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The primary aim of this research is to investigate the application of open source geographic information system software, geographical resources analysis support system (GRASS) for landslide hazard assessment.

Five parameters affecting landslide occurrence derived from topographical, geological and land use maps of Cameron highland were used for the assessment.

The results showed that about 93 percent of the study area falls under zone II that is of low hazard, with less than 7 percent on zone III with moderate hazard and only less than 1 percent falls under zone IV, which is of high hazard.

The accuracy of the landslide hazard map needs to be assessed by cross‐correlation with landslide occurrence in the field.

The map produced showed the potential application of GRASS as a tool for producing landslide hazard assessment map.

The major outcome of this research is the possible use of open source GIS software in the application of landslide hazard assessment. The capability of GRASS in performing such environmental assessment will certainly attract many researchers and organizations with limited budgets, especially in developing countries such as Malaysia.

Gives introductory remarks about chapter 1 of this group of 31 papers, from ISEF 1999 Proceedings, in the methodologies for field analysis, in the electromagnetic community. Observes that computer package implementation theory contributes to clarification. Discusses the areas covered by some of the papers ‐ such as artificial intelligence using fuzzy logic. Includes applications such as permanent magnets and looks at eddy current problems. States the finite element method is currently the most popular method used for field computation. Closes by pointing out the amalgam of topics.

To better respond to today’s volatile and changing fashion market, the purpose of this paper is to develop a web-based design support system that enables users to design realistic and interesting skirts in the form of technical sketches over the internet.

The proposed system mainly consists of a sketch representation and composing method (SRCM), a graphic user interface (GUI) and a controller. The SRCM is implemented at the server end that generates technical sketches according to user defined parameters and features via the web-based GUI at the client side. The controller manages the workflows between the server and the clients.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system, a survey was conducted by inviting 30 subjects (professional designers or undergraduate students studying fashion design) to have trial run of the system in Hong Kong and in the USA. Positive comments and feedbacks were received, and valuable suggestions were also obtained in regard to the prototype system.

Compared with traditional computer-aided design (CAD) systems, the proposed system is more effective and easier to operate as users can create technical sketches in accurate proportions with simple computer operations in a few mouse clicks. Besides, the output sketches are fully compatible with most commercial CAD software. The system is developed based on web technologies, thus fashion sketches can be easily designed using any computer connected to the internet; it can be implemented on Android or iOS platform in the future.

New technological trends continue to emerge, and businesses adopt them in different capacity in a pursuit of improving current ways of doing things and to gain competitive advantages over rivals. One of the key business functions that is impacted by the implementation of different disruptive technologies is the supply chain management. As a result, there is a continuous need to identify where digitalizing supply chains may provide businesses with benefits to capitalize such gains. This study aims to examine potential impacts of digitalizing supply chains on five selected lean operations practices through the identification of key areas and benefits under each of these practices.

Data were collected from 74 participants mainly from the academic community and who were university scholars through the use of an online survey. The used online survey consists of six main parts in total, but three were included in this paper and these were designed to gather data about participants’ general information, level of influence of seven technological trends on supply chain performance and management and potential impact of digitalizing supply chains on five lean operations practices.

The authors were able to confirm the significant impact of digitalizing supply chains on the five examined lean operations practices. Most of the examined potential impacts were found to improve certain areas that directly improve the practices of the explored five lean operations practices as well as the overall supply chain and business performance. They were also able to determine the level of influence of the seven examined enabling technologies on supply chain performance and management.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind. Although some literature explored different aspects related to the concept of Industry 4.0 and digitalizing supply chains, no study has specifically explored potential impacts of digitalizing supply chains on lean operations. The results from this study can be beneficial to academic scholars interested in the researched themes, business professionals specializing in supply chain management and lean operations, organizations within different industrial sectors particularly manufacturing where lean thinking is adopted and any other party interested in understanding more about the impact of digitalizing supply chain on lean operations and on an overall business performance.

The authors investigate the growth–inequality relationship, using panel data from 13 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries over the period 1990–2015, to test the validity of the Kuznets and Tribble theories. Furthermore, the authors seek to determine the threshold level at which excessive growth hampers inequality.

The panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model has several stages. The authors applied the Lagrange multiplier (LM) test to find the appropriate transition variable amongst all candidate variables, to assess the linearity between economic growth and income inequality and to find the sequence for selecting the order m of the transition function. The authors then estimated the PSTR model, but before facilitating the results, the authors first used the wild cluster bootstrap (WCB)–LM-type test to assess the appropriateness of the selected transition.

The authors found that at lower growth, income inequality tends to be lower, while if growth increases above US$8,969, inequality tends to increase in the SADC region. The findings combine into a U-shaped relationship, contradicting the Kuznets and Tribble theories.

The contribution of this paper is that it becomes the first to provide the threshold level at which excessive growth increases inequality in the selected countries. This study proposes that policymakers should focus on activities aimed at stimulating growth, in other words, activities such as spending more on infrastructure, drawing up a suitable investment portfolio and spending on technological investment for countries that are below US$8,969. An improvement in these activities will create job opportunities, which in turn will add to economic growth and thus lead to lower income inequality and better social cohesion.

In these days of jargon and slang, to the purist it must seem that little is described by its real name, that is, during conversation. Most people refer to the city as “the smoke” and the city‐dweller's pseudonym for the country is “out in the sticks”, which, of course, could mean that “the sticks” are kindling to a fire that has not been lit, with the city “smoke” as the end‐product of the fire that is burning up those who rush hither and thither in its bedlamite streets and ugly office blocks. The cottage, the church and inn no longer completely fill the lives of the villagers; they now have piped water supplies, electricity and telephones; deep freezers, colour television and cars; they have moved closer to the city standards of comfort and convenience without losing any of the enduring qualities which make them different. And the countryman is very different to the town‐dweller—in outlook, habit and countenance. Even the villager who works in the town and city, and nowadays there are many of them, would not change his home in the country for a flat or terrace house in a mean street, despite the long journeying to and fro. At one time, it had to be a special type of girl who chose a home in these rural settings, with few or perhaps no neighbours and no corner‐shop, but now more and more are realizing that life in a village is easier on the whole family.

Transient eddy current formulations based on the Finite Integration Technique (FIT) for the magneto‐quasistatic regime are extended to include motional induction effects of moving conductors with simple geometries by different approaches. A new regularization of the formulation using discrete grad‐div augmentation of the curlcurl formulation is presented and tested. To improve the implicit time integration process, several schemes for an error controlled variable time step selection are presented and for the repetitive solution of the arising large sparse systems of equations a sparse direct solver is compared to iterative methods such as a preconditioned conjugate gradient method and a new algebraic multigrid solver, which is aware of the curlcurl nullspace.