Global warming has led to a surge in heat health risks (HHRs), the impacts of which are particularly pronounced in metropolitan areas of developing countries. In the current study, six metropolitan areas - Beijing, China; Cairo, Egypt; Jakarta, Indonesia; Mumbai, India; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Tehran, Iran - were selected as the study area to further differentiate the built-up landscapes by utilizing the concept of local climate zones. Moreover, we assessed the similarities and differences in HHR associated with the landscape. Results revealed a 30.67% higher HHR in compact built-up landscapes than in the open built-up type. Urban green spaces played an effective but differentiated role in mitigating HHR. That is, low vegetation in urbanized areas and trees in suburban areas significantly mitigated HHR. Collectively, our findings emphasize the role of effective planning and management in addressing HHR and provide empirical support for implementing HHR mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Memory is a major theme running through Kazuo Ishiguro\'s works, one of which is The Buried Giant. This study aims to analyze the concept of collective memory in Kazuo Ishiguro\'s novel The Buried Giant through hermeneutic interpretation and sociological analysis. The results show that this novel links collective memory with individual experience and generational identity whilst making aging a central element in the exploration of time and history. In the novel, collective memory is seen through the prism of aging. The aging characters serve as a metonymy to convey the image of memory. They find themselves in circumstances broadcasting a horrific story of decline and marginalization of the nation because they cannot access the past and move into the future. They revisit the story of their lives, but even though they can recount their losses, they do not seem to be critical of their past choices or their responsibilities in the global conflicts they lived through. In The Buried Giant, the aging characters are the ones who come to terms with their individual and collective histories to face their remaining years. This is not an idealized vision of wisdom; rather, it is an acceptance of complicity and guilt. The results can be applied in literary, sociological, and historical studies concerning the collective memory of different historical periods. They are of practical value as they contribute to the study of collective memory in literary theory. Research on collective memory in literature sheds light on the ways historical events and shared experiences impact human behavior, beliefs, and decision-making processes.

Developing renewable energy could jointly reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and bring air pollution-related health co-benefits. However, the temporal and sub-national distributions of investment costs and human health co-benefits from renewable energy deployment remain unclear. To investigate this gap, we linked multiple models for a more comprehensive assessment of the economic-environmental-health co-benefits of renewable energy development in China. The results show that developing renewable energy can avoid 0.6 million premature mortalities, 151 million morbidities, and 111 million work-loss days in 2050. Meanwhile, the human health and economic co-benefits vary substantially across regions in China. Renewable energy can undoubtedly bring health and economic co-benefits. Nevertheless, the economic benefits lag considerably behind the high initial investment cost, first negative in 2030 (-0.6 trillion Yuan) and then positive in 2050 (2.9 trillion Yuan). Hence, renewable energy deployment strategy must be carefully designed considering the regional disparities.

Since the handover of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain to China in 1997, convergence between Mainland China and Hong Kong has gradually emerged. During this process, young people have engaged in demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction with government policies and limited socio-economic progression. However, the underlying reasons for their dissatisfaction have not been fully investigated. This study investigates their perceived challenges and opportunities during the convergence, with the objective of identifying the factors affecting the Mainland China-Hong Kong convergence and examining young people\'s perceived challenges and opportunities during the convergence. Mixed research methods of focus groups and a survey were adopted. Ten focus groups with 83 participants were conducted to collect qualitative data on the factors relating to convergence. Based on the qualitative data, a questionnaire was constructed to investigate young people\'s perceived challenges and opportunities during the convergence, using a sample of 1253 young people. Ordinary least-squares regression was applied to analyse the relationships among identified factors. The study found that Hong Kong\'s youth tended to regard the Mainland China-Hong Kong convergence as an opportunity for socio-economic progression, and they identified three challenges during the convergence. It also revealed that young people\'s higher education, perceived housing challenges, and perceived socio-economic challenges are negatively related to the convergence, whereas their perceived challenges associated with entrepreneurship and innovation are positively related to the convergence. The development of more well-balanced and mutually beneficial policies that satisfy the needs of young people will lead to a higher acceptance of the convergence. As such, young people will be more willing to embrace the opportunities and face the challenges brought about by the convergence, resulting in a more harmonious society and socio-economic progression.

In recent years, the birth rate in China has rapidly declined. While much research has been done on the penalties in earnings that women incur when they fall behind men in the labor market due to childbirth, there has been little to no research on the mental health effects. This study addresses the gap in current literature by examining the mental health penalties that women experience after having a child in comparison to men. We applied econometric modeling to data collected from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and found that women experienced a significant, immediate, and long-run decline (4.3%) in life satisfaction after their first child, while men were unaffected. We also found that women experienced a significant increase in depression after their first child. This suggests mental health penalties since the mental health risk proxied by these two measurements is only significant for women. This is likely related to child penalties in labor market performance and childbirth-related physical health issues. When countries adopt multiple tools to stimulate the birth rate for economic growth, they must consider the implicit burden on women-especially the long-term negative effects on mental health.

This study aimed to investigate the mediating effect of self-esteem on the relationship between home-based physical activity and the general well-being of university students. A web-based questionnaire survey was conducted on 311 Chinese university students using the Physical Activity Rating Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and General Well-Being Scale. The influence of home-based physical activity on self-esteem and general well-being in Chinese university students was explored using a one-way ANOVA analysis of variance. The mediating model was tested with regression analysis to determine the mediating effects of self-esteem between home-based physical activity and general well-being among Chinese university students during COVID-19. The amount of home-based physical activity had a significant effect on the general well-being (F = 3.46, P < 0.05) and self-esteem (F = 6.99, P < 0.01) of university students. The study found that self-esteem had a full mediation (T = 4.445, P < 0.001) between medium and large amounts of home-based physical activity and general well-being among university students, accounting for 32.5% of the total effect. The study concluded that self-esteem mediated the relationship between home-based physical activity and general well-being in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings in this study highlight the importance of home-based physical activity in increasing the general well-being of university students during the pandemic.

Innovation and entrepreneurship play a key role in the development of a country\'s economy and society. In recent years, along with the comprehensive implementation of China\'s rural revitalization strategy, the government has issued many policies to support and benefit farmers, and the investment environment in villages has been greatly improved, attracting more and more migrant workers to return to their hometowns to start businesses. Improving the entrepreneurial ability of China\'s returning migrant workers is very important. A review of the previous literature showed that both internal personal factors and external environmental factors can affect the entrepreneurial ability of entrepreneurs. Combining the results of the questionnaire survey, this paper incorporates eight internal personal factors and eight external environmental factors into the index system for assessing entrepreneurial ability and uses a combination of SWOT analysis and AHP analysis to prioritize the factors influencing the entrepreneurial ability of returning migrant workers in China. The results are as follows: (1) The factors influencing the entrepreneurial ability of returnee entrepreneurs could be divided into two types: the individual factors of returnee entrepreneurs, and the external environmental factors. (2) Among the internal factors, technical experience and business management ability are the two main factors influencing entrepreneurial activity. (3) Among the external environmental factors, the opportunity for industrial structure adjustment and low technical content would have a higher influence on the entrepreneurial activity of returnee entrepreneurs. Accordingly, this study proposes some policy recommendations on how to improve the entrepreneurial ability of returnee entrepreneurs. Finally, the research methodology of this paper can be used as a reference for other scholars, and the research results can also be used for administrators to develop relevant policies to better improve the entrepreneurial ability of returnee entrepreneurs.

The cultural clash between customers and salespeople in online marketing is observed as a barrier to promoting sales performance.The capability of handling cultural difference, or cultural intelligence (CQ), is therefore essential for salespeople. With data collected through questionnaires from a Chinese digital insurance brokerage firm, the impact of salespeople\'s CQ on sales performance is examined with the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) method. It is identified that CQ serves as a positive moderating variable in the relationship between customer orientation and sales performance, as well as a partial mediating variable in the relationship between perceived organizational support and sales performance of the online insurance salespeople.

Connecting the neoinstitutional theory with Bourdieu\'s field theory, we develop a framework on the dual institutional process of integration and differentiation in a field. While the neoinstitutional theory has focused on similar organizational structures, we shift the research focus to offer an institutional explanation of differential organizational status. Drawing insights from Bourdieu\'s theory and key concepts, we highlight that the very institutional mechanisms causing isomorphism-regulative forces, normative pressures, and cognitive processes-also generate systematic status differentiation among organizations via their different levels of capital, homologous structures, and various habitus in a field. Our extended framework has theoretical significance in advancing the neoinstitutional theory, the research of status in organizational and economic sociology, and the Bourdieusian perspective. By theorizing status differentiation among organizations, it also adds an important dimension to enrich our understanding of multilevel status and social hierarchies.

Although numerous studies have examined the effects of climate variability on armed conflict, the complexity of these linkages requires deeper understanding to assess the causes and effects. Here, we assembled an extensive database of armed conflict, climate, and non-climate data for South Asia. We used structural equation modeling to quantify both the direct and indirect impacts of climate variability on armed conflict. We found that precipitation impacts armed conflict via direct and indirect effects which are contradictory in sign. Temperature affects armed conflict only through a direct path, while indirect effects were insignificant. Yet, an in-depth analysis of indirect effects showed that the net impact is weak due to two strong contradictory effects offsetting each other. Our findings illustrate the complex link between climate variability and armed conflict, highlighting the importance of a detailed analysis of South Asia\'s underlying mechanisms at the regional scale.