Dubai’s Electronic Transactions Law (“ETL”) is designed to stimulate E‐commerce in the emirate by improving the authenticity and integrity of electronic transactions. The ETL…
Abstract
Dubai’s Electronic Transactions Law (“ETL”) is designed to stimulate E‐commerce in the emirate by improving the authenticity and integrity of electronic transactions. The ETL recognizes the legal validity of electronic documents and electronic signatures as acceptable substitutes for paper documents and ink signatures, respectively. Accordingly, electronic records may be used to comply with a statutory writing requirement, original document requirement and retention requirement, and an electronic signature attached to an electronic document may be used to comply with a statutory requirement for a paper‐and‐ink signature. If all parties are in agreement, a contract may be in electronic form and is just as legally enforceable as a written one. The ETL does not mandate Dubai’s governmental agencies to utilize electronic documents, but they may elect to do so. The ETL has created a compulsory system of licensing of Certification Authorities (“CA”). Their role is to ascertain the identity of a subscriber and to attest in an issued Certificate that the electronic signature used by that subscriber belongs to him. The ETL contains a list of computer crimes. The statute establishes a sound framework for E‐commerce, but it could be improved by adding consumer protections, more computer crimes, mandatory Egovernment, I.T. courts and long‐arm jurisdiction. The ETL’s exclusion of wills should be eliminated.
Details
Keywords
The idea of competitive advantage is not new. What is new is the growing acceptance of this planning concept as a general philosophy of management. In all likelihood, the notion…
Abstract
The idea of competitive advantage is not new. What is new is the growing acceptance of this planning concept as a general philosophy of management. In all likelihood, the notion of competitive advantage will provide the guiding philosophy for the predominant management practice of the 1980s: strategic management. As experience at Clark Equipment Company shows, the answers to eight key questions can spell out a winning strategy.
Like many midwestern companies that decades ago started business in industries now considered basic, Borg‐Warner currently has a number of strategic business units in mature…
Helen Bennetts, Stephen Pullen and George Zillante
Over the last two decades the average floor area of new houses in Australia has increased significantly. This has coincided with greater expectations of thermal comfort in homes…
Abstract
Over the last two decades the average floor area of new houses in Australia has increased significantly. This has coincided with greater expectations of thermal comfort in homes. In certain locations, the result has been an escalation of the use of large mechanical air conditioning systems in houses. Since it is predicted that climate change will lead to an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, the future maintenance of thermal comfort in houses in an affordable manner is likely to be challenging. This will have implications not only for the health and comfort of the occupants but also for peak energy loads. A compounding factor is the likelihood of increased energy prices caused, in part, by financial mechanisms aimed at minimising greenhouse gas emissions. There will be sections of the community, such as the elderly and the less well off, that will be particularly vulnerable to these combined factors.
This paper explores design strategies that could be incorporated in new and existing houses to improve thermal comfort for residents during heatwaves. It is shown that during such periods, behaviour change, thermal comfort requirements and extra energy consumption have a strong influence on devising solutions for this challenge. The results of a pilot study are given that indicate opportunities for creating cool refuges in the existing dwelling stock.
Details
Keywords
Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
Stephen M. Mutula and Janneke Mostert
The purpose of this paper is to present challenges and opportunities of e‐government implementation in South Africa with special reference to service delivery and implications for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present challenges and opportunities of e‐government implementation in South Africa with special reference to service delivery and implications for libraries.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on an in‐depth literature review from government documents, presidential state of the nation addresses, global and nation reports on e‐government, and reports on service delivery concerns in South Africa.
Findings
The Government of South Africa has put in place enabling policies, poverty alleviation programmes, ICT infrastructures and regulatory frameworks which as yet have not been effectively leveraged to enhance service delivery to its citizens. Furthermore, libraries have yet to make any attempts to benefit from the emergence of e‐government in South Africa.
Practical implications
There is a need to infuse an e‐government ethos in poverty alleviation programmes in order to enhance service delivery. At the moment there is a lack of synergy between the two in South Africa. Additionally, South African ICT infrastructure is under‐utilised to enhance service delivery. Libraries have the opportunity using e‐government infrastructure to improve the provision of information services to the people.
Originality/value
Service delivery remains a priority for the post‐apartheid South African government, and the paper reveals that a disconnect exists between the e‐government vision and the poverty alleviation programmes aimed at enhancing the standard of living of the people. Libraries in South Africa have yet to leverage e‐government to provide information services and the paper may assist them in doing so.
Details
Keywords
Job Maveke Wambua, Fredrick Madaraka Mwema, Stephen Akinlabi, Martin Birkett, Ben Xu, Wai Lok Woo, Mike Taverne, Ying-Lung Daniel Ho and Esther Akinlabi
The purpose of this paper is to present an optimisation of four-point star-shaped structures produced through additive manufacturing (AM) polylactic acid (PLA). The study also…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an optimisation of four-point star-shaped structures produced through additive manufacturing (AM) polylactic acid (PLA). The study also aims to investigate the compression failure mechanism of the structure.
Design/methodology/approach
A Taguchi L9 orthogonal array design of the experiment is adopted in which the input parameters are resolution (0.06, 0.15 and 0.30 mm), print speed (60, 70 and 80 mm/s) and bed temperature (55°C, 60°C, 65°C). The response parameters considered were printing time, material usage, compression yield strength, compression modulus and dimensional stability. Empirical observations during compression tests were used to evaluate the load–response mechanism of the structures.
Findings
The printing resolution is the most significant input parameter. Material length is not influenced by the printing speed and bed temperature. The compression stress–strain curve exhibits elastic, plateau and densification regions. All the samples exhibit negative Poisson’s ratio values within the elastic and plateau regions. At the beginning of densification, the Poisson’s ratios change to positive values. The metamaterial printed at a resolution of 0.3 mm, 80 mm/s and 60°C exhibits the best mechanical properties (yield strength and modulus of 2.02 and 58.87 MPa, respectively). The failure of the structure occurs through bending and torsion of the unit cells.
Practical implications
The optimisation study is significant for decision-making during the 3D printing and the empirical failure model shall complement the existing techniques for the mechanical analysis of the metamaterials.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, a new empirical model, based on the uniaxial load response and “static truss concept”, for failure mechanisms of the unit cell is presented.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore the professional biography of Ethel A. Stephens, examining her career as an artist and a teacher in Sydney between 1890 and 1920. Accounts…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the professional biography of Ethel A. Stephens, examining her career as an artist and a teacher in Sydney between 1890 and 1920. Accounts of (both male and female) artists in this period often dismiss their teaching as just a means to pay the bills. This paper focuses attention on Stephens’ teaching and considers how this, combined with her artistic practice, influenced her students.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a fragmentary record of a successful female artist and teacher, this paper considers the role of art education and a career in the arts for respectable middle-class women.
Findings
Stephens’ actions and experiences show the ways she negotiated between the public and private sphere. Close examination of her “at home” exhibitions demonstrates one way in which these worlds came together as sites, enabling her to identify as an artist, a teacher and as a respectable middle-class woman.
Originality/value
This paper offers insight into the ways women negotiated the Sydney art scene and found opportunities for art education outside of the established modes.
Details
Keywords
Stephen L. Vargo, Robert F. Lusch, Melissa Archpru Akaka and Yi He
This paper aims to investigate the electronic short books phenomenon from the USA and the UK which has spilled over to South Africa. By looking at the benefits these short books…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the electronic short books phenomenon from the USA and the UK which has spilled over to South Africa. By looking at the benefits these short books have for readers and authors, and the possible reasons for their success, the aim is to determine whether or not these books can be as successful a venture in South Africa as it has been elsewhere.
Design/methodology/approach
Information about electronic short books, or e-singles, is gathered from various sources, including press releases and sales results. Information is gathered to determine the receptiveness to electronic short books of the South African trade book reading market, the way South African publishers are presenting e-singles to the market and what the future for e-singles may be.
Findings
The findings of this paper make it clear that e-singles have found a gap in the market, providing various benefits to authors and readers, which may have contributed to their success. In South Africa, the success of e-singles faces unique obstacles, like a weaker reading culture and a poor awareness of e-books. Publishers need to make a bigger effort to become visible in the eyes of their readers and need to think about better distribution strategies.
Research limitations/implications
With comparisons, accuracy is dependent on information provided by organizations (on their Web sites).
Originality/value
This paper offers information about a new publishing trend – only a few months in South Africa. It offers a look into the state of the trade book industry in South Africa, how e-singles may function in it and what publishers of e-singles may do to ensure more success. It predicts the future of e-singles in South Africa based on its unique situation, pointing out what obstacles there may be to their uptake.