Browsing by Author "Feng L"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Convergence of primary education development in urban and rural China: empirical analysis of historical trends and future projections
    (Springer Nature Limited, 2025-12) Zhang Y; Yang W; Li B; Yang Y; Chen L; Feng L
    Integrating primary school education in urban and rural areas is essential for reducing disparities in resources and promoting educational equity. This study uses four analytical methods—entropy variation coefficient-comprehensive index, time difference correlation analysis, multivariate linear regression prediction, and Beta convergence—to analyze the historical evolution, future trends, and convergence in primary education development levels in China. Using national time series data from 1995 to 2022, we constructed an evaluation index for primary education and found that the urban-rural gap in primary education has slightly narrowed. Although urban growth currently surpasses rural growth, projections for the next 13 years suggest a decreasing gap in annual growth rates between the two. The analysis shows significant absolute Beta convergence nationally and within urban areas from 1995 to 2035, while rural areas exhibit divergence. After controlling for factors such as per-student expenditure, school building floor space per student, student-teacher ratio, teacher education level, teacher title structure, number of primary schools per student, enrollment rates, and dependency ratio, we find no significant conditional convergence at the national level or between urban and rural areas from 1995 to 2035. These results highlight that current levels of urban-rural investment are inadequate for balancing primary education development. To address this, increased and equitable educational investment is necessary for balanced development across urban and rural areas, within rural areas, and among urban regions.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Integrating the Cross-Border Industrial Chain: An Exploring of Key Configuration of Agricultural Investment in Lancang-Mekong River Region
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2025-04-11) Feng L; Yang W; Jin Y; Zhang Y; Li B; Prus P
    The demand for agriculture finance and investment for sustainable agriculture development has long been a concern for many years. However, the insufficient integration of the agricultural technology innovation chain and technology transfer impedes the enhancement of collaborative innovation capability in evolving total factor productivity. This paper utilizes Chinese agricultural companies’ investment in the Lancang-Mekong River region as an example to scrutinize key configuration factors fostering the integration of technical collaboration within agricultural industry chains. The results indicated that Chinese agricultural companies can be classified into two categories based on their approach to technical collaboration. The first category is strength-oriented, and companies in this category have the capability to transform technological investments, yielding relatively high returns. They also have optimistic expectations regarding favorable policies in the host country. This category accounts for about one-third of the companies studied. The second category is potential-oriented, in which firms possess the potential for technological investment transformation, with lower investment returns. They require effective contextual management and tax incentives from the host country to thrive. The impact of foreign direct investment decision-making diminishes, introducing new imperatives for the current host country’s market environment and the management of FDI enterprises in the host country. This study makes contributions to advance the exploration of technology’s impact on agricultural companies’ cross-border investment, stipulating new requirements for the transformative development of regional foreign direct investment, particularly for private enterprises.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Mitochondrial oxidative capacity and NAD+ biosynthesis are reduced in human sarcopenia across ethnicities
    (Springer Nature Limited, 2019-12-20) Migliavacca E; Tay SKH; Patel HP; Sonntag T; Civiletto G; McFarlane C; Forrester T; Barton SJ; Leow MK; Antoun E; Charpagne A; Seng Chong Y; Descombes P; Feng L; Francis-Emmanuel P; Garratt ES; Giner MP; Green CO; Karaz S; Kothandaraman N; Marquis J; Metairon S; Moco S; Nelson G; Ngo S; Pleasants T; Raymond F; Sayer AA; Ming Sim C; Slater-Jefferies J; Syddall HE; Fang Tan P; Titcombe P; Vaz C; Westbury LD; Wong G; Yonghui W; Cooper C; Sheppard A; Godfrey KM; Lillycrop KA; Karnani N; Feige JN
    The causes of impaired skeletal muscle mass and strength during aging are well-studied in healthy populations. Less is known on pathological age-related muscle wasting and weakness termed sarcopenia, which directly impacts physical autonomy and survival. Here, we compare genome-wide transcriptional changes of sarcopenia versus age-matched controls in muscle biopsies from 119 older men from Singapore, Hertfordshire UK and Jamaica. Individuals with sarcopenia reproducibly demonstrate a prominent transcriptional signature of mitochondrial bioenergetic dysfunction in skeletal muscle, with low PGC-1α/ERRα signalling, and downregulation of oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial proteostasis genes. These changes translate functionally into fewer mitochondria, reduced mitochondrial respiratory complex expression and activity, and low NAD+ levels through perturbed NAD+ biosynthesis and salvage in sarcopenic muscle. We provide an integrated molecular profile of human sarcopenia across ethnicities, demonstrating a fundamental role of altered mitochondrial metabolism in the pathological loss of skeletal muscle mass and function in older people.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The path of social integration of migrants in poverty alleviation relocation: A case study of dongchuan from Yunnan plateau mountainous areas
    (Elsevier, 2024-08-17) Feng L; Yang W; yun J; zhang Y
    Poverty eradication is a critical objective of the Un 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China’s Poverty Alleviation Relocation (PAR) has made positive contributions to global poverty alleviation. The success of PAR depends on identifying factors affecting migrants’ intentions to move and understanding their lives post-PAR, which is usually ignored in the literature. Therefore, based on the social integration theory, this study adopts a structural equation modeling framework to empirically explore the social integration process of PAR migrants using the sample data sourced from a survey on the resettlement site in Yunnan province, China. The results show that the social integration of PAR migrants goes through the path of economic integration, community integration, and psychological integration, where community and social support help migrants to transition from improving economic standards of living to finding a place attachment and being a member of the new community. The empirical evidence indicates policymakers should consider providing support for PAR migrants to participate in community activities and engage with residents to gain social capital for them to adapt to the new community.