Explaining urban governance in the midst of political transformation: The city of Macao

This paper takes a close look at the urban governance and political culture of Macao, the world largest casino city. Macao has experienced spectacular economic growth since gaming liberalisation in 2002 and China's Free Individual Travel scheme launched in 2003. However, the booming gaming sector has crowded out other sectors of Macao. It has not only made the city's economy mono‐structured and consequently extremely vulnerable to external shocks and fluctuations but also induced serious social divisions and political controversies within the local community. By tracing the root cause of the ongoing dilemma and crisis in the mode of governance, the dynamic relationships between formal and informal institutions, consensus politics and the social group culture are intensively discussed in a historical context. In fact, the sustainable development of the former Portuguese colony has largely been hindered by its residents' passive attitudes toward political communication, non‐transparent urban governance, the absence of a middle class and the dominance of pro‐establishment social groups.     

Arrested growth and urban sustainability in the Asia Pacific

City managers throughout the Asia Pacific region are turning to the concept of sustainability in order to guide urban growth. This research note reviews the dominant contemporary urban and regional planning concepts promoted during the last few decades, shows how the financial crises challenged this mode of thinking and led to the adoption of sustainable urban development policies.     

An economic analysis of urban infrastructure development project in the northern Indian city of Bharatpur

Rajasthan Urban Sector Development Program involved investment in water supply, sewerage, sanitation, and drainage, solid waste management (SWM), and etc. in major cities in the state of Rajasthan in India. This program was an initiative of the Government of Rajasthan and the Government of India carried out with a loan arrangement from Asian Development Bank. The phase II of the program was implemented in 15 cities of Rajasthan including Bharatpur with total investment of 1868.40 million Indian Rupees. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the economic viability of the infrastructure investments in Bharatpur in water supply, sewerage, sanitation, and drainage, SWM, and measure the impact on urban poor. Water supply, sewerage, sanitation, and drainage, and SWM subprojects are economically viable with internal rate of return (IRR) of 85.72%, 22.87%, and 39.34%, respectively. The sensitivity analysis shows above 12% IRR for all the above‐mentioned subprojects. The distribution of project benefits to the urban poor in Bharatpur is significant with poverty impact ratio of 9%.     

Applying SLEUTH model for simulating urban growth scenario of Chongqing districts

Districts of Chongqing is selected as the study area, which has a rapid rate of urbanization and eco-environmental pressure. The fundamental data of this study is the remote images and urban planning images of Chongqing city in 1988, 1993, 2000 and 2007. After data processing by RS and GIS, model calibration is applied to obtain the best parameters for the SLEUTH model. Then, the SLEUTH model is used for the simulation of the urban growth over the past 20 years. On the basis, the SLEUTH model is applied to predict the situation of urban expansion of the region in the next 10 years. The simulation results show that the calibrated model has a higher simulated precision for the urban expansion of study area, and the pace of urbanization has become relatively rapid in the study area, which may be closely related to the current land planning, road construction, industrial structure and economic policy.     

Firm employment growth in China: The role of marketization and regional economic factors

Very heterogeneous patterns of firm employment growth characterize the Chinese provinces, suggesting the existence of a relationship between these and regional factors. This empirical work explores this topic by providing novel evidence of the role played by regional institutional and regional factors in firm employment growth in China during the decade 1998–2007, an important period in the Chinese transition towards a market economy. The results show that controlling for the internal determinants of firm performance, the firms located in provinces converging faster towards a market economy, exhibiting relatively better patterns (in terms of agglomeration, endowment of human capital, innovation and environmental protection) tend to expand their employment relatively more. These findings confirm the existence of a macro–micro-connection as to what firm heterogeneity is concerned, as they reveal a differential growth channel along the regional dimension. In particular, local progress in government–market relationships appears as the most relevant dimension of marketization process. Given the regionally decentralized institutional system in China and considering its process of transformation, these findings inform local authorities concerned with the promotion of regional employment.     

The impact of R&D and knowledge spillovers on the economic growth of Russian regions

Russia presents an interesting case of a country which has strived to implement innovation policies since the transition period but so far has achieved mixed results. This study aims to analyze the impact of knowledge production and knowledge spillovers on regional growth in Russia within a framework of endogenous growth models. Applying GMM and spatial error panel modeling techniques to Rosstat data for 80 Russian regions from 2005 to 2013, the authors test the hypothesis about the relevance of R&D and expenditure on technological innovations (H1) and the hypothesis about the relevance of knowledge spillovers (H2) on the growth rates of GRP per capita. Hypothesis 1 was confirmed while Hypothesis 2 was rejected, indicating the absorptive capacities of innovatively lagging regions were not high enough for effective adaptation of new technologies from technologically innovative regions. Inclusion of indicators related to additional channels of knowledge diffusion in regressions resulted in the relevance of FDI and imports of goods and services for regional growth. Results of the study could form the basis for developing innovation policies for the Russian regions.     

城市空间增长效应评价方法——以重庆市为例

在城市空间快速增长背景下,开展城市空间增长效应评价研究,有助于解决城市空间增长中出现的问题,可为确定城市空间发展战略、制定空间发展政策提供依据。城市空间增长效应评价方法旨在定量、客观地判断城市空间增长过程中要素配置与运行是否合理、高效和公平。笔者建立了结构配置效应、经济配置效应和公平配置效应3个方面的评价体系,通过目标法对城市空间增长效应进行评价,得出空间增长效应评价函数。以重庆市为例进行实证分析,结果显示：重庆市2004-2013年间的城市空间增长效应总体呈上升发展趋势,结构性、公平性趋好;合理配置效应和经济配置效应波动显著,反映出城市建设面临的用地结构优化、用地效率提升等方面的问题。     

The relationship between China's income inequality and transport infrastructure,economic growth,and carbon emissions

Since the beginning of the 21st century, accompanied by the tremendous achievements of China's economic growth is an increasingly severe income gap between the rich and the poor. Based on panel data from 2000 to 2018, this study systematically examined the relationship among transport infrastructure, economic growth, carbon emissions, and income inequality in China, using the panel vector autoregressive model estimated by the generalized method of moments. We further divided China into three regions to investigate the regional heterogeneity of these relationships. The results show a long‐run equilibrium relationship between transport infrastructure, economic growth, carbon emissions, and income inequality. Income inequality in the previous year significantly affects that in the current year positively. Whether at the national or regional level, economic growth affects income inequality negatively. For the national sample, the highway reduces income inequality, while the railway increases income inequality. For both the subsamples and the national sample, carbon emissions significantly increase income inequality and are the Granger test cause for income inequality. Furthermore, we discuss some of the possible mechanisms of these results. Our findings generate policy implications for reducing income inequality in regard to economic growth, transport infrastructure, and carbon emissions.     

The space-time evolution and driving forces of county economic growth in China from 1998 to 2015

Coordinated growth in regional economies is fundamental for sustainable economic development. In this study, the space-time dynamics of GDP per capita for 2,303 counties in China from 1998 to 2015 were analyzed based on an exploratory space-time data analysis (ESTDA) framework. The results showed that: (a) there was significant and increasing positive spatiotemporal correlation among county-level economic growth; (b) local spatiotemporal correlation pattern demonstrated a high–high cluster at the eastern coast, and low–low dispersion in the vast central and western regions; (c) changes in LISA time trajectory revealed that economic growth in the coastal urban agglomeration and Inner Mongolia was more dynamic, indicating the emergence of a local spatial structure locking feature and trajectory dependence; and (d) industrialization and informatization were the two primary contributors to county economic growth. Our study suggests that Chinese government should construct network channels linking the central region with eastern China, cultivate economic growth poles and growth axis, and focus on technological innovation to unlock path dependence in county economic growth.     

循环水养殖系统中饲养密度对罗非鱼幼鱼生长及经济效益的影响

为探讨养殖密度对循环水养殖系统中罗非鱼幼鱼的影响,选取了同批次的罗非鱼幼鱼进行50天的饲养,测定了4组不同养殖密度梯度下幼鱼的生长指标的变化,并计算了不同工况下的经济效益。结果表明,养殖密度对罗非鱼幼鱼的生长有一定的影响,随着养殖密度的增大,幼鱼的成活率及最终平均体重和体长都呈现出下降的趋势,特定生长率、日平均增重、生长效率、肥满度等生长指标也显示出相似的规律,密度最低的A组各生长指标显著高于密度最高的D组,密度过高会抑制罗非鱼幼鱼的个体生长速度。养殖经济效益分析表明C组产量最高,是较适宜的养殖密度。     

Changing patterns of migration and regional economic growth in the U.S.: a demographic perspective

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the South and West census regions accounted for over 90% of incremental national population, which was easily the highest percentage accounted for by these regions in the nation's history. This paper stresses the importance of powerful demographic forces that contributed to the regional shift, but it does not ignore important economic factors. A major theme of the paper is that because the baby boom has now largely matured out of the most mobile age classes, population and employment growth differentials that strongly favored the South and West will moderate in the future.     

Urban growth in a post-2000 central Chinese urban agglomeration: Case study of the Changzhutan region

The rapid development of coastal urban agglomerations in China has gained global attention since the 1980s. Recently, several regions in the Central China have also experienced rapid economic development. The objectives of this paper are to explore whether the spatial pattern of urban growth in Central China's urban agglomerations is the same as those costal ones and whether it is driven by anything other than external forces. Using the Changzhutan region as an example, this study analyses the economic transformation and spatial restructuring of the populations in urban agglomerations in Central China and explores the driving factors of urban growth using regression models. We find that most of the population is concentrated in prefecture-level city districts and county seats, which is markedly different from the large-scale regional population agglomerations found in the coastal urban agglomerations. Domestic investment, instead of foreign investment, and human capital, has become important factors driving the population migration. This finding sharply contrasts with the pattern found in coastal urban agglomerations, where regional concentrations of the population and economic activities are primarily driven by labour-intensive and global economies. This case study may serve as a basis for future urban planning and management in Central China.     

滴施缩节胺与氮肥对棉花生长发育及产量的影响

为探明缩节胺与氮肥对棉花农艺性状的互作效应,试验采用双因素随机区组设计,设置150 (N1)、300 (N2)、450 kg hm–2 (N3) 3个施氮(纯N)水平, 525 (D1)、1050 (D2)、2100 g hm–2 (D3) 3个缩节胺水平,交互共9个处理。研究滴施不同剂量氮肥与缩节胺对棉花农艺性状、棉铃时空分布、干物质积累及分配、产量及纤维品质的影响。结果表明,缩节胺与氮肥互作效应对棉花农艺性状影响显著,在低氮状态下缩节胺对棉花生长的延缓作用减弱甚至消失。N1处理下, D3处理相比D1处理棉株的株高、果枝始节高、第4果枝长、第7果枝长分别增加12.07、1.54、1.28和1.20cm。在正常或高氮状态下缩节胺对棉花生长产生一定的延缓作用,其控制效果并不随缩节胺剂量增加而增强,N3处理下,D3处理相比D1处理棉株的株高、第1果枝长、第2果节间平均长度分别降低1.05、1.68和1.52cm。棉株的株高、茎粗与果枝数随施氮量增加而增加, N3处理相比N1处理分别增加3.30 cm、0.75 mm与0.29台;其果枝长与果节间长在不同施氮量间无明显差异。D2处理相比D1与...     

Effects of auxin and methyl jasmonate on cut rose petal growth through activation of acid invertase

Petal growth associated with flower opening depends on cell expansion caused by water influx. To understand the mechanism of flower opening and to develop a method for improving cut flower quality, we investigated the changes in the amount of soluble carbohydrates and invertase activities in rose (Rosa ‘Meivildo’) petals using attached and cut flowers, and the effects of α-napthylacetic acid (NAA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on cut flowers. Cut rose flowers were harvested at the tight bud stage (TB), or mature bud stage (MB), which is the commercial harvest stage, and 2 days after TB. Cut flowers were immediately treated with deionized water or 1% (w/v) glucose. Fresh weight (FW) and the levels of soluble carbohydrates in petals in cut flowers were lower under postharvest conditions than those of attached flowers during flower opening. Although invertase activities in petals of attached flowers increased drastically during TB and MB, those in the petals harvested at TB did not increase under postharvest conditions. These results suggested that sucrose metabolism, including invertase activity, could be an important factor in cut rose flower opening to a greater extent after harvest. In addition, we tried to control flower opening by affecting invertase activities in petals of cut rose flowers. Cut flowers treated with NAA opened faster and those treated with MeJA opened later than in controls. Levels of soluble carbohydrates and invertase activity in petals were also changed by these treatments. In flowers treated with NAA, activities of both vacuolar and cell wall invertases increased 1 day after treatment and then decreased through to the end of the treatment, although activities in control flowers never increased after harvested. By contrast, cell wall invertase activity in MeJA treated flowers increased 1 day later than with the NAA treatment and remained at a relatively high level until 4 days after treatment compared to the controls. Our results suggest that inducing invertase activity in postharvest conditions may important for the quality of cut roses.     

Institutions and local growth coalitions in China's urban land reform: The case of Hangzhou High‐Technology Zone

Abstract: China's urban land reform is a gradualist process of transforming a planned land allocation system to an open land market system, while the ownership of the land remains under the control of the state. This process defines the relationships between local government and emerging non‐public interest groups in the land development process. These issues can be most clearly seen in the State‐Approved Development Zones, where municipalities have been encouraged to promote economic development and test out land policy initiatives. Using the institutionalist and urban growth machine analytical approaches to land development processes, this study examines the operation of development processes and the role of local government and its relationship with other interest groups. By employing a case study research strategy, focused upon the Hangzhou High‐Technology Zone, the study uncovered a local government‐led growth coalition which featured participation by other interest groups and revealed the applicability and variations when applying two strands of theories to a socialist economy in transition. Besides the land reform policy implications drawn from the case study evidence, the study concludes that the presence of interest groups and the missing community organisations unique to China give new theoretical implications and that both theories work much better with the economic domain than with the political domain largely because of a lagged political reform.     

基于种子萌发出苗过程中弯钩建成和下胚轴生长的棉花出苗壮苗机制与技术

苗全苗壮是实现棉花丰产丰收的基础,但棉花属于子叶全出土的双子叶植物,播种出苗易受环境条件和播种技术的影响,一播全苗、壮苗的难度很大。棉苗顶端弯钩及时建成和下胚轴稳健生长是棉花出苗壮苗的关键,本文首次以单粒精播调控种子萌发出苗过程中的顶端弯钩建成和下胚轴生长的生理与分子机制为核心,系统评述了棉花成苗壮苗的调控机制。棉花种子单粒精播、适当浅播,促进下胚轴伸长、弯钩建成和展开的关键基因HLS1和COP1适时、适量表达,棉苗下胚轴伸长、弯钩及时建成,保证出土并适时展开弯钩和脱掉种壳,正常出苗。单粒精播种子出苗后通过调控下胚轴生长关键基因HY5和ARF2表达,下胚轴稳健生长,形成壮苗。在此基础上,总结提出了以单粒精播、适当浅播为核心,配合精细整地、提高种子质量、地膜覆盖、膜下滴灌等措施的棉花成苗壮苗关键栽培技术,为实现一播全苗、壮苗早发提供了重要参考和指导。     

Seed set of ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus Loz.). Variation between clones and enhancement of seed production through the application of plant growth regulators

Summary Ulluco, Ullucus tuberosus, is a tuber crop plant with a reduced ability to produce botanical seed. This paper discusses problems related to the botanical seed set of ulluco. Ten clones of this species were studied, and the number of seeds per plant was recorded. Enhancement of seed production was attempted by the application of three growth regulators; gibberellic acid, CCC, and a synthetic cytokinin, 6-benzylamine purine. Seed set ability was shown to vary between the clones, and the application of plant growth regulators did not enhance seed production. Variation in fruit weight was observed. Because of genetic variation between clones in their ability to set seed, it is proposed that there is a possibility of breeding ulluco using botanical seeds. However, methods for improving the yield of botanical seed need to be developed.     

Augmentation of photosynthesis,crop productivity,enzyme activities and alkaloids production in Sadabahar (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Catharanthus roseus</Emphasis> L.) through application of diverse plant growth regulators

Exogenous application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) has vital impact on the growth and productivity of plants. Foliar application of selected PGRs, viz. indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), kinetin (KIN), thidiazuron (TDZ), gibberellic acid (GA3), salicylic acid (SA), homobrassinosteroids (HBR), and triacontanol (TRIA), were carried out in order to assess the effects on growth of two cultivars (Rosea and Alba) of Catharanthus roseus L. G. Don. The Rosea and Alba plants were sprayed with PGRs (10⁻⁷ M) at 60 days after planting (DAP). Shoot and root lengths, plant fresh and dry weights, leaf-area index, total chlorophyll and carotenoids content, net photosynthetic rate, nitrate reductase and carbonic anhydrase activities, and leaf essential nutrients (N, P, and K) were analyzed at 150 DAP while yield attributes and total alkaloids of leaves and roots, contents of vincristine and vinblastine alkaloids were measured at 210 DAP. The results showed that HBR significantly improved most of the growth attributes. Application of HBR, KIN, and GA3 resulted in the ameliorative effects on plant productivity, physiological and biochemical parameters as compared to the unsprayed (control) plants. The effect of TDZ was not significantly different than the control plants. GA3 application significantly increased the vincristine content (7.3%) while TDZ exhibited reduced vincristine content. The effect of other PGR was insignificant towards vincristine and vinblastine contents. The response of Rosea toward exogenous PGRs application was better than Alba in terms of crop productivity, physiological and biochemical parameters, and alkaloid production.