1,425 research outputs found

    Structuring the Stateā€™s Voice of Contention in Harmonious Society: How Party Newspapers Cover Social Protests in China

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    During the Chinese Communist Partyā€™s (CCP) campaign of building a ā€˜harmonious societyā€™, how do the official newspapers cover the instances of social contention on the ground? Answering this question will shed light not only on how the party press works but also on how the state and the society interact in todayā€™s China. This thesis conceptualises this phenomenon with a multi-faceted and multi-levelled notion of ā€˜state-initiated contentious public sphereā€™ to capture the complexity of mediated relations between the state and social contention in the party press. Adopting a relational approach, this thesis analyses 1758 news reports of ā€˜mass incidentā€™ in the Peopleā€™s Daily and the Guangming Daily between 2004 and 2020, employing cluster analysis, qualitative comparative analysis, and social network analysis. The thesis finds significant differences in the patterns of contentious coverage in the party press at the level of event and province and an uneven distribution of attention to social contention across incidents and regions. For ā€˜reported regionsā€™, the thesis distinguishes four types of coverage and presents how party press responds differently to social contention in different scenarios at the provincial level. For ā€˜identified incidentsā€™, the thesis distinguishes a cumulative type of visibility based on the quantity of coverage from a relational visibility based on the structure emerging from coverage and explains how different news-making rationales determine whether instances receive similar amounts of coverage or occupy similar positions within coverage. Eventually, by demonstrating how the Chinese state strategically uses party press to respond to social contention and how social contention is journalistically placed in different positions in the stateā€™s eyes, this thesis argues that what social contention leads to is the establishment of complex state-contention relations channelled through the party press

    La traduzione specializzata allā€™opera per una piccola impresa in espansione: la mia esperienza di internazionalizzazione in cinese di BioreticsĀ© S.r.l.

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    Global markets are currently immersed in two all-encompassing and unstoppable processes: internationalization and globalization. While the former pushes companies to look beyond the borders of their country of origin to forge relationships with foreign trading partners, the latter fosters the standardization in all countries, by reducing spatiotemporal distances and breaking down geographical, political, economic and socio-cultural barriers. In recent decades, another domain has appeared to propel these unifying drives: Artificial Intelligence, together with its high technologies aiming to implement human cognitive abilities in machinery. The ā€œLanguage Toolkit ā€“ Le lingue straniere al servizio dellā€™internazionalizzazione dellā€™impresaā€ project, promoted by the Department of Interpreting and Translation (ForlƬ Campus) in collaboration with the Romagna Chamber of Commerce (ForlƬ-Cesena and Rimini), seeks to help Italian SMEs make their way into the global market. It is precisely within this project that this dissertation has been conceived. Indeed, its purpose is to present the translation and localization project from English into Chinese of a series of texts produced by BioreticsĀ© S.r.l.: an investor deck, the company website and part of the installation and use manual of the AliquisĀ© framework software, its flagship product. This dissertation is structured as follows: Chapter 1 presents the project and the company in detail; Chapter 2 outlines the internationalization and globalization processes and the Artificial Intelligence market both in Italy and in China; Chapter 3 provides the theoretical foundations for every aspect related to Specialized Translation, including website localization; Chapter 4 describes the resources and tools used to perform the translations; Chapter 5 proposes an analysis of the source texts; Chapter 6 is a commentary on translation strategies and choices

    Advances and Applications of DSmT for Information Fusion. Collected Works, Volume 5

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    This ļ¬fth volume on Advances and Applications of DSmT for Information Fusion collects theoretical and applied contributions of researchers working in different ļ¬elds of applications and in mathematics, and is available in open-access. The collected contributions of this volume have either been published or presented after disseminating the fourth volume in 2015 in international conferences, seminars, workshops and journals, or they are new. The contributions of each part of this volume are chronologically ordered. First Part of this book presents some theoretical advances on DSmT, dealing mainly with modiļ¬ed Proportional Conļ¬‚ict Redistribution Rules (PCR) of combination with degree of intersection, coarsening techniques, interval calculus for PCR thanks to set inversion via interval analysis (SIVIA), rough set classiļ¬ers, canonical decomposition of dichotomous belief functions, fast PCR fusion, fast inter-criteria analysis with PCR, and improved PCR5 and PCR6 rules preserving the (quasi-)neutrality of (quasi-)vacuous belief assignment in the fusion of sources of evidence with their Matlab codes. Because more applications of DSmT have emerged in the past years since the apparition of the fourth book of DSmT in 2015, the second part of this volume is about selected applications of DSmT mainly in building change detection, object recognition, quality of data association in tracking, perception in robotics, risk assessment for torrent protection and multi-criteria decision-making, multi-modal image fusion, coarsening techniques, recommender system, levee characterization and assessment, human heading perception, trust assessment, robotics, biometrics, failure detection, GPS systems, inter-criteria analysis, group decision, human activity recognition, storm prediction, data association for autonomous vehicles, identiļ¬cation of maritime vessels, fusion of support vector machines (SVM), Silx-Furtif RUST code library for information fusion including PCR rules, and network for ship classiļ¬cation. Finally, the third part presents interesting contributions related to belief functions in general published or presented along the years since 2015. These contributions are related with decision-making under uncertainty, belief approximations, probability transformations, new distances between belief functions, non-classical multi-criteria decision-making problems with belief functions, generalization of Bayes theorem, image processing, data association, entropy and cross-entropy measures, fuzzy evidence numbers, negator of belief mass, human activity recognition, information fusion for breast cancer therapy, imbalanced data classiļ¬cation, and hybrid techniques mixing deep learning with belief functions as well

    An empirical investigation of the relationship between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in supply chains

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    This research aimed to develop an empirical understanding of the relationships between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in the supply chain domain, based on which, two conceptual frameworks were constructed to advance the field. The core motivation for the research was that, at the stage of writing the thesis, the combined relationship between the three concepts had not yet been examined, although their interrelationships have been studied individually. To achieve this aim, deductive and inductive reasoning logics were utilised to guide the qualitative study, which was undertaken via multiple case studies to investigate lines of enquiry that would address the research questions formulated. This is consistent with the authorā€™s philosophical adoption of the ontology of relativism and the epistemology of constructionism, which was considered appropriate to address the research questions. Empirical data and evidence were collected, and various triangulation techniques were employed to ensure their credibility. Some key features of grounded theory coding techniques were drawn upon for data coding and analysis, generating two levels of findings. These revealed that whilst integration and dynamic capabilities were crucial in improving performance, the performance also informed the former. This reflects a cyclical and iterative approach rather than one purely based on linearity. Adopting a holistic approach towards the relationship was key in producing complementary strategies that can deliver sustainable supply chain performance. The research makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the field of supply chain management. The theoretical contribution includes the development of two emerging conceptual frameworks at the micro and macro levels. The former provides greater specificity, as it allows meta-analytic evaluation of the three concepts and their dimensions, providing a detailed insight into their correlations. The latter gives a holistic view of their relationships and how they are connected, reflecting a middle-range theory that bridges theory and practice. The methodological contribution lies in presenting models that address gaps associated with the inconsistent use of terminologies in philosophical assumptions, and lack of rigor in deploying case study research methods. In terms of its practical contribution, this research offers insights that practitioners could adopt to enhance their performance. They can do so without necessarily having to forgo certain desired outcomes using targeted integrative strategies and drawing on their dynamic capabilities

    Innovation in Energy Security and Long-Term Energy Efficiency ā…”

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    The sustainable development of our planet depends on the use of energy. The increasing world population inevitably causes an increase in the demand for energy, which, on the one hand, threatens us with the potential to encounter a shortage of energy supply, and, on the other hand, causes the deterioration of the environment. Therefore, our task is to reduce this demand through different innovative solutions (i.e., both technological and social). Social marketing and economic policies can also play their role by affecting the behavior of households and companies and by causing behavioral change oriented to energy stewardship, with an overall switch to renewable energy resources. This reprint provides a platform for the exchange of a wide range of ideas, which, ultimately, would facilitate driving societies toward long-term energy efficiency

    FUZZY MULTIPLE CRITERIA GROUP DECISION-MAKING IN PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

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    Today's market competition requires constant improvement of manufacturing companies. The primary key to sustainable improvement is evaluating the efficiency of manufacturing processes, which inevitably demands access to thorough and comprehensive information. However, due to the multiple numbers of effective factors that are varied in nature and value, it is impossible to identify certain factors that ensure the efficiency of a manufacturing procedure. As a solution, this paper proposes a novel approach that applies fuzzy TOPSIS. This approach provides the flexibility of evaluating multiple and varied factors of different weights in scrutinizing the efficiency of a manufacturer. The proposed approach has been applied to three different manufacturers (i.e., alternatives) in three steps. In the first step, with reference to the related literature and comments of manufacturing experts, the valuable factors (i.e., the criteria) have been selected to which experts specified linguistic terms. Linguistic terms were then converted to fuzzy numbers. Fuzzy TOPSIS was applied to analyze the efficiency performance of manufacturers. In the last step, to determine the impact of criteria weights on the decision-making process, sensitivity analysis was carried out. The findings confirm the implacability of the proposed approach to manufacturing performances in a consolidated manner. The approach can be employed by marketing managers, senior administrators, and other authorities in the manufacturing and business sectors

    Circular Economy and Sustainable Development: A Systematic Literature Review

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    Circular Economy put forth as an alternative to traditional linear model of extract-use-dispose along with the concept of Sustainable Development encompassing economic, environmental, and social aspects have garnered tremendous impetus among academics, practitioners and policymakers alike. The UN Sustainable Development Goals embraced by the member nations in 2015 based on the preceding Millenium Development Goals have been placed as the targets to be achieved as a part of holistic human development. In this backdrop, this paper examines the intersection of sustainability and circular economy with a focus on the three aspects of sustainable development, first the economic aspect by examining the relationship between GDP and circular economy, second the social economic aspect within the interaction of Circular Economy with Sustainable development and third the environmental-economical aspect by examining circularity and sustainability in waste management and waste valorisation. This paper achieves its objective through a systematic literature review of 1748 journal articles collected from Web of Science and SCOPUS database following PRISMA standards, network analysis of keywords, and manual review of texts. Four Research Questions are formulated: RQ1: What are the major emergent topics in Circular Economy and Sustainable Development and how are they related? RQ2: What is the relationship among CE and GDP in the CE and Sustainability? RQ3: What are the relationships between CE and Sustainability? RQ4: What are different use cases of valorisation of waste as CE tool, and can valorisation be sustainable? RQ1 is answered by presenting hotspot of research on Circular Economy and Sustainable Development through keywords occurrence network analysis using VosViewer. This study identifies three clusters and seven thematic areas of research, along with 25 most used keywords. RQ2 is attended through review of the relationship between economic growth (Gross Domestic Product) and Circular Economy and proposes based on the review that CE is still at its infancy. The paper also discusses the appropriateness of using GDP as a measure of sustainable development. This paper addresses RQ3 by examining the relationship between Circular Economy and Sustainable Development through review of literatures. The indicators used to measure CE and SD are also discussed and summarised. This review finds that achieving SDGs require greater effort, and that the present status of achievement is a bleak picture. Further, the role of waste management and potentiality of waste valorisation to aid in circular economy and sustainable development is analysed to answer RQ4. Though there are ample potential, however the recycle rate is very minimal to quench the required level of circularity. While CE and SD are related, CE cannot be a universal panacea to global challenges like emissions reduction, energy consumption, climate change, gender equality, poverty, well-being, environmental protection etc. even though the impact of CE to achieve SD can be substantial. The paper recommends avenues for future research and presents the conclusion of the study

    What Unique Supportive Strategies Do Nonprofit Leaders Utilize To Promote Sustainability?

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    Abstract Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have been deemed important to communities. They are designed to fill gaps in community societal requirements by supplying resources, goods, and services that other companies in public sectors and neighborhoods do not offer. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the country reportedly has 1.5 million nonprofit organizations (NPOs). There are many NPOs in the United States, but statistical projections indicate that over half will fail, with 30% failing within a few years of their creation. Researchers have shown that NPOs collapse yearly due to various factors, including a lack of money and resources. These organizations operate in an unsettling environment, making it critical to focus on building sustainable structures. This descriptive qualitative multi-case study explores how NPO leaders define and practice sustainability and discovers gaps between research and practice. The conceptual frameworks for this study were the Resource dependency theory and sustainable supply change management/critical success factors. Through Purposeful sampling, five leaders of nonprofit organizations were selected who met the ā€œExtreme Caseā€ criteria, an idea based on Seawright and Gerring (2008). The criteria included adult leaders (male or female) over 18 years old, holding primary leadership roles such as founder, president, manager, director, CEO/CFO, in operation for at least three years, committing to a specific social purpose (education, health, art, religion), maintained their mission and objectives long-term, serves a unique population of people, and the organization is recognized for their community work. A semi-structured interview question guide was used to gather qualitative data, and content analysis was used to link the data to propositions. As a result, six distinct themes (True to Mission, Financial Health, Strategic Planning, Partnership, People, and Effectiveness of Services) that connected sustainable practices to the determinants of sustainability emerged, which were shown to incorporate the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and economics. The discoveries herein are expected to contribute to the limited existing literature on what sustainability practices govern individual nonprofit leaders to build sustainable organizations. Key Words: nonprofit organizations, sustainability, strategic planning
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