Technical Exchange Research Articles

Political and Technical Information Exchange in Adversarial Policy Networks (WITHDRAWN)

Information exchange is one of the essential elements of learning processes in policy subsystems or networks. The role of scientific and technical information in structuring policy subsystems or networks is a foundational tenet of the Advocacy Coalition Framework. Previous research focuses on trust and political influence as drivers of information exchange between actors in networks or subsystems. Few studies examine how low levels of trust and political power disparity, common in adversarial policy networks, are associated with information exchange. Using the quadratic assignment procedure multiple regression, we analyze political and technical information flows in an adversarial local hydraulic fracturing policy network in New York. We found that low levels of trust between policy actors increase political information exchange, and a larger power disparity constraints political information exchange, despite existing informal collaborative relationships. Also, low levels of trust strengthen technical information exchange between collaborative actors in the network. These findings extend research on policy networks and ACF scholarship by pinpointing novel contingencies of political and technical information exchange in an adversarial network.

‘We as leaders of major European cities’ – how Eurocities works to influence EU migration and integration policies

ABSTRACT This article analyses how the transnational city network Eurocities engages in EU policies on migration and integration. Eurocities stands out from other cases through its autonomy and its clear objective to influence EU policies. To understand how the network operates as a policy entrepreneur, we analyse how cities and the Brussels-based secretariat collaborated in shaping the network’s positions on migration and asylum – from the launch of the work on this dossier in 2001 to the ‘Solidarity Cities’ campaign in 2016. During this period, Eurocities’ agenda developed, to some extent opportunistically, driven by institutional and thematic interests. We find that it had the highest impact during the refugee reception crisis, when the secretariat’s facilitation work, technical exchanges between city representatives and the activism of local politicians converged creating a common narrative on how to tackle the crisis from a city-centred angle.

Information exchange in governance networks—Who brokers across political divides?

AbstractThe exchange of information among organizations is the lifeblood of governance networks. It is a necessary condition for successful governance. Political divides between organizations often impede information exchange. We ask which organizations are most likely to broker information across political divides. We consider survey (n = 312) evidence of technical information exchange in Swiss water governance. Bayesian exponential random graph modeling results show that scientific organizations play crucial roles for cross‐divide brokerage. To a lesser extent, this also holds for higher‐level governmental agencies. Participation in policy forums is associated with a higher likelihood of brokering across political divides. There is however no clear benefit to participating in more than two or three forums. We conclude that an active role played by scientific organizations is the most promising avenue to increase information flow across political divides. Beyond this, we suggest setting up carefully constructed exchange forums and selectively engaging moderate members of subgroups.

Supply Chain Investment in Carbon Emission-Reducing Technology Based on Stochasticity and Low-Carbon Preferences

Due to excessive greenhouse gas emissions, carbon emission-reducing measures are urgently needed. Important emission-reduction measures mainly include carbon trading and low-carbon cost subsidies. Comprehensive consideration of these two policies is a research hotspot in the field of low-carbon technology investment. Based on this background, this paper considers the impact of consumer low-carbon preferences on market demand and the impact of uncertainty in carbon emission-reduction behaviour. We construct a stochastic differential game model with upstream and downstream enterprises based on cost-sharing coordination under a cost subsidy. From a dynamic perspective, this paper researches the optimal equilibrium strategy and evolution characteristics of the joint emission-reduction mechanism in a supply chain. This paper discusses the sensitivity of the parameters and uses numerical simulation to verify the impact of each parameter on the emission-reduction decision-making activities of stakeholders after introducing the cost subsidy. The results show that a cost subsidy policy can promote carbon emission-reduction investment and supply chain profit. Thus, it is important to strengthen technical cooperation and exchange among enterprises.

News from the BIPM laboratories—2020

In order to fulfil its mission to ensure and promote the global comparability of measurements, the BIPM operates laboratories in the fields of physical metrology, time, ionizing radiation and chemistry. These laboratories act as centres for scientific and technical collaboration between member states providing capabilities for international measurement comparisons on a shared cost basis. They coordinate international comparisons of national measurement standards agreed to be of the highest priority, and they establish and maintain appropriate reference standards for use as the basis of key international comparisons at the highest level and provide selected calibrations from them. The BIPM sustained all of its key activities throughout the periods of confinement resulting from the global pandemic in 2020 including: the publication of Circular T each month, the annual World Metrology Day celebrations and the launch of the new key comparison database (KCDB 2.0). Several activities were brought forward in the work programme including the automation of data handling in the International Reference System (SIR) for radionuclide metrology and on-line technical exchanges and capacity building initiatives. The BIPM has also worked to understand how best to support the National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) as a ‘new normal’ emerges. As a first step, the NMI ‘COVID action’ repository was implemented and two pilot studies were launched by the CCQM on the measurement of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. New ways have been developed to support the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) consultative committees on-line. For example, during 2020 a total of 70 video meetings were held for the CCQM, with similar trends for other CCs. In the following sections, we provide highlights of the work the laboratories have undertaken during 2020.

Study on Post-editing for Machine Translation of Railway Engineering Texts

With rapid development of China's railways, there are more overseas construction projects and technical exchanges in the field of railway engineering, which have generated widespread demands for translation. To meet the increasingly growing demands for translation of railway engineering texts, the mode of machine translation plus post editing (MTPE) has been frequently applied besides traditional human translation (HT) for the combination of translation quality and efficiency. Through the case study of post editing in the machine translation of China's High-Speed Railway by Google Translate, this paper discusses the common error types of machine translation in railway engineering translation, and puts forward corresponding post editing strategies, so as to provide references for MTPE of railway engineering translation in the future. It is hoped that research on post editing in the mode of machine translation for railway engineering texts may improve the translation quality and efficiency, thus helping speed up the process of China's railway going global.

Technical Exchange in Wind Engineering between China, Japan and Korea

Technical Exchange in Wind Engineering between China, Japan and Korea

Research on Quality Surveillance in Digital Design Environment

This paper studies the definition of product quality surveillance in a digital design environment, analyzes the characteristics and new requirements of quality surveillance, and proposes the main contents of quality surveillance in these aspects, including digital design process in the aspects of quality information management, quality problem handling, digital prototype management, technical status management, data exchange and conversion. Finally,we put forward the methods of quality surveillance in digital design process.

ВІД ПРАКТИК НЕОЛІБЕРАЛІЗМУ ДО ПАРТИСИПАТИВНОЇ ДЕМОКРАТІЇ ІНТЕГРОВАНОГО МІСЬКОГО РОЗВИТКУ: ШЛЯХ МІКРОРАЙОНУ ЖК “ЛІКО-ГРАД”, КИЇВ

Most major cities in Ukraine are experiencing widespread use of neoliberal approaches in urban planning and governance. These approaches are focused on economic priorities and the accumulation of capital by individual government-private coalitions both for new urban projects and practices of modifying urban space in areas of existing development. They ignore the needs of the local people, who, in turn, do not have a deep awareness of their importance and role in making management decisions regarding urban development. Simultaneously with the application of neoliberal urban practices, some integrated urban development projects are being implemented in a number of cities or districts of cities of Ukraine within the framework of international technical assistance and exchange programs. They provide opportunities for all segments of society to understand the consequences of decision-making in a particular area. These efforts increase the importance of this research task which aims to analyze the processes of public participation in urban decision-making and the formation of integration in new local and multi-family residential housing development in Kyiv where there is no involvement in international cooperation in integrated urban development. The authors consider these issues using the example of the new “Liko-Grad” residential development. Our working hypothesis examines the dominance of neoliberal urban practices prevailing in such areas. The results of a survey of residents, conducted in 2018 and 2020, raises issues related to integrated development, the inclusiveness of urban space and the extent of involvement of residents in decision-making related to housing and urban landscape. These results as well as expert analysis of open-source data about the development, help to understand that the residential complex “Liko-Grad” which was built by a developer based on neoliberal management decisions. The potential residents were unable to participate in the decision-making process on building and planning the infrastructure. Today, in the process of community formation, residents reveal they are somewhat satisfied with the level of landscaping and are taking the first steps to address certain issues as evidenced by their active participation in social networks and some non-systematic landscaping activities and other small projects within the public budget. The survey also revealed low levels of job opportunities, social infrastructure, poor street infrastructure, and public transport needs as well as a low level of urban inclusion. These results, together with the lack of business activities and function, do not enable the residents of “Liko-Grad” to become a multifunctional urban space according to the integrated approaches designed for this space. We conclude that the path of Ukrainian cities to participatory democracy is just emerging; it requires a deep awareness of local communities of its importance of such efforts and also incorporating management decisions which affect the interests of all residents.

Preface from the Editors

It is our privilege to present the proceedings of the three days online conference entitled “International Conference on Integrated Interdisciplinary Innovations in Engineering (ICIIIE 2020)” , which was held at the University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India from 28 to 30 August 2020. The subject was chosen keeping in view the need of new materials for advanced applications in health care, sensors and devices. Many great discoveries are the result of convergence of various scientific and engineering fields. Interdisciplinary integrated innovations have resulted in numerous advanced products. This conference provided a forum for researchers from different scientific and engineering fields to deliberate and collaborate at national and international level for translating research into useful advanced products to make human life better.The conference was sponsored by Technical Education Quality Improvement Program III (TEQIP III) of MHRD, Government of India assisted by World Bank and Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi. The conference technical program was enriched with ten plenary talks, twelve invited talks, eight short invited talks and 200 oral/poster presentations. This conference provided an opportunity for in-depth technical discussions and exchange of innovative ideas on a wide range of topics to explore the potential of their applications in industry and society. Moreover, young researchers were exposed to emerging trends and areas of research that have significant technical and scientific importance.List of Editors are available in this pdf.

Political, economic, scientific, technical and cultural exchanges between Hubei Province and the regions of Ukraine in the XXI century

In the XXI century, Hubei Province maintains friendly contacts and exchanges with the regions of Ukraine in the political, economic, scientific, technological and humanitarian spheres. New regular political exchange projects between Hubei Province and Ukrainian regions are announced and documents to contribute to the development of comprehensive relations are signed. In addition, the volume of exported and imported goods from both sides continues to grow. China has also made great strides in attracting Ukrainian specialists in education and technology fields. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese and Ukrainian people have been providing great assistance to each other, as well as expanding cooperation in fields of medicine and healthcare. The exchange between Hubei Province and the regions of Ukraine is becoming multilateral and multifaceted: not only state structures, but also enterprises, universities, institutions and even individual employees have become subjects of their international cooperation. However, due to the growth of the economy and the rise of the global political status, neither Chinese nor Ukrainian sides considered each other as prior partners for further cooperation, and their relations developed in different political and economic directions. Considering the large-scale cooperation between Ukraine and other Chinese provinces, as well as economic growth and foreign investment increase in the Hubei province, the rapid development of exchanges and cooperation between the “Fish and Rice” region and the “European Granary” is also expected. Chinese Ukrainists and Ukrainian Sinologists can and should help each other to expand and deepen mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese and Ukrainian people.

Nepal-China Security Issue in the Context of Belt and Road Program Implementation

Nepal-China security cooperation is in a progressing way since some years. Defense cooperation on multiple spheres could display the accumulative understanding and coherence on political-security realm. Due to the geo-security aspect, China has been concerned on its bordering region with Nepal. Defense cooperation since 2015 has been growing exponentially with technical supports, exchanges and joint training. This paper concludes that security issue between Nepal and China is the prominently significant agenda on bilateral cooperation. It is also concomitant with great powers interest in South Asia. Some section of security experts in Nepal opined that with the establishment of Republic system, China searched established state power to foster continues collaboration in Nepal. In course of it, China found Nepal’s security agencies a trustful for enhancing cooperation as a stable state power and institutions. Peace and stability in the geo-strategically significant Nepal definitely contribute for the entire region and help to reduce regional politico-security imbalance, confrontation and zero-some game. Nepal-China constructive defense cooperation depends on the seriousness, pragmatism and rational efforts of two countries’ national leadership. Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has given opportunity for two countries to reach at consensus on common issues and execute policies regarding the broader area of partnership. This research has used “comprehensive approach” as a theoretical framework and is based on qualitative study, and documents/archive study and interview tools are used for data collection.

Co-design and co-simulation for engineering systems: insights from the Sustainable Infrastructure Planning Game

Abstract This paper draws on perspectives from co-design as an integrative and collaborative design activity and co-simulation as a supporting information system to advance engineering design methods for problems of societal significance. Design and implementation of the Sustainable Infrastructure Planning Game provides a prototypical co-design artifact that leverages the High Level Architecture co-simulation standard. Three role players create a strategic infrastructure plan for agricultural, water and energy sectors to meet sustainability objectives for a growing and urbaninzing population in a fictional desert nation. An observational study conducts 15 co-design sessions to understand underlying dynamics between actors and how co-simulation capabilities influence design outcomes. Results characterize the dependencies and conflicts between player roles based on technical exchange of resource flows, identifying tension between agriculture and water roles based on water demands for irrigation. Analysis shows a correlation between data exchange, facilitated by synchronous co-simulation, and highly ranked achievement of joint sustainability outcomes. Conclusions reflect on the opportunities and challenges presented by co-simulation in co-design settings to address engineering systems problems.

災害時危機的状況下における診療基準(Standards of care under austere conditions in the catastrophic disaster setting: formation process and development of Crisis Standards of Care)

要旨【目的および対象】米国で発生，進展してきたCrisis Standards of Careについて，その形成過程を追うとともに，災害医療におけるその必要性を検討する。【結果】2001年9.11同時多発テロ発生以来，米国では通常の災害規模を超えたcatastrophic disasterに際し，圧倒的な需要と供給の不均衡のもと，いかに限られた医療資源を分配するか，という問題がCrisis Standards of Care（CSC）という言葉とともに議論され続けている。いかに判断を下すか，日常診療での判断基準や経験では困難で，その結果生じた不利益に法的制裁を科される可能性もありうる。連邦政府機関からその計画作成のための予算が供出され，現在まで様々な州，自治体でそのプロトコールが作成されている。【結語】CSCは災害医療において極めて重要な概念であり，我が国においてもその導入を検討すべきである。

Popularization of Traditional Processing of Cowpea into Couscous (Beroua) in the West (Dogondoutchi) and Mid-South (Maradi and Zinder) of Niger

In Niger, there is a rich diversity of food processing sits from cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). Like most processed products, beroua or cowpea couscous is produced using artisanal processes. It is originated from the people of Arawa (Dogondoutchi). This transformation spread to the Maradi and Zinder regions, where studies have shown variability in the processing of cowpea grains into beroua. This study aimed to describe local knowledge around the different processes of processing cowpea into beroua through important areas of cowpea agricultural production in Niger, notably Dosso, Maradi and Zinder. The results show that beroua has been known for several years by local populations, its production and consumption are based on traditional knowledge and know-how. Cultural and technical exchanges between peoples transformed the beroua popular quickly. The beroua, through marketing and various exhibitions, has contributed to the popularization of Niger's traditional dishes both at national and international level.

Update of editorial comment.

Evolution. 2018 Oct;72(10):2267. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13605. Two years ago, I published an “Editorial Comment” about an exchange of Technical Comments in our journal. For context, a Technical Comment is a paper that offers new analyses, criticisms, or alternative interpretations of findings in research papers recently published in Evolution. The first critical Technical Comment goes out for full peer review, but the author of the original paper is invited to submit a rejoinder Technical Comment. In this instance 2 years ago, following acceptance and online publication of the pair of Technical Comments in our journal, I received an expression of concern from the author of the first critical one, identifying aspects of the rejoinder to which he referred as fatally flawed. Such a situation following a Technical Comment exchange between authors had not happened before in my term, and I consulted with colleagues to devise a process for handling it. I had two experts (not authors on either paper) review the exchange as well as this new allegation, and based on their feedback, I wrote an Editorial Comment stating that the numerical results of the rejoinder were correct but that the conclusion regarding the particular software package discussed was overstated.

Preface

Welcome to 2020 International Conference on Advanced materials and Intelligent Manufacturing & Advanced Steel for Automotive Seminar (ICAMIM 2020). The conference was successfully held during August 21-23, 2020 in Guilin, China. The aim of this conference is to share the latest research progress especially on steel in the structural part of modern car and to strengthen the exchange of advanced materials and intelligent manufacturing technologies in various countries around the world. This conference provided a high-level technical exchange platform to jointly promote continuous innovation in the field of advanced materials and intelligent manufacturing for worldwide experts, scholars, science and technology workers, entrepreneurs and other relevant personnel engaging in advanced materials and intelligent manufacturing research.The meeting focused on the latest research fields of “Advanced materials” and “Intelligent Manufacturing & Advanced Steel for Automotive”. It consists of two parts: oral presentations and speeches of keynote speakers. More than 70 participants attended the meeting, they were from China, Singapore, Malaysia, Italy, Iran and more. We are greatly honored to have invited Prof. Liejun Li, from South China University of Technology, and Researcher. Taobo Cheng, from Guangdong Institute of Intelligent Manufacturing to serve as our Conference Chairs.List of Committee member is available in this pdf.

8.1. Роль мирового рынка торговли лицензиями в международном научно-техническом обмене

В условиях цифровизации мировой экономики международное научно-техническое сотрудничество становится одним из важнейших аспектов международных экономических отношений. Одним из самых распространенных и наиболее популярных видов научно-технической кооперации является научно-технический обмен. Обмен знаниями и технологиями создает возможности для применения успешного зарубежного опыта по развитию и внедрению инноваций, создания условий для обеспечения конкурентоспособности национальных компаний на международном рынке товаров и услуг. В последние годы наблюдается заметный рост лицензионной торговли в мире, который является одним из ключевых видов технологического обмена и приоритетным направлением взаимодействия между различными экономическими агентами (государствами, компаниями и др.). Анализ и оценка современных тенденций развития международной лицензионной торговли позволит сделать выводы о роли стран (в том числе Российской Федерации) на рынке технологий и в международном научно-техническом обмене. In the context of digitalization of the world economy, international scientific and technical cooperation is becoming one of the most important aspects of international economic relations. One of the most common and most popular types of scientific and technical cooperation is scientific and technical exchange. The exchange of knowledge and technologies creates opportunities for applying successful foreign experience in the development and implementation of innovations, creating conditions for ensuring the competitiveness of national companies in the international market of goods and services. In recent years, there has been a noticeable growth in license trade in the world, which is one of the key types of technological exchange and a priority area of interaction between various economic agents (states, companies, etc.). Analysis and assessment of current trends in the development of international license trade will allow us to determine the role of countries (including Russia) in the technology market and in international scientific and technical exchange.

Science Diplomacy and Soviet-American Academic and Technical Exchanges

Summary The 1958 Lacy-Zarubin agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges marked decades of people-to-people exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union. Despite the Cold War tensions and mutually propagated adversarial images, the exchanges had never been interrupted and remained unbroken until the Soviet Union dissolved. This essay argues that due to the 1958 general agreement and a number of co-operative agreements that had the status of treaties and international acts issued under the authority of the US State Department and the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the exchanges could not proceed without diplomatic supervision. This peculiarity puts academic and technical exchanges specifically into the framework of science diplomacy, which is considered a diplomatic tool for implementing a nation state’s foreign policy goals determined by political power.

Assessment of eco-efficiency change considering energy and environment: A study of China’s non-ferrous metals industry

In this paper, we comprehensively consider the environment and economic performance by employing non-radial distance function to study the regional eco-efficiency of China’s Non-ferrous Metals Industry (NMI) during 2000–2016, from the perspective of total-factor through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-Malmquist analysis framework. The change of regional technology gap ratio and the source of regional eco-inefficiency is also explored. Moreover, this paper analyzes the evolution of regional eco-efficiency and the main factors that contribute to changes in eco-efficiency. The results indicate that: First, the eco-efficiency of China’s NMI has improved and has shown a certain degree of regional heterogeneity. Second, the main source of eco-inefficiency is management inefficiency in eastern China. The central, western and northeastern China all showed an increasing trend of technology gap inefficiency and a declining trend of management inefficiency during the sample period. Third, eastern China is regarded as a technology leader. The improvement of eco-efficiency in the central and northeastern China is mainly due to the promotion of technological progress, while the western region relies on the improvement of technical efficiency. The study suggests that strengthening scientific and technological research, promoting inter-regional technical exchanges are particularly important for eco-efficiency improvement and regional coordinated development in China’s NMI.