...ASSAM EARTHQUAKE AND OUR BUILDINGS Md Ali Akbar MOLLICK* Introduction An earthquake of magnitude 8.7 on the Richter Scale (8.1 on the Moment Magnitude Scale) occurred on 12th June 1897 at 5.11pm in the Assam Basin, some 250 kilometers (km) north from Dhaka, 130 km north-west from Sylhet and 70 km north from today's Bangladesh and Indian border. The epicenter was 26o (N) and 91o (E) and focal depth was 32 km. The shaking was felt over an area of 650,000 square-kilometer (sq-km) and destruction was taking place over an area of 390,000 sq-km. Many masonry buildings including temples, over the destructive area such as Dhubri, Goalpara, Guwahati, Kuch Bihar, Agortola, Kolkata and other cities inside India, either totally or partially damaged due to this earthquake. The earthquake created general panic in Dhaka and other areas of today's Bangladesh including Rangpur, Dinajpur, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Natore, Mymensing, Dhaka, Chittagong, Comilla, Noakhali, Jamalpur etc. A total number of 1542 persons were killed due to this earthquake out of which five were from Dhaka including two foreigners. Three buildings such as Shaheen Medical Hall, Temple Nazi's Shabagh Math and house occupied by Mrs Stansbury were totally damaged and the government houses for commissioner, collector, judge and civil surgeon were partially damaged in Dhaka, which were rebuilt. The total cost for the rehabilitation was 150,000 taka. The intensity of shaking in Dhaka was VIII+ on the Modified Mercili Intensity (MMI)...
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...provisions for design and detailing of beam-column joints in seismic regions Sudhir K. Jain, R.K. Ingle and Goutam Mondal Beam-column joint is an important part of a reinforced concrete moment resisting frame subjected to earthquake loading. Design and detailing provisions on beam-column joints in IS 13920 : 1993 do not adequately address prevention of anchorage and shear failure in this region during severe earthquake shaking. In view of these limitations, this paper proposes new provisions for inclusion in IS 13920 : 1993. The paper also gives a clause-by-clause commentary on these recommended provisions and includes one solved example to illustrate the same. Keywords: Beam-column joints, wide beam, strong-column weakbeam, shear design. Beam-column joint is an important component of a reinforced concrete moment resisting frame and should be designed and detailed properly, especially when the frame is subjected to earthquake loading. Failure of beam-column joints during earthquakes is governed by bond and shear failure mechanism which are brittle in nature1. Therefore, current international codes give high importance to provide adequate anchorage to longitudinal bars and confinement of core concrete in resisting shear2. A review of the behaviour and design of different types of beam-column joints in reinforced concrete moment resisting frame under seismic loading illustrates that design and detailing provisions for the joints in the current Indian seismic code, IS 13920 :...
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...2.1 General Seismic evaluation and retrofitting strategies are mainly focused in this thesis. However, there are many good references that can be used as a starting point for research such as ATC40 manual for seismic evaluation and retrofitting of concrete buildings. This chapter focuses on recent contributions related to seismic evaluation and various retrofitting schemes and past efforts most closely related to the needs of the present work. For, the purpose of the present investigation, the literature is break down into following areas: a) Seismic evaluation. b) Retrofitting strategies. 2.2 Seismic Evaluation This section describes previous contributions made in the field of seismic evaluation of buildings. Also, highlights various research...
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...Running Header: CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND MARKETING STRATEGY Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategy Terrance Brinson Strayer University Contemporary Business 508 Dr. Jean Fonkoua April 28, 2014 Running Header: CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND MARKETING STRATEGY Abstract This paper examines the corporate responsibility and marketing strategies of Apple Corporation. Also, discussed in this paper are the challenges that Apple has faced with factory workers, and trying to balance social responsibility and corporate performance to continue to keep its competitive advantage over its competition. Apple has proven to be a benchmark in the electronic industry by brand recognition, producing several different products which include iPod and the MacBook. Apples marketing strategy is focused on providing the best consumer experience in the world. By investing heavily in education, Apple is also helping their workers learn new skills so that they can better understand their rights. With continuing efforts, you will see in this paper how Apple is trying to strengthen their programs to help suppliers protect their workers. Running Header: CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND MARKETING STRATEGY Introduction Apple is a multinational company that is headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. Their best-known hardware products are the Mac line of computers, iPod media...
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...Running Header: CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND MARKETING STRATEGY Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategy Terrance Brinson Strayer University Contemporary Business 508 Dr. Jean Fonkoua April 28, 2014 Running Header: CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND MARKETING STRATEGY Abstract This paper examines the corporate responsibility and marketing strategies of Apple Corporation. Also, discussed in this paper are the challenges that Apple has faced with factory workers, and trying to balance social responsibility and corporate performance to continue to keep its competitive advantage over its competition. Apple has proven to be a benchmark in the electronic industry by brand recognition, producing several different products which include iPod and the MacBook. Apples marketing strategy is focused on providing the best consumer experience in the world. By investing heavily in education, Apple is also helping their workers learn new skills so that they can better understand their rights. With continuing efforts, you will see in this paper how Apple is trying to strengthen their programs to help suppliers protect their workers. Running Header: CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND MARKETING STRATEGY Introduction Apple is a multinational company that is headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. Their best-known hardware products are the Mac line of computers, iPod media...
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...SEAPORT SECURITY: CRITICAL CHALLENGE FOR DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY BY COLONEL DREFUS LANE, SR. United States Army DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for Public Release. Distribution is Unlimited. This SRP is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Strategic Studies Degree. The views expressed in this student academic research paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA 17013-5050 USAWC CLASS OF 2009 The U.S. Army War College is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle State Association of Colleges and Schools, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, (215) 662-5606. The Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters...
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...Level Strategy In the pursuit of operationalising the concept of business-level strategy in research, Donald C. Hambrick explains that strategy is generally viewed as a pattern of important decisions that guides the organization in its relationships with its environment, affects the internal structure and processes of the organization, and centrally affects the organization's performance. Numerous variables (e.g., nature of the industry, product life cycle,other environmental attributes) can be introduced to enrich the array of possible strategy-performance theories to be tested. Miles and snow [1978] have systematically examined the linkage between business-level strategy and structure. The range of organizational processes and managerial activities that could be tested for their associations with business level strategies appears to be substantial. Research on business-level strategy has implicated basically four different approaches to operationalising the construct. First, some researchers have seen strategy as a situational art that can best be studied through in-depth case studies. When cases are used in an attempt to build theory, they likewise involve qualitative descriptions of business-level strategies. An attraction of textual characterizations of strategy is that they may be used when strategy is treated as a predictor, mediator, or criterion variable in a research design. Second is by hypothesizing. Examples are studies that have put market share as the dominant...
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...Journal of International Business Studies (2009) 40, 1432–1454 & 2009 Academy of International Business All rights reserved 0047-2506 www.jibs.net Down with MNE-centric theories! Market entry and expansion as the bundling of MNE and local assets Jean-Francois Hennart ¸ CentER and Department of Organization and Strategy, Tilburg University, The Netherlands Correspondence: J-F Hennart, Professor of International Management, CentER and Department of Organization and Strategy, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. Tel: þ 31 13 466 2315; Fax: þ 31 13 466 8354; E-mail: j.f.hennart@uvt.nl Abstract Both Anderson and Gatignon and the Uppsala internationalization model see the initial mode of foreign market entry and subsequent modes of operation as unilaterally determined by multinational enterprises (MNEs) arbitraging control and risk and increasing their commitment as they gain experience in the target market. OLI and internalization models do recognize that foreign market entry requires the bundling of MNE and complementary local assets, which they call location or country-specific advantages, but implicitly assume that those assets are freely accessible to MNEs. In contrast to both of these MNE-centric views, I explicitly consider the transactional characteristics of complementary local assets and model foreign market entry as the optimal assignment of equity between their owners and MNEs. By looking at the relative...
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...A PROJECT WORK BEING SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE COURSE REQUIREMENT MBA -747 BY BENJAMIN I. OFFOR-S111R0005 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND EMPLOYEE REPORTING IN AN ORGANIZATION SUMMER 2012-08-29 LECTURER: DR. KARTAKOULLIS NICOS Abstract The hidden role which employees perform in an organization has solicited considerable attention all over the world. The debate is that employees increase the performance of organizations through effective and efficient collective bargaining process which is the most effective instrument in the hands of employees for improving their living conditions. This work tries to examine the need for organizations to account for collective bargaining and their employees’ activities in their annual reports. This work suggests that organizations (private, government or multinationals), should consider the need to expand the content of their annual reports such as collective bargaining accounts, employee report. The human resources department should also try to understand the level of contributions made by stakeholders in the corporate survival and growth of the firms in this 21st century. INTRODUCTION The term “collective bargaining” has always brought strong emotion in people no matter which side a person was on. The process of collective bargaining between management and union officials has historically been adversarial in nature, causing great rifts in an organizational- decision making process...
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...Modeling for Virtual Reality Olga De Troyer, Frederic Kleinermann, Bram Pellens, and Wesley Bille WISE Research Lab Vrije Universiteit Brussel Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussel, Belgium {olga.detroyer,frederic.kleinermann,bram.pellens, Wesley.Bille}@vub.ac.be Abstract This paper explores the opportunities and challenges for Conceptual Modeling in the domain of Virtual Reality (VR). VR applications are becoming more feasible due to better and faster hardware, and due to new technology and faster network connections they also start to appear on the Internet. However, the development of such applications is still a specialized, time-consuming and expensive process. By introducing a Conceptual Modeling phase into the development process of VR applications, a number of the obstacles preventing a quick spread of this type of applications can be removed. However, existing Conceptual Modeling techniques are too limited for modeling a VR application in an appropriate way. The paper will show how Conceptual Modeling can be done for VR and how this may make VR more accessible to non VR-specialists. Furthermore, the paper will explain how Conceptual Modeling embedded in a semantic framework can provide the basis for semantically rich VR application, which may be essential for its success in the future and its use in the context of the Semantic Web. The paper will also point to some open research problems.. Keywords: Semantics. Virtual Reality, Conceptual Modeling, that the development of VR...
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...Tablet computer iPad (1st generation), a tablet computer A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen and instead of using a physical keyboard it often uses an onscreen virtual keyboard. A tablet computer may be connected to a keyboard with a wireless link or a USB port. Convertible notebook computers have an integrated keyboard that can be hidden by a swivel joint or slide joint, exposing only the screen for touch operation. Hybrids have a detachable keyboard so that the touch screen can be used as a stand-alone tablet. Booklets include dual-touchscreens, and can be used as a notebook by displaying a virtual keyboard in one of them. An early information tablet concept, named the Dynabook, was described by a Xerox scientist Alan C Kay, in his Aug 1972 paper: A Personal Computer for children of all Ages, the paper proposes a touch screen as a possible alternative means of input for the device. The first commercial portable electronic tablets appeared at the end of the 20th century. In 2010, Apple Inc. released the iPad which became the first mobile computer tablet to achieve worldwide commercial success. The iPad used technology similar to Apple's iPhone. Other manufacturers have produced tablets of their own including Samsung, HTC, Motorola, RIM, Sony, Amazon, HP, Microsoft, Google, Asus, Toshiba, and Archos. Tablets use a variety...
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...Journal of International Business Studies (2007) 38, 215–230 & 2007 Academy of International Business All rights reserved 0047-2506 $30.00 www.jibs.net Real options in multinational corporations: organizational challenges and risk implications Tony W Tong1 and Jeffrey J Reuer2 1 School of Management, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA; 2Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA Correspondence: JJ Reuer, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, McColl Building, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. Tel: þ 1 919 962 4514; Fax: þ 1 919 962 4266; E-mail: reuer@unc.edu Abstract In this study, we investigate how multinationality affects firms’ risk levels. Our investigation builds on the idea from real options theory that international operations offer switching options to multinational corporations, yet we also emphasize different sources of coordination costs that can mitigate the benefits of operational flexibility. The findings from Tobit models accounting for selfselection underscore the importance of unobserved heterogeneity in the relationships between international investments and risk levels. Consistent with the coordination costs surrounding international operations, we find that the relationship between multinationality and downside risk is curvilinear: risk first declines and then increases as a firm’s portfolio of international investments becomes extensive. In...
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...Researchers from the Department of Precision Instrument and Mechanology will help the NOKIA Company finish a design of hardware enablers for future mobile communication devices during one-year project. And the project is to explore the enabling HW technologies for future mobile communication device concepts, with the focuses on the flexibility, biominicry, and modularization. This is to be done with soft-mechanics inspired by nature’s designs and electro-mechanics integration as the key technologies. Soft-mechanics could be instrumental for providing soft interaction between machines and humans, while electro-mechanics integration enables a novel approach to create highly functional, tiny terminals. 2 The research drivers Future mobile communication devices will have more functions packed in small size and they are going to be used for communication, information searching and browsing as a natural extension of human capabilities in everyday life. One of the key drivers for future mobile devices is to enable drastic change of the physical appearance of mobile terminals to soft and comfortable human centered devices with totally new product category possibilities. The modularization of main components and flexible connectivity will enable the adaptability to different user group needs and allow the freedom to use and transport the device in most convenient way. 2.1 Background Some researcher said that as mobile phones become more like handheld computers and consumers...
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...The average rate at which an individual or corporation is taxed. The effective tax rate for individuals is the average rate at which their earned income is taxed. The effective tax rate for a corporation is the average rate at which its pre-tax profits are taxed. An individual's effective tax rate is calculated by dividing total tax expense by taxable income. For corporations, the effective tax rate is computed by dividing total tax expenses by the firm's earnings before taxes. The effective tax rate is the net rate a taxpayer pays if all forms of taxes are included and divided by taxable income. The effective tax rate is often a more accurate representation of a taxpayer's tax liability than its marginal tax rate. Two companies that are in the same marginal tax bracket, for example, may end up with different effective tax rates depending on their earnings. This occurs particularly with a progressive, or tiered, tax system, where different levels of income are taxed at different rates. For example, the first $100,000 of income may be taxed at 10%, and income between $100,001 and $500,000 might be taxed at a rate of 15%. The corporation's income is taxed at the various levels, and to determine the effective (or average) tax rate, the total tax is divided by the total taxable income The term effective tax rate has different meanings in different contexts. Generally its calculation attempts to adjust a nominal tax rate to make it more meaningful. It may incorporate econometric,...
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...resolution body, trade sanctions, as well as the power to authorise other retaliation tactics when a country does not comply with a ruling (Eckersley 2003.) In contrast, the existing multilateral framework for environmental politics provides a fragmented, and incoherent arrangement to govern some of the most important ecological issues. Organisations like the United Nations Environmental Programme, for example, are supported by voluntary member state contributions, and lack the financial foundation, as well as the legal mandate to express sound environmental policy-making. As quoted by Eckersley (2003), “judged in terms of size and teeth, we might regard the WTO as a large tiger and MEAs as a ragged collection of small cats” (pp. 2.) This paper makes the case for a reorganisation of environmental governance, with the specific transformation of UNEP into a World Environment Organisation (WEO.) A WEO is argued to be able to provide an authoritative voice and force to issues of the global commons, as well as give greater responsibility to multilateral climate negotiations. Although a WEO would be new, its rationale and even structure may be guided by the experience of other multilateral systems, including the International Labor Organisation (ILO) or the World Trade Organisation. This essay will first provide a review of the weaknesses in current frameworks for multilateral...
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