After experiencing World War ¢¹and ¢º, the European countries recognized that to prevent war on Europe was of necessary. They would like to inspire economic development by economic integration, and furthermore, to push Europe back to the key actor of world politics through political integration. From ¡§European Common Market¡¨, ¡§European Community¡¨ to ¡§European Union¡¨, the European countries has gone through many complex negotiations. Among the regimes in European Union, ¡§Common Foreign and Security Policy¡¨ works through ¡§Intergovernmental Cooperation¡¨, which is of much higher political meaning. It symbolizes the operation of integration theory has strode from economic to political matters. The operations of CFSP have two important contributions to Europe. First of all, it contributed to the reconciliation of European nations. Second, it demonstrates peace can be achieved through legal and institutional negations without threatening the existing political authorities. Both China and Taiwan can take lessons in the CFSP¡¦s negotiation process, especially in the aspects of how to leave aside disputes and put aside minor differences so as to seek common ground. President Chen Shui-Bian gave a talk on 31 December 2000 which indicated that the Cross-strait relation could learn from EU¡¦s integration experience and jointly seek for new framework of political integration. It could start from economic and cultural integration, build confidence step by step, and look for new framework for political integration. This kind of opinion conforms to international development experience. What norms of EU¡¦s experience should the Cross-strait refer to is the main topic of this research. How do EU¡¦s institutions make compromise between ¡§national interest¡¨ and ¡§EU¡¦s development¡¨ is another concerning point of the research.

In this thesis, I propose an agent-based cooperative model for supply chains to commit orders by satisfying constraints. Due to the limitation of the real world environment, the centralized schedule model to handle constraint satisfaction is impractical, it is important to excise the distributed constraint satisfaction model to meet the outsourcing paradigm of supply chain management. I introduce a multi-agent system based coordination mechanism that integrates theories of negotiation and distributed constraint satisfaction problem to resolve the constraints in supply chain. I adopt the asynchronous weak-commitment search, a DCSP algorithm to resolve the global constraint in supply chain. Asynchronous weak-commitment search is complete backtracking algorithms that guarantee to find a solution if there is a solution existing and asynchronous weak-commitment search provide priority dynamic mechanism that help us to find a solution quickly than other backtracking algorithms. We construct a coordination agent for each business entity in supplier chain. The agent embedded in the ability to resolve the constraints autonomously. We expect this agent-based coordination mechanism can make supply chain more efficient and enhance supply chain's agility.

<p>Mega projects are in most cases considered as the necessary evil of development. Before their benefits can be reaped, a lot of sacrifices and tough choices have to be made. The fear and uncertainties surrounding such projects range from the impacts on the local people, on the environment, the costs of investment, and to, if the project will deliver the promised benefits. Because of these fears and uncertainties, it is not unusual that most if not all such projects meet a lot of critics and resistance before their success or failures are witnessed. Today, it is more of a requirement than a belief (although without a guarantee) that stakeholders’ involvement and their active participation in all decision-making process concerning a project is the surest way of minimizing conflicts and ensuring justice. The Bujagali hydropower project being an example of such projects and without immunity to the problems faced by other mega project around the world has been a case study for this thesis. This study has therefore focused on institutional arrangements that governed the management and utilization of water resources in connection to hydropower development along the Nile River in Uganda, the procedures and stages of the negotiations for hydropower infrastructure development in Uganda, identified the major stakeholders that take part in such negotiations and looked in detail for what their issues and interests are. It has also examined the attitudes and opinions of stakeholders on the potential and benefits of hydropower against (solar, bio-fuel and geothermal) energy sources in the context of Uganda, taking into consideration the need for socio-economic development, preservation of culture and environmental protection. Finally, it has analyzed the conflicts/controversies that have arisen in the Bujagali hydropower project.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-222). Also available on the Internet.

Tez (Doktora) - Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Kamu Yönetimi Anabilim Dalı, 2008. / Kaynakça var.

Scholars have described conflict tactics as a means to engage or avoid a conflict, and face tactics as a means of face-saving by way of defense or restoration. While theories of conflict and face flourish, few researchers have sought an explanation of conflict themes within the field of nursing or examined how nurses display face-saving tactics within their conflict interactions. The goal of this study is to identify the connection of these concepts through a qualitative analysis of conflict stories compiled from interviews with licensed floor-nurses. The data is analyzed two ways: first, as conflict themes in stories about nurses’ floor/shift work; and secondly, as communicative face tactics used in conjunction with conflict styles as viewed through a nurses’ conflict-interaction. The study identified three outcomes. From the analysis of conflict stories, an updated and extended view of conflict themes in nursing is developed. Specific face tactics surfaced within certain conflict themes supporting the concept that face tactics can directly affect the outcome of a conflict interaction. And lastly, the discovery of new restorative and defensive face tactics not previously identified in research literature. The implications for theory and practical application are also discussed, as is the proposed direction for future research. / text

As architects, we cannot resist the opportunity to build good houses on generous budgets to accommodate happy families. We could use this opportunity, however, to reconfigure the detached single-family house for a group of people that are not yet family, let alone happy. These are distressed times for a growing margin of society: seniors are lonely, young families struggle with little household help and middle-aged couples continue to pay large mortgages on their “empty nest” homes. We live in a society that copes. Seniors move into annexes of their children’s homes, two young families share daily chores, and middle-aged couples invest in a property with friends. It is happening all around us, and much can be done to provide the infrastructure to both accommodate and encourage the shift. This work builds the case for a house: a shared house for the emerging demographic of non-autonomous households that fall outside the conventions of the nuclear family. The project is a social experiment that investigates, probes and predicts the dynamics between 7-12 occupants who may be family, friend or stranger. It promises not only to test current proclivities, needs and desires for domesticity and privacy, but begs to be considered as an acceptable, and even preferable, way of living.

The dissertation dwells on the process of construction and housing negotiations. The topic’s relevancy is determined by the need to analyse construction and housing negotiations because this area received insufficient attention in research related to the civil engineering discipline of technological sciences in the context of the development of knowledge society. The main research objects are the negotiation process, the decision-making process, stakeholders who make decisions in the negotiation process and the micro and macrolevel environment in its entirety. The thesis deals with several main objectives: review of scientific research on negotiations in various countries worldwide; creation of the conceptual model for multiple criteria analysis of the housing quality and price equilibrium negotiation; development of the web-based decision support system for the housing quality and price equilibrium negotiations using multiple criteria analysis methods in decision-making; presentation of a practical implementation example; and description of the research on voice stress analysis in housing negotiations. The dissertation includes an introduction, four chapters, general conclusions, a list of literature and two annexes. Chapter 1 provides a detailed analysis of research and achievements of Lithuanian and foreign scientists in scientific areas dealing with negotiations and negotiation decision-support systems. Chapter 2, which is based on the analysis of scientific research and... [to full text] / Disertacijoje nagrinėjamas statybos ir jos produkcijos – būsto pirkimo-pardavimo derybų procesas. Temos aktualumą nulemia žinių visuomenės plėtros ir statybos sektoriaus derybų, kaip technologijos mokslų statybos inžinerijos kryptyje iki šiol mažai tyrinėtos srities, analizės poreikis. Pagrindiniai tyrimo objektai yra būstas, derybos dėl būsto pirkimo-pardavimo, sprendimų priėmimo procesas, derybų procese dalyvaujančios sprendimus priimančios grupės, mikro- ir makrolygmens aplinka kaip visuma. Darbe sprendžiami keli pagrindiniai tikslai ir uždaviniai: įvairių pasaulio šalių mokslininkų tyrimų derybų srityje apžvalgos atlikimas; būsto kainos ir kokybės pusiausvyros derybų daugiakriterinės analizės koncepcinio modelio sudarymas; būsto kainos ir kokybės pusiausvyros derybų internetinės sprendimų paramos sistemos sukūrimas, sprendimų priėmimui pasitelkiant daugiakriterinės analizės metodus; praktinio realizavimo pavyzdžio pateikimas; aprašomas atliktas būsto pardavėjų balso tyrimas. Disertaciją sudaro įvadas, keturi skyriai, bendrosios išvados, literatūros šaltinių sąrašas ir du priedai. Pirmame skyriuje detaliai analizuojami Lietuvos ir užsienio šalių mokslininkų tyrimai ir pasiekimai derybas bei derybų sprendimų paramos sistemas tiriančių mokslų srityse. Antrame skyriuje, remiantis pirmame skyriuje atlikta mokslinių tyrimų analize ir pasiekimais, išsamiai aprašomas sukurtas būsto kainos ir kokybės pusiausvyros derybų daugiakriterinės analizės koncepcinis modelis. Trečias... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Disertacijoje nagrinėjamas statybos ir jos produkcijos – būsto pirkimo-pardavimo derybų procesas. Temos aktualumą nulemia žinių visuomenės plėtros ir statybos sektoriaus derybų, kaip technologijos mokslų statybos inžinerijos kryptyje iki šiol mažai tyrinėtos srities, analizės poreikis. Pagrindiniai tyrimo objektai yra būstas, derybos dėl būsto pirkimo-pardavimo, sprendimų priėmimo procesas, derybų procese dalyvaujančios sprendimus priimančios grupės, mikro- ir makrolygmens aplinka kaip visuma. Darbe sprendžiami keli pagrindiniai tikslai ir uždaviniai: įvairių pasaulio šalių mokslininkų tyrimų derybų srityje apžvalgos atlikimas; būsto kainos ir kokybės pusiausvyros derybų daugiakriterinės analizės koncepcinio modelio sudarymas; būsto kainos ir kokybės pusiausvyros derybų internetinės sprendimų paramos sistemos sukūrimas, sprendimų priėmimui pasitelkiant daugiakriterinės analizės metodus; praktinio realizavimo pavyzdžio pateikimas; aprašomas atliktas būsto pardavėjų balso tyrimas. Disertaciją sudaro įvadas, keturi skyriai, bendrosios išvados, literatūros šaltinių sąrašas ir du priedai. Pirmame skyriuje detaliai analizuojami Lietuvos ir užsienio šalių mokslininkų tyrimai ir pasiekimai derybas bei derybų sprendimų paramos sistemas tiriančių mokslų srityse. Antrame skyriuje, remiantis pirmame skyriuje atlikta mokslinių tyrimų analize ir pasiekimais, išsamiai aprašomas sukurtas būsto kainos ir kokybės pusiausvyros derybų daugiakriterinės analizės koncepcinis modelis. Trečias... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The dissertation dwells on the process of construction and housing negotiations. The topic’s relevancy is determined by the need to analyse construction and housing negotiations because this area received insufficient attention in research related to the civil engineering discipline of technological sciences in the context of the development of knowledge society. The main research objects are the negotiation process, the decision-making process, stakeholders who make decisions in the negotiation process and the micro and macrolevel environment in its entirety. The thesis deals with several main objectives: review of scientific research on negotiations in various countries worldwide; creation of the conceptual model for multiple criteria analysis of the housing quality and price equilibrium negotiation; development of the web-based decision support system for the housing quality and price equilibrium negotiations using multiple criteria analysis methods in decision-making; presentation of a practical implementation example; and description of the research on voice stress analysis in housing negotiations. The dissertation includes an introduction, four chapters, general conclusions, a list of literature and two annexes. Chapter 1 provides a detailed analysis of research and achievements of Lithuanian and foreign scientists in scientific areas dealing with negotiations and negotiation decision-support systems. Chapter 2, which is based on the analysis of scientific research... [to full text]

Service providers’ goals include providing reliable connections with the minimum allocated resources over a shared-mesh path restoration scheme in WDM networks. However, in some cases, the requested parameters in an SLA are beyond the capacity of the network, and the connection is typically blocked. To give the customer a chance to choose another provider, or in the case of having only one provider, to comply with the provider’s network capacity, new SLA-based architectures and mechanisms are required to be introduced to provide better service to prioity-aware shared mesh WDM networks. To achieve this goal, the dissertation’s contributions focus on three main characteristics of the network design: i) A dynamic SLA negotiation infrastructure to negotiate and propagate crucial SLA parameters, ii) Path attributes which can provide a better picture of network resources and status and are suitable to be propagated by the negotiating system, and iii) Algorithms benefiting from the path attributes to improve the blocking probability and resource utilization of the network. To fulfill the first goal of the contributions, a dynamic SLA negotiation mechanism for both intra and inter-domain communications using OSPF and BGP protocols is proposed. Link attributes via intra-domain, and new proposed TE path attributes through inter-domain mechanisms are advertised. Several novel path constraints and attributes are proposed which are dynamically updated and propagated through the network over the connections provisioning process period to satisfy the second objective of the contributions in this dissertation. The path availability, holding time, SLA violation risk, and path risk factor are the important characteristics of the proposed path attributes. As the third goal considered for the contributions, novel priority-aware algorithms and SLA-based mechanisms are proposed to improve the network performance for different traffic types of various priority classes. The algorithms and mechanisms proposed in this thesis take advantage of the new path attributes and SLA negotiation infrastructure to better serve high-priority connection requests at the lowest cost. The mechanisms and network architectures proposed in this work are a solution for the high-priority requests that normally cannot be accommodated as they violate the best availability offered by service providers.