Spatial justice: law and the geography of withdrawal

While spatial justice could be the most radical offspring of law’s recent spatial turn, it remains instead a geographically informed version of social justice. The majority of the existing literature on the subject has made some politically facile assumptions about space, justice and law, thereby subsuming the potentially radical into the banal. In this article, I suggest that the concept of spatial justice is the most promising platform on which to redefine, not only the connection between law and geography, but more importantly, the conceptual foundations of both law and space. More concretely, the article attempts two things: first, a radical understanding of legal spatiality. Space is not just another parameter for law, a background against which law takes place, or a process that the law needs to take into consideration. Space is intertwined with normative production in ways that law often fails to acknowledge, and part of this article is a re-articulation of the connection. Second, to suggest a conception of spatial justice that derives from a spatial law. Such a conception cannot rely on given concepts of distributive or social justice. Instead, the concept of spatial justice put forth here is informed by post-structural, feminist, post-ecological and other radical understandings of emplacement and justice, as well as arguably the most spatial of philosophical discourses, that of Deleuze–Guattari and the prescribed possibilities of space as manifold.

Law’s spatial turn: geography, justice and a certain fear of space

This is a critical reading of the current literature on law and geography. The article argues that the literature is characterized by an undertheorization of the concept of space. The focus is either on the specific geography of law in the form of jurisdiction, or as a simple terminological innovation. Instead, the article suggests that law’s spatial turn ought to consider space as a singular parameter to the hitherto legal preoccupation with time, history and waiting. This forces law into dealing with a new, peculiarly spatial kind of uncertainty in terms of simultaneity, disorientation, materiality and exclusionary corporeal emplacement. The main area in which this undertheorization forcefully manifests itself is that of spatial justice. Despite its critical potential, the concept has been reduced by the majority of the relevant literature into another version of social, distributive or regional justice. On the contrary, if the peculiar characteristics of space are to be taken into account, a concept of justice will have to be rethought on a much more fundamental level than that.

Investigating relationships between road freight transport, facility location, logistics management and urban form

This paper examines road freight transport activity and its relationship with facility location, logistics management and urban form through an analysis of 14 selected urban areas in the UK. Improved understanding of this relationship will assist planners when making transport and land use decisions. The findings suggest that several geographical, spatial and land use factors have important influences on freight activity in urban areas. Commercial and industrial land use patterns affect the types and quantities of goods produced, consumed, and hence the total quantity of freight transport handled. This also influences the distances over which goods are moved and by what specific mode. There has been relatively low growth in warehousing in many of the selected areas over the last decade compared to the national average as well suburbanisation of warehousing in some locations. This affects the origin and destination of journeys visiting these facilities and typically increases the distance of such journeys. A greater proportion of road freight has been shown to be lifted on internal journeys in large urban areas than in smaller ones. Journeys within urban areas have been shown to be less efficient than journeys to and from the urban area in the 14 locations studied due to the much smaller average vehicle carrying capacities and lower lading factors for journeys within urban areas. The length of haul on journeys to and from urban areas studied was found to be greatest for those areas with a major seaport and/or which were geographically remote. This affects the road freight transport intensity of goods transport journeys.

Commercial Use of WS-PGRADE/gUSE

Although originally an academic and research product, the WS-PGRADE/gUSE framework is increasingly applied by commercial institutions too. Within the SCI-BUS project, several commercial gateways have been developed by various companies. WS-PGRADE/gUSE is also intensively used within another European research project, CloudSME (Cloud-based Simulation Platform for Manufacturing and Engineering). This chapter provides an overview and de-scribes in detail some commercial WS-PGRADE/gUSE based gateway implemen-tations. Two representative case studies from the SCI-BUS project, the Build and Test portal and the eDOX Archiver Gateway are introduced. An overview of WS-PGRADE/gUSE based gateways for running simulation applications in the cloud within the CloudSME project is also provided.

Amperometric and spectrophotometric determination of carbaryl in natural waters and commercial formulations

The work presented describes the development and evaluation of two flow-injection analysis (FIA) systems for the automated determination of carbaryl in spiked natural waters and commercial formulations. Samples are injected directly into the system where they are subjected to alkaline hydrolysis thus forming 1-naphthol. This product is readily oxidised at a glassy carbon electrode. The electrochemical behaviour of 1-naphthol allows the development of an FIA system with an amperometric detector in which 1-naphthol determination, and thus measurement of carbaryl concentration, can be performed. Linear response over the range 1.0×10–7 to 1.0×10–5 mol L–1, with a sampling rate of 80 samples h–1, was recorded. The detection limit was 1.0×10–8 mol L–1. Another FIA manifold was constructed but this used a colorimetric detector. The methodology was based on the coupling of 1-naphthol with phenylhydrazine hydrochloride to produce a red complex which has maximum absorbance at 495 nm. The response was linear from 1.0×10–5 to 1.5×10–3 mol L–1 with a detection limit of 1.0×10–6 mol L–1. Sample-throughput was about 60 samples h–1. Validation of the results provided by the two FIA methodologies was performed by comparing them with results from a standard HPLC–UV technique. The relative deviation was <5%. Recovery trials were also carried out and the values obtained ranged from 97.0 to 102.0% for both methods. The repeatability (RSD, %) of 12 consecutive injections of one sample was 0.8% and 1.6% for the amperometric and colorimetric systems, respectively.

Commercial agentes portfolio optimization in electricity markets

As it is well known, competitive electricity markets require new computing tools for power companies that operate in retail markets in order to enhance the management of its energy resources. During the last years there has been an increase of the renewable penetration into the micro-generation which begins to co-exist with the other existing power generation, giving rise to a new type of consumers. This paper develops a methodology to be applied to the management of the all the aggregators. The aggregator establishes bilateral contracts with its clients where the energy purchased and selling conditions are negotiated not only in terms of prices but also for other conditions that allow more flexibility in the way generation and consumption is addressed. The aggregator agent needs a tool to support the decision making in order to compose and select its customers' portfolio in an optimal way, for a given level of profitability and risk.

Commercial squids: Characterization, assessment of potential health benefits/risks and discrimination based on mineral, lipid and vitamin E concentrations

The most consumed squid species worldwide were characterized regarding their concentrations of minerals, fatty acids, cholesterol and vitamin E. Interspecific comparisons were assessed among species and geographical origin. The health benefits derived from squid consumption were assessed based on daily minerals intake and on nutritional lipid quality indexes. Squids contribute significantly to daily intake of several macro (Na, K, Mg and P) and micronutrients (Cu, Zn and Ni). Despite their low fat concentration, they are rich in long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, particularly docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentanoic (EPA) acids, with highly favorable ω-3/ω-6 ratios (from 5.7 to 17.7), reducing the significance of their high cholesterol concentration (140–549 mg/100 g ww). Assessment of potential health risks based on minerals intake, non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks indicated that Loligo gahi (from Atlantic Ocean), Loligo opalescens (from Pacific Ocean) and Loligo duvaucelii (from Indic Ocean) should be eaten with moderation due to the high concentrations of Cu and/or Cd. Canonical discriminant analysis identified the major fatty acids (C14:0, C18:0, C18:1, C18:3ω-3, C20:4ω-6 and C22:5ω-6), P, K, Cu and vitamin E as chemical discriminators for the selected species. These elements and compounds exhibited the potential to prove authenticity of the commercially relevant squid species.

Analysis of Consumption Data to Detect Commercial Losses Using Performance Evaluation Methods in a Smart Grid

Electric power networks, namely distribution networks, have been suffering several changes during the last years due to changes in the power systems operation, towards the implementation of smart grids. Several approaches to the operation of the resources have been introduced, as the case of demand response, making use of the new capabilities of the smart grids. In the initial levels of the smart grids implementation reduced amounts of data are generated, namely consumption data. The methodology proposed in the present paper makes use of demand response consumers’ performance evaluation methods to determine the expected consumption for a given consumer. Then, potential commercial losses are identified using monthly historic consumption data. Real consumption data is used in the case study to demonstrate the application of the proposed method.

Knowledge Society and Geography: A Theoretical Approach

The transition process between information and knowledge is faster and so the inputs that influence social and political practises. The dissemination of information is now determinant in terms of territorial competitiveness and both public and private sector take large benefits when the data-information- knowledge value chain repeats itself trough space and time. Mankind depends nowadays on the creation and diffusion of good and reliable information. Speed is also important and the greater the speed, the faster the opportunities for global markets. Information must be an input for knowledge and obviously for decision. So, the power of information is unquestionable. This paper focuses on concepts like information, knowledge and other, more geographical and tries to explain how territories change from real to virtual. Knowledge society appears on an evolutional context in which information dissemination is wider and technological potential overwrites traditional notions of Geography. To understand the mutations over the territories, the causes and the consequences emerges the Geography of the Knowledge Society, a new discipline inside Geography with a special concern about modern society and socio-economical developing models.

The effect of method, standard and sample components on the total antioxidant capacity of commercial waters assessed by optical conventional assays

The total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of 28 flavoured water samples was assessed by ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and total reactive antioxidant potential (TRAP) methods. It was observed that flavoured waters had higher antioxidant activity than the corresponding natural ones. The observed differences were attributed to flavours, juice and vitamins. Generally, higher TAC contents were obtained on lemon waters and lower values on guava and raspberry flavoured waters. Lower and higher TACs were obtained by TRAP and ORAC method, respectively. Statistical analysis suggested that vitamins and flavours increased the antioxidant content of the commercial waters.

Standard commercial education robotic platform: intermediate solution to teaching robotics

Teaching robotics to students at the beginning of their studies has become a huge challenge. Simulation environments can be an effective solution to that challenge where students can interact with simulated robots and have the first contact with robotic constraints. From our previous experience with simulation environments it was possible to observe that students with lower background knowledge in robotics where able to deal with a limited number of constraints, implement a simulated robotic platform and study several sensors. The question is: after this first phase what should be the best approach? Should the student start developing their own hardware? Hardware development is a very important part of an engineer's education but it can also be a difficult phase that could lead to discouragement and loss of motivation in some students. Considering the previous constraints and first year engineering students’ high abandonment rate it is important to develop teaching strategies to deal with this problem in a feasible way. The solution that we propose is the integration of a low-cost standard robotic platform WowWee Rovio as an intermediate solution between the simulation phase and the stage where the students can develop their own robots. This approach will allow the students to keep working in robotic areas such as: cooperative behaviour, perception, navigation and data fusion. The propose approach proved to be a motivation step not only for the students but also for the teachers. Students and teachers were able to reach an agreement between the level of demand imposed by the teachers and satisfaction/motivation of the students.

Portuguese commercial banking: An assessment of competition in the 1960-2013 period

Strong consolidation is one of the most evident developments of banking markets around the world in recent decades. This change is raising questions on how and to what an extent competition is affected by the expansion of the largest banks. The aim of the present study is to measure the degree of competition in the Portuguese commercial banking market in the long-run, during the period ranging from1960 to 2013, by using the non-structural model developed by Panzar and Rosse. The main findings are that the Portuguese banking system, despite the legal restrictions in place, operated mostly in a market with some degree of competition and, at some points in time, presented some interesting competitive features. More recently, it has evolved into functioning as a cartel.

The determinants of net interest margins & net interest spreads in the Russian & Japanese Commercial Banking sectors

This study presents an empirical investigation of the determinants of net interest margins and spreads in the Russian and Japanese banking sectors with a particular focus on commercial banks. Net interest mar-gins and spreads serve as indicators of financial intermediation efficiency. This paper employed a bank-level unbalanced panel dataset prolonging from 2005 to 2014. My main empirical results show that bank characteristics explain the most of the variation in not only net interest margins but also in spreads. Capi-talization, liquidity risk, inflation, economic growth, private and government debt are important determi-nants of margin in Russia. In Japan to the contrary loan and deposit market concentration along with bank size do predominate. Common significant variables in both countries are the substitution effect, cost effi-ciency and profitability. Turning to net interest spreads, micro- and macro-specific variables are the main significant drivers in Russia. I reach the conclusion that there are no significant determinants of net interest spreads in Japan within the original selection of variables, but operating efficiency and deposits to total funding seem to prevail. In both countries, there are solid differences in the net interest margins as well as spreads once the pre- and the post-crisis periods are considered.