Different Provinces In China Research Articles

Environmental decentralization, local government competition, and regional green development: Evidence from China

Environmental management systems may play an important role in environmental pollution control. Given China's rapid economic development and increases in environmental pollution, this study attempts to study how environmental decentralization and local government competition affect China's regional green development. To show the green development degree of different provinces in China, the super-efficiency SBM-undesirable model is used to calculate the green total factor productivity of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2016. The panel vector autoregressive model (PVAR) is employed to empirically test the impact of environmental decentralization on regional green development. The dynamic threshold panel model is also used to analyze the possible nonlinear relationship between environmental decentralization and regional green development under different levels of local government competition. The results indicate that environmental decentralization and environmental administrative decentralization play significant roles in promoting regional green development, but environmental supervision decentralization and environmental monitoring decentralization have negative impacts on regional green development. The joint effect of local government competition and environmental decentralization produces the “race to bottom” effect, which reduces the efficiency level of regional green development. With the continuous strengthening of local government competition, the role of environmental decentralization in promoting regional green development efficiency decreases gradually. In addition, the relationship among environmental decentralization, local government competition, and regional green development differs across Chinese different regions.

Police Cadets’ Career Plans in China: Testing the Mediation and Moderation Effects of Job Satisfaction

In recent decades, police organizations have encountered difficulty in maintaining employees; a large number of police officers are leaving the service early. Using data collected from three police colleges in three different provinces in China, this study examines the mechanism of cadets’ career plan or turnover intention. Specifically, the test of a mediating mechanism in this study demonstrates the extent to which satisfaction mediates the relationship between distal factors and career plans among police cadets. Besides, the test of a moderating mechanism focuses on the possibility that the predictors differ in the relationship with cadets’ career plans by the degree of satisfaction. This study results found that satisfaction had no mediating effect. Instead, results showed that police cadets’ satisfaction is a strong moderator in the link between predictors and their career plans. Implications for recruitment, training, and retention strategies, as well as avenues for future research, are then discussed.

Perspective of community pharmacists about community-based antimicrobial stewardship programs. A multicenter cross-sectional study from China

ABSTRACTBackground: Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are commonly used worldwide to tackle antimicrobial resistance. The current study aimed to investigate the perspective of pharmacists on community-based ASPs in China.Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in the capital cities of three different provinces of China between March 2019 and July 2019. A systematic random sampling method was used to recruit respondents.Results: A response rate of 87.4% (416/476) was obtained. A large number of respondents (n = 308, 74.0%) believed that ASPs are vital to improving patient care (Median = 4, IQR = 2). Approximately one-third of the respondents (n = 142, 34.1%) always ask patients about their knowledge related to antimicrobials (Median = 4, IQR = 2). Additionally, a considerable number of respondents (n = 127, 30.5%) always, or often (n = 117, 28.1%) collaborated with other healthcare professionals (Median = 4, IQR = 2). Age, gender, and experience were observed to have a significant association (p < 0.05) with median scores of knowledge about antibiotics, perceptions, and practices on ASPs.Conclusions: The perceptions of pharmacists regarding ASPs were positive. However, gaps in knowledge about some aspects of antibiotics and participation in ASPs were found. The development of regional community-based ASPs is urgently required.

Spatial and temporal correlation analysis of wind power between different provinces in China

China has different topographic conditions and multiple weather systems due to its vast geographic areas. As a result, the geographic diversity between different provinces is potential to mitigate wind power variability. This study analyzes the spatial and temporal correlations of wind power on the province level. The results show that a lower correlation is observed for greater distances and smaller time scales. Correlation between different provinces is stronger than that between different wind farms within the same distance. The correlation coefficient of wind power decays more rapidly in China than in Europe and North America within the same distance. The correlation coefficients of wind power variation are generally smaller than the correlation coefficients of instantaneous wind power, and a positive linear relationship is observed between these coefficients. The temporal correlations of wind power between different provinces are analyzed as well. The time lags of wind power between different province pairs are obtained.

Distribution of Serotypes, Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence Genes among Streptococcus agalactiae Isolated from Bovine in China

Background: Bovine mastitis, a global disease that is responsible for large economic losses each year due to lower milk yield and reduced milk quality. In some countries, especially in China, Streptococcus agalactiae has become one of the most frequently detected pathogen. Antibiotic treatment and vaccine immunization are important strategies for the control of infectious diseases. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate distribution of bovine mastitis pathogens and antimicrobial resistance of S. agalactiae, and contribute to the treatment of bovine mastitis.Materials, Methods &amp; Results:Clinical mastitis samples (n= 1,122) were collected from 27 dairy farms located in 15 different provinces of China during 2012-2018. Thepathogens were identified by 16S rDNA method. Antimicrobial susceptibility was assessed by disc diffusion method. Molecular characteristics was distinguished based on PCR. The results showed that the main pathogens were Streptococcus agalactiae (n= 324, 26.2%), Escherichia coli (n= 287, 23.2%), and Staphylococcus aureus (n= 131, 10.6%). The serotypes of Streptococcus agalactiae were serotype II (53.6%), Ia (44 %) and VII (1.2%), respectively. Streptococcus agalactiae were resistant to kanamycin (93.8%), gentamicin (49.4%), vancomycin (49.4%), tetracycline (35.8%), clindamycin (34.6%) and erythromycin (32.1%). The main resistance genes were ermA (53.1%) and ermB (85.2%). Resistance to erythromycin was attributed to the genes ermA (P &lt; 0.05) and resistance to tetracycline was attributed to the genes tetK, tetM, tetO (P &lt; 0.01). The virulence genes scpB (81.4%), cyl (100%), glnA (76.6%), cfb (98.8%), hylB (98.8%), scaA (69.1%) were detected in almost all isolates.Discussion: In the present study, Streptococcus agalactiae, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were the pathogens isolated most frequently from clinical mastitis. In the case of S. agalactiae, we performed capsular serotyping of isolates. As a result, serotype II (53.6%), Ia (44 %) and VII (1.2%) were detected whichrevealed variation in the distinct geographical areas. We found that serotypes (Ia and II) and β-hemolytic have significant correlation (P &lt; 0.01) in all isolated strains. We made an assumption that either in processes of capsular and haemolytic appearance effected the expression of another. The unclear mechanism remains to be resolved in the future. Penicillin was recommended as a preferred antibiotic for the treatment of both human and bovine S. agalactiae infection. In the present study, resistance to erythromycin and clindamycin were observed in 32% and 34.6% of our strains, respectively. The results indicated that the ermB gene was most frequent among the erythromycin-resistant S. agalactiae. However, we found that the susceptibility to erythromycin and gene ermA have a significant interaction, while susceptibility to erythromycin and gene ermB have a not significant interaction by analyzing the relationship of phenotypic and genotypic resistance. The severity of S. agalactiae infections may be determined by various virulence factors. Surface enzyme ScpB, a C5a peptidase, encode by scpB gene, could promote bacterial invasion of epithelial cells by attenuating recruitment of polymorphonuclear leukocytes to the site of infection. In the present study, the scpB gene was found in 81.4% of all strains. The results suggested the cyl, cfb, hylB and scpB genes may play an important role in the virulence of Streptococcus agalactiae pathogens.

A comparison of the regional investment benefits of CCS retrofitting of coal-fired power plants and renewable power generation projects in China

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) technology and renewable power are indispensable in China’s power sector to limit global warming to 2°C. Because the two technologies have their own merits and weaknesses, it is important to understand their investment benefits and choose a cost-effective portfolio. Therefore, we conducted an investment evaluation of CCS retrofitting of coal-fired power plants (CFPP) with hypothetical subsidies and renewable power generation projects (RPP) by using a real option trinomial tree pricing model and compared their economic benefits in different provinces in China. The results showed that when subsidies for the desulfurization price or the feed-in tariff of wind power were adopted, the CCS retrofitting of CFPP did not achieve the optimal investment value, even in 2027. If the decarbonized electricity price increases to 0.75 CNY/kWh, equal to the feed-in tariff of solar photovoltaic and biomass power, the CCS retrofitting of CFPP would be commercially viable, and their investment value would exceed that of wind power generation projects. In this situation, Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Gansu Provinces would be most suitable for the development of CCS retrofitting pilot projects; the advantages of the CCS retrofitting of CFPP were not significant, whereas RPP was a better investment choice in many provinces. This paper provides a perspective on feed-in tariffs for policy makers to use in formulating a subsidy system to support the development of CCS in China, with policy implications for other countries.

Genetic and Pathogenic Variability of Mycogone perniciosa Isolates Causing Wet Bubble Disease on Agaricus bisporus in China.

Wet bubble disease, caused by Mycogone perniciosa, is a major threat to Agaricus bisporus production in China. In order to understand the variability in genetic, pathogenicity, morphology, and symptom production of the fungus, 18 isolates of the pathogen were collected from diseased A. bisporus in different provinces in China. The isolates were characterized by a combination of morphological, cultural, molecular, and pathogenicity testing on different strains of A. bisporus and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. The 18 isolates were identified by Koch’s postulate and confirmed different pathogenic variability among them. The yellow to brown isolates were more virulent than the white isolates. AFLP markers clustered the isolates into two distinct groups based on their colony color, with a high level of polymorphism of Jaccard similarities range from 0.39% to 0.64%. However, there was no evidence of an association between the genetic diversity and the geographical origin of the isolates. Through knowledge of the genetic diversity, phenotypic virulence of M. perniciosa is a key factor for successful breeding of resistant strains of A. bisporus and developing of an integrated disease management strategy to manage wet bubble disease of A. bisporus.

Detoxification of Deoxynivalenol by a Mixed Culture of Soil Bacteria With 3-epi-Deoxynivalenol as the Main Intermediate.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a widely distributed mycotoxin that frequently occurs in various agricultural raw materials and feeds. DON acts as a virulence factor that accelerates the spread of plant diseases; moreover, its accumulation in grains causes yield loss and serious health problems to humans and livestock. Biodegradation of DON into less- or non-toxic substances using naturally existing microorganisms is considered the best approach for DON detoxification. Although various single isolates and mixed cultures capable of detoxifying DON have been reported, details of the metabolic pathways and the degrading enzymes/coding genes involved are scarce. In this study, we aimed to isolate DON-degrading bacteria from soil samples and explore the mechanisms. Toward this end, 85 soil samples collected from different provinces in China were enriched under aerobic conditions with mineral media containing 50 μg/ml of DON as the sole carbon source. The bacterial consortium LZ-N1 exhibited highly efficient and steady DON-transforming activity. High-throughput sequencing was used to characterize the composition of the involved microflora, and analysis of 16S rRNA sequences indicated that LZ-N1 was composed of at least 11 bacterial genera, with Pseudomonas accounting for nearly half the relative abundance. Coincubation of a mixed culture of two novel strains from the LZ-N1 consortium, namely Pseudomonas sp. Y1 and Lysobacter sp. S1, showed sustained transformation of DON into the metabolite 3-epi-deoxynivalenol, with no degradation products detected after 72 h. The cell-free supernatant, lysate, and cell debris of the mixed culture possessed DON-degrading ability, with the supernatant reaching a DON degradation rate of 100% within 48 h with 50 μg/ml of DON. This is the first report of two-step enzymatic epimerization of DON by a mixed culture, which may provide a new insight into this pathway for future applications in detoxification of DON-contaminated cereals and feed.

Estimating non-native plant richness with a species-accumulation model along roads.

Monitoring non-native plant richness is important for biodiversity conservation and scientific research. The species-area model (SA model) has been used frequently to estimate the total species richness within a region. However, the conventional SA model may not provide robust estimations of non-native plant richness because the ecological processes associated with the accumulation of exotic and native plants may differ. Because roads strongly dictate the distributions of exotic plants, we propose a species-accumulation model along roads (SR model), rather than an SA model, to estimate the non-native plant richness within a region. Using 270 simulated data sets, we compared the differences in performance between the SR and SA models. A decision tree based on prediction accuracy was created to guide model application, which was validated using field data from 3 national nature reserves in 3 different provinces in China. The SR model significantly outperformed the SA model when non-native species were restricted to the roadsides and the proportion of uncommon exotic species was small. More importantly, the SR model accurately estimated the non-native plant richness in all field sites with an error of <1 species per site. We believe our new model meets the practical need to efficiently and robustly estimate non-native plant richness, which may facilitate effective biodiversity conservations and promote research on non-native plant invasion and vegetation dynamics.

Sustainable Local Foreign Direct Investment Performance in China: Based on the Imbalance of Coastal Regional Economy

Zhao, X.-N., Qiu, Y. and Zhang X., 2019. Sustainable local foreign direct investment performance in China: Based on the imbalance of coastal regional economy. In: Gong, D.; Zhu, H., and Liu, R. (eds.), Selected Topics in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 859–862. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.For advantage of the environment, coastal region in China is more attractive to foreign direct investment, such as Yangtze River delta and Pearl River delta. To analyze the differences in foreign direct investment importation performance among different provinces in China from a sustainability perspective, this paper constructed a foreign direct investment importation performance model based on the intertemporal effect of dynamic factors. Furthermore, applying the dynamic Malmquist model and panel data, this paper evaluated the total factor productivity of the foreign direct investment importation model by considering four factors as energy, openness, human capital, and physical capital. To obtain a comprehensive perspective, this paper also identified the bottlenecks of sustainability for FDI importation performance, based on an analysis of factor contributions. The results reveal that dynamic technical changes are critical in promoting foreign direct investment importation performance. Though, the advantange of coastal region is obvious. They are also enslaved to lower dynamic technical changes. Thus, the development of soft power is the greatest bottleneck for most Chinese provinces.

Natural and Managerial Disposability Based DEA Model for China’s Regional Environmental Efficiency Assessment

With the acceleration of industrialization, a large amount of energy consumption has brought tremendous pressure to the natural environment. In order to prevent environmental pollution and promote sustainable development, the environmental efficiency assessment as an effective way to provide decision-making basis has been given wide attention. This study measures the environmental efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2015 based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) environmental assessment radial model both under natural disposability and managerial disposability that considered the constant variable return to scale (RTS) and the damage to scale (DTS). In addition, the scale efficiency under the two kinds of disposability of China’s 30 provinces were also measured. We found that the environmental efficiencies of different provinces in China showed regional disparities. Provinces such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong had a good performance in unified environmental efficiency and scale efficiency both under natural disposability and managerial disposability. Generally speaking, the eastern regions always performed better than the central and western regions in unified environmental efficiency during the observed years. Therefore, policies should be established to distribute the resources in balance between the east, center, and west to further promote environmental efficiency.

Composition of motivation profiles at work using latent analysis: theory and evidence.

PurposeDrawing from self-determination theory, the present study aims to identify the structures and functions of work motivation profiles by using a person-centered approach and to explore the relationships between work motivations and different work performances in the workplace.Materials and methodsThe participants in this research are from different provinces in China, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, and Hebei. The participants work in state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, foreign-funded enterprises, and public institutions. We contacted the head of the human resources department of the company where the employee was located, and then the human resources supervisor sent the questionnaire to the relevant employees for data collection. In Study 1, we obtained a total of 842 valid questionnaires. In Study 2, employee work performance was assessed by immediate supervisors, and we obtained a total of 630 valid matched data. This study identified the structure and function of work motivation profiles using a person-centered approach, ie, latent profile analysis. The analysis of variance approach was used to explore the relationship between work motivations and different work performances in the workplace.ResultsUsing latent profile analysis, we found 5 work motivation profiles: dominant, high-midrange, low-midrange, intrinsic motivation-minor and intrinsic motivation-dominant. The five different profiles varied in the level (quantitative differences: dominant, high-midrange, and low-midrange) and shape (qualitative differences: intrinsic motivation-minor and intrinsic motivation-dominant) of the profile indicators. We found that these profiles differentially predicted employee performance. Our results reveal new insights into work motivations and how different work motivation profiles affect work performance.ConclusionWe employed a new perspective to better understand the relations between motivations and work performance under the framework of self-determination theory. We were able to demonstrate that (1) different motivation strategies at work do consistently exist and (2) latent profile membership differentiates employee work performance. Our results show that high performance can be exhibited when an employee’s motivation is the dominant type. High-dominant employees with high intrinsic motivation and low extrinsic motivation exhibit worse task performance. The results of this research show that a person-centered approach can better clarify the complexity of the process regarding how work motivations interact within an employee. The major theoretical contribution of this research is the use of latent profile analysis (LPA) to demonstrate five different subpopulations that can exhibit different combinations of work motivations in the emerging market of China. Second, our results show that identified regulation is important in predicting work performance. Third, we advanced the self-determination theory (SDT) research by exploring the relations between different motivation profiles and work performance.

The longitudinal relationships of interpersonal openness trait, hostility, and hostile attribution bias.

While the relationship between personality, hostility, and hostile attribution bias (HAB) has been explored in previous studies, their longitudinal relationship is unclear, and no related study has utilized the indigenous Chinese personality. This research explored the longitudinal relationships of interpersonal openness (IO; an indigenous Chinese personality construct), hostility, and HAB. The 942 valid participants (38.5% male, mean age = 20.83, standard deviation = 1.04) were from six different provinces in China. Measurements were completed on two separate occasions (Times 1 and 2), with a 6-month interval. Results showed that IO has longitudinal effects on hostility, after controlling for the Big Five, and HAB could be longitudinally predicted by IO and hostility as well. Moreover, hostility served as a mediator in the relationship between IO and HAB. These results suggest that IO can affect the development of hostility and HAB, and some indigenous Chinese personality factors may complement Western personality theories.

A provincial lateral carbon emissions compensation plan in China based on carbon budget perspective.

Inter-provincial lateral carbon compensation (IPLCC) is considered as a market-based tool to achieve the goal of carbon emission mitigation from the national level as well as contribute to fair development rights of various provinces. However, empirical research on lateral carbon compensation is still insufficient at the provincial level. Therefore, the improved carbon budget method is proposed to construct a provincial carbon budget accounting and evaluate the level of provincial lateral carbon compensation. The findings are concluded as follows: (1) Carbon emission and absorption in China have experienced rapid growth in the period of 2005-2015. (2) There exists an obvious spatial difference in the provincial carbon budget. The amount of provincial carbon emissions is high in the east and low in the west, while the provincial carbon absorption is high in the northeast and southwest and low in the other regions. (3) 30 Provinces in China can be classified into three types, namely those that have to pay for lateral carbon compensation, those that should be refunded, and those in relative equilibrium. (4) Whether a province should pay for or be refunded from lateral carbon compensation is related to the development level of the secondary industry. (5) Inter-provincial lateral carbon compensation will play a significant role in the top-level design of total carbon emission controlling across different provinces in China. Finally, three policy implications are proposed, including constant promotion of the decoupling of provincial economic development and carbon emissions, formulation of accounting standards and methods for lateral carbon compensation, and adoption of multiple lateral carbon compensation methods.

Improving genomic prediction for two Yorkshire populations with a limited size using the single-step method.

In this study, we conducted genomic prediction for two Yorkshire purebred populations (Yichun and Chifeng) from two different provinces of China that both had a limited population size. Two growth traits (age adjusted to 100kg weight, AGE; back-fat thickness adjusted to 100kg weight, BF) and one reproduction trait (total number of piglets born, TNB) were analyzed with four prediction strategies: one-population BLUP, joint two-population BLUP, one-population single-step BLUP (SSBLUP) and joint two-population SSBLUP. Our results illustrate that accuracies of genomic estimated breeding values were improved for BF and TNB for the Yichun population and for BF for the Chifeng population by genomic prediction (one-population SSBLUP and joint two-population SSBLUP). The accuracy of TNB for the Yichun population was increased two fold when comparing the one-population SSBLUP to the one-population BLUP prediction. Meanwhile, prediction biases were dramatically reduced for AGE for the Yichun population and for TNB for the Chifeng population. The conclusions of this study are as follows: first, genomic prediction is useful for improving prediction accuracy for purebred pig breeding farms with a limited population size; second, joint genomic prediction for different populations of the same breed with certain genetic links has the trend to further improve prediction accuracy.

Analysis of phenolic acids and flavonoids in leaves of Lycium barbarum from different habitats by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry.

The leaves of Lycium barbarum (LLB) have been utilized as crude drugs and functional tea for human health in China and Southeast Asia for thousands of years. To control its quality, a rapid and sensitive ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry method was established and validated for the first time for simultaneous determination of 10 phenolic acids and flavonoids (including neochlorogenic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, rutin and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside) in LLB. The separation was performed on an Acquity UPLC C18 chromatographic column (100 × 2.1 mm internal diameter, 1.7μm particle size) with 0.1% formic acid in water (A)-acetonitrile (B) as the mobile phase under gradient elution. Multiple reaction monitoring mode was adopted to simultaneously monitor the target components. The developed method was fully validated in terms of linearity (r2 ≥ 0.9860), precision (RSD ≤ 6.58%), repeatability (RSD ≤ 6.60%), stability (RSD ≤ 6.17%), recovery (95.56-108.06%, RSD ≤ 4.64%) and limit of detection (0.021-0.664ng/mL) and limit of quantitation (0.069-2.210ng/mL), and then successfully applied to evaluate the quality of 64 batches of LLB collected from 41 producing areas in four different provinces of China. The results showed that the LLB, especially collected from Inner Mongolia regions, were rich in the phenolic acids and flavonoids. Rutin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside and chlorogenic acid are the predominant compounds contained in LLB. The above findings will provide helpful information for the effective utilization of LLB.

Clinical analysis of Chinese anti-low-density-lipoprotein-receptor-associated protein 4 antibodies in patients with myasthenia gravis.

Low-density-lipoprotein-receptor-associated protein 4 (LRP4) autoantibodies have recently been detected in myasthenia gravis (MG), but little is known about the clinical characteristics associated with this serological type. In this study, the clinical features of Chinese patients with anti-LRP4 antibody-positive MG were characterized. A total of 2172 MG serum samples were collected from patients in various parts of China. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody and titin antibody, and cell-based assays were used to detect muscle-specific kinase antibody and LRP4 antibody. Clinical data for patients with MG were collected from different provinces in China. In total, 16 (0.8%) patients with LRP4-MG were found amongst 2172 total patients, including three patients with AChR/LRP4-MG. Additionally, 13 (2.9%) patients with LRP4-MG were found amongst 455 patients with double seronegative MG. The ratio of males to females for these 13 patients was 1:1.6, and 53.8% patients were children. A total of 91.7% of cases exhibited initial ocular involvement, and 58.3% of cases exhibited simple eye muscle involvement. Responses to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and prednisone were observed. The expanded sample confirmed that the positive rate of LRP4 antibodies in China is lower than that in western countries. Our results highlighted the differences between LRP4-MG and other antibody groups. Children and female patients with LRP4-MG have a higher prevalence, often involving the ocular muscles and limb muscles. The clinical symptoms are mild, and satisfactory responses to treatment are often achieved.

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance of Salmonella in Pork, Chicken, and Duck from Retail Markets of China.

Salmonella is one of the most important foodborne pathogens associated with animal and human diseases. In this study, 672 samples of fresh meat (pork, 347; chicken, 196; and duck, 129) were collected from retail markets in different provinces of China from 2010 to 2014. We identified 10 different serotypes among 80 Salmonella isolates, whereas 12 isolates were nonmotile precluding conventional identification of complete serotype. Among these 92 isolates, Salmonella enterica serovar Derby (n = 21) was the most prevalent serotype, followed by Salmonella Enteritidis (n = 17), Salmonella Typhimurium (n = 15), Salmonella Indiana (n = 9), Salmonella Agona (n = 7), and Salmonella Assinie (n = 5). Antimicrobial resistance testing for 18 antimicrobial agents revealed that all 92 isolates were resistant to at least 1 antimicrobial agent, and 39 different resistance profiles were identified. The highest resistance was to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (n = 87), followed by tetracycline (n = 51), carbenicillin (n = 38), amoxicillin/A.clav (n = 30), and piperacillin (n = 24). Our results demonstrated that meats presented a potential public health risk, thereby underlining the necessity for local regulatory enforcement agencies in China to monitor salmonellosis.

Value of faith: Religious entrepreneurs and corporate longevity

AbstractUsing the data on the religious belief of entrepreneurs in Chinese family firms, this study shows that religious entrepreneurs significantly positively affect corporate longevity, echoing the view that religious entrepreneurs can obtain managerial skills and share managerial knowledge about corporate operation through the conduit of religious attendance, and thus firms with religious entrepreneurs are more long-lived. Moreover, the development of factor markets across different provinces in China reinforces this positive relation between religious entrepreneurs and corporate longevity. Furthermore, qualitatively similar results can be found from various robustness tests, and our conclusions still stand after controlling for the potential selection bias in the research sample. Lastly, after differentiating different religious beliefs, the positive relation between religious entrepreneurs and corporate longevity is only valid for Western religious beliefs (but not for Eastern religious beliefs), and the reinforced role of the development of factor markets only stands for Eastern religious beliefs.

Attitudes toward gender integration in policing: A study of police cadets in China

Research results in Western democracies indicate that female police officers favor performing the full range of police duties (Brown, 1997). However, the full gender integration agenda in policing has been challenged, to some extent, by research indicating that female police officers prefer partial integration or segregation in non-Western societies (Natarajan, 2008a,b; Strobl, 2008). Utilizing the recent survey data collected from three police colleges in three different provinces in China, the current study examines police cadets’ attitudes toward gender integration and its predictors beyond gender. Inconsistent with previous studies, this study reveals no significant difference in attitudes toward gender integration between male and female cadets, and cluster analysis results indicate that only a small portion of police cadets support giving women specialized assignments. Both male and female cadets who perceive women as having low competence levels in policing were more likely to support gender segregation. These findings highlight the importance of gender-sensitive education, curricula, and training at the police colleges and academies.