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This study explores the relationship between the agglomeration of modern service industry and tourism efficiency in China based on the data from 2012 to 2017. The estimated coefficients of the specialized agglomeration were 0.001 and 0.009 in the eastern and western region, and both are significant at the 5% level. The estimated coefficients of the diversified agglomeration are 0.0002 (significant at the 10% level) and 0.0003 (significant at the 1% level) in the eastern and western region, indicating that two types of modern service industry agglomeration promoted the tourism efficiency. According to the influencing mechanism test, the specialized agglomeration of modern service industry could improve tourism efficiency through 'technology spillover effect'. The influence of the 'demonstration and learning effect' exceeded the 'crowding effect' brought by the diversified agglomeration of modern service industry, which exerted a positive effect on the improvement of tourism efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the main research progress of thermoplastic elastomer modified asphalt, the thermoplastic elastomer materials being used in road engineering is emphasized・ The influencing mechanism of thermoplastic elastomer on asphalt is analyzed in the aspects of the thermoplastic elastomer material struc・ ture, relative molecular mass and compatibility with asphalt. The advantages of thermoplastic elastomer in asphalt modification are revealed, the problems existing in the current research results are summarized and the development trend of this kind of materials in the future are prospected・ These results provide a theo・ retical basis for subsequent in-depth study and popularization and application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of South Architecture / Nanfang Jianzhu is the property of South Architecture Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Under the background that economy and urbanization of China are gradually entering the stage of high-quality development, clarifying the influence of economic development on urban livability is of significant academic and practical value. In this paper, regarded as one "factor", livability was introduced into the research framework of production function, and a theoretical model of the impact of economic development on urban livability was established. Based on the panel data of 40 cities in China from 2005 to 2019, the System GMM, panel threshold model and other methods were further adopted to carry out an empirical analysis. The results show that: (1) The livability level of large and medium-sized cities in China from 2005 to 2019 has been rising generally, but they present obvious characteristics of dimensional and spatial differentiation. (2) In general, economic development has an inhibiting effect on the improvement of urban livability, but this logical effect shows obvious heterogeneity in different time periods and diverse city scales. This inhibitory effect is more significant for the cities before entering the new normal phase of economy, and large-scale municipalities and economically-developed provincial capitals (namely Class-A cities). (3) There are significant threshold effects in the impact of economic development on urban livability, where the threshold variables are income level and economic development. With the increase of city dwellers' income, this effect presents an inverted N-shaped nonlinear feature. When the development of economy makes the average wage of employees between 60,000 and 80,000 yuan, economic development can significantly improve urban livability. Also, there is a significant single threshold inhibitory effect when economic development is taken as a threshold variable. However, its negative impact shows a law of diminishing marginal efficiency. In addition, a similar threshold effect is found in smaller-scale Class-B cities. The findings of this research can provide some insights for urban planners and policymakers in both China and vast developing countries to understand better the relationship between economic development and urban livability. Finally, according to the research findings, we proposed the corresponding policy enlightenment from both "macro guidance" and "micro action". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Geography & Geographic Information Science is the property of Geography & Geo-Information Science Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

[Objective] The objective of this study was to scientifically examine the coupling rule, spatial characteristics, and formation mechanism of population and built-up area changes under the differential population flow in county units, and improve the multi-scale and multi-level allocation mechanism for the intensive use of land resources. [Methods] Taking the urban agglomeration of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as the study area and using GIS spatial analysis and econometric models, this study explored the pattern, coupling relationship, and driving mechanism of population density change in the built-up areas at the county level. [Results] The study found that: (1) From 2009 to 2018, population of 61% of the areas in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region decreased. The population growth was concentrated in peripheral districts of Beijing and Tianjin and municipal districts of Hebei Province. Meanwhile, the corridor between Beijing and Tianjin and the central urban areas of prefecture-level cities in Hebei were the high-growth areas of the built-up areas in the region, and the growth rate of the built-up areas of both Beijing and Tianjin slowed down significantly. (2) Population density in the built-up areas of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region declined by 323 people per square kilometer, and substantial decline areas were concentrated in counties in Hebei Province. The coupling relationship between population and built-up area changes was dominated by the pattern of “shrinkage and extensive” type from 2009 to 2018, which increased pressure on land resource allocation. (3) Population flow and industrial development model significantly influenced population density change in the built-up areas, but the increase of urbanization rate did not exhibit a significant effect on land use efficiency. [Conclusion] The relationship change between the populations and built-up areas of county-level units in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is significantly different, and the pressure of intensive use of the built-up areas in counties surrounding central cities, especially located in the central and southern plain farming areas of Hebei Province is increasing. Therefore, it’s urgent to innovate the multi-scale coordination mechanism of provinces, prefectural cities and counties, and optimize the multi-level policy system for reusing idle land in urban-rural areas.

Under the background of climate change, frequent heavy rainfall and floods have a great influence on the developing countries in the monsoon region in Southeast Asia, which may change the incidence pattern or regional difference of bacillary dysentery. In the review, we summarize the progress in researches on associations of rainstorm and flood on bacillary dysentery, mechanism and path of the influence, related environmental-social factors, and main models in the studies. Many studies have shown that rainstorm and flooding significantly increase the risk of bacillary dysentery; a number of studies also have dealt with relevant environmental-social factors such as infrastructure overload, geographic landscape pattern, economic development, urban and rural difference, and medical staff allocation. The results of the studies indicated that the heavy rainfall and floods-induced risk of bacillary dysentery incidence varied among populations of different gender, age, occupation, and living regions. The analytical models adopted by the studies include generalized additive model, distributed lag nonlinear model, and Poisson regression model. Further studies are warrented to explore the mechanism path of the influece of heavy rainfall and floods on bacillary dysentery incidence.

[Display omitted] This study demonstrates Ti and Pt co-doping can synergistically improve the PEC performance of the α-Fe 2 O 3 photoanode. By varying the doping methods, the sample with in-situ Ti ex-situ Pt doping (Ti i -Pt e) exhibits the best performance. It demonstrates that Ti doping in bulk facilities charge separation and Pt doping on the surface further accelerates charge transfer. In contrast, Ti doping on the surface inhibits charge separation, and Pt doping in bulk hinders charge separation and transfer. HCl treatment is used to minimize the onset potential further, while it is favorable for the ex-situ doped α-Fe 2 O 3 , which is more efficient on Ti e than the Pt e -doped ones. On the ex-situ Ti-doped α-Fe 2 O 3 after HCl treatment, anatase TiO 2 is probed, suggesting that Ti-O bonds accumulate when Fe-O bonds are partly removed, which enhances the charge transfer in surface states. Unfortunately, HCl treatment also induces lattice defects that are adverse to charge transport, inhibiting the performance of in-situ doped α-Fe 2 O 3 and excessively treated ex-situ doped ones. Coupled with methanol solvothermal treatment and NiOOH/FeOOH cocatalysts loading, the optimized Ti-Pt/Fe 2 O 3 photoanode exhibits an impressive photocurrent density of 2.81 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE and a low onset potential of 0.60 V vs. RHE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Qaidam Basin (QB) is a concentrated distribution area and chemical industrial bases of salt lakes in China. Lakes in the QB have been expanding during the past 20 years. Rapid lake expansion resulted in some considerable scientific issues on the protection of salt lake resources and infrastructure, and monitoring of hydrological processes at the lake-basin scale. Although the spatial-temporal trends of lake changes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) have been well documented, the underlying influencing mechanism and hydrogeological implications of rapid lake changes in the QB are not well understood. Three lakes in the northern QB were selected to investigate lake water level fluctuations on different time scales based on extensive in-situ monitoring and satellite observations. The influencing mechanism and hydrogeological implications of rapid changes of terminal lakes were discussed in combination with the reported increasing precipitation rate and mass balance of glaciers in the northern QTP. Results reveal the following: (1) the fluctuation pattern of Sugan Lake was asynchronous and out of phase with that of Xiao Qaidam and Toson Lakes during the monitoring period; (2) Sugan Lake water rose gradually, and the rise interval was from late April to early July. In contrast, Xiao Qaidam and Toson Lakes took on a rapid and steep rise, and the rise intervalwas from late July to September; (3) the influencing mechanisms for rapid lake fluctuations are controlled by different factors: glacier and snow melting with increasing temperature for Sugan Lake and increasing precipitation for Xiao Qaidam and Toson Lakes; (4) in accordance with different intervals and influencing mechanisms of rapid lake expansions in the QB, hydrological risk precaution of lakes and corresponding river catchments was conducted in different parts of the basin. This study provided an important scientific basis for assessing the hydrological process and hydrological risk precaution, and protection of salt lake resources along with rapid lake expansions in the arid area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of globalization and the intensification of international competition, the construction of public cultural facilities has long been not limited to meeting the cultural needs of the people but has become an important initiative to shape the competitiveness of cities. This paper collected POI and socio-economic statistics from 2012 to 2020 from 285 Chinese cities and employed the coefficient of variation (CV), Gini index (GI), ESDA, and GeoDetector to analyze the spatial patterns and driving mechanisms of public cultural facilities. Findings: (1) Public cultural facilities in Chinese cities were featured by evident regional gradient differences and uneven spatial distributions, with a CV greater than 1.3 and a GI greater than 0.5 in both years. They also showed signs of aggregation at weak levels, with a Moran I of 0.15 in both years and a cluster pattern of "hot in the east and cold in the west". (2) Different types of public cultural facilities had differences in their differentiation, aggregation, and change trends. The CV changed from 1.39~2.69 to 1.06~1.92, and the GI changed from 0.53~0.80 to 0.47~0.62, with the differentiation of libraries, museums, theaters, art galleries, and cultural centers decreasing gradually, while that of exhibition halls increased day by day. As the Moran I increased from 0.08~0.20 to 0.12~0.24, libraries, museums, art galleries, and cultural centers showed weak aggregation with an increasingly strong trend. Theaters and exhibition halls also showed weak aggregation but in a declining trend, with the Moran I changing from 0.15~1.19 to 0.09~0.1. (3) The five driving variables exhibit significant differences in their strength across time and across regions, with the economic and infrastructure factors being the strongest and the urbanization factor the weakest. There are significant differences in the strength of the driving forces among the factors, with the total retail sales of consumers, the number of subscribers to internet services, regular higher education institutions, and undergraduates in regular HEIs playing both direct and interactive roles as the core factors. (4) The 285 cities in China are divided into four policy zonings of star, cow, question, and dog cities. Star cities should maintain their status quo without involving too much policy intervention, whereas the core and important factors should be the focus of policy in dog cities and cow cities, and the auxiliary factors should be the focus of policy in question cities. This paper contributes to the in-depth knowledge of the development pattern of public cultural facilities and provides a more refined basis for the formulation of public cultural facility promotion policies in China and similar countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the challenges of energy depletion, environmental pollution and food security caused by extensive agriculture development are attracting global attention. In China, the construction of ecological farms is a key initiative to effectuate the goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, contributing to high-quality agricultural development. Based on this, this study selects the national-level ecological farms directories issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China in 2021 and 2022, and collects the corresponding economic, social and physical geographic data for GIS spatial analysis and Geodetector. The results are as follows: (1) The distribution of ecological farms in various provinces of China is uneven and spatially clustered. It generally presents a 'high in the east and low in the west with concentrated cores' pattern. The construction scope significantly expanded over time, and the high-value areas of nuclear density are concentrated in East China, with the development core transitioned from East China to Central China. (2) Environmental conditions, industrial foundation, economic and social development level, science and technology level and financial support all significantly affect the spatial distribution of ecological farms in China, among which the science and technology level has the most significant enhancement effect on other factors. (3) Environmental conditions provide the construction basis for ecological farms, while economic and social development level and financial support determine the number of ecological farms. The industrial foundation affects the scale of ecological farms in China, while the level of science and technology eliminates the restrictions of other factors to a certain extent. This study provides a reference for optimizing the spatial distribution pattern of ecological farms in China and promoting ecological agriculture. In addition, it presents a viable approach to safeguarding food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various forms of agricultural subsidy policies often have a significant impact on the development of the agricultural economy and also shape the differentiated spatial pattern of regional agricultural economic resilience, while research on the evolution process of agricultural economic resilience and its influencing mechanisms is still very scarce. This study is based on the impact of China's cancellation of the temporary corn storage policy on corn prices in 2016. By using an economic resilience analysis framework, we selected the indicators of total agricultural output value and disposable income of farmers to measure the agricultural economic resilience of various cities in Jilin Province and analyzed the characteristics and causes of the spatio-temporal change in agricultural economic resilience in Jilin Province from 2008 to 2021. The results show the following: (1) The transition from price and subsidy integration policy to decoupled subsidy policy helps to shape stronger regional agricultural economic resilience, but due to factors such as farmer policy dependence, low international corn prices, severe oversupply in the domestic corn market, and the suddenness of policy changes, there was a short-term decline in agricultural economic resilience in Jilin Province in the early stage of the decoupled subsidy policy (2016–2017), which rapidly increased after 2017. (2) The agricultural economic resilience levels of cities in Jilin Province showed different spatial differentiation characteristics at different stages within the study period, and the central region, as an important corn production area in Jilin Province, had significant changes in agricultural economic resilience. (3) During the execution of the price and subsidy integration policy, the enhancement of agricultural input capacity and agricultural output capacity helped to improve regional agricultural economic resilience; during the execution of the decoupled subsidy policy, the government's support for agriculture and the potential of rural markets had a significant impact on the improvement of agricultural economic resilience. At the same time, the interaction and enhancement effect between influencing factors also had a profound impact on agricultural economic resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of South Architecture / Nanfang Jianzhu is the property of South Architecture Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ecosystem services are the media and channels through which ecological elements, structures, functions, and products benefit human society. Regulating the utilization intensity and protection methods of society on the ecosystem according to the ecosystem service value (ESV) and its influencing mechanism is of great significance for achieving the sustainable development goals. This paper takes the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) as the research object and describes the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of ESV in the GBA from 2000 to 2015. Panel quantile regression is also implemented to increase the understanding of the influencing mechanism of ESV. The main results are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2015, the total ESV declined with a decreasing rate. The areas of decline were mainly distributed in the central part of the GBA and areas along the Pearl River Estuary. (2) Elasticity index, indicating response of ESV to land use change, reached its peak (1.08). The spatial distribution of elasticity index showed that land use changes brought about more intense ESV variations at the junction of cities. (3) In areas with different ESV levels, the influencing factors have different effects. Land use integrity can only promote ecosystem service capabilities in low-ESV areas. The positive effect of temperature on ecosystem service capacity increases with the increase of ESV, which reflects the self-reinforcement of the ecosystem. Moreover, the negative effect of economic density on ecosystem service capacity decreases with the increase of ESV, which reflects the self-protection of the ecosystem. The combination of such self-reinforcement and self-protection will lead to an ESV gap between the high- and low-ESV areas, and induce the "natural Matthew effect." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Freshwater lakes are still facing a series of problems, e.g. a decline in water quality, and a decrease in biodiversity. Thus, assessing the state of aquatic ecological health of the lake has drawn widespread attention from scholars both at home and abroad. Aims: This study aims to assess the state of aquatic ecological health of Poyang Lake and analyse the influencing factors. Methods: The long-term (2007–2018) site-monitoring data were analysed on the basis of the extension–evaluation method and correlation-analysis method. Key results: The results showed that the aquatic ecological health was mainly ' good ', and remarkable seasonal differences were observed. The seasonal order of relative aquatic ecological health could be expressed as the wet season being better than the dry season, whereas the rising season was similar to the retreating season. And the pollutant discharged into the lake was found to be the key factor, and the hydrological conditions led to seasonal differences in the state of aquatic ecological health of Poyang Lake. Conclusions: Consequently, scholars and policymakers should focus on both nutrient concentrations and hydrological conditions, which are the key factors influencing the aquatic ecological health of Poyang Lake. Implications: The results of this study have provided a theoretical and practical basis of the causes of ecological deterioration and should help with ecological-health protection of the large lakes connected with the Yangtze River. The aquatic ecological health assessment and the influencing mechanism have attracted great attention of researchers. This study assessed the aquatic ecological health of Poyang Lake and analysed the influencing factors based on. The results showed that the aquatic ecological health was mainly 'good', and remarkable seasonal differences were observed. Our results indicated that scholars and policymakers should focus on both nutrient concentrations and hydrological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When rockfall occurs along dense rock slopes, the rotation direction of rockfall is not always downhill. Specifically, the rockfall may obtain a reverse rotation speed (RRS) after impact under certain conditions, the effect of which on the restitution coefficient (RC) cannot be ignored. According to the statistical results of the reverse rotation (RR) phenomena of blocks obtained from previous experiments, the occurrence of RR is correlated to the block shape, incident angle, and contact attitude. In this study, considering a typically shaped cubic block, the critical condition for the RR is preliminarily deduced. Based on the results, the influence of the RRS on the RC for four typically shaped blocks is examined using a customized device. Results show that the tangential RC (Rt) values of each block are not sensitive to the change in the RRS, the distribution is relatively concentrated and the values are high. Moreover, the normal RC (Rn) values are not sensitive to the RRS, and the distribution is relatively discrete. The RRS influences Rn; however, it is difficult to directly establish the relationship between them. To this end, considering the contact attitude and shape of the block, an integral variable, the impact coefficient (Ic), is proposed to determine the influence of RRS on Rn. Moreover, the impact-bounce behaviours of the block are categorized and analysed. For the block rebound following a single impact, Ic and Rn are positively and negatively correlated when the mass centre of the block (MC) is in front and behind the contact point (CP), respectively. For the block rebound following two successive impacts, with the increase in Ic, the Rn increases. These conclusions help clarify the mechanism of the influence of the RRS on RC and provide vital information and ideas for the development and optimization of a program to accurately predict rockfall trajectories.

The unbalanced industrial development in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei leads to the economic development with increasingly prominent environmental problems, which is not conducive to the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. This research constructs a composite multiple mediation model with government factors as independent variables, market factors, technological innovation, and location factors as mediating variables, and coordinated development as outcome variables to conduct an empirical study. The PLS-SEM method was used to evaluate and test the initial model and the modified model. After several fittings, the optimal model is obtained, the study found that the mediating effect value of technological innovation was the largest between government factors to coordinated development effects, followed by the mediating variables location factors and market factors. It is recommended to build a common research and sharing mechanism for green technological innovation in pollution reduction and accelerate the speed of transformation of green achievements; build an internal and external construction mechanism based on thermal power and other high haze pollution industrial systems to improve the proportion of high quality population; build a financial hierarchical expenditure guarantee mechanism and strive to create an environment open to foreign business.

To mitigate global climate change and achieve the targets of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the Chinese government implemented a carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) pilot policy in batches. However, there has been no unified consensus at present on whether the ETS pilot policy has stimulated green technological innovation. By applying a multi-period propensity score matching and difference-in-differences method, as well as using panel data from 2007–2019 of A-share listed Chinese firms, this study constructed a quasi-natural experiment to examine the causal effects of China's ETS pilot policy on the green technological innovation of the firms. The results were validated after a series of robustness checks and showed that the ETS has significantly encouraged green technological innovation in industrial enterprises. This positive effect is greater for firms with large capital scales, with better corporate governance, especially for those in the mining and manufacturing industry. Further analysis indicated that corporate social responsibility and operating income were the driving factors of the effects on innovation, whereas R&D expenditures have inhibited the effects.

Copyright of Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology / Yingyong Shengtai Xuebao is the property of Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Agro-Environment Science is the property of Journal of Agro-Environment Science Editorial Board and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Urban travel is a major component of urban transport, and the total carbon emissions of urban transport can be effectively reduced if the carbon emissions of residents' travel can be reasonably controlled. Based on the questionnaire data of many different types of residential areas in Guangzhou, the daily travel behaviour of residents was analysed and their travel carbon emissions were calculated. The differences in travel characteristics and travel carbon emissions of residents in different types of residential areas were compared. The influencing factors of residents' travel carbon emissions were divided into three categories: individual socio-economic factors, built environment, and residents' travel behaviour. On this basis, a structural equation model is established to study the impact mechanism of residents' travel carbon emissions. The path relationship between endogenous variables and endogenous variables, as well as the path relationship between exogenous variables and endogenous variables were investigated. The interactions between various influencing factors of residents' travel carbon emissions were examined. The results show that: (1) there are significant differences in residents' travel carbon emissions in different types of municipalities. Residents' travel carbon emissions in Guangzhou are closer to the 60/20 distribution; (2) compared with individual socio-economic factors, the impact of the built environment on travel carbon emissions is more obvious; (3) travel distance and travel mode are the factors that directly affect residents' travel carbon emissions. Proposals have been made to reduce the carbon emissions of residents travelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used Chongqing, a municipality in mountainous southwest China, and its surrounding areas as a case study to explore the spatial differentiation of farmland transfer rents in mountainous areas, with the aim of serving as a theoretical and practical reference to realize the value of farmland, ensure regional food security, and promote stable and sound development of the farmland transfer market. In doing so, we applied the GIS spatial analysis method to explore the spatial differentiation and influencing mechanisms of farmland transfer rents in mountainous areas. Our results indicate that farmland transfer rents in mountainous areas have a significant high and low clustering tendency. The high-value areas of farmland transfer rents are mainly located in the downtown area and the west of Chongqing, while the low-value areas are mainly distributed in the Daba Mountains and Wuling Mountains, which are two national contiguous areas of dire poverty. Location and terrain factors are the main driving forces for the spatial differentiation of farmland transfer rents in mountainous areas. Specifically, a 1% increase in farmland mean slope and farmland supply-demand ratio in the study area will lead to a 0.13 and 0.15% decrease in farmland transfer rents, respectively, while a 1% increase in GDP will drive up farmland transfer rents by 0.09%. The policy factor is not significant. The influence of terrain and farmland supply and demand on transfer rents increased from west to east, whereas the influence of traffic location on transfer rents decreased in an outward direction from the southwest of the study area. It is concluded that local governments should objectively view the spatial differentiation of farmland transfer rents in mountainous areas and avoid the blind comparison of transfer rents between regions. Mountainous areas with low transfer rents should focus on increasing the intrinsic value of farmland assets by stimulating effective demand for farmland and improving farming conditions, while mountainous areas with high transfer rents in major grain-producing counties should be wary of their impact on grain production to ensure regional food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Soochow University Philosophy & Social Sciences Edition is the property of Soochow University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

[Purpose/Significance] Postgraduates are the new force and reserve force of academic research. The discussion about trust and influencing mechanism of their academic information consumption will help improve the quality of academic information production and service, and better meet their academic information consumption needs. The contribution of this paper is on the one hand, few articles systematically studied postgraduate students' academic information consumption behavior from the perspective of trust; on the other hand, the research conclusion is a new idea: the study on the analysis of the graduate students' trust in academic information based on consumer behavior impact mechanism, from creating the atmosphere of academic information sources of trust, strengthening academic information channels fiduciary level, improving the level of academic information content trusted three angles proposed strengthening graduate student academic information consumption behavior trust mechanism,. [Method/Process] Based on the relevant theories of trust and information utilization behavior, interviews of 40 students were used to obtain the first-hand data. Before the formal interview, two authors conducted the pre-interview with 10 postgraduate students with rich experience in academic information consumption, respectively. Then, according to the feedback of the pre-interview, they determined the formal interview outline. Using the method of grounded theory to code the data in open coding, spindle coding and selective coding, a model of the influencing mechanism of postgraduate students' trust in academic information consumption was constructed, and the model was explained in detail. Finally, the strategies for improving postgraduate students' academic information consumption were proposed. [Results/Conclusions] Information source, information channel characteristics, the information content characteristic and personal characteristics influence postgraduates' perception of academic information trust, and postgraduates' perception of academic information trust affects their information consumption. Perceived trust plays a mediating role between the above four factors and academic information consumption. This paper proposes strategies to improve the academic information consumption of postgraduate students from the following three aspects: firstly, two-way efforts to create an atmosphere of trust in academic information sources. Secondly, to improve services and enhance the credibility of academic information channels. Thirdly. To attach importance to quality and improve the credibility of academic information content.

In order to investigate the pore characteristic of coking coal in Xishan Coalfield and its influence on methane desorption, cryogenic liquid nitrogen adsorption method was used to analyze the pore structures of six typical coking coal samples. Combining the experimental results with methane desorption, the effect of pore structures on methane desorption characteristics of coking coal was analyzed from the micro level. The results show that both pore volume and pore specific surface area of coking coals are changed in the wide range of 0.017 4-0.081 3 cm3/g and 0.84-2.59 m2/g, respectively. Micropores are most developed among all the pore types in coking coal, and they mainly occupy the pore surface area. However, micropore volume is small, and pore volume is mainly contributed by macropores and mesopores. Pore volume is the main influencing factor of coking coal desorption, simultaneously the increase of pore surface area also contributes to gas desorption. Moisture content in coking coal has great impact on gas desorption. It is easy for water molecules to block the pore-fracture channels, further to inhibit gas desorption, leading to the reduction of total desorption volume.

Urban flood is one of the most frequent and deadly natural disasters in the world, seriously affecting urban sustainability and people's well-being in China. As the largest developing country in the world, China urgently needs to improve its urban flood resilience. Previous studies related to urban flood resilience are mostly focused on its assessment method and simulation. However, few studies directly aim to reveal the influencing factors of urban flood resilience and their inner relationships. In order to make a significant contribution to the long-term improvement of urban flood resilience in the context of global climate change and urbanization, it is crucial to explore the influencing mechanisms of urban flood resilience. This study aims to identify key influencing factors and their interactions on urban flood resilience in China. To this end, a conceptual framework based on Pressure-State-Response model and Social-Economic-Natural Complex Ecosystem theory (PSR-SENCE model) are established and 24 factors are identified within three dimensions. The relationships between the factors are tested using a fuzzy-DEMATEL method. The results reveal that factors in pressure and response dimensions have a greater impact on the whole system, while the factors in the state dimension are more influenced by the other two dimensions. The results identify 14 critical factors, with four detailed influence paths discussed among the different dimensions. Accordingly, the implications for improving urban flood resilience are discussed within the context of the key influencing paths. The study provides a theoretical basis and approach to directly explore how the factors influencing urban flood resilience and proposes specific impact paths and improvement implications.

Based on data from China's A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2018, in this paper, we examine the impact of FinTech on corporate zombification risk. We find that FinTech can reduce corporate zombification risk; for each unit increase in FinTech, the probability of a company becoming a zombie firm decreases by 7.8%. In addition, FinTech can reduce corporate zombification risk by improving the efficiency of bank credit and government subsidies. Furthermore, the breadth of FinTech coverage and the depth of application can reduce corporate zombification risk, but the degree of digitization fails to play a role. Finally, not only can FinTech reduce corporate zombification risk, but it can also inhibit the contagion effect of zombie firms in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of digital economy affects environmental pollution emission and green sustainable development. However, the relationship between digital economy and industrial wastewater discharge has rarely been examined. This study establishes the urban digital economy evaluation index system, measures the digital economy indexes of 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2016, and examines the impact effect of digital economy development on industrial wastewater discharge using the system generalized method of moment method and the intermediary effects model. The empirical results indicate that the digital economy reduces the industrial wastewater discharge. As evidence shows, the digital economy significantly promotes the upgrading of industrial structure, which is an important factor affecting the industrial wastewater discharge. Additionally, the inhibiting effect of digital economy on industrial wastewater discharge is more significant in big cities. This study provides a scientific base and guidance for reducing environmental pollution emissions and promoting the development of digital economy. HIGHLIGHTS The effect of digital economy on industrial wastewater discharge is explored.; The digital economy reduces the discharge of industrial wastewater.; The mediating role of upgrading the industrial structure is established.; The inhibitory effect of digital economy on the discharge of industrial wastewater is significant in big cities.;

Extreme weather has been more frequent in recent years. Urban agglomerations, as areas with a high density of human activities, have been plagued by storm flooding. Historically, the main focus of attention on flood control in urban agglomerations has gradually shifted from underground pipe networks to the impervious surface, reflecting profound changes in the influencing mechanism of urban flooding. Exploring the evolution of the mechanisms influencing urban flooding in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) urban agglomeration is of great reference significance for formulating flood prevention and control measures and promoting high-quality development of the GBA city cluster. In this paper, we fully use the collected information on urban flooding events from 1980 to 2018 in the GBA city cluster. Correlation analysis and geographically weighted regression (GWR) are used to analyze the influence of impervious surface percentage (ISP), impervious surface aggregation index (AI), impervious surface mean shape index (Shape_MN), vegetation cover (FVC), water surface ratio (WSR), relative elevation (RE) and slope on flooding in urban clusters and their evolution characteristics over time from a global perspective and spatial heterogeneity, respectively. The results show that: 1) ISP, AI, Shape_MN, and WSR are positively correlated with urban flooding, while FVC, RE, and Slope are negatively correlated with urban flooding. The correlations of each factor showed a general trend of gradual strengthening over time, and the increase rate slowed down after 2000, while the correlation of WSR showed a relatively noticeable decrease. 2) The GWR results show that each factor’s influence on urban flooding has pronounced spatial-temporal heterogeneity, and each factor shows different distribution characteristics. This study uses long time series of urban flooding point data to explore the spatial-temporal evolution of the influencing mechanism of urban flooding in the GBA urban agglomeration. We hope to provide a scientific basis for an in-depth understanding of the causes of urban flooding in the GBA, intending to provide auxiliary decision-making support for the formulation of waterlogging prevention and control measures.

Objective: Explored the expression of miR-29a in puerpera with RSA and its influencing mechanism. Method: 52 patients with RSA group were divided into 30 cases representing ≤3 abortions and 22 cases with ≥4 abortions,thirty healthy women who had induced abortion during the same period as the control group. The differences in the expression levels of miR-29a, FKBP52 mRNA, VEGF, MVD, and HIF-lα were compared between the groups by conducting a correlation analysis. Results: The expression levels of miR-29a, VEGF, MVD, and HIF-lα in the chorionic villus were significantly higher among patients in the group with ≥4 abortions than in those in the group with ≤3 abortions (P < 0.05), and the expression levels of FKBP52 mRNA were lower in the former than in the latter (P < 0.05). A Spearman correlation analysis revealed that the expression levels of miR-29a were positively correlated with the levels of VEGF, MVD, and HIF-lα (P < 0.05) and negatively correlated with the expression level of FKBP52 mRNA (P < 0.05). Conclusion: MiR-29a may be involved in the pathogenesis of RSA by inhibiting the protein expressions of FKBP52 and VEGF, promoting the apoptosis of trophoblasts, and impairing neovascularization, resulting in placental vascular dysplasia.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, China has lost its demographic dividend. Meanwhile, in the face of the twin challenges of rising living costs and the uneven distribution of educational resources, the fertility intentions of ordinary people are rapidly declining. In the background, China's latest birth incentive policy has not had the desired effect. Especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, these issues have become more complicated, making it more difficult to achieve policy goals. Analysis of changing characteristics and influencing mechanisms in China's current stage of population growth is therefore significant. Such analysis can help improve China's population structure and preserve the advantage of human resource endowment. In this paper, we use data from 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 as made available from the resources of China's National Bureau of Statistics and National Health Commission. These included annual macro statistics, seventh census data, and COVID-19 pandemic data, allowing us to analyze the influencing mechanism of China's population growth by using the Geographic Detector Model. The research revealed the dependency ratio as the primary factor influencing spatial differentiation of population growth in China, indicating that the dependency burden plays a role in inhibiting population growth. The secondary factor showed different changes in stages. At the same time, any two factors showed more substantial explanatory power after the interaction, meaning the spatial distribution of China's population growth results from the joint influence of many factors. The strong interaction was mainly concentrated around the dependency ratio and were with women's political participation and internet coverage. However, under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the explanatory power of traditional factors was diluted, leading to a decline in the strength of interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet technology has been assimilated into children's educational system on an in-depth level. In particular, the number of children who use the internet for entertainment has been rapidly increasing. However, there has been a debate as to whether internet entertainment can have a detrimental impact on children's cognitive ability. This paper investigates the effect of internet entertainment on the cognitive ability of children in the Chinese context. The results show no evidence of associations between internet entertainment and children's cognitive ability. However, the additional analysis provides preliminary evidence suggesting that internet entertainment can be beneficial to children who use it for entertainment only on weekends but detrimental for those who spend leisure time online daily. In addition, the findings are robust in a variety of sensitivity tests. We also examine whether the effects of internet entertainment on children's cognitive ability in different family environments are heterogeneous. The findings suggest that parents' internet habits, parents' internet supervision, parental relationship, family education and living area play a moderating role in the relationship between internet entertainment and children's cognitive ability. This study offers useful insights into the current global debate on the nexus between internet entertainment and children's cognitive ability and also provides suggestions for parents, children, regulators and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In near-neutral solutions, the effects of NH4HF2, H3PO4, phytic acid (IP6), and EDTA-ZnNa2 concentration on corrosion resistance and the Zn amount of micro-arc oxidation (MAO) coatings were revealed by an orthogonal experiment. The influencing order of four factors on coating corrosion resistance is EDTA-ZnNa2 > NH4HF2 > IP6 > H3PO4, while the sequence on the Zn amount is ranked as EDTA-ZnNa2 > NH4HF2 > H3PO4 > IP6. The fabricated Zn-containing coatings exhibit excellent corrosion resistance, and their icorr values are two orders of magnitude lower than that of the WE43 substrate, while the highest Zn amount achieves 4.12 wt.%. P and F compete to take part in coating formation, and Zn ions enter into anodic coatings by diffusion. Coating corrosion resistance is jointly determined by surface characteristics, which will provide the important theoretical foundation for fabricating Zn-containing coating with high corrosion resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a key index to evaluate whether a city is attractive or has a healthy, comprehensive, and sustainable development potential, urban vitality is critical to the future development and construction of a city. Exploring the mechanism of how the built environment influences urban vitality from the perspective of urban morphology can be conducive to future urban space planning and design and can provide city planners with quantitative and scientific decision-making support. This study uses urban POI, cellular signaling, and nighttime light remote sensing data from Shenzhen to measure its cultural, social, and economic vitality, which constitutes a comprehensive vitality assessment of the city. Spatial features of these urban vitalities were then analyzed to further illustrate their distribution patterns. Using Bivariate Moran's I method, the spatial autocorrelations between economic, social, and cultural vitality were calculated. From the five dimensions of Density, Design, Diversity, Distance to Transit, and Destination Accessibility, the 5D detection index system was constructed to measure the urban built environment. This study also used GeoDetector to detect and analyze the spatial differentiation between various built environmental factors and comprehensive, economic, social, and cultural vitality and to explore the mechanism of the influence of the built environment on urban vitality. The results show that: 1) The spatial distribution of comprehensive vitality is extremely uneven in Shenzhen, with a higher vitality in the southern and western regions of Shenzhen city and a lower vitality in the northern and eastern regions. Areas with higher comprehensive vitality usually developed along the main roads and metro lines and are distributed in strips along the coastline of central-southern and western Shenzhen. The high-value areas of the urban comprehensive vitality center are primarily concentrated in city- or district-level commercial centers, and employment centers. Comprehensive vitality in Shenzhen reflects social vitality. 2) Urban comprehensive, economic, social, and cultural vitality are significantly affected by the built environment, as indicated by the 5D system. High POI and building density, average building floors, and land use entropy, have significant positive impacts on urban vitality. However, residential population density did not have a significant impact on each aspect of urban vitality. 3) Some interactions between built environment factors had a greater impact on urban comprehensive vitality, such as residential population density, road network density, land use entropy, and road network density. Overall, the interaction between building density, average building floors, land use entropy, and other factors, have a more positive impact on each aspect of urban vitality. 4) The presentation of urban comprehensive vitality is the result of multiple dimensions and factors. In the influencing mechanism of urban comprehensive vitality, building density and average building floors were the fundamental factors. POI density and land use entropy were the direct driving factors. Residential population density was an inducing factor. Distance from the administrative center, intersection density, road network density, metro station density, and bus station density were adjustive factors. The research results therefore provide valuable suggestions for the optimal allocation of resources and the rational layout of urban functional facilities in Shenzhen.

Responding to an aging society worldwide and ensuring the physical and mental health of the elderly are important problems that need to be addressed. Thus, this study aimed to improve the quality of providing the spiritual and cultural needs of the elderly and study the internal transmission of reading habits and its effect on the physical and mental health of the elderly. Using the data from China's comprehensive social survey in 2018, this study applied the Probit model and ordinary least squares method to comprehensively estimate the influence of reading habits of the elderly on their physical and mental health. Stepwise regression and bootstrap method were combined to explore the influencing mechanism, and an instrumental variable method was used to solve endogeneity problems. Results indicate that the reading habits of the elderly have a significantly positive effect on their own physical and mental health. Social activity is the positive conduction path, whereas social justice perception and learning willingness are the negative conduction path. Among low-income families, agricultural workers, and the elderly whose household registration is in rural areas, the benefits of reading to the body and mind are more significant. After dealing with endogeneity problems and a series of robustness tests, the conclusion of this paper still holds. Finally, reference policy suggestions are proposed for the follow-up active aging policy, such as promoting reading for all, organizing various social activities, formulating active pension policies for the elderly, and allocating more public resources for vulnerable elderly groups.

As a crucial component of urban green space (UGS), urban parks have been found to be closely associated with the health of urban residents. Drawing on a large-scale survey, “International First-class Harmonious and Livable Capital”, in Beijing conducted in 2018, this paper examines the impact of subjective and objective characteristics of UGS on residents' self-rated health (SRH) by using a binary logistic regression model. The results indicate that the overall SRH status of urban residents in Beijing is relatively good, with 73.8% of the respondents reporting good SRH. The perceived quality of UGS and objectively measured accessibility to UGS are positively associated with residents' SRH, but the subjective indicator of UGS has a greater impact on SRH than the objective indicator of UGS. In terms of influencing mechanisms, social interaction and air quality perception were the two major mediators of UGS that affected residents' SRH. The heterogeneity analysis suggests that objective accessibility to different types of urban parks has mixed effects on residents' SRH. Access to high-quality parks is positively associated with residents' SRH, whereas access to common parks has a negative impact on residents' SRH. Our findings provide important policy implications for optimizing urban park design and improving the quality of urban park provision according to human needs in the Beijing Metropolitan Area.

This study examined the causal relationship between participation in the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS) and health status among relatively poor population in rural China. Data were obtained from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2018, which contained 4,507 samples. This study used propensity score matching (PSM) to examine the net effect of participation in the NRCMS on the health of the relatively poor population, and this effect was tested for equilibrium using nearest neighbor matching, radius matching, and kernel matching. This study showed that participation in the NRCMS has a significant and positive effect on the health status of the relatively poor population and the positive health effect may come from three channels, including the increased frequency of physical activity, the fact that an individual is more likely to seek medical care at a lower level of visit, and a plan to reduce health care expenditures.

Nowadays, the challenges of energy depletion, environmental pollution and food security caused by extensive agriculture development are attracting global attention. In China, the construction of ecological farms is a key initiative to effectuate the goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, contributing to high-quality agricultural development. Based on this, this study selects the national-level ecological farms directories issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China in 2021 and 2022, and collects the corresponding economic, social and physical geographic data for GIS spatial analysis and Geodetector. The results are as follows: (1) The distribution of ecological farms in various provinces of China is uneven and spatially clustered. It generally presents a ‘high in the east and low in the west with concentrated cores’ pattern. The construction scope significantly expanded over time, and the high-value areas of nuclear density are concentrated in East China, with the development core transitioned from East China to Central China. (2) Environmental conditions, industrial foundation, economic and social development level, science and technology level and financial support all significantly affect the spatial distribution of ecological farms in China, among which the science and technology level has the most significant enhancement effect on other factors. (3) Environmental conditions provide the construction basis for ecological farms, while economic and social development level and financial support determine the number of ecological farms. The industrial foundation affects the scale of ecological farms in China, while the level of science and technology eliminates the restrictions of other factors to a certain extent. This study provides a reference for optimizing the spatial distribution pattern of ecological farms in China and promoting ecological agriculture. In addition, it presents a viable approach to safeguarding food security.

Aquaculture ponds have garnered increasing attention for their potential roles in the global carbon cycle within the context of global warming. As a significant co-culture species in mariculture ponds, clams exert a notable impact on CO 2 flux across the water-air interface. However, the mechanism underlying this influence is as yet unclear. This study measured the CO 2 flux as well as the ecosystem carbon metabolism and environmental physiochemical parameters from four marine polyculture ponds, i.e., the pond containing swimming crabs and kuruma shrimp was referred to as CS, and the other three ponds containing three varying densities of razor clams additionally based on CS were noted as CSB 1 , CSB 2 , and CSB 3 in order of increasing clam density. All the bi-species and tri-species polyculture ponds acted as atmospheric CO 2 sinks during the farming season, with the peak in CSB 1 and the lowest in CSB 3. Net ecosystem production was a dominant regulator of CO 2 uptake, and sediment respiration significantly increased CO 2 production and then affected the CO 2 flux, contributing 16.7–20.0 % to the ecosystem respiration (ER). Water pH could function as a potentially reliable CO 2 flux predictor in the polyculture ponds, while Chl a was an internal driving factor. The polyculture of clams at low density may have exerted a "bottom-up" effect, accelerating nutrient cycling and thus stimulating the planktonic community, gross primary production (GPP), and ER, whereas a high stocking density of clams can have a "top-down" effect that would have the opposite ecological effects through increased predation pressure from clams. Although GPP and ER were simultaneously promoted or inhibited by clams at different stocking densities, the effect on GPP was always greater than that on ER, resulting in the CO 2 sink function that the polyculture ponds performed through the water-air interface being strengthened at low clam densities and weakened at high clam densities. Given the good predictive ability of water pH on CO 2 flux, monitoring and management of water pH could be an effective way to regulate the CO 2 sink function of mariculture ponds. • Net ecosystem production was a dominant regulator of CO 2 flux in polyculture ponds. • Sediment respiration contributed 16.7 %-20.0 % of the total ecosystem respiration. • The bottom-up effect by clams boosts CO 2 uptake, and the top-down effect reduces it. • Clams exert a greater effect on gross primary production than ecosystem respiration. • Water pH as a potential good factor to monitor and regulate CO 2 sink/source function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wrong-way riding (WWR) behavior of electric bikes (e-bikes) is a hazardous practice that frequently threatens traffic safety. It is imperative to accurately detect instances of WWR and analyze the various factors contributing to this behavior to develop and implement effective management policies. The emergence of shared e-bikes and advancements in machine learning have opened up new avenues for accurately examining the determinants of WWR behavior. Therefore, this study utilizes a large-scale dataset of shared e-bike trajectory data to establish a framework for detecting WWR behavior. Subsequently, association rule mining investigates the correlation among road, traffic, environmental factors, and the likelihood of higher and lower WWR behavior. The results indicate that: (1) In the association rules for higher WWR frequency, the absence of central separation facilities and bike lane separation facilities on the tertiary road, as well as lower land use density and the lack of public transportation facilities, enhanced the likelihood of WWR occurrence; (2) In the association rules for lower WWR frequency, longer crossing facility distance, physical bike lane separation, along with higher land use mixing and the presence of public transportation facilities, reduce the probability of WWR occurrence; (3) Time conditions display spatial heterogeneity, and different land use and road condition modulate the impact of time factors on rider' intention for WWR. Finally, based on the study findings, adequate policy recommendations are proposed for urban management agencies to reduce WWR behavior and enhance the safety of the e-bike traffic system. [Display omitted] • The wrong-way riding behavior of e-bikes is detected using shared trajectory data. • The interactions among risk factors and wrong-way riding behavior are analyzed. • Several policy recommendations are suggested to enhance e-bike traffic safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revealing the evolutionary characteristics of rural settlements and the influencing mechanism bears significant implications for rural restructuring and revitalization. However, existing studies have paid inadequate attention to the farming-pastoral ecotone, with a limited exploration of the influencing mechanism from a production-living-ecology perspective. Taking Wuchuan County as a case, this paper reveals that the evolution of rural settlements is slow and the overall area of rural settlements decreases slightly. This is attributed to severe rural population loss and the challenges in rural homesteads withdrawal, stemming from the prevalent phenomenon of rural-urban circular migration driven by the villagers' pursuit of a better life. The conversion scale between rural settlements and non-irrigated farmland is larger than that between rural settlements and other land, and the rural settlements exhibit an expansion trend in urban fringe due to the ecological relocation projects carried by local government. Random distribution of rural settlements in the farming-pastoral ecotone occurs as a result of the huge per capita land area coupled with the proximity of agricultural cultivation and grazing. Although the spatial pattern of rural settlements in some villages has evolved towards clustered distribution, the issue of dispersed distribution of rural settlements remains prominent. The evolutionary states of rural settlements are jointly influenced by production convenience of agriculture and animal husbandry, living needs of education, medical care and transportation, and ecological environment. Given that the irrational states produce negative impacts on the rural production-living-ecology coordinated development, the proactive responses from policy makers are imperative to guide the evolution of rural settlements towards enhanced production efficiency, improved living standards and ecological aesthetics. This study contributes to uncovering the specific characteristics of rural settlements' evolution within the farming-pastoral ecotone and introduces a novel analytical framework for understanding its influencing mechanism. It provides a scientific guidance for optimizing rural settlements. • Rural settlements of farming-pastoral ecotone in Inner Mongolia have limited change, due to the difficulty of retreating rural idle homestead. • The ERSs influenced by convenience of agricultural production, living needs of villagers, and ecological environment of village. • According to DPSIR model, the positive responses from policy makers are imperative to guide the ERSs towards rural sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the theoretical framework of cultural reproduction theory and ecosystem theory, this paper explores the impact of migrant children's identification with the college entrance examination policy on their educational expectations and the associated underlying mechanisms from the micro, meso, and macro levels. In total, 1,770 questionnaires were collected from students, and 436 people were interviewed, including students, their teachers, and their parents. They are all fromChina. Throughmultidimensional analysis, the results indicated that both individual academic achievement and family social capital have positive impacts on migrant children's educational expectations and that social class segregation in school and perceived social discrimination have negative impacts on their educational expectations. Migrant children's identification with the policy has a significant positive impact on these children's educational expectations. Their identification with the policy enhances the positive impact of individual academic achievement and family social capital on their educational expectations and partially weakens the negative impact of social class segregation in school and perceived social discrimination on their educational expectations. The analysis suggests that college matriculation policy for migrant children drives a compensation mechanism that involves the "principle of justice", a cultural mechanism that involves "promoting learning through examinations", and an institutional mechanism involving "urban-rural integration" to increase educational expectations. This study enriches and develops the expectation theory of migrant children and provides a policy reference for local governments to improve their policies for college entrance examinations for migrant children and to promote household registration system reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics pose great risks to terrestrial systems owing to their large quantity and strong persistence. Higher plants, an irreplaceable part of the terrestrial ecosystem, are inevitably exposed to microplastics. This review highlights the effects of microplastics on higher plant growth and performance. The tested microplastics, plant species, and cultural methods used in existing studies were summarized. We discussed the reasons why these microplastics, plants, and methods were selected. The various responses of higher plants to microplastics in both soils and waters were critically reviewed. We also highlighted the influencing mechanisms of microplastics on higher plants. Conclusively, more than 13 types of common microplastics and more than 30 species of higher plants have been selected and studied by the published literatures. Soil culture tests and hydroponic experiments are almost equally divided. The effects of microplastics on higher plants varied among microplastic properties, plant species, and environmental factors. Microplastics had no or positive effects on higher plants under certain experimental conditions. However, more studies showed that microplastics can inhibit higher plant growth and performance. We reduced the inhibitory mechanisms into direct and indirect mechanisms. The direct mechanisms include blocking pores or light, causing mechanical damage to roots, hindering genes expression, and releasing additives. The indirect mechanisms contain changing soil properties, affecting soil microbes or soil animals, and affecting bioavailability of other pollutants. This review improves the understanding of effects and influencing mechanisms of microplastics on higher plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The circular economy performance of Chinese cities is measured. • The effect of environmental regulation on circular economy performance is studied. • The decomposition values of circular economy growth rate are measured. • The "catch-up effect" is a major influencing mechanism. While achieving rapid economic growth, the pressure caused by environmental pollution and resource depletion has increasingly become a bottleneck in China's economic development, making the development of a circular economy particularly important. The extant literature has not focused on the influence of environmental regulation on a circular economy performance. This study uses the metafrontier global direction distance function (Metafrontier-Global-DDF) super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to estimate the circular economy performance and decomposition values of circular economy growth rate in 286 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2018. It further tests the influences of environmental regulations on circular economy performance and its influencing mechanism. The results show that environmental regulation can play a linear role in promoting the performance of the circular economy, mainly through the "catch-up effect," while "innovation effect" and "demonstration effect" have not yet played an effective role. This study provides evidence for the performance evaluation of the circular economy in China and the relationship between environmental regulations and circular economy performance. The future development of a circular economy still needs the active development of circular economy technology in each city. The role of the "innovation effect" and "demonstration effect" in improving the performance of the circular economy should be further enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health risk avoidance behavior of tourists in China, a country actively combating COVID-19, is of research significance. This study proposes and tests a model based on three theories—stimulus-organism-response model, motivation-opportunity-ability model, and health belief model—to examine the impact mechanism of tourists' health risk avoiding behavior under COVID-19′s regular epidemic prevention and control situations and the moderating effect of health risk perception. The results reveal that, from the stimulus perspective, tourists' motivation, opportunities to travel, and the ability to travel negatively affect tourists' health risk avoidance behavior. That is to say, the stronger the motivation of tourists to undertake tourist activities, the stronger the safeguards provided by the government, and the better that tourists are informed of the virus and more equipped with healthy habits and skills, the more likely it is that tourists will not take avoidance behavior. From the organism perspective, perceived severity and perceived susceptibility, as mediating factors, positively influence tourists' health risk avoidance behavior. In contrast, if tourists are more likely to believe in the controllability of the health risk of the epidemic, then they are more likely to travel and less likely to show avoidance behavior. Managerial implications and theoretical contributions are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term rental apartments as a new business form in the real estate market have become more and more popular with consumers and the real estate industry due to an increase in the floating urban population and changes in people's living concepts. It is thus important to provide some guarantees in the implementation of a housing policy for "rent and purchase simultaneously." In this paper, in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 tenants who had experience in long-term apartment rental in Guangzhou. The interview data were encoded level by level using grounded theory. Finally, based on the theory of planned behavior, a model for the influencing mechanism for long-term apartment rental intention in Guangzhou was constructed. The model includes three main categories: rental attitude, subjective norms, and perceptual behavior control with six subcategories. The results show that rental intention for long-term rental apartments in Guangzhou is influenced by rental attitude, subjective norms, and perceptual behavior control. Rental attitude is composed of endogenous attitudes and exogenous attitudes. In addition to the housing demand function, risk judgment, and additional interest, the internal degree of emotional demand and brand preference also affect intention to rent. Subjective norm is composed of directive norms and demonstrative norms, while an individual's cognition of rental policy and social media guidance are important components of directive norms. Perceptual behavior control is composed of self-efficacy and facilitation, while access conditions are an important part of facilitation. The government is an important body to promote the harmonious development of the long-term apartment rental market, and needs to cultivate professional rental institutions, innovate rental modes, and establish a long-term apartment rental price supervision mechanism. The government needs to issue corresponding rules and regulations, such as provide clearer and more convenient procedures, improve the supervision system, and protect the rights and interests of tenants. The government also needs to introduce corresponding preferential policies and determine access conditions. Operators of long-term rental apartments should not only meet the functional needs of tenants, but also pay attention to their additional needs. Furthermore, they should provide a variety of social activities. Based on the needs of different groups, the operators could develop apartments for blue-collar workers, family rental apartments, and so on. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this paper explores the influencing mechanism for long-term rental intention in Guangzhou. The study enriches the research of the theory of planned behavior in the field of rental housing, and provides a reference for the government to strengthen the management of the rental market. At the same time, it is helpful for enterprises to understand the needs and expectations of tenants. The study also provides additional information for enterprise management, product design, and brand promotion.

This paper examines the effects and mechanism of the financialization of manufacturing enterprises on total factor productivity (TFP). Thus, it provides evidence of the economic consequences of corporate financialization from the perspective of productivity. Using the panel data of China's listed manufacturing companies from 2007 to 2018, the level of corporate financialization is measured using the proportion of financial assets in the total assets. The results show that the deepening of the financialization of manufacturing enterprises significantly reduces TFP and the magnitude of the impacts of different types of financial assets variates. In addition, the effects of corporate financialization on TFP are heterogeneous in terms of their significance and degrees in different types of enterprises as well as in different levels of enterprises' TFP. The further analysis of the influencing mechanism shows that corporate financialization has different effects on the TFP of manufacturing enterprises through technological innovation and resource allocation efficiency.

PM2.5 emission causes serious harm to health and hinders the sustainable development of economy and society. Among all the factors affecting PM2.5 pollution, the role of new economic forms and information technology innovation is lacking. This study aims to explore the impact of digital economy on PM2.5 pollution and its influencing mechanism using data from 281 prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2016. The empirical results demonstrate that digital economy is conducive to reducing PM2.5 pollution. In other words, the digital economy is conducive to alleviating PM2.5 pollution. Further analysis shows that the digital economy promotes technological innovation, which is an important mediating mechanism affecting PM2.5 pollution. Additionally, the inhibitory effect of digital economy on PM2.5 pollution is more significant in the eastern and central regions. Unfortunately, the negative impact of digital economy on PM2.5 pollution is not significant in the western region. The conclusions provide a new strategy for reducing pollution emissions and improving environmental quality and technological innovation.