Blockchain for tracking serial numbers in money exchanges

Money exchange is one of the most common day‐to‐day activities performed by humans in the daily market. This paper presents an approach to money tracking through a blockchain. The proposed approach consists of three main components: serial number localization, serial number recognition, and a blockchain to store all transactions and ownership transfers. The approach was tested with a total of 110 banknotes of different currency types and achieved an average accuracy of 91.17%. We conducted a user study in real‐time with 21 users, and the mean accuracy across all users was 86.42%. Each user gave us feedback on the proposed approach, and most of them welcomed the idea.     

Using the Pack‐and‐a‐Half Rule to Eliminate Backroom Inventories in Retail Operations

In the retail industry, backroom inventories are typically associated with higher labor costs and greater operational complexity. Thus, retailers look for ways to eliminate backroom inventories. A heuristic used for this purpose is the pack‐and‐a‐half rule which suggests that the shelf space allocated for a product should be at least 50% larger than the case pack quantity in which the product is delivered. Despite its popularity among retailers, the pack‐and‐a‐half rule has been ignored in the academic literature. We introduce the pack‐and‐a‐half rule, assess its impact on a retailer's profits, identify cost, demand, and product characteristics driving this impact, and propose a modification. Based on an analysis of data obtained from a retailer on 1,986 SKUs in 20 categories, we find that the pack‐and‐a‐half rule decreases a retailer's profits, on average, by 10% when applied uniformly across all SKUs. Further, this decrease is significantly affected by product depth, product width, demand elasticity, case pack quantity, and inventory carrying cost. Finally, we develop a set of modifications based on these variables where the pack‐and‐a‐half rule is applied selectively and in a stepwise fashion. These modifications limit the decrease in a retailer's profits to a range between 6% and 7%.     

基于引力模型的省域创新产出空间联系研究

基于引力模型，结合社会网络分析法的凝聚子群分析，对31个省（区、市）的创新产出空间联系进行探究，研究发现：我国省域创新产出空间联系主要集中于京津冀和长三角一带，呈现出严重的分布不均状况，具有较强的区域集中性和空间依赖性；北京、天津、上海、浙江、江苏作为区域创新产出引力较强的节点省（区、市），对周边区域的创新产出具有较强的辐射作用；总体来看，省域创新产出空间联系并没有形成贯穿东西南北的交叉网状结构，中心省（区、市）数量较少且分布不均，辐射范围有限。基于此，提出加大区域创新投入、减少区域创新产出联系的政策性障碍、营造区域创新产出联系的良好环境等政策建议。     

Geography and capital structure

We investigate the impact of geographic location on firms’ capital structure decisions. We find strong evidence that location of a firm influences its capital structure. In particular, we find that centrally located firms have lower leverage ratios than do remotely located ones. Moreover, consistent with the hypothesis that those remotely located firms face more severe adverse selection problems, the effect of geographic location on capital structure is more pronounced when information asymmetry is higher. We further examine alternative explanations of the negative relation between firm geographic proximity and capital structure and show that the financial constraint effect and industry clustering effect do not explain our results. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Are China’s regional agricultural productivities converging: How and why?

This article tests the hypotheses of convergence to a single level of total factor productivity (TFP), and a steady state of TFP growth rate in China’s agricultural sector. Based on multilateral TFP estimates we found that China’s agricultural sector has rebounded in recent years from a slower TFP growth in the 2005–2007 period. While convergence test results confirm a “catch-up” effect that provinces with lower TFP levels tend to grow faster than others, estimated rates of β convergence are conditional on how we capture the heterogeneity effect across regions. The rates of β convergence range from 0.016 to 0.039 under different model specifications. Estimates show that higher growth rates of educational attainment, R&D, and intermediate goods density (per unit of labor) can enhance TFP growth. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of an overall σ convergence, indicating that TFP levels are not converging except in the South region. It implies that to catch up with leading provinces, it would require extra efforts for those lagging behind by increasing their region-specific research investment, promoting rural educational attainment, and enhancing embodied technical change.     

Platform coopetition in the tourism industry: conflicts and tensions caused by the closure of Booking.com in Turkey

In March 2017, as a result of a precautionary interim decision made by the courts based on the case relating to ‘unfair competition practices’, Booking.com closed its platform for inbound tourism in Turkey and ceased operations. This was the first instance of an online booking platform halting access for inbound bookings for the domestic market. This platform-based relationship involves both cooperation and competition, and thus this paper identifies this relationship as platform coopetition. Based on the governance network theory and employing a case-study approach, the Booking.com case is examined from the viewpoint of tourism coopetition from two perspectives: industry-wide and agent-specific. The paper provides an analysis of these perspectives and the past and on-going process of Booking.com’s platform closure. The constitutive dynamics this case endangers the coopetitive environment of the tourism industry and thus creates destructive uncertainties, especially for small hotels. This analysis also reveals the issues in terms of political representation for digital service platform companies.     

基于转移概率和网络联系的辽宁省农村居民点适宜性评价

[目的]农村居民点适宜性评价在农村居民点调控、规划和预测中具有基础作用,且农村居民点适宜性评价应顾及农村居民点之间的社会经济活动联系。[方法]以辽宁省为研究区,首先运用逐步Logistic回归模型构建农村居民点转移概率,其次运用网络分析方法确定农村居民点图斑间的网络联系强度,最终通过加权求和方法确定农村居民点转化概率,进行农村居民点空间布局适宜性评价。[结果]辽宁省农村居民点可以划分为高度适宜类、较适宜类、一般适宜类和不适宜类4类,分别占农村居民点总面积的比例为28.18%、31.32%、13.26%和27.24%;从各地貌分区来看,高度适宜类主要集中分布在中部平原地区和东部山地丘陵区中的南方沿海地区,而不适宜类整体分布则较为零散;辽宁省中部平原区位条件好,东部沿海地区区位条件也较好,西部山地丘陵区地区较差。[结论]研究方法和结论有助于全面把握农村居民点社会经济与区位适宜性特征,为农村居民点科学规划提供科学指导。     

Twenty years of Hong Kong and Macao under Chinese rule: being absorbed under ‘one country,two systems’

This paper examines the implementation of ‘one country, two systems’ (1C2S) in the two former Western colonies, Hong Kong and Macao, as a policy innovation in managing inter-governmental relations of a large, diverse country like China. 1C2S embodies internal tensions because the Hong Kong and Chinese governments have multiple and often incompatible goals. After 20 years, these two special administrative regions (SARs) of China are gradually being absorbed.     

天地一体化信息网络中天基卫星网络架构设计

为了充分利用各种空间设施资源，提升天基信息网络覆盖与传输能力，分别从天基信息网络体系架构和逻辑功能架构角度进行了系统性设计。与以往天基网络的设计不同，该设计更注重各类卫星网络的深度融合应用，为此将网络虚拟化技术引入天基卫星网络。同时，还提出了解决新架构下卫星组网难题的方法，将电磁涡旋、卫星灵活载荷和边缘计算技术设计到天基网络。仿真表明，所提出的架构能有效提升频谱利用率和减少卫星网络信令开销。     

Sharing versus collaborative economy: how to align ICT developments and the SDGs in tourism?

Great hopes have been placed in the sharing economy to provide a new business model based on peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges of underutilized assets. As a model, the sharing economy has been expected to make significant contributions to sustainability, providing new opportunities for entrepreneurship, more sustainable use of resources, and consumer co-operation in tight economic networks. However, in recent years, digital platforms have turned into the most important actors in the global sharing economy, turning global corporations, such as AirBnB, Booking, or TripAdvisor into intermediaries controlling and profiting from most transactions. Focused on accommodation, this paper conceptualizes the sharing economy in comparison to the wider collaborative economy, and discusses its social, economic, environmental, and political impacts in comparison to the sustainable development goals. It concludes that the sharing economy has great potential to make very significant contributions to sustainability, though the model is increasingly being replaced by the collaborative economy, which performs as an extension and acceleration of neoliberal economic practices.