China’s Foreign Investment Encouraged Catalogue and Negative Lists as a Tool of Foreign Direct Investment Attraction

Theoretical background: Due to the growing maturity of Chinese market the country needs to adjust its policy regarding foreign direct investment (FDI), i.e. to increase openness for FDI, to keep control over them in key industries and to influence their inflow in desired industries and regions. Adopting the negative-list approach and changes in both the negative list and encouraged industry catalogue provides tools for this challenge.Purpose of the article: The purpose of this article is to present how changes in China’s Foreign Investment Encouraged Catalogue and Negative Lists both in free-trade zones (FTZs) and at the national level are used as a tool for managing country’s FDI inflow.Research methods: Analysis of legal documents and reports as well as literature review.Main findings: Starting from the adoption of negative-list approach in FTZs in 2013, the negative lists had been drastically reduced both in reference to FTZs and national level. Those reductions lead to a decrease in China FDI restrictiveness index. FTZs were used as a testing area for both the negative list composition and negative-list approach itself. Negative lists allowed the state to keep control over FDI in key industries allowing, at the same time, greater freedom for foreign investors. Encouraged catalogue is used not only as a tool for attracting FDI from desired industries but also for addressing regional inequalities.Theoretical background: Due to the growing maturity of Chinese market the country needs to adjust its policy regarding foreign direct investment (FDI), i.e. to increase openness for FDI, to keep control over them in key industries and to influence their inflow in desired industries and regions. Adopting the negative-list approach and changes in both the negative list and encouraged industry catalogue provides tools for this challenge.Purpose of the article: The purpose of this article is to present how changes in China’s Foreign Investment Encouraged Catalogue and Negative Lists both in free-trade zones (FTZs) and at the national level are used as a tool for managing country’s FDI inflow.Research methods: Analysis of legal documents and reports as well as literature review.Main findings: Starting from the adoption of negative-list approach in FTZs in 2013, the negative lists had been drastically reduced both in reference to FTZs and national level. Those reductions lead to a decrease in China FDI restrictiveness index. FTZs were used as a testing area for both the negative list composition and negative-list approach itself. Negative lists allowed the state to keep control over FDI in key industries allowing, at the same time, greater freedom for foreign investors. Encouraged catalogue is used not only as a tool for attracting FDI from desired industries but also for addressing regional inequalities

Crisis response strategies and themes during the COVID-19 pandemic in EU aviation, airlines’ executives communication with shareholders : a content analysis

PURPOSE: The aim of the article is to analyse European Union airlines top-level executives COVID-19 aviation crisis communication with their shareholders in terms of both crisis response strategies used and the themes addressed.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Context analysis method was used to examine the top-level executives of five major European Union airlines (Lufthansa, Ryanair, SAS, Wizz Air and KLM) COVID-19 aviation crisis communication with their shareholders. Analyzed data consisted of C-level executives’ letters to shareholders, collected from the available annual reports covering the period of COVID-19 aviation crisis. Data analysis of the available body of text was conducted in the dual procedure – to identify SCCT crisis response strategies.FINDINGS: Research shows that EU airlines mostly rely on diminish (mostly through justification – minimizing the perceived damage caused by the crisis) and bolstering (mostly through reminding the stakeholders about the past good works of the organization) crisis response strategies in their COVID-19 aviation crisis communication with shareholders. There is a difference in the themes present in the crisis communication between traditional and low-cost airlines, as low-cost airlines include themes of new and adjusted services and future of aviation more often than legacy airlines in their COVID-19 aviation crisis communication with shareholders.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Research results enable managers to better understand airlines crisis response strategies, and by providing examples of messages used it may help crisis response managers prepare their message. The study can be useful in future decision-making in the area of crisis communication.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The originality of the research results primarily from the focus on crisis communication conducted by airlines top-level executives targeted towards shareholders understood as key stakeholders.peer-reviewe

Archaeological revival of memory of the Great War. The role of LiDAR in tracing the boundaries of the WWI Rawka Battlefield Cultural Park . “The Rawka Battlefield (1914-1915) – in memory of war victims”

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DIFFERENCES IN COMMUNICATING TRUST TO STAKEHOLDERS BY CHINESE AND US TECHNOLOGY LEADERS

The ability of technology leaders to build trust is one of the most important challenges today. The key to building trust is clear and consistent communication to retain existing stakeholders and encourage collaboration. Communicating trust in the case of Chinese and U. S. technology leaders influences their success but differs in the volume of communication and the number, richness and density of trust-related phrases used. The purpose of this article was to identify differences in the communication of trust by Chinese and U. S. tech leader companies. For this purpose, a conceptual content analysis of 80 annual reports from years 2015–2022 of 5 USA and 5 Chinese tech leaders was used. As the content analysis showed, Chinese companies’ communication with stakeholders is clearly more elaborate, using a greater overall number of trust phrases and displaying greater linguistic richness in the phrases used compared to those of U. S. companies. On the other hand, US companies’ communication with stakeholders is more saturated than that ofChinese companies

BK Polyomavirus—Biology, Genomic Variation and Diagnosis

The BK polyomavirus (BKPyV), a representative of the family Polyomaviridae, is widespread in the human population. While the virus does not cause significant clinical symptoms in immunocompetent individuals, it is activated in cases of immune deficiency, both pharmacological and pathological. Infection with the BKPyV is of particular importance in recipients of kidney transplants or HSC transplantation, in which it can lead to the loss of the transplanted kidney or to haemorrhagic cystitis, respectively. Four main genotypes of the virus are distinguished on the basis of molecular differentiation. The most common genotype worldwide is genotype I, with a frequency of about 80%, followed by genotype IV (about 15%), while genotypes II and III are isolated only sporadically. The distribution of the molecular variants of the virus is associated with the region of origin. BKPyV subtype Ia is most common in Africa, Ib-1 in Southeast Asia, and Ib-2 in Europe, while Ic is the most common variant in Northeast Asia. The development of molecular methods has enabled significant improvement not only in BKPyV diagnostics, but in monitoring the effectiveness of treatment as well. Amplification of viral DNA from urine by PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) and qPCR Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction) is a non-invasive method that can be used to confirm the presence of the genetic material of the virus and to determine the viral load. Sequencing techniques together with bioinformatics tools and databases can be used to determine variants of the virus, analyse their circulation in populations, identify relationships between them, and investigate the directions of evolution of the virus

Molecular Epidemiology and Variation of the BK Polyomavirus in the Population of Central and Eastern Europe Based on the Example of Poland

The BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) is a widespread pathogen in humans. Polymorphism of the region encoding the VP1 protein of BKPyV provides the basis for classifying the virus into types and subtypes, whose frequency varies depending on geographic location. The aim of our study was to determine the frequency of BKPyV in the Polish population and to assess its variation by analysing polymorphism in the typing region. The study was conducted on 168 healthy, Polish volunteers, whose blood (plasma) and urine were sampled. The virus was detected using PCR, products, sequenced and subjected to bioinformatic analysis. In addition, viral load was assessed by qPCR. The presence of the genetic material of the BK virus was noted in 61/168 urine samples but in none of the plasma sample. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis confirmed that the BKPyV isolates were of types I and IV, dominant in Europe (63.93% and 36.07%, respectively). All isolates from genotype I belonged to subtype Ib-2, showing polymorphism at position 1809 with a frequency of 61.54% (G1809A) and 38.46% (G1809C). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of this magnitude on the genetic variation of BKPyV among healthy volunteers in Poland

Genotypes and Variants of BKPyV in Organ Donors after Brain Death

Kidney transplantation from a donor with latent BKPyV might be the cause of serious complications, such as BK virus-associated nephropathy. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of BKPyV infection in donors after brain death (DBDs), to analyse the molecular variation of BKPyV and to compare clinical and inflammation parameters of DBDs infected with various genotypes of BKPyV. BKPyV was investigated in blood and urine samples of 103 DBDs using PCR followed by sequencing and bioinformatic analysis, and the viral load was assessed by qPCR. Clinical parameters, including cellular markers of inflammation were assessed. The results confirm high prevalence of BKPyV (48%),and genotype IV (49%) over genotype I (43%) and the co-infection with genotypes I and IV in 8.2%. Viral load ranged from 102 to 107 copies/mL, with an average of 1.92 × 106 copies/mL. No specific markers for BKPyV infection were detected among the parameters tested. Infection with genotype I may be associated with the adverse impact on thekidney function, while infection with genotype IV was associated with the anemia Not only the viral load but also the genotype of BKPyV may have an impact on the course of infection