Suchergebnisse

Enhancing the competitive advantage of the international logistics industry is vital for a country. While most literature addresses the competitive advantage of individual organisations from the resource-based view, relatively few studies assess various governmental influences on providing a competitive advantage to the logistics industry. Drawing on the institutional theory and resource-based view, this study empirically identifies the critical drivers that affect competitive advantage in the international logistics industry. From the initial findings and a review of the relevant literature, this study identifies infrastructure, technology, integration, and regulation as the main drivers. Empirical data were collected from 149 international logistics firms or service providers in Taiwan. The study results show that the logistics industry in Taiwan is satisfied with technology and infrastructure. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), this study finds that regulation and integration have a positive impact on the competitive advantage of the international logistics industry, whereas technology has a positive impact on integration. In addition, based on the results of bootstrapping analysis, integration has a mediating effect on the relationship between technology and competitive advantage of the international logistics industry. Theoretical, managerial, and policy implications are discussed to reinforce the competitive advantage of the international logistics industry.

Improving the sustainability of traditional resource-based cities in China has been a core issue and policy-priority for Chinese government to establish long-term ecological civilization, particularly for northeastern China which is recognized as a typical agglomeration area of resources cities. In this study, we establish a three-layer index system consisting of a comprehensive layer, systemic layer, and variable layer, and including 22 indicators which are grouped into economic, social and environmental subsystems. After that, the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method was applied to measure and rank the sustainability of the selected 15 typical resource-based cities in northeast China, and then a GIS (Geographical Information System) technique based on the software of SuperMap was applied to map the sustainability in terms of the spatial effects among these cities. The results reveal that a unilateral improvement of a subsystem did not mean an improvement or contribution to whole system. In detail, during the past 15 years from 2000 to 2015, the comprehensive sustainability of resource-based cities in Northeastern China shows a declining trend in the mass, and the sustainability of the economic subsystem shows increase; the sustainability of the social system remains stable, while the environmental subsystem shows decrease. These situations might result from policy interventions during the past 15 years, therefore, promoting the sustainability of resource-based cities needs a historical approach, which should focus on the coordinated development of its economic, social, and environmental subsystems.

This study evaluated the roles of multiple factors in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, with emphasis on the modification of various individual characteristics on the risk associated with percutaneous exposure to blood. Serum samples taken from 4869 men in Taiwan within a cohort study were tested for HCV antibody. The overall positive rate of anti-HCV was 1.6%. In a logistic regression, factors positively associated with anti-HCV positivity were previous blood transfusion (odds ratio [OR] = 7.28: 95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.26-12.45), a history of surgery (OR = 2.06: 95% CI = 1 23-3.46), and lower educational levels (OR = 1.94; 95% CI = 1.14-3.32). The anti-HCV positive rate was significantly lower in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers than in non-carriers (OR = 0.60; 95% CI = 0.37-0.95). Ageing, lower educational levels, O blood group, and Taiwanese ethnicity enhanced the likelihood of HCV infection through blood transfusion/surgery, whereasHBsAg status, cigarette smoking, and habitual alcohol drinking reduced it.

A recent Nature article modelled within-country inequalities in primary, secondary, and tertiary education and forecast progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to education (SDG 4). However, their paper entirely overlooks inequalities in achieving Target 4.2, which aims to achieve universal access to quality early childhood development, care and preschool education by 2030. This is an important omission because of the substantial brain, cognitive and socioemotional developments that occur in early life and because of increasing evidence of early-life learning's large impacts on subsequent education and lifetime wellbeing. We provide an overview of this evidence and use new analyses to illustrate medium- and long-term implications of early learning, first by presenting associations between pre-primary programme participation and adolescent mathematics and science test scores in 73 countries and secondly, by estimating the costs of inaction (not making pre-primary programmes universal) in terms of forgone lifetime earnings in 134 countries. We find considerable losses, comparable to or greater than current governmental expenditures on all education (as percentages of GDP), particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries. In addition to improving primary, secondary and tertiary schooling, we conclude that to attain SDG 4 and reduce inequalities in a post-COVID era, it is essential to prioritize quality early childhood care and education, including adopting policies that support families to promote early learning and their children's education.