Contract Signing Research Articles

Evaluation system of vocational education construction in China based on linked TOPSIS analysis

In response to the task of vocational education reform in the new era, in order to cultivate innovative skilled talents, it is necessary to improve traditional evaluation methods to enhance their efficiency. This study proposes an evaluation model for vocational education construction that combines grey relational analysis and approximate ideal point method (TOPSIS). By selecting indicators and combining subjective analytic hierarchy process and objective entropy weight method for weight allocation, the weights of the indicators are determined using subjective analytic hierarchy process and objective entropy weight method. Through experimental analysis, the results showed that among the 11 analysis indicators, the weight of policy environment indicators was the highest at 0.124, while the weight of employment rate and contract signing rate indicators was the lowest at 0.050. The above results indicate that the TOPSIS comprehensive evaluation system based on grey correlation analysis has better application effects in practical scenarios and is more suitable for the development requirements of vocational education.

Practical Verifiable Time-Lock Puzzle: Pre- and Post-Solution Verification

A time-lock puzzle encapsulates a secret message such that the receiver needs to perform a sequential computation, which takes a specified amount of time, to recover the message. Time-lock puzzles can be used in various scenarios, such as sealed-bid auctions, fair contract signing, and so on. The time required to generate a time-lock puzzle and the time needed to solve it are asymmetric, making the verification of a time-lock puzzle crucial. Before solving the puzzle, the solver needs to verify the validity of the puzzle to avoid computing invalid time-lock puzzles. After the puzzle has been solved, it is essential for a third party to confirm the correctness of the solution. This paper proposes a framework for time-lock puzzles, providing both pre-verification and post-verification functionalities, and outlines the security requirements of this framework. Furthermore, we present a practical construction based on iterated squaring in the RSA group and analyze the security of the specific construction. Finally, we implement this construction in Python and demonstrate its efficiency in different settings when implemented in practice.

On Digital Transformation Experience of the Order Fulfillment Process

The paper examines the process of order execution being won on a tender platform. Due to the short order fulfillment deadline, the work starts not at the moment of contract signing, but at the moment of winning the tender. This leads to additional risks of non-fulfillment of the order and the emergence of unfinished production. In the conditions of stock exchange prices in commodity markets, the process of the production cost determination becomes a more complex task, requiring daily cost reevaluation with the integration of heterogeneous information systems. Therefore, a transition from automation to digital transformation is required. The literature review on the issue of manufacturing enterprise digital transformation has been completed at work. The differences between the definitions of digitalization, automation and digital transformation are described. The most promising technologies for digital transformation are outlined. Based on the reviewed literature, the main problems of digital transformation, including managerial issues highlighted by the authors as the most important, are identified. The operations of several enterprises within one information space are described, indicating the information systems used. The process of creating an order on a tender platform for the examined manufacturing enterprise is detailed, as well as a detailed description of order creation. The issue of production cost determination in the conditions of order execution start prior to contract signing is discussed. The pressing issue of digital development of an industrial enterprise due to the transition to new information systems is presented. The problems of using current information systems in production are described. The market analysis of modern Russian, foreign, and open-source systems with a description of the issues of their application is provided. A method for unfinished product automation in a new order is proposed.

Sustainable Operation and Management of a Dynamic Supply Chain under the Framework of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind

The values of a community with a shared future for mankind include the views of common interests, sustainable development, and global governance. This article will fully consider introducing the value concept of a community with a shared future into the operation and management of dynamic supply chains. Based on the optimal information fusion mechanism of artificial intelligence, this article aims to examine the operation and management of dynamic supply chains within the framework of a community with a shared future for mankind. The core idea is to consider the common interests among enterprises, establish a global collaborative operation concept for upstream, midstream, and downstream enterprises, and achieve the goal of sustainable development. Firstly, a type of composite dynamic supply chain model is considered, in which the total inventory of each node in the supply chain is further subdivided into raw material inventory and finished product inventory. At the same time, we have considered factors such as the signing of procurement contracts between core enterprises and upstream enterprises, as well as the signing of supply contracts between core enterprises and downstream enterprises. Secondly, the static and dynamic monitoring information of the enterprise has been established. We use steady-state Kalman filtering theory to obtain dynamic reference signals for upstream enterprises, core enterprises, and downstream enterprises. Based on the optimal information fusion processing mechanism of artificial intelligence, the coefficient weighting method is used to obtain the optimal fusion signals of upstream enterprises, core enterprises, and downstream enterprises. Once again, through high-quality switching strategies, enterprises can achieve in-order switching, improve production efficiency, reduce downtime, enhance their competitiveness and responsiveness, and transform the dynamic supply chain, including order switching, into a discrete-time linear switching system for processing. Fourthly, sufficient conditions, robustness analysis results, and inventory control criteria for the solvability of dynamic supply chain H∞ with order switching are provided. Finally, data analysis is conducted using historical order information from three fruit companies to verify the validity and feasibility of the conclusions in this article and to improve the performance of the dynamic supply chain system. The research findings of this article enrich the exploration of the operation and management of dynamic supply chains and the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Research on Contract Risk Management of Hospital Construction Project based on Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

With Covid-2019 outbreak in December 2019, the number of medical infrastructure projects in infrastructure projects has increased. Although contract management is an important link of medical infrastructure project management but there is little quantitative research on the risk analysis. in this paper, firstly, three first-level risk indicators of contract risk management evaluation system are extracted by combing literature: contract drafting, contract signing and contract performance. Then, taking the contract management of a 3A hospital in Chengdu as an example, 12 second-level risk indicators are determined by fault tree method. Then, by experts scoring and statistically analyzing the risk points of 100 construction project contracts signed by the hospital from 2016 to 2020, the weight of secondary risk indicators is determined and the risk matrix is established. Then, the evaluation matrix of contract risk management evaluation system is established by 10 experts. Finally, the evaluation index system of contract risk management is obtained by combining the risk matrix with the evaluation matrix through fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, and the maximum membership degree method is adopted to complete the risk assessment. The research results show that there are high risks in the contract drafting stage and medium risks in the contract signing and contract performance stages in the contract management of a Grade A hospital in Chengdu. The author puts forward reasonable suggestions to improve the contract management level of hospital construction projects.

PPP infrastructure investments in Brazil: Establishing stylized facts

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) were established in Brazil at the beginning of this century, following a global trend of using these partnerships to stimulate investment in infrastructures, particularly in a framework of restrictive budgetary and fiscal conditions. Despite their growing importance and the expectation of an expanding role in the future, not much is known about the actual facts on the ground. The objective of this paper is to be a first step in the direction of filling this information gap by providing important stylized facts about the universe of PPPs in Brazil: the quantitative evolution of PPP adoptions; the characterization of the geographical distribution of PPPs by government level (federal, state, district, and municipal); the characterization of the PPP intervention areas, including the total value of contracts and the modalities of PPP concession (sponsored and administrative). This objective is rendered possible by the development of a new database that covers the entire process of PPP contracting from 2005 to 2022, including the opening of public consultation procedures, the publication of the official notice, and the signing of contracts, as well as multiple thematic, financial, jurisdictional, and regional indicators. In turn, we see the establishment of these stylized facts as a necessary first step in the direction of understanding the factors that may determine or condition their adoption. In general, having a clear picture of the universe of the PPPs in Brazil is fundamental as their use and their role are expected to significantly increase in the future as the country pursues a path of improved economic activity and well-being of the population.

Contract governance to reduce antimicrobial overuse in hog farms in China

Antimicrobial resistance caused by the overuse of antimicrobials by farmers is an essential health issue. Currently, signing contracts between farmers and cooperatives has become crucial for small farmers to integrate into the modern agricultural industry chain. Unlike vertical government governance, which aims to intervene in the overuse of antimicrobials by farmers through many mandatory or incentive measures, contract governance refers to the social governance model that clarifies rights and obligations between farmers and cooperatives to ensure the adequate performance of contracts, which is especially beneficial to regulate farmers' safe production behavior such as the standard use of antimicrobials. However, there is a research gap concerning the effectiveness of contract governance in inhibiting farmers' overuse of animal antimicrobials. This study applies propensity score matching and mediation analysis method to assess how contract governance affects the overuse of antimicrobials by hog farmers. The paper uses data from 498 hog farmers of China's Hebei, Henan, and Hubei provinces to explore the impact and underlying mechanisms of contract governance on antimicrobial overuse in agriculture. The results showed that contract governance was found to inhibit the overuse of antimicrobials, with the amount paid for antimicrobials reduced by 118 yuan/household. We found evidence that this effect is exerted through three mechanisms: cooperative supervision (CS), technical guidance (TG), and product premium perception (PP). The CS, TG, and PP mediation effects accounted for 19.94%, 27.90%, and 26.93% of the total impact, respectively. Therefore, policy implications of these results include strengthening the standard of contract signing procedures and the integrity of executing contracts, increasing the market premium for products that meet the antimicrobial residue standards, and enhancing farmers' knowledge and contracting ability.

Illicit Financial Flows and the Petroleum Sector in Cameroon: Hitches and Policy Considerations

Cameroon depends to a large extent on the extraction of petroleum resources for their exports and tax revenue. However, this sector has been prone to generate illicit financial outflows over the years, causing the State to lose billions of dollars to this activity. In 2019, it was estimated that Cameroon lost over 7 billion US dollars which was approximately 4,200 billion XAF to IFFs. The loss was attributed to multinational companies operating in the oil, mining and gas sector in Cameroon. This study therefore aims at examining how the regulatory frameworks in the petroleum sector have been able to curtail the rise of IFFs in this sector. The paper also sheds light on the role of transparency in curtailing illicit financial flows, the catalysts of IFFs, the effects of and the hitches faced in curtailing IFFs in petroleum sector in Cameroon. The study underscores the fact that though the Cameroonian government has made laudable efforts through enactment of laws and putting in place regulatory structures to curtail this activity, lack of transparency, limited State participation in petroleum contractual arrangements, corruption, weak regulatory frameworks, tax evasion, trade mispricing and tax heavens remained the principal hitches to IFFs. Based on these findings, this study recommends strengthening of transparency mechanisms for oil licenses and contract awards, increased in State participation in oil contractual arrangements, citizen’s inclusivity during the negotiation processes and signing of oil contracts, regular publication of oil data and revenue to the public amongst others.

Value-based analysis of the negotiation for the construction of a church dome

In the construction industry, the signing of contracts between contractors and clients is a common practice. The entities signing these contacts have vastly different objectives in the context of the project: the contractor is motivated by the achievement of profit, while the client has objectives that can be economic, aesthetic, related to completion time, etc. According to negotiation theory, the greater the difference between the objectives of the sides, the better the contracts that can be achieved in the negotiation. Therefore, the analysis of a contractor-client negotiation in the building industry should be based on a complete understanding on the objectives of the sides. Kenney’s Value-Focused Thinking (VFT) provides a framework on which such understanding can be achieved. This paper presents a VFT based methodology to analyze the contractor-client negotiations in the context of construction projects. The methodology is illustrated by analyzing, in retrospective, the negotiation between a construction company and a client, regarding the construction of a dome for a church. The results show the usefulness of analyzing the negotiation from the point of view of the sides’ objectives.

Analysis of Factors Affecting the Implementation of Uterine Exploration at the Third Stage of Labor

Labor is one of the critical periods for women based on IDHS data up to 2020 shows that bleeding, hypertension in pregnancy, and infection are the causes of maternal death. Observation data was conducted in January-February 2022 at 5 Puskesmas in the city of Tasikmalaya, and it was found that 3 out of 5 women in labor underwent exploratory procedures during the third stage of labor because there were signs of retained placenta. The act of uterus exploration could be a portal of bacterial entry into the cavity and cause infection. This study aimed to look at the factors that affect the implementation of uterine exploration in the third stage of labor. The research method uses a sequential explanatory mix method to analyze the supporting factors for third-stage exploration actions by midwives. The research sample was 43 midwives. Quantitative results showed that there was no influence of characteristic factors on exploration actions (ρ more than 0.05), and there was no influence of self-efficacy on uterus exploration (ρ more than 0.05). Qualitative results showed that there were four main factors supporting exploration, such as visible signs of bleeding and weak contractions, ensuring that there were no remaining placentas and routine actions that were carried out. The research concludes that the exploratory action carried out is the midwife's accumulated experience, which results in the perception of dealing with cases of retained placenta in the third stage of labor, this makes the uterus exploration an additional action to anticipate problems.

Development Prospects of Modern Banking

Relevance. The increasing competition between financial institutions and technology companies requires the active implementation of innovative developments in current activities. Artificial intelligence is becoming an everyday fact of presence in communications between business partners and customers, generating new formats of interaction. "Smart" technologies based on artificial intelligence are able to take on certain mechanical functions related to the verification and verification of contract terms, which can significantly speed up formal procedures and reduce the likelihood of operational errors. Innovative solutions for the fulfillment of contractual obligations based on the signing of smart contracts in various business areas contribute to the use of such in banking, where communication is constantly taking place according to standard banking procedures.Purpose. The purpose of the work is to reveal the peculiarity of the use of a smart contract in the banking business for its scaling.Objectives. The following tasks were set and consistently solved in the article: to study the features and nature of the emergence of smart contracts in the business environment, to analyze the existing practice of using this tool, to formulate the principles of transformation of contracting processes with the introduction of "smart" technologies into traditional banking business.Methodology. The methods of generalization, systematization, analogy, graphical and logical analysis, and idea generation were used in the work.Results. The paper examines the properties of an innovative digital banking business contracting tool, highlights its main characteristics and grounds for application, and considers the mechanism of its implementation in the blockchain environment.Conclusions. The article examines the directions of the future development of banking in the domestic banking sector and draws conclusions about the further development of "smart" technologies in the context of increasing competition between banking and technology companies. The expansion of banking business in the online space is impossible without the use of advanced solutions in the field of customer service, which leads to the emergence and development of the practice of intellectualization of traditional contract processes.

Analisis Strategi Partai Gerindra dalam Meningkatkan Elektabilitas Prabowo Subianto pada Pemilihan Presiden 2019 di Provinsi Aceh

This research aims to analyze the strategies employed by the Gerindra Party to enhance the electability of Prabowo Subianto in the 2019 presidential election in the Aceh Province, utilizing Organizational Theory, Social Exchange Theory, and Political Marketing Theory. The qualitative research method incorporated data collection techniques such as observation, interviews, and documentation. The findings indicate the success of Gerindra Party's organizational strategy in Aceh, leveraging organizational structure and the committed performance of party cadres, motivating them to collectively support Prabowo Subianto. The effectiveness of the political promise strategy is evident through the signing of a political contract between Prabowo Subianto and 26 Aceh religious figures, aimed at developing Aceh Province and realizing the Free Port of Sabang to boost the economy of Aceh's communities. Furthermore, the identity politics strategy was implemented due to the majority of Aceh's population being Muslim. The Gerindra Party crafted an image of Prabowo as a devout Muslim leader who is consistent, pro-people, and engaged religious Islamic authorities in garnering support through Islamic boarding schools, mosques, and associations in the Aceh Province. This approach strengthens the relationship between Prabowo Subianto, the Gerindra Party, and the Acehnese community.

Efficient and secure confidential transaction scheme based on commitment and aggregated zero-knowledge proofs

ABSTRACT As a distributed ledger technology, blockchain has broad applications in many areas such as finance, agriculture, and contract signing due to its advantages of being tamperproof and difficult to forge. However, the open nature of blockchain also introduces severe privacy issues, currently cryptocurrency privacy protection solutions under account-based models cannot balance the internal verification time and confidentiality of transactions. In order to improve the confidentiality and efficiency of transactions under the account-based model, this paper proposes an access control anonymous payment scheme based on homomorphic commitment and aggregated zero-knowledge proofs, focusing on the realization of a one-to-many anonymous transfer function, one-to-one transfer function, deposit function and withdraw function, to ensure the privacy of a transaction data while reducing verification time and Gas costs. We evaluated our approach on a proof-of-concept implementation by generating Solidity contracts and implemented some interesting contracts. The experimental results show that this scheme not only consumes lower gas, but also reduces the internal time during transaction generation. In addition, our solution has established a one to many transfer transaction scheme, and the proof verification time after aggregation is constant. Thus the efficiency of this scheme is particularly well suited for the digital finance scenarios.

Abuse-freeness in contract signing: a blockchain-based proposal

Electronic contract signing requires the design of protocols that guarantee that the exchange is fair. In the past 5 years, we have observed that trusted third parties (TTPs) can be replaced by blockchain. However, none of the analyzed blockchain-based solutions meets the abuse-freeness requirement (established by Garay et al. in 1999), i.e., that neither party has the power to decide whether the protocol terminates or aborts. In this article, we present the first blockchain-based contract signing protocol that meets the abuse-freeness requirement. We analyze the economic impact that the use of blockchain has on the participants of a contract signing, concluding that the solution is both technically feasible and cost effective.

The Impact of Marketing Channels on Farmers' Income: An Empirical Study of Kabul, Parwan and Kapisa Grape Farmers

Among the 150 grape growers in the three provinces of Kabul, Parwan and Kapisa in Afghanistan, the possibility of contract signing between farmers in Kabul and traders is lower, and that between farmers in Parwan and Kapisa and farmers' organizations is higher. 26.67% of farmers signed contracts with farmers' organizations, 45.33% of farmers signed contracts with traders, and 28.00% of farmers directly carried out market transactions without signing sales contracts. The average age of grape farmers is 30.9 years old, and the average planting period is 10.4 years. The results show that farm distance and Internet use have a significant negative impact on the non-adoption of contract sales, while Internet use and farm distance have a significant positive impact on the adoption of sales contracts with traders; farmers' planting years have a positive impact on the signing of sales contracts with traders; the increase of sales price reduces the feasibility of signing contracts with traders Compared with the farmers who get loans from friends, family members and banks, the farmers who get loans from farmers' organizations are less likely to sign contracts with farmers' organizations.Compared with the contracts signed by farmers' organizations, the signing of marketing contracts with traders has a positive impact on Farmers' welfare. The selective amendments of all marketing contracts are significant, indicating that there is a selective bias in the unobserved factors.

Gender-based policies and women’s entrepreneurship: an fsQCA analysis of sub-Saharan African countries

PurposeEntrepreneurship policy is a vital component of any entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, the specific policy initiatives that have a greater impact on women's entrepreneurship remain unclear in many developing economies. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of entrepreneurship policies targeted at women’s entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Design/methodology/approachEmploying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this paper utilises and analyses secondary data collected by the World Bank's Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) from 1970 to 2020, encompassing 48 countries within SSA.FindingsThrough our analysis, we identified two configurations that sufficiently support women's entrepreneurship. First, a combination of gender-based policies focussing on enabling “access to credit” and “signing of contracts”; and second, a blend of policies supporting “signing of contracts”, “business registration”, and “opening a bank account”, represent significant antecedents to supporting women's entrepreneurship. These distinct pathways are crucial to fostering women’s entrepreneurship in the SSA region.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's findings indicate that the impact and effectiveness of entrepreneurship policies targeted at women entrepreneurs in developing economies depend on the effectiveness of other policies that are in place.Originality/valueThis study offers new insights into the intricate interrelationship between entrepreneurship policies and women’s entrepreneurship in developing countries by considering the interdependence and combinative value of gender-based policies that effectively support women’s entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa.

Penerapan Konsep Hybrid Contracts dalam Pembiayaan Rahn di Pegadaian Syariah

Islamic financing has become an increasingly popular option for individuals and businesses looking to meet their financial needs in accordance with Islamic principles. One of the prominent innovations in Islamic financing is the concept of Hybrid Contracts, which allows combining several types of Islamic contracts in one financing product. This article explores the role and benefits of the concept of Hybrid Contracts in financing rahn at Pegadaian Syariah. We also explain the detailed implementation steps, which include customer identification, risk evaluation, determination of sharia contract type, application submission, feasibility review, contract signing, transaction execution, and financing monitoring. The concept of Hybrid Contracts helps increase flexibility, inclusivity, and compliance with sharia principles in rahn financing, opening the door to broader sharia-based economic development.

ЗАХИСТ ПРАВ СПОЖИВАЧІВ У ЕЛЕКТРОННИХ КОМЕРЦІЙНИХ ОПЕРАЦІЯХ: ПРАВОВІ ЗАСАДИ ТА МЕХАНІЗМИ ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ В УКРАЇНІ

The relevance of the article is due to the fact that in modern conditions, consumers face various types of threats when buying or receiving services via the Internet. In such difficult conditions, the state must ensure the rights of consumers. The purpose of the study is to determine the mechanisms that the state should implement or has implemented to protect consumer rights in the field of electronic commerce in Ukraine. The article analyzes the legal field regulating the protection of consumer rights in the field of electronic commerce, describes and analyzes the mechanisms used by the state to protect consumer rights. Emphasizing that the study of consumer protection mechanisms is very important for improving the quality of life and increasing security in the field of e-commerce. The results of scientific research confirm that the state needs legislative norms regarding the provision of services and the introduction of remote work in the field of electronic commerce, namely: , it is necessary to establish the right to refuse the signing of an electronic contract by the consumer and to reimburse the costs associated with the consumption of low-quality goods or services received through online shopping; legal regulations on returning goods that do not ensure quality, correct description of goods and services presented on the seller's website, etc. Scientific research is of practical importance to law enforcement agencies, as it allows a better understanding of the measures that must be taken to ensure the protection of consumer rights in the field of electronic commerce. Keywords: e-commerce, protection of consumer rights, Internet store, Internet trade, business entity.

Blockchain technique for fair competition evaluation

In the new era characterized by the modernization of national governance, fair competition is the inherent requirement of building a modern market system. However, the abuse of administrative power by administrative organs to excessively interfere in free-market competition is widespread, seriously damaging the market competition order in China. To avoid the unreasonable intervention of administrative organs in the market economy, restrain the administrative acts of administrative organs, and form a highly “competitive” market environment, the fair competition review system came into being. With the rapid development of blockchain technology, new ideas are provided for the research of fair-trade protocols. Aiming at the system performance bottleneck and high-cost problems caused by centralized processing in traditional fair transaction schemes based on trusted third parties, a fair transaction scheme based on fuzzy signature is proposed. In the proposed scheme, the signature model uses concurrent signature, and both parties hold their own key numbers, which are released through blockchain transactions to bind their signatures. In the whole process, both parties can complete the contract signing without the assistance of a centralized third party. Based on analyzing the security of the proposed scheme, the performance of the proposed scheme is further compared with other similar schemes of the same kind, which shows that the proposed scheme has higher computational efficiency.

ГЕОЛОГОРАЗВЕДОЧНЫЕ РАБОТЫ НА ГЛУБОКОВОДНЫЕ ПОЛИМЕТАЛЛИЧЕСКИЕ СУЛЬФИДЫ В ОСЕВОЙ ЗОНЕ СРЕДИННО-АТЛАНТИЧЕСКОГО ХРЕБТА: РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ В РОССИЙСКОМ РАЗВЕДОЧНОМ РАЙОНЕ

An overview of Russian studies of deep-sea polymetallic sulfides (PМS) in the axial zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) at the Russian Exploration Area (REA‒PMS) is presented. A brief geological description of the axial zone of the MAR and PMS sites discovered and studied for almost forty years before and after the signing of an exploration contract with the International Seabed Authority in 2012 is given. Information on methods for conducting searches and exploration of PMS, technical equipment, as well as on metallurgical processing of raw materials is presented.