In the Middle of Global Governance Indonesia is actively participating in global governance reform through the MIKTA middle power grouping

In March 2023,Indonesia took over the chairmanship of MIKTA from Turkiye,marking the second time Indonesia has served as the rotating chair of a global governance mechanism,following the Bali G20 Summit in 2022.

Is Participating in MOOC Forums Important for Students？ A Data-driven Study from the Perspective of the Supernetwork

Purpose： Compared with traditional course materials used in the classroom, the massive open online course（MOOC） forum that delivers unlimited learning content to students has various advantages. Yet MOOC has also received criticism recently, notably the problem of extremely low participation rates in its discussion forums. This study aims to explore the correlation between forum activity and student course grade in MOOC, and identify more accurately the forum activity levels of participants and the quality of threads in MOOC.Design/Methodology/Approach： We crawled students’ tests, final exams, exercises, discussions performance data and total scores from a course in Chinese College MOOC from May 2014 to August 2014. And we use the data to analyze the correlation between Forum Participation and Course Performance based on nonparametric tests as well as multiple linear regressions with the software of R. The study provides definitions and algorithms of super degrees based on the supernetwork model to help find high-quality threads and active participants.Findings： A positive correlation between forum activity and course grade is found in this study. Students who participate in the forum have better performance than those who do not. Using the definitions and algorithms of super degrees in the supernetwork, forum activity levels of participants as well as the quality of threads they employ are identified. Research limitation： Only limited representative forum participants and threads are used to analyze the activity level and significance of the MOOC forum. Also, the study only investigates one Chinese course on information retrieval. More data and more data sources could be helpful in better understanding the MOOC forum phenomenon.Practical implications： As super degrees can reveal more latent information and recognize high-quality threads as well as active participants, these parameters can be used to assess needs to improve forum settings and alleviate the problem of low forum participation. The proposed super degrees can be applied in social network domains for further research.Originality/Value： Definitions and algorithms of super degrees are provided and used for forum analysis. Super degrees can be applied to find high-quality threads and active participants, which is beneficial to guide students to participate in these high-quality threads and have a better understanding of knowledge MOOC provides.

An efficient inverse approach for reconstructing time-and space-dependent heat flux of participating medium

The decentralized fuzzy inference method(DFIM)is employed as an optimization technique to reconstruct time-and space-dependent heat flux of two-dimensional(2D)participating medium.The forward coupled radiative and conductive heat transfer problem is solved by a combination of finite volume method and discrete ordinate method.The reconstruction task is formulated as an inverse problem,and the DFIM is used to reconstruct the unknown heat flux.No prior information on the heat flux distribution is required for the inverse analysis.All retrieval results illustrate that the time-and spacedependent heat flux of participating medium can be exactly recovered by the DFIM.The present method is proved to be more efficient and accurate than other optimization techniques.The effects of heat flux form,initial guess,medium property,and measurement error on reconstruction results are investigated.Simulated results indicate that the DFIM is robust to reconstruct different kinds of heat fluxes even with noisy data.

Model Building for Community Participating in Rural Tourism and Game Analysis of Core Stakeholders

Community residents play an important role in the development of rural tourism. Taking the interest demands of stakeholders and non-cooperative game process as main line,the conflict of interest between community residents and tourists and between community residents themselves as guidance,it built an interest relation model for community participating in rural tourism. Besides,it elaborated non-cooperative relation and their interest pattern for stakeholders of rural tourism,and discussed behavior interaction process and results of core stakeholders of rural tourism. Finally,it came up with pertinent recommendations for harmonious and healthy development of rural tourism.

Factors that Affect Farmers' Behaviors on Participating in Policy-Oriented Agricultural Insurance in the Pilot Area——A Case of Insurance on Apple in Luochuan County,Shaanxi Province

Taking Luochuan County of Shaanxi Province as an example,the factors that affect farmers' behaviors on participating in insurance is analyzed and evaluated according to the questionnaires and by selecting the indexes covering household features,agricultural production risks,the attitudes of rural households towards risks and the transaction cost of participating insurance and by using Logistic regression model.The results show that comparing with insurance company,the government has larger influence on farmers' behaviors on participating insurance;the premium of agricultural insurance does not obstruct farmers' participation in insurance;the bad-handled relations between the government and insurance company have bad effects on the development of local agricultural insurance.In order to promote farmers to participate in agricultural insurance,the relevant countermeasures are put forward:firstly,increasing the investment on rural education and improving cultural level of farmers;secondly,intensifying the promotion on agricultural insurance;thirdly,reasonably planning the duties and rights of the government and the insurance company;fourthly,vigorously encouraging the farmers to conduct scale production of apple and form the scale economy.

Participating in Global Poverty Governance: China's Approach

China has made remarkable achievements in poverty reduction through institutional designs and practices in line with its national conditions. It can explore ways to participate in global poverty governance through bilateral, multilateral and thirdparty cooperation, and contribute to the UN 2030 Agenda.

The Analysis of NGOs' Organizational Ecosystem in Participating in Climate Change Issues in the United States

How many NGOs were there in the climate change field in the United States？ Who were they？ And what was the relationship between them？ In the United States,climate change was only a branch of environmental issues at the beginning; therefore there were no specific quantitative statistics and network analysis of NGOs in climate change. Diversity was an important feature of NGOs in American climate change fields,and it showed a complex organizational ecology through varieties of networks and interaction among organizations. In order to make a difference in climate field,Chinese NGOs firstly needed to improve and enhance their own abilities.

US High-tech Firms Participating In China's 'Tri-gold Program'

The ’tri-gold program’ aiming at improving information exchange for China’s national economy has been put into practice. The ’Gold bridge’ project forms the infrastructure for the information exchange of the national economy. It makes great contributions to the control and decision-making of the country’s macro-economy, to the promotion of social productivity, and to relieving the bottleneck pressure on the parts of energy, communications and environment. The ’Gold Customs’ project aims at realizing paperless foreign trade. The ’Gold card’ project involves modern payment means, such as

The Achievements of Participating International Standardization Activities Made by Chinese Electrotechnical Industry

Chinese electrotechnical industry includes power generation equipment, power transmission and distribution equipment, multi-purpose equipment, and basic electrical material. The industry has 46 national technical committees (TC) and sub-committees (SC), which mirrors to 70 TCs and SCs of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). During the past five years, leaded by Standardization Administration of China (SAC),China Electrical Equipment Industry Association (CEEIA) obtained many great achievements in promoting participation of international standardization activities by improving unified management and concentrating industrial strength:……

A Federated Learning Framework with Blockchain-Based Auditable Participant Selection

Federated learning is an important distributed model training technique in Internet of Things(IoT),in which participant selection is a key component that plays a role in improving training efficiency and model accuracy.This module enables a central server to select a subset of participants to performmodel training based on data and device information.By doing so,selected participants are rewarded and actively perform model training,while participants that are detrimental to training efficiency and model accuracy are excluded.However,in practice,participants may suspect that the central server may have miscalculated and thus not made the selection honestly.This lack of trustworthiness problem,which can demotivate participants,has received little attention.Another problem that has received little attention is the leakage of participants’private information during the selection process.We will therefore propose a federated learning framework with auditable participant selection.It supports smart contracts in selecting a set of suitable participants based on their training loss without compromising the privacy.Considering the possibility of malicious campaigning and impersonation of participants,the framework employs commitment schemes and zero-knowledge proofs to counteract these malicious behaviors.Finally,we analyze the security of the framework and conduct a series of experiments to demonstrate that the framework can effectively improve the efficiency of federated learning.

Network analysis of the relationships between depressive symptoms and social participation activities among Chinese older adults and its implications for nursing

Objective:Network analysis was used to explore the complex inter-relationships between social participation activities and depressive symptoms among the Chinese older population,and the differences in network structures among different genders,age groups,and urban-rural residency would be compared.Methods:Based on the 2018 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey(CLHLS),12,043 people aged 65 to 105 were included.The 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression(CESD)Scale was used to assess depressive symptoms and 10 types of social participation activities were collected,including housework,tai-chi,square dancing,visiting and interacting with friends,garden work,reading newspapers or books,raising domestic animals,playing cards or mahjong,watching TV or listening to radio,and organized social activities.R 4.2.1 software was used to estimate the network model and calculate strength and bridge strength.Results:21.60%(2,601/12,043)of the participants had depressive symptoms.The total social participation score was negatively associated with depressive symptoms after adjusting for sociodemographic factors.The network of social participation and depressive symptoms showed that“D9(Inability to get going)”and“S9(Watching TV and/or listening to the radio)”had the highest strength within depressive symptoms and social participation communities,respectively,and“S1(Housework)”,“S9(Watching TV and/or listening to the radio)”,and“D5(Hopelessness)”were the most prominent bridging nodes between the two communities.Most edges linking the two communities were negative.“S5(Graden work)-D5(Hopelessness)”and“S6(Reading newspapers/books)-D4(Everything was an effort)”were the top 2 strongest negative edges.Older females had significantly denser network structures than older males.Compared to older people aged 65e80,the age group 81e105 showed higher network global strength.Conclusions:This study provides novel insights into the complex relationships between social participation and depressive symptoms.Except for doing housework,other social participation activities were found to be protective for depression levels.Different nursing strategies should be taken to prevent and alleviate depressive symptoms for different genders and older people of different ages.

Optimal dispatching strategy for residential demand response considering load participation

To facilitate the coordinated and large-scale participation of residential flexible loads in demand response(DR),a load aggregator(LA)can integrate these loads for scheduling.In this study,a residential DR optimization scheduling strategy was formulated considering the participation of flexible loads in DR.First,based on the operational characteristics of flexible loads such as electric vehicles,air conditioners,and dishwashers,their DR participation,the base to calculate the compensation price to users,was determined by considering these loads as virtual energy storage.It was quantified based on the state of virtual energy storage during each time slot.Second,flexible loads were clustered using the K-means algorithm,considering the typical operational and behavioral characteristics as the cluster centroid.Finally,the LA scheduling strategy was implemented by introducing a DR mechanism based on the directrix load.The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed DR approach can effectively reduce peak loads and fill valleys,thereby improving the load management performance.

Factors influencing willingness to participate in ophthalmic clinical trials and strategies for effective recruitment

AIM:To explore the factors influencing individuals’willingness to participate in ophthalmic clinical trials.METHODS:A questionnaire survey was conducted from January to April 2021 among patients and their family members at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center,Sun Yat-sen University,in Guangzhou,China.The survey gathered data on respondents’willingness,demographic and socioeconomic profiles,as well as their reasons and concerns regarding engagement in clinical trials.RESULTS:Of the 1078 residents surveyed(mean age 31.2±13.1y;65.8%females)in Guangzhou,749(69.5%)expressed a willingness to participate in future ophthalmic clinical trials.Specific characteristics associated with greater willingness included a younger age,lower annual income,higher education,prior participation experience,previous ophthalmic treatment,and a better understanding of clinical trials.With the exception of age,these characteristics were significantly linked to a higher willingness.The primary barrier to participation,expressed by 64.8%of those willing and 54.4%of those unwilling,was“Uncertain efficacy”.In terms of motivations,the willing group ranked“Better therapeutic benefits”(35.0%),“Professional monitoring”(34.3%),and“Trust in healthcare professionals”(33.1%)as their top three reasons,whereas the unwilling participants indicated“Full comprehension of the protocol”(46.2%)as the key facilitator.CONCLUSION:This study reveals a substantial willingness to participate in ophthalmic clinical trials and demonstrates the predictive role of demographic and socioeconomic factors.Variations in motivators and concerns between willing and unwilling participants highlight the significance of tailored recruitment strategies.Importantly,the need for and trust in healthcare professionals stand out as powerful motivations,underscoring the importance of enhancing physician-patient relationships,adopting patient-centered communication approaches,and addressing individualized needs to improve accrual rates.

Participatory Technique Supporting Environmental Management: A Systematic and Bibliometric Review

The increasing need to manage natural resources sustainably, driven by population growth, requires the simultaneous use of Participatory Techniques (PT) and landscape planning for structured decision-making. We conducted a bibliometric and systematic review to provide an overview of PT usage, identifying evolution in scientific production. We considered the number of publications and citations, prominent journals, and highly cited articles on scientific papers published in the Web of Science database between 1993 and 2023. A total of 415 articles related to PT were identified. After content evaluation, 19 critical articles were selected that underpin the growing combined use of models and indices with PT, enhancing the robustness and credibility of decision-making processes.

Sports Participation and Depressive Symptoms in Youth:Demographic Differences

Background:Youth emerge as an essential period in forming lifelong health and well-being.During adolescence,physical activity(PA)improves cardiovascular health,fitness levels,and the prevention of chronic illnesses,and the positive effect is also extended to the mental realm,as PA reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression.Therefore,the current study aims to enhance our understanding of the correlation between sports participation and depressive symptoms.Additionally,it seeks to explore how demographics such as gender,age,and race can shape these connections.Methods:The research sample was established by utilising the U.S.Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance(YRBS)2019 cycle,and the eligible samples from this cycle were included in the current study.A self-administered survey evaluated sports participation,categorized as Zero,one,two,three,or more teams.This study included 16,104 participants and conducted self-reported questionnaires on gender,grade,race/ethnicity,and depressive symptoms.The study had a nationally representative population of American students in Grades 10 to 12(aged 14–17 years).Results:A total of 7843 females and 8261 males,distributed across age groups(14 years old,15 years old,16 years old,and 17 years old),with the numbers 3430,4445,4300,and 3929,respectively.Overall,there was a negative correlation between sports participation and feelings of sadness(a symptom of depression)among the subjects.This significant relationship between participating in sports teams and experiencing sadness was dose dependent.Conclusion:Youth with more team sports participation is likely to display lower depression symptoms,and differences in demographic factors such as gender,race,and age are detected.Physical activity research is responsible for attending to social equity issues and fostering inclusiveness,particularly concerning different gender and ethnic groups.

Stability and accuracy of central difference method for real-time dynamic substructure testing considering mass participation coefficient

For real-time dynamic substructure testing(RTDST),the influence of the inertia force of fluid specimens on the stability and accuracy of the integration algorithms has never been investigated.Therefore,this study proposes to investigate the stability and accuracy of the central difference method(CDM)for RTDST considering the specimen mass participation coefficient.First,the theory of the CDM for RTDST is presented.Next,the stability and accuracy of the CDM for RTDST considering the specimen mass participation coefficient are investigated.Finally,numerical simulations and experimental tests are conducted for verifying the effectiveness of the method.The study indicates that the stability of the algorithm is affected by the mass participation coefficient of the specimen,and the stability limit first increases and then decreases as the mass participation coefficient increases.In most cases,the mass participation coefficient will increase the stability limit of the algorithm,but in specific circumstances,the algorithm may lose its stability.The stability and accuracy of the CDM considering the mass participation coefficient are verified by numerical simulations and experimental tests on a three-story frame structure with a tuned liquid damper.

Research on the path of effective management of participation in joint-venture railway companies by China railway group

Purpose-Following the regional restructuring,the number of joint-venture railway companies in which the Group participates has significantly increased.This paper aims to explore the challenges faced by China Railway Group in managing participation in joint-venture railway companies.The study seeks to propose specific approaches to ensure the effective management of these companies,thereby maximizing the benefits of the regional restructuring and supporting the development of a strong transportation country and a modern infrastructure system.Design/methodology/approach-Based on the change in the shareholding relationship between China Railway Group and the joint-venture railway companies,and considering the current situation of the regional restructuring of these companies,as well as the insights from existing literature and typical case studies,this paper proposes some specific paths for effective management of joint-stock railway companies which China Railway Group participated in.Findings-The problems in participation management are the unclear dual leadership role of the party committee,the lack of discourse power,the lack of synergy between shareholders,the increasing risk of sustainable operation of the loss-making companies and the role of dispatched personnel is not fully played.Based on the theories,combined with the existing research and practical cases,the paper proposed specific approaches,such as perfecting top-level system design,maintaining the discourse power,carrying out differentiated management,arranging personnel rationally,arranging shareholders synergy,and innovating methods to provide references for China Railway Group’s subsequent management of joint venture railway companies.Originality/value-This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of the challenges faced by China Railway Group in managing participation in joint-venture railway companies following the regional restructuring.The study offers novel insights and practical recommendations for addressing these challenges.The findings can serve as valuable references for China Railway Group’s subsequent management of joint-venture railway companies which participated in,as well as for other stateowned enterprises facing similar challenges in managing their joint ventures.

Participatory Land Rehabilitation Strategies in Angacha District, Kembata Zone, Central Ethiopia Region

Community participation has become widely incorporated into policies of many soil and water conservation organizations. The purpose of this study was to assess the community participation in the rehabilitation of degraded land. In order to achieve the objective of the study, both primary and secondary data were generated by employing qualitative and quantitative data. Purposive sampling was employed to select three study kebeles (the smallest administrative structure of the country) from 16 rural kebeles in Angecha District. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 183 household heads from the lists of farmers in the selected kebeles for detailed household survey. In addition to household survey, field observation and key informant interview were also conducted to collect the necessary data. The data were presented using descriptive statistic such as percentage, frequency, tables and figure. The data collected through the use of household survey questionnaires were analyzed using logit regression while data collected through field observation and key informant interview were analyzed and interpreted using qualitative description. The findings of the present study revealed that population pressure, soil erosion, deforestation, overgrazing, and over cultivation were the major causes for land degradation. Moreover, the results of this study indicated that the main causes of the low productivity of farmland were farmers’ involvement in off-farm activities, increase in size of human population, lack of full cooperation of family members to involve in land rehabilitation practices. Households participated in rehabilitation practices at different levels, with 43.7% respondents showing intermediate participation. However, 22.4% of the farm households clarified that there is low experience sharing and motivation to participate in the process of implementation of rehabilitation programs. It is recommended that, continuous training and experience sharing program, immediate action to increase the number of literate persons, to practicing compatible practices for the agro climatic zone such as soil bund, Fanyaaju, stone bunds, and tree planting, extending effective practices, create opportunities for alternative means of livelihood and promoting NGOs effort to involve in land rehabilitation practices in the highly degraded area.

The Three Principles of Institutional Safeguards for Women's Participation in Legislation in China

The participation of women in legislation is an important aspect and means of safeguarding women’s rights.Feminist theory,based on criticism of both the“citizenship identity theory as rights”and the“citizenship identity theory as responsibilities,”proposes the“citizenship identity theory as subjectivity.”Observing the current practice of women’s participation in legislation in China,two institutional safeguard principles can be summarized:the“minimum proportion”and the“influence evaluation.”However,each of these principles has its inherent limitations.Therefore,it is necessary to supplement them with the principle of“subjective participation”in a reflective manner.This principle requires women to participate substantively in the legislative process as subjects,express women’s needs and demands,input women’s perspectives and experiences,and reconstruct the distribution of rights and responsibilities in the existing legislation.The three principles complement each other and work together to comprehensively constitute the institutional structure of women’s participation in legislation,thereby promoting the reproduction of corresponding action structures.

Factors Impacting Benefits of Participatory Forest Management in Upper Imenti Forest, Meru County, Kenya

This study focused on identifying factors affecting the benefits of Participatory Forestry Management (PFM) income generating activities in Upper Imenti Forest and whether they are dependent on status of participation in forest management through membership of Community Forest Association (CFA) or not. Cross-sectional survey research design was applied for collecting quantitative data using a semi-structured questionnaire administered to 384 households stratified on the basis of PFM participation status. Qualitative data was collected through focused group discussions using a checklist and key informant interviews using an interview schedule. Using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25, Binomial regression with Wald Chi-square was analyzed to identify factors perceived to be significantly influencing benefits for PFM participants and Pearson Chi-square to compare factors perceived to be affecting PFM and non-PFM participants. CFA members participation in PFM was significantly and positively affected by benefits of PFM income generating activities and forest products accessed in the forest. Benefits linked to Plantation Establishment for Livelihood Improvement System (PELIS) for CFA members were significantly reduced by enforcement of moratorium policy since February 2018, diseases and pests, poor PELIS guideline adherence and animal damage. Benefits related to state forest access for firewood by the CFA members were negatively influenced by the moratorium policy. Diseases and pests affected benefits associated with bee keeping significantly. Comparing factors under different PFM participation status, crop production was significantly affected by policy changes, pest and diseases, animal damage and PELIS guideline adherence for CFA members than for Non-CFA members. Policy changes also affected the CFA members significantly in firewood collection and access to fodder in the state forest than the Non-CFA members. Hence, sustainable community participation in Upper Imenti Forest management requires: increasing PFM benefits, addressing factors reducing benefits and enhancing active participation of CFA members in PFM related decision-making processes.