Evaluation of Green Logistics Efficiency in Jiangxi Province Based on Three-Stage DEA from the Perspective of High-Quality Development

The high-quality development of the logistics industry plays an important role in high-quality economic development. Green logistics is attracting more attention, owing to environmental concern. Based on the five concepts of “innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing” of high-quality economic development, the input–output indicators of green logistics efficiency (GLE) have been designed. The correlation between the green logistics input and output indicators have been analyzed by Pearson, and the green logistics efficiency of 11 cities in Jiangxi Province has been calculated by three-stage DEA. The evolutionary characteristics of the high-quality development of green logistics efficiency in Jiangxi Province were analyzed and evaluated. The conclusions were achieved as follows: (1) Nanchang, Xinyu and Ganzhou city are at the forefront of efficiency, and are less affected by environmental factors. The logistics efficiency of other cities is obviously affected by environmental factors. (2) The comprehensive technical efficiency (TE) of green logistics in Jiangxi Province is strongly influenced by scale efficiency (SE). The poor scale efficiency reduces the comprehensive technical efficiency of green logistics. (3) There is a positive correlation between high-quality economic development and logistics efficiency. In these cities of Jiangxi province (Nanchang, Ganzhou, Jiujiang, etc.) the share of total economy and green logistics efficiency is high. This study proves that Jiangxi province is moving towards high-quality economic development due to good environmental protection. (4) In 2017, Jiangxi Province was recognized as one of the national ecological civilization pilot region by the State Council. Green logistics efficiency in Jiangxi Province showed an inflection point in 2017, indicating that the green concept is becoming more and more popular. From the government to enterprises, the province has achieved initial results in promoting the transformation of the economic development mode. It aims to provide reference for the high-quality development of other provinces.

The Correlation Between Income Inequality and Population Health

Today, despite the increase in global wealth, the income gap between the rich and the poor gradually widens. This gap is significant in both developed and developing nations. Thus, increasing income inequality adversely affects several socio-economic indicators. Previous studies demonstrated that one of the socio-economic indicators that were negatively affected by income inequality is population health. The income inequality experienced by the individuals or throughout life adversely affects several populations' health outputs, especially life expectancy at birth. The present study aimed to test the correlation between income inequality and population health output indicators with canonical correlation method and based on the most current data available for several nations. To determine the correlation between the two datasets, the 2017 data for 29 European countries and Turkey were analyzed. Canonical correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation between the income inequality and population health indicator datasets.

On the taxonomy of smart city indicators and their alignment with sustainability and resilience

As interest in smart city initiatives continues to grow rapidly, various involved actors and stakeholders increasingly rely on assessment frameworks or indicator sets for different purposes such as monitoring and benchmarking performance, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and determining priority intervention areas. Accordingly, many smart city assessment frameworks and/or indicator sets have been developed in the last decade. To guide actors and stakeholders in their selection of the most suitable frameworks, several studies have examined contents and structure of smart city assessment frameworks or indicator sets. Such studies have significantly improved our understanding of the thematic focus of assessment tools and their methodological approaches. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on the taxonomy of smart city indicators. In addition, since other concepts such as sustainability and resilience are increasingly recognized to be connected to the smart city concept, more clarity on how different assessment frameworks or indicator sets are aligned with sustainability and resilience dimensions and characteristics is needed. To fill these gaps, we developed a taxonomy and examined 33 assessment frameworks or indicator sets in terms of indicator type, sectoral linkages, and alignment with sustainability and resilience dimensions and characteristics. In terms of indicator type, results show that output indicators are dominant but limited attention has been paid to impact indicators. In terms of sectoral focus, existing indicators are mainly related to information and communication technologies, economy, and governance. Regarding resilience abilities, indicators are mainly related to planning abilities and limited attention has been paid to recovery and adaptation. As for resilience characteristics, reasonable levels of alignment with resourcefulness and efficiency were observed, but indicators are not well-aligned with other important characteristics such as redundancy and diversity. Finally, in terms of sustainability, limited alignment with the environmental dimension was found, which raises concerns regarding the suitability of smart city indicators for guiding environmental sustainability and informing efforts aimed at addressing climate change issues. Results of this study can support interested stakeholders in their efforts to select the most suitable assessment frameworks or indicator sets for promoting resilient, smart, and sustainable communities.

Interaction Between the Transport Network and the Territory of Algiers (Complex System): In Search of Indicators

In recent years and within the framework of its project “Algiers the metropolis”, Algiers has classified its transport network among its first concerns in order to compete with the other Mediterranean metropolises. However, the complexity of its territory, which is of a particular geological and geomorphological nature, represents a constraint for the proper distribution and management of its transport network. The complexity of its territory and of its transport network, leads us towards the systemic approach for the search of an adequacy between these two complex urban realities in order to find an effective and efficient tool of management and urban planning. The development of a set of indicators of sustainable mobility, as a result of this work, allowed us to find through an epistemological study of the literature on the two complex concepts to select and develop a list of Input and Output Indicators that are related to both territory and transport. Indeed, this list of sustainable mobility indicators will allow, on the one hand, in urban planning, a better match of the transport network to the Algerian territory and, on the other hand, the study of the effectiveness and efficiency of the present and future transport network.

The effects of importing activities on technological and non-technological innovation: evidence from Chilean firms

PurposeThe authors analyzed the effects of importing activities on both technological and non-technological innovation in Chile. They contribute to the literature by hypothesizing and testing the idea that importing activities can foster the introduction of product, process, marketing and organizational innovations in emerging market firms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a combination of two economic surveys that included 1,347 Chilean companies. To test their hypotheses, they applied a variant of the Crépon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) model (Crépon et al., 1998) accounting for technological and non-technological innovation outputs. Specifically, four alternative innovation output indicators were used to measure the introduction of product, process, marketing and organizational innovations.FindingsThe results revealed that importing activities had positive effects on technological and non-technological innovation. Importers showed a significant advantage in the introduction of product, marketing and organizational innovations. Firms that both import and export (i.e. two-way traders) had an even greater advantage in the introduction of new or significantly improved products.Originality/valueThe authors demonstrated a relationship between importing activities and both technological and non-technological innovation that is novel and relevant, particularly at a historical moment when COVID-19 poses huge economic challenges to emerging market firms. As trade disruptions caused by the pandemic have predisposed some governments to favor protectionist policies, the authors warn that erecting barriers against imports can hamper the innovative success of local businesses.

TRENDS OF DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS FOR DESIGNING FOODSTUFFS

Рассмотрены основные требования к науке о питании и новые подходы к усовершенствованию состава, свойств и технологий пищевых продуктов, обусловленные изменением пищевого статуса человека, к которому предъявляются более высокие критерии, учитывающие изменения экологии, условий и интенсивности труда, влияние стрессов на психоэмоциональное состояние человека. Установлено, что основные направления совершенствования биопотенциала и гигиенического статуса пищевых продуктов на этапе проектирования рецептурных решений базируются на привлечении новых нутрицевтиков, парафармацевтиков, эубиотиков из сырья природного происхождения или продуктов его глубокой переработки. Перспективным направлением в совершенствовании технологий и расширении ассортимента продуктов функционального назначения, направленного диетического, лечебного и профилактического действия, необходимых для организации биокорректирующего питания и ликвидации алиментарно-дефицитных состояний различных групп населения, является применение нейросетевых методов математического моделирования, которые позволят с высокой точностью получать значения выходных показателей качества пищевых систем в зависимости от варьирования исходных характеристик и параметров технологических процессов. The basic requirements for nutritional science and new approaches to improve the composition, properties and technologies of food products due to changes in the nutritional status of the person to which higher demands are placed, taking into account environmental changes, conditions and intensity of labour, the impact of stress on mental and emotional state, are considered. It is established that the main directions of improvement of the biopotential and the hygienic status of food products at the design stage prescription decisions are based on the attraction of new nutraceuticals and parapharmaceutics, eubiotikov from raw materials of natural origin or products of its deep processing. A promising direction in improving the technology and expanding the range of functional foods aimed diet, therapeutic and preventive actions needed for the organization of bio correction power and to eliminate the nutritional-deficient states of various groups population groups, is the application of neural network mathematical modeling methods, which allow with high accuracy to obtain values of output indicators of the quality of food systems, depending on the variation of initial characteristics and parameters of technological processes.

Evaluation on the Efficiency of LED Energy Enterprises in China by Employing the DEA Model

As an essential part of strategic emerging industry, the light emitting diode (LED) industry plays an important role in the development of a national economy as well as being a technology that is pivotal to energy saving and environmental protection. Due to the late start of China’s LED energy industry, there are few related studies, especially on the efficiency of China’s LED energy enterprises. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) method is widely used in efficiency measurement for its significant advantages in simplifying calculations and processing multiple input–output indicators. This study selected 34 Chinese LED energy enterprises, sorted out the various input and output indicators of each enterprise from 2017 to 2019, and calculated the technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency, and scale efficiency of each enterprise based on the CCR and BCC models of the DEA method. The result shows that, from 2017 to 2019, the overall technical efficiency of China’s LED energy enterprises continued to improve and that this was due to the LED energy enterprises’ emphasis on technology development. However, in terms of production scale, there is still a big gap between each enterprise and the optimal scale. On the one hand, studying the technical efficiency of China’s LED energy enterprises can measure whether an enterprise has reached the optimal input–output ratio; on the other hand, it can provide references for related stakeholders such as investment entities, regulatory agencies, and policy-making departments.

The value of research funding for knowledge creation and dissemination: A study of SNSF Research Grants

This study investigates the effect of competitive project funding on researchers’ publication outputs. Using detailed information on applicants at the Swiss National Science Foundation and their proposal evaluations, we employ a case-control design that accounts for individual heterogeneity of researchers and selection into treatment (e.g. funding). We estimate the impact of the grant award on a set of output indicators measuring the creation of new research results (the number of peer-reviewed articles), its relevance (number of citations and relative citation ratios), as well as its accessibility and dissemination as measured by the publication of preprints and by altmetrics. The results show that the funding program facilitates the publication and dissemination of additional research amounting to about one additional article in each of the three years following the funding. The higher citation metrics and altmetrics by funded researchers suggest that impact goes beyond quantity and that funding fosters dissemination and quality.

Evaluating the Efficiency of Heat and Power Systems by the Data Envelopment Analysis Method

The article describes the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method and the main features of its application. The main problems of heat and power systems are described, which are addressed by the DEA method of efficiency assessment presented in the article. The approbation of this method is presented at the objects of the centralized municipal heat supply system of the fuel and energy complex: boiler houses and heat and power plants. 9 objects were analyzed according to four input indicators: available heat capacity, installed heat capacity, heat consumption for own needs, fuel consumption. Also, the efficiency of the system was evaluated according to two output indicators: the release of thermal energy to the grid and the mass of the emission. As a result of the analysis and calculations made, it was revealed that 5 objects have the maximum possible efficiency indicator equal to 1, that is, they function as efficiently as possible. 4 objects of the centralized municipal heat supply system have an efficiency indicator less than 1. Accordingly, improvements are required for the operation of the above Decision-Making Units (DMU)s. These objects have deviations in terms of the inputs and outputs of the actual data and those obtained using the DEA method. Based on the calculations obtained for these 4 objects, the article provides recommendations for changing the quantitative values of their input and output indicators. For example, for object number 2, it is recommended to reduce the installed heat capacity in the grid by 72.57%, without changing the available heat capacity and fuel consumption. Reduce the heat consumption for your own needs by 69.383%. In addition, it is recommended to increase the supply of thermal energy to the grid by 6,034%, and reduce the mass of emission by 11.5%. Specific measures have also been developed to modernize the studied objects in order to achieve the recommended indicators of inputs and outputs. The research results presented in the article are of scientific and practical interest and can be used to improve the efficiency of heat and power systems facilities