In the process of government procurement of public services (GPPS), adverse selection and moral hazard caused by dual asymmetric information can damage public interests and negatively affect the quality of public services. To improve the quality of GPPS, in this study, quality incentive contract models under the condition of dual asymmetric information are designed. These models are based on the optimal incentive contract model in principal–agent theory. The results show that under dual asymmetric information conditions, incentive contracts designed for a continuous type of service capability can identify and stimulate the service abilities of social organizations.

When microstrip antennas (MSAs) are optimised, the full‐wave electromagnetic simulation takes long time to get the result which is very time consuming. Hence, the knowledge‐based neural network (KBNN) is used here to replace the electromagnetic simulation to shorten the calculating time and raise efficiency. However, prior knowledge of KBNN is always obtained by empirical formulas and neural networks, both of them are heavy and complicated. In this study, Gaussian process regression (GPR) is proposed to get the prior knowledge. The modelling of MSA is realised by the prior knowledge input method. The short optimal time and excellent optimal results prove that the proposed KBNN is a fast and effective method for the optimisation of MSAs.

PurposeSmart senior care industry in China currently faces a series of practical difficulties such as an imbalance in the demand and supply structure, service products unable to cater to the actual needs of the elderly and a low degree of marketization. This study therefore proposes using grey relational analysis and the Fuzzy-quality function development (QFD) quality improvement method to help solve these problems.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed method converts the fuzzy requirements of the elderly into the technical characteristics of technologically augmented senior care service products. It then, uses the QFD relationship matrix, combined with grey relational analysis, to analyze the relationship between the needs of elderly and the converted technical characteristics, and subsequently identifies key technical characteristics.FindingsResults show that an improvement in the smart senior care service platform according to the differences of the elderly's preferences can significantly improve users' satisfaction with the service in addition to enhancing market competitiveness of the technologically assisted senior care service products.Originality/valueA novel method to improve the need of smart senior care is proposed by considering age difference. The proposed grey relational analysis and Fuzzy-QFD quality improvement method can help improve the service quality of the smart senior care service platform.

Abstract-Interlanguage pragmatic competence is of vital importance for the EFL learners because misunderstanding always occurs among people from different cultures. The present study aimed to develop an interlanguage pragmatic competence test in the field of speech acts with WDCT. Altogether 100 English major students and 33 native speakers in Guizhou University of China participated in the developing of the test, and another 60 English majors in Guizhou University of China took the test. The analysis of the reliability and validity of WDCT was based on Many Facets Rasch Model. The results showed that WDCT had both high reliability and validity in the Chinese context in testing the interlanguage pragmatic competence in speech acts performance.