Local Government Debt and Its Impact on Corporate Underinvestment and ESG Performance: Empirical Evidence from China

ESG ratings are closely linked to corporate resource allocation and overarching macroeconomic constituents. Nevertheless, there is a noticeable lack in the literature investigating the interconnected relationship between the growth of local government debt, corporate underinvestment, and ESG ratings. This study aims to investigate the impact of local government debt on corporate underinvestment and its subsequent effects on corporate ESG performance. To achieve this goal, this study utilizes special bond data from Chinese provinces spanning the period between 2015 and 2021. The findings suggest that as local government debt swells, it imposes financing constraints on local companies, leading to underinvestment, particularly for listed companies with a high proportion of fixed assets and non-state-owned enterprises. A key effect is a “crowding-out effect” in which local government debt absorbs resources that could otherwise be allocated to private corporations and non-investment sectors. This trend illuminates the concealed costs of a debt-reliant growth model extending beyond the financial sector to impact broader corporate behavior and ESG performance. Our research suggests that government debt, corporate financing constraints, and ESG investment are intimately linked. The study concludes with policy implications and recommendations aimed at mitigating the investment gap in Chinese enterprises and promoting sustainable economic growth

Exploring the Interrelationships between Public Health, Fiscal Decentralization, and Local Government Debt in China

This paper investigates the interrelationships among local government debt, fiscal decentralization, and public health. The investigation begins by constructing a theoretical model to analyze the inherent connections between these variables. Subsequently, an empirical analysis is conducted using data from China between 2015 and 2021. The findings demonstrate a bidirectional relationship between fiscal decentralization, local government debt, and public health. Specifically, it is observed that an increase in local government debt has adverse effects on both fiscal decentralization and public health, while fiscal decentralization has a positive impact on public health. These insights are consistently validated through rigorous regression methodologies, affirming the robustness and significance of these relationships

A knowledge graph-based hazard prediction approach for preventing railway operational accidents

Railway operational accidents are usually caused by the domino effects of hazards. Predicting such hazards before accidents is an essential way to prevent operational accidents of railways. Various railway operational hazards constitute a heterogeneous relationship network due to their interactions. It is useful to predict hazards from such a network. In this paper, a novel knowledge graph-based hazard prediction approach is proposed, aiming to capture hazards in advance for blocking potential accident causation paths. This approach serves as a powerful supplement to classical ways of predicting railway accident information. Its originality lies in the application of knowledge graph embedding-based link prediction theory to railway operational hazard prediction, by means of a translation-based embedding method adapting to the relational features of hazards. It also provides a feasible way to construct the railway operational hazard knowledge graph. The outcomes of this approach could offer railway operators the basis of decision regarding accident prevention. An example of application to a set of real railway operational accident data in the UK is presented. The results show that this approach is effective in terms of predicting hazards and assisting in developing targeted hazard control measures

Nonlinear Relationship between Financial Development and CO2 Emissions—Based on a PSTR Model

The contradiction between financial development and environmental pollution has become increasingly prominent with economic development. The discovery of the link between financial development and carbon dioxide emissions will aid in the development of solutions to this problem. This paper uses a panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model to examine the impact of financial development on carbon dioxide emissions using panel data from 28 Chinese provinces from 2005 to 2021. The PSTR model can solve the problem of minimizing potential outliers ignored in the previous literature, while taking into account the endogeneity and heterogeneity of the model and obtaining more reliable results. According to the findings, financial development has a nonlinear effect on carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, the positive effect of financial development on carbon dioxide emissions occurs via the scale and structural effects, while the negative effect occurs via the technological effect, which takes up more space. Moreover, financial added value and the financial scale demonstrate a smooth transition, while financial efficiency and foreign direct investment demonstrate a positive influence

Production decline type curves analysis of a finite conductivity fractured well in coalbed methane reservoirs

Production decline type curves analysis is one of the robust methods used to analyze transport flow behaviors and to evaluate reservoir properties, original gas in place, etc. Although advanced production decline analysis methods for several well types in conventional reservoirs are widely used, there are few models of production decline type curves for a fractured well in coalbed methane (CBM) reservoirs. In this work, a novel pseudo state diffusion and convection model is firstly developed to describe CBM transport in matrix systems. Subsequently, based on the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, pseudo state diffusion and convection in matrix systems and Darcy flow in cleat systems, the production model of a CBM well with a finite conductivity fracture is derived and solved by Laplace transform. Advanced production decline type curves of a fractured well in CBM reservoirs are plotted through the Stehfest numerical inversion algorithm and computer programming. Six flow regimes, including linear flow regime, early radial flow in cleat systems, interporosity flow regime, late pseudo radial flow regime, transient regime and boundary dominated flow regime, are recognized. Finally, the effect of relevant parameters, including the storage coefficient of gas in cleat systems, the transfer coefficient from a matrix system to the cleat system, the modified coefficient of permeability, dimensionless fracture conductivity and dimensionless reservoir drainage radius, are analyzed on type curves. This paper does not only enrich the production decline type curves model of CBM reservoirs, but also expands our understanding of fractured well transport behaviors in CBM reservoirs and guides to analyze the well's production performance

Integrated energy‐efficient optimization for urban rail transit timetable

Abstract The energy‐efficient optimization of the train timetable should be carried out on the basis of meeting passenger demand and determining the train operation plan. This paper proposes an integrated energy‐efficient optimization framework for the train timetable. Firstly, two energy‐efficient optimization strategies for this problem are proposed: inter‐station running time allocation and regenerative braking energy utilization. The first strategy aims to reduce the traction energy consumption, realized by selecting the profile based on a given set of speed profiles for each inter‐station sector when ensuring a stable travel time of train routing. The second strategy is intended to fully utilize the regenerative energy feedback from braking trains, realized by setting the departure time of trains based on a small‐range headway adjustment. Then, an integrated energy‐efficient optimization model of the timetable is developed and solved using the genetic algorithm. Finally, a case study of the Guangzhou Metro Line 8 is presented to verify the effectiveness of the method. The results show that the utilization rate of regenerative braking energy in the optimized timetable increases by 8.60%, and the total energy consumption decreases by 9.52%. Regenerative energy utilized roughly doubles during peak hours and increases more than twice as much during off‐peak hours

Exploring the Temporal Patterns of Dynamic Information Flow during Attention Network Test (ANT)

The attentional processes are conceptualized as a system of anatomical brain areas involving three specialized networks of alerting, orienting and executive control, each of which has been proven to have a relation with specified time-frequency oscillations through electrophysiological techniques. Nevertheless, at present, it is still unclear how the idea of these three independent attention networks is reflected in the specific short-time topology propagation of the brain, assembled with complexity and precision. In this study, we investigated the temporal patterns of dynamic information flow in each attention network via electroencephalograph (EEG)-based analysis. A modified version of the attention network test (ANT) with an EEG recording was adopted to probe the dynamic topology propagation in the three attention networks. First, the event-related potentials (ERP) analysis was used to extract sub-stage networks corresponding to the role of each attention network. Then, the dynamic network model of each attention network was constructed by post hoc test between conditions followed by the short-time-windows fitting model and brain network construction. We found that the alerting involved long-range interaction among the prefrontal cortex and posterior cortex of brain. The orienting elicited more sparse information flow after the target onset in the frequency band 1–30 Hz, and the executive control contained complex top-down control originating from the frontal cortex of the brain. Moreover, the switch of the activated regions in the associated time courses was elicited in attention networks contributing to diverse processing stages, which further extends our knowledge of the mechanism of attention networks

The Effect of Potential on Surface Characteristic and Corrosion Resistance of Anodic Oxide Film Formed on Commercial Pure Titanium at the Potentiodynamic-Aging Mode

Anodic oxidation treatment of commercially pure titanium was carried out at the voltages of 10, 30, 50 V in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution at the potentiodynamic-aging mode so as to obtain the effects of the anodic potential on the surface characteristic and corrosion resistance of the anodic oxide film. The influences of potential on the surface morphology, the roughness, the crystalline behavior, the chemical composition and the corrosion resistance of the anodic oxide films were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), Raman spectrum, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), potentiodynamic polarization curves and electrode impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results show that increasing anodic potential at the potentiodynamic-aging mode can significantly enhance thickness, flatness, crystallization, chemical stability, and corrosion resistance of anodic oxide film

Profiling the Spatial Expression Pattern and ceRNA Network of lncRNA, miRNA, and mRNA Associated with the Development of Intermuscular Bones in Zebrafish

Intermuscular bones (IBs) are small spicule-like bones in the muscular septum of fish, which affect their edible and economic value. The molecular mechanism of IB development is still uncertain. Numerous studies have shown that the ceRNA network, which is composed of mRNA, lncRNA, and miRNA, plays an important regulatory role in bone development. In this study, we compared the mRNA, lncRNA, and miRNA expression profiles in different IB development segments of zebrafish. The development of IBs includes two main processes, which are formation and growth. A series of genes implicated in the formation and growth of IBs were identified through gene differential expression analysis and expression pattern analysis. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the functions of genes implicated in the regulation of the formation and growth of IBs were quite different. Ribosome and oxidative phosphorylation signaling pathways were significantly enriched during the formation of IBs, suggesting that many proteins are required to form IBs. Several pathways known to be associated with bone development have been shown to play an important role in the growth of IBs, including calcium, ECM-receptor interaction, Wnt, TGF-β, and hedgehog signaling pathways. According to the targeting relationship and expression correlation of mRNA, lncRNA, and miRNA, the ceRNA networks associated with the growth of IBs were constructed, which comprised 33 mRNAs, 9 lncRNAs, and 7 miRNAs. This study provides new insight into the molecular mechanism of the development of IBs