Interacting effects of political social media use, political discussion and political trust on civic engagement: Extending the differential gains model

The differential gains model has lent credence to the fact that the positive association between news consumption and political engagement differs across people who discuss politics more often and those who do not. This study extends the original differential gains model by incorporating a second moderator, political trust, and replicating in three Asian societies: Japan, Taiwan, and Mainland China. In addition to the main associations, results lent partial support to the original hypothesis in the context of Japan. Moreover, a three-way interaction emerged in China Mainland. That is, among Chinese who have higher levels of political social media use, those who discuss politics more often and distrust political institutions showed higher levels of civic engagement. This study advances the original differential gains model into a moderated moderation model. Beyond the communicative factors, results revealed the importance of political trust in buffering media effects.

An empirical approach toward the SLCP reduction targets in Asia for the mid-term climate change mitigation

Although importance of co-control of SLCPs together with the emission reduction of CO2 has attracted much attention for the mid-term climate change mitigation, the contribution to radiative forcing (RF) is rather complex, and chemistry-climate model analysis for the future scenario tends to give a “black box” for the contribution of each species. In order to deliver a more straightforward message on the effect of the reduction of SLCPs to policymakers, we propose “top-down” reduction targets of CH4 and tropospheric O3 in reference to the historical levels of their RF. Although the RF increase due to the increasing CO2 concentration is inevitable in mid-term future (ca. 0.80 W m−2 in 2040), the RF of CH4 and O3 is expected to decrease from 0.48 to 0.41, 0.34, 0.27, and 0.22 W m−2, and from 0.40 to 0.29, 0.23, 0.19, and 0.15 W m−2, respectively, if their atmospheric concentrations decrease from the level of 2010 to those of 1980, 1970, 1960, and 1950, according to the IPCC 2013 database. Consequently, the sum of ΔRFx(CH4) and ΔRFx(O3) (the difference of RF between the target year of x and 2010 as the base year) are 0.18, 0.31, 0.42, and 0.51 W m−2 in 1980, 1970, 1960, and 1950, indicating that the increase of ΔRF2040(CO2) can be compensated by 23, 39, 53, and 64%, respectively. The policy target can be selected from the combination of different target years each for CH4 and O3. With this global reduction ratio, the necessary reductions in CH4, NOx, and NMVOC in Asia were estimated and compared with the GAINS model-based cost-beneficial reduction amount proposed by the Solution Report prepared under UN Environment Asia and the Pacific Office. In order to attain the targeted reduced emission level of CH4 and NOx, new technology/practice for the reduction of livestock emission of CH4 and energy transformation from fossil fuel to renewable energy is highly advantageous for NOx reduction from industrial/power plant sources.

Prevaluating Technical Efficiency Gains From Potential Mergers and Acquisitions in China’s Coal Industry

With the slowdown of its economic growth, China’s domestic coal industry is facing more and more serious overcapacity. Multiple government departments have jointly proposed that the coal industry should undergo mergers and reorganization to ease this overcapacity, enhance industrial concentration, and optimize production layout. This study thus combines the resample slacks-based measure (SBM) model and potential merger gains model to pre-evaluate the gains from potential mergers and acquisitions (M&As) before making any final decision about them. With a focus on prevaluating efficiency gains before potential M&As instead of efficiency gains after them, we take China’s listed companies in the coal mining and washing industry as the research sample. The data used to evaluate the efficiency from potential M&As come from their annual financial reports from 2013 to 2016. Empirical results show that some mergers of listed coal companies lead to improved efficiency, but not all mergers can bring efficiency improvements. We also find that the most efficient companies are not necessarily the best M&A targets, and that companies suitable for M&As are those in the stage of expansion. In addition, the empirical results confirm that combinations between large coal companies and between cross-listing companies are more efficient.

An Empirical Approach toward the SLCF reduction targets in Asia for the Mid-term Climate Change Mitigation

Although importance of co-control of SLCFs together with the emission reduction of CO 2 has attracted much attention for the mid-term climate change mitigation, their contribution to radiative forcing (RF) are rather complex, and chemical-climate model analysis for the future scenario tends to give black box for the contribution of each species. In order to deliver a more straightforward message on the effect of the reduction of SLCFs to policymakers, we propose “top-down” reduction targets of CH 4 and tropospheric O 3 in reference to the historical levels of their RF. Although the RF increase due to the increasing CO 2 concentration is inevitable in mid-term future (ca. 0.80 W m -2 in 2040), the RF of CH 4 and O 3 is expected to decrease from 0.48 to 0.41, 0.34, 0.27, and 0.22 W m -2 , and from 0.40 to 0.29, 0.23, 0.19, and 0.15 W m -2 , respectively, if their atmospheric concentrations decrease from the level of 2010 to those of 1980, 1970, 1960 and 1950, according to the IPCC 2013 database. Consequently, the sum of -ΔRF x (CH 4 ) and -ΔRF x (O 3 ) (the difference of RF between the target year of x and 2010 as the base year) are 0.18, 0.31, 0.42 and 0.51 W m -2 in 1980, 1970, 1960 and 1950, respectively. This indicates that the increase of ΔRF 2040 (CO 2 ) can be compensated by of 23 to 64%, and the policy target can be selected from the combination of different target years for CH 4 and O 3 . With these global reduction ratio the necessary reductions in CH 4 , NO x, and NMVOC in Asia was estimated and compared with the GAINS model-based cost-beneficial reduction amount proposed by the Solution Report prepared under UN Environment Asia pacific Office. The comparison suggests that the reduction of O 3 to the 1970 level is promising if the emissions of NO x and NMVOC from other parts of the world are reduced coherently, but further efforts would be necessary for the reduction of CH 4 emissions to realize the 1970 concentration level.

Advancing global aerosol simulations with size-segregated anthropogenic particle number emissions

Climate models are important tools that are used for generating climate change projections, in which aerosol–climate interactions are one of the main sources of uncertainties. In order to quantify aerosol–radiation and aerosol–cloud interactions, detailed input of anthropogenic aerosol number emissions is necessary. However, the anthropogenic aerosol number emissions are usually converted from the corresponding mass emissions in pre-compiled emission inventories through a very simplistic method depending uniquely on chemical composition, particle size and density, which are defined for a few, very wide main source sectors. In this work, the anthropogenic particle number emissions converted from the AeroCom mass in the ECHAM-HAM climate model were replaced with the recently formulated number emissions from the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model. In the GAINS model the emission number size distributions vary, for example, with respect to the fuel and technology. Special attention was paid to accumulation mode particles (particle diameter dp > 100 nm) because of (i) their capability of acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), thus forming cloud droplets and affecting Earth's radiation budget, and (ii) their dominant role in forming the coagulation sink and thus limiting the concentration of sub-100 nm particles. In addition, the estimates of anthropogenic CCN formation, and thus the forcing from aerosol–climate interactions, are expected to be affected. Analysis of global particle number concentrations and size distributions reveals that GAINS implementation increases CCN concentration compared with AeroCom, with regional enhancement factors reaching values as high as 10. A comparison between modeled and observed concentrations shows that the increase in number concentration for accumulation mode particles agrees well with measurements, but it leads to a consistent underestimation of both nucleation mode and Aitken mode (dp < 100 nm) particle number concentrations. This suggests that revisions are needed in the new particle formation and growth schemes currently applied in global modeling frameworks.

Analisis Faktor-Faktor Yang Menyumbang Kepada Penglibatan Politik Dalam Kalangan Penduduk Pulau Pinang

Political participation is one of the fundamental principles of democracy, without which any nation with such system will cease to exist. There are many factors influencing political participation of an individual in a country. Hence this research aims to understand the influence of the level of media usage (i.e. television, radio, newspaper and internet), interest, attitude, general knowledge towards politics and age on political participation through the mediating role of interpersonal discussion, utilizing the Differential Gains Model. A survey involving 386 registered voters in Penang, Malaysia was conducted. The survey discovered that interest in and general knowledge on politics significantly influenced the level of the respondents’ political participation. None of any media factors, attitudes toward politics and age was found to affect political participation. Consistent with the Model of Differential Gains, interpersonal discussion on politics significantly mediated the relationships between level of media usage (namely radio and newspaper) and general knowledge on politics; and political participation. The study summarised that interpersonal discussion on political issues with friends and family members is more vital to increase people’s involvement in local politics as compared to mass media.