A Conceptual Framework for Modeling Social Risk Tolerance for PPP Projects: An Empirical Case of China

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are a useful approach that allows the public sector to collaborate with private investors in financing, implementing, and operating public sector facilities. Over the past few decades, the occurrence of social risks and the vulnerability of PPP projects to these risks have caused numerous project failures. While practitioners claim to manage the social risks of PPP projects, little effort has been made to explore the proper ways of doing this. In this study, we present a social risk tolerance (SRT) concept and propose a model to quantify the tolerance of PPP projects to social risks. One hundred and twenty-three PPP projects were collected from China for model validation. The results indicate a positive relationship between SRT values and project size and that the SRT has diminishing marginal values. This paper presents a new concept in PPP research and provides an appropriate approach for managing the social risks of PPP projects. The research findings can help both the public and private sectors understand the social risks associated with PPP projects and determine effective countermeasures to control these risks.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERIENCE OF LONELINESS BETWEEN BULGARIANS AND RUSSIANS

Loneliness is a painful and alienating experience, which is an increasingly widespread phenomenon all over the globe. However, this phenomenon is perceived and interpreted differently in the world. The present study aims to compare the emotional, social, and romantic loneliness between Bulgarians and Russians. The two Slavic countries are historically and culturally close, but at the same time, there are many differences. Some studies have found that in the minds of both Russian and Bulgarian young people, loneliness is associated with both negative and positive aspects. This creates a common ground for the analysis and interpretation of this phenomenon in both countries. But the Russian people are more characterized by a positive-resource view of loneliness, while Bulgarian young people emphasize the negative. The study involved 608 people from Bulgaria and Russia aged 18-73 years. They completed the short version of the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults by Di Tommaso E., Brannen C., Best L.A. (2004). The results indicated that „romantic loneliness“was108 the most pronounced and present with its frequency in the content of the overall experience of loneliness. This outlines deficits, expectations, and emotions that are realized / function / in the deeply personal world of the person, of the studied groups of adults both in Bulgaria and in Russia. In second place in terms of its representation is the "social loneliness", which ​​stands out among the studied adults from Bulgaria according to its marginal values. In the third place as third structural-content component is the "emotional loneliness", which is especially present in the experiences of the respondents from Bulgaria in comparison with those from Russia. Statistically significant results on the factors "country", “age” and "marital status" are also discussed.

Global compound floods from precipitation and storm surge: Hazards and the roles of cyclones

During simultaneous or successive occurrences of precipitation and storm surges, the interplay of the two types of extremes can exacerbate the impact to a greater extent than either of them in isolation. The compound flood hazards from precipitation and storm surges vary across regions of the world because of the various weather conditions. By analyzing in-situ observations of precipitation and storm surges across the globe, we found that the return periods of compound floods with marginal values exceeding the 98.5th percentile (i.e., equivalent to a joint return period of 12 years if the marginal variables are independent) are < 2 years in most areas, while those in northern Europe are > 8 years due to weaker dependence. Our quantitative assessment shows that cyclones (i.e., tropical cyclones (TCs) and extratropical cyclones (ETCs)) are the major triggers of compound floods. More than 80% of compound floods in East Asia and > 50% of those in the Gulf of Mexico and northern Australia are associated with TCs, while in northern Europe and the higher latitude coast of North America, ETCs contribute to the majority of compound floods (i.e., 80%). Weather patterns characterized by deep low pressure, cyclonic wind, and abundant precipitable water content are conducive to the occurrence of compound floods. Extreme precipitation and extreme storm surges over Europe tend to occur in different months, which explains the relatively lower probability of compound floods in Europe. The comprehensive hazard assessment of global compound floods in this study serves as an important reference for flood risk management in coastal regions across the globe.

The Diffraction by the Half-plane with the Fractional Boundary Condition

In this article, there is considered the electromagnetic plane wave diffraction by the half-plane with fractional boundary conditions. As a mathematical tool, the fractional calculus is used. The theoretical part is given based on which the near field, Poynting vector and energy density distribution are calculated. Interesting results are obtained for the fractional order between marginal values, which describes a new type of material with new properties. The results are analyzed.

Searching the Sigmoid-type trend in Lock Down period covid19 data of India and its different states

We have worked on imported covid19 cases of India, detected after declaration of lock down. They are marked as hidden travelers, who are detected later during 1-2 weeks period of lock down. We have investigated the impact of those travelers on selective 15 states, having large number cases. Among them 5 states have faced a noticeable effect on their data profile, although its overall effect in country level is quite negligible. Searching the Sigmoid trends of all 15 states, we have identified 3 categories depending upon latest data of new case with respect to the peak value of Sigmoid functions. Based on our optimistic predicted curves, ongoing lock down period might be enough for getting marginal values of new cases for KL, HR, JK, TN and AP but the reamining of 15 states might need a third phase of lock down or alternative preventive measures.

Glycemia after Betamethasone in Pregnant Women without Diabetes—Impact of Marginal Values in the 75-g OGTT

Betamethasone (BM) administration in pregnancy has been shown to reduce the incidence and severity of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. Its known diabetogenic impact, combined with placental insulin resistance, leads to a transient increase in glycemia. However, its effect on glucose homeostasis in pregnancy has not been adequately investigated. We closely monitored and assessed the glycemic profile of 83 pregnant women, with normal glucose metabolism, who were given BM during their hospitalization due to threatened premature labor. A significant change in the glycemic profile in most patients was noted, lasting 1.34 ± 1.05 days. Sixty-six of eighty-three women were eventually treated with insulin to maintain glycemia within acceptable limits. The mean ± SD insulin dosage was 12.25 ± 11.28 units/day. The need for insulin therapy was associated with higher BM doses and the presence of marginal values in the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 60 min. Our study demonstrates, following BM administration, the need for increased awareness and individualized monitoring/treatment of pregnant women with normal—yet marginal—values in the 75-g OGTT.

Flow Interactions in Low Bypass Ratio Multi-Spool Turbofan Engines

Multi-spool compression systems are characterized by two or more compressor stages running at different rotational speeds. The response of an individual component can be different from an integrated system. Limiting operating conditions such as choke and stall points could have substantially different effects. The present paper explores the interactions and coupling significance between different stages of a multi-spool compression system. Further, an attempt is made by modifying the shape of the inter-compressor duct (ICD) to improve the system performance. The multi-spool system in this study comprises of the NASA stage 67 as the fan followed by in-house core and bypass ducts and a single stage booster. It is observed that the flow pattern in an ICD is entirely different in stand-alone modeling than in the integrated system modeling, owing to fan wakes and booster upstream influences. The booster performance is dependent on the duct exit flow pattern. The shape of the baseline ICD is tailored to reduce extra losses which is generated due to reduction in the length of the ICD and hence making the system more compact. It is shown that the shape tailoring optimization of ICD done independently result in a significant improvement in the duct exit flow pattern and hence an improvement in the booster performance. However, this gain in the performance is reduced to marginal values for an integrated system. This happens due to a strong coupling of the ICD flow pattern with the fan wakes and highly three dimensional nature of the ICD flow pattern. Therefore, it is found that component level optimization may not give rise to an equivalent system-level improvement.