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Since China began its market-oriented economic reform in 1979, government budget deficits have been a fact of life. On one hand, the share of resources owned or controlled by the government must be shrunk in order to create a favorable environment for the development of the market economy. On the other hand, the government still performs many responsibilities required by the traditional planed economy. After calculating government budget deficits and analyzing their causes, the article assesses the impacts of government budget deficits and predicts the future of deficits in China.

Since China began its market-oriented economic reform in 1979, government budget deficits have been a fact of life. On one hand, the share of resources owned or controlled by the government must be shrunk in order to create a favorable environment for the development of the market economy. On the other hand, the government still performs many responsibilities required by the traditional planed economy. After calculating government budget deficits and analyzing their causes, the article assesses the impacts of government budget deficits and predicts the future of deficits in China.

The literature on the revenue effort of local governments in the U.S. is deficient in that most studies focus only on identifying the general patterns of revenue effort. This study remedies the deficiency by exploring the determinants and impacts of local government revenue effort. It finds that both high personal income and adverse socioeconomic conditions contribute to high revenue effort. It also finds that jurisdictions with high revenue effort tend to obtain high grant revenues. In addition, contrary to the predictions of previous studies, it finds that the number of business firms located in a jurisdiction tends to rise as revenue effort increases. Finally, the policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Evaluative studies of OD applications 1950–86 generated an earlier panel of 100 applications with a substantial success rate, and this article reports that extending the period of observation in economically‐developing countries does not require substantive modification of that estimate. Additional cases were sought during the 1987–1993 interval, to augment the 30‐plus year period underlaying the original panel. The augmented panel has been enlarged by approximately 20 percent—from 100 to 121 cases of applications.

This symposium seeks to contribute to an expanding core for Organization Development and Change (ODC) in the global arena. ODC is developing “prismatic” features, and these at once signal robust activity even as they threaten spin‐offs. The five contributions below deal with generic measurement issues; the introduction of a Hawaiian design for conflict management; the central roles of interlevel designs and dynamics in ODC; gender proportions and their organizational covariants; and an updating of the evaluative literature on ODC applications in national settings having moderate‐to‐low GNP per capita.

This paper aims to simulate the effect of counterface roughness on the friction transfer and wear of the polymer material sliding against steel.

The dynamic process of friction transfer and wear of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) sliding against steel 45 was simulated by the software of particle flow code in two dimensions and a discrete element method. The effect of the counterface roughness was considered in the simulation. The definitions of the transferred particle and worn particle were given.

The simulation results showed that a transferred particle layer was formed on the surface of steel 45 during friction. The wear rate of PTFE can be effectively reduced by the formation of the transferred particle layer. The formation and stability of this particle layer is certainly affected by the counterface roughness (Rz). In this paper, the transferred particle numbers increased with Rz increase. And so did the worn particle numbers. However, there was little effect of Rz on the wear rate of PTFE.

The dynamic process of the friction transfer and wear of the PTFE/ steel 45 friction pair was reproduced at the micro-level. Then, the transfer and wear were quantitatively exhibited. The relations between the transfer or wear and counterface roughness was simulated and discussed. It will be meaningful for the optimization and effective control of friction and wear of polymer/metal sliding system.

The purpose of this paper is to present state-of-the-art approaches for precise operation of a robotic manipulator on a macro- to micro/nanoscale.

This paper first briefly discussed fundamental issues associated with precise operation of a robotic manipulator on a macro- to micro/nanoscale. Second, this paper described and compared the characteristics of basic components (i.e. mechanical parts, actuators, sensors and control algorithm) of the robotic manipulator. Specifically, commonly used mechanisms of the manipulator were classified and analyzed. In addition, intuitive meaning and applications of its actuator explained and compared in details. Moreover, related research studies on general control algorithm and visual control that are used in a robotic manipulator to achieve precise operation have also been discussed.

Remarkable achievements in dexterous mechanical design, excellent actuators, accurate perception, optimized control algorithms, etc., have been made in precise operations of a robotic manipulator. Precise operation is critical for dealing with objects which need to be manufactured, modified and assembled. The operational accuracy is directly affected by the performance of mechanical design, actuators, sensors and control algorithms. Therefore, this paper provides a categorization showing the fundamental concepts and applications of these characteristics.

This paper presents a categorization of the mechanical design, actuators, sensors and control algorithms of robotic manipulators in the macro- to micro/nanofield for precise operation.