Trust and relationship commitment on cooperative performance of supply chain

Creating and sustaining trust in cooperative performances of the supply chain constitute critical strategic components.To study the influences of organizational and individual trust on the quality of commitment and cooperative performance,the relationships among organizational trust,individual trust,commitment and cooperative performances of the supply chain are discussed by case analysis.Questionnaire investigation is used to study the trust and relationship commitment among supply chain partnerships on cooperative performance.Results show that both organizational and individual trust are positively correlated with cooperative performance.The indirect effects of organizational trust on cooperative performance through relationship commitment is significantly greater than its direct effects.However,the indirect effects of individual trust on cooperative performance through relationship commitment is significantly less than its direct effects.It provides all essential basis for enterprises to establish and develop stable supply chain partnerships and to enhance competitive advantages.

Possible Chinese Strategic Responses to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership （TPP） Agreement have concluded, but the TPP still must be ratified by each of the 12 member countries. China is the world＇s second largest economy and yet it has not joined the TPP. This has provoked much debate in China as to the best strategic approach to the TPP This paper analyzes China＇s possible strategy for the TPP agreement. We make three key points. First, the security of market access should be China＇s main concern in any free-trade agreement negotiations, regrettably, it is not included in TPP. The second point is that the present TPP agreement is somewhat diminished from its ambitious original claims. We suggest four strategies for China. The first is to promote the development of China＇s remaining regional and bilateral free trade agreements （FTAs）. The second is to negotiate a bilateral FTA with the United States. The third is to promote deep domestic reforms via enlarged TPP coverage. The last is negotiating entrance to the entering do not worsen. TPP as soon as possible so that terms of

Risks and new transformations of PPP contracts

This paper tries to demonstrate that the principle of the risk allocation based on the balance is the most effective way to resolve the risk allocation problems of public-private partnership （PPP） contracts and presents suggestions how to carry out this principle. For PPP projects, it is necessary to set up a workable and commercially viable risk sharing mechanism to satisfy the different interests and the objectives of both the public sector and the private sector. An effective risk allocation mechanism is not only an important part in preparing project documents, but also an essential part in the success of PPP contracts. Risk allocation can be represented in a risk matrix. The more balanced the risk allocation is, the lower the risk degree of PPP contracts is. Therefore, the most effective risk allocation of PPP contracts is that the public sector and the private sector take part in risk management together in all the stages of the project and allocate the balanced risks. The outcomes of this paper can be used by both the public sector and the private sector to make a good choice of the PPP contract form.

Poverty reduction within the framework of SDGs and Post-2015 Development Agenda

The eradication of poverty is one of the largest global challenges facing the world. This article examines poverty reduction goals within the framework of Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). It also discusses the relationship between poverty reduction and sustainable development. Poverty reduction and sustainable development are inseparable and poverty reduction is the premise for sustainable development. Furthermore, several key bones of contention on the role of poverty reduction and sustainable development and implications of Post-2015 Development Agenda are also discussed. It concludes that to end poverty and inequality should continuously be given top priority for the Chinese government, because poverty reduction is China's soft power. Meanwhile, new ways of poverty alleviation should be explored and government should make great efforts to create a new partnership for poverty reduction and development.

The practice of mine ventilation engineering

The practice of ventilation is continually evolving with new technological advances developed in the mining industry.In recent years the advances in diesel engine technologies,ventilation modeling software,and ventilation management capacities have redefined the historical methods used to evaluate systems.The advances re-evaluate previous methods used to calculate the airflow requirements for the dilution of diesel exhaust fumes.Modeling software has become an integral part of planning and developing ventilation systems in partnership with graphical mine design software packages to generate realistic representations of the mine.Significant advances in ventilation control strategies through remote sensors and monitoring capabilities have been developed to results in cost savings.Though there has been much advancement in mine ventilation technology,the practices and basic ventilation principals enacted through the ventilation engineer cannot be placated with technological advances only.

A Multidisciplinary Method for Evaluating Ship Stability

The aim of this paper is to present the main results arisen from the joint efforts of the public-private partnership in being between CCII （Centro Cultura Innovativa d＇Impresa） of University of Salento and Apphia s.r.l.. This paper will focus on the results of the core of the OBSS （on board stability system） module that, starting from the exact 3D geometry of a ship hull, described by a discrete model in a standard format, the distribution of all weights onboard and the data acquired by the system, calculates ship floating conditions （in draught, heel and trim）. The proposed approach is based on geometry meshes represented by an universally accepted file format （named OBJ） first developed by Wavefront Technologies. Demonstration of the validity of the results is done by the authors using as hull model a simple rectangular box.

Review and Prospect of the UN Efforts for Sustainable Development

The present paper reviews the UN important efforts to promote global sustainable development in the chronological order since UN Conference on Human Environment in 1972, and ana- lyzes the progress and gap. The results show that the UN system has made great efforts for global sustainable development since the UN Conference on Human Environment, especially since UN Conference on Environment and Development, promoted the for- mation of important consensus and multilateral internhtional con- ventions on many fields, boosted the development of partnership in the field of sustainable development, and accelerated actions for sustainable development of many countries and regions. However, at present, the progress made is still far below the level required, prominently reflected in the slow progress toward the millen-nium development goals, the difficulties in negotiations in the field of environment and development, insufficient fulfillment of international agreements and conventions, and undesirable effects of partnership in the field of sustainable development. Based on these, the paper puts forward four suggestions for UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012（Rio＋20）： （1） to revitalize the ＂spirit of Rio＂ and accelerate the implementation of existing politi- cal commitments; （2） to make new political commitments focusing on climate change and other major global challenges under the Rio principles; （3） to lay out a blueprint of green economy under the Rio principles; and （4） to promote South-South cooperation as the focus of international cooperation.

Dark Parameterizations,Equivalent Partner Fields and Integrable Systems

After introducing dark parameters into the traditional physical models, some types of new phenomena may be found. An important difficult problem is how to directly observe this kind of physical phenomena. An alternative treatment is to introduce equivalent multiple partner fields. If use this ideal to integrable systems, one may obtain infinitely many new coupled integrable systems constituted by the original usuM field and partner fields. The idea is illustrated via the celebrate KdV equation. From the procedure, some byproducts can be obtained： A new method to find exact solutions of some types of coupled nonlinear physical problems, say, the perturbation KdV systems, is provided; Some new localized modes such as the staggered modes can be found and some new interaction phenomena like the ghost interaction are discovered.

Male Tibetan macaques' (Macaca thibetana) choice of infant bridging partners

Adult male Tibetan(Macaca thibetana), Barbary(M. sylvanus), and stump-tailed macaques(M. arctoides) engage in bridging, a ritualized infant-handling behavior. Previous researchers found a bias toward the use of male infants for this behavior, but its function is debated. Explanations include three hypotheses: paternal care, mating effort, and agonistic buffering. We studied a group of habituated, provisioned Tibetan macaques to test whether adult males' affiliative relationships with females predicted their use of an infant for bridging. We also examined biases for sex, age, and individual in males' choice of bridging infant. We collected data via all occurrences, focal animal, and scan methods, from August to September 2011 at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys, China. We found that male infants were significantly preferred over females for bridging, but of three male infants in the group, only one was used by all males, while one male infant was used less often than expected. Adult males had females they were significantly more likely to be proximate to and/or to groom, but these corresponded to the mother of the bridging infant for only one male. Our results are most consistent with the agonistic buffering hypothesis: lower-ranked males used the alpha male's preferred bridging infant in an attempt to regulate their interactions with the alpha.

Sharing and evaluation of a new community co-management model for protecting Crested Ibis:a case study of Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve,China

The Crested Ibis(Nipponia Nippon) is endemic to Qinling Mountains of China and was once abundant over vast areas of north-east of Asia habitat.During the 20th century,however,the population declined greatly in numbers.Habitat quality used to be the main threat to this species but recent actions by the government and wildlife protection organizations have brought this under control.With the establishment of Crested Ibis Nature Reserve in China,conflicts between socio-economic development and Crested Ibis conservation have become more acute.How do we deal with the relation between Crested Ibis conservation and community development? In this study,the Crested Ibis Nature Reserve co-management model namely "companies + farmers + Nature Reserve" model is proposed and evaluated with demonstration investigation methods,including continuous six-year fixed-site socio-economic development data of surrounding community,company sales revenue data and monitored data of Crested Ibis Nature Reserve.The results show that farmers' income and conservation awareness increased greatly from 2003 to 2008;company sales revenue has increased by about 20% annually in the recent years;management level has noticeably improved in Nature Reserve,the scope of Crested Ibis habitat has expanded 50 hm2;chemical composition of habitat reduced year after year;and the number of Crested Ibis had been growing annually.At the end,the success of the model is evaluated,and problems in implementation of the model are discussed from the following aspects:management system,co-management concept,economic base of partners,marketing mechanism,technical capacity and so on.

Simple and Low-Cost Re-Authentication Protocol for HeNB

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project(3GPP)defined a new architecture,called Home eNode B(HeNB).The 3GPP has also presented a protocol for communications between HeNB and core networks for mutual authentication.To reduce the authentication costs associated with communication,computation and energy,this paper proposes a simple and low-cost re-authentication protocol that does not compromise the provided security services.The proposed protocol uses as the re-authentication parameter a Master Session Key(MSK)that has already been computed in the initial authentication,and does not require the full initial authentication to be repeated.Moreover,the proposed protocol does not modify the 3GPP infrastructure,and is easily applied to the HeNB system.Finally,the security of the proposed protocol is verified by Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications(AVISPA)and Burrows-Abadi-Needham(BAN)Logic;detailed evaluations of performance are also given.The analysis results illustrate that the proposed protocol can achieve at least 50%cost reduction in communication and 58%cost reduction in energy.The computational cost is also reduced by half compared with the initial authentication.

Analysis on using UPREITs in real estate finance in United States

This paper gave an overview introduction about umbrella partnership real estate investment trust (UPREIT) to the readers who are not related to real estate and accounting major. To show how UPREIT defer capital gain taxes,makes good cash flow and maximize profit in real estate finance,the paper included the theory and structure of UPREIT(real estate investment trust),partnership issues,advantage and disadvantage,and created a proforma to demonstrate how UPREIT works.

The progress and prospect on China-EU Blue Partnership

By reviewing the current status and progress made by China and EU in ocean related fields in the changing world,this paper tries to identify the needs,characteristics and strategic importance of the China-EU Blue Partnership.The Blue Partnership proposed by the Chinese government is open and inclusive.It values mutual beneficial,and calls for broader cooperation.China-EU Blue Partnership is not only related to the development of both China and EU,but also will significantly contribute to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.Some suggestions on the further development of the Partnership are proposed to facilitate the implementation.

A Cost-Benefit Analysis of China＇s Trade Relations With Sub-Saharan Africa

Trade and economic relations between China and Africa have a protracted history and have developed incrementally over the course of time. Consequently, increasing numbers of Chinese businesses and entrepreneurs have sought partnerships with African companies with the aim of establishing strategic partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures. In recent years, these Sino-African trading relations have been the subject of consistent debate and scrutiny, attracting positive and negative analyses from scholars and practitioners across disciplines. Some studies questioned China＇s motives in Africa＇s markets, and others viewed with suspicion the structure of Sino-Africa＇s bilateral trading engagements. Conducting an extensive literature survey of related sources and employing content analysis of recent and current data （2000-2009）, the paper examined institutional and academic publications pertaining to Sino-African relationship. It determines imbalance in the structure of Sino-African bilateral trade, negative impact on domestic economic development, and competitive disadvantage in African marketplaces. Policy implications of these findings were provided as well as recommendations for mutual trade benefits and global strategic investments

Understanding the YouTube Partners and Their Data： Measurement and Analysis

User generated content,e.g.,from YouTube,the most popular online video sharing site,is one of the major sources of today's big data and it is crucial to understand their inherent characteristics.Recently,YouTube has started working with content providers(known as YouTube partners) to promote the users' watching and sharing activities.The substantial benefit is to further augment its service and monetize more videos,which is crucial to both YouTube and its partners,as well as to other providers of relevant services.In this paper,our main contribution is to analyze the massive amounts of video data from a YouTube partner's view.We make effective use of Insight,a new analytics service of YouTube that offers simple data analysis for partners.To provide the practical guidance from the raw Insight data,we enable more complex investigations for the inherent features that affect the popularity of the videos.Our findings facilitate YouTube partners to re-design current video publishing strategies,having more opportunities to attract more views.

Structural Fiscal Regulation and Choice of Instruments in the New Normal

Based on the overall consideration of individual behaviors of Ricardian and non-Ricardian households, this paper develops a New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium(DSGE) model to form a relatively systematic research framework for analyzing the economic effects of structural fiscal instruments. Our study findsthat great differences exist in the macroeconomic effects of different fiscal instruments, suggesting that the government should prudently select these fiscal instruments in fiscal macro-control. The simulating results of fiscal shocks show that the effect of tax cut is superior to the effect of increased spending. In the context of slowing economic growth and less potent stimulation policy, the government should transform its previous regulatory approach of fiscal policy and shift from hefty spending stimulus policy to structural tax cuts. This paper believes that China should step up the implementation of public-private partnership, increase its spending on social security, healthcare, pension and public services and facilitate the transition toward a service-based government; and that tax policy should focus on structural tax cuts on consumption to promote the transition of demand structure toward consumption-driven.

Additive Manufacturing： Is It a New Era for Furniture Production？

The purpose of this study is to make a review and or definition of AM （additive manufacturing）, and an evaluation of its use in furniture production within a few projects to provide industry-specific awareness. AM can be considered as one of the latest innovative processes, as a state-of-the-art development, in manufacturing industries. AM is expressed as the future of the products and localization of the manufacturing processes in some studies. Innovation is a key factor both for firms and consumer products or service output. And, in today＇s competitive environment, it compels all the partners for R ＆ D activities to provide technological development. But, all the partners come to a parting of the ways of disruptive or sustainable innovation. It can be said that furniture manufacturing by AM method is relatively new. Non-industrial use of the AM in furniture production can be stated as one of the latest innovative development. Thereby, this study reviews how AM is used to produce furniture within applied projects, which materials and methods are used for production and suggests its future impact.

A Multi-Agent Expert System for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect

When a child abuse situation arises, the responsible agencies and entities in charge of response should be capable of providing a fast and personalized solution for the good of the child. This need leads the authors to consider the formation of dynamic virtual organizations tailored to each particular abuse case. In the authors＇ approach the partner selection of these collaborative networks is done through a software tool that combines two technologies from the field of artificial intelligence, specifically multi-agent systems and expert systems. In addition, these partners come from the breeding environment constituted by all the agencies or individuals, either in a region or locality, which have the potential of response.

A Family--The Tension and the Satisfaction

Family members solve not only their interests, but make provision for interests of other members of the family, too. The space for the control at a higher level is thus formed. Without notifying, individual members in the process of provision making proceed depending on general rules of the organisation of elements into higher structures, as they exist in all stable objects. This provision making has different forms, starting with the love and ending with an assisted coexistence. The understanding of the role of individual controlling structures allows to improve the functioning of the family. Similarly, as a regular discussion of its functioning in the family and perhaps, their controlled casting by some of partners, too. The submitted work describes roles and the control in the elementary family--in the childless coexistence of partners.

Social-Aware Cooperation Among Mobile Terminals for Wireless Downlink Transmission

This paper investigates the social-aware cooperation(SAC) among mobile terminals(MTs), motivated by the fact that modern smart devices have much improved context awareness. Aware of the social ties, the cooperative network contains two layers of property: social and physical. In order to observe how the social awareness benefit the cooperation performance, we first formulate the social ties between MTs into parameters that can describe the cooperative behaviors by taking the mobility feature into account, defined as the conviction-approval-suspicion(CAS) model. Limited by the processing capability, partner selection is of great practical significance. To this end, the social-aware partner selection strategy is analyzed, and a significant superiority is observed compared to social-unaware selection. By analyzing the cooperative throughput, an explicit relationship between the degrees-of-freedom gain and the social-physical property is finally derived. Simulation results validate the theoretical analysis.