scholarly journals Does the grassland ecological compensation policy improve the herders’ breeding technical efficiency in China?—Based on the parallel mediation effect model

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249990
Author(s):  
Yun Wang ◽  
Yaqiong Han ◽  
Yijun Han ◽  
Wenchao Li

The Grassland Ecological Compensation Policy (abbreviated as GECP), which aims to realize the ecological protection by reducing the stock-carrying capacity of pastures and promote the transformation of pasture animal husbandry by improving the herders’ breeding methods, has been a major project in China’s grassland pastoral areas and grassland ecological construction. This study, thus, sought to measure the breeding efficiency of herders before and after the implementation of GECP. Moreover, the study also thought to analyze the effect and the effecting path of the implementation of GECP on the efficiency of herders’ livestock breeding. GECP enables herders to obtain financial subsidies while minimizing the utilization of grassland, which brings challenges and opportunities to herders’ traditional livestock production. This study used the two-stage data obtained from a randomly selected sample of 449 herders in the Inner Mongolia grassland area of China in 2018. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and parallel mediating effect (PME) models were used to analyze the data. The results show that the general effect of GECP on the breeding efficiency of herders in the Inner Mongolia is positive (P < 0.01), and the change of breeding methods (direct effect) is the main influence path. Specifically, the grassland circulation behavior (P < 0.01) and the scale of breeding (P < 0.01) are part of the mediating effect. While the mediating effect of the breeding structure is not significant (P > 0.1). This study also shows that the non-agricultural and animal husbandry income of herders has a negative impact on the breeding efficiency (P < 0.01), and herders’ age and breeding scale have a positive effect on the breeding efficiency (P<0.01). This study has not only answered the question whether the GECP can improve the efficiency of husbandry, but also focused on the analysis of the impacting mechanism of policies on efficiency. It is of great significance to further improve GECP and the related supporting policies and promote the transformation of China’s grassland animal husbandry.

2021 ◽  
pp. oemed-2020-107206
Author(s):  
Yan Ge ◽  
Shanshan He ◽  
Yan Xu ◽  
Weina Qu

ObjectiveTo explore the impact of the dietary patterns of truck drivers on their driving behaviours and the mediation effect of fatigue between these factors.MethodsA sample of 389 male truck drivers from a transport company in Suzhou, China completed the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI), the Positive Driver Behaviours Scale (PDBS) and the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ). The associations among dietary patterns, fatigue and driving behaviour were examined using pathway analysis.ResultsFour dietary patterns were identified based on principal component analysis: animal-derived foods, staple foods, snacks and vegetables. The pathway analysis showed that the vegetable-rich pattern had a direct positive impact on positive driving behaviour (β=0.211, p<0.001); the animal-derived pattern had a direct positive impact on errors (β=0.094, p<0.05) and ordinary violations (β=0.071, p<0.05); the snacks pattern had a direct negative impact on positive driving behaviour (β=−0.191, p<0.001); fatigue mediated the effect of dietary patterns on driving behaviours (p<0.001); and the staple foods had an indirect effect on driving behaviours.ConclusionsOverall, the driving behaviours of truck drivers are correlated with their dietary patterns. Drivers who preferred vegetables and staple foods had more positive driving behaviour, while the animal-derived food and snack patterns were related to dangerous driving behaviour. The experience of fatigue could explained the underlying mechanism between these factors.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guiying Liu ◽  
Hualin Xie

A multi-agent model for the simulation of arable land management based on the complex adaptive system theory and a Swarm platform was constructed. An empirical application of the model was carried out to investigate the pollution of arable land in Jiangxi Province. Two sets of policies—a fertilizer tax and an ecological compensation scheme—were designed and simulated, and the analysis focused on the control of polluting inputs, mainly chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The environmental effects of each policy were evaluated by simulating farmers’ self-adaptive behaviours in response to the policy in the artificial village of the model. The results showed the following: (1) Both the fertilizer tax policy and the ecological compensation policy somewhat alleviated the negative impact of input factors, such as fertilizers and pesticides, on arable land; (2) if the fertilizer tax policy is implemented, the medium tax rate scheme should be given priority—the effect does not necessarily improve as the tax rate increases, and a high-tax policy will threaten food security in the long term; and (3) if an ecological compensation policy is implemented, high-government-compensation scenarios are better than low-government-compensation scenarios, and the differential-government-compensation scenario is better than the equal-government-compensation scenario, and the differential-government-compensation scenario can lighten the burden on the government.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1261
Author(s):  
Aiping Tao ◽  
Qun Liang ◽  
Peng Kuai ◽  
Tao Ding

Based on the panel data of 224 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2003 to 2016, this paper empirically studies the impact of urban sprawl on air pollution and introduces a mediating effect model to test the mediating role of vehicle ownership concerning the impact of urban sprawl on air pollution. The research in this paper arrives at three conclusions. First, urban sprawl has a significant positive effect on air pollution, and this conclusion is still valid after solving the endogeneity problem and conducting a robustness test. Second, the results of mediating effect test show that urban sprawl indirectly affects air pollution through the partial mediating effect of vehicle ownership. By removing the mediating effect, urban sprawl has a significant negative impact on air pollution, indicating that the mediating effect of vehicle ownership is higher concerning the impact of urban sprawl on air pollution. Third, further panel quantile regression results show that the higher the level of air pollution, the weaker the mediating effect of vehicle ownership and the stronger the direct effect of urban sprawl on air pollution. These conclusions can provide some empirical support for solving the air pollution problems caused by urban sprawl in China.


Author(s):  
Yeun-Joo Hur ◽  
Joon-Ho Park ◽  
MinKyu Rhee

This study was conducted to evaluate the competency to consent to the treatment of psychiatric outpatients and to confirm the role of empowerment and emotional variables in the relationship between competency to consent to treatment and psychological well-being. The study participants consisted of 191 psychiatric outpatients who voluntarily consented to the study among psychiatric outpatients. As a result of competency to consent to treatment evaluation, the score of the psychiatric outpatient’s consent to treatment was higher than the cut-off point for both the overall and sub-factors, confirming that they were overall good. In addition, the effect of the ability of application on psychological well-being among competency to consent to treatment was verified using PROCESS Macro, and the double mediation effect using empowerment and emotional variables was verified to provide an expanded understanding of this. As a result of the analysis, empowerment completely mediated the relation between the ability of application and psychological well-being, and the relation between the ability of application and psychological well-being was sequentially mediated by empowerment and emotion-related variables. Based on these findings, the implications and limitations of this study were discussed.


Author(s):  
Yinhao Wu ◽  
Shumin Yu ◽  
Xiangdong Duan

Pollution-intensive industries (PIIs) have both scale effect and environmental sensitivity. Therefore, this paper studies how environmental regulation (ER) affects the location dynamics of PIIs under the agglomeration effect. Our results show that, ER can increase the production costs of pollution-intensive firms (PIFs) by internalizing the negative impact of pollutant discharge in a region, and thus, directly reduces the region’s attractiveness to PIFs. Meanwhile, ER can indirectly reduce the attractiveness of a region to PIFs by reducing the externality of the regional agglomeration effect. Moreover, these influences are regulated by the level of local economic development. Based on the moderated mediating effect model, we find evidence from the site selection activities of newly built chemical firms in cities across China. The empirical test shows that compared with 2014, the proportion of the direct effect of ER to the total effects significantly decreased in 2018, while the proportion of indirect effects under the agglomeration effect increased significantly. Our findings provide reference for the government to design effective environmental policies to guide the location choice of new PIFs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2909
Author(s):  
Esther Pagán-Castaño ◽  
Javier Sánchez-García ◽  
Fernando J. Garrigos-Simon ◽  
María Guijarro-García

Teaching is one of the professions with the highest levels of stress and disquiet at work, having a negative impact on teachers’ well-being and performance. Thus, well-being is one of the priorities in human resource management (HRM) in schools. In this regard, this paper studies the relationship between HRM, well-being and performance, observing the incidence of leadership and innovation in these relationships. The objective is to measure the extent to which it is necessary to encourage sustainable environments that promote the well-being of teachers and, by extension, students. The study used the methodology of structural equations and a sample of 315 secondary school teachers. The work validates the influence of leadership by example and information management on HRM and performance. In addition, we confirm the significant effect of human resource management on educational performance. The relationship is observed both directly and through the mediating effect on the improvement of well-being. On the other hand, the positive influence of innovation on performance, both in schools and in the classrooms, is reaffirmed. These results suggest the need to zero in on the human resources policies in schools linked to the improvement of teacher well-being and educational performance. They also highlight the role of school and classroom innovation as a key element in maintaining educational quality.


2009 ◽  
Vol 73 (8) ◽  
pp. 1437-1441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingzhi Zhang ◽  
Buren Batu ◽  
Weijun Tong ◽  
Hongmei Li ◽  
Zhe Lin ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1045-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Wei Guo

Production deviance is 1 of 5 dimensions of counterproductive work behaviors (CWB). Based on data collected from 362 employees of Chinese enterprises, I examined the predictive effect of Confucian values on production deviance and the mediating effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between Confucian values and production deviance using structural equation modeling. I analyzed 3 factors of production deviance: work sabotage, slackness, and withdrawal. Confucian values were found to have a significant negative impact on these factors. Furthermore, job satisfaction was found to partially mediate the relationship between Confucian values slackness and withdrawal, but not work sabotage.


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