Strategic motivations for Sino-Western alliances: a comparativeanalysis of Chinese and Western alliance formation drivers.

This paper compares the key drivers of Sino-foreign alliance formation from the perspective of both Chinese and Western alliance partners. Our results indicate that Chinese companies enter into alliances with Western companies mainly to get accesses to international markets and to develop their technological and managerial competences further, while Western partners aim to gain access to the local customer and supplier bases of their Chinese counterpart as well as to the complex distribution systems found in the Chinese market. In analyzing the differences among Chinese and Western alliance motives, this paper shows how the initial deficiencies in the Chinese institutional environment has shaped the strategic motives of local companies and consequently lead to the diverging alliance formation motives in Sino-foreign alliances.Strategic alliances, China, Innovation, Internationalization

Strategic Partnering with Chinese Companies: Hidden Motives and Treasures

In this paper we aim to investigate the key drivers of international alliance formation from the perspective of Chinese companies. Our results indicate that Chinese companies enter into alliances with Western companies mainly to get accesses to international markets and to develop their technological and managerial competences further. Therefore we can say that Chinese companies particularly value task-related criteria when selecting Western partners. Nevertheless we also find that Chinese companies also include 'soft' factors such trust, compatibility or reputation in their partner selection process. We therefore conclude that in searching for Western partners, Chinese companies try to find a combination of 'hard' competencies such as technology and other resources as well as more 'soft' attributes such as trust, mutual understanding and commitment.Strategic alliances, China, Innovation, Internationalization

A Framework to Illustrate Kinematic Behavior of Mechanisms by Haptic Feedback

The kinematic properties of mechanisms are well known by the researchers and teachers. The theory based on the study of Jacobian matrices allows us to explain, for example, the singular configuration. However, in many cases, the physical sense of such properties is difficult to explain to students. The aim of this article is to use haptic feedback to render to the user the signification of different kinematic indices. The framework uses a Phantom Omni and a serial and parallel mechanism with two degrees of freedom. The end-effector of both mechanisms can be moved either by classical mouse, or Phantom Omni with or without feedback

Two-Color Magneto-Optical Trap with Small Magnetic Field for Ytterbium

We report a two-color magneto-optical trap (MOT) for ytterbium atoms operating at a low magnetic field gradient down to 2 G/cm where a conventional MOT using the singlet transition (6s^2 1S0 -> 6s6p 1P1) is unable to trap atoms. By simultaneously applying laser light on both the broad-linewidth singlet transition and the narrow-linewidth triplet transition (6s^2 1S0 -> 6s6p 3P1), we load and trap 4.0 x 10^5 atoms directly from an atomic beam at 700 K. In the two-color MOT, the slowing and trapping functions are separately performed by the singlet transition light and the triplet transition light, respectively. The two-color MOT is highly robust against laser power imbalance even at very low magnetic field gradients.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Between Faith and Truth: The Historiography of Buddhism in Modern China (1902-1965)

The historiography of Buddhism 佛教史學) in modern China develops under the influence of modernity and amidst dramatic transformations in the Chinese intellectual world. It combines the philological tradition of Evidential Learning with foreign intellectual trends in history, philosophy, and linguistics, and develops syncretistic methodologies of data collection, textual criticism, chronological arrangement, and historiographical interpretation. As one pivotal part of the so called “Buddhist revival,” this research branch demonstrates the formation of modern Buddhist knowledge and introduced religious concerns into Chinese academia. It plays a cardinal role in the re-invention of Chinese Buddhist tradition, as well as the establishment of ‘Chinese Buddhism’.  Most leading scholars of the modern period contributed to this field, including historians such as Liang Qichao, Hu Shi, Chen Yinke, Tang Yongtong, Chen Yuan; and scholarly monks and Lay Buddhists such as Taixu, Yinshun, Lü Cheng, and so on. Due to their different motivations and viewpoints, the writing of Buddhist history quickly grew in diversity and complexity, triggering debates, controversies, and discussions. Practices and phenomena related to this new research area not only reflect the general interdisciplinary character of the historiography of Buddhism as a border field but also show how it was constrained by specific contextual factors and two ontological concerns: what is ‘Chinese Buddhism’ and what is ‘China’. Investigating how these two concerns were addressed by modern Chinese intellectuals will deepen our knowledge of the history of historiography in modern China and contribute to a more thorough understanding of how the field of religion has changed as well as how modern Chinese intellectuals in their studies of religion and history have tried to re-understand themselves, China and the world. Recently, the changes of Buddhism in China since the 1890s has been investigated by current scholarship. However, because of the current dominant discourse of secular modernity in historiography, as well as the prevailed research paradigm of “religion-state” in religious studies, issues like the modernization of Buddhist knowledge and the tension between faith and truth in the writings of the history of Buddhism remain unresearched. To examine the influence of historiography on modern Buddhist studies and the fundamental mechanism of the formation of Buddhism as new knowledge regime, my study focuses on the modern discourses of this religious tradition, with particular emphasis on the historiographical transition of Buddhist studies from the 1900s to the 1960s. By comparing different scholars with different backgrounds in faith and varying conceptual approaches, I investigate the general background of the historiography in modern China as well as several specific topics, including the construction of the general history of Chinese Buddhism, the authenticity of Buddhist textual tradition, the narrative of Buddhist sinicization, etc.  Using the methodology of academic history and discourse analysis, my study shed light on the genealogy of modern Chinese historiography of Buddhism. The emerging academic interest in writing the history of Buddhism engaged with the changing scholarly and religious situation in modern China. Historians and Buddhist organized, criticized, and interpretated the past of Buddhism through hermeneutic readings of Buddhist texts and through critically utilizing new theories. Their attempts of historizing Buddhism further led to the formation of a ‘secularized’ understanding of Buddhism. In this process, ‘Chinese Buddhism’ was constructed terminologically and discursively. The historiography of Buddhism reflects the relocation of Buddhism in the modernized constellation of Chinese traditions and the attempts of reshaping Buddhism as an alternative to Confucianism to be a national cultural identity. This textual-historiographical path (文史路徑), which has developed different research perspectives, became the dominant paradigm of modern Chinese religious scholarship. It influenced the defining of Buddhism as a ‘religion’ (discursively in parallel to science, and superstition) and participated in the multifaceted process of modernization.2021-12-0

Computational methods for solving optimal industrial process control problems

In this thesis, we develop new computational methods for three classes of dynamic optimization problems: (i) A parameter identification problem for a general nonlinear time-delay system; (ii) an optimal control problem involving systems with both input and output delays, and subject to continuous inequality state constraints; and (iii) a max-min optimal control problem arising in gradient elution chromatography.In the first problem, we consider a parameter identification problem involving a general nonlinear time-delay system, where the unknown time delays and system parameters are to be identified. This problem is posed as a dynamic optimization problem, where its cost function is to measure the discrepancy between predicted output and observed system output. The aim is to find unknown time-delays and system parameters such that the cost function is minimized. We develop a gradient-based computational method for solving this dynamic optimization problem. We show that the gradients of the cost function with respect to these unknown parameters can be obtained via solving a set of auxiliary time-delay differential systems from t = 0 to t = T. On this basis, the parameter identification problem can be solved as a nonlinear optimization problem and existing optimization techniques can be used. Two numerical examples are solved using the proposed computational method. Simulation results show that the proposed computational method is highly effective. In particular, the convergence is very fast even when the initial guess of the parameter values is far away from the optimal values.Unlike the first problem, in the second problem, we consider a time delay identification problem, where the input function for the nonlinear time-delay system is piecewise-constant. We assume that the time-delays—one involving the state variables and the other involving the input variables—are unknown and need to be estimated using experimental data. We also formulate the problem of estimating the unknown delays as a nonlinear optimization problem in which the cost function measures the least-squares error between predicted output and measured system output. This estimation problem can be viewed as a switched system optimal control problem with time-delays. We show that the gradient of the cost function with respect to the unknown state delay can be obtained via solving a auxiliary time-delay differential system. Furthermore, the gradient of the cost function with respect to the unknown input delay can be obtained via solving an auxiliary time-delay differential system with jump conditions at the delayed control switching time points. On this basis, we develop a heuristic computational algorithm for solving this problem using gradient based optimization algorithms. Time-delays in two industrial processes are estimated using the proposed computational method. Simulation results show that the proposed computational method is highly effective.For the third problem, we consider a general optimal control problem governed by a system with input and output delays, and subject to continuous inequality constraints on the state and control. We focus on developing an effective computational method for solving this constrained time delay optimal control problem. For this, the control parameterization technique is used to approximate the time planning horizon [0, T] into N subintervals. Then, the control is approximated by a piecewise constant function with possible discontinuities at the pre-assigned partition points, which are also called the switching time points. The heights of the piecewise constant function are decision variables which are to be chosen such that a given cost function is minimized. For the continuous inequality constraints on the state, we construct approximating smooth functions in integral form. Then, the summation of these approximating smooth functions in integral form, which is called the constraint violation, is appended to the cost function to form a new augmented cost function. In this way, we obtain a sequence of approximate optimization problems subject to only boundedness constraints on the decision variables. Then, the gradient of the augmented cost function is derived. On this basis, we develop an effective computational method for solving the time-delay optimal control problem with continuous inequality constraints on the state and control via solving a sequence of approximate optimization problems, each of which can be solved as a nonlinear optimization problem by using existing gradient-based optimization techniques. This proposed method is then used to solve a practical optimal control problem arising in the study of a real evaporation process. The results obtained are highly satisfactory, showing that the proposed method is highly effective.The fourth problem that we consider is a max-min optimal control problem arising in the study of gradient elution chromatography, where the manipulative variables in the chromatographic process are to be chosen such that the separation efficiency is maximized. This problem has three non-standard characteristics: (i) The objective function is nonsmooth; (ii) each state variable is defined over a different time horizon; and (iii) the order of the final times for the state variable, the so-called retention times, are not fixed. To solve this problem, we first introduce a set of auxiliary decision variables to govern the ordering of the retention times. The integer constraints on these auxiliary decision variables are approximated by continuous boundedness constraints. Then, we approximate the control by a piecewise constant function, and apply a novel time-scaling transformation to map the retention times and control switching times to fixed points in a new time horizon. The retention times and control switching times become decision variables in the new time horizon. In addition, the max-min objective function is approximated by a minimization problem subject to an additional constraint. On this basis, the optimal control problem is reduced to an approximate nonlinear optimization problem subject to smooth constraints, which is then solved using a recently developed exact penalty function method. Numerical results obtained show that this approach is highly effective.Finally, some concluding remarks and suggestions for further study are made in the conclusion chapter