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The extraordinarily fast-paced growth in government spending during Covid 19 highlights the need for effective measures to ensure fiscal transparency during emergencies. Governments must improve emergency fiscal transparency by disclosing more detailed information on the types and conditions of funding sources, extra- and off-budget revenue sources, and recipients and impacts of spending. Institutional procedures should be established to safeguard fiscal transparency during emergencies, and to increase the effective involvement of legislatures, auditing agencies, and citizens in the management of fiscal rescue packages. This article revisits the concept of fiscal transparency in an emergency context. Examining the fiscal reporting practices of 120 national governments during Covid 19, as compiled by the International Budget Partnership, the authors found under-reporting of critical information on external funding sources; limited reporting on spending levels and impacts on vulnerable groups and areas; and lack of sufficient institutional safeguards to ensure fiscal transparency. They discuss the theoretical implications of their findings and provide policy recommendations for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the performance of different forecasting formulas with fractional Brownian motion based on discrete and finite samples. Existing literature presents two formulas for generating optimal forecasts when continuous records are available. One formula relies on a history over an infinite past, while the other is designed for a record limited to a finite past. In reality, only observations at discrete time points over a finite past are available. In this case, the forecasting formula, which has been widely used in the literature, is the one obtained by Gatheral et al. (Volatility is rough. Quant. Finance, 2018, 18(6), 933–949) that truncates and discretizes the formula based on continuous records over an infinite past. The present paper advocates an alternative forecasting formula, which is the conditional expectation based on finite past discrete-time observations. The findings suggest that the conditional expectation approach produces more accurate forecasts than the existing method, as demonstrated by both simulated data and actual daily realized volatility (RV) observations. Moreover, we also provide empirical evidence showing that the conditional expectation approach can lead to larger economic values than the existing method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article studies a class of state-space models where the state equation is a local-to-unity process. The parameter of interest is the persistence parameter of the latent process. The large sample theory for the least squares (LS) estimator and an instrumental variable (IV) estimator of the persistent parameter in the autoregressive (AR) representation of the model is developed under two sets of conditions. In the first set of conditions, the measurement error is independent and identically distributed, and the error term in the state equation is stationary and fractionally integrated with memory parameter d ∈ (− 0.5 , 0.5) . For both estimators, the convergence rate and the asymptotic distribution crucially depend on d. The LS estimator has a severe downward bias, which is aggravated even more by the measurement error when d ≤ 0 . The IV estimator eliminates the effects of the measurement error and reduces the bias. In the second set of conditions, the measurement error is independent but not necessarily identically distributed, and the error term in the state equation is strongly mixing. In this case, the IV estimator still leads to a smaller bias than the LS estimator. Special cases of our models and results in relation to those in the literature are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing high-value crop planting industries according to local conditions is an important strategy for targeted poverty alleviation, and it is also a momentous solution for agricultural structure adjustment. However, previous studies mainly have focused on their spatiotemporal evolution and economic benefits instead of their environmental impact. An in-depth analysis of high-value crop planting industries is urgently needed. Taking Linquan County as the research area, this study applied emergy and economic analyses to explore the differences among different high-value crop planting systems and wheat planting system from the perspectives of economic benefit, environmental impact and overall sustainability. The results showed that high-value crop planting systems provide more competitive economic profit than that of wheat planting. Despite the high economic benefits, the three highvalue crop planting systems intensify the purchased nonrenewable resource inputs and lead to higher environmental stress, especially the ginger planting system. Under the trade-off of economic benefit and environmental performance, peony planting is considered a promising pattern for further sustainable agriculture considering its synergistic development of photovoltaic power generation. Several policy incentives are suggested to increase the financial attractiveness of environmentally sound patterns and promote a virtuous cycle for future sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Altered joint loading by trauma induces joint degeneration, eventually leading to the generation of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Recent studies have shown that α2-macroglobulin (A2M) inhibits PTOA, induced by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT), pathogenesis by regulating proinflammatory cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases. However, the application of A2M is limited due to high prices. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the novel preparation of A2M. The early change of A2M in synovial fluid and serum was measured by ELISA. Ultra-filtered centrifugation was performed to prepare α2-macroglobulin-rich serum (A2MRS). The bioactivity of A2M in A2MRS was detected by improved Ellis and Gollas-Galvan method. The effects of A2MRS on PTOA were observed using immunohistochemistry, safranine O staining, micro X-ray, fluorescence molecular tomography etc. The concentration of A2M in PTOA group was significantly higher than that in Sham group in synovial fluid on the third day after ACLT in rat PTOA model. On the contrary, a significant downregulation of A2M levels in PTOA group was observed compared to the Sham group in serum at the seventh day after ACLT. Secondly, A2MRS was prepared successfully, and the concentration and bioactivity of A2M in A2MRS was significantly higher than that in serum. Lastly, A2MRS not only reduced notably the production of secondary cartilage ossification, type 10 collagen and matrix metalloproteinase 13, but also increased profoundly the generation of type 2 collagen, aggrecan, and chondrocytes' number. Our results indicate that A2MRS has protective effects on PTOA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article obtains the exact distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator of structural break point in the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process when a continuous record is available. The exact distribution is asymmetric, tri-modal, dependent on the initial condition. These three properties are also found in the finite sample distribution of the least squares (LS) estimator of structural break point in autoregressive (AR) models. Motivated by these observations, the article then develops an in-fill asymptotic theory for the LS estimator of structural break point in the AR(1) coefficient. The in-fill asymptotic distribution is also asymmetric, tri-modal, dependent on the initial condition, and delivers excellent approximations to the finite sample distribution. Unlike the long-span asymptotic theory, which depends on the underlying AR roots and hence is tailor-made but is only available in a rather limited number of cases, the in-fill asymptotic theory is continuous in the underlying roots. Monte Carlo studies show that the in-fill asymptotic theory performs better than the long-span asymptotic theory for cases where the long-span theory is available and performs very well for cases where no long-span theory is available. The article also proposes to use the highest density region to construct confidence intervals for structural break point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public managers play a critical role in making and implementing environmental policies. Pre-service training provides an important opportunity to influence the environmental attitudes of public managers. Nevertheless, we know little about this influence. This research employs a classic experiment to examine the effects of a pre-service training program that exposes trainees to ecological decline in a national training program in Taiwan. There are three major findings. First, exposure to ecological decline increases trainees' pro-environmental attitudes. Second, visual presentation modes sustain the effect. Third, trainees highly motivated for public services demonstrate greater and longer-lasting pro-environmental attitudes due to ecological exposure. These findings can be used to develop and improve environmental education programs in governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The administrative accountability system in China has evolved during public health crises. By holding public officials accountable, the system hopes to improve their performance during emergencies. However, Covid-19 exposed an unexpected effect of the system. Instead of incentivizing public officials to take responsibility, it may have discouraged them from making timely, but potentially risky, decisions. Based on a holistic case analysis of the early response in Wuhan city, the authors demonstrate the lessons learnt and a way to improve the system. The case adds to an increasing academic literature on responsible risk-taking behaviours and decisions under uncertainties, extending the academic discussion by providing the critical contextual information for such behaviours and decisions in China. Tolerating decision errors under uncertainty can improve early responses to public health emergencies like Covid-19 in China. This article shows that integrating an error-tolerance mechanism in an evolving accountability system can encourage responsible risk-taking by governmental officials. A well-designed error-tolerance mechanism that distinguishes between errors to tolerate and errors to punish can encourage proactive actions and prevent tardiness under threat of an incoming infectious disease. Readers who can benefit from this study include policy-makers and managers in government, especially those who work in infectious disease prevention and response, emergency management, or any other public services in which decisions under uncertainties are common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government spending on the environment has long been explained as a reaction to ecological deterioration. Little is known about the role of political institutions and players in environmental funding decisions, which is surprising given the rapid institutionalization of environmental bureaucracies since the late 1970s. Grounded in information processing theories and employing data from Hong Kong, this research examines bureaucratic strategies for influencing environmental legislation. We find three salient bureaucratic choices in budget debates: framing environmental issues broadly to include health and technological implications; formulating rationales that emphasize (potential) performance of proposed projects; and presenting narratives of the consequences of funding decisions. These strategies are part of an evolving political narrative that reflects a broader political debate on environmental institutionalization, and the need for effective strategies to improve environmental funding in governments. Our findings contribute to understanding the bureaucratic politics of environmental funding legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the limiting behavior of non-autonomous stochastic reaction-diffusion equations without uniqueness on unbounded narrow domains. We prove the existence and upper semicontinuity of random attractors for the equations on a family of unbounded (n + 1)-dimensional narrow domains, which collapses onto an n-dimensional domain. Since the solutions are non-uniqueness, which leads to a multivalued random dynamical system with the solution operators of the equation, we will prove the existence and upper semicontinuity of attractors by multivalued random dynamical system theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Radiation is a mode of treatment for many pelvic malignancies, most of which originate in the gynecologic, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary systems. However, the healthy gut is unavoidably included in the irradiation volume, resulting in undesirable results that manifest as radiation-induced diarrhea (RID), which is the most common side effect of radiation therapy and significantly affects the patients' quality of life. This study aimed to investigate the potential mechanism of diarrhea after pelvic radiotherapy in rats based on the effect of radiation on bile acid homeostasis and sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (Asbt). Methods: In this experimental study, male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into the following groups – pelvic irradiation, cholestyramine-concurrent radiation, and control groups. The rats in the pelvic irradiation group were irradiated in the pelvic region with 2 Gy per day for five consecutive days. The total bile acid (TBA) levels in the ileum, colon, and feces were measured using automatic biochemical analyzer, and the levels of individual bile acids were evaluated by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The mRNA and protein expression of Asbt in ileum were assessed by qRT-PCR and Western blot assay. The rats in the cholestyramine-concurrent radiation group were administered with cholestyramine, a bile acid-chelating resin, and concurrent radiation for 5 days. The body weight of rats was monitored daily, and the degree of diarrhea was scored. Results: Diarrhea was observed at 2 and 3 days post-pelvic radiation. The TBA levels were significantly decreased at 4 and 5 days post-radiation in the ileum (p <.01, p <.01) and increased at 4 and 5 days post-radiation in the colon (p <.05, p <.05). The fecal excretions of TBA were significantly increased at 3, 4, and 5 days post-radiation (p <.05). The levels of individual bile acids were significantly decreased in the ileum and increased in the colon and feces, post-radiation. The mRNA and protein expression of Asbt in the ileum gradually decreased with increasing days of pelvic radiation and significantly decreased at 3 and 5 days post-radiation, respectively. Furthermore, a significant decrease in body weight was observed post-pelvic radiation, and cholestyramine administration did not reverse the weight loss. However, the incidence of RID was decreased after administration of cholestyramine. Conclusions: Bile acid malabsorption is partially responsible for RID post-pelvic radiation in rats, and the potential mechanism is related to the downregulation of the ileal Asbt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about managing and financing China’s intergovernmental relations, which are considered at the center of the country's governance. It mentions the country's sheer population and geographical size, varying degrees of socio-economic development among the regions, as well as China’s market reform and decentralization.

Leaders in the public sector play a critical role in formulating and implementing environmental policies. However, existing studies mainly attribute policy actions and outcomes to institutional factors, while the roles of individual public administrators are largely ignored. This empirical analysis satisfies this gap by answering the following questions: Why do some administrative leaders do more than others in environmental protection? What motivates them? How does motivation work in various organizational contexts? We develop a model based on the literature on environmental leadership and environmental psychology, and then test it with first-ever data collected from a survey and in-depth interviews in Taiwan central government. We find that environmental leaders are motivated by both extrinsic instrumental causes for self-interests (economic opportunities or legal compliance etc.) and intrinsic normative reasons to engage in broad issues in sustainability, though the formers are clearly more influential. Moreover, environmental leadership is augmented in amicable institutional conditions for environmental protection. We discuss the relevance of these findings in environmental policies and management. This research contributes to the literature on and practice of the subject by examining the increasingly important situational leadership aspect of public management, which has hardly been studied, and unveils unique circumstances for decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mesozoic to Cenozoic mountain uplift, exhumation, and deformation of the SW Tianshan Mountains (Kyrgyzstan and Northwest China) offer an important window to understand the intra-continental rejuvenation mechanism of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), as response to the far-field effects of the India-Asia collision. This article presents new observation and data for the planation surface and sedimentation and deformation features of the regional intermountain basins to rebuild the orogenic history in Mesozoic to Cenozoic. Three planation surfaces were recognized by field observation, showing that the mountain may have experienced lengthy erosion since the end Cretaceous, and a continuous planation surface may have formed at the Eocene to Oligocene. The filling sequences and deformation character revealed that the orogenic disintegrate and intermountain basin formation likely began in the end of Oligocene. Subsequently, the uniform planation surface in Western Tianshan may have begun to disintegrate, leading to the basin-and-range landform formation. Folds and nappes in the Cenozoic basins, large-scale thrusting of Palaeozoic rocks over Cenozoic sediments at the basin margin associated with the rapid mountain uplift may have occurred at the end of Early Pleistocene, suggesting a tectonic inversion. The Mesozoic-Cenozoic Tianshan uplift and deformation were likely induced by the collision/accretion along the southern margin of Eurasia. Both the northward propagation of the Parmir syntaxis to the SW Tianshan and the oblique dextral faulting of the Talas-Fergana fault have likely played an important role on the formation and deformation of the Cenozoic basins in the SW Tianshan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the high opportunity cost of policy attention, the central government tends to focus less on these policy areas compared to the other two policy domains (campaign-style and warlike). A key feature in policy implementation in China, significantly distinctive from many other countries, is the strong and strategic engagement of the central government (Chan & Wang, [1]; Zhu & Zhao, [5]). Such capacity building path, often requiring a large resource input and collaborations of multi-level and multi-sectional government units, is costly and the central government's strong policy attention is required, consequently, the number of policy areas is relatively limited (often limited to three to five). [Extracted from the article]

This paper dedicates on the rotor dynamics behaviour research on the turbo-expander rotor system involving droplet impact. A stochastic model based on Beta distribution and Bernoulli distribution of droplet generation is established and the formulations of droplet impact forces are deduced, which is applied on the rotor dynamics equations of the tilting pad bearing supported turbo-expander considering the temperature gradient for a further analysis. A time domain research is carried out and a conclusion that continuously droplet impact will perturb the steady vibration of the turbo-expander rotor system is obtained. Monte Carlo method is implemented for a statistics dynamics research and the results suggests that in the design of expander impellers, in order to decrease the uncertainty brought by droplet impact, the number of channels should be as few as possible, the droplet impact should be controlled to occur uniformly, and the collision, entrainment of the primary droplets and the stripping of the liquid film on the blade should be strictly restrained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network research increasingly draws attention to capacity affecting outcomes. This study examines network implementation capacity and develops a framework that focuses on three dimensions: financial, managerial, and technical capacity. It also contributes by focusing on the Network Administrator Organization (NAO)-type network. Based on a case study of two large eco-financing networks in China, this study finds positive impacts of network implementation capacity on policy outcomes. It also draws attention to network strategies and their impact on capacity. It identifies the positive effect of efforts to maintain network stability as well as negotiation and participation strategies on network implementation capacity. This study draws attention to implementation capacity as a determinant of network outcomes and suggests that studies in public administration give greater attention to NAO-type networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between five previously established serum osteoarthritis biomarkers and the severity of cartilage lesions in the knee. Cartilage damage (classified according to the Outerbridge scoring system) and serum concentrations of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), collagen type II C-telopeptide (CTX-II), matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), collagen type III N-propeptide, (PIIINP), and hyaluronic acid (HA) were determined in 79 patients who underwent knee arthroscopy or total knee replacement. HA and COMP concentrations were significantly higher in the Outerbridge score 1 and 2 groups, respectively. These results suggest that serum COMP and HA concentrations can be used to predict early cartilage lesions in the knee. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Assume that there are two types of insurance contracts in an insurance company. Theith related claims are denoted by {Xij,j⩾ 1},i= 1, 2. In this paper, we investigate large deviations for the difference ∑n1(t)j = 1X1j− ∑n2(t)j = 1X2jand random difference ∑N1(t)j = 1X1j− ∑N2(t)j = 1X2j, whereni(t) are positive integer functions ast→ ∞,ni(t) → ∞,i= 1, 2.Ni(t),i= 1, 2 are counting processes for the claim number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on public administration (PA) and discusses the model of PA and governance in China. Topics discussed include the supremacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China; the comprehensive national strategy to improve China's economy, politics, and the environment; and the high level of demand and supply in the country. Also mentioned is the increased focus on economics and finance in China.