P. Alotto, F. Delfino, G. Molinari, M. Rossi, V. Siciliano and P.O. Ventura
STREAM is the acronym of a new concept of mass transit system designed and developed by Ansaldo Trasporti S.p.A. to provide an efficient solution to rubber‐tyred transportation…
Abstract
STREAM is the acronym of a new concept of mass transit system designed and developed by Ansaldo Trasporti S.p.A. to provide an efficient solution to rubber‐tyred transportation problems in urban areas. One of STREAM's most distinctive feature is the power supply system, which uses a magnetic lift contact line embedded in the road surface to deliver traction power and to provide operating and control information. In this paper the field and the current flow analyses of this buried feeding track are presented and discussed. Analyses are aimed at determining the highest values of accessible voltages on the ground under different environmental and operating conditions. Results provided by a numerical simulation of the 3D model representing the feeding track allow us to identify the most critical conditions and to verify the safety and reliability of the system.
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Negar Hamed Golzar, Elif Altunok, Amir Aghabaiglou and Muhammed Oğuzhan Külekci
This study aims to propose a framework to assess the scientific productivity performance of a country in terms of its international visibility and national capabilities.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a framework to assess the scientific productivity performance of a country in terms of its international visibility and national capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
In a given subject, all publications with at least one author from the target country as well as the received citations are counted as quantitative and qualitative indicators, respectively. The ratios of these counts to their expected values, which are estimated according to the global gross domestic product (GDP) and population percentages of the country are used to assess international visibility. Also, in certain publications, all authors are from the target country, therefore, their publication and citation proportions are provided as metrics of national competence.
Findings
As a sample, this study analyzes Turkey’s performance in “Business, Economics & Management” and “Engineering & Computer Science” in the top 20 publication venues of the regarding subject areas according to Google Scholar Metrics taxonomy. This study shows that in some subfields, Turkey’s performance is 2.73–6 times as per expectations. This study also provides the international visibility assessment of all countries for the past two decades in “Theoretical Computer Science” which shows that Israel is a leading country based on this framework.
Originality/value
This paper introduces new indices to evaluate a country’s national competence and international visibility on a subject field based on the number of published papers affiliated with the country and their citations by considering the global GDP and population share.
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This chapter examines the professional identities of Brazilian journalists. It does so through an analysis of the growing professional autonomy of journalism from 1950 to 1990…
Abstract
This chapter examines the professional identities of Brazilian journalists. It does so through an analysis of the growing professional autonomy of journalism from 1950 to 1990 through the life stories of 10 intellectual-journalists, individuals whose journalistic activities have crossed over into other intellectual fields.
This study applies a symbolic interactionist framework to understand how these actors managed their reputations and careers within the intellectual world. The narratives were taken from qualitative semi-structured interviews, and supported by additional research such as interviews, biographies, and articles which have been published about their lives.
The life stories were compared to the extensive structural changes affecting the world of journalism and the world of intellectuals in Brazil. This comparison revealed gaps between these two spheres of practice, within which the ambivalent form of journalists’ identities have been constructed.
This chapter offers two contributions to the study of Brazilian journalists. From a theoretical and methodological viewpoint, it advances beyond other studies that focus more on the prevailing representations of journalists’ professional identities and their role in society. From an empirical standpoint, it describes the complex negotiations between the worlds of journalism, culture and politics. This chapter also reexamines the current dominant explanation for the changes in Brazilian journalism. It shows that building careers and new levels of interpersonal cooperation for intellectuals and journalists has been a slow process. Ultimately, this development has left some behind, especially those actors stretched between multiple professional identities such as those who self-identify as intellectual-journalists.
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Fighting the drought. Based on this idea, for almost two centuries now the Brazilian State has elaborated policies and programmes intended to stimulate rural development in the…
Abstract
Fighting the drought. Based on this idea, for almost two centuries now the Brazilian State has elaborated policies and programmes intended to stimulate rural development in the semiarid region of the country. It is this idea which has nourished the illusion that immense infrastructures need to be built to capture, store and transport large volumes of water in order to supply production activities in the region. Associated with this proposal is the attempt to reproduce the same pattern of development adopted in other Brazilian biomes, the main characteristic of which is the use of monoculture practices on large properties managed according to entrepreneurial modes of production. However the rich social experience promoted by rural worker organizations in the region has challenged this model by proposing living with the semiarid (Convivência com o Semiárido) as the guiding principle for alternative trajectories of development. Inspired by the experience of territorial development under way in the Agreste da Borborema region of Paraíba state, the chapter shows that the evolution of these new paths of development depends on revitalizing and mobilizing locally available resources, such as ecological potentials, social mechanisms for organizing labour and for producing and sharing knowledge, local forms of connecting food production to consumption and so on. The text concludes by emphasizing the need to design and implant institutional frameworks that enable a more balanced distribution of power between the State and civil society organizations, thereby allowing the latter to assume a more substantial role in identifying and managing endogenous resources that underpin self-centred development strategies.
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Pengyun Zhao, Shoufeng Ji and Yuanyuan Ji
This paper aims to introduce a novel structure for the physical internet (PI)–enabled sustainable supplier selection and inventory management problem under uncertain environments.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce a novel structure for the physical internet (PI)–enabled sustainable supplier selection and inventory management problem under uncertain environments.
Design/methodology/approach
To address hybrid uncertainty both in the objective function and constraints, a novel interactive hybrid multi-objective optimization solution approach combining Me-based fuzzy possibilistic programming and interval programming approaches is tailored.
Findings
Various numerical experiments are introduced to validate the feasibility of the established model and the proposed solution method.
Originality/value
Due to its interconnectedness, the PI has the opportunity to support firms in addressing sustainability challenges and reducing initial impact. The sustainable supplier selection and inventory management have become critical operational challenges in PI-enabled supply chain problems. This is the first attempt on this issue, which uses the presented novel interactive possibilistic programming method.
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A. Sreenivasa Ravi, A. Hariharan and B. Sadananda RAO
Rich collections of conference proceedings are available in major science and technology (S & T) libraries in India. Unfortunately, no bibliographic tool is available to provide…
Abstract
Rich collections of conference proceedings are available in major science and technology (S & T) libraries in India. Unfortunately, no bibliographic tool is available to provide access to these information sources at national/regional level at present. Recognising this fact, Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC) has set up a project of creating a database and publishing a union catalogue of S & T conference proceedings available within the country. In the first phase, 30 major research and development institutions in the city of Bangalore, South India have been covered and the first volume of the union catalogue was published in 1991. It is printed using a desktop publishing system and the database is available on Unesco's CDS/ISIS mini‐micro version 2.3.
Mahnaz Asgari Sooran, Hamed Tayebi and Sadoullah Ebrahimnejad
The purpose of this study is to investigate a joint economic lot-size model with the possibility of cofinancing between members of a three-echelon supply chain (SC) including one…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate a joint economic lot-size model with the possibility of cofinancing between members of a three-echelon supply chain (SC) including one supplier, one manufacture and one retailer. Given the differences in credit as well as differences in access to capital markets, SC members will be able to create a financial alliance to maximize the profits of each member. This study proposed a model to maximize the annuity stream of the SC by considering the financial interaction between SC members.
Design/methodology/approach
This joint economic lot-sizing problem was described and modeled mathematically. To evaluate the mathematical model, different scenarios were considered with (and without) the possibility of financial interaction.
Findings
It is suggested that, in addition to the goods and information flow among SC members, proper financial flow can also have an impact on the improvement of SC performance.
Originality/value
While previous studies consider cofinancing between members of a two-echelon SC, this paper considers a three-echelon SC including one supplier, one manufacturer and one retailer where financial cooperation between different levels of the SC in both upstream and reverse directions will be possible.
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This chapter examines books written by foreign authors which were published in Brazil and censored by the military regime between 1964 and 1985. The study focuses on non-fiction…
Abstract
This chapter examines books written by foreign authors which were published in Brazil and censored by the military regime between 1964 and 1985. The study focuses on non-fiction books, using official period documentation, with the goal of conducting an extensive survey of these works as well as examining the reasons why they were censored by the regime. The results of the research lead us to a greater understanding of the reasoning of censorship from within the State and to a greater understanding of the Brazilian military dictatorship as a whole.
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Rudolf van Broekhuizen, Bart Soldaat, Henk Oostindie and Jan Douwe van der Ploeg
Comparing rural development with agricultural modernisation, there are fundamental differences. Industrial development of agriculture more and more segregates agriculture from…
Abstract
Comparing rural development with agricultural modernisation, there are fundamental differences. Industrial development of agriculture more and more segregates agriculture from other functions and is based on an ‘individualised transaction model’ in which the world consists of loose particles that are linked by markets (atomistic world view). Conversely rural development can be perceived as a form of re-socialisation of agriculture and is based on a ‘relational cooperation model’ in which new relations characterise business development.
This chapter is a second level type of analysis of many research findings of these common traits or features and gives a picture of the distinctiveness of rural development practices. Nine different features that characterize rural development practices are described and discussed: (1) novelty production, (2) relative autonomy, (3) synergy, (4) clashes and competing claims, (5) coalitions and new relations; the construction of rural webs, (6) common pool resources, (7) new division of labour, (8) the distinctive different impact and (9) resilience. The more these features are present and intertwined, the better the specific practice can face and withstand adverse conditions. These features and the associated practices have to be understood as part of a wider transitional process that might co-evolve with or run counter to competing transitional processes.