Challenges of the Performance Standards of the International Finance Corporation in Financing the African Integrated High-Speed Railway Network and the Way Forward: The Case of Standard Gauge Railway in Tanzania

Financing of the African Integrated High-Speed Railway Network (AIHSRN) through Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Projects is very expensive. As a result, most of the African countries seek financial supports from the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). However, conditions provided by the IFIs through the Performance Standards (PS) of the International Financial Corporation (IFC) increase cost of the projects and thus, it becomes a burden to most of the African countries. This study aimed to explore the causes of IFC-PS through the SGR Projects that escalate costs and how to address them. The Tanzania SGR Lot 1 Project that covered 205 km from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro was selected as a case study. The methods used for data collection involved literature review, focus group discussions and interviews. The results and findings show a gap between the IFC-PS and the National Laws and Regulations that escalates costs of the projects if funds from the IFIs were to be secured. To bridge the gap, it is recommended that the African countries should engage into negotiations with the IFIs to agree to waive IFC-PS conditions that escalate costs provided they are adequately covered in the national laws and regulations;engagement of locally established national and regional financial institutions;and the responsible government institutions in the African countries should sit together for assessment and review of the IFC-PS against the national laws and regulations.

China's High Performance Computer Standard Commission Established

China's High Performance Computer Standard Commission was established on March 28, 2007, under the guidance of the Science and Technology Bureau of the Ministry of Information Industry. It will prepare relevant professional standards on high performance computers to break through the monopoly in the field by foreign manufacturers and vendors.……

BIM Software Plug-ins： An Alternative to OptimizeDesign Processes from the Perspective of Performance and Sustainability

With the increased use of technology in design processes, BIM （building information modeling） tools user＇s community has started to develop solutions through external applications such as plug-ins to automate specific and repetitive tasks, amplify interoperability and add functionality versatility to BIM platforms. This paper seeks to evaluate Autodesk Revit platform plug-ins＇ state of the art, by means of a quantitative study of current repositories and the proposition of a categorization system of the purposes to which plug-ins are developed. Then a comparison between use and necessity of Brazil＇s AEC （architecture, engineering and construction） industry was done through a questionnaire with experienced professionals of the area. An analysis was carried out based on the professional＇s difficulties in meeting the requirements of Brazilian Performance Standard and compliance with Environmental Certification provisions, underpinning the possibility of using plug-ins to optimize the design processes under the perspective of performance and sustainability.

Electronic Chart Display and Information System

This paper introduces the most advanced form of electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) which complies with the Performance Standards for ECDIS established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).It also describes the key features and the important functions of ECDIS.Then the future development of ECDIS in marine is discussed.

Characteristics of high performing employees in China

Performance, from management＇s perspective, is the desired result of organization, the effective output showed on different levels by the organization to achieve its objectives, including individual performance and organizational performance. The achievement of the organizational performance should be on the basis of individual performance, while the realization of individual performance does not necessarily ensure the organizational performance. If, according to certain logic, the organization＇s performance is decomposed to each job and each person, as long as each individual reaches the organization＇s requirements, can the organization＇s performance realized.

Initial allocation of carbon emission permits in power systems

Initial allocation modes and schemes are studied in this paper to provide guidelines for allocation of carbon emission permits in power system. We first introduce different allocation modes and the need to apply free allocation to assignability of emission permits. Then, we compare two different allocation schemes, which are based on historical emissions and generation performance standard. Further, a new allocation scheme based on Boltzmann distribution is proposed. Finally, a case study on Shanghai power grid in China is conducted to compare the allocation effects of these schemes respectively. The analytical results show that Boltzmann distribution based scheme has the best performance and should be adopted when developing initial allocation of carbon emission permits in Chinese power systems.