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The object of this research is the reconstruction of the existing legal response by European Union states to the phenomenon of immigration. It seeks to analyse the process of conferral of protection.

One main dimension is selected and discussed: the case law of the national courts. The study focuses on the legal status of immigrants resulting from the intervention of these national courts.

The research shows that although the courts have conferred an increasing protection on immigrants, this has not challenged the fundamental principle of the sovereignty of the states to decide, according to their discretionary prerogatives, which immigrants are allowed to enter and stay in their territories. Notwithstanding the differences in the general constitutional and legal structures, the research also shows that the courts of the three countries considered – France, Germany and Spain – have progressively moved towards converging solutions in protecting immigrants.

The research contributes to a better understanding of the different legal orders analysed.

This paper aims to present the approximate limit pressure solutions for thin-walled shape-imperfect 90° pipe bends. Limit pressure was determined by finite element (FE) limit analysis with the consideration of small geometry change effects.

The limit pressure of 90° pipe bends with ovality and thinning has been evaluated by geometric linear FE approach. Internal pressure was applied to the inner surface of the FE pipe bend models. When von-Mises stress equals or just exceeds the yield strength of the material, the corresponding pressure was considered as the limit pressure for all models. The current FE methodology was evaluated by the theoretical solution which has been published in the literature.

Ovality and thinning produced a significant effect on thin-walled pipe bends. The ovality weakened pipe bend performance at any constant thinning, while thinning improved the performance of the bend portion at any constant ovality. The limit pressure of pipe bends under internal pressure increased with an increase in the bend ratio and decreased with an increase in the pipe ratio. With a simultaneous increment in bend radius and reduction in wall thickness, there was a reduction in limit pressure. A new closed-form empirical solution was proposed to evaluate limit pressure, which was validated with published experimental data.

The influences of structural deformation (ovality and thinning) in the limit pressure analysis of 90° pipe bends have not been investigated and reported.

The United States has attempted to remove the comparative disadvantage of people over 40 in the labour market by legislation against any age discrimination in the employment of people aged between 40 and 70, including the prohibition of age qualifications in job advertisements. This paper discusses the main provisions of the American Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967 and 1973) and then goes on to consider the extent of age discrimination in Britain by analysing a sample of age qualified vacancies notified to the British public employment service.

Progressive collapse refers to a phenomenon, in which local damage in a primary structural component leads to total or partial structural system failure, without any proportionality between the initial and final damage. Robustness is a measure that demonstrates the strength of a structure to resist progressive collapse. Static pushdown and nonlinear dynamic analysis were two main procedures to calculate the capacity of structures to resist progressive collapse. According to previous works, static analysis would lead to inaccurate results. Meanwhile, capacity analysis by dynamic analysis needs several reruns and encountering numerical instability is inevitable. The purpose of this paper is to present the formulation of a solution procedure to determine robustness of steel moment resisting frames, using plastic limit analysis (PLA).

This formulation utilizes simplex optimization to solve the problem. Static pushdown and incremental dynamic methods are used for verification.

The results obtained from PLA have good agreement with incremental analysis results. While incremental dynamic analysis is a very demanding method, PLA can be utilized as an alternative method.

The formulation of progressive collapse resistance of steel moment frames by means of PLA is not proposed in previous research works.

The imposition of term limits in bicameral (two‐chamber) state legislatures could produce unforeseen consequences in the policymaking process. Supporters of term limit rules have not considered that their imposition could fundamentally shift the sequence of policymaking in legislatures. This is important given that research on sequential bicameral policymaking suggests qualities of the lower chamber allow it to cultivate policy expertise such that the upper chamber will defer to the lower chamber in policymaking. This project aims to explore whether this proposed policymaking sequence exists in term‐limited states.

A comparison of policy adoptions in states with and without term limits is performed using an original data set on bill adoptions for all US bicameral legislatures that had a regular session between the years 2000 and 2006. Least‐squares regression models evaluate whether basic characteristics of legislatures are as relevant as term limit characteristics in explaining the level of outputs from the lower chamber in term‐limited states.

In states with term limits, the level of policy adoptions initiated by the lower chamber is lower than levels seen in states without term limits. This finding holds when controlling for other relevant variables that can potentially explain lower chamber productivity.

The study analyzes aggregate state‐level data and does not interview individual legislators in states with and without term limits on whether term limits can alter future legislative behavior.

This study is the first to examine whether the policymaking sequence differs between states that possess and do not possess term limit rules.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the applicability of the alternative way of discounting, such as the hyperbolic discount method, for the economic feasibility test on Free Trade Zone development project that needs intergenerational analysis.

To analyze the effects of applying alternative discounting method in the cost-benefit analysis, this paper uses the hyperbolic discount method and HM-Treasury’s method (Britain), as well as the traditional exponential discount method. Also, this study uses benefit and cost data from the actual feasibility test of the Free Trade Zone development project in Korea, to obtain better policy implication.

For the case of long-term analysis, using the exponential discounting method in the benefit-cost analysis could not give us balanced analytic results, because it discounts too much on future generation’s benefits. In contrast, if we use the hyperbolic discounting method, we could obtain better balanced results since it can control the generational effects. This paper also finds that for the results to be valid, the analysis period must be expanded long enough (a minimum of 100 years).

The major findings of this paper confirm the results of previous studies regarding long-term benefit-cost analysis. Also, the result of this paper is properly compatible with the findings of behavioral economics, such as the time inconsistency of preferences. However, no research has been done with the proper length of analytic periods for using hyperbolic discounting yet. To examine this matter, this paper performs benefit-cost analysis with actual data from the feasibility studies in Korea. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to find the proper length of analytic periods that can be compatible with the hyperbolic discount method.

The resource-based view and value-rarity-imitability-organisation (VRIO) method have diffused widely into courses aimed at managerial practice, but research has yet to verify whether they help managers analyse a firm’s resources. Following recent interest in the use of strategy tools, the purpose of this paper is to focus on what happens when VRIO informs strategy action.

The paper uses experimental method to evaluate directly users’ analysis guided by VRIO relative to analysis that is not. Systematic coding of the responses evaluates how users select resources to evaluate, in which areas they make recommendations, and what account they take of competitors, dynamic evolution, and resource disadvantages, risks and limitations.

VRIO encouraged users to evaluate resources relative to competitors and competitive dynamics, but resource selection difficulties and failure to evaluate resource disadvantages limited its value. In addition, it drew users to the existing operations and business model.

The study highlights a tendency for users to evaluate antecedents and outcomes of resources, and partly supports the view that VRIO elicits inward-looking descriptions. Field-based research is needed to show how using VRIO plays out in full strategy making context.

Highlighted limitations in VRIO analysis could be alleviated by better specifying resource selection and by addressing the positive-only tenor of VRIO materials.

Only a small number of published studies evaluate VRIO as a method of practical strategic analysis, and this paper is the first to look directly at users’ responses.

Public involvement is essential in the creation of effective local strategies for the development of a sustainable built environment, yet there has been little research on stakeholder motivation and engagement in the creation of infrastructure-project value, in the entire life cycle of a given project, while different markets show that overlooking stakeholders can negatively affect the success of an infrastructure project. The purpose of this paper is to fill the theory-practice gap that has been discerned, and thus study how early public involvement determines the success of an infrastructure project, which is identified with its value creation (effectiveness, sustainability and utility).

This research entails a combination of methods. A case study analysis allowed observation of the role the stakeholders play and of how the relationships, perspectives, expectations and risks, along with other soft issues, continue to affect projects. The case study required comprehensive examination of project documentation and conduction of interviews. To collect data, focused group interviews and semi-structured interviews were used, supported with direct questionnaire surveys.

The study provides evidence that early public engagement can contribute to infrastructure-project value (effectiveness, sustainability and utility). Practically speaking, the stakeholder analysis performed allowed proposal of a general stakeholder analysis framework for infrastructure projects. It can be implemented at each investment phase of the project life cycle, since stakeholders and their motivation may develop and/or change over time, which necessitates development of proper managerial strategies. The findings highlight the opportunities and the challenges faced by stakeholder management.

The limitation of this study derives from the fact that the sample size was small, which was necessary for an in-depth qualitative research and application of the case study method. The observations were made on a selected case study, within a limited period of time, thus the context of the analysis as well as the stakeholder perception was subject to possible change. The research limitations concern the provisional nature of the information obtained, the cross-sectional nature of the analysis itself, and, finally, the inability to predict all future events. Ultimately, stakeholder mapping was performed for the operational phase of the investment exclusively, while the analysis was limited to identification and classification of the stakeholders, including their relationship with the project.

The research conclusions provide useful input for future research on development of effective strategies for management of the shareholders that are related to a given infrastructure project, in order to achieve project success. Simultaneously, from a property perspective, the research has contributed to a better understanding of the importance of infrastructure, on the part of real estate stakeholders.

Application of the approach proposed in the study may contribute to early development and implementation of appropriate trust-building processes. The building of relationships between stakeholders enables checks and balances, promotes short- and long-term project benefits, and increases the value of a project.

The novelty of the research consists in the connection, as part of infrastructure projects, of the theory of consumption values and the concept of an investment cycle with the framework of stakeholder analysis.

This paper aims to elaborate on current research on fourth party logistics “4PL” by offering a taxonomy that provides a deeper understanding of 4PL service offerings, thus drawing clear frontiers between existing 4PL business models.

The authors collected data using semi-structured interviews conducted with 60 logistics executives working in 44 “4PL” providers located in France. Using automatic analysis of textual data, the authors combined spatial visualisation, clustering analysis and hierarchical descending classification to generate the taxonomy.

Two key dimensions emerged, allowing the authors to clearly identify and distinguish four 4PL business models: the level of reliance on interpersonal relationships and the level of involvement in 4PL service offering. As a result, 4PL providers fall under one of the following business models in the taxonomy: (1) The Metronome, (2) The Architect, (3) The Nostalgic and (4) The Minimalist.

The study focuses on investigating 4PL providers located in France; thus, future studies should explore the classification of 4PL business models across different cultural contexts and social structures.

The findings offer valuable managerial insights for logistics executives and clients of 4PL to better orient their needs, the negotiations and the contracting process with 4PLs.

Using a Lexicometric analysis, the authors develop taxonomy of 4PL service providers based on empirical evidence from logistics executives; the work addresses the existing confusion regarding the conceptualisation of 4PL firms with other types of logistical providers and the role of in/formal interpersonal relationships in the logistical intermediation.

The purpose of this paper is to perform the limiting performance analysis of a vehicle restraint system (seat belt) in order to find the optimal control force, and its pre-acting time that minimizes the risk of injury.

A discrete model of the human thorax is used. A multiobjective optimum design problem is formulated in order to minimize the risk of injuries in case of impact. Several injury criteria are minimized and are required to remain below a safety threshold value.

The authors found which of the objectives are contradictory and which are not. Several of the optimal sets of design variables are analyzed and their performance compared to one another. The results are also compared to the case of not taking in account the pre-acting time. As expected, the results in this case are worse.

As with all limiting performance analysis, the technological implementation restraints of the control force are not taken into account. As such, the solutions must be considered a benchmark to which the actual solution can be compared to.

The limiting performance analysis concept allows us to have a theoretical benchmark to which the real control performance can be compared to.

As far as the authors know, the pre-acting time, and its implications on the improvement of the performance of the control system, is an original contribution to the problem the authors tried to solve.