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This paper examines the elusive concept of Xu in Zhuangzi's philosophy to find out how specifically Xu addresses relationality through its distinct cultivation of ambiguity in this Daoist philosopher's theory. The paper chooses liubai and body as two examples to unravel the ways in which the concept of Xu is manifested. Embedded in the meanings of blandness and lack of substance, Xu enlivens change, transformation and process. Evident in liubai, Xu creates a unique ecological space of metamorphosis that nourishes mutual becoming. For Zhuangzi, body is neither understood as the object to be acquired nor as the means to acquire knowledge. Rather, body is a void to become. The political implication of Xu suggests a politics of indeterminacy – an alienation from preordained power structures and a reconstruction of power relations.

This paper uses the first wave of HILDA in an analysis of the determinants of fertility, focusing in particular on the role of education. Estimating lifetime fertility from micro data sets is generally quite difficult since a large proportion of the sample, because of their age, will have incomplete fertility. The HILDA survey allows this problem to be addressed, however, because as well as measuring the actual number of children a person has, there is also information on the additional number of children a person expects to parent. Thus it is possible to estimate the determinants of fertility in three dimensions: the actual number of children a person has, the expected future number of children, and total intended lifetime fertility, the sum of the first two. The analysis is conducted in several stages. First, total intended lifetime fertility is modelled as a function of education and a host of other variables reflecting the opportunity costs and consumption elements of child rearing. The HILDA sample allows control for a host of other factors, reflecting both attitudes and values, and their roles are examined as well. The main result is that education lowers total lifetime fertility, although the strength of this relationship falls importantly with the addition of a range of variables, such as marital history and equivalised household income. A second set of estimations concerns the determinants of the expected future number of children, controlling for the number of children a person already has. The estimations reveal that more educated people tend to have significantly higher fertility expectations than others, and that the effect is non-linear. The juxtaposition of the results of the two approaches could be interpreted to mean that higher education per se does not lower people's fertility expectation while the more educated tend to defer their fertility and may end up with fewer children due to some unexpected constraints such as deterioration or breakdown in relationship and fecundity problems at later stage. Realising these risks before hand along with appropriate institutional and financial supports from the government may help the educated people to achieve their fertility expectation. In addition to education, all fertility measures are influenced importantly by, among others: household income (negative for the first and positive for the second); partnering (positive); the significance of religion in people's lives (positive); and values concerning motherhood (positive). Many different specifications were explored with the main conclusions being robust. It is recognised, however, that fertility decisions are likely to be made in combination with a host of other life-cycle issues, such as investment in education, and that the results of the estimations need to be qualified by this reality.

Blockchain, as a new innovative technology, has become a popular topic in many fields in recent years. In this study, triangulation was used to investigate the development of knowledge structures. First, scientometric network analysis was employed to identify the cooperation of knowledge networks. It was found that the structure of blockchain knowledge networks in China is relatively more complex and diverse than in South Korea. Since increased teamwork in blockchain is conducive to the creation of high-quality knowledge products, the Chinese government appears to strongly promote diversified cooperation on blockchain technology through centralized policies. Second, machine-learning topic modeling was used to analyze the content exchanged via a collaborative network. As a result, it was found that both countries lacked the societal and commercial aspects of blockchain technology. Finally, we developed a prediction technique based on the Ernie model to automatically categorize the nature of blockchain research.

AbstractThis article considers the problem of determining the optimal size allocation and optimal number of experimental conditions for a second elementary symmetric function with different coefficients. Analytical solutions for several practical applications are derived and the general formulation is used to elucidate the foundation between different parametric models found in recent studies. A geometrical interpretation of the structure of some theoretical results is also provided. This approach renders some complex problems more tractable than what numerical search algorithms would allow. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2012

Digital maps structure how we understand and interact with space while simultaneously affording agency and the potential for an alternative use of space. This article investigates how digital maps exercise data and spatial agency. Our empirical object is the environmental mobile mapping application water refill map (WRM, Hong-Te/ Fengcha Action奉茶行動) in Taiwan. Drawing on the walk-through method and semi-structured interviews with WRM's founders, we examine how the app leverages the power of digital mapping to encourage participation in environmental activities. We argue that by facilitating data and spatial agency, digital maps enable placemaking at the cognitive and hermeneutic levels. They also turn closed spaces into public ones, thus aiding place-shaping. Meanwhile, this digital environmental activism takes place in a field of contestation and negotiation between agency and structure, apps and infrastructural platforms, collective action and individual power, and environmentalism and (adjusted) commercialism.

The existing literature on social exclusion among older people, though relatively limited, suggests that disadvantage among older people is cumulative in nature. Some aspects of disadvantage starting at early life stages have long-term consequences. As such, older people with disadvantages may be subject to higher risks of persistent social exclusion. This article aims to improve understanding of social exclusion and its persistence among senior Australians in three ways. Firstly, the incidence of social exclusion among older people is analysed using selected indicators. Secondly, the study examines whether an older person experiencing social exclusion at one time is more likely to experience it again (persistence). Thirdly, it investigates what factors may be protecting older people from social exclusion. The analysis is conducted using the first eight waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The sample of older people is disaggregated into a younger group (55-64 years at wave 1) and an older group (65+ years). The article suggests that higher education and income, as well as better health conditions and previous employment experiences, are important protective factors from social exclusion for older Australians.

Several previous studies concerning the arrangement of the control/burner relationship of a four-burner stove showed discrepancy in their results. For this reason, a further analysis of this arrangement is necessary and worthwhile. Two research methods were adopted to duplicate earlier studies. One was the paper-pencil test in which subjects took three different questionnaire forms that used alphabetical, sign, and numerical code systems. The other method was computer simulation in which subjects took part in a performance test of four arrangements of con troll burner designs, and reaction time and error rate were measured. The results indicated the existence of a suggestive effect, which is a tendency by some stimulicues to induce a specific response unawares in subjects. This confounding variable must be controlled in the test tool design. Results also revealed a population stereotype in the controllburner linkage relationship that was different for Chinese subjects and for American subjects. The equivalence of research methods between the paper-pencil test and computer simulation was not completely assured.

This paper explores the relationship between urbanization rate and death incidence by applying panel threshold regression model to the inland provinces of China. The empirical results highlight that there is a nonlinear single threshold effect between urbanization and population health indicators. In China's inland provinces, the negative impact of urbanization on death rate is reduced when per capita GDP exceeds the threshold, that is, the positive impact of urbanization on population health is significantly weakened. Similarly, this result can also be applied to the north provinces, while there is a no threshold effect in south. These asymmetric effects are strongly related to geographical location, historical background, economic development conditions, and health policies. Therefore, in the urbanization process, while promoting the steady development of population urbanization, the government should also increase health investment to improve the system and mechanism, formulate policies to raise health awareness, protect residents' health and reduce the waste of health resources.

AbstractDegradation models based on heterogeneous Wiener processes are commonly used to assess information on the lifetime of highly reliable products. An optimal test plan given limited resources is generally obtained using numerical methods for heterogeneous Wiener processes. However, numerical searches for optimal test plans have the disadvantage of being time‐consuming and may provide unclear explanations for the findings. To overcome these difficulties, we derive an explicit expression for decision variables (such as the termination time, number of measurements, and sample size) of ‐ and ‐optimal test plans with cost constraints. The theoretical results not only ensure that the optimal test plan is found, but also provide clear insights into the decision variables affected by model parameters and experimental costs. Some numerical examples are presented to support the efficiency and applicability of the optimal test plans.