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This research analyzes the impact of bank capital, liquidity and funding liquidity on sustainable bank lending in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. An unbalanced panel dataset covering 55 banks using ESG scoring criteria from 2010–2020 was employed for this purpose. Results indicate that higher capital and liquidity ratios hinder the MENA banking sector's ability to improve its sustainable lending capacity. Funding liquidity has a positive and significant effect on sustainable bank lending growth, which suggests that funding liquidity raises sustainable bank lending capacity. Furthermore, the impact of funding liquidity on sustainable bank lending growth remains positive and statistically significant to all capital ratios. It implies that bank capital improves the relationship between funding liquidity and banks' capacity to issue loans in the MENA region. Finally, the results of too-big-to-fail banks indicate that bank lending growth is positively affected by higher capital ratios. Hence, it may help them to increase their capacity to issue sustainable bank loans in the market. Overall the results are robust to principal component analysis and other estimation techniques like bootstrapped-based bias correction fixed effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The production function approach is taken to test the effects of R&D and e-commerce. • The case of China's manufacturing firms is considered. • Micro-level analysis is carried out via multiple panel models. • The results confirm positive effects of R&D and e-commerce. • The e-commerce generates positive externalities (spill-overs). E-commerce provides opportunities to extend the market and plays a vital role in modern economy. However, its implementation often requires high-level technical infrastructure. This study regards both e-commerce and R&D as input factors and analyses their impact on firm output in the manufacturing sector of China. We find that e-commerce capital stocks and R&D capital stocks have a significant positive effect on the output growth, with R&D being more influential than e-commerce. Meanwhile, the inter-industry network externalities of e-commerce capital stocks have a significant positive impact on production growth. Still, the intra-industry network externalities of e-commerce capital stocks are significantly negative, which means online purchase and sales through e-commerce may induce product imitation (i.e., business stealing) and, thus, reduce output for certain companies in the industry. These findings suggest that R&D and favourable external innovation environment are the key factors for enhancing enterprise production levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many suggestions offered within the literature to decide if a job type is a profession, some using tick box type trait and characteristics analyses to compare the actions and qualities of individuals to a predefined list. However, there is no specific way to resolve what makes or defines a profession. Writers in many disciplines, including radiography, have used these different models, sometimes with conflicting results. This paper explores the use of Bourdieu's replacement of the concept of profession with that of a 'field', meaning a network of occupants with common attributes, in this case radiographers, in an attempt to resolve this issue. In the UK, radiography practitioners and professional bodies generally use the term profession to describe radiography, and this paper explores a defence of the term for radiography. Using Bourdieu's field theory not only helps define a profession, but also explains the difficulties at the boundaries of professions, and the work needed to protect a profession as a credible entity. This paper supports the argument that radiography is a profession when using Bourdieu's field theory. Radiography continues to work to maintain its status by increasing its symbolic capital by increasing the research output and evidence base of the profession and through role extension. Radiographers can perhaps be assured that radiography is a profession when using Bourdieu's field theory. This paper shows how theoretical frameworks and concepts from outside radiography can be used to support new ways of thinking within the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last several decades, a growing number of states, international organisations, and NGOs have pressed for new legislation and policies to formally recognise previously neglected options for collectively owning – rather than simply accessing or managing – lands and natural resources. In both ex-European colonies and other transitional development contexts, accompanying legal reforms have often taken on explicitly restitutive overtones, framed as a means of redressing the dispossessions or other injustices associated with both colonial and authoritarian iterations of land and resource governance. In this special issue, we explore the promises, pitfalls, and ambivalences of these phenomena as manifestations of what we term "resurgent collectivisation", understood as the (re)emergence or reconstitution of governance interventions enabling the collective ownership of lands and resources. Deepening engagements between political geography and political ecology, contributions to the special issue engage diverse case studies of resurgent collectivisation in South Africa, Kenya, India, and Romania, highlighting: i) the implications of shifting – and often contested – fixations of collective subjectivity-property relations; ii) tensions between de jure collectivisation and de facto initiatives to establish vernacular private property or hybridised property regimes; and iii) emerging articulations of collectively-titled lands and resources with resurgent influxes of (often ostensibly 'green') capital into rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Critiques of translanguaging focus on deconstructivism and transformative limitations. • Translanguaging can productively combine ideas from Bakhtin and Bourdieu and move beyond structuralist debates. • A process-based critical view of language opens up useful lines of inquiry in education. • Transformative potential relates to people rather than to language. In this article we develop translanguaging as a theoretical perspective in education by drawing together ideas of process and symbolic power. We first outline critiques of translanguaging, most particularly the issue of deconstructivism and concerns about transformative limitations. We then focus on the potential of translanguaging as a conceptual frame for how language mediates learning in the context of social inequity (schools). We primarily draw on Bakhtin's (1981) theorisation of language and Bourdieu's (1991) understanding of the relationship between language and symbolic power to suggest that taking sociohistorical context as central to translanguaging can help us to move beyond 'internal' structuralist debates and open up productive lines of inquiry at the intersection of language and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Public investment financed by higher capital taxes can reduce wealth inequality. • This is true when the substitution elasticity between capital and labor is sizeable. • We calibrate our model to OECD economies and find a threshold elasticity of 0.82. Wealth inequality is rising in high-income countries. Can increased public investment financed by higher capital taxes counteract this trend? We examine how such a policy affects the distribution of wealth in a setting with distinct wealth groups: dynastic savers and life-cycle savers. Our main finding is that this policy always decreases wealth inequality when the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor is moderately high. At high capital tax rates, dynastic savers disappear. Below these rates, life-cycle savers gain from the higher public expenditures financed by the higher capital tax rates. We calibrate our model to OECD economies and find a threshold elasticity of 0.82. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic may have a differential impact on mental health based on an individual's capital, i.e. resources available to maintain and enhance health. We assessed trajectories of depression and anxiety symptoms, and their association with different elements of capital. Data on 65,854 individuals (mean baseline age = 50·4 (SD = 12·0) years) from the Lifelines COVID-19 cohort were used. Baseline mental health symptoms were on average measured 4.7 (SD = 1·1) years before the first COVID-19 measurement wave, and subsequent waves were (bi)weekly (March 30─August 05, 2020). Mental health symptom trajectories were estimated using a two-part Latent Class Growth Analysis. Class membership was predicted by economic (education, income, and occupation) and person capital (neuroticism, poor health condition, and obesity) Most individuals were unlikely to report symptoms of depression (80·6%) or anxiety (75·9%), but stable-high classes were identified for both conditions (1·6% and 6·7%, respectively). The stable-high depression class saw the greatest increase in symptoms after COVID, and the stable-high anxiety class reported an increase in the probability of reporting symptoms after COVID. At the first COVID-measurement, the mean number of symptoms increased compared to baseline (depression:4·7 vs 4·1; anxiety:4·3 vs 4·2); the probability of reporting symptoms also increased (depression:0·96 vs 0·65; anxiety:0·92 vs 0·70). Membership in these classes was generally predicted by less capital, especially person capital; odds ratios for person capital ranged from 1·10-2·22 for depression and 1·08-1·51 for anxiety. A minority of individuals, possessing less capital, reported an increase in symptoms of depression or anxiety after COVID. Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With 76% of the total main workforce in agriculture and more than 50% small and medium landowning households, the village provides an important case study for understanding agrarian resilience. The conceptualisation of resilience has been majorly confined to a system or a territorial boundary. Agrarian resilience too is commonly assumed to be driven by forces within the agriculture and the rural. i.e. land ownership remains constant, the labour of the peasantry is spatially limited to agriculture, the capital is generated within agriculture and the networks and skills of the peasantry is also confined to agriculture. This has underscored the role of factors and processes working outside the agriculture in conceptualising agrarian resilience. While the primacy of the agrarian processes cannot be denied, there are often processes working outside an agrarian system that can also enable resilience. i.e. the rural workforce can diversify its labour outside agriculture in the urban non-farm sector, capital can also be generated from sources outside the agriculture. In this context, using the case study of a village dominated by small and medium landowning households in the Patiala district of Punjab in India, the paper shows that resilience is driven by processes both within and outside agriculture. • Agrarian Resilience is a critical concept for understanding responses to rural transformation. • Resilience as a concept cannot not spatially, sectorally or region bounded. • Agrarian Resilience can be understood by the nature of rural urban relationship. • Agrarian groups use options and means outside agriculture and rural to stay resilient to changes within and outside agriculture. • Urban provides rural agrarian workforce new sources of capital and options to diversify labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the capital-related mechanisms behind parental activism against the Future School reform in South Korea, employing two theoretical frameworks: the parentocracy ideology and a Bourdieusian Analysis of Capital. The findings from discourse and social network (geolocational) analyses suggest that the activism is primarily driven by parents' belief in meritocracy (testocracy), rooted in dominant educational norms. The efforts of parents to secure children's high exam scores indicate that parentocracy is a 'continuum' from meritocracy, rather than its next stage. The intersection of parental activism with capital and habitus highlights the complexities between parentocracy, meritocracy, and inequality, necessitating further analysis. • Parents with greater capital and a meritocratic parenting ideology are more likely to engage in activism. • Parents with lower capital tend to have cultural goodwill to emulate dominant parenting logic and practices. • Parental habitus may mediate the relationship between parents' capital and their educational involvement. • Parents' wealth and wishes, highlighted in parentocracy, can be interpreted as capital and habitus. • Parentocracy extends to a proactive parenting logic that shapes educational norms and impacts policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being one of the most researched areas within the general field of energy economics, the energy-growth nexus remains largely inconclusive with four testable hypotheses that include the feedback, neutrality, conservation, and growth hypothesis. This study contributes to the extant literature of energy-growth nexus by investigating the causal dynamics between hydroelectricity consumption and economic growth in Malaysia in an augmented production function framework that incorporates human capital as additional regressor with an updated yearly time series data that span the period 1971–2017. Importantly, we have employed a recently developed bootstrap autoregressive distributed lag (BARDL) modelling technique of McNown et al. (2018) [1]; to probe the long-run relationship between the variables and Granger causality test based on the new method was conducted to ascertain the causal dynamics in the model. The new technique is a significant improvement over the conventional ARDL method as it incorporates an additional F-test on the lagged independent variables (or t-test in the case of a single independent variable) which helps in avoiding a scenario of treating a degenerate case as a cointegrating case. The empirical findings show evidence that in the long run hydroelectricity consumption Granger causes gross domestic product (GDP), and physical capital Granger causes human capital while the short run analysis show that GDP and physical capital Granger cause hydroelectricity consumption. The study recommends more funding to improve hydroelectric facilities and investment in capital expenditure that can promote the development of human capital in the country. • The economic role of hydropower and human capital is investigated. • Bootstrap ARDL technique is used to probe the long run and causal dynamics. • Long-run causality: from hydro to GDP and from physical capital to human capital. • Short run results show causality from GDP and physical capital to human capital. • Improved investment in hydroelectric facilities and human capital are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study measures the dynamic technical and udder health management inefficiencies of a sample of Wisconsin dairy farms. Udder health management inefficiency is defined as a farmer's failure to achieve lower levels of milk somatic cell counts compared with those of the best-practice farmers within the sample. The study proposes the treatment of somatic cell count as an undesirable output. We measured inefficiency using a dynamic directional distance function that accounts simultaneously for the expansion of desirable outputs and investments in capital assets, and contraction of undesirable output and variable inputs. In a second step, a bootstrap truncated regression was used to analyze factors that cause differences in dynamic technical and udder health management inefficiencies. Results showed that the sample farmers had considerably higher udder health management inefficiency scores than technical inefficiency scores. The results of the second-stage analysis indicated that technical inefficiency was influenced by summer precipitation and farmers' financial characteristics, and was regionally heterogeneous. Udder health management inefficiency was affected by summer temperature and nonfarm income. By ranking farms in this study in terms of technical and udder health management inefficiency, we allowed inefficient farms to compare their performance with that of their efficient peers, and thus identify targets for production and udder health management improvement efforts. Finally, although our study focused on farmers' performances with respect to udder health management, the proposed modeling framework can be applied to the management of other animal diseases and welfare conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first study in the academic literature to explore the various stages in the formation of geothermal ES and their interactions between the biosphere and anthroposphere. This is achieved through the development of the first ES cascade model in the academic literature specific to geothermal ES, which integrates the four main stages of co-production: value attribution, mobilisation of ES potential, value appropriation, and commercialisation. In so doing, conceptual understanding of human-environment relationships and processes in the context of geothermal ES are deepened. Examples from the academic and grey literature demonstrate that realisation of the full spectrum of benefits from geothermal areas often demands the mobilisation of various forms of physical capital. Reaping the benefits of provisioning ES, such as heat and minerals, or formal recreational experiences, such as geothermal spas, necessitates human interventions. Opportunities of likely value have to be attributed, with resources being mobilised in order to plan and research prospectivity, then benefits appropriated with a view to their commercialisation. Large-scale, industrial projects, especially geothermal power plants in high enthalpy fields, also constitute an overlap between anthropogenic and ecological systems, often leading to ES trade-offs, especially due to visual and noise impacts on the surroundings. Depending on the sociocultural context, multiple and conflicting value domains may be impacted by such ventures, justifying the adoption of a pluralist approach to valuation and use of integrated decision-support platforms to aid decision-makers. • First CICES classification of geothermal ecosystem services. • Four co-production stages: attribution, mobilisation, appropriation and commercialisation. • Benefits include formal recreational experiences and provisioned minerals. • Impacts from commercialisation include noise and visual effects. • Impacts to multiple value domains imply need for value pluralism in decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fixed-asset investment forms contemporaneous demand and capital stock to affect industrial structure. • Fixed-asset investment has contemporaneous and hysteresis relationships with industrial structure. • Directed acyclic graph analysis is introduced to study contemporaneous relationships. Industrial structure can describe not only the structural relationships between industrial output capacities, but also the structural relationships between industrial economic outputs. Fixed-asset investment affects industrial structure through the formation of capital stock and contemporaneous demand. Based on VAR model, this paper utilizes Granger causality test and other econometric methods to analyze the hysteresis relationships between fixed-asset investment and industrial structure in China from 1991 to 2017. In addition, the contemporaneous relationships are identified by employing the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) analysis. The results show that: The hysteresis relationships exist in primary and secondary industries between fixed-asset investment and their respective value added. The fixed-asset investment in primary and tertiary industries are the contemporaneous causes of positive effect to the value added of primary industry. And the value added of secondary industry is the contemporaneous cause of positive effect to its fixed-asset investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence influences the productive activity of rural producers. One of the effects of violence is the disruption of the relationships between rural producers and the market, because violent actors attempt to control the interactions, the transportation, and the flow of products. In this study we investigate how rural producers interact with the market in a violent context. With this purpose we define integration into the market as the establishment of strong and long-term exchange relations with other market agents. In contrast to other approaches to understand the interactions with the market, this definition focuses on the established relationship instead of its inputs or outputs. We analyze the roles of both relational capital and meso-organizations' programs in the process of integration of rural producers into the market in a violent context. We find that some forms of relational capital strongly relate to the rural producers' ability to establish those exchange relations. Additional to this direct effect, there is an indirect effect when rural producers participate in meso-organization programs that focus on improving internal productive capacities and on facilitating connections with agents from outside their communities. Programs that provide subsidies and credit have no effect on integration into the market. • Integration into the market positively relates to relational capital beyond the close community. • Rural producers' relational capital favors meso-organization programs. • Programs focused on long-term benefits favor integration into the market. • Programs focused on financial support do not favor integration into the market. • Communitarian insecurity is strongly related to integration into the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the preferred practices in the treatment of slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) among members of the Paediatric Orthopaedic Society of India (POSI). A questionnaire with 16 vignettes was made about SCFE and sent to all members of the Paediatric Orthopaedic Society of India (POSI) to study the similarity and variation in the management of SCFE. Specifically, respondents were asked about the role of reduction, methods of fixation, prophylactic fixation of the non-affected hip, postoperative management and their view on the prevalence of Femoro Acetabular Impingement (FAI) and anticipated need for secondary surgery. The response rate was 94 out of 203 members of Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeons of India (51.9%). 62 out of 94 (66%) participating surgeons had an exclusive paediatric orthopaedics workload, with 61 surgeons (65%) having more than ten years of experience. Seventy-eight surgeons (83%) were most consistent in their advice for the management of stable slips based on severity. For severe stable slips, 67 surgeons (71%) recommended Modified Dunn procedure. Around 23% of the respondents preferred to do modified Dunn's procedure for all unstable slips while the rest had different approaches to treat this. Single Partially threaded cancellous screw is the preferred implant for in-situ fixation, while a single screw and K wire construct is the preferred construct for in Modified Dunn's procedure. Only 17(16%) of the responders do prophylactic pinning of the opposite hip regularly. Almost 90 responders (96%) do counsel parents about FAI in later stages of life. Our study documents that about 70% of the practising paediatric orthopaedic surgeons prefer to do capital realignment procedure for severe stable slips. The treatment of unstable slips remains controversial without any consensus though about 70% believe that there is a role of gentle reduction or positional reduction or skeletal traction. About 50% of the respondents treat less than five slips a year and thus would not possible to generate high-quality evidence based on meagre numbers. This clearly shows that there is a need for developing a national SCFE registry to pool in all data which would help us to arrive at meaningful conclusions to arrive at the ideal management guidelines for SCFE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to reveal how recent methodological advancements in efficiency analysis can be used for determining the extent of irresponsible lending in banking. It examines the legitimacy of concerns about the risk of bad debts by analysing the technical inefficiency of six Australian banks over the period 2007–2016. To this end, we use the weighted Russell directional distance model to gain an in-depth understanding of their inefficiency sources. Not only does this approach enable us to incorporate both desirable and undesirable outputs (e.g. bad loans) in modelling efficiency to examine the level of irresponsible lending but also it determines the level of inefficiency for each input and output. Our results show that the main source of inefficiency is bad and doubtful debts, followed by inefficient use of fixed assets and labour, respectively. The inefficiency level of bad and doubtful debts is at its highest in 2009, gradually decreasing to its lowest in 2014, but again increasing in 2015 and 2016. This finding justifies concerns over the irresponsible lending and the risk of bad debts despite their improvement after the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008. The results also support the view that Australian banks perform efficiently in undertaking their core business activities of attracting deposits and lending money. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Piketty's wealth/income ratio is not a measure of capital intensity as determined by the technique in use, nor a proxy for it. • Piketty defines capital as the sum of the value of non-financial assets and financial net worth, the latter being the net lending/borrowing of the economy. Disregarding the role of financial and non-financial corporations breaks this accounting identity. • Piketty defines national wealth as the sum of wealth owned by Households and NPISH and the General government. Disregarding corporations makes no difference only in the case in which Tobin Q is equal to 1. • The notion of income chosen by Piketty is that of GNI, but the concept of income that seems relevant is that of GDP. In fact, what we want to assess is the capacity of the system to generate surplus – and hence primary income different than property income – through productive activity. Thomas Piketty's (2014) Capital in the XXI Century analyzes distributions of income and wealth in a set of developed countries and their determinants, from the nineteenth century to the present. The objective is a bold one, made even more so by the fact that Piketty pursues it not only from a theoretical, but also from an empirical point of view. The task is particularly impressive not only because of the enormous effort required in organizing data, but also because it entails attaching a deterministic interpretation to facts and figures from radically different countries, over a time span that covers almost two centuries. This study argues that the empirical 'methods and concepts' adopted by Piketty are not always consistent with those coming from his reference theoretical framework, nor from National Accounts (United Nations, 2009). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study an evolution cross-diffusion problem with mutualistic Lotka–Volterra reaction term to modelize the long-term spatial distribution of labor and capital. The mutualistic behavior is deduced from the gradient flow associated to profits maximization. We perform a linear and weakly nonlinear stability analysis and find conditions under which the uniform profits optimum becomes unstable, leading to pattern formation. The patterns alternate regions of high and low concentrations of labor and capital, which may be interpreted as cities. Finally, numerical simulations based on the weakly nonlinear analysis, as well as in a finite element approximation, are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Perceived management commitment predicts miners' safety behavior. • Perceived management commitment enhances miners' psychological capital. • Psychological capital is positively related to safety compliance and participation. • Psychological capital explains the management commitment–safety behavior link. Introduction : Among attempts that address high incidences of fatalities and injuries in coal mines, increasing attention has been paid to management commitment to complement the traditional focus on technological advances in safety management. However, more research is needed to explain the influence of perceived management commitment, with extant research drawing commonly on Griffin and Neal (2000) to focus on safety knowledge, skills, and motivation. This study draws on social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) to investigate psychological capital as a link between thought process and safety behavior. Method : This study uses survey data from 400 frontline workers in China's coal mines to test hypotheses. Result : Results suggest that perceived management commitment to safety correlates positively with workers' safety compliance and participation, and four constituents of psychological capital—self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience—explain the influence of perceived management commitment on safety compliance and participation. Practical Applications : Findings offer both researchers and practitioners an explanation of how perceived management commitment influences safety behaviors, and clarify the roles psychological capital constituents play in explaining the influence of perceived management commitment on safety compliance and safety participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our everyday lives are increasingly digitized, virtualized and gamified. People increasingly live and act through a collection of various digital personas and avatars. However, the question of how peoples' psychological traits may predict the traits and features of their virtual avatars is still relatively unexplored. In this study investigates the relationship between the traits related to gaming preferences and forms of capital (economic, cultural, social and symbolic) their avatar commands. The data was gathered through an online survey (n = 905) amidst the players of a MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. The results indicate that avatar's cultural capital is associated player's orientation towards achievement-mechanics, immersion and social aspects of games. Economic capital is associated with player's orientation towards achievement and relationship sides of games. Social capital is associated with players' orientation towards immersion and social parts of games, and in-game interests of the player. Symbolic capital is associated with player's orientation towards achievement and social orientations and one's tenure in the game. • We investigate the relationship between player orientation and avatar capital. • Social orientation is positively associated with avatar's social capital. • Immersion orientation is positively associated with cultural capital. • Achievement orientation is positively associated with economic and symbolic capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We propose a two-sector growth model inspired by unified growth theory, which captures the crucial phenomena of structural change and changes in adult survival rate along the Industrial Revolution. • We estimate the individual contribution of technological progress, adult mortality, workforce, and the accumulation of fixed and human capital to the overall growth of Great Britain's economy during the period 1541–1914. • We find a U-shaped relationship between adult survival and income per worker. • We find a crucial and complex role of adult survival on the transition between regimes. • We find that the accumulation of fixed capital is the driving force behind the transition from a Malthusian to a pre-modern regime. This paper proposes a framework inspired by the Unified Growth Theory and by the literature on structural change to assess the contribution of technology, adult mortality, workforce, and physical and human capital accumulation to the transition from Malthusian stagnation to modern growth. A calibrated version of the model is capable of reproducing the dynamics of Great Britain's (i.e. England, Wales and Scotland) economy during the period 1541–1914, matching both the timing of transition and the pattern of the main macroeconomic and demographic variables. Technological progress emerges as the prime mover until 1850, while thereafter the reduction in adult mortality and factors accumulation play the major role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Network analysis reveals the socio-spatial patterns of households' network capital. • The poor rely on migration-related support to cope with precarious livelihoods. • The rich can access and utilize institutional support to transform livelihoods. • Translocal network capital contributes less to the poor's than to the rich's resilience. • A translocal network perspective is a fruitful means of analyzing household resilience. Livelihood studies have highlighted social support networks as critical sources of social capital and as an important feature of rural households' resilience, however so far, have contributed little the understanding of network capital's socio-spatial patterns. Accordingly, livelihood studies have tended to omit relevant determinants of rural households' resilience, especially in emerging and developing countries, such as Thailand, where rapid agrarian change and migration have resulted in increasing translocal connectedness between rural and urban areas and unevenly distributed livelihood outcomes. This paper aims at closing this gap, by systematically assessing the socio-spatial patterns of rural households' translocal networks in Northeast Thailand. Applying a translocal network approach combining methods of formal social network analysis (SNA) and qualitative network research, we find that translocal network capital matters more for accessing advice than for labor, but particularly for accessing financial support. Although poor households have less translocal network capital at their disposal, they depend more critically on translocal networks than rich households. While poor households rely particularly on migration-related bonding ties to provide financial means for coping with precarious livelihood conditions, rich households can leverage institutional translocal bridging ties to access advice and finance for the transformation towards market-oriented agriculture. These findings suggest that, in Northeast Thailand, translocal network capital contributes less to the poors' than to the richs' resilience. We conclude by calling for a more nuanced consideration of the socio-spatial patterns of network capital and propose applying a translocal network perspective as a fruitful means to this end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Challenges related to natural capital were the most commonly mentioned challenges. • Capital asset substitution using social and human capitals maintained asset base. • Substitution by economic and physical capitals tended to erode capital asset base. • Erosion of capital assets undermined resilience and food security. We investigated how smallholder farming households in southwestern Ethiopia coped with challenges related to lack in capital assets and food shortage. We focused on interactions between capital assets using, in particular, capital asset substitution as an analytical lens to classify and unpack the interactions. The most commonly mentioned challenges were related to natural and economic capitals, and these frequently caused seasonal food shortages. Households responded to the lack in capital assets or food through processes that drew on more readily available capital assets. Common ways in which households coped involved drawing on social and human capitals (i.e. increasing labor input) to address lack in other types of capital assets and lack in food. These types of asset substitution tended to facilitate the maintenance of a household's capital asset base. In contrast, some households liquidated physical and economic capital assets to cope, but these types of substitution tended to erode their capital asset base. In sum, our findings highlight the natural environment as well as social and human capitals as foundational to smallholder livelihoods and food security. In practical terms, the study provides information on coping strategies that should be avoided or modified to prevent capital asset erosion, and highlights those that should be supported and strengthened to enable the maintenance (and eventual growth) of households' capital assets. Conceptually, the study contributes to livelihoods research by highlighting the usefulness of capital asset substitution for investigating interactions between different capital assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few articles have focused on the green aspect of intellectual capital namely green intellectual capital. Nowadays, due to increasing concerns regarding environmental issues, it is essential to investigate the effects of green intellectual capital on organisational sustainability. Hence, this study examines the linkage between the dimensions of green intellectual capital (green human capital, green structural capital, and green relational capital) and business sustainability. Data were gathered from 168 manufacturing small medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia, and analysed using the Partial Least Squares approach. The results show that green structural capital and green relational capital have positive relationship with business sustainability, while green human capital did not. Finally, the implications and limitations of this study were discussed and the recommendations for future studies presented. Image 10907 • The linkage between the green intellectual capital dimensions and business sustainability was explored. • The Natural Resource-Based View and the Intellectual Capital-Based View were used as underpinning theories for the study. • Green structural capital and green relational capital significantly influence business sustainability. • Green intellectual capital was found to push the manufacturing SMEs towards cleaner production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We widely recognize that systems approaches are necessary to tackle the complex and urgent challenges of the unsustainability of human actions on the planet. However, how we perceive systems is largely framed by who is in included in the discussion and the experiences and interests that they bring to bear. Efforts to create the circular economy aim at closing material loops, but these efforts are limited because they only consider the flows of a few types of capital - natural, manufactured and financial, and are based on specific interests of a few actors. Other types of capital - human, social, political, cultural and digital - are often ignored, and as such the full scope of dynamics in a system is missed. Even though there will always be a discrepancy between what is perceived, and the actual system in operation, there are greater opportunities to expand such perception by drawing more deeply on systems thinking and the concept of capitals. This involves expanding not only the notion of the system itself, but also acknowledging different actors and their interests, types of capital in the system, and interactions between the actors and capital stocks and flows. We develop a systems thinking framework using eight capitals, and apply it in multi-level contexts in the Chicago region to demonstrate how they provide new insights and critical pathways for the transition to the circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Subsidy has a positive effect on investment, sales, technological progress and job creation. • Subsidized firms perform less well than non-subsidized ones concerning labour productivity and value creation. • Subsidized firms are less effective in achieving the planned goals regarding labour productivity and value creation. • Public support has only an effect on the size of investment and not on the decision to invest. The paper evaluates the effect of a Portuguese innovation subsidy (SI Innovation), launched in 2007–2013, on firm performance. Using counterfactual analysis methods and a sample composed of firms with approved applications and non-approved ones, the study shows that firms with the best proposals and with higher performance in the pre-intervention period are more likely to receive the subsidy. A positive and sustainable effect of the subsidy, within a time-window of 5 years, on fixed asset investment and technological progress are found. However, it seems that public support has only an effect on the size of investment and not on the decision to invest. Subsidized firms also perform less well than matched non-subsidized ones, and they are less effective in achieving the planned goals concerning labour productivity and value creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This secondary analysis uses data from a recent clinical trial conducted with probationers and parolees with substance use disorders (N = 330) residing in Sober Living Houses (SLHs). The treatment condition received Motivational Interviewing Case Management (MICM), while controls received usual care SLH residency. Both conditions improved on multiple domains, though residents randomized to MICM improved significantly more than usual care controls on criminal justice outcomes. Because MICM is designed to help ex-offenders attain more recovery capital (RC) in multiple domains, we hypothesized MICM participants that already possessed higher RC would show significantly greater improvement at follow-up than usual SLH residents with higher RC. Moreover, MICM and usual SLH residents with low RC would show no differences at 1-year follow-up.Methods: A latent class analysis (LCA) grouped participants into two patterns of RC: those with low RC and those with high RC. These classes were interacted with study condition to predict change on six Addiction Severity Indices (ASI) at follow-up.Results: MICM was more effective for the higher RC class, with greater improvement in drug, legal, and psychiatric outcomes for those who attended at least three MICM sessions. MICM was no more beneficial than usual care for those in a low RC class.Conclusions: SLH operators should consider implementation of MICM for residents with more RC resources. Those with fewer recovery resources, such as a history of psychiatric problems or physical/sexual abuse, would benefit from a more intensive intervention to assist them with improving the amount and quality of their RC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Decentralization is emergent as a state tool to order space for market expansion. • Elected bodies enable rule through finer channels as capital moves to micro levels. • Procedures of electoral democracy are deployed to resolve market-locality conflicts. • Elected leaders are emerging as instruments to legitimate new rural property regimes. • Local bodies' infrastructure works focus on annihilating space for value circulation. Departing from scholarship related to democratic decentralization which has largely treated the phenomenon through the lenses of comparative politics, public choice and participatory governance; I identify democratic decentralization as a form of state restructuring of rural spaces during an era of market expansion. Drawing upon political geography and critical governance studies and based on multi-site ethnographic fieldwork in India, elected local bodies are identified as mediators of market-society conflicts, builders of infrastructure to overcome spatio-temporal barriers to the movement of capital, and legitimators of new property regimes at the geopolitical margins. Market expansion by means of democratic decentralization is a window onto the transformation of statehood during second wave economic reforms in India, and unsettles the premise of grassroots democratization advancing distributional justice in the locality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents problematic concerning knowledge and educational capital of young people who often have many difficulties in labour market entry in spite of their high education and skills. The paper puts essence and types of knowledge forward. It also distinguishes information from knowledge and wisdom as well as contemporary stage of social and economic development and education based on research conducted amongst Polish students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are lots of factors influencing individual innovativeness. One of these factors is seen as emotions of individuals. In this regard, the aim of this study was determined as to investigate whether or not there is influence of university students' emotional capitals on their individual innovativeness. The universe of the research is business administration undergraduate students studying at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul. In this respect, a survey was conducted with 217 business administration undergraduate students via using random sampling method. In order to measure emotional capital, Emotional Capital Inventory developed by Newman and Purse (2007) with 77-items and shortened by Newman et al. (2015) with 30-items, and to measure individual innovativeness, Individual Innovativeness Scale developed by Hurt, Joseph & Cook (1977) with 20-items was used. For data analysis, SPSS 22.0 computer program was used. In terms of data analysis, frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability analysis, regression analysis and variance analyses were made. According to factor analysis made on Emotional Capital Inventory, there were found 6 dimensions as social awareness, self-reliance, self-awareness, relationship management, adaptability and self-management. Results of the research indicated that total emotional capital had a positive influence on total individual innovativeness. Moreover, self-reliance, relationship management and adaptability dimensions of emotional capital had positive influences on total individual innovativeness. In terms of Independent Samples T Test Analysis made according to gender variable, there was determined significant difference only for self-management dimension of emotional capital on behalf of male students. Lastly, in terms of Independent Samples T Test Analysis made according to nationality variable, there was determined significant difference only for relationship management dimension of emotional capital on behalf of Turkish students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract How can we measure culture in urban areas? Can empirical metrics on culture function as an urban planning tool for cities' well-being? This paper fits into the research path examining the role of culture as a resource for development, with a specific focus on empirical measurement aspects. A novel dataset (The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor – CCCM) gathering 29 indicators for 168 cities in 30 European countries is presented. The CCCM measures the presence and attractiveness of cultural venues and facilities (Cultural Vibrancy), the capacity of culture to generate jobs and innovation (Creative Economy), and the conditions enabling cultural and creative processes to thrive (Enabling Environment). Results show that cultural and creative assets are diversely distributed across European cities, which offer local authorities the opportunity to design context-specific development strategies. In particular, many medium-sized cities appear to have, on average, more cultural capital assets per inhabitant than larger cities. On the basis of these findings, we draw conclusions on the conceptual and methodological relevance of the CCCM and advance proposals on how to further use the CCCM data to drive culture-led and evidence-based urban policy design. Highlights • The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor (CCCM) is a novel culture-specific dataset covering 168 European cities. • It gathers 29 indicators which relate to the Cultural Vibrancy, Creative Economy and Enabling Environment of a city. • Capitals generally lead on 'Creative Economy' but non-capitals, mostly medium-sized, do better on 'Cultural Vibrancy'. • The CCCM dataset - freely accessible - can support policy-relevant questions and evidence-led urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the late 1990s, China initiated the Conversion of Croplands to Forest Program (CCFP) and the Ecological Welfare Forest Program (EWFP) based on the Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) principle. Positive socioeconomic outcomes of the programs are essential for the long-term success of eco-environment conservation. However, there is lack of understanding of their longer-term (over 10 years) impacts on rural livelihoods. In this paper, we examine income distribution and inequality of rural households under CCFP and EWFP in rural Anhui, China after 12 years of program implementation. Results show that CCFP-participating households have higher income inequality than non-participants, while the EWFP does not have a significant effect. Local off-farm work and out-migration with remittances are the two principal income sources and both add to inequality. A regression-based decomposition of inequality shows that the CCFP indirectly alters livelihoods by increasing out-migration with remittances, but it also adds to inequality from shifting livelihoods to non-agricultural activities. Meanwhile, EWFP payments positively affect agricultural incomes and contribute 16% to agricultural income inequality. Finally, human capital, natural capital and physical capital all play important roles in generating income and inequality, but the factors affecting inequality from agricultural and non-agricultural activities are different. Highlights • We examine rural household income distribution under two concurrent PES programs. • CCFP positively affects non-farm income via out-migration followed by remittances. • EWFP positively affects agricultural income and adds slightly to inequality. • Factors affecting agricultural and non-agricultural income distributions differ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It is essential to assess the value of nature, as it provides various benefits for human economic development and well-being. It has been 20 years since two prominent publications came out in valuing nature. New concepts and methods have emerged since then. This study aimed to (1) investigate the relationship between the new proposed concept (ecological capital) and the existing two concepts: natural capital and ecosystem services and (2) examine the research trends of ecological capital accounting publications from 1997 to 2017. Bibliometric analysis was used to reveal the research trends. The results showed that the total number of publications has rapidly increased since 1997 and this growth trend will be maintained in the future. The most productive journal, country, institute, and author were Ecological Economics , USA, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Verburg, respectively. Ecosystem services and land were the most frequent types of ecological capital. Non-economic evaluation approaches became less of a favorite over time and economic valuation methods were mostly applied in last five years. The integration of different methods has attracted increasing academic attention. The progress, advantages, and limitations of different methods were summarized in this study, including SEEA, ecological footprint, exergy, emergy, LCA, and economic valuation approaches, as well as newly developed modelling approaches. The last part of this study presented three challenges in this academic field – the need to (1) establish a standard framework, (2) consider the transfer/transport of ecological capital, and (3) improve capabilities for decision-making. Highlights • Ecological capital related concepts were introduced and compared. • Research trends of accounting methods in 1997–2017 were analyzed by bibliometrics. • The progress and characteristics of different evaluation methods were summarized. • Three challenges for future studies were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Dara-ang women form social networks to negotiate with state conservation policy. • Migration is long-term livelihood strategy of Dara-ang women. • Dara-ang could not generate sustainable income since they lack Thai citizenship and education. • Sustainable livelihood relies on the role of institutions that determine people's access to assets and opportunities. This study examines Dara-ang women's livelihood strategies as they struggle to negotiate environmental conservation policies. The Thai state adopts conservation ideology as a form of legitimation for its governance practices. As part of this, members of the Dara-ang ethnic minority group, who are migrants from Shan State, Myanmar, are both racialized and vilified for being supposed forest encroachers. When they are dispossessed of their agricultural land and forest products, some are forced to migrate to cities and become wage laborers. Based on ethnographic research, this study identifies and describes some of the capital assets and institutions that support women in strengthening their leadership roles. Dara-ang women form networks with domestic and international NGOs, academics, and businesspeople as a way to negotiate state control. They create alternative practices – namely organic farming, performance groups, and off-farm activities – as livelihood strategies to achieve sustainable use of natural resources and increased income, food security, and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Gross domestic product (GDP) has been inappropriately used as the main indicator for assessing the sustainability of economic development for a long time. Inclusive wealth (IW) offers a new approach to assess sustainability by comprehensively measuring the productive base of the economy that involves three types of capital assets of nations (produced, human and natural capital), and aggregates them into a single measure of wealth. This study proposes an alternative to the literature on the conventional energy – growth nexus that widely uses GDP as a proxy of the growth. This study aims to investigate the impact of energy consumption on wealth in the IW framework and forecast the growth of IW over the next three decades. For this purpose, this study uses both parametric and non-parametric analyses on 104 countries for 1993–2014. Our results indicate that there is a negative and significant impact of energy consumption on IW growth, suggesting an unsustainable pattern of world energy consumption. Using a machine learning technique, it is forecasted that increasing the efficiency of energy consumption leads to a higher growth in average per capita IW. This study also suggests that a shift to renewables is a precondition for sustainable development. Highlights • We investigate the impact of energy consumption on wealth in the inclusive wealth framework. • Our study deviates from previous literature on energy-growth nexus which relies on GDP per capita for gauging sustainability. • We obtain evidence that current pattern of world's energy consumption is not sustainable. • Our findings support policies that promotes efficiency in energy consumption and transition towards renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Indoor air pollution from the use of dirty fuel such as firewood, and dung cake for household chores is a serious health risk globally. Currently, 2.8 billion people in the world rely on dirty fuel for cooking and heating, of which more than 700 million (25%) people are from India. In 2016, 3.8 million premature deaths were attributable only to indoor air pollution, of which the total premature deaths due to indoor air pollution in India was 1.3 million (34%). One of the effective ways to combat indoor air pollution is a rapid dissemination of biogas technology. With nearly 300 million bovine animals, and 22% of rural agricultural households that completely rely on livestock for their livelihoods, India has a great potential to expand biogas technology and to combat the killer indoor air pollution. Currently, however, only 0.4% of the households in India reportedly use biogas. Using National Sample Survey Organization data, India, and applying an econometric estimation procedure, the present study demonstrates that both physical capital, such as landholdings and house ownership, and human capital, such as general education of the household head and spouse, can significantly affect the decision to use biogas. However, the positive decision to use biogas is negatively associated with the monthly expenditure on dirty fuel. The study, therefore, recommends the provision of general education as well as external supports in developing countries to increase awareness, as well as the adoption of domestic biogas digesters. Highlights • 700 million population in India rely on dirty fuel for cooking. • Use of dirty fuel causes indoor air pollution, kills 1.3 million population yearly. • Use and expansion of biogas among rural households can mitigate the problem. • Education and asset ownership affects the adoption of biogas in India. • Adoption of biogas reduces the use of dirty fuel, thus saves life and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Understanding the factors associated with adaptation can be crucial for building community adaptive-capacity. This study aims to provide a country-level assessment of some of the factors driving adaptation responses in marine fishing, and is based on data from 2564 villages and 66 districts along the coastline of India. Mechanization, usage of Global Positioning System (GPS) and diversification are important adaptation responses in the community. This study employs an analytical framework to understand three types of factors influencing adaptation: vulnerability/risk, difference in the macro environment and community-level factors (human, economic and social capitals, such as education, poverty and cooperative membership). The results indicate that the different factors are not uniformly associated with the adaptation responses. Regions which are vulnerable and face greater cyclone risk have low adaptation. The macro-environment of the state as well as support through cooperatives can play a role in adaptation. The results also highlight the importance of higher levels of education for adaptation responses, such as, using advanced navigation technology (GPS) and diversifying into other professions. The study provides useful insights regarding the factors linked with adaptation responses in the community and can be helpful for designing interventions. The paper can complement findings from regional studies and emphasizes the need for future rigorous research on adaptation in marine fishing. Highlights • National-level assessment of adaptation in the Indian marine fishing community. • Vulnerable regions have not adopted advanced crafts. • Navigation systems are not adopted in cyclone risk zones. • Macro-environment can determine adaptation. • Higher levels of education important for using navigation system and diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Energy plays no role in the standard Cobb-Douglas Production Function (CDPF), and a trivial role in a three-factor CDPF where it is treated as a third input, independent of labour and capital. Starting from an epistemological perspective, we treat energy as an input to both labour and capital, without which production is impossible. We then derive an energy-based CPDF (EBCDPF) in which energy plays a critical role. We argue for the redefinition and measurement of real GDP in terms of exergy. We conclude that the "Solow Residual" measures the contribution of exergy to growth, and that the exponents in the EBCDPF should be based on cross-country comparative data as suggested by Mankiw (1995) rather than the "cost-share theorem". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Pricing decision models for Service Platform are presented. • The features of the demander side, provider side and platform matching are involved. • The threshold participating quantity affects pricing decision in low-demand state. • Value-added service is always advantageous, both in low and high demand states. • The impacts of matching ability on platform profit are different in two states. Abstract Affected by the online supply-demand matching, traditional pricing decisions cannot be applied to recent 'online-to-offline' (O2O) platforms, which should consider more about the features of the demander side, provider side and platform matching. Models with a profit-maximizing platform that considers the pricing decision effects of the provider's threshold participating quantity, value-added service (VAS) and matching ability are developed in this study. Specifically, the main conclusions are divided into two parts: low-demand state and high-demand state. In the low-demand state, we show that the threshold participating quantity significantly affects pricing decisions when the basic demand is relatively low. There are two different critical values that make the pricing decisions into three cases. Second, regardless of the platform's capital and the basic demand, the VAS always benefits the platform. Third, when the basic demand is relatively low and the threshold participating quantity is relatively high, the platform will not benefit from a higher matching ability, which is counter-intuitive. In the high-demand state, we show that the threshold participating quantity will not affect the pricing decisions. Second, developing the VAS still contributes to the improvement of platform's profit. Third, different from the low-demand state, the platform's profit always increases with the matching ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study attempts to reconcile the conflicting theoretical predictions regarding how government ownership affects bank capital behaviour. Using a unique Chinese bank dataset over 2006–2015 we find that government-owned banks have higher target capital ratios and adjust these ratios faster compared to private banks, supporting the 'development/political' view of the government's role in banking. This effect is stronger for local government-owned and state enterprise-owned banks than for central government-owned banks. We also find that undercapitalized government-owned banks increase equity while undercapitalized foreign banks contract assets and liabilities as their respective main strategy to adjust their capital ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Devised a unique Sustainable Livelihood Index (SLI) using a top-down data collation method. • Spatio-temporal nuances of the SLI revealed through spatial visualization and cold hotspot analysis in TRHR. • Yushu county showed significant growth; Jiuzhi identified as a primary cold spot in TRHR. • Grassland carrying pressure and income noted to be as hindrances for sustainable livelihoods. • There is a need for innovative solutions to evolve regional scale livelihood resilience. Applying novel approaches to assess the sustainable livelihood potentially contribute to learning and managing social-ecological systems. This research demonstrates the trajectory of sustainable livelihoods in the Three Rivers Headwater Region (TRHR) of Western China for a period of 2003 to 2017, utilizing a bespoke Sustainable Livelihood Index (SLI). Devised through a top-down data collation method, the SLI integrates comprehensive official statistics, encompassing socio-economic metrics alongside climatic and other environmental conditions. We employed spatial visualization and cold hotspot analysis to discern the spatio-temporal nuances of the SLI. Furthermore, the Obstacle Factor Analysis (OFA) was implemented to identify salient barriers impacting the SLI. Results indicated a steady rise in the SLI over the examined period, indicating progressive enhancements in the livelihood sustainability. However, marked disparities were observed across the TRHR counties, reflecting heterogeneity in socioeconomic progress and resource allocation. While Yushu county displayed commendable growth, Jiuzhi county stood out as a significant cold spot. Notably, natural and financial resources surfaced as paramount stresses to SLI progression, emphasizing the necessity for robust resource management and economic support. Key challenges, such as the grassland carrying pressure index, deteriorated grassland territories, and per capita disposable income were identified as critical obstacles to the sustainable livelihood of pastoral communities. These factors collectively influence economic viability, grassland resource stewardship, and human capital development, which are intertwined with local economic gains and future potentials. In nutshell, this study highlights the multifaceted challenges faced by the TRHR in charting sustainable livelihood pathways and champions recalibrated policies to protect natural assets, amplify economic support, reinforce human capital, and nurture regional synergies for sustainable evolution. The key insights suggest the pressing need for innovative, nature-based solutions that amplify regional-scale livelihood resilience, especially considering the challenges related to natural assets, financial support, and human capital development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Language learning in iran is a site of struggle between two ideologically opposed spaces: state schools and non-state language institutes. • This study drew on the construct of investment , which combines ideology, capital , and identity. • The learners discussed the factors influencing their investment, their expectations, and their language learning activities. • The findings indicated that diverse ideological, cultural, and economic resources and imagined futures had led learners toward investing at the institute. • Some aspects of investment, language-related beliefs, and identities varied across proficiency levels. Language learning in Iran is a site of struggle between two ideologically opposed spaces, state schools and non-state language institutes. This study drew on the construct of investment , which combines ideology, capital , and identity , to investigate the investment of Iranian English language learners at A1 and C2 proficiency levels at a non-state language institute. The learners in focus group interviews discussed different language-related resources influencing their investment, their expectations, and their language learning activities. The findings indicated that diverse ideological, cultural, and economic resources and imagined futures had led them toward investing at the institute. They were further found to be invested in diverse language learning activities beyond the pedagogical frame of the institute. Some aspects of investment, language-related beliefs, and identities varied across proficiency levels. Even though the ideological structures of these institutes are learner-centered, there are strong possibilities for enslavement to an extreme globally-oriented pedagogy or native-speakerism. It is hence suggested that state schools and non-state institutes draw upon more flexible language pedagogies embracing both local and global values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consider a two-dimensional risk model, in which two insurance companies divide between them the claims in some specified proportions. Suppose that the claim sizes and inter-arrival times form a sequence of independent and identically distributed random pairs, with each pair obeying a dependence structure, and the surpluses of the two companies are invested into portfolios whose returns follow two different geometric Lévy processes. When the claim-size distribution is extended-regularly-varying tailed, asymptotic expressions for the ruin probability of this two-dimensional risk model are exhibited. Some numerical results are also presented to illustrate the accuracy of our asymptotic formulae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It is of great practical significance to trace the driving factors of air pollution problems, like haze, in China and identify the critical supply chain paths that cause changes in air pollution emissions. Based on a non-competitive (import) input–output model for China from 1995 to 2009, the impact of driving factors and supply chains that drive changes in air pollution emissions are identified, by using the methods of structural decomposition analysis and structural path decomposition analysis. The results show that economic expansion plays an important role in accelerating air pollution emissions, while decrease of sulfur oxide emissions intensity is the key factor to restrain growth of emissions. Fixed capital formation is the main driver of air pollution emissions, followed by household consumption and exports. Critical supply chains that drive changes in air pollution emissions are "electricity, gas, and water supply→ fixed capital formation," and "electricity, gas, and water supply→ household consumption." In these supply chains, there are four factors driving the increase in air pollution emissions: economic scale expansion (Δ Y), intermediate input structure change (Δ L), final consumption category alteration (Δ δ), and population scale expansion (Δ P). Meanwhile, the decline of sulfur oxide emissions intensity (Δ s) leads to a decrease in air pollution emissions. Our findings suggest that by adjusting energy consumption structure, guiding consumption and investment cleanliness, and optimizing intermediate input product structure, the reducing effects of sulfur oxide emissions intensity in critical supply chains can be enhanced, and effects of economic scale and intermediate input product structure can be promoted to change in favor of decreasing emissions. Highlights • Final demand per capita is the key factor to accelerate the growth of SO X emissions, while direct SO X emissions intensity is the key factor to restrain the growth of emissions. • SO X emissions increased with the growth of Chinese fixed capital demand and Chinese household demand. • The largest critical supply chain paths is found to be "electricity, gas, and water supply → fixed capital formation". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Mean technical efficiency of rice farmers is about60%. • Cambodian rice farmers can increase their production by about 40% with existing resources. • Drought and soil fertility are major sources of inefficiency. • Adoption of drought-tolerant varieties could help increase output and efficiency. • Access to capital and education can significantly improve rice farming efficiency. Abstract Cambodia is one of the climatic stress-prone countries in Southeast Asia. Rice is the dominant cash crop for Cambodians, and is adversely affected by recurrent droughts and floods. In addition, farmers have limited or no access to capital markets. This article investigates the impact of abiotic stresses (droughts and floods) and access to capital on the farming efficiency of smallholders in Cambodia. We find that the mean technical efficiency of rice farmers is about 0.60, implying that farmers can increase their production by about 40% with existing resources. Drought and soil fertility were identified as the major sources of inefficiency in rice production. Adoption of drought-tolerant varieties could help increase output and efficiency. We also find that access to capital and educational attainment significantly improved rice farming efficiency. Finally, we conclude that increasing rice productivity can help in improving income and thereby reducing poverty among Cambodian rice producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • We assess adoption of adaptation measures through the five types of capital. • Natural, physical, financial, human and social capital determine adaptive capacity. • Investing in human or social capital can be more effective than in other capitals. • Substitution of capitals play a key role in predicting future adoption. Abstract Rural farm households in sub-Saharan Africa are vulnerable to climate variability due to their limited adaptive capacity. This paper explores how adaptation strategies are adopted by small-holders in sub-Saharan Africa as a function of their adaptive capacity. The latter is characterised by five types of capital: natural, physical, financial, human, and social. We use responses from farm households in sub-Saharan Africa dating from 1536 obtained by Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). This data provides information on the adoption of adaptation practices during the study period as well as information with which we develop indicators for the five types of capital. The results suggest that all the five types of capital positively influence adoption of adaptation practices. Human and social capital both displayed a positive and significant effect on the uptake of most adaptation practices. This finding suggests that the effect of less tangible kinds of capital such as knowledge, individual perceptions, farmers' networks and access to information may be stronger than normally assumed. Directing more development policies towards enhancing human and social capital may therefore be more cost-effective than further investments into physical and financial capital, and could help in overcoming social barriers to adaptation to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant children are an unintended consequence of the widened rural-urban gap in China. In Dengfeng, a county-level city in central China, many of the 70,000 full-time martial arts students were rural-to-urban migrant children 'floating' with their parents from one place to another. Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper explores why these migrant children 'migrated' to martial arts schools for educational purposes and how they and their parents seek to establish a new value system within which different forms of capital can be accumulated, disseminated, and transformed as society expects. This paper argues that the (imaginary) transition between and flow of economic, cultural, social, and symbolic capital construct a path to an aspirational future used by both these martial arts students and their parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The efficiency of research funding from the perspective of the concentrated funding is explored. • Negative correlation between institution level funding accumulation and PIs' knowledge output is found. • Sources of the negative correlation are explored. Abstract Basic research is the main powerhouse of a country's potential for continuous economic growth, and national-level scientific research funding is an important source of capital that supports this basic research. Given these observations, this paper takes micro-level data from projects funded by the Department of Management Sciences in the National Natural Science Foundation of China between 2006 and 2010 to examine the relationship between the efficient use of research funding and the level of concentrated funding in certain research institutions. In contrast to the positive externalities produced by the concentration of R&D activities, our study finds that the accumulation of scientific research funding at the institution level is negative correlated with the knowledge output of the principal investigators of projects within the research institution. We explore the sources of the negative correlation and discuss some policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional fishing livelihoods need to adapt to changing fish catch/populations, led by numerous anthropogenic, environmental and climatic stressors. The decision to adapt can be influenced by a variety of socio-economic and perceptual factors. However, adaptation decision-making in fishing communities has rarely been studied. Based on previous literature and focus group discussions with community, this study identifies few prominent adaptation responses in marine fishing and proposes credible factors driving decisions to adopt them. Further, a household survey is conducted, and the association of these drivers with various adaptation strategies is examined among fisherfolk of Maharashtra (India). This statistical analysis is based on 601 responses collected across three regional fishing groups: urban, semi-urban and rural. Regional segregation is done to understand variability in decision-making among groups which might be having different socio-economic and perceptual attributes. The survey reveals that only few urban fishing households have been able to diversify into other livelihoods. While having economic capital increases the likelihood of adaptation among urban and semi-urban communities, rural fishermen are significantly driven by social capital. Perception of climate change affecting fish catch drives adoption of mechanized boats solely in urban region. But increasing number of extreme events affects decisions of semi-urban and rural fishermen. Further, rising pollution and trade competition is associated with adaptation responses in the urban and semi-urban community. Higher education might help fishermen choose convenient forms of adaptation. Also, cooperative membership and subsidies are critical in adaptation decisions. The framework and insights of the study suggest the importance of acknowledging differential decision-making of individuals and communities, for designing effective adaptation and capacity-building policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]