Evaluation of Green Development Efficiency of the Major Cities in Gansu Province, China

Green development (GD) has become a new model of sustainable development across the world. However, our knowledge of green development efficiency (GDE) in Gansu province is poor. In remedy, this study, based on the panel data of 12 major cities in Gansu from 2010 to 2017, employed the super-efficient Slack-based measure (SBM) to analyze and evaluate GDE from the input–output perspective. Furthermore, we analyzed the input redundancy and output deficiency of identified inefficient cities in 2017 and conducted spatial autocorrelation analysis of GDE of the cities under study. Results show differences in the GDE of the major cities in Gansu, with an average value of 0.985. Green development efficiency in Lanzhou, Qingyang, Jinchang, Jiuquan, and Tianshui was relatively higher than in other cities. Green development efficiency in Zhangye, Wuwei, Jiayuguan, Baiyin, Dingxi, Longnan, and Longnan was less than one due to their redundant labor and capital input and excessive pollutant emission output. The overall GDE in Gansu depicts “high east and low west” zones. Each city in Gansu needs to formulate targeted policies and regulations to improve resource utilization, innovation capacity, reduce pollutant emission, optimize the industrial structure, and promote inter-city cooperation to construct a sustainable green economy.

Evaluation and Decomposition of Tourism Inefficiency Considering Heterogeneous Technology: An Empirical Study from China

Considering both sectoral and regional heterogeneities, this article develops a structural meta-frontier slacks-based measure data envelopment analysis model to decompose the inefficiency level, input reduction and output expansion potentials and efficiency change into three components: sectoral heterogeneity, regional heterogeneity, and resource utilization. Subsequently, an empirical study of China’s provincial tourism subsectors between 2000 and 2014 is conducted. The results show that regional heterogeneity and resource utilization failure are the main contributors to the inefficiency of travel agencies, but the inefficiency of star-rated hotels and tourist attractions are dominated by sectoral heterogeneity. The tourism inefficiency of China is mainly characterized by insufficient output rather than input redundancy, and there are significant differences in the sources of output expansion potential for different tourism subsectors. In addition, the driving force for improving the efficiency of travel agencies ascribed to resource utilization capabilities are pure technological progress and technology scale change.

Research on Innovation Performance in Heterogeneous Region: Evidence from Yangtze Economic Belt in China

Innovation has become the main impetus for regional development. Effective utilization of innovation resources is crucial in promoting sustainable innovation. From the theoretical aspect, there still exists uncertainty of how to effectively evaluate innovation performance. From the empirical aspect, we still doubt whether regions of higher economic level or high innovation quantity really show positive regional innovation performance, especially in heterogeneous regions. This paper uses DEA-Malmquist index to measure regional innovation performance of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China. Regions of similar performance levels are grouped by ward clustering, analysis regional innovation performance characteristics, and problem-solving paths of regions in different development stages. The empirical research proves that overall performance of Yangtze River Economic Belt is not high. The economic core area has realized increase of innovation volume through large amount of material input and resource consumption, instead of realizing full utilization of innovative resources; how to improve the utilization rate of existing technical resources has been neglected. Different regions with similar innovation performance show different characteristics and innovation problems, including resource mismatch, input redundancy, or insufficient output. There are also some differences in the way the region’s specific innovation performance is improved.

REDUCED INPUT REDUNDANCY WHILE PROVIDING THE STABILITY OF INFORMATION-ANALYTICAL SYSTEMS IN COMPENSATING THE EFFECTS CAUSED BY ATTACKER’S DESTRUCTIVE ACTIONS

The article describes the information and analytical systems (IAS), the main function of which is processing of large multidimensional arrays of information under conditions of destructive effects caused by attacker. Such conditions require the management of secure data storage. It ensures the data sent for storage by operator is identical to the one used by a decision-maker upon request. The authors propose the subsystem of data integrity control that uses cryptographic hash functions. The applied hash functions are based on the rules for constructing Pascal’s triangle. The paper shows that a distinguishing feature of the subsystem is reducing the input redundancy of control information at a given security level of data processed in the IAS, as well as ensuring new properties, such as the ability to control the integrity of not only the data to be secured, but also the reference hash codes. The article also gives a comparative assessment of the developed subsystem with known methods of data integrity control.

Diffusion Efficiency of Innovation among EU Member States: A Data Envelopment Analysis

Innovation, in contemporary times, has been established as the lynchpin of growth and national competitive advantage among countries. Supranational and national resources have jointly combined to create sound innovation strategies and diffusion policies for member states in recent times. However, there is the question of whether increased innovation translates to effective diffusion of innovation. With this in mind, the present research aims to comparatively assess and evaluate the efficiency of diffusion of innovation of European Union member states in reference to their European Innovation Survey rankings. Using the Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR) model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the present research found contrasting diffusion efficiency scores of member states with different innovation performances as most innovative member states had much lower efficiency scores compared to some supposedly weak innovating member states. We also computed the input-redundancy and output-deficiency of member states, provided recommendations for efficient input-output combinations based on findings of respective member states and innovation groups, and finally, outlined directions for future studies.

Efficiency evaluation of hotel operations in Mainland China based on the superefficiency SBM model

This research evaluated the efficiency of hotels in 31 provinces and 4 regions (Eastern, Western, Central, and Northeastern China) using the superefficiency slacks-based measure model. The reasons for operational inefficiency were assessed from two perspectives: input redundancy and output shortfalls. Most hotels were found to have operational inefficiencies, and there is a significant scope for future improvement. The relative efficiency of hotel operations by the four regions was as follows: Eastern China > Central China > Western China > Northeastern China. The efficiency of hotels demonstrated differing coefficients of variation. The most significant coefficient of variation was for Western China, and the smallest was for Northeastern China. The primary cause of inefficiencies was in input redundancies, especially the high degree of input redundancy in number of hotels, employees, and rooms. Also, to some degree, differences exist among the four regions in operational inefficiencies.