Advantages of using high speed and thermal analysis tools in a tightly integrated design environment are presented. The time to market, the quality of advanced technology designs…
Abstract
Advantages of using high speed and thermal analysis tools in a tightly integrated design environment are presented. The time to market, the quality of advanced technology designs, and the often assumed reliability of a product are all becoming the responsibility of the layout engineer. To ensure the success of the end‐product the designer must have available tightly integrated product design tools. They must reliably predict potential problems, such as transmission line delays, signal noise, device over‐heating etc., and therefore reduce multiple design iterations by producing designs that are correct first time.
The purpose of this paper is to present an assessment of the potential tsunamigenic seismic hazard to Sri Lanka from all active subduction zones in the Indian Ocean Basin.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an assessment of the potential tsunamigenic seismic hazard to Sri Lanka from all active subduction zones in the Indian Ocean Basin.
Design/methodology/approach
The assessment was based on previous studies as well as past seismicity of the subducion zones concerned.
Findings
Accordingly, four seismic zones capable of generating teletsunamis that could reach Sri Lanka have been identified, namely, Northern Andaman‐Myanmar, Northern Sumatra‐Andaman and Southern Sumatra in the Sunda trench and Makran in the Northern Arabian Sea. Moreover, plausible worst‐case earthquake scenarios and respective fault parameters for each of these seismic zones have been recommended.
Research limitations/implications
However, other potential tsunami sources such as seismic activity in the near‐field, submarine landslides and volcanic eruptions have not been considered.
Practical implications
Numerical simulations of tsunami propagation have been carried out for each of the four scenarios in order to assess the potential impact along the coastline of Sri Lanka. Such information relating to the spatial distribution of the likely tsunami amplitudes and arrival times for Sri Lanka would help authorities responsible for evacuation to make a better judgment as to the level of threat in different areas along the coastline, and act accordingly, if a large earthquake were to occur in any of the subduction zones in the Indian Ocean.
Originality/value
In the absence of comprehensive probabilistic assessments of the tsunami hazard to Sri Lanka, this paper's recommendations would provide the necessary framework for the development of deterministic tsunami hazard maps for the shoreline of Sri Lanka.
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Aims to examine a negotiation‐oriented and partly web‐based game “Surfing Global Change” (SGC) invented by the author based on didactics of self‐managed learning and successfully…
Abstract
Purpose
Aims to examine a negotiation‐oriented and partly web‐based game “Surfing Global Change” (SGC) invented by the author based on didactics of self‐managed learning and successfully implemented in WebCT.
Design/methodology/approach
Along three historic generations of web‐based teaching (WBT), the key functionalities of any platform (content, discussion and evaluation) are perceived to be utilized in a characteristic way depending on the prevalent didactic concepts. The changing roles of teacher and students are highlighted using the example of SGC Level 3, where students assess one another's competence, each trying to outdo the others in controversial arguments
Findings
The outlay of Surfing Global Change aims at accomplishing sustainable results for complex themes. Thus SGC sets out to weigh out competition vs consensus, self‐study vs team work, emphasizing one's own standpoint vs readiness to compromise, differentiation into details vs integration into a whole. SGC hence wants to mirror professional realities along five interactive game levels: learn content and pass quizzes; write and reflect a personal standpoint; win with a team in a competitive discussion; negotiate a complex consensus between teams; integrate views when recognizing and analyzing global long‐term trends.
Research limitations/implications
Some interactive assessment functionalities are still missing in current platforms.
Practical implications
In advanced university courses the negotiation game SGC was repeatedly used as a procedural shell for interdisciplinary themes.
Originality/value
The paper shows that a “communicative space” is created by utilising mainstream web platform technology, capable of transposing visions of “progressive education”. The definition of three generations of WBT allows for a functional differentiation in the styles of using web‐based tools.
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Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely…
Abstract
Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.
Sebastian Vith and Markus A. Höllerer
Over the last years, and under the umbrella of the “sharing economy,” various new social practices and novel business models have been established worldwide. Such practices and…
Abstract
Over the last years, and under the umbrella of the “sharing economy,” various new social practices and novel business models have been established worldwide. Such practices and models are perceived both as opportunity and challenge for existing (urban) public governance regimes. It is in this sense that the sharing economy has become a contested issue and regularly provokes bold governance responses. However, local governing authorities first need to interpret, negotiate, and establish what exactly is “at issue” in order to (re-)act adequately. While such “politics of signification” are well-studied, for instance, in social movements and public media discourse, research on the concerted framing activities of public administrations as well as on the strategic work that sets the stage for public policy-making is relatively sparse – and entirely lacking for the context of the sharing economy. In this chapter, the authors look behind the scenes of the policy-making in the City of Vienna, Austria. The empirical findings unearth six distinct mechanisms –“delimiting,” “negotiating,” “detailing,” “linking,” “justifying,” and “situating” – that are strategically applied to shape the “Viennese way” of governing the sharing economy. This research develops an in-depth understanding of what the authors conceptually dub “strategic issue work”: the manifold efforts that lead to, and underlie, in this case, the policy-making of a local government when it tries to come to terms with the governance challenges of the sharing economy.
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Aisha Rizwan, Yaamina Salman and Shabana Naveed
This article aims to empirically investigate the influence of socio-cultural and political factors and actors on the perceived autonomy and control of state agencies in Pakistan…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to empirically investigate the influence of socio-cultural and political factors and actors on the perceived autonomy and control of state agencies in Pakistan. Taking an institutional perspective, which envisages a diverse course of agency reforms, owed to varied national cultures, historical paths and traditional mindsets, the authors argue that the institutional theory provides an explanation to the autonomy and control status of the agencies.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 39 senior public officials and governing board members in federal agencies by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was performed using NVivo-12 for data analysis.
Findings
The results disclose that the agencies operate within an overriding politico-administrative culture of intervention and supremacy of the central government. There is a close relationship between the political actors and actors' implementing agents, the bureaucrats. Although the disaggregated public agencies are created under the agency model, a culture of political influence and control still prevails within them. Among the socio-cultural factors, corruption is reported as a critical influencing factor for agency autonomy.
Research limitations/implications
The study emphasizes the need to adapt and modify agencification practices in developing countries based on the political, socio-cultural and administrative contextual factors and actors and the varying degrees of influence the practices exercise over the Government machinery.
Originality/value
This study unveils the implications of the new public management (NPM)-led agency model in Pakistan, which was primarily adopted as a part of the structural adjustment program (SAP) under loan conditionality from international donor agencies and explores the indigenous doctrines that govern agencies functioning under ministries.
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U. ASCHER, P.A. MARKOWICH, C. SCHMEISER, H. STEINRÜCK and R. WEISS
In this paper we carry out a conditioning analysis for the steady state semiconductor device problem. We consider various quasilinearizations as well as Gummel‐type iterations and…
Abstract
In this paper we carry out a conditioning analysis for the steady state semiconductor device problem. We consider various quasilinearizations as well as Gummel‐type iterations and obtain stability bounds which may allow ill‐conditioning in general. These bounds are exponential in the potential variation, and are sharp e.g. for a thyristor. But for devices where each smooth subdomain has an Ohmic contact, e.g. a pn‐diode, moderate bounds guaranteeing well‐conditioning are obtained. Moreover, the analysis suggests how various row and column scalings should be applied in order for the measured condition numbers of the linearized discrete problem to correspond more realistically to the true loss of significant digits in the calculations.
The landscape of European cities is by no means homogeneous. Nonetheless, the same type of conflict has repeatedly occurred in different places in the last few years: From Seville…
Abstract
The landscape of European cities is by no means homogeneous. Nonetheless, the same type of conflict has repeatedly occurred in different places in the last few years: From Seville to Vienna, from Cologne to St. Petersburg, planned high-rise buildings for inner city districts have provoked fervent arguments and debates. Whether and how European cities should integrate more high-rise buildings is a highly controversial question. This chapter focuses on strategies of vertical construction and related debates about the cityscape in both Paris and Vienna. By studying the urban constellations of Paris and Vienna, it can be shown that what may look comparable at first glance is the outcome of highly different strategies and histories.
Although both cities define themselves to a wide degree with reference to historic structures, the image of tall buildings varies drastically in these cities, which correlates with these cities’ diverse histories and hence experiences with high-rise buildings. Path dependencies and the ways individual cities receive international trends are crucial to understanding processes of urbanization. Based on in-depth interviews with various urban actors and other relevant qualitative data, this chapter aims to demonstrate that a city’s high-rise strategy cannot be attributed to any single factor; rather, it is the result of a complex interplay between various aspects and actors, which crucially includes present and past struggles over cityscapes and therefore over urban spaces.
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Tourism benefits from increasing leisure — a reliable mechanism? Several scholars in tourism have been inspired by the end of the decade to engage in forecasting projects…
Abstract
Tourism benefits from increasing leisure — a reliable mechanism? Several scholars in tourism have been inspired by the end of the decade to engage in forecasting projects. Especially, the Delphimethod has become popular among tourism experts in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. One of the results almost unanimously accepted is confidence in future growth of leisure time and paid holidays, in a rising number of families travelling twice or three times a year and in an overall increase of all tourism/travel categories. Though there is widespread understanding that the growth rate will be diminishing, optimism prevails with respect to the tourism/leisure ratio (i.e. “the proportion of leisure time spent in tourism”. The “lemming” paradigm is still dominating the minds of policy makers and managers: “We do not know why they move, but we know that, at certain times of the year, they all start moving — and we have a fair idea of the destinations.”
Das Feld Die Feldforschung als Teil der empirischen Sozial‐forschung geht vom Begriff des “Feldes” aus, einem abgegrenzten Datenreservoir, zu dem sich der Forscher direkten oder…
Abstract
Das Feld Die Feldforschung als Teil der empirischen Sozial‐forschung geht vom Begriff des “Feldes” aus, einem abgegrenzten Datenreservoir, zu dem sich der Forscher direkten oder indirekten Zugang verschaffen kann (NOWOTNY und KNORR 1975). Wesentlich für die Feldforschung ist die Tatsache, dass die empirischen Untersuchungen nicht in einer Laborsituation sondern in situ durchgeführt werden (WEIDMANN 1971) und eine Kontrolle über die Variablen nicht oder nur in beschränktem Umfang (beim Feldexperiment) möglich ist. Da selbst bei einem äusserst eingeschränkten Forschungsgegen‐stand die Fülle aller erfassbaren Daten unüberseh‐bar würde, ist es notwendig, das Feld vor Untersuchungsbeginn abzugrenzen, d.h. Hypothesen über die geographische, ethnographische, zeitliche und soziologische Begrenzung und eventuell auch über vorhandene Strukturen und ihre Dynamik zu bilden, die mit den Methoden der Feldforschung bestätigt oder falsifiziert werden. Feldforschung unterliegt damit auch den Regeln der Hypothesenbildung in den induktiv vorgehenden empirischen Wissenschaften, wogegen nicht spricht, dass Feldforschung, welche überwiegend qualitative Ergebnisse liefert, selbst wiederum für die Hypothesenbildung und die Formulierung von Fragestellungen auf einer nächsten Stufe der Feldforschung verwendet wird, die unter Umständen eher quantifizierbare Ergebnisse bringt. Das Feld ist die komplexe Wirklichkeit der sozialen Verhaltensweisen und Prozesse, die in ihre natürlichen Umweltbedingungen eingebettet sind und in zum Teil höchst komplizierten Interaktionsverhältnissen stehen. Den Feldbegriff gibt es in anderer Form in den verschiedensten Wissenschaftsbereichen, insbe‐sondere in der auf LEWIN zurückgehenden Gestalt Psychologie, nach der das Verhalten eines Lebewesens durch die Bedingungen des Feldes oder Lebensraumes, in dem es erfolgt, bestimmt wird. Das Verhalten ist somit die Funktion eines Feldes, das diese Person umschliesst und miteinbezieht (LEWIN 1951). Auch in den Sprachwissenschaften wird der Begriff des Feldes als ein System definiert, in dem ein Wort oder eine grössere sprachliche Einheit einen bestimmten Platz hat und aus dem heraus die Bedeutung des Wortes oder dieser sprachlichen Einheit erarbeitet werden kann (GECKELER 1971). Allen wissenschaftlichen Feldbegriffen ist gleich, dass es sich um einen Bereich von Daten und ihre dynamische Verknüpfung untereinander handelt, deren Struktur mit wissenschaftlichen Methoden herausge‐arbeitet und nach Möglichkeit sogar operational gemacht werden kann.