The Spatial Effect of Shared Mobility on Urban Traffic Congestion: Evidence from Chinese Cities

This paper explores the spatial spillover effect of shared mobility on urban traffic congestion by constructing spatial econometric models. Based on panel data of 94 Chinese cities from 2016 to 2019, this study analyses the spatial correlation of shared mobility enterprise layout and geographical correlation of urban transport infrastructure and examines their influence mechanism. From the perspective of geographic spatial distribution, congestion has positive spatial correlation among Chinese cities, and it has different directions and centripetal forces across regions. The shared mobility enterprises in a region have same direction distribution with traffic congestion, but the centripetal forces of the aggregation effect are different. The econometric results include the fact that bike-sharing has reduced congestion significantly, but the overall impact of car-sharing is not clear. Neither bike-sharing nor car-sharing can offset the traffic congestion caused by economic activities and income growth. From the perspective of spillover effects, congestion has been influenced by bike-sharing, economic development, population, and public passengers in surrounding areas. In terms of spatial heterogeneity, bike-sharing relieves congestion in the Pearl River Delta region while having no significant effect in other regions. Meanwhile, car-sharing has aggravated congestion in the Yangtze River Delta but eased traffic jams in the Pearl River Delta.

A theory of venture capital family business: a governance trajectory

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to understand venture capital family businesses (VCFBs) governance of portfolio companies through the deal process.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies a theory-developing approach. A model of VCFB governance is developed whose key aspects are illuminated by four examples (cases) of VCFBs.FindingsRecent research suggests that a venture capital firm's corporate deal processes can be divided into the pre-deal, deal and post-deal phases. Based on the age, size and succession dimensions, propositions for how a governance trajectory develops for VCFBs, affecting the deal process of target family firms (TFFs), are presented. These propositions highlight how the family owners' actions and behavior are related to VCFB governance, which in turn, influences the three phases involved in making an investment.Originality/valueThe propositions suggest how personal and administrative VCFBs' governance of the deal process of portfolio companies is significantly affected by centrifugal and centripetal forces that drive the respective types of governance where third-generation family owners appear as changers of governance approach.

EU Policy in Central Asia

Geography and a preference for regional approaches have an impact on EU foreign policy. From the EU perspective, the countries of Central Asia are classified as “neighbors of EU neighbors.” The EU’s policies assume the existence of strong centripetal forces in the Eurasian heartland, whereas in fact the regionalization is still in the initial stages there. Consequently, EU foreign policy in Central Asia pursues both structural and relational objectives. The specific goals and performance of EU member states add a two-tier dimension to this process. In parallel with other external actors such as Japan, the United States, South Korea, and India, the European Union conducts its dialogue and cooperation with the Central Asian states in a 5+1 format. Compared to the policies of China, Turkey, or Russia, the EU has much more limited influence. It primarily aims to support the independent development of the Central Asian countries, for which some degree of regionalization appears to be a prerequisite.

Mitigating Dualism and Exploiting the Interplay of Policy-Social Capital

The centripetal forces of agglomeration, reflected among others in the structure of the economy and the nature of interrelations among regions (interregional multipliers), limit the effectiveness of spatial policies. Meanwhile, the importance of social capital is revealed from the MSE survey. Social planners could improve the design of policies by understanding the perceptions and aspirations of MSEs to make any measures more compatible with the prevailing social capital.

Aligning glocal agendas for international education

In recent years, there has been growing interest amongst universities around the world on reflecting upon the contribution of higher education to a global society and exploring ways to broaden the curriculum to enable students to make a meaningful contribution to the world (de Wit et al. 2015). This paper will suggest that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are at the centre of centripetal forces behind global and local agendas, as well as at the centre of centrifugal forces behind English-Medium Education (EME) that have provided friction favourable to enhancing the quality of education and initiate curricular reform at Karolinska Institutet (KI). At the global level, quality education has been defined by the United Nations through the universally adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be one that purposefully includes inclusion, global citizenship, appreciation of cultural diversity and culture’s contribution to sustainable development (UNESCO 2017). Nationally, the Swedish Ministry of Education’s internationalisation inquiry (Bladh et al. 2018) specifically links internationalisation to quality and to the integration of international understanding and intercultural competence in the curriculum. Locally, this has created conditions favourable for HEIs to align new strategic plans with this understanding of quality, bringing internationalisation to the forefront of their education programmes. At the same time, the introduction of EME in HE has acted as a catalyst for transforming pedagogy to support the acquisition of twenty-first-century skills (Coyle 2013; Dafouz and Smit 2020; Valcke and Wilkinson 2017). The question of language in HE, in combination with the necessary adaptation to global agendas, has thus led university teachers to consider the pedagogical, linguistic and cultural implications of their practices as they have never done before. Focusing on KI as a case in point, this paper attempts to address what the convergence of policies, from the global to the local, with classroom practices means for developing quality EME at university.

Novel Density-Based Autonomous Inflow Control Device Using Artificial Gravity

A new class of Autonomous Inflow Control Devices, AICDs, has been developed which balances production flow and restricts unwanted production fluids, even when there is no viscosity difference in the produced fluids. This novel AICD senses the density difference between oil and water and uses artificial gravity to amplify the buoyancy forces while eliminating the need for downhole orientation in the completion. AICDs have effectively reduced water production and increased oil recovery since their introduction in the early 2010s. During initial production, AICDs balance the flow across the production zone. In later production, AICDs automatically restrict the rate from zones producing water. Commercially available AICDs primarily operate by sensing the viscosity difference between oil and water. In very-light oil reservoirs, such as in parts of the Middle East, there is no significant viscosity difference. Previous density-based AICDs have been rejected because buoyancy forces are often overwhelmed by fluid forces and because they needed to be oriented with respect to Earth's gravity. Density-AICDs use floats that are buoyant in water and sink in oil to control fluid production. The key to the new density-AICD is that that the floats are housed in a spinning centrifugal rotor. This spinning density selector creates centripetal forces that multiply the buoyancy force thereby magnifying the difference between oil and water. The magnified buoyancy forces are stronger than fluid friction forces and are sufficient to overcome suction forces on the valve seats. The centripetal acceleration creates an artificial gravity that is much larger than Earth's gravity, eliminating the need to orient the density-AICD downhole. The density selector is spun by the production fluid so that larger centripetal forces are created in response to a larger drawdown. The result is a density-AICD that will operate in real-world conditions, especially in the light oil formations of the Middle East. The performance of this novel density-AICD has been measured in flow loop testing and demonstrated in computer modeling. The flow loop testing achieved substantial water restriction and continued oil flow using oil and water with identical viscosities.

El control de convencionalidad en el contexto de la tensión entre el margen de apreciación nacional y el "ius contitutionale commune" latinoamericano. /

En este trabajo se abordará el tenso equilibrio existente entre las fuerzas centrifugas y centrípetas del proceso de construcción del derecho internacional de los derechos humanos en Latinoamérica, a saber: las doctrinas del ius constituionale commune americanum y del margen de apreciación nacional. En tal sentido, nuestra hipótesis es que un análisis crítico de las tesis que proponen la consolidación de un derecho constitucional común latinoamericano, a través de la obra de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos en el ejercicio del control de convencionalidad, arroja la conclusión de que aquel, por el momento, no es más que un ordenamiento de mínimos, y que, como consecuencia, la doctrina del margen de apreciación nacional seguirá estando vigente en esta parte del mundo. AbstractThis paper will address the tense balance between centrifugal and centripetal forces in the process of building international human rights law in Latin America, namely: the doctrines of the iusconstituionale commune americanum and the national margin of appreciation. In this sense, our hypothesis is that a critical analysis of the theses that propose the consolidation of a Latin American common constitutional right, through the work of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the exercise of conventionality control, yields the conclusion that that, for the moment, is nothing more than a minimum order, and that, as a consequence, the doctrine of the national margin of appreciation will continue to be in force in this part of the world.

The Split Friction Model - Introducing Mixed Lubrication to Curling

In general, the curling stone is subject to mixed lubrication, resulting in the characteristic Stribeck -curve. As velocity increases, the friction force falls quadratically just to rise linearly yet almost flat after the minimum. In the case of a rotating curling stone this results in a torque. Due to isotropy , the lateral force arises as a delta of asymmetric friction forces opposite to the centripetal forces. \par This in turn allows a split friction model that splits up the quadratic curve into two rather constant values for the friction force on the advancing and the retreating side below a critical velocity difference of these sides: the flee force on the advancing side must not exceed the normal force of the retreating side. Only then a curl can happen. This explains why a stone curls towards the end of the throw. \par Following basic static considerations, the stone may theoretically rest on up to three points during a throw. Each single static case is investigated. These results are discussed with additional heuristic calculations that involve Scratch-Theory. Lastly, the influence of gyroscopic precession yields a graph that reflects established experimental observations: A desired flat curve within deviations ranging from 0.80 to 1.02 meter for up to 20 rotations just to rise linearly up to 2 meters for 80 rotations.