Ad hoc network state aware routing protocol

The environment of a mobile ad hoc network may vary greatly depending on nodes' mobility, traffic load and resource conditions. In this paper we categorize the environment of an ad hoc network into three main states: an ideal state, wherein the network is relatively stable with sufficient resources; a congested state, wherein some nodes, regions or the network is experiencing congestion; and an energy critical state, wherein the energy capacity of nodes in the network is critically low. Each of these states requires unique routing schemes, but existing ad hoc routing protocols are only effective in one of these states. This implies that when the network enters into any other states, these protocols run into a sub optimal mode, degrading the performance of the network. We propose an Ad hoc Network State Aware Routing Protocol (ANSAR) which conditionally switches between earliest arrival scheme and a joint Load-Energy aware scheme depending on the current state of the network. Comparing to existing schemes, it yields higher efficiency and reliability as shown in our simulation results. © 2007 IEEE.

The behaviour of granular material in pure shear, direct shear and simple shear

In biaxial compression tests, the stress calculations based on boundary information underestimate the principal stresses leading to a significant overestimation of the shear strength. In direct shear tests, the shear strain becomes highly concentrated in the mid-plane of the sample during the test. Although the stress distribution within the specimen is heterogeneous, the evolution of the stress ratio inside the shear band is similar to that inferred from the boundary force calculations. It is also demonstrated that the dilatancy in the shear band significantly exceeds that implied from the boundary displacements. In simple shear tests, the stresses acting on the wall boundaries do not reflect the internal state of stress but merely provide information about the average mobilised wall friction. It is demonstrated that the results are sensitive to the initial stress state defined by K0 = sh/sv. For all cases, non-coaxiality of the principal stress and strain-rate directions is examined and the corresponding flow rule is identified. Periodic cell simulations have been used to examine biaxial compression for a wide range of initial packing densities. Both constant volume and constant mean stress tests have been simulated. The characteristic behaviour at both the macroscopic and microscopic scales is determined by whether or not the system percolates (enduring connectivity is established in all directions). The transition from non-percolating to percolating systems is characterised by transitional behaviour of internal variables and corresponds to an elastic percolation threshold, which correlates well with the establishment of a mechanical coordination number of ca. 3.0. Strong correlations are found between macroscopic and internal variables at the critical state.

Fluctuations and correlations in sandpiles and interfaces with boundary pinning

Interfaces are studied in an inhomogeneous critical state where boundary pinning is compensated with a ramped force. Sandpiles driven off the self-organized critical point provide an example of this ensemble in the Edwards-Wilkinson (EW) model of kinetic roughening. A crossover from quenched to thermal noise violates spatial and temporal translational invariances. The bulk temporal correlation functions have the effective exponents β1D∼0.88±0.03 and β2D∼0.52±0.05, while at the boundaries βb,1D/2D∼0.47±0.05. The bulk β1D is shown to be reproduced in a randomly kicked thermal EW model.

Fluctuations and correlations in sandpiles and interfaces with boundary pinning

Interfaces are studied in an inhomogeneous critical state where boundary pinning is compensated with a ramped force. Sandpiles driven off the self-organized critical point provide an example of this ensemble in the Edwards-Wilkinson (EW) model of kinetic roughening. A crossover from quenched to thermal noise violates spatial and temporal translational invariances. The bulk temporal correlation functions have the effective exponents β1D∼0.88±0.03 and β2D∼0.52±0.05, while at the boundaries βb,1D/2D∼0.47±0.05. The bulk β1D is shown to be reproduced in a randomly kicked thermal EW model.

Analysing organisational culture : a critical ethnography of public relations and personnel specialists in a state bureaucracy

Following an introductory chapter, I examine (i) typologies which have differentiated the literature on organisational culture and symbolism (Chapter 2), (ii) the contribution of organisation theory to organisation culture (Chapter 3), and (iii) recent literature on organisational culture and symbolism (Chapter 4). Within these chapters, I adopt Habermas' (1972) notion of knowledge-constitutive interests, assessing the contrubutions to understanding organisational culture made by literature guided by technical, practical and emancipatory cognitive interests. In doing so, I suggest that more critical studies on organisational culture and symbolism have been comparatively neglected. Lamenting this neglect, I suggest that Giddens' theory of structuration can be employed to advance the development of a critical, emancipatory conceptualisation of organisational culture. In particular, I argue that this Giddensian analysis, by penetrating the existential, poltical and material processes of cultural reproduction (Chapter 5), is able to disclose some of the more contradictory features of organisation culture. The remainder of the thesis comprises of a critical ethnography of the work cultures of public relations and personnel specialists located in a state bureaucracy. I begin the ethnography with a dicussion of my research methods (Chapter 6) and an overview of the departments studied (Chapter 7): I then examine (i) the work cultures of the specialists (Chapter 8), (ii) the specialists' management of the relationships with the hosts bureaucracy (Chapter 9); and, (iii) opportunities the specialists had for developing an emancipatory praxis (Chapter 10). Finally, in a concluding section, I offer some critical reflections on the contributions of the thesis and suggest areas for future research.

Canadian province-building : the state as educator and entrepreneur in Alberta

This study provides an account and analysis of the development of systems of educational provision In capitalist democracies, especially in connection with the social origin and relative autonony of those systems. Using the case study of Athabasca University, a Canadian distance-education institution in the province of Alberta, the study is a critical work of historical sociology, in which the shifting social role of a system of educational provision during two transitions of a regional political economy is analyzed. Comparative observations are made in reference to other systems of educational provision and organizations, in particular the training department of a large Company based In the same region as the Unversity. The study explores the social origin and relative autonomy of systems of educational provision In relation to educational ideologies, which are themselves associated with social ideologies. Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical construction of "fields of power'' allows for a consideration of power as a relational phenomenon in the study. In other words, power is understood as being exercised in a way that simultaneously takes account of the power of other actors and groups. Fields of power also allow for an analysis of power as it is exercised at various levels of organizations and within society. The study is organized in two phases. First, an account is developed of the historical period in which the Unlversity and the Company were created, but especially the period of establishment for the Unlversity, 1970 - 75. Conclusions are offered concerning the causal associations between the historical antecedents that gave rise to the two organlzations. It is argued that both the University and the Company were established In part to enact the AIberta government's efforts to enhance Its powers within the Canadian federation (a process called province-building), The second phase is concerned with a more recent period of three years, 1993 - 95. By this time, province-building was not as significant a concern for policy-makers, and the organizational responses of the University and the Company reflected this shift. A divergence of practice is observed at the University and the Company, with actors at the Company encouraging the development of collectivist values for employees, while at the University no such overt strategy was followed, The study concludes that a consumerist model of education developed by the University in 1970 - 75 and expanded In 1993 - 95 contributed significantly to the institution's social origin and relative autonomy. The model was used as an Ideology in the earlier period and as a strategy In the later one, serving to forestall the institution's closure during both periods of crisis, though Ieading to ambiguous social outcomes. A consumerist model may on the one hand be progressive in that expanded access to educational opportunities is made possible. On the other hand, the consumerist model will tend increasingly to provide educational services to those social segments that already have access to educational opportunities.

Bile-salt-induced aggregation of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and lowering of the lower critical solution temperature in aqueous solutions

The effect of sodium cholate (NaC; concentration 1-16 mM), a biological surfactant, on the aggregation behavior of 1% (w/v, 2.2 × 10(-3) M) poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) aqueous solutions was studied as a function of temperature. From turbidity, dynamic light scattering, viscosity, and fluorescence measurements, it was observed that (i) there is NaC-induced nanoscale aggregation of PNIPAM in its sol state and (ii) the lower critical solution temperature corresponding to sol-gel transition shifts to a lower temperature by about 2 °C.

A configuration framework of manufacturing strategy paradigm in state owned enterprises within China's petrochemical industry:building context-embedded configurations for the paradigm of strategic manufacturing management from exploratory case studies

The role of the production system as a key determinant of competitive performance of business operations- has long been the subject of industrial organization research, even predating the .explicit conceptua1isation of manufacturing, strategy in the literature. Particular emergent production issues such as the globalisation of production, global supply chain management, management of integrated manufacturing and a growing e~busjness environment are expected to critically influence the overall competitive performance and therefore the strategic success of the organization. More than ever, there is a critical need to configure and improve production system and operations competence in a strategic way so as to contribute to the long-term competitiveness of the organization. In order to operate competitively and profitably, manufacturing companies, no matter how well managed, all need a long-term 'strategic direction' for the development of operations competence in order to consistently produce more market value with less cost towards a leadership position. As to the long-term competitiveness, it is more important to establish a dynamic 'strategic perspective' for continuous operational improvements in pursuit of this direction, as well as ongoing reviews of the direction in relation to the overall operating context. However, it also clear that the 'existing paradigm of manufacturing strategy development' is incapable of adequately responding to the increasing complexities and variations of contemporary business operations. This has been factually reflected as many manufacturing companies are finding that methodologies advocated in the existing paradigm for developing manufacturing strategy have very limited scale and scope for contextual contingency in empirical application. More importantly, there has also emerged a deficiency in the multidimensional and integrative profile from a theoretical perspective when operationalising the underlying concept of strategic manufacturing management established in the literature. The point of departure for this study was a recognition of such contextual and unitary limitations in the existing paradigm of manufacturing strategy development when applied to contemporary industrial organizations in general, and Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in particular. As China gradually becomes integrated into the world economy, the relevance of Western management theory and its paradigm becomes a practical matter as much as a theoretical issue. Since China markedly differs from Western countries in terms of culture, society, and political and economic systems, it presents promising grounds to test and refine existing management theories and paradigms with greater contextual contingency and wider theoretical perspective. Under China's ongoing programmes of SOE reform, there has been an increased recognition that strategy development is the very essence of the management task for managers of manufacturing companies in the same way as it is for their counterparts in Western economies. However, the Western paradigm often displays a rather naive and unitary perspective of the nature of strategic management decision-making, one which largely overlooks context-embedded factors and social/political influences on the development of manufacturing strategy. This thesis studies the successful experiences of developing manufacturing strategy from five high-performing large-scale SOEs within China’s petrochemical industry. China’s petrochemical industry constitutes a basic heavy industrial sector, which has always been a strategic focus for reform and development by the Chinese government. Using a confirmation approach, the study has focused on exploring and conceptualising the empirical paradigm of manufacturing strategy development practiced by management. That is examining the ‘empirical specifics’ and surfacing the ‘managerial perceptions’ of content configuration, context of consideration, and process organization for developing a manufacturing strategy during the practice. The research investigation adopts a qualitative exploratory case study methodology with a semi-structural front-end research design. Data collection follows a longitudinal and multiple-case design and triangulates case evidence from sources including qualitative interviews, direct observation, and a search of documentations and archival records. Data analysis follows an investigative progression from a within-case preliminary interpretation of facts to a cross-case search for patterns through theoretical comparison and analytical generalization. The underlying conceptions in both the literature of manufacturing strategy and related studies in business strategy were used to develop theoretical framework and analytical templates applied during data collection and analysis. The thesis makes both empirical and theoretical contributions to our understanding of 'contemporary management paradigm of manufacturing strategy development'. First, it provides a valuable contextual contingency of the 'subject' using the business setting of China's SOEs in petrochemical industry. This has been unpacked into empirical configurations developed for its context of consideration, its content and process respectively. Of special note, a lean paradigm of business operations and production management discovered at case companies has significant implications as an emerging alternative for high-volume capital intensive state manufacturing in China. Second, it provides a multidimensional and integrative theoretical profile of the 'subject' based upon managerial perspectives conceptualised at case companies when operationalising manufacturing strategy. This has been unpacked into conceptual frameworks developed for its context of consideration, its content constructs, and its process patterns respectively. Notably, a synergies perspective towards the operating context, competitive priorities and competence development of business operations and production management has significant implications for implementing a lean manufacturing paradigm. As a whole, in so doing, the thesis established a theoretical platform for future refinement and development of context-specific methodologies for developing manufacturing strategy.

A critical evaluation of theories of nationalism

This thesis considers the main theoretical positions within the contemporary sociology of nationalism. These can be grouped into two basic types, primordialist theories which assert that nationalism is an inevitable aspect of all human societies, and modernist theories which assert that nationalism and the nation-state first developed within western Europe in recent centuries. With respect to primordialist approaches to nationalism, it is argued that the main common explanation offered is human biological propensity. Consideration is concentrated on the most recent and plausible of such theories, sociobiology. Sociobiological accounts root nationalism and racism in genetic programming which favours close kin, or rather to the redirection of this programming in complex societies, where the social group is not a kin group. It is argued that the stated assumptions of the sociobiologists do not entail the conclusions they draw as to the roots of nationalism, and that in order to arrive at such conclusions further and implausible assumptions have to be made. With respect to modernists, the first group of writers who are considered are those, represented by Carlton Hayes, Hans Kohn and Elie Kedourie, whose main thesis is that the nation-state and nationalism are recent phenomena. Next, the two major attempts to relate nationalism and the nation-state to imperatives specific either to capitalist societies (in the `orthodox' marxist theory elaborated about the turn of the twentieth century) or to the processes of modernisation and industrialisation (the `Weberian' account of Ernest Gellner) are discussed. It is argued that modernist accounts can only be sustained by starting from a definition of nationalism and the nation-state which conflates such phenomena with others which are specific to the modern world. The marxist and Gellner accounts form the necessary starting point for any explanation as to why the nation-state is apparently the sole viable form of polity in the modern world, but their assumption that no pre-modern society was national leaves them without an adequate account of the earliest origins of the nation-state and of nationalism. Finally, a case study from the history of England argues both the achievement of a national state form and the elucidation of crucial components of a nationalist ideology were attained at a period not consistent with any of the versions of the modernist thesis.

Critical practice and the public pedagogy of environmental and conservation media

Natural History filmmaking has a long history but the generic boundaries between it and environmental and conservation filmmaking are blurred. Nature, environment and animal imagery has been a mainstay of television, campaigning organisations and conservation bodies from Greenpeace to the Sierra Club, with vibrant images being used effectively on posters, leaflets and postcards, and in coffee table books, media releases, short films and viral emails to educate and inform the general public. However, critics suggest that wildlife film and photography frequently convey a false image of the state of the world’s flora and fauna. The environmental educator David Orr once remarked that all education is environmental education, and it is possible to see all image-based communication in the same way. The Media, Animal Conservation and Environmental Education has contributions from filmmakers, photographers, researchers and academics from across the globe. It explores the various ways in which film, television and video are, and can be, used by conservationists and educators to encourage both a greater awareness of environmental and conservation issues, and practical action designed to help endangered species. This book is based on a special issue of the journal Environmental Education Research.

The single-phase induction motor:a critical appraisal of the rotating-field and cross-field theories with particular reference to skin effect

The purpose of this thesis is twofold: to examine the validity of the rotating-field and cross-field theories of the single-phase induction motor when applied to a cage rotor machine; and to examine the extent to which skin effect is likely to modify the characteristics of a cage rotor machine. A mathematical analysis is presented for a single-phase induction motor in which the rotor parameters are modified by skin effect. Although this is based on the usual type of ideal machine, a new form of model rotor allows approximations for skin effect phenomena to be included as an integral part of the analysis. Performance equations appropriate to the rotating-field and cross-field theories are deduced, and the corresponding explanations for the steady-state mode of operation are critically examined. The evaluation of the winding currents and developed torque is simplified by the introduction of new dimensionless factors which are functions of the resistance/reactance ratios of the rotor and the speed. Tables of the factors are included for selected numerical values of the parameter ratios, and these are used to deduce typical operating characteristics for both cage and wound rotor machines. It is shown that a qualitative explanation of the mode of operation of a cage rotor machine is obtained from either theory; but the operating characteristics must be deduced from the performance equations of the rotating-field theory, because of the restrictions on the values of the rotor parameters imposed by skin effect.

State advances and private retreats? Evidence from the decomposition of the Chinese manufacturing aggregate productivity decomposition in China

This paper is motivated by the recent debate on the existence and scale of China's 'Guo Jin Min Tui' phenomenon, which is often translated as 'the state sector advances and the private sector retreats'. We argue that the profound implication of an advancing state sector is not the size expansion of the state ownership in the economy per se, but the likely retardation of the development of the already financially constrained private sector and the issues around the sustainability of the already weakening Chinese economy growth. Drawing on recent methodological advances, we provide a critical analysis of the contributions of the state and non-state sectors in the aggregate Total Factor Productivity and its growth over the period of 1998-2007 to verify the existence of GJMT and its possible impacts on Chinese economic growth. Overall, we find strong and consistent evidence of a systematic and worsening resource misallocation within the state sector and/or between the state sectors and private sectors over time. This suggests that non-market forces allow resources to be driven away from their competitive market allocation and towards the inefficient state sector. Crown Copyright © 2014.

Africa's World Cup:critical reflections on play, patriotism, spectatorship, and space

Africas World Cup: Critical Reflections on Play, Patriotism, Spectatorship, and Space focuses on a remarkable month in the modern history of Africa and in the global history of football. Peter Alegi and Chris Bolsmann are well-known experts on South African football, and they have assembled an impressive team of local and international journalists, academics, and football experts to reflect on the 2010 World Cup and its broader significance, its meanings, complexities, and contradictions. The World Cups sounds, sights, and aesthetics are explored, along with questions of patriotism, nationalism, and spectatorship in Africa and around the world. Experts on urban design and communities write on how the presence of the World Cup worked to refashion urban spaces and negotiate the local struggles in the hosting cities. The volume is richly illustrated by authors photographs, and the essays in this volume feature chronicles of match day experiences; travelogues; ethnographies of fan cultures; analyses of print, broadcast, and electronic media coverage of the tournament; reflections on the World Cups private and public spaces; football exhibits in South African museums; and critiques of the World Cups processes of inclusion and exclusion, as well as its political and economic legacies. The volume concludes with a forum on the World Cup, including Thabo Dladla, Director of Soccer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Mohlomi Kekeletso Maubane, a well-known Soweto-based writer and a soccer researcher, and Rodney Reiners, former professional footballer and current chief soccer writer for the Cape Argus newspaper in Cape Town. This collection will appeal to students, scholars, journalists, and fans. Cover illustration: South African fan blowing his vuvuzela at South Africa vs. France, Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, June 22, 2010. Photo by Chris Bolsmann.

McKinney, Mark. Redrawing French Empire Comics. Columbus, The Ohio State University Press, 2013. 304 pages. 9780814212202

The history of France and its empires is one that has been well trodden, particularly the French occupation, and subsequent war, in Algeria. In this companion to his earlier work, 2011’s The Colonial Heritage of French Comics,McKinney attempts to examine the reconstruction of French national identity in the wake of decolonisation through the medium of Francophonecomics. He endeavours to study the colonial affrontier (3), the space in which France and its colonies are connected and divided, where they seek to confront each other, or to seek peace and the removal of the division. McKinney argues this affrontier can be found most strongly in the Francophone comics produced dealing with the French colonial experience in Algeria, as well as that of Indochina,and does so from both sides of each conflict. McKinney examines in detail the French colonisation of Algeria (1830sonwards), the French war in Indochina (1946–54) and the Algerian war (1954–62), and his work is the first to approach these well-covered areas of research through the medium of comics. The resulting work takes the form of an investigation into the five forms of genealogical inquiry utilised in comics regarding these conflicts. His approach investigates the familial, ethnic, national, artistic and critical forms of genealogy relating to colonialism and imperialism from a variety of viewpoints, including the previously overlooked perspective of the pieds noirs. He aims to highlight both those cartoonists that critique the colonial ideology, as well as those cartoonists who to some extent attempt to gloss over or even romanticise the French empire, strengthening the affrontier. He positions himself alongside Foucault in seeing genealogy as a useful means of establishing ‘historical knowledge of struggles’ (Foucault1980, 85), but McKinney looks at the colonial representation in a popular medium,including the recent increase in comics produced which consider the French colonial experience. He argues that this consideration of the present, as well as European imperialism, is absent in the work of Foucault. The text is accompanied by a number of black and white facsimiles of pages from the comics he analyses to illustrate the different and often conflicting positions of cartoonists on these issues. Overall, McKinney’s work is a welcome addition to the study of the French colonial experience, which separates its elf from the rest by using Francophonecomics as lenses through which to look at these already well-trodden areas of study. He succeeds in determining if and how cartoonists critique colonial ideology and representations on both sides of the conflicts, a task in which he is unarguably successful. McKinney’s work, however, is unfortunately let down by typo graphicerrors, which occur throughout the text.Nevertheless, McKinney’s work is another important work in the field of Bande Dessine ́e scholarship, and useful for anyone interested in the representations of colonialism and imperialism in French comics, accompanied by anencyclopaedic bibliography of comics produced on this topic.