title: Incremental verification of co-observability in discrete-event systems

authors: Liu, Huailiang

abstract: Existing strategies for verifying co-observability, one of the properties that must be satisfied for synthesizing solutions to decentralized supervisory control problems, require the construction of the complete system model. When the system is composed of many subsystems, these monolithic approaches may be impractical due to the state-space explosion problem. To address this issue, we introduce an incremental verification of co-observability approach. Selected subgroups of the system are evaluated individually, until verification of co-observability is complete. The new method is potentially much more efficient than the monolithic approaches, in particular for systems composed of many subsystems, allowing for some intractable state-space explosion problems to be manageable. Properties of this new strategy are presented, along with a corresponding algorithm and an example.

text: Incremental verification of co-observability in discrete-event systems Existing strategies for verifying co-observability, one of the properties that must be satisfied for synthesizing solutions to decentralized supervisory control problems, require the construction of the complete system model. When the system is composed of many subsystems, these monolithic approaches may be impractical due to the state-space explosion problem. To address this issue, we introduce an incremental verification of co-observability approach. Selected subgroups of the system are evaluated individually, until verification of co-observability is complete. The new method is potentially much more efficient than the monolithic approaches, in particular for systems composed of many subsystems, allowing for some intractable state-space explosion problems to be manageable. Properties of this new strategy are presented, along with a corresponding algorithm and an example.

year: 2014

title: FDI Regimes in the Chinese Triangle

authors: Wang, Yucai

subjects: foreign direct investment

abstract: The existence of regimes on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese triangle (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) is one of the most important elements that promote rapid FDI inter-flows and economic integration within the triangle. The economic policies and FDI inter-flows are leading to their regimes harmonize with international standards. Cultural backgrounds and ideological conflicts have an impact on shaping legalism towards their FDI regimes. Their FDI regimes also reflect the interaction between market and government.
As their domestic markets being oriented toward a bigger and more competitive international market, FDI regimes in the triangle need to be, at least, harmonized with each other and with international standards. Learning from East Asian countries' past examples of rapid economic growth and recent lessons of financial crisis, governments within the triangle need to improve their FDI regimes to support the Chinese triangle to be more dynamic and harmony.
In this thesis, after exploiting the backgrounds of FDI regimes in the triangle, I first compared the systems and effects of FDI regimes in the Chinese triangle, then analyzed their integration and harmonization trends. In conclusion, both market mechanisms and government strategies can and have played an important and effective role in the triangle in building regimes to attract FDI inflows to support their economic development and integration with each other. Meanwhile, as part of their legal systems that belong to three major different legal systems in the world, the integration and harmonization of FDI regimes in the triangle could be a useful preparation for the harmonization of international investment law.

text: FDI Regimes in the Chinese Triangle The existence of regimes on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese triangle (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) is one of the most important elements that promote rapid FDI inter-flows and economic integration within the triangle. The economic policies and FDI inter-flows are leading to their regimes harmonize with international standards. Cultural backgrounds and ideological conflicts have an impact on shaping legalism towards their FDI regimes. Their FDI regimes also reflect the interaction between market and government.
As their domestic markets being oriented toward a bigger and more competitive international market, FDI regimes in the triangle need to be, at least, harmonized with each other and with international standards. Learning from East Asian countries' past examples of rapid economic growth and recent lessons of financial crisis, governments within the triangle need to improve their FDI regimes to support the Chinese triangle to be more dynamic and harmony.
In this thesis, after exploiting the backgrounds of FDI regimes in the triangle, I first compared the systems and effects of FDI regimes in the Chinese triangle, then analyzed their integration and harmonization trends. In conclusion, both market mechanisms and government strategies can and have played an important and effective role in the triangle in building regimes to attract FDI inflows to support their economic development and integration with each other. Meanwhile, as part of their legal systems that belong to three major different legal systems in the world, the integration and harmonization of FDI regimes in the triangle could be a useful preparation for the harmonization of international investment law.

year: 1998

title: Working at the interface: Indigenous students’ experience of undertaking doctoral studies in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: McKinley, Elizabeth

subjects: Māori

abstract: Māori (indigenous)¹ doctoral students in Aotearoa New Zealand face challenges not usually experienced by other doctoral candidates. We draw on data from in-depth interviews with 38 Māori doctoral candidates and argue that because of the tensions between academic disciplinary knowledge frameworks and knowledge drawn from te ao Māori (the Māori world) indigenous students have additional cultural, academic, and personal demands placed on them while aiming to produce research theses that meet conventional standards of academic scholarship. Complex methodological and ethical issues also emerge in undertaking doctoral research projects situated at the interface of academy and indigenous communities. Moreover, Māori students experience various degrees of tension between their sometimes strong cultural identities and their emerging and, therefore, less certain identities as researchers and scholars.

text: Working at the interface: Indigenous students’ experience of undertaking doctoral studies in Aotearoa New Zealand Māori (indigenous)¹ doctoral students in Aotearoa New Zealand face challenges not usually experienced by other doctoral candidates. We draw on data from in-depth interviews with 38 Māori doctoral candidates and argue that because of the tensions between academic disciplinary knowledge frameworks and knowledge drawn from te ao Māori (the Māori world) indigenous students have additional cultural, academic, and personal demands placed on them while aiming to produce research theses that meet conventional standards of academic scholarship. Complex methodological and ethical issues also emerge in undertaking doctoral research projects situated at the interface of academy and indigenous communities. Moreover, Māori students experience various degrees of tension between their sometimes strong cultural identities and their emerging and, therefore, less certain identities as researchers and scholars.

year: 2011