Search Results (9)

Real estate inventory dynamics exhibit distinct temporal patterns and spatial heterogeneity, and precise identification of these trends serves as a prerequisite for effective policy formulation. Research on the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and influencing factors of real estate inventory holds significant academic and practical value. By employing ESDA, the Boston Matrix, and geographically weighted regression models to analyze 2017–2022 data from 287 Chinese cities, this study reveals a cyclical shift in China’s real estate inventory management—from “destocking” to “restocking”. The underlying drivers have transitioned from policy-led interventions to fundamentals-driven factors, including population dynamics, income levels, and market expectations. China’s real estate inventory and its changes exhibit significant spatiotemporal differentiation and spatial agglomeration patterns, demonstrating a spatial structure characterized by “multiple clustered highlands with peripheral lowlands” led by urban agglomerations. The influencing mechanism of China’s real estate inventory constitutes a complex system shaped by three key dimensions: macro-level drivers, regional differentiation, and structural contradictions. Policymakers should reorient destocking policies from “short-term stimulus” to “long-term coordination”, from “industrial policy” to “spatial policy”, and from addressing market “symptoms” to tackling “root causes”. This study argues that effective destocking policies constitute a systematic engineering challenge, demanding policymakers demonstrate profound analytical depth. They must move beyond simplistic sales metrics and perform multi-dimensional evaluations encompassing economic geography, demographic trends, fiscal systems, and land supply mechanisms. This paradigm shift from “symptom management” to “root cause resolution” and “systemic regulation” is essential for achieving sustainable real estate market development. Full article

There are limited studies on the impact of domain-specific self-efficacy on academic achievements. The geospatial thinking ability is paramount to understand the relationship between geographical self-efficacy and academic achievements in geography. This study aims to explore the mediating effect of geospatial thinking on the relationship between geographical self-efficacy and academic achievements, and the moderating role of gender and attendance type. A total of 749 Chinese high school students, working as participants, anonymously completed a questionnaire covering topics like geographical spatial thinking, geographical self-efficacy, academic achievements in geography, gender, attendance type, and place of residence. The analysis using MPLUS 8.3 software indicates that geographical self-efficacy significantly predicts academic achievements in geography. Geospatial thinking plays a significant mediating role in this pathway, with gender and type of attendance having moderating effects. This study enhances the understanding between domain-specific self-efficacy and academic achievements, providing crucial guidance for educational practices, such as emphasizing geospatial thinking training for high school students, focusing on encouraging female students, and properly scheduling rest times for boarders, which will significantly contribute to the sustainable development of geography education. Full article

This study examines relationships between geography achievement and the psychological characteristics of geography learners in eighth grade. Using data provided by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the researchers developed a statistical model of geography achievement comprising student and teacher/school-level predictor variables. The model included five predictor variables based on composite measures of student affective disposition. Hierarchical linear modeling accounted for data clustering. Controlling for the full set of predictors, geography achievement was positively associated with students’ self-reported enjoyment of complex problems, academic self-discipline, and interest in and enjoyment of geography, whereas lower levels of geography achievement were associated with students’ self-reported level of persistence in learning. Race, gender, disability, minority language status, and instructional exposure were predictive of affective differences between groups of geography learners. The results of the study underscore the need to consider student attitudes in efforts to close achievement gaps and encourage the future geography intentions of students in U.S. geography education. Full article

Because of its interdisciplinary approach as a social science directly related to the natural sciences, geography is the academic discipline and school subject that equips students well with knowledge, skills, and values related to education on sustainable development goals. This study is part of the results of MyGEO, a project funded by the European Commission, and it is based on a collaborative mapping of streets named after women in a medium-sized city (Zaragoza, Spain), in connection with the international initiative GeoChicas (GeoGirls) on OpenStreetMap. Its main objective is to obtain evidence to emphasize, through public and digital space, gender equality and the empowerment of women in teacher education by means of their achievements. The learning methodology consists of (i) standardization and correction of alphanumeric information referring to street names contained in the OpenStreetMap spatial database that identify gender and (ii) linking and creating thematic information through Wikipedia editing. The results show that Zaragoza is at the top of the ranking of Spanish and Latin American cities mapped to date in the “Women’s Streets” viewer, with 18% of the streets named after women, compared to the average 15% in the rest of the 30 cities involved in GeoChicas. The direct participation of trainee primary and secondary schoolteachers in this project makes it possible to consolidate a narrative as well as a specific instructional design on education for sustainable development, particularly on SDG number 5 (gender balance) and SDG number 11 (sustainable cities and communities). Full article

Although China has a high rate of economic development, it still faces the problems of unstable industrial structure, low industrial level, and large carbon emissions, which pose huge challenges to China’s sustainable development. China is working hard to develop producer services to achieve industrial transformation and reduce carbon emissions. In this context, there is an extremely urgent need to conduct academic research on changes in producer service agglomeration and carbon emissions. Whether the producer service industry has agglomeration characteristics, and whether the producer service industry affects carbon emissions through multiple paths, are issues worthy of attention. Therefore, this paper takes China as the research area, selects the provincial administrative unit as the research sample, and conducts research on these issues by using exploratory spatial data analysis methods and various spatial econometric models under the guidance of the relevant theories of new economic geography. Our research finds that producer services have significant spatial agglomeration characteristics, and they also have significant spatial differentiation patterns. In addition, the agglomeration of producer services can significantly promote the reduction of carbon emissions and can show obvious spillover effects. Finally, in response to the research conclusions of this paper, we also put forward countermeasures and suggestions from the perspective of the common development of producer service industry and manufacturing industry, hoping to promote China’s transformation from industrial economy to service economy, to maximize the use of producer service industry accumulated dividends. Full article

Human development plays a profound role in achieving sustainable development, by utilizing the power of well-educated blue- and white-collar laborers, academics, politicians, and people from every layer of society and the economy. However, there is no single path for human development. Planning, designing, and implementing policies for human development require country-specific approaches, based on unique characteristics such as historical development trajectories, future goals, the commitment of leadership, culture, geography, and climate, to name a few. Such strategies become even further challenging for countries that aim to achieve radical transformations from resource-based to innovation-driven and knowledge-based economies, to achieve sustainable development. In this study, a conceptual model for a holistic human development strategy in line with sustainable economic development was first designed by employing design and systems thinking approaches. Second, under the guidance of this conceptual model, an integrated policy framework for Qatar is proposed to propel the quality and quantity of human capital to achieve economic diversification and, thus, sustainable development. Third, semi-structured interviews with experts and decision-makers in relevant fields were conducted to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed policy framework. As a proof-of-concept, the interview results validated—but were not limited to—the following outcomes. First, the proposed conceptual model has considerable potential to deliver robust, feasible, and effective policies from the initiation to the implementation of strategy development. Second, selectively recruiting highly skilled expatriate professionals under progressive residency policies provides incentives for them to become long-term residents. This would attract global human capital to complement the aim of economic diversification, a sustainable economy, and human development goals. Third, carefully designed university-industry-government partnerships and technical training programs will enable the development of appropriate innovation, professional, and business skills in the local population and facilitate economic diversification goals. Finally, empowering female entrepreneurs and investors will increase women’s empowerment while accelerating economic diversification—and, thus, sustainable development. Full article

Solving arithmetic word problems is a complex task that requires individuals to activate their working memory resources, as well as the correct performance of the underlying executive processes involved in order to inhibit semantic biases or superficial responses caused by the problem’s statement. This paper describes a study carried out with 135 students of Secondary Obligatory Education, each of whom solved 5 verbal arithmetic problems: 2 consistent problems, whose mathematical operation (add/subtract) and the verbal statement of the problem coincide, and 3 inconsistent problems, whose required operation is the inverse of the one suggested by the verbal term(s). Measures of reading comprehension, visual–spatial reasoning and deductive reasoning were also obtained. The results show the relationship between arithmetic problems and cognitive measures, as well as the ability of these problems to predict academic performance. Regression analyses confirmed that arithmetic word problems were the only measure with significant power of association with academic achievement in both History/Geography (β = 0.25) and Mathematics (β = 0.23). Full article

There is a growing interest in determining which variables contribute to students’ academic performance, since this performance is associated with their wellbeing and with the progress of the nation. This study analyzed whether different variables (executive functions and physical activity levels, gender and academic year) of 177 Spanish Compulsory Secondary School students contributed to their academic performance. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function 2 (BRIEF-2), Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A) and an ad hoc questionnaire were used to determine the students’ executive functioning, physical activity level, gender and academic year, respectively. Students’ grades were considered to be indicators of their academic achievement. Seven multiple linear regression models were constructed using the R computing language to examine the association between academic achievement (considered in each of the 5 subjects: Language, Mathematics, Geography and History, English and Physical Education; the mean of the instrumental subjects—Language and Mathematics—and the mean of all the subjects) and the independent variables. The results indicated that executive functions, physical activity and gender contributed to academic performance, but academic year did not. This suggests that students with good executive functions, who perform physical activity and are female, would have better academic achievement. This information should be considered when designing interventions to improve student academic achievement. Full article

Natural environment has a positive effect on individual mental health, which can be proved by many studies, both domestic and overseas. At present, some sunrise industries such as forest healthcare and natural tourism are booming in China. However, academically speaking, there’s still a lack of systematic summary of researches on the relationship between natural environment and mental health in China, as well as a lack of comparison with foreign research achievements, which hinders the further development of the field to some extent in China. Therefore, this paper reviews the literature systematically by using the database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), in order to understand the research status in China and find out its gap with foreign studies. The results show that the study in this area in China can be divided into three stages, namely the embryonic stage (prior to 2000), the start-up stage (2001–2008) and the stage of initial development (since 2009); disciplines involved in the study mainly cover forestry, agriculture, psychology, medicine, sports science, tourism, ecology, education and geography. In general, the research in China concentrates on four topics: ecological psychology, the impact of natural ecological environment on mental health, the impact of artificial ecological environment on mental health, as well as the impact of natural tourism on mental health. Based on the findings, a future study framework and some main study lines are suggested: firstly, a systematic study on the relationship between natural environment and mental health in other countries should be conducted; secondly, factors affecting mental health in natural environment should be identified; thirdly, an evaluation system of psychological effect of natural environment should be established; finally, the utilization modes and influencing mechanism of natural environment should be explored. Full article