Strategic Contracting for Software Upgrade Outsourcing in Industry 4.0

The advent of Industry 4.0 has compelled businesses to adopt digital approaches that combine software toenhance production efficiency. In this rapidly evolving market, software development is an ongoing process thatmust be tailored to meet the dynamic needs of enterprises. However, internal research and development can beprohibitively expensive, driving many enterprises to outsource software development and upgrades to externalservice providers. This paper presents a software upgrade outsourcing model for enterprises and service providersthat accounts for the impact of market fluctuations on software adaptability. To mitigate the risk of adverseselection due to asymmetric information about the service provider’s cost and asymmetric information aboutthe enterprise’s revenues, we propose pay-per-time and revenue-sharing contracts in two distinct informationasymmetry scenarios. These two contracts specify the time and transfer payments for software upgrades. Througha comparative analysis of the optimal solutions under the two contracts and centralized decision-making withfull-information, we examine the characteristics of the solutions under two information asymmetry scenarios andanalyze the incentive effects of the two contracts on the various stakeholders. Overall, our study offers valuableinsights for firms seeking to optimize their outsourcing strategies and maximize their returns on investment insoftware upgrades.

Curriculum Development and Teachers for Cultivating OECD Student Agency in Japan:From an Examination of Educational Thought,Educational System,History,and Contemporary Science and Mathematics Education Practices

The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of a curriculum in Japan to foster the agency(OECD Student Agency)necessary for children living in the future,as outlined in the OECD Education2030 Project,and the role of teachers who implement this curriculum.Therefore,I aim to achieve this goal by taking an overview of educational thought,educational systems and history,and examining several initiatives in the OECD Project and the situation of a Japanese high school that practices science and mathematics education.As a result of analyzing previous research and the narratives obtained from interviews with Teacher A(pseudonym)of a certain F High School(pseudonym),it was found that school education should not simply teach subjects,but should aim to enable student to help student exercise agency in the future.It was suggested that it is not necessary to add content to the curriculum,but rather to prepare to provide students with competencies that will enable them to use the content in various contexts,situations,and circumstances,suggesting that in order to discover such important competencies,teachers and other related parties are required to implement curricula that allow students to slowly and carefully explore the competencies surrounding the content,and to conceive and build curricula that include both hidden and intended curriculum that allows student to reflect on the curriculum they have achieved.

Vocational Identity and Agency of Chinese College Students: Effects of Filial Piety and Implications in Career Education

Balancing family obligations and personal aspirations is crucial for college students in making life decisions.This critical review examined empirical studies on the effects of filial piety on college students’vocational identity and agency.According to identity capital theory,college students need a sense of agency to construct identity consciously and adapt to adulthood.Filial piety may profoundly influence this process as the core value and internalized social structure for the role of being an adult child in a Chinese family.However,no studies have been conducted from the identity capital perspective.This review found that filial piety had direct effects on college students'vocational identity and also indirect effects by shaping specific agency competencies.The impact of filial piety on the agency was more likely to occur through providing normative guidance about adult roles,influencing how college students view family as a supportive resource,and perpetuating parenting experiences.Based on these findings,this article suggested further examining the mediating role of agency between filial piety and identity development,as well as the effects of filial piety on the psychological foundation of agency development.This review suggested enhancing the agency of college students and encouraging reflections on filial piety in career education.

Effect of Brisk Walking on Self-Care Agency or Care Dependency among Colorectal Cancer Patients with Permanent Stoma

Objective:The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of brisk walking as an intervention for self-care agency and care dependency in patients with permanent colorectal cancer stoma.Method:This study adopted a quasi-experimental research design,specifically a non-equivalent control group pre-test and post-test design.Utilizing the Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale(ESCA)and Care Dependency Scale(CDS),a survey was administered to 64 patients from a hospital in Shandong Province.The statistical methods used for analyzing data included frequency,mean,standard deviation(SD),independent t-test,P-value calculation,and dependent t-test.Result:After two months of a brisk walking exercise program,participants in the experimental group had a higher level of self-care agency than before the experiment(P<0.05),and their level of care dependency was significantly reduced(P<0.05).Participants in the control group also showed higher levels of self-care agency(P<0.05)and lower levels of care dependency(P<0.05)after two months compared to their levels before the two months.Conclusion:The brisk walking program had a positive impact on patients’self-care agency and reduced their care dependency.

Profile of Declared Work Accidents at the Parakou Agency of the National Social Security Fund, 2015-2021, Benin

Introduction: Work accidents (WA) have consequences for both the individual and the company. The objective of this study is to study the profile of work accidents declared to the Parakou agency of the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) from 2015 to 2021. Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study with retrospective data collection. It concerned workers affiliated with the CNSS in Parakou, victims of declared WA whose file was available and exploitable. The sampling was exhaustive. Data was collected from registers and worker records. The variables studied were socio-demographic and related to the accident. They were analyzed using R version 4.1 software. Results: The annual incidence rate of WA varied from 5.8% in 2015 to 1.7% in 2021. The victims were 90.6% male. There were more subjects aged 28 to 37 years (37.1%). Workers and laborers were the most concerned. Fractures (22.9%) were the major lesions. At 38.5% they sat in the thoracic limbs and at 22.5% in the pelvic limbs. The majority (63.6%) of these accidents occurred in the workplace. The processing industry sector was mainly (52.1%) the place of accidents. Conclusion: The prevalence of WA declared to the agency of the National Social Security Fund of Parakou from 2015 to 2021 is decreasing. The most affected were young people. It is important to assess their socio-economic impacts.

Isolating the female agency‑driven development factor in external sovereign emerging market debt

The underlying literature hypothesises and provides randomised evidence for the positive impact of promoting the broad-based inclusion,empowerment,and representation of women on regional ecosystems.This study seeks to isolate a female agencydriven development factor in external sovereign emerging market debt and finds evidence for superior risk-adjusted returns from tilting towards female agency leaders.We propose the female agency factor as an additional scope in the modern investor’s toolbox of holistic credit assessment,allowing investors to isolate the issuers which are the most effective sovereign transmission mechanisms of sustainable development capital.This contribution to the corpus supports the notion of integrating sustainability factors into portfolio construction and reinforces the argument for supporting femaleled development from a financial markets’perspective.

Condition-based Maintenance Optimization for Gamma Deteriorating Systems under Performance-based Contracting

With the further development of service-oriented,performance-based contracting(PBC)has been widely adopted in industry and manufacturing.However,maintenance optimization problems under PBC have not received enough attention.To further extend the scope of PBC’s application in the field of maintenance optimization,we investigate the condition-based maintenance(CBM)optimization for gamma deteriorating systems under PBC.Considering the repairable single-component system subject to the gamma degradation process,this paper proposes a CBM optimization model to maximize the profit and improve system performance at a relatively low cost under PBC.In the proposed CBM model,the first inspection interval has been considered in order to reduce the inspection frequency and the cost rate.Then,a particle swarm algorithm(PSO)and related solution procedure are presented to solve the multiple decision variables in our proposed model.In the end,a numerical example is provided so as to demonstrate the superiority of the presented model.By comparing the proposed policy with the conventional ones,the superiority of our proposed policy is proved,which can bring more profits to providers and improve performance.Sensitivity analysis is conducted in order to research the effect of corrective maintenance cost and time required for corrective maintenance on optimization policy.A comparative study is given to illustrate the necessity of distinguishing the first inspection interval or not.

Environmental complaint insights through text mining based on the driver,pressure,state,impact,and response(DPSIR)framework:Evidence from an Italian environmental agency

Individuals,local communities,environmental associations,private organizations,and public representatives and bodies may all be aggrieved by environmental problems concerning poor air quality,illegal waste disposal,water contamination,and general pollution.Environmental complaints represent the expressions of dissatisfaction with these issues.As the timeconsuming of managing a large number of complaints,text mining may be useful for automatically extracting information on stakeholder priorities and concerns.The paper used text mining and semantic network analysis to crawl relevant keywords about environmental complaints from two online complaint submission systems:online claim submission system of Regional Agency for Prevention,Environment and Energy(Arpae)(“Contact Arpae”);and Arpae's internal platform for environmental pollution(“Environmental incident reporting portal”)in the Emilia-Romagna Region,Italy.We evaluated the total of 2477 records and classified this information based on the claim topic(air pollution,water pollution,noise pollution,waste,odor,soil,weather-climate,sea-coast,and electromagnetic radiation)and geographical distribution.Then,this paper used natural language processing to extract keywords from the dataset,and classified keywords ranking higher in Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency(TF-IDF)based on the driver,pressure,state,impact,and response(DPSIR)framework.This study provided a systemic approach to understanding the interaction between people and environment in different geographical contexts and builds sustainable and healthy communities.The results showed that most complaints are from the public and associated with air pollution and odor.Factories(particularly foundries and ceramic industries)and farms are identified as the drivers of environmental issues.Citizen believed that environmental issues mainly affect human well-being.Moreover,the keywords of“odor”,“report”,“request”,“presence”,“municipality”,and“hours”were the most influential and meaningful concepts,as demonstrated by their high degree and betweenness centrality values.Keywords connecting odor(classified as impacts)and air pollution(classified as state)were the most important(such as“odor-burnt plastic”and“odor-acrid”).Complainants perceived odor annoyance as a primary environmental concern,possibly related to two main drivers:“odor-factory”and“odorsfarms”.The proposed approach has several theoretical and practical implications:text mining may quickly and efficiently address citizen needs,providing the basis toward automating(even partially)the complaint process;and the DPSIR framework might support the planning and organization of information and the identification of stakeholder concerns and priorities,as well as metrics and indicators for their assessment.Therefore,integration of the DPSIR framework with the text mining of environmental complaints might generate a comprehensive environmental knowledge base as a prerequisite for a wider exploitation of analysis to support decision-making processes and environmental management activities.

Contract Mechanism of Water Environment Regulation for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Based on Optimal Control Theory

The small and scattered enterprise pattern in the county economy has formed numerous sporadic pollution sources, hindering the centralized treatment of the water environment, increasing the cost and difficulty of treatment. How enterprises can make reasonable decisions on their water environment behavior based on the external environment and their own factors is of great significance for scientifically and effectively designing water environment regulation mechanisms. Based on optimal control theory, this study investigates the design of contractual mechanisms for water environmental regulation for small and medium-sized enterprises. The enterprise is regarded as an independent economic entity that can adopt optimal control strategies to maximize its own interests. Based on the participation of multiple subjects including the government, enterprises, and the public, an optimal control strategy model for enterprises under contractual water environmental regulation is constructed using optimal control theory, and a method for calculating the amount of unit pollutant penalties is derived. The water pollutant treatment cost data of a paper company is selected to conduct empirical numerical analysis on the model. The results show that the increase in the probability of government regulation and public participation, as well as the decrease in local government protection for enterprises, can achieve the same regulatory effect while reducing the number of administrative penalties per unit. Finally, the implementation process of contractual water environmental regulation for small and medium-sized enterprises is designed.

Bipartite consensus problems of Lurie multi-agent systems over signed graphs: A contraction approach

This paper examines the bipartite consensus problems for the nonlinear multi-agent systems in Lurie dynamics form with cooperative and competitive communication between different agents. Based on the contraction theory, some new conditions for the nonlinear Lurie multi-agent systems reaching bipartite leaderless consensus and bipartite tracking consensus are presented. Compared with the traditional methods, this approach degrades the dimensions of the conditions, eliminates some restrictions of the system matrix, and extends the range of the nonlinear function. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to illustrate the efficiency of our results.

Smart Contract Vulnerability Detection Method Based on Feature Graph and Multiple Attention Mechanisms

The fast-paced development of blockchain technology is evident.Yet,the security concerns of smart contracts represent a significant challenge to the stability and dependability of the entire blockchain ecosystem.Conventional smart contract vulnerability detection primarily relies on static analysis tools,which are less efficient and accurate.Although deep learning methods have improved detection efficiency,they are unable to fully utilize the static relationships within contracts.Therefore,we have adopted the advantages of the above two methods,combining feature extraction mode of tools with deep learning techniques.Firstly,we have constructed corresponding feature extraction mode for different vulnerabilities,which are used to extract feature graphs from the source code of smart contracts.Then,the node features in feature graphs are fed into a graph convolutional neural network for training,and the edge features are processed using a method that combines attentionmechanismwith gated units.Ultimately,the revised node features and edge features are concatenated through amulti-head attentionmechanism.The result of the splicing is a global representation of the entire feature graph.Our method was tested on three types of data:Timestamp vulnerabilities,reentrancy vulnerabilities,and access control vulnerabilities,where the F1 score of our method reaches 84.63%,92.55%,and 61.36%.The results indicate that our method surpasses most others in detecting smart contract vulnerabilities.

A Review of Deep Learning-Based Vulnerability Detection Tools for Ethernet Smart Contracts

In recent years,the number of smart contracts deployed on blockchain has exploded.However,the issue of vulnerability has caused incalculable losses.Due to the irreversible and immutability of smart contracts,vulnerability detection has become particularly important.With the popular use of neural network model,there has been a growing utilization of deep learning-based methods and tools for the identification of vulnerabilities within smart contracts.This paper commences by providing a succinct overview of prevalent categories of vulnerabilities found in smart contracts.Subsequently,it categorizes and presents an overview of contemporary deep learning-based tools developed for smart contract detection.These tools are categorized based on their open-source status,the data format and the type of feature extraction they employ.Then we conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis of these tools,selecting representative tools for experimental validation and comparing them with traditional tools in terms of detection coverage and accuracy.Finally,Based on the insights gained from the experimental results and the current state of research in the field of smart contract vulnerability detection tools,we suppose to provide a reference standard for developers of contract vulnerability detection tools.Meanwhile,forward-looking research directions are also proposed for deep learning-based smart contract vulnerability detection.

Preserving Data Secrecy and Integrity for Cloud Storage Using Smart Contracts and Cryptographic Primitives

Cloud computing has emerged as a viable alternative to traditional computing infrastructures,offering various benefits.However,the adoption of cloud storage poses significant risks to data secrecy and integrity.This article presents an effective mechanism to preserve the secrecy and integrity of data stored on the public cloud by leveraging blockchain technology,smart contracts,and cryptographic primitives.The proposed approach utilizes a Solidity-based smart contract as an auditor for maintaining and verifying the integrity of outsourced data.To preserve data secrecy,symmetric encryption systems are employed to encrypt user data before outsourcing it.An extensive performance analysis is conducted to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed mechanism.Additionally,a rigorous assessment is conducted to ensure that the developed smart contract is free from vulnerabilities and to measure its associated running costs.The security analysis of the proposed system confirms that our approach can securely maintain the confidentiality and integrity of cloud storage,even in the presence of malicious entities.The proposed mechanism contributes to enhancing data security in cloud computing environments and can be used as a foundation for developing more secure cloud storage systems.

A Systematic Review and Performance Evaluation of Open-Source Tools for Smart Contract Vulnerability Detection

With the rise of blockchain technology,the security issues of smart contracts have become increasingly critical.Despite the availability of numerous smart contract vulnerability detection tools,many face challenges such as slow updates,usability issues,and limited installation methods.These challenges hinder the adoption and practicality of these tools.This paper examines smart contract vulnerability detection tools from 2016 to 2023,sourced from the Web of Science(WOS)and Google Scholar.By systematically collecting,screening,and synthesizing relevant research,38 open-source tools that provide installation methods were selected for further investigation.From a developer’s perspective,this paper offers a comprehensive survey of these 38 open-source tools,discussing their operating principles,installation methods,environmental dependencies,update frequencies,and installation challenges.Based on this,we propose an Ethereum smart contract vulnerability detection framework.This framework enables developers to easily utilize various detection tools and accurately analyze contract security issues.To validate the framework’s stability,over 1700 h of testing were conducted.Additionally,a comprehensive performance test was performed on the mainstream detection tools integrated within the framework,assessing their hardware requirements and vulnerability detection coverage.Experimental results indicate that the Slither tool demonstrates satisfactory performance in terms of system resource consumption and vulnerability detection coverage.This study represents the first performance evaluation of testing tools in this domain,providing significant reference value.

Mitigating Blackhole and Greyhole Routing Attacks in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks Using Blockchain Based Smart Contracts

The rapid increase in vehicle traffic volume in modern societies has raised the need to develop innovative solutions to reduce traffic congestion and enhance traffic management efficiency.Revolutionary advanced technology,such as Intelligent Transportation Systems(ITS),enables improved traffic management,helps eliminate congestion,and supports a safer environment.ITS provides real-time information on vehicle traffic and transportation systems that can improve decision-making for road users.However,ITS suffers from routing issues at the network layer when utilising Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks(VANETs).This is because each vehicle plays the role of a router in this network,which leads to a complex vehicle communication network,causing issues such as repeated link breakages between vehicles resulting from the mobility of the network and rapid topological variation.This may lead to loss or delay in packet transmissions;this weakness can be exploited in routing attacks,such as black-hole and gray-hole attacks,that threaten the availability of ITS services.In this paper,a Blockchain-based smart contracts model is proposed to offer convenient and comprehensive security mechanisms,enhancing the trustworthiness between vehicles.Self-Classification Blockchain-Based Contracts(SCBC)and Voting-Classification Blockchain-Based Contracts(VCBC)are utilised in the proposed protocol.The results show that VCBC succeeds in attaining better results in PDR and TP performance even in the presence of Blackhole and Grayhole attacks.

Revisiting the Electron Radius in Light of Length Contraction

In previous work, the electron radius was identified as the “actual electron radius.” However, this is more accurately described as the electron radius at rest. This study reexamines the electron with an emphasis on the electron radius under motion, incorporating the effects of length contraction. The findings suggest that the radius is subject to Lorentz contraction, which has interesting implications for relativistic effects at the subatomic level.

Design and pricing of maintenance service contract based on Nash non-cooperative game approach

Nowadays manufacturers are facing fierce challenge.Apart from the products,providing customers with multiple maintenance options in the service contract becomes more popular,since it can help to improve customer satisfaction,and ultimately promote sales and maximize profit for the manufacturer.By considering the combinations of corrective maintenance and preventive maintenance,totally three types of maintenance service contracts are designed.Moreover,attractive incentive and penalty mechanisms are adopted in the contracts.On this basis,Nash non-cooperative game is applied to analyze the revenue for both the manufacturer and customers,and so as to optimize the pricing mechanism of maintenance service contract and achieve a win-win situation.Numerical experiments are conducted.The results show that by taking into account the incentive and penalty mechanisms,the revenue can be improved for both the customers and manufacturer.Moreover,with the increase of repair rate and improvement factor in the preventive maintenance,the revenue will increase gradually for both the parties.

Suggestions for Promoting China’s Drug Regulatory Agency to Join Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme-PIC/S

Objective To identify and reduce the gap between China’s drug GMP inspection and pharmaceutical inspection co-operation scheme(PIC/S)audit checklist,find out the key improvement items,and revise them pertinently,which will promote the process of China joining PIC/S.Methods The general situation of PIC/S organization and audit checklist were introduced first,and then the accession of several countries that joined the organization was analyzed.Meanwhile,the process of China’s participation in PIC/S was sorted out.After referring to the contents of PIC/S audit checklist,the problems of GMP inspection system in China were studied.Results and Conclusion There are still many problems in GMP inspection in China.Some suggestions are put forward for improvement and change,which can provide reference for the development of drug inspection agencies at all levels in China.

Allocation of Public Service Facilities in Villages and Towns from the Perspective of Smart Contraction: A Case Study of Zixi County, Jiangxi Province

The limitation of traditional layout system and the continuous contraction of villages and towns have brought challenges to the layout of public service facilities.It is an imperative task against this background to integrate space resources and allocate public service facilities scientifically and reasonably.This paper took the system and method of rural public service facility allocation from the perspective of smart contraction as the theoretic support,and Zixi County in Jiangxi Province for example,built the four-level life circle of“county-fundamental-basic-routine”based on the influence factors of facility allocation,village and town contraction strength,rural comprehensive assessment results,residents’trip willingness and demands on public service facilities,finally proposed the suggestions for optimizing the allocation of village and town public service facilities.

The Impact of Corporate Governance and Fair Value Accounting on Debt Contracts

This paper investigates the theoretical relationship between corporate governance,fair value accounting,and debt contracts.It primarily examines the individual impacts of corporate governance and fair value accounting on debt contracts,while also exploring the influence of corporate governance on fair value accounting.The study emphasizes the importance of considering the interests and legal status of creditors in the context of debt contracts.The findings indicate that strong corporate governance can reduce the likelihood of debt default and that the company’s restructuring costs in the event of a default determine whether improved corporate governance will increase or decrease debt costs.Additionally,the study reveals that the strength of corporate governance affects the value relevance of fair value accounting.However,the impact of fair value accounting on debt contracts is not inherently positive or negative;for instance,companies may use fair value adjustments with manipulative intent to enhance performance.Ultimately,the research highlights that discussions about corporate governance should not prioritize shareholder interests exclusively but also consider the legitimate position of creditors.