Speaker’s name: Kent Matthews
Talk subject: The price of alcohol and violence-related injury in England and Wales
Abstract: The link between the consumption of alcohol and violence is well established in the medical and epidemiological literature. What is not well established is a causal link. It is known that alcohol consumption creates a disinhibiting process that can lead to violent activity. It is also argued that violent people may consume excess quantities of alcohol. There may also be some third unknown factor that links alcohol consumption to violent behaviour. This paper cuts through the causative argument by reporting a link between the price of alcohol and violence-related injury. It examines the influence of the real price of alcohol both on-premises and off-premises on violence-related injuries of the adult population which results in Emergency Department attendance across the economic regions of England and Wales. The data are monthly frequency of violent-injury covering the period 2005-2014. An econometric model is estimated using panel techniques. The principal finding is that a one-way relationship between the real price of alcohol and violent injury is established that reinforces the causal link between alcohol consumption and violence.
Speaker’s name: Zhexin Zhang
Talk subject: Whither China-U.S. “Decoupling”?: Major Causes, Driving Forces, and Possible Scenarios
Abstract: As the China-U.S. strategic competition escalates, there are stronger voices on both sides calling for a “decoupling” of the world’s two largest economies. While a decoupling will benefit no country in the long run and thus seems absurd by theory, it may turn out to be a reality in the next few years if without effective measures to rein in the current dynamics and negate the root causes for such decoupling. Both China and the U.S. are at a strategic crossroads; and their choice will determine whether the world can find its way back to integration and co-development or head toward a new Cold War.
Speaker’s name: VICE ADMIRAL PRADEEP CHAUHAN
Talk subject: “India's Maritime Imperatives in the Indo-Pacific”
Abstract: This presentation will provide a detailed insight into the drivers underpinning India’s contemporary maritime endeavours within the Indo-Pacific. It will highlight India’s core national interest and the maritime interests that emanate-from and flow-into it. It will also dwell upon India’s ongoing development of a comprehensive maritime policy, which rests upon the twin-pillars of ‘holistic’ maritime security and the ‘blue economy’. It will explain the manner in which India intends to be a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond. It will dilate upon India’s own models of maritime connectivity and the mechanisms India seeks to develop for an inclusive process of constructive-engagement founded upon abiding respect for a rules-based order arrived-at through international consensus and comity amongst nations.
Speaker’s name: Zdravka Evtimova
Talk subject：The Struggle for Honor and Dignity in Bulgaria Today
Abstract: There is one thing that that all human beings have in common no matter if you are a taxi driver, a nuclear scientist, a salesman, a peasant or university professor. This common feature is the billion year-long evolution of mankind. When we do a mean thing, deceive somebody, abandon a friend in need, embezzle funds, we may be glad that we have made more money, but we wake up at night, a sharp unpleasant feeling stinging us, a bitter taste in the mouth ruining the peace of the room. This is the billion-year-long evolution that speaks to us in a language that only human beings can understand. We were born humans to the world, not worms or wolves. Where men live together, there are schemes and lies, but there, amidst human society, in spite of lie and meanness, kindness and greatness are born. Kindness and strong will to live with dignity, to create values that will remain in the memory of mankind aer the true engine of human evolution.
Speaker’s name: Terry Flew
Talk subject: Faking It: Fake News, Trust and Distrust in News on Digital Platforms
Abstract: The period since 2016 has seen a lively discussion globally about so-called “fake news”, the relationship between trust and distrust to notions of truth, and whether we now live in a “post-truth” era. This presentation will ground these debates in the academic literature on trust, as well as survey information about trust in news. It is proposed that communications researchers have an important, but as yet largely unacknowledged contribution to debates about trust. This has become particularly imperative at a time when there is also a debate about the power of digital platforms and new forms of digital platform regulation.
Speaker’s name: Hongyi Lai
Talk subject: Determinants of Soft Power and China’s Performance: Joseph Nye and Positive Peace Theories
Abstract: Joseph Nye has proposed the best known argument on soft power, but it is rarely subject to statistical test. In this project I fill this gap while examining China’s performance in soft power. Statistical tests are here conducted on two explanations of soft power. One is Joseph Nye’s argument that political values, foreign policy and cultural appeals shape soft power, and the other is the positive peace argument which suggests a significant influence of the Global Peace Index (GPI) on soft power. Two measures of soft power are employed – the favourability of major powers in global public opinion polls and the Soft Power 30 Index. The latter gauges the magnitude of soft power. When the former measure, which indicates the positiveness of soft power, is adopted the three soft power resources provide less explanatory power than per capita GDP and especially the GPI. When the Soft Power 30 Index is used, foreign policy independent of the United States contributes positively to soft power. The GPI and non-soft power-related cultural exports (NSPCE) then take on a negative role. As far as China is concerned, its ranking in 2018 in the Soft Power 30 Index and its favourability score in the past few years declined. Causes for the findings are explored.
Speaker’s name: Minquan Liu
Talk subject: A Three-Activity Model of Migration and Rural Development in Densely Populated Regions
Abstract: A model is developed of a farmer allocating time between three activities: local farming, local non-farming, and migrating to a city for urban employment. Local farming and non-farming activities are "non-exclusive" to each other in that a farmer can attend to both regularly, on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis, while urban employment is "exclusive" in that a migrating farmer, if attending to it, will have to give up the other activities. It is found that, under conditions of small family farms, although non-farming activities compete with farming for resources, farming may critically depend on non-farming activities for survival. Possible conflicts may exist, however, between the “schedules of hours/labour inputs” for farming and non-farming activities, thereby preventing a farmer from effectively utilizing both local activities. It is argued that, among other things, as well as directly contributing to the labour productivity of farming, farmland consolidation can play an important role in reconciling the above conflicts, and enable a farmer to better utilize both farming and non-farming activities. In doing so, it can also affect a farmer's migration decision, and help regulate the flow of labour from rural to urban areas.
Speaker’s name: Minsu Wu
Talk subject：How to Become an Effective Public Speaker
Abstract: Everyone can be an effective public speaker as long as he/she understands the basic rules of speech making. But what makes him/her stand out comes down to such elements as the content, logic, understanding of culture, language proficiency, non verbal language, unique experiences and so on. All of these help speakers elicit emotional responses on stage and achieve great results.
Speaker’s name: Yuan Li
Talk subject: The Implications of the New Silk Road Railways on Local Development
Abstract: This paper provides the latest scientific evidence on the implications for European cities and regions on opening up new railway links with China. To obtain this evidence, we investigate the presumed transmission channels of improved infrastructure on local economic development by reviewing the existing theoretical and empirical literature. Then, we construct an extensive panel data set containing economic and spatial information on European cities and regions collected by the European Union’s statistical office Eurostat and define the treatment group based on ”China Railway Express Development Plan”. Consequently, we use quasi-experimental methods to evaluate the impact of the trans-continental rail connections on various economic outcomes, also controlling for time-invariant and region-specific effects. Doing so, we pass through several potential model specifications, including fixed effects, as well as various matching techniques. Our results find a positive and significant impact of the New Silk Road Railways on regional gross value-added, employment and local road transportation. These findings are consistent with the existing literature on infrastructure’s role in the facilitation of economic growth, which carries direct and important policy implications for governments that are making plans concerning China’s Belt and Road Initiative.