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1 – 10 of over 1000Kun-cheng Zhang, Xin-chang Guo, Shi-zheng Tian, Qi Cui, Mao-chong Shi and Pei-fang Guo
Many experts suggest that the human being explore marine resources and marine new energy sources to alleviate the shortage of land resources and the ecological degradation…
Abstract
Purpose
Many experts suggest that the human being explore marine resources and marine new energy sources to alleviate the shortage of land resources and the ecological degradation. However, island coastal zones are considered to be fragile ecosystems; their geographical location and natural characteristics, their biodiversity and associated ecosystems, and their exposure to diverse land and sea conditions all make them highly vulnerable to environmental changes and human activities. Therefore, it is necessary to achieve the goals of environmental protection and sustainable development on the basis of a comprehensive evaluation and understanding of islands.
Design/methodology/approach
Due to the importance of island groups, this paper conducts evaluation studies on them. Using the Delphi, AHP and TOPSIS methods, this study evaluated quantitatively the comprehensive development level and comprehensive development potential of island groups in terms of resources, natural environment, economy and society. Innovatively using them as two subsystems, the present study combined the coupling coordination model and the obstacle factor calculation method.
Findings
The prospective index of comprehensive development was applied to the Changdao Island Group in Yantai, Shandong Province as an example, and the final evaluation revealed that the comprehensive development prospect of this island group had an upward trend from 2010 to 2017. Future efforts should be made to improve its economic and social conditions and economic development status, apart from promoting its comprehensive development by improving human resources management, increasing the GDP growth rate, and improving fresh water and electricity supply.
Originality/value
This study takes the integrated development level of the island and the integrated development potential of the island as two subsystems, and the innovative application of the coupling coordination degree model is used to calculate the integrated development index of the island to understand the development status of the island area. On the basis of this model, the obstacle factor identification method is designed to identify the main obstacle factors, and on the basis of evaluation and identification, specific measures to ensure the sustainable development of the island area are effectively proposed.
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Syed Ali Raza, Komal Akram Khan and Bushra Qamar
The research analyzes the influence of three environmental triggers, i.e. awareness, concern and knowledge on environmental attachment and green motivation that affect tourists'…
Abstract
Purpose
The research analyzes the influence of three environmental triggers, i.e. awareness, concern and knowledge on environmental attachment and green motivation that affect tourists' pro-environmental behavior in the Pakistan’s tourism industry. Furthermore, this study has analyzed the moderating role of moral obligation concerning environmental attachment and green motivation on tourists' pro-environmental behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered via a structured questionnaire by 237 local (domestic) tourists of Pakistan. Furthermore, the data were examined by employing SmartPLS.
Findings
Findings demonstrate that all three environmental triggers have a positive and significant relationship with environmental attachment and green motivation. Accordingly, environmental attachment and green motivation promote tourists' pro-environmental behavior. Furthermore, the moderating role of moral obligations has also been incorporated in the study. The finding reveals a strong and positive relationship among environmental attachment and tourists' pro-environmental behaviors during high moral obligations. In contrast, moral obligations do not moderate association between green motivation and tourists' pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, competent authorities should facilitate tourists to adopt environmentally friendly practices; which will ultimately promote pro-environmental behavior.
Originality/value
This study provides useful insights regarding the role of tourism in fostering environmental attachment and green motivation that sequentially influence tourist pro-environmental behavior. Secondly, this research has employed moral obligations as a moderator to identify the changes in tourists’ pro-environmental behavior based on individuals' ethical considerations. Hence, the study provides an in-depth insight into tourists' behavior. Lastly, the present research offers effective strategies for the tourism sector and other competent authorities to increase green activities that can embed the importance of the environment among individuals.
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Na Hao, H. Holly Wang, Xinxin Wang and Wetzstein Michael
This study aims to test the compensatory consumption theory with the explicit hypothesis that China's new-rich tend to waste relatively more food.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to test the compensatory consumption theory with the explicit hypothesis that China's new-rich tend to waste relatively more food.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors use Heckman two-step probit model to empirically investigate the new-rich consumption behavior related to food waste.
Findings
The results show that new-rich is associated with restaurant leftovers and less likely to take them home, which supports the compensatory consumption hypothesis.
Practical implications
Understanding the empirical evidence supporting compensatory consumption theory may improve forecasts, which feed into early warning systems for food insecurity. And it also avoids unreasonable food policies.
Originality/value
This research is a first attempt to place food waste in a compensatory-consumption perspective, which sheds light on a new theory for explaining increasing food waste in developing countries.
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Ying Liu, Chenggang Wang, Zeng Tang and Zhibiao Nan
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of farmland renting-in on planted grain acreage.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of farmland renting-in on planted grain acreage.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey data of five counties were analyzed with the two-stage ordinary least squares model.
Findings
Households renting-in land trended to plant more maize, and the more land was rented by a household the more maize was planted, while wheat acreage showed non-response to farmland renting-in.
Practical implications
Overall, the analysis suggests that policy makers should be prepared for different changing trends of grain crop acreage across the nation as farmland transfer continues. Future research should pay attention to the effect of farmland transfer on agricultural productivity and rural household income growth.
Originality/value
As the Chinese Government is promoting larger-scale and more mechanized farms as a way of protecting grain security, it is important to understand whether farmland renting-in will reduce planted grain acreage. This study provides empirical evidence showing the answer to that question may differ across different regions and depend on the particular grain crop in question.
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Weifei Hu, Tongzhou Zhang, Xiaoyu Deng, Zhenyu Liu and Jianrong Tan
Digital twin (DT) is an emerging technology that enables sophisticated interaction between physical objects and their virtual replicas. Although DT has recently gained significant…
Abstract
Digital twin (DT) is an emerging technology that enables sophisticated interaction between physical objects and their virtual replicas. Although DT has recently gained significant attraction in both industry and academia, there is no systematic understanding of DT from its development history to its different concepts and applications in disparate disciplines. The majority of DT literature focuses on the conceptual development of DT frameworks for a specific implementation area. Hence, this paper provides a state-of-the-art review of DT history, different definitions and models, and six types of key enabling technologies. The review also provides a comprehensive survey of DT applications from two perspectives: (1) applications in four product-lifecycle phases, i.e. product design, manufacturing, operation and maintenance, and recycling and (2) applications in four categorized engineering fields, including aerospace engineering, tunneling and underground engineering, wind engineering and Internet of things (IoT) applications. DT frameworks, characteristic components, key technologies and specific applications are extracted for each DT category in this paper. A comprehensive survey of the DT references reveals the following findings: (1) The majority of existing DT models only involve one-way data transfer from physical entities to virtual models and (2) There is a lack of consideration of the environmental coupling, which results in the inaccurate representation of the virtual components in existing DT models. Thus, this paper highlights the role of environmental factor in DT enabling technologies and in categorized engineering applications. In addition, the review discusses the key challenges and provides future work for constructing DTs of complex engineering systems.
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Tingting Hou, Shixuan Fu, Yichen Cao, Xiaojiang Zheng and Jianhua (Jordan) Yu
This research is motivated by the increasing need for international interactions during the gradual recovery of the tourism industry. By recognizing the paucity of research on…
Abstract
Purpose
This research is motivated by the increasing need for international interactions during the gradual recovery of the tourism industry. By recognizing the paucity of research on cultural closeness and accommodation categories, this research aims to illuminate the influencing mechanisms of psychological closeness and travelers’ willingness to book an accommodation-sharing property while booking an accommodation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ a mixed-methods approach, including an experiment and semistructured interviews.
Findings
Results show that hosts’ higher cultural identity congruence leads to travelers’ higher willingness to book an accommodation-sharing property. Psychological closeness mediates the positive effect of cultural identity congruence on travelers’ willingness to book. The authors further explore the moderating role of room types (entire room vs. private room) and find that the mediation effect is stronger for booking an entire room.
Originality/value
The current research underlines the importance of cultural identity congruence and accommodation type on travelers’ willingness to book an accommodation-sharing property and psychological closeness.
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Anna Visvizi, Miltiadis D. Lytras, Wadee Alhalabi and Xi Zhang
Yangsheng Ye, Degou Cai, Qianli Zhang, Shaowei Wei, Hongye Yan and Lin Geng
This method will become a new development trend in subgrade structure design for high speed railways.
Abstract
Purpose
This method will become a new development trend in subgrade structure design for high speed railways.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper summarizes the structural types and design methods of subgrade bed for high speed railways in China, Japan, France, Germany, the United States and other countries based on the study and analysis of existing literature and combined with the research results and practices of high speed railway subgrade engineering at home and abroad.
Findings
It is found that in foreign countries, the layered reinforced structure is generally adopted for the subgrade bed of high speed railways, and the unified double-layer or multi-layer structure is adopted for the surface layer of subgrade bed, while the simple structure is adopted in China; in foreign countries, different inspection parameters are adopted to evaluate the compaction state of fillers according to their respective understanding and practice, while in China, compaction coefficient, subsoil coefficient and dynamic deformation modulus are adopted for such evaluation; in foreign countries, the subgrade top deformation control method, the subgrade bottom deformation control method, the subsurface fill strength control method are mainly adopted in subgrade bed structure design of high speed railways, while in China, dynamic deformation control of subgrade surface and dynamic strain control of subgrade bed bottom layer is adopted in the design. However, the cumulative deformation of subgrade caused by train cyclic vibration load is not considered in the existing design methods.
Originality/value
This paper introduces a new subgrade structure design method based on whole-process dynamics analysis that meets subgrade functional requirements and is established on the basis of the existing research at home and abroad on prediction methods for cumulative deformation of subgrade soil.
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