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1 – 10 of over 1000
Article
Publication date: 28 May 2024

Linyi Zheng

This study investigates whether, how and under what circumstances off-farm work induces farmland abandonment, which is of great importance for developing countries to cope with…

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates whether, how and under what circumstances off-farm work induces farmland abandonment, which is of great importance for developing countries to cope with food security.

Design/methodology/approach

Exploiting large-scale panel data from the newly released Chinese Family Database, this study employs a two-way fixed effects model to empirically estimate the causal relationship between off-farm work and farmland abandonment.

Findings

In the context of large-scale labor migration in rural China, current off-farm work leads to an increase in the probability and area of farmland abandoned due to insufficient agricultural labor. However, off-farm work does not harm farm households in plain areas, or villages with land rental markets, abundant agricultural labor, and agricultural machinery, while it harms others. Moreover, farmers who work off-farm in the local area are less likely to abandon their farmland than those in other areas. Additionally, when the number of off-farm workers in a household exceeds two, the probability and area of farmland abandonment will miraculously decline, as the household will no longer live entirely on agriculture.

Originality/value

This study may fill the gap in clarifying the relationship between off-farm work and farmland abandonment, and identify scenarios where off-farm work may not cause farmland abandonment through multiple dimensions, providing insights into the governance of farmland abandonment during rural-urban transformation in developing countries.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 May 2024

Pingping Hou, Zheng Qian, Meng Xin Hu, Ji Qi Liu, Jun Zhang, Wei Zhao, Xiao Li, Yong Wang, HongYan Huang and Qian Ping Ran

The purpose of this study is to explore the interfacial adhesion between superhydrophobic coatings FC-X (X = 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%) and the concrete substrate, along with the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the interfacial adhesion between superhydrophobic coatings FC-X (X = 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%) and the concrete substrate, along with the impact of FC-X on the water repellency characteristics of the concrete substrate.

Design/methodology/approach

One synthetic step was adopted to prepare novel F-SiO2 NP hybrid fluororesin coating. The impact of varying mass fractions of F-SiO2 NPs on the superhydrophobicity of FC-X was analyzed and subsequently confirmed through water contact angle (WCA) measurements. Superhydrophobic coatings were simply applied to the concrete substrate using a one-step spraying method. The interfacial adhesion between FC-X and the concrete substrate was analyzed using tape pasting tests and abrasion resistance measurements. The influence of FC-X on the water repellency of the concrete substrate was investigated through measurements of water absorption, impermeability and electric flux.

Findings

FC-4% exhibits excellent superhydrophobicity, with a WCA of 157.5° and a sliding angle of 2.3°. Compared to control sample, FC-X exhibits better properties, including chemical durability, wear resistance, adhesion strength, abrasion resistance, water resistance and impermeability.

Practical implications

This study offers a thorough investigation into the practical implications of enhancing the durability and water repellency of concrete substrates by using superhydrophobic coatings, particularly FC-4%, which demonstrates exceptional superhydrophobicity alongside remarkable chemical durability, wear resistance, adhesion strength, abrasion resistance, water resistance and impermeability.

Originality/value

Through the examination of the interfacial adhesion between FC-X and the concrete substrate, along with an assessment of FC-X’s impact on the water repellency of the concrete, this paper provides valuable insights into the practical application of superhydrophobic coatings in enhancing the durability and performance of concrete materials.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 October 2022

Ziyu Liao, Bai Chen, Tianzuo Chang, Qian Zheng, Keming Liu and Junnan Lv

Supernumerary robotic limbs (SRLs) are a new type of wearable robot, which improve the user’s operating and perceive the user’s environment by extra robotic limbs. There are some…

388

Abstract

Purpose

Supernumerary robotic limbs (SRLs) are a new type of wearable robot, which improve the user’s operating and perceive the user’s environment by extra robotic limbs. There are some literature reviews about the SRLs’ key technology and development trend, but the design of SRLs has not been fully discussed and summarized. This paper aims to focus on the design of SRLs and provides a comprehensive review of the ontological structure design of SRLs.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the related literature of SRLs is summarized and analyzed by VOSviewer. The structural features of different types of SRLs are extracted, and then discuss the design approach and characteristics of SRLs which are different from typical wearable robots.

Findings

The design concept of SRLs is different from the conventional wearable robots. SRLs have various reconfiguration and installed positions, and it will influence the safety and cooperativeness performance of SRLs.

Originality/value

This paper focuses on discussing the structural design of SRLs by literature review, and this review will help researchers understand the structural features of SRLs and key points of the ontological design of SRLs, which can be used as a reference for designing SRLs.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 50 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 October 2018

Yan Shang, Song Cen, Zheng-Hua Qian and Chenfeng Li

This paper aims to propose a simple but robust three-node triangular membrane element with rational drilling DOFs for efficiently analyzing plane problems.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a simple but robust three-node triangular membrane element with rational drilling DOFs for efficiently analyzing plane problems.

Design/methodology/approach

This new element is developed within the general framework of unsymmetric FEM. The element test functions are determined by using a conforming displacement field which is slightly different with the classical Allman’s interpolations, while a self-equilibrated stress field formulated based on the analytical airy stress solutions is adopted as the trial functions. To ensure the correctness between the drilling DOFs and the true rotations in elasticity, reasonable constraints are introduced through the penalty function method. Moreover, the special quadrature strategy is used for operating related integrations for future enrichment of element behavior.

Findings

Numerical benchmark tests reveal that this new triangular membrane element has exceptional prediction capabilities. In particular, this element can correctly reproduce a rigid body rotation motion and correctly undertake the external in-plane twisting moments; thus, it is a reasonable choice for being used to formulate flat shell elements or to be connected with other kind of elements with physical rotational DOFs.

Originality/value

This work provides a new approach for developing high-performance lower-order elements with simple formulations and good numerical accuracies.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 35 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 May 2019

Weisheng Li and Meng Tian

This study scrutinised Shanghai junior high school teachers’ emotions and emotion management strategies in relation to teachers’ work settings and content. A mixed-methods…

Abstract

This study scrutinised Shanghai junior high school teachers’ emotions and emotion management strategies in relation to teachers’ work settings and content. A mixed-methods approach was applied to collect data via field observations, interviews, and a quantitative survey. The aim of this study was two-fold. Firstly, it aimed to identify the typical work settings in which teachers experienced work-related emotions. Secondly, it aimed to reveal teachers’ priority work in school and how it affected teachers’ choices of emotion management strategies.

The data were analysed through the lens of emotional labour theories and professional agency theories. Findings showed that classroom teaching and the professional learning community activities were two typical settings in which the teachers experienced the most intensive emotions. Most Shanghai teachers managed their momentary emotions by either genuinely expressing their emotions that matched their roles and the scenario, or by purposely suppressing emotions to meet social and organisational expectations. Furthermore, most teachers adopted the long-term mood regulation strategy by aligning their emotions with long-term goal achievement in the future. As professional agents, the Shanghai teachers did not only manage their own emotions at work using these two strategies, but also managed students’ emotions as part of the moral education.

Details

Emotion Management and Feelings in Teaching and Educational Leadership
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-011-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 November 2021

Linyi Zheng and Wenrong Qian

This study explores how the land tenure system helps in protecting land quantity during agricultural production by estimating the influence of land certification on cropland…

Abstract

Purpose

This study explores how the land tenure system helps in protecting land quantity during agricultural production by estimating the influence of land certification on cropland abandonment, its mechanisms and its heterogeneous effects among groups at the provincial, community and household levels.

Design/methodology/approach

To deal with potential homogeneity concerns, the authors investigate the impact of land certification on the area of abandoned croplands using nationally representative panel data from the 2017 and 2019 China Rural Household Panel Survey on 15,000 households across 29 provinces and time-varying difference-in-differences and propensity score matching-difference-in-differences models.

Findings

Land certification significantly contributes to the protection of land quantity during agricultural production, and it reduces the area of abandoned croplands by at least 4%. This effect is mainly achieved by improving soil fertility, promoting land transfer, increasing the availability of agricultural subsidies and raising agricultural income. However, while land certification benefits farmers in nonmajor grain-producing areas and western regions, in plain, remote and nonpolitically central villages, and farmers who have not undergone land transfer or land adjustment, it is not beneficial for others.

Research limitations/implications

In the postepidemic era, food security based on the protection of the amount of cultivated land becomes increasingly important. It is realistic and inevitable to rationally use every inch of cultivated land and curb the cropland abandonment by strengthening land tenure system reform, especially in the case of the insecurity of land tenure.

Practical implications

There are various factors affecting farmers' cropland abandonment, such as poor soil fertility, unavailable land transfer, too little agricultural subsidies and too low agricultural income, but the root cause is the insecurity of land tenure. Empirical evidence from rural China has shown that a clear definition and effective protection of property rights can help curb the cropland abandonment. Enhancing the land protection behavior of farmers through the reform of land certification and promoting the sustainable use of land are what the reform of land tenure system should be.

Social implications

Cultivated land, as the material carrier and endowment basis of grain production, is of great importance to safeguarding national food security, especially in the postepidemic era. At the present stage, it is still necessary for most developing countries to strengthen the construction of land tenure system, to carry out land certification reform and to issue farmers with clearly defined and legally effective land certificates. Equally important, efforts also should be made to promote the diversified utilization of the achievements of the certification after the completion of land certification reform in China and other developing countries.

Originality/value

Expropriation and occupation of croplands are essential in protecting land quantity during rapid urbanization, and so is reducing cropland abandonment during agricultural production; therefore, it deserves close attention. In this regard, this study estimates the impact of land certification on the area of abandoned croplands, examines its possible mechanisms and identifies its heterogeneous effects to test the applicability of the property rights theory in the Chinese context and enrich the relevant literature and provide Chinese evidence for other developing countries to strengthen the protection of land quantity, by deepening the reform of the land tenure system under different circumstances.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 7 September 2020

Victoria Mitchell, Tony L. Henthorne and Babu George

Over the years, dark tourism as a theory has become very heterogenous. It has come to mean a lot of different things, according to the vantage points chosen for analysis. The…

Abstract

Over the years, dark tourism as a theory has become very heterogenous. It has come to mean a lot of different things, according to the vantage points chosen for analysis. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the research that has been conducted on the topic of dark tourism including what the accepted definitions are, where it originated from, subcategories of the topic, and tourist motivations for visiting such sites. A discussion regarding the role of cultural differences in perceiving the phenomenon of dark tourism is also included. Dark tourist experience is qualitatively different from that of the leisure tourists, and the theories and frameworks available in the extant tourism literature to understand leisure tourism are insufficient to capture its essence. This means, more foundational conceptualisations and radical theory building are called for – rather than incrementally tweaking the existing ones.

Details

Tourism, Terrorism and Security
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-905-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 November 2021

Songyue Zheng, Liping Qian and Pianpian Yang

This study examined how the technological (tech) advantage and market advantage of new products influence the level of formal channel governance and, in turn, affect the success…

Abstract

Purpose

This study examined how the technological (tech) advantage and market advantage of new products influence the level of formal channel governance and, in turn, affect the success of new products in the presence of relational governance.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypotheses are tested using the partial least squares approach to analyse survey data collected from 392 retailers of customer goods in China.

Findings

The results indicate that tech advantage and market advantage lead to an increase in retailers' transaction-specific investments (TSIs) and contract explicitness, respectively; the positive effect of market advantage on a retailer's TSIs will gradually decrease and will even become negative beyond a certain point. The relational governance mechanism can substitute for the effects of contract explicitness on improving new product success.

Originality/value

This research provides a new perspective for understanding new product advantage and exerts an initial effort to empirically distinguish between tech advantage and market advantage. It enriches the innovation literature by examining the governance of new product launches through retailers and explores the effects of formal and informal governance on channel cooperation performance in the new product launch stage.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 34 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2023

Jinwei Wang, Xiaowen Xu, Guangjuan Lu, Xin Wang and Alastair M. Morrison

This study aims to investigate the perceived benefits arising from tourist activities at natural disaster sites, to analyze the influence of perceived benefits on satisfaction and…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the perceived benefits arising from tourist activities at natural disaster sites, to analyze the influence of perceived benefits on satisfaction and behavioral intentions and to identify origin region’s moderating role.

Design/methodology/approach

A research model containing dark tourism motivations (DTMs), tourist perceived benefits (TPBs), tourist satisfaction (TS), protection intention (PI) and loyalty intention (LIs) was developed, and visitor origin was introduced as a moderating variable. Taking the 5·12 Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial Museum as a case site, data were obtained by distributing questionnaires on-site, and the model was tested using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

DTMs had a significant effect on cognitive and affective benefits, and TPBs significantly affected TS, PI and LIs, with satisfaction playing a partial mediating role. The origins of tourists showed a moderating role in part of the influence relationship of perceived benefits.

Practical implications

This study explored the perceived benefits among dark tourists and built a research model of their influence on tourist satisfaction and behavior. This study not only provides suggestions for managers related to dark tourism development in natural disaster areas, but also offers the possibility of enhancing tourist dark tourism experiences by interpreting the psychology and behavior of dark tourists.

Originality/value

This research adopted a new perspective of the decision-making behavior of dark tourists. The perceived benefits arising from visiting natural disaster sites were analyzed and the relationships between TBSs and motivation, TS, PI and LIs were examined. Considering the specificity of dark tourism emotions, the research also analyzed the similarities and differences in the psychology and behavior of locals and non-locals in dark tourism. The research results enrich and deepen the theoretical study of dark tourism.

研究目的

本文旨在探讨游客在自然灾难遗址地进行旅游活动时产生的感知收获, 分析感知收获对游客满意度和行为意向的影响, 并识别来源地在其中的调节效应。

研究设计/方法论/研究方法

构建了一个包含旅游动机、感知收获、满意度、保护意愿和忠诚意向等多个变量在内的研究模型, 并引入游客来源地作为调节变量。而后, 选取5·12汶川特大地震纪念馆作为案例地, 通过现场发放问卷的形式获取数据, 并采用PLS-SEM对模型进行了检验。

研究发现

旅游动机对认知收获和情感收获均具有显著影响; 感知收获显著影响满意度、保护意愿和忠诚意向, 同时满意度在上述影响关系中呈现部分中介作用; 游客来源地在感知收获的部分影响关系中(旅游动机→感知收获、感知收获→保护意愿)呈现出一定的调节作用。

独创性/价值

文章采用了一种新的视角来研究自然灾难遗址地游客的行为决策机制。通过实证数据分析了游客的感知收获, 并进一步考察了其与旅游动机、满意度、保护意愿和忠诚意向之间的影响关系。考虑到灾难遗址地旅游的独特情感特征, 文章还分析了不同来源地(本地—非本地)的游客在旅游过程中呈现出的心理与行为差异。本研究能在一定程度上丰富和深化黑色旅游的理论研究。

Propósito

Este estudio persigue investigar los beneficios percibidos derivados de la actividad turística en lugares afectados por catástrofes naturales, para así analizar la influencia que dichos beneficios ejercen sobre la satisfacción y el comportamiento planificado, e identificar el papel moderador de la región de origen.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Se elaboró un modelo de investigación que contiene las variables de motivación por el turismo oscuro, beneficio percibido, satisfacción, protección e intenciones de lealtad, así como la variable moderadora origen. Tomando como área de investigación el Museo Conmemorativo del Terremoto de Wenchuan 5.12, los datos fueron obtenidos distribuyendo cuestionarios in situ. La técnica de análisis de datos aplicada fue el Modelado de Ecuaciones Estructurales de Mínimos Cuadrados Parciales (PLS-SEM)

Hallazgos

La motivación por el turismo oscuro tuvo un efecto significativo en los beneficios cognitivos y afectivos, y los beneficios percibidos afectaron significativamente a la satisfacción, protección e intenciones de lealtad, siendo la satisfacción lo que desempeña un papel mediador parcial. El origen de los turistas mostró un papel moderador en cuanto a la relación de influencia de los beneficios percibidos.

Originalidad/valor

Esta investigación adoptó una nueva perspectiva en el comportamiento de toma de decisiones en los turistas de turismo oscuro, analizó los beneficios percibidos del turismo de oscuro en los lugares donde se produjeron las catástrofes naturales, y examinó la relación entre los beneficios percibidos y la motivación, la satisfacción, la protección y la intención de lealtad. Teniendo en cuenta la especificidad de las emociones del turismo oscuro, la investigación también analizó las similitudes y diferencias entre la psicología y el comportamiento de los turistas locales y no locales en lo respectivo al turismo oscuro. Los resultados de la investigación enriquecen y ofrecen un acercamiento más profundo a los estudios teóricos del turismo oscuro.

Article
Publication date: 24 February 2012

Jingtao Yi, Yi Zhong and Qian Zheng

The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that account for variations in the export performance between private‐owned enterprises (POEs) and state‐owned enterprises from…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that account for variations in the export performance between private‐owned enterprises (POEs) and state‐owned enterprises from the perspective of value chain.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted empirical analysis with the panel data of 19 industrial sectors in China between 2005 and 2007.

Findings

This study finds that labor input, state ownership and vertical specialization have positive effects on export performance while capital and technology inputs have negative effects. In particular, the study found that the superior export performance of state‐owned enterprises to private‐owned ones can be mainly explained by their positions of vertical specialization in the upper stage along the industrial value chain.

Practical implications

The paper shows that, given the significance of POEs in China's economy and foreign trade, restrictions on POEs to enter certain high‐end industrial sectors should be relaxed and policy makers should undertake favourable policies to help POEs to engage in high‐end activities along the industrial value chain.

Originality/value

Although export performance has always been a heated topic in both economics and business studies, the value chain perspective has been rarely investigated and this paper fills the research gap.

Details

Journal of Chinese Entrepreneurship, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-1396

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 1000