Stable Cooperation Research Articles

Achieving triple sustainability in closed-loop supply chain: The optimal combination of online platform sales format and blockchain-enabled recycling

This paper examines the optimal combination of blockchain adoption in recycling used products and sales format selection of the online platform to achieve triple sustainability of economy, environment, and society. We focus on a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) consisting of a manufacturer and an online platform. In the forward chain, the manufacturer sells products through the online platform who adopts reselling or agency selling sales format. In the backward chain, under extended producer responsibility, the manufacturer collects used products and can take advantage of the transparency, trust, and traceability features of blockchain technology, to increase the real recycling rate of used products and gain consumer trust. By constructing stylized differential game model, we clarify the condition of blockchain adoption and discuss the impact of blockchain on platform sales format selection and triple performance of the CLSC. The results show that the improvement in transparency and trust induced by blockchain will increase the brand goodwill and have positive effect on demand. Under blockchain-enabled recycling, the online platform and the manufacturer will reach a stable cooperation on platform reselling when the commission rate is extremely low, and agency selling when the commission rate is relatively high. However, the relationship of cooperation will break down when the commission rate is extremely high or relatively low. Furthermore, it is illustrated that the lower the real recycling rate, the better the effect of blockchain in enabling the triple sustainability of economy, environment, and society.

Is cooperation sustained under increased mixing in evolutionary public goods games on networks?

A qualitative difference between evolutionary public goods games in a single well-mixing population on the one hand and in neighborhoods of interaction networks on the other hand is the possibility of sustained cooperation within subpopulations. Compared with well-mixed populations, networks model local rather than global interactions by restricting them to social neighborhoods. In this work, we propose an evolutionary game model that is able to capture the effect of long-range links mixing local neighborhood and global group interactions in a finite networked population. We derived dynamical equations for the evolution of cooperation under weak selection by employing the mean-field and pair approximation approach. Using properties of Markov processes, we can approach a theoretical analysis of the effect of the density of mixing link. We find a rule governing the emergence and stabilization of cooperation, which shows that the positive or negative effect of mixing-link density for fixed group size depends on the global benefit in the public goods game. With mutations, we study the average abundance of cooperators and find that increasing mixing links promotes cooperation in strong dilemmas and hinders cooperation in weak dilemmas. These results are independent of whether strategy transfer is allowed via mixing links or not.

China-Laos Economic and Trade Cooperation and Construction of Sustainable Energy Cargo Channel under the Background of “One Belt, One Road”

With the increasing import volume of China’s oil and natural gas, the structure of China’s energy supply chain (ESC) has become more and more complex. How to use the “Belt and Road” (OBOR) layout to promote China’s regional energy cooperation and ensure China’s energy security has become an important international issue facing China. This paper constructs an ESC network model in the context of the OBOR, and finds out the position of China in this network model. This paper also finds out the role law of each risk influencing factor, analyzes the degree of its influence, and puts forward some suggestions on the risk management of ESC according to the analysis results. This paper proposes to use decision tree algorithm to guide the development and construction of Sino-Lao economic and trade cooperation, which will help analyze and help the construction and research of Sino-Lao economic and trade cooperation and sustainable energy freight corridor. Based on the energy cooperation between China and the countries along the “Belt and Road,” this paper analyzes the network structure of energy cooperation under the “Belt and Road” background based on the small-world network theory. This paper analyzes the important role of core countries in the ESC through the analysis of the basic parameters of the small-world network, the efficiency of energy cooperation, and the stability of energy cooperation. According to the value of each vertex degree obtained by the calculation formula of entropy value, the entropy value of the ESC network structure under the background of OBOR can be obtained as 2.408. It calculates that the maximum and minimum entropy of the ESC network structure at this time are 3.09 and 2.21 respectively.

Electroactive constructed wetland using Fe3C as an anodic exogenous electron donor: Performance and mechanisms

Constructed wetland microbial fuel cells (CW-MFCs) are promising for removing trace contaminants. We investigated using Fe3C as an anodic exogenous electron donor in a CW-MFC to remove bisphenol A (BPA). BPA removal and electricity production were used to evaluate the CW-MFC performance, and bacterial high-throughput sequencing was used to investigate the microbial response. The experimental system removed BPA (91.62 ± 0.85 %), chemical oxygen demand (76.44 ± 2.25 %), total phosphorus (98.40 ± 0.17 %), and ammonium nitrogen (91.62 ± 0.85 %). It also had a high voltage (352.13 ± 31.48 mV) and power density (3.88 mW/m2), and relatively high coulombic efficiency (3.31 %). Fe3C addition enhanced bacterial cooperation and community stability, and increased the abundance of electroactive and ferric ammonium oxidation bacteria (Desulfovibrio and Geobacter). These changes explained the improved water purification effect and electricity production. Fe3C as an anodic electron donor in CW-MFCs is promising for practical applications.

The Importance of Emerging Technologies to the Increasing of Corporate Sustainability in Shipping Companies

Corporate sustainability is understood as the integration of economic, environmental, and social considerations into the company’s mission. In the shipping market, it allows for a wide spectrum of integration of corporate management areas: shipowners’ financial condition, environmental protection, work safety, seafarers’ health, and stable cooperation with shippers. The aim of this paper is to create a deeper understanding of how and which emerging technologies accelerate sustainability strategy of shipping companies. Three research perspectives have been adopted. The first one is aimed to examine shipowners’ approach to emerging technologies as a tool to improve their corporate sustainability performance. The second perspective gives a view of trends in the development of emerging technologies in shipping and how they related to sustainability. Taking the third perspective, we examine how effective, in the opinion of future seafarers, the use of emerging technologies is in improving corporate sustainability of shipping companies. The research methods for each of the perspectives are, respectively, a sustainability reports and ships’ registry data analysis, a patent analysis, and a questionnaire survey analysis. The results prove that shipowners use not only certain management practices, but also new technologies to enhance corporate sustainability. The transition to sustainable shipping will continue for many years to come and all shipping companies will have to become part of it.

Synergistic Motion Stability of a Scorpion-like Composite Robot

In this paper, a compliant control scheme based on the optimization of the contact force of the robot leg is proposed to improve the stability of the whole moving process of the robot. Firstly, according to the motion state of the robot, the change of its center of gravity is analyzed, then the stable gait of the robot is determined by the stability margin, and the smooth control of the robot’s foot trajectory is realized. Finally, the compliant control model of the robot leg is established. In the process of moving, the contact force between the legs and the ground is optimized in real-time, so that the composite robot can walk steadily on uneven terrain. The 3-D model of the scorpion composite robot was built with ADAMS software, and dynamics simulation was carried out according to the compliant control scheme. This paper takes the robot’s walking speed and torso angle as performance evaluation indexes and verifies the effectiveness of the compliant control scheme. The cooperative motion stability test is carried out on the actual uneven terrain. The test results show that the robot’s pitch angle and roll angle are between ±0.5°, which meets the motion stability requirements of the robot and verifies the correctness of the compliant control scheme and control model proposed in this paper.

Promotion strategies for environmentally friendly packaging: a stochastic differential game perspective.

With the evolution of the e-commerce and express delivery industry, the consumption of packaging materials is increasing rapidly. Many members of society encourage using environmentally friendly packaging. However, due to the attitude-behavior gap, i.e., expressing concerns about environmental issues does not necessarily lead to green consumption, promoting the use of green packaging remains a challenge. This paper considers a stochastic differential game between green packaging manufacturers and e-commerce platforms. The optimal promotion strategies are derived for scenarios involving cooperation as well as non-cooperation. In addition, a welfare allocation mechanism for attaining stable cooperation is also discussed under the bargaining model. Numerical simulations and a sensitivity analysis were conducted to demonstrate the results. This paper finds that the cooperation between manufacturers and platforms can expand the actual market demand and promote the consumption of green packaging. The proposed model provides an effective tool for manufacturers and platforms to devise optimal strategies for promoting the use of green packaging.

Experiences of intercultural teaching activities in the field of eHealth

Abstract The funded research Project HealthCONNECT implements measure to promote the term eHealth in teaching and means to ease the exchange of lecturers and students to perceive different views of this topic. This report introduces the activities that have been implemented, stresses challenges that were observed and derives suggestions how to establish a co-operation between different institutes of higher education. This includes the mutual participation and inclusion of lecturers in teaching and evaluation activities; spanning from assessing students’ projects till chairing master examinations. The co-operative organization and hosting of eHealth Summer Schools is another mean to share knowledge in the domain of eHealth with students and colleagues abroad. Such activities require a stable co-operation between the involved institutions that only can be build upon a trustworthy relationship between the lecturers as they are paving the way.

Adaptive Backstepping Sliding Mode Control of Vehicle-Mounted Parallel Stabilized Platform

This paper researches an accurate and cooperative stability control method for the vehicle-mounted parallel stabilized platform to isolate the external random interference caused by rugged terrains. An adaptive backstepping sliding mode controller is designed by combining the adaptive method and backstepping design method. The position and pose of the platform are calculated in real time as feedback quantity and a closed-loop controller overall pose is designed. Simulation and experimental results show that the vehicle-mounted parallel stabilized platform can quickly and accurately adjust the pose of the upper platform to keep horizontal when the vehicle runs on rugged terrains.

Graded comodule categories with enough projectives

AbstractIt is well known that the category of comodules over a flat Hopf algebroid is abelian but typically fails to have enough projectives, and more generally, the category of graded comodules over a graded flat Hopf algebroid is abelian but typically fails to have enough projectives. In this short paper, we prove that the category of connective graded comodules over a connective, graded, flat, finite-type Hopf algebroid has enough projectives. Applications to algebraic topology are given: the Hopf algebroids of stable co-operations in complex bordism, Brown–Peterson homology, and classical mod p homology all have the property that their categories of connective graded comodules have enough projectives. We also prove that categories of connective graded comodules over appropriate Hopf algebras fail to be equivalent to categories of graded connective modules over a ring.

Consociationalism in Lebanon after the Cedar Revolution: External Threats, Political Instability, and Macrosecuritizations

The literature on consociationalism posits external threats increase elite cooperation and political stability in consociational systems, provided that the threat is perceived as common by all political segments. Lebanon—a prominent consociational case—invites further reflection on this proposition, as international crises and even war did not increase cooperation between political parties. To further explore the relationship between external threats and political stability, the paper proposes a critical security approach, based on the Copenhagen School of security. The study investigates how political elites construct foreign threats relying on media analysis complemented by personal elite and expert interviews, as well as secondary sources. The study finds that despite political elites’ commitment to system maintenance, external threats decrease political stability in Lebanon because political segments are part of competing macrosecuritizations.

Replicator dynamics of public goods games with global exclusion

Studies to date on the role of social exclusion in public cooperation have mainly focused on the peer or pool sanctioning types of excluding free-riders from the share of common goods. However, the exclusive behaviors are not necessarily performed by individuals or local organizations but may rather be implemented by a centralized enforcement institution at a global scale. Besides, previous modeling methods of either peer or pool exclusion often presuppose some particular forms of feedback between the individual or collective efforts and the efficiency of social exclusion and, therefore, cannot comprehensively evaluate their effects on the evolution of cooperation in the social dilemma situations. Here, we construct a general model of global exclusion by considering the successful construction of the centralized exclusive institution as an arbitrary non-decreasing and smooth function of the collective efforts made by the global excluders and then theoretically analyze its potential impacts in the replicator dynamics of the public goods game. Interestingly, we have shown that, despite the presence of both the first- and second-order free-riding problems, global exclusion can indeed lead to the emergence or even stabilization of public cooperation without the support of any other evolutionary mechanism. In addition, we have also observed rich dynamical behaviors, such as the occurrence of a global or local family of neutrally stable closed orbits revolving around a nonlinear center or the existence of stable heteroclinic cycles between defectors, cooperators as well as global excluders, which give rise to a classification of up to 21 different phases.

Permissive aggregative group formation favors coexistence between cooperators and defectors in yeast.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the FLO1 gene encodes flocculins that lead to formation of multicellular flocs, that offer protection to the constituent cells. Flo1p was found to preferentially bind to fellow cooperators compared to defectors lacking FLO1 expression, enriching cooperators within the flocs. Given this dual function in cooperation and kin recognition, FLO1 has been termed a "green beard gene". Because of the heterophilic nature of the Flo1p bond however, we hypothesize that kin recognition is permissive and depends on the relative stability of the FLO1+/flo1- versus FLO1+/FLO1+ detachment force F. We combine single-cell measurements of adhesion, individual cell-based simulations of cluster formation, and in vitro flocculation to study the impact of relative bond stability on the evolutionary stability of cooperation. We identify a trade-off between both aspects of the green beard mechanism, with reduced relative bond stability leading to increased kin recognition at the expense of cooperative benefits. We show that the fitness of FLO1 cooperators decreases as their frequency in the population increases, arising from the observed permissive character (F+- = 0.5 F++) of the Flo1p bond. Considering the costs associated with FLO1 expression, this asymmetric selection often results in a stable coexistence between cooperators and defectors.

Cooperative stability renders protein complex formation more robust and controllable

Protein complexes are the fundamental units of many biological functions. Despite their many advantages, one major adverse impact of protein complexes is accumulations of unassembled subunits that may disrupt other processes or exert cytotoxic effects. Synthesis of excess subunits can be inhibited via negative feedback control or they can be degraded more efficiently than assembled subunits, with this latter being termed cooperative stability. Whereas controlled synthesis of complex subunits has been investigated extensively, how cooperative stability acts in complex formation remains largely unexplored. To fill this knowledge gap, we have built quantitative models of heteromeric complexes with or without cooperative stability and compared their behaviours in the presence of synthesis rate variations. A system displaying cooperative stability is robust against synthesis rate variations as it retains high dimer/monomer ratios across a broad range of parameter configurations. Moreover, cooperative stability can alleviate the constraint of limited supply of a given subunit and makes complex abundance more responsive to unilateral upregulation of another subunit. We also conducted an in silico experiment to comprehensively characterize and compare four types of circuits that incorporate combinations of negative feedback control and cooperative stability in terms of eight systems characteristics pertaining to optimality, robustness and controllability. Intriguingly, though individual circuits prevailed for distinct characteristics, the system with cooperative stability alone achieved the most balanced performance across all characteristics. Our study provides theoretical justification for the contribution of cooperative stability to natural biological systems and represents a guideline for designing synthetic complex formation systems with desirable characteristics.

Market-value oriented or technology-value oriented? ——Location impacts of industry-university-research (IUR) cooperation bases on innovation performance

As an effective way to deepen the dynamic docking and advantage integration between market entity and technological entity, the joint establishment of scientific research bases plays an important role in promoting the long-term and stable cooperation between industry, university and research. However, no research has explored whether the site selection of IUR cooperation bases has an impact on innovation performance. In view of this, the influence of the location of IUR bases on innovation performance is investigated in this paper through the adoption of the enterprise survey data carried out by Jiangsu Provincial Commission of Economy and Information Technology in 2013. It is indicated in the results show that (1) The joint establishment of scientific research bases is more conducive to promoting the enterprise innovation than joint research, commissioned research and technology transfer and other IUR cooperation modes; (2) Compared with the practices of establishing scientific research bases in universities, the practice of establishing scientific research bases within enterprises is more conducive to improving the innovation performance of enterprises, that is to say, the market-value oriented IUR cooperation mode is more conducive to enterprise innovation; (3) The moderating effect shows that the absorptive capacity has positively moderated the location impacts of scientific research bases on innovation performance, that is, the higher the educational level of employees is, the more significant promotion effect of establishing scientific research bases within enterprises on innovation performance may become. This study provides the advantages of joint establishment of scientific research bases compared with other IUR cooperation modes, and empirical evidence of the siting effect of IUR cooperation based on innovation performance, and provides references for the literature. The research results will be helpful for the body of IUR to understand the differential impact of different cooperative base locations on innovation performance.

A modular approach to map out the conformational landscapes of unbound intrinsically disordered proteins

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) fold upon binding to select/recruit multiple partners, morph around the partner's structure, and exhibit allostery. However, we do not know whether these properties emerge passively from disorder, or rather are encoded into the IDP's folding mechanisms. A main reason for this gap is the lack of suitable methods to dissect the energetics of IDP conformational landscapes without partners. Here we introduce such an approach that we term molecular LEGO, and apply it to NCBD, a helical, molten globule–like IDP, as proof of concept. The approach entails the experimental and computational characterization of the protein, its separate secondary structure elements (LEGO building blocks), and their supersecondary combinations. Comparative analysis uncovers specific, yet inconspicuous, energetic biases in the conformational/folding landscape of NCBD, including 1) strong local signals that define the three native helices, 2) stabilization of helix–helix interfaces via soft pairwise tertiary interactions, 3) cooperative stabilization of a heterogeneous three-helix bundle fold, and 4) a dynamic exchange between sets of tertiary interactions (native and nonnative) that recapitulate the different structures NCBD adopts in complex with various partners. Crucially, a tug of war between sets of interactions makes NCBD gradually shift between structural subensembles as a conformational rheostat. Such conformational rheostatic behavior provides a built-in mechanism to modulate binding and switch/recruit partners that is likely at the core of NCBD's function as transcriptional coactivator. Hence, the molecular LEGO approach emerges as a powerful tool to dissect the conformational landscapes of unbound IDPs and rationalize their functional mechanisms.

Who to help? Helping decisions in a cooperatively breeding bird with redirected care

Cooperative breeding sometimes occurs when adult breeders form groups following natal dispersal and mating. In such cases, individuals typically face a choice of social partner with whom to cooperate. Selecting appropriate social partners is crucial to maximising the fitness payoffs from cooperation, but our understanding of the criteria guiding partner choice is limited. Here, we analyse helping decisions by long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus), which may redirect their care to assist breeders in raising offspring following the failure of their own nests. In this species, helpers prefer to help relatives at nearby nests, but it is unclear whether other criteria that may affect helper fitness also influence helping decisions. When choosing among broods of equivalent kinship, we found that helpers did not prefer those broods that offered the greatest indirect fitness returns. Further analyses revealed that helpers did not choose nests on the basis of brood size or age, but were more likely to help broods that were closer to their own failed nests and that were already being cared for by other helpers. Both effects likely reflect the limited choice available to helpers: although individuals breed close to relatives within kin neighbourhoods, a high rate of nest predation constrains helpers’ choice of broods. In other species where cooperatively breeding groups form after natal dispersal, a greater range of options may be available and here detailed analysis of group formation will be helpful for determining the decision rules that underpin partner choice and permit stable cooperation in the face of alternative options.Significance statementCooperative breeding occurs most frequently when offspring delay dispersal from their natal site and help to care for their younger siblings. In some species, however, individuals first disperse and then come together as adults to cooperate in rearing young. In the latter case, multiple social partners may be available — what then determines which partner is helped? We studied partner choice in long-tailed tits, which may help to feed other broods if their own brood fails. When multiple related broods were available, individuals were more likely to help those close by but showed no preference for broods offering the greatest indirect fitness returns. One explanation for this result is that helping options for most individuals are limited by high levels of nest predation, favouring a simpler decision-making process based on identifying close relatives breeding in close proximity.

The Current State and Development of Research on China-South Korea Cooperation Under the 30<SUP>th</SUP> Anniversary of the Establishment of China-South Korea Diplomatic Relations - Based on the Visual Analysis of CSSCI Journal Documents-

The year 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of China-South Korea Diplomatic Relations . Over the past three decades, China-South Korea relations have witnessed rapid development and fruitful exchanges and cooperation in various fields, which have not only brought tangible benefits to both sides but also made positive contributions to regional and world peace and stability. Now, standing at a new starting point, how to push China-South Korea relations to a new level has become a topic of close attention on both sides. Therefore, on the basis of nearly 30 years of research, scholars of China and South Korea put forward a new path and new model for the sustained and stable development of China-South Korea relations and cooperation.<BR> In this paper, 191 china-South Korea cooperative research papers published on CSSCI journals in the Database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were selected as samples, and literature measurement and content analysiswere used for research and analysis. Based on the preliminary outline of the annual distribution of literature samples, the distribution of major journals, the distribution of authors and their institutions, the paper uses CiteSpace software to sort out the hot topics and the evolution trend of China-South Korea cooperation research. The analysis results show that, on the whole, there are many researches on China-South Korea relations, China-South Korea FTA and The Korean Peninsula issue in Chinese academic circles, with increasing academic attention. However, the research strength is relatively scattered, and a mature and stable cooperation network and academic community has not yet been formed. The researches mainly focus on economic cooperation, and lack cooperation in other fields, as well as cooperation risks and coping strategies. In other words, complex risks and systemic risks in international cooperation are not paid enough attention, which also restricts the further research. The majority of research methods are qualitative research, and the big data analysis with integration of multidisciplinary research methods still needs to be improved.

Cooper instability and superconductivity of the Penrose lattice

Bulk superconductivity (SC) has recently been observed in the Al-Zn-Mg quasicrystal (QC). To settle several fundamental issues of the SC on the QC, we use an attractive Hubbard model to perform a systematic study on the Penrose lattice. The first issue is the Cooper instability of the QC, i.e., no Fermi surface under an infinitesimal attractive interaction. Starting from the two-electron problem outside the filled Fermi-sea, we analytically prove that an infinitesimal Hubbard attraction can lead to the Cooper instability as long as the density of state is nonzero at the Fermi level, which provides the basis of the SC on the QC. Our numerical results yield that the Cooper pairing always takes place between the two time-reversal states, satisfying the Anderson's theorem. On this theorem, we perform a mean-field (MF) study at both zero and finite temperatures. The MF study also shows that an arbitrarily weak attraction can lead to the pairing order, with the resulted pairing state being well described by the BCS theory and the thermal dynamic behaviors being well consistent with experimental results. The second issue is about the superfluid density on the QC without translational symmetry. It's clarified that although the normal state of the system locates at the critical point of the metal-insulator transition, the pairing state exhibits real SC, carrying finite superfluid density that can be verified by the Meissner effect, consistent with experiment also. These revealed properties of the SC on the Penrose lattice are universal for all QCs.

Hardware Implementation of Cooperative Multitasking Control and Stability Analysis for DC Off-Grid System

In this article, the design and implementation of a cooperative multitasking control strategy for standalone photovoltaic (SPV) system is presented. A double-loop control strategy based on the fuzzy logic controller is developed to achieve high performance from the SPV without using the maximum power point technique, balance the power in the system, regulate the common dc-link voltage, and maintain system operation stability under disturbance. To ensure uninterruptible power supply to the critical loads during diminution of generated power from the SPV, turned <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small> and <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">off</small> the diesel generator and the dc dump load, power management technique based on load scheduling technique is developed and implemented using the state-flow approach. Furthermore, the stability analysis in open and closed-loop using the average model of the dc–dc buck-boost converter is investigated. The performance of the dc off-grid configuration based on a single dc–dc converter and their control strategies are performed under load and solar irradiation change using MATLAB/Simulink and in real-time through hardware prototyping with DSP controller TMDS28379D.