Suchergebnisse

Relational contracting is a method designed to improve relationships between contracted parties. The federal construction sector was a leader in the development and implementation of an early form of relational contracting known as partnering. Since then, alliancing has emerged as the new evolution of relational contracts. While it provides many potential benefits to contracting parties, alliancing has not yet been utilized in federal construction procurement, which is subject to stringent regulations. A commercially available standard form alliancing contract was selected for analysis against the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Key practices that characterize the alliancing method were identified. Utilizing a panel of federal contracting experts, qualitative data were gathered to analyze which of these key practices do or do not comply with federal regulations, why certain practices do not comply, and how those practices could achieve compliance. The results show that most alliancing key practices can be utilized in a federal acquisition project. While some practices cannot be used effectively under current regulations, these limitations do not significantly hinder the use of a comprehensive and effective federal alliancing contract.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to validate the 10-item DSSI as a brief measure of social support for use in diverse adult populations. Methods: EFA was performed on 2010 Arizona Health Survey (AHS) data (n = 8215). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) then confirmed the factors structure by gender, ethnicity, and age, as well as for the total population. DSSI-10 and subscales were compared with variables related to social support. Results: CFI confirms this structure exhibits a good model fit. Low self-reported health status and low self-reported quality of life were related to lower DSSI scores. Living alone was significantly negatively related to the DSSI-10. Conclusions: Researchers may confidently use DSSI-10 to measure social support for diverse adult populations. This instrument can be used in epidemiological studies to increase understanding of mental and physical health in relationship to social supports in the general population.

Product counterfeiting crimes have detrimental effects on consumers, brand owners, public health, the economy, and even national security. Over time, as product counterfeiting crimes and the response to them have evolved, U.S. federal legislation has developed and state legislation has followed suit, but with considerable variation across the states. The purpose of this article is to place product counterfeiting in the context of intellectual property rights, provide a historical review of relevant federal legislation, and systematically examine the extent to which state laws differ in terms of characteristics, remedies, and penalties. Additionally, we calculate indices of civil and criminal protections that illustrate the overall strength of each state's legislative framework. Collectively, this assessment provides a solid foundation for understanding the development of product counterfeiting legislation and serves as a basis for advancing research, policy, and practice.