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This paper is concerned with new formulations of local meshfree and finite element numerical methods, for the solution of two-dimensional problems in linear elasticity.

In the local domain, assigned to each node of a discretization, the work theorem establishes an energy relationship between a statically admissible stress field and an independent kinematically admissible strain field. This relationship, derived as a weighted residual weak form, is expressed as an integral local form. Based on the independence of the stress and strain fields, this local form of the work theorem is kinematically formulated with a simple rigid-body displacement to be applied by local meshfree and finite element numerical methods. The main feature of this paper is the use of a linearly integrated local form that implements a quite simple algorithm with no further integration required.

The reduced integration, performed by this linearly integrated formulation, plays a key role in the behavior of local numerical methods, since it implies a reduction of the nodal stiffness which, in turn, leads to an increase of the solution accuracy and, which is most important, presents no instabilities, unlike nodal integration methods without stabilization. As a consequence of using such a convenient linearly integrated local form, the derived meshfree and finite element numerical methods become fast and accurate, which is a feature of paramount importance, as far as computational efficiency of numerical methods is concerned. Three benchmark problems were analyzed with these techniques, in order to assess the accuracy and efficiency of the new integrated local formulations of meshfree and finite element numerical methods. The results obtained in this work are in perfect agreement with those of the available analytical solutions and, furthermore, outperform the computational efficiency of other methods. Thus, the accuracy and efficiency of the local numerical methods presented in this paper make this a very reliable and robust formulation.

Presentation of a new local mesh-free numerical method. The method, linearly integrated along the boundary of the local domain, implements an algorithm with no further integration required. The method is absolutely reliable, with remarkably-accurate results. The method is quite robust, with extremely-fast computations.

The purpose of this paper is to present eight local elasto‐plastic beam element formulations incorporated into the corotational framework for two‐noded three‐dimensional beams. These formulations capture the warping torsional effects of open cross‐sections and are suitable for the analysis of the nonlinear buckling and post‐buckling of thin‐walled frames with generic cross‐sections. The paper highlights the similarities and discrepancies between the different local element formulations. The primary goal of this study is to compare all the local element formulations in terms of accuracy, efficiency and CPU‐running time.

The definition of the corotational framework for a two‐noded three‐dimensional beam element is presented, based upon the works of Battini .The definitions of the local element kinematics and displacements shape functions are developed based on both Timoshenko and Bernoulli assumptions, and considering low‐order as well as higher‐order terms in the second‐order approximation of the Green‐Lagrange strains. Element forces interpolations and generalized stress resultant vectors are then presented for both mixed‐based Timoshenko and Bernoulli formulations. Subsequently, the local internal force vector and tangent stiffness matrix are derived using the principle of virtual work for displacement‐based elements and the two‐field Hellinger‐Reissner assumed stress variational principle for mixed‐based formulations, respectively. A full comparison and assessment of the different local element models are performed by means of several numerical examples.

In this study, it is shown that the higher order elements are more accurate than the low‐order ones, and that the use of the higher order mixed‐based Bernoulli element seems to require the least number of FEs to accurately model the structural behavior, and therefore allows some reduction of the CPU time compared to the other converged solutions; where a larger number of elements are needed to efficiently discretize the structure.

The paper reports computation times for each model in order to assess their relative efficiency. The effect of the numbers of Gauss points along the element length and within the cross‐section are also investigated.

This study aims to identify group structural elements that should be assessed in e-Government strategy formulation processes at local government level for service delivery in South Africa. These elements influence the success or effectiveness of the strategy formulation process.

The theoretical framework of group structural elements by Asplund and nine other strategy formulation-related approaches are reflected upon. Weick’s approach of theory development is used to guide the theoretical analysis. A pragmatic approach is applied to conduct the empirical investigation using a case study of a digital citizen engagement project in South Africa.

The paper highlights the following group elements that influence the strategy formulation process: group member relations, degree of differentiation within the group and resources of the group. Not addressing these structural elements may result in a lack of creativity or a reluctance to participate in the context of public sector engagement.

The paper does not provide an exhaustive list of all aspects that necessitate assessment before and during a strategy formulation process, for example, organisational and environment structural elements.

Assessing group structural elements provides valuable knowledge on how to engage stakeholders in a joint problem-solving activity. This is particularly pertinent where citizen engagement is fundamental to addressing basic service delivery concerns.

In the South African local municipal context, there is no existing literature that discusses the need to assess group structural elements influencing the outcome of an e-Government strategy formulation process.

This paper presents a comparison of various models for strain‐softening due to damage such as cracking or void growth, as proposed recently in the literature. Continuum‐based models expressed in terms of softening stress—strain relations, and fracture‐type models expressed in terms of softening stress—displacement relations are distinguished. From one‐dimensional wave propagation calculations, it is shown that strain‐localization into regions of finite size cannot be achieved. The previously well‐documented spurious convergence is obtained with continuum models, while stress—displacement relations cannot model well smeared‐crack situations. Continuum models may, however, be used in general if a localization limiter is implemented. Gradient‐type localization limiters appear to be rather complicated; they require solving higher‐order differential equations of equilibrium with additional bourdary conditions. Non‐local localization limiters, especially the non‐local continuum with local strain, in which only the energy dissipating variables are non‐local, is found to be very effective, and also seems to be physically realistic. This formulation can correctly model the transition between homogeneous damage states and situations in which damage localizes into small regions that can be viewed as cracks. The size effect observed in the experimental and numerical response of specimens in tension or compression is shown to be a consequence of this progressive transition from continuum‐type to fracture‐type formulations.

Government fiscal officers, practitioners and policy makers constantly deal with uncertainties in revenue and expenditure projections. These uncertainties create difficulties in resource allocation decisions when significant deviations occur. Clearly, certain variables account for these uncertainties and knowing them prior to revenue and expenditure planning may minimize potentials for errors. This study seeks to determine the identities and reliability of these variables through the application of a measurement model to aggregate data under the formulation that certain variables create uncertainties and affect significantly both revenues and expenditures of state and local governments. The results reveal that inflation, population, unemployment rate, time, government bond rate, and real long-term debts per capita are the most reliable indicators of both revenues and expenditures.

Develop a local radial point interpolation method (LRPIM) to analyze the dissipation process of excess pore water pressure in porous media and verify its numerical capability.

Terzaghi's consolidation theory is used to describe the dissipation process. A local residual form is formulated over only a sub‐domain. This form is spatially discretized by radial point interpolation method (RPIM) with basis of multiquadrics (MQ) and thin‐plate spline (TPS), and temporally discretized by finite difference method. One‐dimensional (1D) and two‐dimensional consolidation problems are numerically analyzed.

The LRPIM is suitable, efficient and accurate to simulate this dissipation process. The shape parameters, q=1.03, R=0.1 for MQ and η=4.001 for TPS, are still valid.

The asymmetric system matrix in LRPIM spends more resources in storage and CPU time.

Local residual form requires no background mesh, thus being a truly meshless method. This provides a fast and practical algorithm for engineering computation.

This paper provides a simple, accurate and fast numerical algorithm for the dissipation process of excess pore water pressure, largely simplifies data preparation, shows that the shape parameters from solid mechanics are also suitable for the dissipation process.

This paper aims to describe the 2D meshless local boundary integral equation (LBIE) method for solving the Navier–Stokes equations.

The velocity–vorticity formulation is selected to eliminate the pressure gradient of the equations. The local integral representations of flow kinematics and transport kinetics are derived. The integral equations are discretized using the local RBF interpolation of velocities and vorticities, while the unknown fluxes are kept as independent variables. The resulting volume integrals are computed using the general radial transformation algorithm.

The efficiency and accuracy of the method are illustrated with several examples chosen from reference problems in computational fluid dynamics.

The meshless LBIE method is applied to the 2D Navier–Stokes equations. No derivatives of interpolation functions are used in the formulation, rendering the present method a robust numerical scheme for the solution of fluid flow problems.

The practice of innovation management in Cyprus is investigated via case studies of innovative small manufacturing firms. The analysis concentrates on how Cypriot firms develop networks (or avoid them!) and the effects of network relationships on innovation performance. The behaviour of firms is related to two contrasting models of network development: First, the “local strategic network model” where firms intentionally develop and maintain a network of long‐term relationships based on trust, cooperation and mutual benefit, with a view to obtaining the necessary resources and knowledge for innovation. Second, the “local self sufficiency model” where firms obtain any required resources from other local firms through ‘arms length’ market based transactions and any technical knowledge primarily from foreign suppliers. Such firms follow an insular pattern of behaviour in order to protect their independence and innovative activities. The possible association between performance (in terms of profitability, sales growth) and innovation strategies of Cypriot firms is examined and the implications for business managers and for Government support programmes are drawn out.

In the present work, we focus on developing an in-house parallel meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) code for the analysis of heat conduction in two-dimensional and three-dimensional regular as well as complex geometries.

The parallel MLPG code has been implemented using open multi-processing (OpenMP) application programming interface (API) on the shared memory multicore CPU architecture. Numerical simulations have been performed to find the critical regions of the serial code, and an OpenMP-based parallel MLPG code is developed, considering the critical regions of the sequential code.

Based on performance parameters such as speed-up and parallel efficiency, the credibility of the parallelization procedure has been established. Maximum speed-up and parallel efficiency are 10.94 and 0.92 for regular three-dimensional geometry (343,000 nodes). Results demonstrate the suitability of parallelization for larger nodes as parallel efficiency and speed-up are more for the larger nodes.

Few attempts have been made in parallel implementation of the MLPG method for solving large-scale industrial problems. Although the literature suggests that message-passing interface (MPI) based parallel MLPG codes have been developed, the OpenMP model has rarely been touched. This work is an attempt at the development of OpenMP-based parallel MLPG code for the very first time.

This paper presents a solder joint engineering reliability model — Solder Reliability Solutions** (SRS) — and its application to surface mount area‐array and chip‐scale assemblies. The model is validated by failure data from 33 accelerated thermal cycling tests, and test vehicles covering several generations of component, assembly and circuit board technologies and a variety of test conditions. The SRS model has been implemented as a PC‐based design‐for‐reliabilltytool that enables rapid assessment of assembly reliability in the early stages of product development.