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This paper aims to study the mechanism of how the public universities have funded the campus sustainability projects in China, by identifying key actors and examining the processes.

Besides a review of campus sustainability initiatives at higher education institutions in China, the case of Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) is selected to provide an empirical understanding of the campus sustainability management in a typical university.

The paper points to dominant roles played by the state ministries in financing university conservation programs and the absence of a national policy framework and low sustainability proactiveness in a majority of higher educational institutions. It argues that more discretionary power and more policy deliberations are needed for the transformation.

Universities in China vary distinctively in status, operations and performance. In terms of campus sustainability management, the case of CUFE is highly representative as it shares more common features with universities that develop in a routine manner.

With the financial support from government agencies, the campus conservation-oriented projects have been conducted and financially supported in hundreds of pilot universities, but failed in diffusing to more universities. This study identifies the barriers and challenges.

An in-depth understanding of the working mechanism in financing university sustainability initiatives will promote a discussion on China’s policymaking process and will provide useful insights regarding its future policy options.

China has conducted nationwide conservation-oriented campus constriction for almost a decade and many universities increase their investment in campus facilities and their operations; however, there is a lack of understanding of the rationale of the funding models and how they have been implemented.

Due to the structural layout, mining process, and working environment, curved chains such as horizontal and vertical bends inevitably exist in the armoured face conveyor (AFC). With the increasing power, conveying capacity, and distance of the AFC, the dynamic influence of these curved chains should be highly emphasized. This paper establishes a dynamic model of the AFC by multi-body system theory and finite segment method, in which the curved chains can be fully considered.

The scraper chains are firstly grouped into the straight, horizontal bend, vertical convex and concave bend sections. Each bend section running in a circle is simplified as an ideal arc. Through solving its differential equilibrium equation and using Newton's second law, its running resistance is derived. Then the grouped chains are discretized into finite control elements according to the Kelvin model, and the governing equation of each control element is established. The dynamic model of the AFC is obtained by assembling these equations, and the corresponding simulation model is developed by using MATLAB/Simulink.

Case studies with real scenarios are provided, and simulations are carried out. The results show that the running resistance contributed by the curved chains is larger than the traditional empirical value.

The work in this paper helps the dynamic performance design of AFC, with a deep understanding of the curved chains.