Common Arrangement Research Articles

Instructional Planning Modifications to Meet Social Distancing Requirements: Secondary and Post-Secondary Options

Secondary and post-secondary science and engineering educators share common class arrangements with both a laboratory and lecture component, coordinating both components so they build upon each other to create meaningful learning experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic forced educators to convert lectures and exams to online delivery. Doing so came with trade-off decisions about sacrificing laboratory experience goals of hands-on practice, problem-solving, and learning concepts at a deeper, tactile level. Due to rapidly changing conditions, educators faced course redesign to accommodate social distancing and virtual learning requirements. In this study, a team of undergraduate college students including one secondary science preservice teacher planned a set of lessons for STEM outreach to a K–12 audience. The team faced challenges in planning meaningful learning experiences in the face of COVID-19 uncertainty. Options for secondary and post-secondary educators to consider are provided in this article.

A petroleum upstream production sharing contract with investments in renewable energy: The case of Lebanon

Developing countries endowed with petroleum resources face various challenges in balancing their economic development needs and their contribution to combating climate change. They aim at increasing their reliance on renewable energy; however, they are faced with regulatory, financial, technical, and knowledge-related barriers. Many oil and gas companies started to transition from their core business in oil and gas to the wider energy field. In this paper, we show how the most common contractual arrangement between developing countries and oil and gas companies - the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) - can be modified to include renewable energy elements. We introduce a Renewable Contribution parameter that defines the share of the company profit petroleum that should be re-invested in renewable energy in the host country and we develop an optimization model that defines the state objective function and constraints. We apply the modified PSC to the case of Lebanon after populating various oil and gas and renewable energy scenarios. We show that a limited Renewable Contribution of 10% can provide a large share of the investment needs of the renewable energy sector and can contribute to emission reduction, economic development and job creation while providing companies with attractive economic incentives.

Genetic causes and management of male infertility.

Infertility affects approximately 15% of couples. With infertility such a common problem in a generally healthy age group, complete evaluation is needed of both men and women. Infertility work up for men includes a semen analysis, the results of which suggest various supplemental studies, including karyotype. Karyotype is indicated when a patient has findings on history or physical exam concerning for chromosomal abnormalities, azoospermia, or severe oligospermia (count <5 million/mL). The most common chromosomal numerical abnormality found on karyotype is Klinefelter syndrome which is classified as redundant sex chromosomes, with the most common chromosomal arrangement being 47, XXY. If a patient is found to have a chromosomal abnormality such as Klinefelter’s, there is still a chance of fertility using testicular sperm extraction and in-vitro fertilization.

Vertical Restraints-Tying and Bundling

Various types of conditional arrangements exist in the market. Two such common arrangements are ‘tying’ and ‘bundling’. Tying in simple terms arose when the seller or company of a product or service makes the buyer buy the second product conditional along with the first product. This second product is also called a tied product which buyers don’t want to buy. Whereas, bundling occurs when two or more products are sold as a package of one. In this case, the tied product is not available freely to the consumer or the buyer is compelled to buy both products as the package of one. Both the practice of tying and bundling is commonly seen in our daily life ranging from shopkeeper products to buying digital products. This research paper deals with the legal framework and different cases that have evolved over years in the USA, UK and India that deals with tying and bundling. The author finally suggests much-needed changes in these legal frameworks.

Specific capacity investment in supply chains

In a supply chain composed of a supplier and a buyer, the supplier must make two decisions, buyer-specific capacity and cost-reduction investment for each unit of the installed specialized capacity, before demand uncertainties have been resolved. However, because capacity is not verifiable, the firms cannot commit to firm contract terms. Bearing the upfront investment cost, the supplier under-builds specific capacity and under-invests in the cost-reduction innovation, thereby lowering supply chain efficiency. A common arrangement is that the parties agree to some initial contract terms ex ante, and may renegotiate ex post. This paper investigates whether several common types of contract can induce the supplier to build specialized capacity and invest in cos-reduction innovation at the first-best levels, and how ex post renegotiation affects the results. Under quantity-only contracts, the supplier will over-invest in cost-reduction innovation but under-build specific capacity either with or without ex post renegotiation. Under price-only contracts, the supplier will under-invest in cost-reduction innovation but over-build specific capacity. Ex post renegotiation improves the channel profit and brings the supplier’s decisions closer to the firstbest, but its decisions remain suboptimal. However, there exist one quantity-plus-price initial agreement and a schedule of option contracts that yield the first-best decisions. The price/quantities do not change whether ex post renegotiation is permissible. However, channel efficiency and the firms’ profits improve when ex post renegotiation is permissible. Because of the flexibility of option contracts, the firms renegotiate only if the buyer exercises up options and wants to buy more ex post, while they renegotiate with certainty under the optimal quantity-plus-price initial contract.

Mixed-dimensional InAs nanowire on layered molybdenum disulfide heterostructures via selective-area van der Waals epitaxy.

Self-assembly of vertically aligned III–V semiconductor nanowires (NWs) on two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) nanomaterials allows for integration of novel mixed-dimensional nanosystems with unique properties for optoelectronic and nanoelectronic device applications. Here, selective-area vdW epitaxy (SA-vdWE) of InAs NWs on isolated 2D molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) domains is reported for the first time. The MOCVD growth parameter space (i.e., V/III ratio, growth temperature, and total molar flow rates of metalorganic and hydride precursors) is explored to achieve pattern-free positioning of single NWs on isolated multi-layer MoS2 micro-plates with one-to-one NW-to-MoS2 domain placement. The introduction of a pre-growth poly-l-lysine surface treatment is highlighted as a necessary step for mitigation of InAs nucleation along the edges of triangular MoS2 domains and for NW growth along the interior region of 2D micro-plates. Analysis of NW crystal structures formed under the optimal SA-vdWE condition revealed a disordered combination of wurtzite and zinc-blend phases. A transformation of the NW sidewall faceting structure is observed, resulting from simultaneous radial overgrowth during axial NW synthesis. A common lattice arrangement between axially-grown InAs NW core segments and MoS2 domains is described as the epitaxial basis for vertical NW growth. A model is proposed for a common InAs/MoS2 sub-lattice structure, consisting of three multiples of the cubic InAs unit cell along the [21̄1̄] direction, commensurately aligned with a 14-fold multiple of the Mo–Mo (or S–S) spacing along the [101̄0] direction of MoS2 hexagonal lattice. The SA-vdWE growth mode described here enables controlled hybrid integration of mixed-dimensional III–V-on-2D heterostructures as novel nanosystems for applications in optoelectronics, nanoelectronics, and quantum enabling technologies.

Common Ownership, Corporate Control and Price Competition

We examine price competition with homogeneous products in the presence of general common ownership arrangements allowing for different corporate control structures. We show that equilibria with positive profits exist (including the monopoly outcome) when the manager places the same weight on the profi of her firm as on the average profit of all the other firms. This condition supports symmetric and asymmetric stakes and can arise as an equilibrium of a network formation game or a bargaining process.

National policy councils for science, technology, and innovation: A scheme for structural definition and implementation

AbstractNational policy councils for science, technology, and innovation have become a common institutional arrangement in supporting governments to overcome the problems of coordination derived from the complexity of national innovation systems. These organizations are expected to involve stakeholders with strategic capacity in defining long-term goals for science, technology, and innovation, to coordinate efforts and to monitor execution. However, governments face several options to devise the proper council for their purposes, and the absence of a common framework may induce theoretical and analytical difficulties. This exploratory and descriptive study proposes a scheme for defining the structure of such a council and a comprehensive approach that is based on the novel Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) database; analyzing the results obtained for thirty-one countries. The results obtained from the index confirm heterogeneity, while the clustering suggests three types of councils. The proposed scheme provides a standard tool for the study and implementation of these councils.

La reconfiguración familiar de los migrantes deportados en la frontera norte de México

El endurecimiento de la política antiinmigrante de Estados Unidos ha provocado la expulsión de millones de migrantes durante los últimos 20 años con consecuencias para sus familias. En este artículo se analiza la reconfiguración familiar de los migrantes deportados en la frontera norte de México. El estudio se basa en una metodología mixta, que incluye el análisis de la Encuesta Nacional de la Dinámica Demográfica 2014 y 31 entrevistas semiestructuradas aplicadas a personas deportadas en Tijuana y Ciudad Juárez. Entre los hallazgos cuantitativos se encuentran altos porcentajes de deportados en hogares unipersonales y bajos porcentajes en hogares nucleares, en comparación con los migrantes de retorno y los no migrantes; a partir de las entrevistas, se presenta una tipología de los arreglos familiares más comunes de los migrantes deportados que nos permite entender el efecto de la política migratoria en la separación familiar a través de las fronteras.

RETRACTED: Contribution rate measurement of scientific and technological progress based on FPGA and convolutional neural network

A logical and compelling form, tech-savvy innovation, creativity and personal growth measurement mode, cooperative test, review the consistency of the evolution of butterfly breakpoint test and pilot test. Special assessment strategies. According to Qingdao's yield information, experimental results show that the average level of commitment than the general logic and pace of mechanical progress Qingdao. The city has entered a serious stage of economic development. This is a common arrangement gift revealed by science, technological innovation and progress (STI) information and pointers, and agree with the classification rules and recommendations in order. It has been referred to as a "fractal family" actually, this arrangement of the manual is conspicuous manual. By referring to the Italian town, these documents are scientific and technical indicators of the OECD's work of experts that have been agreed upon by the state. Different points are involved in this configuration guide, for example, creation, progress exercises and STI-HR-related estimates, and to consider the new difficulties and improvements in various fields in periodic revision. The degree of alignment continues to expand with advances in this area.

Potential Impact of Daycare Closures on Parental Child Caregiving in Turkey

Daycares closed on March 16, 2020 in Turkey to prevent the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, the two most common nonparental childcare arrangements in Turkey—care of children by grandparents and nannies—became undesirable due to health concerns and in some cases also unfeasible due to the partial lockdown for individuals under the age of 20 and over the age of 64. We estimate the potential impact of new constraints on nonparental childcare arrangements due to the pandemic on parental caregiving time of married parents of preschool-age children by using data from the 2014–15 Turkish Time Use Survey. Comparing how parental caregiving time varies by gender and use of nonparental childcare arrangements, we find that new constraints on nonparental childcare arrangements during the pandemic have potentially increased the gender difference in parental caregiving time by an hour and forty minutes in Turkey.

Collaborative Action and Social Organization in Remote Rural Regions: Autonomous Irrigation Arrangements in the Pamirs of Tajikistan

This paper proposes a bottom–up “nexus medium” perspective to examine and understand social organization and how socio-ecological challenges in remote rural regions are dealt with in communities that receive only limited external support. While “nexus mediums” constitute substances, matter, or objects that combine manifold vital meanings and can be seen as socially constructed and materialized arenas of social interaction, autonomous resource management is seen as a means of local social organization. Taking water as the nexus medium of choice allows us to generate locally informed insights about the role of this scarce resource for the everyday life and social organization of communities inhabiting arid rural areas. This reasoning will be exemplified by three local case studies conducted during empirical research in the Pamirs of Tajikistan utilizing a mix of qualitative methods. The findings reveal how many fundamental everyday-life-related aspects and activities of the studied communities are related to water, and how these communities are organized around common water use and management arrangements that are based on joint decision-making, shared benefits and responsibilities, and collaborative action. The “nexus medium” concept appears to be an appropriate approach for research that seeks to understand from a local perspective how communal living is organized and how socio-ecological challenges are addressed.

China’s Investment in African Ports: Spatial Distribution, Entry Modes and Investor Profile

Over the past decades, China's direct investment in Africa expanded significantly and became more diversified. The increased involvement of Chinese interests in Africa has intensified the debate on the benefits, modes and risks linked to these investments. Chinese state-owned companies have directed large amounts of expertise and resources to African ports, not only to deliver benefits to the investing parties, but also to contribute to a more effective and efficient African port industry. This paper presents an analysis of Chinese investments in and operation of African port infrastructure. Next to offering a comprehensive view on the spatial distribution of Chinese investments in African ports, this study elaborates on the specialization of major Chinese state-owned companies in terms of investment modes, and on the reasons behind the observed/expected geographical distribution of specific entry modes across Africa. The EPC + F + I mode (Engineering Procurement Construction + Finance + Investment) is the most common arrangement adopted by Chinese enterprises in view of port investment in Africa while also PPP type of arrangements are frequently used. China's enterprises are challenged to choose suitable modes when investing in African ports by taking into account their own attributes, the development status of the host countries and the port characteristics.

Experimental synthesis of random light sources with circular coherence by digital micro-mirror device

We introduce an optical system for the nearly real-time generation of a wide class of partially coherent sources (PCSs) having non-Schell-model circular coherence. The system is composed of a modified 4f optical imaging system involving a fast modulated digital micro-mirror device (DMD) and a stable common path interferometric arrangement, which enable us to synthesize a variety of PCSs not reported heretofore. The basic principle and physics of our method, as well as the experimental implementation for generating two kinds of non-uniformly correlated (NUC) sources, i.e., cosh-type and sinh-type NUC sources, are presented, confirming the flexibility and reliability of our proposed approach. We further demonstrate the non-uniform property of the spatial correlation of the generated NUC sources by means of a classic Young's interferometer.

Cationic guests direct molecular capsule formation and the impact towards the extended self-assembly in combinatorial supramolecular systems

ABSTRACT Four multi-component complexes based on p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene anion, the methyltriphenylphosphonium cation, lanthanide ions (Gd(III)) and different ionic liquid-based cations (1-methyl-3-butylimidazolium, 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium and 1,4-bis((3-methylimidazolidinyl)methyl)benzene) were synthesised and structurally characterised. Common bilayer arrangements are formed in the extended structures of all four complexes, though the bilayer thicknesses varies depending on the components involved. Molecular capsule formation is facilitated by the inclusion of methyltriphenylphosphonium, 1-methyl-3-butylimidazolium and 1,4-bis((3-methylimidazolidinyl)methyl)benzene cations, but not in the case of the 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium cation. Molecular capsule size depends on the nature of the included guest cation, and methyltriphenylphosphonium cations fill compact spaces between calixarenes in these new bilayer arrays.

Toward the Practical Realisation of Next Generation Audio

Next-generation audio (NGA) will bring a greater sense of reality to the media experience. It will also allow a range of audio personalization options to the user and ensure that audio production elements can be adapted to the range of NGA coding formats. The purpose of this article is to explain the progress that has been made since the specifications of various elements of practical systems were agreed. They include the approach that would allow a common production arrangement to be used to serve the alternative encoding formats and the trials that have taken place with the alternative formats.

Structural Evolution of Layered Hybrid Lead Iodide Perovskites in Colloidal Dispersions

Controlling the structure of layered hybrid metal halide perovskites, such as the Ruddlesden-Popper (R-P) phases, is challenging because of their tendency to form mixtures of varying composition. Colloidal growth techniques, such as antisolvent precipitation, form dispersions with properties that match bulk layered R-P phases, but controlling the composition of these particles remains challenging. Here, we explore the microstructure of particles of R-P phases of methylammonium lead iodide prepared by antisolvent precipitation from ternary mixtures of alkylammonium cations, where one cation can form perovskite phases (CH3NH3+) and the other two promote layered structures as spacers (e.g., C4H9NH3+ and C12H25NH3+). We determine that alkylammonium spacers pack with constant methylene density in the R-P interlayer and exclude interlayer solvent in dispersed colloids, regardless of length or branching. Using this result, we illustrate how the competition between cations that act as spacers between layers, or as grain-terminating ligands, determines the colloidal microstructure of layered R-P crystallites in solution. Optical measurements reveal that quantum well dimensions can be tuned by engineering the ternary cation composition. Transmission synchrotron wide-angle X-ray scattering and small-angle neutron scattering reveal changes in the structure of colloids in solvent and after deposition into thin films. In particular, we find that spacers can alloy between R-P layers if they share common steric arrangements, but tend to segregate into polydisperse R-P phases if they do not mix. This study provides a framework to compare the microstructure of colloidal layered perovskites and suggests clear avenues to control phase and colloidal morphology.

Collective Defense by Common Property Arrangements: the Rise and Fall of the Kibbutz

Common property arrangements have long been considered inefficient and short lived, since they encourage high-productivity individuals to leave and shirking among those who stay. In contrast, kibbutzim | voluntary common property settlements in Israel | have lasted almost a century. Recently, about 75% of kibbutzim abandoned their equal-sharing rule and paid differential salaries to members based on their contributions. To explain the long persistence of the kibbutzim, as well as the recent privatization of income, a model of public defense is developed, which predicts that defense depends on equal sharing, and that income privatization depends on external threats. Using settlement level data, it is shown that kibbutzim made the largest contributions to defending the Jewish territory under the attacks of surrounding Arab countries.

COVID-19 and the death of the family doctor.

You know the old trope: ‘General practice would be great if it wasn’t for the patients.’ The last three months have been among the strangest of my career. The car park and waiting room eerily empty, all day on the phone. ‘This will change the way we practice for ever’, my colleague breezily opined. ‘We’ve always known we don’t really need to see people for most of what we do.’ Really? Among its many victims, will COVID-19 kill off another weakened creature: the ‘family doctor’? The term ‘general practitioner’ was first recorded in 1809 when surgeon-apothecaries were plying private trade from their own shops. The Apothecaries Act of 1815 initiated the first common licensing arrangements, and thereby the professionalisation of this branch of medicine.1 GPs struggled initially — ever complaining about the expense of education, the difficulties of establishing a practice, poverty, competition from ‘irregulars’ — but the profession had become firmly established by around 1850. Generalists in the likeness of Tertius Lydgate came to dominate the practice of medicine.2 Their rise led to a decline in demand for physicians other than as more genteel attendants of the aristocracy. Indeed, the provincial GP enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the local health economy.3 The notion of the family doctor emerged over the second half of the 19th century. The Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons were reactionary and continued to resist the establishment of a college for GPs. Novelists reflected attitudes of the time. The fictional stereotype of the early family doctor was often poor, shabby, and old-fashioned, but always accessible. He enjoyed the confidence of his patients. A contemporary users’ guide intoned: ‘Let not your doctor be too useful … and avoid the man whose dress and demeanour indicate puppyism … Be not averse to him if …

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometric analysis of NSO-compounds generated in hydrothermally altered sediments from the Escanaba Trough, northeastern Pacific Ocean

To date little is known about the functionalized and heteroatomic compounds present in hydrothermal petroleum and how these compounds are affected by high temperature vent fluids. To address this, the maltene fractions of three hydrothermal petroleum samples spanning the shallow depth of a sediment core collected in the Escanaba Trough of the Gorda Ridge in the northeast Pacific were analyzed by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) in both negative electrospray ionization (ESI) and negative atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) ionization modes. These polar compounds were structurally similar to asphaltenes, but did not exceed a nominal mass range of ∼800 Da. They were derived primarily from terrestrially sourced organic matter (OM) with common heteroatom arrangements of CaHbOc, CaHbOcNd, CaHbNd, CaHbOcSe, CaHbOcNdSe, CaHbNdSe, and CaHbSe. The samples included compounds containing up to 19 oxygen heteroatoms and ranged in size from 10 to 53 carbon atoms with double bond equivalent (DBE) values of 1–38. Molecular formulae with N and S heteroatoms were minor. Within this sulfidic environment the formation and preservation of sulfur heterocyclic compounds was very low, which could be due to sulfurization being out-competed by the high concentrations of metals in the vent fluids or as a result of the thermal instability of C–S bonds. The dominance of oxygenated, and not thiolated, compounds was primarily source-dependent with secondary alteration by aromatization in this system proceeding by H abstraction and reduction of sulfate to H2S. We identified differences in the distributions of heteroatomic compounds caused by the expulsion, thermochemical oxidation, and differentiation of petroleum products during the migration of fluids to the sediment–water interface.