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This study examines the differences in the economic stimulus effects, transmission mechanisms, and output multipliers of government consumption, government traditional investment, and government science and technology investment.

This study constructs and estimates a New Keynesian model of endogenous technological progress embedded in the research and development (R&D) and technology transfer sectors. Using Chinese macroeconomic time series data from 1996 to 2019, this study calibrates and estimates the model and analyzes the impulse response function and a counterfactual simulation of expenditure structure adjustment.

The results show that compared with the traditional dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model, the endogenous process of technological progress amplifies the impact of government consumption shock and traditional government investment shock on the macroeconomy, leading to greater economic cycle fluctuations. As government investment in science and technology has positive external spillover effects on firm R&D activities and the application of innovation achievements, it can promote more sustainable economic growth than government consumption and traditional investment in the long run.

This study constructs an extended New Keynesian model with different types of government spending, which includes endogenous technological progress within the R&D and technology transfer sectors, thereby linking fiscal policy, business cycle fluctuations and long-term economic growth. This model can study the macroeconomic impact of fiscal expenditure structure adjustment when fiscal expansion is limited. In the Bayesian estimation of model parameters, this study not only uses macroeconomic variables but also adds a sequence of private R&D investment.

The paper aims to develop a useful tool that can reliably and accurately find the critical paths of high-rise buildings and provide optimal solutions considering the uncertainty based on Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) to enhance project implementation performance by assisting site workers and project managers in high-rise building engineering.

This research proposes an approach integrating the improved nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) considering uncertainty and delay scenarios simulated by MCS with the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution.

The results demonstrate that the proposed approach is capable of generating optimal solutions, which can improve the construction performance of high-rise buildings and guide the implementation management for shortening building engineering project schedule and cost under the delay conditions.

In this study, only the construction data of the two floors was focused due to the project at the construction stage, and future work can analyze the whole construction stage of the high-rise building to examine the performance of the approach, and the multi-objective optimization (MOO) only considered two factors as objectives, where more objectives, such as schedule, cost and quality, can be expanded in future.

The approach proposed in this research can be successfully applied to the construction process of high-rise buildings, which can be a guidance basis for optimizing the performance of high-rise building construction.

The innovations and advantages derived from the proposed approach underline its capability to handle project construction scheduling optimization (CSO) problems with different performance objectives under uncertainty and delay conditions.

This article aims to clarify the impact of stock market liberalization on corporate green technology innovation, analyze its mechanism from the perspectives of financing constraints and environmental management level and explore heterogeneity.

Using the panel data of Chinese enterprises from 2010 to 2020, this article adopts the multi-point difference-in-difference (DID) method to test the impact of stock market liberalization on enterprise green technology innovation and its conduction pathway.

The outcomes demonstrate that stock market liberalization contributes to the furthering of green technology innovation. The heterogeneity test reveals that this promotion is more pronounced for private companies, small-scale companies and companies with high information transparency. The mediating effect test shows that stock market liberalization boosts green technology innovation by alleviating corporate financing constraints and improving corporate environmental management.

This article elucidates the impact path of stock market liberalization on corporate green innovation based on alleviating corporate financing constraints and improving corporate environmental management levels. From the perspective of corporate green technology innovation, this article provides evidence from emerging market countries for the economic effects of capital market opening, which helps to further improve the level of green innovation.

The aim of this article is two-fold. First, it offers a unique account of San Min, the prototype of the current Chinese educational principle proposed by Yan Fu (1854–1921) that aimed at improving people’s physical, intellectual and moral capacities. This system of educational thinking has received only marginal attention in Anglophone research literature. Second, given the influence of Yan Fu’s interpretation and promulgation of Herbert Spencer’s educational philosophy during that period, it investigates the extent to which San Min is derived from Spencer’s educational thought (the “Spencerian Triad”). This article focusses on how Yan Fu adapted the ideas of San Min from Spencer’s account.

This article considers Yan Fu’s principle of San Min in relation to Spencer’s educational triad through a close reading and comparison of key primary texts (including Yan Fu’s original writing). It explores the similarities and differences between each account of education’s goals and its proposed means of attainment.

Yan Fu’s principle of San Min is shown to have been adapted from the Spencerian Triad. However, using the theory of Social Organism, Yan Fu re-interpreted Spencer’s individual liberty as liberty for the nation. While Spencer’s goal was to empower individuals, Yan Fu aimed to serve collective independence, wealth and power.

This article addresses oversights concerning San Min’s Western origins in the Spencerian Triad and its influence on Chinese education under Yan Fu’s sway. It is significant because San Min is still at the core of the current Chinese educational policy.

Though current literature has started to recognize the significant role that online faith-holders play in the context of brand reputation crises, extant research lacks a theoretical framework to explain the process in which online faith-holders endure the harm in brand reputation while collectively rebuilding the reputation. We propose and test a dual-challenge model for a more systematic understanding of faith-holder communities in brand reputation crises.

Focusing on collective-level communication activities, we quantitatively compared the volume, valence and variance of a faith-holder community’s communication (441,611 posts by 3,228 fans over 14 days) before and after a brand reputation crisis.

Our longitudinal data demonstrated that the crisis was a significant threat to group sentiment and cohesion. Nevertheless, the community was highly resilient and adaptive. Their emotions quickly recovered, and they promptly restored group cohesion and coordinated crisis response efforts after the crisis.

This study challenges the traditional assumption that online users are independent, static and reactive during brand crises. Instead, it conceptualizes online faith-holder community as a connected, proactive and dynamically adaptive group in crisis situations. This dual-challenge model highlights the importance of internally fostering collective resilience while externally coordinating crisis responses in a faith-holder community.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical historical analysis of the business (mis)behaviors and influencing factors that discourage enduring cooperation between principals and agents, to introduce strategies that embrace the social values, economic motivation and institutional designs historically adopted to curtail dishonest acts in international business and to inform an improved principal–agent theory that reflects principal–agent reciprocity as shaped by social, political, cultural, economic, strategic and ideological forces

The critical historical research method is used to analyze Chinese compradors and the foreign companies they served in pre-1949 China.

Business practitioners can extend orthodox principal–agent theory by scrutinizing the complex interactions between local agents and foreign companies. Instead of agents pursuing their economic interests exclusively, as posited by principal–agent theory, they also may pursue principal-shared interests (as suggested by stewardship theory) because of social norms and cultural values that can affect business-related choices and the social bonds built between principals and agents.

The behaviors of compradors and foreign companies in pre-1949 China suggest international business practices for shaping social bonds between principals and agents and foreign principals’ creative efforts to enhance shared interests with local agents.

Understanding principal–agent theory’s limitations can help international management scholars and practitioners mitigate transaction partners’ dishonest acts.

A critical historical analysis of intermediary businesspeople’s (mis)behavior in pre-1949 (1840–1949) China can inform the generalizability of principal–agent theory and contemporary business strategies for minimizing agents’ dishonest acts.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a variable distance pneumatic gripper with embedded flexible sensors, which can effectively grasp fragile and flexible objects.

Based on the motion principle of the three-jaw chuck and the pneumatic “fast pneumatic network” (FPN), a variable distance pneumatic holder embedded with a flexible sensor is designed. A structural design plan and preparation process of a soft driver is proposed, using carbon nanotubes as filler in a polyurethane (PU) sponge. A flexible bending sensor based on carbon nanotube materials was produced. A static model of the soft driver cavity was established, and a bending simulation was performed. Based on the designed variable distance soft pneumatic gripper, a real-time monitoring and control system was developed. Combined with the developed pneumatic control system, gripping experiments on objects of different shapes and easily deformable and fragile objects were conducted.

In this paper, a variable-distance pneumatic gripper embedded with a flexible sensor was designed, and a control system for real-time monitoring and multi-terminal input was developed. Combined with the developed pneumatic control system, a measure was carried out to measure the relationship between the bending angle, output force and air pressure of the soft driver. Flexible bending sensor performance test. The gripper diameter and gripping weight were tested, and the maximum gripping diameter was determined to be 182 mm, the maximum gripping weight was approximately 900 g and the average measurement error of the bending sensor was 5.91%. Objects of different shapes and easily deformable and fragile objects were tested.

Based on the motion principle of the three-jaw chuck and the pneumatic FPN, a variable distance pneumatic gripper with embedded flexible sensors is proposed by using the method of layered and step-by-step preparation. The authors studied the gripper structure design, simulation analysis, prototype preparation, control system construction and experimental testing. The results show that the designed flexible pneumatic gripper with variable distance can grasp common objects.

The construction industry has been investigating “where Henry Ford is in the industry system.” Given that listed construction enterprises are the backbone of the promotion of the high-quality development of the industry, their research and innovation are of considerable importance. This study aims to comprehensively assess the research and development (R&D) status quo and trends within various types of construction enterprises in order to identify effective strategies to enhance R&D efficiency in the construction industry.

Based on the data won from annual reports and the CSMAR database for the period 2016–2020, this study examines 104 listed construction enterprises in China. By applying both the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method and the Malmquist productivity index, this research compares and analyzes the static and dynamic differences in R&D efficiency across different types of construction enterprises.

Results suggest that the magnitude of change in the Malmquist decomposition index of 104 listed construction enterprises gradually narrowed, but the comprehensive technological level remained relatively low. Although state-owned enterprises had an advantage in scale efficiency, meaning they could maximize output with given inputs, their technological progress efficiency, also known as the degree of technological innovation, was significantly lower than that of private enterprises. As one finding, state-owned enterprises in comparison with private enterprises experience significant R&D inefficiency. It represents the main cause of their low degree of technological innovation and efficiency.

This study assesses the R&D efficiency of listed construction enterprises in China from the perspective of different market segments, state-owned and private enterprises and suggests approaches to improve strategies for various corporate types. Thus, the study’s new findings contribute to addressing the challenge of low R&D levels in the construction industry in the fields of engineering, construction and architectural management.

This study examines how informal business networks achieve marketing goals in socially uncertain contexts. Drawing from multiple historical sources, Shangbangs, a type of business network that thrived in pre-1949 China, are analyzed.

The Critical Historical Research Method (CHRM) undergirds a study of Shangbangs’ historicity (i.e. their socio-historically embedded multiplicity, including organizational forms, activities and connotations.

As informal regional, professional, project-based, special-product-based or mixed marketing networks, Shangbangs relied on “flexible specialization” and coupled multiple business needs to market goods and services, business organizations, specific social values and, when necessary, to debrand business rivals.

This analysis extends theories about marketing networks by probing their subtypes, diverse marketing activities, multipronged channels and relationship building with social entities (including underground societies, business associations and guilds) in response to pre-1949 China’s market uncertainties. Substantiating an alternative approach to “flexible specialization” and marketing innovations within the pre-1949 Chinese economy shows how a parallel theoretical framework can complement western-based marketing theories.

This first comprehensive analysis of Shangbangs, an innovative historical Chinese marketing network outside the conventional market-corporate dichotomy, can inform theory building for marketing strategy-making and management conditioned by social contexts.

In the post-pandemic era urban ecosystem planning has become critically important. Given the emphasis on relevant issues concerning the complex interactions between human civilizations and natural systems within urban environments in the new normal, this article aims to enrich the field of knowledge management developing a cross-cultural analysis for clarifying the role of knowledge in planning and urban ecosystems.

This paper is conceptual in nature. Based on a theoretical foundation built by a critical literature review and data from the China Statistical Yearbook and China’s National Bureau of Statistics, this paper introduces some emerging real-impact topics regarding the connections between humanistic knowledge and urban planning. A comparative analysis between the capital city of Chang’an in the Tang dynasty of China and the capital city of Athens in Ancient Greek was used for explaining the influence of knowledge on successful urban planning.

The understanding the role of cross-cultural differences in knowledge management and practices for urban ecosystems offer the opportunities for rethinking consolidated approach to the interaction among social, economic, and environmental dimensions in urban settings.

This paper implies a new inter-disciplinary research field of great interest for the real impact KM community by illuminating how knowledge management is central in urban planning and across cultures.