Partnership Project Research Articles

Evaluation of PPP-ABS investment environment based on combined weighting of level difference maximization and TOPSIS method.

Asset-backed securitization (ABS) is currently used to refinance public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the infrastructure field. To stimulate the investors' enthusiasm, this study evaluated the investment environment of PPP projects asset-backed securitization (PPP-ABS). Firstly, we established a PPP-ABS investment environment evaluation indicator system based on the literature review and the practice of PPP-ABS. Then, the optimal weights of each indicator were determined by the combined weighting of level difference maximization method, where the subjective weights were determined by the AHP method, and the objective weights were determined by the entropy method. Finally, we evaluated the PPP-ABS investment environment from 2015 to 2022 with the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. The final valuation results are consistent with the actual situation. The results showed that the PPP-ABS investment environment exhibits a stable and upward trend. Under the overall guidance of the government, the approval process, information disclosure and supervisory systems have continued to improve, the number of ABS products issued has continued to grow, and the overall market risk is controllable. However, some problems still need to be solved and improved, including inadequate accounting and tax systems, insufficient liquidity in the secondary market, and the recovery of economic development in the post-COVID-19 era. This study fills the research gap in PPP-ABS. It proves the rationality and feasibility of PPP-ABS and is expected to provide a reference for investors' decision-making and promote the sustainable and healthy development of PPP-ABS.

What are important areas where better technology would support women’s health? Findings from a priority setting partnership

BackgroundWomen’s health has historically lacked investment in research and development. Technologies that enhance women’s health (‘FemTech’) could contribute to improving this. However, there has been little work to understand which priority unmet needs should be a focus for women’s health technology development. The voices of clinicians and those who experience and utilise these technologies (including those used at home or encountered in clinical settings) are needed to ensure that device development aligns with need, without risking exacerbating or creating health inequities.MethodWe undertook a priority setting partnership project exploring unmet needs in women’s health and well-being where physical technologies or innovations could help. This comprised gathering feedback from: patients and clinicians using both qualitative surveys and discussions; collating and publishing these responses and asking for feedback; evidence checking unmet needs identified, and holding a partnership priority setting event to agree a top 10 and top 20 list of priorities.ResultsWe generated a ‘longlist’ of 54 suggestions for areas where better kit, devices or equipment could support women’s health. For three, we found evidence of existing technologies which mitigated against that need. We took the remaining 51 suggestions to a partnership priority setting meeting which brought together clinicians and service users. Through discussion as this group, we generated a list of the top 10 areas identified as priorities for technological development and improvement. These included better devices to manage examination, diagnosis and treatment of pelvic pain (including endometriosis), prolapse care, continence (treatment and prevention, related to pregnancy and beyond), menstruation, vaginal pain and vaginismus, point of care tests for common infections, and nipple care when breastfeeding.ConclusionThe top priorities suggest far-reaching areas of unmet need across women’s life course and across multiple domains of health and well-being, and opportunities where innovation in the devices that people use themselves or encounter in health settings could potentially enhance health and healthcare experiences.

Design bid build to integrated project delivery: Strategic formulation to increase partnering

COVID-19 pandemic has caused many design bid build projects to suffer losses. Design bid build or DBB has the disadvantage of depth partnering. The research purpose is to reveal the depth of partnering of DBB, the characteristics of existing partnering in DBB through detection in each project life cycle in DBB, then efforts to increase DBB partnering to partnering in integrated project delivery (IPD). The methodology used is secondary data from three project DBB, then validation using focused group discussions (FGD) with expert judgment, then the Delphi method to analyse and propose recommendations. This project recommends that DBB project can improve the project performance so stakeholder can increase partnering toward integrated project delivery (IPD) partnering. This research can be used for increasing partnering in DBB projects towards partnering in IPD. This research will produce strategic recommendations that can be utilized by stakeholders (owner, contractor, designer) in improving project performance to generate great value for the project, will result in long-term project sustainability, improve relationships, and learn valuable lessons for future projects. DBB projects usually experience many problems due to the competitive nature of partnering for owners, contractors, and designers, so it is necessary to develop an overall strategy as an option to improve partnering in DBB project contracts. This research will help create a sustainable project by the owner, contractor, and designer.

Collaborative government-public efforts in driving green technology innovation for environmental governance in PPP projects: a study based on prospect theory

PurposeThe paper aims to elucidate effective strategies for promoting the adoption of green technology innovation within the private sector, thereby enhancing the value of public–private partnership (PPP) projects during the operational phase.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing prospect theory, the paper considers the government and the public as external driving forces. It establishes a tripartite evolutionary game model composed of government regulators, the private sector and the public. The paper uses numerical simulations to explore the evolutionary stable equilibrium strategies and the determinants influencing each stakeholder.FindingsThe paper demonstrates that government intervention and public participation substantially promote green technology innovation within the private sector. Major influencing factors encompass the intensity of pollution taxation, governmental information disclosure and public attention. However, an optimal threshold exists for environmental publicity and innovation subsidies, as excessive levels might inhibit technological innovation. Furthermore, within government intervention strategies, compensating the public for their participation costs is essential to circumvent the public's “free-rider” tendencies and encourage active public collaboration in PPP project innovation.Originality/valueBy constructing a tripartite evolutionary game model, the paper comprehensively examines the roles of government intervention and public participation in promoting green technology innovation within the private sector, offering fresh perspectives and strategies for the operational phase of PPP projects.

EQUIPMENT PRODUCTION STIMULATION MECHANISMS AS A KEY FACTOR OF THE STATE INDUSTRIAL POLICY IMPLEMENTATION

Equipment production stimulation mechanisms in Russia are investigated in the article, main directions of the state support in described area are highlighted. Its role is in the acquisition of domestic industrial equipment by interprises is emphasized as one of the effective measures to stimulate the development of the machine tool industry. It is justified that stimulation of the production of domestic industrial equipment by the state is a key vector of the import substitution program implementation, acts as the most pressing task for the industrial sector of the Russian economy at the present time. The problems that need to be solved in the area of equipment production stimulation mechanisms expending in Russia are highlighted, first of all: increasing the government funding for the production of equipment and components; determination of the status of foreign factories that have suspended their operations since 2022; solving the issue of personnel shortage at the enterprises of the machine tool industry. There is shown the necessity to expand such measures as: inclusion of the largest enterprises of the Russian machine tool industry in the list of systemically important companies with their subsequent enhanced financial support from the government; expansion of public-private partnership projects in the production of equipment and components; development of the technology parks and the industrial clusters; reduction of loan rates for the industrial enterprises; restoration of the system of vocational schools and increasing of the engineering specialties prestige; support of the technology marketing companies; creation of the specialized research and development centers.

Forward with Dementia: process evaluation of an Australian campaign to improve post-diagnostic support

BackgroundForward with Dementia is a co-designed campaign to improve communication of dementia diagnosis and post-diagnostic support.MethodsWebinars, a website, social and traditional media, and promotions through project partners were used to disseminate campaign messages to health and social care professionals (primary audience) and people with dementia and carers (secondary audience). The campaign ran between October 2021 and June 2022, with 3-months follow-up. The RE-AIM framework was used for process evaluation. Measurements included surveys and interviews, a log of activities (e.g. webinars, social media posts) and engagements (e.g. attendees, reactions to posts), and Google Analytics.ResultsThere were 29,053 interactions with campaign activities. More than three-quarters of professionals (n = 63/81) thought webinars were very or extremely helpful. Professionals and people with dementia and carers reported that the website provided appropriate content, an approachable tone, and was easy to use. Following campaign engagement, professionals planned to (n = 77/80) or had modified (n = 29/44) how they communicated the diagnosis and/or provided post-diagnostic information and referrals. Qualitative data suggested that the campaign may have led to benefits for some people with dementia and carers.ConclusionsForward with Dementia was successful in terms of reach, appropriateness, adoption and maintenance for professionals, however flow-through impacts on people with dementia are not clear. Targeted campaigns can potentially change health professionals’ communication and support around chronic diseases such as dementia.

A study on risk sharing of smart city PPP projects based on EW-G1 and TOPSIS-UT: a case study in China

PurposeBuilding a smart city is a necessary path to achieve sustainable urban development. Smart city public–private partnership (PPP) project is a necessary measure to build a smart city. Since there are many participants in smart city PPP projects, there are problems such as uneven distribution of risks; therefore, in order to ensure the normal construction and operation of the project, the reasonable sharing of risks among the participants becomes an urgent problem to be solved. In order to make each participant clearly understand the risk sharing of smart city PPP projects, this paper aims to establish a scientific and practical risk sharing model.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses the literature review method and the Delphi method to construct a risk index system for smart city PPP projects and then calculates the objective and subjective weights of each risk index through the Entropy Weight (EW) and G1 methods, respectively, and uses the combined assignment method to find the comprehensive weights. Considering the nature of the risk sharing problem, this paper constructs a risk sharing model for smart city PPP projects by initially sharing the risks of smart city PPP projects through Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to determine the independently borne risks and the jointly borne risks and then determines the sharing ratio of the jointly borne risks based on utility theory.FindingsFinally, this paper verifies the applicability and feasibility of the risk-sharing model through empirical analysis, using the smart city of Suzhou Industrial Park as a research case. It is hoped that this study can provide a useful reference for the risk sharing of PPP projects in smart cities.Originality/valueIn this paper, the authors calculate the portfolio assignment by EW-G1 and construct a risk-sharing model by TOPSIS-Utility Theory (UT), which is applied for the first time in the study of risk sharing in smart cities.

Development of Additional Professional Competencies of Future Teachers in Terms of Social Partnership

The article reveals conceptual approaches to the creation of a model for developing advanced competencies of future teachers on the example of a social partnership project with the “Panorama TVˮ regional publishing house, part of the “Media Pressˮ joint stock company. It describes the mechanics of the implementation of a joint student project related to the release of the children’s periodical “Umnyashkiˮ, dedicated to introducing young citizens of Saint Petersburg to the history of urban areas through entertaining tasks and game exercises by the student community of the Institute of Childhood of Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. The text of the article describes the key stages of the student project communityʼs work on the issues of the journal, provides examples and types of tasks, reveals the ways of the project team interaction. Conclusions are drawn about the importance of involving the Universityʼs social partners in the process of training future teachers in order to develop and build additional competencies that allow taking into account the needs of the regionʼs education system, the challenges of the teaching profession, advancing demands to improve the effectiveness of professional activity of a specialist in the field of modern childhood.

The state of Water Infrastructure Development in Zimbabwe

The article explores the history of urban water infrastructure management in Zimbabwe focusing on water sector reforms and water infrastructural development strategies. The challenges experienced in the implementation of the water sector reforms in the country by examining the legal and institutional frameworks that guide public private partnerships (PPPs) in general and those that guide PPPs in the water sector, particularly in the development of urban water infrastructure in Zimbabwe are explored. Using the qualitative approach, the article aims to answer research question such as what water reforms and public private partnership projects have been implemented in Zimbabwe? The article presents a discussion of water sector reforms in Zimbabwe and proposed strategies for urban water infrastructural development that include policy frameworks and institutional arrangements proposed a decade ago. Findings explore that there are gaps in research pertaining to the implementation of water sector reforms in Zimbabwe. The study concludes by proposing the implementation of PPP initiatives in Zimbabwe in general and urban water infrastructural PPP initiatives, in particular, as a solution to improve water infrastructure. Keywords: Public private partnerships, Qualitative, Water infrastructure, Zimbabwe

Technical landfills sites are an effective tool for waste valorization, recovery and disposal

Projects such as technical landfill centers, waste conversion and sorting units, and inert landfills play a crucial role as significant solutions, especially in the absence of alternative projects or during their establishment, such as waste valorization initiatives, including the innovative project in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme. These initiatives have objectives in line with the principles of sustainable development, promoting the circular economy, generating financial returns, combating climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. They achieve this by involving citizens and associations in management, allocating a dedicated budget for funding, and creating ample space to address the challenge of unplanned landfills. This approach aims to solve the problem of unplanned landfills, create wealth and employment opportunities while preserving the environment. Activating such projects can solve the waste problem that has burdened the specific case of Constantine by addressing the issue of unplanned landfills. This initiative is facilitated by the fact that a significant portion of the waste is organic and recyclable, which bodes well for the region.

Investment risk assessment of social capital in urban rail transit Public-Private Partnership projects

ABSTRACT The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is one of the crucial ways to promote the advancement of the Urban Rail Transit Project However, investing in such projects exposes social capital to tremendous risks. To analyze and assess the investment risk of social capital (IRSC), this study utilized the system dynamics (SD) approach to construct an investment risk model. Subsequently, combined with the practical project’s information, the investment risk was assessed, and the impact of boundary risks on the different risk subsystems was analyzed. The results demonstrate the following: (1) the investment risk system comprises three risk subsystems, namely, operating cost, operating revenue, and government subsidy. Among them, the subsidy risk subsystem most significantly influences the IRSC. (2) Of the boundary risks, the design risk and the contractual risk are the most vital factors in preventing and controlling the IRSC. (3) Differences exist in the boundary risks that most affect the regulation of the three risk subsystems. These findings can help social capital determine risk changes and effectively mitigate investment risk. This ability can further attract added social capital into such projects to facilitate the sustainable development of urban infrastructure.

Ways to implement public-private partnerships and their economic efficiency

Given the role of business in meeting the needs of society, it can be concluded that the state cannot fulfill its socio-economic functions without an efficiently functioning business. This is an important condition for the formation of partnerships between business and the state. Another important condition is that business cannot develop effectively without the help and assistance of the state. This is due to a number of reasons. The effectiveness of demand satisfaction is directly related to the rational use of economic resources and a flexible response to changes in the structure of demand. Efficient use of resources by each individual producer ultimately ensures the efficiency of the entire economic system. Business, performing its direct functions, ensuring the preservation and expanded reproduction of their property through the increase of private capital, simultaneously performs social functions related to the increase of social capital and the product capable of ensuring effective demand in the market of goods and services. The article substantiates the need to use the mechanism of public-private partnership as an effective tool for implementing the innovation policy of regions, and also identifies the possibilities of public-private partnership in projects for commercialization of intellectual property as a form of interaction between the state, research institutions and business.

A successful smallholder cattle fattening project based on leucaena diets in eastern Indonesia

This paper describes the outcomes of a five-year (2011-2016) partnership project between the Indonesian Government and the Australian Centre for international Agricultural Research. The objective was to promote the use of Leucaena leucocephala for fattening cattle in the Provinces of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Detailed biophysical and socio-economic measurements demonstrated that it was possible to double productivity of smallholder cattle by improving their nutrition based on feeding leucaena, thus improving the livelihoods of farming families. The results highlighted an opportunity to similarly enhance productivity of other smallholder cattle enterprises in Indonesia and in other tropical developing countries.

Improvement of Strategic Investment Decision Making Process in Petrochemicals Industry

Joint ventures, commercial conglomerates, and public-private partnerships must go through various stages of planning prior constructing mega-petrochemical projects. One of the most important steps is the Final Investment Decision (FID). Before approving and ordering large-scale petrochemical project construction, corporations and project partners must follow these steps. FID comes after careful preparation and before project implementation. Market attractiveness, proven production technology, and high investment return affect FID. The project's investment return—determined by IRR, NPV, and PP—is the main factor. An approved FID shows the company's willingness to invest and make a profit, while an unapproved FID prevents further losses if the project goes ahead. NPV, IRR, and PP not meeting criteria prevents a final investment decision. Economic return failure is caused by high taxes, total investment costs, product spread, capital costs, and operating costs. This study aims to improve the current techno-economic model in the petrochemicals industry's final investment decision process by investigating the main parameters of existing FID techno-economic models, developing a new model for the industry, and validating its accuracy. This study began by populating relevant final investment decision criteria, assembling production technology techno-economic data, and determining techno-economic parameters. This study is expected to improve the current techno-economic model and allow more projects to achieve successful FID for long-term profit, while preventing further losses if the economic return is still unfavourable by incorporating sensitivity and real option analysis. An improved techno-economic model should meet the needs of the petrochemical industry and provide prominent outputs for business risk management by allowing precise input consideration.

Effect of the Internal Agency Problem on Risk-Sharing Incentive Contracts in Public–Private Partnership Projects

Effect of the Internal Agency Problem on Risk-Sharing Incentive Contracts in Public–Private Partnership Projects

An integrated risk and productivity assessment model for public–private partnership projects using fuzzy inference system

Infrastructural projects based on public–private partnership (PPP) schemes usually struggle with large amounts of resources. Given such projects’ relatively long lifetime, it is expected to encounter a wide range of risks when executing them. This implies that increasing productivity based on cost, time, and quality goals requires accurately identifying and assessing risks in these projects. This study aims at risk assessment and analysing productivity in PPP projects based on an integrated analysis method. To this end, first, library studies are utilized to identify the most significant risks by surveying the PPP-based urban underground construction projects. Expert opinions and the fuzzy Delphi (FD) technique are then employed in three stages to identify 48 secondary risk factors. By identifying the sources of these secondary risk factors, we identify five primary risk dimensions: government, financing, operation, constructability, and organization-related risks. A questionnaire is distributed to acquire experts’ opinions and screen the most critical risks by integrating FD with fuzzy failure mode and effects analysis (FFMEA). Results showed that, in total, 23 secondary risk factors in the five primary risk dimensions exhibited risk priority number (RPNNormalized) values above 0.5, indicating their relatively more critical impacts. In the next phase, a multi-stage fuzzy inference system is designed to evaluate the impacts of critical risks on the productivity of PPP projects. Output results of the inference system indicated very high, high, and medium impacts of the risks on the overall productivity of the PPP projects in terms of time, cost, and quality, respectively.

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Abstract: The software development life cycle (SDLC) process plays an important role in the development and delivery of a software product. This research article provides an in-depth analysis of various SDLC approaches and their unique capabilities, benefits, and challenges. By reviewing traditional and modern SDLC models,this article aims to provide insight to software developers, project managers, and project partners to help them make decisions. Information and development into the entire software development process.

Digital Learning Materials in Teaching Languages for Special Purposes in Higher Education in QuILL Project

Aim. The Erasmus+ project ‘QuILL – Quality in Language Learning’ was approved within the Strategic Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness as it proposes a new insight into the way digital open educational resources (OER) are made available to language lecturers teaching languages for specific purposes or as foreign languages and how they can maximise their use in a qualitative way. The project ended in February 2023. One of QuILL’s main goals is to provide higher education language lecturers with a substantial number of Open Educational Resources (OER) to assist them in the teaching and learning process. Apart from that, a training package has been developed to guide lecturers into the way they identify, use and create online resources. The guidelines brought into play in the e-book of the project concur with the core principles that guide higher education lecturers’ teaching practice: to make learners become motivated and engaged, unfettering them from narrowmindedness, fostering autonomy and critical thinking.
 Methods. The identification of the sources has been made by the experts of the project partnership following a bottom up approach and the participation of a relevant number of potential beneficiaries, focusing in particular on Language for Specific Purpose (LSP). Each resource is presented both in English and the target language through a review, a case study and a guideline on how to use it. The e-learning based package addressed to university LSP lecturers is specifically aimed to guide them in innovating their language teaching methodologies through the effective use of quality digital based OER teaching sources including 2 operative tools, 2 case studies and an interactive self-assessment test. A third outcome of the project is an e-book titled Implementation of Digital language Learning Opportunities. This publication brings together contributions from the six partners that integrate the QuILL project consortium. Therefore, it consists of six chapters.
 Results. In the QuILL portal, both language lecturers and learners will find many OERs for 18 European languages, already tested and validated by students in real teaching scenarios. The OERs used for LSP described according to quality indicators: comprehensive approach, added value, motivation enhancement, innovation, transferability, skills assessment and validation, adaptability. The content of the e-learning based training package is structured in 3 modules, each of which follows the same structure with the combination of a readable e-text, extensive use of links to existing resources and downloadable supplementary document. The e-book, containing important theoretical and practical guidelines, is aimed at Higher Education (HE) policy makers, as well as LSP lecturers, to improve the implementation of digital based language learning opportunities in higher education systems. It also intends to present, examine and reflect on the opportunities related to the use of digital technology in the language learning and teaching process.
 Conclusions. Most resources found on the Internet are targeted at learners of English. This is one of the issues that QuILL addresses. The publication, an e-book on digital language teaching addresses the process of language learning via digital resources and keywords such as “quality” “innovation”, and “digital education” are common to all of the six chapters. In the specific context of LSP, digital technologies equip teachers and students with more tools that will empower them during the learning and teaching process, so they continue to open as many doors as possible.

Testing the Limits of Biosignature Detection in Ca-sulphate Mixtures Through a Simulated Martian Environment

Mixtures of cyanobacterial microbial mat and Ca-sulphate minerals were exposed to a simulated Martian environment via the Thales Alenia Space's “MARSBalloon” Project in partnership with St Bernard’s High School via the Orbyts science inclusivity program. FTIR spectroscopic analyses identified that at 50% Ca-sulphate, most microbial mat biosignatures were obscured under Earth conditions, except for the C–O stretch and polysaccharide O–H vibrational modes. At 75% Ca-sulphate concentrations, no spectral biosignatures were observed. However, after exposure to a simulated stratospheric Martian environment, partial dehydration of the Ca-sulphate occurred to reveal the spectral biosignatures. This has implications in the search for life on Mars, particularly within evaporite-rich environments similar to those being investigated by the Curiosity rover.

Integrating Sustainability in Higher Education Curricula

The theme of Education for Sustainable Development necessitates Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to integrate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their operations and program/course offerings. Drawing upon transformative learning theory and brand social responsibility theory, the research analyzes the teaching materials of 156 courses from seven programs within the School of Communication & Design at RMIT Vietnam, a prestigious Australian university. The findings reveal that the School currently aligns with 14 out of the 17 SDGs, encompassing a total of 60 indicators. On average, each program within the School addresses more than 10 goals and 24 indicators via collaborative partnership projects, case studies, and assessments. However, the study highlights that the incorporation of SDGs has yet to be deeply and comprehensively embedded within the curriculum. The research contributes to the theoretical framework of sustainability by offering recommendations on how to evaluate the integration of SDGs in teaching materials.