Stable Cooperation Research Articles

Main-basse sur les dynamiques du dedans et du dehors de l’intégration régionale africaine

Conducive to expanding markets and trade in Africa, regional integration enhances cooperation and mitigates risk while promising socio-cultural cooperation and regional stability. However, the internal and external dynamics of this integration in Africa are influenced by the former colonial powers, with the complicity of certain African Heads of State. Thus, to support Tapé Groubera's thesis, "these African enemies of Africans" (Groubera, 2022) are slowing down the process of integration of the continent, while prioritizing their abject interests to the detriment of the collective interest of their respective peoples. Despite the dishonorable behavior of some African Heads of State, there is hope since African youth, in addition to having become aware of this fact, is becoming more and more competitive and influential on the international level. Many young Africans today belong to the world elite class.

Regional Security Network in South Asia: A Prescriptive Approach to Addressing Diverse Security Threats

The precarious nature of the evolving global security order and the emergence of associated new buzzwords both in academia and policy circles clearly suggest that the international security environment has changed substantially. Regional and global security hazards have further diluted security situation around the world. States have taken a number of measures to cope with security challenges and strategic uncertainties, with largely unsatisfactory outcomes. In our view, a better alternative to traditional way of ensuring security is to develop regional security networks (RSN) among nations of a specific geographic region. RSN is based on the idea that there are various security challenges that cannot effectively be met without regional collaboration and coordination. The idea of RSN calls for, among other things, creating a collaborative platform for information sharing, joint training, and coordinated response mechanisms to address security threats in South Asia. Prescriptive in character, this article provides a strategic roadmap for policymakers to strengthen regional security cooperation and foster stability and peace in South Asia by establishing a robust RSN.

From Multilateralism to Minilateralism: Connecting South Asia with Southeast Asia through Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a key participant in a number of inter-and intra-regional connectivity initiatives, including the Trans-Asian Railway and Asian Highway, due to its geographic location. Bangladesh is presently at the center of the main regional and sub-regional frameworks because it was a founding member of the two regional cooperation processes in the sub-region—SAARC and BIMSTEC. Since this is the case, regional connectivity is crucial to Bangladesh’s foreign policy. Beyond the bigger regional institutions, Bangladesh has demonstrated its willingness and adaptability to collaborate with sub-regional entities to further the connectivity goal. Here comes the concept of minilateralism which implies countries act on smaller scales for larger impacts. Bangladesh has likewise implemented a diverse strategy for connectivity over the years, emphasizing both the construction of hard infrastructure and the promotion of soft connectedness through an increase in people-to-people interactions in the area. This overview explores the evolution of Bangladesh’s connection strategy over time while also noting the difficulties and advancements in putting some regional connectivity initiatives, including the land ports and regional inland waterways, into practice. It emphasizes in its conclusion that the minilateral ties between the nations will be crucial to the success of various connectivity initiatives both within and outside of South Asia where all facilitate the bigger concept of multilateralism. This research paper aims to explore the potential of Bangladesh as a catalyst for regional integration in South and Southeast Asia. However, over the last decade, South Asia has experienced a significant shift towards regional integration, but progress has been slow due to some approaches which need time and consensus from many parties. The emergence of sub-regional initiatives like the BBIN is attempting to overcome these challenges where one can notice the significance of minilateralism. This paper will analyze the role Bangladesh has played in promoting regional connectivity and fostering stronger economic and political ties between South and Southeast Asia the paper will provide insights that can inform policy and decision-making in the region, promoting greater economic cooperation and political stability across South and Southeast Asia through connectivity emphasizing the concept of minilateralism.

Fuzzy Cooperative Control for the Stabilization of the Rotating Inverted Pendulum System

The rotating inverted pendulum is a nonlinear, multivariate, strongly coupled unstable system, and studying it can effectively reflect many typical control problems. In this paper, a parameter self-tuning fuzzy controller is proposed to perform the balance control of a single rotating inverted pendulum. Particle swarm optimization is used to adjust its control parameters, and simulation experiments are performed to show that the system can achieve stability with the designed parametric self-tuning fuzzy controller, with control performance better than that of the conventional fuzzy controller. Furthermore, the leader-follower control strategy is used to realize the cooperative control of multiple rotating inverted pendulums. Two QUBE-Servo 2 rotating inverted pendulums are used for a cooperative pendulum swing-up experiment and stabilization experiment, and the effectiveness of the proposed cooperative control strategy is verified.

Evolutionary stability of cooperation in indirect reciprocity under noisy and private assessment

Indirect reciprocity is a mechanism that explains large-scale cooperation in humans. In indirect reciprocity, individuals use reputations to choose whether or not to cooperate with a partner and update others' reputations. A major question is how the rules to choose their actions and the rules to update reputations evolve. In the public reputation case where all individuals share the evaluation of others, social norms called Simple Standing (SS) and Stern Judging (SJ) have been known to maintain cooperation. However, in the case of private assessment where individuals independently evaluate others, the mechanism of maintenance of cooperation is still largely unknown. This study theoretically shows for the first time that cooperation by indirect reciprocity can be evolutionarily stable under private assessment. Specifically, we find that SS can be stable, but SJ can never be. This is intuitive because SS can correct interpersonal discrepancies in reputations through its simplicity. On the other hand, SJ is too complicated to avoid an accumulation of errors, which leads to the collapse of cooperation. We conclude that moderate simplicity is a key to stable cooperation under the private assessment. Our result provides a theoretical basis for the evolution of human cooperation.

Column generation for the multi-port berth allocation problem with port cooperation stability

This paper proposes a multi-port berth allocation problem (MPBAP) under a cooperative environment, which aims to determine berthing times and berthing positions for all considered vessels arriving at multiple neighboring ports. The previous studies on the MPBAP (or the BAP with multiple ports) consider that multiple ports have established stable cooperation, while the port cooperation stability problem (PCSP) has not been addressed. This paper investigates the PCSP with the MPBAP, where our MPBAP further integrates the vessel diverting issue that vessels with excessive waiting times can be diverted to neighboring ports. For the PCSP, we investigate how to group multiple neighboring ports into different stable port groups, and then determine optimal port groups. For all possible port groups, we propose a mixed integer programming model for the MPBAP, and a column generation approach is devised to solve it. Based on optimal solutions of the MPBAP for various port groups, cooperative game theory is utilized to obtain stable port groups, and then the PCSP can be formulated as a binary programming model for determining optimal port groups. Numerical experiments are carried out to account for the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed models and solution method.

Horizontal collaboration between suppliers to mitigate supply chain disruption: A secure resource sharing strategy

Resource sharing is a flexible recovery strategy that has attracted attention with the outbreak of global disruption. Horizontal cooperation could lead to mutual benefits and reduce the negative consequences during the recovery period. This paper emphasizes the advantages of sharing resources between two competing suppliers under disruption. Suppliers share a secure source of inventory to absorb the shocks of disruption. The stability of relationships between suppliers is sensitive to several factors. Accordingly, an evolutionary game model is developed followed by a replicator dynamic analysis to study the stability of strategies under disruption scenarios. A hybrid agent-based system dynamics framework is built using AnyLogic software to simulate the relationships, interactions, and the effect of parameters in the adopted strategies of suppliers. Compared with mutual incentives and penalty costs, findings indicate that the value of secure resources and the number of shortages have higher impacts on the stability of cooperation. A higher rate of shortages could undermine collaboration. Results show that the initial mindset of suppliers to follow a collaborative approach is a key driver for the stable implementation of collaborative resource sharing. This paper highlights the benefits of implementing new technologies to improve supply flexibility through horizontal integration with competitors.

Research on multiple co-governance of agricultural non-point source pollution in China on the perspective of ENGOs and public participation.

Effective prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution is a major challenge faced by the Chinese local government in the context of rural revitalization, and clarifying the game relationship between stakeholders in agricultural non-point source pollution control actions will help achieve multiple co-governance better. Accordingly, this paper discusses the interactive decision-making relationships between local government and livestock and poultry breeding enterprise (LPBE) under the participation of Environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs) and public, by constructing an evolutionary game model, as well as analyzing evolutionary cooperative stability strategies and realizing the simulation of evolution processes in different scenarios by MATLAB. The results show that government subsidy has an incentive effect on LPBE to adopt the purifying strategy, yet reduces the enthusiasm of local government for supervision. Improving the participation degree and right space of ENGOs is conducive to the realization of multiple co-governance models. Furthermore, the impact of public participation on multiple co-governance of agricultural non-point source pollution is related to the local government's investigation rate and the public reporting fairness; strengthening the local government's supervision capacity and improving the public reporting fairness can achieve better collaborative governance effects.

Cooperative control and stability analysis for virtual coupling of rail vehicles

Cooperative control for rail vehicles is a new idea which builds on existing models and methods developed in the context of flight formation and autonomous ground vehicles. The underlying idea is to assimilate virtually coupled rail vehicles to arrays of mass–spring–dashpot systems. The contribution of this paper is three-fold. First, a novel scheme is proposed which involves a supervisory control for the higher-level planning and a local motion coordination for the lower-level implementation. For the supervisory control, a review of the existing scheduling models and methods based on alternate graphs and a mixed-integer (non)linear program is conducted. For the local coordination, a nonlinear and uncertain model is developed and a constructive method is provided to design a feedback control that stabilizes the vehicle around a desired equilibrium point, in terms of position and velocity. Second, the control design method is extended to the case of multiple virtually coupled vehicles. It is proven that the transient dynamics follows a typical synchronization dynamics. It is also proven that under such control, the whole system of rail vehicles converges to a pre-defined equilibrium point, characterized by a specific velocity and relative distance between vehicles. Conditions for the stability of such equilibrium points are investigated. Third, under the hypothesis of homogeneity, bounds on the damping coefficient for the synchronization equilibrium (in terms of velocity and relative distance between vehicles) to be overdamped or underdamped are provided.

Chelating Bis-silylenes As Powerful Ligands To Enable Unusual Low-Valent Main-Group Element Functions.

ConspectusSilylenes are divalent silicon species with an unoccupied 3p orbital and one lone pair of electrons at the SiII center. Owing to the excellent σ-donating ability of amidinato-based silylenes, which stems from the intramolecular imino-N donor interaction with the vacant 3p orbital of the silicon atom, N-heterocyclic amidinato bis(silylenes) [bis(NHSi)s] can serve as versatile strong donating ligands for cooperative stabilization of central atoms in unusually low oxidation states. Herein, we present our recent achievement on the application of bis(NHSi) ligands with electronically and spatially different spacers to main-group chemistry, which has allowed the isolation of a variety of low-valent compounds consisting of monatomic zero-valent group 14 E0 complexes (named "metallylones", E = Si, Ge, Sn, Pb); monovalent group 15 EI complexes (E = N, P, isoelectronic with metallylones); and diatomic low-valent E2 complexes (E = Si, Ge, P) with intriguing electronic structures and chemical reactivities.The role of the SiII···SiII distance was revealed to be crucial in this chemistry. Utilizing the pyridine-based bis(NHSi) (Si···Si distance: 7.8 Å) ligand, germanium(0) complexes with additional Fe(CO)4 protection at the Ge0 site have been isolated. Featuring a shorter Si···Si distance of 4.3 Å, the xanthene-based bis(NHSi) has allowed the realization of the full series of heavy zero-valent group 14 element E0 complexes (E = Si, Ge, Sn, Pb), while the o-carborane-based bis(NHSi) (Si···Si distance: 3.3 Å) has enabled the isolation of Si0 and Ge0 complexes. Remarkably, reduction of the o-carborane-based bis(NHSi)-supported Si0 and Ge0 complexes induces the movement of two electrons into the o-carborane core and provides access to SiI-SiI and GeI-GeI species as oxidation products. Additionally, the o-carborane-based bis(NHSi) reacts with adamantyl azide, leading to a series of nitrogen(I) complexes as isoelectronic species of a carbone (C0 complex). Moreover, cooperative activation of white phosphorus gives bis(NHSi)-supported phosphorus complexes with varying and unexpected electronic structures when employing the xanthene-, o-carborane-, and aniline-based bis(NHSi)s. With the better kinetic protection provided by the xanthene-based bis(NHSi), small-molecule activation and functionalization of the bis(NHSi)-supported central E or E2 atoms (E = Si, Ge, P) are possible and furnish several novel functionalized silicon, germanium, and phosphorus compounds.With knowledge of the ability of chelating bis(NHSi)s in coordinating and functionalizing low-valent group 14 and 15 elements, the application of these ligand systems to other main-group elements such as group 2 and 13 is quite promising. To fully understand the role of the NHSi in a bis(NHSi) ligand, introducing a mixed ligand, i.e., the combination of an NHSi with other functional groups, such as Lewis acidic borane or Lewis basic borylene, in one chelating ligand could lead to new types of low-valent main-group species. Furthermore, the development of a genuine acyclic silylene, without an imino-N interaction with the vacant 3p orbital at the silicon(II) atom, as part of a chelating bis(acyclic silylene) has the potential to form very electronically different main-group element complexes that could achieve even more challenging bond activations such as N2 or unactivated C-H bonds.

Research on the cooperative network game model of marine plastic waste management

Marine plastic waste pollution damages the stability of the marine ecosystem and inhibits the sustainable development of the "blue economy", which has aroused widespread concern worldwide. Nowadays, cooperation on marine plastic waste management is an urgent research topic. A global consensus on management cooperation is emerging, but the economic feasibility of cooperation has not yet to be proven. This paper takes the amount of capital investment, technology level of governance and the amount of marine plastic waste to be treated as variables affecting the cooperative income to construct a cooperative network game model for marine plastic waste management from the perspective of economics. The paper distributes benefits based on the "Myerson value", analyzes the equilibrium conditions of the model and tests the stability of cooperation. In addition, numerical analysis is carried out using actual data from key countries to demonstrate the practical economic feasibility of cooperation in marine plastic waste management. The findings include: (1) The technology level of governance and the amount of marine plastic waste to be treated have a negative impact on the country's choice of cooperative governance strategies and the stability of cooperative alliance, while the amount of capital investment is conductive to it. (2) The size of the alliance has an impact on country's strategic choices and the stability of the alliances. Too small an alliance is not conducive to cooperative alliance building, which gradually becomes more likely as the size of the alliance increases, but it is uncertain the effect of oversized alliance and what size is most appropriate. (3) Cooperation in marine plastic waste management is economically feasible at both the theoretical and practical levels. (4) Encouraging technological innovation to improve the governance level, implementing extended producer responsibility measures to shift the management cost, exerting the positive influence of key countries to promote the stability of the alliance, and establishing a reasonable interest adjustment mechanism to coordinate the interests of all parties are helpful to build a stable and efficient cooperation alliance and improve the economic feasibility of marine plastic waste management cooperation. This paper not only provides theoretical support for the global cooperation of marine plastic waste management, but also proves the feasibility of practice and points out the direction for its practice.

Cooperation without punishment

A fundamental question in social and biological sciences is whether self-governance is possible when individual and collective interests are in conflict. Free riding poses a major challenge to self-governance, and a prominent solution to this challenge has been altruistic punishment. However, this solution is ineffective when counter-punishments are possible and when social interactions are noisy. We set out to address these shortcomings, motivated by the fact that most people behave like conditional cooperators—individuals willing to cooperate if a critical number of others do so. In our evolutionary model, the population contains heterogeneous conditional cooperators whose decisions depend on past cooperation levels. The population plays a repeated public goods game in a moderately noisy environment where individuals can occasionally commit mistakes in their cooperative decisions and in their imitation of the role models’ strategies. We show that, under moderate levels of noise, injecting a few altruists into the population triggers positive reciprocity among conditional cooperators, thereby providing a novel mechanism to establish stable cooperation. More broadly, our findings indicate that self-governance is possible while avoiding the detrimental effects of punishment, and suggest that society should focus on creating a critical amount of trust to harness the conditional nature of its members.

Explaining the stability of cooperation in agricultural industry chains based on the institutional theory: Multiple mediating effects of perceived value and trust.

Due to the superposition of multiple complex socioeconomic environments and the complexity and uncertainty of the agricultural industry chain itself, the agricultural industry chain has become unstable, jeopardizing its long-term sustainability. The purpose of this study is to construct and validate a stability mechanism model of cooperative relationships within agricultural industry chains based on the institutional theory. The questionnaire survey method was used for empirical analysis. The results show that imitative pressure, mandatory pressure, and normative pressure have significant positive effects on the stability of cooperative relationships in agricultural industrial chains. Besides, perceived benefits, perceived risks, and trust play composite multiple mediating roles between imitative pressure and cooperation stability, and between normative pressure and cooperation stability in agricultural industrial chains. Perceived benefits and trust play partial mediating roles in the stability of cooperative relationships between mandatory pressure and agricultural industrial chains. This study is conducive to further understanding the cooperative psychology of agricultural industry chain operators. And this research can provide a reference for managers to take targeted measures to deal with the instability in the development of agricultural industry chains.

Measuring the Bilateral Energy Security Cooperation Sustainability between China and Its Neighboring Countries Based on the National Energy Security Level

Strengthening bilateral energy security cooperation is crucial in the process of fostering the sustainable growth of China and neighboring Asian nations. Using data chosen from China and 25 adjacent nations between 2010 and 2019, this article first assesses the level of energy security using the TOPSIS (Technique of Ranking Preference with Similarity to Ideal Solution) and GRA (Grey Relational Analysis) methodologies. Additionally, based on the level of energy security, this article analyzes the coupling degree of bilateral capacity structure and, in the end, suggests a theoretical model to assess the stability of bilateral energy security cooperation. The findings demonstrate that China and its neighboring countries share the energy trilemma, which is the inability of these nations to simultaneously achieve the needs of energy supply security, energy justice, and environmental sustainability. The report also makes the case that Thailand, Kazakhstan, and the Philippines all have theoretically stronger sustainability of bilateral energy security cooperation with China. This study also offers some recommendations for improving bilateral collaboration between China and its neighbors on energy security.

Evolutionary games on networks: Phase transition, quasi-equilibrium, and mathematical principles

The stable cooperation ratio of spatial evolutionary games has been widely studied using simulations or approximate analysis methods. However, sometimes such “stable” cooperation ratios obtained via approximate methods might not be actually stable, but correspond to quasi-equilibriums instead. We find that various classic game models, like the evolutionary snowdrift game, evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma, and spatial public goods game on square lattices and scale-free networks, exhibit the phase transition in convergence time to the equilibrium state. Moreover, mathematical principles are provided to explain the phase transition of convergence time and quasi-equilibrium of cooperation ratio. The findings explain why and when cooperation and defection have a long-term coexistence.

PTSD And the Labour Market: Special Problems of Cooperation Between Employers and Employees Suffering from PTSD And Possible Ways of Minimising Risks and Friction in Professional Relations in This Field on The Example of Victims of The Russian-Ukrainian War

The intention of this study is to study the difficulties and special requirements faced by employees suffering from PTSD or who have increased chances of developing this syndrome, as well as to determine the difficulties faced by employers of such employees. Also, the aim is to develop recommendations for employers to reduce the chances of conflict situations, overtime pressure or failure to meet the necessary conditions for effective and stable cooperation. This study is conducted in the cultural, social and situational context of the Russo-Ukrainian war after the lull period and the subsequent full-scale invasion of 2022. The research design involves the use of a survey method using anonymous questionnaires among able-bodied people affected in one way or another by military operations.

Molecular insights into the interfacial adhesion mechanism between carbon nanotubes and epoxy resin.

In recent years, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have garnered widespread attention and have been deemed the preferred option for the creation of epoxy composites, owing to their outstanding mechanical properties. Despite this, the interaction between pure CNTs and epoxy resin is primarily dependent on van der Waals forces and therefore, the interfacial forces are weak, making it challenging for effective load transfer. To enhance the mechanical properties of the composites, surface functionalization is often deemed a more favorable method for improving interfacial bond strength. This study employs molecular dynamics simulations to examine the interfacial bonding characteristics between functionalized CNTs and epoxy resin. The results demonstrate that functional group modification can significantly improve the interfacial adhesion between CNTs and epoxy resin, and the incorporation of functional groups can enhance the crosslinking degree of the epoxy resin at the interface. The hydrogen bond network established between the CNTs and epoxy resin after functional group modification, and the high stability of the bond cooperation, are factors contributing to the excellent interfacial performance.

Fragmentation of the Middle East: social and economic aspects

The article aims to deepen the theoretical foundations of the fragmentation of the Middle Eastern countries in terms of socio-economic factors that have significantly influenced stability and development in the region. The authors highlight the consequences of fragmentation for various aspects of social life, including political stability, social cohesion, economic development, and human well-being. The article outlines potential strategies and interventions to address these challenges in order to contribute to a more inclusive and prosperous Middle East. The authors analyze the ethnic, religious, and cultural differences in the Middle East that have contributed to social fragmentation and led to tensions and conflicts that ultimately impede socio-economic development. Fragmentation is shown to have affected social cohesion and cultural identity in the region. Differences based on ethnicity, religion, and political preferences hinder social integration, leading to increased social tensions and potential conflicts. Political instability and governance problems, including weak governance structures and authoritarian regimes, are analyzed. The article reveals that political instability has contributed to fragmentation in the region due to the lack of inclusive governance systems and effective institutions, which hinders economic growth and social progress. The fragmentation of political stability and security in the Middle East is assessed. Internal conflicts, inter-confessional tensions, and the rise of non-state actors pose serious challenges to regional stability and cooperation. The authors show that the unequal distribution of wealth and resources, combined with high levels of poverty and unemployment, has increased social inequality and created economic fractures in the region. Limited regional cooperation, trade barriers, and political instability impede economic growth, preventing the creation of sustainable livelihoods and opportunities.

Stability analysis and design of cooperative control for linear delta operator system

<abstract><p>This paper investigates the cooperative state feedback control problem for delta operator-based large-scale systems with independent subsystems. First, the state feedback controller is introduced to interconnect the adjacent subsystems into a closed-loop system. Second, the Lyapunov function in delta domain is constructed, and the linear matrix inequality method is used to design the cooperative state feedback stability controller for the whole large-scale interconnected system. Third, a performance index is introduced for the design of the optimal cooperative state feedback controller. Finally, stability of the closed-loop system is proved on the basis of stability theory, and simulation examples are given for showing the effectiveness of the design method.</p></abstract>

Analysis of the stability of cooperation between public railway transportation enterprises

Analysis of the stability of cooperation between public railway transportation enterprises