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The subject of food has been well researched by academics, and is often employed by tourism destination practitioners. However, a review of relevant literature indicates that there is a lack of research reported and written in English on the importance of food in Chinese local regional development. The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential of local food to act as a destination attraction, and contribute to the development of local regions in China, by examining the food-related motivation, involvement, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions of Chinese domestic tourists.

Data were collected using interviewer-completed questionnaire from a sample of 1,353 domestic tourists at eight destinations geographically spread or in one region in China.

The results reveal three types of food-related behaviour (which are described and evaluated below). While gender is seen to be significant, other demographical factors, such as ages and educational levels, do not appear to influence the level of interests and involvement in local food for Chinese domestic tourists.

This study is a contribution towards assessing the potential for using local food as a tool to develop local regions in China, and to obtain a better understanding of the market segmentation of Chinese local food tourists. It assists in identifying potential food tourists towards whom marketing should be addressed.

In this work, an SFEM is proposed for solving acoustic problems by redistributing the entries in the mass matrix to “tune” the balance between “stiffness” and “mass” of discrete equation systems, aiming to minimize the dispersion error. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This is done by simply shifting the four integration points’ locations when computing the entries of the mass matrix in the scheme of SFEM, while ensuring the mass conservation. The proposed method is devised for bilinear quadratic elements.

The balance between “stiffness” and “mass” of discrete equation systems is critically important in simulating wave propagation problems such as acoustics. A formula is also derived for possibly the best mass redistribution in terms of minimizing dispersion error reduction. Both theoretical and numerical examples demonstrate that the present method possesses distinct advantages compared with the conventional SFEM using the same quadrilateral mesh.

After introducing the mass-redistribution technique, the magnitude of the leading relative dispersion error (the quadratic term) of MR-SFEM is bounded by (5/8), which is much smaller than that of original SFEM models with traditional mass matrix (13/4) and consistence mass matrix (2). Owing to properly turning the balancing between stiffness and mass, the MR-SFEM achieves higher accuracy and much better natural eigenfrequencies prediction than the original SFEM does.

Independent directors are important corporate decision participants and makers. Based on the Chinese cultural background, this paper interprets the listing order of independent directors as independent directors’ status, exploring their influence on the corporate research and development (R&D) behavior.

This paper studies A-share listed firms in China from 2008 to 2018 as the sample. The main method is ordinary least square (OLS) regression. We also use other methods to deal with endogenous problems, such as the firm fixed effect method, change model method, two-stage instrumental variable method, and Heckman two-stage method.

(1) Higher independent directors’ status attribute to more effective exertion of supervision and consultation function, and positively enhance the corporate R&D investment. The increase of the independent director’ status by one standard deviation will increase the R&D investment by 4.6%. (2) The above effect is more influential in firms with stronger traditional culture atmosphere, higher information opacity and higher performance volatility. (3) High-status independent directors promote R&D investment by improving the scientificity of R&D evaluation and reducing information asymmetry. (4) The enhancing effect of independent director’ status on R&D investment is positively associated with the firm’s patent output and market value.

This paper contributes to understanding the relationship between the independent directors’ status and their duty execution from an embedded cultural background perspective. The findings of the study enlighten the improvement of corporate governance efficiency and the healthy development of the capital market.

This research explores the differential effects of pixel-level and object-level visual complexity in firm-generated content (FGC) on consumer engagement in terms of the number of likes and shares, and further investigates the moderating role of image brightness.

Drawing on a deep learning analysis of 85,975 images on a social media platform in China, this study investigates visual complexity in FGC.

The results indicate that pixel-level complexity increases both the number of likes and shares. Object-level complexity has a U-shaped relationship with the number of likes, while it has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the number of shares. Moreover, image brightness mitigates the effect of pixel-level complexity on likes but amplifies the effect on shares; contrarily, it amplifies the effect of object-level complexity on likes, while mitigating its effect on shares.

Although images play a critical role in FGC, visual data analytics has rarely been used in social media research. This study identified two types of visual complexity and investigated their differential effects. We discuss how the processing of information embedded in visual content influences consumer engagement. The findings enrich the literature on social media and visual marketing.

This study aims to examine whether Chinese firms increase their concerns about analysts’ earnings forecasts following the split-share structure reform (SSR) in 2005, which removed trading restrictions on approximately 70% of the shares of listed firms.

Using data from 2002 to 2019, the authors empirically test the association between meeting or beating analysts’ earnings expectations and the implementation of SSR.

The authors find that firms are more inclined to meet analysts’ earnings expectations after the introduction of SSR. Further analysis shows that firms guide analysts to walk their forecasts down by manipulating third-quarter earnings, suggesting enhanced value relevance between analysts’ forecasts and third-quarter earnings management in the postreform period.

The findings reveal an undesirable side effect of SSR and suggest that policymakers and regulators should consider and carefully manage the complex relationships between firms and analysts.

In contrast to prior studies that predominantly focus on the positive effects of the reform, this study reveals the side effects of SSR and provides new evidence on the mechanisms of meeting or beating analysts’ earnings expectations.

The purpose of this paper is to test a multilevel framework to further explicate how team leaders’ authentic leadership is related to their followers’ individual creativity.

This study is based on a questionnaire survey/analysis of analyses of multisource and lagged data from 63 team leaders and 428 followers in Taiwan.

The findings demonstrated that leader-member exchange (LMX) and team psychological safe climate mediated the positive relationship of authentic leadership on followers thriving at work. Furthermore, employee thriving at work sequentially mediated the positive relationship between authentic leadership and employee creativity. The author also found that indirect relationship of LMX with employee creativity through thriving at work was stronger when authentic leadership was higher.

The authors contribute to the existing understanding that authentic leadership relates to individual creativity through three multilevel mechanisms: leaders modeling their authenticity to develop and maintain their dyad-level exchange relationships with their followers (LMX), motivating the team, captured by team-level psychological safe climate and its members, reflected by employee-level thriving at work, and facilitating the relationship between LMX and employee thriving at work.

Examines the Out of School childcare initiative in Scotland (in 1996) by gathering data from the 1991 census and carrying out questionnaire surveys and interviews with both workers, responsible for developing Out of School care, and parents. Compares the findings with earlier research carried out in 1995. Assesses the impact the initiative has had on creating new jobs, improving access to employment for parents using the service, and how well the scheme answers the needs of women workers. Indicates from results obtained that parents had experienced a change in economic activity – increasing hours worked or starting a new job – and/or increased training take‐up. Records also that efficiency and enjoyment of work increased as gender inequalities began to be tackled. Notes that Out of School care schemes were more likely to occur in areas of higher socio‐economic composition, yet Out of School childcare could be part of an anti‐poverty strategy, encouraging women from deprived areas to enter the labour market. Claims that the scheme has had contradictory impacts but that it is hampered by lack of adequate and long‐term funding.

The purpose of this paper is to establish an evaluation index system to select the reverse‐logistics servicer of electronic products, based on characteristics of electronic products' recycling and reuse.

First of all, according to the characteristics of electronic products' recycling and reuse, an evaluation index system is designed to select its reverse‐logistics servicer, then the index weights are determined by factor analysis method based on abundant investigation. Finally, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to evaluate and select a reverse‐logistics servicer of electronic products.

The results are convincing: an evaluation index system is developed according to the characteristics of electronic products' recycling and reuse, and then the index weights are determined by factor analysis method.

The method exposed in the paper can be used to evaluate and select a reverse‐logistics servicer of electronic products.

The paper succeeds in realising both designing of an evaluation index system according to characteristics of electronic products' recycling and reuse, and in determining the index weights by the factor analysis method based on abundant investigation.

The diffusion of innovations in student housing, a commercial real estate subsector, is a critical concern to developers. Aside from how innovations contribute to investor' returns, there is a question of interest in real estate investment policies and contemporary real estate research. The study aims to assess the extent of innovation diffusion in student housing and its effects on investment returns in Ghana.

The study used a mixed methods approach foregrounded on the innovation diffusion theory. With the mix of surveys and interviews of 828 student housing managers/investors and 25 key student housing association leaders across selected off-campus student housing among six universities in Ghana, the study used both primary and secondary sources. Selection criteria were based on at least one of these criteria: Have operated in the student housing market over the past ten years, have adopted the use of technology in student housing management, have introduced new student housing marketing strategies and have made improvements (added value) to student housing services. Multiple regression and narratives were the main analytical tools employed in this study.

The study demonstrates that over the past ten years, student housing investors in Ghana have invested hugely in product, marketing, process and organisation innovations. Among these innovations, innovations by: marketing through souvenirs and annual-get-togethers product through Internet services processes through Information Management Systems (IMS), and organisation through student leadership were most utilised to descending extent. Furthermore, the study identified marketing and organisation innovation to have the highest effects on investment returns. However, process and product innovation showed a weak and moderate effect on investment returns because management hastily implemented these services without understanding the consequences it has on investment returns in the long run.

The moderate effect of product and process innovation on student housing investment can be a predictor for future student housing investment innovation strategies for new entrants as they do not provide an immediate positive investment return. Key takeaways require management to incrementally implement these innovations and adopt space management practices that create opportunities for future product and process innovations in Ghana. Investors should capitalise on marketing and organisational innovations as the best innovation strategies that yield the highest returns in Ghana.

Student housing investors should focus on emerging student preferences such as entertainment, improved building services and Information Communication to stimulate student housing selection intentions.

Innovation diffusion in student housing is understudied. The closest connection of innovation diffusion theory to product enhancement, marketing and managerial improvement is a strategic tool that facilitates efficiency and productivity in student housing investment.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a simple fiber sensor for simultaneous measurement of liquid refractive-index (RI) and temperature.

The sensor structure is formed by a long period fiber grating cascaded with a section of thin-core fiber. The long period fiber grating is fabricated on single mode fiber, followed by a section of 20-mm length thin-core fiber which is a modal interferometer.

Cladding mode interference between long period fiber grating and thin-core fiber modal interferometer is weak in the experimental investigation. Both of these two cladding mode type fiber devices are sensitive to surrounding RI and temperature. So the RI and temperature can be measured simultaneously by monitoring the spectral characteristics of the compound sensor. The sensitivity is calibrated and sensor matrix is provided in the experiment.

This proposed fiber sensor is simple, tough, cost-effective and suitable for discriminate the liquid RI and temperature with high sensitivity.