scholarly journals Does Teacher Training Narrow the Educational Gap between Urban and Rural Students? Empirical Evidence from CEPS Baseline Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1243-1261
Author(s):  
Ran Sun ◽  
Ping Du

Based on the baseline data of the China Education Panel Survey, this paper explored the relationship between teacher training and academic performance in urban and rural samples respectively and the impact of teacher training on the urban-rural gap of students' academic performance. The results showed that: firstly, there was a significant urban-rural gap in academic performance, and the gap in high quantiles and language subjects were even larger. Secondly, the results of unconditional quantile regression showed that teacher training could improve the performance of urban students with different academic levels and rural students with intermediate or above academic levels, but it cannot improve the performance of rural students with lower academic levels. In addition, the overall effect of teacher training in urban areas is significantly higher than that in rural areas. Thirdly, different quantiles of Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition found that the endowment effect and the coefficient effect of teacher training were the important causes of the urban-rural performance gap, but the relative sizes of the two were different according to the different grades and different quantiles of performance distribution. Therefore, to increase the training opportunities and improve the training quality of rural teachers as well as enhance the resource conversion rate of rural students are of great practical significance for narrowing the urban-rural performance gap.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Huszár ◽  
Jan Karlický ◽  
jana Ďoubalová ◽  
Tereza Nováková ◽  
Filip Švábik ◽  
...  

<p>The urban heat island (UHI) is a relaively old concept and has been widely studied using both observational and modeling approches. However, urban canopies impact the meteorological conditions in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and above in many other ways, e.g. urban breeze circulation can form, enhanced drag causes intensification of the turbulent diffusion leading to elevated PBL height, reduced evaporation results in decreased absolute humidity, changes in cloudiness etc.<br>A well established regional model representation of these phenomena is crucial for both mitigation and adaptation in areas affected by intense urbanization and climate change. There are however large uncertainities how the underlying physical processes are represented in numerical models, i.e. what models are used along with which parameterizations and parameters.</p><p>Here we perform a regional multi-model analysis over central Europe using the Regional Climate Model (RegCM4) and Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) regional models with different configurations representing different PBL treatment, convection parameterization, surface layer physics, microphysics and urban canopy models. Model results are extensively compared to surface measurements as well as satellite observation of surface temperatures. We analyse the model results mainly in terms of the urban-rural contrast which is a measure of the difference between the urban core value and the vicitinity (with respect to the particular city) for selected meteorological parameters. Our results show substantial impact of the choice of the model as well as the choice of parameterization on the intensity of UHI and other meteorological effects. The urban-rural difference of PBL height and average wind speed between urban areas and their vicinity is affected the most, controlled by the boundary layer physics parameterization.<br>Our simulations confirm the large uncertainity in how models resolve the meteorological features specific to urbanized areas and this has to be taken into account when designing different strategies for urban planning and multimodel approaches should be preferred.<br><br></p>


Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Peng Cai ◽  
Rafiq Hamdi ◽  
Huili He ◽  
Geping Luo ◽  
Jin Wang ◽  
...  

The rapid oasis expansion and urbanization that occurred in Xinjiang province (China) in the last decades have greatly modified the land surface energy balance and influenced the local circulation under the arid mountains-plain background system. In this study, we first evaluated the ALARO regional climate model coupled to the land surface scheme SURFEX at 4 km resolution using 53 national climatological stations and 5 automatic weather stations. We found that the model correctly simulates daily and hourly variation of 2 m temperature and relative humidity. A 4-day clear sky period has been chosen to study both local atmospheric circulations and their mutual interaction. Observations and simulations both show that a low-level divergence over oasis appears between 19:00 and 21:00 Beijing Time when the background mountain-plain wind system is weak. The model simulates a synergistic interaction between the oasis-desert breeze and urban-rural breeze from 16:00 until 22:00 with a maximum effect at 20:00 when the downdraft over oasis (updraft over urban) areas increases by 0.8 (0.4) Pa/s. The results show that the oasis expansion decreases the nocturnal urban heat island in the city of Urumqi by 0.8 °C, while the impact of urban expansion on the oasis cold island is negligible.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haijun Wang ◽  
Wenting Zhang ◽  
Song Hong ◽  
Yanhua Zhuang ◽  
Hongyan Lin ◽  
...  

Non-point source (NPS) pollution has become the major reason for water quality deterioration. Due to the differences in the generation and transportation mechanisms between urban areas and rural areas, different models are needed in rural and urban places. Since land use has been rapidly changing, it is difficult to define the study area as city or country absolutely and the complex NPS pollution in these urban–rural mixed places are difficult to evaluate using an urban or rural model. To address this issue, a fuzzy system-based approach of modeling complex NPS pollutant is proposed concerning the fuzziness of each land use and the ratio of belonging to an urban or rural place. The characteristic of land use, impact of city center and traffic condition were used to describe spatial membership of belonging to an urban or rural place. According to the spatial membership of belonging to an urban or rural place, the NPS distributions calculated by the urban model and rural model respectively were combined. To validate the method, Donghu Lake, which is undergoing rapid urbanization, was selected as the case study area. The results showed that the urban NPS pollutant load was significantly higher than that of the rural area. The land usage influenced the pollution more than other factors such as slope or precipitation. It also suggested that the impact of the urbanization process on water quality is noteworthy.


Author(s):  
Anita L. Kozyrskyj ◽  
Asuri N. Prasad

Background:Population-based studies are necessary to better understand the risk factors for developing seizure disorders and the impact of these conditions on children. We undertook an assessment of the prevalence of seizure disorders in a population of children on the basis of health care utilization records.Methods:Using Manitoba’s population-based prescription and health care data for 1998/99, the prevalence of children with seizure disorders, on the basis of at least one physician visit or hospitalization for epilepsy or a prescription for an antiepileptic drug, was determined by age, urban/rural region and socioeconomic status. The latter was measured as neighbourhoods stratified by income quintiles according to Census data.Results:Age-specific prevalence rates for seizure disorders in Manitoba children, determined from health care administrative records, were similar to published data on the prevalence of epilepsy, with one exception. Prevalence rates in adolescents were higher than those reported in the literature. No statistically significant differences in prevalence rates were observed between urban and rural populations. However, a higher prevalence was found among children of all ages living in lower socioeconomic neighbourhoods in urban areas, which presented as a gradient of increased prevalence with decreased levels of income.Conclusion:Population-based health care administrative data can be used to describe the geographical distribution of seizure disorders. Our data suggest that the burden of seizure disorders is not evenly distributed among children.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
А. A. Zimaroyeva ◽  
A. V. Matsyura ◽  
K. Jankowski

The spatial distribution and abundance of Corvidae species in Zhytomyr region was studied in terms of the urban-rural gradient. We selected Rook (Corvus frugilegus L.), Eurasian Jackdaw (C. monedula L.), Hooded Crow (C. cornix L.), Common Raven (C. corax L.), Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica L.) and Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius L.) for our observations during 2009–2012. Some 38 survey routes totaling more than 8000 km were surveyed in 21 settlements in Zhytomyr region. Among them 13 routes were in Zhytomyr city. The average density of Rooks was 55.9 birds/km2. We found a strong correlation between Rook density and rural-urban gradient and observed that the numbers of wintering Rooks in cities significantly increased due to the influx from villages. The peak number of Rooks in villages was registered in the breeding and post-breeding seasons while in the cities it was high in winter and during the spring migration. The average density of Eurasian Magpies in the study area was 8.7 birds/km2 and we registered weak correlation with the urban-rural gradient. Their maximum density in urban habitats was in the winter period whereas the highest density in rural habitats was fixed in the summer months. The density of Magpies varied insignificantly within a narrow range during the three years of research, which suggests the species has successfully adjusted to the transformed landscapes. Average density of Hooded Crows in towns was 6.6 birds/km2. The linear relationship between the urban-rural gradient and the density of this species was rather weak. In the breeding period, the birds’ density was considerably higher in urban habitats. We also registered that the average density of Hooded Crows changed insignificantly but gradually increased during the study period. The average density of Eurasian Jackdaws was 9.7 birds/km2 and had high annual dynamics. It also changed significantly during the three years of research. The average density of Eurasian Jays was 2.4 birds/km2 and varied significantly in different settlements, although the fluctuation range was small (0.1–9.3 birds/km2). We registered an expansion in the breeding distribution of Eurasian Jays in recent years i.e. the birds began to nest in old urban neighborhoods and small central parks of large cities. However, the number of birds naturally decreased along the gradient of landscape transformation. The impact of urban-rural gradient on Eurasian Jay density was significant but the correlation was weak and negative. The density of this species was highest in small villages (4.9 birds/km2) and the lowest in medium-sized cities (1.5 birds/km2). The seasonal density of Jays varied significantly and the greatest value was registered in the post-breeding period. In urban areas the birds’ density was much higher in winter compared to the nesting period, and in villages we observed the reverse situation. The number of Eurasian Jays remained almost stable in all the settlements during the study period indicating the stability of the local populations. The average density of the Common Raven was 1.3 birds/km2 and the highest density was registered in small villages (2.2 birds/km2), the lowest – in the townships (small urban type settlements) (0.6 birds/km2). The urban-rural gradient significantly affected the spatial distribution of Common Ravens, but we cannot claim an increase or decrease in their numbers along the gradient of urbanization, since the value of this indicator also depended on habitat conditions in each specific settlement. The spatial distribution of Common Ravens varied seasonally and the highest density was typical in winter due to food migrations towards human settlements.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaikun Hou ◽  
Wenjie Li ◽  
Wangchen Lu ◽  
Yue Gao

<p>This paper matches the "Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index" published by Peking University Digital Finance Research Center with the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database, and uses Probit and Logit models to empirically investigate the impact of digital inclusive finance on impact of household commercial insurance participation. The findings show that, first, the development of digital inclusive finance significantly increases commercial insurance participation, and this effect remains significant after adding control variables or changing models; second, the impact of digital inclusive finance on commercial insurance participation shows structural differences by urban-rural, regional, and risk preferences. At the urban-rural level, the impact of digital inclusive finance on commercial insurance participation is significantly higher in rural than in urban areas; at the regional level, the impact of digital inclusive finance is greater in western regions than in eastern and central regions; at the risk preference level, the impact of digital inclusive finance on commercial insurance participation is higher in risk-averse groups than in risk-averse groups. Based on the above findings, this paper proposes to accelerate the development of digital inclusive finance, especially focusing on the construction of digital inclusive finance in less developed regions; improve the financial market system, strengthen the supervision of insurance products; and increase the popularization of financial knowledge.</p>


Author(s):  
Haiying Feng ◽  
Victor R. Squires

In many parts of China, rapid economic growth, socio-economic inequality, and environmental degradation (air, water, soil) are undermining social stability and sustainable urbanization. Rural-urban migration is the main factor contributing to urban population growth. Economic opportunity in urban areas is the main ‘pull factor’ but government policies provide a ‘push factor’. A model of the relationship over time of the rural sector and the urban sectors, mainly relating to the focus on manufacturing and the services sector, is discussed. Each sector provides a market for the other. We use three cameos of different types of urban-rural development taking examples from a Prefecture-level city of about 500,000 population located in Guangxi Autonomous Region in south east China. We analyze the infrastructure plan and land use planning in respect to the impact on labor, investment and urban growth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-153
Author(s):  
Daniel Litwin

A growing literature in international law has examined the backlash against international institutions and norms and its links with the rise of nationalist parties and populism. Some of this backlash have been said to originate with populations in small towns and rural areas socioeconomically “left-behind” by economic globalization. These developments have made salient the growing economic and political polarization between urban and non-urban areas. Nevertheless, this urban- rural divide and its implications for international law have only started to be acknowledged. Aligned with these concerns, this article adopts the urban-rural divide as a geographical scale or frame to suggest a new perspective on the investment treaty regime, its backlash and reform. Outside of the particularly virulent nature of its backlash, the regime’s context provides fertile ground for this frame: it is structured so that urban actors principally located in global or capital cities, such as multinational enterprises, global law firms, or national executive branches, make decisions about foreign investment projects that are often located and impact non-urban areas and populations. As this article contends, this context points to the regime’s potential to impact (and address) through geographical affinities the global growth of political and economic polarization between urban and nonurban areas. The impact of these urban decisions on non-urban areas has so far principally been examined through frames that emphasize impact in terms of the “environment” or “local communities” together with calls for reforms to the regime by allocating more policy space for States. An “urban-rural” frame centers additional impacts in terms of non-urban public interest, local participation, and the distribution of resources, and queries the ability of domestic policies alone to respond to them in the pursuit of socially and economic inclusive investment.


2021 ◽  
pp. 151-168
Author(s):  
T. ZWANE

Savings have been described as a significant fi nancial and economic matter and represent an essential driving force of economic growth and development. Despite this, many studies investigating the determinants of savings in South Africa have looked predominantly at the drivers of savings only at a national level, without focusing on urban and rural differences. This is critical as these localities are structurally different, with different characteristics. It is, therefore, likely that the determinants of savings in these unique geographical localities would differ, given the negative impact of past policies of marginalisation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the urban-rural disparities in savings for South African households. We used data sourced from the five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) observed from 2008-2017. The novelty of this study is in its application of a novel two-stage least square estimation technique which addresses possible endogeneity problems which might have plagued previous studies in this field. It was concluded from the research that the determinants of savings are different across samples (urban and rural). We found that having access to land is an important predictor of savings in rural areas where the poor live (positive and significant), but the coefficient is not significant in the urban sample. Although there was a positive correlation between income and savings across samples, but the income impact on savings is higher in absolute values for households residing in rural areas, compared to household living in urban areas. We also found that, despite the coefficient of employment being similar in the direction of the impact (positive and significant) across the samples, the magnitude of the coefficient was stronger in the rural sample. Based on the higher magnitude of the coefficient, we found that household size has more effect in urban than rural areas. The study recommends that government should design and implement policies that foster job creation, even low-skilled jobs, which will generate more income and reduce unemployment.


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