1,115 research outputs found
Agroforestry systems: Meta‐analysis of soil carbon stocks, sequestration processes, and future potentials
No full textContrasting responses of soil fungal communities and soil respiration to the above‐ and below‐ground plant C inputs in a subtropical forest
No full textConspicuous consumption of young Chinese consumers
No full textLINGLING, Z. Conspicuous consumption of young Chinese consumers. Bachelor thesis. Brno: Mendel University in Brno, 2021. With China’s social and economic development and the continuous improvement of the consumption level of contemporary young people, young consumer groups have higher and higher requirements for material conditions, and the influence of conspicuous consumption in daily life is becoming more and more significant. Understanding and analysis the conspicuous consumption of young consumer groups is of great significance to the development of enterprises. This thesis surveys young Chinese consumers aged 18–25 and collects key data through questionnaire surveys (n = 261) and interviews (n = 10). Performed statistics and analysis on the obtained data helped identify the reasons, main motives, and characteristics of conspicuous consumption of young Chinese consumers. Author also provides marketing advice for Chinese companies targeting young consumers
Isolation, structure elucidation and racemization of (+)- and (-)-pratensilins A-C: Unprecedented spiro indolinone-naphthofuran alkaloids from a marine: Streptomyces sp
No full textThree pairs of new enantiomeric alkaloids with an unprecedented spiro indolinone-naphthofuran skeleton were isolated from a marine Streptomyces sp. The pure enantiomers had a marked difference in the enantiomerization processes for the three compounds. DFT calculations in combination with chemical derivatization were performed to corroborate the racemization process via a keto-enol-type tautomerism
Fast algorithm and surface integral equations for two-dimensional materials modeling
No full textIn this dissertation, a wide-band two-dimensional (2D) fast multipole algorithm (FMA) with a novel diagonalization form is presented. The conventional diagonalization of 2D FMA can be derived based on the interpretation of Parseval's theorem. The performance of FMA in the twilight zone (between the low-frequency and high-frequency regimes) is not good enough. By scaling special functions and applying discrete Fourier transform (DFT), the multipole expansions with dense matrices can be transformed to diagonal matrices with stable accuracy. Therefore a broadband 2D FMA with high efficiency and accuracy is achieved with a multi-level scheme.
Then a metasurface platform to generate structured light at second harmonics is proposed with transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) flakes. With the aid of the electric field integral equation and impedance boundary condition, the surface currents on TMDC flakes can be calculated at fundamental frequencies. By applying three-fold rotational symmetry of the quadratically nonlinear susceptibility of TMDC monolayer, radial (or azimuthal) polarization and orbital angular momentum can be generated at second harmonics with linearly polarized and circularly polarized incident waves at the fundamental frequency, respectively.
Finally, the radiative heat transfer between two graphene-wrapped objects with arbitrary shapes is studied by a fluctuating-surface current formulation derived from surface integral equations with impedance boundary conditions. The surface conductivity of graphene can be tuned by the temperature, chemical doping or electrical gating. The near-field thermal radiation can be enhanced due to graphene plasmonics in the terahertz regime. Off resonance, the graphene coating has a shielding effect on the dielectric bodies containing fluctuating-current sources. This formulation can be extended to the multi-body problem and other two-dimensional materials.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2023-05-01The student, Lingling Meng, accepted the attached license on 2021-04-19 at 23:26.The student, Lingling Meng, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-04-19 at 23:51.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-04-21 at 13:58.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16433 on 2021-09-16 at 20:11:26Made available in DSpace on 2021-09-17T04:04:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Visualized gender and gendered visuality: Love, marriage, and labor in contemporary Chinese women’s visual culture
No full textFeminism was long sidelined as a bourgeois ideology in Communist China and has never fully recovered as the leading apparatus for female empowerment. Chinese women have made tremendous progress under the leadership of the Communist Party, but at the same time faced unprecedented challenges in contemporary Chinese society where social welfare for women is increasingly marketized. How do Chinese women empower themselves when transitioning first to a planned economy and then to a market economy? My dissertation project studies women’s empowerment stories through the cultural works of four women visual professionals each representing the zeitgeist of her era. Methodologically, I break the conventional artistic boundaries by using visual culture as the new umbrella term. I have utilized fieldwork in Beijing and interviews with artists in Beijing, Paris, and Washington D.C. In addition, I have drawn a wide range of theories liberally in order to best analyze theory-informed contemporary visual culture. Through close examinations of the women’s world represented in the visual works of Dong Kena, Li Shuang, Xiao Lu, and Cui Xiuwen, the dissertation reveals that productive work is a great empowering tool for women across different sociopolitical contexts in Communist China, that women turn to sisterhood for female empowerment, often disappointed at its limitation and even betrayal, and that women artists in the new millennium turn to spirituality to seek personal and artistic empowerment. The dissertation recognizes the many challenges facing Chinese feminism but nevertheless concludes optimistically regarding the alliance of spirituality and feminism and its empowering potentiality.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2021-05-01The student, LingLing Yao, accepted the attached license on 2019-04-17 at 11:19.The student, LingLing Yao, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2019-04-17 at 11:21.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2019-04-17 at 16:50.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #13706 on 2019-08-22 at 16:22:50Made available in DSpace on 2019-08-23T20:47:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3
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The effect of competition in the healthcare industry
No full textThis dissertation examines a number of issues related to competition in the healthcare industry. In the first chapter, I estimate the supply and demand behavior of participants in the MA market by utilizing the most recent available data. I use the estimated model to quantify the welfare effects of two major changes in the MA market. The first is a possible change in the market structure due to a proposed and currently challenged merger between two major insurance firms. The second is a change to the payment rules due to the introduction of the Quality Bonus Payment (QBP) as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was intended to reduce overpayments made to MA plans and create incentives for quality improvement by basing payments on the plans’ quality ratings. By conducting several counterfactual analyses, I estimate that the merger would lead to a 5% decrease in consumer surplus, and that costs would need to decrease by at least 9% in order to bring consumer welfare back to the pre-merger levels. I also find that quality increases after the introduction of the QBP were enough to offset lower payments made to plans, which allowed the government to reduce spending without lowering consumer surplus.
In the second chapter, I examine whether competition in the MA market leads to higher plan quality. A linear mixed model as well as an ordinal logistic regression are used to measure the effect of competition levels on a plan’s quality rating. The results show that plans in more competitive counties are more likely to have higher quality ratings.
In the third chapter, I study the pricing effects of mergers in the generic drug market by looking at a case study of a merger between two major pharmaceutical firms, Actavis and Watson Labs, which have a wide range of overlapping products. In order to remedy market power increases as a result of the merger, divestitures were required in 21 product markets. Unlike previous literature, I examine two types of markets in which the merging firms were present, markets that involve divestitures and markets that do not. Examining markets involving divestitures allows the cost efficiency effect to be measured without any confounding market power effect. By using retail and wholesale data I compare the price changes of the merging parties with different control groups after the merger. I find that there was significant cost efficiency realized in a year following the merger and that this effect dominates the market power effect in non-divestiture markets. I also find that divested products experienced a cost increase after the ownership change.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2020-05-01The student, Lingling Sun, accepted the attached license on 2018-04-11 at 18:56.The student, Lingling Sun, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2018-04-11 at 19:06.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2018-04-13 at 08:08.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #12201 on 2018-08-31 at 17:27:28Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-04T20:47:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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The Time Inheritors: How Time Inequalities Shape Higher Education Mobility in China
No full textCan a student inherit time? What difference does time make to their educational journeys and outcomes? The Time Inheritors draws on nearly a decade of field research with more than one hundred youth in China to argue that intergenerational transfers of privilege or deprivation are manifested in and through time. Comparing experiences of rural-to-urban, cross-border, and transnational education, Cora Lingling Xu shows how inequalities in time inheritance help drive deeply unequal mobility. With its unique focus on time, nuanced comparative analysis, and sensitive ethnographic engagement, The Time Inheritors opens new avenues for understanding the social mechanisms shaping the future of China and the world.Reviews"Xu's conceptually sophisticated monograph reveals how intersectional inequalities are constructed, experienced, and transmitted temporally, with special reference to education. Through the vivid stories of students in mainland China and Hong Kong, and Chinese international students, Xu brings to life different individuals' 'time inheritances,' demonstrating the exciting possibilities time offers as a lens for innovative thinking about inequality. A must-read for sociologists and anthropologists of education, China, and time." — Rachel Murphy, author of The Children of China's Great Migration"Innovative and ambitious, The Time Inheritors proposes a time-centric framework that brings together analyses of social structure, history, individual behavior, and affect. We often feel we are fighting for time. But, as Cora Xu argues in this important study of Chinese students, the scarcity of time is not a given or universal. Different experiences of time result in part from the varying amounts of time we inherit from the previous generation. Time inheritance is therefore critical to the reproduction of social inequality." — Biao Xiang, coauthor of Self as Method: Thinking through China and the World"Cora Lingling Xu offers a groundbreaking analysis of educational inequality and social mobility in contemporary China. Xu centers the voices of marginalized students throughout, providing poignant insights into their lived experiences of rural poverty, urban precarity, and educational alienation. At the same time, Xu's comparative scope reveals how even seemingly privileged groups can be constrained by the temporal logics of social reproduction. The Time Inheritors is a must-read for scholars, educators, and policymakers concerned with educational equity and social justice. Xu's lucid prose and engaging case studies make the book accessible to a wide audience while her cutting-edge theoretical framework and methodological rigor set a new standard for research on education and inequality." — Chris R. Glass, coeditor of Critical Perspectives on Equity and Social Mobility in Study Abroad: Interrogating Issues of Unequal Access and Outcomes"By centering the temporal dimension of who is advantaged or disadvantaged, how, why, and with what consequences, The Time Inheritors takes a unique and powerful approach. Not only does the book contribute theoretically and empirically to our understanding of class inequalities but it also resonates deeply. The inclusion of Chinese translations and characters will give Chinese readers a rich, nuanced cultural appreciation of her findings." — Dan Cui, author of Identity and Belonging among Chinese Canadian Youth: Racialized Habitus in School, Family, and Media"An extremely well-written, theoretically informed, and compelling volume that represents a major contribution to the study of education, migration, and social inequality in China and beyond. The Time Inheritors proposes a bold and innovative framework—that of time inheritance—to open the black box of social inequality's temporal dimension. Whereas the relatively privileged classes inherit temporal wealth and strategies that enable them to bank and save time, facilitating their mobility, the time poor lack this inheritance, forcing them into a vicious cycle of wasting time and paying back temporal debts. Drawing from a rich palette of vivid and intimate longitudinal case studies, The Time Inheritors unpacks the complex intersections between familial, national, and global time inequalities." — Zachary M. Howlett, author of Meritocracy and Its Discontents: Anxiety and the National College Entrance Exam in Chin
Microbial growth rates, carbon use efficiency and enzyme activities during post-agricultural soil restoration
No full textDegradation of water quality caused by typhoon passage: a case study of the Zhejiang coastal waters in 2019
No full textThe degradation of coastal seawater quality off the Changjiang Estuary and adjacent waters is typically associated with monsoon wind, ocean currents and inputs of terrestrial pollutants. In addition to these factors, the passage of typhoons can be also important in driving short-term fluctuations in coastal water quality. Using a coupled Regional Ocean Modeling Systems (ROMS) and carbon, silicate, and nitrogen ecosystem (CoSiNE) model with Eulerian tracers, we investigated the transport processes of pollutants discharged from the Changjiang during the passage of Typhoons Lingling and Tapah (2019). The model results show that Typhoons Lingling and Tapah significantly enhanced the southward transport of these pollutants, leading to a sudden and noteworthy degradation of water quality in the Zhejiang coastal region during early autumn, despite no considerable change in monsoon pattern or river discharge compared to normal years. As Lingling and Tapah successively passed through the East China Sea in September, the average nitrate concentration in the Zhejiang coastal waters rose by 77%, and the percentage of heavily polluted water increased by 28%. Our numerical experiments showed that the impacts caused by Lingling and Tapah on nitrate levels in these waters lasted for approximately 34 and 23 days, respectively. These results indicate that typhoons play a crucial role in regulating the transport of pollutants in coastal waters, with significant sub-seasonal effects on the marine biogeochemical environment
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