Regional resilience and Global Production Networks in China: an open political economy perspective

This document is an Accepted Manuscript. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Competition & Change, Vol. 22 (1), December 2017, https://doi.org/10.1177/1024529417744177, published by SAGE Publishing, All rights reserved.The article examines regional resilience in China using the case study of the Xiamen regional economy. The open political economy perspective posited builds on three strands; the structural dimensions related to underpinning drivers and the mobility of capital; the multiscalar nature of the institutions in which firms are embedded and the agency of firms and their cognitive capacities in the (re)constitution of reorganizing production networks. The data comprise in-depth interviews with 20 firms in a cross section of sectors to examine how firms are innovating to change their position in value chains and mode of integration with the global economy.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Creativity in Urban Tourism District: A Case Study of South Kensington and Knightsbridge

This study is to explore creative tourism activities in urban districts. Through the analysis of several chosen places in South Kensington and Knightsbridge, in London, the creative tourism experience provided in these places was identified and their roles or specific features in attracting tourists were also discussed. The result of this study shows that South Kensington is a cultural and historic district, it offers tourists creative cultural and historical experiences. The Knightsbridge area is an entertainment and tourist shopping village district, the creative experience in this area has the main function of satisfying tourists’ state of mind. This study also highlighted the significance of integrating creative activities into tourist attractions and according to tourists’ demands to design the creative experience

Adaptation and robustness in a chemotaxis network

Adaptation is a behavior of biological systems in which a sustained change in input signal leads to a transient output response that returns to the pre--‐stimulated output level. Cells use adaptation to maintain sensitivity to the changes in their environment and to remain in homeostasis while the input signal is perturbed. Signaling networks in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells demonstrate adaptation, which is a common feature of chemotaxis, a signal transduction process that enables cells to sense chemical gradients in their extracellular environment and to adjust their movement in response. In the case of Escherichia coli, the bacteria swim in random directions in the absence of a chemical gradient, but will move toward or away from the chemical when a gradient exists. In this study, we use computational methods to study adaptation in the chemotaxis network of Escherichia coli. Based on the well--‐characterized two--‐state model of Barkai and Leibler (Nature 1997), we numerically analyze the chemotactic network with ordinary differential equations and measure the adaptation time and precision of the response to a change in ligand concentration. The adaptation time is the time that the signal takes to reach steady--‐state after a perturbation in input, and precision measures the difference between output and input levels. We find that the network exhibits a sensitive response and precise adaptation to the input stimulus. We also analyze the robustness of the network by randomly varying the kinetic parameters and characterizing the change in behavior. The adaptation demonstrates robustness: although the adaption time varies over a wide range, the precision is nearly perfect regardless of the values of the parameters. This shows that adaptation in this network depends more strongly on the topology of the network than on the values of kinetic parameters

IS LIFE IMPRISONMENT WITHOUT PAROLE OR COMMUTATION AN EFFECTIVE ANTI-CORRUPTION MEASURE FOR CHINA?

New legislation adopting a tough criminal stance on the crimes of corruption and bribery responds to the need for strengthening Chinese anti-corruption work. The ninth amendment to the Chinese Criminal Law Code, which adds life imprisonment without parole or commutation, has received broad support from all sectors of society. The aim of the amendment, as stated by the legislature, is to safeguard judicial fairness and prevent criminals convicted of the most serious corruption offences from having their prison sentences shortened through commutation. This stated legislative aim is not acceptable. Whether from the perspective of deterrence or alternative measures to the death penalty, the approach of adding life imprisonment without parole or commutation in order to punish the corrupt is not ideal. This article argues that, given the particular nature of crimes of corruption and given the disadvantages of life imprisonment without parole or commutation, restraint in the use of the death penalty does not mean that life imprisonment has to be used as an alternative measure. Moreover, the death penalty with a two-year reprieve is sufficient for realising retribution and prevention as aims of punishment

Mandalay, come ricostruire il Palazzo distrutto dal terremoto

Il 28 marzo, un terremoto di magnitudo 7.7 ha colpito il Myanmar centrale, causando gravi danni a Mandalay, Naypyidaw e altre città. Tra i siti più colpiti vi è il Palazzo di Mandalay, le cui torri e mura sono crollate

Internationalization of Chinese Manufacturing SMEs

With the increased speed of market liberalization and digitization, internationalization has become a necessary strategy for firms’ development. Based on different kind of motivations, firms through exporting products, licensing or joint venture with local entities, establishing foreign sales subsidiary or direct foreign production to involve in international market. There are many previous researches studied the firm internationalization in different perspectives, however, most of them are based on large or well-established multinational enterprises. In recent years, small and medium enterprises have gradually become the main body of international business, which result in more and more scholars pay attention to the internationalization of SMEs. Different with developed Western countries, firms in emerging countries always be regarded to have specific characteristics. China is the largest emerging country, and the researches focus on Chinese market usually can provide some experience to other emerging countries. To fill the gap of internationalization research in SMEs in emerging countries, this paper uses Chinese manufacturing SMEs as sample and aims to find out the specific characteristics of Chinese market