Quantifying land-use change impacts on the dynamic evolution of flood vulnerability

Recently, dramatic flood disasters have occurred incrementally in several regions of the world. Land-use change as one of the main affecting factors becomes a key component in flood risk management. This study strives to deal with quantifying how changes in land use to affect the dynamic evolution of flood vulnerability. The floodplains of Wuhan, which are located in the Yangtze River Basin, have been selected as an example. In this paper, we use GIS to gather different historical geometric data as sources of land-use information. By proposing the Simpsons-dominance index and location index to analyze the characteristics of land-use changes, and building a quantitative model to measure flood vulnerability, a series of flood vulnerability maps demonstrate differential flood vulnerability of floodplains of Wuhan in three inundation scenarios and four historical periods. Finally, the non-parametric correlation is used to reveal the interactive effect of land use and flood vulnerability. Based on this study, comprehensive flood disaster management strategies for land-use planning are proposed for government decision-makers to reduce the flood vulnerability of Wuhan in future.     

我国未来几年技能型紧缺人才状况与趋势分析

通过我国目前技能型紧缺人才的现状分析,对未来几年技能型紧缺人才的状况与演变趋势加以研究和讨论,进一步提出我国的技能型人才的短缺已成为制约我国经济发展的瓶颈。     

电子审计体系研究

国家十二五规划纲要提出建设和完善电子审计体系。本文通过对电子审计体系的研究,提出了电子审计体系的顶层设计、总体规划和效能目标三个特性,以及电子审计体系在国家电子政务体系中的地位和作用;提出了审计业务信息化、审计管理数字化、电子审计标准化和审计队伍信息化的电子审计体系框架;提出了电子审计体系的功能演进,包括从重点查处违纪违规问题到重点促进公共财政管理规范的转变、从重点关注财政财务收支审计到重点关注国家经济安全审计评价的转变,从传统审计方式到现代审计方式的转变。     

Live and let die: A survival analysis of foreign R&D units in Swedish MNEs

This paper develops and tests a set of hypotheses regarding factors that influenced the longevity of foreign research and development units in Swedish multinational enterprises over the period 1992–2012. The results reveal an underexplored aspect of the R&D internationalization—the volatility of foreign R&D laboratories. During the investigated period, more than 40% of the R&D units in the sample had been terminated. The results substantiate earlier research regarding the negative effects of mergers and acquisitions on R&D in acquired units but show that these effects are not immediate. They appear – if at all – with a time lag of several years. The hazard of closure for an individual unit seems to be more strongly related to its role and position within the MNE than to local country characteristics. It was smaller for strongly locally embedded units and units with global mandates, but – contrary to expectations – the hazard was greater for units highly integrated with the rest of the MNE.     

Determinants of island tourism development: The example of Dachangshan Island

Islands possess their own patterns of spatial and temporal evolution as tourist destinations. Taking Dachangshan Island as an example, two key stages were identified: a 'landscape-oriented' period from 2002 to 2009, and a 'background' stage from 2009 to 2012. Co-existing with both periods was changing spatial and land-use patterns of expansion and intensification. Using spatial mapping techniques, it was found that tourist resources were found to be the original driving force, tourist transportation and social and economic factors were endogenous determinants of change, and tourist enterprises and source markets subject to government policies the exogenous factors.     

On the Differential Effects of European Patents

Since the invention of the European Patent System, national patent systems have continued to co-exist, although they did lose appeal. How have the different national systems been affected in view of their characteristics? In order to answer this question a constant-market-share (CMS) analysis is carried out. While on a theoretical level, the different elements adding to the appeal of each patent system are discussed, the CMS-analysis reveals the importance of country size in that the national systems of smaller countries lose.     

Spatial Pattern and Spatiotemporal Evolution of China＇s National Historic Cities

基于地理信息系统空间分析技术,从微观、中观、宏观三个尺度对我国国家历史文化名城的地域分布差异和发展演变特征进行分析探讨,结果表明：在微观的市县级范围内,县级及以下名城的分布相对分散,地级及以上名城在我国东部和中部县市相对集中;在中观的省域范围内,1982年以来的一、二、三批名城在省域覆盖范围内具有较为明显的东南部、北部、中西部重心格局演变的特征;从全国范围来看,国家历史文化名城空间上总体表现为由东到西数量递减的非均衡分布特征,时空演变总体表现为由大中城市向中小城市,由中心城市、中部城市向边缘城市、地域特色城市,由直辖城市、省会城市向地级城市、县级城市、甚至城市的一个行政区扩展的特征。国家历史文化名城的批复发展在考虑各尺度区域范围内的等级差异和不均衡分布的基础上走向了科学化、细致化。     

Destination development in China: towards an effective model of explanation

This paper addresses the dynamics of the evolution of a nature-based destination in China. Based on longitudinal studies in Zhangjiajie (Hunan Province), it focuses on the roles of institutions in tourism development in China, demonstrating the centrality of institutions and governments in fostering destination development through policy orientations, attracting investments and regulations in their capacity as producers, protectors and promoters of desired processes of change. It describes a five-stage development process from Exploration, through Starting and via Fluctuation and Acceleration to the current stage of Transition leading towards a Destination seeking Better Service Quality. The study, by incorporating institutions as a driving force, develops an RICI model (Resource, Institution, Capital and Innovation) accounting for destination development in China. The key role of policies implemented by local governments and the roles of institutions are critical in the process of its development, especially in the earlier stages, contrasting with many western countries, where the private sector and central government tend to dominate. The paper notes the role of inter-institution rivalries, and the impact of those rivalries on sustainable development. It is suggested that the proposed model could be empirically verified and tested in other cultural or regional destination development contexts.     

The Evolution of R&D Laboratories in the Brazilian Polymer Industry

ABSTRACT

Ronstadt observed that R&D laboratories in foreign subidiaries of American multinationals follow an evolutionary pattern of development. First, these laboratories adapt foreign technology to the local conditions and local raw materials. Later, laboratories focus their activity in obtaining product quality. In the last stage, these R&D units generate new technology of a long-term or exploratory nature for the corporate parent. Based on this theoretical background, this paper studies the evolution of R&D investments in polymer firms in Brazil. The methodology used was a case study conducted in 5 firms from the polymer area, complemented with secondary sources.

RESUMEN. Según Ronstadt, los laboratorios de I&D de las subsidiarias extranjeras de las multinacionales norteamericanas, cumplen un programa de desarrollo evolucionario. En primer lugar, estos laboratorios adaptan las tecnologías extranjeras a las condiciones locales y las materias primas existentes. A continuación, los laboratorios orientan sus actividades en obtener un producto de alta calidad. En la última etapa, estas unidades de I&D generan nueva tecnología de características a largo plazo o naturaleza exploratoria para la corporación matriz. Usando como base estos antecedentes teóricos, este documento estudia la evolución de las inversiones realizadas por las empresas de polímeros en el campo de la I&D en el Brasil. La metodología utilizada fue un estudio de caso realizado en 5 empresas fabricantes de polímeros, complementado con otras fuentes secundarias.

RESUMO. Ronstadt observou que os laboratórios de R&D em subsidiárias estrangeiras de multinacionais americanas seguem um padrão evolutivo de desenvolvimento. Primeiro, estes laboratórios adaptam a tecnologia estrangeira às condiç[otilde]es e às matérias-primas locais. Posteriormente, os laboratórios focalizam a sua atividade na obtenção da qualidade do produto. E, finalmente, estas unidades de R&D geram uma nova tecnologia para a matriz de natureza exploratória ou de longo prazo. Baseado nesta experiência teórica, este trabalho investiga a evolução dos investimentos de R&D em empresas de polímeros no Brasil. A metodologia usada foi um estudo de caso conduzido em cinco empresas da área de polímeros, complementada por fontes secundárias.     

Exploring the core factors of online purchase decisions by building an E-Commerce network evolution model

With the continuous development of the Internet and information technology, online shopping has become a popular purchase mode. The in-depth analysis of consumer decision-making in online shopping is an important issue. Our purpose is to study how the factors of the shopping web pages corporately affect online purchase decisions and determine which are the core factors that affect consumer purchase decisions. We screen the influencing factors on the shopping webpage and deploy e-commerce network evolution based on various weight combinations of these factors to generate sales distributions of online products. By comparing these simulated sales distributions to the real data, the optimal weight of each factor is obtained. The results show that sales volume and the number of high-quality negative comments are the most important factors influencing consumers' decision-making, the number of comments and the number of comments with pictures are relatively minor factors, store type and video presentation of the products have the least impact. The optimal simulated sales distribution is very close to the real case and verifies that the introduced network evolution technology is applicable. The proposed model can be used as a uniform evaluation platform for correlational study, which is an important link in the purchase research chain.