Virtuous Circle Research Articles

Public–Private Partnership Infrastructure Investment and Sustainable Economic Development: An Empirical Study Based on Efficiency Evaluation and Spatial Spillover in China

Public–private partnership (PPP), an innovative mode of infrastructure investment, has been widely applied in China and has become an essential policy tool with which to promote sustainable economic development. In order to comprehensively evaluate the economic consequences, using 31 provinces in China from 2003 to 2018 as samples, first, stochastic frontier analysis was performed to measure the input–output efficiency of infrastructure investment to evaluate the economic sustainability and efficiency of PPP compared to single government-led investment mode. Next, the overall economic growth effect of PPP was verified. Further, from the perspective of sustainable development of regional economies, the double-fixed effect spatial Durbin model was adopted to empirically test the spatial spillover effect of PPP and clarify its industrial heterogeneity. The results show the following. (1) The average input–output efficiency of infrastructure is 0.449, revealing a distribution law of decreasing from east to west and remarkable regional variation. However, a good trend of improvement emerged, reflecting the economic sustainability of infrastructure investment, and PPP has played a positive role in promoting it. (2) PPP has significant and positive economic growth and spatial spillover effects, which can promote regional economic integration, embodying its economic sustainability function. (3) The economic impact of PPP has significant industrial heterogeneity. Transportation PPP can bring greater economic benefits, confirming the vital position of transportation infrastructure in the sustainable development of regional economies. Energy and water PPP have positive externalities. All of this provides powerful and reliable proof of the realization of sustainable economic development under the regional virtuous circle driven by infrastructure investment through PPP.

A Virtuous Circle of Governance Contests with Externalities

Governments create contests to allocate resources to stakeholders, e.g., grants, contracts. The actions of these stakeholders can generate a positive externality for themselves—the contest winner can attract additional outside funding and donations from third-parties who want to jump on the winner’s bandwagon. Herein we examine the externalities arising from these contests created by governance and their impact on a virtuous circle of governance contests. Among various conditions that make governance virtuous, we focus on the equilibrium expected payoffs of stakeholders, the difference in them, and the rent-dissipation rates. Our study shows that the impact of externalities on the efficiency of governance depends on two key factors: (i) the choice of governance contests, the player-externality and the winner-externality, and (ii) the relative efficiency of stakeholders’ efforts.

Relationships of physical activity and sedentary behaviour with the previous and subsequent nights' sleep in children and youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The interrelationships between sleep and daytime movement behaviours have been examined at interindividual level. Studies of within-person, temporal relationships of daytime physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour with the previous and subsequent nights' sleep are increasing. The present systematic review and meta-analysis synthesised the results of studies in school-aged children and youth. Eight databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Global Health, PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, and CINAHL) were searched for peer-reviewed articles that examined the association between daytime movement behaviours (including PA, sedentary time, or sedentary recreational screen time) and night-time sleep on the same day, or the association between night-time sleep and daytime movement behaviours the next day, in children and youth. A total of 11 studies comprising 9,622 children and youth aged 5-15years met the inclusion criteria. Sedentary time was negatively associated with the subsequent night's sleep duration (r=-0.12, 95% confidence interval -0.23 to -0.00; I2 =93%; p=.04). Positive relationships between PA and the previous or subsequent night's sleep duration were observed only for studies that adjusted for accelerometer wear time. There was some evidence suggesting that a longer sleep duration was associated with less sedentary time and a higher proportion of the daytime spent being physically active and vice versa, although the association was weak and based on a limited number of studies. From a clinical perspective, promotion of either sleep hygiene or daytime PA should be planned with considerations of the virtuous or vicious circle between these behaviours and monitor concurrent effects on the others.

Treatment of the complex liquid phase that contains produced water, condensate oil, and floccule from an offshore gas field: A pilot system for the South China Sea

Produced water (PW) of the liquid phase is the largest volume by-product from the process of offshore oil and gas production, and compact and efficient treatment methods are brought into focus. The PW, condensate oil, and floccule in the liquid phase all require treatment to satisfy the requirements of the standards. The liquid phase volume from offshore gas fields is typically not as large as that from offshore oil fields. The presence of the floccule and severity of emulsification, however, cause higher levels of treatment difficulty. Ecological damage to the ocean and some other potential hazards can be caused if PW discharged into the ocean contains oil that exceeds the concentrations of the value, of which ranges from 15 mg/L to 50 mg/L according to different standards. Condensate oil phase pipes may also be corroded if the oil phase is not well treated. This study examines a pilot system with the capacity of 0.5 m3/h, that includes pre-, PW, and condensate oil treatments performed at an industrial offshore gas field platform on the South China Sea. The water and oil phases were transparent in appearance. The concentration of oil in the PW discharged to the ocean was less than 50% of the value of the relative standards. The concentration of water in the condensate oil was lower than 200 mg/L, which satisfied the requirement of this platform for transportation by submarine pipelines. The accumulative floccule in the liquid phase was also gathered using a filter bag that proceeded a virtuous circle due to the avoidance of the accumulation of the floccule. This pilot system provides a novel solution method for the liquid phase from offshore gas fields containing highly emulsified PW, condensate oil, and floccule, which diffuses between the PW and the condensate oil.

Evaluation of niche suitability of modern tram design based on Cloud-TOPSIS

The study of niche suitability of modern tram design can promote the virtuous circle of urban ecology, coordinate the contradiction between modern tram and ecological problems, and provide a theoretical for the solution of design problems. The evaluation results can be used for the optimization and improvement of design schemes. The index system of niche suitability of modern tram design was established, aiming at the design problems of modern tram in the development process based on the perspective of ecological evaluation. The Cloud-TOPSIS method was put forward to evaluate and analyze the index system, and the evaluation model of niche suitability of modern tram design is obtained.

A statistical field approach to capital accumulation

This paper presents a model of capital accumulation for a large number of heterogeneous producer–consumer agents in an exchange space in which interactions depend on agents’ positions. Agents in the exchange space are subject to both attractive and repulsive forces: exchanges drive agents closer, but crowd out more distant agents. The formalism used in this paper was developed earlier by the authors and is based on statistical field theory. It allows the analytical treatment of economic models with an arbitrary number of agents, while preserving the system’s interactions and microeconomic features of the individual level. Our results show that the dynamics of capital accumulation and the agents’ positions in the exchange space are correlated. Interactions in the exchange space induce phases within the system that depend on the relative strength of the repulsive force. When the repulsive force is strong, the system is in a phase of regulated exchanges. An initial central position both favours and fastens capital accumulation in average, and high levels of initial capital drive agents towards the centre. Yet, this phase displays mild competition and a broad-based although slow improvement in exchange terms. In this phase, random shocks can redistribute capital and initiate a virtuous circle of capital accumulation. When the repulsive force is low, a phase of deregulated exchanges emerges, in which capital distribution is less homogeneous and competition among agents harshens. Increased mobility accelerates capital accumulation for high initial capital producers, whereas low initial capital producers are now evicted from the exchange space as their prices and revenues deteriorate. Thus, a threshold effect appears. Above a certain level of initial capital, agents benefit from and remain in a central position. Below this level, they remain at the periphery of the exchange space.

Intergenerational learning: A recommendation for engaging youth to address marine debris challenges

Youth can impact environmental attitudes and behaviors among adults. Indeed, research on intergenerational learning has demonstrated the influence of young people on adults in their lives for myriad environmental topics. Intergenerational learning (IGL) refers to the bidirectional transfer of knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors from children to their parents or other adults and vice versa. We suggest an educational framework wherein K-12 marine debris education designed to maximize IGL may be a strategy to accelerate interdisciplinary, community-level solutions to marine debris. Although technical strategies continue to be developed to address the marine debris crisis, even the most strictly technical of these benefit from social support. Here, we present 10 Best Practices grounded in educational, IGL, and youth civic engagement literature to promote marine debris solutions. We describe how integrating IGL and civic engagement into K-12-based marine debris curricula may start a virtuous circle benefiting teachers, students, families, communities, and the ocean.

Background mechanisms of UHD working

Background In spite of strong opposition from the orthodox scientific circles, the UHD effects are gradually becoming a part of the accepted science, because of the quickly growing corpus of UHD effects evidence. While this process should continue, the next great step would be to disentangle UHD working mechanisms with the perspective to give us understanding and explanation of its rational, causal-consequential and objective background. Aims Based on the already known and confirmed UHD phenomena as well as some more developed proposed theories that try to explain them, the aim of the presentation is to explore, which of the theories could be the most appropriate for the development of the UHD science. It should lead to the one that would be acceptable by a majority of the concerned scientific community (physicists, physical-chemists, biologists, medical doctors, etc.). Methodology We contrast the established facts of UHD science with the most developed theories to find out, which theory could cover the phenomena in the most comprehensive way. The applied theories are as follows: the basic and the extended theory of coherent domains (Preparata – Giudice – Yinnon), hydrogen bonded clusters theory (Chaplin), nanomaterial theories (Rajendran, Chikramane), the theory of chains of water nano-pearls (Meessen). Results and discussion The results show that the advanced theory of coherent domains (Yinnon) together with the theory of chains of water nano-pearls (Meessen) are the most promising. They connect the basic UHD background mechanisms to the electromagnetic and electric fields and are supported with advanced and recent physicochemical research. Nevertheless, the theories are still in the stage of principal explanation and are mostly not yet capable of giving exact predictions. Therefore, the theory that would predict phenomena and would initiate a virtuous circle of scientific validation of UHD effects is still needed. Conclusion The most developed contemporary theories cover a plethora of UHD phenomena. However, they may still have some deficiencies regarding the explanation of the whole richness of the UHD phenomena.

Can rewards foster honest tax behaviors?

Tax rewards are an important and useful fiscal policy tool for governments and tax administrations to plan strategies to increase tax revenue. Nevertheless, there is little clear empirical evidence of a positive effect of tax rewards on tax compliance; rather, in some cases a negative effect is even found. Consequently, this study considers a tax reward in the simplest form of a “negative penalty” (positive amount of money) in case of no tax evasion, instead of no penalty (as in the standard model). By making the tax system fairer, this kind of tax reward can spur tax morale and, thus, tax compliance. Tax rewards, therefore, could trigger a virtuous circle for increasing tax revenue. A survey study in Italy substantiates the main prediction of the theoretical model.

A Virtuous Circle? Increasing Local Benefits from Ports by Adopting Circular Economy Principles

As ports seek to maintain support for their operations amidst growing environmental awareness and social pressure, it is important they provide benefits for the local population to offset negative impacts. Ports can add additional economic benefits for the cities they are located in by encouraging maritime clusters, industrial development, a circular economy, and waterfront development. The current level of adoption, interest in future adoption, barriers to implementation, and attitudes towards the views of the local population were assessed via an online questionnaire sent to port authorities in 26 countries. The potential and willingness of ports to be on the frontline of the transition to a circular economy globally has been clearly identified for the first time, seeing a 60% increase between current levels of adoption and future interest in adoption. Barriers to a circular economy are comparable to barriers to widely adopted methods, such as industrial development and a waterfront economy. It is likely that circular economy activities in port cities will add additional local benefits and reduce the negative impacts of a port. A new framework is proposed to help ports and cities collaborate and encourage greater adoption of the circular economy.

The Longitudinal Link between Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and Three Different Models of Happiness.

A growing body of research conducted in general life settings has found positive associations between happiness and prosocial behavior. Unfortunately, equivalent studies in the workplace are lacking. Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), the prosocial behaviors at work, have not been properly studied in relation to happiness, despite the positive consequences of both constructs for workers and companies. In response, our research aims to better understand this relationship from several angles. First, using a three-wave longitudinal design, we explored how OCBs and happiness are related to each other over time. Second, happiness was measured from a broad perspective, and three conceptualizations were adopted: the hedonic (e.g., positive affect and life satisfaction), the eudaimonic (e.g., relatedness and autonomy), and the flourishing (e.g., meaning and engagement) approaches. Thus, not only the prospective link between OCBs and happiness was tested, but it was also explored using the three models of happiness previously mentioned. Third, we conducted this longitudinal design in a less typical sample than previous research (i.e., Chile). We found results that supported our main hypotheses: (1) OCBs are prospective positive predictors of hedonic happiness, eudaimonic happiness, and flourishing; (2) the three models of happiness also prospectively predict OCBs. Our findings suggest that OCBs foster a broad range of happiness facets, which in turn fosters back the emergence of more OCBs, leading to a virtuous circle of prosociality and well-being in the workplace. This positive spiral benefits not only workers’ quality of life, but also organizations’ profitability and sustainability. Theoretical and applied implications for the field of Positive Organizational Psychology are discussed.

Blockchain-based decentralized reputation system in E-commerce environment

With the rapid development of E-commerce, more and more people are used to shopping online, in which the reputation scores of sellers play an important role in helping consumers purchase satisfactory products. However, in the existing E-commerce environments, the reputation scores of users (including sellers and buyers) are centrally computed and stored on a centralized cloud server, which might make errors or even engage in fraud and forgery. To address this issue, we propose a blockchain-based decentralized reputation system (BC-DRS) in the E-commerce environment, i.e., online shopping. In this system, the product information including product descriptions and comments is stored in the interplanetary file system (IPFS) and the corresponding address is returned, and the returned address and the reputation scores of users are stored on the blockchain. The reputation evaluation is implemented by designing and deploying a smart contract on the blockchain. Different from the traditional centralized reputation systems (CRSs), the proposed BC-DRS can protect the product information and users reputation scores from intentional and unintentional modifications, since it is very hard to change any data stored in the blockchain and IPFS. Also, as the reputation scores of users are computed and updated by all the ratings of their transactions weighted by the practical transaction factors, it is effective to resist the common attacks, i.e., unfair rating and collusion. In addition, this system also contains a monetary incentive mechanism for the evaluation, which is helpful to form a virtuous circle in online shopping. The proposed BC-DRS is simulated on the popular blockchain platform, i.e., Ethereum with Solidity language. The experimental results and analysis demonstrate that the proposed BC-DRS has desirable usability and reliability.

Hypertension and atrial fibrillation: Closing a virtuous circle.

Ying Gue and Gregory Lip discuss the accompanying study by Ana-Catarina Pinho-Gomes and co-workers on blood pressure lowering treatment in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Modeling and Simulation of Cultural Communication Based on Evolutionary Game Theory

In the process of cultural dissemination, the dissemination of false information will have a negative impact on the entire environment. In this case, it is an effective method to regulate the behavior of cultural dissemination participants. Based on the community network structure and the improved classic network communication model, this paper constructs the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model for the grassroots communication of engineering safety culture and discusses the law of grassroots transmission of engineering safety culture. The communication process is simulated, and it is concluded that a good engineering safety culture will be the first to be covered by low-level engineering safety culture in the process of dissemination. With a modularity coefficient of 0.5 as the boundary, it will affect the scale of good safety culture in different directions; the dissemination infection rate of low-level engineering safety culture changes in the same direction with the speed and scale of transmission; the maximum transmission scale of low-level engineering safety culture does not decrease with the increase of the initial value of the susceptible state. When the initial value of the immune state is 15%, the low-level safety culture scale is the lowest value of 0.135, which is the low initial value of employees with low-level engineering safety culture and is more conducive to control its maximum spread. It also puts forward management recommendations for the subjects and objects of the grassroots dissemination of engineering safety culture. This paper transforms cultural communication into an evolutionary game model, uses a game tree to describe it, and analyzes that the model has a Nash equilibrium point by adding a penalty function to the income matrix. This model can encourage cultural communication participants to take honest behaviors, effectively restrain the transmission of false information, and promote a virtuous circle of cultural communication.

Which image-based phenotypes are most promising for using AI to understand cellular functions and why?

Which image-based phenotypes are most promising for using AI to understand cellular functions and why?

Impact of institutional constraints on participatory irrigation management: The regulating role of moral obligation*

AbstractParticipatory irrigation management is key to realizing the virtuous circle in which irrigation facilities are used and managed in rural China. Therefore, it is essential to explore the key factors influencing participatory irrigation management. This paper innovatively analyses the impact of external institutional constraints and internal moral obligation of farmers on participatory irrigation management by using a structural equation model (SEM) and drawing on survey data from 1543 householders in the Yellow River basin. The results indicate that: (i) generally, both institutional constraints and moral obligation have significant positive impacts on collective action in participatory irrigation management; (ii) moral obligation plays an active regulating role in the process of institutional constraints affecting collective action; (iii) collective action contributes positively to the performance of participatory irrigation management. This paper shows that institutional constraints and moral obligation need to be taken into account in participatory irrigation management, and these considerations can offer some insights into governments in managing irrigation systems.

How machine learning activates data network effects in business models: Theory advancement through an industrial case of promoting ecological sustainability

A firm’s business model accounts for direct and indirect network effects, where the network size is a key enabler of value creation and appropriation. Additional conception of a business network’s contribution is provided by a recent advancement of the theory of data network effects, where machine learning is used to analyze large data sets to learn, predict, and improve. The more learning there is, the more value is generated, producing ever more data and learning and creating a virtuous circle. For the first time, this study combines the theory of data network effects with business model theory. The contribution lies in extending a business model’s lock-in effects through direct and indirect network effects to encompass data network effects. This paper provides a case study that supports the theoretical advancement and illustrates how this form of machine learning can increase profitability while reducing negative ecological impacts in an industrial context.

Revisiting Keynes in the Light of the Transition to Circular Economy

The study briefly recalls the evolution and crisis of the theory and thought of John Maynard Keynes with the rise and progressive dominance of the neoliberalism paradigm. The exercise has been made for evaluating the effects of such process for the sustainability of the global economy and society. In this view, we explored how Keynes’ contribution could be useful for the global economy in building a new paradigm of socio-economic development underpinning the transition to circular economy (CE). We also evaluated the adoption of the Global Green New Deal including a case study of Italy for the purpose of suggesting how that topical political programme can be key in the CE transition. Given the urgency of environmental problems, we underline the importance of the adoption of Keynesian expansionary “green mission oriented” fiscal policies with the purpose of allowing the triggering of a virtuous circle of sustainable welfare involving the Green New deal and the transition to CE. At the basis of such virtuous circle, we propose a new paradigm based on a revisited Keynesian paradigm and models of economy within the framework of Genovesi’s “civil economy” that entails an active role and responsibility of all the societal actors (consumers, companies and institutions). In this view, the “spirit” of Keynes in the economy, policy and society could be appreciated once more and be extremely useful along with other scholars’ contributions in accelerating the CE transition and a more sustainable development.

Construction of College English Teaching Model in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology provides new thoughts and ideas for the reform of English teaching(ET) mode. This article understands the related knowledge of AI technology and ecological pedagogy, and studies and analyses the current situation of college ET in my country, and discusses how to use AI technology to reform my country’s ET model. Relying on data mining technology and deep learning algorithms in AI, the ET model gradually develops in a better direction, making it a virtuous circle.

CFD study of a CI engine powered in the dual-fuel mode with syngas and waste vegetable oil

Syngas production from biomass gasification and its use in combined heat and power (CHP) generation systems is a feasible alternative to traditional fuels in Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs), although its quality is poorer in terms of calorific value and energy density. Therefore, a viable option for its exploitation can be assured if ICEs operate in dual-fuel (DF) mode, where employing non-edible oils (as Waste Vegetable Oils, WVO) as a further residual material may solve issues related both to the utilization of diesel fuels and to the high costs for biodiesel production. The practice promotes a virtuous circle to enhance material recovery without disposal. A combined experimental-numerical activity for the analysis of the performances of a Compression Ignition (CI) engine in the DF mode with syngas and WVO is here presented. An appropriate pre-heating system is mounted on the engine injection line to reduce the WVO viscosity. Experimental data collected in terms of in-cylinder pressure cycle, heat release rates and main pollutants at different loads are used to validate a properly developed three-dimensional (3D) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model, that helps investigating the detail of the syngas fuelling on power output and emissions.