RENT-SEEKING DECISIONS OF THE MAIN PARTICIPANTS IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS BASED ON EVOLUTIONARY-GAME AND SYSTEM DYNAMICS

The performance of a construction project can be severely harmed by its participants’ rent-seeking. In order to prevent such attempt, this research integrates the evolutionary game theory with system dynamics method to simulate the impact of the change of some factors that may cause/reduce rent-seeking. Based on the analysis of the behavioral characteristics and interactive relationships of the main participants (the owner, supervisor, and contractor), an evolutionary game model is constructed and simulated with the method of system dynamics based on the replication dynamic equation of the mixed strategy solution of the three-party static game model. By assigning the parameters of project scale, supervision likelihood, supervision success rate, supervision cost, and penalty intensity, the interaction mechanism of the participants on each factor is revealed through a case-based simulation. The results show that the impacts of these factors on participants’ rent-seeking decisions are significantly different. Furthermore, some management suggestions are provided to prevent rent-seeking for project owner according to the research conclusions. This research can help the project owners take proper measures to prevent rent-seeking of the supervisors and the contractors to improve the performances of the projects.

Оценка влияния икосаэдрических "магических" чисел на термическую стабильность малых нанокластеров серебра

A comparative analysis of thermally induced structural transitions in silver nanoclusters, the number of atoms of which corresponded to the “magic” numbers of the icosahedral (Ih) structure with variation of their initial morphology, was carried out by the molecular dynamics method using the modified tight-binding potential TB-SMA. It is shown that, in the case of the initial fcc phase, the formation of the Ih modification, depending on the particle size, occurred either at the stage of preliminary thermal relaxation or during further heating. At the initial amorphous morphology, the nature of the structural transitions underwent significant changes. Thus, even in the case of Ag55 clusters, the icosahedral structure was formed only in 50-60% of the experiments performed. Based on the data obtained, it was concluded that to create a stable Ih structure, it is necessary to use the thermal cycling procedure.

The Influence of Grain Boundaries on Crystal Structure and Tensile Mechanical Properties of Al0.1CoCrFeNi High-Entropy Alloys Studied by Molecular Dynamics Method

The mechanical properties of high-entropy alloys are superior to those of traditional alloys. However, the key problem of finding a strengthening mechanism is still challenging. In this work, the molecular dynamics method is used to calculate the tensile properties of face-centered cubic Al0.1CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys containing Σ3 grain boundaries and without grain boundary. The atomic model was established by the melting rapid cooling method, then stretched by the static drawing method. The common neighbor analysis and dislocation extraction algorithm are used to analyze the crystal evolution mechanism of Σ3 grain boundaries to improve the material properties of high-entropy alloys during the tensile test. The results show that compared with the mechanical properties Al0.1CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys without grain boundary, the yield strength and Young’s modulus of a high-entropy alloy containing Σ3 grain boundary are obviously larger than that of high-entropy alloys without grain boundary. Dislocation type includes mainly 1/6<112> Shockley partial dislocations, a small account of 1/6<110> Stair-rod, 1/2<110>perfect dislocation, and 1/3<111> Hirth dislocations. The mechanical properties of high-entropy alloys are improved by dislocation entanglement and accumulation near the grain boundary.

STRUCTURAL STABILITY OF Ag AND Ag NANOCLUSTERS WITH A CHANGE IN THE INITIAL MORPHOLOGY

В статье методом молекулярной динамики с использованием модифицированного потенциала сильной связи TB-SMA (second moment approximation of tight-binding) проводится сравнительный анализ характера термически индуцированных структурных переходов в нанокластерах серебра, число атомов в которых соответствует «магическим» числам икосаэдрической структуры, при вариации их начальной морфологии. Показано, что в случае начальной ГЦК конфигурации формирование Ih модификации происходит либо на этапе предварительной термической релаксации, либо в ходе дальнейшего нагрева. При начальной аморфной морфологии характер структурных переходов претерпевает значительные изменения. Так, например, формирующаяся Ih модификация обладает большей стабильностью в области высоких температур и точка плавления нанокластеров смещается на величину более 100 К. Такой эффект обусловлен более плавным изменением удельной потенциальной энергии нанокластера в сравнении со случаем, когда устойчивая Ih конфигурация формируется при низких температурах. Полученные данные могут быть использованы при процессах создания нанокластеров серебра с требуемым внутренним строением. This article provides a comparative analysis of thermally induced structural transitions in silver nanoclusters with a change in their initial morphology. The study was executed by the molecular dynamics method using the modified TB-SMA (second moment approximation of tight-binding) tight binding potential. The number of atoms in nanoclusters corresponds to the icosahedral structure «magic» numbers. It is shown that for nanoclusters with the initial FCC configuration, the Ih modification is formed either at the stage of preliminary thermal relaxation or during further heating. For nanoclusters with an initial amorphous morphology, the nature of structural transitions undergoes significant changes. For example, the formed Ih modification is more stable at high temperatures and the melting point of nanoclusters shifts by more than 100 K. This effect is due to a smoother change in the specific potential energy of the nanocluster in comparison with the case when a stable Ih configuration is formed at low temperatures. The data obtained can be used in processes to create silver nanoclusters with the required internal structure.

Structural and dynamical properties of 13-atom Cu–Co mixed clusters

In this paper, the geometric structures and the melting-like processes of the 13-atom pure copper, pure cobalt cluster and their 13-atom mixed clusters are investigated and compared by the molecular dynamics method. The calculation shows that the pure copper and cobalt clusters have the standard icosahedral structures and the mixed clusters take on the deformed icosahedral structures. The quantitative analysis shows that the deformations are slight. Moreover, an element similarity function is introduced by which the contribution of the compositions of the clusters to the deformation of the mixed clusters is analyzed and discussed. With the increase of the temperature, the migrating and recombination of the atoms on the surface of the clusters are observed, indicating the starting of the transition from solid-like to liquid-like state for the clusters. Through the calculating of the relative root-mean-squared pair separation fluctuation and monitoring the dynamical structures of the clusters, it is found that the mixed clusters experience a multi-step process in the transition.

The Role of Cations of the Precipitant in the Interaction of Protein Molecules in the Lysozyme Oligomers in Crystallization Solutions

At the moment, the main opinion is that protein crystallization depends mainly on the the precipitant anions, therefore, there have been only few works devoted to the problem of the influence of its cations. Using the molecular dynamics method, we investigated the stability, changes in the compactness and structural transformations of lysozyme dimers and octamers in solutions with different precipitants (LiCl, NaCl, KCl and CuCl2) in order to study the contribution of cations during crystal formation in more detail. As a result, we found that cations have a rather noticeable effect on the behavior of oligomers: the higher the atomic mass of the cation, the greater the changes in the dimers structures during its dynamics and, according to the data of SAXS experiments, the lower the concentration of dimers. However, for octamers, this dependence is more complicated.