China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Reducing or Increasing the World Uncertainties?

Although worldwide poverty, a basic concern of John Kenneth Galbraith, is reducing on average, I argue that poverty remains a critical issue in many countries. This led the Chinese government to propose the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. Broadly, the BRI constructs a cross-continental nexus between countries to reduce their development uncertainties by increasing their connectivity. As a result, the Chinese government has invested trillions of infrastructure dollars in projects that have been introduced to the involved countries as sovereign debt along with the participation of Chinese multinational corporations. Although evidence has shown that this initiative is gaining increasingly more support from the less-developed countries, signs of uncertainty in various forms have clearly emerged. In light of such, I propose that possible in-country political instability, political conflicts among the participating countries, national debt defaults, and competition between China and the United States of America in regional influence may have added to the underlying uncertainties that have challenged the world.     

公共项目建设运营新模式的研究--PFI在中国推进与发展分析

介绍了成功推行PFI的海外国家在推进过程中颁布的法律、设立的组织机构、涉及的广泛领域,以及有益的经验和争议。在分析中国目前的经济形势基础上,对中国在公共项目开发运营中推行PFI方式的可能性和必要性进行了探讨与研究,并提出了积极的建设性建议。     

The effects of heavily indebted poor countries initiative (HIPC) on millennium development goals (MDGs) for education

In this study, we employ the difference in difference approach to estimate the impact of heavily indebted poor countries initiative on Millennium Development Goals for education in Africa. Using the World Bank data for the period 1990–2015, the studies further identifies other factors that contribute to the achievement of millennium development goals for education. For instance, because of HPIC, the level of the following education MDGs indicators increased: gross enrollment in primary school (21.69%), female-to-male ratio (8.68%) and primary completion rate (13.69). Our study also show that the probability to achieve the millennium development goals for education increases in: female primary education teachers; school enrollment in tertiary, private school enrollment; pupil–teacher ratio; control of corruption and political stability and decreases with increase in the rural population. In this perspective, government of African countries should promote governance, subsidy private schools and recruit female teachers.     

竺可桢办学理念探析

一个校长的办学理念决定着一个学校的办学方向和办学水平.本文着重介绍和分析民国时期浙江大学校长竺可桢主张的办学理念,以学其“求是”的办学精神、不拘一格的用人标准和借鉴办学创举.     

我国海港民营化的法律规制体系研究——基于效率与公共性相平衡的视角

我国海港民营化虽已具备合法性,但仍缺乏配套法律规范,而明确其法律规制方向可谓首要问题。参考国际理论与实践,我国应根据重要性对海港进行分类与集中管理,进而有层次、有阶段地逐步推进民营化,并在港口法及其相关法律规定中确立“公一民港”为海港公与民伙伴关系的基准模式。日本海港改革中的特例港口运营公司制度、民间事业者提案制度等议题值得借鉴。在具体方式上,除“独资、控股、参股”所有权转移型民营化外,还应积极推进PPP型民营化的法律规制。     

岗位形象与价值

在进行社会主义市场经济工作中,如何处理好岗位形象与岗位价值观,是推动有中国特色的社会主义经济向前发展不可忽视的大问题,本文就怎样认识岗位形象与价值观,二者有何重要意义,怎样树立岗位价值观等,进行理论研究和探讨。     

Can the government create a vibrant cluster? Understanding the impact of cluster policy on the development of a cluster

Research has debated to what extent policy measures can facilitate or contribute to the development of clusters. This article contributes to this debate by questioning how the government can create a cluster that is self-organizing and vibrant but also maintain sufficient influence to continue using the cluster as a policy instrument. Taking the perspective of cluster members, the article investigates how members perceive the ambiguous role of the government in a government-supported cluster. It analyses to what extent cluster members value a government-supported cluster and whether they perceive the government as one that facilitates or hinders them in self-organizing the cluster. Empirical evidence is derived from a case study of a French cluster established as a result of a cluster policy initiative and which has recently been required to fulfil a new set of objectives by the same government. The findings suggest that government-supported clusters can self-organize if members are given the opportunity, but with the consequence that it becomes difficult for the government to fully control such clusters. To continue steering the cluster’s development, the government would have to leverage the technology gatekeepers’ power by designing policies that allow gatekeepers to translate government objectives into meaningful objectives for themselves.     

A two-stage fuzzy-AHP model for risk assessment of implementing green initiatives in the fashion supply chain

Green or environmental concerns are drawing more and more attention both in academia and industry. Careful deployment of green initiatives or policies could not only fulfil the requirements of environmental legislation but also lead to a competitive advantage for firms. Nevertheless, making optimal decisions in this regard is not easy. This is principally due to two reasons: (1) the qualitative nature of, and (2) the uncertainty associated with, the parameters involved in the decision-making process. Analytic hierarchy process could be a useful tool to tackle the first challenge because of its ability to handle both qualitative and quantitative variables (decision criteria). Unfortunately, this approach is inadequate at addressing the uncertainties common in real-life applications. This challenge is particularly noticeable in the fashion industry since demand is very volatile, and there are many uncertain variables associated with the whole supply chain. As a result, this paper blends fuzzy logic, which is a popular method of incorporating uncertain parameters into the decision-making process, with analytic hierarchy process to form a selection (decision-making) model for different green initiatives in the fashion industry. The rationale behind the model is to analyse the associated risk of different alternatives, subject to different factors, be they deterministic or not. A numerical example is included in this paper to demonstrate how the proposed model works.     

大学英语多媒体教学与自主学习的思考

大学英语多媒体教学为学生自主学习提供了平台。英语教学应注重营造开放和谐的学习环境,养成自 主学习的习惯,师生“双向互动”,采用适当的监控和评估策略,确保自主学习的效果。     

The actual evaluation of school PFI bids for value for money in the UK public sector

Much of the literature on value for money (VFM) evaluation of private finance initiative (PFI) contracts has concentrated on the financial methodology of constructing the public sector comparator (PSC) and its limitations. In contrast, this paper focuses on examining how ‘PFI bids’ are actually evaluated for VFM in the case of three secondary school PFI contracts. It is a unique study which presents the Northern Ireland school PFI decision-making processes, within the broader UK context. It is based on the full business cases of three PFI schools and interviews with key actors involved in the PFI processes. This study shows that the methodology used to evaluate and benchmark the design, facilities management, financial and contractual aspects of PFI bids for VFM is subjective and problematic-changes in the assumptions used may easily shift the balance in favour of conventional procurement and/or competing private sector service providers. It further highlights the importance of risk transfer; how non-financial factors are taken into consideration; and the public sector's reliance on consulting firms and ‘accounting measures’ in the PFI decision-making processes.