Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Apparent ownership »

Popular support for the British government's privatization programme has never exceeded 40 per cent of the electorate, and by the end of the 1980s, huge public flotations of industries like water and the electricity suppliers and generators were taking place in the teeth of widespread popular opposition. The evidence on voting behaviour suggests, however, that it was the Labour party rather than the Conservatives which lost electoral support as a result of the privatization programme. This Research Note offers an explanation for this apparent paradox.

Background: This study investigates home ownership and its apparent health outcomes in Urban Ghana, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative datasets. Methods: The sample for the study consisted of 442 respondents using a multi-stage sampling technique. Results: The context in which houses are situated affects social support networks, physical and mental health outcomes. House ownership is then a precondition that enables social contact within neighborhoods. A Cramer’s V test value of 0.750 suggests a strong association between house ownership and health outcomes. Conclusion: House acquisition and ownership can potentially improve overall physical, and mental health and wellbeing.

The classification of boundaries as figure and ground is one of the fundamental computations performed by the visual system. This computation requires classifying one side of a boundary, as an occluding or ‘intrinsic’ contour, and the other side of the contour as occluded or ‘extrinsic’ (also described as the problem of border ownership). A recent analysis of stereoscopic contour junctions revealed that the classification of edges as intrinsic or extrinsic to a neighbouring surface depends critically on the relative depth of the contours at the image junction. Specifically, it was argued that near edges are intrinsically one-sided (ie border ownership is uniquely specified by the junction geometry), whereas far contours are inherently two-sided (ie the border ownership of the far contour cannot be determined on the basis of the local junction geometry). Here I present new stimuli that reveal that the asymmetry of near and far contours in specifying border ownership reflects a more general asymmetry in the classification of near and far contrasts. A variety of stimuli were created. In one set of patterns, an array of five circular discs was embedded on a homogeneous background (either white or black) and was filled with a texture. A uniform disparity was added to the textured region such that it appeared nearer than the outer edges of the disc. When the power spectrum of the texture was systematically varied as functions of 1/ fn, the texture did not appear as a solid surface. Rather, the discs containing the texture gradients were decomposed into two sources: a constant background colour of the discs, and transparent clouds that appeared to float in front of the discs. Remarkably, the apparent colour of the clouds and the discs could be transformed simply by changing the colour of the background of the regions that neighboured the discs; the texture itself was unchanged. Specifically, when the textured discs were placed on white backgrounds, the pattern appeared as white clouds hovering in front of dark discs; but when the textured discs were placed on black backgrounds, the percept was of black ‘smoke’ hovering in front of white discs. It is argued that these results reveal that the problem of border ownership is a special case of contrast ownership. The two-sided qualities of far contrasts determine the colour of the background, which in turn determines which side of a near gradient is considered to be more or less opaque (ie which side is more occlusive).

The apparent aim of this paper is to reveal the contribution of archaeology to understanding the social relations of capitalism. The burden of this particular study of rural settlement in the Scottish Highlands is to show that archaeology helps to achieve a deeper understanding of the transition from clan ownership to individual ownership during the period of Improvement that heralded the dawn of the new commercial age in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Several Canadian universities use their internal policies to claim some form of ownership or licence right with respect to student-created intellectual property. These policies are examined from a contract and employment law viewpoint to determine their efficacy It is concluded that a university would have significant legal issues to overcome before successfully claiming ownership of intellectual property created by its students. Specific recommendations are presented that attempt to resolve these apparent difficulties.

AbstractThis article offers an interpretation of British philosopher William Godwin's theory of property ownership, as outlined in hisEnquiry Concerning Political Justice. Godwin's work can be read as presenting an incoherent account of property rights, which, on the one hand, justifies its existence on seemingly utilitarian grounds while, on the other, impugns its legitimacy on egalitarian grounds. But the contradiction apparent in Godwin's position is actually illusory and can in fact be plausibly interpreted as comprising a coherent two-level understanding of political morality, wherein the right to own private property is best comprehended as a “right to do wrong.”

Because corporate sustainability enhances corporate governance principles, firms are increasing their efforts to provide transparency and public disclosure. These efforts inform the public about the relationship between corporate governance and sustainability. Well-informed shareholders know about this relationship, which is becoming more apparent over time. In this study, we empirically examined the possible bilateral relationships between institutional ownership and a firm’s capital structure. Methodologically, we used an instrumental variable approach and the two-step generalized method of moments. The implications of this study are two-fold. First, we found that a firm’s debt level was low if its institutional ownership level was high. Institutional monitoring may substitute for external debt monitoring, leading firms to employ low leverage. Second, we found that the level of institutional ownership was high if a firm’s debt level was high. This association suggests that institutional investors prefer high-leveraged firms because institutional owners decrease their monitoring costs through debt monitoring. In the long run, sustainable institutional ownership materially impacts the capital structures of firms.

The ability for autonomous agents to learn and conform to human norms is crucial for their safety and effectiveness in social environments. While recent work has led to frameworks for the representation and inference of simple social rules, research into norm learning remains at an exploratory stage. Here, we present a robotic system capable of representing, learning, and inferring ownership relations and norms. Ownership is represented as a graph of probabilistic relations between objects and their owners, along with a database of predicate-based norms that constrain the actions permissible on owned objects. To learn these norms and relations, our system integrates (i) a novel incremental norm learning algorithm capable of both one-shot learning and induction from specific examples, (ii) Bayesian inference of ownership relations in response to apparent rule violations, and (iii) perceptbased prediction of an object’s likely owners. Through a series of simulated and real-world experiments, we demonstrate the competence and flexibility of the system in performing object manipulation tasks that require a variety of norms to be followed, laying the groundwork for future research into the acquisition and application of social norms.

Few lawyers would dissent from the view, voiced by the Law Commission in 1989 in their Report on Trusts of Land, that the trust for sale mechanism, introduced in 1926 to regulate the co-ownership of land, had for long ceased to be appropriate to the conditions of modern home ownership. Every conveyancing practitioner will have experienced the difficulty of explaining to clients about to marry that the matrimonial home which they were so eagerly looking forward to occupying would by law be owned by them as trustees, subject to an immediate binding trust for sale. No doubt in practice discretion played the better part of valour. Soon after qualifying, solicitors learned to abandon any attempt to explore the mysteries of such an apparent absurdity.

Branded apparel retailers are part of a high growth sub-sector in UK retail (PwC, 2016). The growth of this sub-sector has attracted investment from middle market private equity firms (Clark and Bawden, 2011), yet little research has been undertaken into the role that private equity firms play in the growth of these firms. This is surprising given that private equity investors have had a mixed impact on the performance of branded apparel retailers. Using a grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Locke, 2001; Charmaz, 2008), this study identifies the factors affecting the performance of branded apparel retailers under private equity ownership. Data was collected from private equity professionals and branded apparel retailers, as well as other industry stakeholders such as corporate finance professionals. From the grounded theory process, the researcher developed a Three-Stage Private Equity Model to demonstrate the factors that affect branded apparel retailers through different stages of private equity ownership. This study makes the following contributions to theory. First, the Three-Stage Private Equity Model provides insight into the private equity and branded apparel retailer relationship. This study provides an in-depth understanding of the factors affecting firm performance. Second, the study contributes to parenting theory by questioning the static nature of the Heartland Matrix (formerly the Ashridge Portfolio Display Matrix). This study highlights that parenting relationships are far more dynamic than the Heartland Matrix suggests. Third, the Three-Stage Private Equity Model is used as a substantive theory to question the value adding and value subtracting mechanism proposed by Campbell et al (2014). The study finds the value adding and value subtracting behaviours identified by Campbell et al (2014) do not fully apply to buy-to-sell parenting relationships. The study contributes to parenting theory by highlighting the differences and similarities between the factors identified within the Three-Stage Private Equity Model and the value adding/subtracting behaviours proposed by Campbell et al (2014). Key Words: Private Equity, Branded Apparel Retailers, Grounded Theory, Parenting Theory.

The thesis aims to reconstruct the procedural rules that apply whenever the simulation of contract becomes an issue within a civil proceeding.To this end, a different method is followed from that commonly used by the courts and in the scholarly literature, which have mostly deduced the content of these rules assuming, as a starting point, a certain solution to the problem of the nature of simulated contracts. The courts, that still adhere to the traditional doctrine of nullity of the simulated contract, state that the rules of the civil code dedicated to the action and the objection of nullity shall also apply to the action and objection of simulation. Part of the scholars, rejecting such premises, uphold interpretative solutions that are at odds with those supported by the courts. On the contrary, in this thesis, the legal notion of simulation is assumed as a starting point. Such a legal notion describes the set of facts that lead to a simulation of a contract and to the legal consequences set forth in articles 1414 and ff of the civil code; these facts are thus material to the process in which the simulation is an issue. Hence, the first part of the thesis (chapters 1 to 4) aims at framing the legal notion of simulation within the main categories of civil procedure, and starts from the definition of the legal notion of simulation by critically assessing the two main conceptions of the simulation phenomenon that emerge from the conspicuous literature on the subject: a “negative” conception, which sees the simulation as the lack of an essential element of the contract, and a “positive” conception, which sees the simulation as an agreement between the parties with the aim of excluding the legal effects of a contract between them (simulation agreement). The arguments in support of this last conception are set forth; after that, the question of the structure of the so-called “concealed contract” and the role of the simulation agreement on its formation and effectiveness is examined. The framing of the simulation in the fundamental categories of the process is then carried out through the observation of the legal effects that the simulation activity produces with regard to third parties, and the procedural classification of the substantial categories referred to in Articles 1415 and 1416 of the Italian Civil Code (in particular, unopposability). Finally, the objective scope of the process in which the ascertainment of the simulation of a contract is requested (action of simulation) is defined by critically examining the prevailing doctrine, according to which the said action aims at ascertaining the lack of a “contractual relationship”. Another doctrine is then examined, according to which simulation and nullity may be described as authonomous legal effects capable of being ascertained within a judgment having the force of res judicata. The second part (chapters 5 and 6) is dedicated to the discussion of selected issues of “procedural dynamics”, namely: a) the objection of absolute simulation, and the problem wether the judge may decide upon it ex officio in both the processes aimed at enforcing a simulated contract, and in those that aim, on the contrary, at the declaration of nullity, or at the annulment, rescission or termination of the same contract; b) the multiple facets that the issue of absolute simulation presents in the course of a forced expropriation proceeding undertaken against an “apparent owner”; c) the form of the concealed contract and the extent to which the simulants may prove a relative simulation by witnesses, particularly in the event that the relative simulation of the price of a sale contract is alleged as an objection to an avoidance action promoted by the bankruptcy trustee; d) the stading to an action of simulation; e) the objective scope of the res judicata in the same action.
La tesi mira a ricostruire la disciplina processuale della simulazione negoziale, ossia le regole concernenti l'attività compiuta nel processo dalle parti e dal giudice, ogniqualvolta la simulazione di un negozio giuridico sia oggetto di allegazione, prova e decisione (nella forma della mera cognizione o dell'accertamento). Si segue, a tal fine, un metodo diverso da quello comunemente impiegato dalla giurisprudenza e dalla dottrina, le quali hanno perlopiù dedotto il contenuto di tali regole a partire dalla soluzione di volta in volta prescelta al problema della qualificazione del contratto simulato. La giurisprudenza, muovendo dalla tesi della nullità del contratto simulato, conclude per la diretta applicabilità delle norme del codice civile dedicate all'azione e all'eccezione di nullità. Parte della dottrina, discostandosi da quella premessa, propone soluzioni applicative di segno opposto. Al contrario, nel presente lavoro, la centralità solitamente assegnata al contratto simulato, è occupata dalla simulazione, ossia dalla fattispecie degli effetti che gli artt. 1414 e seguenti designano quali “effetti della simulazione”. Detta fattispecie è infatti quanto forma oggetto dell'attività dei soggetti del processo (l'allegazione, la prova, la cognizione e l'accertamento). La ricostruzione della disciplina processuale della simulazione muove pertanto dalla collocazione della fattispecie simulatoria entro le categorie che informano il contenuto di quella disciplina, e cioè la qualificazione della simulazione come tema di prova, come questione di merito oggetto di mera cognizione, nonché, infine, come oggetto del processo e dell'accertamento munito di autorità di cosa giudicata. La prima parte della tesi (capitoli da 1 a 4) si occupa esattamente di tale inquadramento, prendendo le mosse dalla definizione della fattispecie simulatoria e dalla discussione critica delle due opposte concezioni del fenomeno simulatorio che emergono dalla cospicua letteratura sul tema: una concezione “negativa”, che vede nella simulazione una forma qualificata di difetto della fattispecie negoziale, e una concezione “positiva”, che ravvisa la fattispecie simulatoria in un negozio distinto da quello simulato (il c.d. accordo simulatorio). Enunciate le ragioni a sostegno di quest'ultima concezione, si prende in esame la questione della struttura del contratto dissimulato e del ruolo dell'accordo simulatorio sulla formazione e l'efficacia del medesimo. L'inquadramento della simulazione nelle categorie fondamentali del processo prosegue mediante l'osservazione degli effetti giuridici che l'attività simulatoria produce riguardo ai terzi, e l'inquadramento processuale delle categorie sostanziali richiamate negli artt. 1415 e 1416 c.c. (segnatamente, l'inopponibilità). Infine, si definisce l'oggetto dell'azione di simulazione, mettendo di fronte la prevalente tesi che detto oggetto fa coincidere con il rapporto fondamentale contrattuale, e quella minoritaria che addita le azioni di simulazione e nullità quali esempi di processi di accertamento di situazioni giuridiche preliminari. Si sottopone quindi a critica la tesi del rapporto fondamentale. La seconda parte (capitoli 5 e 6) è dedicata alla discussione di profili scelti di dinamica processuale, segnatamente: l'eccezione di simulazione assoluta, e il problema della sua rilevabilità d'ufficio nei processi diretti all'esecuzione del contratto simulato, nonché in quelli che mirano, al contrario, alla dichiarazione della nullità, ovvero all'annullamento, alla rescissione o alla risoluzione dello stesso contratto; le molteplici sfaccettature che presenta la cognizione della simulazione assoluta nel corso (o a lato) dell'espropriazione forzata intrapresa contro il titolare apparente; la forma del contratto dissimulato e l'ampiezza dei poteri istruttori dei simulanti che intendano dar prova della simulazione relativa, e per suo tramite del contratto dissimulato, particolarmente nel caso in cui la simulazione relativa del prezzo venga addotta per contrastare l'azione revocatoria promossa dal curatore fallimentare contro una compravendita immobiliare “a prezzo vile”; la legittimazione ad agire nell'azione di simulazione; i limiti oggettivi del giudicato di accertamento della simulazione.

Le changement de comportement correspond à une situation dans laquelle, pendant l’exécution du contrat, le créancier adopte une attitude contraire au contenu de l’accord originel, pour ensuite exiger l’application de ce dernier. Confronté aux règles classiques du droit des contrats (intangibilité, consideration), cette volte-face ne devrait avoir aucune force juridique. Malgré cela, en interdisant au créancier de réclamer l’exécution de l’accord initial, les juges français et anglais introduisent cette situation dans la sphère juridique.Comme l’imprévision, le changement de comportement bouleverse l’exécution du contrat ; comme la bonne foi, il est fondé sur la morale ; comme l’abus de droit, il sanctionne l’inconstance ; comme l’apparence, il est à la frontière entre le fait et le droit. Il se singularise pourtant, car il ne se confond avec aucune autre insitution juridique. Par ailleurs distinct de la confiance légitime et de l’interdiction de se contredire auxquelles il est rattaché, il est en quête d’un régime juridique propre. Une construction s’impose alors. Elle est facilitée par le miroir de la comparaison des droits français et anglais.Le changement de comportement révèle une renonciation du créancier à la créance, rendue possible par les prérogatives contractuelles qu’il tient, elles-mêmes autorisées par sa propriété sur la créance ou le renforcement de sa titularité. L’efficacité de cette appréhension flexible du contenu contractuel requiert cependant l’anéantissement d’éventuels remparts procéduraux : l’interdiction du changement ne doit alors plus seulement être un moyen de défense contre la contradiction, mais exprimer un comportement juridiquement contraignant
The change of behaviour refers to a situation in which, during the performance stage of the contract, the promisor behaves in a manner which is contrary to the existing contractual rights, but later neverthless insists on their application. Faced with the classic rules of contract law (sanctity of contracts, consideration), this volte-face should have no legal force. Yet, by prohibiting the promisor’s demand to perform the original agreement, French and English judges nevertheless introduce this situation in the law of contracts.Like frustration, the change of behaviour disrupts the performance of the contract ; like good faith and Equity, it is based on morality ; like an abuse of right, it punishes inconsistency ; like the theory of « apparence », it is in between facts and law. In spite of this, the change of behaviour stands out ; as it does not share the exact same scope as the expectations theory or the inconsistent behaviour theory, no other legal theory can wholly translate it into the law of the contracts. The change of behaviour therefore needs its proper legal framework which must consequently be found. The search is helped by the prism of comparative law, between French and Englis laws.The change of behaviour reveals a waiver of the promisor’s debt. The waiver is made possible by the contractual prerogatives he holds, prerogatives which are justified by the ownership of the debt. The efficiency of this flexible understanding of contractual content requires the obliteration of any litigation shield. As a consequence, forbidding the change should not only be seen as a defense against inconsistency, but should highlight a legally binding behaviour

‘Communal’ property is an important mechanism for allocating natural resources and regulating their use – whether for economic exploitation, recreational use or the promotion of biodiversity and nature conservation. The form which communal property regimes take, however, and their relationship to private property structures, varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and is poorly understood. Nevertheless, the importance of communal property, transcending the public/private divide in property rights, is increasingly apparent globally. Contributions to this volume focus on legal strategies for the development and protection of communal property and how these strategies ‘map’ over different jurisdictions (England and Wales, Scotland, South Africa, Cameroon, Italy, Israel and China) and jurisprudential approaches. They look at property beyond the traditional, individualist, and exclusive ownership model, engaging with communal property ‘practices’ in different jurisdictions to explore the theoretical grounding of communal property, not only linking theory with practice but also linking the local with the global.

In 1760, the ownership of African slaves was common across the Americas, ubiquitous in Atlantic Africa, and tolerated if not always officially permitted in much of Western Europe. By 1820, a new moral critique of colonial slavery and the Atlantic slave had led to the first organised efforts for their abolition. It would seem that the revolutionary era brought with it the beginning of the end for slavery in the Atlantic world. Yet, at the same time, there had never been more slaves in the Americas than there were in 1820. The expansion of the Atlantic slave trade and its increasing concentration on Brazil had profound consequences for the peoples and societies of West Africa. The Age of Revolutions was an era of spectacular growth in the institution of slavery in the Americas, when considered from a hemispheric perspective. This article suggests that the history of warfare has particular relevance to the history of slavery, and, as will become apparent, anti-slavery, in the Atlantic world.

With reportedly over USD50 billion lost annually through graft and illicit practices, combating corruption in Africa has been challenging. However, laws and policies at the continental, regional and national levels have been promulgated and enacted by African leaders. These initiatives have included the establishment of anti-corruption agencies mandated to tackle graft at national level, as well as coordinate bodies at regional and continental levels to ensure the harmonisation of normative standards and the adoption of best practices in the fight against corruption. Yet, given the disparity between the apparent impunity enjoyed by public servants and the anti-corruption rhetoric of governments in the region, the effectiveness of these agencies is viewed with scepticism. This continent-wide study of anti-corruption agencies aims to gauge their relevance and effectiveness by assessing their independence, mandate, available resources, national ownership, capacities and strategic positioning. These surveys include evidence-based recommendations calling for stronger, more relevant and effective institutions that are directly aligned to regional and continental anti-corruption frameworks, such as the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AUCPCC), which the three countries in this current report Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have all ratified.

This chapter examines the license agreements imposed by IP rights holders that redefine transactions and strip consumers of ownership even after an apparent sale. Despite their importance, consumers seldom read these license agreements because of their length and complexity. In response, IP rights holders produce highly uniform license terms that impose restrictions on the rights acquired by consumers. There are two approaches of interpreting license agreements: one treating them as contracts that require the mutual consent to be effective, while the other construing license agreements as expression of permission that does not require agreement to be effective. Many courts rely on license agreements to determine whether consumers enjoy ownership over the things they purchase. The better approach, however, should be to look at the economic reality of a transaction.

This chapter returns to Lithgows Limited and details the company history between 1945 and 1965. It follows the company’s decision-making capabilities over the period and weighs them against the wider global shipping industry. With the deaths of both Lithgow brothers occurring shortly after World War II, the toll on the ambition and experience of the company becomes apparent, and is explored through the continuation of contracts with Norway; modernisation attempts; and the management of small companies under the ownership of Lithgows. The chapter ends with the collapse of two major firms under the company’s helm, demonstrating a lack of control, direction, and initiative on the part of the company.

During the coronavirus crisis and the related recession, many governments have initiated massive public rescue operations for business, given that the latter was collapsing in sectors such as tourism. A prominent part of these operations was the increase in public control over companies. Increasing public control took different forms. Often, this meant increasing public (partial) ownership, directly via state bodies or indirectly via public banks or sovereign wealth funds. In other cases, governments introduced regulations with regard to preventing the take-over of prized companies by foreign investors. Given strongly increased public support or even partial state ownership of companies during the crisis, it is unlikely that we will see a return to a system of corporate governance purely led by the principles of the maximization of shareholder value during the near future. This tendency away from shareholder value in post-coronavirus capitalism is also supported by the apparent dangers for financially lean corporations during the crisis and the increasing importance of ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) concerns that started already before the pandemic.

A large, highly ranked public university implemented a requirement for all incoming undergraduates to own a laptop computer starting in fall, 2000. To control increased expenditures for information technology, this requirement has shifted some of the cost of technology to students by decreasing the need for centralized general-purpose computing laboratories. At the same time, a shift towards centralized academic computing support occurred. This shift was away from information technology resources, services and support based in individual departments. This shift, engineered by the newly formed office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), was envisioned to generate cost savings through economies of scale. The educational impact of the laptop requirement is starting to be felt, but adoption is not widespread in daily classroom use. Envisioned cost savings have not yet become apparent. However, laptop ownership has enabled some new classroom activities and helped to reinforce the leading-edge image of the university.

This chapter discusses Tudorism in popular historical culture during the nineteenth century. First, it briefly delineates the apparent streamlining of the Tudor era into a broadly Whig and liberal-radical culture of progress and improvement and the confident interpretation of history. It then focuses on the evolution of popular Tudorism with its emphasis upon, and uses of, horror and its relations to modernity and urbanisation: what Dickens described as the ‘attraction of repulsion’ in horror. It traces developments in representations, meanings, and uses of Tudor horror, mainly by concentrating on the Tower of London, which during the nineteenth century evolved into an embodiment of the history of England, and the site of continuous debate and contest over access to, and ownership of, the Tudors.

Networks of companies can use a range of configurations to create inter-organizational processes. Problems become apparent when partnering companies decide to set them up. Those problems take a different form in centralized and decentralized inter-organizational process-integration scenarios. This chapter identifies eight process issues to be taken into account when evaluating inter-organizational integration configurations: difficulties to identify when a task should be executed, understanding what a task does exactly, agreeing how to trigger tasks, distributing investments among parties, delivering appropriate service levels, preserving value of the inter-organizational process, process ownership clarity, and managing in the frame of changing relationships. Examples are given of how problems arise in a completely centralized and in a completely decentralized inter-organizational process integration scenarios.

This chapter emphasizes the primary purpose of agency, which is to bring principal and third party into direct contractual relations. It considers disclosed agency, citing situations in which the third party is aware of the existence of a principal, whether that principal is identified or not. It also deals with an anomalous situation, where the agent acts for a principal, whose very existence is concealed from the third party. The chapter explores two exceptions to the principle, nemo dat quod non habet: the doctrine of apparent ownership, and provisions of the Factors Act 1889 that permit mercantile agents to make unauthorized dispositions of their principal’s property to third parties. It examines the disclosed principal’s right to sue and be sued on transactions effected on his behalf that is at the very root of agency.

The Introduction provides an overview of the whole book, previewing its major case studies on Samuel Johnson, Frances Burney, Walter Scott, and Jane Austen. It raises issues and topics that recur throughout the book’s argument: mess turned to some purpose as the normal condition of the draft literary manuscript; manuscript as evidence for a discipline called textual forensics, exposing either a unifying consciousness behind the printed page or the text’s relations to itself. It argues that manuscripts have multiple lives both before and after print, raising issues of property and ownership. Manuscripts are ‘curious’ objects: that is, objects of reverence and of knowledge, serving both magical and evidential purposes. They are also artefacts whose aesthetic dimension becomes apparent over time and as they assume new significance, inside the collection, beyond that of a tool for writing and transmission.

This chapter examines Islamic law states’ decisions to use international conflict management venues in the context of territorial disputes (1945–2012). The dissonance between Islamic law and international law is particularly apparent in the context of territorial claims, because Islamic notions of land ownership and territorial sovereignty are religious in nature. Not all ILS approach international conflict management in the same way. Secular—or rather shared—legal features, such as the presence of a secular court system and constitutional mentions of peaceful resolution of disputes, have the power to attract such ILS to legal approaches—arbitration and adjudication. In contrast, mediation and conciliation are most appealing to those ILS whose legal systems are deeply infused with traditional Islamic precepts. Such states are morally committed to these procedures. In an important way, there is a synergy between norms of traditional Islamic dispute resolution and international non-binding third-party mechanisms.

New World railroads were seminal to nineteenth-century industrialization and European expansion. Funded by the profits of industrialization, the railroads opened new lands for agricultural and pastoral settlement, the produce of which fed the industrial workforces of the North Atlantic littoral while at the same time providing factory looms and foundries with their essential raw materials. Whether in private hands (as in the United States) or under public ownership (as in Australia), New World railroads were in managerial terms unequalled in the size and complexities of their organization. In the 1890s the power of railroad management was seemingly confirmed when they imposed dramatic reductions in wages and other employment conditions on their workforces. Where resisted, as in the United States Pullman Boycott, opposition was soon broken. Yet the managerial and financial strength of the railroads was by the 1890s more apparent than real. As mere cogs in a global production system, the railroads were financial victims of forces that they themselves helped unleash. As railroad-fueled rural expansion gradually swamped global commodity markets, the railroads found that the prices obtained for their core custom (notably corn and wheat) fell remorselessly. As prices fell, so too did railroad rates. While it was these economic mechanisms that drove management toward labor conflict, victories on this front did little to improve management’s position. The reason for this is that the railroads suffered primarily from revenue rather than labor cost problems. Saddled with large fixed costs, the railroads found that even the most severe wage and staffing cuts made little difference to their financial plight.

Abstract Permanent magnet motors (PMMs) have been used in electrical submersible pump (ESP) applications worldwide, but the oil and gas industry still has questions about the value of the technology in terms of power savings; return on investment (ROI); and evaluation of power consumption, operational considerations, and reliability. Is this technology the future for ESPs? This paper will provide a real analysis based on more than 200 PMM installations in the Quifa and Rubiales Fields in Colombia, South America. The fields of study are located in a remote location in Colombia where 90% of the total oil production is achieved with ESPs, so power consumption and its efficiency became a focus to optimize the lifting cost of each barrel produced. As a standard in both fields of study, PMMs are installed in all initial completions. Part of the methodology explained in this paper covers electrical power evaluation, including a power factor study, total harmonic distortion (THD) measurements, and criteria for comparing real power savings vs. expected savings as per initial designs. The systematic approach can be used by any other company that wants to evaluate this technology in their fields. Deploying PMM technology in both fields of study has demonstrated, through formal and systematic analysis, the real efficiency that can be achieved by using this technology. Among the measurements confirmed in the field are power factors very close to 1, reactive power savings as high as 40% and active power saving as high as 10.5% (as compared with conventional induction motors). Additionally, the field case studies demonstrate that not all applications will see a direct energy in active power savings (kW) although total required surface apparent power (kVA) in all cases were reduced. An evaluation of total cost of ownership confirmed that in the field of study and similar operational conditions, PMM technology brings the best value for ESP applications. The authors evaluate several of the 239 cases of ESP applications with PMMs, disclosing best practices for performance evaluation and lessons learned while deploying this technology, including safety and economics evaluation to understand the conditions that maximize return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO).

Urban functions are no longer separated spatially or socially, and the contest between diverse land-uses is reaching a peak due to growing populations and increasing urbanization that inflates the pressure on already strained resources within the urban fabric. The trend of depletion of green spaces is an increasing global phenomenon, intensifying the growing carbon footprint, impairing water quality and compromising health and overall quality of life, ultimately leading to cities that are far removed from the safe, clean, and livable environments, as envisioned in planning theory. Green spaces are often viewed as a “luxury good”, despite the comprehensive literature on the extensive benefits of such spaces to their host cities and communities. Misconceptions relating to the notion of green spaces are reflected in the undervaluation of these spaces, under-prioritization in the budgeting process and ultimate negligence in terms of broader spatial planning approaches. The lack of function and ownership further exacerbate the social- and economic value of these green spaces, especially within the South African context, apparent by the disproval of the compensation hypothesis and rejection of the proximity principle. Much effort will be needed to change perceptions and sensitize decision-makers to understand green spaces as a “public good” and “economic asset”. Resilience thinking could pose solutions in this regard, drawing on transdisciplinary planning approaches to manage change and steer Spatial Planning towards the era of transurbanism. It would however, require the emancipation of the disciplinary identity of Spatial Planning as crucial driver towards resilience, departing from theoretical and methodological frames of supplementary disciplines, as well as the indigenous knowledge and living experiences of communities, to co-produce urban innovations. Conveying strategic and lateral thinking, contemporary Planners would need to become generative leaders, with socio-emotional intelligence, to generate innovation and co-create solutions for strained social contexts, for depleting scare resources, for managing change of contemporary urban landscapes.

Abstract A question in the minds of many is the potential use of saline aquifers in California for storing compressed air and for CO2 storage. This paper is the result of an extensive study on the geological properties of subsurface saline water containing geologic layers located below the freshwater limits in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) of California. There are many thousands of pass-through wells drilled for hydrocarbon extraction in the area that can provide subsurface information on the saline aquifers. We discuss some of the saline aquifer properties and geologic aspects associated with the subsurface storage of compressed air and or carbon dioxide. The raw database to generate the information included archives of CalGEM with respect to the existing and previously drilled oil and gas wells in the SJV Basin as well as separate studies by the USGS, Kang (2016), and Gillespi (2019). We mapped these aquifers across the valley and estimated ranges of pore volumes, the deliverability and the injectivity range for storage purposes. We also studied the sealing characteristics of these sands with respect to over and under burden and the geologic faulting in the San Joaquin Basin. We studied the drilling reports of many key wells and identified the lithologies of interest and examined relevant petrophysical properties. Estimates of capacity and deliverability were generated for these intervals. The legal ownership issues of operating these saline aquifers as storage were not part of this study. Our critical observations include aspects of salinity, petrophysical properties, and the areal extent. Knowing the salt content of in-situ water is essential for site selection and the economics of repurposing idle wells to connect to these aquifers. We have noted that the base of underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) (<10,000 mg/L) slopes from northwest to southeast across the Kern County and is likely because of significant freshwater recharge from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the northwestern portion of Kern County, numerous wells contain waters between 3000 and 10,000 ppm at depths of less than 2000 ft, particularly in the nonmarine Tulare Formation. At North Belridge field, a salinity reversal is apparent below 6900 ft., and salinities for zones below 7200 ft. range from 10,000 to 32,000 ppm (Gillespi, 2019). From the maps and correlative sections that relate to the areal extent of the target saltwater sands, we estimated the range of storage volumes, injectivity, and deliverability capacities for various wet sands. The information generated and included in the paper is a reference point for the operators in the SJV, CA. It can help with the site selection for potentially converting some or all existing idle wells that are on the verge of abandonment and repurposing the wells for energy storage and for subsurface CO2 and other waste disposal purposes using the shallow saline aquifers.

The current construction climate in the UK is moving forward with a much greater attention on cost certainty, sustainability and adoption of innovative technologies. The UK Construction Strategy 2025 provides a clear direction towards achieving such goals by 2025. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) is one of successful techniques for identifying the total cost of ownership in construction assets. Even though the technique has 50 years of history, the application and the diffusion of the technique within the construction domain is comparatively limited. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the evolution and current status of LCC within construction context through Bibliometric Analysis of journal publications indexed in Web of Science database (1970-2020). A series of Contents Analyses was performed and visualisation maps were generated via VOSviewer. The findings proved that LCC has been absorbed into construction in late 90’s and there is a continuous rise in the global uptake from 2013 onwards. With limited budgets and growing demand for sustainability, an integrated methodology linking LCC, Life Cycle Assessment and Performance optimisation is apparently the way forward for LCC.