Discussion on Cost Budgeting and Cost Control Strategies for Prefabricated Construction Projects

In the process of China’s national economic development,the construction industry is a very important component and has a direct impact on the level of China’s economic construction.Nowadays,the development speed of the prefabricated construction industry is constantly accelerating.To effectively ensure the economic benefits of engineering projects,it is necessary to comprehensively strengthen cost budgeting and cost control.This article analyzes the cost budget of prefabricated construction projects,introduces the application advantages of prefabricated construction,and proposes specific cost budgeting and cost control measures,hoping to provide some reference for relevant researchers.

Local communities' participation in decision-making processes through planning and budgeting in African countries

Community participation and community based management are topical themes in current policy and discussion revolving around decision-making processes especially those dealing with natural resources management.This review shows that while governments have accepted the need to either cede or devolve control and management of natural resources to the local communities,the communities are not part and parcel of the planning and budgeting which are crucial in decisionmaking.Communities were seen to be more involved in the implementation of natural resource management programs but lacked ownership of the projects.This causes lack of commitment to the programs and at times hostile reaction from the communities.The communities are always at the receiving end when it pertains to losses in the exchange.Community participation was shown to be effective when the local population is involved not as co-operating users but as natural resource managers or owner managers.

Household behavior in practicing mental budgeting based on the theory of planned behavior

Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior(TPB)suggests that planned behavior is determined by behavioral intention.Despite extensive literature based on TPB,household mental budgeting behavior explained by TPB is underexplored.The current study empirically tested TPB factors in light of mental budgeting behavior.The hypothesized model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling(PLS-SEM).PLS-SEM was employed using a Likert-scaled questionnaire administered to 275 households.The results indicate that mental budgeting attitude and mental budgeting past behavior strongly predict mental budgeting intention,and mental budgeting intention predicts mental budgeting behavior.Further,mental budgeting intention partially mediates the relationship between mental budgeting attitude and mental budgeting behavior,and mental budgeting past behavior and mental budgeting behavior.This study contributes to the academic interest in theoretical progress in household behavior.

A Novel Approach for Groundwater Budgeting Using GIS in a Part of Pondicherry Region, India

The over extraction of groundwater from the coastal aquifers, result in reduction of groundwater resource and lowering of water level. In general, the depletion of groundwater level enhances the landward migration of saltwater wedge. Pondicherry is one such region with recent alluvium as the major formation. Since the study area forms a part of the coastal aquifer system this behaves as a fragile ecosystem. The present study has been attempted to calculate the extraction of water and to estimate the amount of recharge into this alluvial aquifer by using groundwater level variations. The monthly water level fluctuation was observed during the study period (2000-2002) in eighteen locations. The maximum rise in groundwater level observed during 2000 was considered as the initial water level for the study and the subsequent decline in water level (draw down) was monitored monthly until the rising trend was noted. This indicates the fall in water level due to extraction. Later keeping the deepest draw down as the initial value increasing water level trend was studied until there was a notice of decline in groundwater level. This indicates as the rise in water level due to recharge. This method of observation carried out at a single location was adopted for all eighteen locations. The spatial representation of these data for eighteen locations were carried out by using GIS and the area occupied by different groundwater level contours were calculated and the amount of water withdrawn/re- charged was estimated. The maximum recharge was noted in the central and the northern part of the study area when compared to the other regions. Similarly, the maximum discharge was noted in the northern and the southern part of the study area during the study period.

Controllability, Budget Flexibility and New Model of Budgeting System

How to extend the flexibility of the budget control to adapt for need of strategy management and management control is a difficult and very important problem. The purpose of this paper is to study tentatively this problem based on the extant results of controllability principle and budgeting in management control system of organization. In this paper, three main results are as follows： （1） To disclose that the controllability of an organization is one characteristic of the budgeting systems and the controllability is not impartial and not single personal action. （2） To discuss tentatively an improved budgeting system to improve the several weaknesses of traditional budgeting control that Otley （1999） summarized from the academic and practitioner literatures in order to improve the controllability of strategy management with budget flexibility. （3） To build the new model of flexible budget with three new features： it makes strategy objectives easily achievable and controllable; it makes controllers have a more strategic role; it can balance these multiple goals when they cannot be achieved simultaneously and external conditions are more demanding.

Agricultural Support Policies and Public Budgeting in Turkey

Agriculture is a leading strategic sector in Turkey as it is in entire world. Despite this strategic significance, risks, and uncertainties, the dependence on natural conditions turns agriculture into a disadvantaged sector. Just because of these disadvantages, agriculture is protected by various support policies throughout the world. Agricultural policies of Turkey have initiated with institutionalization policies of the Republican period and progressed through product supports, input supports, and low-interest credit implementations of the planned period. These policies experienced serious reforms at the beginning of 2000s. Within the scope of Agricultural supports and Reforms Implementation Project （ARIP）, agricultural supports tried to be gathered under a single roof and Direct Income Support （DIS） implementations started. The DIS implementations lasted for eight years and terminated in 2008. The aim of this study is to examine agricultural supports in Turkey and their shares in the public budget. As material, macroeconomic data are used in this study. The data consist of transfers from the ministry of food, agriculture, and livestock to agriculture and budget numbers. The results of the study reveal that current agricultural policy tools are implemented as area-based supports, subsidiary payments, rural development, and agricultural insurance supports. The budget allocated to agriculture and the share of agricultural supports in Gross Domestic Product （GDP） of Turkey does not exhibit much change in years. Considering the policies and supports provided in developed countries and especially in European Union （EU） countries, it recommend for Turkey that the share of agricultural supports in total budget should be increased to levels in those countries.

A Criteria Model for Budgeting and Assessing Industrial Sites Location in Developing Economy

Industrial sites are selected in many of the developing countries without taking into consideration some pertinent criteria that are directly affecting the sustainability of such industries in the locations after commissioning. Industries are located in some areas based on political influence rather than facility availability that support industry＇s productivity. In this study a criteria model was developed for assessing the present industrial site locations based on predetermined influencing factors called criteria. In the model provision was made for the sorting out of deficient influencing factors for the purpose of upgrading them to the minimum level required called benchmark through periodical allocation of appropriate funds. In validating the model, identified industrial sites located in selected States of Nigeria were surveyed. Data were collected on factors such as power supply, marketability and raw malerial availability which were considered influential to the sustainability of industry＇s site in the respective areas. Data were analysed for the criteria identified along the line of industrial categories which included large-, medium-, and small-scales. Benchmarks, as well as levels of criteria in the respective regions were determined using statistical weighted averages and the results were used as input to the model. The output results of the model showed that none of the industrial sites located in the selected six States of the South-Western Nigeria were productivity supportive. However, a good performance was achieved in a site with a budget of S13 million （US Dollars） for the upgrading of the deficient facilities in the next three years.

The role of trust in supervisor in participative budgeting systems

This study examined the relationship between budget participation and managerial performance as mediated by trust in supervisor and explored the moderating role of budget-goal difficulty on budget participation, trust in supervisor, and managerial performance. One-hundred-fifty-eight useful responses were drawn at random from subordinate managers of manufacturing companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The mediating effect of trust in supervisor was examined by path analysis. Subgroup analysis was used to examine the contingency effect of budget-goal difficulty on the mediating role of trust in supervisor between budget participation and performance. The findings support our hypotheses and demonstrate the mediating effect of trust in supervisor and the moderating effect of budget-goal difficulty.

An Empirical Test of Optimism Bias in Capital Budgeting Decisions

Behavioral finance is a field that is scrutinizing the adequacy of traditional financial theories using insights from the disciplines of psychology and sociology. Many studies within its realm test the stock market behaviors, and behavioral phenomena are still to be tested in the area of corporate finance. This study aims to contribute to the behavioral corporate finance literature by a research in one of the psychological phenomena affecting the decision makers＇ abilities to reach conclusions rationally. In this study, it is aimed to investigate one of the biases, namely, the optimism bias in corporate capital budgeting decisions. Optimism in decision making can be associated with estimating lower costs and higher revenues. Thus, by assessing the forecasts of decision makers, the existence of optimism in their decisions is tried to be seen. This study aims at contributing to the literature in that it is conducted in an emerging country like Turkey.

Pumping-induced Well Hydraulics and Groundwater Budget in a Leaky Aquifer System with Vertical Heterogeneity in Aquitard Hydraulic Properties

In groundwater hydrology,aquitard heterogeneity is often less considered compared to aquifers,despite its significant impact on groundwater hydraulics and groundwater resources evaluation.A semi-analytical solution is derived for pumping-induced well hydraulics and groundwater budget with consideration of vertical heterogeneity in aquitard hydraulic conductivity(K)and specific storage(S_(s)).The proposed new solution is innovative in its partitioning of the aquitard into multiple homogeneous sub-layers to enable consideration of various forms of vertically heterogeneous K or S_(s).Two scenarios of analytical investigations are explored:one is the presence of aquitard interlayers with distinct K or S_(s) values,a common field-scale occurrence;another is an exponentially depth-decaying aquitard S_(s),a regional-scale phenomenon supported by statistical analysis.Analytical investigations reveal that a low-K interlayer can significantly increase aquifer drawdown and enhance aquifer/aquitard depletion;a high-S_(s) interlayer can noticeably reduce aquifer drawdown and increase aquitard depletion.Locations of low-K or high-S_(s) interlayers also significantly impact well hydraulics and groundwater budget.In the context of an exponentially depth-decaying aquitard S_(s),a larger decay exponent can enhance aquifer drawdown.When using current models with a vertically homogeneous aquitard,half the sum of the geometric and harmonic means of exponentially depth-decaying aquitard S_(s) should be used to calculate aquitard depletion and unconfined aquifer leakage.

Optimization Analysis of Comprehensive Budget Management from the Perspective of Digital Restructuring:Taking a Water Company as an Example

This article takes water enterprises as the research object,exploring the organic combination of comprehensive budget management under the trend of digitalization and digital technology in the new era,as well as the process of management system reform.Introduce the current status of its budget management work,comprehensively analyze the architecture and operation mode of the current comprehensive budget management system of water enterprises,and evaluate and analyze the overall situation and shortcomings of its budget management system based on financial data such as budget formulation and execution.From the perspective of digital restructuring and upgrading of comprehensive budget management work,corresponding countermeasures are proposed to make up for the shortcomings and suggestions for the future development of the enterprise’s comprehensive budget.

Discussion on Construction Project Cost Budget Settlement Review

Construction project cost control involves many complex contents,forming a large amount of data information.If the processing method is unreasonable,it will likely affect the cost control efficiency.Therefore,in the current construction project management,the review of project cost budget settlement is the focus to solve the cost management problems of construction projects and promote the development of the construction industry.This article mainly analyzes the influencing factors and current situation of construction project cost budget settlement review,and based on this,it explores the project cost budget settlement review strategy to promote the healthy development of construction project cost work.

Link Budget and Enhanced Communication Distance for Ambient Internet of Things

Backscatter communications will play an important role in connecting everything for beyond 5G(B5G)and 6G systems.One open challenge for backscatter communications is that the signals suffer a round-trip path loss so that the communication distance is short.In this paper,we first calculate the communication distance upper bounds for both uplink and downlink by measuring the tag sensitivity and reflection coefficient.It is found that the activation voltage of the envelope detection diode of the downlink tag is the main factor limiting the back-scatter communication distance.Based on this analysis,we then propose to implement a low-noise amplifier(LNA)module before the envelope detection at the tag to enhance the incident signal strength.Our experimental results on the hardware platform show that our method can increase the downlink communication range by nearly 20 m.

Analysis of Hospital Budget Management Control Based on Smart Hospital

Hospitals are crucial healthcare facilities where patients seek treatment,and effective budget management within hospitals significantly impacts their operational efficiency and financial performance.In the age of information technology and advanced healthcare solutions,the emergence of smart hospitals represents a new trend in the medical industry’s evolution.Leveraging modern information technology can enhance the development of hospital IT systems and drive budget management toward greater intelligence.This paper begins by analyzing the influence of smart hospitals on hospital budget control.It then examines the current state of budget management control within smart hospitals.Finally,it proposes several strategies for budget management control in smart hospitals,aiming to provide guidance for relevant stakeholders.

预算绩效指标体系的全面审视与改革思路:一个整体性分析框架

指标体系在绩效评价中处于核心位置,优化预算绩效指标体系是全面深化预算绩效管理改革的重要基础和关键路径。预算绩效指标承担价值判断和管理导向职能,存在实质上呈现绩效目标的科学性、形式上呈现绩效指标的可衡量性和功能上呈现结果的有效性的三重特性。基于预算绩效指标体系的基本特性,构建“价值导向-规范控制-激励发展”三重功能分析框架,引入指标固恋理论,对地方政府预算绩效指标测量实践进行分析。研究发现,绩效指标科学性、准确性和有效性不足导致难以充分发挥价值引导、规范控制和激励发展功能,严重影响预算绩效管理效能。绩效目标结构不完整和价值缺失限制了绩效指标的科学性,导致绩效目标价值引导功能不足;绩效目标指标之间关联模糊和指标结构失衡削弱了绩效指标的可测量性和准确性,无法充分发挥规范控制功能,造成绩效测量过程失范和测量结果偏差;受限于评价主体专业性和评估方法程序规范性,难以形成以目标为牵引、以结果为导向的绩效改进方案,阻碍激励发展功能的充分发挥。深层原因在于量化诉求不断高涨,忽视了并非所有目标都能够测量的客观事实,过度追求指标测量使其陷入指标固恋困境,造成公共价值损失、目标偏离和数字形式主义,消解了绩效指标功能。需要在价值融入、过程控制和激励改进层面实施预算绩效指标改革,为全面深化预算绩效管理改革破除指标固恋障碍。

Influence of Climate and Daylength on the Activity Budgets of Feral Goats (Capra hircus) on the Isle of Rum, Scotland

Daytime activity budgets of feral goats （ Capra hircus ） were studied in 1981, 1982 and 2000 on the Isle of Rum, northwest Scotland. This paper analyzes the influence of key weather variables （temperature and rainfall） and seasonal variations in daylength on daytime activity budgets. This study showed that the percentage of daytime spent in feeding by feral goats on Rum Island decreased with average monthly temperature, while the percentage of daytime spent in lying increased and rainfall had no significant effects on the percentage daytime spent in feeding or lying. The daylength varied greatly from January to December with the longest daylength being in June and July, and the shortest one in December and January. The amount of daytime spent feeding decreased from summer to winter, although the percentage of daytime spent feeding increased greatly from summer to winter. The seasonal variations in daylength seem to be an important factor in constraining feral goats＇ activity, especially in the cold and wet winters when forage biomass and quality are both at their lowest level. We discuss the influence of such constraining effects on the forage intake of these goats and their winter survival rate, as well as its implication for population regulation of these goats.

Evaluation of Forest Carbon Budget of Liaoning Province in Recent 50 Years

The interannual variation characteristics of NPP and carbon emission of Liaoning forest in recent 50 years (from 1961 to 2008) were analyzed based on the hydrothermal optimized NPP model and soil respiration Q10 model.The results showed that the total amount of annual NPP was increased in recent 50 years,in which the amount of NPP (83.9 Mt) in 2008 was 2.8 times as high as that in 1961.Amount of NPP per unit area changed with different years,and the maximum value was 36.5% more than the minimum one.The net carbon budget of Liaoning forest was carbon sink,with annual 2.1 t CO2/hm2.

Diurnal activity rhythms and time budgets of captive Qinling golden takin(Budorcas taxicolor bedfordi) in the Qinling Mountains,Shaanxi,China

In July 2006, the diurnal activity rhythms of 13 heads of captive Qinling golden takin were observed in Shaanxi Provincial Centre for the Breeding and Conservation of Rare Wildlife （SPCBCRW） at daylight （from 9：00 am to 4：00 pm in July）. The behavioral ethnogram was identified through observation at the sampling site, with the behaviors of golden takin recorded at 5 min interval using instantaneous scannable sampling method. The results indicated that the resting of golden takin took an important part in the daylight activities. Meanwhile, drinking and urinating and defecating were 1.92 and 0.54 and 0.92 times per head per day. Ambient temperature had a strong effect on the diurnal activity rhythms of golden takin. The diurnal activity rhymes were affected by ages of the animals effectively, which was expressed through differentiation of the time budgets. Moreover, different individuals in the same population showed some non-synchronously activity rhythms.

用Budget方法评估食品防腐剂摄入量

分析了在Codex为了设定食品添加剂的使用标准而被应用的Budget方法论,并提出了适用于中国人饮食情况的使用准则。在此基础上对苯甲酸及其钠盐、山梨酸及其钾盐、对羟基苯甲酸乙脂和双乙酸钠的国内理论最大摄入量进行了估算。其结果苯甲酸及其钠盐、对羟基苯甲酸乙脂、双乙酸钠的每日最大理论摄入量超过了ADI(acceptable daily intakes)值,而山梨酸及其钾盐的每日最大理论摄入量估算值低于ADI值,因此即使在允许使用的所有食品群里以目前使用标准使用山梨酸及其钾盐也不会造成危害。

Fund budget model for multipurpose transit smart card systems

The fund budget of multipurpose transit smart card systems is studied by stochastic programming to assign limited funds to different applications reasonably. Under the constraints of a gross fund, models of chance-constrained and dependentchance for the fund budget of multipurpose transit smart card systems are established with application scale and social demand as random variables, respectively aiming to maximize earnings and satisfy the service requirements the furthest; and the genetic algorithm based on stochastic simulation is adopted for model solution. The calculation results show that the fund budget differs greatly with different system objectives which can cause the systems to have distinct expansibilities, and the application scales of some applications may not satisfy user demands with limited funds. The analysis results indicate that the forecast of application scales and application future demands should be done first, and then the system objective is determined according to the system mission, which can help reduce the risks of fund budgets.