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China's large- and medium-sized cities have entered the stage of seeking space resources underground. The safety of underground spaces has become an important issue for the high-quality development of cities. Urban ground collapse (UGC) is a common accident that occurs in underground spaces and is affected by a combination of factors. In this study, Internet news was used to supplement the data of the relevant departments, and a database of 68 UGC events from 1964 to the present was built. The probability distribution of the UGC risk was calculated using the nearest neighbor and density models. Then, the geo-detector was used to explore the explanatory power of risk factors, including natural environmental and socio-economic factors. The results show that the impact of the explanatory power of risk factors on UGC, from high to low, is population density, metro influence, and soil type. The interaction of factors enhances the explanatory power, whereby the interaction between socio-economic and natural environmental factors represented by population density and soil type is the highest. A risk division map of UGC in Hangzhou was obtained, with proportions of type I (0.6%), type II (28.3%), and type III (71.0%) areas. This study demonstrates the influence of human activities on UGC events through quantitative results and provides research support for urban underground safety risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective land use contributes to sustainable urban development. However, there are various reports suggesting that urban land resources used mismatch to different extents in many Chinese cities. This study measures the degree of the mismatch phenomenon in utilizing urban land resources from a supply–demand perspective, and a mismatching coefficient, namely land resource mismatch (LRM), is adopted as the measurement. The data used for the empirical analysis are from a sample of 35 cities in China. The empirical study shows the effectiveness of employing the mismatching coefficient LRM model in evaluating the degree of the mismatch phenomenon in utilizing urban land resources. The research findings suggest the following: (1) Overall, the mismatch phenomenon in utilizing urban land resources is significant in China in the form of either supply shortage or over-supply. (2) The degree of the mismatch phenomenon is different between different types of land, with the land for administration and public services showing more serious mismatching and the land for commercial and business facilities showing less mismatching. (3) There are significant differences both in the type and the degree of land use mismatch among different cities, which are contributed largely by the intensity of local government's controlling and planning role on land resources and the maturity of applying market mechanisms. The results from this study can inform the government of the importance and necessity of adopting effective policy measures for mitigating the mismatch phenomenon in utilizing urban land resources. The research method applied in this study can be applied in a larger context internationally for understanding the effectiveness of utilizing urban land resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resettled community is a special type of transitional community in China where the residents are urbanized peasants who lost their lands during urbanization development. However, resettled community conflicts (RCCs) are barriers to sustainable community transformation. Focusing on functional conflict, this study identified the conflicts in the resettled community and proposed feasible governance logic for RCCs. The research in this article has a significant theoretical foundation in functional conflict theory. By examining a large sample of cases, seven RCC types were identified (e.g., inner discontent of residents, mass incidents), of which three have positive functions and four have negative impacts. Furthermore, three RCC causes were identified: right-based, interest-based, and value-based conflicts. Their mechanisms for the conflict function are, respectively, the contextual dual-functional, destructive one-way, and structural dual-functional paths. Considering these findings, we propose a dual governance logic of RCC: accommodation and avoidance. Within the dual logic, specific governance strategies are proposed for the different RCC causes and their functional formation paths. This research serves as an important reference for proper policy measures to govern RCCs and promote the sustainable transformation of resettled communities. The methodology adopted can be extended to the study of RCC in broader global contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Recently, the concept of financial technology (FinTech) has attracted extensive attention from international organisations and regulators, in particular, how to achieve a "win–win" situation between financial institutions' FinTech innovation and effective regulation has become a hot topic. This study purposes to explore the evolutionary game relationship between FinTech innovation and regulation by constructing both static and dynamic earmarking game models. Design/methodology/approach: A simulation experiment was conducted using primary data obtained from a commercial bank in China. Findings: The results of the theoretical analysis of evolutionary game models were consistent with the corresponding simulation results, proving the validity of the proposed evolutionary game models. It was also found that the dynamic earmarking game model was more stable and effective than the static earmarking game model in promoting FinTech innovation and regulation. Furthermore, when the regulators utilised a dynamic earmarking mechanism, the evolutionary path of financial institutions and regulators' behaviour strategies took the shape of a spiral and eventually converged to a central point, indicating the existence of an evolutionary stable strategy and Nash equilibrium. Finally, because the behaviour strategies of financial institutions were mainly influenced by the regulators' policies, the regulators were inspired to adjust the corresponding regulation policies on FinTech innovation. Originality/value: This study bridges the knowledge gap in the existing literature on financial innovation and regulation, in particular by establishing evolutionary game models from the perspective of financial earmarking policies. Also, the case study for simulation experiments can gain a more intuitive insight into FinTech innovation and financial earmarking policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The spatiotemporal dynamics of nitrogen dioxide vertical column densities over 2005-2016 at city level are revealed. • We use the satellite nighttime light (NTL) data as a proxy for urban development. • The cities' NO2/NTL variations are grouped into four categories. • The effectiveness of the air pollution regulations during the 11th and 12th Five-Year-Plan periods are discussed. Abstract China experienced rapid urbanization and industrialization in recent years, which resulted in large increases of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), particularly in urban areas. We analyze the spatiotemporal variations of the vertical column densities (VCDs) of tropospheric NO 2 with the level of urban development across China during the period 2005–2016. Nighttime light (NTL) data are applied as a proxy for urban development to investigate the relationship between NO 2 pollution and urban development. Both NO 2 column data and NTL data are observed by satellite measurements. The annual mean of NO 2 VCDs is presented on a grid basis. The average annual variations of NO 2 VCDs and NTL value are detected for all 341 prefectural cities. Two-thirds of the cities reached their peak NO 2 pollution level around 2010–2012, and decreased afterward. About 10% of the western cities kept on increasing their NO 2 levels until 2016. All cities are classified into four categories with respect to the average annual variations of NO 2 /NTL in 2005–2010, and 2011–2016. Approximately 62% of the cities turned the average annual variations of NO 2 /NTL from positive to negative. 19% of the cities are in the positive-positive category and 11% of the cities are in the negative-negative category. The remaining 8% of the cities changed their ratios from negative to positive. We summarize the national air pollution regulations, and our results show the effectiveness of the regulations for most eastern China cities. This work can help to design more efficient regional emission reduction policies with sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of large cities have experienced urban village transformation because of the rapid industrialization and urbanization in China. Extant literature largely focuses on urban village transformation and its ensuing developments. This research examined the social welfare change through six welfare categories of indicators, namely, economic condition, dwelling condition, development opportunity, social security, living environment, and psychology. Value change in fuzzy membership was used to reveal the changes in social welfare for rural migrants before and after urban village transformation. Data were collected from questionnaires distributed in four cities of Zhejiang Province in 2014. Fuzzy assessment model was developed to analyze the collected data. Results corroborated that nearly all the values of the welfare categories decreased, except for the value of dwelling condition. The findings confirmed that the rural migrants do not primarily receive the benefits of urban village transformation. In addition, such transformation does not improve urban village harmony. Various measures should be applied to improve rural migrant welfare, including enhancing rural migrant settlement intention, encouraging rural migrants to return to their respective hometowns, and implementing policies for regionally differentiated welfare rights. The findings of this study can provide references for local governments to substantially implement urban village transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization in China has resulted in the inability of land-lost farmers, who are considered to lack sufficient human capital. Few studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of social network and land expropriation on the human capital of land-lost farmers. Therefore, effective improvement of land-lost farmers’ human capital remains unknown. To address this gap, this study investigates the effects of social network on the human capital of land-lost farmers and the moderating effects of land expropriation with the case of Zhejiang Province in China. Regression is used to examine the effects of social network, which is measured by network scale (NS), network intensity (NI), and mutual trust (MT), on human capital. Hierarchical regression is used to examine the moderating effects of land expropriation, which is measured by land location (LL) and settlement mode (SM). The study indicates that NS, NI, and MT have more positive effects on human capital under the moderating role of LL. However, only NS and NI have more positive effects, yet MT has insignificant effects on human capital under the moderating role of SM. The results indicate that land expropriation scenarios affect the relationship among social network and human capital to some extent. The findings can facilitate the local governments formulate appropriate policies that promote human capital among land-lost farmers through enhancing social network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the residents' perceptions on the urban resources environment (URE) in the context of China. Previous studies have suggested that the urban resources environment has been improving in recent years. However, it is unknown whether this improvement is perceived by the residents. The data for analysis in this paper are from a comprehensive questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was designed to understand the residents' satisfaction with water resources (W), energy resources (E), air environment (A), land resources (L), culture resources (C), human resources (H), transportation (T), infrastructures (I) and public service resources (P). The questionnaire was distributed to the residents in 35 large Chinese cities. In total, 4792 valid questionnaires were collected, which were analyzed by using statistical methods. The research results conclude that there are differences in the perceptions on URE by different groups of residents who are with different background characteristics. The residents have different levels of satisfaction with different types of urban resources. And different cities perform differently in satisfying their residents in managing URE. The findings of this study provide policymakers with important references for designating measures to improve URE. • The connotation of urban resources environment is expanded. • The data referring to URE is collected through a comprehensive questionnaire survey. • Different types of URE dimensions presents different level. And different cities perform differently in providing URE to local residents. • Urban managers in China should give priority to improving the levels of air environment, human resources, infrastructure, and public services resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization has generated an increasing number of dispossessed farmers in China, with the issues and problems involved gaining extensive attention by the government and academia. Some of them are turning to entrepreneurial activities as an alternative means to earn a living that can solve their long-term livelihood. This study has identified the factors influencing their choices of self-employed industry based on the Grounded theory. Then four hypotheses are developed and quantitatively tested by the Multinomial Logit regression analysis method with 219 observations collected in Zhejiang Province. The empirical results indicate that the four hypotheses receive different levels of support. The decision-making of specific industry is the result of synergistic effects exerted by both internal and external factors. Dispossessed farmers with similar characteristics tend to choose similar industries. The entrepreneurial, adjustment and protective, policies are put forward to facilitate the likelihood of dispossessed farmers' successful startups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, financial technology (FinTech) regulations have been split between promotion and regulation. Under the evolving relationship between regulators and financial institutions, achieving a win-win situation between financial institutions' FinTech innovation and effective regulation is a significant issue, both in practice and theory, that needs an immediate solution. This study extensively demonstrates the behavioral strategies and game outcomes of regulators and financial institutions by constructing four evolutionary game models. In addition, it aims to disclose the game relationship between regulators and financial institutions. Furthermore, this study reveals the experimental results following the numerical simulation of game activities between regulators and financial institutions using MTALAB R2018b, based on data from a commercial bank in China. Finally, this study provides effective recommendations for both regulators and financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Retaining customers is very important for the survival of e-commerce sellers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the roles of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools, interactivity, trust and perceived effectiveness of e-commerce institutional mechanisms (PEEIM) in influencing customer’s repurchase intention in the Chinese online e-commerce marketplace.Design/methodology/approach The research model is empirically tested using survey data analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling.Findings This study confirms the positive relation between customer satisfaction and trust in the seller, which further contributes to repurchase intention. Results also support the positive influences of effective use of an instant messenger and feedback system on customer perceived interactivity, which helps enhance trust in the seller. PEEIM demonstrates interesting results regarding its moderating effects.Research limitations/implications In the future, researchers can extend the study to other e-commerce platforms and take trust transfer effects and product categories into consideration.Practical implications This study highlights the importance to manage trust, PEEIM, interactivity and CMC tools in e-commerce platforms, assisting practitioners to develop appropriate business strategies and processes to retain customers.Originality/value This study extends previous investigations by integrating trust and PEEIM with interactivity and testing the model in the context of the Chinese online marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has experienced considerable economic growth since 1978, which was accompanied by unprecedented growth in urbanization and, more recently, by associated rising urban housing and land banking issues. One such issue is that of land hoarding – where real estate developers purchase land to hold unused in the rising market for a future lucrative sale, often several years later. This practice is outlawed in China, where land use is controlled by increasingly strengthened Government policies and inspectors. Despite this, land hoarding continues apace, with the main culprits being the developers and inspectors working subversively. This resembles a game between two players – the inspector and the developer – which provides the setting for this paper in developing an evolutionary game theory model to provide insights into dealing with the dilemmas faced by the players. The logic and dilemma of land banking strategy and illegal land banking issues are analysed, along with the land inspector's role from a game theory perspective by determining the replication dynamic mechanism and evolutionary stable strategies under the various conditions that the players face. The major factors influencing the actions of land inspectors, on the other hand, are the costs of inspection, no matter if it is strict or indolent, conflict costs, and income and penalties from corruption. From this, it is shown that, when the net loss for corruption (income from corruption minus the penalties for corruption and cost of strict inspections) is less than the cost of strict inspections, the final evolutionary stable strategy of the inspectors is to carry out indolent inspections. Then, whether penalising developers for hoarding is severe or not, the evolutionary strategy for the developer is to hoard. The implications for land use control mechanisms and associated developer-inspector actions and counteractions are then examined in the light of the model's properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- Human resources have become a key issue in relation to the strong competition between service firms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between high-performance human resource management (HRM) within this field to firm performance, making a useful attempt to explore the "black box" of enterprise human resources management effect on firm performance. Design/methodology/approach -- In order to validate the relationship between high-performance HRM and firm performance, Chinese service industry samples were collected. Structural equation modeling and regression are adopted to estimate the direct effect of high-performance HRM on firm performance and the mediating role of innovation. Findings -- The results show that the impacts of high-performance HRM on firm performance are significant. Moreover, innovation plays a partial mediating role between them. Training, work analysis and employee participation has a significantly positive impact on firm performance, while effects of profit sharing, employee development and performance evaluation on enterprise performance is not significant. The results strongly support the hypothesis that innovation holds intermediary variables between high-performance HRM and firm performance. Practical implications -- Studying the relationship between high-performance HRM and firm performance can help Chinese enterprises more reasonable and effective learning foreign advanced management ideas and methods. And then can help Chinese enterprises to establish a high-performance HRM system that is suitable for Chinese enterprises; the research can help enterprises to identify meaningful practice of human resources management, outstanding keys, and perfect the HRM system of enterprises; research on innovation and innovative thinking is conducive to develop employees' innovation motive, promote employee' innovative behavior, and improve firm performance. Originality/value -- This paper takes innovation as a mediating variable into the model and studies the intermediary role of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land acquisition and demolition (LAD) provides large-scale non-agricultural construction land for China's rapid economic development and urbanization. Considering the shift from housing resettlement to monetary compensation, the number of relocated households becoming wealthy overnight during LAD have increased substantially. Relocated households that received high compensation likely experience a serious psychological impact and maybe unable to reasonably allocate their household assets. Although a few studies have investigated household asset allocation (HAA) of relocated households, the key influencing factors remain unknown. This study uses a regression model on the basis of the empirical research conducted in Hangzhou to mitigate this deficiency. The regression model analyzes HAA of relocated households from the perspectives of psychological cognition and external environmental stimuli. Empirical results revealed the following: first, mental accounting and social conformity have positive impacts on daily expense, leveraged, and long-term income accounts, and social conformity has a positive impact on investment accounts additionally; second, monetary compensation affects daily expense and investment accounts positively, financial market affects investment and long-term income accounts negatively, and social security affects investment and long-term income accounts positively; third, external stimuli partly moderated the relationship between psychological cognition and HAA. The findings can provide useful references for local governments to optimize the resettlement policy and also facilitate relocated households to allocate their assets reasonably. We construct a theoretical model of household asset allocation of relocated households and then use a regression model to analyze the impact of psychological cognition and external environmental stimuli on household asset allocation, and further provides suggestions for the government to formulate appropriate policies, for helping relocated households rationally allocate and adjust their household assets. [Display omitted] • Construct a theoretical model of household asset allocation (HAA) of relocated households. • Investigate the impact of psychological cognition and external environmental stimuli on HAA of relocated households. • Facilitate the government to formulate appropriate policies to assist HAA of relocated households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Conflicts over land have arisen frequently in China during rapid urbanization and have caused adverse impacts. Different from previous researches on land conflict analyzing its causes, types, consequences, methods of assessment and management, this paper develops a new analytic framework from a behavioral perspective based on game theory. The framework concerns the logic and strategy of conflicts of legal land acquisition, and that of illegal land conversion. The paper has established three innovative models: (1) the dynamic model for conflicts of legal land acquisition, (2) the game model of illegal land acquisition and (3) the game model of the black land market. These models are to explain how disputes and conflicts evolve and illustrate the logic and strategy of conflicts between local governments and farmers. Based on the Nash equilibrium of these models, the paper offers some important insights for policy direction in land acquisition and conflict management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The real estate industry is one of the fast growing industries in many developing countries such as China and India. The Chinese real estate industry has gone through many reforms from offering housing as part of its social welfare system, to the current capitalist model based on demand and supply. Due to these reforms and the shortage of lands for development in China's urban cities, many Chinese property firms have resorted to land banking in order to secure land property for future developments. However, in China, land speculation is considered illegal, while failure to purchase the suitable land for future developments will hinder the real estate developers’ future business and growth. The purpose of this paper is to develop a decision making model for property developments in their land banking decisions and strategies. The paper employed mathematical modeling and Monte Carlo simulation to examine our decision model, and further validated our results by conducting the simulation by using China Vanke Co. Ltd as a case study. This study is one of the first few studies that develop a decision model for land banking in China. It also helps real estate enterprises to make rational and dynamic decision in the current dynamic property market. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rapid industrialization and urbanization have resulted in a significant number of land-lost farmers in China. With the intensification of land expropriation and demolition, the problems of the "house-for-pension" scheme for land-lost farmers and housing security are also becoming increasingly serious. Based on the theory of planed behaviour, this study builds the consumption behaviour model of the "house-for-pension" scheme for land-lost farmers via questionnaire and survey methodology to deeply explore the key factors of lost-land farmers' expense intention on housing, and the hypotheses are verified by a structural equation modelling. The results show that the variables of attitude toward behaviour and subjective norms have a significant positive correlation with consumer intentions. At the same time, perceived price values, location preferences, perceived living environment, supporting service perception and perceived current house arrangement exist separately from attitude toward behaviour for individual behaviours. However, there is no positive correlation between perceptual behaviour control and consumer intentions, which contradicts the initial hypothesis of the study. This article explains that housing is the carrier of human life and maintains a heavy weight in daily life. Decisions cannot be made by individuals alone but by the entire family. The results reveal suggestions for enterprises, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including improving the overall evaluation of consumers from the multiattribute dimension of products, using norms to tap potential customers, and actively developing the industrial chain of retirement. The findings of this study can provide references for enterprises, governmental and nongovernmental organizations to formulate suitable housing products and public policies for elderly land-lost farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Monetary resettlement compensation influences the house purchase intention greatly. • Compensation flows back from rural to urban areas through house purchase behavior. • The existing policy has hindered two-way flow between urban- rural resources. • A new strategy to achieve two-way flow between urban-rural resources was proposed. The reasonable two-way flow of resources between urban and rural areas underlies the processes of urban-rural transformation and rural revitalization in China. The monetary resettlement compensation policy has been formulated to promote this two-way flow through market-oriented measures. This study extends the Theory of Planned Behavior by enhancing the variable of monetary resettlement compensation factor to analyze the behavioral tendencies of house purchase intention of relocated households in Zhejiang Province, China. An empirical analysis through PLS-SEM was conducted on the results obtained from 271 survey responses, and eight hypotheses were verified using SmartPLS 3. The results demonstrate that the monetary resettlement compensation policy may facilitate relocated households' purchase of houses in urban areas, which is indicative of compensation flowing back from the rural to urban areas through the house purchase behavior. Furthermore, a study on the possible gap between relocated households' purchase intention and their actual purchase behavior shows that the intention is aligned with actual action. The monetary resettlement compensation policy has thus failed and even hindered the achievement of a reasonable two-way flow of resources between urban and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An analytical framework for understanding institutional arrangements for UVRPs is established for the first time in the literature. • Decision-making and funding sources are used as two dimensions to classify institutional arrangements from the theory of NIE. • The findings are the result of evidence from 394 UVRPs collected in 5 cities in Zhejiang province, which was empirically tested by ANOVA test. Large-scale urban village redevelopment projects (UVRPs) have been implemented in different ways in China in recent years. This study develops an analytical framework for understanding the heterogeneity of institutional arrangements for UVRPs in China. The analytical framework is established from the perspective of neo-institutional economics. Decision-making and funding sources are used as two dimensions to classify the institutional arrangements into four categories: top-down with government funding (TGF), top-down with villager funding (TVF), bottom-up with villager funding (BVF) and bottom-up with private developer funding (BPDF). The comparative analysis reveals that the bottom-up institutional arrangement is generally more effective in political persuasion than the top-down one, especially when villagers' committees (VCs) that are responsible for the project implementation are elected freely and fairly. When incorporating the dimension of funding sources into the analysis, a TVF institutional arrangement is likely to incur higher transaction costs than a TGF institutional arrangement, leading to the project having a longer duration. However, when private developers are allowed to participate and to develop UVRPs, the transaction costs will increase due to opportunism and information asymmetry. Policymakers should play an active role in arbitration as it would effectively mitigate the size of transaction costs used to deal with clashes between VCs, ordinary villagers and private developers. Based on information for 394 UVRPs collected from five coastal cities in Zhejiang province, the research findings reveal that a TVF institutional arrangement, which has the highest transaction costs, is still dominant in China. This may be the result of policy continuity and path dependence. Institutional change is contingent on the relative costs, which are the sum of the transformation costs and the transaction costs. Incremental institutional change, rather than radical institutional change, is more likely to occur in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanisation is the key to China's modernisation. Extensive urban village redevelopment projects (UVRPs) have recently been implemented in China, with the expectation of generating positive socioeconomic and environmental effects. However, social instability has resulted from conflicts over land and informal settlements. In this study, we investigate the factors influencing conflict levels during the UVRP process. Based on data collected from 439 projects in seven Chinese cities, ordered logit regression reveals that UVRPs with a top-down rather than a bottom-up institutional arrangement are more likely to have violent conflicts. Projects implemented with a bottom-up and villager-funded approach involve lower levels of conflict than those with a bottom-up and private developer-funded approach. Other determinants, including factors related to policies, time, and space along with project specificity, also influence the conflict level during the redevelopment process. These empirical results can inform government approaches to policymaking, thus enabling more positive outcomes for both governments and affected villagers. • Social conflicts go with redevelopments of urban villages in mainland China. • Factors affecting the level of conflict are explored. • Data were collected from 439 projects in 7 Chinese cities. • Institutional arrangements matter in the determination of conflict levels. • A bottom-up villager-funding approach is more socially acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources in arid regions are concentrated in oasis areas and are sensitive to human activities. In this study, we examined how land use policy influenced water area decrease in Ejina, an oasis region located in northwest China. Standard deviational ellipse and spatial autocorrelation methods were used to examine the effects of land use policy on the spatiotemporal changes in the area of surface water from 1986 to 2012. The study found the following. 1) Since 1986, water bodies were lost gradually from west to east and the spatial distribution of water areas changed from discrete to agglomerated. 2) The points reflecting changes to water bodies agglomerated from west to east along the Heihe River and West Juyan Lake, especially in the last ten years. 3) Land use policies were divided into land institution and land regulation systems. Land institution systems (LIS) affected the spatial distribution of water changes; However, land regulation systems (LRS) had the opposite effect. Therefore, the effect of comprehensive implementation of land use policy did not play an effective role in the process of distribution in water area changes. To prevent bias in the selection of land use policy, the potential impacts of different kinds of land use policy on water area decrease should be taken into full consideration. It is also important to identify optimal combinations of LIS and LRS when policy makers carry out regional planning for sustainable development and to solve environment challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts in land acquisition and resettlement (LAR) in China frequently occur because of rapid urbanization and economic development. These conflicts require judicial decisions by law courts at various hierarchical levels. However, few studies examine the regular pattern of relevant judicial decisions to improve the resolution of conflicts related to LAR in China. The current study aims to identify the regular pattern of jurisdiction in the field of LAR in Zhejiang Province by examining 901 administrative litigation cases. Docking and blocking net, through which determines whether a judge supports plaintiffs in a nomological basis, is used to investigate these cases. Statistical analysis of jurisdictions, defendants, and causes of action was conducted in the study. Results indicate that jurisdictions, executive positioning of respondents, and causes of lawsuits are key issues that affect the judgment of the docking–blocking net. Results reveal that the temporal-hierarchical level of jurisdiction is negatively correlated with the plaintiffs' winning rate. The docking and blocking mechanism system of high-level courts within a jurisdiction likely provides adverse referees to plaintiffs. The executive positioning of respondents also affects judicial results. The plaintiffs’ winning rate deviates depending on the causes of lawsuits. Plaintiffs and defendants use the three factors to further their own interests as much as possible through affecting the final judicial decisions of the docking–blocking net. This study seeks to improve the legitimacy of executive action, thereby reducing the judicial costs of executive acts. The study contributes to the prevention of existing administrative and judicial conflicts of LAR by clarifying the weak points of administrative departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing energy structure to reduce carbon intensity is an effective way to build the low-carbon city development model. To assess the contribution potential of energy structure optimization in order to achieve the carbon intensity target in Hangzhou City, the component data prediction, scenario prediction, GMI (1, 1) model and other multidisciplinary approaches were adopted to predict the carbon intensity trends in the above said City from 2014 to 2020. This contribution potential is evaluated based on 9 kinds of combined scenarios. The results show that: 1. Under the same economic growth rate, with the increase in energy structure adjustment range, the carbon intensity “decline range” becomes larger, and the higher is the “contribution potential” of energy structure optimization to achieve the carbon intensity target. 2. Within the same range of energy structure optimization, the economic growth rate is lower, the carbon intensity “decline range” is smaller, and the “contribution potential” of energy structure optimization is higher for the same carbon intensity objective. By optimizing energy structure and industrial structures adjustment, the technology upgrading for carbon emissions and the scientific and technological level of the systematic industrial policies are more conducive to supporting the realization of low-carbon city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CH 4 emissions and yield in a double-rice system were estimated by DAYCENT and DNDC. • DAYCENT and DNDC efficiently simulated daily CH 4 emission pattern and grain yield. • Algorithms should be improved to simulate tillage practice in both models. • Tillage in the winter fallow season balance low CH 4 emission and maintain yield. Methane (CH 4) is an important greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and one of its major sources is rice cultivation. The main aim of this paper was to compare two well-established biogeochemical models, namely Daily Century (DAYCENT) and DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) for estimating CH 4 emissions and grain yields for a double-rice cropping system with tillage practice and/or stubble incorporation in the winter fallow season in Southern China. Both models were calibrated and validated using field measured data from November 2008 to November 2014. The calibrated models performed effectively in estimating the daily CH 4 emission pattern (correlation coefficient, r = 0.58–0.63, p < 0.001), but model efficiency (EF) values were higher in stubble incorporation treatments, with and without winter tillage (treatments S and WS) (EF = 0.22–0.28) than that in winter tillage without stubble incorporation treatment (W) (EF = −0.06–0.08). We recommend that algorithms for the impacts of tillage practice on CH 4 emission should be improved for both models. DAYCENT and DNDC also estimated rice yields for all treatments without a significant bias. Our results showed that tillage practice in the winter fallow season (treatments WS and W) significantly decreased annual CH 4 emissions, by 13–37 % (p < 0.05) for measured values, 15–20 % (p < 0.05) for DAYCENT-simulated values, and 12–32 % (p < 0.05) for DNDC-simulated values, respectively, compared to no-till practice (treatments S), but had no significant impact on grain yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The main aim of this study is to examine the factors that affect Chinese consumers’ intention to adopt 3G. This study has extended the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by incorporating the determinants of perceived usefulness, cost, trust, and demographic profiles of Chinese consumers. Data is collected from Chinese consumers via self-administered questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the research model proposed. Our result showed that social influence, service quality and perceived ease of use have a direct and significant relationship with perceived usefulness of 3G, and this in turn affects the consumers’ decision to adopt 3G. Contrary to existing TAM research, perceived ease of use was not found to have a direct and significant influence with Chinese consumers’ intention to adopt 3G. Our study also revealed that those with higher educational level are more likely to adopt 3G. Based on the findings, this research is able to propose several practical recommendations to 3G providers in China, such as enhancing the variety of services provided through collaborations with mobile software and content developers. Furthermore, 3G providers can focus on promoting 3G through services such as “Friends and Family” packages as Chinese consumers’ 3G adoption decisions is influenced by their social network. In terms of theoretical contributions, this study has answered many calls from past researchers to investigate the determinants of perceived usefulness. This research was also conducted in China, which is one of the largest telecommunication markets in the world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

China's rapid urbanization and industrialization have affected the spatiotemporal patterns of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) pollution, which has led to greater environmental pressures. In order to mitigate the environmental pressures caused by NO 2 pollution, it is of vital importance to investigate the influencing factors. We first obtained data for NO 2 pollution at the city level using satellite observation techniques and analyzed its spatial distribution. Next, we introduced a theoretical framework, an extended stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology (STIRPAT) model, to quantify the relationship between NO 2 pollution and its contributing natural and socio-economic factors. The results are as follows. Cities with high NO 2 pollution are mainly concentrated in the North China Plain. On the contrary, southwestern cities are characterized by low NO 2 pollution. In addition, we find that population, per capita gross domestic product, the share of the secondary industry, ambient air pressures, total nighttime light data, and urban road area have a positive impact on NO 2 pollution. In contrast, increases in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), relative humidity, temperature, and wind speed may reduce NO 2 pollution. These empirical results should help the government to effectively and efficiently implement further emission reductions and energy saving policies in Chinese cities in a bid to mitigate the environmental pressures.