Interconnection Arrangements Research Articles

Anti-ambipolar transport and logic operation in two-dimensional field-effect transistors using in-series integration of GeAs and SnS2

Germanium arsenide (GeAs) from the IV–V semiconductor family has drawn attention for its anisotropic optical and electrical characteristics as a robust p-type semiconductor with high mobility. Despite its potential, the scope of applications for two-dimensional (2D) GeAs remains limited. In this study, we investigate the in-series integration of GeAs and SnS2 for complementary inverter operation, a crucial element in logic circuits. Moreover, the resulting in-series field-effect transistors reveal a previously undocumented anti-ambipolar behavior in this configuration, with a peak-to-valley ratio exceeding 5000 at a drain-source bias of 2 V. This anti-ambipolar characteristic operates regardless of the direction of current flow, which is rarely seen in conventional anti-ambipolar transistors built with hetero-stacked p–n junctions. Moreover, the in-series structure demonstrates stable operation as a complementary inverter, highlighting the versatile potential of p-type 2D GeAs in diverse optoelectronic applications. This work contributes insights into the transport characteristics of GeAs and its interconnected arrangement with SnS2, offering valuable implications for the development of advanced 2D material-based devices.

Influence of MgO-Al2O3 hollow sphere content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of calcium hexaluminate porous ceramics

ABSTRACT Calcium hexaluminate (CA6) porous ceramics were prepared by foaming and pore-forming agent methods, with Al2O3 and calcium aluminate cement (CAC) as raw materials and magnesium aluminum spinel hollow spheres (MASHSs) as pore-forming agent. The effects of the amount of magnesium aluminum spinel hollow sphere on the phase composition, bulk density, apparent porosity, flexural strength, microstructure, and thermal conductivity of CA6-based porous ceramics were systematically studied. The pores of such porous ceramics are mainly formed by the enhanced amount of MASHSs and the generation of CA6 phase. The results demonstrate that with the elevation of MASHSs content, the microstructure of the samples transforms from a uniform distribution of closed pores to an interconnected micro-pore arrangement. Notably, the fracture paths transition from cohesive to interfacial interactions between MASHSs. This intricate interplay culminates in a remarkable outcome – our ceramics exhibit thermal conductivities ranging from 0.210 to 0.451 W/(m/k), an augmented gas permeability of 25.96 × 10−11m2, and exceptional compressive strengths reaching up to 22.3 MPa. Overall, this study provides insights into the influence of MASHSs content on the microstructure and thermal-mechanical properties of porous materials, which may contribute to the development of advanced ceramic materials with tailored properties.

Argumente und Möglichkeiten für eine Quantifizierung und ein Monitoring der differenzierten Landnutzung

The concept of differentiated land use was formulated already 50 years ago to preserve biodiversity and to maintain or restore the necessary landscape structure. Although it has been anchored in the Federal Nature Conservation Act, there is still no monitoring of its implementation, although the German Advisory Council on the Environment has been calling for this for 25 years. The paper argues that the technical prerequisites for monitoring the differentiated land use are ready today and discusses the conceptual steps necessary. It identifies several dimensions and proposes corresponding indicators of landscape structure, in particular the degree of diversification and the mixing of intensive land uses, the distribution of the size of intensively used areas, the proportion of semi-natural areas (at least 10 %) and the interconnected arrangement of semi-natural areas. Furthermore, the paper discusses suitable reference units and existing data. Finally, we identify remaining gaps in the data basis and discuss the question of defining target values.

Structural analysis of tapioca xerogel and its water and oil triggered shape change

Shape transformation of flat (two-dimensional) substances into complicated (three-dimensional) structures is a new concept that can be investigated to tailor materials with appealing attributes while lessening package space. The purpose of this research is to create root-based xerogel, investigate their application as a flat 2D food product capable of transforming into a 3D shape, and quantify their hydro and oleomorphic behavior. By drying (29 °C and 75% RH) tapioca hydrogel (5%) using the sessile drop method, flat tapioca xerogels were developed. Tapioca xerogel's topside was characterized as smooth whereas the bottom side was noted to be porous in nature. There is no difference in the chemical characteristics of tapioca flour during the xerogel design process. Cold plasma-treated tapioca xerogel with and without constraint material was engineered into a flower shape (3D) through stimuli (water and oil). Because of its interconnected arrangement of particles, tapioca xerogel swells/absorbs oil in various directions when exposed to water/oil. Anisotropic nature causes a stress gradient in tapioca xerogel, causing it to self-bend. The effect of shape change was quantified by bending angle, curvature, end-end distance, and curve height. This work discusses the new approach for designing attractive pasta/chips from 2D tapioca xerogel using water/oil-actuated shape change.

IoT role in prevention of COVID-19 and health care workforces behavioural intention in India - an empirical examination

PurposeThis paper aims to address the role of Internet of Things (IoT) in preventing COVID-19. The IoT devices can be used in various ways to track the patients and suspected person. Remote data collection can be done with the help of IoT and sensors. Later, the data can be analyzed with the help of data science engineers and researchers to predict and prevent the COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachIoT is a creative mean of amalgamating clinical gadgets and their applications to associate with the human services and data innovation frameworks. An investigation on the conceivable outcomes of defying progressive COVID-19 pandemic by implementing the IoT approach while offering treatment to all classes of patient without any partiality in poor and rich. The information sharing, report checking, patient tracking, data social affair, investigation, cleanliness clinical consideration and so forth are the different cloud-based administrations of IoT. It can totally change the working format of the medical services while rewarding the huge volume of patients with a predominant degree of care and more fulfilment, particularly during this pandemic of COVID-19 lockdown. Health workers can quickly focus on patient zero and identify everyone who has come into contact with the infected person and move these people to quarantine/isolation. As COVID-19 has emerged from the Wuhan province of China, IoT tools such as geographic information system could be used as an effective tool to curb the spread of pandemics by acting as an early warning system. Scanners at airports across the world could be used to monitor temperature and other symptoms. This paper addresses the role of IoT in preventing COVID-19.FindingsIn the period of continuous pandemic of COVID-19, IoT offers many propelled cloud-based administrations and offices to serve a greater number of patients effectively. The remote medicinal services framework provides a lot of significance in such a crucial time of lockdown. The powerful interconnected arrangement of gadgets, applications, Web, database and so on encourages the consumers to benefit the administrations in smart way. IoT additionally advances its administrations by building up the quality culture of perceptive medicinal services or portable centre. It is a “distinct advantage innovation,” which may totally change the practices universally. Indeed, even its quality administrations in this extreme time make this methodology progressively productive and beneficial. IoT helps in observing and tracking more recognized people and patients in remote areas for their human service prerequisites. The customary medicinal services are probably going to observe a huge change in perspective sooner rather than later, as the computerized revolution would place cutting-edge innovation and its associated items in the possession of the patients and give both patients and doctors in remote areas better access to quality clinical services.Originality/valueThe contemporary exploration study focuses on the proposed IoT system for the treatment of patients in this progressing COVID-19. The working principle of IoT approach incorporates the mix of human services apparatuses, clinical treatment framework, Web organize, programming and administrations. IoT framework empowers the information assortment, report observing, understanding database, testing pictures and investigation and so forth. Data has been collected through online mode; in this study, the authors adopted empirical research design. Total 150 (118/150 = 78.66% respondent response ratio) online questionnaires were sent in the Chennai city of Tamilnadu, India. The participated nature of work is clinical examination in critical care division.

Flexible interconnection analysis with EPRI DER integration testbed

Due to increasing distributed energy resources (DER) penetration, the DER hosting capacity of the existing distribution grid can be limited, and costly grid upgrades may be required due to potential but infrequent worst-case scenarios. DER management system (DERMS) can enable additional DER capacity to be interconnected to the existing distribution grid as a managed resource that can be curtailed to avoid violations under the infrequent worst case as an alternative to costly grid upgrades. With DER interconnected under flexible interconnection arrangements, DERMS can actively manage the grid constraints to avoid violations. This active management of DER under flexible interconnection would boost DER capacity, increase distribution system utilisation, and provide economic benefits to the DER owner through reduced interconnection costs. In this study, flexible interconnection capacity solutions (FICSs) are analysed for cases with limited hosting capacity. Testing is performed with a commercial DERMS solution provided by Smarter Grid Solutions. The study involves analysis of different principles of access for understanding technical benefits of constraint management, economic value estimation, utilisation of assets and deployment challenges involved in integrating these solutions. The study points out the key learnings and next steps for integrating FICS into the planning and operation of the grid.

Characterization and electrochemical studies on poly(1-naphthylamine)-graphene oxide nanocomposites prepared by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization

Present work demonstrates the synthesis of novel poly(1-naphthylamine)-graphene oxide (PNA–GO) nanocomposites by the polymerization of NA in GO dispersion. Here, GO was synthesized by greener oxidation of graphite without using sodium nitrate. The characterization of PNA–GO nanocomposites by different analytical techniques indicates that structural, thermal, and electrochemical properties are dependent on GO content. Observation of interconnected fibrous arrangement of PNA in PNA–GO nanocomposites suggests the templating interaction of GO on PNA. Electrochemical studies reveal the improvement in capacitance, cyclic stability, and charge transfer characteristics of PNA–GO nanocomposite offering a low-cost and highly processable electrode material.

Gadolinium-doped mesoporous calcium silicate/chitosan scaffolds enhanced bone regeneration ability.

Chitosan (CTS) and mesoporous calcium silicate (MCS) have been developed for bone defect healing; however, their bone regeneration capacity still does not satisfy the patients with bone diseases. Gadolinium (Gd) is accumulated in human bones, and plays a beneficial role in regulating cell performance and bone regeneration. We firstly constructed Gd-doped MCS/CTS (Gd-MCS/CTS) scaffolds by a lyophilization technology. The interconnected arrangement of CTS films lead to forming macropores by using ice crystals as templates during the lyophilization procedure, and the Gd-MCS nanoparticles dispersed uniformly on the macropore walls. The biocompatible chemical components and hierarchical pores facilitated the attachment and spreading of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs). Interestingly, the Gd dopants in the scaffolds effectively activated the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, resulting in excellent cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation capacities. The osteogenic-related genes such as alkaline phosphatase (ALP), runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and collagen type1 (COL-1) were remarkably up-regulated by Gd-MCS scaffolds as compared with MCS scaffolds, and their expression levels increased in a positive correlation with Gd doping amounts. Moreover, in vivo rat cranial defect tests further confirmed that Gd-MCS/CTS scaffolds significantly stimulated collagen deposition and new bone formation. The exciting finding suggested the beneficial effects of Gd3+ ions on osteogenic differentiation and new bone regeneration, and Gd-MCS/CTS scaffolds can be employed as a novel platform for bone defect healing.

Influence of molar concentration and temperature on structural, optical, electrical and X-ray sensing properties of chemically grown nickel-bismuth-sulfide (NixBi2−xS3) thin films

Abstract In this report, ternary semiconducting NixBi2−xS3(x = 0.2 M and 0.5 M) thin films were synthesized in situ for the first time by a chemical bath deposition technique at different bath temperatures (60 °C, 70 °C and 80 °C). The effects of concentration and deposition temperature on the deposited films were studied by combining the results of structural, morphological, optical and electrical analyses. The growth of NixBi2−xS3 films with good crystalline nature and interconnected grain arrangement takes place due to increasing the concentration of Ni2+ ions in bismuth sulfide matrix. EDS result confirmed the stoichiometry of NixBi2−xS3 formation. Wettability test demonstrated that the surface of the film was hydrophilic in nature. The optical absorption spectra revealed that the bandgap Eg of the x = 0.5 M film deposited at 70 °C was about 1.36 eV. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the x = 0.5 M film deposited at 70 °C were studied under X-ray radiation and dark condition. An X-ray detection sensitivity analysis showed that the detection sensitivity is optimum when the bias voltage applied across the film is low (~0.9 V). These findings reveal that the film with x = 0.5 M deposited at 70 °C can be used as an efficient low cost X-ray sensor.

Estimating Effects of Individual PV Panel Failures on PV Array Output

Photovoltaic (PV) plants are becoming an ever more popular source of energy. While individual PV panels are quite resilient, failures do happen. Due to the arrangement of interconnections between multiple PV panels in an array and the maximum power point tracking mechanism, the failure of a single panel can influence the output of the whole ensemble. This paper estimates the impact of a single panel short-circuit failure on the output of a series–parallel array. Generally, the array power loss is larger than the contribution of the failed panel. The dependence of this increase on various factors such as the number of panels/strings, the shape of the current–voltage ( I–V ) curve of the panels, and the degree of panel inhomogeneities is investigated. This increase is found to depend most significantly on the shape of the I–V curve of the panel, and only weakly on a range of other parameters. It is, therefore, useful in estimating the impact of panel failures without the need to know many details about the system.

The Internet of Platforms and Two-Sided Markets: Implications for Competition and Consumers

This paper will examine developments in the Internet marketplace that limit and condition access in light of growing incentives to offer prioritized management and delivery at a premium price. Commercially-driven interconnection and compensation arrangements support biased networks rather than open ones. Single ventures, such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and Netflix have exploited, “winner take all” networking externalities resulting in the creation of dominant platforms and walled gardens. Advocates for network neutrality claim that limited and “pay to play” access will threaten a competitive marketplace of ideas by imposing higher costs on unaffiliated, disfavored and cash-poor content providers. Opponents argue that Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) should have the flexibility to customize services and accrue marketplace rewards for superior products and services. The paper identifies four types of government responses to price and quality of service discrimination that can exploit, or remedy choke points within the Internet ecosystem where large volumes of traffic have to traverse a single ISP network, or service provider platform. Governments can refrain from regulating access and accept aspects of market concentration as proper rewards to ventures offering desirable content and carriage services. Alternatively, they can impose access neutrality requirements to offset harmful discrimination and market dominance. Between these poles, governments can apply antitrust/competition policy remedies, or rely on expert regulatory agencies to respond to complaints. The paper examines case studies where ventures have created walled gardens and platforms as an intermediary between consumers and content providers. In some instances, government-imposed remedies offered a solution to a transitory, or possibly nonexistent problem. In other instances, governments have created an administrative process for responding to complaints and resolving valid disputes. The paper concludes that governments should have a duty to remedy marketplace distortions generated by firms operating platforms in an anticompetitive manner. Rather than anticipate such an outcome, governments should offer remedies when and if they receive valid complaints documenting harm to consumers and competitors. Additionally, regulators should implement robust transparency and truth in billing safeguards that possibly can prevent most conflicts, or help identify practices that harm consumers and competitors.

Facile hydrothermal synthesis and electrochemical supercapacitor performance of hierarchical coral-like ZnCo2O4 nanowires

This paper reports a facile hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical coral-like ZnCo2O4 nanostructures comprised of necklace type nanowires without the use surfactants. The hierarchical coral structure is composed of an interconnected necklace-type nanowire arrangement on the nanoscale, facilitating charge transportation. In addition, the coral-like ZnCo2O4 nanowires were mesoporous (29.36m2g−1 and 18.96nm), leading to large electrochemical active sites for the redox reaction and fast ion transport within the ZnCo2O4 nanowires. When used in electrochemical supercapacitors, the interconnected necklace type, coral-like ZnCo2O4 nanowires exhibited a significantly high specific capacity (694Fg−1 at a current density of 2Ag−1), high rate capability (264Fg−1 at 10Ag−1), and excellent cycling stability (capacitance retention of ∼85% even after 2000cycles at a charge-discharge current density of 10Ag−1). These results suggest that hierarchical coral-like ZnCo2O4 nanowires are a promising electrode material for energy storage applications in high-performance pseudocapacitors.

Internet Interconnection: How the Economics of Convention Can Inform the Discourse on Internet Governance

Internet governance research has a tradition of focusing on institutions and formalised steering processes. But modes of coordination which do not fit these criteria also shape the operation and evolution of the internet and should also be included in an analytical framework for internet governance. In this article, the Economics of Convention is presented as a theoretical backdrop for the analysis of such phenomena. This analytical perspective is then used to shed a detailed light on internet interconnection arrangements. The findings of this exercise are then discussed with regard to their meaning for internet governance.

Biomimetic synthesis of lotus leaf extract-assisted silver nanoparticles and shape-directing role of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide

We report a simple biomimetic chemical reduction method for the preparation of orange-red color silver sol in absence and presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), at room temperature. Silver nitrate and lotus leaf extract were taken as the metal precursor and reducing agent. As the reaction proceeds, a typical plasmon absorption band in 400 to 550nm range appears for the silver nanoparticles and the intensities increase with the time and [reactants]. UV–visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected areas electron diffraction (SAED) were used to characterize the silver sol. TEM images show that the silver sol consists of aggregated, cross-linked and inter-connected arrangement of spherical and truncated nanoplates, and irregular silver nanoparticles. The dependency of position and shape of the absorption band on CTAB concentration infers that it acts as a shape-directing, cross-linking and stabilizing agent during the growth of different shape and size of silver nanoparticles.

Porous LaCo1-xNixO3-δ Nanostructures as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Water Oxidation and for a Zinc-Air Battery.

Perovskites have emerged as promising earth-abundant alternatives to precious metals for catalyzing the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, we report the synthesis of a series of porous perovskite nanostructures, LaCo0.97O3-δ, with systematic Ni substitution in Co octahedral sites. Their electrocatalytic activity during the water oxidation reaction was studied in alkaline electrolytes. The electrocatalytic OER activity and stability of the perovskite nanostructure was evaluated using the rotating disk electrode technique. We show that the progressive replacement of Co by Ni in the LaCo0.97O3-δ perovskite structure greatly altered the electrocatalytic activity and that the La(Co0.71Ni0.25)0.96O3-δ composition exhibited the lowest OER overpotential of 324 and 265 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) in 0.1 M KOH and 1 M KOH, respectively. This value was much lower than that of the noble metal catalysts, IrO2, Ru/C, and Pt/C. Furthermore, the La(Co0.71Ni0.25)0.96O3-δ nanostructure showed outstanding electrode stability, with no observable decrease in performance up to 114th cycle in the auxiliary linear sweep voltammetry that lasted for 10 h in chronoamperometry studies. The excellent oxygen evolution activity of the La(Co0.71Ni0.25)0.96O3-δ perovskite nanostructure can be attributed to its intrinsic structure, interconnected particle arrangement, and unique redox characteristics. The enhanced intrinsic electrocatalytic activity of the La(Co0.71Ni0.25)0.96O3-δ catalyst was correlated with several parameters, such as the electrochemical surface area, the roughness factor, and the turnover frequency, with respect to variation in the transition metals of the perovskite structure. Subsequently, La(Co0.71Ni0.25)0.96O3-δ was utilized as the air cathode in a zinc-air battery application.

Localizing Internet infrastructure: Cooperative peering in Latin America

This paper offers an overview of the changes in the Internet interconnection regime in the past decade and their key implications for the development of Internet infrastructure in developing regions based on the Latin American experience. The main argument presented is that changes in market conditions and Internet traffic patterns over the past decade have favored the search for new interconnection arrangements between actors located at the outer edges of the traditional Internet topology. Driven by the need to control operating costs and optimize content delivery to end-users, network operators in Latin America (and elsewhere in developing regions) are increasingly experimenting with cooperative peering arrangements to meet interconnection needs. The evidence suggests that these new arrangements are resulting in multiple benefits to local Internet ecosystems, among them reduced transit costs, greater network redundancy, improved service quality, new infrastructure investments and better technical coordination among operators.

The Evolution of Internet Service Providers from Partners to Adversaries: Tracking Shifts in Interconnection Goals and Strategies in the Internet's Fifth Generation

This paper will examine new models for the carriage of Internet traffic with an eye toward providing insights on how the interconnection process has changed and what positive and negative consequences have resulted. Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) interconnection used to constitute a cooperative undertaking, but now it increasingly requires difficult and protracted negotiations between ventures that consider themselves adversaries in a winner take all transaction.The paper concludes that new commercial arrangements, such as paid peering, can achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. However, the paper also identifies instances where migration from traditional interconnection arrangements can harm consumers by reducing some of the benefits accruing from network externalities.At the Internet’s inception, carriers providing essential bit switching and transmission functions largely embraced twin goals of expanding connections and the number of users. These ventures refrained from metering traffic and charging for carriage based on the assumption that traffic volumes roughly matched, or that traffic measurement was not worth the bother in light of external funding from government grants. Most ISPs bartered network access through a process known as peering in lieu of metering traffic and billing for network use.As governments removed subsidies and commercial carriers invested substantial funds to build larger and faster networks, ISPs more accurately identified carriers and customers triggering higher costs and targeted them for rates increases. Currently the issue of cost causation has become a key commercial and regulatory policy issue, because of the potential for traffic disconnections and service degradation when parties cannot agree on interconnection terms. The FCC has responded with ex ante, common carrier regulatory safeguards designed to anticipate and prevent anticompetitive practices with emphasis on ISPs that provide retail broadband services and also negotiate and implement interconnection agreements with upstream carriers and content distributors.A number of highly publicized traffic interconnection and compensation disputes have recently occurred among ISPs, and between them and content distributors. The most controversial clashes have involved Netflix and ventures handling its extremely large volume of downstream traffic, on one hand, and “Retail ISPs,” such as Comcast and Verizon, that provide last mile delivery of traffic to end users. These disputes evidence a substantial change in strategies and tactics among ventures operating within the Internet ecosystem. In particular, the process for negotiating network interconnection appears increasingly contentious instead of cooperative as carriers attempt to extract higher compensation. Retail ISPs appear most able and inclined to exploit possible market power as terminating monopolies particularly when negotiating with content distributors and Content Distribution Networks (“CDNs”) that provide downstream video delivery. Most broadband subscribers in the United States have limited facilities-based carrier options. Consumers typically subscribe to only one ISP and they may not readily change carriers even if options exist. Additionally, end users require higher transmission speeds and downloading capacity in light of growing demand for bandwidth intensive video, often by multiple users at the same location. Under current marketplace conditions, Retail ISPs have raised rates and segmented service into different tiers of transmission speed and downloading capacity. Additionally they have imposed surcharges on upstream CDNs and other carriers. Exploiting superior bargaining leverage has translated into a number of new interconnection and compensation arrangements that deviate from both traditional telecommunications and Internet carriage models. This paper will identify instances where price and quality of service discrimination benefits and harms consumers.

Adding Enhanced Services to the Internet: Lessons from History

We revisit the last 35 years of history related to the design and specification of Quality of Service (QoS) on the Internet, in hopes of offering some clarity to the current debates around service differentiation. We describe the continual failure to get QoS capabilities deployed on the public Internet, including the technical challenges of the 1980s and 1990s, the market-oriented (business) challenges of the 1990s and 2000s, and recent regulatory challenges. In short, the engineering community successfully developed protocols and mechanisms to implement enhanced services (QoS), and a few individual service providers have deployed them internally or in trusted two-party scenarios. The long-standing failure has been to deploy this capability across the public Internet. We reflect on lessons learned from the history of this failure, the resulting tensions and risks, and their implications for the future of Internet infrastructure regulation. First, the continued failure of QoS over the last three decades derives from political and economic (business) obstacles as well as technical obstacles. The competitive nature of the industry, and a long history of anti-trust regulation (at least in the U.S.) conflicts with the need for competing providers to agree on protocols that require sharing operational data with each other to parameterize and verify committed service qualities. Second, QoS technology can yield benefits as well as harms, so policymaking should focus on harms rather than mechanisms. To assure the benefit to consumers, regulators may need to require transparency about the state of congestion and provisioning on networks using such mechanisms. Third, using QoE as the basis for any regulation will require research, tools and capabilities to measure, quantify, and characterize QoE, and developing metrics of service quality that better reflect our understanding of QoS and QoE for a range of applications. Finally, profound shifts in interconnection arrangements suggest a reshaping of the debate over QoS on the public Internet. Some access networks are interconnecting their private IP-based network platforms to support enhanced services, and using this interconnected platform to vertically integrate infrastructure and applications. Access networks are also connecting directly to large content providers to minimize the risk of performance impairments. These changes trigger new regulatory concerns over the fate of the public Internet, including capital investment incentives and gaps across different bodies of law. Barriers to the deployment of scalable interprovider QoS may be unsurmountable, but since any Internet of the future will face them, it is worth developing a systematic understanding to the challenge of enhanced services, and documenting successes and failures over the history of the Internet as carefully as possible.

New models and conflicts in the interconnection and delivery of Internet-mediated content

This paper examines the dramatic changes in interconnection and compensation agreements between content providers and carriers resulting from increasing use of the Internet for bandwidth intensive carriage of video. It identifies two emerging models: (1) interconnection and compensation arrangements that increase the total payments to Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) from end users, upstream ISPs and content providers; and (2) strategies by content creators and distributors to achieve congestion-free delivery at the lowest cost.While supportive of commercially negotiated agreements, the paper suggests that the two emerging models will trigger more disputes as interconnecting parties increasingly lack motivation to cooperate in finding ways to balance traffic flows and instead seek ever increasing compensation. The paper recommends that National Regulatory Authorities require ISPs to engage in transparent network management practices, backed up with reporting requirements that can help identify the causes of congestion and degraded service.The paper also suggests ways for regulators to resolve disputes between ISPs and content providers that could harm consumers, particularly when retail ISPs, providing the first and last kilometer of service, seek to leverage access to end users by demanding surcharges from upstream carriers and content providers. By creating such a bottleneck, retail ISPs may reduce the value of Internet access subscriptions, or increase costs even when congestion remedies do not require more broadband network capacity. Reporting requirements can provide empirical data for necessary forensic investigations that can determine whether a massive increase in traffic volume has caused congestion, or a carrier has artificially created it by strategic allocation of existing bandwidth and switching capacity.

The Evolution of Internet Interconnection from Hierarchy to 'Mesh': Implications for Government Regulation

The Internet has evolved from a “hierarchy” — in which interconnection was achieved by having Internet Service Providers (ISPs) purchase transit services from top-level backbones and top-level backbone providers engage in direct settlement-free peering — to a “mesh” in which peering occurs among a much larger number of participants and some peering arrangements involve payments from one peer to another. In this new environment, backbone providers, ISPs, and suppliers of content have a far wider array of interconnection alternatives, both technical and financial, than they did only a short time ago. As is often the case, the introduction of new alternatives and contractual arrangements has led to calls to regulate which alternatives and arrangements are acceptable. In this paper, we explain why such regulation would be harmful, as it would (i) reduce the incentives of industry participants to minimize total costs; (ii) lead to higher access prices to end users; (iii) result in prices that do not adequately reflect costs; (iv) and create regulatory inefficiencies. We also explain why the alternative interconnection arrangements to which Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and ISPs generally have access already impose limits on the exercise of market power.