High Entry Research Articles

The role of blockchain technology and smart contracts in enhancing the transparency of fragmented investments in overseas real estate

As the mobility of global capital is getting higher, more and more investors tend to invest in overseas real estate. However, the conventional model of investing in real estate possesses several disadvantages including high entry hurdles, low levels of market liquidity, and low transparency, particularly for retail investors. This article will seek to establish how blockchain technology as applied in smart contracts can help in the clarification of unclear fragmented investments in overseas property. First of all, this paper begins with the definition and examples of applying conventional and advanced blockchain technology and then describes the work of smart contracts and the comparison between regular contracts and smart contracts. The paper also evaluates the nature of fragmented investment in overseas property and its associated risks before suggesting the use of blockchain and smart contracts for a new institutional structure of the investment platform. This study demonstrates how the technologies can advance data sec, promote trust in transactions, and how investment can be automated. It can be concluded that blockchain technology, and smart contracts, can enhance Overseas Real Estate Investment by increasing transparency and decreasing the investment threshold as well as the instances of fraud. This study also presents an analysis of the potential difficulties that may be encountered in real-world applications and a recommendation of what may be done in subsequent studies. On one hand, this research offers a new perspective to the theoretical world, on the other hand, it offers practical problems and solutions to the practitioners who are a part of overseas real estate markets and businesses by steadily helping the overseas real estate markets to move in the fairer and more transparent direction.

A Study of CO2 Storage in Bimodal Carbonate Aquifer Rocks: Challenges and Enhancement through Foaming

Summary In carbonate rock reservoirs, the presence of dual-pore systems, characterized by two distinct pore size distributions, plays a crucial role in gas storage in saline aquifers. However, comprehensive research on the impact of bimodal porosity on CO2 storage in such reservoirs is lacking. This study explores CO2 storage efficiency in carbonate aquifer rocks with bimodal porosity. Petrographic examination, capillary pressure measurements, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) T2 profiling revealed two distinct and interconnected pore systems with equal effective porosity proportions. While both systems facilitated fluid flow, the micropores had a high capillary entry pressure (>100 psi). Coreflood experiments showed gas displacement efficiencies below 50%, primarily in larger pores, with only 49–58% of these large pores (20–28% of total pores) storing injected gas through residual trapping after water imbibition. To address this challenge, CO2 was foamed using a foaming agent to enhance viscous forces and overcome capillary forces. This resulted in significant improvements, including a 31% increase in displacement efficiency and a 28% increase in residual gas. NMR analysis revealed effective redirection of CO2 into smaller pores when foam was applied. In another experiment on a sample with a different pore geometry, the use of nanoparticles to strengthen foam increased sweep efficiency by up to 117%, with a corresponding increase of up to 169% in residual trapping. While the use of foam entails additional operational expenses, we contend that the economic viability of foam technology for CO2 storage hinges on a rigorous cost-benefit analysis that weighs increased storage capacity/security against chemical costs. Such analysis should also consider the time, cost, and uncertainty associated with developing additional storage sites. Furthermore, improved site selection criteria in carbonate rocks are needed, including a predictive model for T2 cutoff to identify aquifers with excessive micropores and avoid them during site selection. While fractured porosity is not within the scope of this study, it is expected that foam can equally improve sweep and trapping efficiencies in naturally fractured carbonate rocks.

“We Try to Build Relationships”: The Role of School Community and Belonging on Career Preparedness

High school graduation and successful entry into post-secondary education or the workforce has been a priority for educational policymakers, career development scholars, and educators for decades. Consensual qualitative research methods were used to analyze 11 education professionals working in high schools with high free and reduced lunch rates and were graduating students at a rate above the national average. Analysis of the data identified three domains: (a) School Climate (b) Community Impact and Involvement and, (c) Societal, Systemic, and Logistical Factors as being supportive of college and career readiness. Within domains were seven categories further describing specific factors perceived to be related to student post-secondary success. Limitations, future research directions, and implications for career development theory, practice, and practice will be discussed.

(Invited) Carbon Nanodots for Improved Plant Genetic Engineering

Anthropogenic climate change has made the need for more nutritious and stress-tolerant plants indisputable for providing food security. Climate change has decreased the global agricultural productivity by 21% since 1961, and will continue to drop crop yields by 7.4% for every degree-Celsius increase in temperature. CRISPR genetic engineering can enable previously inaccessible crop tolerances to meet the demand for nutritionally-balanced and high-yielding crops. However, plant biomolecule delivery and transformation are two important bottlenecks that prevent plant genetic engineering from reaching its full potential.Nanomaterials have already shown promise to deliver genetic cargoes into plant somatic cells for transient expression of proteins1. For most applications in agriculture, however, biomolecules need to be delivered to cells that can give rise to next generation of edited plants, such as germ or stem cells. These cell types are extremely challenging to penetrate and deliver cargoes using traditional approaches, hence forcing researchers to use undifferentiated tissues to transform and go through an arduous regeneration process in tissue culture. This time consuming, inefficient, and highly species dependent approach has been a critical obstacle in plant biology and bioengineering.We have synthesized small (~3 nm) and positively charged (+35 mV) carbon nanodots (CNDs) from glycerol and polyethyleneimine (PEI) using the microwave method. These CNDs showed high entry efficiency into plant stem cells and ability to deliver DNA cargoes into a model plant Nicotiana benthamiana without affecting stem cell viability and differentiation capability. This is a first-time demonstration of nanoparticle uptake by plant stem cells and cargo expression in these cell types. Once we perform CRISPR gene editing in these stem cells, the edited germ cells and seeds will develop automatically from the stem cells, facilitating the creation of edited and improved new plant varieties.

Transitioning from Secondary Level (8 – 12) To Higher Institution Entry Towards Enhancing Curriculum Design: A Case of The Namibian Education System

This study examines the critical transition from secondary education to higher institutions in Namibia, focusing on grades 8-12 and entry into higher education. It uses a framework that highlights the interplay between Senior High School (SHS) profiles, entry requirements, transitioning, and curriculum redesign. The research addresses key issues, such as public universities' entry criteria, SHS graduates' preparedness for university life, and the relationship between entry requirements and transitioning readiness. Additionally, it explores how SHS profiles influence this transition and its implications for curriculum redesign. By reviewing existing literature and collecting quantitative and qualitative data, the study aims to offer insights that inform interventions and policy reforms. The findings are intended to guide educational stakeholders, policymakers, and practitioners in improving the transition process, promoting academic success and overall development for Namibian students.

Evaluating the Spatial Heterogeneity and Driving Factors of Sustainable Development Level in Chengdu with Point of Interest Data and Geographic Detector Model

Over the past few decades, China has undergone the largest and fastest urbanization process in world history. By 2023, Chengdu’s urbanization rate had reached 80.5%, significantly higher than the national average of 66.16%. Studying the urbanization experience of Chengdu is of great significance for optimizing urban planning policies in Chengdu and other cities in China. Although much literature has explored the urbanization process from macro and micro perspectives, studies using a top-down approach to examine urban fringe expansion are relatively scarce. This study first applies the entropy weight method to analyze the spatial-temporal evolution trends of urban development, identifying areas of imbalanced development and prominent issues. Secondly, the K-means machine learning algorithm and nightlight data are used to reconstruct and classify urban regions, and a comparative analysis is conducted with administrative divisions to further identify unreasonable areas in urban spatial distribution and structure. Finally, POI data and the geographical detector method are used to analyze the micro-driving forces in areas of imbalanced development, identifying major limiting factors and solutions. The study found that the gap between urban and rural development in Chengdu is narrowing during the urbanization process, but there is severe differentiation in the second circle of Chengdu, where economic development is accelerating but residents’ happiness is declining. Moreover, analysis based on urban nightlight data and land-use data reveals that the expansion areas on the urban-rural fringe are mainly concentrated in the second circle of Chengdu. Micro-level driving factor analysis found that the western region of the second circle has many but small urban settlements, with a dense road network but scattered functional areas. The eastern region has inefficient and extensive use of construction land. Additionally, the mismatch between student status and household registration has resulted in relatively lagging educational resource development, and high entry barriers have hindered the progress of urbanization, leading to low per capita welfare expenditure. These reasons are the main factors causing the decline in residents’ happiness, and this impact shows significant differences at different temporal and spatial scales. Encouraging innovation in research and development or education can serve as a long-term and effective driving force for promoting sustainable urbanization. This study provides valuable insights for scientifically planning sustainable urban development and promoting the urbanization process.

The Effect of Early College High Schools on STEM Bachelor's Degree Attainment: Evidence from North Carolina

Abstract With growing demand for workers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and health care, it is important to assess not only whether education interventions impact educational attainment, but also students’ majors. This study examines the impact of Early College High Schools (ECHSs) on bachelor's degree attainment by field of study using data on four hundred thousand students from North Carolina (7,300 in an ECHS). Using propensity score weighting, I find that ECHSs increase bachelor's degree attainment within ten years of high school entry by 4.7 percentage points (19 percent over baseline), with STEM degree attainment increasing by 1.3 to 2.4 points (18 to 34 percent). However, within STEM and STEM-related fields, ECHSs increase degrees in the natural sciences (1.3 points or 45 percent), math/computer science (0.6 points or 60 percent), and psychology (1.2 points or 57 percent), but have null and directionally negative effects on engineering (−0.1 points or −7 percent) and health care (−0.3 points or −17 percent). Patterns are generally similar across student subgroups, though male students drive increases in computer science/mathematics, whereas female and White students drive decreases in health care. Thus, ECHSs increase STEM degree attainment overall, but more research is needed to examine whether intensive dual-enrollment experiences like the ECHS may create barriers or disincentives to pursuing certain STEM fields.

Electro-mechanical analysis of nanostructured polymer matrix composite materials for 3D printing using machine learning

Recently, additive manufacturing (AM) techniques like 3D printing have emerged as a potentially game-changing example of digital manufacturing. However, high entry barriers of a tiny material library, different processing defects, and unpredictable product quality are still holding back its widespread use in the industry. Due to its remarkable success in data tasks like classification, regression, and clustering, machine learning (ML) has recently gained a great deal of interest in the subject of the material library. This paper examines the current state of ML applications in several key areas of AM, including polymer matrix composite materials and machine parameter optimization. Composite filaments have been extruded using Polylactic Acid (PLA) as it is a biodegradable material and shows how High-Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) enhances physical strength. All the parameters for the filament extruder have been designed by machine learning. Thermal stability is a significant concern for polymers that have been overcome by introducing Titanium Dioxide nanoparticles. The microstructure, surface texture, electro-mechanical behavior, and other general features of extruded filaments made from recycled plastics have been investigated. The extrusion temperature, approximated using ML, is in excellent agreement with the surface texture and microstructure of the polymers, as confirmed by FESEM, EDX, and Particle analysis. Extruded filaments experienced 2500 Vs and confirmed their non-conductivity up to 77.7GΩ. Tensile strength and elongation at break, two measures of mechanical properties, have been examined. Incorporation of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles improved mechanical properties significantly. When it comes to 3D printing, the physical properties and potential uses of each composite material are different.

Recommendations for a positive energy district framework – Application and evaluation of different energetic assessment methodologies

Positive Energy Districts are seen as a stepstone towards climate-neutrality for European cities. The concept aims to make districts an active contributor to urban energy systems. However, the definition of PEDs is relatively loose and there is currently a lack of a common European assessment methodology, which makes it difficult to evaluate PED in practice. This research evaluates the energetic assessment methodologies developed in three PED-relevant projects in Europe – namely MAKING CITY, Zukunftsquartier Wien, and Zero Emission Neighbourhood – in order to derive recommendations for a common PED assessment framework. For this purpose, the three methodologies have been applied to case study districts in Germany. Subsequently, the application of the methodologies has been analysed based on their general practicality as well as their fulfilment of the PED objectives. The findings suggest that a positive energy balance might not be considered as a prerequisite of PEDs as this strict requirement sets a high entry barrier for districts that lack the intrinsic factors for surplus renewable energy production. For PED as an inclusive framework, the focus should be on delivering positive impacts for the districts and the wider energy systems; whilst the positive energy balance can be seen as a complementary rather than a mandatory condition.

Institutional distance and location choice: an experimental approach to the perception puzzle

PurposeIn this research, we designed and implemented a unique vignette experiment to study the effect of managers' perceptions of institutional distance on foreign location choice, as well as the moderating effect of managerial international experience and preferred entry mode on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachWe employ an experimental vignette methodology (EVM) approach applied in the context of Chinese managers to test the causal relationships depicted in our hypotheses. In this way, we measure the decision-makers' perceptions ex ante, i.e. in conjunction with and prior to a decision about a foreign location choice.FindingsOur findings show that managers' ex-ante perceptions of institutional distance negatively affect decisions on foreign location choice. Also, we find that managerial international experience and preference for high commitment entry modes mitigate the negative effect of managers' perceptions of institutional distance on foreign location choice.Originality/valueThis research study adds to our understanding of the effect of managers' perceptions of institutional distance and managerial contingencies on foreign location decisions. Further, it advances novel experimental design in international business research in general and on foreign location choice in particular.

Field inversion machine learning augmented turbulence modeling for time-accurate unsteady flow

Field inversion machine learning (FIML) has the advantages of model consistency and low data dependency and has been used to augment imperfect turbulence models. However, the solver-intrusive field inversion has a high entry bar, and existing FIML studies focused on improving only steady-state or time-averaged periodic flow predictions. To break this limit, this paper develops an open-source FIML framework for time-accurate unsteady flow, where both spatial and temporal variations of flow are of interest. We augment a Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) turbulence model's production term with a scalar field. We then integrate a neural network (NN) model into the flow solver to compute the above augmentation scalar field based on local flow features at each time step. Finally, we optimize the weights and biases of the built-in NN model to minimize the regulated spatial-temporal prediction error between the augmented flow solver and reference data. We consider the spatial-temporal evolution of unsteady flow over a 45° ramp and use only the surface pressure as the training data. The unsteady-FIML-trained model accurately predicts the spatial-temporal variations of unsteady flow fields. In addition, the trained model exhibits reasonably good prediction accuracy for various ramp angles, Reynolds numbers, and flow variables (e.g., velocity fields) that are not used in training, highlighting its generalizability. The FIML capability has been integrated into our open-source framework DAFoam. It has the potential to train more accurate RANS turbulence models for other unsteady flow phenomena, such as wind gust response, bubbly flow, and particle dispersion in the atmosphere.

Gender specific distortions, entrepreneurship and misallocation

Women account for a small share of all business owners and a small share of the market in India's manufacturing sector. To account for these patterns, I estimate the extent of gender-specific distortions to operating a business using firm-level data. Feeding these estimates that differ across gender into a standard framework of heterogeneous producers replicates key features of the firm size distribution, on aggregate and across gender. While women face high entry barriers into entrepreneurship, they have modest impacts on female market shares when there are sharp differences in distortions across gender along the intensive margin of entrepreneurship. Policies that promote female entrepreneurship are effective, yet have only modest impacts on aggregate productivity. These findings are not unique to India, and apply across a broader set of countries.

High tech business entry in the pandemic era

The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath have featured a surge in business entry (Decker and Haltiwanger 2024). A natural question is whether the elevated entry seen in recent years will have positive implications for aggregate productivity growth given the historically important role of business entry for productivity dynamics (Decker et al. 2014, Alon et al. 2018).

Analisis kemampuan argumentasi matematis siswa pada materi bangun ruang sisi datar ditinjau dari kemampuan awal matematika

The aim of the research is to determine the level of students' argumentation ability to solve surface area and volume problems based on students' initial mathematical abilities. This research focused to discover new things that students do in solving problems based on the level of Toulmin argumentation ability. The methodology for taking subjects in this research was purposive, namely by categories of students with high, medium and low abilities, looking at the students' report cards. Students with a high level of initial argumentation can state claims, evidence and reasoning well but are less able to provide rebuttals. Students with a medium initial level of argumentation are only able to state claims and data well. Meanwhile, students with a low level of initial argumentation always make wrong claims and are not able to show evidence, reasoning and rebuttal to support their claims. High entry level students' argumentation abilities are at level 2 except for the rebuttal component, the rebuttal component is at level 0 where students tend to be unable to make counterclaims and unable to reject false statements. Students' argumentation abilities are not all students' initial argumentation abilities are at level 1, where students' ability to make claims and evidence is at level 2 while the ability to make rebuttals is at level 0. Students' initial argumentation abilities are low at level 0 where students are not able make claims, evidence, reasoning, and rebuttal well.

Flow through and Volume Change Behavior of a Compacted Expansive Soil Amended with Natural Biopolymers

Natural biopolymers offer a sustainable alternative for improving soil behavior due to their inert nature, small dosage requirement, and applicability under ambient temperatures. This research evaluates the efficacy of natural biopolymers for ameliorating an expansive soil by using a 0.5% dosage of cationic chitosan, charge-neutral guar gum, and anionic xanthan gum during compaction. The results of laboratory investigations indicate that the flow through and volume change properties of the expansive soil were affected variably. The dual porosity, characterized by low air entry due to inter-aggregate pores (AEV1 of 4 kPa) and high air entry due to the clay matrix (AEV2 of 200 kPa) of the soil, was healed using chitosan and guar gum (AEV of 200 kPa) but was enhanced by the xanthan gum (AEV1 of 100 kPa and AEV2 of 200 kPa). The s-shaped swell–shrink path of the soil comprised structural (e from 1.23 to 1.11), normal (e from 1.11 to 0.6), and residual stages (e ranged from 0.6–0.43). This shape was converted into a j-shaped path through amendment using chitosan and guar gum, showing no structural volume change, with e from about 1.25 to 0.5, but was reverted to a more pronounced form by xanthan gum, with e from 1.5 to 1.32, 1.32 to 0.49, and 0.49 to 0.34 in the three stages, respectively. The consolidation behavior of the soil was largely unaffected by the addition of biopolymers such that the saturated hydraulic conductivity decreased from 10−9 m/s to 10−12 m/s over a void ratio decrease from 1.1 to 0.6. At a seating stress of 5 kPa, the swelling potential (7.8%) of the soil slightly decreased to 6.9% due to the addition of chitosan but increased to 9.4% and 12.2% with guar gum and xanthan gum, respectively. The use of chitosan and guar gum will allow the compaction of the investigated expansive soil on the dry side of optimum.

Radon indoors source potential from soil gas in a temperate climate: impact of infiltration rate and seismicity

Indoor radon source potential from unground soil was monitored using prototype devices approaching a dwelling with a cellar basement at 1 depth from the soil-atmosphere interface. Therefore, the radon concentrations in soil gas were monitored at 1 m depth. Integrated radon measurements were performed, and the results correlated with meteorological parameters. The influence of the difference in outdoor and device-soil temperature was considered, and the infiltration rate was calculated. The effect of the soil temperature gradient on the soil radon entry rate was evaluated. The indoor radon entry rate due to the soil gas was 7.0 ± 2.7 Bq m−3 h−1. The radon entry rate was 5.0 ± 0.8 Bq m−3 h−1 due to diffusion. In contrast, the advection-drive flow of soil gas is ranged up to ± 4.0 Bq m−3 h−1. So, the infiltration rate of the model dwelling was 0.7 (± 0.5) × 10−1 h−1 if only the stack effect occurred. The radon levels in tap water were measured, and the radon entry rate was estimated at 1.3 ± 0.7 Bq m−3 h−1. If the ventilation rate is low or seismic faulting appears, the soil radon entry is increased by one order of magnitude. The soil radon appeared like the building materials, having 1/3 of the total indoor radon entry, while outdoor air was slightly lower (28%), with tap water at 5%. The resident’s mortality risk occurred at < 2.5% for typical dwellings in temperate climate areas founded on sand-gravel underground. The risk rises to 34% with an extremely low ventilation rate between indoors and outdoors or high radon entry from the soil due to seismic faulting.

Blockchain in Online Games and What Can Be Learned from It

In recent years, with the booming development of Internet technology, the types of online game products and gameplay have become more and more diversified, and the market size and revenue of the world's online games have shown a steady growth trend. In the formation of a perfect industrial chain and high entry threshold at the same time, due to the over-centralized management, can not meet the expectations of the user community, resulting in low user stickiness, the number of users to grow into a bottleneck situation. Blockchain technology has the unique value of decentralization, data security and credible transaction, which can effectively solve the pain points of online games and become a new direction for traditional online games to break through the development bottleneck. By deconstructing the existing specific cases of successful combination of blockchain technology and online games, this paper elaborates the realization path of successful application of blockchain technology in online games, and analyzes in detail the core logic of successful combination and mutual adaptation of blockchain technology and online game industry, which is committed to providing useful guidance for future related research.

Local and systemic replicative fitness for viruses in specialist, generalist, and non-specialist interactions with salmonid hosts.

Host tissues represent diverse resources or barriers for pathogen replicative fitness. We tested whether viruses in specialist, generalist, and non-specialist interactions replicate differently in local entry tissue (fin), and systemic target tissue (kidney) using infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) and three salmonid fish hosts. Virus tissue replication was host specific, but one feature was shared by specialists and the generalist which was uncommon in the non-specialist interactions: high host entry and replication capacity in the local tissue after contact. Moreover, specialists showed increased replication in systemic target tissues early after host contact. By comparing ancestral and derived IHNV viruses, we also characterized replication tradeoffs associated with specialist and generalist evolution. Compared with the ancestral virus, a derived specialist gained early local replicative fitness in the new host but lost replicative fitness in the ancestral host. By contrast, a derived generalist showed small replication losses relative to the ancestral virus in the ancestral host but increased early replication in the local tissue of novel hosts. This study shows that the mechanisms of specialism and generalism are host specific and that local and systemic replication can contribute differently to overall within host replicative fitness for specialist and generalist viruses.

Factors influencing US equity-crowdfunded companies’ ability to survive

ABSTRACT This study investigates the factors being associated with equity-crowdfunded companies’ likelihood of survival in the US. We focus on factors observable to crowdinvestors, either being set by entrepreneurs (signals) or being non-alterable (determinants), at least in the short run. Such observable factors at the time of crowdinvesting include company and campaign characteristics, growth potential, and company riskiness. Cox proportional hazards model is used on a sample of 429 US equity-crowdfunded companies. We find that 89% of the companies survived for a minimum of three years after a successfully funded initial equity offering. This survival rate is around ten percentage points higher than in Europe. We document that equity retention, funding goal, and current year revenue estimate are associated with the likelihood of building an enduring business. Higher proportion of equity offered to crowdinvestors signals lower investment quality and thus lower probability of survival. In contrast, companies with higher funding target and current year revenue have better prospects for survival after a successful equity offering. The funding goal affects the probability of survival through the capital intensity channel; if a company in a capital intense industry has been successfully funded, the threat from the competitors is lower given the high entry barriers.

The Urban Toolkit: A Grammar-Based Framework for Urban Visual Analytics.

While cities around the world are looking for smart ways to use new advances in data collection, management, and analysis to address their problems, the complex nature of urban issues and the overwhelming amount of available data have posed significant challenges in translating these efforts into actionable insights. In the past few years, urban visual analytics tools have significantly helped tackle these challenges. When analyzing a feature of interest, an urban expert must transform, integrate, and visualize different thematic (e.g., sunlight access, demographic) and physical (e.g., buildings, street networks) data layers, oftentimes across multiple spatial and temporal scales. However, integrating and analyzing these layers require expertise in different fields, increasing development time and effort. This makes the entire visual data exploration and system implementation difficult for programmers and also sets a high entry barrier for urban experts outside of computer science. With this in mind, in this paper, we present the Urban Toolkit (UTK), a flexible and extensible visualization framework that enables the easy authoring of web-based visualizations through a new high-level grammar specifically built with common urban use cases in mind. In order to facilitate the integration and visualization of different urban data, we also propose the concept of knots to merge thematic and physical urban layers. We evaluate our approach through use cases and a series of interviews with experts and practitioners from different domains, including urban accessibility, urban planning, architecture, and climate science. UTK is available at urbantk.org.