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A successful process of design concept evaluation has positive influence on subsequent processes. This study aims to consider the evaluation information at multiple stages and the interaction among evaluators and improve the credibility of evaluation results.

This paper proposes a multi-stage approach for design concept evaluation based on complex network and bounded confidence. First, a network is constructed according to the evaluation data. Depending on the consensus degree of evaluation opinions, the number of evaluation rounds is determined. Then, bounded confidence rules are applied for the modification of preference information. Last, a planning function is constructed to calculate the weight of each stage and aggregate information at multiple evaluation stages.

The results indicate that the opinions of the evaluators tend to be consistent after multiple stages of interactive adjustment, and the ordering of design concept alternatives tends to be stable with the progress of the evaluation.

Updating preferences according to the bounded confidence rules, only the opinions within the trust threshold are considered. The attribute information of the node itself is inadequately considered.

This method addresses the need for considering the evaluation information at each stage and minimizes the impact of disagreements within the evaluation group on the evaluation results.

It is a complex and dynamic process to provide high-quality rural infrastructure. However, there lacks a holistic performance evaluation method for rural infrastructure provision that reflects changing rural social needs and takes a village as a whole. This study aims to develop a holistic and dynamic performance evaluation model for rural infrastructure in Mainland China.

This study established an evaluation index system by combining the lifecycle theory and the economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity (4E) theory. This study developed an evaluation model by using the analytic network process (ANP) and matter-element analysis theory (MEAT). The model was validated by two representative villages in Mainland China.

The developed model can reflect dynamic social needs and effectively evaluate the overall infrastructure provision performance of a village. The weight of indicators reflects the changes in Mainland China’s contemporary rural social needs, with particular emphasis on the impact and output performance. The evaluation result shows that the overall performance of the representative villages was excellent but had a tendency toward good. Although the output performance was excellent, different input, process and impact performances resulted in different downgrade trends.

This study provides a theoretical basis for disaggregating the complex issue of the performance of rural infrastructure provision. The results can be used by relevant authorities to make a holistic and dynamic evaluation of the performance of rural infrastructure provision and timely revise planning and management policies.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how people in a coastal community act upon anxieties about overexploitation of a shared resource and their attempts to ease the moral tension caused by the rapid industrialization of their fishery. This anthropological study contributes to the cross-disciplinary discussion of community-based resource management.

The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork done at the Nanfang'ao port located in northeastern Taiwan. This port has several prosperous offshore fisheries including a mackerel fishery. The mackerel fishery has undergone important transformations in recent decades. The first was a total transformation of fishing methods in 2013. The second was the government's formulation of the “Regulations for Fishing Vessels Catching Mackerels and Jacks,” implemented in 2014. This research illustrates how people in a community take various approaches to pursue sustainability for the human beings and the more-than-human world.

In Nanfang'ao port, local people have developed a meaningful cultural festival through the integration of various symbols and rituals from different contexts in an effort to call attention to moral issues associated with the mackerel fishery.

This research contributes to the discussion on community resource management of marine fishery.

This study is to reconfigure a hierarchical supply chain model utilizing databases and text files to understand future pathways due to COVID-19 pandemic has had a bullwhip effect, disrupting the global supply chain, and a mechanism is needed to address this disruptive event under pandemic uncertainties.

To address this mechanism, this study employs bibliometric analysis and text mining to reconfigure a hierarchical supply chain model under pandemic conditions and associates it with social media to conduct an intuitive visual analysis.

The current academic concerns are related to an overconcentration on risk management and a data-driven approach, generating an enormous gap between the concerns of academics and those of the public. The evidence shows that for both countries with outstanding performance and those that need improvement, the efficiency in terms of preventing the spread of the pandemic should be promoted.

This study contributes to (1) reconfiguring a hierarchical supply chain model under pandemic uncertainties and (2) bridging theory and practice by offering comparable interrelated attributes to guide post-COVID-19 strategies in the supply chain. The findings are that the supply management approach and big data are attributes that involve the concerns of world public and academics under pandemic uncertainties.

This paper aims to investigate how institutional entrepreneurs in a mature field acquire different forms of legitimacy through various narrative strategies, as revealed by a historical analysis of the Late Qing Dynasty of China. Specifically, the study seeks to illuminate the narrative techniques employed by these entrepreneurs to build multi-level legitimacies for their new systems during the national crises of the late 19th century.

This study employs a qualitative approach based on three historical case studies of Westernization, namely advocates, reformists and revolutionaries during the Late Qing Dynasty of China. It delves into the institutional entrepreneurial activities of these groups, investigating how they navigated and influenced their sociopolitical context through narrative strategies.

The findings reveal that institutional entrepreneurs utilize various narrative techniques to build legitimacy. These include (1) modifying and disseminating narratives at the proper time, (2) ascribing their proposed system to cultural tradition by reinterpreting classical works and (3) offering understandable and concrete promises to stakeholders. The study also identifies an evolving pattern of narratives underpinned by mutual learning and continuous iteration among different factions of institutional entrepreneurs.

This paper adds new insights to the literature on institutional entrepreneurs and, more broadly, to institutional research literature by advancing our understanding of the discursive dynamics underlying institutional changes. It unveils the complex interplay of narrative techniques and legitimacy building in the context of societal and institutional upheaval, providing a nuanced understanding of the role of narratives in institutional entrepreneurship.

Conservation of green space is crucial to the sustainable urban development of China. Nanjing is a central city in the Yangtze River Delta cluster in eastern China. Owing to urbanization, the green spaces in this city have been affected significantly in terms of their scale and structure. Assessing such changes can provide a basis for environmental protection measures and sustainable development. Using Landsat remote-sensing image data from 1998 and 2007, we constructed a distribution map of the patches of green spaces in Nanjing, and analyzed and assessed the changes in scale and spatial layout of the green spaces using various landscape metrics including CA, PLAND, PD, MPS, LPI, NP, PD, TE, ED, MPI, and LSI. Coinciding with a sharp increase in urban population, the area of green spaces in Nanjing decreased by 27.06% between 1998 and 2007. The patches of green space increased by 39%, and the average area per patch decreased by about 47.52%. Green space patches were found to be unevenly distributed among the districts of Nanjing. In urban areas, significant numbers of such patches were found primarily in various types of parks, while in suburban areas, they were concentrated mainly in the hilly forestlands. Green spaces exhibited tendencies towards fragmentation, miniaturization, and discretization.

As a good absorbing material candidate, a functionally graded wave absorber can be tailored to satisfy the impedance match principle by gradually changing material property. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The electromagnetic wave absorption properties are discussed. An analysis model is proposed to provide an insight into its mechanical characteristics during wave absorption. Considering the energy-converting and thermal deformation properties, the thermoelastic behaviors of an absorber are analyzed by numerical method. The effects of material and geometrical properties are discussed in detail.

The results demonstrate that absorbing effect of graded composite is enhanced. Good performance of low reflectance and high absorption with gentle thermal stress distribution can be obtained by proper designing of the gradient absorber.

Functionally graded materials exhibit a progressive compositional gradient change along certain dimension of structures, which can be used as absorbing materials for the gradual change of material property tailored to satisfy the principle of impedance match. The design of functionally graded absorbing materials usually should consider not only the electromagnetic performance, but also the mechanical properties simultaneously. Therefore, few investigations have addressed the mechanical characteristics of absorbers. This paper presents some studies on the electromagnetic, especially mechanical behaviors during electromagnetic wave absorption. It is helpful to provide mechanical reference for designing an absorber.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of cultural beliefs on governance in a business network without a legal institutional framework. Particular emphasis is placed on the cross-country remittance mail operating network in Chaoshan, China, during the period 1860-1949. This investigation builds on Greif’s business governance theory and develops an analytical framework that considers cultural beliefs, agency relationships and multilateral punishment mechanisms. Furthermore, it uses the institutional analysis method to identify the institutional factors that sustained the remittance mail operating networks and their underlying mechanisms.

This paper adopts the qualitative research method. First, it investigates the history of the remittance mail operating network and agency relationships by searching through the contents of the relevant historical documents preserved in the official archives and information found in other records. Thereafter, it summarizes and demonstrates the cultural beliefs inferred from that research. The archival materials permit analysis of the interactions between cultural beliefs, agency relationships and multilateral punishment mechanisms by the institutional analysis method.

Due to the lack of legal institutions in China during the period under review, cultural beliefs played a central institutional role in cross-country business relations. Network governance was coupled with clan cultural beliefs in the remittance mail operating network. This relationship was the key to sustain the efficient operation of the remittance mail network.

In the West, corporate governance has been influenced by and has become an integral feature of Western culture and values. This is not necessarily so for the corporate governance in terms of Chinese culture and values. Thus, instead of mimicking the modes of developed countries, it is important for Chinese enterprises to seek a mode of corporate governance that is in accord with their local cultures. This may be an important focus for enterprise development.

Studies of Tianhou-Mazu cult have been focused on three themes: studies in Taiwan emphasize hegemonic order; studies in Hong Kong reveal a relationship of “sisterhood” alliances; and studies in Singapore highlight the important role of ethnic groups. The rebuilding of the goddess’s ancestral temple in early 1980s and her acquiring a world intangible cultural heritage status in the early twenty-first century facilitate the redefinition of overseas Chinese’s religious affiliation. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this global development of the cult from the 1980s and its ritual implication in overseas Chinese communities.

This paper, by comparing the Tianhou-Mazu cult in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asian Chinese settlements, argues that from sisters to descended replicas, or from local alliances to global hegemony, the cult of Tianhou-Mazu since the 1980s has not only replaced local culture with an emphasis on “high culture,” but also represents a religious strategy regarding local people’s interpretation of correctness and authority.

This paper argues that despite the imposition of hegemonic power from various authorities, popular religion is a matter of choice. This reflects how local religious practice is construed according to the interpretation of global cultural languages by the elite Chinese; their decision of when and how to reconnect with the goddess’s ancestral temple or the “imperial state,” or to form alliances with other local communities; and the implementation of the local government’s cultural policy.

This paper is one of the few attempts comparing development of a folk cult in various communities.