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Article
Publication date: 27 June 2019

Maurice Yolles

Agency development is inherently a process of institutional evolution. The purpose of this part 2 (of a 3 part) paper is to explore development in the political context, producing…

Abstract

Purpose

Agency development is inherently a process of institutional evolution. The purpose of this part 2 (of a 3 part) paper is to explore development in the political context, producing a cultural model of political development as institutional evolution, explaining how political groups may come to power culturally. This requires a detailed examination of culture and cultural change, and a study of strategic political frames that define political groups seeking support for political power from agents in a political sphere. During cultural instabilities or social crises, frames may become cynical and embrace liquid persuasion and hence populism.

Design/methodology/approach

A cultural model for political development is created involving three variables (emotional climate, cultural order and compliance). This enables cultural comparison of different political groups. Strategic political frames are examined to understand how those vying for agency power may attract support from agents in the activity system. Liquid frames are also explored to understand the cynical nature of populism and its contribution to institutional devolution.

Findings

A political development theory result that identifies the conditions under which formal political groups can promote frames that may attract support from agents from who they require support to gain agency power status. A model is produced for political development. It explains populism as a thin ideology with a collectivist orientation that uses liquid framing, and it introduces its individualist counterpart, political synergism.

Research limitations/implications

The implication of this research is that it will allow empirical methods to be used that potentially enable political outcomes in complex political environments to be anticipated, given additional appropriate measurement criteria.

Originality/value

Linking agency and institutional theory to explain the process of development is new, as is its application to the political development process in a political landscape. As part of this linkage, it has been shown how Bauman’s concept of liquidity relates to Sorokin’s ideas of socio-cultural change.

Article
Publication date: 8 July 2019

Maurice Yolles

Agency is inherently an institution and involves dynamic socio-cultural processes that facilitate development. This paper is written in three parts. The purpose in Part 1 was to…

Abstract

Purpose

Agency is inherently an institution and involves dynamic socio-cultural processes that facilitate development. This paper is written in three parts. The purpose in Part 1 was to represent agency theory as an institutional theory, and consideration was made of the relationship between development, growth and globalisation. In Part 2, the purpose was to explore development with respect to the political context, explaining in terms of culture under what conditions political groups may come to power. Using political frames intended to define their nature and realities, they seek to attract agents in their political sphere to gain administrative power. In this Part 3, the purpose of this paper is to model, using cybernetic agency theory, the nature of development and reduction to instrumentality.

Design/methodology/approach

Development theory is a multidisciplinary field in which research and theories are clustered together and set within an adaptive institutional activity system framework. An adaptive activity system has a plural membership of agents represented by agency. In Parts 1 and 2 of this paper, agency was shown to have an institutional basis. Activity system development was also explained as a process of institutional evolution, and its potential was shown to provide power acquisition in a political landscape by competitive political frames which vie for support in a place of potentially susceptible agents. Here in Part 3, agency theory will be used to model the dynamic relationships between political frames and the agents that they wish to attract by projecting both cognitive and emotional structures, this enabling the anticipation of behaviour.

Findings

These relate to the three parts of the paper taken together. Agency is an evolutionary institutional system that can represent socio-political development. A model for political development has been created that identifies the conditions under which formal political groups are able to promote frames of policy to attract support from autonomous agents that constitute the membership of the activity system, and hence gain agency status. On the way to this, it connects Bauman’s theory of liquid modernity to Sorokin’s theory of socio-cultural dynamics and cultural stability. One result is the notion of liquid development, an unstable condition of development in adaptive activity systems. Agency theory can usefully explain detailed changes in agency, the relationships between agency agents, and interactions between agencies, this embracing institutional processes.

Research limitations/implications

The implication of this research is that it will allow empirical methods to be used that potentially enables political outcomes in complex socio-political environments to be anticipated, given additional appropriate measurement criteria.

Originality/value

The synergy of agency and institutional theories to explain the process of development is new, as is its application to the political development process in a political landscape. As part of this synergistic process, it has been shown how Bauman’s concept of liquidity relates to Sorokin’s ideas of socio-cultural change.

Article
Publication date: 15 February 2013

Edson Talamini, Emiel F.M. Wubben, Antônio Domingos Padula and Homero Dewes

Macro‐environmental scanning is a first step in strategic planning, which is essential in an emerging industry such as liquid biofuels. The purpose of this paper is to identify…

2231

Abstract

Purpose

Macro‐environmental scanning is a first step in strategic planning, which is essential in an emerging industry such as liquid biofuels. The purpose of this paper is to identify the dimensions within which the governments of Brazil, the USA and Germany have constructed the macro‐environment for liquid biofuels over time and to test for similarities between the governments’ constructs.

Design/methodology/approach

Documentary research was carried out on official public policies and program documents on the topic of liquid biofuels, covering a ten‐year period from 1997 to 2006. The database consisted of 624 documents from the Brazilian government, 854 from the American government and 168 documents from the German government. Text mining was used to extract information from the texts by applying a specific analysis structure that was built on macro‐environmental dimensions as expressed by their respective dimensional words “d‐words”. The “d‐words” were selected based on their usage frequency in the knowledge fields related to each dimension.

Findings

The results indicate that the macro‐environments for liquid biofuels, as configured by the governments under analysis, differ systematically and over time in their emphasis of specific macro‐environmental dimensions.

Originality/value

There are two primary aspects of this study which are original and valuable: the application of text‐mining techniques as a tool for strategic planning and the development of a particular tool to extract knowledge from text documents and to categorize them according to their macro‐environmental dimensions.

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2008

M. Dimassi, L. Koehl, X. Zeng and A. Peruwelz

The knowledge of structural parameters of nonwovens media is poorly understood. The pores size distribution (PSD) function is one of those parameters. The difficulty is not only…

Abstract

Purpose

The knowledge of structural parameters of nonwovens media is poorly understood. The pores size distribution (PSD) function is one of those parameters. The difficulty is not only the understanding of the distribution of pores but also the identification of pores geometry distribution (PGD) and their behaviour concerning the dynamic fluid transportation. The purpose of this paper is to present an efficient and reliable method based on image analysis which on one hand, performs the estimation of the PSD function and takes into account the geometric aspect of pores, and on the other hand, analyses liquid wicking in very thin filter media.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed methods, in this paper, are applied on thin filter media made of polyester. The samples have not sudden any treatment. The authors set up an optical test bed in order to observe the dynamic properties of the samples. Dynamic raw data about the liquid wicking are extracted directly from video sequences using the appropriate test bed. The structural parameters are extracted from the non‐wetted samples.

Findings

Obtained results allow a better understanding of the liquid wicking in very thin filter media. In addition to the PSD function, the PGD function adds informations about the shape of pores. The dynamic data of the liquid wicking explains that pores have different behaviour when liquid reached them. It can be deduced from this study that the fluid transport in the pore network is defined by three main parameters: geometric parameter (size, shape), capillary action and pores connection in the network.

Research limitations/implications

The led back‐lighting system is not sufficient to observe precisely the liquid wicking. An additional front‐lighting will be added in further studies.

Originality/value

The extraction of dynamic properties from video sequences, by performing image analysis is an original method to characterise the porosity in thin media filter.

Details

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-6222

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 February 2019

Van Luc Nguyen, Tomohiro Degawa and Tomomi Uchiyama

This study aims to provide discussions of the numerical method and the bubbly flow characteristics of an annular bubble plume.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to provide discussions of the numerical method and the bubbly flow characteristics of an annular bubble plume.

Design/methodology/approach

The bubbles, released from the annulus located at the bottom of the domain, rise owing to buoyant force. These released bubbles have diameters of 0.15–0.25 mm and satisfy the bubble flow rate of 4.1 mm3/s. The evolution of the three-dimensional annular bubble plume is numerically simulated using the semi-Lagrangian–Lagrangian (semi-LL) approach. The approach is composed of a vortex-in-cell method for the liquid phase and a Lagrangian description of the gas phase.

Findings

First, a new phenomenon of fluid dynamics was discovered. The bubbly flow enters a transition state with the meandering motion of the bubble plume after the early stable stage. A vortex structure in the form of vortex rings is formed because of the inhomogeneous bubble distribution and the fluid-surface effects. The vortex structure of the flow deforms as three-dimensionality appears in the flow before the flow fully develops. Second, the superior abilities of the semi-LL approach to analyze the vortex structure of the flow and supply physical details of bubble dynamics were demonstrated in this investigation.

Originality/value

The semi-LL approach is applied to the simulation of the gas–liquid two-phase flows.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 March 2023

Nilufar Allayarova, Djavlonbek Kadirov, Jayne Krisjanous and Micael-Lee Johnstone

The purpose of this paper is to explore the tendencies of liquid consumption in Muslim communities and analyse its impact on Muslims’ consumption practices from the holistic…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the tendencies of liquid consumption in Muslim communities and analyse its impact on Muslims’ consumption practices from the holistic perspective. Liquid consumption refers to a transient and less-materialised mode of consumption that requires both minimal attachment to possessions and hybrid ownership.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper that is based on the distinction between Islam as a holistic perspective and Islamic practice as it is applied in different contexts and situations. The Continual Drift Adjustment (CDA) framework of Muslim consumers’ behaviour is developed to be deployed as an analysis framework.

Findings

The CDA framework maintains that some problematic cases of Muslim consumption behaviours indicate the drift towards disbalance. Depending on their nature, liquid consumption practices can have different impacts on the drift. Liquid consumption practices underscored by instrumental dissemblance, intellectual insecurity and spiritual scepticism intensify the drift, whereas the incorporation of spiritual sincerity, faithful submission and existential gratefulness into practices and behaviour helps to attenuate the drift.

Research limitations/implications

This research contributes to the theory of liquid consumption by incorporating the religious perspective. Liquid consumption in Islam is a complex area of research, specifically considering the ambivalent meanings of liquidity in Islamic thought.

Practical implications

Marketers of liquid consumption solutions must be aware of these offerings’ double-edged impact on the well-being of Muslim communities. Muslim consumers should be guided towards spiritual sincerity, faithful submission and existential gratefulness in the best way possible, although it must be noted that the customary techniques of marketing would lean towards stimulating the disbalance.

Originality/value

This research is unique because it deals with a topic that has not been researched in the Islamic marketing discipline to this date.

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2022

Manjeet Kumar, Xu Liu, Manjeet Kumari and Poonam Yadav

The purpose of this paper is to investigate propagation characteristics of seismic waves at the welded interface of an elastic solid and unsaturated poro-thermoelastic solid.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate propagation characteristics of seismic waves at the welded interface of an elastic solid and unsaturated poro-thermoelastic solid.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical formulation of partially saturated poro-thermoelastic solid is used in this study established by Zhou et al. (2019). The incidence of two primary waves (P and SV) is taken. The incident wave from the elastic solid induces two reflected waves and five refracted waves. Due to viscous pore fluids, partially saturated poro-thermoelastic solid behave dissipative, whereas elastic solid behaves non-dissipative. As a result, both reflected and incident waves are homogeneous. However, all the refracted waves are inhomogeneous. A non-singular system of linear equations is formed by the coefficients of reflection and refraction for a specified incident wave. The energy shares of various reflected and refracted waves are determined by using these reflection and refraction factors. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed, and the effect of critical variables on energy partitioning at the interface is observed. The numerical example shows that throughout the process of reflection/refraction, the energy of incidence is conserved at all angles of incidences.

Findings

This study demonstrated two refracted (homogeneous) and five refracted (inhomogeneous) waves due to the incident wave from elastic solid. The reflection and refraction coefficients and partitioning of incident energy are acquired as a part of diverse physical parameters of the partially saturated poro-thermoelastic media. The interference energies between unlike pairs of refracted waves have been discovered due to the dissipative behavior of unsaturated poro-thermoelastic solid.

Originality/value

The sensitivity of different energy shares to various aspects of the considered model is graphically analyzed for a specific numerical model. The energy balance is maintained by combining interaction energy and bulk wave energy shares.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 32 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 November 2019

Salman Ahmad, Muhammad Ijaz Khan, Tasawar Hayat, Muhammad Waqas and Ahmed Alsaedi

The purpose of this paper is to study entropy generation in magneto-Jeffrey nanomaterial flow by impermeable moving boundary. Adopted nanomaterial model accounts Brownian and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study entropy generation in magneto-Jeffrey nanomaterial flow by impermeable moving boundary. Adopted nanomaterial model accounts Brownian and thermophoretic diffusions. Modeling is arranged for thermal radiation, nonlinear convection and viscous dissipation. In addition, the concept of Arrhenius activation energy associated with chemical reaction are introduced for description of mass transportation.

Design/methodology/approach

Homotopy algorithms are used to compute the system of ordinary differential equations.

Findings

The afore-stated analysis clearly notes that simultaneous aspects of activation energy and entropy generation are not yet investigated. Therefore, the intention here is to consider such effects to formulate and investigate the magneto-Jeffrey nanoliquid flow by impermeable moving surface.

Originality/value

As per the authors’ knowledge, no such work has yet been published in the literature.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 November 2011

Amir Shabani, Seyed Mohammad Reza Torabipour and Reza Farzipoor Saen

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an innovative data envelopment analysis (DEA) model entitled “Non‐binary Arithmetic Operator Dual‐role” (NAOD) under free disposability…

1158

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an innovative data envelopment analysis (DEA) model entitled “Non‐binary Arithmetic Operator Dual‐role” (NAOD) under free disposability assumption for selecting the refrigerated containers in cold chain management (CCM).

Design/methodology/approach

In classical DEA models, it is assumed that all of input and output variables play a certain role. However, in some cases, some variables play both input and output roles, simultaneously. These variables in DEA are called “dual‐role” factors. This study introduces a new approach to deal with these factors in the process of evaluating a set of homogeneous refrigerated containers, which is based on Free Disposal Hull (FDH) (one of the DEA models). However, in previous dual‐role models, this variable is considered as a binary variable. In this paper, a partial role for dual‐role factors is considered.

Findings

The main findings of this paper are: for the first time, the NAOD model is developed for the container selection problem in the context of CCM and the dual‐role factors are considered for the container selection problem. The NAOD model determines partial role of dual‐role factors and can consider multiple dual‐role factors. For the first time, the container selection problem is solved by an FDH model. The result of NAOD model is validated by genetic algorithm.

Originality/value

The paper makes a sufficient contribution to the practice of operations research. It is the first study which applies advanced DEA models for selecting the containers in the context of the CCM. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no other reference that deals with container selection in the context of CCM in the presence of dual‐role factors.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 41 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1984

Steel Brothers Process Plant Ltd. has successfully completed the second phase of the expansion at Goodlass Wall's Liverpool site.

Abstract

Steel Brothers Process Plant Ltd. has successfully completed the second phase of the expansion at Goodlass Wall's Liverpool site.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

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