Singularity-Free and Cosmologically Viable Born-Infeld Gravity with Scalar Matter

The early cosmology, driven by a single scalar field, both massless and massive, in the context of Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity, is explored. We show the existence of nonsingular solutions of bouncing and loitering type (depending on the sign of the gravitational theory’s parameter, ϵ) replacing the Big Bang singularity, and discuss their properties. In addition, in the massive case, we find some new features of the cosmological evolution depending on the value of the mass parameter, including asymmetries in the expansion/contraction phases, or a continuous transition between a contracting phase to an expanding one via an intermediate loitering phase. We also provide a combined analysis of cosmic chronometers, standard candles, BAO, and CMB data to constrain the model, finding that for roughly |ϵ|≲5·10−8m2 the model is compatible with the latest observations while successfully removing the Big Bang singularity. This bound is several orders of magnitude stronger than the most stringent constraints currently available in the literature.

Analyzing procurement fraud in the US Navy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze an ongoing fraud case in the US Navy involving the procurement of ship-husbanding services. The fraud acts will be analyzed from three perspectives–contract life cycle, internal controls and fraud schemes. Design/methodology/approach A data search was conducted to collect publicly available documents issued by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). A content analysis was used to analyze the fraud acts by aligning them with the contracting phase, internal control component and fraud scheme category. Findings The majority of the fraud occurred in the contracting phases of contract administration, followed by procurement planning and then source selection. The majority of the fraud occurred because of internal control component weaknesses in the control environment followed by information and communications. The majority of the fraud was aligned with the fraud scheme of collusion, followed by billing, cost and pricing. Research limitations/implications Because this is an ongoing investigation, additional DOJ information will become available and provide additional insight on the contracting phase, internal control component and fraud scheme. Practical implications The analysis suggests that the Navy’s lack of trained personnel, capable processes and effective internal controls result in the increased vulnerability to procurement fraud in its husbanding support services program. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to analyze fraud through the lens of auditability theory, specifically by the contracting phase and internal control component. Public agencies can enhance fraud detection and deterrence efforts by understanding how weaknesses in contracting processes and internal controls may increase an organization’s vulnerabilities for fraudulent activities.

Social Construction of Institutional Complementation in Cross Sector Collaborations: An Empirical Exploration of a Public Private Partnership Case

Despite an increasing adoption of cross sector collaborative models, especially contractual Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), as an important public services delivery modality, PPPs continue to experience serious institutional gaps that challenge the course of their implementation. This paper utilizes the new institutionalism theoretical lens and draws on interview and documentary evidence from a concession-type Infrastructure Public Private Partnership Project to foreground the different mechanisms used to remedy contractual gaps that are, inadvertently, necessarily or strategically, left open by contracting partners due to the lack of sophistication in setting efficient and precise institutions at the contracting phase. The study discerns the primacy of three socially constructed institutions complementation mechanisms including (a) contract renegotiations and amendments, (b) the development of new regulatory guidelines and standards, and (c) the establishment of inclusive coordinating structures. Based on the evidence, the paper argues that when confronted by emergent and unique challenges unanticipated in the elaborate contractual provisions, there still remains viable opportunity through an ongoing, concerted, and in a collective manner for responsible actors to complement initial institutions in a way necessary to overcome challenges and stay the main cause of the partnership. Other implications relating to specific sector structures and sector regulation are highlighted along with insights for future work.

Social Construction of Institutional Complementation in Cross Sector Collaborations: An Empirical Exploration of a Public Private Partnership Case

Despite an increasing adoption of cross sector collaborative models, especially contractual Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), as an important public services delivery modality, PPPs continue to experience serious institutional gaps that challenge the course of their implementation. This paper utilizes the new institutionalism theoretical lens and draws on interview and documentary evidence from a concession-type Infrastructure Public Private Partnership Project to foreground the different mechanisms used to remedy contractual gaps that are, inadvertently, necessarily or strategically, left open by contracting partners due to the lack of sophistication in setting efficient and precise institutions at the contracting phase. The study discerns the primacy of three socially constructed institutions complementation mechanisms including (a) contract renegotiations and amendments, (b) the development of new regulatory guidelines and standards, and (c) the establishment of inclusive coordinating structures. Based on the evidence, the paper argues that when confronted by emergent and unique challenges unanticipated in the elaborate contractual provisions, there still remains viable opportunity through an ongoing, concerted, and in a collective manner for responsible actors to complement initial institutions in a way necessary to overcome challenges and stay the main cause of the partnership. Other implications relating to specific sector structures and sector regulation are highlighted along with insights for future work.

Review of the project of reconstruction of the existing and reconstruction of the second track on the section Hrvatski Leskovac - Karlovac

The Hrvatski Leskovac - Karlovac section is located on the M202 Zagreb GK - Rijeka railway line, which is part of the Mediterranean corridor of the EU core network. The section is currently a single-track line, and represents a bottleneck in terms of infrastructure capacity. The project envisages the reconstruction of the existing and construction of the second track with the reconstruction of the existing stations in order to meet the conditions of interoperability, the transformation of individual stations into stops, and the reconstruction of existing stops. Some of the existing railway-road crossings will be delevelled by constructing crossroads in two levels (underpasses and overpasses), some will be eliminated with the construction of connection roads and some will be reconstructed. The project is currently in the contracting phase of works and supervisions. In the period from 2017 until today, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy (MZOE) Decision was published on the Environmental Impact Study, the Location Permit was obtained, and the Feasibility Study was completed and approved by the JASPERS Mission in the Republic of Croatia.

Unavoidable shear from quantum fluctuations in contracting cosmologies

Contracting cosmologies are known to be flawed with a shear instability, where the contribution from the anisotropic stress to the overall energy density grows as $$a^{-6}$$ a - 6 , with a the scale factor. Classically, whether or not this contribution becomes important before the bounce depends on its initial value, which can always be sufficiently fine tuned to make it irrelevant. However, vacuum quantum fluctuations inevitably provide a non-vanishing source of anisotropic stress. In this work, we compute the minimum amount of shear that is obtained if one assumes that it vanishes initially, but lets quantum fluctuations build it up. In practice, we consider a massless test scalar field, and describe its quantum fluctuations by means of the stochastic “inflation” (though here applied to a contracting phase) formalism. We find that, if the equation-of-state parameter of the contraction satisfies $$w>-1/9$$ w > - 1 / 9 , regardless of when the contracting phase is initiated, the time at which the shear becomes sizeable is always when the Hubble scale approaches the Planck mass (which is also where the bounce is expected to take place). However, if $$w<-1/9$$ w < - 1 / 9 , the shear backreaction becomes important much earlier, at a point that depends on the overall amount of contraction.

THE PRE-CONTRACTUAL DUTY OF DISCLOSURE IN THE PALESTINIAN CIVIL CODE DRAFT AND ITS ROLE IN MAINTAINING ECONOMIC CONTRACTUAL EQUILIBRIUM

Many recent legislations and international principles tend to apply the pre-contractual duty of disclosure as one of the most substantial principles governing the pre-contracting phase, such as Article 1112-1 of the Amended French Civil Code of 2016, Article 1337 of the Amended Italian Civil Code and Article 13 of chapter 2 of the Common European Sales Law, etc. However, the Palestinian legislature has ignored enacting legal provisions imposing the pre-contractual duty of disclosure which causes legislative deficiencies in the legislative remedies of the subject of pre-contractual duty of disclosure. In this regard, this paper suggests orientations for the formulation of the provisions of the pre-contractual duty of disclosure in the Palestinian Civil Code Draft (PDCC). To do so, a comparative analytical approach with the French civil code is used to illustrate the Palestinian legislative deficiencies and the urgent need to legislate a legal article which obligates the negotiating party to disclose any substantial information for the satisfaction of the other party. As such, the contractual equilibrium entails that the pre-contractual duty of disclosure has its own independent essence from all the theories that the jurisprudence adopted as a legal basis for this duty.

Thermodynamical aspects of nonsingular Brans–Dicke cosmologies

The time evolution of total entropy including the entropy associated with horizon and entropy of matter inside the horizon in homogeneous and isotropic Jordan frame (dilatonic) Brans–Dicke cosmologies is examined. We show that the bouncing Brans–Dicke cosmologies do not satisfy the generalized second law of thermodynamics during the contracting phase of evolution.

THE PRE-CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION TO CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION IN THE PALESTINIAN CIVIL CODE DRAFT AND ITS ROLE IN MAINTAINING ECONOMIC CONTRACTUAL EQUILIBRIUM

It is inconceivable that a person can be legally obliged to provide influential information to another party in order to contract freely and in an enlightened manner without requiring the latter to maintain the confidentiality of the exchanged information between the parties. In this context, Article 2.1.16 of the UNIDROIT principles of International Commercial Contracts and Article 1112-2 of the French Decree N 131-2016, etc. tend to apply the obligation to confidentiality of information at the pre-contracting phase as one of the most substantial principles governing this phase. However, the Palestinian legislature, having ignored enacting legal provisions obliging the parties to maintain the confidentiality of information in the pre-contracting phase, caused legislative deficiencies in the legislative remedies of the subject of confidentiality of information in the pre-contracting phase. A such, as a prime objective, this paper seeks to suggest orientations for the formulation of provisions for the obligation to maintain confidentiality of information in the Palestinian Civil Code Draft. Thus, an analytical comparative approach -with the French civil code- is used, while alluding briefly to German and English law, as to illustrate the Palestinian legislative deficiencies and the urgent need to legislate a legal article obligating the negotiating parties to maintain confidentiality of information, in order to contribute to the stability of civil and commercial transactions. In this regard, contractual equilibrium entails that the obligation to maintain confidentiality of information has its own independent essence from all the theories that the jurisprudence adopted as a legal basis for this obligation.

The Principle of Good Faith in the Palestinian Civil Code Draft and Its Role in Maintaining Economic Contractual Equilibrium at the Pre-Contracting Phase

The jurisprudential and judicial legal trend tends to apply the principle of good faith at the pre-contracting phase as one of the most substantial principles governing this phase, since it is inconceivable that the parties are to negotiate in bad faith, and then must implement the contract in good faith, in accordance with the traditional legal rule that &ldquo;fraud spoils everything it touches&rdquo;. However, the Palestinian legislature has ignored enacting legal provisions obliging the parties to abide by the principle of good faith in the pre-contracting phase causing a legislative deficiency in the legislative remedies of the subject of good faith in the pre-contracting phase. This paper seeks to prove that replacing a provision that requires good faith in negotiations with the provisions of tort liability causes many legal problems. To prove this, the legal provisions should be analysed which would also include determining the definition of the principle of good faith, and the function of that principle in achieving contractual equilibrium and the legal basis for this principle at the stage of negotiation which should also be analysed. Moreover, a comparative analytical approach with the French civil code is used to illustrate the Palestinian legislative deficiencies and the need to legislate a legal article which obligates the negotiating parties to behave in good faith, as this has become an unavoidable reality that should be dealt with to contribute to the stability of civil and commercial transactions. As such, the legal article should also specify the compensation to be claimed.