The current study examined the relationship between Chinese consumers' personal value orientations and their Internet usage and online shopping behaviour. The study was based on responses from a sample of 1620 respondents in five cities in China. Based on Schwartz's value structure, four value orientations were identified and named as ‘openness to change orientation’, ‘self‐enhancement orientation’, ‘conservation orientation’ and ‘self‐transcendence orientation.’ Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between respondents' demographics, socio‐economic characteristics, value orientations and their Internet usage and online shopping behaviour. Also, a structural equation modelling analysis was employed. ‘Openness to change orientation’ and ‘self‐enhancement orientation’ were found to have direct or indirect positive effect on respondents' online shopping behaviour; whereas ‘conservation orientation’ and ‘self‐transcendence orientation’ were not significant in the equation estimation.

This paper discusses at the microlevel the educational inequality resulting from the cutoff birthdate regulation in the current primary school admission system. According to our research, among the students who enroll in school, students born in July and August display a relative disadvantage and adaptive difficulties in the construction of self-identity and study ability when compared with those born in September and October. Students born between November and June in the following year have mid-level performance. Moreover, this effect is accumulative. With regard to acquiring educational resources, students born in July and August show the lowest possibility of getting into the key senior middle schools, 16.7-22. 8 % lower than the rest of the student population, while the possibility of being admitted to vocational school is the highest, 54.2-60.8 % higher than the others. This disadvantage is more prominent among male students. Our study also shows that the above effect is very strong and cannot be effectively suppressed by the socioeconomic factors. The "July/August pitfall" appears to be insurmountable.

Risk analysis and evaluation of oilfield gathering station (OGS) is a challenging task, given that much of the available data are highly uncertain and vague, and many of the mechanisms are complex and difficult to understand. A combinational method of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) is proposed in this study to assess hazards in OGS associated with multiple subsystems' failures. The evaluation index system of safety performance in OGS was established, which included tank unit index, pipe unit index, digital monitoring unit index, and other systems. The weight of each index was confirmed through AHP method. Then the AHP and FCE methods were combined to validate the risk levels of representative enterprise S (S-OGS). The evaluation results show that the evaluation grade of S-OGS was low risk. This study provides a basis to improve the risk levels of OGS. It is expected that this work may serve as an assistance tool for managers of enterprise in improving the risk levels of oilfield operations.

This paper presents a kinetic study of fuel grade ethanol production by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation from Fe(II)-catalyzed cornstalks. The study observed the optimal conditions of ethanol production as: inoculation proportion (ratio of Pachysolen tannophilus to Saccharomyces cerevisiae) 2:1, fermentation temperature 32 °C, inoculation quantity 20%, addition amount of Fe2+ 4 mg/g (substrate), and cellulase dosage 30 U/g (substrate). An ethanol yield of 0.335 mg/g was obtained from cornstalks pretreated using liquefaction under optimum conditions. A 30.4% increase in the yield was observed when compared with the control group without the addition of Fe2+. The relationship between ethanol yield and fermentation time could be described through a Langmuir isotherm model. The findings of this study will help researchers better understand and describe the complex characteristics of ethanol production from cornstalks with Fe2+ promoter, which will be very useful in improving production yields.