Suchergebnisse

Life Cycle Assessment(LCA), objective of which is to elucidate the impact of biodiesel on energy supply and natural environment and its economic value while giving an assessment on commercialization application of biodiesel, is performed in this study. Based on LCA methodology, production cost and CO2 emission estimation of rapeseed biodiesel industry were conducted. Results of the assessment indicate that the total amount of absorbed CO2 during the whole life cycle of rapeseed biodiesel is much larger than that has been emitted and rapeseed biodiesel is really an environment-friendly energy source. With the contribution of biodiesel derived from rapeseed oil made during the process of its full life cycle, green house emissions could be enormously reduced. However, in terms of production cost, the phenomenon that considerable portion of the total cost is occupied by the cost of raw material is observed in rapeseed biodiesel. Specifically, the portion of raw material cost is larger than 89% while the portion of crew oil is larger than 87%. The improvement of economical efficiency in the commercialization application of rapeseed biodiesel depends on the reduction of raw material cost. If we want to develop rapeseed biodiesel in China, government's encouraging policies, such as tax exceptions and financial subsidies, are necessary.

Development assistance for health (DAH) promotes health development in low and middle income countries. China and India, as emerging donors, have scaled-up their DAH programs during the recent years. Nepal, as a neighboring country to China and India, has witnessed the history and development of China's and India's DAH. This research uses a literature review and in-depth individual interviewing to compare the history and forms of DAH given from China and India to Nepal. During 60-years of DAH to Nepal, China and India have gradually increased the scale and forms of DAH, and both focus on dispatching medical teams or faculty, building health facilities and gifting medicines and equipment. However, the inclusiveness of Nepalese culture, diplomatic interests, and Nepal's cultural, linguistic and geographical closeness to India make the DAH of India different from that of China. India's DAH also includes support to grass roots NGOs and public health interventions. China's and India's insistence on a recipient-driven mechanism keeps the aid programs aligned with Nepal's health development plan and respects Nepal's "ownership". China can learn from India to start the development assistance for health related NGOs and public health intervention.

We examine the effects of government R&D support on a firm's access to external financing, focusing on the mechanisms through which the impacts are achieved. Based on a panel dataset of Chinese manufacturing firms, we compare firms backed by government R&D subsidies with a control group of firms in their capability to access external financial resources. To address identification issues, we employ a propensity score matching approach to construct the control group and estimate the effects of government R&D subsidies in a difference-in-difference manner. Above all, we find significant ex-post effects of such subsidies on firms' access to external financing after addressing the identification issues. We investigate two mechanisms, namely, direct funding effects and certification effects. In particular, we decompose direct funding effects by identifying the equity effect and the prototyping effect and decompose certification effects by separating quality certification from the certification of the political capital of entrepreneurial firms. We find that both direct funding and certification mechanisms are at play. Specifically, government R&D subsidies have significant and positive effects on innovation outputs but not on the financial returns of firms, supporting the prototyping effects of the direct funding of government subsidies in China. Furthermore, government subsidies for R&D primarily serve as a certificate for political capital rather than the quality of the firms in China. Government-supported firms receive further subsidies afterward. Moreover, the effects of government R&D subsidies are more potent in regions where the local governments are more efficient and impose less intervention in business activities. However, the effects of government subsidies are not sensitive to the magnitude of information problems related to the quality of entrepreneurial firms.

AbstractThis paper explores the initial integration experiences of Syrian refugee children in schools in Canada. We conducted two focus groups with twelve Syrian refugee parents and three focus groups with eighteen children. Our research shows that Syrian refugee children experienced emotional barriers while struggling with their identity as Syrian "refugees." Their low English proficiency, English only practice in classrooms and teachers' low expectations further exacerbated the barriers to children's school integration. Syrian refugee children not only found it difficult to make friends with local students but were also subjected to constant bullying and racism that affected their sense of belonging and connection. Our research has both local and global implications, given a global increase in refugee student population. This paper makes an important contribution to the student voice theory by integrating the voices and concerns of Syrian refugee children trying to integrate into the Canadian school system.