Mining-Dependent Localities in South Africa: The State of Partnerships for Small Town Local Development

This paper contributes to international writings on partnerships surrounding the local development impacts of mining in the developing world. As a result of radical changes in the policy and institutional environment affecting both the mining sector and local development planning, South Africa is considered to offer ‘good practice’ in partnerships. The results of a national survey on the state of local partnerships in mining-dependent local municipalities are presented. Mining-dependent localities in South Africa are concentrated mainly in the country’s peripheral regions and in many cases are vulnerable, poorly capacitated local municipalities. Although new legislation and requirements for mines to develop social and labour plans has resulted in an improved state of local partnerships, further action is required to maximize the local development potential of mining projects in small towns.     

汉中地区泡菜水品质评价

该研究以29份汉中泡菜水为对象,采用电子舌、电子鼻及高效液相色谱（HPLC）和气相色谱-质谱联用（GC-MS）等方法,对汉中地区泡菜水的品质进行了研究。结果发现,汉中地区泡菜水在酸味和后味A等滋味指标以及芳香类物质、烷烃类物质和硫化物等风味指标上的差异相对较大。通过聚类分析（CA）和主成分分析（PCA）发现,汉中泡菜水按其品质可分为三个聚类,其主要差异是由风味所导致的,且隶属于聚类Ⅲ的泡菜水样本在芳香类物质的含量上显著高于其他聚类（P＜0.05）,后味A的强度显著较低（P＜0.05）,其品质要优于其他泡菜水样本。     

The chilled water storage analysis for a university building cooling system

In this paper, a methodology is presented to determine the optimal chilled water storage (CWS) capacity and corresponding operating strategy for the air conditioning loads for different electricity tariff. Several scenarios were studied for the KMUTNB air conditioning system. It was concluded that the CWS with a chiller of 450 RT (2 units) running continuously, thermal-energy storage of 9413 RT-h and 5175 m³ volume was most suitable. The mechanical chiller (MAC) capacity and peak demand could be decreased by over 2 times and 31.2% respectively. It can move the energy consumption from the on peak to the off peak periods by 35.7%. The economics result showed PB, IRR and NPV are 10 y, 21% and 0.834 MUS$ compared with the existing system.     

On the use of nonlinear programming in real time control in process industries

Distributed control systems have opened avenues for incorporating steady state optimization techniques to achieve business objectives in industry. Use of nonlinear programming techniques in plant optimization has been discussed. Status of nonlinear programming software and integration of various software modules for plant optimization have been included. Implementation in power and process industries have been mentioned.     

Reverse innovation,international patenting and economic inertia: Constraints to appropriating the benefits of technological innovation

In this paper we compare the role of outward-bound international patenting in “reverse innovation” and in conventional international modes of innovation. Through analysis of panel data from 148 countries over 18 years we reveal that, while all countries may in principle appropriate economic benefits from endogenous technological innovation by increasing their level of outward-bound international patenting, the ability of a country to do so may be hampered by the pre-existing level of its economy. We classify countries in to four strategic innovation quadrants—Slow Movers, Traders, Inventors and Cosmopolitans—based on the relative change over time in their competitiveness in international patenting and their per capita wealth. The mix of wealthy countries and less wealthy countries varies greatly between quadrants, with the wealthy countries dominating the Cosmopolitans quadrant and the less wealthy countries dominating the Slow Movers quadrant. We conclude that, for lower income countries to improve their success in appropriating the benefits of reverse innovation, innovators and would-be innovators based in those countries need to develop sophistication and prowess in international patenting strategy and intellectual property management tailored to the unique conditions of each country.     

Identifying associations between mobile social media users’ perceived values,attitude, satisfaction,and eWOM engagement: The moderating role of affective factors

Recently, the explosive growth of mobile social media technologies has dramatically transformed individuals’ interpersonal interaction, decision-making, and daily lifestyles. The primary objectives of this current article are to investigate the possible influences of perceived values (hedonic and utilitarian) on WeChat users’ affective responses (attitude and satisfaction) and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) engagement. This study represents one of the few that utilized customer-perceived value theory and uses and gratifications theory to establish a conceptual framework to determine consumers’ word-of-mouth behaviors in the WeChat setting. Based on a web-based survey of 408 WeChat users, structure equation modeling was implemented to identify and confirm the hypothesized research model. Overall, the results reveal that hedonic value and utilitarian value positively and significantly impact WeChat users’ attitudes and anticipated satisfaction. Additionally, satisfaction has a significant influence on eWOM engagement. Furthermore, utilitarian value is discovered to exert a significant indirect effect through satisfaction on eWOM engagement. The obtained outcomes offer fresh insight into whether and how mobile social media could promote mobile social media users’ attitudes and gratification which subsequently would facilitate indicators of eWOM engagement in contemporary mobile-mediated context.     

Social network site use,mobile personal talk and social capital among teenagers

Social network sites (SNSs) and mobile phones are becoming increasingly important in teenagers’ lives. Using data collected from a nationally representative survey (N = 800), this study explores the variation of social capital by SNS adoption, different SNS activities, and mobile personal talk among teenagers. The results indicate that SNS adoption and mobile personal talk can not only enhance teenagers’ close ties with friends, but also jointly promote teenagers’ civic engagement. Among SNS users, mobile personal talk also increase teens’ network capital. Different SNS activities such as commenting on friend’s Facebook pictures and joining Facebook groups have different relationships with social capital, and such relationships are moderated by mobile personal talk.     

On the Question of Using the Concept ‘Slum Tourism’ for Urban Tourism in Stigmatised Neighbourhoods in Inner City Johannesburg

Since 2012, there has been a significant growth in tourism in inner city Johannesburg. Some of this tourism materialises as walking tours in disadvantaged and relatively poor inner city neighbourhoods, some of which were until recently considered no-go areas. In a paper published in Urban Forum in 2014 (Frenzel 2014), I have analysed this new phenomenon in the context of slum tourism. I define slum tourism as such forms of tourism where poverty and associated signifiers become central themes and (part of the) attraction of the visited destination. Following a broad empirical research project, Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017) have questioned whether the concept slum tourism should be used when discussing tourism in inner city Johannesburg. This paper forms a response to the paper of Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017).     

Particle Swarm Clustering in clustering ensembles: Exploiting pruning and alignment free consensus

A clustering ensemble combines in a consensus function the partitions generated by a set of independent base clusterers. In this study both the employment of particle swarm clustering (PSC) and ensemble pruning (i.e., selective reduction of base partitions) using evolutionary techniques in the design of the consensus function is investigated. In the proposed ensemble, PSC plays two roles. First, it is used as a base clusterer. Second, it is employed in the consensus function; arguably the most challenging element of the ensemble. The proposed consensus function exploits a representation for the base partitions that makes cluster alignment unnecessary, allows for the combination of partitions with different number of clusters, and supports both disjoint and overlapping (fuzzy, probabilistic, and possibilistic) partitions. Results on both synthetic and real-world data sets show that the proposed ensemble can produce statistically significant better partitions, in terms of the validity indices used, than the best base partition available in the ensemble. In general, a small number of selected base partitions (below 20% of the total) yields the best results. Moreover, results produced by the proposed ensemble compare favorably to those of state-of-the-art clustering algorithms, and specially to swarm based clustering ensemble algorithms.     

Confused branding? An exploratory study of place branding practices among place management professionals

Although the knowledge about place branding and place management is growing, there is a substantial gap in the understanding of place branding among professionals responsible for the management of town and city centres, including private-public partnership formats such as business improvement districts (BIDs). This exploratory study addresses this knowledge gap through in-depth interviews with key professionals in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The results suggest that the strategic potential of place branding is negatively affected by a focus on operational thinking, which hinders innovation towards more holistic approaches to place management. Further quantitative research is needed to elaborate on these findings across the UK, Ireland and other countries to enhance the understanding of the uses and interpretations of place branding among town and city managers.