This empirical study adds to the literature by investigating the influences of the personality traits, creativity, and social capital of Taiwan and Hong Kong university students on social entrepreneurial intentions. A total of 301 valid survey responses from Taiwan and 147 from Hong Kong were collected. The results indicated that original creativity and bonding social capital positively affected social entrepreneurial conviction in both groups of students. Conscientiousness negatively affected and original creativity positively affected social entrepreneurial preparation in Taiwanese students, whereas openness negatively affected and original creativity positively affected social entrepreneurial preparation in students from Hong Kong.

Total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) is widely used to measure energy efficiency under the data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework, but the efficiencies obtained from DEA are structurally biased upward, and thus TFEE tends to overestimate energy efficiency. This research thus applies the bootstrapped DEA approach to correct the bias of TFEE. Using a dataset consisting of 30 provinces of China in the period 2016–2019, the bootstrapped-based test supports technology with variable returns to scale. The biased-corrected TFEE also indicates that energy consumption on average can be scaled down by 42.36%, rather than the biased value of 19.4%. The bootstrapped clustering partitions provinces into three groups: Cluster 1, with Guizhou as the representative medoid, includes half of the superior coastal provinces in terms of actual energy consumption and TFEE and half of the competitive inland provinces, whereas Cluster 3 outperforms Cluster 2 in terms of TFEE, but the actual energy consumption is higher, with Shandong and Hebei as the representative medoids, respectively. Lastly, empirical results imply that the northeast and central regions need more government attention and resources to practice sustainable development and improve TFEE.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important crop worldwide. Functional rice has exhibited health benefits. The aim of this study was to use marker-assisted selection (MAS) to introgress two genes, GE (giant embryo) and OsALDH7 (aldehyde dehydrogenase, golden-like endosperm) into colored rice and obtain high yield functional rice. CNY103108 and CNY103107 are two rice lines with golden-like endosperms and giant embryos. They were used as the donor parents. CNY922401, an elite purple waxy rice line, and TNGSW26, an indica red waxy rice cultivar were used as the recurrent parents. Foreground selection of the progenies was completed using functional markers for GE and OsALDH7, and background selection was completed using molecular markers to recover the background of the recurrent parents. MAS results showed a purple functional rice population (PFR) (CNY922401/CNY103108), with the recovery rate of the recurrent parental genome as 91.3%, and a red functional rice population (RFR) (TNGSW26/CNY103107) with the recovery as 89.8%. After five-season yield trials and several antioxidant activities analyses, PFR32 and RFR13 lines, which have similar yields and antioxidant activities, were selected as the recurrent parents with a golden-like endosperm and a giant embryo. For a biofortification purpose, they can become valuable products and be adapted to the current agricultural community.

Flash flooding is a major environmental stressor affecting rice production worldwide. DT3 is a drought-tolerant, recurrent parent with a good yield, edible quality, and agronomic traits akin to those of an elite Taiwanese variety, Taiken9 (TK9). Progenies carrying Sub1A can enhance submergence stress tolerance and can be selected using the marker-assisted backcross (MAB) breeding method. For foreground selection, Sub1A and SubAB1 were utilized as markers on the BC₂F₁, BC₃F₁, and BC₃F₂ generations to select the submergence-tolerant gene, Sub1A. Background selection was performed in the Sub1A-BC₃F₂ genotypes, and the percentages of recurrent parent recovery within individuals ranged from 84.7–99.55%. BC₃F₃ genotypes (N = 100) were evaluated for agronomic traits, yield, and eating quality. Four of the eleven BC₃F₄ lines showed good yield, yield component, grain, and eating quality. Four BC₃F₄ lines, SU39, SU40, SU89, and SU92, exhibited desirable agronomic traits, including grain quality and palatability, consistent with those of DT3. These genotypes displayed a high survival rate between 92 and 96%, much better compared with DT3 with 64%, and demonstrated better drought tolerance compared to IR64 and IR96321-345-240. This study provides an efficient and precise MAB strategy for developing climate-resilient rice varieties with good grain quality for flood-prone regions.