393 research outputs found
Parsons' Structural-Functional Theory of Law-A Socio-Legal Analysis and Critical Evaluation
No full text本論文首述社會學與人類學中的功能理論，介紹墨頓顯性的與隱性的功能說，再簡介帕森思的生平、著作與學說主旨。接著描寫帕氏社會體系論中四大主要功能：適應、目標達致、整合與類型保持。法律作為社會總體系的次級體系，其主要的功能重在社會控制與社會整合。是故本文的重點在討論作為社會操控機制的法律之特徵，以及法律怎樣運用制裁、管轄、正當性與解釋的手段，配合法律的專業化來達到穩定社會總體系之目的。稍後，本文討論帕氏對契約、雇傭與財產權的剖析。最後，覆述帕氏法律社會學的大旨，評估其得失，以及後人在結構功能論以及體系論方面之發揮，以補充帕氏未竟與未逮之理論大業。This essay deals firstly with the evolution of functionalism in sociology and anthropology. It then treats Merton's distinction between the manifest and latent functions. Subsequently, the focus of the article is on Parsons' theory of social system. Having discussed his career, major writings and essential theoretical contributions, the author dwells on Parsons' four functional imperatives and their relevance to the law as one of the social subsystems. According to him, the law as a mechanism of social control operates in a free and open society in terms of sanction, jurisdiction, legitimation and interpretation with the aid of the legal profession. In addition, Parsons' discussion of contract, employment and property right is highly enlightening and deserves a brief mention. Finally, the treatise critically evaluates Parsons' socio-legal model and supplements it with theoretical modifications and expansions by recent scholars, such as H. Bredemeier, N. Luhmann, G. Teubner and A. Podgorecki
Disaster Response for Effective Mapping and Wayfinding
No full textThe research focuses on guiding the affected population towards a safe location in a disaster area by utilizing their self-help capacity with prevalent mobile technology. In contrast to the traditional centralized information management systems for disaster response, this research proposes a decen- tralized computer-supported management system in which affected people can lead themselves to safety and simultaneously serve as field sensors that share information about the disaster situation. A literature study together with contextual inquiries (field observations) were first conducted to analyse and identify existing problematic areas in order to envision a feasible, efficient and effective system. Based on literature from the field of disaster sociology and humanitarian operation experience, it was clear that the affected people in a disaster are not simply helpless victims; instead, they consist of capable human beings who tend to act rationally and proactively in a united and helpful manner. In times of collective stress, they are even able to creatively use whatever means of technology are at hand. This group forms the majority of the population that is affected by a disaster. They are distributed over the disaster area and witness the disaster first hand. As a result, these individuals form a massive potential resource for collecting first hand knowledge about the disaster. Field observations indicated that tailored mobile navigation support is lacking. Likewise, situation map-map- ping support has appeared to be limited, fragmented, and funnelled to one “plotter”. The literature and field observations showed that there is a need for (1) navigation support of the affected people, (2) collaborative map-making support, and (3) the integration of these support functions into one informa- tion system to establish a harmonized, effective, and safe, disaster response. As part of the research, prototypes of these two support functions and the integrated system were developed and tested in both controlled environments and out in the field. Major disaster events can significantly change an area, render earlier geo- graphical data obsolete, and make damaged infrastructure hazardous to the affected people. In order to minimize public exposure to such dangerous conditions, which prevail in disaster areas, the affected people need to be guided to a safer location. Thus, a navigation system that provides sufficient and flexible guidance given the altered environment in the disaster area is critical in these situations. The first study was a field experiment, tested a handheld navigation solu- tion that pointed toward the direction of a destination and elementary navi- gational cues. The results suggested that a rudimentary navigation cue in the form of an arrow was sufficient to guide an individual towards a specific destination. Moreover, additional navigation cues such as the distance or the time to a destination gave additional support by making it easier for a person to follow the guidance. However, in order to provide adequate navigational support, an up-to-date presentation of the post-disaster situation is desirable. Especially as a map is usually needed to represent complex situations. For example, during the field observations of USAR.nl in the Czech Republic, the rescuers sketched and updated a map (drawn on the wall) with a spray can to represent the rescue situation and their activity outcomes over time. The command post was informed about the situation however by audio (tel- ephone) communication. In a disaster with widespread damage, the disaster situation needs to be rapidly assessed. However, the traditional centralized mechanism of gathering this kind of information is regarded as inefficient and can result in an inaccurate and outdated situation map. These ineffi- ciencies stem from: (1) the use of an unsuitable communication modality to relay spatial information (e.g. audio), (2) limited emergency resources that collect this kind of information, and (3) the hierarchical and chain report- ing structure in the organization of the map-making process. To overcome these inefficiencies, this research also focuses on a distributed approach that utilizes the affected people for collecting situation data in the field and using additional modalities of communication. This led to the second study, which investigated the construction of a shared situation map using a collaborative mechanism. This study was conducted in a controlled laboratory environment. The first results demonstrated that if the contribution from each individual is not balanced then collaborative map-making can result in a joint map that is worse than the underlying in- dividual maps. Based on this result, a method of explicitly showing confi- dence information was prototyped in the subsequent experiment. The results showed that the quantity and quality of the information in the collaborative maps was better than the individual maps. It was concluded that a visual shared map can complement the auditory communication during situation map-making and that explicitly rating objects and events in the map with a confidence level significantly enhanced the discussion process. Finally, the third empirical study was an extensive controlled field study where Delft was converted into a disaster playground. Several participants played simultaneously different roles (the affected people and the operator) located at multiple locations (in the field and in the information center) while using multiple devices (mobile phone, desktop computer) and applications (mobile client, server, and simulation). The aim of this study was to compare the proposed system with the traditional centralized system. The result of this study demonstrated that the proposed system was superior in (1) guiding the affected people safely to their destination, (2) helping operators in achiev- ing a higher situational awareness, and (3) lowering operator workload. To conclude, this research proposes a participatory distributed mechanism which involves the affected people to improve the disaster response. The system harvests the capabilities of the affected people as distributed active sensors for assessing disaster situations. In this way, they can help them- selves to safety while helping to rapidly construct a clear image of the dis- aster without burdening the already overwhelmed rescue services. The study showed that this mechanism might reduce the workload of the disaster re- sponders and may improve the effectiveness of the disaster response process. With better situational awareness of the disaster area, humanitarian aid and rescue activities can be conducted more effectively and victims can be saved faster than before. Thus, the proposed system in this thesis can form the foundation of an efficient next generation disaster response system.MediamaticsElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Fabrikage Butanon-2
No full textDocument(en) uit de collectie Chemische ProcestechnologieDelftChemTechApplied Science
Exciton and charge carrier dynamics in semiconductor nanorods and nanoplatelets
No full textChemE/Chemical EngineeringApplied Science
Damage development in the adhesive zone and mortar of porous asphalt concrete
No full textThis research is focused on damage development in the adhesive zone and the mortar of porous asphalt concrete. The motive of this research is the loss of stone from the pavement surface, the so-called ravelling of noise reducing surface wearing courses. Ravelling is the dominant defect of porous asphalt resulting in huge costs of maintenance and resurfacing in the Netherlands. Ravelling is a mixture-associated problem and is directly related to the binding failure within the stone-to-stone contact regions. This research is thus towards a better understanding of the processes responsible for ravelling, i.e. cohesive failure in the mortar bridge and adhesive failure at the mortar/aggregate adhesive zone on the basis of meso-mechanics. An intensive experimental program was carried out on various adhesive zones and mortars at a meso-sale of millimetres. This program was designed based on a better understanding of stress/strain states in porous asphalt concrete under moving traffic loadings. The aim was to develop fatigue/damage models for the adhesive zone and mortar which allows life expectancy to be predicted. Tension and shear tests as well as tests in which tension and shear were combined were performed on the adhesive zones. Among these tests, uniaxial tension testing was conducted using Dynamic Mechanics Analyzer. Shear testing was performed using Dynamic Shear Rheometer. A test which combined tension and shear was specially designed. Various types of load signals were applied accounting for complex stress signals to which the adhesive zones are subjected in practice. A damage model based on a linear cumulative damage rule was used to explain the obtained test data. The proposed model is making use of the integration of an equivalent uniaxial tensile stress signal to compute the development of damage. To do this, an internal-friction theory was applied to translate any combination of shear and normal stresses into a simple equivalent uniaxial tensile stress. Model fit indicated that the predicted number of cycles to failure is in agreement with the measured data. A practical mortar fatigue model based on the dissipated energy concept was developed for the life predictions under complex multiaxial loadings. The fatigue model is based on the initial dissipated energy per cycle. Model parameters can be determined on the basis of commonly used fatigue tests. The proposed model gave very good results in explaining the laboratory fatigue data. By combining the mortar stress and strain signals provided by response calculations the dissipated energy per tyre passage can be calculated and the number of load repetitions to failure can be estimated using the mortar fatigue model. The developed fatigue/damage models were applied to explain the ravelling damage of four different porous asphalt mixtures used in a full-scale accelerated pavement testing (APT) experiment. Finite element simulations of the behaviour of these four mixtures were made. A 2D idealized model was used for practical reasons. The life expectancy predicted by this way was in good agreement with the results of full scale ravelling tests. The life time predictions as made explain the initiation of ravelling. In reality however maintenance will only be applied if ravelling has extended over a certain area and at a certain level of severity. To relate the computed life expectancy with the actual lifespan of porous asphalt or the maintenance moment, a ravelling development model was proposed. By combining this model with the initial ravelling damage obtained from the simulations, the moment for maintenance and resurfacing can be estimated for planning pavement preservation strategies. Finally, it was concluded that the meso-scale fatigue characterization of the adhesive zone and mortar is feasible. The developed adhesive zone damage model and mortar fatigue model together with the finite element model for the prediction of stress, strain and dissipated energy allow to arrive at a proper ranking in performance of porous asphalt mixtures. It has been shown that the developed models are very useful tools to design porous asphalt concrete with a better raveling resistance and a longer lifetime.Road and Railway EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Solar device and method of generating electric power
No full textThe present invention relates to a solar device comprising a conglomerate of asymmetric electrically-conducting nanoparticles in combination with a filter for circularly polarizing incident light to excite the nanoparticles, wherein the asymmetric nanoparticles are aligned so as to cause that said nanoparticles generally occupy a same predefined orientation within the conglomerate.Imaging Science and TechnologyApplied Science
Bereiding van vinylacetaat uit acetyleen en azijnzuur
No full textDocument(en) uit de collectie Chemische ProcestechnologieDelftChemTechApplied Science
Assessing people travel behavior using GPS and open data to validate neighbourhoods characteristics
No full textWith the help of technologies such as GPS tracks, GIS and open data is now possible to study people travel behaviour in a new way. Nowadays, large datasets can be easily handled thanks to databases and better visualized using GIS. Moreover, the availability of GPS data, open data and VGI makes accessible a lot of new information, which was not obtainable before. This research is about the analysis of mobility patterns in different neighbourhoods in three cities in the Netherlands. The study is based on the validation of mobility theoretical performances by the actual performances measured through the analysis of GPS logs of households, who live in the neighbourhoods. A series of spatial indicators based on proximity, density and accessibility are computed in order to assess the theoretical performances of the neighbourhoods. To achieve this task, information about built environment characteristics and infrastructure networks is retrieved from OpenStreetMap, and other datasets. In the end the neighbourhoods are classified into five classes, according to the different levels of performances in terms of sustainable mobility. In such a way, it is possible to better understand the key factors that influence actual people travel patterns, providing policy makers with accurate information about the real movement of people.OLD Urban DesignOLD Department of GIS Technolog
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