Quality self-control and co-supervision mechanism of construction agent in public investment project in China

Public investment project (PIP) plays an important role in the China economy. In order to improve the project management performance of public projects, the government is searching for a scientific system to build a construction management supervision mode. This paper introduces the policy background and connotation of Agent Construction System (ACS). As a public investment construction management model, ACS, is gradually being incorporated into the legal framework, it is necessary to improve the construction agent supervision mechanism. This article analyzes the supervision mechanism of construction agent quality management under the principle of two-stage agent mode and establishes an agent quality self-control system and a government co-supervision system. These systems take the contract management as the core and the project quality objective as the guidance. These systems also consist of a two-dimensional framework of vertical self-control and horizontal supervision, which form a quality supervision mechanism. Based on Rough Set theory, the article proposes the idea of building an agent quality self-control and government co-supervision model, and illustrates it with a flow chart for building the model, which paves the way of quantitative research for the future.     

Efficient heterogeneous sampling for stochastic simulation with an illustration in health care applications

In modeling disease transmission, contacts are assumed to have different infection rates. A proper simulation must model the heterogeneity in the transmission rates. In this article, we present a computationally efficient algorithm that can be applied to a population with heterogeneous transmission rates. We conducted a simulation study to show that the algorithm is more efficient than other algorithms for sampling the disease transmission in a subset of the heterogeneous population. We use a valid stochastic model of pandemic influenza to illustrate the algorithm and to estimate the overall infection attack rates of influenza A (H1N1) in a Canadian city.     

Bayesian ratemaking under Dirichlet process mixtures

Experience ratemaking plays a crucial role in general insurance in determining future premiums of individuals in a portfolio by assessing observed claims from the whole portfolio. This paper investigates this problem in which claims can be modeled by certain parametric family of distributions. The Dirichlet process mixtures are employed to model the distributions of the parameters so as to make two advantages: to produce exact Bayesian experience premiums for a class of premium principles generated from generic error functions and, at the same time, provide robust and flexible ways to avoid possible bias caused by traditionally used priors such as non informative priors or conjugate priors. In this paper, the Bayesian experience ratemaking under Dirichlet process mixture models are investigated and due to the lack of analytical forms of the conditional expectations of the quantities concerned, the Gibbs sampling schemes are designed for the purpose of approximations.     

Welfare Programme Participation and the Wellbeing of Non-local Rural Migrants in Metropolitan China: A Social Exclusion Perspective

Social Indicators Research - China has seen an unprecedented increase in rural-to-urban migrants in the last three decades, and the extension of welfare programmes to these migrants has been a...     

A robust automatic clustering algorithm for probability density functions with application to categorizing color images

This study develops a robust automatic algorithm for clustering probability density functions based on the previous research. Unlike other existing methods that often pre-determine the number of clusters, this method can self-organize data groups based on the original data structure. The proposed clustering method is also robust in regards to noise. Three examples of synthetic data and a real-world COREL dataset are utilized to illustrate the accurateness and effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Acceptance of automation manufacturing technology in China: an examination of perceived norm and organizational efficacy

Abstract

With a shift to more automation technology, social acceptance of technology plays an important role in the manufacturing sector. To what extent this occurs, and affects the adoption of technology, has been less researched, but is important in deciding how such technology is introduced, and the nature of the shift from labour-intensive manufacturing to automation. This research applies the revised technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine the impact of social and individual antecedents on the acceptance of automation manufacturing technology. Survey data are collected from 258 Chinese manufacturers. Results suggest that perceived norms significantly affect organizational intention to use automation manufacturing technology both directly and via perceived usefulness; organizational efficacy explains the intention to use via mediating effect of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. This research is one of the first extending and applying TAM from individuals to organizations.     

What Cruising Infants Understand about Support for Locomotion

“Cruising” infants can only walk using external support to augment their balance. We examined cruisers' understanding of support for upright locomotion under four conditions: cruising over a wooden handrail at chest height, a large gap in the handrail, a wobbly unstable handrail, and an ill‐positioned low handrail. Infants distinguished among the support properties of the handrails with differential attempts to cruise and handrail‐specific forms of haptic exploration and gait modifications. They consistently attempted the wood handrail, rarely attempted the gap, and occasionally attempted the low and wobbly handrails. On the wood and gap handrails, attempt rates matched the probability of cruising successfully, but on the low and wobbly handrails, attempt rates under‐ and overestimated the probability of success, respectively. Haptic exploration was most frequent and varied on the wobbly handrail, and gait modifications—including previously undocumented “knee cruising”—were most frequent and effective on the low handrail. Results are discussed in terms of developmental changes in the meaning of support.     

中东剧变中的阿尔及利亚政局透视

2010年底以来,中东地区多国发生了政权更迭,阿尔及利亚一度爆发群众游行示威,但目前阿尔及利亚政局基本稳定,原因可归纳为以下四个方面:一是阿尔及利亚独立以来的长期动荡释放了民众的不满;二是布特弗利卡执政联盟仍具有较强的政治实力;三是国内的两个主要反对派因其各自的缺陷,难以获得大多数民众的支持;四是现政权与美国保持了较好的关系。然而,由于目前中东地区的局势尚在发展中,随着新因素的加入,阿尔及利亚的政局仍存在变数。     

景气指标分类方法的理论研究与实证

景气指标分类是景气预测法中至关重要的环节.在以往的文献中,一般采用一种方法对备选指标进行景气分类,但其结果还存在优化的空间.文章采用四种典型的景气指标分类方法:峰谷对应法、时差相关分析法、K-L信息量法、灰色关联度指标分类法对同样的多个指标进行分类.按照初定方案对四种方法的结果进行综合分析,对结果进行优化调整,应用实例表明:四种方法的优化调整结果比单一方法的结果更合理、更有效、更具有科学性.