Adam M. Komarek, Max Spoor, Shuyi Feng and Xiaoping Shi
The purpose of this paper is to explore the expansion of agricultural production into marginal lands, also known as “wasteland,” and examine the association between political…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the expansion of agricultural production into marginal lands, also known as “wasteland,” and examine the association between political capital, household income, and using additional marginal lands for agriculture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses exploratory data analyses methods, including descriptive statistics, graphical analysis, econometrics and propensity score matching, and data from a 2008 survey of 342 households in Awat County of Aksu Prefecture to explore the role of political capital in an agricultural household setting.
Findings
Preliminary results suggest that wasteland usage has a positive association with income, and that household political capital, in the form of Communist Party membership or being a village cadre, correlates with wasteland usage because it improves access to irrigation water.
Originality/value
A constant topic of debate in China is the role of political capital in influencing livelihoods. The authors aim to add modest insights into this debate and provide a starting point to foster additional debates regarding the role of political capital, rural livelihoods, and natural resource usage.
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Veronica Wachong Castro, Nico Heerink, Xiaoping Shi and Wei Qu
The purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the relationship between off‐farm employment of rural households and water‐saving investments and irrigation water use in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the relationship between off‐farm employment of rural households and water‐saving investments and irrigation water use in rural China.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a survey held among 317 households in Minle County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, covering the year 2007, are used for a probit analysis explaining investments in land leveling and for an ordinary least squares regression explaining irrigation water use per mu.
Findings
Off‐farm employment is not significantly related to investments in land leveling, but is negatively associated with water use per mu. In addition, the paper finds that the share of migrant students in a household is positively related to investments in land leveling. The results indicate the presence of major factor market imperfections in the research area, and confirm that the new economics of labor migration (NELM) approach is more relevant for analyzing off‐farm employment and agricultural production in China than neoclassical economic theory.
Originality/value
The paper expands the NELM approach towards the analysis of water‐saving investments and water use. In addition, it distinguishes migrant students as an important category that should be taken into account in analyzing farm household decisions making.
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Xianlei Ma, Nico Heerink, Ekko van Ierland, Marrit van den Berg and Xiaoping Shi
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of perceived land tenure security in China on farmers' decisions to invest in relatively long‐term land quality improvement…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of perceived land tenure security in China on farmers' decisions to invest in relatively long‐term land quality improvement measures, taking into account the potential endogeneity of tenure security.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a survey held in 2008 and 2010 among 259 households in Minle County, Gansu province, covering the years 2007 and 2009, are used to estimate the factors affecting land levelling investments, irrigation canal investments and perceived land tenure security. The authors use the 2SCML technique and the IVLS method to estimate a selection model and a non‐limited regression model, respectively, and use IVP methods to examine the robustness of the results.
Findings
The authors' results indicate that perceived land tenure security significantly affects self‐governed investments but does not affect individual investments in land quality improvements. In particular, the authors find that households that consider land certificates as important for protecting land rights invest significantly more in irrigation canals construction and maintenance. The authors' results further provide evidence that individual investments in land quality improvement contribute to higher perceived land tenure security.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the available literature on the relationship between land tenure security and land investments by examining the role of perceived (instead of formal) land tenure security and by making a distinction between individual household investments and self‐governed land investments. The authors' results provide an explanation for the phenomenon that land readjustments still take place in some parts of China, but not in others.
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Hans De Steur, Filiep Vanhonacker, Shuyi Feng, Xiaoping Shi, Wim Verbeke and Xavier Gellynck
Experimental auctions are widely used as a non-hypothetical value elicitation method to examine consumer preferences for novel, controversial foods. However, despite its…
Abstract
Purpose
Experimental auctions are widely used as a non-hypothetical value elicitation method to examine consumer preferences for novel, controversial foods. However, despite its advantages over hypothetical methods, its practice might lead to a wide variety of biases. The purpose of this paper is to provide a list of key cognitive biases and design effects in food auction research and to deliver scientifically underpinned procedures in order to assess, control and reduce them. Its applicability and relevance is examined in auctions on willingness-to-pay for folate (GM) biofortified rice.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on auction literature, a list of 18 biases has been developed. Experimental auctions were conducted with 252 women from Shanxi Province, China to test the occurrence of eight biases, while demonstrating measures to reduce the risk of ten biases.
Findings
The results lend support for three information-related effects, i.e. confirmation bias, conflicting product information effects and a primacy bias, but not for a multiple-good valuation effect, a panel size effect, a trial winner effect and time-related sampling biases. Furthermore, there are no clear indications of social desirability bias, auction fever and a false consensus effect.
Research limitations/implications
This study emphasizes the need to take into account, and measure the risk of various biases when developing, organizing and interpreting experimental auctions. Future research should further extend the list of biases and validate the study findings.
Originality/value
By using a highly topical subject, this study is one of the first to address the potential risk of cognitive biases and design effects in experimental (food) auctions.
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Bo Liu, Jingwen Hou, Xiaoping Ma, Mengtong Shi, Sibo Lu and Ruoxuan Wang
Due to the conflicts between left turn traffic and opposite straight-going traffic in urban traffic network, some of the traffic lanes cannot be used to discharge vehicles during…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the conflicts between left turn traffic and opposite straight-going traffic in urban traffic network, some of the traffic lanes cannot be used to discharge vehicles during its green phases and the intersection capacity can be greatly reduced. This study/paper aims to reduce the effect of conflicts and increase its capacity through the reasonable pre-signal phase time with the exchangeable lanes.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper took into consideration various influence factors to intersection capacity and formulated the capacity optimization model based on 0-1 mixed-integer programming model. This model is efficiently solved by standard branch-and-bound algorithms.
Findings
The authors took an intersection as an example and solved the optimal signal timing and entrance lane capacity via this model. Then, simulations were carried out to verify the effect of the exchangeable lanes strategy of this intersection through the simulation software VISSIM and take the traffic volume and delay as outputs, which indicated that this model has better performance.
Originality/value
The front-end control strategy can not only exploit the full potential of the intersection but also significantly improve the operational efficiency of the intersection. It plays a positive role in improving urban intersection congestion.
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Wei Li, Leilei Ji, Weidong Shi, Ling Zhou, Xiaoping Jiang and Yang Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to experimentally and numerically study the transient hydraulic impact and overall performance during startup accelerating process of mixed-flow pump.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to experimentally and numerically study the transient hydraulic impact and overall performance during startup accelerating process of mixed-flow pump.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the impeller rotor vibration characteristics during the starting period under the action of fluid–structure interaction was investigated, which is based on the bidirectional synchronization cooperative solving method for the flow field and impeller structural response of the mixed-flow pump. Experimental transient external characteristic and the transient dimensionless head results were compared with the numerical calculation results, to validate the accuracy of numerical calculation method. Besides, the deformation and dynamic stress distribution of the blade under the stable rotating speed and accelerating condition were studied based on the bidirectional fluid–structure interaction.
Findings
The results show that the combined action of complex hydrodynamic environment and impeller centrifugal force in the startup accelerating process makes the deformation and dynamic stress of blade have the rising trend of reciprocating oscillation. At the end of acceleration, the stress and strain appear as transient peak values and the transient effect is nonignorable. The starting acceleration has a great impact on the deformation and dynamic stress of blade, and the maximum deformation near the rim of impeller outlet edge increases 5 per cent above the stable condition. The maximum stress value increases by about 68.7 per cent more than the steady-state condition at the impeller outlet edge near the hub. The quick change of rotating speed makes the vibration problem around the blade tip area more serious, and then it takes the excessive stress concentration and destruction at the blade root.
Originality/value
This study provides basis and reference for the safety operation of pumps during starting period
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Haiqing Shi, Taiwen Feng, Lucheng Chen and Xiaoping Lu
Despite the growing interest in enhancing mass customization capability (MCC), firms still have little knowledge of dealing with the superimposed challenges of increased market…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the growing interest in enhancing mass customization capability (MCC), firms still have little knowledge of dealing with the superimposed challenges of increased market uncertainty and supply chain disruptions. Based on the dynamic capability view, this study focuses on the impacts of frequent sensing and reconfiguring processes on MCC and the mediating roles of proactive and reactive supply chain resilience (SCR).
Design/methodology/approach
We collected survey data from 277 manufacturing firms and conducted a structural equation model to test hypotheses.
Findings
The results reveal that although its direct effect on MCC is insignificant, sensing process improves MCC indirectly via reactive SCR. Our findings also show that reconfiguring process enhances MCC both directly and indirectly via reactive SCR.
Originality/value
This study provides theoretical and practical insights into how to combine dynamic capability and SCR to strengthen MCC.
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Xiaoping Qiu, Gangqiao Shi, Changlin Song and Yang Xu
This paper aims to discuss in detail a feasible realization method of workflow engine for enterprise information management on the basis of database technology.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss in detail a feasible realization method of workflow engine for enterprise information management on the basis of database technology.
Design/methodology/approach
Under the guidance of workflow management coalition (WfMC), the data model of the workflow engine is first presented based on the given process model, in which the attributes of process, activity and its relationships with role, application, workflow relation data and transfer condition are marked out. Then the basic control principles of the workflow engine are designed based on the necessary tables of process instances and activity instances, in which the control method of process instance and activity instance are discussed in detail including the creation, startup, management or status evolvement of the instance.
Findings
In the research, the workflow engine is successfully programmed as this realization method on the development platform of SQL server 2000 and Visual Studio 2005 and the results show the effectiveness of the workflow engine for inventory information management.
Originality/value
The paper gives a feasible realization method for business process management in enterprises using the advanced workflow technology, which can assign flexibility to the information management and improve the whole performance of an enterprise while facing changing market requirements.
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Dan Shi, Weijia Zhang, Guangyu Zou and Jinkun Ping
The purpose of this paper is to explore the operation strategies of a manufacturer who produces brown and green product simultaneously.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the operation strategies of a manufacturer who produces brown and green product simultaneously.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors establish three models to examine the joint decisions of pricing and advertising. Three advertising strategies are: non-advertising investment (NA), advertising investment for brown product (BA) and advertising investment for green product (GA).
Findings
The theoretical analysis shows that advertising investment can substantially increase the product greening level and manufacturer's profit. More importantly, we find that the GA strategy is more likely to be the best strategy as the advertising investment efficiency increases. The BA strategy is more likely to be preferred as the R&D cost increases. Finally, the modeling results are verified by numerical experiments, and more insights are obtained.
Research limitations/implications
This paper considers the case in which a single manufacturer produces the brown and green product simultaneously. In fact, many manufacturers in the market produce brown and green product at the same time. Furthermore, in addition to advertising investment for brown product and green product, manufacturers can also invest in advertising for brands.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the investigations on green production and advertising decisions of a manufacturer who produces brown and green products simultaneously.