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The purpose of this paper is to study a new approach by combining a multilayer perceptron neural network (MLPNN) algorithm with a GM(1, N) model in order to estimate the development cost of a new type of aircraft.

First, data about developing costs and their influencing factors were collected for several types of Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Second, a GM(1, N) model was constructed to simulate development costs for a civil aircraft. Then, an MLPNN algorithm was added to optimize and revise the simulative and forecasting values. Finally, a combined approach, using both a GM(1, N) model and an MLPNN algorithm was adopted to forecast development costs for new civil aircraft.

The results show that the proposed approach could do the work of cost estimation for new types of aircraft. Rather than using a single model, the combined approach could improve simulative and forecasting accuracy.

Scientific cost estimation could improve management efficiency and promote the success of a new type of civil aircraft development. Considering that China’s civil aircraft research and development is at its very beginning stages, only very limited data could be collected. The development costs for civil aircraft are affected by a series of factors. The approach outlined by this paper could be applied to development cost estimations in China’s civil aircraft industry.

The paper has succeeded by constructing a cost estimation index system and proposing a novel combined cost estimation approach comprised of a GM(1, N) model and an MLPNN. It has undoubtedly contributed to improving the accuracy of cost estimations.

Public private partnership (PPP) has gained increasing popularity around the globe. Whether the government needs to participate in the PPP special purpose vehicle (SPV) as an equity coinvestor is a critical issue in PPP development. This research aims to examine the influence of government equity investment on PPP performance by taking public-private communication as an intermediate variable.

A questionnaire survey was adopted as the main research method. PPP practitioners with extensive experiences from both the public and private sectors were targeted respondents. The survey results were subsequently analyzed using statistical data analysis method.

Based on the results from the questionnaire survey, this research indicates an inverted U-shaped relationship between the ratio of government equity and performance in PPP projects. In addition, communication plays a mediating role between government equity investment and PPP project performance.

This research explicates the relationship between the equity structure in a PPP SPV and the project performance. It provides important guidance and reference for PPP practitioners to structure the SPV and associated financial and commercial arrangements. It also offers valuable insights into the development of PPP policy, especially regarding the structuring of PPP models in China and elsewhere.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) of People’s Republic of China, the highest organ of state power, is popularly seen as a rubber-stamp entity. However, it has been substantially evolving its roles to accommodate the governance discourses within China’s political system over the decades. This study aims to explore the changes of governance discourse of the NPC within China’s political system through which to offer a thorough understanding of the NPC’s evolving substantial role in current China.

This study deploys a historical approach to explore the changes of governance discourse of the NPC that has seen a growing importance in China’s political agenda, as argued by this study.

The authors find that the NPC has been substantially evolving its role within China’s political system in which the Chinese Communist Party has created different governance discourses. Besides, the NPC and its Standing Committee have asserted its authority as a substantial actor within China’s political system. The NPC is no longer functioned as a rubber-stamp institution, though it is still popularized as a rubber stamp by many scholars.

This study is a historical elaboration on the development of NPC under three governance discourses. It might be, to some extent, relatively descriptive in nature.

This study, therefore, sheds some light on a revisit on the governance discourses in current China.

The purpose of this paper is to study the key influential factors and their impacts on the value for money (VFM) of projects developed through public-private partnerships (PPPs) with an objective to improve the VFM assessment of PPP projects.

This paper has studied the key influential factors and their impacts on VFM of projects developed through PPPs with an objective to improve the VFM assessment of PPP projects.

There are large variations in the VFM of PPP projects in many countries due to a number of factors affecting the setting and attainment of the VFM. This paper has identified the key factors that influence the VFM in PPP projects in Japan and evaluated their impacts on the VFM.

Outputs of this study would provide some insights on the improvement in the VFM assessment of PPP projects, in terms of determining a suitable VFM for a particular PPP project in accordance with its specific operational environment, balancing the interests of both public and private sectors, and promoting the participation of the private sector in the timely provision of necessary public works and services.

This chapter seeks to investigate the role of student emotional intelligence (EI) in countering in-class cyberloafing behaviour by students, by exploring the mediating role of boredom proneness through a quantitative approach. A sample of 163 postgraduate university students in India was selected. The authors assessed the mediation model using PROCESS macro. The authors found that students who are more aware of their emotions are better equipped to handle internal and external distractions and work towards a desired goal or outcome and therefore are less likely to experience boredom. Results from this study revealed a significant direct and indirect negative relationship between students’ EI and cyberloafing behaviour. This chapter contributes to the body of literature by highlighting the positive effects of EI as an important antidote to student cyberloafing behaviour. On the practical front, the findings of this study can be used by academicians who are charged with the responsibility of understanding and enhancing student learning by diminishing cyberloafing behaviour among them. The proposed framework could provide a foundation for countering cyberloafing behaviour in educational settings.

It is desirable that shape appeal in craft design takes people's cultural and emotional influencers into consideration. Five Royal Lords worship, prevalent in the southwest coastal part of Taiwan and a source of religious and spiritual support to the local residents, offers such a shape appeal. This study takes the design of Taiwan's cultural handicrafts as the main point of discussion and uses Kansei engineering with semantic technique to promote the linkage between shape and the mental image of the Five Royal Lords' headwear. There are only two types of traditional headwear for the Five Royal Lords: the Imperial Crown and Lord Crown, despite the different personal characteristics of the five deities. This study aims to design a crown for each that matches their individuality.

In the first stage of the research process, the Kawakita Jiro method was used to arrive at appropriate descriptions representative of the deities' individuality. Fuzzy set theory was then applied to convert the relationship between the representative descriptions and headwear shape features into a quantitative one, after which the headwear could be redesigned and validated.

The study results show that: (1) analysis of the relationship between shape features and representative deity descriptions offered guidance to the redesign. (2) A method combining fuzzy theory and description terms could generate quantitative data that helped to provide design suggestions and result validation, supporting both scientific rationality and designers' sensibility. (3) The validation revealed that the redesigned headwear was better than the original headwear.

The study successfully established a design and development process featuring collaboration by folklore experts, designers, craftspeople and worshippers, and helping to promote new cultural product development. The success of the research process can serve as a reference to the development of other different products with shape features.

In the past two decades, manufacturing has witnessed significant transformations alongside ecological challenges. Meanwhile, industrial 4.0 digital technologies have accelerated industrialisation with potentials of innovation in the context of circular economy. However, current concepts and models are fragmented and impractical. This paper aims to develop a holistic view integrating the three bodies of knowledge – industrialisation, ecologicalisation and digitalisation (IED) – in order to achieve sustainable development.

Critical literature review is conducted across three bodies of knowledge. Key themes are summarised with the identification of research gaps. A theoretical framework is synthesised and developed aiming to achieve synergy from IED with the modules, integration architecture, mechanism and dynamic paths.

First, the authors review and develop three conceptual models of ecologicalised industrialisation (IE3), industrial system digitalisation (D1) and digital technology industrialisation (D2) separately. Second, the authors propose a theoretical framework seeking to synthesise the above three conceptual models together to form the IED. Third, the authors design a process orientated abductive approach to improve and validate the IED framework.

This study contributes to the limited literature addressing the linkage of IED by integration different perspectives to develop theory in a novel way. Practically, it provides important tools for organisations to consider resource cascading in combination with digitalisation during the industrial system design.

Following the growing adoption of social media, many entrepreneurs are launching personal social media channels. This study focuses on the effect of entrepreneurs' shared information on We Media platforms on the value relevance of their earnings.

Using entrepreneurs' We Media data collected from A-share-listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2010 to 2018, this study investigates the effect of the data on the value relevance of earnings using the modified Ohlson model. The authors applied textual analysis to retrieve entrepreneurial We Media data acquired manually from Weibo.

We Media platforms can increase the value relevance of earnings. Entrepreneurs can enhance investor trust by establishing social ties with investors. Investors are more likely to recognize earnings information publicized by enterprises, owing to internal consistency. Particularly, value relevance improves significantly with more personal information being posted and more “likes” being acquired on entrepreneurs' We Media accounts. This positive effect is more obvious in privately owned and highly marketized regions.

The findings extend the research on the economic consequences of We Media as an important information channel, enrich the research on the social media posting behavior of entrepreneurs and provide a reference for enterprises to instill trust using new information disclosure methods and for governments to establish a safe internet environment to promote the sustainable development of the capital market.

Since the first automated container terminal (ACT) was introduced at Europe Container Terminals Delta Terminal in Port Rotterdam back in the year 1992, a lot of research had been done to improve the management of ACT. However, up until recently, the number of literature available still appeared scarce. Hence, this paper aims to review the collection of literature about ACT to generate an exhaustive summary to answer the formulated review question in this study.

Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses to narrow down the search parameters of literature retrieved so that only relevant articles were only selected. The systematic literature reviews were applied to analyse the content of the articles retrieved to determine its journal ranking, research findings and timeline of publications.

The adoption of ACT technology by container terminal operators could increase the terminal efficiency in productivity, cost reduction and environmental sustainability. Owing to global environmental awareness, the research trend of container terminal field and container terminal operator in the terminal design is much more environmentally friendly oriented.

The limited numbers of experts in the management of ACT are causing challenges in data collections.

The analysis of the global ACT trend could help academicians and industrial investors to review the revolution timeline of maritime technology in port and shipping that is happening rapidly.

The analysis of timeline and collective literature leads to the propose of the conceptual framework to determine the relationship between increased productivity, cost reduction and environmentally sustainable.