Common Bond Research Articles

On seagulls, hedgehogs, and foxes: Representation, reconstruction, and the challenge of getting from here to there

The common bond linking feminist theories of identity politics and process ontologies is that, while differing in their ontological presuppositions, both are modes of representation of an external reality, asserting an unverifiable correspondence between our mental representations and an antecedent, external reality. To escape the quagmire of representationalism, Ihnji Jon turns to transitionalist pragmatism in a radical move that redirects attention from intellectual debates between contending theorists to charting a route to practical reconstruction. Jon's pragmatist turn transcends enduring dualisms that have hampered knowledge production since the Greeks while posing daunting challenges to the purpose and process of political practice and social inquiry.

Il diritto umano all’ospitalità sinodale: oltre la contrapposizione tra demos ed ethnos nell’era della globalizzazione

The recognition of self as other and others as self continues to be one of the greatest challenges to the ethos necessary for institutions, public and private, engaged in hospitality. Indeed, hospitality is an intrinsic part of the recognition of the common and communal bond in which each human person can rediscover a sense of belonging and his or her own specific creaturality, the fruit of mutual and diverse encounters in the relationship between peoples and among peoples. Inspired by papal words and documents, as well as philosophical and political debates of jus, here we defend the value of experiences of mutual bonds of memory and humanitarian revelation, in which a clear distinction between demos and ethnos can be established. By questioning globalization in its economic and financial promises, unrelated to human dignity and hospitality, it reveals how paths to peace are sustained by the synodal consolidation of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Thus, a distinction must be made between claims of ethnic recognition, on the one hand, and the promises of global recognition of civil rights and pseudo-cultural acquisitions, which have in recent years risen to legal protection and political guarantee; on the other hand, it is pointed out that true recognition of the human person as constituted in a relational, social and community dignity is only beyond the economic-financial constraints of globalization.

Capitalism and Distributive Justice: Musings of a Mormon Economist

Capitalism and Distributive Justice: Musings of a Mormon Economist

Interface engineering moderated interfacial thermal conductance of GaN-based heterointerfaces

Gallium nitride (GaN) has great potential applications in the field of high-frequency and high-power electronic devices because of its excellent material properties such as wide band gap, high electron mobility, high breakdown field strength. However, the high power GaN electronic device also exhibits significant self-heating effects in operation, such as a large amount of Joule heat localized in the thermal channel, and heat dissipation has become a bottleneck in its applications. The interface thermal conductance (ITC) between GaN and its substrate is the key to determining the thermal dissipation. In this work the various GaN interface defects and their effects on ITC are first discussed, and then some methods of studying interface thermal transport are introduced, including theoretical analysis and experimental measurements. Then, some GaN ITC optimization strategies developed in recent years are introduced through comparing the specific cases. In addition to the common chemical bond interface, the weak coupling interface by van der Waals bond is also discussed. Finally, a summary for this review is presented. We hope that this review can provide valuable reference for actually designing GaN devices.

Mediating Effect of Positioning Co-operatives on Post Covid-19 Economic Resilience Dilemma: Evidence from Deposit Taking SACCOs in Kenya

In 2019 China reported an upper infectious respiratory viral disease, Covid 19, which spread worldwide posing a unprecedented threat in the history of mankind. Whereas the economic impact including fatalities was high, in the recent months most affected economies are beginning to debate on the best robust approach of economic recovery. Although United Nations advocates forSocial Solidarity Economy (SSE), people have limited understanding about it. This paper contributes to debate about SEE by examining the mediating effect of Deposit Taking (DT) Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (SACCOs) on the economic resilience dilemma. The commonwealth co-operative school of thought theory guided the study. The theory states that co-operatives are social-economic institutions started by people having a common bond so as to meet their social-economic problems. A sample of 175 DT SACCOs was purposively taken using descriptive research design. Secondary data was collected from SACCOs Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) database and reliability test ascertained by carrying out test retest of the instruments. Data were analyzed through binary logistic regression whereby independent variables were categorical while the dependent variable was binary. Findings indicated that SACCOs had a positive significant relationship on economic resilience. The p-values for the types of SACCOs Government, Teachers, Farmers, and Private and Community based and output on savings, income, employment, loans, deposits and assets tested were less than 0.05. It was concluded that the DT SACCOs had significant relationship with economic recovery. The study recommended economies to consider SACCOs form of SSE as vehicles for economic recovery.

Systemic Design as Born from the Berkeley Bubble Matrix

From the early 1960s and continuing into the 1980s, an aggregation of exceptional scholars and professionals formed in the University of California, Berkeley environs, establishing a common bond amongst themselves and with other networks of scholars, students, and professionals globally. They were not in the same disciplines, specializations, or professional fields. They were colleagues sharing a common aspiration. What they shared was a deep interest in, and commitment to, the utility of systems thinking and design action as a means to secure improvements and advancements in the human condition. This common bond resulted in what I have called The Berkeley Bubble—which was internationally influential inside and outside of academia. Unfortunately, the Bubble began dissipating in the closing years of the last century, leaving generative echoes of the ideas incubated and matured in this unique crucible to influence future generations. This essay is a narrative account of the individuals involved—starting with a doctoral committee composed of some of the key people entrained in this bubble—of their influences on one another and on the world of practitioner-scholars worldwide continuing through today.

APPLYING CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT KEYNOTES OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN AGILE MANAGEMENT APPROACHES

This paper analyzes the works of management classics such as Russell Ackoff, Nancy Adler, Frederick Herzberg, Chris Argyris, Bennis Warren, Lyndall Urwick, experts of Aston Group, and others. A common bond between them is organizational behavior and the fact that their work was written in the last century and that elements of their theories were the basis for the neoclassical management theories that predominate today.
 Purpose. The aim is to identify commonalities with the iterative-incremental (agile) approach to development and management from classical management theories.
 Methodology. The paper analyses classical management papers in organizational behavior and leadership theory to identify commonalities with the iterative-incremental approach to management. The two categories are considered holistically, as leadership can determine organizational behavior. The paper applies ontological and integrated approaches.
 Results. The paper identifies standard features of classical theories and agile approaches to management. It indicates that classical approaches to management have formed the basis of agile approaches to management.
 Practical implications. The results apply to social management and organizational psychology scholars. In addition, the results will help to scientists write textbooks and manuals on management theory and related disciplines. The study’s results contribute to developing the history of managerial thought.

Dissecting Bonding Interactions in Cysteine Dimers.

Neutral (n) and zwitterionic (z) forms of cysteine monomers are combined in this work to extensively explore the potential energy surfaces for the formation of cysteine dimers in aqueous environments represented by a continuum. A simulated annealing search followed by optimization and characterization of the candidate structures afforded a total of 746 structurally different dimers held together via 80 different types of intermolecular contacts in 2894 individual non-covalent interactions as concluded from Natural Bond Orbitals (NBO), Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) and Non-Covalent Interactions (NCI) analyses. This large pool of interaction possibilities includes the traditional primary hydrogen bonds and salt bridges which actually dictate the structures of the dimers, as well as the less common secondary hydrogen bonds, exotic X⋯Y (X = C, N, O, S) contacts, and H⋯H dihydrogen bonds. These interactions are not homogeneous but have rather complex distributions of strengths, interfragment distances and overall stabilities. Judging by their Gibbs bonding energies, most of the structures located here are suitable for experimental detection at room conditions.

On the Mechanism of Soot Nucleation. IV. Molecular Growth of the Flattened E-Bridge.

Rotationally excited dimerization of aromatic moieties, a mechanism proposed recently to explain the initial steps of soot particle inception in combustion and pyrolysis of hydrocarbons, produces a molecular structure, termed E-bridge, combining the two aromatics via five-membered aromatic rings sharing a common bond. The present study investigates a hydrogen-mediated addition of acetylene to the fused five-membered ring part of the E-bridge forming a seven-membered ring. The carried out quantum-mechanical and rate theoretical calculations indicate the plausibility of such capping reactions, and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate their frequent occurrence. The capping frequency, however, is limited by "splitting" the fused five-membered bridge due to five-membered ring migration. A similar migration of edge seven-membered rings is shown to be also rapid but short, as their encounter with five-membered rings converts them both into six-membered rings.

Understanding chemical enhancements of surface-enhanced Raman scattering using a Raman bond model for extended systems.

In this work, we extend a previously developed Raman bond model to periodic slab systems for interpreting chemical enhancements of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The Raman bond model interprets chemical enhancements as interatomic charge flow modulations termed Raman bonds. Here, we show that the Raman bond model offers a unified interpretation of chemical enhancements for localized and periodic systems. As a demonstration of the Raman bond model, we study model systems consisting of CO and pyridine molecules on Ag clusters and slabs. We find that for both localized and periodic systems, the dominant Raman bonds are distributed near the molecule-metal interface and, therefore, the chemical enhancements are determined by a common Raman bond pattern. The effects of surface coverage, thickness, and roughness on the chemical enhancements have been studied, which shows that decreasing surface coverage or creating surface roughness increases chemical enhancements. In both of these cases, the inter-fragment charge flow connectivity is improved due to more dynamic polarization at the interface. The chemical enhancement is shown to scale with the inter-fragment charge flow to the fourth power. Since the inter-fragment charge flow is determined by the charge transfer excitation energy, the Raman bond model is connected to the transition-based analysis of chemical enhancements. We also show that the SERS spectra of localized and periodic systems normalized by inter-fragment charge flows can be unified. In summary, the Raman bond model offers a unique framework for understanding SERS spectra in terms of Raman bond distributions and offers a connection between localized and periodic model systems of SERS studies.

Strategies to Increase Exports of Wine Companies of the Valle de Guadalupe Region in Baja California, México

This research analyzes the exports of wine companies in the Valle de Guadalupe region in the State of Baja California, Mexico. The objective is to determine the factors that induce strategic decision making to achieve a high-performance level of productive capacity. The hypothesis suggests that production, technological innovation, and competitiveness are the factors that favor the exports of these wine companies. For the statistical analysis, Partial Least Squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used, including the evaluation of the out-of-sample predictive power by means of PLS predict. The methodology used includes a qualitative analysis of the current situation on the subject and a quantitative study of data obtained by applying a 41-item instrument to ninety-two companies. The main findings show that the variable that presents a higher degree of association is competitiveness and the variable that presents a lower degree is production. Another finding is that there is a need to strengthen collaborative projects with a Cluster Approach, in which the collaboration network between these companies, government agencies, wine associations and educational institutions must be actively involved. The main strategies proposed are three: the first in relation to competitiveness is to improve operational planning to increase productivity. The second is to achieve a more competitive price by purchasing supplies collaboratively between companies; the existing common bond and business cooperation will allow exports to increase. The third is to manage a greater participation of the government, in terms of financing and support, investment in highway infrastructure, reduction of taxes on this item and the sustainable administration of the State's water resources.

Living in Brackets: Scotland and Ireland

This contribution to the theme of ‘Scotland and the Two Irelands’ considers some of the overlooked ironies of the common bonds between Scotland and Ireland. Ranging between literary and political figures over the last two centuries it concludes that our intertwined histories are stronger than the borders between us.

Theoretical Study on the Decomposition Kinetics and Thermochemistry of Tetramethyldisilazane and Hexamethyldisilazane─Formation of Silanimine and Silene Species

The gas-phase decomposition kinetics and thermochemistry of 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexamethyldisilazane (HMDSZ) and 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisilazane (TMDSZ), two potential single-source precursors for the chemical vapor deposition of silicon carbonitride thin films, were systematically investigated using ab initio calculations at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p)//CCSD(T)/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. Both concerted and stepwise decomposition routes for each molecule were examined, allowing for a comparison of the reactions involving the cleavages of common bonds of Si-C, Si-N, and N-H for the two molecules. A new set of reaction pathways open to TMDSZ due to the presence of a Si-H bond was also explored. It was found that all three bonds of Si-N, Si-C, and N-H could be broken more easily in TMDSZ than HMDSZ. Both HMDSZ and TMDSZ are capable of producing silene and silanimine species upon decomposition. In fact, the most kinetically and thermodynamically favorable pathways fall in the formation of these species. The concerted formation of 1-dimethylsilylaminosilene via the elimination of methane from TMDSZ is the most kinetically and thermodynamically favorable route between the two molecules with an activation barrier (ΔH0⧧) of 48.5 kcal mol-1 and reaction enthalpy (ΔH0) of 11.6 kcal mol-1, respectively. These values are lower than the corresponding lowest values in HMDSZ of ΔH0⧧ = 66.4 kcal mol-1 for the concerted production of 1,1-dimethylsilene and trimethylsilylamine and ΔH0 = 41.7 kcal mol-1 for the formation of CH4 and N-trimethylsilyl-1,1-dimethylsilanimine. Overall, this work has provided insights into the reactivity of the two molecules. It has been shown that TMDSZ is more reactive than its analog HMDSZ due to the presence of the Si-H bonds and reduced steric hindrance.

Fashion, Thresholds, and Borders

Fashion, Thresholds, and Borders

“Send Forth the Very Best Ye Breed”: Captain Frederick S. Wild and the War in the Philippines, 1899–1902

“Send Forth the Very Best Ye Breed”: Captain Frederick S. Wild and the War in the Philippines, 1899–1902

Effect mechanism of nitrogen injection into fire-sealed-zone on residual-coal re-ignition under stress in goaf

Coal is the one of foundations of energy and economic structure in China, while the unsealing of coal mine fires would cause a great risk of coal re-ignition. In order to explore the influence of pressure-bearing state on the re-ignition characteristics for residual coal, the uniaxial compression equipped with a temperature-programmed device was built. The scanning electron microscope, synchronous thermal analyzer and Fourier transform infrared absorption spectrometer was applied to investigate the microscopic structure and thermal effect of the coal samples. Moreover, the microscopic effect of uniaxial stress on coal re-ignition is revealed, and the re-ignition mechanism is also obtained. As the uniaxial stress increasing, the number, depth and length of the fractures of the pre-treated coal increases. The application of uniaxial stress causes the thermal conductivity to change periodically, enhances the inhibition of injecting nitrogen on heat transfer and prolonges the duration of oxidation exothermic. The content of oxygen-containing functional groups has a high correlation with apparent activation energy, and coal samples at 6 MPa is more probability to re-ignite while the fire zone is unsealed. Uniaxial stress could control the re-ignition mechanism by changing the structure of fractures and pores. The side chains and functional groups of coal structure are easier to be broken by thermal-stress coupling. The higher the ·OH content, the more difficult coal samples would be re-ignited. The research results would lay a solid theoretical foundation for the safe unsealing of closed fire-areas underground, tighten the common bond between the actual industry and the experimental theory in closed fire-areas underground, and provide the theoretical guidance for coal re-ignition preventing.

Dynamic Covalent Hydrogels: Strong yet Dynamic.

Hydrogels are crosslinked polymer networks with time-dependent mechanical response. The overall mechanical properties are correlated with the dynamics of the crosslinks. Generally, hydrogels crosslinked by permanent chemical crosslinks are strong but static, while hydrogels crosslinked by physical interactions are weak but dynamic. It is highly desirable to create synthetic hydrogels that possess strong mechanical stability yet remain dynamic for various applications, such as drug delivery cargos, tissue engineering scaffolds, and shape-memory materials. Recently, with the introduction of dynamic covalent chemistry, the seemingly conflicting mechanical properties, i.e., stability and dynamics, have been successfully combined in the same hydrogels. Dynamic covalent bonds are mechanically stable yet still capable of exchanging, dissociating, or switching in response to external stimuli, empowering the hydrogels with self-healing properties, injectability and suitability for postprocessing and additive manufacturing. Here in this review, we first summarize the common dynamic covalent bonds used in hydrogel networks based on various chemical reaction mechanisms and the mechanical strength of these bonds at the single molecule level. Next, we discuss how dynamic covalent chemistry makes hydrogel materials more dynamic from the materials perspective. Furthermore, we highlight the challenges and future perspectives of dynamic covalent hydrogels.

Crystal Structure of Human CD47 in Complex with Engineered SIRPα.D1(N80A).

Background: Targeting the CD47/SIRPα signaling pathway represents a novel approach to enhance anti-tumor immunity. However, the crystal structure of the CD47/SIRPα has not been fully studied. This study aims to analyze the structure interface of the complex of CD47 and IMM01, a novel recombinant SIRPα-Fc fusion protein. Methods: IMM01-Fab/CD47 complex was crystalized, and diffraction images were collected. The complex structure was determined by molecular replacement using the program PHASER with the CD47-SIRPαv2 structure (PDB code 2JJT) as a search model. The model was manually built using the COOT program and refined using TLS parameters in REFMAC from the CCP4 program suite. Results: Crystallization and structure determination analysis of the interface of IMM01/CD47 structure demonstrated CD47 surface buried by IMM01. Comparison with the literature structure (PDB ID 2JJT) showed that the interactions of IMM01/CD47 structure are the same. All the hydrogen bonds that appear in the literature structure are also present in the IMM01/CD47 structure. These common hydrogen bonds are stable under different crystal packing styles, suggesting that these hydrogen bonds are important for protein binding. In the structure of human CD47 in complex with human SIRPα, except SER66, the amino acids that form hydrogen bonds are all conserved. Furthermore, comparing with the structure of PDB ID 2JJT, the salt bridge interaction from IMM01/CD47 structure are very similar, except the salt bridge bond between LYS53 in IMM01 and GLU106 in CD47, which only occurs between the B and D chains. However, as the side chain conformation of LYS53 in chain A is slightly different, the salt bridge bond is absent between the A and C chains. At this site between chain A and chain C, there are a salt bridge bond between LYS53 (A) and GLU104 (C) and a salt bridge bond between HIS56 (A) and GLU106 (C) instead. According to the sequence alignment results of SIRPα, SIRPβ and SIRPγ in the literature of PDB ID 2JJT, except ASP100, the amino acids that form common salt bridge bonds are all conserved. Conclusion: Our data demonstrated crystal structure of the IMM01/CD47 complex and provides a structural basis for the structural binding interface and future clinical applications.

The Future Mediterranean Basin: A New Fountain of Plastic Surgery Knowledge, Excellence, and Innovation-Creating a Common Bond Between Three Continents Without Walls.

American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Bishara Atiyeh, MD, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; E-mail: [email protected] The authors report no conflicts of interest.

The very concept of language contact in light of contemporary interest in translanguaging

This paper makes a case for viewing the concept of translanguaging as one that puts a heavy strain on a good deal of the time-honoured concepts of language contact, language code, code-switching, discrete languages as self-contained entities, hermetically sealed off from one another, and so forth — that is to say, the entire conceptual paraphernalia with the help of which we are used to working when dealing with the phenomenon of multilingualism. Far from being an exception to a rule, multilingualism is recognised as the norm in today’s world, the much-touted monolingualism having been exposed as the product of repressive policies enacted in the past in the name of geopolitical expediencies. Among these repressive policies is the formation of nation-states, historically brandished as the bulwark of a collective identity and also of differentiation vis-à-vis those with whom one no longer feels any common bond — an exception foisted upon the natural order of things. In other words, monolingualism is a point totally out of the curve, a fact that is historically attested, though overshadowed by its ‘contamination’ with factors that have to do with deep-seated geo-political interests.