Beneath the Appearance of Gentrification: Probing Local Complexities

In ‘Gentrification in Hong Kong? Epistemology vs. Ontology’ , Ley and Teo examine what they find to be the absence of identification and naming of gentrification in Hong Kong. They argue for the need to look at urban redevelopment in non‐Anglo‐American cities, those in Asia Pacific at the very least, in a different light. They query the extent to which the concept of gentrification has been overly stretched to explain urban processes falling outside Anglo‐American cities. This essay is a response to their argument. It presses for further and closer examination of local complexities and greater critical‐theoretical reflection on the transferability of analytical concepts to different socio‐economic contexts. Ley and Teo have raised some important questions for serious theoretical reflection and discussion. Yet they seem to have fallen into the problematic positions that they critique. Without sufficient attention to the part played by historical and local context in shaping the urban landscape, they have wrongly associated the absence of any identification of gentrification with the hegemony of a property‐related ideology of social mobility. The unpacking of the different social and political processes and mechanisms in urban redevelopment in different stages of urban growth in Hong Kong alerts us to the complexities of the local.     

Social and Environmental Filters to Market Incentives: The Persistence of Common Land in Nineteenth‐Century Spain

The regional diversity of communal persistence in nineteenth‐century Spain has been well documented by historiographers. Although the explanation of this divergence has been attributed to the social and environmental context, together with the prevailing market incentives, that characterized the different rural societies of this period, there has been no clear assessment of the role played by each of these factors. Through a comparative study of the historical data at the provincial level, this paper analyses the relative contribution of these elements to that divergence. The results diminish the significance of market signals and show how the social and environmental conditions interacted to limit, or promote, the dismantling of the common lands. Apart from the greater need to resort to the commons when it was necessary to increase agricultural production in dry regions, this paper highlights the role of unequal levels of access to land in promoting enclosure. The Spanish case illustrates the limitations of the theories that predict the inevitable drift towards individual property rights.     

听力语篇中话语标记语的语用功能分析

话语标记语在英语听力语篇中使用非常广泛，它可以起到构建语篇框架、突出有用信息和帮助预测信息等语用功能。研究听力语篇中话语标记语的类别及其语用功能，探讨其对英语听力教学的启示，提高学生的英语听力水平。     

The complex firm financial effects of customer satisfaction improvements

It has been widely assumed that increases in customer satisfaction have continuous financial benefits for firms. However, recent meta-analysis results and anecdotal evidence suggest substantial variability in satisfaction-performance effects. We propose and investigate three explanations for this variability: (1) changing trade-offs of financial benefits vis-à-vis costs along the satisfaction continuum, (2) varying stickiness of benefits and costs over time, and (3) contextual effects related to a firm’s marketing strategic situation. For our empirical investigation, we used customer satisfaction scores and financial data for around 100 U.S. firms over a 15-year period. The results show that revenues and savings in marketing and acquisition costs can accelerate at high satisfaction levels. However, for many firms, operating costs and capital investments also accelerate, and shareholder returns for satisfaction improvements can become negative. Tests over different assessment horizons show that operating cost increases are sticky while top line benefits fade. Finally, firm strategy, offering customization, potential of customer word of mouth, and competitive innovation pressure determine the satisfaction payoffs. Our study will help managers to predict more accurately than before the financial effects of their customer-directed investment decisions.     

The determinants of academic patenting by Italian universities

This work investigates the determinants of patenting at Italian universities. We test the effect of public and external funds, in terms of commercial activity by universities, towards the propensity of universities to file patents at the European Patent Office. We then estimate the effect of several variables referring to the contextual characteristics of both university and localisation. The results suggest that, while in the southern regions of Italy commercial income bears a negative effect on the patenting activity of universities, in the other regions we register an important positive effect. We moreover find that the adoption of internal university regulations relating to patenting and the fact of being embedded in an innovative region are factors that exert a positive influence on the university rate of application for patents.     

Effects of culturally verbal and visual congruency/incongruency across cultures in a competitive advertising context

Existing consumer behavior theories suggest that consumers tend to recognize, better comprehend, and respond favorably to information that is both relevant and consistent with their beliefs and values. This study extends these theories by employing cultural arguments and pictures to examine the effects of culturally verbal and visual congruency/incongruency on consumer ad and brand attitudes in multiple-ad and multiple-brand environments. The studies were conducted with subjects in Canada and China. The results suggest that, when the contrast ad is culturally incongruent, an ad containing a culturally congruent argument and congruent picture elicits the most positive responses, compared to other ads with different combinations of arguments and pictures. However, an ad containing a culturally incongruent argument and incongruent picture also elicits more positive responses than an ad with a culturally congruent argument and incongruent picture or a culturally incongruent argument and congruent picture.     

关联翻译理论语境及最佳关联原则下的《道德经》英译

《道德经》作为中国的经典著作,吸引了中外大批学者为其作译。然而,从原文理解及意义传达两个方面看,所产生的译作并非尽善尽美。本文运用关联翻译理论语境及最佳关联原则,对《道德经》两译本进行对比分析,阐明其对《道德经》英译的启示。     

森林资源培育业投融资改革研究

森林资源培育能够获得多大程度发展,取决于森林培植业能够在多大程度上吸纳市场资金。针对当前森林资源培育资金需求额度巨大、所需贷款期限较长、林业贷款支持面窄等的状况,提出了财政扶农、木材税收调节、林业金融政策调节、区域差异投资政策调节等促进森林资源培育业的措施。并对育林基金的管理和使用以及政府在林业市场投融资运行中而采取的干预行为提出了相关建议。     

科技政策文本编码体系构建及北京市科技政策扫描

针对当前国内政策文本所包含信息的非量化导致具有操作性的政策分类标准缺乏的现状,借鉴扎根理论的"信息提取-归纳-概念化-重组"思想,在对改革开放以来国家各层面科技政策文本研读、对其结构梳理的基础上,提取科技政策的重要特征参数,确定政策文本编码和分类标准,并将1996—2007年北京市的科技政策文本转化为半结构化数据,进行类定量化分析。     

工作嵌入在中国情境下的适用性探讨

工作嵌入理论引入了非工作影响因素,从留职的视角预测员工的离职意愿,为离职管理研究提供了一个全新的视角。在中国的情境下,结合我国国情、社会特征和文化特点,研究工作嵌入的联系、牺牲和匹配维度,就工作嵌入理论的适用性进行探讨,对于揭示员工离职的真正原因,提高员工对组织的依附性,改善组织的职业生涯管理都具有积极的借鉴意义。