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PurposeSmart contracts using blockchain technology (BCT) is a tool that decentralizes authority and makes it easier to upgrade the contract administration process by providing an efficient system. Current literature provides a good overview of contracts in the construction industry; however, the specific details of BCT's smart contracts applications in the three categories have not been addressed adequately: (1) information quality, (2) enhancing project schedule and progress payment time and (3) reducing conflicts among project stakeholders. Thus, this study aims to analyze smart contracts using BCT by creating a computerized contract model, specifically evaluating its impact on the three identified categories.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper BCT-SmContract was developed through an automated program that utilizes blockchain to define the contractual agreements between different parties in a construction project. BCT-SmContract model provides a new technique to overcome the current challenges associated with factors identified in this study, i.e. (1) information quality, (2) enhancing project schedule and progress payment time and (3) reducing conflicts among project stakeholders. Afterward, the model was tested to ensure validity and reliability through a construction project.FindingsThe findings indicated that BCT-SmContract was approximately 90% faster to execute the contract and 100% accurate in reflecting the correct information about the project status, resulting in reduced conflicts.Originality/valueThis study has contributed in upgrading the traditional contracting method in construction by developing an automated smart contract model to enhance the processes and achieve higher accuracy.

Accompanied by the development of information technology and the impact of economic globalization, e-commerce has developed rapidly, has impacted the traditional supply chain. The E-supply chain emerged. This article described the evolution of the supply chain, analysis of the characteristics of the traditional supply chain and the E-supply chain, and the corresponding typical supply chain contract model of evolution.

Electricity markets have been established in many countries of the world. Electricity and services are traded in the competitive environment of electricity markets, which generates a large amount of information during the operation process. To maintain transparency and foster competition of electricity markets, timely and precise information regarding the operation of electricity market should be disclosed to the market participants through a centralized and authorized information disclosure mechanism. However, the information disclosure mechanism varies greatly in electricity markets because of different market models and transaction methods. This paper reviews information disclosure mechanisms of several typical electricity markets with the poolco model, bilateral contract model, and hybrid model. The disclosed information and clearing models in these markets are summarized to provide an overview of the present information disclosure mechanisms in typical deregulated power systems worldwide. Moreover, the various experiences for establishing an efficient information disclosure mechanism is summarized and discussed.

This paper constructs the logical framework of the smart contract model based on the sale and purchase contract transaction, integrating the legal framework and the smart contract. The smart contract model merges blockchain technology’s decentralized features with smart contracts to create a decentralized service mode for sale and purchase transactions. The classification of transaction attributes optimizes and adjusts the matching degree calculation method to meet the needs of both buyers and sellers. The matching degree determines the total satisfaction of both buyers and sellers. The simulation experiment model is designed to analyze the matching results, and the experimental results indicate that the overall utility value range is between 0.1 and 0.5, resulting in a higher level of satisfaction for both parties involved. Applying the model to actual purchase and sale transaction contracts, the expected profit of transaction users after using smart contracts is 26,300 yuan higher than that without using smart contracts. The accuracy and confidence scores of experienced users are 0,8886 and 4.0493, respectively, when evaluating their perceptions of the use of smart contracts. Smart contracts can help participants identify sales and purchase problems and provide innovative perspectives on the application of contract law.

The aim of the research is to determine for a contract’s “Design and construction works of Vilnius city wastewater treatment plant” the most suitable variant of the combination of the FIDIC standard construction contract model and the purchase pricing of contract works using the SAW. Based on expert assessments, a matrix of possible solutions is formed by interviewing 8 experts (4 public procurement specialists and 4 civil engineers). Calculations have shown that the most appropriate combination of the FIDIC standard construction contract model and contract purchase pricing is the FIDIC Yellow Book and fixed price pricing. The obtained research results mainly reflect the essence of the FIDIC Yellow Book, assessing the specifics of the contract and the complexity of the planned works. Article in Lithuanian. Standartinių statybos rangos sutarčių modelio ir rangos darbų pirkimo kainodaros parinkimas Santrauka Tyrimo tikslas – SAW metodu nustatyti rangos sutarties „Vilniaus miesto valyklos nuotekų įrenginių projektavimo ir statybos darbai“ FIDIC standartinių statybos rangos sutarčių modelio ir rangos darbų pirkimo kainodaros derinio tinkamiausią variantą. Remiantis ekspertų vertinimais, apklausus 8 ekspertus (4 viešųjų pirkimų specialistus ir 4 statybos inžinierius) sudaroma galimų sprendimų matrica. Atlikus skaičiavimus nustatyta, kad tinkamiausias FIDIC standartinių statybos rangos sutarčių modelio ir rangos darbų pirkimo kainodaros derinys yra FIDIC Geltonoji knyga ir fiksuotos kainos kainodara. Gauti tyrimo rezultatai iš esmės atspinti FIDIC Geltonosios knygos esmę, vertinant rangos sutarties specifiką ir planuojamų darbų sudėtingumą. Reikšminiai žodžiai: rangos sutartis, FIDIC rangos sutarčių modelis, rangos sutarčių kainodaros parinkimas.

Facing the information era of rapid development of the Internet, university watercolor education is in urgent need of finding a new development direction. Through the emerging education model of Internet+education, this paper regards knowledge sharing as the transaction behavior of buyers and sellers in the knowledge market and establishes a smart contract model based on the knowledge supply and demand functions. A blockchain knowledge-sharing-based watercolor painting classroom model is proposed to break the traditional teaching role and apply it to the teaching and practical analysis of watercolor painting in universities. With the Internet+ education model, the teaching diversity increased by 26.90%, and the teaching interactivity increased by 6.12% compared with the original. Nearly 60% of the students thought that the teaching effect of the Internet+ education mode was improved. In the teaching practice, the students’ watercolor painting works received 7.53% more A grades in color usage compared to the original. For the evaluation of spatial level, the students who received A grades increased by 18.76% compared to the original. The Internet+ education model provides a new path for the development of university watercolor painting education, which helps cultivate watercolor painting artistic talents with both inclusive artistic thoughts and unique personal artistic characteristics.

What transforms a desirable project on a government wish list to an attractive investment opportunity in the eyes of a potential private sector partner? This guide seeks to enhance the chances of developing effective partnerships between the public and the private sectors by addressing one of the main obstacles to the effective delivery of public-private partnership (PPP) projects: having the right information on the right project for the right partners at the right time. Data from the World Bank and the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) private participation in infrastructure (PPI) project database indicate that private sector investment in infrastructure in developing economies grew steadily over the past decade. By 2007 the levels had finally surpassed the peak levels seen in 1997, the end of the previous growth spurt. This guide focuses specifically on what should be done, and when, in order to prepare projects to attract the right long-term private partners, procure their involvement, and manage the partnership. This guide is not a detailed project preparation manual; rather, it seeks to provide an overview of the process and what is involved so that greater realism can be applied to this challenging task and adequate resource plans can be developed.

Purpose – “Back-to-back” contracts are widely used in the engineering and construction industry and are recently spreading into the telecommunication industry. In back-to-back contracts, the principals require the main contractors to assume majority of the liability in delivering a project and in turn, the main contractors try to allocate most of that liability to their subcontractors. The successful delivery of the projects hinges on how the contracts are drafted and risks are allocated between the parties involved. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a comparative analysis of “back-to-back” subcontracts in the telecommunication and construction industries. Design/methodology/approach – By examining contracting practices and texts from contract documents for the telecommunication and construction industries, this paper reveals how certain aspects of “back-to-back” contracts lose their meaning when seen out of context. Using comparative research method, this paper discusses reasons why the adoption of “back-to-back” contracts should be a matter of degree, based on the business strategy and relevance to the intended transactions rather than on the typical model of “back-to-back” contracts. Findings – Good contracting practices should be such as to enable parties negotiate the contract terms to ensure clarity and common understanding before commencing the project. Construction universally adopts back-to-back even for minor straightforward works, an approach supported by readily available industry model contracts as well as the traditional tender process (design before construction). In telecoms, back-to-back is mainly desired where the subcontractor has a major part of the scope, whereas minor subcontractor scope is considered “leverage commodity” where suppliers are engaged using in-house contract templates, often in a frame contract arrangement, to satisfy corporate strategies for supplier management and pricing. Originality/value – This paper provides value by presenting an insightful review of the nature of back-to-back contracting practices in the telecommunication and construction industries. The paper outlines advantages, disadvantages and opportunities for improving “back-to-back” contracting practices in the telecommunication and construction industries.

China is implementing a pilot project to reform the property rights of farmland water facilities to solve the serious problems of chaotic end-of-pipe governance and inefficient irrigation from farmers. Based on microscopic research data of farm households in a typical pilot in Lu Liang County, Yunnan Province, in China, this study uses the Tobit model, and SEM was used to explore the impact of property rights reform on the irrigation efficiency of farmers and the potential mechanism paths. We further analyzed the differences in governance logic and irrigation efficiency between the two property rights models of “multiple cooperative governance” and “private contract governance” formed after the reform. The findings are as follows: (1) Compared with nonreformed areas, reformed areas have a higher promotion of adoption of water-saving technologies and a better quality of facility maintenance, which significantly contributes to irrigation efficiency, but farmers’ perception of water scarcity negatively affects irrigation efficiency; (2) there are differences between the “multiple cooperative governance model” and “private contract governance model” in terms of the mechanism paths to improve irrigation efficiency, resulting in different focuses between the two models, in which the former one has better irrigation efficiency while cutting off some of the farmers’ benefits and the latter benefits more farmers while losing some of the irrigation efficiency. Finally, this study recommends that China should continue to promote the reform of farmland water property rights while focusing on promoting water conservation technologies, improving the quality of facility maintenance and facility water supply capacity, enhancing farmers’ awareness of water scarcity, and implementing a more water-efficient “multiple cooperative governance model”. The results of this study provide a model with Chinese characteristics for developing property rights policies and governance models for farmland water facilities in developing countries.

In this work, we propose a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model for optimal planning of industrial gas supply chain, which integrates supply contracts, production scheduling, truck and rail-car scheduling, as well as inventory management under the Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) paradigm. The objective used here is minimisation of the total operating cost consisting of purchasing of raw material, production, and transportation costs by trucks/rail-cars so as to satisfy customer demands over a given time horizon. The key decisions for production sites include production schedule and purchase schedule of raw material, while the distribution decisions involve customer to plant/depot allocation, quantity transported through rail network, truck delivery amounts, and times. In addition, a relaxation approach is proposed to solve the problem efficiently. An industrial case study is evaluated to illustrate the applicability of the integrated optimisation framework.