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Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore aims to give the reader an encyclopaedic view on the subject. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 2,025 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1992‐1995.

By drawing on a detailed case study of the work of tax consultants, the purpose of this paper is to develop a more detailed understanding of the role of ambiguity in professional work, and its relationship to the division of labour in professional service firms (PSFs).

The paper is based on a three-year, longitudinal interpretive case study comprising 42 interviews, supplemented by observations and document data.

The research determines that processes of “obfuscation” and “privatisation” separate client work from case work. This maintains a division of labour between junior and senior professionals, which in turn facilitates financial leverage. The findings indicate that a more nuanced view on the role and origins of ambiguity is needed; particularly the role ambiguity plays in the division of labour. While inherent in professional work, ambiguity is also an effect of the way work processes are organised in order to obtain leverage.

The research is based on a case study. Therefore, the paper explores its topic in empirical detail, but at the same time calls for exploring the topic in different contexts. The paper encourages further research on the role ambiguity plays being constituted by structural arrangements, and on the way the core of professionalism is inverted by the division of labour. The paper highlights the value of detailed empirical approaches for understanding professional work.

The paper draws attention to the way ambiguity becomes a part in sustaining a division of labour among professional workers, and to the importance of this in maintaining financial leverage as well as in creating a precarious work situation for junior professionals.

The paper raises concerns about the way professional work is legitimated in society as opposed to how it is constructed in PSFs.

The paper challenges prevalent notions of professional work as ambiguous, offering instead a way of engaging with professional work processes in detail, theoretically and methodologically. Traditional assumptions about the division of labour and the “core” of professional work are problematized, and traditional assumptions about ambiguity as a cause of specific structural arrangements are questioned.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain an insight into the effects of sliding and/or joint opening at the contraction, perimeter and concrete lift joints on the nonlinear seismic response of arch dams.

The seismic behavior of a typical thin double curvature arch dam is studied by a nonlinear finite element program developed by the authors. Joints are modeled with the use of zero thickness interface elements. Various constitutive relationships are implemented to account for sliding and opening along the joints. Effects of joint sliding parameters and foundation rock flexibility are also considered in the analyses.

The findings provide information about dynamic stress distribution through the dam body and stability of the dam as a whole and also the local stability of the most critical concrete blocks in the dam body.

Useful information for designing new arch dams or seismic evaluation of constructed dams.

This paper takes into account the stability of concrete blocks in the dam body as well as stability of the structure as a whole. Except for contraction joints, perimeter and concrete lift joints are also modeled. Practical as well as detailed models of sliding are provided for the analyses. The paper offers practical help to design and dam engineers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the magnetic properties and the ground state phase diagrams of the double perovskite La₂NiMnO₆ using the Monte Carlo simulations (MCS).

In this work, the authors propose a Hamiltonian modeling this compound, described by an Ising model, with different exchange coupling interactions J11, J12 and J22 between the only magnetic atoms Ni and Mn.

Starting with the ground state phase diagrams, the authors present and discuss the stable configurations in different physical parameter planes. On the other hand, the authors present the investigation of the magnetic properties and the magnetization behaviors of the magnetic susceptibilities, as a function of temperature, crystal field, the exchange coupling interactions and the Zeeman energy. To complete this study, the authors illustrate the dependency of the total magnetizations for the hysteresis loops of the double perovskite La₂NiMnO₆ compound. This study is done for fixed values of temperature, the exchange coupling interactions and crystal field.

The authors modeled the different physical parameters of the double perovskite La₂NiMnO with a Hamiltonian describing the system. At T=0K, the authors discussed the ground state phase diagrams of different physical parameters planes. For non-null temperature values, the authors studied the magnetic behavior of the double perovskite La₂NiMnO using MCS under the metropolis algorithm. The authors expect that the results of these simulations can provide some important keys for the experimental research and technology applications of the double perovskite La₂NiMnO₆ in the future.

Considers how the rights of children, protected under the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and its Bill of Rights, can be reconciled with the effects of heavy fines, asset forfeiture and confiscation orders on economic offenders. Clarifies the concepts of forfeiture and confiscation. Outlines the 1998 Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) and considers its provisions in relation to the position of children and young people as innocent third parties in cases of civil and criminal asset forfeiture. Includes a short discussion of corresponding provisions in US law. Suggests that, as legislation currently does not specifically provide for children, the POCA should be amended by incorporating, mutatis mutandis, provisions from the Mediation in Certain Divorce Matters Act.

On the example of professional football in Germany, this paper analyses the conflict about the punishment of fan misbehaviour within an agency-theoretical framework to cast light on the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the sentences and to show possible solutions.

In a pre-study, more than 1,300 hand-collected past sentences against clubs by the German and European sports courts were analysed to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the penalties so far. Additionally, in the main study, 26 expert interviews with German representatives of the football association, courts, clubs, sponsors, police and active fan scenes allow a deep insight into the relationships of the involved parties.

The paper suggests that the sentences do not sufficiently consider several agency problems. Due to moral hazard, they exert hardly any influence on fan behaviour and only a small one on the clubs. While the lighting of pyrotechnics is by far the most punished type of misbehaviour, most of the interviewees cite the impossibility of preventing it. Despite the sentences, some clubs make non-public agreements with their fans about still tolerable misconduct or do not pass the penalties on to the polluters as intended by the association. The findings highlight the importance of communication for less misbehaviour.

For the first time, the agency theory and the economic theory of optimal punishment are brought together with insights from interviews with the involved parties. The authors discover a two-stage principal-agent problem and get new insights into stakeholders' hidden motivations and attitudes. The results should encourage a debate on the current penalties and possible solutions to the recurring problem of pyrotechnics.

The aim is to integrate the dynamics of asset accumulation for open economies with the conflict theory of wage and price formation. This synthesis allows us to assess the results obtained in the mainstream asset market models based on an atomistic view of the economy, analyse the influence of market power in product and labour markets on aggregate economic activity, and to investigate new sources of potential instability.

In order to survive, the actions of a purposeful system must be governed in such a way that its more prepotent needs are satisfied. A purposeful system's actions are largely governed by its representation of its world, and hence if it has an inappropriate representation it will not survive. Our premise is that intelligence is a property only reasonably attributable to purposeful systems which compute a representation of their world. Using this premise, we consider cognition to be the continual process of computing/recomputing representations and argue that it implies forms of computation, described in this paper, which make distinctions.