The Joint-Stock Cooperative Enterprise: A New Independent Legal Entity in China

The joint stock cooperative enterprise (JSCE) is a new form of enterprise organization in China that is particularly well suited to Chinese ideological and economic characteristics. The JSCE utilizes certain features of a shareholding system, which can be independent from the government and have clearly defined property and ownership rights-basic elements routinely assumed in the corporate law of western countries, but still new in a country constitutionally committed to Marxist-Leninist principles. This article introduces the concept and legal nature of the JSCE. It analyzes the concept of a legal person and the distinctions between the JSCE and other business forms, such as joint stock companies, limited liability companies, and partnerships. This article also addresses the many unresolved issues pertaining to JSCEs. It concludes by recommending legislative reforms and evaluating the usefulness of the JSCE to the Chinese economy

CONTAINER TRANSPORTATION NETWORK EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS CONSIDERING DRAFT OF VESSEL

This paper analyzes container transportation network equilibrium considering draft of vessels. Concept of load factor (�) of ship is included in the model. Three players are considered, i.e. port administrator, ship companies (carriers), and shippers. Interaction of these players leads to Nash equilibrium problem. The result of the model calculation indicates that Hong Kong and Singapore port dominates container throughput in the world and the big vessel (3000 - 6000 TEU) is dominant in these ports. Conversely, the smaller port with depth less than 15 m dominated by 1000 TEU vessels. The result is inline with the reality. The other finding from the study is 6000 TEU vessels can enter port with depth less than 15 m such as port of Shanghai. Again, it is inline with reality. Validation of the model shows that coefficient of determination (R2) is 0.95. It indicates the model provides good accuracy. Keywords: Container transportation, Nash Equilibrium, Networ

Design philosophy issues of fiber reinforced polymer reinforced concrete structures

The conventional design philosophy for reinforced concrete (RC) relies heavily on the ductile properties of steel. These ductile properties are used as a "fuse" and conceal the large uncertainty in the determination of modes of failure caused directly by concrete. Current design guidelines for fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) RC structures have inappropriately adopted the same design philosophy used for steel RC, leading either to the adoption of conservative safety factors or reduced structural reliability. A reliability-based analysis of FRP RC beams shows that the current, very conservative partial safety factors for FRP reinforcement on their own do not influence the structural safety of overreinforced concrete elements. Proposals are made for the modification of the material partial safety factors to achieve target safety levels

Early detection of corrosion activity in reinforced concrete slab by AE technique

Chloride induced corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete is the main cause of damage to concrete structures in marine, or structures exposed to de-icing salt environments. The need for early detection of corrosion in reinforced concrete structures is widely acknowledged in corrosion health monitoring for strategic civil engineering projects. This paper summarizes results from a laboratory experiment, using Acoustic Emission (AE) technique, regarding early detection of corrosion in reinforced concrete slabs that are exposed to chloride. The Results showed that while AE was able to determine the initiation of corrosion in reinforced concrete slab, Half-cell potential (HCP) was not able to detect it at the early stage of corrosion

Berry's Phase in the Presence of a Stochastically Evolving Environment: A Geometric Mechanism for Energy-Level Broadening

The generic Berry phase scenario in which a two-level system is coupled to a second system whose dynamical coordinate is slowly-varying is generalized to allow for stochastic evolution of the slow system. The stochastic behavior is produced by coupling the slow system to a heat resevoir which is modeled by a bath of harmonic oscillators initially in equilibrium at temperature T, and whose spectral density has a bandwidth which is small compared to the energy-level spacing of the fast system. The well-known energy-level shifts produced by Berry's phase in the fast system, in conjunction with the stochastic motion of the slow system, leads to a broadening of the fast system energy-levels. In the limit of strong damping and sufficiently low temperature, we determine the degree of level-broadening analytically, and show that the slow system dynamics satisfies a Langevin equation in which Lorentz-like and electric-like forces appear as a consequence of geometrical effects. We also determine the average energy-level shift produced in the fast system by this mechanism.Comment: 29 pages, RevTex, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Contract Design for Energy Demand Response

Power companies such as Southern California Edison (SCE) uses Demand Response (DR) contracts to incentivize consumers to reduce their power consumption during periods when demand forecast exceeds supply. Current mechanisms in use offer contracts to consumers independent of one another, do not take into consideration consumers' heterogeneity in consumption profile or reliability, and fail to achieve high participation. We introduce DR-VCG, a new DR mechanism that offers a flexible set of contracts (which may include the standard SCE contracts) and uses VCG pricing. We prove that DR-VCG elicits truthful bids, incentivizes honest preparation efforts, enables efficient computation of allocation and prices. With simple fixed-penalty contracts, the optimization goal of the mechanism is an upper bound on probability that the reduction target is missed. Extensive simulations show that compared to the current mechanism deployed in by SCE, the DR-VCG mechanism achieves higher participation, increased reliability, and significantly reduced total expenses.Comment: full version of paper accepted to IJCAI'1

Delay compensation for nonlinear teleoperators using predictor observers

This paper presents a delay compensation technique for nonlinear teleoperators by developing a predictor type sliding mode observer (SMO) that estimates future states of the slave operator. Predicted states are then used in control formulation. In the proposed scheme, disturbance observers (DOB) are also utilized to linearize nonlinear dynamics of the master and slave operators. It is shown that utilization of disturbance observers and predictor observer allow simple PD controllers to be used to provide stable position tracking for bilateral teleoperation. Proposed approach is verified with simulations where it is compared with two state-of-the-art methods. Successful experimental results with a bilateral teleoperation system consisting of a pair of pantograph robots also validates the proposed method

Model B4 : multi-decade creep and shrinkage prediction of traditional and modern concretes

To improve the sustainability of concrete infrastructure, engineers face the challenge of incorporating new concrete materials while pushing the expected design life beyond 100 years. The time-dependent creep and shrinkage response of concrete governs the serviceability and durability in this multi-decade time frame. It has been shown that current prediction equations for creep and shrinkage underestimate material deformations observed in structures outside of a laboratory environment. A new prediction model for creep and shrinkage is presented that can overcome some of the shortcomings of the current equations. The model represents an extension and systematic recalibration of model B3, a 1995 RILEM Recommendation, which derives its functional form from the phenomena of diffusion, chemical hydration, moisture sorption, and the evolution of micro-stresses in the cement structure. The model is calibrated through a joint optimization of a new enlarged laboratory test database and a new database of bridge deflection records to overcome the bias towards short-term behavior. A framework for considering effects of aggregates, admixtures, additives, and higher temperatures is also incorporated

Predictive Power of School Based Assessment Scores On Students’ Achievement In Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) In English And Mathematics

The study investigated the predictive power of school based assessment scores on students’ achievement in Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) in English and Mathematics. Two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. A sample of 250 students were randomly drawn from ten (10) schools out of twenty (20) Junior secondary schools in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. The instrument used for data collection was titled “Students Academic Record Inventory” (SARI). The instrument involves the students SBA score for JS1, JS2, JS3 and JSCE scores in English and Mathematics. The data generated were analyzed using multiple regression. The result revealed that the combination of the SBA scores significantly predicted students’ English and Mathematics achievement in JSCE, and there are relative effectiveness of SBA scores in students’ English and Mathematics achievement. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made including that school-based assessment should be encouraged and made compulsory for every secondary schools especially in core subjects which include English and Mathematics. Key words: Predictive power, school based, assessment, achievement