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Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) is a new nano-scale transistor-less computing model. To address the scaling limitations of complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, QCA seeks to produce general computation with better results in terms of size, switching speed, energy and fault-tolerant at the nano-scale. Currently, binary information is interpreted in this technology, relying on the distribution of the arrangement of electrons in chemical molecules. Using the coplanar topology in the design of a fault-tolerant digital comparator can improve the comparator’s performance. This paper aims to present the coplanar design of a fault-tolerant digital comparator based on the majority and inverter gate in the QCA.

As the digital comparator is one of the essential digital circuits, in the present study, a new fault-tolerant architecture is proposed for a digital comparator based on QCA. The proposed coplanar design is realized using coplanar inverters and majority gates. The QCADesigner 2.0.3 simulator is used to simulate the suggested new fault-tolerant coplanar digital comparator.

Four elements, including cell misalignment, cell missing, extra cell and cell dislocation, are evaluated and analyzed in QCADesigner 2.0.3. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that the logical function of the built circuit is accurate. In the presence of a single missed defect, this fault-tolerant digital comparator architecture will achieve 100% fault tolerance. Also, this comparator is above 90% fault-tolerant under single-cell displacement faults and is above 95% fault-tolerant under single-cell missing defects.

A novel structure for the fault-tolerant digital comparator in the QCA technology was proposed used by coplanar majority and inverter. Also, the performance metrics and obtained results establish that the coplanar design can be used in the QCA circuits to produce optimized and fault-tolerant circuits.

Narrates the discussion between Juan (a corporate executive of a multinational company) and Audrey (an independent environmental consultant) when they sit next to each other on a flight. Explains, through the dialogue, some of the environmental pitfalls companies can encounter when basing operations in the USA, such as regulations relating to clean air, clean water, emissions, toxic pollutants, land use restrictions, species protection plans etc.). Makes the point that it is individuals who face civil and criminal penalties for breaking these regulations, not the company. Provides an overview of US environmental regulations and recommends that companies can avoid falling foul of the law through education, training and taking legal advice. Mentions ISO 14000 and 14001 environmental standards as a potential way forward, although they do not yet carry any weight under US law.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of share pledging by controlling shareholders on earnings informativeness.

Using a sample of 23,120 firm-year observations from 2003 to 2019 in China, this paper examines how share pledging by controlling shareholders affects earnings informativeness, measured by earnings persistence and earnings response coefficients.

This paper finds that share pledging by controlling shareholders makes earnings less informative. The adverse impacts are more pronounced when share pledging distorts incentives of controlling shareholders to a greater extent and when the signaling of share pledging about a firm’s weak future performance is stronger. Finally, this paper further shows that the 2018 new regulation on share pledging effectively alleviates the negative impacts of share pledging on earnings informativeness.

First, this paper adds to the growing literature on the economic consequence of share pledging by documenting the adverse impacts of share pledging on earnings informativeness. The literature on the economic consequence of share pledging is often mixed, which justifies further research on the impacts of share pledging on earnings informativeness. Second, this paper documents a new signaling channel through which share pledging affects earnings informativeness. Third, the finding of this paper on the 2018 new regulation on share pledging may be interesting to research agencies, such as the Chartered Financial analyst institute and Institutional Shareholder Services institute that recommend tightening regulations on share pledging.

Drawing upon the existing theoretical and empirical sourced knowledge of aesthetic labour and gender, this paper aims to explore the exploitation of women’s aesthetic labour in the Chinese airline industry and the underlying causes from a contextual point of view.

This qualitative study has emerged from a broader research project which aimed to explore women’s experiences of work-family conflict and their career aspirations in the Chinese airline industry in which aesthetic labour was prevalent as a significant issue during semi-structured interviews with female employees and HR/line management. Thus, the study draws upon interview data focusing on recruitment and selection of flight attendants in three Chinese airlines. This is complemented by secondary sources of data from Chinese television programmes and job advertisements.

This study reveals that aesthetics is both gendered and context-bound. It exposes that aesthetic labour in Chinese airlines is demanded from women but not men. It highlights that gendered aesthetic labour is continuously shaped by four influential contextual issues – legislation, labour market practices, national culture and airline management practices.

By uncovering the dynamic interconnectedness of gender and aesthetics and illustrating the exploitation of women’s aesthetic labour for commercial gains in Chinese airlines, this paper contributes to the understanding of the gendered aesthetics in the airline industry. It also offers new insights into the theory of aesthetic labour by locating it in a context that differs significantly from other socio-cultural contexts.

Marketing is a hot topic, and the purpose of this study is to investigate how shareholding strategies can be applied to achieve strategic synergy between firms in vertical supply chains to improve retailers’ marketing efforts from a long-term perspective.

This study constructs Stackelberg models to analyze the operating mechanisms of shareholding supply chains under forward, backward and cross-shareholding strategies. The authors analyze the effects of shareholding on prices, marketing efforts and profits, and explore the strategic preferences and outcomes of different supply chain members.

Forward/backward shareholding plays the same role as cross/nonshareholding in supply chains because the effect of the retailer’s shareholding is offset by the power status of the manufacturer, and the retailer can still profit when wholesale prices are higher than selling prices in certain cases. A manufacturer’s shareholding in a retailer can benefit consumers and improve marketing efforts by reducing retailers’ marketing costs, while a retailer’s shareholding in a manufacturer has no such effect. None of all shareholding strategies can coordinate the interests of all members; however, an effective rebate policy can resolve this problem.

The results reveal the operational mechanism of shareholding supply chains and provide reference values for managers who want to improve marketing efforts and economic performance using a shareholding strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of high‐tech industry and the dynamics of technological learning, innovation, entrepreneurship in China through the telecom‐equipment industry.

The paper derives a number of research propositions from the literature and then uses four case studies to show how domestic firms narrow their technological gap in different stages of catch‐up and how these firms have been influenced by their innovation capabilities to catch up to the multinationals.

The major findings of the paper may be summarized as follows. First, the innovation capability and self‐developed technologies have been the key to leading domestic firms in catching‐up with the MNCs. Second, leading domestic firms mainly depend on in‐house R&D development, supplemented with external alliance to build their innovation capability. Third, there are two different catching‐up patterns in China's telecom‐equipment industry. One is “path‐following” catching‐up in global system for mobile communication driven by using new technology in low‐end market. The other is “leapfrogging” catching‐up in the development of phone digital switches and China's own 3G standard (time division – synchronous code division multiple access). However, it seems that the leapfrogging strategy will meet more challenges and problems than the path‐following strategy.

Based on the previous researches about technological learning, innovation and catch‐up in the newly industrializing economies, the paper provides a comprehensive elaboration in Chinese telecommunication industry by using case study approach in an original way.

Globalisation is generally defined as the “denationalisation of clusters of political, economic, and social activities” that destabilize the ability of the sovereign State to control activities on its territory, due to the rising need to find solutions for universal problems, like the pollution of the environment, on an international level. Globalisation is a complex, forceful legal and social process that take place within an integrated whole with out regard to geographical boundaries. Globalisation thus differs from international activities, which arise between and among States, and it differs from multinational activities that occur in more than one nation‐State. This does not mean that countries are not involved in the sociolegal dynamics that those transboundary process trigger. In a sense, the movements triggered by global processes promote greater economic interdependence among countries. Globalisation can be traced back to the depression preceding World War II and globalisation at that time included spreading of the capitalist economic system as a means of getting access to extended markets. The first step was to create sufficient export surplus to maintain full employment in the capitalist world and secondly establishing a globalized economy where the planet would be united in peace and wealth. The idea of interdependence among quite separate and distinct countries is a very important part of talks on globalisation and a significant side of today’s global political economy.

This study explores the effects of parents' attending status and alcohol consumption (scenario based) on their feelings of happiness, relaxation, family cohesion and family satisfaction.

This study uses a 2 (attending status: with a child or without a child) X 3 (alcohol consumption: water, a cup of beer or four cups of beers) between-subjects experimental design on an art festival and employs relational cohesion theory while spillover theory.

The results reveal (1) significant differences between parents' attending status on happiness and relaxation; (2) significant differences between alcohol consumption on happiness, family cohesion, and family satisfaction and (3) happiness significantly mediates the effect of parents' alcohol consumption on family cohesion and family satisfaction.

Attending art festivals provides families with a chance to consolidate family relationships. Art festival planners could promote the festival through enhancing participants' family cohesion and satisfaction through potential family leisure activities.

Events are an emerging topic in the hospitality and tourism discipline in recent years. Social impacts, especially family-related outcomes, on art festivals are barely examined. Additionally, while alcohol consumption is common in festivals, the influence of alcohol consumption on the attendees' emotions and behaviors is under-researched.

Given that the incidence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) varies greatly between countries, it becomes relevant to explore self-initiated expatriate (SIE) health workers' perceptions of home vs host country safety during a global pandemic. Thus, the paper aims to study the effects of COVID-19 on the expatriation experience of Spanish SIE nurses in Germany, focussing on perceptions of home and host country safety as push/pull forces on their intentions to repatriate or stay.

Semi-structured interviews (n = 10) were conducted with Spanish SIE nurses in Germany between April/June 2020 followed by instant messaging interactions with the same participants in October/November 2020. Data analysis was assisted by NVivo software.

Overloaded by information from social networks about the impact of COVID-19 in Spain compared with the situation in Germany, Spanish SIE nurses had exacerbated feelings of stress, and some reported having experienced guilt for not being in their home country. Nevertheless, the contrasting impact and management of the crisis and its relative effect on health workers and the larger society in Spain and Germany reinforced the nurses' intention to stay in Germany.

The research offers insights to organisations and public authorities involved with providing support to SIEs during crises, highlighting the implications of SIEs' social networks and dual allegiance to home and host countries during a global health emergency.

The study contributes to the growing literature on SIEs, whilst adding to the research on expatriates' well-being and safety during crises.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted global tourism, with international travel bearing the burden of restrictions. Domestic tourism has also faced substantial challenges. This paper aims to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic tourism in Spain, focusing on travel from Madrid (the country’s capital) to other tourist destinations.

Mobile phone data has been used to study the evolution of tourist trips over the summers of 2019, 2020 and 2021. Regression models are used to explain the number of visitors at destinations.

The pandemic not only caused a drastic drop in tourist flows but also disrupted the overall pattern of the domestic flow system. Winning destinations were typically areas in proximity to Madrid and less densely populated destinations, while urban destinations were major losers. The preferences of domestic tourists varied notably by income group, but the decrease in trip volumes showed only marginal differences.

The paper demonstrates the potential of mobile phone data analysis to study the uneven impact of external shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on tourist destinations. This approach considers spatial resilience heterogeneity within regions or provinces. By incorporating income information, the analysis introduces a social dimension to highly detailed spatial data, surpassing traditional studies conducted at the regional or national levels.

COVID-19大流行对全球旅游业产生了重大影响，国际旅行受到了限制的影响最为严重。国内旅游也面临着重大挑战。本文分析了COVID-19大流行对西班牙国内旅游的影响，重点关注从马德里（该国首都）到其他旅游目的地的旅行。

本研究使用移动电话数据研究了2019年、2020年和2021年夏季旅游出行的演变。采用回归模型解释了各目的地游客数量。

大流行不仅导致了旅游流量急剧下降，还扰乱了国内流动系统的总体模式。获胜的目的地通常是马德里附近的地区和人口较稀少的目的地，而城市目的地是主要的输家。国内游客的偏好在收入群体之间有明显差异，但旅行量的减少只显示出边际差异。

本文展示了使用移动电话数据分析研究外部冲击（如COVID-19大流行）对旅游目的地的不均匀影响的潜力。该方法考虑了区域或省份内的空间弹性异质性。通过整合收入信息，该分析为高度详细的空间数据引入了社会维度，超越了传统在区域或国家水平进行的研究。