China's Investment Abroad and Imports to Countries Along the Belt and Road

Belt and Road is an open regional economic cooperation system. The strategy of Belt and Road is proposed to promote economic development and trade cooperation between China and the countries along the route, and to jointly build a community of shared interests and destiny between China and the countries along the rou2te. Under the current international background of global economic integration and trade protectionism, Researching on China’s investment abroad and imports to countries along the Belt and Road has strong practical significance. This article analyzes the status quo of China's investment and imports in countries along the Belt and Road, studies the existing problems, and proposes countermeasures.

Implications of Modern Germany’s Educational Streaming for China’s General-vocational Streaming in an Ageing Society

China, which is at an important stage of economic transformation, is facing the double pressure of an aging population and a shortage of skilled workers. The vocational education system in China today cannot meet the development needs of the national economy. Germany’s successful experience of general-vocational streaming has some significance for the current unbalanced talent structure in China. At the same time, in the process of implementing education streaming, we should also pay attention to the generation of students’ self-identity and help them complete their career planning; vocational schools themselves should promote the quality of teaching, improve the vocational education system and school-enterprise cooperation system to fill the talent needs of China’s economic development in the new era. The vocational schools themselves need to improve the quality of teaching and consummate the vocational education system and school-enterprise cooperation system, so as to fill the talent needs of China’s economic development in the new era.

Innovation Orientation in the Non-profit Sector: Analysis of Its Impact on the Performance of Spanish Non-governmental Development Organizations

Since 2015, the approval of the 2030 Agenda and of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has led to a notable reshaping and expansion of the architecture of the international cooperation system. The SDGs mark a new path for the planning processes of the different actors working for development, expanding their goals, proposing an update of the roles they must play, and defining new frameworks for relationships and spaces for action. Non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs), whose traditional mission focused on reducing the poverty gap, defending human rights, or promoting environmental protection, must be able to respond satisfactorily to these new challenges, pass beyond their classic positions, and adapt to an increasingly complex and turbulent global context. Achieving high impact in the SDGs requires development organizations to be more agile and innovative. With the intention of bringing visibility to the importance that innovation can play in the success and results achieved by development cooperation organizations, the main objective of this study was to validate, through a sample of Spanish NGDOs, a causal model that represents the positive contribution which innovation orientation generates in the result of the activity of these entities. This research concludes by confirming that innovation orientation favors the attainment of a higher degree of success in the projects and actions carried out by non-profit entities which promote the SDGs, which has a direct and positive impact on the performance they achieve.

An Improved Cellular Automaton Traffic Model Based on STCA Model Considering Variable Direction Lanes in I-VICS

In this paper, we propose an improved cellular automaton model for the traffic operation characteristics of variable direction lanes in an Intelligent Vehicle Infrastructure Cooperation System (I-VICS). According to the proposed flow of variable oriented lane operation in the I-VICS environment, the idea for the improved model has been determined. According to an analysis of different signal states, an improved STCA model is proposed, in combination with the speed induction method of I-VICS and the variable direction lane switching strategy. In the assumed regular simulation environment, the STCA and STCA-V models are simulated under different vehicular densities. The results indicated that traffic parameters such as traffic flow and average speed of the variable direction lanes in the I-VICS environment are better than those in the conventional environment according to the operating rules of the proposed model. Moreover, lane utilization increased for the same density.

Signal Control Method for through and Left-Turn Shared Lane by Setting Left-Turn Waiting Area at Signalized Intersections

This paper proposes a signal control method for the through and left-turn shared lanes at signalized intersections to solve traffic conflicts between left-turn vehicles and opposing through vehicles by setting left-turn waiting area (LWA). Delays and stops are weighted to form an integrated performance index (PI) in a vehicle-to-infrastructure cooperation system. The PI models pertaining to all vehicles are established based on the LWA intersection. In addition, an optimized method of signal timing parameters is constructed by minimizing the average PI. VISSIM simulation shows that the average PI decreases by 6.51% compared with the original layout and signal timing plan of the intersection, since the increased delay of the side-road left-turn vehicles is insufficient to offset the reduced delay of the side-road through vehicles after the improvement. The sensitivity analysis shows that the greater the traffic volume of the phase including the through and left-turn shared lanes, the higher the operation efficiency of the LWA intersection compared with the typical permitted phase intersection. When the left-turn vehicles of the shared lanes in each cycle are less than the stop spaces, the LWA intersection can effectively reduce the average PI of the shared lanes. Furthermore, the more the stop spaces in the LWA, the lower the average PI in the same traffic conditions.

Support for teachers to reduce early school leaving

The early school leaving is an important topic in many countries. High early school leaving rates have many costs to individuals and society as a whole (Andrei et al., 2011). State Education Quality Service in Latvia implements European Social Fund Project No. 8.3.4.0/16/I/001 “Support for reducing early school leaving” to reduce the number of children and young people leaving school. The project promotes the creation of a sustainable cooperation system between the municipality, school, educators and parents to identify children and young people at risk of early school leaving and provide them with personalized support. Teacher has great influence on students’ educational decisions (Dunn et al., 2004). The way teachers see themselves as professionals and how they compose their identities in schools is important factor in preventing early school leaving. In order for the teachers to feel confident in their contribution and possible positive solution to the problem, they must have knowledge of the problem and effective solutions. According to the Project teachers are given the opportunity to professionally develop and strengthen their skills for working with young people. The aim of the study is to study the role of a teacher in reducing early school leaving and to reveal the necessary forms of support for the performance of pedagogical activity. Data for this study came from a survey and focus group discussion. 815 teachers participated in the study. Analysis of the data reveals that there are several dimensions in the role of the teacher in reducing early school leaving: creating a favorable and safe learning environment, promoting cooperation with parents and colleagues, improving one’s pedagogical competence, helping students to identify and solve learning and interpersonal problems, and revealing their mental and physical potential. The research results show main areas of professional development of teachers: sharing experience with colleagues and learning from each other, learning student’s individuality at a greater extent, diversification of teaching methods, promoting personal development.

THEORETICAL-METHODOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE INTERACTION PROCESS RESEARCH OF SUBJECTS OF DIFFERENT ECONOMIC AND LEGAL FORMS OF ECONOMY

This article proposes to consider cooperation as a process of cooperation and interaction of subjects of different economic and legal forms of management, in order to comprehensively analyze various aspects of this concept and on this basis formulates the author’s content — interpretation of this category. In particular, in the article authors, highlighted some aspects of the interpretation of «cooperation» that most authors pay attention when exploring this concept. Firstly, the allocation of the economic meaning of cooperation, while paying attention to the disclosure of one of its most important characteristics — saving resources through their shared use. Secondly, consideration of the organizational and managerial aspect, which leads to the fact that the cooperation is formed primarily with the purpose of organizing the process of cooperation of many subjects of market relations for the realization of tasks both for the production of goods (industrial cooperation) and for the provision of services or various financial — credit operations (credit cooperation). Thirdly, by paying attention to the social attributes of the cooperative, where the main characteristic is joint socio-public mutual assistance in the process of achieving the goal. Depending on these aspects and characteristics of cooperation, the authors analyzed the existing approaches to defining the concept of «cooperation» as a process of cooperation and interaction of subjects of different economic and legal forms of economic activity, proposed by both domestic and foreign scientists. The authors outline the main characteristics of the content of «cooperation». The article also describes the author’s interpretation of the concept of cooperation in a broad sense. The defining meaning of the concept of «co-operation» is the system, since cooperation is an important system-forming element of socio-economic relations. If we treat the system as a set of interrelated elements, then the cooperative should be perceived as a system that connects certain elements, components to solve the common goal. Of course, cooperation should be seen as a rather complex concept, because it covers the whole system socially economic relations, including various legal and moral aspects. In addition, cooperation is a special system of harmonization of interests and in which the spirit of justice, corporate spirit, collectivity and corporate spirit are laid.Cooperation is a specific integrating, synthesizing, structural, system-forming element of the system of socio-economic relations, which aims to provide integration and interaction of subjects of different economic and legal forms of management common goal while minimizing costs. We believe that this concept should be understood broadly.The article states a clear distinction between the concepts of cooperation and cooperative, which are often identified in practice. Keywords: cooperative, production cooperation, labor cooperation, cooperation, system-forming element, emergence effect, synergistic effect. JEL Classification B49, L10 Formulas: 0; fig.: 1; tabl.: 0; bibl.: 13.

Pandemic-induced changes in the SDG priorities and implementation mechanisms in the international cooperation system (analytical review)

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a rethinking of the approaches to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, both nationally and within the multilateral system. The crisis has forced international actors not only to reassess humanity's capability to achieve the Goals by 2030, but to question the relevance of the Agenda's priorities in the new environment. This work reviews the positions of key international institutions on sustainable pathways to global economic recovery.