Public administration schools and institutes had better enhance information literacy training for senior public servants

Senior public servants are leading forces of national economic development, social progress and national revival, as well as the organizers and decision makers of informatization construction. Public administration schools and institutes had better enhance information literacy education for public servants, in particular, the training of information consciousness and information competency of senior public servants should be emphasized.     

计划生育:保障中国妇女获得更多人权

synopsis:Family planning,a basic state policy of China’s,has put toan end the situation in which Chinese women merly served asthe tool for breeding children and thus given them more humanrights:They now enjoy the right to choose in regard to birthsand as a result their health and education have been improved,guaranteeing their right to better participate in various social un-dertakings.     

A wave of psychological forces in second language learning： An Arabic experience at IIUM

Psychological bases of success deal with relatively inner-self factors. The paper presents basic understandings of learning process as well as a model of identifying factors of second language learning success. There are a number of reasons why some students learn Arabic much more quickly than the others. Learner＇s psychological situation is one of the most expected determination factor. Therefore, its nature has to be described, its function needs to be identified and analyzed, especially in term of motivating students to have better performance in learning Arabic as a second language in the context of International Islamic University Malaysia （IIUM）.     

National parliaments as guardians of subsidiarity： A feasible task or an utopist chimera？

Ensuring a better control and respect of the principle of subsidiarity is one of the most important and innovative goals of the Treaty of Lisbon. To achieve this goal, the Treaty introduces a mechanism which, apart from checking compliance of draft legislative acts with that principle, may eventually lead a draft act to be deleted from the legislative agenda of the European Union on grounds of violation of subsidiarity. Within this mechanism, a crucial role is attributed to the national parliaments of the member states. According to Article 12 of the TEU （the Treaty on the European Union） and the provisions of the Protocol to the Treaty of Lisbon on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, in case one third of national parliaments consider a draft act not respecting the principle of subsidiarity, the commission must review the draft. Additionally, for acts to be adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure, when the simple majority of national parliaments gives reasoned opinions on the non-compliance of a proposal with subsidiarity and the commission does not amend it, the council or the parliament may block any further discussions on that proposal, if they consider it to be in violation of the principle of subsidiarity. While these provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon have the potential to ensure a better control of compliance with the principle of subsidiarity and enable national parliaments to have a stronger voice in the legislative process of the European Union, the present paper argues that several factors may considerably reduce their expected positive impact. This contribution concludes by proposing some suggestions to enhance the functioning of the subsidarity control mechanism introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon.     

The Pragmatic Research Approach： A Framework for Sustainable Management of Public Housing Estates in Nigeria

The paper is based on a research which tries to explore, explain and develop a framework that would be used in the sustainable post-construction management of public housing estates. Literature review provides evidence of the extent of unoccupied, unfinished, vandalized, and abandoned social housing estates in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, signifying that the availability and management of decent public housing estates in the Niger Delta of Nigeria are lacking because the post-construction management practice is not as good as it should be. The aim of this paper is to assess and set out the methodology and rationale for adopting a strategy to the research. It further, thus, examines case study design strategy that follows exploratory and explanatory methods and other research worldviews as alternatives in philosophy, approach and in research methodology. In addition, the paper draws out the significance of pragmatism as current practical world thinking that is a better answer to a research study aim, objectives and questions which focus on real-life situations. It argues that the development of a framework for use in the post-construction management of social （public） housing estates in a sustainable manner is needed; and that, using a pragmatic philosophical perspective and approach of worldview through a mixed method （qualitative and quantitative） in a case study design line of inquiry in the research methodology would be a better proposition to adopt in the study. The paper recommends that the issues of sampling, validity, reliability, the relationship between the researcher and the subject and other research quandaries are vital when deciding on an appropriate method.     

Public-private partnerships in China： A responsive participation

This article reflects on the rise of public-private partnerships （PPPs） in China. Though PPP is relatively new in China, it draws on a recent series of policies, guidance materials and rules relating to the provision of public facilities and services in tandem with global developments. This paper reviews the development of PPPs in China with selected project cases in the first two sections. The third section of the paper highlights some of the key challenges facing PPPs in China following some considerable controversies and experiences in the delivery of public service and infrastructure development. Hence, given the many limitations of PPPs and complex deals, it is suggested that other countries＇ experiences be drawn upon as comparisons and lessons learnt for better governance of PPPs in China.     

Information technology and education： Partnership vs. competition

Information technology is coming strong to have influential impact upon what is going on in the formal education sector. During the past ten years, information technology almost became the first job choice among all the new faces finding their jobs. Job opportunity also has its great impact upon what is going on in the k-12 education. Ideally, information technology is to enhance a teacher＇s teaching. However, on-site classroom observations as revealed here, identified several things that we might want to work more to provide better learning environment for the young generation on an individual basis. We have to admit that although memorization of the old day＇s factual knowledge and skill is important, but is going to provide little help for the generation to come. Information technology brings brand new era to human beings, and new format of schooling can take different forms from the ones most of us had been experiencing during our school lives.     

Bourgeoisies Against Peasants： An Empirical Study of Evwerem and Otu-Jeremi Conflicts in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

The Niger Delta region constitutes a number of ethnic nationalities which are rich in natural resources mainly in oil and gas reserves. However, the region has suffered extreme marginalization and neglect over the years despite its major contribution to the nation economy leading to agitations for better living standards by the people. The agitations have transformed from peaceful talks and dialogue to violence, unrest and chaos resulting to huge losses to the region and affecting the development process of the nation at large. This study examined the effect of the Niger Delta crisis on Evwreni and Otu-jeremi communities in Delta State. Data was collected through the administration of questionnaires, conduct of interviews, and consultation of books and relevant documents. The data analysed revealed that the Niger Delta crisis has affected job creation, infrastructure provision and maintenance as well as increased criminal activities in the areas. Finally, the researchers recommended diversification of the economy, job creation and training programmes, strengthening of security measures, provision of basic amenities amongst others as a solution to the crisis in the region.     

Developing a Vibrant Livestock Industry in East Africa Through Market-Driven Research

Global demand for livestock products is increasing faster than supply putting humanity at risk of hunger and starvation. Research can reverse this trend but inadequate stakeholder involvement in its design and implementation leads to minimal impact. This study sought to explain how East Africa can develop a vibrant livestock industry through market-driven research （MDR）, which has an inherent capacity for stakeholder involvement implying a better public-private partnership. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from 25 randomly selected academics. Information was obtained from literature review and face-to-face interviews on the meaning of MDR, its importance, challenges, opportunities, focus areas and implications. The study shows strong support for MDR. Technologies and innovations developed through it are more likely to be adopted. The study concludes that MDR is suitable for solving societal problems and transforming East Africa from a net importer to a net exporter of livestock products. MDR should focus on improving productivity of the livestock industry through improved livestock breeding, animal husbandry, and marketing.     

Transparency Policies in Italy： The Case of Venice Municipality

Transparency is a complex phenomenon characterised by aspects that can be linked and interpreted differently. In particular transparency is associated with information and participation. In order to better understand how to manage transparency in a municipality, the paper analyses the case of Venice that adopted a strong policy to increase citizen participation through information and communications technology （ICT）. Starting with the idea that transparency is achieved only when perception of transparency between management and citizens （users） is aligned, the author has verified this alignment administering the same questionnaire separately to managers/officers and citizens. The author also analyses the alignment of perception for the different elements （motivation, issues, tools and relation） that administration has to manage to achieve transparency. The results show that for managing administration＇s transparency it is necessary to manage the ＂transparency triangle＂, i.e., addressing the information to a specific necessity of access to services or to citizen participation, with a different mix of high relational tools.     

Spiritual Support： Media＇s Responsibility in an Aging Society Case Study of＂News Decoded＂

After decades of rapid economic growth, China has been increasingly confronted with the aging society issue. The unique one-child policy and unbalanced development between the urban and the rural have brought drastic changes in elder care. The lack of elder care professionals and the deceased-single-child families have attracted public attention through media reports. Increasing concerns of elderly emotional care are considered as a good sign for Chinese society. To treat elders well is the new goal to achieve of high quality life. Nevertheless, the improvement of qualification of media reports has been limited by many factors, such as the incapability to resolve complex issues, the lack of applicability of recommendations, and the short of professional reporters. Governments and media need to work together to turn the slogan of respecting elders into actions. Journalists should learn experience from their foreign peers and deliver the new approaches and ideas of respecting elders to the entire society, to enhance the quality of lives of elders, and to create a better public opinion environment. High-quality news coverage will play an important role in the improvement of quality of elders＇ lives.     

Maastricht Treaty in the Shaping and Development of the Common Foreign and Security Policy （CFSP）

For the European Union （EU）, it discusses how to deliver （great project） European unification. Motivated by the idea that the association of European countries is a far better alternative to the previous mutually confronted Europe, a project in the following decades led to the emergence of a new and unprecedented work on European soil--EU. Its present form is the product of more than 50 years of evolution of European integration, which today despite initial six Western European countries including the former main rivals Germany and France include 27 member countries of the union, as well as many other countries with candidate status for membership in the EU. Seen in the development context, the union is not a preconceived model of the association of European countries, but is the product of a complex multiple decade-long process of integration in which different actors are involved. Within this process, depending on the achieved level of integration, the union received a different shape. In its present form and name as the EU, it occurs even in the early 90s of the last century, long before it passed through small-scale forms of integration.     

A road to institutionalization： China＇s corruption and struggle for political reform

This essay is a study of China＇s political corruption and countermeasure for it. The author will focus on the cultural factors and the incompleteness of the market economy because these show us the reason why the corruption became severe after the initiation of the economic reform. The author will move on to search a solution within the field of political reform. The author will deal with the problem by two approaches. The first one is to focus on the democratization and the second one is to focus on the political institutionalization. The goal of the author＇s analysis is to examine which approach will work as a proper solution. The author＇s argument is that institutionalization will be the better one. The author will outline the grounds briefly. Firstly, unlike democratization, this solution shows possibility of realization. Secondly, political institutionalization has its own value of political development which was not considered sufficiently before. And finally there are advantages of strengthened accountability and limit discretion. To consolidate the author＇s argument the author will use Hong Kong＇s case where have been successfully controlled the problem by political institutionalization.     

Adoption model to assess the user acceptance of smart card technology

Smart card technology is one of the most recent computer revolutions, making its way world-wide into the hands and wallets of everyone. Today smart cards are used all over the world as personal identification cards for corporate building security systems and personal computer equipment access control. Governments, financial services, transportation, telecommunications, healthcare, education, retail and many other industries are planning to or already using smart cards as a means of providing better security and improved services to its customers and users. Understanding the factors that influence user acceptance of information technology is of interest both to researchers in a variety of fields as well as procurers of technology for large organizations. The purpose of this study is to develop an acceptance model and evaluate the user acceptance of smart card in Iran. A pilot study is conducted and a total of 46 questionnaires were distributed among the master students in field of computer science （information security and software engineering） at University Technology Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. The measurement items in the questionnaire asked about their awareness and acceptance of smart cards, and the initial findings are presented and discussed.     

The role of educational strategies in human development： An example of using key word method in teaching Arabic as a second language in Malaysia

This paper is an attempt to discover and recognize the important role of educational strategies in developing human capital in which they become positive agents of human society, such as academic achievement, intellectual abilities, interpersonal skills and also self-esteem. These will be measured using a survey instrument that classifies learning performance via test scores, to test the hypothesis that learning a language will lead to comparable positive self-development, but indirected language learning will affect academic achievement negatively. Therefore, key word methods in learning Arabic language will be used as directed Arabic language learning to measure the significant correlation to both academic and non-academic development of the learners in which the effectiveness of mnemonic strategy in vocabulary memorization is associated with the self-consciousness and personal psyches of the learners. Consequently, they appreciate the knowledge and values they gained from their learning activities, which help them to perform better than students who did not use this type of learning strategy in learning Arabic language. Teachers, on the other hand, would also able to observe the important impact of Arabic language learning on learners＇ academic performance and personality development. Therefore, education is simply a process of acquiring a new knowledge in creating an environment in which students and teachers learn something for themselves.     

Correlation Between Employee Bonus and Company Performances＂ FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 Index Companies

In addition to examining the efl＇ect of employee compensation tools on its financial report, a public company should evaluate whether such tools could also retain or attract talent that can strengthen its competitiveness. This research aims to study how an employee reward system could impact on a company＇s performance, and develop a theory on how enterprises choose their employee reward plan. Taking into consideration that there is a lack of agreed objective of an employee reward plan, this paper attempts to evaluate the need for an employee reward system and its effectiveness from the perspective of how a system is implemented. In order to explore the relationship between an employee reward system and company performance, this research will compare in total the performance of 80 companies between 2002 and 2012：50 of them are from the FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 index that have a reward system and the other 30 are also listed companies but without a structured reward plan in place. The findings include that companies with an employee reward system generally perform better than those without one, and this is especially the case for those implementing a single employee bonus system than those with multiple systems. It is found that the employee reward tools can have a positive impact on a company＇s performance, particularly employee cash dividends and employee shares and bonuses.     

Does Socio-Economic Development Go Hand-in-Hand With Coutry＇s Institutional Quality？ The Case of Poland

The reviewed theories and worldwide empirical studies suggest that institutions affect economic growth and development, and vice versa. There is, however, little research examining the association of institutions with nations＇ socio-economic well-being in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. This research fulfills this gap by exploring empirically institutional determinants of Poland＇s development over the period 1990-2011. The study relies on the concept of institutional matrix proposed by the New Institutional Economics. The purpose is to check the relationship between several indicators of economic and sustainable development （per capita Gross Domestic Product, Gini coefficients, Genuine Savings, the Happy Planet Index, and the Global Competitiveness Index） and institutional measures （the Worldwide Governance Indicators, the Economic Freedom of the World Index, Contract-intensive Money ratio）. To quantify those interrelations, correlation and regression analysis are used. The data are from Eurostat, the World Bank, National Bank of Poland, the Fraser Institute, the World Economic Forum, and the New Economic Foundation. The hypothesis is that the better institutions in Poland are associated with higher levels of economic growth and development. The findings provide less, than expected, evidence of strong linear relationship between the quality of institutional matrix and national development indicators in Poland.     

Does the multi-phased high school entrance program affect the equity of educational opportunity？

The Taiwan Government has proposed many educational reform programs in these years. Since 2000, in addition to the joint high school entrance examination, new ways of entering senior high school have included recommendation, application, register-and-distribution, as well as direct promotion. In 2001, the joint high school entrance examination was further annulled for good. However, contrary to the Taiwan Government＇s anticipation, the multi-phased high school entrance program has been severely criticized due to its controversial operating process. Based on our in-depth interviews and analyses of data collected by the Taiwan Education Panel Survey, the results demonstrate that the multi-phased high school entrance program has divided the selection process into several critical parts. Firstly, students have to face the requisition both on and off campus. Secondly, the selection and recommendation criteria are not uniform among different schools. Thirdly, students with better family backgrounds are still benefiting from the advantages of being recommended to public senior high schools. Finally, the selection process and related criteria can easily be influenced by the parents or relatives of students with higher socio-economic status. We therefore argue that the issues related to the selection and recommendation criteria, timing of assignments, school categorizations, as well as the review process for the multi-phased high school entrance program should all be re-considered.     

Normative Stakeholder Theory in Local Public Services in Italy： Ethical Profiles and Effectiveness Management

It is well-known that stakeholder theory plays a unique role among management theories due to its focus on the moral foundations of business. Under this theory, managers should always act in the interests of the stakeholders, and their actions should reflect the liberal notions of autonomy, solidarity and fairness. Normative stakeholder theory is usually linked to philosophical ethics. Whereas some authors see stakeholder theory as applicable to the private sector alone, normative stakeholder theory has found its way into debate on the public administration, because a number of studies affirm that it can contribute to the effectiveness of public organization. On this basis, this work analyses local utilities that are now one of the areas where citizens can better assess government policy in terms of quality of life and the satisfaction of their basic needs by evaluating their ethical behaviour. Thus, it may well be interesting to analyse some of the behaviour patterns of local utility entities to verify the link between ethics and the efficient use of resources that assumes special significance in this context because the two elements have to coincide in order to obtain true fairness. Therefore, using a deductive-inductive methodological approach, the study begins by analysing the different normative concepts of stakeholder theory, to find the possible normative core best suited to this context. In the second part, it examines the ethical behavior of local utility entities to make a comparison with the previous normative stakeholder theory. This study will also be a useful starting point for future empirical research.     

Flexible Industrial Land Policies on Exit Strategies in the Rapid Transition Period： A Case Study of Hongkou District,Shanghai

Currently, the maximum tenure of industrial land use in China is 50 years, which far exceeds the manufacturing life cycle. In the absence of an effective exit mechanism, a large number of manufactories are waiting for land value-added income or illegal sublease for commercial use rather than returning the land-use rights for urban redevelopment. As one of the urban central areas in Shanghai, Hongkou District is facing a serious challenge on land scarcity and impending speculative inflows during the critical period of rapid transition. The objective of this research is to explore flexible industrial land policies on exit strategies in Hongkou District, where local government plays a major role in the urban land transfer, eventually to strengthen the initiative of land-use cycling of the governments for a better adaption to the changing demand in the future. So the research mainly consists of two parts： （1） finding bottlenecks： after deep investigation and analysis on the causes which restrict land users＇ access to land transfer, the findings reveal that profit mechanism, no alternative policy for land-use change, low compensation, low costs of illegal behavior and high rate of planned non-profitable land on these industrial land blocks are the main bottlenecks; and （2） breaking bottlenecks： regarding the importance of comprehensive arrangement and government intervention, this research is about to discuss flexible industrial land policies on exit strategies in Hongkou District during the transition period, such as profit distribution mechanism, flexible exit mode, priority compensation, trans-regional land supply and combination of regular review and public supervision, as well as their application value and feasibilities.