The Production–Living–Ecological Land Classification System and Its Characteristics in the Hilly Area of Sichuan Province, Southwest China Based on Identification of the Main Functions

Production–living–ecological land (PLEL) is one of the research focuses of land planning and regional sustainable development in China. This paper builds a three-level classification system of PLEL based on the identification of the main land use functions (LUFs). Taking 215 typical towns in the hilly area of Sichuan Province, Southwest China as samples, the quantitative, spatial, and functional characteristics and impact factors of PLEL were studied. The results showed that (1) production land holds a dominant role in the hilly area of Sichuan Province, and production land (PL), living land (LL) and ecological land (EL) account for 66.06%, 7.60%, and 26.34% of the area, respectively. The area of agricultural production land is the largest; forestland and rural living land rank second and third. (2) The spatial patterns of PLEL in different regions of hilly area have differences. The proportion of PL gradually decreases from north to south, while the proportion of EL gradually increases from north to south, and the difference in LL is not obvious. The EL is mainly distributed in the upper and middle parts of hills, and the PL and LL are mainly distributed in the foot slopes and valleys. (3) The main functions of PLEL in the hilly area of Sichuan are production and ecology. The production function is mainly for agricultural and forestry products, and the living function is mainly for cultural leisure and residential functions. There are little differences among the ecological sub-functions. (4) There is a strong correlation between PLEL and natural–social–economic factors in the hilly area of Sichuan. Natural conditions such as latitude, relative height, and surface roughness have significant impacts on PL and EL. Social and economic factors such as population density, location and total industrial output value have a significant impact on LL. The results of this study provide valuable implications for the spatial planning and sustainable development in the Sichuan Basin and upstream of the Yangtze River.

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Do Agricultural Machinery Services Facilitate Land Transfer? Evidence from Rice Farmers in Sichuan Province, China

Land ◽

10.3390/land10050466 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 466

Author(s):

Xi Yu ◽

Xiyang Yin ◽

Yuying Liu ◽

Dongmei Li

Keyword(s):

Negative Impact ◽

Sichuan Province ◽

Impact Factors ◽

Farm Labor ◽

Agricultural Machinery ◽

Rice Farmers ◽

Land Transfer ◽

Land Rental ◽

Rental Markets ◽

The Impact

Agricultural machinery services play an increasingly important role in the land transfer market, especially in developing countries. Prior studies have explored the impact factors of machinery use on agricultural production and land transfer, respectively. However, little research has focused on the relationship between the adoption of agricultural machinery services and the land transfer of rice farmers. To bridge this gap, this study investigated the correlation between machinery services and land transfer, using unique survey data of 810 rice farmers collected from Sichuan province in China. Additionally, this study further explored the impact mechanism on land transfer of rural households with IV-Probit and IV-Tobit models. The empirical results show the following: (i) Agricultural machinery services have a significantly positive and robust effect on both the incidence and area of rice farmers’ land transfer-in, while the impact degree is different. Specifically, with other conditions remaining unchanged, and with a 1% increase in the proportion of machinery services, the average probability of land transfer-in of rice farmers increased by 2.4%, and the area of land transfer-in increased by 13.4 mu, on average. (ii) For control variables, head education, agricultural certificates and whether the majority of land, are in a flat area have positive impacts on land transfer-in behavior. Yet, age and off-farm labor have a negative impact on land transfer-in area. Moreover, our findings highlight the importance of agricultural machinery services in stimulating the development of rural land rental markets.

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Post-Industrial Tourism as a Driver of Sustainable Development

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13158145 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 8145

Author(s):

Aleksandra Kuzior ◽

Oleksii Lyulyov ◽

Tetyana Pimonenko ◽

Aleksy Kwilinski ◽

Dariusz Krawczyk

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Tourism Development ◽

Tourism Industry ◽

Digital Marketing ◽

Gender And Education ◽

Development Goals ◽

The Difference ◽

Post Industrial ◽

The Impact ◽

Industrial Tourism

The accepted Sustainable Development Goals aim at reorienting the tourism industry to sustainable tourism and enhancing post-industrial tourism. In this case, it is necessary to identify the statistically significant determinants which affect post-industrial tourism development. In this paper, we aim to analyse: (1) the impact of economic and environmental dimensions, and of digital marketing on supporting post-industrial tourism development and (2) the difference between attitude to post-industrial tourism on the gender, age, and education dimensions and digital channels on post-industrial tourism development. The data was collected from questioning 2334 respondents during April–November 2020. The study applied the following methods: frequencies, percentages, t-test, and one-way ANOVA and multiple regression analysis. The findings confirmed the statistically significant impact of the economic and environmental dimensions, as well as digital marketing on post-industrial tourism development. The results of the analysis justified that digital marketing was a catalysator of post-industrial tourism development. In addition, the findings confirmed that there is no difference in attitudes towards post-industrial tourism with respect to the dimensions of age, gender, and education.

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Towards Sustainable Development: Building’s Retrofitting with PCMs to Enhance the Indoor Thermal Comfort in Tropical Climate, Malaysia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13073614 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 3614

Author(s):

Zeyad Amin Al-Absi ◽

Mohd Isa Mohd Hafizal ◽

Mazran Ismail ◽

Azhar Ghazali

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Thermal Comfort ◽

Phase Change Materials ◽

Thermal Environment ◽

High Energy ◽

Transition Temperatures ◽

Indoor Thermal Environment ◽

Adaptive Thermal Comfort ◽

The Difference

Building sector is associated with high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. Sustainable development emphasizes any actions to reduce climate change and its effect. In Malaysia, half of the energy utilized in buildings goes towards building cooling. Thermal comfort studies and adaptive thermal comfort models reflect the high comfort temperatures for Malaysians in naturally conditioned buildings, which make it possible to tackle the difference between buildings’ indoor temperature and the required comfort temperature by using proper passive measures. This study investigates the effectiveness of building’s retrofitting with phase change materials (PCMs) as a passive cooling technology to improve the indoor thermal environment for more comfortable conditions. PCM sheets were numerically investigated below the internal finishing of the walls. The investigation involved an optimization study for the PCMs transition temperatures and quantities. The results showed significant improvement in the indoor thermal environment, especially when using lower transition temperatures and higher quantities of PCMs. Therefore, the monthly thermal discomfort time has decreased completely, while the thermal comfort time has increased to as high as 98%. The PCM was effective year-round and the optimum performance for the investigated conditions was achieved when using 18mm layer of PCM27-26.

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Silk Road Economic Belt strategy and industrial total-factor productivity

Management of Environmental Quality An International Journal ◽

10.1108/meq-06-2018-0109 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 260-282 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jian Feng ◽

Lingdi Zhao ◽

Huanyu Jia ◽

Shuangyu Shao

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Total Factor Productivity ◽

Causal Effect ◽

Silk Road ◽

Factor Productivity ◽

Positive Role ◽

Content Type ◽

Silk Road Economic Belt ◽

The Difference

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) strategy and its role of industrial productivity in China. Design/methodology/approach To identify the causal effect of this strategy on industrial sustainable development, the authors first use the slacks-based measure model to calculate industries’ total-factor productivity (TFP) considered with CO2 emissions as undesirable output on the provincial level. Then, the authors use the PSM-DID method to identify the difference of TFPs between provinces and industries before and after the implementation of SREB strategy. Findings However, the authors find that there is no difference or even a relative decrease in TFPs of industries in target provinces after the implementation of the strategy, which reveals that the SREB strategy does not play a positive role of the industries’ sustainable development in years of 2014 and 2015. Originality/value The value of this result is to identify the short-term impact of SREB strategy and to seek for probable causes and appropriate solutions.

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Cause Analysis on Eastward Movement of Southwest China Vortex and Its Induced Heavy Rainfall in South China

Advances in Meteorology ◽

10.1155/2015/481735 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Yongren Chen ◽

Yueqing Li ◽

Tianliang Zhao

Keyword(s):

South China ◽

Heavy Rainfall ◽

Southwest China ◽

Dominant Role ◽

Vertical Wind Shear ◽

Heavy Rain ◽

Convective Systems ◽

Rainfall Occurrence ◽

Positive Vorticity ◽

Upper Level Jet

The movement of southwest China vortex (SWV) and its heavy rainfall process in South China had been investigated during June 11–14, 2008. The results show that under the steering of upper-level jet (ULJ) and mid-level westerly trough, SWV moved eastward from southern Sichuan Plateau, across eastern Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to South China, forming an obvious heavy rain belt. SWV developed in the large storm-relative helicity (SRH) environment, as environmental wind field continuously transferred positive vorticity to it to support its development. The thermodynamic structures of distinctive warm (cold) advections in front (rear) of the SWV movement are also important factors for the SWV evolutions with a southwest low-level jet (LLJ) and vertical wind shear. SWV development was associated with the distributions of negative MPV1 (the barotropic item of moist potential vorticity) and positive MPV2 (the baroclinic item of it). The MPV1 and MPV2 played the dominant role in the formation and the evolution of SWV, respectively. The mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) frequently occurred and persisted in water vapor convergence areas causing the severe heavy rainfall. The areas of high moist helicity divergence and heavy rainfall are consistent, and the moist helicity divergence could be a good indicator for heavy rainfall occurrence.

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Strategic Shift from Transmissive to Transformative Higher Education for Sustainable Development

10.20944/preprints201909.0096.v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Mohamed Jama Madar ◽

Mustafa Din Bin Subari ◽

Shadiya Mohamed Saleh Baqutayan

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

National Development ◽

Education For Sustainable Development ◽

Transformative Education ◽

Education For Sustainability ◽

Important Approach ◽

The Difference ◽

Social Environmental ◽

Investment Portfolios

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a global initiative towards transforming education for sustainability. The integration of SD into the education portfolio is considered to be an important approach that ensures strategic alignment of higher education with SDGs. A document review was used to identify and discuss the difference between transmissive and transformative education in relation to SDGs and in the context of Somali education. In this trajectory, it is expected that the concept of ‘‘transformative education is likely to become more common to meet the emerging social, economic and environmental issues, yet practical challenges remain in Somaliland HE sector. The roadmap towards addressing transformative education for sustainability is not included in the Somaliland national portfolios; particularly ESD has not been presented. In this regard, this paper proposed a generic framework that spotlights the integration of HEIs and the national development goals (NDGs) in Somaliland. Meanwhile, developed and developing countries are prioritizing structural transformation in their HEIs that are tailored to national and regional development programs. Consistent with the Rio + 20 outcomes, the authors analyzed the concept of the ‘‘sustainable university’’ and identified the fact that it is practically divided into three interrelated and complementary categories, namely social-, environmental-, and economic-oriented university in pursuit of actualizing SD. The paper recommends major reforms in the education sector including availing investment portfolios for R&D, renovation of education goals and transforming universities for sustainability

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Forecasting 2016 US Presidential Elections Using Factor Analysis and Regression Model

The Journal of Prediction Markets ◽

10.5750/jpm.v12i1.1264 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 20-42

Author(s):

Pankaj Sinha

Keyword(s):

Factor Analysis ◽

Standard Error ◽

Presidential Election ◽

Dominant Role ◽

Economic Factor ◽

Vote Share ◽

Economic Factors ◽

White House ◽

Analysis Technique ◽

Incumbent Party

The paper categorizes factors responsible for forecasting the outcome of U.S. presidential election 2016 using factor analysis, which groups the various economic and non-economic parameters based on the correlation among them. The major economic factor significant in 2016 US presidential election is the growth of the economy, and the ‘anti-incumbency factor that signifies how long the incumbent party has been controlling the White House is found to be an important non-economic factor likely to play a dominant role in the election. The dependent variables considered are the vote shares of the nominees of the incumbent and the non-incumbent majority party candidates. The forecast is calculated by running a regression of the significant factors, obtained through factor analysis technique, on the incumbent party vote share as well as on the non-incumbent party vote share. The proposed models forecast the vote share of Democrat candidate Mrs. Hillary Clinton to be 45.59% with a standard error of ±2.32% and that of Republican candidate Mr. Donald Trump to be 39.51% with a standard error of ±3.87%. Hence, the models built in the paper signal a comfortable margin of victory for the Presidential nominee of the incumbent party, Hillary Clinton.The study re-establishes the notion that the non-economic factors have a greater influence on the outcomes of election as compared to the economic factors, as some of the important economic factors such as inflation and unemployment rate failed to establish their significance.

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Innovative Mesosystems Algorithm for Sustainable Development Priority Areas Identification in Industry Based on Decision Trees Construction

Mathematics ◽

10.3390/math9233055 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (23) ◽

pp. 3055

Author(s):

Aleksey I. Shinkevich ◽

Irina G. Ershova ◽

Farida F. Galimulina ◽

Alla A. Yarlychenko

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Decision Trees ◽

Training Sample ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Priority Areas ◽

New Science ◽

Development Methodology ◽

Mathematical Processing ◽

The Difference ◽

Cart Algorithm

Globally, assessing sustainable development methodology is kept in sustainable society index (SSI) format, but at the level of meso- and microsystems it remains undeveloped. The aim of the study is to typologize innovative mesosystems in Russian industry in the context of sustainable development based on the CART algorithm and to develop an algorithm for identifying priority areas of sustainable development. The research methods applied included formalization, a systematic approach, and the CART algorithm (calculation of the Gini index, training sample segmentation, the use of a recursive function and regression assessment). As a result of the study, the algorithm for the differentiated identification of innovative mesosystems sustainable development priority directions in industry based on the unique author’s methodology (ISDI) is proposed. The predominance of mesosystems with weak level of sustainable development requiring state support in favor of such mesosystems restructure is revealed. The novelty of the research lies in the development of new science-based solutions to ensure an accelerated transition of industry to the path of sustainable development. The difference of the author’s approach from the provisions known in science is the inclusion of environmental innovations in the mechanism for managing the sustainable development of innovative mesosystems and subsequent accounting in the process of mathematical processing of an array of data, which determines the uniqueness of the constructed decision trees.

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