This article analyzes the effects of net neutrality regulation on investment incentives for Internet service providers (ISPs) and content providers (CPs), and their implications for social welfare. Concerning the ISPs' investment incentives, we find that capacity expansion decreases the sale price of the priority right under the discriminatory regime. Thus, contrary to ISPs' claims that net neutrality regulations would have a chilling effect on their incentive to invest, we cannot dismiss the possibility of the opposite. A discriminatory regime can also weaken CPs' investment incentives because of CPs' concern that the ISP would expropriate some of the investment benefits.

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1,6-Hexanedithiol (HSC 6 SH) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au(111) were formed in a 1 mM ethanolic solution and were investigated by voltammetry in 0.1 M aqueous KOH solution. HSC 6 SH SAMs on Au(111) were further probed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), sum frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG), and molecular mechanics calculation (MMC). An identical investigation was performed with the self-assembly of hexanethiol (C 6 SH) on Au(111) for comparison. Linear sweep voltammograms showed that a full monolayer of thiolate (7.6 ((0.2) × 10 -10 mol -2) chemisorbed on Au(111) with both HSC 6 SH and C 6 SH, while the peak potential of the electroreduction of the former assembly was more negative than that of the latter. XPS revealed that two different forms of sulfur existed at HSC 6 SH SAMs on Au(111), i.e. a thiolate and a thiol. The STM image could not be resolved with HSC 6 SH SAMs, while it was atomically well-defined with the C 6 SH case. SFG results showed that alkyl chains within the HSC 6 SH SAMs were in an all-trans conformation. Thus the experimental results concluded that densely packed and higly oriented HSC 6 SH SAMs could be successfully formed on Au(111) with the incubation conditions in the practical solution. MMC presented that HSC 6 SH SAMs were more stable than C 6 SH ones because of the additional end-end interaction among the thiol groups faced up to the air, albeit both SAMs were tilted by 28°from the surface normal.

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Molecular recognition of protonated aliphatic polyamines has been studied at calix[4]crown-5 self-assembled monolayer modified gold electrodes by electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) experiments. The energy of complex formation between the calix [4]crown-5 molecule and a series of alkyl ammonium ions was shown by molecular modeling and EIS experiments to depend on the number of amine groups in the alkyl chain as well as the number of methylene groups between the amine groups. The structures of complexes formed between the crown ether on the lower rim of calix[4]arene and protonated amines were determined by minimizing the complex formation energies. The adducts thus formed on the SAM rendered the electron transfer from the electrode to the probe (Fe(CN)63-/4- pair) easier or more difficult depending on the number of ammonium groups and their arrangement in linear alkyl chains. Analytical procedures have been developed to detect protonated spermidine (a recognized cancer marker) in simulated urine, blood, erythrocyte, and cerebrospinal fluids.