Behavioral Decision-Making of Key Stakeholders in Public-Private Partnerships:A Hybrid Method and Benefit Distribution Study

Public-private partnerships(PPPs)have been used by governments around the world to procure and construct infrastructural amenities.It relies on private sector expertise and funding to achieve this lofty objective.However,given the uncertainties of project management,transparency,accountability,and expropriation,this phenomenon has gained tremendous attention in recent years due to the important role it plays in curbing infrastructural deficits globally.Interestingly,the reasonable benefit distribution scheme in a PPP project is related to the behavior decisionmaking of the government and social capital,aswell as the performance of the project.In this paper,the government and social capital which are the key stakeholders of PPP projects were selected as the research objects.Based on the fuzzy expected value model and game theory,a hybrid method was adopted in this research taking into account the different risk preferences of both public entities and private parties under the fuzzy demand environment.To alleviate the problem of insufficient utilization of social capital in a PPP project,this paper seeks to grasp the relationship that exists between the benefit distribution of stakeholders,their behavioral decision-making,and project performance,given that they impact the performance of both public entities and private parties,as well as assist in maximizing the overall utility of the project.Furthermore,four game models were constructed in this study,while the expected value and opportunity-constrained programming model for optimal decision-making were derived using alternate perspectives of both centralized decision-making and decentralized decision-making.Afterward,the optimal behavioral decision-making of public entities and private parties in four scenarios was discussed and thereafter compared,which led to an ensuing discussion on the benefit distribution system under centralized decision-making.Lastly,based on an example case,the influence of different confidence levels,price,and fuzzy uncertainties of PPP projects on the equilibrium strategy results of both parties were discussed,giving credence to the effectiveness of the hybrid method.The results indicate that adjusting different confidence levels yields different equilibriumpoints,and therefore signposts that social capital has a fair perception of opportunities,as well as identifies reciprocal preferences.Nevertheless,we find that an increase in the cost coefficient of the government and social capital does not inhibit the effort of both parties.Our results also indicate that a reasonable benefit distribution of PPP projects can assist them in realizing optimum Pareto improvements over time.The results provide us with very useful strategies and recommendations to improve the overall performance of PPP projects in China.

颈椎前路Hybrid手术和颈椎后路单开门椎管扩大成形术治疗多节段脊髓型颈椎病临床疗效分析

目的:分析颈椎前路Hybrid手术和颈椎后路单开门椎管扩大成形术(EODL)治疗多节段脊髓型颈椎病的疗效,探讨多节段脊髓型颈椎病患者手术方式的选择。方法:对2017年7月—2020年7月在首都医科大学附属北京中医医院手术治疗的70例多节段脊髓型颈椎病患者进行回顾性分析,根据手术方式不同,分为前路组35例和后路组35例,前路组患者行Hybrid手术[颈椎前路椎间盘切除融合术(ACDF)联合人工颈椎间盘置换术(ACDR)],后路组患者行EODL。记录2组患者住院时间、手术时间、术中出血量和术后引流量,通过日本骨科协会(JOA)评分、JOA改善率、颈椎残障功能指数(NDI)、疼痛视觉模拟评分(VAS)和术后满意度评分进行疗效评价,统计2组患者术后并发症发生情况。结果:与后路组比较,前路组患者术中出血量、术后引流量、住院时间和手术时间均明显减少(P<0.01),术前各项评分差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。末次随访时,与后路组比较,前路组患者JOA评分和JOA改善率明显升高(P<0.01),NDI评分和VAS评分明显降低(P<0.01)。与术前比较,末次随访时2组患者JOA评分明显升高(P<0.01),NDI和VAS评分均明显降低(P<0.01)。按术后满意度评分评价,2组患者术后满意度均较高。2组患者术后并发症发生率比较差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论:颈椎前路Hybrid手术和EODL在治疗多节段脊髓型颈椎病方面均取得了较为满意的疗效。Hybrid手术具有出血量少和手术时间短等优点,临床上应根据患者实际情况选择最适宜的术式。

Strategic Engagement of Private Facilities to Increase Public-Private Mix (PPM) Contribution to Nigeria Tuberculosis Case Notification

Introduction: Finding the missing Tuberculosis (TB) cases remains the single most important priority for TB control in Nigeria. Between 66% - 92% of all cases of respiratory diseases including those with symptoms suggestive of TB are first seen byprivate health providers. Dependable, quality surveillance systems and notification are key roles in health services delivery, particularly as it is related to TB control. However, poor notification has been a challenge. This study was to assess the contribution of the public private mix (PPM) to Nigeria Tuberculosis national case notification. Methods: It was a national cross-sectional study. Data were extracted from the National database and reviewed. Private facilities were engaged in 2017 and assessed over 2018-2020. Interventions included: enrolling private practitioners (Private-For-Profit, Faith Based Organization, Private Medicine Vendors and Community Pharmacists), engaging a private standalone Laboratory for Gene Xpert testing within the network of private facilities, use of Mobile App for easy screening and reporting, instituting a HUB and spoke, and incentives to private providers for participating. Each private provider had a customized approach. Trend analysis was performed using Cochran-Armitage χ2 test for linear trends. Level of significance was at a p value of Results: Total case notification increased from 104,904 cases in 2017 to 138,591 in 2020. There were 2.0% increase in 2018, 13.0% in 2019 and 15.0% in 2020 (p < 0.001). PPM contribution to case notification increased from 10,699 cases in 2017 to 12,625 in 2018, then 17,250 in 2019 and 38,865 in 2020. There were 18.0% increase in 2018, 36.6% in 2019 and 125.3% increase in 2020 (p ). Conclusion: Effective engagement of the private sector in TB control efforts in Nigeria using a variety of approaches resulting in improved TB notification is possible. The National TB Programme should engage all private practitioners such that each practitioner will practice at least one TB service model.

Activation Redistribution Based Hybrid Asymmetric Quantization Method of Neural Networks

The demand for adopting neural networks in resource-constrained embedded devices is continuously increasing.Quantization is one of the most promising solutions to reduce computational cost and memory storage on embedded devices.In order to reduce the complexity and overhead of deploying neural networks on Integeronly hardware,most current quantization methods use a symmetric quantization mapping strategy to quantize a floating-point neural network into an integer network.However,although symmetric quantization has the advantage of easier implementation,it is sub-optimal for cases where the range could be skewed and not symmetric.This often comes at the cost of lower accuracy.This paper proposed an activation redistribution-based hybrid asymmetric quantizationmethod for neural networks.The proposedmethod takes data distribution into consideration and can resolve the contradiction between the quantization accuracy and the ease of implementation,balance the trade-off between clipping range and quantization resolution,and thus improve the accuracy of the quantized neural network.The experimental results indicate that the accuracy of the proposed method is 2.02%and 5.52%higher than the traditional symmetric quantization method for classification and detection tasks,respectively.The proposed method paves the way for computationally intensive neural network models to be deployed on devices with limited computing resources.Codes will be available on https://github.com/ycjcy/Hybrid-Asymmetric-Quantization.

基于Hybrid A^(*)算法的变压器声级巡检系统研究与设计

随着国内变电站数目逐步增加,采用固定式声级监测终端对变压器声级检测的方式已经满足不了日常检测的需求。为解决固定式声级监测终端方式成本高、维护复杂、设备利用率低等问题,该文率先提出了一种变压器声级巡检系统,并设计了最优声级巡检路径。通过场地定位传感器生成变压器场地栅格图信息,采用Hybrid A^(*)算法将场地栅格图信息生成符合国标所要求的最优声级巡检路径检测点;针对所开发的变压器声级巡检装置,采用生成的巡检路径对变压器进行声级测定作业,对测定的声级数据进行分析处理。测试结果表明,该文开发的系统与设计算法的变压器声级巡检时间、检测效率以及数据的采集准确性都优于固定式声级监测终端方式,系统完成变压器声级巡检全过程的成功率可达95%。

复杂建设环境下基于Hybrid A^(*)算法的铁路平面线形绿色优化设计

随着“双碳经济下绿色铁路”理念的兴起,将“绿色生态”融入到铁路平面线路优化已成为近年来的研究热点。本文以铁路建设成本与生态破坏成本的协同优化为目标,引入并改进了一种自动驾驶导航算法(Hybrid A^(*)算法),以适应复杂的铁路设计问题,同时考虑最小曲线半径、最大曲线半径、最短曲线长度、最短夹直线长度、缓和曲线长度等铁路线形约束。研究结果表明:(1)改进后算法以离散网格方式整合外部环境因素,实现渐进式全局探索,获取接近全局最优的铁路线路设计结果;(2)该方法在复杂外部环境约束下,无需预设水平交点位置和数量,可自动生成符合线路-环境耦合约束的优化平面线路方案。

Mutual Efforts Restoring Growth in Education for Public-Private Sectors Partnership:Basis for a Proposed Action Plan

This study aimed to describe the responses of the participants to the Public-Private Sectors Partnerships(PPSP)in Education in DepEd Ibaan District,Province of Batangas,Philippines in order to achieve the schools’goals and sustain Public-Private Sectors Partnership engagement with schools in the district.This study employed the descriptive-qualitative research in which responses of 16 school heads of DepEd Ibaan District who were the respondents were coded,analyzed,and interpreted.School administrators,community stakeholders,future administrators and researchers may use the proposed plan of action as a guide in providing future directions for a Public-Private Sectors Partnerships(PPSP)in Education.

Universal health coverage and public-private participation: towards a new balance?

This commentary discusses the emergence of a new paradigm to address the health policy issues through Public-Private Participation (PPP).The discussion provides a detailed literature review of PPPs by presenting an initial overview of the ideological shift from state to market intervention,then identifying arguments in support of or against public-private approaches and finally exploring the emergence of this new paradigm of PPP or its hybrid forms.It then discusses the contextual realities of Public-Private Participation in health care,and whether an optimal balance is possible with better government stewardship and private provision.Conceptually,the premise of stewardship in governance is that it is possible to create not only efficient but also effective systems.These ideas may find a receptive audience in many countries,especially in the emerging economies with improving standards.In East Asian societies,the concept of stewardship bears a strong resemblance to Confucian ideals of morality in government,with social expectations of those who govern to be principled and virtuous.Increasingly,a pragmatic theory of development seems to apply in public-private,similarly,through it is expected,that public-private participation in the healthcare system should also achieve the goal of Universal Health Coverage through good governance.

Hybrid model for BOF oxygen blowing time prediction based on oxygen balance mechanism and deep neural network

The amount of oxygen blown into the converter is one of the key parameters for the control of the converter blowing process,which directly affects the tap-to-tap time of converter. In this study, a hybrid model based on oxygen balance mechanism (OBM) and deep neural network (DNN) was established for predicting oxygen blowing time in converter. A three-step method was utilized in the hybrid model. First, the oxygen consumption volume was predicted by the OBM model and DNN model, respectively. Second, a more accurate oxygen consumption volume was obtained by integrating the OBM model and DNN model. Finally, the converter oxygen blowing time was calculated according to the oxygen consumption volume and the oxygen supply intensity of each heat. The proposed hybrid model was verified using the actual data collected from an integrated steel plant in China, and compared with multiple linear regression model, OBM model, and neural network model including extreme learning machine, back propagation neural network, and DNN. The test results indicate that the hybrid model with a network structure of 3 hidden layer layers, 32-16-8 neurons per hidden layer, and 0.1 learning rate has the best prediction accuracy and stronger generalization ability compared with other models. The predicted hit ratio of oxygen consumption volume within the error±300 m^(3)is 96.67%;determination coefficient (R^(2)) and root mean square error (RMSE) are0.6984 and 150.03 m^(3), respectively. The oxygen blow time prediction hit ratio within the error±0.6 min is 89.50%;R2and RMSE are0.9486 and 0.3592 min, respectively. As a result, the proposed model can effectively predict the oxygen consumption volume and oxygen blowing time in the converter.

Regulatable Orthotropic 3D Hybrid Continuous Carbon Networks for Efficient Bi-Directional Thermal Conduction

Vertically oriented carbon structures constructed from low-dimen-sional carbon materials are ideal frameworks for high-performance thermal inter-face materials(TIMs).However,improving the interfacial heat-transfer efficiency of vertically oriented carbon structures is a challenging task.Herein,an orthotropic three-dimensional(3D)hybrid carbon network(VSCG)is fabricated by depositing vertically aligned carbon nanotubes(VACNTs)on the surface of a horizontally oriented graphene film(HOGF).The interfacial interaction between the VACNTs and HOGF is then optimized through an annealing strategy.After regulating the orientation structure of the VACNTs and filling the VSCG with polydimethylsi-loxane(PDMS),VSCG/PDMS composites with excellent 3D thermal conductive properties are obtained.The highest in-plane and through-plane thermal conduc-tivities of the composites are 113.61 and 24.37 W m^(-1)K^(-1),respectively.The high contact area of HOGF and good compressibility of VACNTs imbue the VSCG/PDMS composite with low thermal resistance.In addition,the interfacial heat-transfer efficiency of VSCG/PDMS composite in the TIM performance was improved by 71.3%compared to that of a state-of-the-art thermal pad.This new structural design can potentially realize high-performance TIMs that meet the need for high thermal conductivity and low contact thermal resistance in interfacial heat-transfer processes.

Public-private partnership project success circumstances

The public-private partnership has been in use in the world for over 40 years, and has been growing at a varying rate and with mixed success in different countries. Based on the experience gained in selected countries, this article shows key success factors of the public-private partnership.

Public-Private Partnership Arrangement in <i>In-Situ</i>Housing for Slum Rehabilitation in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

The provision of decent accommodation is a major challenge to government in the developing nations. It is a common phenomenon in the urban centres of the developing nations where most houses are in deplorable conditions. The houses are overcrowded with little or no air space between them. There is no basic sanitation in the urban centres as they lack flush toilet, some of the few available flush toilets are piped into seasonal streams, most houses lack defined kitchen areas and healthy sewage disposal method. The cities lack good access roads and functional drainage system with a common practice of environmentally-unfriendly solid waste management methods that create various health challenges to urban dwellers. The aim of the study is to show how in-situ Housing method of slum rehabilitation can be applied through Public/Private Partnership to upgrade houses within a major slum area in Yenagoa. This shall be done with an agreement between the property owners, Real Estate investors and the state government. Basic Research Methodology was applied using questionnaire, direct observation and personal interview techniques to collect data. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were applied to analyse data through the use of tables and charts. The findings in the study showed that poor housing condition seriously degrade the environmental quality of the study area. The standard of living in the area is very poor as the people lack access to decent accommodation, basic sanitation and social amenities.

Ag-integrated mixed metallic Co-Fe-Ni-Mn hydroxide composite as advanced electrode for high-performance hybrid supercapacitors

Direct growth of redox-active noble metals and rational design of multifunctional electrochemical active materials play crucial roles in developing novel electrode materials for energy storage devices.In this regard,silver(Ag)has attracted great attention in the design of efficient electrodes.Inspired by the house/building process,which means electing the right land,it lays a strong foundation and building essential columns for a complex structure.Herein,we report the construction of multifaceted heterostructure cobalt-iron hydroxide(CFOH)nanowires(NWs)@nickel cobalt manganese hydroxides and/or hydrate(NCMOH)nanosheets(NSs)on the Ag-deposited nickel foam and carbon cloth(i.e.,Ag/NF and Ag/CC)substrates.Moreover,the formation and charge storage mechanism of Ag are described,and these contribute to good conductive and redox chemistry features.The switching architectural integrity of metal and redox materials on metallic frames may significantly boost charge storage and rate performance with noticeable drop in resistance.The as-fabricated Ag@CFOH@NCMOH/NF electrode delivered superior areal capacity value of 2081.9μA h cm^(-2)at 5 mA cm^(-2).Moreover,as-assembled hybrid cell based on NF(HC/NF)device exhibited remarkable areal capacity value of 1.82 mA h cm^(-2)at 5 mA cm^(-2)with excellent rate capability of 74.77%even at 70 mA cm^(-2)Furthermore,HC/NF device achieved maximum energy and power densities of 1.39 mW h cm^(-2)and 42.35 mW cm^(-2),respectively.To verify practical applicability,both devices were also tested to serve as a self-charging station for various portable electronic devices.

p-d Orbital Hybridization Engineered Single-Atom Catalyst for Electrocatalytic Ammonia Synthesis

The rational design of metal single-atom catalysts(SACs)for electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction(NRR)is challenging.Two-dimensional metal-organic frameworks(2DMOFs)is a unique class of promising SACs.Up to now,the roles of individual metals,coordination atoms,and their synergy effect on the electroanalytic performance remain unclear.Therefore,in this work,a series of 2DMOFs with different metals and coordinating atoms are systematically investigated as electrocatalysts for ammonia synthesis using density functional theory calculations.For a specific metal,a proper metal-intermediate atoms p-d orbital hybridization interaction strength is found to be a key indicator for their NRR catalytic activities.The hybridization interaction strength can be quantitatively described with the p-/d-band center energy difference(Δd-p),which is found to be a sufficient descriptor for both the p-d hybridization strength and the NRR performance.The maximum free energy change(ΔG_(max))andΔd-p have a volcanic relationship with OsC_(4)(Se)_(4)located at the apex of the volcanic curve,showing the best NRR performance.The asymmetrical coordination environment could regulate the band structure subtly in terms of band overlap and positions.This work may shed new light on the application of orbital engineering in electrocatalytic NRR activity and especially promotes the rational design for SACs.

Ground threat prediction-based path planning of unmanned autonomous helicopter using hybrid enhanced artificial bee colony algorithm

Unmanned autonomous helicopter(UAH)path planning problem is an important component of the UAH mission planning system.Aiming to reduce the influence of non-complete ground threat information on UAH path planning,a ground threat prediction-based path planning method is proposed based on artificial bee colony(ABC)algorithm by collaborative thinking strategy.Firstly,a dynamic threat distribution probability model is developed based on the characteristics of typical ground threats.The dynamic no-fly zone of the UAH is simulated and established by calculating the distribution probability of ground threats in real time.Then,a dynamic path planning method for UAH is designed in complex environment based on the real-time prediction of ground threats.By adding the collision warning mechanism to the path planning model,the flight path could be dynamically adjusted according to changing no-fly zones.Furthermore,a hybrid enhanced ABC algorithm is proposed based on collaborative thinking strategy.The proposed algorithm applies the leader-member thinking mechanism to guide the direction of population evolution,and reduces the negative impact of local optimal solutions caused by collaborative learning update strategy,which makes the optimization performance of ABC algorithm more controllable and efficient.Finally,simulation results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed ground threat prediction path planning method.

Enhancing rock fragmentation prediction in mining operations:A hybrid GWO-RF model with SHAP interpretability

In the mining industry,precise forecasting of rock fragmentation is critical for optimising blasting processes.In this study,we address the challenge of enhancing rock fragmentation assessment by developing a novel hybrid predictive model named GWO-RF.This model combines the grey wolf optimization(GWO)algorithm with the random forest(RF)technique to predict the D_(80)value,a critical parameter in evaluating rock fragmentation quality.The study is conducted using a dataset from Sarcheshmeh Copper Mine,employing six different swarm sizes for the GWO-RF hybrid model construction.The GWO-RF model’s hyperparameters are systematically optimized within established bounds,and its performance is rigorously evaluated using multiple evaluation metrics.The results show that the GWO-RF hybrid model has higher predictive skills,exceeding traditional models in terms of accuracy.Furthermore,the interpretability of the GWO-RF model is enhanced through the utilization of SHapley Additive exPlanations(SHAP)values.The insights gained from this research contribute to optimizing blasting operations and rock fragmentation outcomes in the mining industry.

Dual-ion carrier storage through Mg^(2+) addition for high-energy and long-life zinc-ion hybrid capacitor

Cation additives can efficiently enhance the total electrochemical capabilities of zinc-ion hybrid capacitors (ZHCs).However their energy storage mechanisms in zinc-based systems are still under debate.Herein,we modulate the electrolyte and achieve dual-ion storage by adding magnesium ions.And we assemble several Zn//activated carbon devices with different electrolyte concentrations and investigate their electrochemical reaction dynamic behaviors.The zinc-ion capacitor with Mg^(2+)mixed solution delivers 82 mAh·g^(-1)capacity at 1 A·g^(-1) and maintains 91%of the original capacitance after 10000 cycling.It is superior to the other assembled zinc-ion devices in single-component electrolytes.The finding demonstrates that the double-ion storage mechanism enables the superior rate performance and long cycle lifetime of ZHCs.

Enhancing Access to Bank Credit for Small-Scale Farmers in Kisumu and Kiambu Districts, Kenya Through Public-Private Partnership Initiative

In Kenya, small-scale fanning has immense potential in poverty reduction. The growth of farming activities requires sustainable access to affordable credit to boost and sustain production. This study is initiated to investigate factors influencing access to bank credit by small-scale farmers in Kisumu and Kiambu Districts, Kenya. It is necessitated by lack of a comprehensive study documenting the effectiveness of the partnership initiative in improving access to credit for small-scale farmers. The study seeks to address the following concerns： what factors influence access to bank credit by small-scale farmers under the initiative？ Are small-scale farmers in various parts of the country accessing bank credit equally？ Through which sources do farmers get to know about credit products provided through the initiative？ Primary data was collected from 144 farmers in Kiambu and 127 farmers in Kisumu, sampled using systematic random procedure. The cross-sectional survey design was applied to guide the research process. Quantitative analysis generated cross-tabulations with chi-square and binary logistic regression. The study found that out of 144 credit applicants in Kiambu about 56.3% were successful, while in Kisumu only 37.8% were successful. Access to bank credit was significantly associated with farmers＇ gender, education level, income level, farm size, and farming experience. Besides, women were 1.3 times less likely to access bank credit than men. In terms of regional variation, a Kiambu farmer was 2.7 times more likely to obtain bank credit than a Kisumu farmer. The initiative is an innovative approach for enhancing access to bank credit; however, its potential has not been fully exploited. The study recommends the need： to inform farmers about credit products to clear misconceptions and myths associated with bank credit; develop innovative financing packages for small-scale farmers that are also gender-sensitive; and to initiate a training program targeting farmers with appropriate information.

The Importance of Altruistic Empathy and Collaborative Negotiation in Public-Private Partnerships

The motivation in public-private partnerships （PPPs） is to harness the strengths of public and private partners to deliver essential public services. The ability to transfer risk to the private sector in PPP has been one of the reasons why the public sector relies on the private sector to participate in the development of infrastructure projects. In most instances, the public sector also believes that the private sector can fund the project at a lower cost. The private sector on the other hand, believes that they could achieve a strong financial return based on the concessions that the public sector will provide. If the sectors feel altruistic empathy to each other, they will realize that their original goals are not achievable. However, having understood the other sector＇s needs and constraints, collaborative negotiation will yield a set of common goals. There are no commonly agreed frameworks on collaborative negotiation before PPP is formally established. The objective of this paper is to use deductive analysis to develop a conceptual framework for inquiring into the motivations of the public and private sectors during negotiation. This framework will provide insights on the extent of altruistic empathy of both sectors at the onset and how this altruistic empathy frames collaborative negotiation. This paper shows that collaborative negotiation will influence the success of partnerships and altruistic empathy is an important preamble to collaborative negotiation. This paper provides a frame of reference for future study using other research methods for further validation.

Electrostatic Interaction-directed Construction of Hierarchical Nanostructured Carbon Composite with Dual Electrical Conductive Networks for Zinc-ion Hybrid Capacitors with Ultrastability

Metal-organic framework(MOF)-derived carbon composites have been considered as the promising materials for energy storage.However,the construction of MOF-based composites with highly controllable mode via the liquid-liquid synthesis method has a great challenge because of the simultaneous heterogeneous nucleation on substrates and the self-nucleation of individual MOF nanocrystals in the liquid phase.Herein,we report a bidirectional electrostatic generated self-assembly strategy to achieve the precisely controlled coatings of single-layer nanoscale MOFs on a range of substrates,including carbon nanotubes(CNTs),graphene oxide(GO),MXene,layered double hydroxides(LDHs),MOFs,and SiO_(2).The obtained MOF-based nanostructured carbon composite exhibits the hierarchical porosity(V_(meso)/V_(micro)∶2.4),ultrahigh N content of 12.4 at.%and"dual electrical conductive networks."The assembled aqueous zinc-ion hybrid capacitor(ZIC)with the prepared nanocarbon composite as a cathode shows a high specific capacitance of 236 F g^(-1)at 0.5 A g^(-1),great rate performance of 98 F g^(-1)at 100 A g^(-1),and especially,an ultralong cycling stability up to 230000 cycles with the capacitance retention of 90.1%.This work develops a repeatable and general method for the controlled construction of MOF coatings on various functional substrates and further fabricates carbon composites for ZICs with ultrastability.