Search results

As one of its major strategies, China has made a new plan to further expand High Standard Farmland (HSF) to all permanent basic farmland (80% of total farmland) for grain security over the next decade. Yet, what will be the impact of farmland infrastructure investment on agrifood systems? The paper aims to systematically evaluate the multiple effects (food security, economy, nutrition and environment) of expanding HSF construction under the context of the “Big Food vision” using an interdisciplinary model.

An interdisciplinary model – AgriFood Systems Model, which links the China CGE model to diet and carbon emission modules, is applied to assess the multiple effects of HSF construction on agrifood systems, such as food security and economic development, residents’ diet quality and carbon emissions. Several policy scenarios are designed to capture these effects of the past HSF investment based on counterfactual analysis and compare the effects of HSF future investment at the national level under the conditions of different land use policies – restricting to grain crops or allowing diversification (like vegetables, and fruit).

The investments in HSF offer a promising solution for addressing the challenges of food and nutrition security, economic development and environmental sustainability. Without HSF construction, grain production and self-sufficiency would decline significantly, while the agricultural and agrifood systems’ GDP would decrease. The future investment in the HSF construction will further increase both grain production and GDP, improve dietary quality and reduce carbon emissions. Compared with the policy of limiting HSF to planting grains, diversified planting can provide a more profitable economic return, improve dietary quality and reduce carbon emissions.

This study contributes to better informing the impact of land infrastructure expanding investment on the agrifood systems from multiple dimensions based on an interdisciplinary model. We suggest that the government consider applying diversified planting in the future HSF investment to meet nutritional and health demands, increase household income and reduce carbon emissions.

This study aims to examine the implementation of agile practices in Industry 4.0 to assess the financial performance measurements of manufacturing firms. It also investigates the relationship between supply chain performance and financial performance.

The study is based on an experimental research design by collecting data from 329 responses from key officials of manufacturing firms. The analyses are carried out to explore this modern concept with the help of the SPSS program, which is used to conduct a confirmatory factor and reliability analysis and Smart-partial least square (PLS) version 4.0 with structural equation modeling.

This research demonstrates the positive effect agile supply chain strategies in Industry 4.0 may have on manufacturing companies' financial performance as a whole. Everything throughout the supply chain in Industry 4.0, from the manufacturers to the end users, is taken into account as a potential performance booster. The values obtained from the model's study show that it is both dependable and effective, surpassing the threshold for such claims. The research is supported by factors like customer involvement (CUS), continuous improvement (CI), integration (INT), modularity (MOD), management style (MS) and supplier involvement (SI) but is undermined by factors including postponement (PPT).

According to the findings of the study, Industry 4.0 firms' financial performance and overall competitiveness are significantly improved when their supply chains are more agile. A more agile supply chain helps businesses to more rapidly adapt to shifts in consumer demand, shorten the amount of time it takes to produce a product, enhance product quality and boost customer happiness. As a consequence of this, there will be an increase in revenue, an improvement in profitability and continued sustainable growth.

There are literary works available on agile practices in various fields, but the current study outlines the need to understand how supply chains perform financially under the mediating effect of agile supply chains in Industry 4.0 which contribute most to the organization's success. The study will aid companies in understanding how agile practices will further the overall performance of the organization financially.

Previous studies on housing affordability in China were concentrated in China’s coastal and central regions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate housing affordability of urban residents in Northwest China. Moreover, this paper attempts to understand the consistency and influencing factors of various indicators on the evaluation of housing affordability.

This paper uses multiyear data on house sales, residents’ incomes and living expenses from 2011 to 2022. House price-to-income ratio, housing affordability index and residual income approach were calculated by using these data and used as the measure of housing affordability.

The results show that there are obvious differences in the housing affordability among the Xi’an, Lanzhou and Yinchuan during 2011–2022, and the housing affordability of residents in cities with small population and economic scale is better. The ability of most urban residents to afford suitable housing is still poor, and the ability to afford small-sized housing is better. Most families with below-middle income have poor housing affordability. It is also observed that although various indicators had similarities in the evaluation of residents’ housing affordability, the comprehensive evaluation results of multiple indicators were more reliable.

The research results provide a basis for the decision-making of the government’s urban housing policy and improvement of residents’ housing conditions.

The results have a clear understanding of the housing affordability of urban residents in Northwest China. The study found that the geographical location and topography of the city is also a factor affecting the housing affordability.

Precast wall lifting during prefabricated building construction faces multiple non-lean problems, such as inaccurate lifting-time estimation, unreasonable resource allocation and improper process design. This study aims to identify the pathways for improving lifting performance to advance lean construction of prefabricated buildings.

This study developed a methodological framework that integrates the discrete event simulation method, the elimination, combination, rearrangement and simplification (ECRS) technique and intelligent optimization tool. Two schemes of precast wall lifting, namely, the enterprise's business as usual (BAU) and enterprise-leading (EL) schemes, were set to benchmark lifting performance. Furthermore, a best-practice (BP) scheme was modeled from the perspective of lifting activity ECRS and resource allocation for performance optimization.

A real project was selected to test the effect of the methodological framework. The results showed that compared with the EL scheme, the BP scheme reduced the total lifting time (TLT) by 6.3% and mitigated the TLT uncertainty (the gap between the maximum and minimum time values) by 20.6%. Under the BP scheme, increasing the resource inputs produces an insignificant effect in reducing TLT, i.e. increasing the number of component operators in the caulking subprocess from one to two only shortened the TLT by 3.6%, and no further time reduction was achieved as more component operators were added.

To solve non-lean problems associated with prefabricated building construction, this study provides a methodological framework that can separate a typical precast wall lifting process into fine-level activities. Besides, it also identifies the pathways (including the learning effect mitigation, labor and machinery resource adjustment and activities’ improvement) to reducing TLT and its uncertainty.

Production and transportation of precast components, as two continuous service stages of a precast plant, play an important role in meeting customer needs and controlling costs. However, there is still a lack of production and transportation scheduling methods that comprehensively consider delivery timeliness and transportation economy. This article aims to study the integrated scheduling optimization problem of in-plant flowshop production and off-plant transportation under the consideration of practical constraints of customer order delivery time window, and seek an optimal scheduling method that balances delivery timeliness and transportation economy.

In this study, an integrated scheduling optimization model of flowshop production and transportation for precast components with delivery time windows is established, which describes the relationship between production and transportation and handles transportation constraints under the premise of balancing delivery timeliness and transportation economy. Then a genetic algorithm is designed to solve this model. It realizes the integrated scheduling of production and transportation through double-layer chromosome coding. A program is designed to realize the solution process. Finally, the validity of the model is proved by the calculation of actual enterprise data.

The optimized scheduling scheme can not only meet the on-time delivery, but also improve the truck loading rate and reduce the total cost, composed of early cost in plant, delivery penalty cost and transportation cost. In the model validation, the optimal scheduling scheme uses one less truck than the traditional EDD scheme (saving 20% of the transportation cost), and the total cost can be saved by 17.22%.

This study clarifies the relationship between the production and transportation of precast components and establishes the integrated scheduling optimization model and its solution algorithm. Different from previous studies, the proposed optimization model can balance the timeliness and economy of production and transportation for precast components.

A daily vlog is a new type of film tourism that has been underexplored in the literature. This study aims to explore the key elements of daily vlogs that trigger a followers’ travel intention within the framework of enduring involvement. The study will highlight the affect-inspiring role of para-social relationships (PSR), extending the scope of film tourism research.

In Study 1, the objective was to investigate the essential components of enduring involvement in destination-life scenarios. This was accomplished through the analysis of qualitative data, including interview data collected from 15 participants and more than 20,000 words extracted from online blogs, barrages and comments. Additionally, Study 2 used 376 questionnaires to test the proposed structural model.

Within daily vlog-induced tourism, PSR assumes a pivotal role as a catalyst for evoking emotions. This phenomenon is interwoven with enduring involvement and has a direct impact on the determination of travel intention. Within the contextual framework of enduring involvement, constituents such as destination-life self-disclosure, situational resonance and affective belonging converge synergistically. These elements collectively underpin the process through which followers harness PSR as a driving force for nurturing travel intentions within the realm of daily vlog-induced tourism.

This study proposes the concept of daily vlog-induced tourism and emphasizes the emotion-inspiring role of PSR, to extend film tourism research to include daily vlogs. The study then explores the influencing factors of daily vlog-induced tourism under the framework of enduring involvement, providing a new understanding of enduring involvement in daily vlog-induced tourism.

日常视频博客是一种新型的电影旅游, 但文献中对它的研究还不够。本研究旨在持久卷入的框架内探讨日常视频博客触发追随者旅游意向的关键因素。本研究将强调辅助准社会关系的情感激励作用, 从而扩展电影旅游研究的范围。

研究1的目的是调查目的地生活场景中持久参与的基本要素。为此, 研究人员分析了定性数据, 包括从15名参与者那里收集的访谈数据, 以及从在线博客、弹幕（即时更新的互动评论系统）和评论中提取的 20,000 多字的数据。此外, 研究2利用 376 份调查问卷对所提出的结构模型进行了检验。

在由日常博客引发的旅游中, 准社会关系作为唤起情感的催化剂发挥着举足轻重的作用。这一现象与持久参与交织在一起, 并对旅游意向的产生产生直接影响。在持久参与的情境框架内, 目的地生活的自我披露、情境共鸣和情感归属等要素协同作用。这些要素共同支撑着追随者利用准社会关系的过程, 准社会关系在日常视频博客引发的旅游领域中是培育旅游意愿的驱动力。

本研究提出了“日常视频博客诱导旅游” 的概念, 并强调了准社会关系的情感激励作用, 从而将电影旅游研究扩展至日常微博。随后, 研究在持久参与的框架下探讨了日常视频博客诱发旅游的影响因素, 为日常视频博客诱发旅游中的持久参与提供了新的理解。

Los “vlogs” diarios son un nuevo tipo de turismo cinematográfico poco explorado en la bibliografía. Este estudio pretende explorar los elementos clave de los vlogs diarios que desencadenan la intención de viaje de los seguidores en el marco de la implicación duradera. El estudio destacará el papel inspirador de afecto de las relaciones para-sociales (RPS), ampliando el alcance de la investigación sobre el turismo cinematográfico.

En el Estudio 1, el objetivo era investigar los componentes esenciales de la implicación duradera en escenarios de vida en destino. Para ello se analizaron datos cualitativos, incluidos datos de entrevistas realizadas a 15 participantes y más de 20.000 palabras extraídas de blogs, “barrages” (un sistema de comentarios interactivos actualizados al instante) y comentarios. Además, el Estudio 2 utilizó 376 cuestionarios para poner a prueba el modelo estructural propuesto.

Dentro del turismo cotidiano inducido por los “vlogs”, la RSP asume un papel fundamental como catalizador para evocar emociones. Este fenómeno se entrelaza con la implicación duradera y tiene un impacto directo en la determinación de la intención de viaje. En el marco contextual de la implicación duradera convergen sinérgicamente elementos como la autodivulgación de la vida en el destino (AD), la resonancia situacional y la pertenencia afectiva. Estos elementos apuntalan colectivamente el proceso a través del cual los seguidores aprovechan el PSR como fuerza motriz para alimentar las intenciones de viaje en el ámbito del turismo cotidiano inducido por los “vlogs”.

Este estudio propone el concepto de turismo diario inducido por “vlogs” y hace hincapié en el papel inspirador de emociones del PSR, para ampliar la investigación sobre el turismo cinematográfico e incluir los “vlogs” diarios. A continuación, el estudio explora los factores que influyen en el turismo diario inducido por “vlogs” bajo el marco de la implicación duradera, proporcionando una nueva comprensión de la implicación duradera en el turismo diario inducido por “vlogs”.

Although numerous studies have been conducted to explore the impact of various factors on employees' turnover intention and intention to remain with the organization, the relationship between these two constructs remains largely unexplored. Considering the significance of these constructs, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors aimed to investigate their association within an academic environment using a dynamic modeling approach.

This study follows a quantitative approach and utilizes a longitudinal survey design. The authors utilized a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) and employed the parametric efficient partial least squares (PLSe2) methodology to estimate the dynamic model using data gathered from lecturers associated with both public and private universities in Malaysia. In order to offer methodological insights to applied higher education researchers, the authors also compared the results with maximum likelihood (ML) estimation.

The findings of the authors' study indicate a reciprocal relationship between turnover intention and intention to remain with the organization, with intention to remain with the organization being a stronger predictor. Moreover, situational factors were found to have a greater influence on eliciting turnover intention within academic settings. As anticipated, the use of the PLSe2 methodology resulted in higher R² values compared to ML estimation, thereby reinforcing the effectiveness of PLS-based methods in explanatory-predictive modeling in applied studies.

The authors' findings suggest prioritizing policies that enhance training and consultation sessions to foster positive attitudes among lecturers. Positive attitudes significantly impact judgment-driven behaviors like turnover intention and intention to remain with the organization. Additionally, improving working environments, which indirectly influence judgment-driven behaviors through factors like affective work events, affect and attitudes, should also be considered.

This study pioneers the examination of the causal relationship between turnover intention and intention to remain with the organization, their stability over time and the association of changes in these variables using a dynamic CLPM in higher education. It introduces the novel application of the cutting-edge PLSe2 methodology in estimating a CLPM, providing valuable insights for researchers in explanatory-predictive modeling.

The information used for supervision by regulatory departments in public-private partnership (PPP) projects is primarily transmitted and processed by the PPP implementation department, which negatively impacts the information quality, leading to information asymmetry and undermining the overall effectiveness of supervision. This study aims to explore how to use blockchain to anchor the information used for supervision in PPP projects to the original information, to strengthen the oversight.

This paper adopts the principles of design science research (DSR) to design a conceptual framework that systematically organizes information along the information dissemination chain, ensuring the reliable anchoring of original information. Two-stage interviews involving experts from academia and industry are conducted, serving as formative and summative evaluations to guide the design.

The framework establishes a weak-centralized information organizing mode, including the design of governance community and on-chain and off-chain governance mechanisms. Feedback from experts is collected via interviews and the designed framework is thought to improve information used for supervision. Constructive suggestions are also collected and analyzed for further development.

This paper provides a novel example exploring the inspirations blockchain can bring to project governance, like exercising caution regarding the disorderly expansion of public sector authority in addressing information disadvantages and how to leverage blockchain to achieve this. Technical details conveyed by the framework deepen understanding of how blockchain benefits and the challenges faced in successful implementation for practitioners and policymakers. The targeted evaluation serves as rigorous validation, guiding experts to provide reliable feedback and richer insights by offering them a more cognitively convenient scenario.

Firms may suffer differently from the patent thickets in a particular technology field. This paper explores how patent thickets affect the financial performance of firms with different patent propensities and technological leadership.

From the perspective of patent strategy, the authors study how patent propensity, the possibility that a firm applies for patents, affects the patent thickets and financial performance. Additionally, this paper uses patent stock to measure technological leadership, the degree to which a firm can develop, maintain and enhance technology and product innovation, to study the impact of patent propensity on firms. A three-way interaction model is used to explore the relationship among patent thickets, patent propensity, technological leadership and financial performance based on an unbalanced panel of 69 Chinese telecommunication equipment firms from 2008 to 2019.

The authors find that patent propensity positively moderates patent thickets and financial performance. Notably, technological leadership negatively moderates the moderating effect of patent propensity.

This paper enriches the heterogeneous literature of patent thickets and financial performance. It sheds light on the fact that firms with different technological leadership may use different patent strategies to cut through patent thickets.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the alternative accounts produced by Green Earth Volunteers (GEV), a Chinese environmental non-governmental organisation, over a 10-year period in the context of their campaign to create visibilities about hydroelectric dam projects along the Chang Jiang.

Drawing on conceptions of the human–nature relationship, including those evident in ancient Chinese philosophy and mythology, and the Chinese way of viewing and resolving conflict, this paper offers an interpretive analysis of the alternative accounts of GEV in terms of their form and content.

In terms of their content, the alternative accounts reflect elements of interrelated thinking, being underpinned by a recognition of the relationship between humans and nature, which is evident in Confucianism, Taoism and ancient Chinese mythology. The strategies adopted by GEV are a non-confrontational but feasible way to promote their ecological beliefs in the Chinese context.

The study suggests that social and environmental accounting (SEA) in developing countries is steeped in local cultural and philosophical traditions that need to be considered and incorporated into the design of alternative accounts.

The study contributes to the very limited literature that offers qualitative analyses of SEA in developing countries.