Search Results (294)

The digital transformation of high-end equipment is not only a critical means to enhance national core competitiveness, but also a necessary requirement within the framework of national development strategy. Major stakeholders in this transformation include local governments, high-end equipment manufacturers, financial institutions, and industrial technology platforms, all of whose interactions significantly influence the transformation process. This paper constructs a four-party evolutionary game model involving local governments, high-end equipment manufacturers, financial support institutions, and industrial technology platforms. Numerical simulations are conducted to analyze the stable strategies and evolutionary trends of these four players under various parameters, while also exploring the long-term mechanisms for the digital transformation of high-end equipment facilitated by government subsidies. The results indicate that in the initial stage of digital transformation, the government assumes a leading role by implementing high-subsidy policies to encourage participation from manufacturers, financial institutions, and technology platforms. As the transformation progresses into a stable promotion phase, the government gradually reduces subsidies to a normal level and increasingly relies on market mechanisms to foster active engagement. Both models represent ideal scenarios for the digital transformation of high-end equipment. Finally, this paper offers relevant policy recommendations aimed at enhancing policy guidance, stimulating the motivation of market entities, and improving the benefit linkage mechanism among all four stakeholders. Full article

Artificial intelligence-based management systems are becoming increasingly embedded in labor processes, particularly in platform-mediated work. While existing research has shown that algorithmic management intensifies data-driven control, opacity, and performance monitoring, less attention has been paid to how algorithmic decision-making reshapes the institutional conditions of representation, negotiation, and accountability in employment relations. This article examines how AI-based management may reconfigure workplace conflict by translating managerial decisions into “system outputs” and narrowing the extent to which disputes remain institutionally addressable and negotiable. Drawing on a qualitative case study of platform-based motorcycle couriers in Türkiye, the analysis is based on semi-structured, decision-moment-focused interviews with 19 couriers and 5 representation actors. Rather than testing a full causal model or advancing a universal claim about algorithmic management, the article traces recurring processual linkages among the technicalization of decision-making, epistemic opacity, weakened addressability, and the thinning of representational intervention. The findings suggest that, in the Turkish platform courier context examined here, representationless governance appears as an empirically observable pattern where consequential algorithmic decisions intersect with limited transparency, fragmented appeal channels, income-sensitive sanctions, and constrained collective representation. In this configuration, decision-making remains procedurally dense yet substantively difficult to contest through identifiable, accountable, and negotiable channels. The article argues that the social sustainability of labor governance depends not only on efficiency, flexibility, or access to work, but also on whether decisions affecting workers’ livelihoods remain intelligible, contestable, attributable, and open to institutional negotiation. Full article

Enhancing the willingness of rural–urban migrant workers (RUMs) to pursue the withdrawal of rural homesteads is a key measure to deepen the reform of the rural land system and advance new-type urbanization. This study aims to examine the impact of trade union participation on RUMs’ willingness to withdraw from rural homesteads (WFRH). It further offers implications for improving trade union services and refining relevant institutional arrangements for homestead withdrawal. Based on valid questionnaire data from 1949 RUMs in Hefei, Anhui Province, China, analytical methods, including the ordered Probit model, Propensity Score Matching (PSM), and KHB model, are adopted for empirical analysis. The main conclusions are as follows: trade union participation significantly enhances RUMs’ willingness to WFRH. This conclusion remains robust after the replacement of explained variables, adjustment of econometric models, and use of the PSM method to correct for selection bias. Heterogeneity analysis based on an ordered probit model reveals that the impact of trade union participation on homestead withdrawal willingness is more pronounced among females, individuals under 45 years old, and those with a college degree or above. Mediation effect test based on the KHB model finds that urban identity and sense of social fairness play mediating roles between trade union participation and RUMs’ homestead withdrawal willingness. Trade union participation improves their withdrawal willingness by strengthening their urban identity and sense of social equity. Efforts should be made to enhance the willingness of RUMs to withdraw from homesteads by improving the service function system of “capacity cultivation + rights protection + emotional connection” of trade unions, expanding the effective coverage of trade union organizations, promoting the collaborative linkage between “trade unions and governments”, and strengthening the full process service support for homestead withdrawal. The study conclusions help optimize the allocation of rural land resources and advance the integration of urban and rural development. Full article

The fragmentation of resources, ecological imbalance, and the disintegration of essential factors in modern urban–rural development have become core bottlenecks constraining the achievement of global sustainable development goals. Existing research often focuses on static analysis or single-dimensional exploration, making it difficult to fully reveal the evolutionary patterns of urban–rural sustainable development systems and the core mechanisms of digital empowerment. This study adopts ecological wisdom as a theoretical perspective, introduces system dynamics methods, and constructs a three-dimensional linkage system simulation model of digital technology, factor circulation, and ecological wisdom capital. Based on model simulation data, a 70-year long-cycle simulation is conducted to explore the leverage effect of digital technology and the self-organizing evolutionary mechanisms of the system. The findings are as follows: First, the transformation of urban–rural sustainable development from fragmentation to synergy is essentially a self-organizing phase transition process. Within the system, digital technology, factor circulation, and ecological wisdom capital form a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship through positive feedback mechanisms, driving the system toward higher-order evolution. Second, key variables such as community participation, urban–rural ecological resilience, and development pressure exhibit significant threshold effects. Only when the investment scale and institutional guarantees for these variables reach critical values can the system’s path dependence be broken, significantly driving synergistic transformation. Third, as an exogenous lever, digital technology can break down barriers to factor segmentation, reduce energy loss during system transformation, and achieve systematic integration of urban–rural resources, public services, and ecological capital with lightweight investment, serving as the core breakthrough for promoting synergistic transformation. This study integrates ecological wisdom and digital technology into the system dynamics analysis framework of urban–rural synergistic transformation, clarifies the dynamic transmission pathways of digital technology empowering urban–rural synergy, overcomes the limitations of traditional static research, enriches the cross-disciplinary application of ecological wisdom and system dynamics in the field of urban–rural development, and provides a scientific policy basis for the mutual construction of the digital economy, ecological protection, and urban–rural integration. Full article

This study examines the economic role of environmental industries in the major Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies using the environmental input-output (EIO) framework and multiregional input-output (MRIO) tables provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It evaluates the production-inducement effects, value-added inducement effects, and inter-industry linkage structures of environmental industries in the five ASEAN countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The results reveal three main findings. First, infrastructure-related environmental sectors, particularly the electricity, gas, and water supply sectors, exhibit strong inter-industry linkages and generate substantial production spillover effects across the ASEAN economies. Second, significant cross-country heterogeneity exists in value-added inducement effects, reflecting differences in industrial maturity, domestic value-chain depth, and institutional capacity. Third, the economic effectiveness of environmental industries depends not only on their scale, but also on their structural integration within national and global production networks. These findings suggest that environmental industries in ASEAN function not only as environmental management tools, but also as strategic drivers of economic growth. Full article

Climate change is intensifying natural hazards across Central Europe, increasing pressure on national systems of climate change adaptation (CCA), disaster risk reduction (DRR), and civil protection. Although international and European policy frameworks promote coherence among these domains, their practical integration remains uneven. This study presents a comparative governance analysis of five Central European countries (Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Austria), examining how CCA, DRR, and civil protection are integrated across strategic, institutional, operational, and financial dimensions. A structured qualitative assessment of national strategies, legal acts, and institutional arrangements was conducted using a standardized indicator-based framework. The results reveal systematic cross-dimensional asymmetries. Strategic alignment between CCA and DRR is relatively advanced across all countries, largely driven by international and EU policy frameworks. However, institutional coordination mechanisms, operational integration of climate risk information into preparedness planning, and dedicated financing for prevention and adaptation remain weak or fragmented in most cases. Civil protection systems continue to be predominantly response-oriented, with limited linkage to long-term climate risk governance. Based on these patterns, the study identifies distinct national integration typologies and highlights key governance gaps constraining sustainable climate risk management. The findings underline that effective integration depends not only on strategic commitments but on reinforcing linkages across institutions, operational practice, and financing. The study concludes by identifying concrete governance adjustments needed to strengthen cross-sectoral coordination, climate-informed preparedness, and stable financing mechanisms for resilience-building in Central Europe. Full article

Smart contracts raise persistent challenges regarding compliance with traditional contract formalities, including writing, signature, notarization, and in certain transactions, registration. These issues are particularly significant in high-value and public-facing transactions such as real estate, where formalities determine legal validity, evidentiary sufficiency and publicity effects. While existing scholarly work has examined these challenges from either doctrinal or technological perspectives, limited attention has been given to how the functional roles of formalities interact with blockchain architecture, practitioner perceptions and institutional legal frameworks. This study addresses this gap through a mixed-methods approach combining doctrinal legal analysis with qualitative socio-legal research based on 27 semi-structured interviews with legal professionals including attorneys, judges, and academic scholars. The analysis is grounded in a civil law framework, with particular reference to the Jordanian legal system, while references to the European Union’s eIDAS Regulation are used illustratively to demonstrate regulatory approaches to digital authentication. The findings demonstrate that blockchain-based systems can effectively support the evidentiary and attribution functions of contractual formalities through cryptographic verification, consensus mechanisms, and automated execution. However, they do not independently satisfy formalities that perform cautionary, constitutive, protective or public order function, namely notarization and registration, which remain dependent on institutional validation and legal recognition. The analysis further shows that practitioner concerns reflect not only doctrinal constraints but also institutional roles and varying levels of technical familiarity. To address these limitations, the study proposes a function-based analytical framework for evaluating smart contract formalities and identifies two complementary pathways for legal adaptation: (i) institutional integration, including registry-linkage systems and hybrid contracts; and (ii) technological adaptation, including digital authentication frameworks and legal oracles that connect on-chain execution to off-chain legal conditions. The study concludes that smart contract formalities’ challenges arise not solely from technological limitations, but from the interaction between legal doctrine, institutional structures, and system design. It advances a functional framework for aligning automation with the evidentiary, protective, and publicity functions of contractual formalities. Full article

This study examines how structural constraints and institutional support are associated with the configuration of agricultural production systems in Durango, Mexico. Using survey data from 362 farmers, multidimensional indices capturing productive restrictions, export barriers, technification gaps, and support needs were constructed using binary indicators and normalized to a 0–1 scale, with internal consistency assessed through the Kuder–Richardson coefficient. To analyze structural dynamics, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and fractional logit models were used to estimate determinants of structural pressure, while a logistic regression model was applied to examine differences in structural positioning across production regimes identified through cluster analysis. The results show that larger productive scale is associated with higher exposure to regulatory and commercialization pressures, indicating that farm expansion tends to coincide with increased structural complexity rather than automatic improvements in structural conditions. More importantly, institutional linkage remains positively and statistically significant in the logistic model (OR = 9.085; p = 0.015), even after controlling for technification, structural constraints, export barriers, labor intensity, and farming experience. These findings indicate that institutional connectivity is positively associated with differentiated structural configurations among production units and are consistent with the interpretation that institutional support is associated with variation in structural conditions in semi-arid agricultural systems, beyond the effects of technological endowment or scale alone. Full article

This study examines dynamic interdependencies and risk transmission among major cryptocurrencies and traditional financial assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, U.S. equities, and gold, over the period 2017–2024. Particular attention is given to the structural shift associated with the 2024 U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval, which marked a significant milestone in the institutionalization of cryptocurrency markets. Using daily data, the analysis distinguishes volatility-driven co-movement from structural spillover effects across markets. Dependence structures are modeled using tail-sensitive Student-t copulas applied to GARCH-filtered returns to capture nonlinear and extreme co-movements, while a vector autoregressive framework combined with generalized impulse response functions and Diebold–Yilmaz connectedness measures is employed to evaluate order-invariant shock transmission dynamics across pre- and post-ETF regimes. The results reveal three main findings. First, cryptocurrencies display strong internal dependence and short-horizon contagion, with Bitcoin consistently acting as the dominant transmitter of shocks to Ethereum over an approximately three-day transmission window. Second, linkages between cryptocurrencies and equity markets remain moderate and largely regime-dependent rather than indicative of persistent structural spillovers. Third, gold remains weakly connected throughout the sample, maintaining its role as a diversification asset. Portfolio analysis further indicates that including Bitcoin can reduce portfolio variance by 4–7% and Value-at-Risk by up to 5%, although economic gains are sensitive to transaction costs. Overall, the findings suggest that cryptocurrencies function as a partially segmented asset class, offering conditional diversification benefits despite increasing institutional adoption. Full article

The SDGs and the New Urban Agenda both stress the importance of strengthening urban–rural linkages to promote balanced and inclusive development. Taking China as a case, this paper explores the underlying mechanisms driving the evolution of urban–rural relations. Existing studies have primarily periodized China’s urban–rural relations based on institutional changes, with limited attention to their endogenous evolutionary mechanisms. Drawing on New Institutional Economics, this study develops an “institutional–technological–cognitive” framework. It argues that China’s urban–rural relations have evolved through three stages: prior to the Reform and Opening-Up, institution-led governance resulted in urban–rural separation; in the 1980s–2010s, technological change reshaped the constraints and return structures of factor flows, resulting in urban–rural imbalance; in the 2010s–the present, early urban–rural integration was marked by tensions between cognitive reconstruction and existing institutional arrangements. Throughout the three stages, cognition has evolved from ideological cognition to opportunity-driven cognition and further to value-driven cognition, with its agency continuously strengthening and gradually becoming a key variable influencing the effectiveness of institutional operations and the pathways of technological empowerment. Accordingly, urban–rural relations should be understood not only as the outcome of factor allocation shaped by institutions and technology, but also as a dynamic structure embedded in the evolution of cognition. The advancement of urban–rural integration should place greater emphasis on people-centered cognitive transformation, rather than relying on improvements in factor mobility or population urbanization. Full article

Climate change poses a significant threat to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in South Africa, particularly in rural areas where dependence on rain-fed agriculture and limited institutional support heighten vulnerability. This study investigates how different forms of social capital (bonding, bridging, and linking) influence climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder farmers in Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal. A mixed-methods design was employed, combining a household survey (n = 150), focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Households engaged in smallholder farming were purposively identified and randomly selected within the study ward. To accommodate varying literacy levels, structured questionnaires were administered through interviewer-led surveys. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and a probit regression model, while qualitative data were thematically analysed to contextualise adaptation decisions and social dynamics. The findings show that trust in peer information, farmer group membership, collective action, and access to extension services significantly increase the likelihood of adopting climate adaptation practices (p < 0.05). While bonding social capital supports short-term coping, limited bridging and linking social capital constrain access to institutional resources and climate information. By explicitly operationalising and empirically distinguishing these dimensions of social capital, the study provides context-specific evidence on how uneven social networks shape adaptation outcomes. Strengthening inclusive institutional linkages and extension services is essential for promoting long-term climate resilience among smallholder farmers in rural South Africa. This study contributes to the international literature by providing empirical evidence on the differentiated roles of social capital dimensions in shaping adaptation outcomes in resource-constrained rural contexts. The findings highlight the need for policy interventions that strengthen institutional linkages, improve extension service delivery, and promote inclusive access to adaptation resources to enhance long-term climate resilience. Full article

The global landscape of sustainability challenges has become increasingly complex, characterized by varying regulatory frameworks and market maturity across different nations. The financial significance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors is influenced by industry and firm-specific attributes. Therefore, this study employs an integrated decision support framework that combines grey relational analysis (GRA) models including Deng’s GRA, absolute GRA, and a second synthetic grey relational analysis (SSGRA) with firm-level panel regressions to compare ESG and financial performance linkages across 11 Middle East and Africa (MEA) countries and industrial sectors. Furthermore, the study utilized a sensitivity analysis to check the robustness of SSGRG. Results indicate considerable variability in the relationships between ESG and financial performance across the region. The economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) showed the most robust positive relationship between ESG factors and financial performance based on SSGRG, with Kuwait (0.82), Qatar (0.81), and Saudi Arabia (0.80) predominantly influenced by the social and governance dimensions. Conversely, a weak correlation was demonstrated in Egypt (0.54), Nigeria (0.53), and Kenya (0.56). Moreover, financials, communication services, and materials sectors exhibit the greatest integration of ESG factors into financial performance, with composite SSGRG values ranging from 0.75 to 0.78. In contrast, the information technology and energy sectors demonstrate weak association, with composite SSGRG values falling below 0.60. Furthermore, a conservative maximin analysis reveals that corporate governance in Kenya and environmental performance in Oman are identified as the weakest relationship at the country level, while governance in the information technology and energy sectors, environmental management in real estate, and social performance in consumer discretionary sectors are highlighted as weak connections. This study addresses a gap in the literature by developing a novel decision-support framework, providing fresh empirical evidence from emerging markets, and offering theoretical insights into the into influence of stakeholder and institutional factors on ESG value creation. This study provides implications for investors, corporate managers, and policymakers on sustainable finance in emerging markets and presents a decision-making framework that emphasizes ESG initiatives to enhance financial performance. Full article

Ice–snow tourism has become an important development strategy in northern China, but its contribution to urban-rural integration remains uneven. Taking Inner Mongolia as a comparative qualitative case, this study examines how ice-snow tourism can move beyond enclave-oriented development and support inclusive regional development. The analysis draws on policy and planning documents, official reports, media materials, and published secondary studies, and compares Hulunbuir and Tongliao through four common dimensions: space, economy, governance, and culture. On this basis, the paper develops a community-field perspective and connects it with an institution–space–human/land coupling lens. The findings show clear differences in developmental tendency rather than two pure types. Hulunbuir exhibits stronger event-led agglomeration, urban service concentration, and branding capacity, but weaker community benefit capture. Tongliao shows stronger village-level benefit retention, collective participation, and cultural subjectivity, but faces limits in scale linkage and resilience. The paper argues that ice-snow tourism should not be understood as a simple trade-off between efficiency and equity. Instead, a coordinated “pole-community-network” pathway is needed to connect regional growth poles, community-centered governance, and networked collaboration across urban and rural nodes. The study contributes to tourism-led regional development research by clarifying how the community field mediates spatial organization, benefit sharing, and local agency in cold-resource regions. Full article

Background: Liberia modernized vaccination data systems in 2023–2025 by piloting a District Health Information System (DHIS2)-based Digital Vaccination Registry (Electronic Immunization Registry, EIR) to address the limitations of paper-based workflows and of a proprietary COVID-19 electronic platform (offline gaps, lack of unique identifiers, performance issues and cost). Objective: To assess a pilot platform by evaluating training, registry use and device management, utility for routine immunization, vaccine logistics and Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) data, and routine immunization data quality in the DHIS2 mobile application compared with paper registers. Methods: Using the Public Health Informatics Institute’s Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology, stakeholders defined requirements, trained users and implemented a pilot. Mixed methods were used; a mini data audit was performed, and qualitative data were collected across 19 facilities in Montserrado, Gbarpolu and Grand Bassa. Seventy-eight health workers were trained to use the DHIS2 mobile application. Results: The future state design replaces paper aggregation steps with real-time mobile entry to a national registry and dashboard. Dual entry persisted during high-volume periods. The mini data audit found discrepancies between facility paper registers and DHIS2-EIR entries for child enrollment data and, Bacillus Calmette Guérin and Diphtheria–Pertussis–Tetanus dose administration records Participants attributed these discrepancies to internet and device problems and challenges navigating the system. Participants requested a training manual, improved connectivity at point of service, integration with supportive supervision, additional staff and system features (field to record hospital number, automated next visit date, and vaccination status prompts). Conclusions: Lessons from the pilot will inform country-wide implementation, including planned linkage with electronic birth and death registration to enable a unique child identifier and reduce manual errors and delays. Full article

The sustainability of higher education systems increasingly depends on the integrity, transparency, and long-term verifiability of academic credentials. Widespread diploma fraud, unauthorized modification of academic records, and fragmented verification mechanisms undermine institutional trust, graduate mobility, and public confidence in educational outcomes. These challenges directly affect the social and governance dimensions of sustainable development, particularly in the context of universities’ digital transformation. This study proposes a blockchain-based approach to support the sustainable governance of academic documents by strengthening transparency, accountability, and auditability. The proposed system employs cryptographic hash anchoring and smart contract–based enforcement to verify academic credentials such as diplomas, transcripts, and certificates. Document contents are processed and stored off-chain, while cryptographic representations and essential metadata are immutably recorded on an EVM-compatible blockchain, ensuring data privacy and resistance to tampering. Any modification to a document results in a mismatch between the original and recomputed hashes, making fraudulent alterations immediately detectable. A web-based application and a role-restricted smart contract were implemented to support document issuance, verification, and immutable audit logging. System evaluation based on blockchain transaction evidence confirms reliable document registration, deterministic verification outcomes, and verifiable linkage between institutional actions and on-chain records. The results indicate that blockchain-based document verification can contribute to the reduction in corruption risks and improve transparency, strengthening institutional trust and supporting sustainable digital governance in higher education systems. Full article