Geographical Advantages Research Articles

The Shan-Shaan Guild Hall: A historical nexus on the Great Tea Route

Jia County, located in Pingdingshan City, Henan Province, is one of China’s historical cities, known for its prosperous economy and thriving community of merchants and traders. Recognizing Jia County’s geographical advantages, merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi Provinces, renowned for their business acumen, funded the construction of the Shanxi-Shaanxi Guild Hall in 1693. This guild hall served as a multifunctional hub for business negotiation, sacrificial rituals to honor the gods, hospitality for guests, and fostering connections among Shanxi and Shaanxi businessmen, strengthening the exchange of economic and trade information. As an important architectural heritage site along the cultural route of the Great Tea Route, the Shanxi-Shaanxi Guild Hall holds immense historical and cultural value. The local government has initiated plans to preserve it as a public space for future generations. This article examines the Shanxi-Shaanxi Guild Hall in the context of the Great Tea Route as a cultural route. Drawing on archival research, field investigations, and semi-structured interviews, it delves into Shanxi-Shaanxi Guild Hall’s tangible and intangible cultural characteristics and its historical relationship with the Great Tea Route. By uncovering the deeper value connotation of the Shanxi-Shaanxi Guild Hall, this study aims to provide new insights into the conservation of cultural heritage.

Decadal Morphological Evolution and Governance Measures of the South Branch, Changjiang Estuary

Estuaries and deltas hold significant socioeconomic importance and immense ecological value due to their dynamic geomorphic processes and unique geographical advantages. However, in recent decades, delta recession and the instability of river regimes have become global challenges, driven by intensive human interventions in upstream river basins and local regions. This study examines the South Branch of the Changjiang Estuary as a typical case to investigate its morphological evolution over the past decades and project future trends, offering suitable solutions to enhance the river regime stability. Analysis of bathymetric data reveals substantial channel–shoal adjustments in the South Branch from 1958 to 2016, characterized by significant erosion and deposition on a decadal scale. After 1997, reduced fluvial sediment supply has led to widespread erosion in the South Branch. Further disturbances at the Baimao Shoal and Biandan Shoal have exacerbated the instability of the river regime. Numerical predictions indicate continued erosion in the South Branch over the next 20 years, accompanied by further channel–shoal pattern adjustments. Hydrodynamic modeling of proposed measures demonstrates an improved flow ratio for the North Baimao Shoal Channel, contributing to enhanced channel–shoal system stability. These integrated governance measures have been incorporated into the latest renovation plan for the Changjiang Estuary. The findings provide valuable scientific guidance for the comprehensive management of the Changjiang Estuary and offer insights applicable to other large estuaries facing similar challenges.

Research on the Coordinated Development of Innovation and Talent Cultivation in the Electric Automation Industry in Xinjiang Based on the Silk Road Economic Belt

With the deepening of the "Belt and Road" initiative, the Silk Road Economic Belt has brought significant development opportunities for Xinjiang's electric automation industry. As a strategic node, Xinjiang possesses unique geographical advantages and policy support; however, its electric automation industry still faces numerous challenges in technological innovation and talent cultivation. This paper analyzes the innovation driving factors of Xinjiang's electric automation industry under the Silk Road Economic Belt, explores the compatibility between current talent cultivation models and industry demands, and proposes pathways to promote coordinated development of innovation and talent cultivation through industry-university-research collaboration and international cooperation. The study finds that, supported by policies and innovative technologies, Xinjiang's electric automation industry has broad development prospects, and seamless alignment between talent cultivation and industry demands will be key to future development.

Spatial and Temporal Evolution and Conservation Significance of Traditional Villages in the Yangtze River Basin, China

Traditionally, “ancient villages” are communities that date back to a previous era, possess abundant traditional resources, and hold significant historical, social, cultural, ecological, and economic significance. This study examines the geographical and chronological development of 2957 traditional communities in the Yangtze River Basin and extensively employs GIS spatial analysis, geostatistical analysis, and historical literature review to study the evolution of the locations of traditional settlements under various factors. The study’s findings revealed that: (1) From a geographical standpoint, the traditional villages in the study area present a distribution state of “two cores, small aggregation, and many dispersions”. The two core clusters are located at the intersection of Hunan, Guizhou, and Chongqing provinces, where the natural geographical advantages attracted people from different dynasties to settle here. (2) From a temporal perspective, the quantity of traditional villages shows a growing trend, and the distribution center of each dynasty shows an east–west direction. Among them, the shift from the Song to the Yuan dynasties marked the period of greatest change in village distribution, which originated from the Song Dynasty’s quick economic growth. In addition, the village distribution was clustered in the eastern part of the country, adapting to the needs of commercial trade. When the Song Dynasty fell, the society was in turmoil, and the villages were transferred to the central region to avoid the war. The Yuan Dynasty also laid down the fundamental distribution pattern of conventional villages. (3) From the standpoint of choosing a village location, most of them are distributed in mountainous, hilly, and plain regions; the gentle slopes of 0°~15° are favored by people. Sufficient water sources, abundant precipitation, and a suitable climate are also necessary choices. (4) From the perspective of driving factors, traditional village distribution in the basin is impacted by historical, cultural, social, and ecological factors. Included among these, traditional village distribution is inversely connected with socio-economic variables. Under the interaction of two factors, the distribution will be more affected. To summarize, the complex human geographic factors together create the conventional village dispersal pattern, and examining these elements holds substantial practical importance for comprehending, safeguarding, and preserving traditional villages.

Nigeria’s Border Diplomacy in Africa: A Contraption of ‘Security Realism’ and Pan-Africanism

Following the adoption of the Organisation of African Unity -OAU (now African Union -AU) led African-wide border arrangement, which provides for the ‘sacredness’ of the inherited colonial borders in 1964, Nigeria deployed its geographical advantage as an instrument of diplomatic relations in the continent. Drawing from field observation and data collected through key informant interviews with Nigerian border enforcement officials, the study contends that in the quest to explore the inherent benefits of the borders, Nigeria’s border diplomacy has taken two opposing outlooks of nationalism and ‘Pan-Africanism’. It argues that, albeit contradictory, the two border postures follow the same pattern of a state-centric ‘top-down’ approach, which has proven ineffective in arresting the border situation. Thus, in addressing the border challenges to salvage its national security debacle, the study submits that Nigeria must understand its borders’ dynamics while deploying a practicable border diplomatic approach from the ‘below’ that factors the dynamics of its border regions and other non-state/sub-national transborder actors in the country.

Research on Strategies to Promote the Integration of Industrial Chain, Innovation Chain, and Supply Chain in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

With the rapid development of international economic integration, industrial competition has gradually evolved from a competition of enterprise capabilities and resources to a game of comprehensive system collaboration capabilities among all participating parties. That is, the competition in the current international economy has evolved into an interactive and collaborative competition among the “three chains” of industry chain, capital chain, and innovation chain. Based on analyzing the current situation of the integration of the industrial chain, innovation chain, and supply chain, this article deeply analyzes the geographical advantages of the three chains in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. From the perspective of scientific and technological innovation and talent cooperation synergy, it proposes the integration strategy of the three chains in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Research on Inner Mongolia's Ecological Governance Experience

Inner Mongolia spans China's 'Three North' regions and borders eight provinces, making it the largest and most diverse ecological functional zone in northern China. Inner Mongolia serves as a crucial gateway for China's northern opening-up strategy, and its long-term mission is to leverage its geographical advantages and resource endowments to enhance its role as a gateway. To fulfill this challenging national task, it is essential to fully leverage Inner Mongolia's ecological advantages to provide ecological support for the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernized country. This research, focusing on 'Ecological Governance in Inner Mongolia,' reviews the ecological governance practices in Inner Mongolia, analyzes successful cases, and summarizes Inner Mongolia's ecological governance experiences. The aim is to provide recommendations for the construction of a socialist modernized country.

Impact of Changes in Jakarta's Status on West Java Province: The Ecology of Public Administration and Utilitarianism Perspective

This research explains the reality of moving the capital city of Indonesia from Jakarta to Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN) in North Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan Province, and the opportunities for the dynamics of ecological balance in public administration that will be formed for West Java Province using the equilibrium model from Fred W. Riggs. The previous research has not yet found publications on IKN using the ecological perspective of public administration and utilitarianism. Reserachers uses qualitative research methods uses prospective case studies as a form of research. The research results show that there will be a change in equilibrium in the public administration system. The policies produced by the political system in the form of moving the country's capital from DKI Jakarta to IKN, changing DKI Jakarta to DKJ, and expanding the agglomeration area are predicted to shift the ecological balance of West Java Province's public administration. Viewed from the perspective of Jeremy Bentham's pleasure and pain utilitarianism, the West Java Provincial Government can take a development policy direction that is based on the reality of human resource conditions and geographical advantages.

Multisource information fusion method for vegetable disease detection

Automated detection and identification of vegetable diseases can enhance vegetable quality and increase profits. Images of greenhouse-grown vegetable diseases often feature complex backgrounds, a diverse array of diseases, and subtle symptomatic differences. Previous studies have grappled with accurately pinpointing lesion positions and quantifying infection degrees, resulting in overall low recognition rates. To tackle the challenges posed by insufficient validation datasets and low detection and recognition rates, this study capitalizes on the geographical advantage of Shouguang, renowned as the “Vegetable Town,” to establish a self-built vegetable base for data collection and validation experiments. Concentrating on a broad spectrum of fruit and vegetable crops afflicted with various diseases, we conducted on-site collection of greenhouse disease images, compiled a large-scale dataset, and introduced the Space-Time Fusion Attention Network (STFAN). STFAN integrates multi-source information on vegetable disease occurrences, bolstering the model’s resilience. Additionally, we proposed the Multilayer Encoder-Decoder Feature Fusion Network (MEDFFN) to counteract feature disappearance in deep convolutional blocks, complemented by the Boundary Structure Loss function to guide the model in acquiring more detailed and accurate boundary information. By devising a detection and recognition model that extracts high-resolution feature representations from multiple sources, precise disease detection and identification were achieved. This study offers technical backing for the holistic prevention and control of vegetable diseases, thereby advancing smart agriculture. Results indicate that, on our self-built VDGE dataset, compared to YOLOv7-tiny, YOLOv8n, and YOLOv9, the proposed model (Multisource Information Fusion Method for Vegetable Disease Detection, MIFV) has improved mAP by 3.43%, 3.02%, and 2.15%, respectively, showcasing significant performance advantages. The MIFV model parameters stand at 39.07 M, with a computational complexity of 108.92 GFLOPS, highlighting outstanding real-time performance and detection accuracy compared to mainstream algorithms. This research suggests that the proposed MIFV model can swiftly and accurately detect and identify vegetable diseases in greenhouse environments at a reduced cost.

Rebuilding Ukraine’s energy supply in a secure, economic, and decarbonised way

Abstract Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure has faced systematic attack and requires urgent and strategic reconstruction. This study confronts the dual challenges of rebuilding Ukraine’s energy system rapidly to mitigate civilian and economic disruption while aligning this to long-term goals of sustainability and energy security. We demonstrate that Ukraine can readily meet future energy demands through a fully renewable electrified system at costs comparable to those from fossil fuels and nuclear power. Contrary to previous re- liance on high-carbon energy sources, we find a diversified renewable energy portfolio, including significant solar photovoltaic and wind contributions, can ef- ficiently meet growing energy demands and position Ukraine as an energy ex- porter, leveraging its geographical advantages. The approach of our study, based on open data and models, extends beyond national borders and offers a model for post-conflict reconstruction that harmonizes immediate recovery with sustain- able energy transition.

The development of AUKUS in the Indo-Pacific region and its influence on Indonesia’s policy as a global maritime fulcrum

The trilateral defense and security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States has strong impact to the security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific area. This agreement entails a strengthened alliance between Australia and enhanced military collaboration with the United States and the United Kingdom resulting in regional volatility. This paper aims to examine the AUKUS (Australia–United Kingdom–United States Partnership) agreement and the resulting ensuing instability in the Indo-Pacific region, specifically from Indonesia’s perspective. The focus of the research is on the interplay between Indonesia’s diplomacy capability and the military functions of the Indonesian Navy as security policy. This study employs a qualitative approach to delve into in-depth insights into the evolution of AUKUS in the Indo-Pacific region, which triggered a series of responses from many countries subsequent to the announcement of the establishment of the AUKUS Defense Pact. The AUKUS establishment simply reinforces the notion that geopolitical tensions are pulling the area apart. The influence of the AUKUS-China war can jeopardize regional stability since the US and China continuously demonstrate the supremacy of their armaments in order to dissuade one another. The AUKUS-China contest has had a highly adverse impact on Indonesia. This article argues that the Indonesian Navy’s diplomatic prowess is crucial because it has the potential to play a big influence in the Indo-Pacific region’s international political dynamics concerning the South China Sea. Furthermore, the Indonesian Navy must proactively prepare for potential armed conflicts in Indonesian territorial seas by developing a comprehensive maritime policy during times of peace, leveraging its geographical advantages.

A comprehensive assessment of the importance of the “Maritime Silk Road” route based on multi-dimensional data-driven approaches

Worldwide straits are crucial pathways for global trade and energy transportation, occupying key strategic positions. Therefore, this study utilizes automatic identification system (AIS) data and the structure of the maritime transportation network formed by ship navigation, combined with geospatial big data analysis, to fully consider factors including the natural navigational conditions of routes, the support capabilities of surrounding ports, the geographic advantages of neighboring countries, and the distribution of the shipping network importance in the CCAS evaluation model. To assess the navigability of maritime routes, a data-driven model was constructed using three layers of this model. Empirical analyses were conducted on 22 major routes along China's coast and the “Maritime Silk Road”. This method has significantly enhanced the accuracy and reliability of route assessments, and the improved assessment model demonstrated better navigational conditions in the South China Sea routes, identifying internal factors hindering the development of these critical maritime routes. The findings of this study provide a comprehensive assessment and analysis framework for global maritime transportation, offering crucial reference information for key stakeholders, including policy makers, port and berth infrastructure investors, maritime economists, and large shipping companies. Additionally, the study's results can be practically applied in the actual shipping trade, emphasizing the role of our framework in facilitating effective decision-making and strategic planning within the maritime industry.

E-Tender Procurement Solutions

Abstract: In today's day and age of the 21st century, India is moving towards an advanced technological advancement where the old and hereditary methods are been revolutionized to become hassle-free and paperless. One of the main aspects of governments, big private and public entities is to ensure that they get the best and budget-friendly products based on the requirements put forth. To get such products companies put out a document known as tenders. These tenders specify the job description time duration estimated cost and other details related to the expected result. In olden times the advertisement of tenders was given in newspapers and the companies used to send the bids and tender requests in a closed and sealed envelope. These envelopes used to be opened on a decided date to ensure transparency in the process. As time progressed the people started manipulating the tenders by changing the amounts to the lowest possible figures thus managing the results. To end this monopoly and eliminate the geographical advantage we are hereby proposing a methodology that will ensure that such discrepancies do not happen. The model we are proposing is known as E tender procurement solutions. This model is based on a user-friendly framework and an assurance of data protection and manipulation-free environment through blockchain. The model can be used as a base where companies can customize it and use it as a self-product.

Investment Analysis of LNG Storage Facility Development in Indonesia

The gas industry has had remarkable growth in recent years due to cleaner combustion, and LNG stands at the top of the gas industry as its flexibility and transportability made it an attractive option. Indonesia that has geographical advantage provides natural advantage to become a central player in the global LNG market. However, investment decisions related to new LNG storage facilities are faced with uncertainties and challenges including volatile energy markets, fluctuating LNG prices, geopolitical risks, evolving environmental regulations, and technological changes. This study assesses the feasibility of developing an LNG storage facility in Indonesia. Commercially, it is feasible due to growing LNG demand and Indonesia’s strategic advantages. An LNG storage facility with 180.000 m³ capacity is feasible, showing an NPV of $33.7 million, an IRR of 10.96%, a payback period of 14.61 years, and a Profitability Index (PI) of 1.26. Increasing the tank capacity to 200.000 m³ improves feasibility with an NPV of $44.3 million, an IRR of 11.61%, a payback period of 13.67 years, and a PI of 1.32. Integrating with existing infrastructure further enhances feasibility, yielding an NPV of $77.7 million, an IRR of 14.10%, a payback period of 11.04 years, and a PI of 1.56.

Taking Advantage of the Momentum -- Research on the Strategy of Urban Brand Communication in Zibo

As an effective way to create the city image and business card, the city s brand communication has been the trend of The Times. For the city that wants to create a unique IP, identifying the characteristics is the fundamental problem. Zibo has been popular on social media since March 2023, and has created a warm and hospitable city brand image with barbecue as a symbol, which has promoted the construction of local city brand. Due to the geographical advantages of Zibo as a transportation hub, rich historical origin and the social attributes of barbecue food itself, the city IP of Zibo Barbecue has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people through the visual communication, emotional communication and empathy communication of the Internet, which provides reference and inspirational significance for other cities to build brand image in the new media era.

African Swine Fever in the Philippines: A Review on Surveillance, Prevention, and Control Strategies.

African swine fever (ASF), a highly contagious disease of swine, has posed a significant global threat to the swine industry. As an archipelago, the Philippines has a geographic advantage when it comes to the risk of ASF transmission. However, since its introduction to the Philippines in 2019, it has proliferated not only in backyard and commercial farms but also in wild pig populations. While certain parts of the country were more affected than others, the epidemiologic features of ASF necessitate that all affected areas must be closely monitored and that confirmed cases be treated with the utmost care. With the very limited data on ASF epidemiology and surveillance in the Philippines, future efforts to combat ASF must place even greater emphasis on improved prevention and control strategies. It is worth mentioning that the government's efforts toward comprehensive ASF surveillance and epidemiological investigation into the possible ASFV sources or transmission pathways are the most important measures in the prevention and control of ASF outbreaks. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the current swine industry and ASF situation in the Philippines, which includes its epidemiology, surveillance, prevention, and control strategies.

IMPACT OF TRAINING SATISFACTION ON EMPLOYEE WORK PERFORMANCE: SENSE OF BELONGING AS MEDIATING VARIABLE

Recently, with the changes in the international economic and political situation and China's policy support, many Chinese companies have set their sights on Southeast Asia, especially Thailand. In Thailand, many Chinese-funded enterprises choose to settle here due to factors such as geographical advantages, friendly relations, and government investment policies. However, when recruiting local labor, these companies face some challenges, such as high employee turnover rates after training and the unsatisfactory work performance of Thai employees. In order to explore solutions, this study took four Chinese-funded companies in Thailand as examples and conducted a questionnaire survey on Thai employees, including a total of 46 questions. According to regression analysis of the data, there is a positive relationship between training satisfaction, sense of belonging, and job performance, but the correlation is not very significant. Therefore, the study suggests that companies should pay attention to cultivating employees' sense of belonging to reduce turnover and balance short-term performance and employee care in management to promote long-term development.

Beyond throughput: Evaluating maritime port competitiveness using MABAC and Bayesian methods

The performance ranking framework of maritime ports conducted by the World Shipping Council relies solely on a singular criterion, such as container throughput. This ranking method lacks a comprehensive assessment of port competitiveness and may have biases. Therefore, this work proposes a new approach to measure the competitiveness of maritime ports by considering multiple performance criteria, such as port processing time, bunker fuel quality, bunker fuel suppliers, geographical advantages, and port security. To ensure fairness in weight estimation, both objective method (using the Entropy method) and subjective method (using the Best Worst method) are employed and integrated using Bayes’ theorem. Furthermore, the Multi-Attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison (MABAC) method is utilized to evaluate the ranking of ports based on the combined effect of these criteria, referred to as the Port Competitiveness Index (PCI). To test the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, the top 20 major maritime ports on the Asia-Europe service route are determined. This finding highlights the practical insights gained from the study, which can be applied to improve the performance of ports across different service routes worldwide.

Diabatic heating structures varying with convective and rainfall intensities in different areas of the pan-South China Sea region

This study investigates and compares diabatic heating structures related to vertical velocity, cloud types, and rainfall intensities in the northeast rainy sea subregion named Dongsha, the west rainless sea subregion named Xisha, and the north rainy land subregion named Coastland in the pan-SCS region. The diabatic heating rate of >2 K hr−1 over Dongsha and Coastland has a higher frequency and a deeper distribution than over Xisha where it requires stronger upward motion to achieve the same heating rate, indicating more frequent and deeper convection over the north coastal sea and land areas than the west sea area of the pan-SCS region. The deep convective Q1 profiles show a stronger peak at ∼500 hPa and a weaker peak at ∼700 hPa over two sea subregions while a single peak at ∼500 hPa over Coastland. The nimbostratus Q1 profile has a weakened heating peak at 350–550 hPa over Dongsha, 500–600 hPa over Xisha, and 425–575 hPa over Coastland. The shallow cumulus Q1 profile of Dongsha shows weak heating in the mid-to-lower troposphere while that of Xisha and Coastland has hardly heating. Latent heating and vertical turbulence significantly affect the diabatic heating structure related to deep convective clouds and nimbostratus but hardly affect that related to shallow cumulus. Despite cloud types, Dongsha has the strongest diabatic heating among the three subregions due to its geographical advantages. The no-rainfall Q1 profiles over three subregions have a similar shape with a weak cooling peak at ∼700 hPa due to boundary-layer evaporation and eddies. But the small-rainfall Q1 profiles present upper heating and lower cooling over sea subregions whereas the opposite over Coastland possibly due to stronger surface sensible heating on the land. From moderate to heavy rainfall, the Q1 profiles over three subregions are similar with a heating maximum at ∼500 hPa associated with deep convection, except for heating intensity which is much stronger over Xisha than the other two subregions. This suggests that Xisha presents stronger convection to achieve the same rainfall intensity as Dongsha and Coastland, which is closely due to a positive effect of coastal terrain blocking and uplifting on precipitation for Dongsha and Coastland whereas a negative effect of the Annam Mountains for Xisha.

The Global Impact of Chinese Education: Wisdom and Global Vision

Highlights China's global vision of education seeks to address various educational challenges from a global perspective. In terms of geopolitical education, China has geographical advantages for enhancing education collaboration with cultural and economic impact. Despite the global learning crisis, China will continue the opening-up of education and advancing of its global technology leadership. Amid unprecedented global change, driving innovation in education has become a pressing issue in China's education system. China is embracing the diverse opportunities arising from global changes and challenges, seeking to forge stronger international bonds through education.