Suchergebnisse

Authoritarian Absorption unveils the transformation of China's pandemic response system from 1978 to 2018 through its battle against HIV/AIDS. Chinese bureaucrats, facing pressure from foreign agencies--especially those of the US and UK--and grassroots social movements, developed ways to turn epidemics into opportunities for enhancing domestic control and international stature. Drawing on longitudinal-ethnographic research, Yan Long reveals how Western liberal interventions can simultaneously bolster public health institutions and reinforce authoritarian power, a development pivotal to China's subsequent handling of COVID-19 and instrumental in advancing the rights of groups like gay men.

This empirical study utilizes four static hedging models (OLS Minimum Variance Hedge Ratio, Mean-Variance Hedge Ratio, Sharpe Hedge Ratio, and MEG Hedge Ratio) and one dynamic hedging model (bivariate GARCH Minimum Variance Hedge Ratio) to find the optimal hedge ratios for Taiwan Stock Index Futures, S&P 500 Stock Index Futures, Nikkei 225 Stock Index Futures, Hang Seng Index Futures, Singapore Straits Times Index Futures, and Korean KOSPI 200 Index Futures. The effectiveness of these ratios is also evaluated. The results indicate that the methods of conducting optimal hedging in different markets are not identical. However, the empirical results confirm that stock index futures are effective direct hedging instruments, regardless of hedging schemes or hedging horizons.

How do formal civic organizations shape—and how are they shaped by—the making and transformation of urban space? Place-oriented civil society research emphasizes the central role of civic organizations in producing and changing unequal political and economic orders of cities but largely ignores the intercity connections and competitions that contribute to these local civic dynamics in a global capitalist system. Critical urban studies, in contrast, recognizes the influences of global capitalism and local city boosterism on city development but overlooks the paradoxical roles of formal civic organizations. Bringing the two scholarly camps in dialogue, this article explores how formal civic organizations are situated in entrepreneurial city-making in the Global South, when city governments promote their competitive advantage by boosting "social innovation" through nonprofits. Drawing on survey, interview, and social media data from a random sample of nonprofits in Shenzhen, China, our preliminary results highlight that the Shenzhen municipal government's agenda to promote both global capitalism and authoritarian rules have shaped the urban spaces where nonprofits form and operate. In turn, nonprofits mediate the negotiations between the local state, market, and urban residents to create, transform, and reinvent unequal physical, social, and digital urban space in this Silicon Valley of China.

This paper explores the effects of environmental regulation (ER) and rural residents' health investment (RRHI) on agricultural eco-efficiency (AEE) to provide a reference for the Chinese Government and other developing countries for implementing environmental regulation policies and to provide new paths to further improve green development in agriculture. Using the panel data of 31 Chinese provinces from 2009–2018, the Super-SBM model was used to measure AEE. The role of ER on AEE was analyzed based on panel two-way fixed effects with endogeneity treatment and a robustness test, and this mediating effect analysis was conducted to analyze the role of RRHI in ER and AEE, examining the extent of the effect of ER on AEE in three regions of China—eastern, central and western—using a heterogeneity analysis. The results of the study show that: (1) from a national perspective, ER has a significant positive impact on AEE, showing that ER is effective at this stage; (2) when RRHI is used as a mediating variable, the rising ER's intensity can promote AEE by increasing RRHI; and (3) the results of the heterogeneity analysis show that ER has the greatest impact on AEE in the economically developed eastern region; the western region with a weaker level of economic development is in second place. However, ER has a negative impact on AEE in the central region with a medium level of economic development. Thus, the impact of ER on AEE will show great differences depending on the stage of economic development.

The implementation of water diversion projects will exert different influences on upstream water offering areas and the downstream water receiving areas. In order to effectively promote the coordinated development of the two regions, a comprehensive evaluation system for the coordinated development of water transfer projects has been proposed with the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project as the research object. The system conducts a multidimensional evaluation of social development, economic development, and ecological environmental impact, and builds a comprehensive evaluation index system with fifteen evaluation indexes at three levels, with the indexes weighted through the comprehensive weighting method based on the combination of the G1 method and the entropy weight method. Based on the degree of coordinated development among various systems, the coordinated development of the Middle Route of the South–North Water Transfer Project is graded through a comprehensive evaluation. This method is tested in the decision support system of the Middle Route Construction and Administration Bureau, China. The results show that: (1) The coupling coordination degree value of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is 0.8912, which shows that the regional development of the water transfer project is high coupled coordination. (2) The coordination between the economic system and the ecological environment system is weaker than the coordination between the economic system and the social service system, and the coordination between the ecological and social services is the best. Finally, based on an advanced SWOT analysis of the future development of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, effective suggestions for regional development are provided. It provides reference or guidance for the competent authority to manage the water diversion project and the central government to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of the water diversion project.

Cordyceps militaris is a parasitic edible fungus and has been used as tonics for centuries. Polysaccharides are a major water-soluble component of C. militaris. Recently, C. militaris-derived polysaccharides have been given much attention due to their various actions including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-diabetic, anti-atherosclerotic, and immunomodulatory effects. These bioactivities are determined by the various structural characteristics of polysaccharides including monosaccharide composition, molecular weight, and glycosidic linkage. The widespread use of advanced analytical analysis tools has greatly improved the elucidation of the structural characteristics of C. militaris-derived polysaccharides. However, the methods for polysaccharide structural characterization and the latest findings related to C. militaris-derived polysaccharides, especially the potential structure-activity relationship, have not been well-summarized in recent reviews of the literature. This review will discuss the methods used in the elucidation of the structure of polysaccharides and structural characteristics as well as the signaling pathways modulated by C. militaris-derived polysaccharides. This article provides information useful for the development of C. militaris-derived polysaccharides as well as for investigating other medicinal polysaccharides.

AbstractAround the world, voluntary programs are an increasingly prevalent regulatory instrument in governing nonprofit organizations. But accounts of mechanisms driving nonprofits' participation in those programs are underdeveloped. This article combines and expands insights from voluntary regulation and institutional work theories to examine the impact of government's informal relational work on nonprofits' regulatory participation. Drawing on interviews and survey data from a random sample of 203 nonprofits in Shenzhen, China, the authors study the country's pioneering government-sponsored voluntary accreditation program and its varying receptions among nonprofits. The empirical analysis shows that politically embedded nonprofits, those with closer organizational connections with the local government, are more likely to participate in accreditation. Since government agencies rely on existing regulatory networks to conduct relational work at both organizational and personal levels to persuade or cajole nonprofits to participate, they tend to direct their recruitment efforts towards more politically embedded nonprofits. However, these targeted recruitment practices may generate reactions much more complicated than the dichotomy of acceptance versus resistance, which ultimately facilitates some nonprofits seeking accreditation while deterring others.

Abstract
Background We compare the differences in the efficacy of percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic diskectomy (PTED) between the younger (age <60 years) and older (age ≥60 years) patients with lumbar disk herniation (LDH).
Methods From December 2016 to December 2017, 128 patients with symptomatic LDH underwent PTED and were followed up. Forty-four 60 years old and above, including 19 males and 25 females with an average age of 68.7 (61–82) years, were classified as the elderly age group. Eighty-four patients younger than 60 years were classified as the young age group, which included 48 males and 36 females with an average age of 44.7 (16–58) years. The visual analog scale (VAS) scores, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores, and satisfaction rates of the two groups before and after surgery were compared.
Results The operation was completed successfully in both groups. The average follow-up times of the elderly and young age groups were 18.47 ± 2.62 (12–23) and 17.90 ± 3.27 (12–23) months, respectively. One patient in the young age group had recurrence 7 months after surgery, and the symptoms were relieved after PTED was performed again. Two patients with nerve root injury after surgery in the young age group completely recovered after 2 months of conservative treatment. There were no significant surgical complications in the elderly age group. There was no significant difference in postoperative VAS, JOA, and MacNab scores between the two groups. The MacNab scores in the elderly age group were excellent for 28 patients, good for 10 patients, and fair for 6 patients; the satisfaction rate was 86.3%. In the young age group, scores were excellent for 63 patients, good for 14 patients, fair for 5 patients, and poor for 2 patients; the satisfaction rate was 91.7%.
Conclusion The clinical effectiveness of PTED for treatment of LDH in both elderly and young patients is satisfactory. Age is not a predictor of poor outcomes of PTED.