The Influence of Enterprises’ Bargaining Power on the Green Total Factor Productivity Effect of Environmental Regulation—Evidence from China

In response to the ecological and environmental problems caused by high energy consumption and pollution, Chinese governments have raised their concerns and tighten the regulations. Even though local governments have achieved certain degree of success during policy implementation, it is still far from realizing the ultimate goal. Our study fills the gap in the existing literature by exploring the dynamic effects of environmental regulations on enterprises’ green total factor productivity (GTFP) from the perspective of enterprise bargaining power. With data obtained from the industrial pollution database and the Chinese industrial enterprise database, we calculated the GTFP at enterprise level using the Luenberger productivity index. The results from balanced panel data models show that environmental regulations would have negative impacts on enterprise’s GTFP in the short run. However, in the long run, the implementation of environmental policies would achieve the win-win goal in terms of enterprises competitiveness and environmental protection. In addition, indicated by industrial output, tax revenue and number of employees, enterprise bargaining power could weaken the dynamic effects of environmental regulations. Moreover, state ownership, local official changes and weak political constraints would enhance enterprise’s bargaining power and thus reduce the dynamic effects. By focusing on the enterprise’s bargaining power and its heterogeneous factors during policy implementation, our study provides implications for mitigating distortions and improving GTFP

Contributing factors of classroom teaching quality and improving strategies in Chinese universities: From Students’ Perspective

The teaching quality of universities directly affects the quality of national talent training. The Academic Affairs Office of Chinese universities, through the establishment of the relevant classroom teaching evaluation index system, plays a supervisory role on the classroom teaching quality. Based on the index system, students evaluate classroom teaching quality before selecting a course online at the end of each semester. The paper reports the findings of a small-scale survey carried out in the X University of China within the framework of the ERASMUS+ENTEP project. Through the questionnaires and interviews given to the students of X University, the objective of the study was to identify the index that teachers need to strengthen and then try to put forward some improvement strategies. The results from the survey highlight the factors that contribute to the high quality of undergraduate classroom teaching from students’ perspective, including the unvalued personal moral cultivation of teachers, more attention to the indoctrination of knowledge and ignore the inspiration of mind and the effective interaction between teachers and students. The evidence from this survey suggests that in order to improve the undergraduate classroom teaching quality, teachers should shift the concept of teaching and learning, from the indoctrination of knowledge to the mobilization of students’ enthusiasm, inspire them to think, associate and innovate, and guide the individual student to become an integrated well-developed person

Fluctuating Demand-Oriented Optimization of Train Line Planning Considering Carriage Resources Transfer under Flexible Compositions

The intercity railway is subject to variation and fluctuation in demand both in time and space over a day to a large extent. In that case, more advanced line planning techniques are practically needed to match the non-equilibrium passenger demand. We propose an integer linear programming model for adapting to the fluctuating demand and improving rail line profit, in which the multi-period planning approach and flexible train composition mode are taken into consideration. In particular, we also consider the limitations of the carriage and the dynamic transfer of resources during a finite period to ensure the better implementation of the line planning and subsequent operation plans. Our purpose is to improve on previous line planning models by integrating the multi-period strategic-level line planning decision with resource constraints. Since the problem is computationally intractable for realistic size instances, an improved round heuristic algorithm that is based on linear relaxation is proposed and we compare the round heuristic performance with the commercial solver Gurobi on artificial instances. The numerical experiments that are based on an intercity railway in China certify the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed model and algorithm. We evaluate the impact of different optimization parameters and reserved carriages and the computation results show that in comparison to the fixed composition mode, the proposed approach can improve the utilization efficiency of carriage resources and increase the line profit by 1.9% under the same carriage resource conditions

Variation of Rock Mass Pressure during Tunnel Construction in Phyllite Stratum

In this paper, the field monitoring method is used to study the variation of rock mass pressure during the construction of a tunnel in phyllite stratum, and three functions are used to fit and analyze the variation of rock mass pressure with deformation, excavation time, and space. The results show the following (1) When the deformation increases significantly, the rock mass pressure decreases firstly and then increases. This is caused by the insufficient bearing capacity of the rock mass in the arch foot of the supporting structure after the excavation of the upper bench, which leads to a settlement of supporting structure and surrounding rock. (2) Compared with other kinds of fitting functions, the logistic function can better characterize the variation of the pressure of surrounding rock with deformation, excavation time, and distance from the face. This paper provides a reliable reference for the design and construction of the tunnel in phyllite stratum. The logistic function can be used to present and predict the change of rock mass pressure with deformation, excavation time, and space in similar rock mass conditions

Fluctuating Demand-Oriented Optimization of Train Line Planning Considering Carriage Resources Transfer under Flexible Compositions

The intercity railway is subject to variation and fluctuation in demand both in time and space over a day to a large extent. In that case, more advanced line planning techniques are practically needed to match the non-equilibrium passenger demand. We propose an integer linear programming model for adapting to the fluctuating demand and improving rail line profit, in which the multi-period planning approach and flexible train composition mode are taken into consideration. In particular, we also consider the limitations of the carriage and the dynamic transfer of resources during a finite period to ensure the better implementation of the line planning and subsequent operation plans. Our purpose is to improve on previous line planning models by integrating the multi-period strategic-level line planning decision with resource constraints. Since the problem is computationally intractable for realistic size instances, an improved round heuristic algorithm that is based on linear relaxation is proposed and we compare the round heuristic performance with the commercial solver Gurobi on artificial instances. The numerical experiments that are based on an intercity railway in China certify the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed model and algorithm. We evaluate the impact of different optimization parameters and reserved carriages and the computation results show that in comparison to the fixed composition mode, the proposed approach can improve the utilization efficiency of carriage resources and increase the line profit by 1.9% under the same carriage resource conditions

Prognostic value of LGR5 in colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis.

Leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) has recently been reported to be a marker of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in colorectal cancer (CRC), and the prognostic value of LGR5 in CRC has been evaluated in several studies. However, the conclusions remain controversial. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the association between the expression of LGR5 and the outcome of CRC patients by performing a meta-analysis.We systematically searched for relevant studies published up to February 2014 using the PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE and Wangfang databases. Only articles in which LGR5 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry were included. A meta-analysis was performed using STATA 12.0, and pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to estimate the strength of the association between LGR5 expression and the prognosis of CRC patients.A total of 7 studies comprising 1833 CRC patients met the inclusion criteria, including 6 studies comprising 1781 patients for overall survival (OS) and 3 studies comprising 528 patients for disease-free survival (DFS). Our results showed that high LGR5 expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis in terms of OS (HR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.23-2.84; P = 0.003) and DFS (HR: 2.44, 95% CI: 1.49-3.98; P<0.001). Further subgroup analysis revealed that many factors, including the study region, number of patients, follow-up duration and cutoff value, affected the significance of the association between LGR5 expression and a worse prognosis in patients with CRC. In addition, there was no evidence of publication bias, as suggested by Begg's and Egger's tests.The present meta-analysis indicated that high LGR5 expression was associated with poor prognosis in patients with CRC and that LGR5 is an efficient prognostic factor in CRC