WTO’S understanding on commitments in financial services

Participants in the Uruguay Hound have been enabled to take on specific commitments with respect to financial services under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement") on the basis of an alternative approach to that covered by the provisions of Part Ⅲ of the Agreement. It was agreed that this approach could be applied subject to the following understanding: (i) it does not conflict with the provisions of the Agreement; (ii) it does not prejudice the right of ...

Differences on Information Commitments in Consumption Domain

Information commitments are a profile of evaluative standards and information searching strategies on the Internet.The purpose of this study is to examine the reliability and validity of the information commitments instrument in consumption domain,and differences among scales underlying the instrument.A total of 258 university students participated in the survey who have experiences in online shopping.Using confirmatory factor analysis technical,this study has identified valid measures for each construct underlying information commitments in consumptions domain.The results indicate that participants preferred to utilize“content”to judge the usefulness of the information,and use“multiple sources”to evaluate the correctness of information,that they oriented to use search strategy“elaboration”in verifying online consumption information.Gender differences are also revealed on standard of the“multiple sources”and the“content”.

Making Commitments

Against the background of COP17 in Durban,South Africa in November,which some are already calling"Africa’s COP,"now more than ever it is imperative that Africa begins to speak with one voice.It is only with one loud and very persistent voice that Africa can hope to influence any global agreement that materializes from this climate change conference-an agreement that must address development on the continent and poverty reduction plans.And clearly that plan needs follow-

Implementing Constitutional Commitments to Human Rights:Parliament and National Human Rights Commissions——a South African Perspective

'What is appropriate for one country in the light of its history, is not necessarily appropriatein another country with a different history. Our final constitution must now be forged in the lightof our history and on the basis of the agreed constitutional principles which both reflect that historyand are part of it'—Arthur Chaskalson: President of the Constitutional Court, 17 July 1995.

Frequency-constrained Unit Commitments with Linear Rules Extracted from Simulation Results Considering Regulations from Battery Storage

Heavy renewable penetrations and high-voltage cross-regional transmission systems reduce the inertia and critical frequency stability of power systems after disturbances.Therefore,the power system operators should ensure the frequency nadirs after possible disturbances are within the set restriction,e.g.,0.20 Hz.Traditional methods utilize linearized and simplified control models to quantify the frequency nadirs and achieve frequency-constrained unit commitments(FCUCs).However,the simplified models are hard to depict the frequency responses of practical units after disturbances.Also,they usually neglect the regulations from battery storage.This paper achieves FCUCs with linear rules extracted from massive simulation results.We simulate the frequency responses on typical thermal-hydro-storage systems under diverse unit online conditions.Then,we extract the rules of frequency nadirs after disturbances merely with linear support vector machine to evaluate the frequency stability of power systems.The algorithm holds a high accuracy in a wide range of frequency restrictions.Finally,we apply the rules to three typical cases to show the influences of frequency constraints on unit commitments.

Data Secure Storage Mechanism for IIoT Based on Blockchain

With the development of Industry 4.0 and big data technology,the Industrial Internet of Things(IIoT)is hampered by inherent issues such as privacy,security,and fault tolerance,which pose certain challenges to the rapid development of IIoT.Blockchain technology has immutability,decentralization,and autonomy,which can greatly improve the inherent defects of the IIoT.In the traditional blockchain,data is stored in a Merkle tree.As data continues to grow,the scale of proofs used to validate it grows,threatening the efficiency,security,and reliability of blockchain-based IIoT.Accordingly,this paper first analyzes the inefficiency of the traditional blockchain structure in verifying the integrity and correctness of data.To solve this problem,a new Vector Commitment(VC)structure,Partition Vector Commitment(PVC),is proposed by improving the traditional VC structure.Secondly,this paper uses PVC instead of the Merkle tree to store big data generated by IIoT.PVC can improve the efficiency of traditional VC in the process of commitment and opening.Finally,this paper uses PVC to build a blockchain-based IIoT data security storage mechanism and carries out a comparative analysis of experiments.This mechanism can greatly reduce communication loss and maximize the rational use of storage space,which is of great significance for maintaining the security and stability of blockchain-based IIoT.

Improved Unit Commitment with Accurate Dynamic Scenarios Clustering Based on Multi-Parametric Programming and Benders Decomposition

Stochastic unit commitment is one of the most powerful methods to address uncertainty. However, the existingscenario clustering technique for stochastic unit commitment cannot accurately select representative scenarios,which threatens the robustness of stochastic unit commitment and hinders its application. This paper providesa stochastic unit commitment with dynamic scenario clustering based on multi-parametric programming andBenders decomposition. The stochastic unit commitment is solved via the Benders decomposition, which decouplesthe primal problem into the master problem and two types of subproblems. In the master problem, the committedgenerator is determined, while the feasibility and optimality of generator output are checked in these twosubproblems. Scenarios are dynamically clustered during the subproblem solution process through the multiparametric programming with respect to the solution of the master problem. In other words, multiple scenariosare clustered into several representative scenarios after the subproblem is solved, and the Benders cut obtainedby the representative scenario is generated for the master problem. Different from the conventional stochasticunit commitment, the proposed approach integrates scenario clustering into the Benders decomposition solutionprocess. Such a clustering approach could accurately cluster representative scenarios that have impacts on theunit commitment. The proposed method is tested on a 6-bus system and the modified IEEE 118-bus system.Numerical results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in clustering scenarios. Compared withthe conventional clustering method, the proposed method can accurately select representative scenarios whilemitigating computational burden, thus guaranteeing the robustness of unit commitment.

New year with new achievements

As we welcome the new year,it is my pleasure to reach out to editorial members,reviewers,and readers of the Journal of Automation and Intelligence(JAI).Our journey in the past year has been nothing short of impressive,marked by significant achievements and a steadfast commitment to excellence in the realms of Automation and Artificial Intelligence.

Making the World a Better Place for All

In bidding farewell to 2023,Chinese President Xi Jinping’s New Year message,with its commitment to advance Chinese modernization,deliver a better life for the people,and build a community with a shared future for mankind,effectively ushered in a new year brimming with hope.

Deepening Exchanges and Mutual Learning Success of‘2023 Culture City of East Asia·China Meizhou Year'

Meizhou is committed to creating a more open and inclusive"Capital of Hakka Culture",fully demonstrating its unique cultural charm,so as to provide strong spiritual power and cultural support for Meizhou's revitalization acceleration and commonprosperity.

Financial Services in the Doha Round and China's Commitments

Current negotiations on financial services at the WTO are concerned with improvingliberalization commitments over the Financial Services Agreement which became an integralpart of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in 1997. Important underlyingissues of these negotiations are member states policy decisions in two particular areas:capital account liberalization and prudential regulation. These decisions not only determinethe member countries scope for liberalization; the liberalization commitments in turn alsolimit the scope of national economic policy in these two areas. Taking these characteristicsof financial services talks into account, there are two major goals for the ongoing negotiations:for industrialized countries to make progress with respect to trade business and for developingcountries and emerging-market economies to concentrate on improving market access onan established basis. For China, the most important goal is to implement the far-reachingliberalization commitments that were made in the context of its accession to the WTO inDecember 2001.

WTO,credible commitments,and China’s reform of state-owned enterprises

This study focusses on the relationship between China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation(WTO)and its reform of stateowned enterprises(SOEs)and suggests that the major incentive for the Chinese government to join the WTO is to promote economic reforms through overcoming domestic obstacles.After other options such as decentralisation,legalisation,and privatisation failed to enhance viability of SOEs,the Chinese government began to rely on international institutions to enhance its credibility and harden the budget constraints on SOEs.The WTO is one of the most important international organisations and has binding force for its member states.China’s participation in the WTO will effectively harden budget constraints on its SOEs and improve the efficiency of these enterprises through introducing competition into the domestic market.Historical data support our argument and indicate that China has effectively enhanced the credibility of government commitments and promoted the reform of its SOEs since its accession to the WTO.

Nurses'critical thinking disposition and professional commitment:a cross-sectional study

Objective:High-quality and successful nursing care delivery in a variety of situations requires critical thinking training and professional commitment.The present study aimed to investigate critical thinking disposition,professional commitment,and the relationship between these 2 variables among nurses.Methods:As a result of stratified random sampling,201 nurses were enrolled in the present cross-sectional study.Data were gathered using a socio-demographic form,the Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory(CTDI),and the Nurses'Professional Commitment Scale(NPCS).Results:Although the critical thinking disposition scores were at a moderate level(115.70±13.55),the mean score for professional commitment was high(91.37±11.77).A positive correlation was found between critical thinking disposition and professional commitment(r=0.67,P=0.001).Conclusions:Nursing managers are urged to employ strategies to enhance nurses'critical thinking disposition and professional commitment.

Electronic Auction Scheme Based on Smart Contract and IPFS

Sealed-bid auctions are a vital transaction tool in the e-commerce field.Traditional centralized auction schemes typically result in severe threats to data integrity,information transparency,and traceability owing to their excessive reliance on third parties,and blockchain-based auction schemes generally suffer from high storage costs and are deficient in functional and architectural design.To solve these problems,this study presents a sealed-bid auction scheme that removes the third-party based on an Ethereum smart contract,ensuring data integrity,openness,and transparency in the execution process.The commitment mechanism and distributed storage system help to significantly reduce the user’s storage cost and protect the privacy of user bids.For the functional design,this study introduces a fulltext-retrieval and dispute-processing module for commodities,which reduces the defects existing in the functional module design of existing auction systems.Furthermore,a prototype auction system on the Ethereum test chain is built to validate the proposed scheme.Experiments show that compared with traditional storage methods,indirect storage based on a distributed storage system of texts and images can reduce the storage cost by at least 50%while ensuring data integrity.Finally,the gas cost at each stage of the auction scheme and the time required for the full-text retrieval of products are recorded to evaluate the scheme performance and analyze the test results.

Data Security Storage Mechanism Based on Blockchain Network

With the rapid development of information technology,the development of blockchain technology has also been deeply impacted.When performing block verification in the blockchain network,if all transactions are verified on the chain,this will cause the accumulation of data on the chain,resulting in data storage problems.At the same time,the security of data is also challenged,which will put enormous pressure on the block,resulting in extremely low communication efficiency of the block.The traditional blockchain system uses theMerkle Tree method to store data.While verifying the integrity and correctness of the data,the amount of proof is large,and it is impossible to verify the data in batches.A large amount of data proof will greatly impact the verification efficiency,which will cause end-to-end communication delays and seriously affect the blockchain system’s stability,efficiency,and security.In order to solve this problem,this paper proposes to replace the Merkle tree with polynomial commitments,which take advantage of the properties of polynomials to reduce the proof size and communication consumption.By realizing the ingenious use of aggregated proof and smart contracts,the verification efficiency of blocks is improved,and the pressure of node communication is reduced.

Effects of Internet-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (IACT) on Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives:This study reviewed published randomized controlled trials(RCTs)and evaluated the efficacy of internet-based acceptance and commitment therapy(IACT)on adolescent mental health.Methods:Searches were conducted in PubMed,ProQuest,APA(PsycNET/PsycINFO),and Web of Science from inception to Jan-uary 2022 to identify RCTs evaluating the effects of IACT on adolescents.The included studies were assessed for quality and risk of bias.This study was performed using the standard mean difference and associated 95%confidence interval of effective measures.Review Manager 5.4 software was adopted to calculate the effect size.Results:Compared to adolescents in control groups,those in the IACT groups showed some improvement in the efficacy of depression symptoms(SMD=−0.24,95%CI=[−0.44,−0.05],p=0.01)and had a small but sig-nificant effect on reducing experiential avoidance(SMD=−0.24,95%CI=[−0.46,−0.01],p=0.04).However,the effect size on anxiety did not reach the threshold(SMD=−0.18,95%CI=[−0.27,−0.09],p<0.0001).In addition,there were no significant differences in stress and well-being compared to those of the control group.Compared with universal adolescents,IACT was found to have a more significant therapeutic effect on targeted adolescents.Conclusions:IACT is effective in adolescent mental health interventions,but its clinical reliability and significant efficacy are limited,and more rigorous RCTs are needed in future studies.

The impact of nurses’organizational commitment on their perceptions of the work environment:Strong mediating effect of the psychological contract

Objective:The objective is to assess the direct and indirect effects of nurses’organizational commitment(OC)on their work environment perceptions(WEP)and the role of the psychological contr act(PC).Methods:A cross‑sectional quantitative study of 3047 registered nurses in four Chinese hospitals was conducted.The Essentials of Magnetism II(Chinese version),OC,and PC scales were used in the study,and the structural equation modeling was used to assess the connections among variables.Results:The results showed that OC was positively correlated with WEP(r=0.561,P<0.001),and PC was negatively correlated with the WEP(r=−0.717,P<0.001),and OC(r=−0.739,P<0.001).Nurses’PC played a strong mediating role between OC and WEP,accounting for 87.64%of the total effect.Besides,PC played an important role in creating a healthy work environment.Conclusions:The exploration of the relationships among WEP,PC,and OC provides new insights for hospital managers to build a better work environment for nurses,which is conducive to maintaining a stable nurse team and providing high‑quality nursing services for patients.

Effects of different intervention methods on psychological flexibility,negative emotions and sleep quality in chronic hepatitis B

BACKGROUND Patients with chronic hepatitis B(CHB)experience various problems,including low psychological flexibility,negative emotions,and poor sleep quality.Therefore,effective nursing interventions are required to reduce adverse events.Acceptance and commitment therapy(ACT)combined with enabling cognitivebehavioral education(ECBE)can improve patients'psychological and sleep.Therefore,we speculate that this may also be effective in patients with CHB.AIM To investigate the effects of different intervention methods on psychological flexibility,negative emotions,and sleep quality in patients with CHB.METHODS This retrospective study examined clinical and evaluation data of 129 patients with CHB.Intervention methods were divided into a conventional group(routine nursing,n=69)and a combination group(ACT combined with ECBE,n=60).We observed changes in psychological flexibility,negative emotions,sleep quality,and self-care ability in both groups.Observation items were evaluated using the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-2nd Edition(AAQ-II),Self-Rating Anxiety Scale(SAS),Self-Rating Depression Scale(SDS),Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI),and Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale(ESCA).RESULTS Compared with the conventional group,the AAQ-II score of the combined group was lower(F_(between-group effect)=8.548;F_(time effects)=25.020;F_(interaction effects)=52.930;all P<0.001),the SAS score(t=5.445)and SDS score(t=7.076)were lower(all P<0.001),as were the PSQI dimensions(tsleep quality=4.581,tfall sleep time=2.826,tsleep time=2.436,tsleep efficiency=5.787,tsleep disorder=5.008,thypnotic drugs=3.786,tdaytime dysfunction=4.812);all P<0.05).The ESCA scores for all dimensions were higher(thealth knowledge level=6.994,t self-concept=5.902,tself-responsibility=19.820,tself-care skills=8.470;all P<0.001).CONCLUSION ACT combined with ECBE in patients with CHB can improve psychological flexibility and sleep quality,alleviate negative emotions,and improve self-care.