Search results for "cons"

Brokers in the tea trade between China and West Africa

2021

Brokers have played important roles in the trade of green tea between China and Mali, from the 19th century when tea first came to Mali up to the present. They mediate between tea buyers and sellers, work on their own account, use soft skills, knowledge and networks and make a living from the commission they gain. This article examines the work of brokers in the tea trade, the social constellations in which they are active and the scope of their activity. Based on extensive field research in Mali and China, this article shows how brokers create their own jobs in a dynamic business landscape, which is often delimited by governmental policies, competing entrepreneurial activities and social …

Generalized feed-forward based method for wind energy prediction

2013

Abstract Even though a number of new mathematical functions have been proposed for modeling wind speed probability density distributions, still the Weibull function continues to be the most commonly used model in the literature. Therefore, the parameters of this function are still widely used to obtain typical wind probability density distributions for finding the wind energy potential by researchers, engineers and designers. Once long-term average of Weibull function’s parameters are known, then the probability density distributions can easily be obtained. Artificial neural network (ANN) can be used as alternative to analytical approach as ANN offers advantages such as no required knowledg…

CONSTRUCTION OF METASTABLE STATES IN QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS

2004

In this paper, we construct metastable states of atoms interacting with the quantized radiation field. These states emerge from the excited bound states of the non-interacting system. We prove that these states obey an exponential time-decay law. In detail, we show that their decay is given by an exponential function in time, predicted by Fermi's Golden Rule, plus a small remainder term. The latter is proportional to the (4+β)th power of the coupling constant and decays algebraically in time. As a result, though it is small, it dominates the decay for large times. A central point of the paper is that our remainder term is significantly smaller than the one previously obtained in [1] and as…

Erratum: The runaway instability of thick discs around black holes - II. Non-constant angular momentum discs

2004

Bhaskar and Bunge on Social Emergence

2009

This article discusses the theories of social emergence developed by Roy Bhaskar and Mario Bunge. Bhaskar's concept of emergent causal power is shown to be ambiguous, and some of the difficulties of his depth-relational concept of social emergence are examined. It is argued that Bunge's systemic concept of emergent property is not only different, but also clearer and more consistent than Bhaskar's concept of emergent causal power. Despite its clarity and consistency, Bunge's definition of the concept of emergent property is shown to be too broad and analytically imprecise for the purposes of an emergentist social ontology. It is argued that Bunge's systemic account of social emergence can b…

The Physical Economy of France (1830–2015). The History of a Parasite?

2019

Abstract This article explores long-term trends and patterns of material use in France for a 185-year period. It is the first long-term study of material flows for France with national and yearly data for most of the period. Based on a material flow analysis (MFA) that is fully consistent with current standards of economy-wide MFAs and covers domestic extraction, imports, and exports of materials, we investigated the evolution of the French metabolism from industrialization to financialized capitalism. Over the whole period, there is a 9-fold increase in domestic material consumption, an expansion of material use per capita, and a spectacular addition of abiotic resources (fossil fuels and …

A set of indices to assess the real performance of daylight-linked control systems

2017

Abstract The installation of Building Automation Control Systems (BACs) in general is an effective action to achieve relevant energy savings. Commercial BACs, installed in residential or small offices, often include functions of lighting control, acting as Daylight-Linked Control Systems (DLCSs). Nevertheless, because system performance is strictly dependent on different parameters, BAC’s hardware and software configuration and as well as an inaccurate commissioning do not always allow a perfect execution of the desired tasks; therefore, the system could not work as expected. Moreover, it is well known that energy saving potential is specifically related to the variability of the light envi…

Interaction between Longitudinal Shear and Transverse Bending in Prestressed Concrete Box Girders

2017

In box girder bridges, the quantity and distribution of reinforcement to be put in concrete elements of sections can be evaluated only by considering the deformation of the cross section in addition to the longitudinal analysis of the static scheme, establishing the entire state of stress of box sections. This leads to a need to evaluate the interaction between internal forces obtained by the global analysis and the ones obtained by the local analysis of the cross sections. The frame effect implies the elastic deformation of slabs and webs, whereas eccentrically applied loads lead to cross-section distortion with the loss of the box shape. Hence, the reinforcement is strongly influenced by …

Vernacular budgeting and accounting routines – a longitudinal constructive case study

2022

PurposeThis case study aims to report a longitudinal analysis of the development and use of local “vernacular” accounting practice and a digital rolling-forecast system known as TeamBudget in a public sector organization.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs the constructive research approach which utilizes participative observation in the development of TeamBudget over the 15 years since 2004. The empirical data utilized includes eight interviews and documentary data for the system created.FindingsThe study demonstrates how the actions of employees responsible for developing a locally relevant financial planning system, TeamBudget, facilitated the emergence of new accounting routine…

Revising midlatitude summer temperatures back to A.D. 600 based on a wood density network

2015

Annually resolved and millennium-long reconstructions of large-scale temperature variability are primarily composed of tree ring width (TRW) chronologies. Changes in ring width, however, have recently been shown to bias the ratio between low- and high-frequency signals. To overcome limitations in capturing the full spectrum of past temperature variability, we present a network of 15 maximum latewood density (MXD) chronologies distributed across the Northern Hemisphere extratropics. Independent subsets of continental-scale records consistently reveal high MXD before 1580 and after 1910, with below average values between these periods. Reconstructed extratropical summer temperatures reflect n…