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The purpose of this paper is to formulate an integrated product policy (IPP) framework for the Republic of Macedonia, taking into account unique circumstances faced by the country, particularly the mandatory transposition of European Union (EU) environmental legislation, limited country-specific data availability and the low level of environmental awareness.

The proposed IPP indicators at EU level and the available indicators in Macedonian conditions were used in order to create a composite IPP index as a method of measurement of the level of IPP implementation in the country. Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) are used as a policy decision approach for IPP. The purpose is to evaluate what decisions (taken now and in the future) would lead to the best possible level of IPP implementation. The approach applicability for long-term policy planning is demonstrated using a simple numerical example.

A stylized numerical example utilizing the composite IPP index and the MDP approach indicate that policy makers should focus not only on transposing the mandatory EU legislation related to IPP, but simultaneously work to raise public awareness of IPP and environmental issues, since this opens the door for more beneficial policy alternatives in the future. Considering the long-term consequences of actions taken in the present time should be an essential part of policy design, given the pervasive and long-term nature of the effects of IPP policy. It is also very important to revisit the assumptions at regular intervals and incorporate into this framework the new learning and data obtained with time.

This IPP framework and quantitative policy decision approach, in spite of its limitations, is a valuable and informative guide for IPP policy makers in the Republic of Macedonia. By incorporating a long-term view, explicit measurement of progress towards IPP implementation and the consideration of possible future consequences of policy decisions made in the present, it should be possible to significantly increase the likelihood of successful IPP implementation and improve environmental outcomes than those obtained using more conventional approaches.

Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Examines the ninth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

In the early 1990s, the Thai government initiated a process of reform of the electricity industry with the argument that such reform would improve the performance of the industry and contribute to enhancing the overall economic prosperity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the veracity of this argument by analysing both the technical and environmental performance of the Thai electricity industry.

A data envelopment analysis‐based methodology is employed in this study to measure the productivity of the Thai electricity industry, for the period 1980‐2006. This method enables the decomposition of productivity changes into technical and efficiency changes, and hence enables one to determine if changes in productivity are due to electricity reform (efficiency gains) or due to autonomous technological improvements.

The study reveals that the increase in the productivity of the Thai electricity industry over the period 1980‐2006 was mainly driven by technological improvements and that industry reform has had insignificant impact on productivity. Further, the impacts of electricity reform on the environment appear to be relatively modest – this too was driven by government regulation that supports the use of less environmentally detrimental fuels for electricity generation by the private producers, rather than electricity reform.

The analysis in this paper contributes to the literature on productivity and efficiency, by applying the DEA method to a time series data for a single industry. Additionally, the analysis of environmental performance of the Thai electricity industry – to the best of knowledge of the authors – is the first of its kind for the Thai electricity industry.

Laminated composite materials are a staple of modern material development, with extremely strong fibers being combined with resins to form versatile and efficient engineering structures. However, the advancements in material development must be accompanied by equally advanced methods for damage detection, localization and quantification, as these materials develop inherently unique failure modes. This paper aims to further the study of the use of modal shapes and their spatial derivatives to localize damage in laminated composite rectangular plates. Exploring different damage scenarios and models, as well as different orders of mode shape derivatives of laminated plates.

ANSYS® Parametric Design Language (APDL) is used to perform finite element analysis of plates with several damage scenarios and damage mechanics models. MATLAB® is used to post-process these simulation results, namely by calculating the derivatives using finite differences, applying three distinct sets of damage indices, including one that is presently proposed. To mimic experimental conditions and test the resilience of the derivative orders, different noise levels are introduced into the results of the finite element analysis. A quality index is employed to quantitatively evaluate the solutions, mainly regarding the response to the introduced noise.

The results show that the applied damage localization methods have comparable results in terms of quality. These results also show that the quality of the damage localizations is higher when the damaged areas coincide with high displacement/curvature areas of the mode shapes and that higher noise levels have a more noticeable negative impact when employing higher-order derivatives.

Exploring different damage scenarios and models, as well as different orders of mode shape derivatives of laminated plates. The influence of a specific damage layer on the order of derivatives of modal response is evaluated, showing promising results concerning its identification.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a three‐year contract to provide learning disability in‐reach to young offenders serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) at HMYOI Aylesbury.

A whole population sample (n=75) was obtained between December 2009 and July 2011, where all had received an assessment of intellectual functioning using either the in‐reach screening protocol, consisting of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test – Version 2 (KBIT‐2) and four background questions, the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) or the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).

It was found that 5.5 per cent of the population had a standard score of less than 70 (significant impairment) and a further 18.6 per cent fell between 70 and 79 (borderline range). The mean standard score of the KBIT‐2 (85.8) was consistent with previous studies of prison populations. The background had a significant but weak association with the KBIT‐2 scores, but lacked sufficient specificity.

Further research is required if these findings are to be generalised to the wider prison population.

Systematic screening for learning disability can be of clinical benefit in identifying the needs of young offenders, which is the first step to addressing these needs.

A number of publications by the Department of Health, the Home Office and third sector organisations have identified the need for services for offenders with a learning disability. In‐reach provision to prisons is still in its infancy and, currently, no gold standard exists for screening tools.

This research has two primary goals: first, to develop a composite index that evaluates the degree to which Asian–Pacific economies are prepared to engage in public–private partnerships (PPPs), and second, to investigate the factors that have been most influential in the formation of PPP arrangements in the nations' infrastructure over the course of the period 1995–2016.

The study constructs sectoral and overall index of possible determinants of PPP. Subsequently, it examines each constructed index's role in PPP investment. The author also conducted a panel data analysis to understand the role of each of the potential determinants on PPP projects and investments. This paper analyzes the author’s empirical models using a range of cross-section and panel estimators, including Poisson, zero-inflated Poisson and fixed effect.

The study’s results based on cross-section analysis suggest that regulatory and institution quality, institutional arrangement and regulatory frameworks, financial market development and macroeconomic stability positively impact investment in PPP. Moreover, the results depict that financial market development has the most substantial impact on PPP investment, followed by macroeconomic stability and prior experience with PPPs. The panel data analysis shows that per-capita income, financial development, inflation, debt, resource import and fuel export are crucial determinants of PPP in Asian–Pacific economies.

Governments of the countries should promptly amend the important policies outlined in this study and adopt a more robust strategy to foster a competitive PPP environment. This will aid in maintaining transparency and gaining the confidence of investors. The study’s findings may assist policymakers in focusing on specific areas in need of improvement. Social welfare and industrialization are ultimately enhanced by the formulation of such policies and by attracting additional infrastructure investment.

This is the first attempt to rank countries on the basis of PPP enablers. Unlike previous studies, this study examines the role of a large number of indicators in determining PPP investment and projects in cross-section as well as panel data framework. The study also investigates the effects of PPP specific provisions and rules. Furthermore, the focus is specifically on Asian–Pacific countries, which are a mix of third-world, emerging, developing and developed countries. Focusing on Asia–Pacific is also crucial because the region is home to most of the world's population, and the region's infrastructure outcomes significantly impact their lives.

Despite the support of digital technology, there is a high degree of ambiguity and fluidity in the boundaries of digital products. This is because the addition of distributed innovation entities has an impact on the scope and scale of digital product innovation. Building upon the knowledge orchestration perspective, this study aims to construct a theoretical model, comprising distributed innovation, knowledge reorchestration and digital product innovation performance, and discuss the moderating roles of intellectual property protection and knowledge exchange activities.

Using a sample of 362 Chinese science and technology enterprises, the scholarship’s framework and hypotheses were tested using regression and bootstrap analysis.

The results confirm that distributed innovation positively enhances enterprises’ digital product innovation performance; knowledge reorchestration plays a partial mediating role in the linkage amongst distributed innovation and digital product innovation performance; and intellectual property protection and knowledge exchange activities negatively and positively moderate the mediating role of knowledge reorchestration amongst distributed innovation and digital product innovation performance, respectively.

This empirical scholarship explores the effect mechanism of intellectual property protection, knowledge exchange activities and knowledge reorchestration on the linkage amongst distributed innovation and digital product innovation performance. This paper expands the theoretical application of distributed innovation, knowledge orchestration and other related theories in the context of the digital economy and further provides a policymaking reference for the improvement of enterprises’ digital product innovations.

This study aims to identify and gauge the sustainability indicators (SUSIs) for sustainable Hydroelectric Power (HEP) project development. It examines major SUSIs under the social, economic and environmental (SEE) fronts and categorizes them under push and pull impacts which helps to identify challenges and opportunities associated with projects. Additionally, the study calculates an empirical sustainability index (SI) to assess the sustainability level of HEP. Finally, the study suggests mitigation measures across stakeholders, which will optimize government/developer/investor investments.

This paper examines the interaction of sustainable HEP development with SUSIs using Uttarakhand as a study area. Additionally, SI has been developed quantitatively. For the indicator classification, the authors conducted a literature review and secondary survey of all affected parties, including investors, developers, NGOs and villagers. The fuzzy logic theory (FLT) is used to determine the SI of the study area and classify projects in their level of sustainability. On the basis of expert opinion and literature review, mitigation measures are proposed across stakeholders.

The authors found that there is a mixed effect of SUSIs on HEP development across various projects in Uttarakhand. Furthermore, the authors suggest that index-based assessment and planned collaboration play a significant role in sustainable HEP development. Mitigation measures should be suggested to all affected stakeholders based on specific project issues, i.e. collaborations, training, public awareness campaigns, and initiatives by the government that would improve sustainability conditions.

In addition to supporting the ongoing and upcoming initiatives launched by the Government of India, including the Green Energy Corridor, independent power producers (IPPs); and the India-Renewable Resources Development Project with IDA and participates in Net zero target.

The structured, sustainable HEP planning suggested in the study will help to conserve society, economy, save resources and in parallel reduce the cost and time of developers and policymakers. This will also help to improve the socioeconomic status of the villagers and prolong the life of the project.

The innovative SI-based push-pull approach identifies a sustainable HEP project planning.