectively. (ii) Throughout the 2011–2016, the overall performance of China on ISID and ISIDsdg9 regimes has improved modestly. (iii) Based on the analysis of the barrel effect, SO 2 emission is the key binding constraint to achieving the frontier status of ISID and ISIDsd9 regimes (v) Under the evaluation of ISID and ISIDsdg9 regimes, the average annual growth potentials of industrial value added (IVA) is 280.52 billion CNY and 927.54 billion CNY, respectively. This present study recommends local government in China to advance their ISID performance by exploiting the policies targeting emission mitigation concerning fossil fuels while considering Beijing and Tianjin as the benchmark provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Statistical shrinkage is a potential statistical method to improve the accuracy of signal detection results and avoid spurious associations detected by disproportionality analyses. In this study, we introduced statistical shrinkage influence on disproportionality methods in spontaneous reporting system in China., Methods: We added the shrinkage parameters in the numerator and denominator, denoted as in the formula of disproportionality analysis. The shrinkage parameters were subjectively set to between 0 and 5, with an interval of 0.1. Adverse drug reaction product label database was deemed as a proxy of golden standard to evaluate the effect of statistical shrinkage. Reports in the years of 2010-2011 were extracted from the national spontaneous reporting system database as the data source for analysis in this study., Results: When α was around 0.5, the Youden index reached the maximum for each disproportionality methods in this study. The value of 0.6 was suggested as the most appropriate statistical shrinkage parameter for reporting odds ratio and proportional reporting ratio and 0.2 for information component based on the spontaneous reporting system of China., (Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Purpose: The goal of this study was to clarify the reporting patterns of self-reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in China., Methods: A variety of sources were searched, including the official website of China FDA, the national center for ADR monitoring center, publications from PubMed, and so on. We retrieved the relevant information and made descriptive and comparative analysis from the year 2009 to 2013., Results: The ADR reporting numbers were 638,996, 692,904, 852,799, 1,200,000 and 1,317,000 from 2009 to 2013, respectively. Healthcare professionals contributed significantly, and their proportion always exceeded 80% before 2012. The average report per million inhabitants has increased from 479 to 983 from 2009 to 2013. However, the proportion of new or serious report was always below 25%. The reports mainly concern anti-infective agents and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), especially TCM injection. The proportion of ADR reports in geriatric patients has increased for 4 consecutive years., Conclusions: ADR report numbers and reporting rates in China are on the rise. However, the proportion of new or serious reports as well as the proportion of reports contributed by consumers and pharmaceutical companies are still quite low. More attention should be paid to the elderly, anti-infective agents and TCM, especially TCM injections.