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From the perspective of asymmetric information, a principal-agent model is used to put forward a new theoretical explanation for the validity and effectiveness of tenure. Furthermore, through an analysis of the conditions of implementing an effective tenure system, it is argued that such a system is more efficient in research universities. Based on the above conclusions, the paper also discusses the condition or time for the implementation of tenure in Chinese universities.

In China, entrepreneurship remains a non-traditional career for women, but little is known about how young single women may opt for entrepreneurship against the social penalty. This study focuses on single female entrepreneurs and finds them being stigmatised as doing inappropriate jobs and (consequently) staying single. The interviewees responded differently, by (1) coordinating their career and family formation plans to make them compatible, (2) justifying their being single based on their entrepreneurial achievements and (3) compensating for their deviance and using their economic capability to fulfil other family roles. In contrast to the 'androcentric' business model based on carefree agents, female entrepreneurs illustrate different forms of agency to accommodate career aspirations and family duties. Given China's market-oriented reforms, persisting gender beliefs and the socialist legacy, this study illustrates women's fluid and interactive agency in response to the gendered penalty in non-traditional careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restaurant food is one of the important sources of sodium intake in China. We aimed to determine whether a restaurant-based comprehensive intervention program may induce lower sodium content in restaurant food. A randomized controlled trial was implemented between 2019 and 2020 in 192 restaurants in China. After baseline assessment, the restaurants were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a control group (1:1). Comprehensive activities designed for intervention restaurants were conducted for one year. The primary outcome was the difference in change of sodium content estimated by the mean values of five best-selling dishes for each restaurant, from baseline to the end of the trial between groups. In total, 66 control restaurants and 80 intervention restaurants completed the follow-up assessment. The average sodium content of dishes at baseline was 540.9 ± 176.8 mg/100 g in control and 551.9 ± 149.0 mg/100 g in intervention restaurants. The mean effect of intervention after adjusting for confounding factors was −43.63 mg/100 g (95% CI: from −92.94 to 5.66, p = 0.08), representing an 8% reduction in sodium content. The restaurant-based intervention led to a modest but not significant reduction in the sodium content of restaurant food. There is great urgency for implementing effective and sustainable salt reduction programs, due to the rapid increase in the consumption of restaurant food in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We determined whether a town-level comprehensive intervention program could lower the salt intake of a population. The parallel, cluster randomized controlled trial was carried out between October 2018 and January 2020 in 48 towns from 12 counties across 6 provinces in China. All participants were asked to complete the 24 h urine collections, anthropometric measurements and questionnaires at the baseline and one-year post-intervention survey. A total of 2693 participants aged 18 to 75 years were recruited at the baseline. A total of 1347 individuals in 24 towns were allocated to the intervention group and the others were allocated to the control group. Valid information from 2335 respondents was collected in the follow-up survey. The 24-h urinary sodium excretion was 189.7 mmol/24 h for the intervention group and 196.1 mmol/24 h for the control group at baseline. At a one-year follow-up, the mean effect of salt intake did not show a significant change (p = 0.31) in the intervention group compared to the control group. However, the mean result of potassium excretion in the intervention group increased by 2.18 mmol/24 h (85.03 mg/24 h) (p = 0.004) and systolic blood pressure decreased by 2.95 mmHg (p < 0.001). The salt-related knowledge and attitude toward salt reduction improved significantly in the intervention group (p < 0.05). A longer period of intervention and follow-up assessment might be needed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of the program on salt reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The association between short-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and morbidity risk in developing countries is not fully understood. We conducted a nationwide time-series study to estimate the short-term effect of PM2.5 on hospital admissions in Chinese adults.Methods: Daily counts of hospital admissions for 2014-16 were obtained from the National Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance database. We identified more than 58 million hospitalizations from 0.28 billion insured persons in 200 Chinese cities for subjects aged 18 years or older. Generalized additive models with quasi-Poisson regression were applied to examine city-specific associations of PM2.5 concentrations with hospital admissions. National-average estimates of the association were obtained from a random-effects meta-analysis. We also investigated potential effect modifiers, such as age, sex, temperature and relative humidity.Results: An increase of 10 μg/m3 in same-day PM2.5 concentrations was positively associated with a 0.19% (95% confidence interval: 0.07-0.30) increase in the daily number of hospital admissions at the national level. PM2.5 exposure remained positively associated with hospital admissions on days when the daily concentrations met the current Chinese Ambient Air Quality Standards (75 μg/m3). Estimates of admission varied across cities and increased in cities with lower PM2.5 concentrations (p = 0.044) or higher temperatures (p = 0.002) and relative humidity (p = 0.003). The elderly were more sensitive to PM2.5 exposure (p < 0.001).Conclusions: Short-term exposure to PM2.5 was positively associated with adult hospital admissions in China, even at levels below current Chinese Ambient Air Quality Standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidemiological studies have provided compelling evidence of associations between ambient temperature and cardiovascular disease. However, evidence of effects of daily temperature variability on cardiovascular disease is scarce and mixed. We aimed to examine short-term associations between temperature variability and hospital admissions for cause-specific cardiovascular disease in urban China.Methods and Findings: We conducted a national time-series analysis in 184 cities in China between 2014 and 2017. Data on daily hospital admissions for ischemic heart disease, heart failure, heart rhythm disturbances, and ischemic stroke were obtained from the database of Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) including 0.28 billion enrollees. Temperature data were acquired from the China Meteorological Data Sharing Service Center. Temperature variability was calculated from the standard deviation (SD) of daily minimum and maximum temperatures over exposure days. City-specific associations between temperature variability and cardiovascular disease were examined with overdispersed Poisson models controlling for calendar time, day of the week, public holiday, and daily mean temperature and relative humidity. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed to obtain national and regional average associations. We also plotted exposure-response relationship curve using a natural cubic spline of temperature variability. There were 8.0 million hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease during the study period. At the national-average level, a 1-°C increase in temperature variability at 0-1 days (TV0-1) was associated with a 0.44% (0.32%-0.55%), 0.31% (0.20%-0.43%), 0.48% (0.01%-0.96%), 0.34% (0.01%-0.67%), and 0.82% (0.59%-1.05%) increase in hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, heart rhythm disturbances, and ischemic stroke, respectively. The estimates decreased but remained significant when controlling for ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5), NO2, and SO2 pollution. The main limitation of the present study was the unavailability of data on individual exposure to temperature variability.Conclusions: Our findings suggested that short-term temperature variability exposure could increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, which may provide new insights into the health effects of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract There have been few large multicity studies to evaluate the acute health effects of ambient air pollution on morbidity risk in developing counties. In this study, we examined the short-term associations of air pollution with daily hospital admissions in China. We conducted a nationwide time-series study in 218 Chinese cities between 2014 and 2016. Data on daily hospital admissions counts were obtained from the National Health Insurance Database for Urban Employees covering 0.28 billion enrollees. We used generalized additive model with Poisson regression to estimate the associations in each city, and we performed random-effects meta-analysis to pool the city-specific estimates. More than 60 million hospital admissions were analyzed in this study. At the national-average level, each 10 μg/m3 increase in PM 10 , SO 2 , and NO 2 , and 1 mg/m3 increase in CO at lag 0 day was associated with a 0.29% (95% CI, 0.23%–0.36%), 1.16% (95% CI, 0.92%–1.40%), 1.68% (95% CI, 1.40%–1.95%), and 2.59% (95% CI, 1.69%–3.50%) higher daily hospital admissions, respectively. The associations of air pollution with hospital admissions remained statistically significant at levels below the current Chinese Ambient Air Quality Standards. The effect estimates were larger in cities with lower air pollutants levels or higher air temperatures and relative humidity, as well as in the elderly. In conclusion, our findings provide robust evidence of increased hospital admissions in association with short-term exposure to ambient air pollution in China. Graphical abstract Percentage change (PC) and 95% confidence interval (CI) in daily hospital admissions per 10 μg/m3 increase in PM 10 , SO 2 , and NO 2 , and 1 mg/m3 increase in CO at different lag days. Image 1 Highlights • Few multicity studies evaluated air pollution on morbidity in developing counties. • Air pollution was associated with daily hospital admissions in 218 Chinese cities. • The associations varied by city characteristics. In this national time-series study in 218 Chinese cities covering > 60 million hospitalizations, short-term exposure to air pollution was associated with increased daily total hospital admissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence of the short-term effects of ambient air pollution on the risk of ischemic stroke in low- and middle-income countries is limited and inconsistent. We aimed to examine the associations between air pollution and daily hospital admissions for ischemic stroke in China.Methods and Findings: We identified hospital admissions for ischemic stroke in 2014-2016 from the national database covering up to 0.28 billion people who received Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) in China. We examined the associations between air pollution and daily ischemic stroke admission using a two-stage method. Poisson time-series regression models were firstly fitted to estimate the effects of air pollution in each city. Random-effects meta-analyses were then conducted to combine the estimates. Meta-regression models were applied to explore potential effect modifiers. More than 2 million hospital admissions for ischemic stroke were identified in 172 cities in China. In single-pollutant models, increases of 10 μg/m3 in particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) and 1 mg/m3 in carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations were associated with 0.34% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.20%-0.48%), 1.37% (1.05%-1.70%), 1.82% (1.45%-2.19%), 0.01% (-0.14%-0.16%), and 3.24% (2.05%-4.43%) increases in hospital admissions for ischemic stroke on the same day, respectively. SO2 and NO2 associations remained significant in two-pollutant models, but not PM2.5 and CO associations. The effect estimates were greater in cities with lower air pollutant levels and higher air temperatures, as well as in elderly subgroups. The main limitation of the present study was the unavailability of data on individual exposure to ambient air pollution.Conclusions: As the first national study in China to systematically examine the associations between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and ischemic stroke, our findings indicate that transient increase in air pollution levels may increase the risk of ischemic stroke, which may have significant public health implications for the reduction of ischemic stroke burden in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has undergone an expansion of higher education in the 1990s. The university enrollment rate among high school graduates increased from 27.3% in 1990 to 87.6% in 2013. At the same time, Chinese universities are stratified into key universities and non-key universities, which differ significantly in resource input and prestige. Chinese parents are found to play an increasingly active role in preparing their children for the competition to get into elite universities. Researchers argue that in the era of mass education, social inequality is effectively maintained through school stratification and raising entrance bars for prestigious institutions. Thus, the focus of educational inequality should move from quantitative to qualitative differences. While educational inequality in China has attracted much research attention in the past decade, little is understood about educational inequality in China in qualitative terms. The present study aims to fill this research gap. Data come from a panel survey of 759 high school graduates in urban Nanjing initiated in 2010. A vast majority of these students (98.4%) were enrolled in post-secondary education in 2012, among whom 96.6% attended colleges or universities in China. Our findings do not show inequality in mere access by family background or high school prestige. However, family backgrounds make a difference in educational destinations (local vs. overseas as well as prestige of the institutions) but the family impact tends to be mediated by high school ranking. The findings suggest meritocratic elitism in mass education in China, which legitimizes the intergenerational transfer of social advantages and mediated role of school in producing educational inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of private sector business in urban China has led to more women engaging in low-end self-employment. This study, however, reveals a more complicated story in the countryside. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted in a Chinese village, this study finds that the women took the lead in developing sideline self-employment and were then attracted to rural wage employment in the 1980s. With the privatization of rural industries and the rise of capital-intensive self-employment in the 1990s, some women were forced into low-end self-employment, but others were attracted to high-end self-employment, forging individual careers and family ventures. In more recent times, younger women have been more inclined to work on-and-off, balancing self-employment pursuits with the desire to be a good mother. This pattern marks a shift from the continuous multitasking practised by the older generation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The recent trend to develop rural land in western China has resulted in the large-scale relocation of villagers. It has also given rise to self-help development of housing. By examining long-established research on both formal urban development and informal village settlements, this study examines self-built housing, collective-endorsed housing and urban relocation housing in one western Chinese village. Their coexistence was made possible by ambiguities in property rights. The state–collective divide and the urban–rural dichotomy in property rights were restructured in land development, and villagers were able to use various means to take advantage of transitional, favourable deals to gain short- or long-term returns. Specifically, self-developed housing met market demands and traditional lifestyles, but witnessed a gap between de jure and de facto property rights and could not be easily formalised, whereas officially sanctioned relocation provided long-term homeownership but with ambiguous de jure property rights and failed to fully integrate villagers into urban neighbourhoods. To a lesser extent, collective endorsement added to the legitimacy of self-help development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: Given the growth in research on business marketing in China, there is an imperative need to provide a comprehensive understanding of business marketing issues in China. Thus the authors attempt to conduct a comprehensive review to obtain that understanding and to address the following questions: How much progress has been made in understanding business marketing issues in China, and how much progress has been made regarding theory development in this domain? Methodology/Approach: The review covers a total of 153 research articles from 23 key marketing and management academic journals from 1990 through 2009. The authors also propose a theoretical framework consisting of three theories to review the fragmented literature: a theory of Chinese business marketing; a theory of Chinese comparative business marketing; and a Chinese theory of business marketing. Findings: The review enhances our understanding of the theoretical development in the domain of business marketing in China. The review on studies using China as a research sample suggests that most research attempts to exemplify extant business marketing theories in the Chinese context. The review on studies using China as a comparison object shows that marketing is a relatively new phenomenon in China, and thus many business marketing activities in China are different due to the cultural, institutional, and economic situations. The review on studies using China as a unique object documents distinctive business marketing phenomena in China such as guanxi (personal connections) and xinyong (personal trust) and provides theoretical understanding of these phenomena. Originality/Value: The authors develop a new theoretical framework to review the literature: a theory of Chinese business marketing, a theory of Chinese comparative business marketing, and a Chinese theory of business marketing. The framework contributes to the literature by understanding different usages of a context in business marketing research and by suggesting possible theoretical development in this domain. The review identifies potential topics and theoretical development for future research in each of the three areas. The review also provides important managerial implications for practitioners by offering a comprehensive understanding of how business marketing practices are operated in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three decades of China's housing reform have brought about an increasing proportion of owner-occupiers as well as complex housing tenure forms. This study uses the 2001 Beijing Housing Survey data to examine the risk of transition to homeownership for married couples during 1980-2001. Pooled cross-sectional regression and discrete-time logistic models are used to estimate the hazards of 'sitting purchase' and 'moving purchase'. Both models illustrate different time patterns of sitting purchase and moving purchase. Sitting purchase is particularly conducive to long-term occupants with seniority in work units, which alters the relationship between housing tenure and life cycles. People with better education are more likely to become homeowners via sitting purchase, but the spouses' effects differ sharply concerning political capital: only the husband's party membership has a significant positive effect. In addition to party membership, job rank and work unit also play an important role in facilitating the family's sitting purchase, suggesting that redistributive powers and organizational links contribute to the competing sources of housing inequality in a market-oriented economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correlation between urbanization and environmental pollution is a major focus of study in geography, environmental science, and economics. Particulate matter is the primary pollutant of air pollution and made up of heavy metal, organic carbon and aromatic hydrocarbon and complicated chemicals. PM 2.5 are fine particulate matter with diameters that are less than 2.5 μm. The aim of this study on the relationship between urbanization and PM 2.5 concentration is to achieve a win-win situation of both economic development and environmental protection, which is of great significance to sustainable development in China. This paper uses PM 2.5 remote sensing data and statistical yearbook data from 2000 to 2011 to build four panel data models within the urbanization-PM 2.5 concentration Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework. The goal is to find out the correlations between PM 2.5 concentration and economic urbanization, population urbanization, and space urbanization. Furthermore, scenario simulations are set to predict when China will reach inflection point and achieve its target concentration. Results show that the relationship between economic urbanization and PM 2.5 concentration is an inverted N-shaped or inverted U-shaped curve. Most cities in East China have reached the second inflection point of inverted-N curve to step into the win-win stage while many cities in Middle China still need 10–15 years to arrive at the inflection point of the inverted-U curve. Therefore, China is under great pressure to prevent PM 2.5 pollution and pursue more targeted PM 2.5 -reduction policies for air quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring data on fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) level in China's major cities were available since 2013. We conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study to evaluate the association between short-term exposure to PM 2.5 and hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), as well as subsequent cardiac and AMI readmissions among AMI survivors. Hospital admissions for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) from 1 January 2014 through 31 December 2015 were identified from electronic Hospitalization Summary Reports. Conditional logistic regression was used to explore the relation between PM 2.5 and hospital admissions for AMI. Individuals discharged alive following STEMI in 2014 were followed up for subsequent readmissions through 31 December 2015. We used the Cox proportional hazards model to evaluate the effect of PM 2.5 pollution on subsequent cardiac and STEMI readmissions. Hospital admissions for STEMI (n = 106,467) and NSTEMI (n = 12,719) were examined separately. Exposure to an interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM 2.5 concentration (47.5 μg/m 3 ) at lags 2, 3, 4 and 0–5 days corresponded with 0.6% (95% CI, 0.1%–1.1%), 0.8 (95% CI, 0.3%–1.3%), 0.6% (95% CI, 0.1%–1.1%) and 0.9% (95% CI, 0–1.8%) increases in STEMI admissions, respectively. For NSTEMI, no significant association was observed with PM 2.5 . We also observed significant associations of PM 2.5 concentration with both subsequent cardiac and STEMI readmissions among STEMI survivors. In conclusion, short-term elevations in PM 2.5 concentration may increase the risk of STEMI but not NSTEMI, and the association appeared to be more evident among STEMI survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]