Weak Competition Research Articles

How PPY/CMC aerogels possess selective adsorption capacity for norfloxacin: Coupling molecular scale interpretation with experiments

In this study, the PPY/CMC aerogels showed rapid removal of norfloxacin (NOR) within 2 h with a maximum adsorption capacity of 845.7 mg/g and excellent adsorption performance in the pH range of 3–10. The exhaustive Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations revealed that π-π electron-donor–acceptor (EDA) interactions dominated at different pH. Humic acid (HA) mainly competed with NOR for the sites of π-π EDA interactions on the adsorbent, but only slightly inhibited NOR adsorption at high concentrations due to the weak competitiveness and compensation by NOR-bridging interactions. Background ions mainly competed with NOR for electrostatically interacting sites, but ions in the lower valence state were less competitive and preferentially occupied different adsorption sites, thus hardly affecting the adsorption of NOR. The higher valence state with higher concentration of ions had increased competing ability, and although the bridging interaction can compensate some adsorption sites, it still inhibited the adsorption of NOR. The PPY/CMC aerogels had fine affinity for multiple antibiotics, and the differences in adsorption capacity were determined by the charge and structural properties of the antibiotics themselves. Moreover, excellent recyclability of PPY/CMC aerogels was confirmed after five adsorption–desorption cycles as the diminished performance from 96.8% to 83.7%. These results will help us to understand the structure-performance relationship between contaminants and PPY/CMC aerogels, and prefigure the potential of PPY/CMC aerogels as a novel adsorbent for the removal of multiple antibiotics.

Effect of flue gas components on the removal of cadmium pollutants by transition metal-modified activated carbon: Density functional theory and thermodynamic study

Removal of cadmium (Cd) pollutants from waste incineration (MSW) flue gas by modified activated carbon (AC) is of great potential, yet the influence of flue gas composition on their interaction mechanism is still unclear. Thus, density functional theory and thermodynamic analyses were combined to explore the effects of typical flue gas compositions (O2, HCl, NO, SO2, CO2, and H2O) on Cd species capture over the Fe/AC and Mn/AC surfaces. All flue gas compositions inhibit the adsorption of Cd species, wherein their inhibitory effects are mainly divided into two categories, i.e., one with moderate inhibition (HCl, CO2, and H2O), and the other with significant inhibition (O2, NO, and SO2). For the first category, HCl forms new active sites after adsorption on the surface, while CO2 and H2O have weak competitiveness with Cd species, resulting in mild inhibitory effects. Nevertheless, O atoms of O2/SO2 and N atoms of NO are highly effortless to bond with Fe/Mn atoms, and strongly exclude the Cd adsorption on the active sites, greatly weakening their binding strength. According to thermodynamic analysis, the fixation of Cd species by Fe/AC and Mn/AC spontaneously proceeds with the interference of flue gas components, while the selectivity to Cd species decreases with the increased temperature. In summary, it is instrumental to adjust the operating parameters and AC injection location to attenuate the negative effects of O2, SO2, NO, and high temperature on Cd capture by Fe/AC and Mn/AC.

Analysis of the investment value of Motional based on SWOT analysis

With the continuous rise of investment diversification, more and more people invest in enterprises, hence it is more important to analyze the investment value of enterprises. Many enterprises have no investment value analysis. Therefore, the theme of this paper is to analyze the investment value of emotional based on the SWOT model. The research method of this paper is as follows: first, search the information of listed companies which is similar to emotional, and analyze the data. The researchers find Hyundai motor group is a company that is similar to motional's financial and non-financial situation recently. Secondly, collect the financial and non-financial data of Hyundai Motor Group through its annual report and official website, such as balance sheet, cash flow statement, income statement, management team information, and customer group information; Finally, analysis of the existing data of Hyundai Motor Group through the swot model, draw a conclusion about its advantages, disadvantages, trade environment and industry competition. Hence it can get a conclusion about whether Hyundai Motor Group has investment value by summarizing the above aspects. Because of the high similarity in the industry and development between emotional and Hyundai Motor Group, it can draw an analogy whether emotional has investment value. The study finds that Hyundai Motor Group has many advantages; few disadvantages; an excellent trade environment and weak industry competition. Based on the above contents, the research concludes that Hyundai Motor Group has a high investment value. Hence emotion has a high investment value.

Model of Cooperative Business Competitiveness Based on Business Type in Hammer City

Advances in science and technology in the current century have changed the face of the world in various aspects of life, especially in the economic field. Where the economic world order becomes centered on individual profits, namely the owners of capital (capitalism). So that an economic system is needed that does not only enrich the owners of capital. One of the economic systems that can be applied to overcome this gap is the people's economy or known as cooperatives. Cooperatives that are expected by the constitution as a people's economic movement known as the pillars of the national economy have not been able to keep up with the efforts of other economic actors, due to internal and external factors, which have an impact on weak business competitiveness. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to find out and analyze how the competitiveness model of savings and loan cooperatives, services, consumers, and producers in Palu City. The analysis technique used is descriptive SWOT technique combined with generic strategies and the 2020 policy of the Indonesian Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs on cooperative empowerment. The results obtained competitiveness strategies used by each cooperative are: savings and loan cooperatives use aggressive strategies, service cooperatives use defensive strategies, consumer cooperatives use turn-around strategies, and producer cooperatives use diversification strategies

Battle for the mounds: Niche competition between upside-down jellyfish and invasive seagrass.

Battle for the mounds: Niche competition between upside-down jellyfish and invasive seagrass.

Neutralizing Concerns and Mapping the Trade Competitiveness and Potential of Indian Export with RCEP Countries

Much debate has surrounded India’s lack of interest in plurilateral regional trade agreements (RTAs) and its decision to opt out of the regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP). Against this backdrop, the article attempt to analyse the competitiveness and potential of Indian export items in the RCEP region. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index has been employed to study India’s trade competitiveness among RCEP nations between 2010 and 2019 using the WITS (World Integrated Trade Solutions) 2021 database. The study found that India has a comparative advantage in more than 9 product categories out of 16 studied in the article. The article also revealed India’s competitiveness in intermediate goods with the majority of RCEP countries. The analysis found a trade complementarity between India and the RCEP countries and the possibility of increased economic cooperation. The problem lies in the utilization rate and weak export competitiveness of Indian industries. Before signing a new FTA, it is imperative to improve the export competitiveness of Indian enterprises. Given India’s current trade balance, tariff structure and export competitiveness of Indian commodities, we believe India had little option but to withdraw from the RCEP.

Interspecific competition predicts the potential impact of little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) invasion on resident ants in southern China.

The little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger) is a major invasive species that seriously threatens the biodiversity of invaded areas. W. auropunctata was first reported in Chinese mainland in 2022 and its impact on native species is still unknown. To evaluate the impact of W. auropunctata invasion on the ant communities in southern China, a series of interspecific competition experiments were conducted in this study. The individual aggression index and group aggression experiments showed the advantage of W. auropunctata in competition with 5 resident ants under equal worker numbers. When encountering Anoplolepis gracilipes, Camponotus nicobarensis, Tetramorium bicarinatum, Polyrhachis dives, and Solenopsis invicta, W. auropunctata gradually gained a competitive advantage with an increase in its number of workers. In the group aggression experiments with equal worker numbers, there was a negative correlation between the body length and mortality rate of resident ants. The results of the foraging behavior experiments showed that W. auropunctata was able to dominate food resources under competition with Carebara diversa, which also displayed weak competition in the group aggression bioassay. In addition, the abilities to recruit workers and retrieve food were inhibited under competition with S. invicta and T. bicarinatum. The results of the nesting behavior experiments showed that in the 24-h bout of space resource competition, W. auropunctata was dominant over C. diversa, S. invicta, and T. bicarinatum. The results of this study show that W. auropunctata has certain advantages in competition for food and space resources over resident ants in southern China, and some resident ant species may be replaced in the future.

Level Playing Field or Politics as Usual? Equalization–Normalization in Direct Democratic Online Campaigns

Are digital technologies leveling the playing field or reinforcing existing power relations and structures? This question lies at the core of the equalization vs. normalization debate. The equalization thesis states that the affordances of digital technologies help less-powerful political actors to compete with their more resource-rich counterparts, thereby overcoming structural disadvantages inherent to the political landscape. The normalization thesis, in contrast, suggests that more powerful and resource-rich political actors outperform their weaker competitors in the digital sphere by establishing a more sophisticated online presence, thus reproducing existing power imbalances. An overwhelming majority of studies on the equalizing vs. normalizing effect of digital technologies focus on electoral campaigns or non-electoral periods. Direct democratic campaigns have not been adequately considered in previous studies. This study exploits the regularly held and institutionalized character of direct democratic votes in Switzerland. Specifically, it investigates political actors’ level of activity and generated engagement on Facebook and in newspapers during all direct democratic campaigns from 2010–2020. Applying the equalization vs. normalization lens to Swiss direct democratic campaigns over an 11-year timespan provides new insights into the status-quo preserving or altering effects of digital technologies. We find a tendency toward equalization in terms of Facebook activity and user engagement, and in a comparative perspective: Facebook campaigns are, on average, more balanced than newspaper advertisement campaigns, particularly since 2014.

Public Procurement And Project Management At Transitional Context : Analysis Of Single Source Contracting Practices

Procurement of goods, works and services are considered as key functions of every government to achieve their development strategy goals which consumes the large amount of national GDP and annual budget. Public procurement shall be carried out in a transparent, accountable, effective, competitive and efficient manners with high level of integrity. Procurement and contracting operations using single-source or direct contracting method (an alternative to competitive options) creates a lot of controversies. The aim of this study is to explore the issues and practices of single source procurement and contracting methods, their justifications and impact on the project performance and sustainability. Adopting the mixed approach of qualitative and content analysis techniques; case study of conflict effected nations is conducted. For this purpose, a systematic literature review (SLR) of 15 conflict affected nations in Asia is carried out and case study of Timor-Leste located in East-Asia and Nepal located in South-Asia is conducted on the basis of research purposive approach. Similarly, a group discussion, preliminary interviews and in-depth interviews are also conducted involving project stake holders and then simple triangulation approach is applied for verification and validation purpose. Findings from in-depth interviews of 30 experienced participants, 5 group discussions and 10 preliminary interviews are included in this research paper. The participants have identified 15 key factors those are responsible for single-source contracting decisions like poor institutional capacity, political interference, corruption motives, weak private sector competition, decision delays, collusions among bidders, emergency situations and others. Identified consequences of direct contracting methods are delivery of goods and services in poor quality, cost overrun, promote corruption, social conflict, injustice, political instability including overall projects performance. It is expected that the findings of this research will contribute to a better understanding towards proper application of the available competitive methods of public procurement and contracting operations rather than selecting the non-competitive choices.

Bottom-up and top-down pressures mediate competition between two generalist insects.

The effects of competition can have far-reaching consequences for individuals, populations, and communities and therefore we should strive toward a deeper understanding of competitive interactions. In some cases, dietary generalists may be predicted to experience weak competition effects because of their ability to use a wide range of host plants. However, competition between insects frequently occurs indirectly, which can hinder insects' abilities to avoid competitive interactions. Therefore, competition may be as strong among dietary generalists as among dietary specialists. Yet competition between insects that are dietary generalists is infrequently studied. We tested for evidence of competitive interactions between two common, temporally separated, generalist insects: the western tent caterpillar (Malacosoma californicum), which feeds early in the season, and the fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea), which feeds later in the season. Both species frequently use a common host plant species (chokecherry) as a preferred host at our field sites. We tested the relative strength of bottom-up effects resulting from competitive interactions between these two generalists with laboratory-rearing trials at the relevant time of year for each insect. We recorded three common fitness measures (development time, pupal mass, and survival) for caterpillars reared on chokecherry with no damage from either of our focal species, with tent caterpillar damage, and with fall webworm damage. To test the strength of top-down pressures on fall webworm larval fitness and any potential interactions with bottom-up effects, we reared larvae in the field either exposed to or protected from predators on host plants that either did or did not have tent caterpillars feeding on them earlier in the season. We found evidence of bottom-up fitness effects on tent caterpillars and top-down and bottom-up fitness effects on fall webworms confirming that tent caterpillars and fall webworms compete indirectly. Tent caterpillars had lower pupal mass when reared on leaves from shrubs damaged by fall webworms. Fall webworms had lower pupal mass and longer development time when reared on leaves from shrubs damaged by tent caterpillars. In field trials, fall webworms reared on shrubs damaged by tent caterpillars had a lower survival and pupal mass. We show evidence of indirect competition in temporally separated generalists through leaf quality (bottom-up effects) and natural enemies (top-down effects).

Dynamics of a diffusive competition model with memory effect and spatial heterogeneity

In this paper, a diffusive competition model is formulated by considering the memory-based diffusions of species in their movement and spatial heterogeneity of the resource. The global existence of solution for the proposed model is proved. Under weak competition, the existence and stability of the positive steady state are obtained, when the random diffusion rates are large enough, by using implicit function theorem and some priori estimations. However, when memory-based diffusions dominate the dynamics, spatial-temporal patterns can be observed. We also consider the case that both competition coefficients equal to one, showing that the stabilities of semi-trivial steady states, existence of positive steady state by the method of upper and lower solutions, and bistable dynamics of the model. The results reveal that the memory-based diffusion plays an important role on the competition outcomes. Specifically, the species with slower random diffusion may not help itself to wipe out its competitor because of disadvantageous memory-based diffusion, while the species with faster random diffusion but with advantageous memory-based diffusion may win the competition.

The impact of the "Belt and Road" initiative on the financialization of enterprises

In this paper, the implementation of the "Belt and Road" initiative is taken as a quasi-natural experiment under the background of the economy "moving from real to virtual". Using the data of Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2009 to 2020, this paper examines the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on corporate financialization through the DID model, and conducts the corresponding robustness test. Findings: The Belt and Road Initiative significantly inhibits the financialization level of the target enterprises. Further research shows that the inhibition effect is more obvious in non-state-owned enterprises and enterprises with weak market competitiveness. The research in this paper shows that the "Belt and Road" Initiative plays an important role in guiding real enterprises to "get rid of virtual and return to real", and the research conclusion provides a new perspective for understanding the construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative.

Existing Barriers to the Development of the Climate Agenda for Banks

In the face of declining external demand for climate action and weak domestic competition, the climate agenda in Russia may be perceived by companies and financial institutions as additional difficulties in conducting their activities. Even in the presence of an evolving national regulatory environment, it is difficult for banks to quickly change internal processes in the interests of low-carbon development. Banking organizations face certain obstacles that the Russian financial market and business in general have yet to overcome. Despite the growing trend and attention to the climate agenda, not all banks understand the value of low-carbon investing. Banking organizations consider investment loans for green projects either less profitable or too risky. Low-carbon projects have not yet been widely developed in Russia, which does not allow in practice to assess the economic benefits and risks of investing in them.

Seed production and marketing experiences of producing cooperatives in Ethiopia

Seed producer cooperatives (SPCs) are important for improving the seed supply and thus contributing to increased access to seed. This paper assessed the seed production and marketing experiences of SPCs and factors affecting their performance in the northwest of Ethiopia. Data were collected from 117 members of the two SPCs and from ten local experts. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection procedures were employed. The study identified three ‘market outlets' for the seed produced by cooperative members, namely seed sold to external buyers through SPCs, sold in the local market as seed, and used as seed (planting material) by individual members for the next cropping season. A large volume of seed (88.3%) has been sold through SPCs to external buyers, indicating less side-selling by cooperative members. Basic seed shortage, high basic seed price, market fluctuation, limited engagement and influence of SPCs in the seed value chain, weak competitor orientation, and limited management capabilities are key factors that limit the seed production and marketing performance of the SPCs. This study contributes to the increasing body of literature on the key role of cooperatives in agricultural-based economic development. SPCs should be able to develop their adaptation strategy to withstand the influence of internal and external factors that affect their seed production and marketing activities.

ТЕНДЕНЦІЇ ЕКОНОМІЧНОГО ЗРОСТАННЯ НОВИХ ІНДУСТРІАЛЬНИХ КРАЇН ЛАТИНСЬКОЇ АМЕРИКИ

The analysis of the economic growth of the new industrialized countries of Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico) and the analysis of the dynamics of the main indicators of the functioning of their economies is carried out in the article. He found that the economic growth of the countries of the region had a cyclical nature. During the colonial period, the development of most countries was limited to the mother countries, which focused exclusively on mining and agricultural development. Since the beginning of the 20th century there was a rather rapid growth of already independent countries, which slowed down under the influence of wars and the Great Depression. In the post-war period, the policy aimed at the development of industry and import substitution contributed to economic growth, which due to a number of problems (high growth in the import of machinery and equipment against the background of low export of products; the external public debt that grew due to the influx of foreign investments; import substitution had a weak effect on production means of production and affected mainly light industry; budget deficit and high inflation, which arose due to the growth of government expenditures to support industry; weak competitiveness of goods protected by the state on the world market), as well as unsuccessful economic strategizing and management led to the crisis of 1970–1980. It are founded, that in the following years in the new industrialized countries of Latin America the policy is replaced by a liberal foreign policy. Nevertheless, there was no increase in industrial potential, which as a result gave moderate incentives to economic growth and was occasionally accompanied by news recessions, the last of which was caused by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in. The dynamics of the main economic indicators of the newly industrialized countries of Latin America made it possible to establish that the trends of economic growth are contradictory and have a cyclical nature of constant crises and attempts at growth, which was exacerbated under the influence of “peripheral capitalism”.

Free boundary problem for a nonlocal time-periodic diffusive competition model.

In this paper we consider a free boundary problem for a nonlocal time-periodic competition model. One species is assumed to adopt nonlocal dispersal, and the other one adopts mixed dispersal, which is a combination of both random dispersal and nonlocal dispersal. We first prove the global well-posedness of solutions to the free boundary problem with more general growth functions, and then discuss the spreading and vanishing phenomena. Moreover, under the weak competition condition, we study the long-time behaviors of solutions for the spreading case.

The effect of "fear" on two species competition.

Non-consumptive effects such as fear of depredation, can strongly influence predator-prey dynamics. There are several ecological and social motivations for these effects in competitive systems as well. In this work we consider the classic two species ODE and PDE Lotka-Volterra competition models, where one of the competitors is "fearful" of the other. We find that the presence of fear can have several interesting dynamical effects on the classical competitive scenarios. Notably, for fear levels in certain regimes, we show novel bi-stability dynamics. Furthermore, in the spatially explicit setting, the effects of several spatially heterogeneous fear functions are investigated. In particular, we show that under certain integral restrictions on the fear function, a weak competition type situation can change to competitive exclusion. Applications of these results to ecological as well as sociopolitical settings are discussed, that connect to the "landscape of fear" (LOF) concept in ecology.

THE IMPACT OF TRADE POLICY UNCERTAINTY ON THE QUALITY OF CHINA'S MANUFACTURING EXPORTS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY BASED ON CHINA'S EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES

Previous studies believe that the decline in trade policy uncertainty will lead to a decline in the quality of export products, mainly because the decline in trade policy uncertainty is mainly reflected in the decline in tariff levels, so that enterprises that produce a large number of low-quality products are easier to enter the export market, but China's medium and high-tech products even in the case of tariff decline, due to weak competitiveness, so the export quantity is relatively small, so the overall average quality of export products declines. This paper uses China's export trade with the US manufacturing industry from 2000 to 2013 as the object, uses the double difference method to verify the impact of trade policy uncertainty on China's manufacturing products, and deeply explores the differences in manufacturing at different technology levels. The study finds that, unlike previous studies, this paper finds that the decline of trade policy uncertainty is conducive to the improvement of manufacturing export product quality, mainly because fierce market competition will force the manufacturing industry to improve the quality of export products, and the study also finds that the decline of trade policy uncertainty mainly promotes the improvement of product quality of low-tech manufacturing products, and has little impact on the manufacturing industry with medium and high technology levels.

Coexistence of chaotic and non-chaotic attractors in a three-species slow–fast system

The dynamical complexity of conceptual few-species systems has long been attracting considerable attention. In particular, significant attention has been paid to the three trophic level systems to demonstrate that even a baseline prey/predator/top-predator system can exhibit complex dynamics. However, previous studies left many open questions. In this paper, we consider a generalization of the Hastings–Powell model that include intraspecific competition among the predators and top predators. To enhance the ecological relevance of the model, we incorporate different timescales for different species. Specifically, we aim to study how the dynamics of the system is affected in the presence of multiple timescales along the trophic levels. We employ the geometric singular perturbation approach to analyze the change in species abundance over three different timescales, slow, fast, and intermediate. We analytically determine the entry and exit points from the vicinity of the critical manifold; the corresponding values act as critical thresholds for a sudden, fast transition in population density. We show that the properties of this generalized form of the Hastings–Powell model are dynamically more rich than it was observed in previous studies; particularly, the system can exhibit bi-stability or tri-stability in certain parameter intervals. The existence of a homoclinic orbit in a limiting subsystem (prey–predator) indicates period-doubling cascades to chaos in the full system (prey–predator–top predator). We further investigate the impact of the intraspecific competition of predators and top predators on the system’s dynamics. Strong intraspecific competition among the predators and top predators shows periodic coexistence of all species. In contrast, weak competition can drive the system to exhibit tri-stability, which includes the coexistence of chaotic and periodic (of different periods) attractors.

Cyclic Ecological Systems with an Exceptional Species

We consider cyclic ecological systems consisting of N species ui, i=1,…,N, where N=3 and N=4. We employ a model in which species ui competes only with members of its own species (intraspecies competition), with a strength normalized to unity, and with species ui+1, where i+1 is taken to mean (imodN)+1 (interspecies competition). The strength of the competition is quantified by an interaction coefficient αi>0.When the interspecies competition is weak for all species (αi<1 for all i), the only stable critical point is a unique coexistence state where all species coexist at nonzero concentrations (one might think that all species in the community form an alliance of the whole). All states involving extinction of at least one species are unstable. For strong competition (αi>1 for all i), coexistence can still be stable under certain circumstances, but the predominant feature is complex dynamics for N=3, involving heteroclinic cycles, spatiotemporal chaos, traveling waves, and modulated traveling waves, and interactions among stable alliances of noncompeting species for N=4. All states other than the coexistence state involving alliances of competing species will be unphysical.We consider the case where one species (say, species j) is either a weak competitor in a community of strong competitors (αj>1, αi<1 for i≠j), or a strong competitor in a community of weak competitors (αj<1, αi>1 for i≠j). We show that in these cases, physical partial alliances of competing states are stable and there is a parameter regime where they represent the only stable states of the system. In all cases, we find that the behavior is dominated by transcritical bifurcations between two states: (i) the coexistence state and (ii) partial alliance states involving competing species. These transcritical bifurcations unify the behavior of three- and four-species systems for weak and strong exceptional species. We consider both homogeneous mixtures (i.e., ODE models) and the displacement of one state by another in both one and two dimensions (spatial dependence - systems of partial differential equations - PDEs). In the latter case, we develop and compare displacement speeds with approximate analytical results and show good agreement between computed and analytic speeds.